aspect of the case, and regarded only in
the light of a business transaction, it does not appear that the
Filipinos were ever offered a solid guarantee for the fulfilment of
any of the proposed conditions. But the insuperable difficulty was
Spain's inability to comply with the Filipinos' essential condition
of recognition of the Philippine Republic.

Finally, in the prosecution of the War of Independence, the American
troops drove the insurgents so hard, capturing town after town, that
they were constrained to abandon the custody of the Spanish survivors,
who flocked in groups to the American posts, and eventually embarked
for their native land. On May 20, 1900, the Spanish Commission received
a letter from the insurgent General Trias stating that orders had
been issued to liberate all the prisoners.

In due course the Spanish warships sunk at the Battle of Cavite were
raised by the Americans, and the dead bodies of Spain's defenders on
that memorable day were handed over to a Spanish Commission. The same
organization also took charge of the bodies recovered from Baler (east
coast of Luzon), and after a _Requiem_ mass was said at the Cathedral
these mortal remains were conducted with appropriate solemnity on
board the s.s. _Isla de Panay_, which left Manila for Barcelona on
February 14, 1904.

CHAPTER XXVII

End of the War of Independence and After

In the month of May, 1901, the prisons were overflowing with captured
insurgents, and the military authorities found an ostensible reason
for liberating a number of them. A General Order was issued that to
"signalize the recent surrender of General Manuel Tinio [230] and
other prominent leaders," one thousand prisoners of war would be
released on taking the oath of allegiance. The flame of organized
insurrection was almost extinguished, but there still remained some
dangerous embers. Bands of armed natives wandered through the provinces
under the name of insurgents, and on July 31, 1901, one of Aguinaldo's
subordinate generals, named Miguel Malvar, a native of Santo Tomas
(Batangas) issued a manifesto from the "Slopes of the Maquiling"
(Laguna Province), announcing that he had assumed the position of
Supreme Chief. Before the war he had little to lose, but fishing
in troubled waters and gulling the people with _anting-anting_ and
the "signs in the clouds" proved to be a profitable occupation to
many. An expedition was sent against him, and he was utterly routed