The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Philippine Islands

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Title: The Philippine Islands

Author: F.R.G.S. John Foreman

Release date: September 30, 2007 [eBook #22815]

Most recently updated: January 3, 2021

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net/

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS ***

The Author.

The Philippine Islands

A Political, Geographical, Ethnographical, Social and Commercial History of the Philippine Archipelago

Embracing the Whole Period of Spanish Rule

With an Account of the Succeeding American Insular Government

By John Foreman, F.R.G.S.

Third Edition, Revised and Enlarged with Maps and Illustrations

London: T. Fisher Unwin

1, Adelphi Terrace.

MCMVI

Table of Contents

- Preface to the First Edition

- Preface to the Third Edition

- Table of Contents

- List of Illustrations

- Introduction

- General Description of the Archipelago

- Discovery of the Archipelago

- Philippine Dependencies, Up To 1898: The Ladrones, Carolines and Pelew Islands

- Attempted Conquest by Chinese

- Early Relations With Japan

- Conflicts with the Dutch

- British Occupation of Manila

- The Chinese

- Wild Tribes and Pagans

- Mahometans and Southern Tribes

- Domesticated Natives—Origin—Character

- The Religious Orders

- Spanish Insular Government

- Spanish-Philippine Finances

- Trade of the Islands: Its Early History

- Agriculture

- Manila Hemp—Coffee—Tobacco

- Sundry Forest and Farm Produce: Maize—Cacao—Coprah, Etc.

- Mineral Products: Coal—Gold—Iron—Copper—Sulphur, Etc.

- Domestic Live-stock—Ponies, Buffaloes, Etc.

- Manila Under Spanish Rule

- The Tagálog Rebellion of 1896–98: First Period

- The Tagálog Rebellion of 1896–98: Second Period: American Intervention

- An Outline of the War of Independence, Period 1899–1901

- The Philippine Republic in the Central and Southern Islands

- The Spanish Prisoners

- End of the War of Independence and After

- Modern Manila

- The Land of the Moros: “Allah Akbar!”

- The Spanish Friars, After 1898

- Trade and Agriculture Since the American Advent

- Trade Statistics

- Chronological Table of Leading Events

- Index

Printed and bound by Hazell, Watson and Viney, LD., London and Aylesbury.

Preface to the First Edition

It would be surprising if the concerns of an interesting Colony like the PHILIPPINE ISLANDS had not commanded the attention of literary genius.

I do not pretend, therefore, to improve upon the able productions of such eminent writers as Juan de le Concepcion, Martinez Zúñiga, Tomás de Comyn and others, nor do I aspire, through this brief composition, to detract from the merit of Jagorʼs work, which, in its day, commended itself as a valuable book of reference. But since then, and within the last twenty years, this Colony has made great strides on the path of social and material progress; its political and commercial importance is rapidly increasing, and many who know the Philippines have persuaded me to believe that my notes would be an appreciated addition to what was published years ago on this subject.

The critical opinions herein expressed are based upon personal observations made during the several years I have travelled in and about all the principal islands of the Archipelago, and are upheld by reference to the most reliable historical records.

An author should be benevolent in his judgement of men and manners and guarded against mistaking isolated cases for rules. In matters of history he should neither hide the truth nor twist it to support a private view, remembering how easy it is to criticize an act when its sequel is developed: such will be my aim in the fullest measure consistent.

By certain classes I may be thought to have taken a hypercritical view of things; I may even offend their susceptibilities—if I adulated them I should fail to chronicle the truth, and my work would be a deliberate imposture.

I would desire it to be understood, with regard to the classes and races in their collectedness, that my remarks apply only to the large majority; exceptions undoubtedly there are—these form the small minority. Moreover, I need hardly point out that the native population of the capital of the Philippines by no means represents the true native character, to comprehend which, so far as its complicacy can be fathomed, one must penetrate into and reside for years in the interior of the Colony, as I have done, in places where extraneous influences have, as yet, produced no effect.

There may appear to be some incongruity in the plan of a work which combines objects so dissimilar as those enumerated in the Contents pages, but this is not exclusively a History, or a Geography, or an Account of Travels—it is a concise review of all that may interest the reader who seeks for a general idea of the condition of affairs in this Colony in the past and in the present.

J. F.

Preface to the Third Edition

The success which has attended the publication of the Second Edition of this work has induced me to revise it carefully throughout, adding the latest facts of public interest up to the present period.

Long years of personal acquaintance with many of the prime movers in the Revolutionary Party enabled me to estimate their aspirations. My associations with Spain and Spaniards since my boyhood helped me, as an eye-witness of the outbreak of the Rebellion, to judge of the opponents of that movement. My connection with the American Peace Commission in Paris afforded me an opportunity of appreciating the noble desire of a free people to aid the lawful aspirations of millions of their fellow-creatures.

My criticism of the regular clergy applies only to the four religious confraternities in their lay capacity of government agents in these Islands and not to the Jesuit or the Paul fathers, who have justly gained the respect of both Europeans and natives: neither is it intended, in any degree, as a reflection on the sacred institution of the Church.

I take this opportunity of acknowledging, with gratitude, my indebtedness to Governor-General Luke E. Wright, Major-General Leonard Wood, Colonel Philip Reade, Major Hugh L. Scott, Captain E. N. Jones, Captain C. H. Martin, Captain Henry C. Cabell, Captain George Bennett, Captain John P. Finley, Dr. David P. Barrows, Mr. Tobias Eppstein, and many others too numerous to mention, who gave me such valuable and cordial assistance in my recent investigations throughout the Archipelago.

This book is not written to promote the interests of any person or party, and so far as is consistent with guiding the reader to a fair appreciation of the facts recorded, controversial comment has been avoided, for to pronounce a just dictum on the multifarious questions involved would demand a catholicity of judgement never concentrated in the brain of a single human being.

I am persuaded to believe that the bare truth, unvarnished by flattery, will be acceptable to the majority, amongst whom may be counted all those educated Americans whose impartiality is superior to their personal interest in the subject at issue.

It is therefore confidently hoped that the present Edition may merit that approval from readers of English which has been so graciously accorded to the previous ones.

J. F. September, 1905.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ARCHIPELAGO

- Geographical features of the Islands. Limits. Mountains. 13

- Rivers. Lakes. Volcanoes. Eruptions of the Mayon and Taal Volcanoes. 14

- Monsoons. Seasons. Temperature. Rains. Climate. Earthquakes. 22

CHAPTER II

DISCOVERY OF THE ARCHIPELAGO

- Hernando de Maghallanes. Treaty of Tordesillas. 24

- Discovery of Magellan Straits and the Ladrone Islands. 27

- Death of Maghallanes. Elcanoʼs voyage round the world. 28

- The Loaisa expedition. The Villalobos expedition. Andrés de Urdaneta. 31

- Miguel de Legaspi; his expedition; he reaches Cebú; dethrones King Tupas. 33

- Manila is proclaimed the capital of the Archipelago. 36

- Martin de Goiti. Juan Salcedo. Native Local Government initiated. 37

CHAPTER III

PHILIPPINE DEPENDENCIES, UP TO 1898

- The Ladrone, Caroline, and Pelew Islands. 39

- First mission to the Ladrone Islands. Pelew Islanders. Caroline Islanders. 40

- Spainʼs possession of the Caroline Islands disputed by Germany. 44

- Posadillo, Governor of the Caroline Islands, is murdered. 45

- The Ladrone, Caroline, and Pelew Islands (except Guam) sold to Germany. 46

CHAPTER IV

ATTEMPTED CONQUEST BY CHINESE

- Li-ma-hong, a Chinese corsair, attacks Manila. 47

- He settles in Pangasinán; evacuates the Islands. 49

- Rivalry of lay and Monastic authorities. Philip II.ʼs decree of Reforms. 51

- Manila Cathedral founded. Mendicant friars. Archbishopric created. 55

- Supreme Court suppressed and re-established. Church and State contentions. 57

- Murder of Gov.-General Bustamente Bustillo. The monks in open riot. 60

CHAPTER V

EARLY RELATIONS WITH JAPAN

THE CATHOLIC MISSIONS

- The Emperor of Japan demands the surrender of the Islands. 63

- Fray Pedro Bautistaʼs mission; he and 25 others are crucified. 65

- Jesuit and Franciscan jealousy. The martyrsʼ mortal remains lost at sea. 67

- Emperor Taycosama explains his policy. Further missions and executions. 68

- Missionary martyrs declared saints. Emperor of Japan sends a shipment of lepers. 70

- Spaniards expelled from Formosa by the Dutch. Missions to Japan abandoned. 71

CHAPTER VI

CONFLICTS WITH THE DUTCH

- The Spanish expedition to the Moluccas fails. 72

- Chinese mutiny, murder the Spanish leader, and take the ship to Cochin China. 73

- Expeditions of Bravo de Acuna and Pedro de Heredia. Battle of Playa Honda. 74

- Koxinga, a Chinese adventurer, threatens to attack the Colony. 76

- Vittorio Riccio, an Italian monk, visits Manila as Koxingaʼs ambassador. 77

- Chinese goaded to rebellion; great massacre. 77

- Vicissitudes of Govs.-General. Defalcations. Impeachments. 78

- Gov.-General Fajardo de Tua kills his wife and her paramour. 80

- Separation of Portugal and Spain (1640). Spanish failure to capture Macao. 81

- Nunneries. Mother Ceciliaʼs love adventures. Santa Clara Convent. 81

- The High Host is stolen. Inquisition. Letter of Anathema. 82

- The Spanish Prime Minister Valenzuela is banished to Cavite. 83

- Monseigneur Maillard de Tournon, the Papal Legate. 84

- His arrogance and eccentricities; he dies in prison at Macao. 85

- Question of the Regium exequatur. Philip V.ʼs edict of punishments. 86

CHAPTER VII

BRITISH OCCUPATION OF MANILA

- Coalition of France and Spain against England by the “Family Compact.” 87

- Simon de Anda y Salazár usurps the Archbishop-Governorʼs authority. 88

- British bombard Manila. Archbishop-Governor Rojo capitulates. 89

- British in possession of the City. Sack and pillage. Agreed Indemnity. 90

- Simon de Anda y Salazár defies Governor Rojo and declares war. 91

- British carry war into the provinces. Bustos opposes them. 92

- Bustos completely routed. Chinese take the British side. 93

- Massacre of Chinese. Villa Cortaʼs fate. The Philipino treasure. 94

- Simon de Anda y Salazár offers rewards for British heads. 95

- Austin friars on battle-fields. Peace of Paris (Feb. 10, 1763). 96

- Archbishop-Governor Rojo dies. La Torre appointed Gov.-General. 97

- British evacuate Manila. La Torre allows Anda to receive back the City. 98

- Anda goes to Spain; is rewarded by the King; returns as Gov.-General. 99

- Anda is in conflict with the out-going Governor, the Jesuits, and the friars. 99

- Anda dies in hospital (1776). His burial-place and monument. 100

- Rebellion succeeds the war. Ilocos Rebellion led by Diego de Silan. 100

- Revolt in Bojol Island led by Dagóhoy. 101

- Revolts in Leyte Island, Surigao (Mindanao Is.), and Sámar Island. 102

- Rebellion of “King” Málong and “Count” Gumapos. 103

- Rebellion of Andrés Novales. Execution of A. Novales and Ruiz. 104

- Apolinario de la Cruz declares himself “King of the Tagálogs.” 105

- General Marcelo Azcárraga, Spanish War Minister, Philippine born. 105

- The Cavite Conspiracy of 1872. The Secret Society of Reformers. 106

- The Philippine Martyrs, Dr. Búrgos and Fathers Zamora and Gomez. 107

- Illustrious exiles—Dr. Antonio M. Regidor and José M. Basa. 108

CHAPTER VIII

THE CHINESE

- The China-Manila trade in the days of Legaspi. 109

- The Alcayceria. The Parian. Chinese banished. Restrictions. 110

- The Chinese as immigrants; their comparative activity. 112

- Chinese mandarins come to seek the “Mount of Gold” in Cavite. 114

- The Chinese are goaded to revolt. Saint Francisʼ victory over them. 115

- Massacre of Foreigners. The Chinese Traders; their Guilds. 116

- Chinese patron saint; population. The Sangley. The Macao. 118

- Restrictions on Chinese immigration. Their gradual exclusion. 119

CHAPTER IX

WILD TRIBES AND PAGANS

- The Aetas or Negritos or Balugas. 120

- The Gaddanes. The Itavis. The Igorrotes. The Ibanacs. 122

- Attempt to subdue the Igorrotes. Its failure. 124

- The Calingas. The Igorrote-Chinese. The Tinguianes. 125

- The Basanes. The Manguianes. The Hindoos. Albinos. 128

CHAPTER X

MAHOMETANS AND SOUTHERN TRIBES

- Early history of the Mahometans, called Moros. 129

- The First Expedition against the Mindanao Moros. 130

- Gov.-General Corcuera effects a landing in Sulu Island. 131

- The scourge of Moro Piracy. Devastation of the coasts. Captives. 132

- Zamboanga Fort; cost of its maintenance. Fighting Friars. 133

- Vicissitudes of Sultan Mahamad Alimudin. 134

- The Sultan appeals to his suzerainʼs delegate and is made prisoner. 134

- His letter to Sultan Muhamad Amirubdin. 135

- The charges against the Sultan. Extermination of Meros decreed. 136

- Mindanao and Sulu Moros join forces. Extermination impossible. 137

- The Treaty with Sultan Mahamad Alimudin. 138

- The Claveria and Urbiztondo expeditions against Moros. 139

- Gov.-General Malcampo finally annexes Joló (1876). 140

- Spain appoints Harun Narrasid Sultan of Sulu (1885). 141

- The ceremony of investiture. Opposition to the nominee. 142

- Datto Utto defies the Spaniards. Terreroʼs expedition (Jan., 1887). 143

- Colonel Arolasʼ victory at Maybun (Sulu Is.) (April, 1887). 144

- The Marahui Campaign (1895). The Moro tribes. 145

- The Juramentado. Moro dress; character; arts; weapons. 146

- Moro customs. The Pandita. The Datto. 148

- Joló (Sulu) town. H.H. the Sultan of Sulu. 149

- A juramentado runs amok. Across Sulu Island to Maybun. 152

- The Sultanʼs official reception. Subuános of Zamboanga. 154

- Climate in the South. Palaúan Island. Spanish settlers. 157

- Across Palaúan Island. The Tugbanúas tribe. 158

- Their dress, customs, and country. 159

- Efforts to colonize Paláuan Island. The Moro problem. 160

CHAPTER XI

DOMESTICATED NATIVES—ORIGIN—CHARACTER

- Theory concerning the first inhabitants of these Islands. 163

- Their advent before the Spanish Conquest. 165

- Japanese and Chinese early immigrants. 166

- Native character; idiosyncracies and characteristics. 167

- Notion of sleep. “Castila!”. 169

- Tagálog and Visayo hospitality. The nativeʼs good qualities. 172

- Native aversion to discipline; bravery; resignation; geniality. 175

- Mixed races. Native physiognomy; marriages; minorsʼ rights. 176

- Family names. The Catapúsan. 179

- Dancing; the Balitao; the Comitan. The Asuan. 180

- Mixed marriages. The Half-caste (Mestizo). 181

- The Shrines and Saints. The Holy Child of Cebú. St. Francis of Tears. 183

- Our Lady of Cagsaysay. The Virgin of Antipolo. 184

- Miraculous Saints. Santones. Native Conception of Religion. 187

- Musical talent. Slavery. Education in Spanish times. 190

- The Intellectuals. The Illiterates. State aid for Schools. 192

- The Athenæum. Girlsʼ Colleges. St. Thomasʼ University. 194

- The Nautical School. The provincial student. Talented natives. 195

- Diseases. Leprosy. Insanity. Death-rate. Sanitation. 197

CHAPTER XII

THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS

- Their early co-operation a necessity. 199

- Their power and influence. 200

- Opinions for and against that power. 201

- The Spanish parish priest. Father Piernavieja. 202

- Virtueless friars. Monastic persecution. 204

- The Hierarchy. The Orders. Church revenues and State aid. 206

- Rivalry of Religious Orders. Papal intervention to ensure peace. 209

CHAPTER XIII

SPANISH INSULAR GOVERNMENT

- The Encomiendas. The Trading-Governors. 211

- The Judge-Governors (Alcálde Máyor). The Reforms of 1886. 213

- Cost of Spanish Insular Government. The Provincial Civil Governorʼs duties. 214

- The position of Provincial Civil Governor. Local Funds. Provincial poverty. 216

- Highways and Public Works. Cause of national decay. 218

- Fortunes made easily. Peculations. Town Local Government. 220

- The Gobernadorcillo (petty-governor). The Cabeza de Barangay (Tax-collector). 222

- The Cuadrillero (guard). The Fallas (tax). The Cédula personal. 224

- The Tribunal (town hall). Reforms affecting travellers. 225

CHAPTER XIV

SPANISH-PHILIPPINE FINANCES

- Philippine budgets. Curious items of revenue and expenditure. 227

- Spanish-Philippine army, police, and constabulary statistics. 230

- The armed forces in the olden times. 232

- Spanish-Philippine navy and judicial statistics. 233

- Prison statistics. Brigandage. The brigandsʼ superstition. 235

- A chase for brigands. The anting-anting. Pirates. 237

- The notorious Tancad. Dilatory justice. A cause célèbre. 239

- Spanish-Philippine Criminal Law procedure. 241

CHAPTER XV

TRADE OF THE ISLANDS FROM EARLY TIMES

- Its early history. Its State galleons. 243

- The Consulado merchants. The Mexican subsidy. 244

- In the days of the Mexican galleons. The Obras Pias. 245

- Losses of the treasure-laden galleons. Trade difficulties. 246

- The period of restrictions on trade. Prohibitory decrees. 248

- The Manila merchants alarmed; appeal to the King. 249

- Penalties on free-traders. Trading friars. The budget for 1757. 250

- Decline of trade. Spanish trading-company failures. 252

- The Real Compañia de Filipinas; its privileges and failure. 253

- The dawn of free trade. Foreign traders admitted. 254

- Manila port, unrestrictedly open to foreigners (1834), becomes known to the world. 256

- Pioneers of foreign trade. Foreign and Philippine banks. 257

- The Spanish-Philippine currency. Mexican-dollar smuggling. 259

- Ports of Zamboanga, Yloilo, Cebú, and Sual opened to foreign trade. 261

- Mail service. Carrying-trade. Middlemen. Native industries. 263

- The first Philippine Railway. Telegraph service. Seclusion of the Colony. 265

CHAPTER XVI

AGRICULTURE

- Interest on loans to farmers. Land values and tenure in Luzon Island. 269

- Sugar-cane lands and cultivation. Land-measures. 271

- Process of sugar-extraction. Labour conditions on sugar-estates. 273

- Sugar statistics. Worldʼs production of cane and beet sugar. 275

- Rice. Rice-measure. Rice machinery; husking; pearling; statistics. 276

- Macan and Paga rice. Rice planting and trading. 278

CHAPTER XVII

MANILA HEMP—COFFEE—TOBACCO

- Musa textilis. Extraction and uses of the fibre. Machinery. 281

- Hemp experiments in British India. Cultivation. Qualities. 283

- Labour difficulties. Statistics. Albay province (local) land-measure. 286

- Coffee. Coffee dealing and cultivation. 289

- Tobacco. The Government Tobacco Monopoly. 292

- Tobacco-growing by compulsory labour. Condition of the growers. 294

- Tobacco Monopoly abolished. Free trade in tobacco. 296

- Tobacco-trading risks; qualities; districts. Cigar values. 299

CHAPTER XVIII

SUNDRY FOREST AND FARM PRODUCE

- Maize. Cacao-beans. Chocolate. 300

- Cacao cultivation. Castor oil. Gogo. 302

- Camote. Gabi. Potatoes. Mani (pea-nut). Areca-nut. Buyo. 303

- Cocoanuts. Extraction of Tuba (beverage). 304

- Cocoanut-oil extraction. Coprah. Coir. 305

- Nipa palm. Cogon-grass. Cotton-tree. 307

- Buri palm. Ditá. Palma brava. Bamboo. 308

- Bojo. Bejuco (Rattan-cane). Palásan (Bush-rope). 310

- Gum mastic. Gutta-percha. Wax. Cinnamon. Edible Birdʼs-nest. 311

- Balate (Trepang). Sapan-wood. Tree-saps. 312

- Hardwoods; varieties and qualities. 313

- Molave wood tensile and transverse experiments. 315

- Relative strengths of hardwoods. Timber trade. 317

- Fruits; the Mango; the Banana; the Papaw, etc. 318

- Guavas; Pineapples; Tamarinds; the Mabolo. 320

- Sundry vegetable produce. Flowers. 321

- Botanical specimens—curious and beautiful. Orchids. 322

- Firewoods; Locust beans; Amor seco. 324

- Botanical names given to islands, towns etc. 324

- Medicinal herbs, roots, leaves and barks. Perfumes. 325

CHAPTER XIX

MINERAL PRODUCTS

- Coal import. Coal-mining ventures. 326

- Comparative analyses of coal. 328

- Gold-mining ventures. The Paracale and Mambulao mines. 329

- Iron-mining ventures. Failures, poverty and suicide. 332

- Copper. Marble. Stone. Gypsum. Sulphur. Mineral oil. 334

CHAPTER XX

DOMESTIC LIVE-STOCK—PONIES, BUFFALOES, ETC.

- Ponies. Horses. Buffaloes (carabaos). 336

- Donkeys. Mules. Sheep. Fish. Insects. Reptiles. Snakes. 338

- Butterflies. White ants. Bats. Deer. Wild boars. 340

- Fowls. Birds. The Locust plague. Edible insects. 341

CHAPTER XXI

MANILA UNDER SPANISH RULE

- The fortified city. The moats. The drawbridges. 343

- Public buildings in the city. The port in construction. 344

- Manila Bay. Corregidor Island and Marivéles. 345

- The Pasig River. Public lighting. Tondo suburb. 346

- Binondo suburb. Chinese and native artificers. 347

- Easter week. The vehicle traffic. 348

- The Theatres. The Carrillo. The “Moro Moro” performance. 349

- The bull-ring. Annual feasts. Cock-fighting. 350

- European club. Hotels. The Press. Spanish journalism. 351

- Botanical gardens. Dwelling-houses. 353

- Manila society. Water-supply. Climate. 354

- Population of the Islands in 1845; of Manila in 1896. 355

- Typhoons and earthquakes affecting Manila. 356

- Dress of both sexes. A “first-class” funeral. 357

- Excursions from Manila. Los Baños. 359

- The story of Los Baños and Jalajala. The legend of Guadalupe Church. 360

CHAPTER XXII

THE TAGÁLOG REBELLION OF 1896–98

FIRST PERIOD

- The Córtes de Cadiz. Philippine deputies in the Peninsula. 362

- The Assembly of Reformists. Effect of the Cavite Rising of 1872. 363

- Official acts conducive to rebellion. The Katipunan League. 364

- Arrest of prominent Filipinos. The first overt act of rebellion. 366

- War commences. The Battle of San Juan del Monte. 368

- Execution of Sancho Valenzuela and others. 369

- Andrés Bonifacio heads the movement. He is superseded by Emilio Aguinaldo. 370

- Imus (Cavite) is captured by the rebels. The history of Imus. 372

- Atrocities of the rebels. Rebel victory at Binacayan. 373

- Execution of 13 rebels in Cavite. The rebel chief Llaneras in Bulacan. 374

- Volunteers are enrolled. Tragedy at Fort Santiago; cartloads of corpses. 375

- A court-martial cabal. Gov.-General Blanco is recalled. 376

- The rebels destroy a part of the railway. They threaten an assault on Manila. 377

- General Camilo Polavieja succeeds Blanco as Gov.-General. 378

- General Lachambre, the Liberator of Cavite. Polavieja returns to Spain. 379

- Dr. José Rizal, the Philippine ideal patriot; his career and hopes. 381

- His return to Manila; banishment, liberation, re-arrest, and execution. 383

- The love-romance of Dr. José Rizalʼs life. 387

- General Primo de Rivera succeeds Polavieja as Gov.-General. 389

- The Gov.-General decrees concentration; its bad effect. 391

- The rebels define their demands in an exhortation to the people. 392

- Emilio Aguinaldo now claims independence. 394

- Don Pedro A. Paterno acts as peace negotiator. 395

- The Protocol of Peace between the Rebels and the Gov.-General. 396

- The alleged Treaty of Biac-na-bató (Dec. 14, 1897). 397

- The Primo de Rivera-Paterno agreement as to indemnity payment. 398

- Emilio Aguinaldo in exile. Peace rejoicings. Spain defaults. 399

- The rebel chiefs being in exile, the people are goaded to fresh revolt. 400

- The tragedy of the Calle de Camba. Cebú Island rises in revolt. 401

- The Cebuánosʼ raid on Cebú City; Lutao in flames; piles of corpses. 402

- Exciting adventures of American citizens. Heartrending scenes in Cebú City. 404

- Rajahmudah Datto Mandi visits Cebú. Rebels in Bolinao (Zambales). 406

- Relief of Bolinao. Father Santos of Malolos is murdered. 408

- The peacemaker states his views on the reward he expects from Spain. 409

- Don Máximo Paterno, the Philippine “Grand Old Man”. 411

- Biographical sketch of his son, Don Pedro A. Paterno. 411

- General Basilio Augusti succeeds Primo de Rivera as Gov.-General. 413

- The existence of a Peace Treaty with the rebels is denied in the Spanish Cortés. 414

CHAPTER XXIII

THE TAGÁLOG REBELLION OF 1896–98

SECOND PERIOD

AMERICAN INTERVENTION

- Events leading to the Spanish-American War (April–Aug., 1898). 417

- Events preliminary to the naval Battle of Cavite (May 1, 1898). 419

- Aspirations of the Revolutionary Party. 420

- Revolutionary exhortation denouncing Spain. 421

- Allocution of the Archbishop of Madrid to the Spanish army. 423

- Gov.-General Basilio Augusti issues a call to arms. 424

- His proclamation declaring a state of war with America. 425

- War in the Islands approaching. Flight of non-combatants. 426

- The naval Battle of Cavite. Destruction of the Spanish Fleet. 427

- The Stars and Stripes hoisted at Cavite. 429

- The first news of the naval defeat raises panic in Madrid. 431

- Emilio Aguinaldo returns from exile to Cavite (May 19, 1898). 432

- Revolutionary exhortation to the people to aid America. 433

- In the beleaguered city of Manila. German attitude. 434

- The merchantsʼ harvest. Run on the Banco Español-Filipino. 435

- General Aguinaldo becomes Dictator. Filipinos congratulate America. 436

- Conditions in and around Manila. Señor Paternoʼs pro-Spanish Manifesto. 438

- The revolutionistsʼ refutation of Señor Paternoʼs manifesto. 440

- General Monetʼs terrible southward march with refugees. 445

- Terror-stricken refugeesʼ flight for life. The Macabebes. 446

- The Revolutionary Government proclaimed. Statutes of Constitution. 448

- Message of the Revolutionary President accompanying the proclamation. 454

- The Revolutionistsʼ appeal to the Powers for recognition. 457

- Spain makes peace overtures to America. The Protocol of Peace. 458

- The Americans prepare for the attack on Manila. 460

- The Americans again demand the surrender of Manila. 461

- The Americansʼ attack on Manila (Aug. 13, 1898). 462

- Spainʼs blood-sacrifice for “the honour of the country”. 464

- Capitulation of Manila to the Americans (Aug. 14, 1898). 465

- The Americansʼ first measures of administration in Manila. 467

- Trade resumed. Liberty of the Press. Malolos (Bulacan) the rebel capital. 468

- General Aguinaldoʼs triumphal entry into Malolos. 470

- The Paris Peace Commission (Oct.-Dec., 1898). 471

- Peace concluded in Paris between America and Spain (Dec. 10, 1898). 472

- Innovations in Manila customs. Spanish government in Visayas. 473

- Strained relations between the rebels and the Americans. 475

- Rebels attack the Spaniards in Visayas. The Spaniards evacuate the Visayas. 476

