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In compliance with currentcopyright law,Cornell University
Library produced thisrep lacementvo lume on paperthatmeets the ANSI Standard
- 1 992 to replace theirreparab ly deteriorated original .
Cornell University Libraryc o : D C ? i nnn
CORNE LL UNIVE RSITY LIBRARY
3 1924
W ITH AN APPE ND IX CONTAINING
(V'
QErl'
agszmsmlt lind DrliektxneiA (5 Hamburg,
CONTE NTS .
PAGE
TRANS'
LATQ R’
S PREFACE l
AU THOR’ S LETTER
NOTE on THE Anni-OR.
THE PHILIPPINE S
1 -G E OGR_AZPHY ,
I L POPULATION
I Neg-riitos
2 Pagan Malays l
3, Mohammedan Ma lays
4? C hristian or C ivilized Malays
5 S paniards , fib inege andMix ed Breeds
H'
I S’PORY’
I . Early Period ,
2 . The Last C entury of S pani sh Rule
3. Recent E vents
IV . AMERI CAN B L URD E 'Rs
APPE NDIX!
I The Constitution of the Phi l ippine Re ;
publ ic .
9 b la us es from the Protocol and the Trea ty
of Peace ; the Bacon Resolution
TRAN SL ATOR ’S PREFACE.
It i5 °
onl_v a few weeks since I received the author
'
s permission to translate this pamphlet . My work is accurate .though hurried . It was deemed necessary to give to mycountrymen before election day the opportunity of learning the opinions of a scholar who spent many years amongthe Fil ipi nos , and who,
by reason of his standing as ateacher of ethnology . i s competent to speak about theirr ipeness for independence .
A friend has said to me Why , the American peoplewon ’t stand for anything wrong .
” I know that the hearto f our people is right— but we must use our heads to savethe heart from too great strain . It is usual ly more easyto get into trouble than to get out of it, and going blindlyahead is . not the best way out.
The question of slavery could have been easily settledat the foundation o f our government . But vested interests and a fatuous !d isses - farm pol icy stood in the way.
For a century that question frequently startled the country
“ l ike a fire bel l in the night” until finally it was settledright at an immense cost of l i fe and treasure
,and to the
j eopardy of our very government .N ow 15 the time to settle the question of dependent
colonies . w rong our chi ldren by leav ing the troubleto them and their chi ldren .
Lieutenant Gi lmore . who spent eight months a captivein the hands of the Fil ipinos . states in his Memoirs thatat every v i l lage and hal ting place he was asked by natives“
Wh y are the Americans, our former friends, now fighting us P”
That is a question which our citizens also have a dutyto ask . It i s a question which history w i l l ask . It i s aquestion which the Supreme Judge of Nations and of
men wil l ask oi the soul of the greatW hite Ch ief whenhe stand s at the bar of God.
Let every intel lectual ly honest man who has read theDeclaration of Independence
,and who understand s the
spi ri t of this republ ican government,put the quest ion to
his conscience ! The answer depends on the answer tothese questions :Have we a right to tax an al ien people without repte
sentation ?
Have we a right to govern them without thei r consent ?
Have we any more right tomake a colony than to makea king ?
D . J. D.
AUTHOR ’S L ETTER .
Leitmeritz,Bohemia
,Sept . IO. 1900 .
Dear Doctor : Many thanks for your kindness in the
matter of my brochure. I am sti l l more pleased that you
are one of those Americans who cl ing to the noble tra
ditions of Frankl in and Washington to free peoples and
not to subjugate them .
I f I had thought that my pamphlet would become
known and read in America I would have softened some
expressions which may perchance wound the Americans .
Fortiter in re et suavitcr in modo.
I have l ived in intimacy w ith the pol itical leaders of
the Fil ipino people and I know thoroughly Phil ippine
pol i tical conditions . I know how rock~fast was the fai th
of the Fi l ipinos in the nobil i ty of the American people
whose mission it was, they thought, to free them from the
Spanish yoke . I f they had had the faintest suspicion that
the United States meant to annex the archipelago theywould have taken the side of the Spaniards and would
have defended the Spanish flag . Not a single Fil ipino
musket would have been fired for the purpose of acquiring
the Phi l ippines for America, thereby exchanging a Span
i sh for an American master. Sincerely yours,F. BLU MENTRITT
.
NOTE ON TH E AUTHOR .
Ferd inand B lumentri tt was born in Prague, Bohemia,on September 1 0
,1 853. He spent a number of years in
the Orient making special studies of the Malayan races .He is a member of the Berl iner Gesel l schaft fuer Anthro
pologie, Ethnologie and Urgeschichte, in the proceedingsof which his name often appears .During his long stay in the Phi l ippines he became inti
mately acquainted w i th the leading Fi l ipinos . In particular D r. Rizal was a close friend,and on the nightbefore execution wrote him this note :
“My brother ! When you receive th is I shal l be dead .
1 am to be shot to—morrow morning at 7 o’clock . I am
innocent of the crime of participating in the revolt . I diewith an easy conscience . Farewel l, my best, my dearestfriend ! Think only good of me .
”
Prof . Blumentritt not only translated several'
of hi sfriend ’s works
,but wrote an eulogy of him and publ ished
Riz al’
s defense of the Fi l ipinos in the International Archivfuer Eth-nographie (vol .Blumentri tt i s at present professor of ethnology in the
Real—schule at Lei tmeritz . The fol lowing are some of hi swritingsTranslation of Dr . Riz al ’s Nol i Me Tangere, 1 889 .
Consideraciones acerca de la actual S ituacion Pol i tica deFi l ipinas, 1889.
Las Razas del Archipielago Fil ipino, 1890 .
Fi1ipinas -Problema Fundamental, 1892 .
Transl ation of Dr . de Tavera’
s edit ion of an old MS .
(A . D . 1 589) of Father de Placentia, entitl ed ,“Die
S itten undGebraueche der altenTagalen,”
published
fi n Ztschft fuer Ethnologie,‘ Berl in, 1893.
_ g_
D iccionario m ito logico de Fil ipinas, 1890 .
Edition of Katechismus der Katholi schen Glaubenslehrein der Ilongoten—sprache herausgegeben von P . FrayFrancisco de la Zurza, in D ruck gelegt und mitequivalenten des I longot—textes in Spanischer bez w .
tagal und magindanaischer Sprache . 1893.
An article in the D eutsche Rundsclzau,Berl in, July, 1 898,zur Geschichte des Separatismus der Spanischen Colonieh .
An article (translated ) in the Popular S cience Monthly,
August, 1 899, on Race Problems in the Phil ippine
Islands .The article of the E ncyclopedia Britannica on the Philippine‘ Islands uses Blumentritt
’
s authority freely andquotes his Versuc li einer E thnograp /iie der P/iilipp iim i
and his B ibliographic dcr PhilippinenD r. D . G. Br inton, of Philadelphia, the most prom inentAmer ican ethnolog ist, cal lsProf . Blumentr itt “ the g reatest l iving sc ientific authori ty on the Phi l ipp ines .W hi lst c lear ly not an adm i rer of theAnglo- Saxon
,Pr'of .
B lumentritt’s scientific knowledge, his many years res idence in the Phil ippines up to the fall of Mani la
,and
“
his intimate acquaintance with al l classes of Fi l i pinosentitle him to be heard on the question, Are the Fi l ipinosat this time ripe for independence ?
TH E PH I L IPPINES .
I . GEOGRAPHY.
The Phi l ippines form the northernmost part of theMalayan archipelago . They consist of more than athousand large and smal l i s lands divided into severalgroups
,namely
,Luzon w i th the Babuyan and Batan i sl
ands,which consti tute a connection wi th Formosa ; Min
danao ; the Visayan islands, which l ie between Luzon andMindanao ; Palauan and the Sulu is lands . These latterseem to connect Mindanao with Borneo, just as Palauanbrings them into relation w i th the main part of the Phi l ippines . The Saragani i s lands, which l ie before the southern end of Mindanao, lead through the Talaut groupto the Moluccas and through the Sangir is lands to theCelebes .In round numbers, the Phi l ippines possess an area Of
square ki lometres square miles ) , sothat they are somewhat larger than Italy. Luzon
,the
largest i s land, contains square ki lometres (about
40 ,0 0 0 square mi les ) and is consequently larger thanBavar ia
,W urtemberg and Hesse together . In descend
ing series are Mindanao with 89,70 0 sq . km .
square mi les ) , or equal to Bavar ia and Baden together ;Panay
,conta ining sq . km . square
mi les ) , about the size of Saxony and Saxon Meiningen ;Palauan
,with sq . km . square mi les ) ;
which equal s Alsace and Lorraine ; Samar and the somewhat smal ler Negros, each about sq . km ,
(over square mi les ) , being a l ittl e smal ler thanMecklenberg
- Schwerin ; Mindoro, sq . km . (lessthan square miles ) , equal ing Carinthia ; Leyte,
sq . km . (about square mi les ) , somewhat
_ 10_
smaller than the Saxon - Ernestine country ; Cebu,sq . km . (about square mi les ) , equal ing SaxonyCoburg—Gotha and Saxony- Meiningen BOhOl,
sq . km . , which equal s Mecklenburg- Strel itz,
* etc .
All these i slands are mountainous,there being only two
large plains, one on Luzon stretching from the gul f OfLingayen to the bay of Mani la
,and the other on Mindanao
at the low er end of the Rio Grande . A part of the val leyofAgusan, which is also on Mindanao, might l ikew i se becounted among the great plains . The mountains rise toconsiderable elevation
,ranging from to
metres . As far as rel iance may be placed on surveys thusfar made and as far as the country has been wel l explored ,i t seems that the volcano Apo on Mindanao is the highestmounta in on the archipelago, for its peak is metresabove sea level . The mention Of this mountain reminds usthat the Phi l ippines contain many active as wel l as ex tin
guished volcanoes, although the theory that the i slandsare Of volcanic origin is not substantiated, because theev idences o f volcanic action are not pronounced . Earth,quakes al so are of frequent occurrence .
The rivers Of the Phil ippines are noted for thei r navi
gability. On Luzon the most important are the RioGrande de Cagayan w i th its confluents, the Rio Chico andthe Magat
,the Rio del Abra, the Agno, the Rio Grande de
la Pampanga and the Pasig . The last named is smal lbut navigable for steamers . It flows out of the large lakeLaguna de Bay and at its mouth Mani la, the chief city ofthe archipelago
,i s s ituated . On Mindanao, the Rio
Grande de Mindanao (or the Pulangi ) , the Agu san andthe Tagum should be mentioned . The Pulangi receivesthe waters o f two large lakes, Liguasan and Buluan,whi lst the Agusan flows through a chain Of lakes . Mindanao wel l deserves its name,
“ Land of Lakes,”
becausebesides these it also possesses Main it lake and lake Lanao
,
which empti es its waters through the Agus into the sea .
On Luzon are found basins which contain water only
*The American reader will better g rasp comparisons with our
own S tates . The area o f the entire archipelago is about the siz e
of Ariz ona or New Mex ico. L uz on is about the siz e of Kentucky,
Mindanao as large as Indiana, Panay somewhat smaller than New
{ersey,
Samar and Neg ros each nearly as large as Connecticut,eyte larger and Cebu smaller than D elaware, etc—TR.
The fauna of the archipelago (especial ly the birds )interests us here only so far as it concerns commerce . Waxis the principal raw product of the animal kingdom, andtrepang is the chie f article in the export trade to China .
Tortoise shel ls and pearls should also be mentioned, butthey are of much less importance than the articles j ustnamed .
I I . POPULATION .
When the Spaniards d iscovered the Phil ippines (A . D .
1 52 1 ) and took possession Of them (A . D . 1 565—84 ) they
di stinguished three classes of inhabitants— negrillos, in
dios and moros . The neg rillos were the black primitivepeople whom to- day we cal l neg ritos . By indios and mom s
were meant the coast Malays, the former name attachingto the pagans ‘
and the latter to the Mohammedans .
At that time Islamism was making its triumphal marchthrough the archipelago . The chiefs and nobles on Mindanao, the Visayas and southern Luzon had already ac
cepted the teachings Of Mahomet, and it was gaining afoothold also among the common people. But the re
lig ious zeal Of the Spaniards was soon able to win theIndies to Christianity and to confine Mohammedanismto the southern portion of the archipelago .
_Hav ing subdued the coast Malays, the Spaniards discovered themountain Malays, who, strong in barbaric power, refusedto submit themselves to Christ, the Cathol ic King of
Spain and European civi l ization, and who, even to thisday, for the most part maintain the belief and customs oftheir forefathers .As the
,coast Malays quickly adopted Christian ideas
the name indio came to mean Christian and civi l izedMalay
, whi l st the w i ld mountain Malays w ere cal led infieles or pagans . This Spanish classification correspondswith the actual three grades of civi l ization into which atthe present time the native population Of Malayan originis d ivided— the Christian European Malays (indios ) , theMohammedan Malays (mom s ) and the pagan or primitive Malays (mfieles).The Spaniards also encountered Chinese merchant ves
sel s in Mani la bay and among the Visayan islands . and
Japanese corsa irs in northern,
Luzon, and as soon as theSpanish dominion was firmly establ ished numerous traders of both these Asiatic peoples settled in the chie f trading places
,especial ly in Manila . The Japanese disap
peared from the archipelago when Japan was closed to theoutside world
,but“ the Chinese have remained to the
present day . Only men,however
,migrated thither, and
the most of these returned to their native land after accumulating a modest competence . Children born of themarriages of Chinamen and Fi l ipino women were formerly call ed mestiz os dc sang ley,
* but to- day simplyChinese mestizos .Comparatively few Spaniards went to the archipelago,
so that there d id not develop there that power ful and influential creole caste which arose so rapid ly in SpanishAmerica . The Off spring of Spanish men and nativewomen were at first cal led mestiz os privalegiados, butnow simply Spanish mestizos . O ther elements of thepopulation
,for example, Mexican and Peruvian Indians
(such as discharged soldiers who settled there) , or ind ividual Arabs (in Sulu
'
) may be disregarded . Havingthus view ed the population as a whole, we proceed to consider more closely the different races that compose it .
