ice to the State, in consideration
of which he was awarded the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic, with
the distinction of "Excellency." In 1895 the oft-discussed question
of the title of nobility he was to receive was revived. After the
Peace of Biac-na-bato he fully expected that the usual Spanish custom
would have been followed of conceding a title to the Peacemaker. The
precedents for such an act, in modern times, are the titles given
to Manuel Godoy (1795) and to General Espartero [188] (1840), who
became respectively Prince of Peace and Prince of Vergara for similar
services rendered to the Crown. A dukedom, Paterno believes, would
have been his reward if the revolution had definitely terminated with
the retirement of Emilio Aguinaldo from the Islands in 1897.

A man of versatile gifts, Pedro A. Paterno has made his mark in
literature with works too numerous to mention; he is a fluent orator,
a talented musician, and the composer of the argument of an opera,
_Sangdugong Panaguinip_ ("The Dreamed Alliance"). As a brilliant
conversationalist and well-versed political economist he has few
rivals in his country. A lover of the picturesque and of a nature
inclined to revel in scenes of aesthetic splendour, his dream of
one day wearing a coronet was nurtured by no vulgar veneration for
aristocracy, but by a desire for a recognized social position enabling
him, by his prestige, to draw his fellow-men from the sordid pleasure
of mere wealth-accumulation towards the sentimental, imaginative
ideals of true nobility. In 1904 Pedro A. Paterno was the editor and
proprietor of the newspaper _La Patria_, the mission of which was (1)
to support the American dominion as a _fait accompli_, (2) to urge
the fulfilment of the promise of eventual Philippine home rule, (3)
to sustain a feeling of gratitude towards Spain, whence the Filipinos
derived their civilization, and (4) to support Roman Catholic unity,
on the ground that unity is strength.

In the second week of April, 1898, General Primo de Rivera left Manila
for Spain, on the arrival of his successor in the Captain-Generalcy,
General Basilio Augusti, in the s.s. _Isla de Mindanao_. [189] Some
days before General Primo de Rivera's departure the American Consul
at Manila had received despatches from his Government to prepare
to quit the Islands, as war was imminent between Spain and the
United States. He was further instructed to hand over his consulate
archives to the Britis