And This Is What We Might Expect.—
The following Associated Press despatch is from London, dated February 12:— “A despatch from Madrid says that the pope has determined that the proceeds from the property of the friars in the Philippines, if the friars sell the property and leave those islands, will go into the treasury of St. Peter’s. His holiness permitted the friars to hold estates for the support of the missions, and if the missions are abandoned, the church will devote the money to the support of missions elsewhere. The Spanish ambassador to the Vatican, Señor Pidal, who was recently appointed to this post, had intimate relations with the pope, and will soon begin to discuss the questions affecting the interests of Spanish church orders.” One paper heads the despatch, “Vatican Will Get the Money,” and this is doubtless true. The best lands of the Philippines, belonging to the Filipino people, as it now looks, will be given to the Papacy in some form.