ltations and much deliberation it was decided at
a Cabinet meeting to approve unreservedly of the negotiations,
and to that effect a cablegram was sent to General Primo de Rivera
fully empowering him to conclude a treaty of peace on the basis
of the Protocol. Meanwhile, it soon became evident that there
were three distinct interests at stake, namely, those of Spain
and the Spanish people, those of the friars, and the claims of the
rebels. Consequently the traditional feud between the Archbishop of
Manila and the Captain-General was revived.

General Primo de Rivera in his despatch urged the Madrid Government to
grant certain reforms, in any case, which could not fail to affect the
hitherto independent position of the friars in governmental affairs. He
also drew the attention of the Government to the defenceless
condition of the capital in the event of a foreign attack (_vide_
Senate speeches reported in the _Diario de las Sesiones_, Madrid,
1899 and 1900). The friars were exceedingly wroth, and combined to
defeat the General's efforts to come to an understanding with the
rebels. They secretly paid natives to simulate the _Katipunan_ in
the provinces, and the plot only came to light when these unfortunate
dupes fell into the hands of the military authorities and confessed
what had happened. Nevertheless, the General pursued the negotiations
with Paterno as intermediary. Aguinaldo's original demand was for a
total indemnity of P3,000,000, but, in the course of the negotiations
alluded to, it was finally reduced to P1,700,000, inclusive of P800,000
to be paid to Aguinaldo on his retirement from the Colony.

The terms of the Protocol of Peace having been mutually agreed upon,
a treaty, known as the _Pacto de Biac-na-bato_, [185] is alleged to
have been signed at Biac-na-bato on December 14, 1897, between Emilio
Aguinaldo and others of the one part, and Pedro A. Paterno, as attorney
for the Captain-General, acting in the name of the Spanish Government,
of the other part. Under this treaty the rebels undertook to deliver up
their arms and ammunition of all kinds to the Spaniards; to evacuate
the places held by them; to conclude an armistice for three years for
the application and development of the _reforms to be introduced_
by the other part, and not to conspire against Spanish sovereignty
in the Islands, nor aid or abet any movement calculated to counteract
those reforms. Emilio Aguinaldo and 34 other leaders undertook to