- The end of Spanish rule. The rebelsʼ disagreement. 478

- Text of the Treaty of Peace between America and Spain. 479

CHAPTER XXIV

AN OUTLINE OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE PERIOD, 1899–1901

- Insurgents prepare for the coming conflict. 484

- Anti-American manifesto. The Philippine Republic. 486

- The war begins; the opening shot. Battle of Paco. 487

- Fighting around Manila; Gagalanging. Manila in flames. 489

- Battle of Marilao. Capture of Malolos, the insurgent capital. 490

- Proclamation of American intentions. Santa Cruz (La Laguna) captured. 493

- Effect of the war on public opinion in America. 495

- Insurgent defeat. Calumpit captured. Insurgents ask for an armistice. 496

- Insurgent tactics. General Lawton in Cavite. 499

- Violent death of General Antonio Luna. 501

- General Aguinaldoʼs manifesto; his pathetic allusion to the past. 502

- Insurgents destroy the s.s. Saturnus. Death of General Lawton. 503

- War on the wane. Many chiefs surrender. 505

- Partial disbandment of the insurgent army urged by hunger. 506

- Capture of General Emilio Aguinaldo (March 23, 1901). 507

- He swears allegiance to America. His home at Canit (Cavite Viejo). 509

CHAPTER XXV

THE PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ISLANDS

- The Spaniards evacuate Yloilo (Dec., 1898). Native Government there. 511

- General Miller demands the surrender of Yloilo. The Panay army. 512

- Riotous insurgent soldiery. Flight of civilians. 513

- The Yloilo native Government discusses the crisis in open assembly. 514

- Mob riot. Yloilo in flames. Looting, anarchy, and terrorism. 515

- Bombardment of Yloilo. The American forces enter and the insurgents vanish. 516

- Surrender of insurgent leaders. Peace overtures. “Water-cure”. 517

- Formal surrender of the Panay army remnant at Jaro (Feb. 2, 1901). 518

- Yloilo town. Native Government in Negros Island. Peaceful settlement. 519

- An armed rabble overruns Negros Island. 521

- Native Government in Cebú Island. American occupation of Cebú City. 522

- Cebuáno insurgents on the warpath. Peace signed with Cebuános. 524

- Reformed government in Cebú Island. Cebú City. 526

- American occupation of Bojol Island. Insurgent rising quelled. 528

- Native Government in Cottabato. Slaughter of the Christians. 529

- The Spaniardsʼ critical position in Zamboanga (Mindanao Is.). 531

- Rival factions and anarchy in Zamboanga. Opportune American advent. 532

- The Rajahmudah Datto Maudi. Zamboanga town. 534

- Sámar and Marinduque Islands under native leaders. 535

- Slaughter of American officers and troops at Balangiga (Sámar Is.). 536

CHAPTER XXVI

THE SPANISH PRISONERS

- The approximate number of Spanish prisoners and their treatment. 537

- The Spanish Governmentʼs dilemma in the matter of the prisoners. 538

- Why the prisoners were detained. Baron Du Maraisʼ ill-fated mission. 539

- Further efforts to obtain their release. The captors state their terms. 541

- Discussions between Generals E. S. Otis and Nicolás Jaramillo. 542

- The Spanish commissionersʼ ruse to obtain the prisonersʼ release fails. 543

- The end of the Spaniardsʼ captivity. 544

CHAPTER XXVII

END OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE AND AFTER

- The last of the recognized insurgent leaders. Notorious outlaws. 545

- Apolinario Mabini. Brigands of the old and of the new type. 546

- Ferocity of the new caste of brigands. 548

- The Montalón and Felizardo outlaw bands. 549

- The “Guards of Honour.” The Pulaján in gloomy Sámar. 550

- Army and Constabulary Statistics. Insurgent navy. 553

- Sedition. Seditious plays. 554

- Landownership is conducive to social tranquillity. 555

CHAPTER XXVIII

MODERN MANILA

- Innovations under American rule. 556

- Clubs. Theatres. Hotels. “Saloons.” The Walled City. 558

- The Insular Government. Feast-days. Municipality. 560

- Emoluments of high officials. The Schurman Commission. 561

- The Taft Commission. The “Philippines for the Filipinos” doctrine. 563

- The Philippine Civil Service. Civil government established. 565

- Constabulary. Secret Police. The Vagrant Act. 567

- Army strength. Military Division. Scout Corps. 569

CHAPTER XXIX

THE LAND OF THE MOROS

- The Bates Agreement with the Sultan of Sulu. 571

- The warlike Dattos and their clansmen. 573

- Captain Pershingʼs brilliant exploits around Lake Lanao. 574

- Storming the Cottas. American pluck. 575

- American policy in Moroland. Maj.-General Leonard Wood. 576

- Constitution of the Moro Province. 577

- Municipalities. Tribal Wards. Moro Province finances. 578

- Moro Province armed forces. Gen. Woodʼs victory at Kudaran͠gan. 580

- Datto Pedro Cuevas of Basílan Island. His career. 582

- General Wood in Sulu Island. Panglima Hassan. Major H. L. Scott. 584

- Major Hugh L. Scott vanquishes Panglima Hassan. A bichâra. 585

- Joló town. H.H. The Sultan of Sulu. 587

- American policy towards the Moro chiefs. 588

- The Manguiguinʼs eventful visit to Zamboanga. 589

- Education and progress in the Moro Province. 591

- What the Moro Province needs. The prospect therein. 592

CHAPTER XXX

THE SPANISH FRIARS, AFTER 1898

- Free cult. Causes of the anti-friar feeling. 594

- Attitude of the Philippine clergy. Monsignor Chapelle. 596

- The question of the friarsʼ lands. American view. 597

- The American Government negotiates with the Holy See. 599

- The Popeʼs contrary view of the friarsʼ case. 600

- The friarsʼ-lands purchase. The approximate acreage. Monsignor Guidi. 601

- The anti-friar feeling diminishes. The Philippine Independent Church. 602

- The head of the Philippine Independent Church throws off allegiance to the Pope. 604

- Conflict between Catholics and Schismatics. 606

- Aglipayan doctrine. Native clergy. Monsignor Agius. 607

- American education. The Normal School. The Nautical School. 608

- The School for Chinese. The Spanish Schools. 610

- The English language for Orientals. Native politics. 611

- The Philippine Assembly. The cry for “independence”. 612

- The native interpretation of the term “Protection”. 613

- Capacity for self-government. Population. Benguet road. 614

- Census Statistics. Regulations affecting foreign travellers. 616

- Administration of justice. Provincial Courts. Justices of the peace. 618

CHAPTER XXXI

TRADE AND AGRICULTURE SINCE THE AMERICAN ADVENT

- Trade in war-time. After-effect of war on trade and agriculture. 620

- Losses in tilth-cattle. The Congressional Relief Fund. 621

- Fruitless endeavours to replace the lost buffalo herds. 622

- Government supplies rice to the needy. Plantersʼ embarrassments. 623

- Agitation for an Agricultural Bank. Bureau of Agriculture. 624

- Land-tax. Manila Port Works. The Southern ports. 626

- Need of roads. Railway projects. 627

- The carrying-trade. The Shipping Law. Revenue and Expenditure. 628

- The Internal Revenue Law. Enormous increase in cost of living. 630

- “The Democratic Labour Union.” The Chinese Exclusion Act. 632

- Social position of the Chinese in the Islands since 1898. 634

- The new Philippine currency (Peso Conant). 635

- American Banks. The commercial policy of the future. 637

- Trade Statistics. Total Import and Export values. Hemp shipments. 639

- Total Chief Exports. Total Sugar Export. 640

- Tobacco, Cigar, and Coprah shipments. Values of Coprah and Cocoanut-oil. 644

- Sapan-wood, Gum Mastic, and Coffee shipments. 646

- Gold and Silver Imports and Exports. Tonnage. Exchange. 647

- Proportionate table of Total Exports. 648

- Proportionate table of Total Imports. 649

- Proportionate table of Staple Exports and Rice Imports. 650

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF LEADING EVENTS. 651

INDEX. 655

List of Illustrations

- THE AUTHOR Frontispiece

- TAAL VOLCANO Facing 16

- MAVON VOLCANO 16

- EFFECT OF THE HURRICANE OF SEPTEMBER 26, 1905 23

- A NEGRITO FAMILY 120

- AN IGORROTE TYPE (LUZON) 128

- A PAGAN TYPE (MINDANAO) 128

- A TAGÁLOG GIRL 128

- MORO WEAPONS 132

- A SCENE IN THE MORO COUNTRY 148

- ZAMBOANGA FORTRESS (“FUERZA DEL PILAR”) 148

- A VISAYAN GIRL 164

- A TAGÁLOG GIRL 164

- A VISAYAN PLANTER 172

- A CHINESE HALF-CASTE 172

- A TAGÁLOG MILKWOMAN 182

- A TAGÁLOG TOWNSMAN 182

- MIDDLE-CLASS TAGÁLOG NATIVES 196

- A SPANISH-MEXICAN GALLEON 244

- A CANOE 244

- A CASCO (SAILING-BARGE) 244

- A PRAHU (SAILING-CANOE) 244

- A SUGAR-ESTATE HOUSE, SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES 275

- SHIPPING HEMP IN THE PROVINCES 288

- BOTANICAL SPECIMEN 321

- BOTANICAL SPECIMEN 322

- BOTANICAL SPECIMEN Facing 323

- BOTANICAL SPECIMEN 324

- THE OLD WALLS OF MANILA CITY 344

- LA ESCOLTA IN THE BUSINESS QUARTER OF MANILA 347

- A RIVERSIDE WASHING-SCENE 359

- DR. JOSÉ RIZAL 381

- DON FELIPE AGONCILLO 381

- GENERAL EMILIO AGUINALDO 396

- DON PEDRO A PATERNO 396

- ADMIRAL PATRICIO MONTOJO 430

- ADMIRAL GEORGE DEWEY 430

- GENERAL BASILIO AUGUSTI 430

- MAJ.-GENERAL WESLEY MERRITT 430

- ARCHBISHOP BERNARDINO NOZALEDA 430

- TAGÁLOG BOWIE-KNIVES AND WEAPONS 485

- A PANDITA (MAHOMETAN PRIEST) 534

- RAJAHMUDAH DATTO MANDI AND WIFE 534

- SANTA CRUZ CHURCH (MANILA SUBURB) 559

- PANGLIMA HASSAN (OF SULU) 584

- A MINDANAO DATTO AND SUITE 584

- THE RT. REV. BISHOP GREGORIO AGLÍPAY 604

- A ROADSIDE SCENE IN BULACAN PROVINCE 627

MAPS

- THE PROVINCE OF CAVITE 371

- MAP OF THE ARCHIPELAGO at the end

Introduction

“Nothing extenuate,

Nor set down aught in malice.”

OTHELLO, Act V., Sc. 2.

During the three centuries and a quarter of more or less effective Spanish dominion, this Archipelago never ranked above the most primitive of colonial possessions.

That powerful nation which in centuries gone by was built up by Iberians, Celts, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Visigoths, Romans, and Arabs was in its zenith of glory when the conquering spirit and dauntless energy of its people led them to gallant enterprises of discovery which astonished the civilized world. Whatever may have been the incentive which impelled the Spanish monarchs to encourage the conquest of these Islands, there can, at least, be no doubt as to the earnestness of the individuals entrusted to carry out the royal will. The nerve and muscle of chivalrous Spain ploughing through a wide unknown ocean in quest of glory and adventure, the unswerving devotion of the ecclesiastics to the cause of Catholic supremacy, each bearing intense privations, cannot fail to excite the wonder of succeeding generations. But they were satisfied with conquering and leaving unimproved their conquests, for whilst only a small fraction of this Archipelago was subdued, millions of dollars and hundreds of lives were expended in futile attempts at conquest in Gamboge, Siam, Pegu, Moluccas, Borneo, Japan, etc.—and for all these toils there came no reward, not even the sterile laurels of victory. The Manila seat of government had not been founded five years when the Governor-General solicited royal permission to conquer China!

Extension of dominion seized them like a mania. Had they followed up their discoveries by progressive social enlightenment, by encouragement to commerce, by the concentration of their efforts in the development of the territory and the new resources already under their sway, half the money and energy squandered on fruitless and inglorious expeditions would have sufficed to make high roads crossing and recrossing the Islands; tenfold wealth would have accrued; civilization would have followed as a natural consequence; and they would, perhaps even to this day, have preserved the loyalty of those who struggled for and obtained freer institutions. But they had elected to follow the principles of that religious age, and all we can credit them with is the conversion of millions to Christianity and the consequent civility at the expense of cherished liberty, for ever on the track of that fearless band of warriors followed the monk, ready to pass the breach opened for him by the sword, to conclude the conquest by the persuasive influence of the Holy Cross.

The civilization of the world is but the outcome of wars, and probably as long as the world lasts the ultimate appeal in all questions will be made to force, notwithstanding Peace Conferences. The hope of ever extinguishing warfare is as meagre as the advantage such a state of things would be. The idea of totally suppressing martial instinct in the whole civilized community is as hopeless as the effort to convert all the human race to one religious system. Moreover, the common good derived from war generally exceeds the losses it inflicts on individuals; nor is war an isolated instance of the few suffering for the good of the many. “Salus populi suprema lex.” “Nearly every step in the worldʼs progress has been reached by warfare. In modern times the peace of Europe is only maintained by the equality of power to coerce by force. Liberty in England, gained first by an exhibition of force, would have been lost but for bloodshed. The great American Republic owes its existence and the preservation of its unity to this inevitable means, and neither arbitration, moral persuasion, nor sentimental argument would ever have exchanged Philippine monastic oppression for freedom of thought and liberal institutions.

The right of conquest is admissible when it is exercised for the advancement of civilization, and the conqueror not only takes upon himself, but carries out, the moral obligation to improve the condition of the subjected peoples and render them happier. How far the Spaniards of each generation fulfilled that obligation may be judged from these pages, the works of Mr. W. H. Prescott, the writings of Padre de las Casas, and other chroniclers of Spanish colonial achievements. The happiest colony is that which yearns for nothing at the hands of the mother country; the most durable bonds are those engendered by gratitude and contentment. Such bonds can never be created by religious teaching alone, unaccompanied by the twofold inseparable conditions of moral and material improvement. There are colonies wherein equal justice, moral example, and constant care for the welfare of the people have riveted European dominion without the dispensable adjunct of an enforced State religion. The reader will judge the merits of that civilization which the Spaniards engrafted on the races they subdued; for as mankind has no philosophical criterion of truth, it is a matter of opinion where the unpolluted fountain of the truest modern civilization is to be found. It is claimed by China and by Europe, and the whole universe is schismatic on the subject. When Japan was only known to the world as a nation of artists, Europe called her barbarous; when she had killed fifty thousand Russians in Manchuria, she was proclaimed to be highly civilized. There are even some who regard the adoption of European dress and the utterance of a few phrases in a foreign tongue as signs of civilization. And there is a Continental nation, proud of its culture, whose sense of military honour, dignity, and discipline involves inhuman brutality of the lowest degree.

Juan de la Concepcion,[1] who wrote in the eighteenth century, bases the Spaniardsʼ right to conquest solely on the religious theory. He affirms that the Spanish kings inherited a divine right to these Islands, their dominion being directly prophesied in Isaiah xviii. He assures us that this title from Heaven was confirmed by apostolic authority,[2] and by “the many manifest miracles with which God, the Virgin, and the Saints, as auxiliaries of our arms, demonstrated its unquestionable justice.” Saint Augustine, he states, considered it a sin to doubt the justice of war which God determines; but, let it be remembered, the same savant insisted that the world was flat, and that the sun hid every night behind a mountain!

An apology for conquest cannot be rightly based upon the sole desire to spread any particular religion, more especially when we treat of Christianity, the benign radiance of which was overshadowed by that debasing institution the Inquisition, which sought out the brightest intellects only to destroy them. But whether conversion by coercion be justifiable or not, one is bound to acknowledge that all the urbanity of the Filipinos of to-day is due to Spanish training, which has raised millions from obscurity to a relative condition of culture. The fatal defect in the Spanish system was the futile endeavour to stem the tide of modern methods and influences.

The government of the Archipelago alone was no mean task.

A group of islands inhabited by several heathen races—surrounded by a sea exposed to typhoons, pirates, and Christian-hating Mussulmans—had to be ruled by a handful of Europeans with inadequate funds, bad ships, and scant war material. For nearly two centuries the financial administration was a chaos, and military organization hardly existed. Local enterprise was disregarded and discouraged so long as abundance of silver dollars came from across the Pacific. Such a short-sighted, unstable dependence left the Colony resourceless when bold foreign traders stamped out monopoly and brought commerce to its natural level by competition. In the meantime the astute ecclesiastics quietly took possession of rich arable lands in many places, the most valuable being within easy reach of the Capital and the Arsenal of Cavite. Landed property was undefined. It all nominally belonged to the State, which, however, granted no titles; “squatters” took up land where they chose without determined limits, and the embroilment continues, in a measure, to the present day.

About the year 1885 the question was brought forward of granting Government titles to all who could establish claims to land. Indeed, for about a year, there was a certain enthusiasm displayed both by the applicants and the officials in the matter of “Titulos Reales.” But the large majority of landholders—among whom the monastic element conspicuously figured—could only show their title by actual possession.[3] It might have been sufficient, but the fact is that the clergy favoured neither the granting of “Titulos Reales” nor the establishment of the projected Real Estate Registration Offices.

Agrarian disputes had been the cause of so many armed risings against themselves in particular, during the nineteenth century, that they opposed an investigation of the land question, which would only have revived old animosities, without giving satisfaction to either native or friar, seeing that both parties were intransigent.[4]

The fundamental laws, considered as a whole, were the wisest devisable to suit the peculiar circumstances of the Colony; but whilst many of them were disregarded or treated as a dead letter, so many loopholes were invented by the dispensers of those in operation as to render the whole system a wearisome, dilatory process. Up to the last every possible impediment was placed in the way of trade expansion; and in former times, when worldly majesty and sanctity were a joint idea, the struggle with the King and his councillors for the right of legitimate traffic was fierce.

So long as the Archipelago was a dependency of Mexico (up to 1819) not one Spanish colonist in a thousand brought any cash capital to this colony with which to develop its resources. During the first two centuries and a quarter Spainʼs exclusive policy forbade the establishment of any foreigner in the Islands; but after they did settle there they were treated with such courteous consideration by the Spanish officials that they could often secure favours with greater ease than the Spanish colonists themselves.

Everywhere the white race urged activity like one who sits behind a horse and goads it with the whip. But good advice without example was lost to an ignorant class more apt to learn through the eye than through the ear. The rougher class of colonist either forgot, or did not know, that, to civilize a people, every act one performs, or intelligible word one utters, carries an influence which pervades and gives a colour to the future life and thoughts of the native, and makes it felt upon the whole frame of the society in embryo. On the other hand, the value of prestige was perfectly well understood by the higher officials, and the rigid maintenance of their dignity, both in private life and in their public offices, played an important part in the moral conquest of the Filipinos. Equality of races was never dreamed of, either by the conquerors or the conquered; and the latter, up to the last days of Spanish rule, truly believed in the superiority of the white man. This belief was a moral force which considerably aided the Spaniards in their task of civilization, and has left its impression on the character of polite Philippine society to this day.

Christianity was not only the basis of education, but the symbol of civilization; and that the Government should have left education to the care of the missionaries during the proselytizing period was undoubtedly the most natural course to take. It was desirable that conversion from paganism should precede any kind of secular tuition. But the friars, to the last, held tenaciously to their old monopoly; hence the University, the High Schools, and the Colleges (except the Jesuit Schools) were in their hands, and they remained as stumbling-blocks in the intellectual advancement of the Colony. Instead of the State holding the fountains of knowledge within its direct control, it yielded them to the exclusive manipulation of those who eked out the measure as it suited their own interests.

Successful government by that sublime ethical essence called “moral philosophy” has fallen away before a more practical régime. Liberty to think, to speak, to write, to trade, to travel, was only partially and reluctantly yielded under extraneous pressure. The venality of the conquerorʼs administration, the judicial complicacy, want of public works, weak imperial government, and arrogant local rule tended to dismember the once powerful Spanish Empire. The same causes have produced the same effects in all Spainʼs distant colonies, and to-day the mother country is almost childless. Criticism, physical discovery of the age, and contact with foreigners shook the ancient belief in the fabulous and the supernatural; the rising generation began to inquire about more certain scientific theses. The immutability of Theology is inharmonious to Science—the School of Progress; and long before they had finished their course in these Islands the friars quaked at the possible consequences. The dogmatical affirmation “qui non credit anathema sit,” so indiscriminately used, had lost its power. Public opinion protested against an order of things which checked the social and material onward movement of the Colony. And, strange as it may seem, Spain was absolutely impotent, even though it cost her the whole territory (as indeed happened) to remedy the evil. In these Islands what was known to the world as the Government of Spain was virtually the Executive of the Religious Corporations, who constituted the real Government, the members of which never understood patriotism as men of the world understand it. Every interest was made subservient to the welfare of the Orders. If, one day, the Colony must be lost to them, it was a matter of perfect indifference into whose hands it passed. It was their happy hunting-ground and last refuge. But the real Government could not exist without its Executive; and when that Executive was attacked and expelled by America, the real Government fell as a consequence. If the Executive had been strong enough to emancipate itself from the dominion of the friars only two decades ago, the Philippines might have remained a Spanish colony to-day. But the wealth in hard cash and the moral religious influence of the Monastic Orders were factors too powerful for any number of executive ministers, who would have fallen like ninepins if they had attempted to extricate themselves from the thraldom of sacerdotalism. Outside political circles there was, and still is in Spain, a class who shrink from the abandonment of ideas of centuriesʼ duration. Whatever the fallacy may be, not a few are beguiled into thinking that its antiquity should command respect.

The conquest of this Colony was decidedly far more a religious achievement than a military one, and to the friars of old their nationʼs gratitude is fairly due for having contributed to her glory, but that gratitude is not an inheritance.

Prosperity began to dawn upon the Philippines when restrictions on trade were gradually relaxed since the second decade of last century. As each year came round reforms were introduced, but so clumsily that no distinction was made between those who were educationally or intellectually prepared to receive them and those who were not; hence the small minority of natives, who had acquired the habits and necessities of their conquerors, sought to acquire for all an equal status, for which the masses were unprepared. The abolition of tribute in 1884 obliterated caste distinction; the university graduate and the herder were on a legal equality if they each carried a cédula personal, whilst certain Spanish legislators exercised a rare effort to persuade themselves and their partisans that the Colony was ripe for the impossible combination of liberal administration and monastic rule.

It will be shown in these pages that the government of these Islands was practically as theocratic as it was civil. Upon the principle of religious pre-eminence all its statutes were founded, and the reader will now understand whence the innumerable Church and State contentions originated. Historical facts lead one to inquire: How far was Spain ever a moral potential factor in the worldʼs progress? Spanish colonization seems to have been only a colonizing mission preparatory to the attainment, by her colonists, of more congenial conditions under other régimes; for the repeated struggles for liberty, generation after generation, in all her colonies, tend to show that Spainʼs sovereignty was maintained through the inspiration of fear rather than love and sympathy, and that she entirely failed to render her colonial subjects happier than they were before.

One cannot help feeling pity for the Spanish nation, which has let the Pearl of the Orient slip out of its fingers through culpable and stubborn mismanagement, after repeated warnings and similar experiences in other quarters of the globe. Yet although Spainʼs lethargic, petrified conservatism has had to yield to the progressive spirit of the times, the loss to her is more sentimental than real, and Spaniards of the next century will probably care as little about it as Britons do about the secession of their transatlantic colonies.

Happiness is merely comparative: with a lovely climate—a continual summer—and all the absolute requirements of life at hand, there is not one-tenth of the misery in the Philippines that there is in Europe, and none of that forlorn wretchedness facing the public gaze. Beggary—that constant attribute of the highest civilization—hardly exists, and suicide is extremely rare. There are no ferocious animals, insects, or reptiles that one cannot reasonably guard against; it is essentially one of those countries where “manʼs greatest enemy is man.” There is ample room for double the population, and yet a million acres of virgin soil only awaiting the co-operation of husbandman and capitalist to turn it to lucrative account. A humdrum life is incompatible here with the constant emotion kept up by typhoons, shipwrecks, earthquakes, tidal waves, volcanic eruptions, brigands, epidemics, devastating fires, etc.

It is a beautiful country, copiously endowed by Nature, where the effulgent morning sun contributes to a happy frame of mind—where the colonistʼs rural life passes pleasantly enough to soothe the longing for “home, sweet home.”

“And yet perhaps if countries we compare

And estimate the blessings which they share,

Though patriots flatter, yet shall wisdom find

An equal portion dealt to all mankind.”

