efore the hour fixed for
the general slaughter. It cost him a fortune to be allowed to leave
the Islands. He took his passage for Europe in the _Isla de Panay_,
together with Dr. Rizal, but very prudently left that steamer at
Singapore and went on in the French mail to Marseilles and thence to
Paris, where he was still residing in 1905. No _documentary_ evidence
could be produced against him, and on June 1, 1897, the well-known
politician, Romero Robledo, undertook his defence in the _Cortes_, in
Madrid, in a brilliant speech which had no effect on his parliamentary
colleagues. For the Spaniards, indeed, the personal character of Pedro
P. Rojas was a matter of no moment. The Manila court-martial, out of
whose jurisdiction Rojas had escaped, held his estates, covering over
70,000 acres, under embargo, caused his numerous steam cane-mills to be
smashed, and his beautiful estate-house to be burnt, whilst his 14,000
head of cattle disappeared. Subsequently the military court exonerated
Pedro P. Rojas in a decree which stated "that all those persons who
made accusations against him have unreservedly retracted them, and that
they were only extracted from such persons by the tortures employed by
the Spanish officials; that the supposed introduction of arms into the
Colony through an estate owned by Pedro P. Rojas is purely fantastical,
and that the only arms possessed by the rebels were those taken by them
in combat from the Spanish soldiers." [174] But his second cousin,
Francisco L. Rojas, a shipowner, contrabandist, and merchant, was
not so fortunate. He was also one of the first seized, and his trial
was pending until General Blanco left the Islands. During this period
Rojas' wife besought the General to release him, but he could not do
so without incurring public censure, in view of the real or fictitious
condemnatory evidence brought against him by the court-martial. The
chief accusation was that of importing arms for the rebellion. It
even became a current topic, for a few weeks, that some German
merchants had made a contract with Rojas to sell him the arms, but
the Spanish authorities had sufficient good sense, on this occasion,
not to be guided by public outcry. When General Polavieja arrived,
Francisco L. Rojas' fate became a certainty, and he was executed as a
traitor. The departure of Pedro P. Rojas and the serenity of General
Blanco aroused great indignation among the civilian Spaniards who
clamoured for active mea