1 . N EGRITOS .
As already stated, the Negritos are ,
the remnants ofthe original inhabitants of the i slands . Their wool ly haireven more than their dark skin distingu ishes these smal lpeople from the other races . O f their various nativenames that of Aetas i s the most widely spread . Theirsocial condition and roving habits remind us of the gypsiesscattered throughout Europe, although they are not sohomeless as the European wanderers . Thei r rovmg i sl imited to a definite area, so that i t may be said that, although they have no fixed habitation, they sti l l have ahome
,or rather a hunting ground, within the l imits .of
which they roam about seeking food .
These displaced owners Of the archipelago have notmaintained themselves in al l the islands , for they are notfound in
‘
the eastern V i sayas, the Sulus or the Babuyanesand Batan islands . Throughout the other islands they are
*Sang ley is a Spanish name for Chinese traders in the Philippines
—TR.
_ 1 4
scattered in smal l tribes separated from one another byother races . Only in two places do they occupy large, compact areas
,one On the northern part of the east coast of
Luzon (where they are call ed Dumagat or Dumagas ) andthe other on Mindanao in the mountainous region southof lake Mainit (where they are known as Mamanuas, i . e. ,
the people of the country, the autocthoni) . The paucityOf their number even in these places may be seen by theestimate of the strength of the Dumagat at betweenand individuals
,and that of the Mamanuas at about
the same . According to several concordant estimates .the total figure of al l the N egritos cannot much exceed
Though the clothing of the Negritos i s l imited to thebreech—clout much attention is paid to personal decoration .
which consists in tattooing and the use of bracelets andearrings made of roots
,kernels, rattan, etc . The men
w ear a garter made of bristles of the w i ld boar . Theirprincipal weapon i s the bow and arrow , but they al so usethe cutlass, which they obtain, by means Of barter, fromthe Christians . A simple screen or roof to protect fromthe wind or storm serves as a house . But in regions wherethey have been influenced by contact w ith Malay neighbors they use poor huts and to some extent attempt thecultivation of field produce. In general they l ive byhunting and fishing and on wi ld frui ts . They are not atal l dainty In their choice Of food , eating even the larvaeOf the bees whose wax is their chief article of exchange .
Their smal l hordes are ruled by the elders, who arbi
trate their quarrel s . They are monogamous and enjoya good reputation for moral ity. Like our gypsies theyare considered to be untameable, but on this point a finaljudgment 15 not justifiable . They are represented as goodnatured but revengeful
,and they are both feared and de
spised by their Christian neighbors . They are pagans ,and only those hordes that have sunk both morally andphysical ly can be induced by means Of gi fts to be catechized Or baptized . However
,on Mindanao the Jesuits
have demonstrated that earnest efforts can accompl ishmuch for them,
for they succeeded in converting a considerable number Of the Mamanuas and In inducing themto settle In fixed habitations and to undertake agriculture
.
_ 15_
Scarcely anyth ing i s known about thei r rel ig ion, nor i sthe question as to their language Settled. The modernNegritos speak id ioms which are closely related to thoseof their Malay neighbors, and it would seem that theirorig inal language has been lost . To
_
sum up, the Negr i tosmay be said to be a race destined to perish .
11 . H E ATHEN MALAYS .
E xcept Samar, Leyte, Bohol and the islands off theeast coast of Luzon all the l arger islands are
“
occupied intheir mounta inous interior by Malay races which eitherst i l l preserve the
'
beliefs of thei r pagan ancestors or haveonly in recent times been partial ly won to Christi anity.
On Luzon we find,first of al l, the head hunting tribes
of the Igorrotes,,
Kianganes, Mayoyaos, Isinayas, Apoyaos, Ginaanes, Ibi laos and others who are settl ed in themountain di stricts of the north . The mongol ian typecan be traced in their physique, and this has led to theOpin ion that
.
they are descendants of Chinese or Japanesepirates— an opinion which though widely accepted is unfounded . They are general ly of stronger bui ld than thecoast Malays . They l ive in smal l vi l lages and sometimes,l ike the ancient Germans or the modern Boers, on familyfarms.The Igorrotes whooccupy the cool er h ighlands bu i ld
pine huts raised on posts . The inter ior i s black with sootand the ex terior is decorated w i th hunting trophies suchas the skul ls of wi ld beasts. The cl imate compel s moreattention to clothing. The breech - cloth, the sarong andthe jacket are insufficient, and an add itional
‘
plaid—l ikegarment is worn as a protection against cold and wet .For head covering a head band or a cap made from rattanand woven d ifferently in different tribes is worn . Themanner of dressing the hair is also different in differenttribes . The mountain Malay cannot be thought o f without his weapon, for he always carries at least a largewoodman ’ s kni fe wh ich sometimes (as among the Igorrotes ) is hung from a finely decorated bel t. Out of doorsthe Igorrote i s hardly ever wi thout h is spear, and theshield and
'
battle- axe complete h i s armament for the war
path . The Ibi laos (or I longotes) are the only ones whouse the bow and arrow in battl e . The tomahawk (cal ledL iua) used by the mountaintribes of northwestern Luzon
has a projecting thorn for spitting the heads of fal lenenemies . As already
“
said,most of these tribes are head
hunters l ike the Dyaks of Borneo . In war and in bloodfeuds the heads O f the fal len foes are cut Off and preserved as highly prized spoi ls .
The home bringing Of enemies'
heads is al so part o fthe celebration at weddings and funeral feasts . As faras possible the Spaniards have checked this practice, butonly in smal l di stricts l ike Benguet have they been able toentirely suppress i t. In rel ie f to thi s barbarous customthese people have many fine traits of character . Theysurpass al l other races in the archipelago
,even the sancti
monious whites, in honor and veracity . Amongst most ofthe tribes the chastity of maidens is carefully guarded
,and
in some al l the young girl s are kept together ti l l marriagein a large house where, guarded by Old women, they aretaught the industries of their sex, such as weaving, pleating, making cloth from the bark of trees, etc . The Kianganes, Mayoyaos and other tribes in the interior showmarked industry in the cultivation of their fields . Thesteepness o f the country compels them with great laborto bui ld thei r rice fields in terraces— a task worthy Of al lpraise . “7here the cl imate does not favor the cultivationOf rice they grow maize, and certain tubers l ike Gabi(Colocasiiantiqnornm, S chott) or Ubi (D ioscorca alata
,
V idal ) or Camote (Cour/ 0 121 111115 batatas,
Hunting and fishing occupy a secondary place afteragriculture, which is neglected only by such tribes as aremixed w i th negro blood or such as have been forced byc ircumstances away from their own habitats ; l ike, forexample, the I longotes Of central Luzon or the variousCimarrones tribes of the Camarines peninsula . Strangeto say
,none of these tribes practice cattle breeding
. Theirdomestic animals are the hog. the hen and the dog ,
thelatter being used not only for hunting purposes
,but also
as an article of food . They seldom possess caribou—buffaloes or cows . The horse i s a rarity among them
, buti s final ly used as food .
Their rel igion i s based on ancestral worship, which
al so favors head - hunting. Thei r gods, the chie f of whom
*These are esculent roots like the turnip and yam or sweet potato.
—TR.
—1 7
i s Bun i or Kabunian,are inv i sible . They have no idols,
but they honor Old and tal l trees (especial ly the Ficusindica) as the dwel l ing place of the gods and spi rits . Inthis they resemble the ancient Germans, as al so in thefact that women are admitted to the priestly and seercastes . These pr iestesses play an important part in thetreatment of d iseases . Rel igious and profane feasts arecelebrated w i th gorging and drinking, buffalo meat anda home—made brandy being the chie f articles of the menu .
The drinking of brandy is a w idespread evi l among them .
It is not constantly indulged in,as among the whites . but
only on festive occasions . On such occasions, however .i t is used excess ively
,in unconscious compliance w ith the
saying,Whoever has never had a spree is not a brave
The Tingianes occupy a transition stage between thesedefiant
,warl ike and “wild” mountain tribes , and the
manageable,pl iant and good - natured coast Malays o f
Luzon . Their habitat is between the civ i l i zed I locoanson one s ide and the head- hunting Igorrotes, Ginaanes andApoyaos on the other . Their customs have many thingsin common w ith thei r w i ld neighbors, but head—huntingi s not known among them and they quickly adopt theChristian rel igion and the entire Hispano - Phi l ippine civiliz ation.
All these tribes are very musical , as indeed are theFil ipinos general ly . The drum made from a hollowed—outlog and the gansa are their most d istinctive instruments .
The gansa, which besides is found only among some tribesof central Luzon, consists of a kind of cymbal fastened tothe jawbone of a slain enemy . Final ly, i t should be said .
that al l these mountain tribes smoke pipes whereas in therest of the archipelago cigars and cigarettes are preferred . The practice of chewing betel*2 i s w idespread .
*2 . Betel leaves are mix ed with bonga fruit and lime, and the
m ix ture called bullo is much used by even the civiliz ed natives. It
has been claimed that it is a preventive of tropical diarrhoeas. SeeMedicine and D isease in the Philippines, by David J . D oherty,M. D .
(J ournal of Am . Med. Assoc , J une 16, -TR.
'
*1 . This is a line from a German student song :
W er niemals einen Rausch gehabt,D er ist kein braver Mann !
W er seinen Durst mit Achteln labt,Fang
’
lieber g ar nicht an! etc—TR.
_ 1 3_
The mountain pagans of Mindanao are lower in thescale of civi l ization than those of Luzon . find alsohere types both of the warl ike Igorrotes and of the pacificTingianes of Luzon
,the former chiefly in the east and
south of Mindanao (such as Bagobos, Mandayas, Man~
obos,Tagakaolos
, Giangas and others ) and the latter inthe north and west (such as Subanos, Bukidnos, Tiruraysand others ) . In the matter o f men
’s clothing we note theshort trousers worn by many tribes . Their weapons recal l those Of Luzon except that the head—hunting axe withthe thorn i s mi ss ing and the bow and arrow are moreused . Head—hunting and slave seizure are considered themost .noble undertakings of the southern and easterntribes . The prevalence of the former is shown by a usagewhich exists among the Mandayas and Manobos , whobestow a kind of uni form upon the lucky assassin according to the number of heads he can show . For example,the baganis or success ful head hunters wear a garmentin which red predominates and on which the number ofthei r victim s is designated by ‘special marks . Thus thereare baganis of the first, second and third class, much asamongst us are found knights
,commanders and grand
crosses of the orders of chivalry . Constant head andslave hunting decimated these tribes frightful ly . Only inrecent times have the Jesuit missionaries been able tointroduce
,together w i th Christianity
,a peaceable disposi
t ion into i solated tribes . Relapses,however
,are frequent
and the greater part of these predatory head hunters sti l ll ive in complete freedom . The continuous feuds
,the
never - ceasing dread of a sudden attack, in short the con
stant excitement in which the head hunters Of Mindanaonatural ly l ive
,has had a most debasing influence on their
character . They are treacherous and untruthful and inthe low moral ity of their women are by no means superiorto those of Luzon . Their agricu lture i s wretched
, theforest i s grubbed and burned over, the ground merelyscratched and then the seed is sown . After a few scantharvests
,the (soi l, being never ferti l ized or hardly i f at
al l cl eaned from weeds, refuses to produce. They aretherefore compel led to clear other parts of the primevalforests and to begin fresh again .
Their huts are much simpler than those of the Igorrotes
between the north and the south . The gansa of the Luzonhead hunters i s not known, but instead we find the ag uns,a sort of gong, which i s much used by the Visay ans andthe Mohammedan coast Malays
,and very l ikely passed
from these to the mountain pagans .Through the reception of Moslemism or Christian ityal l these mountain tribes pass gradual ly upward into theMoros or Visayans
,and this surrender of national ity is
made eas ier by the scattered distribution and the smal lness of the distr icts in which their d ialects are spoken .
In the Visayan islands mountain pagans are foundonly on Cebu
,Negros and Panay . Little is known about
them . The Bukidnos of Panay are the most numerousand may be counted among the warl ike head - huntingtribes . Spanish and Engl i sh writers have erroneouslygiven the name of Igorrotes to the Bukidnos.
The whole interior of Mindoro is occupied by the Man
g ianes. The word “Mangian means woodman . and iti s appl ied by the Tagal coast dwel lers to al l the mountaintribes of the interior . When I speak here of the Man
g ianes I mean those mi ld mannered mountain Malays ofMindoro, who, in spite of their degeneracy, possess awri tten alphabet which i s related to the alphabets in g eneral use among the coast Malays at the advent o f theSpaniards .What I have said of the Mangianes of Mindoro is ex
actly true of the mountain pagans of Palauan, who arecal led Tagbanuas . They are degenerated and peaceableand they al so have a w ritten alphabet . It must be le ft tofuture researches to determine whether these Mang ianes
and Tagbanuas, who know how to w rite but who occupya lower step of culture, were once at the same level ofcivi l ization as the Tagals and Visayans , and whetherthey were later crowded back by the Tagals (on Mindoro)and the Borneans (on Palauan ) into the forests, wherethey degenerated and became wi ld . In other words
, are
they real ly mountain pagans or do they represent displaced coast races ? At any rate they form as direct atransition stage to these latter as do the Tingianes of
Luzon .
There is one thing pecul iar and common to al l thesemountain tribes, namely, their low degree of ski l l in
_ 91_
navigation in sp ite of the fact that some l ive on largenavigable l akes or rivers
,and others, breaking through
the zone of coast Malays, occupy the sea shore, as is thecase on Mindoro and Palauan .
It i s very hard to estimate their numerical strength .
