The age-herald., 1901-02-26
PRIESTS OPPOSE
 FEDERAL PARTY
One of Them Makes Charges Against Leading fiipih0S
INFLUENCE IS ESSENTIAL
Says Cooperation Of Padres Neees. sary to American Pfogress=An Engagement Near cavinta.
 Negotiation In Panay.

Manila, February 25.-Rev. Father Nc kinnen, who was formerly private secre- tary to MenseigneuF Chappelle and who Is now pastor of the Brmitd catholic Church of New Orleans, informed rep- resentative of the Associated Press to- day that there were upwards of SO na- tive priests in the Philippines opposed to the Federal party and that these would refuse to administer the sacrament to Federalists. because they believed the Federal party to he merely A cloak for Protestants to weaken the p6wer of the church of Rome. He referred to the Fed eral party as resting on an insecure foundation and destined to erumbie soon,' and asserted that the Methodists and Presbyterian missionaries were hs= Ing unfair means to induce Filipinos to leave the Catholic faith. He assailed the character of Senor Buencamino and other evangelical leaders and contended that only by securing the cooperation and good will of the padres could the Ameri- cans make permanent progress in the Philippines.
 The Other Side.
 Senor Tavero. president of the Federal party, when the views of Father McKin- non were brought to his attention, re- piled.
 So much the better, as it will bring the matter to an issue.'
 When asked whether the members of the party would not leave 1t If they learned that Ynap,harvbi, ipvnlv ad tbair church standing, Senor Tavero replied
 They probably would if that were true; but I believe only a small propor- ton of the priests would exclude people from their church privileges for such a reason. We Fiipinos did not make an issue of separation of church and state This was decreed by the United States Constitution. Nothing else is tolerated under American sovereignty. Whether Federalists approve or not they cannot be loyallsts and yet oppose that doctrine
 If the Catholic authorities are not will ing to accept 1t they are not patriotic The Federal party may disintegrate after civil government is generally established in the Philippines, but the principles of peace under American sovereignty will not disntegrate."
 Senor Tavero asserted that the Federal ists who had relatives and friends among the prominent insurgent leaders were en- deavoring by correspondence to induce them to surrender although thus far without success.
 Some employers of native labor allege that the natives are gathered by the Federaists wholesale without any ex- planation of the principles to which they are subscribing. Ordinarily the natives are easily led by their accustomed leaders, but the movement for peace with the United States has authority and great moment and it is now generally under stood and approved by the natives 1O7 (Henry), to 1, third. Time: 1:29.
 Chaplain Fitzgerald administered the oath of allegiance to 200 Ilolocanos at a church in Vigan on February 22, and a parish priest at Santa Catalina admins tered similar oath 10 700 natives on February 24.
 Lieutenant West, with a detachment of the crew of the gunboat Laguna de Bay attacked 200 insurgents under Callabos near Cavinta, province of Laguna- After a hard fight of forty minutes the insur gents were dispersed, losing six killed and fourteen captured. A detachment of the Forty-seventh Volunteer Infantry encountered a body of insurgents in the province of Albay, killing eighteen, and subsequently another body, killing nine. The Americans had no casualties.
 A squad of the Eighteenth United States Infantry surprised band of La drones at Hoosiin, island of Panay, kill ing six. The Americans captured five rifles.
 The peace commission is negotiating with the insurgents in northern Panay, and there is a prospect of an early sur render.