Such is Americaʼs new possession, wherein she has assumed the moral responsibility of establishing a form of government on principles quite opposite to those of the defunct Spanish régime: whether it will be for better or for worse cannot be determined at this tentative stage. Without venturing on the prophetic, one may not only draw conclusions from accomplished facts, but also reasonably assume, in the light of past events, what might have happened under other circumstances. There is scarcely a Power which has not, in the zenith of its prosperity, consciously or unconsciously felt the “divine right” impulse, and claimed that Providence has singled it out to engraft upon an unwilling people its particular conception of human progress. The venture assumes, in time, the more dignified name of “mission”; and when the consequent torrents of blood recede from memory with the ebbing tide of forgetfulness, the conqueror soothes his conscience with a profession of “moral duty,” which the conquered seldom appreciate in the first generation. No unforeseen circumstances whatever caused the United States to drift unwillingly into Philippine affairs. The war in Cuba had not the remotest connexion with these Islands. The adversaryʼs army and navy were too busy with the task of quelling the Tagálog rebellion for any one to imagine they could be sent to the Atlantic. It was hardly possible to believe that the defective Spanish-Philippine squadron could have accomplished the voyage to the Antilles, in time of war, with every neutral port en route closed against it. In any case, so far as the ostensible motive of the Spanish-American War was concerned, American operations in the Philippines might have ended with the Battle of Cavite. The Tagálog rebels were neither seeking nor desiring a change of masters, but the state of war with Spain afforded America the opportunity, internationally recognized as legitimate, to seize any of the enemyʼs possessions; hence the acquisition of the Philippines by conquest. Up to this point there is nothing to criticize, in face of the universal tacit recognition, from time immemorial, of the right of might.

American dominion has never been welcomed by the Filipinos. All the principal Christianized islands, practically representing the whole Archipelago, except Moroland, resisted it by force of arms, until, after two years of warfare, they were so far vanquished that those still remaining in the field, claiming to be warriors, were, judged by their exploits, undistinguishable from the brigand gangs which have infested the Islands for a century and a half. The general desire was, and is, for sovereign independence; and although a pro-American party now exists, it is only in the hope of gaining peacefully that which they despaired of securing by armed resistance to superior force. The question as to how much nearer they are to the goal of their ambition belongs to the future; but there is nothing to show, by a review of accomplished facts, that, without foreign intervention, the Filipinos would have prospered in their rebellion against Spain. Even if they had expelled the Spaniards their independence would have been of short duration, for they would have lost it again in the struggle with some colony-grabbing nation. A united Archipelago under the Malolos Government would have been simply untenable; for, apart from the possible secessions of one or more islands, like Negros, for instance, no Christian Philippine Government could ever have conquered Mindanao and the Sulu Sultanate; indeed, the attempt might have brought about their own ruin, by exhaustion of funds, want of unity in the hopeless contest with the Moro, and foreign intervention to terminate the internecine war. Seeing that Emilio Aguinaldo had to suppress two rivals, even in the midst of the bloody struggle when union was most essential for the attainment of a common end, how many more would have risen up against him in the period of peaceful victory? The expulsion of the friars and the confiscation of their lands would have surprised no one cognizant of Philippine history. But what would have become of religion? Would the predominant religion in the Philippines, fifty years hence, have been Christian? Recent events lead one to conjecture that liberty of cult, under native rule, would have been a misnomer, and Roman Catholicism a persecuted cause, with the civilizing labours of generations ceasing to bear fruit.

No generous, high-minded man, enjoying the glorious privilege of liberty, would withhold from his fellow-men the fullest measure of independence which they were capable of maintaining. If Americaʼs intentions be as the world understands them, she is endeavouring to break down the obstacles which the Filipinos, desiring a lasting independence, would have found insuperable. America claims (as other colonizing nations have done) to have a “mission” to perform, which, in the present case, includes teaching the Filipinos the art of self-government. Did one not reflect that America, from her birth as an independent state, has never pretended to follow on the beaten tracts of the Old World, her brand-new method of colonization would surprise her older contemporaries in a similar task. She has been the first to teach Asiatics the doctrine of equality of races—a theory which the proletariat has interpreted by a self-assertion hitherto unknown, and a gradual relinquishment of that courteous deference towards the white man formerly observable by every European. This democratic doctrine, suddenly launched upon the masses, is changing their character. The polite and submissive native of yore is developing into an ill-bred, up-to-date, wrangling politician. Hence rule by coercion, instead of sentiment, is forced upon America, for up to the present she has made no progress in winning the hearts of the people. Outside the high-salaried circle of Filipinos one never hears a spontaneous utterance of gratitude for the boon of individual liberty or for the suppression of monastic tyranny. The Filipinos craving for immediate independence, regard the United States only in the light of a useful medium for its attainment, and there are indications that their future attachment to their stepmother country will be limited to an unsentimental acceptance of her protection as a material necessity.

Measures of practical utility and of immediate need have been set aside for the pursuit of costly fantastic ideals, which excite more the wonder than the enthusiasm of the people, who see left in abeyance the reforms they most desire. The system of civilizing the natives on a curriculum of higher mathematics, literature, and history, without concurrent material improvement to an equal extent, is like feeding the mind at the expense of the body. No harbour improvements have been made, except at Manila; no canals have been cut; few new provincial roads have been constructed, except for military purposes; no rivers are deepened for navigation, and not a mile of railway opened. The enormous sums of money expended on such unnecessary works as the Benguet road and the creation of multifarious bureaux, with a superfluity of public servants, might have been better employed in the development of agriculture and cognate wealth-producing public works. The excessive salaries paid to high officials seem to be out of all proportion to those of the subordinate assistants. Extravagance in public expenditure necessarily brings increasing taxation to meet it; the luxuries introduced for the sake of American trade are gradually, and unfortunately, becoming necessities, whereas it would be more considerate to reduce them if it were possible. It is no blessing to create a desire in the common people for that which they can very well dispense with and feel just as happy without the knowledge of. The deliberate forcing up of the cost of living has converted a cheap country into an expensive one, and an income which was once a modest competence is now a miserable pittance. The infinite vexatious regulations and complicated restrictions affecting trade and traffic are irritating to every class of business men, whilst the Colonyʼs indebtedness is increasing, the budget shows a deficit, and agriculture—the only local source of wealth—is languishing.

Innovations, costing immense sums to introduce, are forced upon the people, not at all in harmony with their real wants, their instincts, or their character. What is good for America is not necessarily good for the Philippines. One could more readily conceive the feasibility of “assimilation” with the Japanese than with the Anglo-Saxon. To rule and to assimilate are two very different propositions: the latter requires the existence of much in common between the parties. No legislation, example, or tuition will remould a peopleʼs life in direct opposition to their natural environment. Even the descendants of whites in the Philippines tend to merge into, rather than alter, the conditions of the surrounding race, and vice versa. It is quite impossible for a race born and living in the Tropics to adopt the characteristics and thought of a Temperate Zone people. The Filipinos are not an industrious, thrifty people, or lovers of work, and no power on earth will make them so. The Colonyʼs resources are, consequently, not a quarter developed, and are not likely to be by a strict application of the theory of the “Philippines for the Filipinos.” But why worry about their lethargy, if, with it, they are on the way to “perfect contentment”?—that summit of human happiness which no one attains. Ideal government may reach a point where its exactions tend to make life a burden; practical government stops this side of that point. White men will not be found willing to develop a policy which offers them no hope of bettering themselves; and as to labour—other willing Asiatics are always close at hand. Uncertainty of legislation, constantly changing laws, new regulations, the fear of a tax on capital, and general prospective insecurity make large investors pause.

Democratic principles have been too suddenly sprung upon the masses. The autonomy granted to the provinces needs more control than the civil government originally intended, and ends in an appeal on almost every conceivable question being made to one man—the Gov.-General: this excessive concentration makes efficient administration too dependent on the abilities of one person. There are many who still think, and not without reason, that ten years of military rule would have been better for the people themselves. Even now military government might be advantageously re-established in Sámar Island, where the common people are not anxious for the franchise, or care much about political rights. A reasonable amount of personal freedom, with justice, would suffice for them; whilst the trading class would welcome any effective and continuous protection, rather than have to shift for themselves with the risk of being persecuted for having given succour to the pulajanes to save their own lives and property.

Civil government, prematurely inaugurated, without sufficient preparation, has had a disastrous effect, and the present state of many provinces is that of a wilderness overrun by brigand bands too strong for the civil authority to deal with. But one cannot fail to recognize and appreciate the humane motives which urged the premature establishment of civil administration. Scores of nobodies before the rebellion became somebodies during the four or five years of social turmoil. Some of them influenced the final issue, others were mere show-figures, really not more important than the beau sabreur in comic opera. Yet one and all claimed compensation for laying aside their weapons, and in changing the play from anarchy to civil life these actors had to be included in the new cast to keep them from further mischief.

The moral conquest of the Philippines has hardly commenced. The benevolent intentions of the Washington Government, and the irreproachable character and purpose of its eminent members who wield the destiny of these islanders, are unknown to the untutored masses, who judge their new masters by the individuals with whom they come into close contact. The hearts of the people cannot be won without moral prestige, which is blighted by the presence of that undesirable class of immigrants to whom Maj.-General Leonard Wood refers so forcibly in his “First Report of the Moro Province.” In this particular region, which is ruled semi-independently of the Philippine Commission, the peculiar conditions require a special legislation. But, apart from this, the common policy of its enlightened Gov.-General would serve as a pattern of what it might be, with advantage, throughout the Archipelago.

So much United States money and energy have been already expended in these Islands, and so far-reaching are the pledges made to their inhabitants, that American and Philippine interests are indissolubly associated for many a generation to come. It does not necessarily follow that the fullest measure of national liberty will create real personal liberty. Such an idea does not at all appeal to Asiatics, according to whose instinct every man dominates over, or is dominated by, another. If America should succeed in establishing a permanently peaceful independent Asiatic government on democratic principles, it will be one of the unparalleled achievements of the age.

[1] “Historia General de Philipinas,” Chap. I., Part I., Vol. I., by Juan de la Concepcion published in 14 vols., Manila, 1788.

[2] “No es necessario calificar el derecho á tales reinos ó dominios, especialmente entre vasallos de reyes tan justos y Cathólicos y tan obedientes hijos de la suprema autoridad apostólica con cuia facultad han ocupado estas regiones.”—Ibid.

[3] “Dominium a possessione coepisse dicitur.”—Law maxim.

[4] In September, 1890, a lawsuit was still pending between the Dominican Corporation and a number of native residents in Calamba (Laguna) who disputed the Dominicansʼ claim to lands in that vicinity so long as the Corporation were unable to exhibit their title. For this implied monastic indiscriminate acquisition of real estate several of the best native families (some of them personally known to me) were banished to the Island of Mindoro.

General Description of the Archipelago

The Philippine Islands, with the Sulu Protectorate, extend a little over 16 degrees of latitude—from 4° 45′ to 21° N., and longitude from 116° 40′ to 126° 30′ E.—and number some 600 islands, many of which are mere islets, besides several hundreds of rocks jutting out of the sea. The 11 islands of primary geographical importance are Luzon, Mindanao, Sámar, Panay, Negros, Palaúan (Parágua), Mindoro, Leyte, Cebú, Masbate, and Bojol. Ancient maps show the islands and provinces under a different nomenclature. For example: (old names in parentheses) Albay (Ibalon); Batangas (Comintan); Basílan (Taguima); Bulacan (Meycauayan); Cápis (Panay); Cavite (Cauit); Cebú (Sogbu); Leyte (Baybay); Mindoro (Mait); Negros (Buglas); Rizal (Tondo; later on Manila); Surigao (Caraga); Sámar (Ibabao); Tayabas (Calilayan).

Luzon and Mindanao united would be larger in area than all the rest of the islands put together. Luzon is said to have over 40,000 square miles of land area. The northern half of Luzon is a mountainous region formed by ramifications of the great cordilleras, which run N. to S. All the islands are mountainous in the interior, the principal peaks being the following, viz.:—

Feet above sea level

Halcon (Mindoro)

8,868

Apo[1] (Mindanao)

8,804

Mayon (Luzon)

8,283

San Cristóbal (Luzon)

7,375

Isarog (Luzon)

6,443

Banájao (Luzon)

6,097

Labo (Luzon)

5,090

South Caraballo (Luzon)

4,720

Caraballo del Baler (Luzon)

3,933

Maquíling (Luzon)

3,720

Most of these mountains and subordinate ranges are thickly covered with forest and light undergrowth, whilst the stately trees are gaily festooned with clustering creepers and flowering parasites of the most brilliant hues. The Mayon, which is an active volcano, is comparatively bare, whilst also the Apo, although no longer in eruption, exhibits abundant traces of volcanic action in acres of lava and blackened scoriae. Between the numberless forest-clad ranges are luxuriant plains glowing in all the splendour of tropical vegetation. The valleys, generally of rich fertility, are about one-third under cultivation.

There are numerous rivers, few of which are navigable by sea-going ships. Vessels drawing up to 13 feet can enter the Pasig River, but this is due to the artificial means employed.

The principal Rivers are:—In Luzon Island the Rio Grande de Cagayán, which rises in the South Caraballo Mountain in the centre of the island, and runs in a tortuous stream to the northern coast. It has two chief affluents, the Rio Chico de Cagayán and the Rio Magat, besides a number of streams which find their way to its main course. Steamers of 11-feet draught have entered the Rio Grande, but the sand shoals at the mouth are very shifty, and frequently the entrance is closed to navigation. The river, which yearly overflows its banks, bathes the great Cagayan Valley,—the richest tobacco-growing district in the Colony. Immense trunks of trees are carried down in the torrent with great rapidity, rendering it impossible for even small craft—the barangayanes—to make their way up or down the river at that period.

The Rio Grande de la Pampanga rises in the same mountain and flows in the opposite direction—southwards,—through an extensive plain, until it empties itself by some 20 mouths into the Manila Bay. The whole of the Pampanga Valley and the course of the river present a beautiful panorama from the summit of Arayat Mountain, which has an elevation of 2,877 feet above the sea level.

The whole of this flat country is laid out into embanked rice fields and sugar-cane plantations. The towns and villages interspersed are numerous. All the primeval forest, at one time dense, has disappeared; for this being one of the first districts brought under European subjection, it supplied timber to the invaders from the earliest days of Spanish colonization.

The Rio Agno rises in a mountainous range towards the west coast about 50 miles N.N.W. of the South Caraballo—runs southwards as far as lat. 16°, where it takes a S.W. direction down to lat. 15° 48′—thence a N.W. course up to lat. 16°, whence it empties itself by two mouths into the Gulf of Lingayen. At the highest tides there is a maximum depth of 11 feet of water on the sand bank at the E. mouth, on which is situated the port of Dagupan.

The Bicol River, which flows from the Bató Lake to the Bay of San Miguel, has sufficient depth of water to admit vessels of small draught a few miles up from its mouth.

In Mindanao Island the Butuan River or Rio Agusan rises at a distance of about 25 miles from the southern coast and empties itself on the northern coast, so that it nearly divides the island, and is navigable for a few miles from the mouth.

The Rio Grande de Mindanao rises in the centre of the island and empties itself on the west coast by two mouths, and is navigable for some miles by light-draught steamers. It has a great number of affluents of little importance.

The only river in Negros Island of any appreciable extent is the Danao, which rises in the mountain range running down the centre of the island, and finds its outlet on the east coast. At the mouth it is about a quarter of a mile wide, but too shallow to permit large vessels to enter, although past the mouth it has sufficient depth for any ship. I went up this river, six hoursʼ journey in a boat, and saw some fine timber near its banks in many places. Here and there it opens out very wide, the sides becoming mangrove swamps.

The most important Lakes are:—In Luzon Island the Bay Lake or Laguna de Bay, supplied by numberless small streams coming from the mountainous district around it. Its greatest length from E. to W. is 25 miles, and its greatest breadth N. to S. 21 miles. In it there is a mountainous island—Talim,—of no agricultural importance, and several islets. Its overflow forms the Pasig River, which empties itself into the Manila Bay. Each wet season—in the middle of the year—the shores of this lake are flooded. These floods recede as the dry season approaches, but only partially so from the south coast, which is gradually being incorporated into the lake bed.

Bombon Lake, in the centre of which is a volcano in constant activity, has a width E. to W. of 11 miles, and its length from N. to S. is 14 miles. The origin of this lake is apparently volcanic. According to tradition it was formed by the terrific upheaval of a mountain 7,000 or 8,000 feet high, in the year 1700. It is not supplied by any streams emptying themselves into it (further than two insignificant rivulets), and it is connected with the sea by the Pansipít River, which flows into the Gulf of Balayan at lat. 13° 52′ N.

Cagayán Lake, in the extreme N.E. of the island, is about 7 miles long by 5 miles broad.

Lake Bató, 3 miles across each way, and Lake Buhi, 3 miles N. to S. and 2½ miles wide, situated in the eastern extremity of Luzon Island, are very shallow.

In the centre of Luzon Island, in the large valley watered by the above-mentioned Pampanga and Agno Rivers, are three lakes, respectively Canarem, Mangabol, and Candava; the last two being lowland meres flooded and navigable by canoes in the rainy season only.

In Mindoro Island there is one lake called Naujan, 2½ miles from the N.E. coast. Its greatest width is 3 miles, with 4 miles in length.

In Mindanao Island there are the Lakes Maguindanao or Boayan, in the centre of the island (20 miles E. to W. by 12 N. to S.); Lanao, 18 miles distant from the north coast; Liguasan and Buluan towards the south, connected with the Rio Grande de Mindanao, and a group of four small lakes on the Agusuan River.

The Lanao Lake has great historical associations with the struggles between Christians and Moslems during the period of the Spanish dominion, and is to this day a centre of strife with the Americans.

In some of the straits dividing the islands there are strong currents, rendering navigation of sailing vessels very difficult, notably in the San Bernadino Straits separating the Islands of Luzon and Sámar, the roadstead of Yloilo between Panay and Guimarrás Islands, and the passage between the south points of Cebú and Negros Islands.

Most of the islets, if not indeed the whole Archipelago, are of volcanic origin. There are many volcanoes, two of them in frequent intermittent activity, viz. the Mayon, in the extreme east of Luzon Island, and the Taal Volcano, in the centre of Bombon Lake, 34 miles due south of Manila. Also in Negros Island the Canlaúan Volcano—N. lat. 10° 24′—is occasionally in visible eruption. In 1886 a portion of its crater subsided, accompanied by a tremendous noise and a slight ejection of lava. In the picturesque Island of Camiguín a volcano mountain suddenly arose from the plain in 1872.

Taal Volcano.

The Mayon Volcano is in the north of the Province of Albay; hence it is popularly known as the Albay Volcano. Around its base there are several towns and villages, the chief being Albay, the capital of the province; Cagsaua (called Darága) and Camáling on the one side, and Malinao, Tobaco, etc., on the side facing the east coast. The earliest eruption recorded is that of 1616, mentioned by Spilbergen. In 1769 there was a serious eruption, which destroyed the towns of Cagsaua and Malinao, besides several villages, and devastated property within a radius of 20 miles. Lava and ashes were thrown out incessantly during two months, and cataracts of water were formed. In 1811 loud subterranean noises were heard proceeding from the volcano, which caused the inhabitants around to fear an early renewal of its activity, but their misfortune was postponed. On February 1, 1814,[2] it burst with terrible violence. Cagsaua, Badiao, and three other towns were totally demolished. Stones and ashes were ejected in all directions. The inhabitants fled to caves to shelter themselves. So sudden was the occurrence, that many natives were overtaken by the volcanic projectiles and a few by lava streams. In Cagsaua nearly all property was lost. Father Aragoneses estimates that 2,200 persons were killed, besides many being wounded.

Mavon Volcano.

Another eruption, remarkable for its duration, took place in 1881–82, and again in the spring of 1887; but only a small quantity of ashes was thrown out, and did very little or no damage to the property in the surrounding towns and villages.

The eruption of July 9, 1888, severely damaged the towns of Libog and Legaspi; plantations were destroyed in the villages of Bigaá and Bonco; several houses were fired, others had the roofs crushed in; a great many domestic animals were killed; fifteen natives lost their lives, and the loss of live-stock (buffaloes and oxen) was estimated at 500. The ejection of lava and ashes and stones from the crater continued for one night, which was illuminated by a column of fire.

The last great eruption occurred in May, 1897. Showers of red-hot lava fell like rain in a radius of 20 miles from the crater. In the immediate environs about 400 persons were killed. In the village of Bacacay houses were entirely buried beneath the lava, ashes, and sand. The road to the port of Legaspi was covered out of sight. In the important town of Tobaco there was total darkness and the earth opened. Hemp plantations and a large number of cattle were destroyed. In Libog over 100 inhabitants perished in the ruins. The hamlets of San Roque, Misericordia, and Santo Niño, with over 150 inhabitants, were completely covered with burning débris. At night-time the sight of the fire column, heaving up thousands of tons of stones, accompanied by noises like the booming of cannon afar off, was indescribably grand, but it was the greatest public calamity which had befallen the province for some years past.

The mountain is remarkable for the perfection of its conic form. Owing to the perpendicular walls of lava formed on the slopes all around, it would seem impossible to reach the crater. The elevation of the peak has been computed at between 8,200 and 8,400 feet. I have been around the base on the E. and S. sides, but the grandest view is to be obtained from Cagsaua (Darága). On a clear night, when the moon is hidden, a stream of fire is distinctly seen to flow from the crest.

Taal Volcano is in the island of the Bombon Lake referred to above. The journey by the ordinary route from the capital would be about 60 miles. This volcano has been in an active state from time immemorial, and many eruptions have taken place with more or less effect. The first one of historical importance appears to have occurred in 1641; again in 1709 the crater vomited fire with a deafening noise; on September 21, 1716, it threw out burning stones and lava over the whole island from which it rises, but so far no harm had befallen the villagers in its vicinity. In 1731 from the waters of the lake three tall columns of earth and sand arose in a few days, eventually subsiding into the form of an island about a mile in circumference. In 1749 there was a famous outburst which dilacerated the coniform peak of the volcano, leaving the crater disclosed as it now is. Being only 850 feet high, it is remarkable as one of the lowest volcanoes in the world.

The last and most desolating of all the eruptions of importance occurred in the year 1754, when the stones, lava, ashes, and waves of the lake, caused by volcanic action, contributed to the utter destruction of the towns of Taal, Tanaúan, Sala, and Lipa, and seriously damaged property in Balayán, 15 miles away, whilst cinders are said to have reached Manila, 34 miles distant in a straight line. One writer says in his MS.,[3] compiled 36 years after the occurrence, that people in Manila dined with lighted candles at midday, and walked about the streets confounded and thunderstruck, clamouring for confession during the eight days that the calamity was visible. The author adds that the smell of the sulphur and fire lasted six months after the event, and was followed by malignant fever, to which half the inhabitants of the province fell victims. Moreover, adds the writer, the lake waters threw up dead alligators and fish, including sharks.

The best detailed account extant is that of the parish priest of Sala at the time of the event.[4] He says that about 11 oʼclock at night on August 11, 1749, he saw a strong light on the top of the Volcano Island, but did not take further notice. At 3 oʼclock the next morning he heard a gradually increasing noise like artillery firing, which he supposed would proceed from the guns of the galleon expected in Manila from Mexico, saluting the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Cagsaysay whilst passing. He only became anxious when the number of shots he heard far exceeded the royal salute, for he had already counted a hundred times, and still it continued. So he arose, and it occurred to him that there might be a naval engagement off the coast. He was soon undeceived, for four old natives suddenly called out, “Father, let us flee!” and on his inquiry they informed him that the island had burst, hence the noise. Daylight came and exposed to view an immense column of smoke gushing from the summit of the volcano, and here and there from its sides smaller streams rose like plumes. He was joyed at the spectacle, which interested him so profoundly that he did not heed the exhortations of the natives to escape from the grand but awful scene. It was a magnificent sight to watch mountains of sand hurled from the lake into the air in the form of erect pyramids, and then falling again like the stream from a fountain jet. Whilst contemplating this imposing phenomenon with tranquil delight, a strong earthquake came and upset everything in the convent. Then he reflected that it might be time to go; pillars of sand ascended out of the water nearer to the shore of the town, and remained erect, until, by a second earthquake, they, with the trees on the islet, were violently thrown down and submerged in the lake. The earth opened out here and there as far as the shores of the Laguna de Bay, and the lands of Sala and Tanaúan shifted. Streams found new beds and took other courses, whilst in several places trees were engulfed in the fissures made in the soil. Houses, which one used to go up into, one now had to go down into, but the natives continued to inhabit them without the least concern. The volcano, on this occasion, was in activity for three weeks; the first three days ashes fell like rain. After this incident, the natives extracted sulphur from the open crater, and continued to do so until the year 1754.

In that year (1754), the same chronicler continues, between nine and ten oʼclock at night on May 15, the volcano ejected boiling lava, which ran down its sides in such quantities that only the waters of the lake saved the people on shore from being burnt. Towards the north, stones reached the shore and fell in a place called Bayoyongan, in the jurisdiction of Taal. Stones and fire incessantly came from the crater until June 2, when a volume of smoke arose which seemed to meet the skies. It was clearly seen from Bauan, which is on a low level about four leagues (14 miles) from the lake.

Matters continued so until July 10, when there fell a heavy shower of mud as black as ink. The wind changed its direction and a suburb of Sala, called Balili, was swamped with mud. This phenomenon was accompanied by a noise so great that the people of Batangas and Bauan, who that day had seen the galleon from Acapulco passing on her home voyage, conjectured that she had saluted the Shrine of Our Lady of Cagsaysay on her way. The noise ceased, but fire still continued to issue from the crater until September 25. Stones fell all that night; and the people of Taal had to abandon their homes, for the roofs were falling in with the weight upon them. The chronicler was at Taal at this date, and in the midst of the column of smoke a tempest of thunder and lightning raged and continued without intermission until December 4.

The night of All Saintsʼ day (Nov. 1) was a memorable one, for the quantity of falling fire-stones, sand, and ashes increased, gradually diminishing again towards November 15. Then, on that night, after vespers, great noises were heard. A long melancholy sound dinned in oneʼs ears; volumes of black smoke rose; an infinite number of stones fell, and great waves proceeded from the lake, beating the shores with appalling fury. This was followed by another great shower of stones, brought up amidst the black smoke, which lasted until 10 oʼclock at night. For a short while the devastation was suspended prior to the last supreme effort. All looked half dead and much exhausted after seven months of suffering in the way described.[5] It was resolved to remove the image of Our Lady of Cagsaysay and put in its place the second image of the Holy Virgin.

On November 29, from seven oʼclock in the evening, the volcano threw up more fire than all put together in the preceding seven months. The burning column seemed to mingle with the clouds; the whole of the island was one ignited mass. A wind blew. And as the priests and the mayor (Alcalde) were just remarking that the fire might reach the town, a mass of stones was thrown up with great violence; thunderclaps and subterranean noises were heard; everybody looked aghast, and nearly all knelt to pray. Then the waters of the lake began to encroach upon the houses, and the inhabitants took to flight, the natives carrying away whatever chattels they could. Cries and lamentations were heard all around; mothers were looking for their children in dismay; half-caste women of the Parian were calling for confession, some of them beseechingly falling on their knees in the middle of the streets. The panic was intense, and was in no way lessened by the Chinese, who took to yelling in their own jargonic syllables.