Though the dialects are numerous the number of ind ividuals who use them is smal l . Many tribes number only
or souls,and the total number according to
the lowest estimate i s and according to the highest
3. TH E MOHAMMEDAN MALAYS .
I f we suppose that the Negri tos are the original inhabitants of the archipelago who were driven into themounta ins and dispersed in smal l tribes by invadingMalays we may
,for several reasons not necessary to recite
here,al so divide the immigration of these Malays into
stages . Fi rst come the ancestors of the mountain tribeswho originally occupied merely the coasts . After a longperiod came the progen itors of the modern Chri stian coastraces, the Tagals,Visayans, etc .
,and their invas ion forced
the mountain pagans into the interior . Sti l l later, at atime when Islamism had already spread throughout theDutch archipelago
,a thi rd wave of Malays
,the ances
tors of the modern Moros,swept into the country. These
latter were able to gain a firm footing in the south, butthei r invasion met with a speedy check from the Spaniardsin the Visayas and in south and middle Luzon, and it d idnot extend into northern Luzon .
I f we should fol low the order of seniority in studyingthe human strata of the archipelago i t would now be inorder to speak of the Chri stian coast Malays. But I reserve the consideration Of these to the last because theyfurnish the eas iest transi tion to the pol i tical history andmodern condit ions of the country, whi le the Negritos, themountain pagans and the Moros have no part in thePhi l ippine question . We wi ll therefore next study theMoros .These Malays may be divided into several race or
d ialect groups, among whom the Sulus and the Magindanaos are the most prominent . The former inhabit theSulu sub—archipelago and the pr incipal coast d istricts ofPalauan ; the latter are settled at the mouth of the Rio
” 2
Grande and on the southwest coast of Mindanao. Closelyrelated to these last named are the I l lanos or I lanos, whoinhabit the part of the island lying between Il lana bayand the chain of mountains that forms the water- shedbetween lake Lanao and the Rio Grande . Smal ler tribeso f Moros are found in western and southern Mindanao .
All these Moro tr ibes are mixed races . The ancestorso f the Sulus seem to have migrated from Borneo, andthose of Magindanaos from Molucca . Even those Malay“ gypsies the Orang—laut (whom the Spaniards cal lLutaos ) may be considered as a ferment among theMoros
,and especially i s i t plausible to suppose such a
mixture in the Il lanos . The pagan natives of the districtsnow occupied by the Moros were subdued and assimilated !! by the conquerors . The process has been continuedto the present day by means of slave raids among theTirurays. Bukidnos, Subamos and other pagan tribes ofMindanao . Piracy
,which the Sulus practiced in Phil ip
pine waters up to thirty years ago, and the chief obj ecto f which was the capture of slaves , also contributed to theprocess . Consequently the Moros of to—day are a crossbreed resul ting from the intermixture of a number ofPhi l ippine tribes and (l ike the Magyars of Europe ) i t i sonly thei r speech which perpetuates them as a d istinctrace . As to intermixture w ith non—Phi l ippine races . theSpanish theory that the Moros are mongrels of Arabsand Malays is one of those creations of the southernimagination which D audet characterizes so acutely inBompard in hi s Nmna Roumestan. Naturallv
,i t hap
pened that individual Aiabs settled there but i f thatsuffices to make the Moros descendants of Arabs
. W ithmuch more reason could they be considered the mixed offspring of Malay and Spaniard or Mexican or PeruvianIndians
,for the slaves captured by them f1 om amongst
the Spanish,Mexican and Peruvian regular soldiers far
outnumbered al l the Arabs that ever came there . On theother hand many natives were brought from Borneowhose region of Saba belonged to Sulu up to twenty- hyeyears ago ; whil st in the s ixteenth century the Moros frequently had Macassares and Al furos as mercenaries or
*The German word is au-fgesog en, i. e. , sucked up or (like a
lemon) squeez ed out—TR.
s laves,and al so to a less extent Papuan slaves from Ter
nate and Tidore . During the middle ages Javanese maywell have settled there
,at least in Sulu .
As to the costume of the Moros,the most noticeable
thing about i t i s that the long trousers of the men, whichextend down
'
to the ankle,are tight . The sarong i s worn
over the trousers,and a j acket w i th narrow s leeves, a
waistband and a turban wound in the manner of thewestern Malays complete their national dress . Theirweapons are l ike those of the other
‘ Phi l ippine Malayswith the exception of the kris
,which may have either a
straight or a serpentine blade . Firearms are in generaluse and they even cast smal l cannon cal led lantaka. Thehelmet and coat of mail (made from chains or plates ofhorn ) are found only among the I l lanos, and that butrarely .
The Moros l ive by agricu lture and fishing and to a lessextent by hunting . Rice and maize are chiefly cul tivated,and al so sugarcane
,coffee and tobacco . The cocoa palm
and the banana are of the same importance among themas among the other coast Malays . The bamboo and therattan are ind ispensable in keeping house . Their industries are l imited to weaving and the manufacture of
weapons and ornaments . Besides poultry and the carribou- buffalo the horse i s to be mentioned among theirdomestic stock .
The social system of the Moros rests on feudal ism andslavery . Below the Sultan stand the great barons or
dattos,who in turn have vassals and slaves . Fortified
courts surrounded by stone walls and pal isades and cal l edcottas
,serve as residences for the sultans and dattos .
The above mentioned lantakas consti tute the armament .Powerful su ltans and dattos possess several cottas . Themost prominent of the Moro princes i s the Sultan of Sulu
,
to whom the entire sub - archipelago of Sulu is subj ect .Formerly the sultanate of Mindanao was as powerfulas that O f Sulu
,but its natural ly feeble bonds were weak
ened by stri fes foi succession, and the present sul tan isunimportant as compared with hi s ancestors . A largenumber of dattos declared themselves independent andsome l ike those of Kudarangan, Talayan and others evenassumed the title of sultan .
Since the introduction of gunboats (i86o piracyhas been extirpated and the dattos have lost their chiefsource of income . The result is a notable economic andpol itical decl ine in al l Moro regions .Islam has indeed fil led the Moros w ith rel igious fanat
icism, but its teachings cl ing merely superficial ly, es
pecially in southern Mindanao, where the people areMahommedans only in name . Since the pi lgrimage toMecca has been rendered so easy by the steamship l inesthe Sulus also vi sit the grave of the Prophet, but notnumerously .
The tota l number of Moros is estimated at betweenand The former figure is more rel iable
and the latter absolutely incorrect,for according to my
stati stical researches there can be at the outside not morethan on Mindanao
,Sulu
,Balabak and Palauan .
4 . TH E CHRISTIAN AND LONG C 1V 1 L 12 E D MALAYS .
On the coasts of Luzon, the Visayas and north andeast Mindanao dwel l those Malay races who had alreadyreached a considerable degree of civil i zation at the time ofthe Spanish conquest, and who quickly accepted the Cathol ic rel igion and adapted themselves to Spani sh ideas andculture . They do not form a single people but are d ividedinto the Tagals (middle Luzon and Mindoro ) , the Zambales (west Luzon ) , the Pampangos (central Luzon ) ,Pangasinanes (west Luzon ) Ilocoans (northwest Luzon ) ,Kagayanes (north Luzon ) , B ikols (south Luzon ) ,Batanes (i slands of same name ) , Visayans (i sland groupof same name and north and east coast of Mindanao ) andthe Agutainos, Kalamianes and Koyuros
— although thesethree last are real ly christianized Tagabuanes and therefore strictly do not belong in this classification . The mostprominent representatives of this stage of civi l ization arethe Tagal s
,the I locoans and the Visayans ; the former
on account of their general education, the second becauseof their enterprise and push, and the third because theyare the most numerous race of the archipelago .
These long chri stianized Malays (the indios of theSpaniards ) are of smal ler physique than the mountainMalays . Two types of feature may be recognized inthem
, one with smal l mongol - l ike eyes and the other withlarge eyes . A resemblance to the Japanese type i s also
frequent, and it has even happened that Tagals, Ilocoansand others of this race who traveled in Japan have beenmistaken by the Japanese themselves for fel low countrymen . At any rate
,i t i s not whol ly improper to describe
them as a trans ition stage between the Malays and theJapanese, although only actual observation and not sciencecan establ ish the hypothes is .The costume of the peasant consists of a trousers and
a shirt, which is worn l ike a j acket, that i s, outs ide thetrousers . Such a costume is met not only in variousparts of Spanish America
,but also in Hungary and
Roumania . The head is covered with the salakot, ahemispherically
'
shaped hat, often decorated with s i lverand sometimes having a spike of the same metal . O therforms of hat also occur
,but less frequently . Shoes are
worn only onfeast days ; at other times the ordinary peasant prefers to go barefooted . Women and girl s of thelower classeswear a short blouse, and over thi s the saya
(a kind of Sarong ) , which takes the place of the dress,and above all
,worn transversely, a second sarong cal l ed
the tapis . They protect their heads by a salakot or akerchief, which i s worn just as in many parts of Germanyand Austria. The kerchief i s so placed that one cornerhangs d0wn
‘
the back and the other two are tied beneaththe chin . The addition of a fichu such as Tyrolesewomen wear (ca l led the candonga) and sl ippers or shoesmakes their festal attire . Such is the dress of the commonpeople .The higher we ascend the social scale the more the
costume resembles European modes, and since theseMalays include more cultured people than the Serviansand Bulgarians the percentage of persons who wearEuropean dress i s larger than among those nations of theBalkan peninsula which enjoy independence and sel fgovernment . It i s to be regretted that the i l lustratedpapers present in relation _to the pol itical disturbances inthe Phi l ippines only types of the lower classes becausethe reading world, which is unacquainted with the conditions of that country, must be led thereby to form thesame underestimate of i ts brave people that the Ameri canshave formed .
The usual Tagal house i s the fol lowing : A one—story
—26
house made of wood,bamboo or rattan, according to the
owner’
s means and accessible material,rests on posts
about as high as a man its roof i s covered with nipa palmsor cogon grass and 111 the huts of the poor classes thewall s al so are made from woven palm leaves . Accessi s by means of a ladder from outs ide . The w indows haveshutters
,which may be Opened or shut as needed . On the
Batan islands even the poorest people l ive in stone houses,
which are calcimined a dazz l ing white,but 0 11 the other
islands only the wel l - to - do can afford such bui ld ings .However, many prefer the l ightly bui lt cane houses because they are less dangerous and better resist the frequent earthquakes than stone ones . But on the other handfrequent and destructive conflag rations occur in the dis~tricts where bamboo and simi lar material s are used forconstruction . All the better class of houses are adornedwith verandas .
The furniture of a day laborer or field hand consistsmostly of mats and cooking utensi l s
,the mats serving as
beds, covering and pi l lows . Sacred pictures and petroleum lamps give evidence of European influence . In thedwel l ings of the better classes the furniture approachesmore nearly European fashions the higher one ascendsin the social scale . That of the most prominent Fi l ipinoscan be distinguished from the furniture of the Spaniardsand other foreig ners only by its greater luxury .
The Tagal s and the Fil ipinos general ly l ive by agriculeture and fishery. Rice is their principal food
,taking the
place of our bread , but i t i s not cultivated in sufficientabundance and has to be imported from French CochinChina . This i s so because the natives devote themselvesto more profitable plants , principally sugarcane, hemp andtobacco . The cultivation of indigo and coffee has notablydecl ined
,but sufficient maize, gabe and ubi are grown for
home consumption . The cocoa palm and the banana areimportant articles in Fi l ipino housekeeping.
Up to the close of the Spanish - American war the cultivated land belonged for the most part to the Spanishrel igious orders
,the D ominicans,Augustinians and Fran
ciscans. Especial ly the province of Cavite was almost a
_ 2g_
mestic needs, but also for export to Manila and otherplaces. In some sections of Luzon horses are also raised .
They are o f smal l bui ld and are a cross between Spanishand Chinese or Japanese animals . Poultry is raised not
only for the flesh and eggs,but also for the sake of breed
ing fighting cocks,for the Fi l ipinos are as much add icted
to cock- fighting as are the Spaniards to bul l- fights. Aguin
aldo,the president of the Phil ippine republ ic, has en
deavored to repress this ev i l by prohibi tory measures .Another muche commented—ou v ice of the natives, thechew ing o f betel
,i s decl ining ; for the better classes began
to look upon it as “ shocking. Although the drinking ofpalm wine was widespread
,one could s ti l l say of the eu
ti re Phi l ippine archipelago that it was free from the curseof drunkenness ; but tod ay, wherever the American flaghas been raised, the use of whi sky has fol lowed , and thisseems to be the only real resul t which the Americans haveas yet achieved .
The national industries of the Fil ipinos occupied ahigher level at the time of the Spanish conquest than theydo to - day . Finely woven goods made from pineapplefibres (pina) and fine straw and bast textures (as formats , cigar cases, etc. ) are their special ties .
The varietyof baskets which they are able to make from rattan
,grass
,
palm leaves , etc .
, i s remarkable .The ancient goldsmith
’
s art has persi sted to some extent, and the si lversm
'
iths of Manila in particular have ahigh reputation . The tendency of all classes and castesto decorate themselves w i th trinkets and j ewelry favorsthe continuance of thi s old Fi l ipino trade
,although Speci
mens of European handiwork are coming into more general use . Many branches of trade
,such as shoemaking
,
are monopol ized by the Chinese .The Fi l ipinos pass ionately pursue the study of music
and their musical gi fts are general ly recog nized. The
harmonium,harp, viol in and gu i tar are the favorite do~
mestic instruments . Every v i l lage possesses at least Onehand. Their ancient nationa l song and dance measuressuch as the Kurdiman
,Talindao, etc .
, sti l l survive, and
alternate'
with Strauss waltzes and other productions ofEuropean masters . The Fi l ipino voice
,however
, i s tooweak to make opera singers l ike those of European races ,
There are a fair number of native composers, whoseworks
,whi le not extraordinary, are, nevertheless, enti rely
acceptable .
