ts, organized an army of deserters from European ships,
but their lack of discipline made them undesirable soldiers, and so
he disbanded the force. He then gathered a regiment of Manila men,
as the Filipinos usually found as quartermasters on all ships sailing
in the East were then called. With the aid of some other Americans
these troops were disciplined and drilled into such efficiency that the
men came to have the title among the Chinese of the "Ever-Victorious"
army, because of the almost unbroken series of successes which they
had experienced. A partial explanation, possibly, of their fighting
so well is that they were paid only when they won.

The high praise given the Filipinos at this time was in contrast to the
disparagement made of their efforts in Indo-China, where in reality
they had done the fighting rather than their Spanish officers. When
a Spaniard in the Philippines quoted of the Filipino their customary
saying, "Poor soldier, worse sacristan," the Filipinos dared make
no open reply, but they consoled themselves with remembering the
flattering comments of "General" Ward and the favorable opinion of
Archbishop Martinez.

References to Filipino military capacity were banned by the censors and
the archbishop's communication had been confidential, but both became
known, for despotisms drive its victims to stealth and to methods
which would not be considered creditable under freer conditions.

CHAPTER V

Jagor's Prophecy

RIZAL'S first home in Manila was in a nipa house with Manuel
Hidalgo, later to be his brother-in-law, in Calle Espeleta, a street
named for a former Filipino priest who had risen to be bishop and
governor-general. This spot is now marked with a tablet which gives
the date of his coming as the latter part of February, 1872.

Rizal's own recollections speak of June as being the date of the
formal beginning of his studies in Manila. First he went to San Juan
de Letran and took an examination in the Catechism. Then he went back
to Kalamba and in July passed into the Ateneo, possibly because of
the more favorable conditions under which the pupils were admitted,
receiving credit for work in arithmetic, which in the other school,
it is said, he would have had to restudy. This perhaps accounts for
the credit shown in the scholastic year 1871-72. Until his fourth
year Rizal was an externe, as those residing outside of the school
dormitory were then called. The Ateneo was very popular and