rs of which were two creoles, might easily
have terminated fatally for Spain. The latest of all the risings of
the mestizos seems to have been the most dangerous, not only to the
Spanish power, but to all the European population. [265]

[Cavite 1872 mutiny.] On the 20th of January, 1872, between eight and
nine in the evening, the artillery, marines, and the garrison of the
arsenal revolted in Cavite, the naval base of the Philippines, and
murdered their officers; and a lieutenant who endeavored to carry the
intelligence to Manila fell into the hands of a crowd of natives. The
news therefore did not reach the capital until the next morning, when
all the available troops were at once dispatched, and, after a heavy
preliminary struggle, they succeeded the following day in storming
the citadel. A dreadful slaughter of the rebels ensued. Not a soul
escaped. Among them was not a single European; but there were many
mestizos, of whom several were priests and lawyers. Though perhaps
the first accounts, written under the influence of terror, may have
exaggerated many particulars, yet both official and private letters
agree in describing the conspiracy as being long contemplated, widely
spread, and well planned. The whole fleet and a large number of troops
were absent at the time, engaged in the expedition against Sulu. A
portion of the garrison of Manila were to rise at the same time as
the revolt in Cavite, and thousands of natives were to precipitate
themselves on the caras blancas (pale faces), and murder them. The
failure of the conspiracy was, it appears, only attributable to a
fortunate accident--to the circumstance, namely, that a body of the
rebels mistook some rocket fired upon the occasion of a Church festival
for the agreed signal, and commenced the attack too soon. [266]

[Summing up.] Let me be permitted, in conclusion, to bring together a
few observations which have been scattered through the text, touching
the relations of the Philippines with foreign countries, and briefly
speculate thereon.

[Credit due Spain.] Credit is certainly due to Spain for having
bettered the condition of a people who, though comparatively speaking
highly civilized, yet being continually distracted by petty wars,
had sunk into a disordered and uncultivated state. The inhabitants of
these beautiful islands, upon the whole, may well be considered to
have lived as comfortably during the last hundred years, protected
from all external ene