They l ikewise possess both taste and gi fts for the creative arts . I mean not only for ordinary wood and ivorycarving
,but for painting in the European manner, which
has found devotees among them . Of these I wi l l mentionthe I locoan Juan Luna
,because his paintings aroused at
tention in Europe,and were even reproduced in i l lustrated
papers l ike the L eipz . I llnstr . Z eitung . Misled by thename, people attributed them to a Spanish author .
The main features o f Fi l ipino character are quiet docili ty and ambition
, which ranges through different degreesfrom vanity to proud striv ing after recognition of theEgo, and which is one of the most important psychicalfactors in the Phi l ippine question . This explains thei rproneness to revenge
,which (long- reined—in and mas
tered ) seeks satis faction when opportunity offers . Another attribute oi the Fil ipinos has shown itsel f for thefirst time in the rebel l ion against the Spaniards and in thewar against the Americans— eu attribute which there hadbeen no previous opportunity to observe . This i s a sel fcontrol which resembles that o f northern peoples andwhich mani fests i tsel f in this
,that they restrained them
selves,w ith few exceptions
,from satis fying their ancient
thi rst for revenge on the unfortunates who fel l into theirhands , because they were mindful o f
“ their reputation inEurope .
” In fact,the Phil ippine revolution ha.
czot been
stained by such cruelties as have the revolutions of European nations . There i s sti l l another thing which castsa favorable l ight upon thei r national character
,namely
,
the discipl ine maintained by the former army of Rebell ion,
now the army of Freedom of the Phil ippine republ ic . Al lwho have read the history of the revolts of the Spanish colonies in America wi l l surely remember that the rebels werealways in d iscord and that thei r generals betrayed
,de
serted and, even in the very presence of the enemy, foughteach other . Yet, w i th few exceptions, those general sbelonged to the white race, the creole nobi l ity . In thePhi l ippine army, on the contrary, that was drawn together from so many provinces and whose general s werechiefly Malays, al l ran smooth, and, i f we except the
_ 30_
s ingle case of General Luna (which has not yet beencleared up ) , there ru led a spirit of subordination anddiscipl ine which the Fi l ipinos could not have learned fromtheir former Spanish masters . Germans who have l ivedboth in Japan and the Phil ippines assert that the Fi l ipinoi s the equal of the Japanese in many respects, and far hissuperior in a sense of honesty and justice . The character of the Fi l ipino as a host and friend is wel l known,and I have so often experi enced this that I cannot su fficiently prai se it .In judging the Fil ipinos one should not accept the
Opinion of the Spaniards nor form his own opin ion fromcontact w ith servants and such people ; neither should hetake the people of Mani la as a standard
,for the air of a
great city denational izes and promotes degeneration .
Many travelers speak of their procl ivity to lying andhypocrisy, but they omit to state that, under the monkishregime
,l ies and deceit were the only means the people
had to protect themselves against the agg ression of thei ral l - powerful masters . Germans and Engl ishmen who arenot famil iar with the pol ite phrases of the Span ish worldtake as genuine what the Spaniards and people tra ined bythem consider to be merely non - committal words of
pol iteness, and then when undeceived , they complain of
fal sehood, etc . But anyone who know s the abundantwealth of phrases which Spanish pol iteness has at command, everyone who is at home in the Spanish world
,
w i l l easi ly distingu i sh the conventional from the genuinefalsehood .
Speaking of Spanish , we may state that it i s the language of the official and business world
,but that i t i s
fluently spoken only by the educated . The larger the ci ty,
the greater the number of those who speak it . The common people (except in Manila, Zamboanga and someother places ) , and al so the middle classes in remote districts, speak thei r own l anguage . The monks themselvesopposed
,secretly but successful ly, the spread of the Span
ish language, in order that at each change of ministry theincoming official s should be dependent upon them . Thelaw
,indeed
,prescribed that Spanish should be taught in
al l schools,but the parish priest being school inspector
it happened to that law as to al l other law s which the
- 31_
monks d id not approve— it remained, more or less, merelya wri tten or printed paper. Consequently instruction wasgiven in the common schools only in the language of thepeople .
Every parish had at least two pari sh schools, one forboys and one for girls . The attendance was in manyprovinces larger and the percentage of i l l iteracy smallerthan in Italy
,Hungary and D almatia, not to ment ion
other interesting counties Of Eastern Europe . In thesecondary school s, which, under the Spanish rule, werefound only in Mani la
,and in the university, instruction
was given in Spanish . It was a frequent occurrence thatyoung men thirsting after know ledge would enter Spanish fami l ies as servants so as to l earn enough Spani sh toattend those higher schools . The talent of the Fi l ipinofor languages i s very great. I have seen with astonishment how quickly my friends learned European tongues .
In Barcelona,a young B ikol named Panganiban, learned
German so w el l in forty- five weeks that he spoke i t morecorrectly and more intel l igibly than most of my Slavcountrymen do . In Pangansinan and Nneva Ecij a manypeople speak three dialects
,Tagalog, Panganisanan and
I locoan.
At al l events,we have in the Fi l ipino coast Malays a
highly gi fted and ambitious people, who deserve and wil lcontinue to deserve the sympathy of civ i l i zed Europeans .In number they run from six and a hal f to eight mi l l ionindividuals
,and some estimate them at sti l l more . The
Tagals constitute less than one—th ird and more than onefourth
,the Visayans nearly one- hal f, the I locoans three
tenths, and then come in descending series the Bikol s,
Panganisanes, Pampangos, Zambales,—Kagayanes, Koy
uvos,Kalamianes and Agutainos .
5. SPAN ISH,CHINESE AND MIX ED BREED S.
Leaving out the monks, officials and sold iers, the number of European Spaniards in the islands during the lastquarter of a century has hardly amounted to one one
thousandth part Of the population, and being .devoid of
culture, know l edge and wealth, they have had but l i ttl einfluence on the country. Those only were successfulwho marr ied rich Fil ipino, mestizo or creole women and
_ 32_
settled down permanently . Of the creoles (or Spaniardsborn in the Phi lipp ines ) I shal l speak when I come to cons ider the mixed breeds
,from which they cannot w el l be
separated .
The Chinese are by no means numerous, being onlyabout two and one- hal f per cent. of the total population,but they are of the greatest economic importance . Theyconstitute the class of traders and agents, and many havegrown to be large merchants, hav ing increased their“
wealth by taking up government contracts . Besides, anumber of trades are actual ly monopol ized by them .
Their successful competit ion has caused them to be hatedby al l classes Of the natives, but sti l l they are frequentlyconsidered to be indispensable . This remark bears al soon the future of the country. As is the case everywherein foreign parts
,the Chinaman remains al so in the Phi l ip
pines a nomad . His aim is to accumulate a modest capitaland w i th i t return to his native land . E ven those whohave married native women often desert w i fe and chi ldren in order to pass the rest o f their l ives on their nativesoi l . The Spanish government made such marriagesd ifficult for the Chinese by a law that only Christianscould wed native women . Consequently the Chinese candidate for marriage had to get baptized . Such compulsioni s indeed not prai seworthy, but it worked for the benefitof land and people, in so far that the chi ldren of suchmixed marriages remain Fil ipinos, while in Dutch Indiaand the Straits Settlement the off spring born of Chinamen and native women keep the race
,creed and speech
of their fathers .In the Phi l ippines two kinds of mixed breeds are di s
tingu ished. the Spanish and the Chinese mestizos.The
first is the result of crossing the Spanish and native races,
the other the off spring of the Chinese and native women .
The extens ive nomenclature and classification of raceintermixtures used in Latin America are not adopted inthe Phil ippines . Thus the son Of a white man and a Spani sh mestizo and the child of a white man and a Chinesemestizo are both cal led Spanish mestizos . In the veins ofmany mestizos three bloods are commingled
, Caucasian,Malayan and Mongol ian . The Spani sh mestizos of thethird g eneration (that i s , those whose fathers and g rand
fathers were white ) count themselves as Phi l ippine Spaniards, or creoles . Consequently the maj ority of the creoles are mixed with Malayan and Chinese blood, and thati s my reason for treating them and the Spanish mestizostogether .The Phi l ippine Spaniards and their hybrids have never
played an active and leading role in the country, as theydid in Spani sh America . Not the cl imate, but rather environment, i s the chie f cause of this, because al l Spanishci rcles l ived and sti l l l ive
,even tod ay, more in the past
than in thinking about the future . Thus, besides theduty of pol iteness and amiabi l ity
,the creoles and their
mestizos have,unfortunately
,inherited from their Span
ish fathers also their passivity towards everything whichis cal led Progress . In pol itical matters the creoles haverather w i thdrawn timidly into the background than boldlytaken a stand at the foo
'
tl ights . They and their mixedoffspring are entirely devoid of backbone . This i s perhaps due to the fact that, up to the seventies, the Spanishgovernment rested its entire suspicion upon them andconsidered them dangerous and unrel iable . Thus con
stantly spied upon and persecuted, they have naturally become frightened and intimidated . To be sure
,there were
and are exceptions enough .
The creoles adopted Spanish manners and customs .The mestizos
,when rich
,did the same, but when poor
’
led the same manner of l i fe as Fi l ipinos of l ike social rankand means .The ‘ Chinese mestizos form an interesting class of thePhil ippine population . Raised in the Cathol ic rel igion
,
they are s imply Fi l ipinos . They are as prej udiced againstthe race o f thei r fathers as the other Fi l ipinos
,and the
circle of cul ture to which they belong and for which theystrive i s the Chri stian European . They are the mostactive and enterprising class in the islands . The mercanti le mind and the spi ri t of industry inherited from theirfathers are further developed in them . Unlike the Spani sh mestizo
,they do not push into the clerical
,medical
and legal pro fess ions,but they are shrewd business men
and contractors . The business of lending money is largelycarried on by them in a thorough businessl ike way.
The number of Phi l ippine Span iards, or creoles,
amounts to about per cent , and that of both Spani shand Chinese mestizos to about 3% perc ent . of the wholepopulation, the Chinese mestizos being the more numerous .
I I I . HISTORY.
I . TH E E ARLIER PERIOD .
On March 16, 1 52 1 , Fernando Magallanes discoveredthe first
'
island of the archipelago now cal led the Phi l ippines . This was Iomonjol i s land, one of the Surigaogroup . He met his death on the l i ttle island of Mactanas he was assi sting the new vassal of Spain, the King of
Cebu,in battle against a hosti le neighbor. Thereupon
the Spaniards left the archipelago, to which they had
given the name of St . Lazarus islands . However, theysent out several other expeditions which v isi ted the southern is lands, but without making
-
a firm establ i shment.On one of these expeditions (that of V i l lalobos ) the
name Phil ippine was first given to one of the Visayanis lands ; and afterwards extended to the whole archipelago.
Possession of the Phi l ippines was first taken in 1 565by Don Miguel Lopez de Legazpi
, who, aided by hisdaring grandson, Don Juan de Salcedo, succeeded insideof seven years in subjugating the coast regions of Luzonand the Visayan isl ands, as wel l as some parts of thenorth and east coasts of Mindanao. As far as the coastregion was concerned, l i ttle remained for hi s successorsto conquer—only the val ley of Rio Grande de Cagayan on Luzon and several places on the west coast ofMindanao
,which, however, had soon to be abandoned .
The Spaniards found large sultanates only in Sulu andMindanao
,but since I slamism had there spread
, not onlyamong the leaders, but a lso among the common people,and since the Sul tan of Sulu received help from Borneoand the Sul tan of Mindanao from Molucca (and laterfrom the Dutch ) , they were not able to make permanentstabl ishments in spite of repeated attempts to do so
.
The conquest of Luzon and the V i sayas progressedmuch more smoothly because only the nobles had em
between Manila and Acapulco (Mexico ) . Even w ithinthese narrow l imits , i t curtai led the opportunity of shipments by ind iv idual s by the insti tution of boletas .
* Certain dignitaries and corporations had claim s on theseboletas
,and it was difficult for private merchants to get
them . Usual ly only one gal leon sai led each year, and intime of war
,even that was missing. Thus, instead of
bui ld ing up an important mercanti l e class or diffusingwealth in w ide circles of the people, the shipping tradeserved only to make incomes for privi leged persons andto hasten the corruption which soon developed in a re
markable manner . This system of trade crushed al l spiritof enterpr ise in the people
,brought the former industries
|oi the country to decay, and resulted in the natives con|fining themselves to the cultivation of merely the ricenecessary for sustenance . Whi le the D utch in the Malayan archipelago grew rich by the profits on natural products , the Spaniards and Fi l ipinos grew poorer to a pitiable degree . even in the long period of peace after 1648.
Of the c it1es which Legazpi and his immediate successors founded
,endowed w i th Spanish rights and settl ed
w i th Spanish ci ti zens , only Mani la surv ived . The othersd isappeared or sank into vi l lages inhabited only bynatives . The Spaniards, except the monks and prov incialgovernors, w ithdrew into Manila because there only w erethey near the fountainhead,and there onlycould they hope,by crafty or just acqui si tion of boletas
,to earn money
by participating in the Acapulco trade . When the gal~leons arrived or departed , the city was l ike a fair ; al l therest of the year l i fe was id le and had no other spice thanpetty town goss ip .
This decay affected al l classes . The army and navy
were no longer able to protect southern Luzon and theVisayas from attacks by the pi rates of Sulu and Mindanao . The natives were thrown upon their own re
sources, and it was truly fortunate that many of the pari sh priests had been soldiers before taking orders
, for
*NOTE .—The boletas were licenses conceding the right of s hip
ments. They applied to the surplus space in the ship after the official cargo was loaded. As the demand was usually g reater than thesurplus space, the boletas were very valuable and often commandedhigh prices
—TR.
_ 37_
they were able to dri l l their parishioners and more or lesssuccessfu l ly protect them against piratical inroads byforti fying the churches and church grounds .
