Manila, the capital city of the colony and of Luzon, the largest island, lies 628 miles, or sixty hours' easy steaming, southeast of Hongkong, and twice that distance northeast of Singapore. The population of the city is about 330,000, of whom only 10,000-- including troops, government officials and clergy--are Europeans, and not more than 500 are English-speaking people. A few American houses have branches in Manila, so that there is an American population of perhaps 100. The city faces a fine bay, into which flows the River Pasig. Most of the Europeans live in Binondo, a beautiful suburb on higher ground, across the river. There are many native dialects, but the social, official and business idiom is Spanish. The army of Spanish civil, religious, military and naval officials is a leech on the people in the same fashion as it was in Cuba. All the places of profit are monopolized by them, appointments to choice offices in the Philippines being given to those whom it is desired to reward for service to the government in Spain. It is quite well understood that such an appointee is expected to gain a fortune as rapidly as he can, by any method possible, so that he may give way for some one else to be brought over from Spain for a similar reward. The policy is the same as the colonial policy of Spain in Cuba was, and the same results have followed. But, indeed, pillage of the wretched natives is the almost open aim of the government--the sole end for which it is organized and maintained; so why should petty officials be scrupulous? It is the old Roman provincial system, denounced by Cicero 2,000 years ago, but in Spain unforgotten and unimproved. What other use has she for dependencies, except as a source of revenue wrung by torture from the misery of slaves, and incidentally as a battening ground for her savage war dogs? Here the detestable Weyler is said to have accumulated a fortune of several millions of dollars in three years--more than twenty times the whole amount of his salary! The methods employed in this legalized system of robbery are medieval in character, but often highly ingenious. One of them is the "cedula personal," a sort of passport. Every person in the islands and over eighteen years of age and accessible to the authorities is required to take out one of these documents; even the women are not exempt. The cedula must be renewed annually and the cost is from $1.50 to $25, according to circumstances--the chief circumstances being the victim's ability to pay. This in a country where wages sometimes fall as low as five cents a day! And any one who holds a cedula costing less than $3 is further required to render the government fifteen days of unremunerated labor. INSTANCES OF PETTY EXTORTION.