After the terrible night of November 29 they thought all was over, when again several columns of smoke appeared, and the priest went off to the Sanctuary of Cagsaysay, where the prior was. Taal was entirely abandoned, the natives having gone in all directions away from the lake. On November 29 and 30 there was complete darkness around the lake vicinity, and when light reappeared a layer of cinders about five inches thick was seen over the lands and houses, and it was still increasing. Total darkness returned, so that one could not distinguish anotherʼs face, and all were more horror-stricken than ever. In Cagsaysay the natives climbed on to the housetops and threw down the cinders, which were over-weighting the structures. On November 30 smoke and strange sounds came with greater fury than anything yet experienced, while lightning flashed in the dense obscurity. It seemed as if the end of the world was arriving. When light returned, the destruction was horribly visible; the church roof was dangerously covered with ashes and earth, and the chronicler opines that its not having fallen in might be attributed to a miracle! Then there was a day of comparative quietude, followed by a hurricane which lasted two days. All were in a state of melancholy, which was increased when they received the news that the whole of Taal had collapsed; amongst the ruins being the Government House and Stores, the Prison, State warehouses and the Royal Rope Walk, besides the Church and Convent.

The Gov.-General sent food and clothing in a vessel, which was nearly wrecked by storms, whilst the crew pumped and baled out continually to keep her afloat, until at length she broke up on the shoals at the mouth of the Pansipit River. Another craft had her mast split by a flash of lightning, but reached port.

With all this, some daft natives lingered about the site of the town of Taal till the last, and two men were sepulchred in the Government House ruins. A woman left her house just before the roof fell in and was carried away by a flood, from which she escaped, and was then struck dead by a flash of lightning. A man who had escaped from Mussulman pirates, by whom he had been held in captivity for years, was killed during the eruption. He had settled in Taal, and was held to be a perfect genius, for he could mend a clock!

The road from Taal to Balayan was impassable for a while on account of the quantity of lava. Taal, once so important as a trading centre, was now gone, and Batangas, on the coast, became the future capital of the province.

The actual duration of this last eruption was 6 months and 17 days.

In 1780 the natives again extracted sulphur, but in 1790 a writer at that date[6] says that he was unable to reach the crater owing to the depth of soft lava and ashes on the slopes.

There is a tradition current amongst the natives that an Englishman some years ago attempted to cut a tunnel from the base to the centre of the volcanic mountain, probably to extract some metallic product or sulphur. It is said that during the work the excavation partially fell in upon the Englishman, who perished there. The cave-like entrance is pointed out to travellers as the Cueva del Inglés.

Referring to the volcano, Fray Gaspar de San Agustin in his History[7] remarks as follows:—“The volcano formerly emitted many large fire-stones which destroyed the cotton, sweet potato and other plantations belonging to the natives of Taal on the slopes of the (volcano) mountain. Also it happened that if three persons arrived on the volcanic island, one of them had infallibly to die there without being able to ascertain the cause of this circumstance. This was related to Father Albuquerque,[8] who after a fervent deesis entreating compassion on the natives, went to the island, exorcised the evil spirits there and blessed the land. A religious procession was made, and Mass was celebrated with great humility. On the elevation of the Host, horrible sounds were heard, accompanied by groaning voices and sad lamentations; two craters opened out, one with sulphur in it and the other with green water (sic), which is constantly boiling. The crater on the Lipa side is about a quarter of a league wide; the other is smaller, and in time smoke began to ascend from this opening so that the natives, fearful of some new calamity, went to Father Bartholomew, who repeated the ceremonies already described. Mass was said a second time, so that since then the volcano has not thrown out any more fire or smoke.[9] However, whilst Fray Thomas Abresi was parish priest of Taal (about 1611), thunder and plaintive cries were again heard, therefore the priest had a cross, made of Anobing wood, borne to the top of the volcano by more than 400 natives, with the result that not only the volcano ceased to do harm, but the island has regained its original fertile condition.”

The Taal Volcano is reached with facility from the N. side of the island, the ascent on foot occupying about half an hour. Looking into the crater, which would be about 4,500 feet wide from one border to the other of the shell, one sees three distinct lakes of boiling liquid, the colours of which change from time to time. I have been up to the crater four times; the last time the liquids in the lakes were respectively of green, yellow, and chocolate colours. At the time of my last visit there was also a lava chimney in the middle, from which arose a snow-white volume of smoke.

The Philippine Islands have numberless creeks and bays forming natural harbours, but navigation on the W. coasts of Cebú, Negros and Palaúan Islands is dangerous for any but very light-draught vessels, the water being very shallow, whilst there are dangerous reefs all along the W. coast of Palaúan (Parágua) and between the south point of this island and Balábac Island.

The S.W. monsoon brings rain to most of the islands, and the wet season lasts nominally six months,—from about the end of April. The other half of the year is the dry season. However, on those coasts directly facing the Pacific Ocean, the seasons are the reverse of this.

The hottest season is from March to May inclusive, except on the coasts washed by the Pacific, where the greatest heat is felt in June, July, and August. The temperature throughout the year varies but slightly, the average heat in Luzon Island being about 81° 50′ Fahr. In the highlands of north Luzon, on an elevation above 4,000 feet, the maximum temperature is 78° Fahr. and the minimum 46° Fahr. Zamboanga, which is over 400 miles south of Manila, is cooler than the capital. The average number of rainy days in Luzon during the years 1881 to 1883 was 203.

Commencing July 11, 1904, three days of incessant rain in Rizal Province produced the greatest inundation of Manila suburbs within living memory. Human lives were lost; many cattle were washed away; barges in the river were wrenched from their moorings and dashed against the bridge piers; pirogues were used instead of vehicles in the thoroughfares; considerable damage was done in the shops and many persons had to wade through the flooded streets knee-deep in water.

The climate is a continual summer, which maintains a rich verdure throughout the year; and during nine months of the twelve an alternate heat and moisture stimulates the soil to the spontaneous production of every form of vegetable life. The country generally is healthy.

The whole of the Archipelago, as far south as 10° lat., is affected by the monsoons, and periodically disturbed by terrible hurricanes, which cause great devastation to the crops and other property. The last destructive hurricane took place in September, 1905.

In Rizal Province (Near Manila). Effect of the Hurricane of September 26, 1905.

Earthquakes are also very frequent, the last of great importance having occurred in 1863, 1880, 1892, 1894, and 1897. In 1897 a tremendous tidal wave affected the Island of Leyte, causing great destruction of life and property. A portion of Taclóban, the capital of the island, was swept away, rendering it necessary to extend the town in another direction.

In the wet season the rivers swell considerably, and often overflow their banks; whilst the mountain torrents carry away bridges, cattle, tree trunks, etc., with terrific force, rendering travelling in some parts of the interior dangerous and difficult. In the dry season long droughts occasionally occur (about once in three years), to the great detriment of the crops and live-stock.

The southern boundary of the Archipelago is formed by a chain of some 140 islands, stretching from the large island of Mindanao as far as Borneo, and constitutes the Sulu Archipelago, the Sultanate of which was under the protection of Spain (vide Chap. xxix.). It is now being absorbed, under American rule, in the rest of the Archipelago, under the denomination of Moro Province (q.v.).

[1] According to the Spanish Hydrographic Map, it is 8,813 feet: the Pajal and Montano Expedition (1880) made it 10,270 feet; the Schadenberg and Koch Expedition (1882) computed it at 10,827 feet.

[2] Vide pamphlet published immediately after the event by Father Francisco Aragoneses, P.P. of Cagsaua, begging alms for the victims.

[3] “Hist. de la Prov. de Batangas,” por D. Pedro Andrés de Castro y Amadés. Inedited MS. in the Bauan Convent, Batangas.

[4] MS. exhaustive report of the eruptions of Taal Volcano in 1749 and 1754, dated December 22, 1754, compiled by Fray Francisco Vencuchillo. Preserved in the archives of the Corporation of Saint Augustine in Manila.

[5] Still it appears that all classes were willing to risk their lives to save their property. They were not forcibly detained in that plight.

[6] “Hist. de la Prov. de Batangas,” por Don Pedro Andrés de Castro y Amadés. Inedited MS. in the Bauan Convent, Province of Batangas.

[7] “Hist. de Filipinas,” by Dr. Gaspar de San Agustin, 2 vols. First part published in Madrid, 1698, the second part yet inedited and preserved in the archives of the Corporation of Saint Augustine in Manila.

[8] P.P. of Taal from 1572 to 1575.

[9] In the same archives of the Saint Augustine Corporation in Manila an eruption in 1641 is recorded.

Discovery of the Archipelago

The discoveries of Christopher Columbus in 1492, the adventures and conquests of Hernan Cortés, Blasco Nuñez de Balboa and others in the South Atlantic, had awakened an ardent desire amongst those of enterprizing spirit to seek beyond those regions which had hitherto been traversed. It is true the Pacific Ocean had been seen by Balboa, who crossed the Isthmus of Panamá, but how to arrive there with his ships was as yet a mystery.

On April 10, 1495, the Spanish Government published a general concession to all who wished to search for unknown lands. This was a direct attack upon the privileges of Columbus at the instigation of Fonseca, Bishop of Búrgos, who had the control of the Indian affairs of the realm. Rich merchants of Cadiz and Seville, whose imagination was inflamed by the reports of the abundance of pearls and gold on the American coast, fitted out ships to be manned by the roughest class of gold-hunters: so great were the abuses of this common licence that it was withdrawn by Royal Decree of June 2, 1497.

It was the age of chivalry, and the restless cavalier who had won his spurs in Europe lent a listening ear to the accounts of romantic glory and wealth attained across the seas. That an immense ocean washed the western shores of the great American continent was an established fact. That there was a passage connecting the great Southern sea—the Atlantic—with that vast ocean was an accepted hypothesis. Many had sought the passage in vain; the honour of its discovery was reserved for Hernando de Maghallanes (Portuguese, Fernão da Magalhães).

This celebrated man was a Portuguese noble who had received the most complete education in the palace of King John II. Having studied mathematics and navigation, at an early age he joined the Portuguese fleet which left for India in 1505 under the command of Almeida. He was present at the siege of Malacca under the famous Albuquerque, and accompanied another expedition to the rich Moluccas, or Spice Islands, when the Islands of Banda, Tidor, and Ternate were discovered. It was here he obtained the information which led him to contemplate the voyage which he subsequently realized.

On his return to Portugal he searched the Crown Archives to see if the Moluccas were situated within the demarcation accorded to Spain.[1] In the meantime he repaired to the wars in Africa, where he was wounded in the knee, with the result that he became permanently lame. He consequently retired to Portugal, and his companions in arms, jealous of his prowess, took advantage of his affliction to assail him with vile imputations. The King Emmanuel encouraged the complaints, and accused him of feigning a malady of which he was completely cured. Wounded to the quick by such an assertion, and convinced of having lost the royal favour, Maghallanes renounced for ever, by a formal and public instrument, his duties and rights as a Portuguese subject, and henceforth became a naturalized Spaniard. He then presented himself at the Spanish Court, at that time in Valladolid, where he was well received by the King Charles I., the Bishop of Búrgos, Juan Rodriguez Fonseca, Minister of Indian Affairs, and by the Kingʼs chancellor. They listened attentively to his narration, and he had the good fortune to secure the personal protection of His Majesty, himself a well-tried warrior, experienced in adventure.

The Portuguese Ambassador, Alvaro de Acosta, incensed at the success of his late countryman, and fearing that the project under discussion would lead to the conquest of the Spice Islands by the rival kingdom, made every effort to influence the Court against him. At the same time he ineffectually urged Maghallanes to return to Lisbon, alleging that his resolution to abandon Portuguese citizenship required the sovereign sanction. Others even meditated his assassination to save the interests of the King of Portugal. This powerful opposition only served to delay the expedition, for finally the King of Portugal was satisfied that his Spanish rival had no intention to authorize a violation of the Convention of Demarcation.

Between King Charles and Maghallanes a contract was signed in Saragossa by virtue of which the latter pledged himself to seek the discovery of rich spice islands within the limits of the Spanish Empire. If he should not have succeeded in the venture after ten years from the date of sailing he would thenceforth be permitted to navigate and trade without further royal assent, reserving one-twentieth of his net gains for the Crown. The King accorded to him the title of Cavalier and invested him with the habit of St. James and the hereditary government in male succession of all the islands he might annex. The Crown of Castile reserved to itself the supreme authority over such government. If Maghallanes discovered so many as six islands, he was to embark merchandise in the Kingʼs own ships to the value of one thousand ducats as royal dues. If the islands numbered only two, he would pay to the Crown one-fifteenth of the net profits. The King, however, was to receive one-fifth part of the total cargo sent in the first return expedition. The King would defray the expense of fitting out and arming five ships of from 60 to 130 tons with a total crew of 234 men; he would also appoint captains and officials of the Royal Treasury to represent the State interests in the division of the spoil.

Orders to fulfil the contract were issued to the Crown officers in the port of Seville, and the expedition was slowly prepared, consisting of the following vessels, viz.: The commodore ship La Trinidad, under the immediate command of Maghallanes; the San Antonio, Captain Juan de Cartagena; the Victoria, Captain Luis de Mendoza; the Santiago, Captain Juan Rodriguez Serrano; and the Concepcion, Captain Gaspar de Quesada.

The little fleet had not yet sailed when dissensions arose.

Maghallanes wished to carry his own ensign, whilst Doctor Sancho Matienza insisted that it should be the Royal Standard.

Another, named Talero, disputed the question of who should be the standard-bearer. The King himself had to settle these quarrels by his own arbitrary authority. Talero was disembarked and the Royal Standard was formally presented to Maghallanes by injunction of the King in the Church of Santa Maria de la Victoria de la Triana, in Seville, where he and his companions swore to observe the usages and customs of Castile, and to remain faithful and loyal to His Catholic Majesty.

On August 10, 1519, the expedition left the port of San Lúcar de Barrameda in the direction of the Canary Islands.

On December 13 they arrived safely at Rio Janeiro.

Following the coast in search of the longed-for passage to the Pacific Ocean, they entered the Solis River—so called because its discoverer, João de Solis, a Portuguese, was murdered there. Its name was afterwards changed to that of Rio de la Plata (the Silver River).

Continuing their course, the intense cold determined Maghallanes to winter in the next large river, known then as San Julian.

Tumults arose; some wished to return home; others harboured a desire to separate from the fleet, but Maghallanes had sufficient tact to persuade the crews to remain with him, reminding them of the shame which would befall them if they returned only to relate their failure. He added that, so far as he was concerned, nothing but death would deter him from executing the royal commission.

As to the rebellious captains, Juan de Cartagena was already put in irons and sentenced to be cast ashore with provisions, and a disaffected French priest for a companion. The sentence was carried out later on. Then Maghallanes sent a boat to each of three of the ships to inquire of the captains whom they served. The reply from all was that they were for the King and themselves. Thereupon 30 men were sent to the Victoria with a letter to Mendoza, and whilst he was reading it, they rushed on board and stabbed him to death. Quesada then brought his ship alongside of the Trinidad, and, with sword and shield in hand, called in vain upon his men to attack. Maghallanes, with great promptitude, gave orders to board Quesadaʼs vessel. The next day Quesada was executed. After these vigorous but justifiable measures, obedience was ensured.

Still bearing southwards within sight of the coast, on October 28, 1520, the expedition reached and entered the seaway thenceforth known as the Magellan Straits, dividing the Island of Tierra del Fuego from the mainland of Patagonia.[2]

On the way one ship had become a total wreck, and now the San Antonio deserted the expedition; her captain having been wounded and made prisoner by his mutinous officers, she was sailed in the direction of New Guinea. The three remaining vessels waited for the San Antonio several days, and then passed through the Straits. Great was the rejoicing of all when, on November 26, 1520, they found themselves on the Pacific Ocean! It was a memorable day. All doubt was now at an end as they cheerfully navigated across that broad expanse of sea.

On March 16, 1521, the Ladrone Islands were reached. There the ships were so crowded with natives that they were obliged to be expelled by force. They stole one of the shipʼs boats, and ninety men were sent on shore to recover it. After a bloody combat the boat was regained, and the fleet continued its course westward until it hove to off an islet, then called Jomonjol, now known as Malhou, situated in the channel between Sámar and Dinagat Islands (vide map). Then coasting along the north of the Island of Mindanao, they arrived at the mouth of the Butuan River, where they were supplied with provisions by the chief. It was Easter week, and on this shore the first Mass was celebrated in the Philippines. The natives showed great friendliness, in return for which Maghallanes took formal possession of their territory in the name of Charles I. The chieftain himself volunteered to pilot the ships to a fertile island, the kingdom of a relation of his, and, passing between the Islands of Bojol and Leyte, the expedition arrived on April 7 at Cebú, where, on receiving the news, over two thousand men appeared on the beach in battle array with lances and shields.

The Butuan chief went on shore and explained that the expedition brought people of peace who sought provisions. The King agreed to a treaty, and proposed that it should be ratified according to the native formula—drawing blood from the breast of each party, the one drinking that of the other. This form of bond was called by the Spaniards the Pacto de sangre, or the Blood compact (q.v.).

Maghallanes accepted the conditions, and a hut was built on shore in which to say Mass. Then he disembarked with his followers, and the King, Queen, and Prince came to satisfy their natural curiosity. They appeared to take great interest in the Christian religious rites and received baptism, although it would be venturesome to suppose they understood their meaning, as subsequent events proved. The princes and headmen of the district followed their example, and swore fealty and obedience to the King of Spain.

Maghallanes espoused the cause of his new allies, who were at war with the tribes on the opposite coast, and on April 25, 1521, he passed over to Magtan Island. In the affray he was mortally wounded by an arrow, and thus ended his brief but lustrous career, which fills one of the most brilliant pages in Spanish annals.

Maghallanes called the group of islands, so far discovered, the Saint Lazarus Archipelago. In Spain they were usually referred to as the Islas del Poniente, and in Portugal as the Islas del Oriente.

On the left bank of the Pasig River, facing the City of Manila, stands a monument to Maghallanesʼ memory. Another has been erected on the spot in Magtan Island, where he is supposed to have been slain on April 27, 1521. Also in the city of Cebú, near the beach, there is an obelisk to commemorate these heroic events.

It was perhaps well for Maghallanes to have ended his days out of reach of his royal master. Had he returned to Spain he would probably have met a fate similar to that which befell Columbus after all his glories. The San Antonio, which, as already mentioned, deserted the fleet at the Magellan Straits, continued her voyage from New Guinea to Spain, arriving at San Lúcar de Barrameda in March, 1521. The captain, Alvaro Mesquita, was landed as a prisoner, accused of having seconded Maghallanes in repressing insubordination. To Maghallanes were ascribed the worst cruelties and infraction of the royal instructions. Accused and accusers were alike cast into prison, and the King, unable to lay hands on the deceased Maghallanes, sought this heroʼs wife and children. These innocent victims of royal vengeance were at once arrested and conveyed to Búrgos, where the Court happened to be, whilst the San Antonio was placed under embargo.

On the decease of Maghallanes, the supreme command of the expedition in Cebú Island was assumed by Duarte de Barbosa, who, with twenty-six of his followers, was slain at a banquet to which they had been invited by Hamabar, the King of the island. Juan Serrano had so ingratiated himself with the natives during the sojourn on shore that his life was spared for a while. Stripped of his raiment and armour, he was conducted to the beach, where the natives demanded a ransom for his person of two cannons from the shipsʼ artillery. Those on board saw what was passing and understood the request, but they were loath to endanger the lives of all for the sake of one—”Melius est ut pereat unus quam ut pereat communitas” (Saint Augustine)—so they raised anchors and sailed out of the port, leaving Serrano to meet his terrible fate.

Due to sickness, murder during the revolts, and the slaughter in Cebú, the exploring party, now reduced to 100 souls all told, was deemed insufficient to conveniently manage three vessels. It was resolved therefore to burn the most dilapidated one—the Concepcion. At a general council, Juan Caraballo was chosen Commander-in-Chief of the expedition, with Gonzalo Gomez de Espinosa as Captain of the Victoria. The royal instructions were read, and it was decided to go to the Island of Borneo, already known to the Portuguese and marked on their charts. On the way they provisioned the ships off the coast of Palaúan Island (Parágua), and thence navigated to within ten miles of the capital of Borneo (probably Brunei). Here they fell in with a number of native canoes, in one of which was the Kingʼs secretary. There was a great noise with the sound of drums and trumpets, and the ships saluted the strangers with their guns.

The natives came on board, embraced the Spaniards as if they were old friends, and asked them who they were and what they came for. They replied that they were vassals of the King of Spain and wished to barter goods. Presents were exchanged, and several of the Spaniards went ashore. They were met on the way by over two thousand armed men, and safely escorted to the Kingʼs quarters. After satisfying his Majestyʼs numerous inquiries, Captain Espinosa was permitted to return with his companions. He reported to Caraballo all he had seen, and in a council it was agreed that the town was too large and the armed men too numerous to warrant the safety of a longer stay. However, being in need of certain commodities, five men were despatched to the town. As days passed by, their prolonged absence caused suspicion and anxiety, so the Spaniards took in reprisal the son of the King of Luzon Island, who had arrived there to trade, accompanied by 100 men and five women in a large prahu. The prince made a solemn vow to see that the five Spaniards returned, and left two of his women and eight chiefs as hostages. Then Caraballo sent a message to the King of Borneo, intimating that if his people were not liberated he would seize all the junks and merchandise he might fall in with and kill their crews. Thereupon two of the retained Spaniards were set free, but, in spite of the seizure of craft laden with silk and cotton, the three men remaining had to be abandoned, and the expedition set sail.

For reasons not very clear, Caraballo was deprived of the supreme command and Espinosa was appointed in his place, whilst Juan Sebastian Elcano was elected Captain of the Victoria. With a native pilot, captured from a junk which they met on the way, the ships shaped their course towards the Moluccas Islands, and on November 8, 1521, they arrived at the Island of Tidor. Thus the essential object of the expedition was gained—the discovery of a western route to the Spice Islands.

Years previous the Portuguese had opened up trade and still continued to traffic with these islands, which were rich in nutmegs, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, sage, pepper, etc. It is said that Saint Francis Xavier had propagated his views amongst these islanders, some of whom professed the Christian faith.

The King, richly attired, went out with his suite to receive and welcome the Spaniards. He was anxious to barter with them, and when the Trinidad was consequently laden with valuable spices it was discovered that she had sprung a leak. Her cargo was therefore transferred to the sister ship, whilst the Trinidad remained in Tidor for repairs, and Elcano was deputed to make the voyage home with the Victoria, taking the western route of the Portuguese in violation of the Treaty of Tordesillas. Elcanoʼs crew consisted of fifty-three Europeans and a dozen natives of Tidor. The Victoria started for Spain at the beginning of the year 1522; passed through the Sunda Straits at great risk of being seized by the Portuguese; experienced violent storms in the Mozambique Channel, and was almost wrecked rounding the Cape of Good Hope. A few of the crew died—their only food was a scanty ration of rice—and in their extreme distress they put in at Santiago Island, 350 miles W. of Cape Verd, to procure provisions and beg assistance from the Portuguese Governor. It was like jumping into the lionʼs mouth. The Governor imprisoned those who went to him, in defence of his Sovereignʼs treaty rights; he seized the boat which brought them ashore; inquired of them where they had obtained the cargo; and projected the capture of the Victoria.

Captain Elcano was not slow to comprehend the situation; he raised anchor and cleared out of the harbour, and, as it had happened several times before, those who had the misfortune to be sent ashore were abandoned by their countrymen.

The Victoria made the port of San Lúcar de Barrameda on September 6, 1522, so that in a little over three years Juan Sebastian Elcano had performed the most notable voyage hitherto on record—it was the first yet accomplished round the world. It must, however, be borne in mind that the discovery of the way to the Moluccas, going westward, was due to Maghallanes—of Portuguese birth—and that the route thence to Europe, continuing westward, had long before been determined by the Portuguese traders, whose charts Elcano used.

When Elcano and his 17 companions disembarked, their appearance was most pitiable—mere skeletons of men, weather-beaten and famished. The City of Seville received them with acclamation; but their first act was to walk barefooted, in procession, holding lighted candles in their hands, to the church to give thanks to the Almighty for their safe deliverance from the hundred dangers which they had encountered. Clothes, money, and all necessaries were supplied to them by royal bounty, whilst Elcano and the most intelligent of his companions were cited to appear at Court to narrate their adventures. His Majesty received them with marked deference. Elcano was rewarded with a life pension of 500 ducats (worth at that date about £112 10s.), and as a lasting remembrance of his unprecedented feat, his royal master knighted him and conceded to him the right of using on his escutcheon a globe bearing the motto, “Primus circundedit me.”

Two of Elcanoʼs officers, Miguel de Rodas and Francisco Alva, were each awarded a life pension of 50,000 maravedis (worth at that time about 14 guineas), whilst the King ordered one-fourth of that fifth part of the cargo, which by contract with Maghallanes belonged to the State Treasury, to be distributed amongst the crew, including those imprisoned in Santiago Island.

The cargo of the Victoria consisted of twenty-six and a half tons of cloves, a quantity of cinnamon, sandal wood, nutmegs, etc. Amongst the Tidor Islanders who were presented to the King, one of them was not allowed to return to his native home, because he had carefully inquired the value of the spices in the Spanish bazaars.

Meanwhile the Trinidad was repaired in Tidor and on her way to Panamá, when continued tempests and the horrible sufferings of the crew determined them to retrace their course to the Moluccas. In this interval Portuguese ships had arrived there, and a fort was being constructed to defend Portuguese interests against the Spaniards, whom they regarded as interlopers. The Trinidad was seized, and the Captain Espinosa with the survivors of his crew were granted a passage to Lisbon, which place they reached five years after they had set out with Maghallanes.

The enthusiasm of King Charles was equal to the importance of the discoveries which gave renown to his subjects and added glory to his Crown. Notwithstanding a protracted controversy with the Portuguese Court, which claimed the exclusive right of trading with the Spice Islands, he ordered another squadron of six ships to be fitted out for a voyage to the Moluccas. The supreme command was confided to Garcia Yofre de Loaisa, Knight of Saint John, whilst Sebastian Elcano was appointed captain of one of the vessels. After passing through the Magellan Straits, the Commander Loaisa succumbed to the fatigues and privations of the stormy voyage. Elcano succeeded him, but only for four days, when he too expired. The expedition, however, arrived safely at the Moluccas Islands, where they found the Portuguese in full possession and strongly established, but the long series of combats, struggles and altercations which ensued between the rival Powers, in which Captain Andrés de Urdaneta prominently figured, left no decisive advantage to either nation.