In Mani la i tsel f the j ealousy of the rel igious ordersagainst one another and against the Jesuits became flagrant
,and at times produced disedifying scandals . These
regular clergy* were also engaged in a constant struggleagainst the Episcopate . The Phi l ippines being considereda miss ionary country
,i ts parishes were suppl ied by the
monks (or regular clergy ) instead of by the seculars .The former
,declaring themselves subordinate only to
their provincials,were unw i l l ing to recognize ful ly the
Episcopal right of vis itation . The post of governor, orcaptain - general
,was a difficul t one on account of the ih
fluence at court of the bi shops and the rel igious orders .Much tact and diplomacy wefe needed to avoid being
entangled in their quarrels . But woe to the captaingeneral who incurred the displeasure of the entire clergy !Don Diego de Salcedo
,captain - general from 1663 to
1668, a Belgian and quite a vehement and passionateman
,happened to become embroi led first with the Do
minicans, next with the Archbishop and Cathedral Chapter of Mani la, then w ith the entire clergy, and, final ly,s ince each order had i ts adherents, with the ci tizens also .
Since he could not be reached in any other way he wasarrested in the name of the Holy Inquisition and sent toMexico for trial, there being in Mani la no tribunal of theInqu i si tion
,but only a commissioner. He d ied on the
voyage ; but the sui t was carried on and terminated inacqu ittal— the best proof that Salcedo had done noth ingagainst the faith . Much worse happened to CaptainGeneral Bustamente - Busti l lo . This energetic man of
fended al l classes and cond itions by his extens ive reformsand h i s inflexible safeguarding of the interest and authority of the state . As a result, on October 19, 1 719, a revoltled by monks of al l the orders broke out in the streets ofMan i l a, and the captain - general and his son were s la in .
*NoTE .—Catholic priests are divided into the regular and the sec
ular clergy. The former are directly subject to their provincialsand the latter to the bishops. The form er constitute the religiousorders and live in community ; the latter live in the world—that is,among the people of whom they have Spiritual charge—TR.
I f, however, a captain—general fel l out w i th only oneorder or only with the Episcopate
,he could hope to eu
dure many storms on account of the backing he wouldreceive from the others .
Thus one year after another went by in fruit lessw rangl ing and in moral and material decadence, withoutany great event requiring to be chronicled save the losso f a rich galleon which was captured by Anson off theCape of Good Hope . Out of this worthless l i fe the colonywas final ly aroused by the consequences of the BourbonFamily Pact . Shut off as the Phi l ippines were from theenti re civi l ized world, and having communication withSpain only through the Acapulco gal leons
,no one in
Manila had any idea of the outbreak of war between E ngl and and Spain . In September
,1 762 ,
an Engl i sh fleeto f thirteen ships and a land force of men appearedbefore the astoni shed city . As its defenses consisted onlyof a weak battal ion of regulars, no serious res istance wasto be thought of . Consequently
,Captain - General Roj as
,
who was also Archbishop of Mani la,capitulated on Octo
ber 5, 1 762 . The Eng l i sh meant to occupy the entirecountry ; but Lieutenant—Governor Anda, who had es
caped from Mani la, cal led the natives to arms, and, fromthe same place as Aguinaldo has recently done
,began an
apparently hopeless. struggle against the Anglo—Saxoninvaders . He improvised armies
,erected munition and
w eapon factories , and by continuous fighting drove theEngl i sh back to the wal ls of Manila . The Britons w ereeven considering the question of surrender (especial ly asthe news of the adoption of
“
a protocol was known ) whenthe definitive treaty of peace gave Manila back to theSpaniards .After thi s war the archipelago began to gradual ly risefrom its decl ine . The great colonial reforms W hichmarked the reign of Charles III were especial ly fel t in thePhi l ippines
.The products of the country again received
attention.Most gratitude was due to D on Jose Basco y
Bargas (1 778 who greatly aided the economicdevelopment of the country by wise measures . Underhim the tobacco monopoly was created, and, althoughin later years i t proved oppressive, i t was the meanswhich gave to Manila tobacco its world - w ide reputation .
The isolation of the archipelago was drawing to an end .
It i s true that the galleon traffic wi th Acapulco continuedunti l the separation of Mexico from Spain
,but long be
fore that event ships were al lowed to go around the Capeof Good Hope to Manila and the privi leged commercialcompany which was establ i shed in Mani la opened relations with neighboring countries
,although they never be
came flourishing on account of the impractical regulationsof the company . At the end of the eighteenth centuryManila was also thrown open to foreign (European )commerce, and a new era began .
2 . THE LAST C E NTU RY OF SPANISH RULE .
The revol t of the Spanish colonies in Central and SouthAmerica had no influence on the natives of the Phil ippines, although it made the government suspicious . Whenthey become suspicious
,absolute governments which rule
by sword and pol ice behave l ike a j ealous man, of whomthe poet says
,
“He looks l ike a good shot,but hits the tar
get l ike a chi ld . Thus i t was here also . In 18 19 cholerabroke out in Manila . The excited populace who had longbeen warned by the priests against intercourse w i th heretical and free - thinking foreigners, and had al ready castsuspicious eyes upon them, began to attack and slay theforeigners in Manila, because (as was the case
!
al so incholera vis itations in enl ightened Europe ) they thoughtthat the foreign botanists and zoologi sts had poisoned thewel ls . Captain—General Folgueras made no earnest effort to suppress the revolt . I n order to justi fy himsel flater before the Court of Madrid he resorted to the questionable method of casting doubts upon his corps of offi~
cers by asserting that he could not use v igorous measuresbecause nearly al l the garr ison officers were Fi l ipinos .
When,therefore
,General Martinez went to Manil a as
successor to Folgueras he took w ith him numerous staffand higher officers, whose appointment on the rol l s postponed the advancement of the Fi l ipino officers for a longtime
.This created discontent among the latter, and the
discontent was increased by the haughty demeanor of
thei r foreign comrades,which
“
deeply wounded thei r sel frespect
.The government learned of this discontent and
tried to help matters by transferring some of the most
40
prominent Fi l ipino officers,privates and official s to
Europe .
Shortly thereafter, as a punishment, the captain—general trans ferred Captain Andres Novales to Mindanao .
This officer at once formed with Lieutenant Ruiz a conspiracy in which the subaltern officers o f the King
’
s regiment also took part . The revolt broke forth on June 2 ,
182 3, and threatened to become serious because therewere no European troops in Mani la . The majority ofthe sold iers
,however
,remained loyal
,the populace was
neutral,and
,so after a few hours the rebel s were over
come . On the same day Novales,who had been pro
claimed Emperor of the Phi l ippines, and some of hisprincipal fol lowers were court—martialed and shot . In1 82 8, a second secess ion conspi racy was opportunely discovered . At its head w ere two officers named Palmero,from one of whom the present Spanish minister o f war,Az carraja,
i s descended on the maternal side . The re
sult was that a European regiment was permanently stationed in Mani la and that preference was given, as far asposs ible
,to Europeans in fi l l ing up its corps of officers .
In the meanwhi le the rel igious orders became a pow erfu l factor in pol iti cs . \Vhen the Spanish governmentsuppressed the convents at home, the Phi l ippines becamethe refuge of al l Spaniards who desired to take the habit,because there the monks
,being considered to be indispens
able, retained al l thei r privi leges intact .In order to strengthen this bel ie f of their indispensabili ty in the government authorities, the monks began toissue a ser ies of w ritings w ith the view of show ing that i twas they alone who kept the Fil ipinos loyal . The nearerwe approach the time when (even before the completecol lapse of the Spani sh power ) the power of the monks ,a Colossus w i th earthen feet, broke down , the more naiveand broader became these claims in the historical andpol i tical press . The hi story of the Phi l ippines back to thetime of the conquest was rewritten in a partisan spirit
,as
i f Spain was indebted alone and exclusively to the monksfor the possession of the archipelago . At length themonks '
_themselves bel ieved i t, and even the reddest of
republ icans and the“most sacri legious” of freemasons
who attained power and influence in the government
_ 4 1_
from the time of Isabella I I to the year of salvation, 1898,d id not dare to touch a hair of the monks ’ heads, be
cause the Spani sh control of the archipelago depends onthem,
” “
the mi l l ions of Fil ipinos do what the monkssay,
”
etc . Such was the doctrine of the Spanish colonialministry . Thus in the government of the mother countryand of the colonies
,the monks ascended to a height of
power which they had not possessed even in the days ofKing Charles I I . Their wi l l was the law in Madrid, asin Manila, and i f in course of time some decrees and re
forms were granted to the archipelago which they did notapprove of, i t was done because in their obstinate bl indness they were unwil l ing to make the smal lest concess ionto the new era which the Opening of the Suez canalbrought to the Phi l ippines . They were even bl inder thanthe advisers of Charles X of France .
But whi lst in Spain the bel ie f in the irresistible influenceof the monks over the Fi l ipinos grew into a pol i ti cal dogma and dai ly took firmer form
,thi s influence actual ly
began more and more to diminish with each year . It i s thei rony of destiny and history that at the time when themonks did not boast of their influence over the nativesbut, on the contrary, gave to Caesar what belongs toCaesar
,they real ly dominated the entire level country
,and
,
w i th some exceptions,even the cities ; whilst at the very
time that they w ere thought in Spain to be defenders ofthe red and yel low flag
,and claimed to be the masters
of the archipelago,the ground beneath thei r feet was
entirely undermined, and they themselves were ratherhated and feared than loved and respected . This changewas not effected at one stroke . Neither was i t the workof the Freemasons , as the monks charge, hoping therebyto keep their Cathol ic people from the temptation to examine whether the monks themselves might not be toblame . We shal l see that a long series o f factors gradually changed the status of the monks .In the first place, the monks committed the mistake of
refusing the natives admission into the orders,which
previously had been al lowed . They accepted onlyEuropean nov ices . This al ready placed them in an awkward relation to the Fil ipinos
,and particularly to the
secular clergy . The latter being recruited only from
2
natives, i t thus came about that the regular clergy wereexclusively Europeans
,whil st the secular clergy were
natives . In the beginning,secular priests were found
only in the Cathedral s ; but after the suppress ion of theJesuits the parishes o f these were given to the seculars .
But that was not al l : Under the pretence that Spanishauthority would be better sa feguarded i f the monks hadcharge of these pari shes
,they w ere gradual ly trans ferred
from the seculars to the rel igious orders . In every diocese only a few par ishes remained in the hands of secularclergymen
,and then usual ly ad interim only . In this
manner for the secular priest the prospect of getting apari sh was much dimini shed, whi le the chance of dying achapla in was so much the greater as the increas ing population requ ired that the regular parish priests shouldhave chaplains (or assi stants ) . These had to be takenfrom the secular clergy on account of the insufficient supply of monks . In thi s manner the number of the secularsincreased whi l st the number of disposable parishes diminished by their trans fer to the rel igious orders so thatthe disproportion between the candidates and the l iv ingsconstantly increased . Furthermore . the seculars receivedonly the less valuable l ivings ; i f the income of a pari shincreased, one could feel sure that i t would soon fal l intothe hands of the monks .Under such circumstances i t i s intel l igible that the
secular clergy should feel hurt by these sl ights . Thei r i l lw i l l was bound to become dangerous to Spanish authorityi f the latter should indorse the aspirations of the monksto monopol ize al l the parishes and to leave only the chaplaincies to the seculars . This actual ly happened , for themonks continued to represent themselves as the defendersof the Span ish flag and to denounce the seculars as r e
belliously minded . And to curry favor with the HolySee they represented the secular priests as inferior and incompetent to undertake church affairs and appealed forproof to the j udgment of European travelers, who, to besure
,sang no song of prai se for the native parish priests ,
But they forgot to add that al l the bishops were monks,
that the seminaries were conducted by monks, and
that i t was part of the pol icy of the rel igious ordersto fit out the native theologians with only absolutely
masons, and even the short- l ived republ ic, le ft them incharge of the preservation of Spani sh authority .
In the Phi l ippines themselves there occurred an eventwhich served only to strengthen the power of the monks .In 1872 , the native garri son of Cavite revolted and proclaimed the independence of the Phil ippines . Thegarri son of Mani la
, which was l ikew i se native, was
hurried to the spot,and soon suppressed
.
the revolt .All the r ich creoles
,mestizos and Fi l ipinos of Mani la
and al l the prominent secular clergy who had held l iberalv i ews or had taken part in the movement of prebendaryPelaez were imprisoned . The result o f the inquiriesseemed to fu l ly j usti fy the warnings of the monks againstthe secular clergy and the l iberals . The leaders o f thePelaez movement, Father Burgos and two other secularpr iests, w ere condemned to death as instigators of the revol t, and the el i te of the native Liberals were deported tothe Marianne islands . In vain Father Burgos and hi sreverend conpanions asseverated their innocence ; theyw ere executed .
I f at this t ime the monks had yielded a l ittle,a recon
ci l iation could perhaps have been effected with the secularclergy and the native reformers, but they triumphantlyheld thei r heads erect and were more obstinate than ever .
This was so much the more an error as the opening of theSuez canal had brought the Phi l ippines into the world ’scommercia l channels and the archipelago had begun arapid
,unforeseen advance
,notonly in economic matters,
but in everything that men cal l progress . The land waspermeated by new ideas, i ts sons were sent to Europe andother parts of the world to study, and foreigners settledin i t more numerously than ever before .
Up to this time the secular clergy had asked only thei rrights, and only in Manila was there to be found a smallband of native pol i tic ians who strove, timidly and insecret
,after reforms ; but now pol itical l i fe began to
awaken among the natives, and first among the educatedand wealthy . They began to find it unendurable that theweal and woe of their fami l ies should depend upon thehumors and the favors of thei r monk- pastors and theofficials . The officials
‘
had no esteem in the country, for,
at every change of mini stry at home, a change of official s
occurred, and the new officials came w ithout any knowledge of the country and with the single aim of saving asmuch money as they could in the probably short time ofthe ir stay The monks exercised an unl imited influenceover the entire officialdom . This was 50
,first
,because
owing to their ignorance of the country, the officials hadto rely upon the information of the pastors ; second, because the monks were able to procure the discharge of anyofficial who proved intractable
,for in Madrid they w ere
held to be“
the only men who knew the country and “ theonly support o f Spanish authori ty in the Phil ippines,
”
and, final ly, because the home government strove to keepon good terms with the monks lest thei r immense wealthshould be “placed at the service of D on Carlos, the pretender to the Span ish throne .
