A few days after this proclamation, Spanish faith in these professions of loyalty was rudely shaken; for some priests were barbarously murdered by the natives. The following day, several companies of these sworn allies, armed with Mauser rifles, attacked Bacora, a small town between Cavité and Manila, and, after a few hours, captured the place and drove the garrison back to the capital. In this engagement several hundred Spaniards were killed. The natives of a regiment distinguished for its loyalty, massacred their officers and joined the insurgents. It is said that the latter lost more than 2000 men; but thousands were ready to take their places, eager for an opportunity to join against the common oppressor.
It was to quell a threatened mutiny of these troops in Manila, that the friars handed over $1,000,000 of their immense hoard to the Captain-General, that he might satisfy long-standing arrears of pay. At the same time, the insurgents received some field-guns, 5000 magazine rifles, and 200,000 rounds of ammunition from Admiral Dewey; and Aguinaldo and his forces continued their victorious advance step by step, the Spaniards daily growing more discouraged.
In the latter part of June a body of United States troops landed and took possession of Cavité; and in July Aguinaldo proclaimed himself President of the Revolutionary Republic.
Sketch of Aguinaldo.
General Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy is a little more than thirty years of age. He was born in Imus, a village near Cavité. His father was a planter, and the son was sent first to the College of St. Jean de Lateran, then to the University of St. Tomas in Manila. The youth’s education cost his father much privation, for the cost of pursuing a course of study at these institutions is not less than 1200 francs a year, and the elder Aguinaldo had great difficulty to make both ends meet.
At St. Jean de Lateran the student is drilled in Spanish and Latin and the classics; and when he is able to translate the masterpieces of Rome with facility, he is ready for the University of St. Tomas. This, like the College, is under the Dominicans. In the University, the principal studies are physics, metaphysics, theology, jurisprudence, law, and medicine.
Aguinaldo was adjudged a very dull student, and gave no promise of distinction. In fact, the Dominicans finally sent him home in sheer despair. Aguinaldo then entered the Normal school of the Jesuits. Here he made some progress; but at this time his father died, when the youth was forced to return home to take care of his patrimony, which was threatened by the lawsuits instituted by the order of the Recollectos—an organization composed of the greatest land-proprietors of the colony. It was in 1893 that Dr. Rizal created the Philippine League, the object of which was to unite politically the various parts of the Archipelago.
Rizal was banished, but shortly afterward the order of the Katipunan was formed, which soon had more than 250,000 members. The object of this society was co-operation for the protection of the colonists.