But the King was in no way disheartened. A third expedition—the last under his auspices—was organized and despatched from the Pacific Coast of Mexico by the Viceroy, by royal mandate. It was composed of two ships, two transports and one galley, well manned and armed, chosen from the fleet of Pedro Alvarado, the late Governor of Guatemala. Under the leadership of Ruy Lopez de Villalobos it sailed on November 1, 1542; discovered many small islands in the Pacific; lost the galley on the way, and anchored off an island about 20 miles in circumference which was named Antonia. They found its inhabitants very hostile. A fight ensued, but the natives finally fled, leaving several Spaniards wounded, of whom six died. Villalobos then announced his intention of remaining here some time, and ordered his men to plant maize. At first they demurred, saying that they had come to fight, not to till land, but at length necessity urged them to obedience, and a small but insufficient crop was reaped in due season. Hard pressed for food, they lived principally on cats, rats, lizards, snakes, dogs, roots and wild fruit, and several died of disease. In this plight a ship was sent to Mindanao Island, commanded by Bernado de la Torre, to seek provisions. The voyage was fruitless. The party was opposed by the inhabitants, who fortified themselves, but were dislodged and slain. Then a vessel was commissioned to Mexico with news and to solicit reinforcements. On the way, Volcano Island (of the Ladrone Islands group) was discovered on August 6, 1543. A most important event followed. The island, now known as Sámar, was called the Isla Philipina, and a galiot was built and despatched to the group (it is doubtful which), named by this expedition the Philippine Islands in honour of Philip, Prince of Asturias, the son of King Charles I., heir apparent to the throne of Castile, to which he ascended in 1555 under the title of Philip II. on the abdication of his father.

The craft returned from the Philippine Islands laden with abundance of provisions, with which the ships were enabled to continue the voyage.

By the royal instructions, Ruy Lopez de Villalobos was strictly enjoined not to touch at the Moluccas Islands, peace having been concluded with Portugal. Heavy gales forced him nevertheless to take refuge at Gilolo. The Portuguese, suspicious of his intentions in view of the treaty, arrayed their forces against his, inciting the King of the island also to discard all Spanish overtures and refuse assistance to Villalobos. The discord and contentions between the Portuguese and Spaniards were increasing; nothing was being gained by either party. Villalobos personally was sorely disheartened in the struggle, fearing all the while that his opposition to the Portuguese in contravention of the royal instructions would only excite the Kingʼs displeasure and lead to his own downfall. Hence he decided to capitulate with his rival and accepted a safe conduct for himself and party to Europe in Portuguese ships. They arrived at Amboina Island, where Villalobos, already crushed by grief, succumbed to disease. The survivors of the expedition, amongst whom were several priests, continued the journey home via Cochin China, Malacca and Goa, where they embarked for Lisbon, arriving there in 1549.

In 1558 King Charles was no more, but the memory of his ambition outlived him. His son Philip, equally emulous and unscrupulous, was too narrow-minded and subtly cautious to initiate an expensive enterprise encompassed by so many hazards—as materially unproductive as it was devoid of immediate political importance. Indeed the basis of the first expedition was merely to discover a Western route to the rich Spice Islands, already known to exist; the second went there to attempt to establish Spanish empire; and the third to search for, and annex to, the Spanish Crown, lands as wealthy as those claimed by, and now yielded to, the Portuguese.

But the value of the Philippine Islands, of which the possession was but recent and nominal, was thus far a matter of doubt.

One of the most brave and intrepid captains of the Loaisa expedition—Andrés de Urdaneta—returned to Spain in 1536. In former years he had fought under King Charles I., in his wars in Italy, when the study of navigation served him as a favourite pastime. Since his return from the Moluccas his constant attention was given to the project of a new expedition to the Far West, for which he unremittingly solicited the royal sanction and assistance. But the King had grown old and weary of the world, and whilst he did not openly discourage Urdanetaʼs pretensions he gave him no effective aid. At length, in 1553, two years before Charles abdicated, Urdaneta, convinced of the futility of his importunity at the Spanish Court, and equally unsuccessful with his scheme in other quarters, retired to Mexico, where he took the habit of an Augustine monk. Ten years afterwards King Philip, inspired by the religious sentiment which pervaded his whole policy, urged his Viceroy in Mexico to fit out an expedition to conquer and christianize the Philippine Islands. Urdaneta, now a priest, was not overlooked. Accompanied by five priests of his Order, he was entrusted with the spiritual care of the races to be subdued by an expedition composed of four ships and one frigate well armed, carrying 400 soldiers and sailors, commanded by a Basque navigator, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. This remarkable man was destined to acquire the fame of having established Spanish dominion in these Islands. He was of noble birth and a native of the Province of Guipúzcoa in Spain. Having settled in the City of Mexico, of which place he was elected Mayor, he there practised as a notary. Of undoubted piety, he enjoyed reputation for his justice and loyalty; hence he was appointed General of the forces equipped for the voyage.

The favourite desire to possess the valuable Spice Islands still lurked in the minds of many Spaniards. Amongst them was Urdaneta, who laboured in vain to persuade the Viceroy of the superior advantages to be gained by annexing New Guinea instead of the Philippines, whence the conquest of the Moluccas would be but a facile task. However, the Viceroy was inexorable and resolved to fulfil the royal instructions to the letter, so the expedition set sail from the Mexican port of Navidad for the Philippine Islands on November 21, 1564.

The Ladrone Islands were passed on January 9, 1565, and on the 13th of the following month the Philippines were sighted. A call for provisions was made at several small islands, including Camiguín, whence the expedition sailed to Bojol Island. A boat despatched to the port of Butuan returned in a fortnight with the news that there was much gold, wax, and cinnamon in that district. A small vessel was also sent to Cebú, and on its return reported that the natives showed hostility, having decapitated one of the crew whilst he was bathing.

Nevertheless, General Legaspi resolved to put in at Cebú, which was a safe harbour; and on the way there the ships anchored off Limasana Island (to the south of Leyte). Thence, running south-west, the port of Dapítan (Mindanao Is.) was reached.

Prince Pagbuaya, who ruled there, was astonished at the sight of such formidable ships, and commissioned one of his subjects, specially chosen for his boldness, to take note of their movements, and report to him. His account was uncommonly interesting. He related that enormous men with long, pointed noses, dressed in fine robes, ate stones (hard biscuits), drank fire, and blew smoke out of their mouths and through their nostrils. Their power was such that they commanded thunder and lightning (discharge of artillery), and that at meal times they sat down at a clothed table. From their lofty port, their bearded faces, and rich attire, they might have been the very gods manifesting themselves to the natives; so the Prince thought it wise to accept the friendly overtures of such marvellous strangers. Besides obtaining ample provisions in barter for European wares, Legaspi procured from this chieftain much useful information respecting the condition of Cebú. He learnt that it was esteemed a powerful kingdom, of which the magnificence was much vaunted amongst the neighbouring states; that the roadstead was one of great safety, and the most favourably situated amongst the islands of the painted faces.[3]

The General resolved, therefore, to filch it from its native king and annex it to the Crown of Castile.

He landed in Cebú on April 27, 1565, and negotiations were entered into with the natives of that island. Remembering, by tradition, the pretensions of the Maghallanesʼ party, they naturally opposed this renewed menace to their independence. The Spaniards occupied the town by force and sacked it, but for months were so harassed by the surrounding tribes that a council was convened to discuss the prudence of continuing the occupation. The General decided to remain; little by little the natives yielded to the new condition of things, and thus the first step towards the final conquest was achieved. The natives were declared Spanish subjects, and hopeful with the success thus far attained, Legaspi determined to send despatches to the King by the priest Andrés de Urdaneta, who safely arrived at Navidad on October 3, 1565, and proceeded thence to Spain. In a letter written by Legaspi in 1567 he alluded, for the first time, to the whole archipelago as the Islas Filipinas.

The pacification of Cebú and the adjacent islands was steadily and successfully pursued by Legaspi; the confidence of the natives was assured, and their dethroned King Tupas accepted Christian baptism, whilst his daughter married a Spaniard.

In the midst of the invadersʼ felicity the Portuguese arrived to dispute the possession, but they were compelled to retire. A fortress was constructed and plots of land were marked out for the building of the Spanish settlersʼ residences; and finally, in 1570, Cebú was declared a city, after Legaspi had received from his royal master the title of Gov.-General of all the lands which he might be able to conquer.

In May, 1570, Captain Juan Salcedo, Legaspiʼs grandson, was despatched to the Island of Luzon to reconnoitre the territory and bring it under Spanish dominion.

The history of these early times is very confused, and there are many contradictions in the authors of the Philippine chronicles, none of which seem to have been written contemporaneously with the first events. It appears, however, that Martin de Goiti and a few soldiers accompanied Salcedo to the north. They were well received by the native chiefs or petty kings Lacandola, Rajah of Tondo (known as Rajah Matandá, which means in native dialect the aged Rajah), and his nephew the young Rajah Soliman of Manila.

The sight of a body of European troops armed as was the custom in the 16th century, must have profoundly impressed and overawed these chieftains, otherwise it seems almost incredible that they should have consented, without protest, or attempt at resistance, to (for ever) give up their territory, yield their independence, pay tribute,[4] and become the tools of invading foreigners for the conquest of their own race without recompense whatsoever.

A treaty of peace was signed and ratified by an exchange of drops of blood between the parties thereto. Soliman, however, soon repented of his poltroonery, and roused the war-cry among some of his tribes. To save his capital (then called Maynila) falling into the hands of the invaders he set fire to it. Lacandola remained passively watching the issue. Soliman was completely routed by Salcedo, and pardoned on his again swearing fealty to the King of Spain. Goiti remained in the vicinity of Manila with his troops, whilst Salcedo fought his way to the Bombon Lake (Taal) district. The present Batangas Province was subdued by him and included in the jurisdiction of Mindoro Island. During the campaign Salcedo was severely wounded by an arrow and returned to Manila.

Legaspi was in the Island of Fanay when Salcedo (some writers say Goiti) arrived to advise him of what had occurred in Luzon. They at once proceeded together to Cavite, where Lacandola visited Legaspi on board, and, prostrating himself, averred his submission. Then Legaspi continued his journey to Manila, and was received there with acclamation. He took formal possession of the surrounding territory, declared Manila to be the capital of the Archipelago, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the King of Spain over the whole group of islands. Gaspar de San Agustin, writing of this period, says: “He (Legaspi) ordered them (the natives) to finish the building of the fort in construction at the mouth of the river (Pasig) so that His Majestyʼs artillery might be mounted therein for the defence of the fort and the town. Also he ordered them to build a large house inside the battlement walls for Legaspiʼs own residence—another large house and church for the priests, etc. ... Besides these two large houses, he told them to erect a hundred and fifty dwellings of moderate size for the remainder of the Spaniards to live in. All this they promptly promised to do, but they did not obey, for the Spaniards were themselves obliged to terminate the work of the fortifications.”

The City Council of Manila was constituted on June 24, 1571. On August 20, 1572, Miguel Lopez de Legaspi succumbed to the fatigues of his arduous life, leaving behind him a name which will always hold a prominent place in Spanish colonial history. He was buried in Manila in the Augustine Chapel of San Fausto, where hung the Royal Standard and the heroʼs armorial bearings until the British troops occupied the city in 1763. A street in Manila and others in provincial towns bear his name. Near the Luneta Esplanade, Manila, there is a very beautiful Legaspi (and Urdaneta) monument, erected shortly after the Rebellion of 1896.

“Death makes no conquest of this conqueror,

For now he lives in fame, though not in life.”

Richard III., Act 3, Sc. 1.

In the meantime Salcedo continued his task of subjecting the tribes in the interior. The natives of Taytay and Cainta, in the Spanish military district of Mórong, (now Rizal Province) submitted to him on August 15, 1571. He returned to the Laguna de Bay to pacify the villagers, and penetrated as far as Camarines Norte to explore the Bicol River. Bolinao and the provinces of Pangasinán and Ilocos yielded to his prowess, and in this last province he had well established himself when the defence of the capital obliged him to return to Manila.

At the same time Martin de Goiti was actively employed in overrunning the Pampanga territory with the double object of procuring supplies for the Manila camp and coercing the inhabitants on his way to acknowledge their new liege lord. It is recorded that in this expedition Goiti was joined by the Rajahs of Tondo and Manila. Yet Lacandola appears to have been regarded more as a servant of the Spaniards nolens volens than as a free ally, for, because he absented himself from Goitiʼs camp “without licence from the Maestre de Campo,” he was suspected by some writers of having favoured opposition to the Spaniardsʼ incursions in the Marshes of Hagonoy (Pampanga coast, N. boundary of Manila Bay).

The district which constituted the ancient province of Taal y Balayan, subsequently denominated Province of Batangas, was formerly governed by a number of caciques, the most notable of whom were Gatpagil and Gatjinlintan. They were usually at war with their neighbours. Gatjinlintan, the cacique of the Batangas River (Pansipít?) at the time of the conquest, was famous for his valour. Gatsun͠gayan, who ruled on the other side of the river, was celebrated as a hunter of deer and wild boar. These men were half-castes of Borneo and Aeta extraction, who formed a distinct race called by the natives Daghagang. None of them would submit to the King of Spain or become Christians, hence their descendants were offered no privileges.

The Aetas collected tribute. Gabriel Montoya, a Spanish soldier of Legaspiʼs legion, partially conquered those races, and supported the mission of an Austin friar amongst them. This was probably Fray Diego Móxica, who undertook the mission of Batangas on its separation from the local administration of Mindoro Island in 1581. The first Governor of San Pablo or Sampaloc in the name of the King of Spain was appointed by the soldier Montoya, and was called Bartolomé Maghayin; the second was Cristóbal Soman͠galit and the third was Bernabé Pindan, all of whom had adopted Christianity. Bay, on the borders of the lake of that name, and four leagues from San Pablo, was originally ruled by the cacique Agustin Maglansan͠gan. Calilayan, now called Tayabas, was founded by the woman Ladía, and subsequently administered by a native Alcalde, who gave such satisfaction that he was three times appointed the Kingʼs lieutenant and baptized as Francisco de San Juan.

San Pablo, the centre of a once independent district, is situated at the foot of the mountains of San Cristóbal and Banájao, from which over fourteen streams of fresh water flow through the villages.

The system established by Juan Salcedo was to let the conquered lands be governed by the native caciques and their male successors so long as they did so in the name of the King of Castile. Territorial possession seems to have been the chief aim of the earliest European invaders, and records of having improved the condition of the people or of having opened up means of communication and traffic as they went on conquering, or even of having explored the natural resources of the colony for their own benefit, are extremely rare.

[1] During the previous century jealousy had run so high between Spain and Portugal with regard to their respective colonization and trading rights, that the question of demarcation had to be settled by the Pope Alexander VI., who issued a bull dated May 4, 1493, dividing the world into two hemispheres, and decreeing that all heathen lands discovered in the Western half, from the meridian 100 leagues W. of Cape Verd Island, should belong to the Spaniards; in the Eastern half to the Portuguese. The bull was adopted by both nations in the Treaty of Tordesillas (June 7, 1494). It gave rise to many passionate debates, as the Spaniards wrongly insisted that the Philippines and the Moluccas came within the division allotted to them by Pontifical donation.

[2] Probably so called from the enormous number of patos (ducks) found there.

[3] The Visayos, inhabiting the central group of the Archipelago, tattooed themselves; a cutaneous disease also disfigured the majority; hence for many years their islands were called by the Spaniards Islas de los pintados.

[4] Legaspi and Guido Lavezares, under oath, made promises of rewards to the Lacandola family and a remission of tribute in perpetuity, but they were not fulfilled. In the following century—year 1660—it appears that the descendants of the Rajah Lacandola still upheld the Spanish authority, and having become sorely impoverished thereby, the heir of the family petitioned the Governor (Sabiniano Manrique de Lara) to make good the honour of his first predecessors. Eventually the Lacandolas were exempted from the payment of tribute and poll-tax for ever, as recompense for the filching of their domains.

In 1884, when the fiscal reforms were introduced which abolished the tribute and established in lieu thereof a document of personal identity (cedula personal), for which a tax was levied, the last vestige of privilege disappeared.

Descendants of Lacandola are still to be met with in several villages near Manila. They do not seem to have materially profited by their transcendent ancestry—one of them I found serving as a waiter in a French restaurant in the capital in 1885.

Philippine Dependencies, Up To 1898

The Ladrones, Carolines and Pelew Islands

In 1521 Maghallanes cast anchor off the Ladrone Islands (situated between 17° and 20° N. lat. by 146° E. long.) on his way to the discovery of those Islands afterwards denominated the Philippines. This group was named by him Islas de las Velas.[1] Legaspi called them the Ladrones.[2] Subsequently several navigators sighted or touched at these Islands, and the indistinct demarcation which comprised them acquired the name of Saint Lazarusʼ Archipelago.

In 1662 the Spanish vessel San Damian, on her course from Mexico to Luzon, anchored here. On board was a missionary, Fray Diego Luis de San Victores, who was so impressed with the dejected condition of the natives, that on reaching Manila he made it his common theme of conversation. In fact, so importunately did he pursue the subject with his superiors that he had to be constrained to silence. In the following year the Governor, Diego Salcedo, replied to his urgent appeal for a mission there in terms which permitted no further solicitation in that quarter. But the friar was persistent in his project, and petitioned the Archbishopʼs aid. The prelate submitted the matter to King Philip IV., and the friar himself wrote to his father, who presented a memorial to His Majesty and another to the Queen beseeching her influence. Consequently in 1666 a Royal Decree was received in Manila sanctioning a mission to the Ladrones.

Fray Diego took his passage in the galleon San Diego, and having arrived safely in the Viceregal Court of Mexico, he pressed his views on the Viceroy, who declared that he had no orders. Then the priest appealed to the Viceroyʼs wife, who, it is said, was entreating her husbandʼs help on bended knee, when an earthquake occurred which considerably damaged the city. It was a manifestation from heaven, the wily priest avowed, and the Viceroy, yielding to the superstition of the age, complied with the friarʼs request.

Therefore, in March, 1668, Fray Diego started from Acapulco in charge of a Jesuit mission for the Ladrones, where they subsequently received a pension of ₱3,000 per annum from Queen Maria Ana, who, meanwhile, had become a widow and Regent. To commemorate this royal munificence, these Islands have since been called by the Spaniards “Islas Marianas,” although the older name—Ladrones—is better known to the world.

When the mission was fairly established, troops were sent there, consisting of twelve Spaniards and nineteen Philippine natives, with two pieces of artillery.

The acquiescence of the Ladrone natives was being steadily gained by the old policy of conquest, under the veil of Christianity, when they suddenly rebelled against the strangerʼs religion, which brought with it restraint of liberty and a social dominion practically amounting to slavery. Fortunately, Nature came again to the aid of Fray Diego, for, whilst the natives were in open revolt, a severe storm levelled their huts to the ground, and the priest having convinced them that it was a visitation from heaven, peace was concluded.

Fray Diego left the mission for Visayas, where he was killed. After his departure the natives again revolted against servile subjection, and many priests were slain from time to time—some in the exercise of their sacerdotal functions, others in open warfare.

In 1778 a Governor was sent there from Mexico with thirty soldiers, but he resigned his charge after two yearsʼ service, and others succeeded him.

The Islands are very poor. The products are Rice, Sago, Cocoanuts, and Cane-sugar to a small extent; there are also pigs and fowls in abundance. The Spaniards taught the natives the use of fire. They were a warlike people; every man had to carry arms. Their language is Chamorro, much resembling the Visayan dialect. The population, for a hundred years after the Spanish occupation, diminished. Women purposely sterilised themselves. Some threw their new born offspring into the sea, hoping to liberate them from a world of woe, and that they would regenerate in happiness. In the beginning of the 17th century the population was further diminished by an epidemic disease. During the first century of Spanish rule, the Government were never able to exact the payment of tribute. Up to the Spanish evacuation the revenue of these Islands was not nearly sufficient to cover the entire cost of administration. About twenty years ago Governor Pazos was assassinated there by a rebellious group.

There were nine towns with parish priests. All the churches were built of stone, and roofed with reed thatching, except that of the capital, which had an iron roof. Six of the towns had Town Halls made of bamboo and reed grass; one had a wooden building, and in two of them (including the capital) the Town Halls were of stone.

The Seat of Government was at Agaña (called in old official documents the “City of San Ignacio de Agaña”). It is situated in the Island of Guam, in the creek called the Port of Apra. Ships have to anchor about two miles off Punta Piti, where passengers, stores, and mails are conveyed to a wooden landing-stage. Five hundred yards from here was the Harbour-masterʼs office, built of stone, with a tile roof. From Punta Piti there was a bad road of about five miles. The situation of Agaña seems to be ill-suited for communication with vessels, and proposals were ineffectually made by two Governors, since 1835, to establish the capital town elsewhere. The central Government took no heed of their recommendations. In Agaña there was a Government House, a Military Hospital and Pharmacy, an Artillery Dépôt and Infantry Barracks, a well-built Prison, a Town Hall, the Administratorʼs Office (called by the natives “the shop”), and the ruins of former public buildings. It is a rather pretty town, but there is nothing notable to be seen.

The natives are as domesticated as the Philippine Islanders, and have much better features. Spanish and a little English are spoken by many of them, as these Islands in former years were the resort of English-speaking whalemen. For the Elementary Education of the natives, there was the College of San Juan de Letran for boys, and a girlsʼ school in Agaña; and in 7 of the towns there was, in 1888, a total of 4 schools for boys, 5 schools for girls, and 9 schools for both sexes, under the direction of 20 masters and 6 mistresses.

When the Ladrone Islands (Marianas) were a dependency of the Spanish-Philippine General-Government, a subsidized mail steamer left Manila for Agaña, and two or three other ports, every three months.

An island was discovered by one of the Spanish galleon pilots in 1686, and called CAROLINA, in honour of Charles II. of Spain, but its bearings could not be found again for years.

In 1696 two canoes, with 29 Pelew Islanders, drifted to the coast of Sámar Island, and landed at the Town of Guivan. They were 60 days on the drift, and five of them died of privations. They were terror-stricken when they saw a man on shore making signs to them. When he went out to them in a boat, and boarded one of the canoes, they all jumped out and got into the other; then when the man got into that, they were in utter despair, considering themselves prisoners.

They were conducted to the Spanish priest of Guivan, whom they supposed would be the King of the Island, and on whom would depend their lives and liberty. They prostrated themselves, and implored his mercy and the favour of sparing their lives, whilst the priest did all he could, by signs, to reassure them.

It happened that there had been living here, for some years, two other strange men brought to this shore by currents and contrary winds. These came forward to see the novelty, and served as interpreters, so that the newcomers were all lodged in native houses in twos and threes, and received the best hospitality.

They related that their Islands numbered 32, and only produced fowls and sea-birds. One man made a map, by placing stones in the relative position of the Islands. When asked about the number of the inhabitants, one took a handful of sand to demonstrate that they were countless. There was a King, they explained, who held his court in the Island of Lamurrec, to whom the chiefs were subject. They much respected and obeyed him. Among the castaways was a chief, with his wife—the daughter of the King.

The men had a leaf-fibre garment around their loins, and to it was attached a piece of stuff in front, which was thrown over the shoulders and hung loose at the back. The women were dressed the same as the men, except that their loin vestment reached to their knees. The Kingʼs daughter wore, moreover, tortoise-shell ornaments.

They were afraid when they saw a cow and a dog, their Island having no quadrupeds. Their sole occupation consisted in providing food for their families. Their mark of courtesy was to take the hand of the person whom they saluted and pass it softly over the face.

The priest gave them pieces of iron, which they prized as if they had been of gold, and slept with them under their heads. Their only arms were lances, with human bones for points. They seemed to be a pacific people, intelligent and well-proportioned physically. Both sexes wore long hair down to their shoulders.

Very content to find so much luxury in Sámar, they offered to return and bring their people to trade. The Jesuits considered this a capital pretext for subjecting their Islands, and the Government approved of it. At the instance of the Pope, the King ordered the Gov.-General, Domingo Zabálburu, to send out expeditions in quest of these Islands; and, between 1708 and 1710, several unsuccessful efforts were made to come across them. In 1710, two islands were discovered, and named San Andrés. Several canoes arrived alongside of the ship, and the occupants accepted the Commanderʼs invitation to come on board. They were much astonished to see the Spaniards smoke, and admired the iron fastenings of the vessel. When they got near shore, they all began to dance, clapping their hands to beat time. They measured the ship, and wondered where such a large piece of wood could have come from. They counted the crew, and presented them with cocoanuts, fish, and herbs from their canoes. The vessel anchored near to the shore, but there was a strong current and a fresh wind blowing, so that it was imprudent to disembark. However, two priests insisted upon erecting a cross on the shore, and were accompanied by the quarter-master and an officer of the troops. The weather compelled the master to weigh anchor, and the vessel set sail, leaving on land the four Europeans, who were ultimately murdered. For a quarter of a century these Islands were lost again to the Spaniards.

In 1721 two Caroline prahus were wafted to the Ladrone Islands, where D. Luiz Sanchez was Governor. The Caroline Islanders had no idea where they had landed, and were quite surprised when they beheld the priest. He forcibly detained these unfortunate people, and handed them over to the Governor, whom they entreated, with tears—but all in vain—to be allowed to return to their homes. There they remained prisoners, until it suited the Governorʼs convenience to send a vessel with a priest to their Island. The priest went there, and thence to Manila, where a fresh expedition was fitted out. It was headed by a missionary, and included a number of soldiers whom the natives massacred soon after their arrival. All further attempt to subdue the Caroline Islands was necessarily postponed.

The natives, at that time, had no religion at all, or were, in a vague sense, polytheists. Their wise men communicated with the souls of the defunct. They were polygamists, but had a horror of adultery. Divorce was at once granted by the chiefs on proof of infidelity. They were cannibals. In each island there was a chief, regarded as a semi-spiritual being, to whom the natives were profoundly obedient. Huts were found used as astrological schools, where also the winds and currents were studied. They made cloth of plantain-fibre—hatchets with stone heads. Between sunset and sunrise they slept. When war was declared between two villages or tribes, each formed three lines of warriors, 1st, young men; 2nd, tall men; 3rd, old men; then the combatants pelted each other with stones and lances. A man hors de combat was replaced by one of the back file coming forward. When one party acknowledged themselves vanquished, it was an understood privilege of the victors to shower invectives on their retiring adversaries. They lived on fruits, roots and fish. There were no quadrupeds and no agriculture.

Many Spanish descendants were found, purely native in their habits, and it was remembered that about the year 1566, several Spaniards from an expedition went ashore on some islands, supposed to be these, and were compelled to remain there.

The Carolines (“Islas Carolinas”) and Pelews (“Islas Palaos”) comprise some 48 groups of islands and islets, making a total of about 500. Their relative position to the Ladrone Islands is—of the former, S.S.W. stretching to S.E.; of the latter, S.W. Both groups lie due E. of Mindanao Island (vide map). The principal Pelew Islands are Babel-Druap and Kosor—Yap and Ponapé (Ascencion Is.) are the most important of the Carolines. The centres of Spanish Government were respectively in Yap and Babel-Druap, with a Vice-Governor of the Eastern Carolines in Ponapé—all formerly dependent on the General-Government in Manila. The Carolines and Pelews were included in the Bishopric of Cebú, and were subject, judicially, to the Supreme Court of Manila.