In spite of the fact that every Fil ipino who stood out
for reform might expect to be arrested any night andsent to some penal settl ement, there arose a party embracing a wide c ircle of notable men who cal led themselvesthe Party of Assimi lation . They declared for assimi la~
t ion, that i s, for the extension of constitutional rights tothe archipelago, for representation in the Spanish parl iament and for the exclusion. of the monks from parishes,or even for thei r bani shment from the country. Leavingaside this last plank, the Fil ipinos demanded, in the firstplace, the same measure of pol itical rights that the mothercountry had conceded to Cuba and Porto Rico after thepeace o f Zanj on . Spain could the more eas i ly have
g ranted these demands, as they were in part only a re
establ ishment of previously canceled rights, for tw iceunder Ferdinand I I and once under Isabel la I I the rightto elect deputies to the Cortes had been g ranted to theFi l ip inos
,but quickly taken away again . It i s hard to
imagine why none of the many ministri es of the republ icand the monarchy would sati s fy these just demands . Thequestion of the monks was much harder to solve . It i scertainly - excusable i f even l iberal ministries would not.grant this
'
demand, s ince they were persuaded of the needfulness of the monks, and they feared that any undervalu
*NorE .—Can it be much different under f Am
’
erican methods of
politics by which, in spite of civil service rules the victors manage to
g‘
et most of the spoils —TR.
—46
ation of the orders might indi rectly help the Carl i st cause .
I f the monks themselves had been smart they would haveyielded a part of their pari shes in order to save the restand perhaps al so thei r real estate . But they grew moreunyield ing than ever
,and sought to keep themselves
above water by banishing their opponents . An epoch of
persecution began for the Assimilationists simi lar to theunworthy persecution of the radicals in Germany duringthe reaction of the early fi ft ies . But i t was the means ofincreasing the hatred against the monks to a threateningdegree .As a press censorship existed in the Phi l ippines, and asi t seemed necessary to make propaganda in the mothercountry itsel f in behal f of Phi l ippine interests
,the Assim
ilation party establ i shed in Madrid a weekly paper cal ledL a S olidaria
’
ad,which bravely took up the cudgels in be
hal f of Phi l ippine r ights and demands . The activ ity andintel lectual energy of the various Fi l ipino castes areshown by the fact that there was only a s ingle whiteFi l ip ino among the writers of the S olidaridad, viz .,D on
Eduardo de Lete y Cornel l . The others were Tagals,such as the doctor of medicine and philosophy, Dr . JoseRizal, so wel l known by his martyrdom,
and the lawyersMarcelo H . del Pi lar and Mariano Ponce ; or I locoans,l ike Antonio Luna
,later general in the Fil ipino army ; or
Visayans,l ike the j ournal ist Graciano Lopez Jaena . The
expectation that the Span ish press would pay greater attention to the Fil ipino organ was not real ized . Only therepubl icans and the Freemasons took any notice of theundertaking
,the former because they could use it as an
arsenal whence to draw weapons against the restoration,
and the latter because (although when in power they haddone noth ing for the Fi l ipinos ) they thought that theFil ipino movement was entirely anti - clerical . The Spanish Freemasons d id not even know that the secular clergy
,
w ere stand ing at the s ide of the Assimilationists, and thatal l those orders which had no share in the pol i tical ser fdom of the country or in the persecution of the Assimilationists (such as the Jesuits, the Benedictines, the Brothers / of Mercy, etc . ) enjoyed the greatest respect and loveof al l Fi l ipino classes, even of the l iberals . Consequentlythe ' sympathy of the republ icans and Freemasons only
hurt the Phi l ippine cause,because the monarchial party
was thereby al ienated and the enemies of the movementwere able to denounce i t in Rome as Masonic and hereti~
cal . However,in spi te o f strict prohibition
,the S olidari
dad was widely circulated in the Phil ippines . In order tooffset it, a weekly paper cal led L a Politico de E spag na cu
Filipinos was started in Madrid . Its purpose was to support the pretensions of the
_1nonks, and it enj oyed the
abundant support of the rel igious orders . But this monks ’
paper on ly poured oil on the fire by its mal ignant attackson the colored people, whom it represented as inferiorbe ings . This abuse of the Malay race and the mestizoswas trans lated by the Assimi lationists into the vulgartongues of the archipelago and circulated in order thatthe humblest classes
,who knew no Spanish, might learn
what their ru lers thought of them .
The persecution was intens ified by a demonstration or
ganiz ed by the burgomasters o f the towns and vil lages ofMani la province in order to petit ion the government forthe removal o f the monks and their replacement by Spanish and Fi l ipino secular priests . The hope of a lawfulsettl ement o f the Phi l ipp ine problem decreased more andmore
,and its surrender was evident when the S olidai’idad
had to be discontinued because the w ealthy classes inManil a refused to longer make heavy pecuniarv sacrifices in a hopeless undertaking.
“
Whilst the upper classes thus gave up the struggle,
there was formed among the low er classes a secret societycal led the Katipunan
,the obj ect of which was the ex
pulsion of the monks, a result which, because the Spanishrule was identified with the monks
’
privi leges, must have,in the event of victory, as a natural sequence the severing
o f the archipelago from Spain . It was an association ofthe common people
,and it exhibited in i ts organization a
mixture of Masonic regulations with those of the secretsocieties which the Chinese have in foreign lands
,and
which can be best compared w i th the Mafia of the S icilians
,the Camorra of the Neapol itans and the Mano Ne
g ra of the Andalusians . It ‘ does not appear to have extended over the entire archipelago, but only Over the Tagal provinces near Mani la.
g
The ri se of this society was due to the pressure of social
cond itions . A large part of the landed property belongsto the monks
,so that the peasants there l ive only as ten
ants, or, better said , as colonists . In recent years themonks fool i shly raised the rent
,and this was al l the
harder,as the sugar fai lure and the buffalo pest had al
ready reduced the peasants to sad straits . Bes ides, inmany cases the titl es were contested by the natives, whoclaimed that many of these pieces of l and had been thefree possess ion of thei r ancestors
,who had paid volun
tarily an annual fixed ti the to the par ish priests in orderto maintain a pompous d ivine service . But there being norecorder ’ s office in the Phi l ipp ines
,and the original pur
pose of the annual ti the becoming forgotton,the payment
came to be considered in later years as rent, and the landwas consequently held to be, not the possession of its cul tivator, but a leasehold of the parish priest, or, rather, ofthe rel igious order to which he belonged .
In fact,the di str ict of Calamba fi led a suit against theDominicans to recover a tract of l and in the city whichwas held apparently unlawfu lly by them . But the casewas lost in every court . Nevertheless
,the bel ie f that in
many, i f not in most cases, the Lati fund ium possessionsof the monks w ere not held legally
,was obstinately main
tained. The more so as by levies the monks aroused thefeel ings of the peasants more and more, and besides, onewil l ingly bel i eves the worst of a hated opponent. At anyrate
,i t was remarkabl e that precisely in those ci rc
‘
leswhich had been counted as the support of the monksagainst the “ Liberal” upper classes, a conspiracy againstthem should ari se .
How these people meant to accompl ish their aim is notknown
,for the conspiracy was discovered on August 19,
1896,and i f the rebel l ion was planned for the fol low ing
September,as the Spaniards assert, i t seems odd that
neither weapons nor ammunition had been gathered andstored .
A woman made the matter known to Father Gi l , pastorof Tondo
,a suburb of Manila, and he naturally d id not
delay to communicate with the authorities . The investi
gations which weie at once made led to the surpri singdiscovery that in this conspiracy not merely dozens
,but
hundreds,even thousands
, of persons were involved, and
_ 49_
that the Katipunan documents were printed in the ofliceof the D iario de Manila, that i s, that even the publ i sherand compos itors of that j ournal, which was the mostzealous defender of the monks ’ privi leges belonged to thesoc iety . They endeavored at once to capture the intell ectual l eaders of the conspi racy, whom they expected tofind among the educated natives ; and s ince the monkspromptly declared that the affair was instigated by theFreemasons
,al l educated persons who were suspected of
l iberal or even merely reform sentiments were arresteden masse. The prisons w ere fi l led with suspects of al lclasses
,and terror was brought into al l ci rcles . The
Spaniards were bl ind in their rage for persecution,espe
cially when a wi ld rumor of an intended Sici l ian V espersspread about .Their rage was the greater because their condition
seemed desperate,the Manila garri son being absent on an
exped ition to Mindanao . Nothing,however, happened ; for.
the natives had even greater dread of the Spaniards andmonks than these of them . Thus, by assembl ing the gendarmery scattered throughout the provinces, CaptainGeneral Blanco was able, at least,
’
to secure the ci ty? Im
prisonments,however
,w ent on apace, for, as in the days
of Sul la’s proscriptions
,every cowardly denunciation by
some miserable nobody found wi l l ing acceptance in Spani sh ci rcles
,and a magnificent Opportunity was given to get
rid,in the quickest way, of unpleasant competi tors or op
ponents.
It was said that persons in itiated into the Katipunansociety had to make an incis ion in the leg in order to signwith thei r own blood the required pledge . Consequently,search was made for scars on the leg, and whoever had
one was sent to prison ; although on account of the vege
tation of the country and the customs of the people, such
Scars might wel l ari se from any accidental scratch .
Since,then
,every native who did not possess the com
pleteconfidence of the pari sh priest or the Spaniards, saw
himsel f threatened in his personal safety (and imprisonment was equivalent to conviction ) , the people resolvedrather to die in battl e than to suffocate in pr ison . Consequently, at
'
the end of Augu st, the So- cal led Tagalo rebel l ion broke out. For the time being the Span iards
—5o
could undertake nothing, for, though the troops had re
turned from Mindanao, they were hardly sufficient evento protect the capi tal and Cavite from the dreaded surprise and a threatened upris ing in the city . The insur‘
gents, therefore, gained time for their organization . Attheir head appeared Emil io Aguinaldo
,a Tagal
,who
,be !
cause he was one of the admirers of Dr . Rizal,was
searched a fter, but had escaped, and who since then, byhi s great talent for organization and his statesmanl ikegi fts, has given to the world a shining example of thecapabi l i ty of the Phi l ippine people .
Marshal B lanco, who first had to awai t the arrival ofreinforcements from Spain in order to del iver a greaterblow against the insurgents, attempted by mi ldness toprevent a further spread of the revol t and to win back thatportion of the Tagal s who had been driven to the rebelsonly by terror of the pol ice . However
,this prudent pol icy
was de feated by the unanimous opposition of the European Spaniards l iving on the is lands . At that j uncture themonks could have rehabi l i tated themselves even yet tosome extent, i f they had acted as mediators between therebel s and the government ; or, i f they had at least spokenin behal f of the prisoners . Instead of doing so, they werethe very first to demand relentless measures against therebels and the pri soners
,and that not only behind the
scenes,but publ icly and in black on white . The arch
bishop of Mani la and the regular clergy sent pr ivate d ispatches from Hong Kong to Madrid, blaming Blanco for;showing too l ittl e energy
,and thereby endangering the
Spanish cause . By energy the Spaniards o f Manilaunderstood the execution of the actual and supposedleaders of the Katipunan society . The Madrid government yielded
,General Polaviej a succeeded B lanco, and
the Spaniards of Mani la had reason to be sati sfied . for thecourt - martial s furnished r ich material to the firing squads .
All classes and castes of the Fi l ipinos were representedamong these v ictims
,the common people, doctors, law
yers, merchants and secular clergy, among whom thepastor of the Cathedra l of Naga . None of these unfortunates awakened so much sympathy as the noble Tagal,Dr
.Rizal
,whose ch ief offense was that he had
‘
written
_ 53_
al l Fil ipinos were convinced that a complete change wouldbe made in the prevai l ing system of government i f therebel l ion would not again break out.
3. RECENT EV ENT Q
The. Spaniards, and especial ly the monks, learned nothing from this rebel l ion . One apology may, however, bemade for the government . Carl ism had again begun toshow threatening signs of l i fe in Spain, and consequentlythe government could concern itsel f only with such planso f reform as would meet the approval, or, at least, thetoleration, of the monks . By “ reform
,however
,the
monks understood the completest reaction and the withdrawal of al l those decrees by which the colonial ministers
,Leon del Casti llo, Balaguer, Becerra, Moret and
Maura,had met at least the most pressing requirements
of the new era. Thus week fol lowed week, and distrustof the Spaniards began to strongly increase in the Phil ippines
,whi l st even the shadow of the approaching Spanish
Amer i can war did not induce the monks to allow, byprudent yielding, greater freedom to the Spanish government .
Aguinaldo and his staff were in voluntary exi le inHong Kong . He was exasperated because the Spaniard sdespi sed him as one “ bought
,
”whereas he had deposited
the indemni ty money in a Hong Kong bank as “ a warfund in case the Spaniards do not keep their pledges . ” Andthese pledges w ere not kept
,nei ther the moral nor the
material ones, for the payment of the instalments of the in
demnity ceased . When the Spanish - American war was imminent
,Agu inaldo, accompanied by several companions,
appeared in S ingapore in order in the name of the unitedFil ipino classes (creoles, Fi l ipinos, Spani sh and Chinesemestizos ) to treat with the Americans . The AmericanConsul - General
,Pratt
,protests now that he did not make
the so—cal led agreement of Singapore with Aguinaldo inRafi
’
les’ Hotel on Apri l 2 8, 1 898 ; and a year later an
Engl i sh book which publ ished i ts text was enjoined fromits further publ ication by the colonial authorities of Singapore . But up to the outbreak of hosti l i ties between theAmericans and the Fi l ipinos, i ts existence was not contro
verted or doubted by any one .
