The Philippines: Past and Present | Page 9

Emilio Aguinaldo,
Supreme Chief of the Insurgents in arms," and Don Marciano Llanera
and Don Baldomero Aguinaldo, his subordinates, together with their
soldiers and arms.
"The Excellent Señor General in Chief" of the Spanish forces was to
"provide the necessary means for supporting the lives" of those who
surrendered before a certain fixed date.
In actual practice what was done was to agree to pay them $800,000
[14] in three instalments, the first of $400,000, the second and third of
$200,000 each.
Aguinaldo and certain other leaders were to take up their residence
outside the islands. Their deportation was duly provided for, and
Aguinaldo and twenty-six of his companions were taken to Hongkong,
on the Spanish steamer _Uranus_; arriving there on December 31,
1897.
On January 2, 1898, $400,000 were deposited in the Hongkong Bank,
to the credit of Aguinaldo and Co.
The Insurgent leaders remaining at Biacnabató had a meeting under the
presidency of Isabelo Artacho, an Ilocano [15] who was the ranking
officer in the absence of Aguinaldo, and requested that the second
instalment, of $200,000, be paid to them. The Spanish
governor-general, Primo de Rivera, acceded to their request, and they

divided the money, although Aguinaldo denied their right to do so,
claiming that it should have been sent to Hongkong.
The third payment of $200,000 was apparently never made. Primo de
Rivera says that he turned over a check for $200,000 to his successor,
General Augustin, in April, 1898; giving as his reason for refusing to
pay it to the Insurgents that there seemed to him to be no prospect of its
being equitably divided among those who were entitled to receive it
under the agreement.
Aguinaldo and his associates claimed that certain reforms were
promised by the Spanish government at the time the treaty of
Biacnabató was negotiated, and as these measures were not put into
effect, they organized a junta or revolutionary committee at Hongkong.
It included in its membership a number of Filipino political exiles, then
residing at that place.
The men who composed this organization soon fell to quarrelling and it
became necessary to come to a definite understanding as to its aims.
Under the arrangement finally reached, the junta, as a whole, was
charged with the work of propaganda outside of the archipelago; with
all diplomatic negotiations with foreign governments; and with the
preparation and shipment of such articles as were needed to carry on
the revolution in the Philippines. It was to be allowed voice by
Aguinaldo's government in any serious question which might arise
abroad, and would aid that government in bringing the civil
administration of the Philippines to the level of that of the most
advanced nations.
Trouble soon arose among the former Insurgent leaders over the
division of the funds deposited at Hongkong.
Taylor gives a trustworthy and concise account of the events of this
period, and as it is of historic interest, and makes clear just how
Aguinaldo came to go to Singapore, meet Pratt, and enter into
negotiations with him, I quote extensive extracts from it. [16]
"From January 4 to April 4, Aguinaldo withdrew from the banks

5786.46 pesos in part interest on the money he had deposited. This was
used to pay the expenses of himself and his companions in Hongkong.
These expenses were kept at a minimum; the money was drawn and
spent by him. If one of the men with him needed a new pair of shoes,
Aguinaldo paid for them; if another wanted a new coat, Aguinaldo
bought it. Minute accounts were kept, which are on file among his
papers, and it is seen from them that his expenses were exceeding his
income, which could only be 12,000 pesos a year, while he was living
at the rate of 22,000, with constant demands being made upon him by
men who came from the Philippines. Life was not easy under these
conditions. Aguinaldo's companions were entirely dependent upon him.
Their most trivial expenses had to be approved by him, and he held
them down with a strong hand. They were men living in a strange land,
among a people whose language they did not speak, having nothing to
do but quarrel among themselves, exiles waiting for a chance to return
to their own country, which they watched with weary eyes while they
guarded the embers by which they hoped to light the fires of a new
insurrection.
"The men who had accompanied Aguinaldo to Hongkong were not the
only Filipinos domiciled there; a number of men had taken refuge in
that British colony after the events of 1872, and some of them at least
had prospered. Some of them, like the members of the Cortes family,
seem to have had almost no relations with the followers of Aguinaldo;
some, like J. M. Basa,