I reserved what seemed the most interesting question of the interview with the Philippine leader to the last.  It was whether a condition of pacification was the expulsion of the Catholic priests as a class.  This was presented with reference to the threats that had been made in my hearing that the priests must go or die, for they were the breeders of all trouble.  Must all of them be removed in some way or another?  If not, where would the line be drawn?  The lips of the General were parted and his voice quite low and gentle, the tongue to a remarkable degree doing the talking, as he replied, plainly picking words cautiously and measuring them.  The able and acute interpreter dealt them out rapidly, and his rendering gave token that the Filipinos have already had lessons in diplomacy—­even in the Spanish style of polite prevarication—­or, if that may be a shade too strong, let us say elusive reservation—­the use of language that is more shady than silence, the framing of phrases that may be interpreted so as not to close but to continue discussion and leave wide fields for controversy.  The General did not refer to his counselors, or the congress that is in the background and advertised as if it were a new force.

The words of the interpreter for him were: 

“The General says the priests to whom objection is made, and with whom we have a mortal quarrel, are not our own priests, but the Spaniards’ and those of the orders.  We respect the Catholic church.  We respect our own priests, and, if they are friends of our country, will protect them.  Our war is not upon the Catholic church, but upon the friars, who have been the most cruel enemies.  We cannot have them here.  They must go away.  Let them go to Spain.  We are willing that they may go to their own country.  We do not want them.  There is no peace until they go.”

I said my information was that the objectionable Orders expressly proscribed by the insurgents were the Dominicans, Augustines, Franciscans and Recollects, but that the Jesuits were not included.  This was fully recited to the General, and with his eyes closing and his mouth whispering close to the interpreter’s cheek he gave his answer, and it was quickly rendered: 

“The Jesuits, too, must go.  They also are our enemies.  We do not want them.  They betray.  They can go to Spain.  They may be wanted there, not here; but not here, not here.”

The question whether the friars must make choice between departure and death was not met directly, but with repetitions—­that they might be at home in Spain, but could not be a part of the independent Philippines; and, significantly, they should be willing to go when wanted, and would be.  Two Catholic priests—­Americans, not Spaniards—­were at this moment waiting in the ante room, to ask permission for the priests Aguinaldo has in prison to go back to Spain, and the General could not give an answer until he had consulted his council.  Probably he would not dare to part with the priests, and an order from him would be disregarded.  They have many chances of martyrdom, and some of them have already suffered mutilation.