The San Francisco call., 1899-02-11

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10.-From let
ters written to Major General Otis by
Aguinaldo, obtained to-day from Senor
Luna of the Filipino junta here and
brother of Aguinaldo's Minister of War.
it appears Otis threatened Aguinaldo
with arrest if he persisted in his re-
fusal to release the Spanish civil func-
tionaries and monks held as prisoners
by the insurgents.
General Otis advised Aguinaldo to
surrender these people, and When
Aguinaldo wrote explaining his rea-
sons for holding them General Ot1s
made a stronger request. Agulnaloo
refused to comply, and then Otis mace
q demand for the release of the prls-
oners. and threatened to arrest Aguln-
aldo if he refused. The first letter from
Aguinaldo follows:
General otis: 1t Is a pleasure for me TO
acknowledge the receipt of your letter OF
Yesterday. and I am persuaded the OBJ
servations made by you were learned In
free land. First let me tell you 1t is not
nv policy to make prisoners OF women
and children No nun has ever been held
a prisoner by Philippine forces. II among
our prisoners is found child or woman
il is because those persons have elected
to remain with father or husband. Some
prisoners of this class are supported out
of the Philippine treasury. l know this
is apparently violation of the rules and
usages of war as practiced by civilized
nations, but think it is policy dictated
by the principles of humanity. These
women and children may have liberty If
they desire it.
he flInr-
tionaries and Spanish monks may
not be imprisoned without violations of
the rules of international law. We have
never made prisoners of the Spanish sec
ular clergy, but have captured and i'm
prisoned monks. / feel on this subject
the foreign mind has been very much
misled l desire to remind you the Span
ish civil functionaries and Spanish monks
are such in name only. AT the beginning
of the war between America and Spain
General Augustin organized the civil en-
ployes into an armed corps and they con-
tinued to bear arms against the Philip
pine people 1t is true they did not go
much into the fields of battle, but were
useful to Spain in harassing and terror
izing unarmed and inoffensive Filipinos.
These people subjected thousands of my
people to cruel, unnatural and unneces-
sary tortures.
In the matter of Spanish monks, permit
me to tell you they have done more than
any other class in enslaving the people.
In times of peace this class has levied
tribute from my people. The canon laws
of the Roman Catholic church forbid
that monks shall take up arms, enter
military service or actively participate in
politics The Spanish monks in the Phil
ippines have done all these things. They
have long deceived the Vatican. When
the secular, clergy, who are Filipinos,
sought to bring the abuses to the atten-
ton of the high authorities in the church
they were prosecuted and tortured by
monks and powerful religious corpora
tions. These monks pretended to the
Spanish authorities that to them was due
in the main the subsection of the Fill
pinos and the maintenance of the Span
ish sovereignty in the islands. The Span
ish functionaries who were cognizant of
this deception, did not disclose 1t, as
they were in the hire of rich ecclessias-
teal corpo. ations.
The leading cause of the Philippine rev.
olution may be attributed justly to the
Vaccinations of these alleged men of
God. They have kept a closed door to
liberty and progress. All the foreigners
who have studied the Philippine situation
will bear me out in this statement.