18 METZGER— THE FILIPINO. [March i 7) 



By the terms of the Pacto de Paris, which reached Manila on the 

 twenty-seventh of August, 1763, the British evacuated the islands, 

 but peace and quiet did not follow. Hardly had the Spanish colors 

 been unfurled ere the natives of Cagayan, Ylocos and Pangasanan 

 provinces broke out in open rebellion under a religious fanatic 

 Diego de Silan, a half-caste Indian, who declaring the Spanish 

 sovereign a usurper, directed that no more tribute be paid to the 

 Spanish Treasury. This insurrection assumed considerable propor- 

 tions and not until many lives had been sacrificed and noteworthy 

 concessions made by Spain was peace established. 



During this revolt in the north country, the Mussulmans under 

 Datto Teng-teng, attacked the Spanish garrisons on the island of 

 Mindanao, butchering their prisoners and destroying much of the 

 public property. This outbreak was, however, but one of the 

 many reprisals of the Mussulmans as the result of the enforcement 

 of a sovereignty and a religion which was to them nauseous and 

 antagonistic to the Mohammedan faith. 



In 1872 occurred what is known as the Cavite insurrection. The 

 real cause of this rebellion was the native opposition to the Spanish 

 friars holding parochial incumbencies contrary to the decision of 

 the Council of Trent. However, the friars claimed to have such 

 authority, by virtue of papal bulls issued by Pius V, wherein they 

 were authorized to act as parish priests where the native clergy 

 were insufficient in numbers. This authority, unfortunately, was 

 abused, doubtless on account of the friars recognizing that full and 

 strict compliance meant monastic impotence politically. This 

 uprising of the natives was promptly suppressed and their leader, 

 Jose Burgos and his confederates, were duly executed, upon the 

 instigation of the friars, on the Luneta (Manila's famous drive) in 

 accordance with Spanish custom. The moral effect of these execu- 

 tions, however, was but temporary and only served to engender a 

 more bitter feeling against the friars, and at the same time, this 

 one act of Spain's, was the prime factor in the formation of one of 

 the most powerful .freemasonries in the world, the Katipunan. 



This was the beginning of the end of Spanish rule in the Philip- 

 pine islands, for it meant the coalescence of all of the tribes, with 

 the common object of expelling a power (the friars) which was 

 not .only odious and tyrannical, but dictatorial and to which the 

 Spanish government of the islands was subservient. The cry of 