* As early as June,1898,
I was shown several copies of it by influential Fi l ip inos,
whom I had warned to remain true to the Spaniards, be
cause the Americans, if aided by the natives, would indeed take the archipelago from the Spaniards
,but would .
hold i t for themselves . These people could not have invented the agreement. Moreover
,the French and Span
ish papers, as wel l as several Spanish books treating o f
the war, publ i shed l iteral ly the same text, and no American voice was raised in protest against it at that time .
I f i t i s a fabricat ion, several points in it are so favorableto the Americans
,that they could not have been inserted
or accepted by Fi l ipinos concerned only about their ownindependence . When
,there fore,Mr . Pratt denies that he
made such an agreement, he may refer to his personalcol laboration and to the form of the document . At anyrate, i t suffices for us to consider the fact that during thewhol e time of the American war and late into the w interof 1 898, the entire world had bel ieved in the existence ofthe agreement
,and the more readi ly as its paragraphs
seemed to furnish internal evidences of authenticity .
Furthermore,i t was said at that time that President Mc
Kinley had refused the telegraphic approval o f the agreement which had been requested . It i s also stated that theagreement had been submitted to Admiral D ewey andapproved by him w i th the addition that the occupationof Mani la should be made by the American troops .
In order to j udge the events fol low ing, i t is immaterialwhether a formal agreement was made or not or whether
i t merely definitely announced the actual mutual relations
that existed between the two parties . I n the al leged agree
ment the independence of the Phil ippines was declared .
an American protectorate over the new republic was recogniz ed,
and it was stipulated that, for the time being .
American and European commissioners to be named by
*NorE .
—A study of senate doc. No. 62 (which, however, unfor~tunately omits dispatch No. 2 1 1 ) leads me to bel ieve
,thatMr. Pratt
did not make the alleged ag reement, though he was certainly verylfriendly and encouragj ng
' toward the Fil1p1no leaders.
_The Chinese
trouble has disclosed in Hong Kong a nest of Champion L iars who
are capable of inventing anything .
.
Happ1ly the right of the Filipinosto independence rests upon a law h1gher than any pledge which could
bemade by us or anybody else—TR.
Rear Admiral D ewey should participate in the government of the country .
It i s know that 0 11 May 1,1 898, D ewey completely de
stroyed the Spanish fleet at Cav i te and that he then wascondemned to inactivity because he had no land troopsand could spare only enough marines to hold Cav ite ,which had surrendered . Now Captain - General Augustiproclaimed reforms , summoned a colonial assembly and ,in short, d id everything poss ible in order at the last moment to win the nat ives to his side ; but i t was too l ate .
On May 1 9, Emil io Aguinaldo landed at Cavi te underthe protection of D ewey and summoned his countrymento the war for independence . Already in Apri l an appealhad been publi shed in Hong Kong over the signature ofL a Junta Patriotica
,in which the Fi l ipinos were cal led
upon to put their trust in the Americans,and the assur
ance was given that the protection of the United Stateswould help them to the attainment o f their freedom and
rights . This proclamation closed w i th the characteri sticexclamations : “Hurrah for Freedom and Right ! Hurrah for the great Republ ic of North America !! Hurrahfor President McKinley and Admiral An
other pamphlet publ i shed at that time, instead of beingsigned , ends with thi s sentence :
“ I do not sign my namebecause i t i s too insignificant for you
,but I call upon you
in the name of one of our most subl ime victims of patrioti sm, whose spiri t must at this time hover at our s ide, inthe name o f Jose Rizal . ” In this pamphlet
,also
,the Fi l i
pinos were implored to place their trust in the Americansand were invi ted thus : “Wherever you see an Americanflag there gather together
,for there you w i l l find your
l iberators .
” A third anonymous circular closes w i th thesewords : Destiny supports the Americans in their v ietories because the war they carry on i s a just one and because they are the chosen nation which shal l place usas was to be expected on our desired road to freedom
.
Do not attempt to outrage these decrees of destiny or youwil l peri sh . Therefore support the Americans . ” I preserve, also, from those days, a smal l handbi l l (octavoform ) on which nothing else i s said than :
“Hurrah forAmer ica and the
.
Phil ippines ! Hurrah for Freedom andProgr ess !! Death to the Monks ! Down w ith Tyran
It is singular that these proclamations were notSigned by any special name since in Hong Kong the exi leshad no reason for concealment and it might even bethought by some that they w ere issued by the Americansthemselves ; but
'
it i s clear from the Philippinism s intermingled with the Spanish that they were composed bythe Fil ip inos .
On May 2 4 , 1 898, Aguinaldo i ssued a mani festo overhis own name in which he first charges the Spaniardswith vio lation of the treaty of B iac- na - Bato, thereby justifying himsel f for tak ing up arms, and then points outthat the Amer icans would give their aid to the Fil ipinosfor the accompl i shment of “ our demands .
” He informsthe people that he has assumed the power of governmentand has surrounded himsel f with a council of enl ightenedmen by whose a id he would conduct i t unti l a legal con
gress could be assembled . This proclamation was al socommun icated to Dewey and no
_protest was made on the
part of the Amer i cans . Nay, the Americans even transferred Cav ite and the ir Spanish pri soners to the Fil ipinogeneral .
No wonder,then
,that a Fi l ipino friend whom I had
adv ised to stick to the Spanish flag and had warnedagainst trusting the Americans was able to Write to meon June 1 0 , 1 898 :
“ I cannot of course say anythingdefinite about the real intentions of the Americans . Thusfar they have acted al l r ight . They al low the Fil ipinosto arm themselves and to undertake mil i tary operationsat their own risk and account . They do not interfere .
Surely i f they had the secret design to take possession of
us they would not al low the insurgents to take up armswhich later could be turned against them.
Agu inaldo’
s appeal enk indled the people. V olunteers
streamed in in great crowds and the armed mi litia and
native soldiers of Spain began to flock to h im with'
arms
and baggage. W hen he won hi s first v ictories over the
Spanish troops and forced a general and.his corps to sur
render the cause of Spain was lost.
“
At h is headquarters
were now to be found those keen - scented people Whoarewont to go over to the victor at just the rightmoment,neithertooearly nor too late. Gradual ly his troops con;
1
—56
quered all Luzon and the revolution began to raise itshead also in the Visayas .The understanding between D ewey and the Fil ipinos
was cordial . A coolness arose first when the Americantroops arr ived . It was due to General Merri tt, who didnot know how to control his Anglo - Saxon haughtinesstowards “ natives . However
,he respected the Fil ipino
flag and (obeying indeed more his needs than hi s inel inations ) accepted the help of the Fil ipinos in the lastassault on Manila
, for without Aguinaldo’s aid the Amer s
icans cou ld only have bombarded the city.
No protest was made by the Americans against theproclamation of independence 0 11 June 1 2 , 1 898, noragainst the inauguration of the Phi l ippine Republic 0 11
Aug. 1,1 898. Every impartial observer must say that
the Americans did not take a single step which couldsuggest in the remotest degree that they harbored a design to annex the country . The confidence of the Fi l ipinos was unbounded
,and even i f the terms of the pro
tocol of Washington did create a certain d isquietude .they consoled themselves with the thought that
,should
i ts terms be repeated in the treaty,the Americans would
consent none the less to recognize or secretly aid the independence of the islands . The Fi l ipinos had every reason to expect this, for i f the Americans meant it earnestly with that protocol, why did they look on passivelywhile Aguinaldo sent reinforcements f rom Luzon to theinsurgents in Visaya against those very Spaniards w ithwhom the Americans had concluded a truce ? Thisstrange proceed ing, I claim, should strengthen the Fi l ipinos in the expectation that the great American. nation s .
would remain true to i ts ancient tradi tions to' i
promogthe independence of European colonies . D id not Deweyaccept without protest the solemn notification of the form .
al proclamation of the Phi l ippine republ ic ? Did notthe American authoriti es in Mani la al low the delegatesfrom that city to the Phil ippine convention to go backand forth in a special train to its sessions at Malolos ?
On S ept . 2 2 , 1 898, a Fil ipino friend wrote to me :“ The
relations wh ich prevai l between the Americans and theFi l ip inos cont inue friendly as hitherto . The latter pass
;ia and out of Man i la w ith un i forms and insignia, con
ltlflue unhindered the arming and dri l l ing of thei r soldlel’ S
, and qui etly organize al l the branches o f their gov1ernment.
The first acts of the Americans which could shake thetrust of the Fil ipinos were a prohibition for Phil ippineSh}PS to carry the tri - color flag of the republ ic and these izure of the l ittle steamers belonging to the Phil ippinegovernment
. But since the other,above descr ibed rela
tions remained intact, and since Fil ipino troops were sti l lpermitted to assi st the Visayans in their fight against theSpaniards (even after the sign ing of the official peace !)the F i l ip inos became soon quieted . Even the signing of
the treaty of peace at Pari s made no change in the cond it ion
.
of things because they were persuaded that theAmer ican congress would not accept i ts terms, but wouldg ive freedom to the Phil ippines . So in al l calmness thePhi l ippine congress at Malolos del iberated on the constitution of the Phi l ippine republ ic . This constitution, whichwas modeled after European patterns
,was solemnly pro
cla imed on Jan . 2 1 , 1899, at Malolos .
The senate at \Vashington had decided to take a finalvote on the Paris treaty on Feb . 6,
1 899, and the Fil ipinosfel t sure that the resul t would be favorable to them, eveni f carr i ed only by a few votes . The outbreak of hostilities on Feb . 4 between the Fi l ipinos and the Americansproduced such an impression on hesitating senators thata maj ority decided unfavorably to the Fi l ipino cause.The Americans and Fi l ipinos charge each other w ith
having begun hosti l i ties . I f the Americans are right, i ti s certa inly strange that j ust on Feb . 4 the Fil ipino generals of the corps near Mani la should have been summoued to Malolos for con ference with Aguinaldo andthat the staff officers should have gone to the theater atCaloocan . Furthermore, the consideration of sel f- interest (cu i bono ?) makes i t seem much more probable thatthe Fi l ipinos would be careful not to arouse the chauvinisni of the Americans by precipitating a confl ict, sincethey had telegraphic in formation as to the condition of
affairs in W ashington .
IV . AMERICAN BLUNDERS .
Since that time war has raged in the Phi l ippines w ithout the Americans
,in spite of the aid o f large rein force
ments,being able to gain a decisive resul t in the field .
They have been as l i ttl e able to accompl i sh anything inthe domain of pol i tics . By promising to grant autonomyto the “ colony they have indeed succeeded in establ i shing a native party
,the so—cal led “Americanists,
”
which,however
,exists only in the ci ties occupied by the Amer
icans. This party has no hold on the people because iti s made up of those natives who, for the sake of peace,would serve
,and in fact
,have served al l masters who
possessed power in thei r homes,and of other natives
who consider i t patriotic, unti l a definite decis ion as tothe fate of their country, to fil l the offices intrusted tothem so that these might not entirely fal l into the handsof the Americans, or of those base soul s among the natives who can be bought for gold . Neither i s i t increasing
,but on the contrary i t i s crumbl ing away, because
confidence in the friendly intentions of the American government towards the Fi l ipinos begins to disappear evenamong i ts members . But the Americans need not com~
plain,because they alone are to blame . Up to the pro
ceedings of the Peace Commission at Paris neither theAmerican government nor i ts representatives in thearchipelago d id anything whatever to d isturb the bel iefof the Fil ip inos that their independence would remainuntouched . Even the explanation of the word
“ control” *
given by the American commissioners in the course of theproceedings at Paris might with good right be understood by the Fil ipinos as another express ion for a protectorate.
*NOTE .
— S ee Appendix No. 2 . The phrase of the protocol, as first
proposed, was“
control, possession and Finally the
word“
disposition!
was substituted for possession.
!
The word“
control was rendered in French by“
intervention,
!
and in Span ishby
“
inspeccion.
”—TR.
- 60
ing the Amer ican nature ) that they would ever concedeto the natives, to colored men, a social and real pol iticalequal ity with the sanctimonious
,white
,Engl ish - speaking
race, or that they would ever give back again to the natives the government i f they had once obtained i t fromthem .
For the Fi l ipinos,then
,subjugation and annexation
both mean loss of national ity, social proscription and acondition of heloti sm without any prospect of l iberationby legal methods from a debas ing honor - dull ing servitude .
I f considerations l ike these fai l to estrange Fi l ipinosfrom the thought o f American annexation,
surely the si ll i est among them must be awakened from their dreamsof resignation by a view of the ever more intimate relations which are growing up between the Americans andthe monks . These monks
,whose lati fundia w ere confis
cated by the Phi l ippine republ ic,can recover their lost
possess ions only through the triumph of the Americans,w i th whom they consequently place themselves on thebest footing . On the other hand
,the Americans, who
know the country only from Spanish books and from in
tercourse with the monks who surround them in Manila,and who, as whites, are congenial to them, have beeninduced to uti l i ze thes
'
e monks and hope by their influenceto win the lower classes . Therefore they restore to themthe churches which before the downfal l of the Spani shpower were in charge of the rel igious orders, but s incehad been given in charge to the native secular clergy.
Therefore numbers of monks, who, after the victories
o f the Americans and Fi l ipinos, had le ft the country andhad found re fuge in Spain or eastern Asia, are returningto the Phi l ippines . Thus i t i s that the Fil ipinos havesacrificed al l thei r blood and means in order that insteadof the personal ly amiable Spaniard
,the haughty Anglo
Saxon of America who abhors dark skins may sw ing thewhip over them ! And , as i f that were not enough , themonks shal l al so come back to al l their privi leges !Everything protests against such a resul t . But one need onlyread the D emocracia
,one of the best of the Americanist
organs,to see that thei r chief concern i s that the old
monkish dominion shal l return under the starry banner
4 1
and revenge itself for al l that the Fi l ipinos actually or
putatively d id aga inst the pol i ti cal rights and materialwel fare of the rel igious orders . The unfortunate hand ofthe American pol itician is shown here also . To supportonesel f on a class wh ich itsel f needs a support is a veryfool i sh undertak ing.
