t the feet of Isabella the Catholic his conquering
sword; it is Polavieja who returns after having cast into obscurity
the glories of Hernan Cortes; Polavieja, who has widened the national
map, and brings new territories to the realm--new thrones to his
queen. What can the people be thinking of that they remain thus in
silence? Applaud, imbeciles! It is Narvaez who is resuscitated. Now
we have another master!" No Spanish general who had arrived at
Polavieja's position would find it possible to be absolutely neutral
in politics, but to compare him with Narvaez, the military dictator,
proved in a few days' time to be the grossest absurdity. On May
13 Polavieja arrived in Barcelona physically broken, half blind,
and with evident traces of a disordered liver. His detractors were
silent; an enthusiastic crowd welcomed him for his achievements. He
had broken the neck of the rebellion, but by what means? Altogether,
apart from the circumstances of legitimate warfare, in which probably
neither party was more merciful than the other, he initiated a system
of striking terror into the non-combatant population by barbarous
tortures and wholesale executions. On February 6, 1897, in one
prison alone (Bilibid) there were 1,266 suspects, most of whom were
brought in by the volunteers, for the forces in the field gave little
quarter and rarely made prisoners. The functions of the volunteers,
organized originally for the defence of the city and suburbs, became
so elastic that, night after night, they made men and women come
out of their houses for inspection conducted most indecorously. The
men were escorted to the prisons from pure caprice, and subjected to
excessive maltreatment. Many of them were liberated in the course of a
few days, declared innocent, but maimed for life and for ever unable
to get a living. Some of these victims were well known to everybody
in Manila; for instance, Dr. Zamora, Bonifacio Arevalo the dentist,
Antonio Rivero (who died under torture), and others. The only apparent
object in all this was to disseminate broadcast living examples of
Spanish vengeance, in order to overawe the populace. Under General
Blanco's administration such acts had been distinctly prohibited on
the representation of General Carlos Roca.

Polavieja's rule brought the brilliant career of the notable Filipino,
Dr. Jose Rizal y Mercado, to a fatal end. Born in Calamba (La Laguna),
three hours' journey from Manila, on June 19, 1861, he was