September 24, 1896.]
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CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
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order, of treason, of offences which compromise | the rebels the previous day marched from the peace and independence of the state or Bacoor towards Imus, but on arriving at the against the form of government, of at bridge found it broken and it was then decided tacks upon or disrespect to the Authorities to proceed to San Nicolas and from there to and their agents, and of offences to which descend on Imus. At San Nicolás they found rebellion or sedition gives rise, are subjected to the village had been sacked. The column military jurisdiction.
spent the night there. On the 3rd they arrived at Imus, which they found deserted, and the rebels were in possession of the hacienda of the Recoletos where they had fortified themselves. The hacienda was attacked and taken, the rebels suffering severe loss, whilst the Government troops lost three killed and ten wounded. On the morning of the 2nd the steamer Mariposa, chartered by the Dominican Fathers, left Manila for Cavite to bring away the friars resident in the village of Naic.
cottage, barefooted and dressed in Indian costume. She escaped a fate a thousand times worse than death by the opportune arrival of a steam- launch with Spanish people who had been notified of her situation. Poor lady, she is for the present quite out of her mind. One Euro- pean was shaved and marked on the arm, but he was cunning enough to cheat the miscreants "Art III.-Criminals guilty of flagrant re. and to escape from further injury. They tell bellion, of the offences enumerated in the preced- us here that two thousand men are coming onting article, or of offences provided for in the from Spain to help us; but will they come in code of miltary justice, will be summarily tried time? I sincerely hope so; but if we need help by Court Martial. sorely I trust that the French and English men-of-war which are here will assuredly come to our aid. We have three of them now in the bay. I cannot give you any other news. I should like to leave Manila and never come back. Our minds are full of the rebellion, to the ex- clusion of all else.”
From the Comercio we make the following condensed and summarised translation of the account of the occurrences near Manila on the night of Saturday, 29th August, and Sunday morning.
armoury.
The Municipal Captain of the village of Pasig advised the Government that at half-past two am, numerous groups of rebels entered the village, taking three civil guards whom they pressed into their service, and robbing the In the same village, at daylight, a fight took place between the civil guard and the rebels, the latter being put to flight in disorder and leaving two of their number dead and three prisoners. The launches patrolling the river operated in con- junction with the civil guard.
From Pandacan a numerous body of rebels crossed the river to San Juan del Monte. When near the country residence of Senor Gomez they were attacked by the Spanish troops and defeated with great loss, details of which our contemporary had not received. The artillery are said to have specially distinguished them selves in the affair. The rebels broke up into small groups of seven or eight each and fled. The people employed at the waterworks give the following narrative:-Between six and seven o'clock on the evening of the 29th, a large body of natives, numbering about 500, went to the store house and took the sporting guns of those who lived there. Then they shaved those who had hair on their faces and compelled all of them to make an incision with a penknife in the left knee, which is called the blood compact, a document of affiliation being signed with the blood from the wound, and they then com- municated to them the sign and password. The rebels, having obtained these compromising signatures, left at eleven o'clock at night, collecting arms wherever they could find them, and proceeding in the direction of San Juan del Monte, whence those employed at the waterworks saw them returning in dis- orderly flight between one and two o'clock in the morning. At Santolen they re- formed and turned again towards San Juan, and between six and seven o'clock about a
hundred fugitives were seen coming back who
disbanded and scattered in various directions.
General Euchalucs had taken up his quarters at the waterworks to direct the operations for clearing the district of rebels.
The Government forces appear to have lost five killed and several wounded in the above operations.
On the 31st it was reported that tranquillity prevailed in the district. A good many pri-
soners were sent in.
The following proclamation by the Governor General, declaring martial law was published on the 30th August:—
Acts of rebellion having been perpetrated during the last few days in different parts of this province by groups of armed men, gravely disturbing the public tranquility and calling for the most severe and exemplary re- pression, in order to suppress at the outset such a criminal and disorderly movement, I therefore,. in virtue of the powers vested in me, do order
as follows
Art. I. From the publication of the pre- sent order the territory comprised in the provinces of Manila, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva, Boija, l'arlao, la Laguna, Cavite, and Batangas is declared in a state of war.
"Art. II- In virtue of this declaration persons accused of offences affecting the public
}
"Art IV.-In the same manner are declared subject to summary trial all criminals, heads of sedition or rebellion, caught in flagrante,
41
Art V.-Persons found or having been on the scene of combat and those who may be found in hiding after having been with the rebels will be treated as criminals presumed to be guilty of the crimes mentioned in the preceding article. "Art. VI.-Courts martial as provided for in the respective cases by the code of military justice shall be competent to try the offences mentioned.
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"Art. VII.-Rebels who present themselves to the Authorities within forty-eight hours of the publication of this proclamation shall be exempt from the penalty for rebellion, except the heads of seditious groups and those repeating their offences. The heads referred to, if they submit within the time allowed, will have their punish- ment commuted to the lowest or medium penalty provided in the case.
