rtunately possessed of a
fine estate coveted by an impecunious Spaniard, who denounced Abella,
and was rewarded by being appointed "Administrator" of his property,
out of which he so enriched himself that he was able, in a few months,
to return to Spain in a good financial position. A friend of mine,
a native planter of Balayan, was imprisoned for months, and then
sent back to his town declared innocent. He had been a marked man
since 1895, just after his son Quintin, a law student, had had a
little altercation with his clerical professors in Manila. Thousands
of peaceful natives were treated with unjustifiable ferocity. The old
torture-chamber on the ground-floor of the convent of Baliuag (Bulacan)
is still shown to visitors. The court-martial, established under
the presidency of a colonel, little by little practised systematic
extortion, for, within three months of the outbreak, hundreds of the
richest natives and half-castes in Manila were imprisoned for a few
days and released _conditionally_. From the lips of my late friend,
Telesforo Chuidian, a wealthy Chinese half-caste, known to all Manila
society, I heard of the squalid misery and privations to which he and
others of his class were subjected, but the complete list would fill
a page. Some were even re-arrested for the same nefarious purpose,
and the daily papers published their names on each occasion. Archbishop
Nozaleda and Gov.-General Blanco were at variance from the beginning of
the revolt, and in accordance with historical precedent it could only
end in one way, namely, that the clerical party advised the Canovas
Ministry to recall the General and appoint in his stead another who
would be obedient to the friars.

General Blanco was not sufficiently sanguinary for the monks. As a
strategist he had refused, at the outset, to undertake with 1,500
European troops a task which was only accomplished by his successor
with 28,000 men. But the priests thought they knew better, and Blanco
left for Spain in December, 1896. The relative positions of the parties
at this crisis stood as follows:--The rebels were in possession of
the whole of the Province of Cavite excepting the city and arsenal of
Cavite and the isthmus connecting that city with the mainland. They
were well fortified at Imus with trenches and stockades extending
from the estate-house fort in several directions, defended by an
army of 6,000 to 7,000 men. Their artillery was most primitive,
however, cons