our errand will not be, in any sense
or degree, diplomatic in its nature; but will be purely a business
matter of negotiation by you, as Governor of the Philippines, for the
purchase of property from the owners thereof, and the settlement of
land titles."

Governor Taft arrived in Rome in June, 1902, in the pontificate
of His Holiness Leo XIII., whose Secretary of State was Cardinal
M. Rampolla. In Governor Taft's address to His Holiness, the following
interesting passage occurs: "On behalf of the Philippine Government, it
is proposed to buy the lands of the Religious Orders with the hope that
the funds thus furnished may lead to their withdrawal from the Islands,
and, if necessary, a substitution therefor, as parish priests, of
other priests whose presence would not be dangerous to public order."

In the document dated June 22, in reply to Governor Taft's address
to His Holiness, Cardinal Rampolla says: "As to the Spanish religious
in particular belonging to the Orders mentioned in the instructions,
not even they should be denied to return to those parishes where the
people are disposed to receive them without disturbance of public
order . . . The Holy See will not neglect to promote, at the same
time, the better ecclesiastical education and training of the native
clergy, in order to put them in the way, according to their fitness,
of _taking gradually_ the place of the Religious Orders in the
discharge of the pastoral functions. The Holy See likewise recognizes
that in order to reconcile more fully the feelings of the Filipinos
to the religious possessing landed estates, _the sale of the same is
conducive thereto_. The Holy See declares it is disposed to furnish the
new Apostolic Delegate, who is to be sent to the Philippine Islands,
with necessary and opportune instructions in order to treat amicably
this affair in understanding with the American Government and the
parties interested."

In the same document the Holy See asked for indemnity for "the acts of
vandalism perpetrated by the insurgents in the destruction of churches
and the appropriation of sacred vestments," and also for the damage
caused by the occupation by the American Government of "episcopal
palaces, seminaries, convents, rectories, and other buildings intended
for worship." The Holy See further claimed "the right and the liberty
of administering the pious trusts of ecclesiastical origin, or of
Catholic foundation, which do not owe their existence