These Islands were subsequently many times visited by ships of other nations, and a barter trade gradually sprang up in dried cocoanut kernels (coprah) for the extraction of oil in Europe and America. Later on, when the natives were thoroughly accustomed to the foreigners, British, American, and German traders established themselves on shore, and vessels continued to arrive with European and American manufactures in exchange for coprah, trepang, ivory-nuts, tortoise-shell, etc.

Anglo-American missionaries have settled there, and a great number of natives profess Christianity in the Protestant form. Religious books in native dialect, published in Honolulu (Sandwich Is.) by the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, are distributed by the American missionaries. I have one before me now, entitled “Kapas Fel, Puk Eu,” describing incidents from the Old Testament. A few of the natives can make themselves understood in English. Besides coprah (the chief export) the Islands produce Rice, Yams, Bread-fruit (rima), Sugar-cane, etc. Until 1886 there was no Government, except that of several petty kings or chiefs, each of whom still rules over his own tribe, although the Protestant missionaries exercised a considerable social influence.

In 1885 a Spanish naval officer, named Capriles, having been appointed Governor of the Islands, arrived at Yap, ostensibly with the object of landing to hoist the Spanish flag as a signal of possession, for it was known in official quarters that the Germans were about to claim sovereignty. However, three days were squandered (perhaps intentionally) in trivial formalities, and although two Spanish men-oʼ-war—the Manila and the San Quintin—were already anchored in the Port of Yap, the German warship Iltis entered, landed marines, and hoisted their national flag, whilst the Spaniards looked on. Then the German Commander went on board the San Quintin to tell the Commander that possession of the Islands had been taken in the name of the Emperor of Germany. Neither Capriles, the appointed Governor, nor España, the Commander of the San Quintin, made any resistance; and as we can hardly attribute their inactivity to cowardice, presumably they followed their Governmentʼs instructions. Capriles and España returned to Manila, and were both rewarded for their inaction; the former being appointed to the Government of Mindoro Island. In Manila an alarming report was circulated that the Germans contemplated an attack upon the Philippines. Earthworks were thrown up outside the city wall; cannons were mounted, and the cry of invasion resounded all over the Colony. Hundreds of families fled from the capital and environs to adjacent provinces, and the personal safety of the German residents was menaced by individual patriotic enthusiasts.

In Madrid, popular riots followed the publication of the incident. The German Embassy was assaulted, and its escutcheon was burnt in the streets by the indignant mob, although, probably, not five per cent. of the rioters had any idea where the Caroline Islands were situated, or anything about them. Spain acted so feebly, and Germany so vigorously, in this affair, that many asked—was it not due to a secret understanding between the respective Ministries, disrupted only by the weight of Spanish public opinion? Diplomatic notes were exchanged between Madrid and Berlin, and Germany, anxious to withdraw with apparent dignity from an affair over which it was probably never intended to waste powder and shot, referred the question to the Pope, who arbitrated in favour of Spain.

But for these events, it is probable that Spain would never have done anything to demonstrate possession of the Caroline Islands, and for 16 months after the question was solved by Pontific mediation, there was a Spanish Governor in Yap—Sr. Elisa—a few troops and officials, but no Government. No laws were promulgated, and everybody continued to do as heretofore.

In Ponapé (Ascencion Is.) Sr. Posadillo was appointed Governor. A few troops were stationed there under a sub-lieutenant, whilst some Capuchin friars—European ecclesiastics of the meanest type—were sent there to compete with the American Protestant missionaries in the salvation of nativesʼ souls. A collision naturally took place, and the Governor—well known to all of us in Manila as crack-brained and tactless—sent the chief Protestant missionary, Mr. E. T. Doane, a prisoner to Manila on June 16, 1887.[3] He was sent back free to Ponapé by the Gov.-General, but, during his absence, the eccentric Posadillo exercised a most arbitrary authority over the natives. The chiefs were compelled to serve him as menials, and their subjects were formed into gangs, to work like convicts; native teachers were suspended from their duties under threat, and the Capuchins disputed the possession of land, and attempted to coerce the natives to accept their religion.

On July 1 the natives did not return to their bondage, and all the soldiers, led by the sub-lieutenant, were sent to bring them in by force. A fight ensued, and the officer and troops, to the last man, were killed or mortally wounded by clubs, stones and knives. The astonished Governor fortified his place, which was surrounded by the enemy. The tribes of the chiefs Nott and Jockets were up in arms. There was the hulk Da. Maria de Molina anchored in the roadstead, and the Capuchins fled to it on the first alarm. The Governor escaped from his house on the night of July 4 with his companions, and rushed to the sea, probably intending to swim out to the hulk. But who knows? He and all his partisans were chased and killed by the natives.

On September 21 the news of the tragedy reached Manila by the man-oʼ-war San Quintin. About six weeks afterwards, three men-oʼ-war were sent to Ponapé with infantry, artillery, a mountain battery, and a section of Engineers—a total of about 558 men—but on their arrival they met an American warship—the Essex—which had hastened on to protect American interests. The Spaniards limited their operations to the seizure of a few accused individuals, whom they brought to Manila, and the garrison of Yap was increased to 100 men, under a Captain and subordinate officers. The prisoners were tried in Manila by court-martial, and I acted as interpreter. It was found that they had only been loyal to the bidding of their chiefs, and were not morally culpable, whilst the action of the late Governor of Ponapé met with general reprobation.

Again, in July, 1890, a party of 54 soldiers, under Lieutenant Porras, whilst engaged in felling timber in the forest, was attacked by the Malatana (Caroline) tribe, who killed the officer and 27 of his men. The news was telegraphed to the Home Government, and caused a great sensation in Madrid. A conference of Ministers was at once held, and the Cánovas del Castillo Ministry cabled to the Gov.-General Weyler discretionary power to punish these islanders. Within a few months troops were sent from Manila for that purpose. Instead, however, of chastising the Kanakas, the Government forces were repulsed by them with great slaughter. The commissariat arrangements were most deficient: my friend Colonel Gutierrez Soto, who commanded the expedition, was so inadequately supported by the War Department that, yielding to despair, and crestfallen by reason of the open and adverse criticism of his plan of campaign, he shot himself.

Under the Treaty of Paris (1898) the Island of Guam (Ladrone group) was ceded by Spain to the United States, together with the Philippine Islands. The remainder of the Ladrone group, the Caroline and the Pelew Islands were sold by Spain to Germany in June, 1899.

[1] Velas, Spanish for sails.

[2] Ladrones, Spanish for thieves.

[3] Mr. Doane is reported to have died in Honolulu about June, 1890

Attempted Conquest by Chinese

On the death of General Legaspi, the Government of the Colony was assumed by the Royal Treasurer, Guido de Lavezares, in conformity with the sealed instructions from the Supreme Court of Mexico, which were now opened. During this period, the possession of the Islands was unsuccessfully disputed by a rival expedition under the command of a Chinaman, Li-ma-hong, whom the Spaniards were pleased to term a pirate, forgetting, perhaps, that they themselves had only recently wrested the country from its former possessors by virtue of might against right. On the coasts of his native country he had indeed been a pirate. For the many depredations committed by him against private traders and property, the Celestial Emperor, failing to catch him by cajolery, outlawed him.

Born in the port of Tiuchiu, Li-ma-hong at an early age evinced a martial spirit and joined a band of corsairs which for a long time had been the terror of the China coasts. On the demise of his chief he was unanimously elected leader of the buccaneering cruisers. At length, pursued in all directions by the imperial ships of war, he determined to attempt the conquest of the Philippines. Presumably the same incentives which impelled the Spanish mariners to conquer lands and overthrow dynasties—the vision of wealth, glory and empire,—awakened a like ambition in the Chinese adventurer. It was the spirit of the age.[1] In his sea-wanderings he happened to fall in with a Chinese trading junk returning from Manila with the proceeds of her cargo sold there. This he seized, and the captive crew were constrained to pilot his fleet towards the capital of Luzon. From them he learnt how easily the natives had been plundered by a handful of foreigners—the probable extent of the opposition he might encounter—the defences established—the wealth and resources of the district, and the nature of its inhabitants.

His fleet consisted of 62 war ships or armed junks, well found, having on board 2,000 sailors, 2,000 soldiers, 1,500 women, a number of artisans, and all that could be conveniently carried with which to gain and organize his new kingdom. On its way the squadron cast anchor off the Province of Ilocos Sur, where a few troops were sent ashore to get provisions. Whilst returning to the junks, they sacked the village and set fire to the huts. The news of this outrage was hastily communicated to Juan Salcedo, who had been pacifying the Northern Provinces since July, 1572, and was at the time in Villa Fernandina (now called Vigan). Li-ma-hong continued his course until calms compelled his ships to anchor in the roads of Caoayan (Ilocos coast), where a few Spanish soldiers were stationed under the orders of Juan Salcedo, who still was in the immediate town of Vigan. Under his direction preparations were made to prevent the enemy entering the river, but such was not Li-ma-hongʼs intention. He again set sail; whilst Salcedo, naturally supposing his course would be towards Manila, also started at the same time for the capital with all the fighting men he could collect, leaving only 30 men to garrison Vigan and protect the State interests there.

On November 29, 1574, the squadron arrived in the Bay of Manila, and Li-ma-hong sent forward his Lieutenant Sioco—a Japanese—at the head of 600 fighting men to demand the surrender of the Spaniards. A strong gale, however, destroyed several of his junks, in which about 200 men perished.

With the remainder he reached the coast at Parañaque, a village seven miles south of Manila. Thence, with tow-lines, the 400 soldiers hauled their junks up to the beach of the capital.

Already at the village of Malate the alarm was raised, but the Spaniards could not give credit to the reports, and no resistance was offered until the Chinese were within the gates of the city. Martin de Goiti, the Maestre de Campo,[2] second in command to the Governor, was the first victim of the attack.

The flames and smoke arising from his burning residence were the first indications which the Governor received of what was going on. The Spaniards took refuge in the Fort of Santiago, which the Chinese were on the point of taking by storm, when their attention was drawn elsewhere by the arrival of fresh troops led by a Spanish sub-lieutenant. Under the mistaken impression that these were the vanguard of a formidable corps, Sioco sounded the retreat. A bloody hand-to-hand combat followed, and with great difficulty the Chinese collected their dead and regained their junks.

In the meantime Li-ma-hong, with the reserved forces, was lying in the roadstead of Cavite, and Sioco hastened to report to him the result of the attack, which had cost the invader over one hundred dead and more than that number wounded. Thereupon Li-ma-hong resolved to rest his troops and renew the conflict in two daysʼ time under his personal supervision. The next day Juan Salcedo arrived by sea with reinforcements from Vigan, and preparations were unceasingly made for the expected encounter. Salcedo having been appointed to the office of Maestre de Campo, vacant since the death of Goiti, the organization of the defence was entrusted to his immediate care.

By daybreak on December 3 the enemyʼs fleet hove-to off the capital, where Li-ma-hong harangued his troops, whilst the cornets and drums of the Spaniards were sounding the alarm for their fighting men to assemble in the fort.

Then 1,500 chosen men, well armed, were disembarked under the leadership of Sioco, who swore to take the place or die in the attempt. Sioco separated his forces into three divisions. The city was set fire to, and Sioco advanced towards the fort, into which hand-grenades were thrown, whilst Li-ma-hong supported the attack with his shipsʼ cannon.

Sioco, with his division, at length entered the fort, and a hand-to-hand fight ensued. For a while the issue was doubtful. Salcedo fought like a lion. Even the aged Governor was well to the front to encourage the deadly struggle for existence. The Spaniards finally gained the victory; the Chinese were repulsed with great slaughter, and their leader having been killed, they fled in complete disorder. Salcedo, profiting by the confusion, now took the offensive and followed up the enemy, pursuing them along the sea-shore, where they were joined by the third division, which had remained inactive. The panic of the Chinese spread rapidly, and Li-ma-hong, in despair, landed another contingent of about 500 men, whilst he still continued afloat; but even with this reinforcement the morale of his army could not be restored.

The Chinese troops therefore, harassed on all sides, made a precipitate retreat on board the fleet, and Li-ma-hong set sail again for the west coast of the island. Foiled in the attempt to possess himself of Manila, Li-ma-hong determined to set up his capital in other parts. In a few days he arrived at the mouth of the Agno River, in the province of Pangasinán, where he proclaimed to the natives that he had gained a signal victory over the Spaniards. The inhabitants there, having no particular choice between two masters, received Li-ma-hong with welcome, and he thereupon set about the foundation of his new capital some four miles from the mouth of the river. Months passed before the Spaniards came in force to dislodge the invader. Feeling themselves secure in their new abode, the Chinese had built many dwellings, a small fortress, a pagoda, etc. At length an expedition was despatched under the command of Juan Salcedo. This was composed of about 250 Spaniards and 1,600 natives well equipped with small arms, ammunition and artillery. The flower of the Spanish Colony, accompanied by two priests and the Rajah of Tondo, set out to expel the formidable foe. Li-ma-hong made a bold resistance, and refused to come to terms with Salcedo. In the meantime, the Viceroy of Fokien, having heard of Li-ma-hongʼs daring exploits, had commissioned a ship of war to discover the whereabouts of his imperial masterʼs old enemy. The envoy was received with delight by the Spaniards, who invited him to accompany them to Manila to interview the Governor.

Li-ma-hong still held out, but perceiving that an irresistible onslaught was being projected against him by Salcedoʼs party, he very cunningly and quite unexpectedly slipped away, and sailed out of the river with his ships by one of the mouths unknown to his enemies.[3] In order to divert the attention of the Spaniards, Li-ma-hong ingeniously feigned an assault in an opposite quarter. Of course, on his escape, he had to abandon the troops employed in this manoeuvre. These, losing all hope, and having indeed nothing but their lives to fight for, fled to the mountains. Hence it is popularly supposed that from these fugitives descends the race of people in the hill district north of that province still distinguishable by their oblique eyes and known by the name of Igorrote-Chinese.

“Aide-toi et Dieu tʼaidera” is an old French maxim, but the Spaniards chose to attribute their deliverance from their Chinese rivals to the friendly intervention of Saint Andrew. This Saint was declared thenceforth to be the Patron Saint of Manila, and in his honour High Mass was celebrated in the Cathedral at 8 a.m. on the 30th of each November. In Spanish times it was a public holiday and gala-day, when all the highest civil, military and religious authorities attended the Funcion votiva de San Andrés. This opportunity to assert the supremacy of ecclesiastical power was not lost to the Church, and for many years it was the custom, after hearing Mass, to spread the Spanish national flag on the floor of the Cathedral for the metropolitan Archbishop to walk over it. However, a few years prior to the Spanish evacuation the Gov.-General refused to witness this antiquated formula and it subsequently became the practice to carry the Royal Standard before the altar. Both before and after the Mass, the bearer (Alférez Real), wearing his hat and accompanied by the Mayor of the City, stood on the altar floor, raised his hat three times, and three times dipped the flag before the Image of Christ, then, facing the public, he repeated this ceremony. On Saint Andrewʼs Eve the Royal Standard was borne in procession from the Cathedral through the principal streets of the city, escorted by civil functionaries and followed by a band of music. This ceremony was known as the Paseo del Real Pendon.

According to Juan de la Concepcion, the Rajahs[4] Soliman and Lacandola took advantage of these troubles to raise a rebellion against the Spaniards. The natives, too, of Mindoro Island revolted and maltreated the priests, but all these disturbances were speedily quelled by a detachment of soldiers.

The Governor willingly accepted the offer of the commander of the Chinese man-oʼ-war to convey ambassadors to his country to visit the Viceroy and make a commercial treaty. Therefore two priests, Martin Rada and Gerónimo Martin, were commissioned to carry a letter of greeting and presents to this personage, who received them with great distinction, but objected to their residing in the country.

After the defeat of Li-ma-hong, Juan Salcedo again set out to the Northern Provinces of Luzon Island, to continue his task of reducing the natives to submission. On March 11, 1576, he died of fever near Vigan (then called Villa Fernandina), capital of the Province of Ilocos Sur. A year afterwards, what could be found of his bones were placed in the ossuary of his illustrious grandfather, Legaspi, in the Augustine Chapel of Saint Fausto, Manila. His skull, however, which had been carried off by the natives of Ilocos, could not be recovered in spite of all threats and promises. In Vigan there is a small monument raised to commemorate the deeds of this famous warrior, and there is also a street bearing his name in Vigan and another in Manila.

For several years following these events, the question of prestige in the civil affairs of the Colony was acrimoniously contested by the Gov.-General, the Supreme Court, and the ecclesiastics.

The Governor was censured by his opponents for alleged undue exercise of arbitrary authority. The Supreme Court, established on the Mexican model, was reproached with seeking to overstep the limits of its functions. Every legal quibble was adjusted by a dilatory process, impracticable in a colony yet in its infancy, where summary justice was indispensable for the maintenance of order imperfectly understood by the masses. But the fault lay less with the justices than with the constitution of the Court itself. Nor was this state of affairs improved by the growing discontent and immoderate ambition of the clergy, who unremittingly urged their pretensions to immunity from State control, affirming the supramundane condition of their office.

An excellent code of laws, called the Leyes de Indias, in force in Mexico, was adopted here, but modifications in harmony with the special conditions of this Colony were urgently necessary, whilst all the branches of government called for reorganization or reform. Under these circumstances, the Bishop of Manila, Domingo Salazar,[5] took the initiative in commissioning an Austin friar, Alonso Sánchez, to repair firstly to the Viceroy of Mexico and afterwards to the King of Spain, to expose the grievances of his party.

Alonso Sánchez left the Philippines with his appointment as procurator-general for the Augustine Order of monks. As the execution of the proposed reforms, which he was charged to lay before His Majesty, would, if conceded, be entrusted to the control of the Government of Mexico, his first care was to seek the partisanship of the Viceroy of that Colony; and in this he succeeded. Thence he continued his journey to Seville, where the Court happened to be, arriving there in September, 1587. He was at once granted an audience of the King, to present his credentials and memorials relative to Philippine affairs in general, and ecclesiastical, judicial, military and native matters in particular. The King promised to peruse all the documents, but suffering from gout, and having so many and distinct State concerns to attend to, the negotiations were greatly delayed. Finally, Alonso Sánchez sought a minister who had easy access to the royal apartments, and this personage obtained from the King permission to examine the documents and hand to him a succinct résumé of the whole for His Majestyʼs consideration. A commission was then appointed, including Sánchez, and the deliberations lasted five months.

At this period, public opinion in the Spanish Universities was very divided with respect to Catholic missions in the Indies. Some maintained that the propaganda of the faith ought to be purely Apostolic, such as Jesus Christ taught to His disciples, inculcating doctrines of humility and poverty without arms or violence; and if, nevertheless, the heathens refused to welcome this mission of peace, the missionaries should simply abandon them in silence without further demonstration than that of shaking the dust off their feet.

Others held, and amongst them was Sánchez, that such a method was useless and impracticable, and that it was justifiable to force their religion upon primitive races at the point of the sword if necessary, using any violence to enforce its acceptance.

Much ill-feeling was aroused in the discussion of these two and distinct theories. Juan Volante, a Dominican friar of the Convent of Our Lady of Atocha, presented a petition against the views of the Sánchez faction, declaring that the idea of ingrafting religion with the aid of arms was scandalous. Juan Volante was so importunate that he had to be heard in Council, but neither party yielded. At length, the intervention of the Bishops of Manila, Macao and Malacca and several captains and governors in the Indies influenced the King to put an end to the controversy, on the ground that it would lead to no good.

The King retired to the Monastery of the Escorial, and Sánchez was cited to meet him there to learn the royal will. About the same time the news reached the King of the loss of the so-called Invincible Armada, sent under the command of the incompetent Duke of Medina Sidonia to annex England. Notwithstanding this severe blow to the vain ambition of Philip, the affairs of the Philippines were delayed but a short time. On the basis of the recommendation of the junta, the Royal Assent was given to an important decree, of which the most significant articles are the following, namely:—The tribute was fixed by the King at ten reales (5s.) per annum, payable by the natives in gold, silver or grain, or part in one commodity and part in the other. Of this tribute, eight reales were to be paid to the Treasury, one-half real to the bishop and clergy (sanctorum tax), and one-and-a-half reales to be applied to the maintenance of the soldiery. Full tribute was not to be exacted from the natives still unsubjected to the Crown. Until their confidence and loyalty should be gained by friendly overtures, they were to pay a small recognition of vassalage, and subsequently the tribute in common with the rest.

Instead of one-fifth value of gold and hidden treasure due to His Majesty (real quinto), he would thenceforth receive only one-tenth of such value, excepting that of gold, which the natives would be permitted to extract free of rebate.

A customs duty of three per cent. ad valorem was to be paid on merchandise sold, and this duty was to be spent on the army.

Export duty was to be paid on goods shipped to New Spain (Mexico), and this impost was also to be exclusively spent on the armed forces. These goods were chiefly Chinese manufactures.

The number of European troops in the Colony was fixed at 400 men-at-arms, divided into six companies, each under a captain, a sublieutenant, a sergeant, and two corporals. Their pay was to be as follows, namely:—Captain ₱35, sub-lieutenant ₱20, sergeant ₱10, corporal ₱7, rank and file ₱6 per month; besides which, an annual gratuity of ₱10,000 was to be proportionately distributed to all.

Recruits from Mexico, for military service in the Islands, were not to enlist under the age of 15 years.

The Captain-General was to have a body-guard of 24 men (Halberdiers) with the pay of those of the line, under the immediate command of a Captain to be paid ₱15 per month.

Salaries due to State employees were to be punctually paid when due; and when funds were wanted for that purpose, they were to be supplied from Mexico.

The King made a donation of ₱12,000, which, with another like sum to be contributed by the Spaniards themselves, would serve to liquidate their debts incurred on their first occupation of the Islands.

The Governor and Bishop were recommended to consider the project of a refuge for young Spanish women arrived from Spain and Mexico, and to study the question of dowries for native women married to poor Spaniards.

The offices of Secretaries and Notaries were no longer to be sold, but conferred on persons who merited such appointments.

The governors were instructed not to make grants of land to their relations, servants or friends, but solely to those who should have resided at least three years in the Islands, and have worked the lands so conceded. Any grants which might have already been made to the relations of the governors or magistrates were to be cancelled.

The rent paid by the Chinese for the land they occupied was to be applied to the necessities of the capital.

The Governor and Bishop were to enjoin the judges not to permit costly lawsuits, but to execute summary justice verbally, and so far as possible, fines were not to be inflicted.

The City of Manila was to be fortified in a manner to ensure it against all further attacks or risings.

Four penitentiaries were to be established in the Islands in the most convenient places, with the necessary garrisons, and six to eight galleys and frigates well armed and ready for defence against the English corsairs who might come by way of the Moluccas.

In the most remote and unexplored parts of the Islands, the Governor was to have unlimited powers to act as he should please, without consulting His Majesty; but projected enterprises of conversion, pacification, etc., at the expense of the Royal Treasury, were to be submitted to a Council comprising the Bishop, the captains, etc. The Governor was authorized to capitulate and agree with the captain and others who might care to undertake conversions and pacifications on their own account, and to concede the title of Maestre de Campo to such persons, on condition that such capitulations should be forwarded to His Majesty for ratification.

Only those persons domiciled in the Islands would be permitted to trade with them.

A sum of ₱1,000 was to be taken from the tributes paid into the Royal Treasury for the foundation of the Hospital for the Spaniards, and the annual sum of ₱600, appropriated by the Governor for its support, was confirmed. Moreover, the Royal Treasury of Mexico was to send clothing to the value of 400 ducats for the Hospital use.

The Hospital for the natives was to receive an annual donation of ₱600 for its support, and an immediate supply of clothing from Mexico to the value of ₱200.

Slaves held by the Spaniards were to be immediately set at liberty. No native was thenceforth to make slaves. All new-born natives were declared free. The bondage of all existing slaves from ten years of age was to cease on their attaining twenty years of age. Those above twenty years of age were to serve five years longer, and then become free. At any time, notwithstanding the foregoing conditions, they would be entitled to purchase their liberty, the price of which was to be determined by the Governor and the Bishop.[6]

There being no tithes payable to the Church by Spaniards or natives, the clergy were to receive for their maintenance the half-real above mentioned in lieu thereof, from the tribute paid by each native subjected to the Crown. When the Spaniards should have crops, they were to pay tithes to the clergy (diezmos prediales).

A grant was made of 12,000 ducats for the building and ornaments of the Cathedral of Manila, and an immediate advance of 2,000 ducats on account of this grant was made from the funds to be remitted from Mexico.

Forty Austin friars were to be sent at once to the Philippines, to be followed by missionaries from other corporations. The King allowed ₱500 to be paid against the ₱1,000 passage money for each priest, the balance to be defrayed out of the common funds of the clergy, derived from their share of the tribute.

Missionaries in great numbers had already flocked to the Philippines and roamed wherever they thought fit, without licence from the Bishop, whose authority they utterly repudiated.

Affirming that they had the direct consent of His Holiness the Pope, they menaced with excommunication whosoever attempted to impede them in their free peregrination. Five years after the foundation of Manila, the city and environs were infested with niggardly mendicant friars, whose slothful habits placed their supercilious countrymen in ridicule before the natives. They were tolerated but a short time in the Islands; not altogether because of the ruin they would have brought to European moral influence on the untutored tribes, but because the Bishop was highly jealous of all competition against the Augustine Order which he assisted. Consequent on the representations of Alonso Sánchez, His Majesty ordained that all priests who went to the Philippines were, in the first place, to resolve never to quit the Islands without the Bishopʼs sanction, which was to be conceded with great circumspection and only in extreme cases, whilst the Governor was instructed not to afford them means of exit on his sole authority.

Neither did the Bishop regard with satisfaction the presence of the Commissary of the Inquisition, whose secret investigations, shrouded with mystery, curtailed the liberty of the loftiest functionary, sacred or civil. At the instigation of Alonso Sánchez, the junta recommended the King to recall the Commissary and extinguish the office, but he refused to do so. In short, the chief aims of the Bishop were to enhance the power of the friars, raise the dignity of the Colonial mitre, and secure a religious monopoly for the Augustine Order.

