in Alitao." Matta's report also said that probably Apolinario's expulsion from the hospital of San Juan de Dios in Manila, and the measures taken against his associates, together with the suggestions of the adherents of independence, contributed to the holding of the novena in Tayabas in spite of the precautions taken by the military and ecclesiastical authorities. These occurrences were principally the effect of superstition and fanaticism; and although the ideas of emancipation have been present in the Philippines, as in all colonies since the Spanish-American revolution, yet ideas of emancipation are limited in the islands to a few Spaniards who do not even form a political party, but only a crowd of complainers who are either not government employees, or are employees who take it ill that Spaniards are sent from the Peninsula to fill offices that they believe belong properly to themselves. [40] The ideas of emancipation have not yet contaminated, nor will they in a long time contaminate the Chinese, the Chinese mestizos, Spanish mestizos, or the natives, with the exception of a few of the "secular clergy, as insignificant because of their ignorance and few resources as by their lack of influence among their countrymen." Whatever be the opinions of the influential Spaniards born in the islands, they recognise that political upheavals would be as fatal to themselves as to the Peninsulars. In the insurrection of last January, among the six white officers assassinated or wounded, three of those killed and one wounded belonged to the revolting regiment, while the two remaining who were wounded were Europeans. The safety of all lies in the stability of the government; but it must be noted that events are daily more serious and that the discontent is spreading. Important reforms are necessary, but matters must be viewed only in the light of the public cause. "Without virtues there can be no prestige; and, without prestige, it will also be impossible for the lesser part to dominate the great whole." The conservation of the islands depends on "radical reforms in their legislation, and peremptory measures of precaution and security." Such reforms are:]