269 THE INSURRECTION IN THE PHILIPPINES half of the clergy werenatives. There was also a native militia, whichat even the best of times had its work to do, for many of the tribes were in a state of semi-savagery, and aMalay dacoitis a troublesome enemy when he has a wild mountain jungle.for his refuge after his raids on the villages.

Manila,the capital, situatedon the shores ofa deepbay in the islandof Luzon, is one of the greatcommercial centres of the East. Accordingto the census ofi8lSo, it had then more than a quarter of a million inhabitants. The city consists of two portions,built one on each side of the river Pasig— a sluggish stream which where there is the fortified arsenal and naval station.

The Spanish Government had never maintained'any large garrison in the Philippines. The frequent campaigns against the wilder native tribes (whose exploits were chiefly of the nature of plundering raids) were mostly carried on with the help of the native Tagal or Malay militia. The European force in the islands consisted of a few battalions of infantry, some gunners for the batteries of Cavite arsenal, and the crews of the Pacific squadron. This flotilla was itselfmadeup of the leavings of the Spanish navy, a number of second-rate cruisers and connectsthe largeshallowlagoon of Bai Lake with Manila Bay. On the south bank of the river stands old Manila, founded three centuries ago by Legazpi. on the site of a Malay stockade. It is surrounded by a grass-grown rampart of no great strength, with ;s armed with oldfashioned muzzle-loading cannon. Within the rampart is a decayed city.

Whole streets are in ruins, never having been rebuilt since the widespread destruction caused by the great earthquake of a few year-ago Light structures of bamboo, wood, and thatch have gunboats, whose duty it was to put down piracy and smuggling, and occasionally co-operate in the attack of some Malay stockade on the island coasts.

There had been an abortive rising in Luzon in i86l\ a distant echo of the revolts in the h( me country and in Cuba. The troubles of the following years added to the population of the Philippines a conslder-'lumber ol malcontents exiled from Spain, some of them Carlists, but many more belonging to the Federalist aud Socialist party. From were recruited an DMIK.O. Ml active group that was persistently hostile to the local government. And there is no doubt that during the last ten years there was also a good deal of secret conspiracy in progress among the natives. They had introduced a curious system of" organisation tor this puriIl, Society of the Katipunam, partly imitated from the European lodges in Manila, but having grafted upon it elements derived from their old pagan worship. The Malay rejoices in mysterj,.and in many of the villages even the headmen and the chiefs of tin militia were deep m the conspiracy. The newot the rising in Cuba aud the difficulties of Spanish government— difficulties which led to a dangerous reduction ot the Manila garrison — tempted the conspirators into trviiiLr their hands at an organised revolt.

been erected on the old foundations and the fragments of shattered wall-. Among thebetter buildings which survived the earthquake ire the 'nor's palace and the great cathedral, one of the finest edifices of the kind in the East, its interiorrich to splendid wood-carvings. On the north shore of the Pasig stands newManila, the chief part of it being the suburb of Binondo, where the European merchant s andthe wealthier generally have their house-. The two halve.- of the city are connected by a lofty suspension-bridge over thePasig,and below the bridge quays and warehouses extend along the At it- mouth there is a new harbour, with a breakwater and two docks to proci construction,but the water is not deep enough for large vessels, and the mail steamers usually anchoi at I ven miles to the south-west.