Gomez Perez Dasmariñas was the next Governor appointed to these Islands, on the recommendation of Alonso Sánchez. In the Royal Instructions which he brought with him were embodied all the above-mentioned civil, ecclesiastical and military reforms. At the same time, King Philip abolished the Supreme Court. He wished to put an end to the interminable lawsuits so prejudicial to the development of the Colony. Therefore the President and Magistrates were replaced by Justices of the Peace, and the former returned to Mexico in 1591. This measure served only to widen the breach between the Bishop and the Civil Government. Dasmariñas compelled him to keep within the sphere of his sacerdotal functions, and tolerated no rival in State concerns. There was no appeal on the spot against the Governorʼs authority. This restraint irritated and disgusted the Bishop to such a degree that, at the age of 78 years, he resolved to present himself at the Spanish Court. On his arrival there, he explained to the King the impossibility of one Bishop attending to the spiritual wants of a people dispersed over so many Islands. For seven years after the foundation of Manila as capital of the Archipelago, its principal church was simply a parish church. In 1578 it was raised to the dignity of a Cathedral, at the instance of the King. Three years after this date the Cathedral of Manila was solemnly declared to be a “Suffragan Cathedral of Mexico, under the advocation of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception”; Domingo Salazár being the first Bishop consecrated. He now proposed to raise the Manila See to an Archbishopric, with three Suffragan Bishops. The King gave his consent, subject to approval from Rome, and this following in due course, Salazár was appointed first Archbishop of Manila, but he died before the Papal Bull arrived, dated August 14, 1595, officially authorizing his investiture.

In the meantime, Alonso Sánchez had proceeded to Rome in May, 1589. Amongst many other Pontifical favours conceded to him, he obtained the right for himself, or his assigns, to use a die or stamp of any form with one or more images, to be chosen by the holder, and to contain also the figure of Christ, the Very Holy Virgin, or the Saints Peter or Paul. On the reverse was to be engraven a bust portrait of His Holiness, with the following indulgences attached thereto, viz.:—“To him who should convey the word of God to the infidels, or give them notice of the holy mysteries—each time 300 yearsʼ indulgence. To him who, by industry, converted any one of these, or brought him to the bosom of the Church—full indulgence for all sins.” A number of minor indulgences were conceded for services to be rendered to the Pontificate, and for the praying so many Pater Nosters and Ave Marias. This Bull was dated in Rome July 28, 1591.

Popes Gregory XIV. and Innocent IX. granted other Bulls relating to the rewards for using beads, medals, crosses, pictures, blessed images, etc., with which one could gain nine plenary indulgences every day or rescue nine souls from purgatory; and each day, twice over, all the full indulgences yet given in and out of Rome could be obtained for living and deceased persons.

Sánchez returned to Spain (where he died), bringing with him the body of Saint Policarp, relics of Saint Potenciana, and 157 Marytrs; amongst them, 27 popes, for remission to the Cathedral of Manila.

The Supreme Court was re-established with the same faculties as those of Mexico and Lima in 1598, and since then, on seven occasions, when the Governorship has been vacant, it has acted pro tem. The following interesting account of the pompous ceremonial attending the reception of the Royal Seal, restoring this Court, is given by Concepcion.[7] He says:—“The Royal Seal of office was received from the ship with the accustomed solemnity. It was contained in a chest covered with purple velvet and trimmings of silver and gold, over which hung a cloth of silver and gold. It was escorted by a majestic accompaniment, marching to the sounds of clarions and cymbals and other musical instruments. The cortége passed through the noble city with rich vestments, with leg trimmings and uncovered heads. Behind these followed a horse, gorgeously caparisoned and girthed, upon whose back the President placed the coffer containing the Royal Seal. The streets were beautifully adorned with exquisite drapery. The High Bailiff, magnificently robed, took the reins in hand to lead the horse under a purple velvet pall, bordered with gold. The magistrates walked on either side; the aldermen of the city, richly clad, carried their staves of office in the august procession, which concluded with a military escort, standard bearers, etc., and proceeded to the Cathedral, where it was met by the Dean, holding a Cross. As the company entered the sacred edifice, the Te Deum was intoned by a band of music.”

In 1886 a Supreme Court, exactly similar to, and independent of, that of Manila, was established in the City of Cebú. The question of precedence in official acts having been soon after disputed between the President of the Court and the Brigadier-Governor of Visayas, it was decided in favour of the latter, on appeal to the Gov.-General. In the meantime, the advisability of abolishing the Supreme Court of Cebú, was warmly debated by the public.

For many years after the conquest, deep religious sentiment pervaded the State policy, and not a few of the Governors-General acquired fame for their demonstrations of piety. Nevertheless, the conflictive ambition of the State and Church representatives was a powerful hindrance to the progress of the Colony.

The quarrel between Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera (1635–44) and the Archbishop arose from a circumstance of little concern to the Colony. The Archbishop ordered a military officer, who had a slave, either to sell or liberate her. The officer, rather than yield to either condition, wished to marry her, but failing to obtain her consent, he stabbed her to death. He thereupon took asylum in a convent, whence he was forcibly removed, and publicly executed in front of Saint Augustineʼs Church by order of the Governor. The Archbishop protested against the act, which, in those days, was qualified as a violation of sanctuary.

The churches were closed whilst the dispute lasted. The Jesuits, always opposed to the Austin friars, sided with the Governor. The Archbishop therefore prohibited them to preach outside their churches in any public place, under pain of excommunication and 4,000 ducats fine, whilst the other priests agreed to abstain from attending their religious or literary réunions. Finally, a religious council was called, but a coalition having been formed against the Archbishop, he was excommunicated—his goods distrained—his salary stopped, and he was suspended in his archiepiscopal functions under a penalty of 4,000 ducats fine. At this crisis, he implored mercy and the intervention of the Supreme Court. The magistrates decided against the prelateʼs appeal, and allowed him twelve hours to comply, under pain of continued excommunication and a further fine of 1,000 ducats. The Archbishop thereupon retired to the Convent of Saint Francis, where the Governor visited him. The Archbishop subsequently made the most abject submission in an archiepiscopal decree which fully sets forth the admission of his guilt. Such a violent settlement of disputes did not long remain undisturbed, and the Archbishop again sought the first opportunity of opposing the lay authority. In this he can only be excused—if excuse it be—as the upholder of the traditions of cordial discord between the two great factions—Church and State. The Supreme Court, under the presidency of the Governor, resolved therefore to banish the Archbishop from Manila. With this object, 50 soldiers were deputed to seize the prelate, who was secretly forewarned of their coming by his co-conspirators. On their approach he held the Host in his hand, and it is related that the sub-lieutenant sent in charge of the troops was so horrified at his mission that he placed the hilt of his sword upon the floor and fell upon the point, but as the sword bent he did not kill himself. The soldiers waited patiently until the Archbishop was tired out and compelled, by fatigue, to replace the Host on the altar. Then they immediately arrested him, conducted him to a boat under a guard of five men, and landed him on the desert Island of Corregidor. The churches were at once reopened; the Jesuits preached where they chose; terms were dictated to the contumacious Archbishop, who accepted everything unconditionally, and was thereupon permitted to resume his office. The acts of Corcuera were inquired into by his successor, who caused him to be imprisoned for five years; but it is to be presumed that Corcuera was justified in what he did, for on his release and return to Spain, the King rewarded him with the Governorship of the Canary Islands.

It is chronicled that Sabiniano Manrique de Lara (1653–63), who arrived in the galleon San Francisco Xavier with the Archbishop Poblete, refused to disembark until this dignitary had blessed the earth he was going to tread. It was he too who had the privilege of witnessing the expurgation of the Islands of the excommunications and admonitions of Rome. The Archbishop brought peace and goodwill to all men, being charged by His Holiness to sanctify the Colony.

The ceremony was performed with great solemnity, from an elevation, in the presence of an immense concourse of people. Later on, the pious Governor Lara was accused of perfidy to his royal master, and was fined ₱60,000, but on being pardoned, he retired to Spain, where he took holy orders.

His successor, Diego Salcedo (1663–68), was not so fortunate in his relations with Archbishop Poblete, for during five years he warmly contested his intervention in civil affairs. Poblete found it hard to yield the exercise of veto in all matters which, by courtesy, had been conceded to him by the late Governor Lara. The Archbishop refused to obey the Royal Decrees relating to Church appointments under the Royal patronage, such preferments being in the hands of the Gov.-General as vice-royal patron. These decrees were twice notified to the Archbishop, but as he still persisted in his disobedience, Salcedo signed an order for his expulsion to Marivéles. This brought the prelate to his senses, and he remained more submissive in future. It is recorded that the relations between the Governor and the Archbishop became so strained that the latter was compelled to pay a heavy fine—to remain standing whilst awaiting an audience—to submit to contumely during the interviews—and when he died, the Governor ordered royal feasts to celebrate the joyful event, whilst he prohibited the de profundis Mass, on the ground that such would be inconsistent with the secular festivities.

The King, on being apprised of this, permitted the Inquisition to take its course. Diego Salcedo was surprised in his Palace, and imprisoned by the bloodthirsty agents of the Santo Oficio. Some years afterwards, he was shipped on board a galleon as a prisoner to the Inquisitors of Mexico, but the ship had to put back under stress of weather, and Salcedo returned to his dungeon. There he suffered the worst privations, until he was again embarked for Mexico. On this voyage he died of grief and melancholy. The King espoused the cause of the ecclesiastics, and ordered Salcedoʼs goods, as well as those of his partisans, to be confiscated.

Manuel de Leon (1669–77) managed to preserve a good understanding with the clergy, and, on his decease, he bequeathed all his possessions to the Obras Pias (q.v.).

Troubles with the Archbishop and friars were revived on the Government being assumed by Juan de Nárgas (1678–84). In the last year of his rule, the Archbishop was banished from Manila. It is difficult to adequately appreciate the causes of this quarrel, and there is doubt as to which was right—the Governor or the Archbishop. On his restoration to his See, he was one of the few prelates—perhaps the only one—who personally sought to avenge himself. During the dispute, a number of friars had supported the Government, and these he caused to stand on a raised platform in front of a church, and publicly recant their former acts, declaring themselves miscreants. Juan de Nárgas had just retired from the Governorship after seven yearsʼ service, and the Archbishop called upon him likewise to abjure his past proceedings and perform the following penance:—To wear a penitentʼs garb—to place a rope around his neck, and carry a lighted candle to the doors of the cathedral and the churches of the Parian, San Gabriel and Binondo, on every feast day during four months. Nargas objected to this degradation, and claimed privilege, arguing that the Archbishop had no jurisdiction over him, as he was a Cavalier of the Military Order of St. James. But the Archbishop only desisted in his pretensions to humiliate Nárgas when the new Governor threatened to expel him again.

Fernando Bustamente Bustillo y Rueda (1717–19) adopted very stringent measures to counteract the Archbishopʼs excessive claims to immunity. Several individuals charged with heinous crimes had taken church asylum and defied the civil power and justice. The Archbishop was appealed to, to hand them over to the civil authorities, or allow them to be taken. He refused to do either, supporting the claim of immunity of sanctuary. At the same time it came to the knowledge of the Governor that a movement had been set on foot against him by those citizens who favoured the Archbishopʼs views, and that even the friars had so debased themselves as to seek the aid of the Chinese residents against the Governor. José Torralba (q.v.), the late acting-Governor, was released from confinement by the Governor, and reinstated by him as judge in the Supreme Court, although he was under an accusation of embezzlement to the extent of ₱700,000. The Archbishop energetically opposed this act. He notified to Torralba his excommunication and ecclesiastical pains, and, on his own authority, attempted to seize his person in violation of the privileges of the Supreme Court. Torralba, with his sword and shield in hand, expelled the Archbishopʼs messenger by force. Then, as judge in the Supreme Court, he hastened to avenge himself of his enemies by issuing warrants against them. They fled to Church asylum, and, with the moral support of the Archbishop, laughed at the magistrates. There the refugees provided themselves with arms, and prepared for rebellion. When the Archbishop was officially informed of these facts, he still maintained that nothing could violate their immunity. The Governor then caused the Archbishop to be arrested and confined in a fortress, with all the ecclesiastics who had taken an active part in the conspiracy against the Government.

Open riot ensued, and the priests marched to the Palace, amidst hideous clamourings, collecting the mob and citizens on the way. It was one of the most revolting scenes and remarkable events in Philippine history. Priests of the Sacred Orders of Saint Francis, Saint Dominic, and Saint Augustine joined the Recoletos in shouting “Viva la Iglesia,” “Viva nuestro Rey Don Felipe Quinto.”[8] The excited rabble rushed to the Palace, and the Guard having fled, they easily forced their way in. One priest who impudently dared to advance towards the Governor, was promptly ordered by him to stand back. The Governor, seeing himself encircled by an armed mob of laymen and servants of Christ clamouring for his downfall, pulled the trigger of his gun, but the flint failed to strike fire. Then the crowd took courage and attacked him, whilst he defended himself bravely with a bayonet, until he was overwhelmed by numbers. From the Palace he was dragged to the common jail, and stabbed and maltreated on the way. His son, hearing of this outrage, arrived on horseback, but was run through by one of the rebels, and fell to the ground. He got up and tried to cut his way through the infuriated rioters, but was soon surrounded and killed, and his body horribly mutilated.

The populace, urged by the clerical party, now fought for the liberty of the Archbishop. The prison doors were broken open, and the Archbishop was amongst the number of offenders liberated. The prelate came in triumph to the Palace, and assumed the Government in October, 1719. The mob, during their excesses, tore down the Royal Standard, and maltreated those whom they met of the unfortunate Governorʼs faithful friends. A mock inquiry into the circumstances of the riot was made in Manila in apparent judicial form. Another investigation was instituted in Mexico, which led to several of the minor actors in this sad drama being made the scapegoat victims of the more exalted criminals. The Archbishop held the Government for nine years, and was then transferred to the Mexican Bishopric of Mechoacan.

Pedro Manuel de Arandia (1754–59) is said to have expired of melancholy, consequent, in a measure, on his futile endeavours to govern at peace with the friars, who always secured the favour of the King.

On four occasions the Supreme State authority in the Colony has been vested in the prelates. Archbishop Manuel Rojo, acting-Governor at the time of the British occupation of Manila in 1763, is said to have died of grief and shame in prison (1764) through the intrigues of the violent Simon de Anda y Salazar (q.v.).

José Raon was Gov.-General in 1768, when the expulsion of the Jesuits was decreed. After the secret determination was made known to him, he was accused of having divulged it, and of having concealed his instructions. He was thereupon placed under guard in his own residence, where he expired (vide Simon de Anda y Salazár).

Domingo Moriones y Murillo (1877–80), it is alleged, had grave altercations with the friars, and found it necessary to remind the Archbishop Payo that the supreme power in the Philippines belonged to the State—not to the Church representative.

From the earliest times of Spanish dominion, it had been the practice of the natives to expose to view the corpses of their relations and friends in the public highways and villages whilst conveying them to the parish churches, where they were again exhibited to the common gaze, pending the pleasure of the parish priest to perform the last obsequies. This outrage on public decorum was proscribed by the Director-General of Civil Administration in a circular dated October, 18, 1887, addressed to the Provincial Governors, enjoining them to prohibit such indecent scenes in future. Thereupon the parish priests simply showed their contempt for the civil authorities by simulating their inability to elucidate to the native petty governors the true intent and meaning of the order. At the same time, the Archbishop of Manila issued instructions on the subject to his subordinates in very equivocal language. The native local authorities then petitioned the Civil Governor of Manila to make the matter clear to them. The Civil Governor forthwith referred the matter back to the Director-General of Civil Administration. This functionary, in a new circular dated November 4, confirmed his previous mandate of October 18, and censured the action of the parish priests, who “in improper language and from the pulpit,” had incited the native headmen to set aside his authority. The author of the circular sarcastically added the pregnant remark, that he was penetrated with the conviction that the Archbishopʼs sense of patriotism and rectitude would deter him from subverting the law. This incident seriously aroused the jealousy of the friars holding vicarages, and did not improve the relations between Church and State.

[1] Guido de Lavezares deposed a Sultan in Borneo in order to aid another to the throne, and even asked permission of King Philip II. to conquer China, which of course was not conceded to him. Vide also the history of the destruction of the Aztec (Mexican) and Incas (Peruvian) dynasties by the Spaniards, in W. H. Prescottʼs “Conquest of Mexico” and “Conquest of Peru.”

[2] Maestre de Campo (obsolete grade) about equivalent to the modern General of Brigade. This officer was practically the military governor.

[3] According to Juan de la Concepcion, in his “Hist. Gen. de Philipinas,” Vol. I., p. 431, Li-ma-hong made his escape by cutting a canal for his ships to pass through, but this would appear to be highly improbable under the circumstances.

[4] Some authors assert that only Soliman rebelled.

[5] Domingo Salazar, the first Bishop of Manila, took possession in 1581. He and one companion were the only Dominicans in the Islands until 1587.

[6] Bondage in the Philippines was apparently not so necessary for the interests of the Church as it was in Cuba, where a commission of friars, appointed soon after the discovery of the Island, to deliberate on the policy of partially permitting slavery there, reported “that the Indians would not labour without compulsion and that, unless they laboured, they could not be brought into communication with the whites, nor be converted to Christianity.” Vide W. H. Prescottʼs Hist. of the Conquest of Mexico,” tom. II., Chap, i., p. 104, ed. 1878.

[7] “Hist. Gen. de Philipinas,” by Juan de la Concepcion, Vol. III., Chap, ix., p. 365, published at Manila, 1788.

[8] “Long live the Church,” “Long live our King Philip V.”

Early Relations With Japan

Two decades of existence in the 16th century was but a short period in which to make known the conditions of this new Colony to its neighbouring States, when its only regular intercourse with them was through the Chinese who came to trade with Manila. Japanese mariners, therefore, appear to have continued to regard the north of Luzon as “no-manʼs-land”; for years after its nominal annexation by the Spaniards they assembled there, whether as merchants or buccaneers it is difficult to determine. Spanish authority had been asserted by Salcedo along the west coast about as far as lat. 18° N., but in 1591 the north coast was only known to Europeans geographically. So far, the natives there had not made the acquaintance of their new masters.

A large Spanish galley cruising in these waters met a Japanese vessel off Cape Bojeador (N.W. point), and fired a shot which carried away the strangerʼs mainmast, obliging him to heave-to. Then the galley-men, intending to board the stranger, made fast the sterns, whilst the Spaniards rushed to the bows; but the Japanese came first, boarded the galley, and drove the Spaniards aft, where they would have all perished had they not cut away the mizzenmast and let it fall with all sail set. Behind this barricade they had time to load their arquebuses and drive back the Japanese, over whom they gained a victory. The Spaniards then entered the Rio Grande de Cagayán, where they met a Japanese fleet, between which they passed peacefully. On shore they formed trenches and mounted cannons on earthworks, but the Japanese scaled the fortifications and pulled down the cannons by the mouths.

These were recovered, and the Spanish captain had the cannon mouths greased, so that the Japanese tactics should not be repeated. A battle was fought and the defeated Japanese set sail, whilst the Spaniards remained to obtain the submission of the natives by force or by persuasion.

The Japanese had also come to Manila to trade, and were located in the neighbouring village of Dilao,[1] where the Franciscan friars undertook their conversion to Christianity, whilst the Dominican Order considered the spiritual care of the Chinese their especial charge.

The Portuguese had been in possession of Macao since the year 1557, and traded with various Chinese ports, whilst in the Japanese town of Nagasaki there was a small colony of Portuguese merchants. These were the indirect sources whence the Emperor of Japan learnt that Europeans had founded a colony in Luzon Island; and in 1593 he sent a message to the Governor of the Philippines calling upon him to surrender and become his vassal, threatening invasion in the event of refusal. The Spanish colonies at that date were hardly in a position to treat with haughty scorn the menaces of the Japanese potentate, for they were simultaneously threatened with troubles with the Dutch in the Moluccas, for which they were preparing an armament (vide Chap. vi.). The want of men, ships, and war material obliged them to seek conciliation with dignity. The Japanese Ambassador, Farranda Kiemon, was received with great honours and treated with the utmost deference during his sojourn in Manila.

The Governor replied to the Emperor, that being but a lieger of the King of Spain—a mighty monarch of unlimited resources and power—he was unable to acknowledge the Emperorʼs suzerainty; for the most important duty imposed upon him by his Sovereign was the defence of his vast domains against foreign aggression; that, on the other hand, he was desirous of entering into amicable and mutually advantageous relations with the Emperor, and solicited his conformity to a treaty of commerce, the terms of which would be elucidated to him by an envoy.

A priest, Juan Cobo, and an infantry captain were thereupon accredited to the Japanese Court as Philippine Ambassadors. On their arrival they were, without delay, admitted in audience by the Emperor; the treaty of commerce was adjusted to the satisfaction of both parties; and the Ambassadors, with some Japanese nobles, set sail for Manila in Japanese ships, which foundered on the voyage, and all perished.

Neither the political nor the clerical party in Manila was, however, dismayed by this first disaster, and the prospect of penetrating Japan was followed up by a second expedition.

Between the friars an animated discussion arose when the Jesuits protested against members of any other Order being sent to Japan. Saint Francis Xavier had, years before, obtained a Papal Bull from Pope Gregory XIII., awarding Japan to his Order, which had been the first to establish missions in Nagasaki. Jesuits were still there in numbers, and the necessity of sending members of rival religious bodies is not made clear in the historical records. The jealous feud between those holy men was referred to the Governor, who naturally decided against the Jesuits, in support of the Kingʼs policy of grasping territory under the cloak of piety. A certain Fray Pedro Bautista was chosen as Ambassador, and in his suite were three other priests. These embarked in a Spanish frigate, whilst Farranda Kiemon, who had remained in Manila the honoured guest of the Government, took his leave, and went on board his own vessel. The authorities bade farewell to the two embassies with ostentatious ceremonies, and amidst public rejoicings the two ships started on their journey on May 26, 1593. After 30 daysʼ navigation one ship arrived safely at Nagasaki, and the other at a port 35 miles further along the coast.

Pedro Bautista, introduced by Ferranda Kiemon, was presented to the Emperor Taycosama, who welcomed him as an Ambassador authorized to negotiate a treaty of commerce, and conclude an offensive and defensive alliance for mutual protection. The Protocol was agreed to and signed by both parties, and the relations between the Emperor and Pedro Bautista became more and more cordial. The latter solicited, and obtained, permission to reside indefinitely in the country and send the treaty on by messenger to the Governor of the Philippines; hence the ships in which the envoys had arrived remained about ten months in port. A concession was also granted to build a church at Meaco, near Osaka, and it was opened in 1594, when Mass was publicly celebrated.

In Nagasaki the Jesuits were allowed to reside unmolested and practise their religious rites amongst the Portuguese population of traders and others who might have voluntarily embraced Christianity. Bautista went there to consult with the chief of the Jesuit Mission, who energetically opposed what he held to be an encroachment upon the monopoly rights of his Order, conceded by Pope Gregory XIII. and confirmed by royal decrees. Bautista, however, showed a permission which he had received from the Jesuit General, by virtue of which he was suffered to continue his course pending that dignitaryʼs arrival.

The Portuguese merchants in Nagasaki were not slow to comprehend that Bautistaʼs coming with priests at his command was but a prelude to Spanish territorial conquest, which would naturally retard their hoped-for emancipation from the Spanish yoke.[2] Therefore, in their own interests, they forewarned the Governor of Nagasaki, who prohibited Bautista from continuing his propaganda against the established religion of the country in contravention of the Emperorʼs commands; but as Bautista took no heed of this injunction, he was expelled from Nagasaki for contumacy.

It was now manifest to the Emperor that he had been basely deceived, and that under the pretext of concluding a commercial and political treaty, Bautista and his party had, in effect, introduced themselves into his realm with the clandestine object of seducing his subjects from their allegiance, of undermining their consciences, perverting them from the religion of their forefathers, and that all this would bring about the dismemberment of his Empire and the overthrow of his dynasty. Not only had Taycosama abstained from persecuting foreigners for the exercise of their religious rites, but he freely licensed the Jesuits to continue their mission in Nagasaki and wherever Catholics happened to congregate. He had permitted the construction of their temples, but he could not tolerate a deliberate propaganda which foreshadowed his own ruin.[3]

Pedro Bautistaʼs designs being prematurely obstructed, he took his passage back to Manila from Nagasaki in a Japanese vessel, leaving behind him his interpreter, Fray Jerome, with the other Franciscan monks. An Imperial Decree was then issued to prohibit foreign priests from interfering with the religion of Japanese subjects; but this law having been set at naught by Bautistaʼs colleagues, one was arrested and imprisoned, and warrants were issued against the others; meanwhile the Jesuits in Nagasaki were in no way restrained.

The Governor of Nagasaki caused the Franciscan propagandists to be conducted on board a Portuguese ship and handed over to the charge of the captain, under severe penalties if he aided or allowed their escape, but they were free to go wherever they chose outside the Japanese Empire. The captain, however, permitted one to return ashore, and for some time he wandered about the country in disguise.

Pedro Bautista had reached Manila, where the ecclesiastical dignitaries prevailed upon the Governor to sanction another expedition to Japan, and Bautista arrived in that country a second time with a number of Franciscan friars. The Emperor now lost all patience, and determined not only to repress these venturesome foreigners, but to stamp out the last vestige of their revolutionary machinations. Therefore, by Imperial Decree, the arrest was ordered of all the Franciscan friars, and all natives who persisted in their adhesion to these missionariesʼ teachings. Twenty-six of those taken were tried and condemned to ignominious exhibition and death—the Spaniards, because they had come into the country and had received royal favours under false pretences, representing themselves as political ambassadors and suite—the Japanese, because they had forsworn the religion of their ancestors and bid fair to become a constant danger and source of discord in the realm. Amongst these Spaniards was Pedro Bautista. After their ears and noses had been cut off, they were promenaded from town to town in a cart, finally entering Nagasaki on horseback, each bearing the sentence of death on a breast-board.

On a high ground, near the city and the port, in front of the Jesuitsʼ church, these 26 persons were crucified and stabbed to death with lances, in expiation of their political offences. It was a sad fate for men who conscientiously believed that they were justified in violating rights and laws of nations for the propagation of their particular views; but can one complain? Would Buddhist missionaries in Spain have met with milder treatment at the hands of the Inquisitors?[4]

Each Catholic body was supposed to designate the same road to heaven—each professed to teach the same means of obtaining the grace of God; yet, strange to say, each bore the other an implacable hatred—an inextinguishable jealousy! If conversion to Christianity were for the glory of God only, what could it have mattered whether souls of Japanese were saved by Jesuits or by others? For King Philip it was the same whether his political tools were of one denomination or the other, but many of the Jesuits in Japan happened to be Portuguese.

The Jesuits in Manila probably felt that in view of their opposition to the Franciscan missions, public opinion might hold them morally responsible for indirectly contributing to the unfortunate events related; therefore, to justify their acts, they formally declared that Pedro Bautista and his followers died excommunicated, because they had disobeyed the Bull of Pope Gregory XIII.