Consequently there i s no prospect that the Phil ippinepeople wil l submit to the American flag, and only t imew i l l show whether the Americans wi l l be able to subduethem by force of arms . I f they do, the Phi l ippines w i l lrema in an uncertain possess ion, because there can be nothought of reconci l iation or fraternization between American and Fi l ip ino . The Anglo—Saxon cannot lay as ideh i s brutal domineering moral ity (Herrenmoral ) toward s“ natives,
”for i t i s not a garment, but an element of his
national character.
One cannot help asking why, true to their tradit ionalcharacter of l iberators, the Americans d id not at leastmake the attempt to establ ish an independent Phil ippinerepubl ic under an American protectorate in order to satisfy themselves as to the pol itical ripeness of the Fil ip inos . The excu se that they are not ripe for independence i s not founded on facts . The F i l ip inos number moreeducated peopl e than the kingdom of Servia and the pr incipalities of Bulgar ia and Montenegro. They have feweri l l i terates than the states of the Balkan peninsula, Russia,many prov inces of . Spain - and Portugal, and the Latinrepubl ics of America. There are provinces in which fewpeopl e can be found who do not at least read. They pay
more attention to education than Spain or the Balkanstates do.
There i s no lack of trained men fit to governthe i r own country and indeed in every branch, becauseunder the Span i sh rule the ofliCial bus iness was entirelytransacted by native subalterns . The whole h istory of
the Katipunan revol t and of the war aga inst Spa in andAmerica serves to place in the. best l ight the capab i l ity of
the Fi l ipinos for sel f- government . For, even in Pola
v iej a ’s time, excesses occurred only exceptional ly and
they were always punished . The h istory of.
the Ph i l ip
p inerevolution i s not stained w ith a long series of cruel:
ties l ike those of the revolut ions of the great Civ i l ized
nations of E urope. That their tendency -15‘ toward E uro
—62
pean standards i s ev ident from the respect wh ich theyshowed to the l ives and property of foreigners as wellduring the Katipunan revolt as since . The exi stence of asp i rit of d iscipl ine and subordination and of respect forauthori ty is shown by the morale of the Ph i l ippine armyand its obed ience to Aguinaldo ’s orders. W hoever isfamil iar w i th the hi story of the revol t of the Span i shAmerican colonies wi l l remember how much d i scord therewas among the rebel s
,and how they betrayed, deserted
and even in the presence of the enemy fought one another.
But in the Fi l ipino army al l was harmonious just as in aloyal and wel l d iscipl ined European army.
There fore no one can deny that the Fi l ipinos have moreright to form an independent government than manyE uropean and American countries . Likewise, every oneshould admi t that by recogniz ing an independent Phil ipp ine republic and by declaring a protectorate over i t,Amer ica would acquire a better pos ition in E astern Asiathan itw i l l i f i t must continual ly defend its banner againstrebels, and at every col l ision w i th foreign powers, mustassure itsel f that its Fi l ipino subj ects do not make common cause w i th the enemy . The great North Amer icanun ion cannot lose prestige i f it acknowledge the errors ofthe imperial is t party and goback to the propositions ofthe al leged agreement of Singapore . I f the obl igationsof prestige are to be d iscussed, l et i t be said that Amer icanprest ige suffered most of al l by al lowing the Fi l ipinos solong to bel ieve that America had nothing against theirindependence . At any rate, a Phi l ippine republ ic established under the protection of America would prove farmore useful for American pol itical interests than a colonykept in subj ection by sold iers and gal lows .May the d ice fal l as they w i l l , one th ing is certain . The
Fi l ipinos have won the sympathy of all who rej ect theprinciple that Might i s Right and consider the sentimentD ulce estpro pati ia mori as something more than a copyset up for Latin students to translate.
- 63
APPENDIX I .
SYNOPSIS OF THE PRINCIPAL ARTICLES OF THE CONSTI
TUTION OF TH E PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC.
1 . The po litical union of al l Fi l ip inos forms a nationand their state i s named The Phil ipp ine Republ ic.2 . The Phi l ippine Republ i c is free and independent.
3. Sovereig nty rests exclus ively in the people.
4 . The government of the Republ ic is popular, representative, successive and responsible, and it wil l be carri edon by three different branches cal led the legi slative
,the
executive and the judicial .
5. The nation recogn izes the freedom and equal ity of .
al l rel igions and establ i shes the separation of church andstate .6. Fore igners who are not natural ized may acquirethe right of c itizenship by two years
’ continuous residencein any part of the Phi l ippines and by the payment of thelegal taxes .
7. No Fi l ipino nor foreigner shal l be arrested or im
pri soned except for crime and in conformity with the‘ forms of the l aw .
8. E very person arrested must be either set free or
brought before a competent j udge w i thin twenty- four
hours after arrest. He must be either released or com
mitted w ithin 72 hours after appearance before such competent judge
.The final decis ion must be made known to
him w i th in the same term .
9 1 7.A form of habeas corpus act and other pro~
v i sions for the protection of person and property are pro
vided.
20 .NO Fi l ipino shal l be deprived of the right to freely
ex press h is ideas and opinions ei ther oral ly orin wr i ting
or in the press ; nor of the right to hold meetings for al lpurposes of human l i fe, unless against publ ic morals ; nor
of the r ight to petition either“ind ividual ly or col lect ively
the publ ic authorities and offic1als. E xcept that the r ight
of peti tion cannot be used by members of the regular.
larm2 3?
E very Fil ipino has the right to found and endow‘
—64
educational insti tutions,subj ect to regulations hereafter
to be provided .
E ducation is obl igatory and shal l be furnished in freepubl ic schools .
2 4 . Any foreigner may,subj ect to the regulations
r egard ing this matter,settle in auv part of Phi l ippine ter
ritory according to his free j udgm ent and therein practicehis trade or profess ion .
_ 5 . No foreigner,who has not completed hi s natural i ‘
z ation, may pursue any occupation that impl ies jurisdic
t ion or has the character of being‘
official .
26. Every Fi l ipino is obl iged to defend his fatherlandby arms when cal led upon by the law,
and to pay taxes tothe state in proportion to his means .
3 1 . Only offences against mil itary discipl ine shal l betried by army or navy tribunals .
33. The legi slative power shal l be exercised by ' a representative assembly of the nation
,which shal l be organ
iz ed in the manner and form prescribed by law .
34 . The members of the National Assembly representthe whole nation and not the electors only by whom theyare chosen .
35. No representative shal l accept imperativeinstruct ions from his electors .
36. The National Assembly shal l meet every year.The Pres ident shal l have power to convoke i t, to suspendits sessions
,and to close i t, and this power shal l be ex er
cised -within the legal term and in agreement w i th the
assembly or i ts permanent commission .
37. The National Assembly shal l be in session at leastthree months each year, exclusive of the time
“
spent inorganization .
38. The President of the Republ ic shal l convoke theNational Assembly not later than Apri l 1 5.
39 . The President of the Republ ic shal l be elected bythe National Assembly .
40 . In case of death or resignation of the President,hi s office shal l be temporari ly discharged by the ChiefJustice of the Supreme Court, and another member ofthe Supreme Court shal l be chosen as Chief Justice adinterim .
*Nor E .—The regulations pertain to diplomas for doctors and
drug gists, etc.
—65
48, No measure shal l become law unless it has beenadopted by the National Ass embly . In order to pass alaw at least one- quarter of the duly elected and sworndeput ies must be present .
5 1 . The President and the National Assembly havethe right to propose bi l l s .
53. The term of office shal l be four years .
54 . Be fore the close of i ts sess ion the!
National Assembly shal l choose seven members who shal l constitute aPermanent Commiss ion to serve during the adjournmentof the Assembly and who shal l choose a chai rman and asecretary.
55. During the vacations of the National Assemblythe Permanent Commission
'
shall exercise the fol low ingrights : I t shal l determine whether in certain specifiedcases the acts o f the Pres ident and certain other high officials require investigation, and i t shal l have power, incases of impeachment or in grave emergency, to summonthe Assembly in extraord inary sess ion .
56. The executive power resides in the President, whoshal l exerci se i t through his secretaries .
57. Special bureaus are provided for“
special interestsof distr icts, provinces and state, under regulations whichprocure the broadest administrative decentral ization andlocal autonomy
58. The Pres ident i s elected by the National Assembly by an absolute majority of votes and holds office for 4years .6 1 .
The President must promulgate al l- l aw s w i th in
20 days after thei r definit ive adoption by the National
Assembly .
62 .
A veto power i s g ranted to . the Presment and a
two—thi rds maj ority o f the Assembly i s necessary to over
come his veto .
63.
This arti cle deals with cases of emergency .
65.
The President i s commander- in- chief of the armyand w i th the consent of the Assembly can declare war and
make ace .
66.
pe
A treaty of peace becomes defimtive only whenFratified by the Assembly.
0
67- 69.
The President appomts h is secretaries,‘
ambas
sadOrs and consul s, certain officers and officials. He can
—66
not,.wi thout a special law made by the Assembly, l eave
Ph i l ippine territory, or admit foreign tr0 0ps, or annexfore ign territory, or grant general amnesty
, or coinmoney, or make pol i ti cal
,mil i tary or commercial treaties
with foreign powers.
7 1 . During his term of oflice the President i s inV iolable except for high treason or violation of the constitution.
73 . The State Counci l consists of the President andseven secretaries, namely : of Foreign Affairs ; Interior ;F inance ; War and Navy ; Education ; Publ ic Works andPosts ; Agriculture, Labor and Commerce .
74 All communications of the President require thecountersign of the appropriate secretary in order to beval id .
75. Th i s article regulates the respons ibi l i ty of thewhole min istry and the individual state secretaries.
82 . Determines the authority of the Distr ict and Provincial representations .
83. A prel iminary Budget must be submitted to theAssembly each year .
84 . Al l state debts are guaranteed by the nation andno loans can be made unless provision i s made at the sametime for meeting them .
88. The National Assembly shall each year, on the
proposal “of the Pres ident, determine the force of the armyand navy.
93: Span ish shal l be the officia l language,for the time
being.
Add i t ional Article . Al l lands, bu i ld ings and otherproperty which the rel igious orders possessed in thesei slands shal l be considered as state property, dating fromMay 24, 1 898— the day on which the provis ional government was establ i shed at Cavite .
AUTHOR’
S Nora—A later provisional article (100 ) suspended Art.
5 of the Constitution until the convening of a new national assembly,and added that parishes under charge of Filipino pastors should pro
vide for their support. Art. 5 had been inserted in the Constitution
to adapt it to Amercian ideas and to win American sympathy ; but
after the Americans had thrown off the mask the Filipinos repented
and adopted Art. 100, at the same time referring to the Pope the
question whether Art. 5 should be reinstated or not.
—68
would have placed th is country in the same relationtoward the Ph i l ippines as i t stands towards Cuba
,would
have prevented the war, would have kept us consi stentw i th our record and our principles, would have won usthe friendsh ip instead of the enmity of the Fil ipinos
,and
would have been an act Of simple justice to them — TR .
ADDENDUM .
The Macabebes, w ith whose name the American presshas made us fami l iar
,are not mentioned by that name in
B lumentr itt’e or Cavada’s c lass ification. I am indebted
to Mr . JohnT . McCutcheon, of the Chicago Record, for
some data about them . They number about andinhabit a val ley in the province of Bulacan, some fortymiles north of Manila. They were always loyal to theS paniards, and consequently at outs w i th thei r fel lowF ilipinos. The reason therefor i s not known . About
of them have been taken into the Amer ican serviceas scouts
,etc.
The coast Malays resemble each other so much that aforeigner cannot tel l whether one i s a Tagal, Bikol , Pan
gansino, etc. ; but the natives can recogni ze one anotherby their provincial i sms and turns of d ialect . I t i s as unfairto speak of them as “ d iff erent tribes” as i t would be to sodescribe the inhabi tants of the various Shires in Englandbefore the printing press and education made the Engl i shlanguage uniform. D. J . D .
A P
In his H zis tor z’
a E s faa’z
'
s tz'
ca de F z
'
l z'
pz'
nas (Mani la,C avada d iv id es the 1 2 0 0 is lands Of the Phi l ipp ine
archip e lago into the fo l low ing groups :
The Luzon group , which includes Luzon, the Babu~
yan i s lands, the B atanes , Pol i l lo,Alhabat, Cantan
duanes , Marianas, Correg idor, Mindoro, Burias,Masbate Marinduque, Calamianes
,Paragua (or
Palauan) and Babalac .
The Visayan group,compris ing C ebu , Bohol, Samar,
Leyte,Negros
,Panay
,S ibuyan , Banton, Tablas,
S imara, Ma estre de
l
C ampo, Bantayan , D anis,Camote
,S iquijor (or Fire Is land) .
The Mindanaon group, compris ing. Mindanao, Cam
inguing , C aburao D inagat,Argus, Oyarz al,V iverO,
S ibuanga,Genera l , Buentna, Tong—qui l, Balan
guingu i and the sub - archipe lago of Jolo (or Sulu).
T‘his sub - archipe lago consists of about 1 1 2 i s lands,the princ ipal of which are Jolo, Pagaturang,
Tapul and Taw i—Taw i .
The larger i s lands are divided into provinces , for ex
L uzon has 2 2 provinces, Mindanao 7, Panay 3,
The inhabitants are designated by the names of the
inces , thus I locoans, Bulacanos Pangasin
anos,etc . which creates the impression that they are
“ e ighty or more tribes . The fact is that a l l the C hris
t ian, c ivi l iz ed Ma laysare a homog enous people .
— D J D
amp le,e tc .
respec tive prov
C. Boj
Princesa
I N D O 18
‘Bu u
PHI L IPPI NE
ngan S CAL! or Srn ure MIL E S .
0 50 100 150
Rand, Mc l’ 1! Co Chicago.
! F I G
t.Tumango
ug i l‘t.
- l
Longitude E ast from Greenwich .
