CHAPTER XIII

Spanish Insular Government

From the days of Legaspi the supreme rule in these Islands was usually confided for indefinite periods to military men: but circumstances frequently placed naval officers, magistrates, the Supreme Court, and even ecclesiastics at the head of the local government. During the last half century of Spanish rule the common practice was to appoint a Lieut.-General as Governor, with the local rank of Captain-General pending his three-years' term of office. An exception to this rule in that period was made (1883-85) when Joaquin Jovellar, a Captain-General and ex-War Minster in Spain, was specially empowered to establish some notable reforms--the good policy of which was doubtful. Again, in 1897, Fernando Primo de Rivera, Marquis de Estella, also a Captain-General in Spain, held office in Manila under the exceptional circumstances of the Tagalog Rebellion of 1896, in succession to Ramon Blanco, Marquis de Pena Plata. Considering that Primo de Rivera, during his previous Gov.-Generalship (1880-83), had won great popularity with the Filipinos, he was deemed, in Madrid, to be the man most capable of arresting the revolutionary movement. How far the confidence of the Home Government was misplaced will be seen in