The people of the Philippines, their religious progress and preparation for spiritual leadership in the Far East,

106 THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES

any charge against them, but because their districts were discontented. Terrified people fled from their homes to the mountains
to avoid violent deportation.
The Katipuners sent a deputation to Japan to present a petition to the Mikado, praying him to annex the Philippines; and
the Mikado sent the petition, with its five thousand signatures,
to the Spanish Government.15
While confessing to a Tondo priest (Father Mariano Gil)
a woman told all she knew of the plans of the Katipunan, and
secured the promise that her husband would be pardoned if he
turned state's evidence. The traitor accordingly confessed
that the revolution was to begin by a general slaughter of
Spaniards on the night of August 20, I896, and he gave a list
of the alleged leaders.
Instantly Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda demanded extermination by "fire, sword, and wholesale executions." But
General Blanco did not wish at that moment to infuriate the
Filipinos by drastic punishment. He was, indeed, in a painful
situation. He had only fifteen hundred troops in the Philippines, of which seven hundred were at Manila. Most of the
others were fighting the Moros. Two thousand more troops
were on the way from Spain and Blanco wished to wait for
them. The friars cabled the Spanish crown protesting against
Blanco's "inexplicable inactivity" and requested that he be
replaced by a stronger man.
On August 26, I896, a thousand rebels made a raid on
Caloocan and then fled. The first real battle took place four
days later (on August 30th) at the village of San Juan del
Monte near Manila. The Filipinos suffered a severe defeat.
Four leaders, including Sancho Valenzuela, were captured and
shot on the Campo de Bagumbayan (now the Luneta).
The day after the battle Don Emilio Aguinaldo, a teacher
in Silan, issued a fiery proclamation, and thereafter became
the "George Washington of the rebellion." From that time
until the end of Blanco's term as Governor-General, the
Filipinos were able to win many engagements and were gaining in strength and numbers.
I'Foreman, "The Philippine Islands," p. 512.