昌盛
portant arrests were made, amongst the pri
At Cavite on the 4th inst. a number of im-
son of Antonio Ossorio! soners being a Chinaman named Ossorio, the Further arrests were made next day.
The next few days' papers contain little definite news, but it would appear that during this time the rebels had taken complete posses- sion of the province of Cavite, with the excep- tion of the town of that name, to which the Government forces had been obliged to withdraw.
The Comercio of the 9th in stating the losses. inflicted by the rebels in the village of Silan refers to the sad end of the parish priest, who was murdered by the mad crowd,, and "Art VIII.-The mere members of the re- bellion who submit in the time allowed without civil guard died heroically while trying to re- says that the officer in charge of the having committed acts of violence, as well as those compromised who wish to escape denuncia-officer with a sergeant and four guards took establish order. The family of the unfortunate tion in time to avoid its consequences, will be refuge in the tower of the church, where exempt from all punishment.
they locked themselves in, and the rebels blocked the entrance. Upon news of this being received a column of the 73rd Regiment was sent there under command of Captain Ber- nardez. The force arrived at night, but imme- diately opened fire on the rebels, killing fifty- eight of them and wounding a large number, and dislodging them from their positions, but at a cost to the Government troops of eight killed and twenty wounded. The troops then returned to Cavite and the wounded were sent from there to the military hospital at Manila.
Art IX. Any suspicious gathering will be dissolved at all costs by the public forces and those who do not surrender will be apprehended and placed at the disposition of the military authorities.
Art X.-The executive and judicial officers of the civil service will continue to exercise their usual functions in all matters not con- nected with public order, their powers in regard to the latter being limited to such duties as the military authorities may delegate to them, and in any case they are to give to the military direct all information that may come into their possession."
Governor-General issued a proclamation au- On the same day, the 30th August, the thorising the formation of a Volunteer Corps.
that Santo Potencia, the residence of the Gene- On the 2nd September the Comercio declared ral second in command, had become the brain of Manila, General Blanco (the Governor-Gene- ral) and all the principal authorities civil and military were there. It was there that the Vo- lunteer Corps was enrolled on the afternoon of the 1st September, the number of members being them and declared that with such soldiers he three hundred. The Governor-General addressed
also spoke and gave the corps his blessing. On would conquer the world. The Archbishop
the 2nd arms were supplied to the corps.
On the 3rd September the steamer Churruco left Manila with 311 prisoners deported to the Carolines.
On the 3rd September a proclamation was isened extending to the night of the 6th the time during which rebels might make their aubmission under the terms in the previous proclamation.
Rein-
The villages of the province of Cavite are generally administered by the Recoletana Order, and most of them have suffered from the consequences of the insurrectionary move- ment. The Comercio gives the names of four priests who had been murdered and of ten of whose fate nothing was known.
On the 8th the cruiser Don Juan de Austria
continued the bombardment of the village of Cavite Viejo and other villages of the province, although less severely than on the previous day. At night the firing was continued with the electric search light.
attack was At the village of Naic an Maragondan, and other places, in conjunction made by rebels from Imus, Noveleta, Indan,
the names of three officers who were killed are with the disaffected in the village itself, and
given. The fiscal of the parish and, the majordomos of the Dominicans' hacienda and convent were also killed.
In the town of Cavite great alarm had prevailed and many families took refuge in the Arsenal. The Spaniards were supplied with arms and a system of patrols and rounds was established and kept up night and day for a few days, but by the 11th, day patrols had been discontinued as tranquility was restored and they were continued only at night. The number of persons engaged on this service was thirty-two and for some days they had not a moment's rest.
The men-of-war at Cavite were the Reina Cristina, Castilla, Ulloa, Don Juan de Austria, San Quintin, Velasco, Leyte, and Albay, and these vessels with their launches exercised constant vigilance.
On the 1st September the outbreak of the re- bellion in the province of Cavite was reported. The villages appear to have risen in rapid suc- cession. The course adopted by them was to overpower the civil guard and officials and seize all the arms they could lay hands on. forcements were sent from Manila and on the 2nd September a battle was fought between the Government forces and a body of five hundred rebels at Las Pinas, the latter being defeated. The rebels are said to have lost twenty killed
On the 10th there arrived at Cavite from and ten prisoners were taken. On the 3rd it Manila a Colonel of Engineers and five cap was reported that the town of Cavite was relatains of various corps to constitute the Court tively calm, but the telegraph being broken there was no communication with the villages. On that morning the gunboat Leyte sent some shots into the village of Noveleta, which pro- duced a great effect, the rebels who occupied the village being seen to flee in all direc- tions. The column which was engaged with
Martial for the conspirators arrested - some days before. A correspondent of the Comercio says that the ignation of the peninsular Spaniards at the conduct of these men was hot, as they had all, or almost all, posed as friends and almost as the pro tors of the Spanish community.
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