It was whether a condition of pacification was the expulsion of the Catholic priests as a class.

This was presented with reference to the threats that had been made in my hearing that the priests must go or die, for they were the breeders of all trouble.

Must all of them be removed in some way or another?
If not, where would the line be drawn?
The lips of the General were parted and his voice quite low and gentle, the tongue to a remarkable degree doing the talking, as he replied, plainly picking words cautiously and measuring them.

The able and acute interpreter dealt them out rapidly, and his rendering gave token that the Filipinos have already had lessons in diplomacy--even in the Spanish style of polite prevarication--or, if that may be a shade too strong, let us say elusive reservation--the use of language that is more shady than silence, the framing of phrases that may be interpreted so as not to close but to continue discussion and leave wide fields for controversy.

The General did not refer to his counselors, or the congress that is in the background and advertised as if it were a new force.
The words of the interpreter for him were: "The General says the priests to whom objection is made, and with whom we have a mortal quarrel, are not our own priests, but the Spaniards' and those of the orders.