sessions (which the Decree required to be secret) into political meetings in favor of the insurrection.  So the whole project is thus far a failure:  and the local administration is in considerable disorder, apart from that caused by the insurgents.  In point of fact self-government and representation are unknown in these islands.  The Archbishop and the four Bishops are appointed by the Pope; the Governor General, military and naval officers and all officials with a salary exceeding about $2.000 (silver) are appointed by the King or the Minister of the Colonies.  Yet all the expenses are paid from the Philippine Treasury; the salaries of all officials, military, naval, civil and ecclesiastical, the expenses and pensions of the army, navy and church, the cost of the diplomatic and consular service in Japan, China and Singapore, even a portion of the expenses of the Colonial office, Madrid, and of pensions paid to the descendants of Columbus—­all come out of the taxes raised in the islands.  The natives have no place in the government, except clerks in the public offices at Manila and the petty positions in the villages and the Ayentamientos of cities, where their powers and responsibilities, as we have seen, are at all times limited and subject to revocation whenever disapproved by the Governor.

Though the population of the islands is 40 per cent. of that of Spain, they have no representation in the Cortes.

There is a widespread report, almost universally believed by native Filipinos and by foreign merchants, and even acknowledged by many Spaniards, that pecuniary dishonesty and corruption exist throughout the whole body of Spanish office-holders, from the highest to the lowest.  Forced contributions are said to be levied on the salaries of minor officials; the Regimental Paymasters and Commissaries are said to have sold part of the regimental stores for their own profit, the Collector of Customs and the Minister of Finance to have imposed or remitted fines at the Custom House and Internal Revenue Office, according to payment or non-payment of presents by merchants, the judges and court officials to have “borrowed” from attorneys large sums which are never paid, and even the Governor General is reported to have organized a regular system of smuggling in Mexican dollars, the importation of which was prohibited by law, on a fixed scale of payment to himself.  The current report is that Weyler carried away over $1,000,000 as his savings during the three years from 1888 to 1891 that he held the office of Governor General, on a salary of $40,000 a year.  Of the proof of these reports I have naturally no personal knowledge, but they are matters of common talk and belief, and they have been stated to me by responsible persons, who have long resided in the islands.