Historically the first record of the Philippiness their discovery by Ferdinand Magel-Jan who after his famous voyage two-thirds the way around the world landed on the ud of Cebu in 1521 only to meet with death at the hands of the natives, Fitty rs later in 1571 he was followed by sud de Legaspi who made Manila the capital of the isiinds, From the time Ma-gollan took possession in the name of Charles L, King of Spain, the sovereignty of that country over the group has remained prac tically unquestioned until the day of Ameri-occupation or during period of nearly. 400 years. In 1696 the Dutch made a fruitless effort to take possession and in or 138 years ago, England captured Manila and had the opportunity of holding the islands forever. Under the promise of a ransom of $5,000,000 which was never paid, the English firees withdrew. It I were an Buglishman L should claim thi an unsettled mortgage. That $5,000,000 at uponnd interest would now nearly pay early days there were also frequent collisions with descending Cirinese hordes, while in recent years local rebellions have kept the mother country in a constant state of worry. In 1822, 18H, 1842, 1872, 1896, and finally in 1897, there were organised but unsuccessful attempts by the natives to cither delve Spain from the islands or make her grant sweeping reforms.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.