all their intelligence, all their time, all their strength. Generous
voices there are mingled with ours, statesmen who realize that there
is no better bond than community of thought and interest. Justice will
be meted out to us, and everything points to a brilliant future for
all. It's true that we've just met with a slight rebuff, we students,
but victory is rolling along the whole line, it is in the consciousness
of all! The traitorous repulse that we have suffered indicates the
last gasp, the final convulsions of the dying. Tomorrow we shall be
citizens of the Philippines, whose destiny will be a glorious one,
because it will be in loving hands. Ah, yes, the future is ours! I
see it rose-tinted, I see the movement that stirs the life of these
regions so long dead, lethargic. I see towns arise along the railroads,
and factories everywhere, edifices like that of Mandaloyan! I hear
the steam hiss, the trains roar, the engines rattle! I see the smoke
rise--their heavy breathing; I smell the oil--the sweat of monsters
busy at incessant toil. This port, so slow and laborious of creation,
this river where commerce is in its death agony, we shall see covered
with masts, giving us an idea of the forests of Europe in winter. This
pure air, and these stones, now so clean, will be crowded with coal,
with boxes and barrels, the products of human industry, but let it
not matter, for we shall move about rapidly in comfortable coaches to
seek in the interior other air, other scenes on other shores, cooler
temperatures on the slopes of the mountains. The warships of our navy
will guard our coasts, the Spaniard and the Filipino will rival each
other in zeal to repel all foreign invasion, to defend our homes, and
let you bask in peace and smiles, loved and respected. Free from the
system of exploitation, without hatred or distrust, the people will
labor because then labor will cease to be a despicable thing, it will
no longer be servile, imposed upon a slave. Then the Spaniard will
not embitter his character with ridiculous pretensions of despotism,