A few quotations from Protestant travellers who visited the Philippines before the insurrection had biassed men's minds, and distorted plain facts, will go a long way in the refutation of these flippantly uttered and unspeakably gross calumnies. "It is said," observes the wife of the American navigator, Captain Morrell, "that in Manila there are more convents (both of men and of women) than in any other city in the world of its size; and the general voice of natives and foreigners declares that they are under excellent regulations." And then she describes their inmates. "They all seemed full of occupation. There is no idleness in the convents, as is generally supposed;" and this her own account of the various works accomplished in them sufficiently proves. Moreover, "their devotions begin at the dawn of the day, and are often repeated during the whole of it, or until late in the evening, in some form or other. I was born a Protestant, and trust that I shall die a Protestant; but hereafter I shall have more charity for all who profess to love religion, whatever may be their creed." Sir John Bowring, in 1859, speaks of their influence, an influence generally acquired only by men of holy lives. He says: "They exercise an influence which would seem magical, were it not by their devotees deemed divine." Dr. Ball, an American Protestant traveller, speaks highly of the character of the Spanish friars in the Philippines. Of one whom he met at Manila, he says: "He has a fund of knowledge on almost every subject, speaks six or seven languages, and has declined an offer of the presidency of the seminary here, preferring to remain always in the capacity of missionary." Mr. MacMacking, another Protestant, who spent some years in the islands, says, in 1861: "Most of the priests I came in contact with appeared to be thoroughly convinced of, and faithful to, their religion in its purity."