diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

natives. But they refused, thinking otherwise that the natives should beencouraged, thus in this way having a counterweight to the foreign lodge inManila which was the real danger."I do not know if "Reynolds, at first a British citizen, later an American, ahigher degree mason, a person of bold initiatives and daring enterprises," wasthe key contact for unknown elements in the organization by third parties ofthe Cavite mutiny. Regidor wrote he had caused the conflict between theSpanish and the British fleets in Hongkong when Carlos Roza was Lieutenantof the Navy, a conflict "considered in those lands as a fight between theSpaniards and the masons in Hongkong, which was truly of an internationaland transcendental significance.""The link between the commercial firm Reynolds and the Cavite mutiny isevident through Jose Ma. Basa, one of those subsequently proscribed, exiledto the Marianas, and escaped together with Regidor and others, according tothe latter, thanks to which "the lodges in Hongkong (Germans and English)agreed to take into their party the persecuted Filipinos," and the Anthonybrothers, whose "principal partner was the Venerable of the most prominentlodge . . . later dispatched . . . the American schooner "Rupax" aboard whichseveral of the prisoners implicated in the Cavite uprising fled and finallytransferred to the German schooner "Coheran" which brought them toHongkong."85On 12 October 1875, the Politico-Military Governor of Iloilo forwardedto Governor Jose Malcampo a subversive publication which the formergobernadorcillo of Molo, Iloilo had just sent him. During the legalinvestigations, it turned out that the captain of "Ocdano" had brought a sealedletter for Lucsinger and Company handed to him by Jose Ma. Basa inHongkong. Inside the envelope were other letters addressed to ComelioMelliza, Arroyo, and Teodoro Benedicto. The captain had not realized theywere propaganda material. In his confidential report to the OverseasMinister, Malcampo added at the end:I shall not close without calling to your attention a copy of the letter which,occasioned by this matter elevated to me by J. J. Reynolds as soon as he hadinformation of what had happened, and despite the protestations expressed andthe manner he treats Basa, does not leave any doubt it is not the first time he hadaddressed himself to strangers with seditious circulars. But the latter have notbrought them to my knowledge until they saw that the courts of justice weretaking action and they were implicated in the criminal case."27