- Author:
- Browne, George Waldo
- Publication Info:
-
Boston:
Marshall Jones company,
1907,
pg 281
Text on page 281
TIIE PHILIPPINES.
281
of the natives always more than equalled by the barbarities of their
Spanish oppressors.
A serious outbreak occurred in 1872, instigated by some friars in the hope of obtaining the banishment of some families with views too liberal to suit their fanatical ideas. Besides these, which are only a few specimens shorn of their awful indignities, the list might be continued, always with the same grievance of Church and state tyranny, closing with identical barbaric chastisement, but each time with added strength on the part of the insurgents. Stories of Spanish atrocities in Cuba and Porto Rico came often to the knowledge of American and European countries, but the great Pacific Archipelago was too far removed from the centres of modern civilisation to attract attention, until the revolution of 1896 was an appeal heard around the world.
The causes which had led up to this were the same as heretofore, the tyranny of the ruling party, the demands of the Church, the burdens of an exorbitant taxation, and heavy fees of many kinds. In order to unite themselves for protection, the insurgents had formed a secret organisation called the Katipunan. Upon learning of this mysterious body, with its strength and numbers unknown, for the first time the priesthood became alarmed. This league really numbered over fifty thousand men ready to strike a blow when the moment came, and the province of Cavit becoming the muster-ground of the rebel forces, gatherings of the upnsers soon became common in the province of Batangas. The headquarters ot the first body was fixed at Silan, where a young schoolmaster by the name of Emilio Aguinaldo laid aside his text-books to teach to this unarmed rabble
emilio aguinaldo, leader of insurrection
ok 1899.ok 1899.
