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 Biacnabato 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 Biacnabato
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