Note 1 — Chapter IV · The Rebels and Their Grievances.

Ten Spanish Augustinian Friars recently came to San Francisco from the Philippines (see Appendix IV.). In an interview with the representative of the San Francisco Monitor they stated that it was not through fear of the Americans that they had left Manila, but, on the contrary, they believed that the Church would prosper under American rule. They said that the respectable element in the Philippines, though they had been quite content with the Spanish rule, and deeming it all that could be expected under the circumstances, are yet welcoming the Americans as a relief from insurgent atrocities. “The insurgents,” they said, “are an undisciplined mob of rioters, led by a demagogue. They are the riff-raff of the islands, men without principle or property in most instances. Aguinaldo has them pretty well in hand to-day, but to-morrow they may disintegrate into fifty gangs. Aguinaldo is an ungrateful renegade, who was fed, clothed, and educated by Catholic priests. He is a mere puppet in the hands of the Freemasons.1 It is to these worthies and organized anarchy in Europe that we may trace the origin of the trouble in the Philippines. Soon after the destruction of the Spanish fleet, the insurgents wrecked our schools, robbed and despoiled our missions and churches, and drove us into Manila. About fifty priests were brutally killed by them. As our field of work was thus laid bare, we decided to leave the Philippines. What made us depart was the discouragement of seeing the work of years destroyed by the men we had gone to teach, and the improbability of being able to build up the work again immediately.”