The general public were much excited when the news spread through the city, and a special Mass was said, followed by a religious procession through the streets. The Governor sent a commission to Japan, under the control of Luis de Navarrete, to ask for the dead bodies and chattels of the executed priests. The Emperor showed no rancour whatsoever; on the contrary, his policy was already carried out; and to welcome the Spanish lay deputies, he gave a magnificent banquet and entertained them sumptuously. Luis de Navarrete having claimed the dead bodies of the priests, the Emperor at once ordered the guards on the execution ground to retire, and told Navarrete that he could dispose as he pleased of the mortal remains. Navarrete therefore hastened to Nagasaki, but before he could reach there, devout Catholics had cut up the bodies, one carrying away a head, another a leg, and so forth. It happened, too, that Navarrete died of disease a few days after his arrival in Nagasaki. His successor, Diego de Losa, recovered the pieces of the deceased priests, which he put into a box and shipped for Manila, but the vessel and box of relics were lost on the way.

Diego de Losa returned to Manila, the bearer of a polite letter and very acceptable presents from the Emperor to the Governor of the Philippines.

The letter fully expatiated on recent events, and set forth a well-reasoned justification of the Emperorʼs decrees against the priests, in terms which proved that he was neither a tyrant nor a wanton savage, but an astute politician. The letter stated, that under the pretext of being ambassadors, the priests in question had come into the country and had taught a diabolical law belonging to foreign countries, and which aimed at superseding the rites and laws of his own religion, confused his people, and destroyed his Government and kingdom; for which reason he had rigorously proscribed it. Against these prohibitions, the religious men of Luzon preached their law publicly to humble people, such as servants and slaves. Not being able to permit this persistence in law-breaking, he had ordered their death by placing them on crosses; for he was informed that in the kingdom where Spaniards dominated, this teaching of their religious doctrine was but an artifice and stratagem by means of which the civil power was deceitfully gained. He astutely asks the Gov.-General if he would consent to Japanese preaching their laws in his territory, perturbing public peace with such novelties amongst the lower classes?

Certainly it would be severely repressed, argued the Emperor, adding that in the exercise of his absolute power and for the good of his subjects, he had avoided the occurrence in his dominions of what had taken place in those regions where the Spaniards deposed the legitimate kings, and constituted themselves masters by religious fraud.

He explains that the seizure of the cargo of a Spanish ship was only a reprisal for the harm which he had suffered by the tumult raised when the edict was evaded. But as the Spanish Governor had thought fit to send another ambassador from so far, risking the perils of the sea, he was anxious for peace and mutual good-feeling, but only on the precise condition that no more individuals should be sent to teach a law foreign to his realm, and under these unalterable conditions the Governorʼs subjects were at liberty to trade freely with Japan; that by reason of his former friendship and royal clemency, he had refrained from killing all the Spaniards with the priests and their servants, and had allowed them to return to their country.

As to religion itself, Taycosama is said to have remarked that among so many professed, one more was of little consequence,—hence his toleration in the beginning, and his continued permission to the Jesuits to maintain their doctrines amongst their own sectarians. Moreover, it is said that a map was shown to Taycosama, marking the domains of the King of Spain and Portugal, and that in reply to his inquiry: “How could one man have conquered such vast territory?”—a certain Father Guzman (probably a Portuguese) answered: “By secretly sending religious men to teach their doctrine, and when a sufficient number of persons were so converted, the Spanish soldiery, with their aid, annexed their country and overthrew their kings.” Such an avowal naturally impressed Taycosama profoundly.[5]

In Seville there was quite a tumult when the details of the executions in Japan were published.

In the meantime, the lamentable end of the Franciscan missionaries did not deter others from making further attempts to follow their example. During the first 20 years of the 17th century, priests succeeded in entering Japan, under the pretence of trading, in spite of the extreme measures adopted to discover them and the precautions taken to uproot the new doctrine, which it was feared would become the forerunner of sedition. Indeed, many Japanese nobles professing Christianity had already taken up their residence in Manila, and were regarded by the Emperor as a constant danger to his realm, hence he was careful to avoid communication with the Philippines. During the short reigns of Dayfusama and his son Xogusama, new decrees were issued, not against foreign Christians, but against those who made apostates amongst the Japanese; and consequently two more Spanish priests were beheaded.

In September, 1622, a large number of Spanish missionaries and Christian Japanese men and children were executed in Nagasaki. Twenty-five of them were burnt and the rest beheaded, their remains being thrown into the sea to avoid the Christians following their odious custom of preserving parts of corpses as relics. Two days afterwards, four Franciscan and two Dominican friars with five Japanese were burnt in Omura. Then followed an edict stating the pains and penalties, civil deprivations, etc., against all who refused to abandon their apostasy and return to the faith of their forefathers. Another edict was issued imposing death upon those who should conduct priests to Japan, and forfeiture of the ships in which they should arrive and the merchandise with which they should come. To all informers against native apostates the culpritsʼ estates and goods were transferred as a reward.

A Spanish deputation was sent to the Emperor of Japan in 1622, alleging a desire to renew commercial relations, but the Emperor was so exasperated at the recent defiance of his decrees that he refused to accept the deputiesʼ presents from the Philippine Government, and sent them and the deputation away.

Still there were friars in Manila eager to seek martyrdom, but the Philippine traders, in view of the danger of confiscation of their ships and merchandise if they carried missionaries, resolved not to despatch vessels to Japan if ecclesiastics insisted on taking passage. The Government supported this resolution in the interests of trade, and formally prohibited the transport of priests. The Archbishop of Manila, on his part, imposed ecclesiastical penalties on those of his subordinates who should clandestinely violate this prohibition.

Supplicatory letters from Japan reached the religious communities in Manila, entreating them to send more priests to aid in the spread of Christianity; therefore the chiefs of the Orders consulted together, bought a ship, and paid high wages to its officers to carry four Franciscan, four Dominican and two Recoleto priests to Japan. When the Governor, Alonso Fajardo de Tua, heard of the intended expedition, he threatened to prohibit it, affirming that he would not consent to any more victims being sent to Japan. Thereupon representatives of the religious Orders waited upon him, to state that if he persisted in his prohibition, upon his conscience would fall the enormous charge of having lost the souls which they had hoped to save. The Governor therefore retired from the discussion, remitting the question to the Archbishop, who at once permitted the ship to leave, conveying the ten priests disguised as merchants. Several times the vessel was nearly wrecked, but at length arrived safely in a Japanese port. The ten priests landed, and were shortly afterwards burnt by Imperial order.

In Rome a very disputed inquiry had been made into the circumstances of the Franciscan mission; but, in spite of the severe ordeal of the diaboli advocatus, cononization was conceded to Pedro Bautista and his companions.

In 1629 the Papal Bull of Urban VIII., dated September 14, 1627, was published in Manila, amidst public feasts and popular rejoicing. The Bull declared the missionaries of Japan to be Saints and Martyrs and Patron Saints of the second class. Increased animation in favour of missions to Japan became general in consequence. Ten thousand pesos were collected to fit out a ship to carry 12 priests from Manila, besides 24 priests who came from Pangasinán to embark privately. The ship, however, was wrecked off the Ilocos Province coast (Luzon Is.), but the crew and priests were saved.

A large junk was then secretly prepared at a distance from Manila for the purpose of conveying another party of friars to Japan; but, just as they were about to embark, the Governor sent a detachment of soldiers with orders to prevent them doing so, and he definitely prohibited further missionary expeditions.

In 1633 the final extinction of Christians was vigorously commenced by the Emperor To-Kogunsama; and in the following year 79 persons were executed. The same Emperor sent a ship to Manila with a present of 150 lepers, saying that, as he did not permit Christians in his country, and knowing that the priests had specially cared for these unfortunate beings, he remitted them to their care. The first impulse of the Spaniards was to sink the ship with cannon shots, but finally it was agreed to receive the lepers, who were conducted with great pomp through the city and lodged in a large shed at Dilao (now the suburb of Paco). This gave rise to the foundation of the Saint Lazarusʼ (Lepersʼ) Hospital, existing at the present day.[6] The Governor replied to the Emperor that if any more were sent he would kill them and their conductors.

The Emperor then convoked a great assembly of his vassal kings and nobles, and solemnly imposed upon them the strict obligation to fulfil all the edicts against the entry and permanence of Christians, under severe penalties, forfeiture of property, deprivation of dignities, or death. So intent was this Prince on effectually annihilating Christianity within his Empire, that he thenceforth interdicted all trade with Macao; and when in 1640 his decree was disregarded by four Portuguese traders, who, describing themselves as ambassadors, arrived with a suite of 46 Orientals, they were all executed.

In the same year the Governor of the Philippines called a Congress of local officials and ecclesiastics, amongst whom it was agreed that to send missionaries to Japan was to send them directly to death, and it was thenceforth resolved to abandon Catholic missions in that country.

Secret missions and consequent executions still continued until about the year 1642, when the Dutch took Tanchiu—in Formosa Island—from the Spaniards, and intercepted the passage to Japan of priests and merchants alike. The conquest of Japan was a feat which all the artifice of King Philip IV.ʼs favourites and their monastic agents could not compass.

In 1862, during the Pontificate of Pius IX., 620 missionaries who had met with martyrdom in Japan, in the 17th century, were canonized with great pomp and appropriate ceremony in Rome.

[1] Now the suburb of Paco. Between 1606 and 1608, owing to a rising of the Japanese settlers, their dwellings in Dilao were sacked and the settlement burnt.

[2] Portugal was forcibly annexed to the Spanish Crown from 1581 to 1640.

[3] Philip II.ʼs persecution of religious apostates during the “Wars of the Flanders” was due as much to the fact that Protestantism was becoming a political force, threatening Spainʼs dominion, as to Catholic sentiment.

[4] Religious intolerance in Spain was confirmed in 1822 by the New Penal Code of that date; the text reads thus: “Todo él que conspirase directamente y de hecho á establecer otra religion en las Españas, ó á que la Nacion Española deje de profesar la religion Apostolica Romana es traidor y sufrirá la pena de muerte.” Articulo 227 del Código Penal presentado á las Cortes en 22 de Abril de 1821 y sancionado en 1822.”

[5] “Hist. Gen. de Philipinas,” by Juan de la Concepeion Vol. III., Chap. viii.

[6] This hospital was rebuilt with a legacy left by the Gov.-General Don Manuel de Leon in 1677. It was afterwards subsidized by the Government, and was under the care of the Franciscan friars up to the close of the Spanish dominion.

Conflicts with the Dutch

CONSEQUENT on the union of the Crowns of Portugal and Spain (1581–1640), the feuds, as between nations, diplomatically subsided, although the individual antagonism was as rife as ever.

Spanish and Portuguese interests in the Moluccas, as elsewhere, were thenceforth officially mutual. In the Molucca group, the old contests between the once rival kingdoms had estranged the natives from their ancient compulsory alliances. Anti-Portuguese and Philo-Portuguese parties had sprung up amongst the petty sovereignties, but the Portuguese fort and factory established in Ternate Island were held for many years, despite all contentions. But another rivalry, as formidable and more detrimental than that of the Portuguese in days gone by, now menaced Spanish ascendancy.

From the close of the 16th century up to the year of the “Family Compact” Wars (1763), Holland and Spain were relentless foes. To recount the numerous combats between their respective fleets during this period, would itself require a volume. It will suffice here to show the bearing of these political conflicts upon the concerns of the Philippine Colony. The Treaty of Antwerp, which was wrung from the Spaniards in 1609, 28 years after the union of Spain and Portugal, broke the scourge of their tyranny, whilst it failed to assuage the mutual antipathy. One of the consequences of the “Wars of the Flanders,” which terminated with this treaty, was that the Dutch were obliged to seek in the Far East the merchandise which had hitherto been supplied to them from the Peninsula. The short-sighted policy of the Spaniards in closing to the Dutch the Portuguese markets, which were now theirs, brought upon themselves the destruction of the monopolies which they had gained by the Union. The Dutch were now free, and their old tyrantʼs policy induced them to establish independently their own trading headquarters in the Molucca Islands, whence they could obtain directly the produce forbidden to them in the home ports. Hence, from those islands, the ships of a powerful Netherlands Trading Company sallied forth from time to time to meet the Spanish galleons from Mexico laden with silver and manufactured goods. Previous to this, and during the Wars of the Flanders, Dutch corsairs hovered about the waters of the Moluccas, to take reprisals from the Spaniards. These encounters frequently took place at the eastern entrance of the San Bernadino Straits, where the Dutch were accustomed to heave-to in anticipation of the arrival of their prizes. In this manner, constantly roving about the Philippine waters, they enriched themselves at the expense of their detested adversary, and, in a small degree, avenged themselves of the bloodshed and oppression which for over sixty years had desolated the Low Countries.

The Philippine Colony lost immense sums in the seizure of its galleons from Mexico, upon which it almost entirely depended for subsistence. Being a dependency of New Spain, its whole intercourse with the civilized world, its supplies of troops and European manufactured articles, were contingent upon the safe arrival of the galleons. Also the dollars with which they annually purchased cargoes from the Chinese for the galleons came from Mexico. Consequently, the Dutch usually took the aggressive in these sea-battles, although they were not always victorious. When there were no ships to meet, they bombarded the ports where others were being built. The Spaniards, on their part, from time to time fitted out vessels to run down to the Molucca Islands to attack the enemy in his own waters.

During the Governorship of Gomez Perez Dasmariñas (1590–93), the native King of Siao Island—one of the Molucca group—came to Manila to offer homage and vassalage to the representative of the King of Spain and Portugal, in return for protection against the incursions of the Dutch and the raids of the Ternate natives. Dasmariñas received him and the Spanish priests who accompanied him with affability, and, being satisfied with his credentials, he prepared a large expedition to go to the Moluccas to set matters in order. The fleet was composed of several frigates, 1 ship, 6 galleys, and 100 small vessels, all well armed. The fighting men numbered 100 Spaniards, 400 Pampanga and Tagálog arquebusiers, 1,000 Visaya archers and lancers, besides 100 Chinese to row the galleys. This expedition, which was calculated to be amply sufficient to subdue all the Moluccas, sailed from Cavite on October 6, 1593. The sailing ships having got far ahead of the galleys, they hove-to off Punta de Azúfre (N. of Maricaban Is.) to wait for them. The galleys arrived; and the next day they were able to start again in company. Meanwhile, a conspiracy was formed by the Chinese galleymen to murder all the Spaniards. Assuming these Chinese to be volunteers, their action would appear to be extremely vile. If, however, as is most probable, they were pressed into this military service to foreigners, it seems quite natural, that being forced to bloodshed without alternative, they should first fight for their own liberty, seeing that they had come to the Islands to trade.

All but the Chinese were asleep, and they fell upon the Spaniards in a body. Eighteen of the troops and four slaves escaped by jumping into the sea. The Governor was sleeping in his cabin, but awoke on hearing the noise. He supposed the ship had grounded, and was coming up the companion en déshabille, when a Chinaman clove his head with a cutlass. The Governor reached his state-room, and taking his Missal and the Image of the Virgin in his hand, he died in six hours. The Chinese did not venture below, where the priests and armed soldiers were hidden. They cleared the decks of all their opponents, made fast the hatches and gangways, and waited three days, when, after putting ashore those who were still alive, they escaped to Cochin China, where the King and Mandarins seized the vessel and all she carried. On board were found 12,000 pesos in coin, some silver, and jewels belonging to the Governor and his suite. Thus the expedition was brought to an untimely end. The King of Siao, and the missionaries accompanying him, had started in advance for Otong (Panay Is.) to wait for the Governor, and there they received the news of the disaster.

Amongst the most notable of the successful expeditions of the Spaniards, was that of Pedro Bravo de Acuña, in 1606, which consisted of 19 frigates, 9 galleys, and 8 small craft, carrying a total of about 2,000 men, and provisions for a prolonged struggle. The result was that they subdued a petty sultan, friendly to the Dutch, and established a fortress on his island.

About the year 1607 the Supreme Court (the Governorship being vacant from 1606 to 1608), hearing that a Dutch vessel was hovering off Ternate, sent a ship against it, commanded by Pedro de Heredia. A combat ensued. The Dutch commander was taken prisoner with several of his men, and lodged in the fort at Ternate, but was ransomed on payment of ₱50,000 to the Spanish commander. Heredia returned joyfully to Manila, where, much to his surprise, he was prosecuted by the Supreme Court for exceeding his instructions, and expired of melancholy. The ransomed Dutch leader was making his way back to his headquarters in a small ship, peacefully, and without threatening the Spaniards in any way, when the Supreme Court treacherously sent a galley and a frigate after him to make him prisoner a second time. Overwhelmed by numbers and arms, and little expecting such perfidious conduct of the Spaniards, he was at once arrested and brought to Manila. The Dutch returned 22 Spanish prisoners of war to Manila to ransom him, but whilst these were retained, the Dutch commander was nevertheless imprisoned for life.

Some years afterwards a Dutch squadron anchored off the south point of Bataan Province, not far from Punta Marivéles, at the entrance to Manila Bay. Juan de Silva, the Governor (1609–16), was in great straits. Several ships had been lost by storms, others were away, and there was no adequate floating armament with which to meet the enemy. However, the Dutch lay-to for five or six months, waiting to seize the Chinese and Japanese tradersʼ goods on their way to the Manila market. They secured immense booty, and were in no hurry to open hostilities. This delay gave de Silva time to prepare vessels to attack the foe. In the interval he dreamt that Saint Mark had offered to help him defeat the Dutch. On awaking, he called a priest, whom he consulted about the dream, and they agreed that the nocturnal vision was a sign from Heaven denoting a victory. The priest went (from Cavite) to Manila to procure a relic of this glorious intercessor, and returned with his portrait to the Governor, who adored it. In haste the ships and armament were prepared. On Saint Markʼs day, therefore, the Spaniards sallied forth from Cavite with six ships, carrying 70 guns, and two galleys and two launches, also well armed, besides a number of small, light vessels to assist in the formation of line of battle.

All the European fighting men in Manila and Cavite embarked—over 1,000 Spaniards—the flower of the Colony, together with a large force of natives, who were taught to believe that the Dutch were infidels. On the issue of this dayʼs events perchance depended the possession of the Colony. Manila and Cavite were garrisoned by volunteers. Orations were offered in the churches. The Miraculous Image of Our Lady of the Guide was taken in procession from the Hermitage, and exposed to public view in the Cathedral. The Saints of the different churches and sanctuaries were adored and exhibited daily. The Governor himself took the supreme command, and dispelled all wavering doubt in his subordinates by proclaiming Saint Markʼs promise of intercession. On his ship he hoisted the Royal Standard, on which was embroidered the Image of the Blessed Virgin, with the motto “Mostrate esse Matrem” and over a beautifully calm sea he led the way to battle and to victory.

A shot from the Spanish heavy artillery opened the bloody combat. The Dutch were completely vanquished, after a fierce struggle, which lasted six hours. Their three ships were destroyed, and their flags, artillery, and plundered merchandise, to the value of ₱300,000, were seized. This famous engagement was thenceforth known as the Battle of Playa Honda.

Again, in 1611, under de Silva, a squadron sailed to the Moluccas and defeated the Dutch off Gilolo Island.

In 1617 the Spaniards had a successful engagement off the Zambales coast with the Dutch, who lost three of their ships.

In July, 1620, three Mexican galleons were met by three Dutch vessels off Cape Espíritu Santo (Sámar Is.), at the entrance of the San Bernadino Straits, but managed to escape in the dark. Two ran ashore and broke up; the third reached Manila. After this, the Gov.-General, Alonso Fajardo de Tua, ordered the course of the State ships to be varied on each voyage.

In 1625 the Dutch again appeared off the Zambales coast, and Gerónimo de Silva went out against them. The Spaniards, having lost one man, relinquished the pursuit of the enemy, and the Commander was brought to trial by the Supreme Court.

In 1626, at the close of the Governorship of Fernando de Silva, a Spanish Colony was founded on Formosa Island, but no supplies were sent to it, and consequently in 1642 it surrendered to the Dutch, who held it for 20 years, until they were driven out by the Chinese adventurer Koxinga. And thus for over a century and a half the strife continued, until the Dutch concentrated their attention on the development of their Eastern Colonies, which the power of Spain, growing more and more effete, was incompetent to impede.

In the middle of the 17th century the Tartars invaded China and overthrew the Min Dynasty—at that time represented by the Chinese Emperor Yunglic. He was succeeded on the throne by the Tartar Emperor Kungchi, to whose arbitrary power nearly all the Chinese Empire had submitted. Amongst the few Mongol chiefs who held out against Ta-Tsing dominion was a certain Mandarin known by the name of Koxinga, who retired to the Island of Kinmuen, where he asserted his independence and defied his nationʼs conqueror. Securely established in his stronghold, he invited the Chinese to take refuge in his island and oppose the Tartarʼs rule. Therefore the Emperor ordered that no man should inhabit China within four leagues of the coast, except in those provinces which were undoubtedly loyal to the new Government. The coast was consequently laid bare; vessels, houses, plantations, and everything useful to man, were destroyed in order to cut off effectually all communications with lands beyond the Tartar Empire. The Chinese from the coast, who for generations had earned a living by fishing, etc., crowded into the interior, and their misery was indescribable.

Koxinga, unable to communicate with the mainland of the Empire, turned his attention to the conquest of Formosa Island, at the time in the possession of the Dutch. According to Dutch accounts the European settlers numbered about 600, with a garrison of 2,200. The Dutch artillery, stores, and merchandise were valued at ₱8,000,000, and the Chinese, who attacked them under Koxinga, were about 100,000 strong. The settlement surrendered to the invadersʼ superior numbers, and Koxinga established himself as King of the Island. Koxinga had become acquainted with an Italian Dominican missionary named Vittorio Riccio, whom he created a Mandarin, and sent him as Ambassador to the Governor of the Philippines. Riccio therefore arrived in Manila in 1662, the bearer of Koxingaʼs despatches calling upon the Governor to pay tribute, under threat of the Colony being attacked by Koxinga if his demand were refused.

The position of Riccio as a European friar and Ambassador of a Mongol adventurer was as awkward as it was novel. He was received with great honour in Manila, where he disembarked, and rode to the Government House in the full uniform of a Chinese envoy, through lines of troops drawn up to salute him as he passed. At the same time, letters from Formosa had also been received by the Chinese in Manila, and the Government at once accused them of conniving at rebellion. All available forces were concentrated in the capital; and to increase the garrison the Governor published a decree, dated May 6, 1662, ordering the demolition of the forts of Zamboanga, Ylígan (Mindanao Is.), Calamianes and Ternale[1] (Moluccas).

The only provincial fort preserved was that of Surigao (then called Caraga), consequently in the south the Mahometans became complete masters on land and at sea for half a year.

The troops in Manila numbered 100 cavalry and 8,000 infantry. Fortifications were raised, and redoubts were constructed in which to secrete the Treasury funds. When all the armament was in readiness, the Spaniards incited the Chinese to rebel, in order to afford a pretext for their massacre.

Two junk masters were seized, and the Chinese population was menaced; therefore they prepared for their own defence, and then opened the affray, for which the Government was secretly longing, by killing a Spaniard in the market-place. Suddenly artillery fire was opened on the Parian, and many of the peaceful Chinese traders, in their terror, hanged themselves; many were drowned in the attempt to reach the canoes in which to get away to sea; some few did safely arrive in Formosa Island and joined Koxingaʼs camp, whilst others took to the mountains. Some 8,000 to 9,000 Chinese remained quiet, but ready for any event, when they were suddenly attacked by Spaniards and natives. The confusion was general, and the Chinese seemed to be gaining ground; therefore the Governor sent the Ambassador Riccio and a certain Fray Joseph de Madrid to parley with them. The Chinese accepted the terms offered by Riccio, who returned to the Governor, leaving Fray Joseph with the rebels; but when Riccio went back with a general pardon and a promise to restore the two junk masters, he found that they had beheaded the priest. A general carnage of the Mongols followed, and Juan de la Concepcion says[2] that the original intention of the Spaniards was to kill every Chinaman, but that they desisted in view of the inconvenience which would have ensued from the want of tradesmen and mechanics. Therefore they made a virtue of a necessity, and graciously pardoned in the name of His Catholic Majesty all who laid down their arms.

Riccio returned to Formosa Island, and found Koxinga preparing for warfare against the Philippines, but before he could carry out his intentions he died of fever. The chiefs successor, of a less bellicose spirit, sent Riccio a second time to Manila, and a treaty was agreed to, re-establishing commercial relations with the Chinese. Shortly after Koxingaʼs decease a rebellion was raised in Formosa; and the Island, falling at length into the hands of a Tartar party, became annexed to China under the new dynasty. Then Riccio was called upon to relate the part he had taken in Koxingaʼs affairs, and he was heard in council. Some present were in favour of invading the Philippines in great force because of the cruel and unwarranted general massacre of the Chinese in cold blood; but Riccio took pains to show how powerful Spain was, and how justified was the action of the Spaniards, as a measure of precaution, in view of the threatened invasion of Koxinga. The Chinese party was appeased, but had the Tartars cared to take up the cause of their conquered subjects, the fate of the Philippines would have been doubtful.

The rule of the Governors-General of the Islands was, upon the whole, benignant with respect to the natives who manifested submission. Apart from the unconcealed animosity of the monastic party, the Gov.-Generalʼs liberty of action was always very much locally restrained by the Supreme Court and by individual officials. The standing rule was, that in the event of the death or deprivation of office of the Gov.-General, the Civil Government was to be assumed by the Supreme Court, and the military administration by the senior magistrate. Latterly, in the absence of a Gov.-General, from any cause whatsoever, the sub-inspector of the forces became Acting-Gov.-General.

Up to the beginning of the last century the authority of the Kingʼs absolute will was always jealously imposed, and the Governors-General were frequently rebuked for having exercised independent action, taking the initiative in what they deemed the best policy. But Royal Decrees could not enforce honesty; the peculations and frauds on the part of the secular authorities, and increasing quarrels and jealousies amongst the several religious bodies, seemed to annihilate all prospect of social and material progress of the Colony. As early as the reign of Philip III. (1598–1621) the procurators of Manila had, during three years, been unsuccessfully soliciting from the mother country financial help for the Philippines to meet official discrepancies. The affairs of the Colony were eventually submitted to a special Royal Commission in Spain, the result being that the King was advised to abandon this possession, which was not only unproductive, but had become a costly centre of disputes and bad feeling. However, Fray Hernando de Moraga, a missionary from the Philippines, happened to be in the Peninsula at the time, and successfully implored the King to withhold his ratification of the recommendation of the Commission. His Majesty avowed that even though the maintenance of this Colony should exhaust his Mexican Treasury, his conscience would not allow him to consent to the perdition of souls which had been saved, nor to relinquish the hope of rescuing yet far more in these distant regions.

During the first two centuries following the foundation of the Colony, it was the custom for a Royal Commission to be appointed to inquire into the official acts of the outgoing Governor before he could leave the Islands—Hacérle la residencia, as it was called.

Whilst on the one hand this measure effectually served as a check upon a Governor who might be inclined to adopt unjustifiable means of coercion, or commit defalcations, it was also attended with many abuses; for against an energetic ruler an antagonistic party was always raised, ready to join in the ultimate ruin of the Governor who had aroused their susceptibilities by refusing to favour their nefarious schemes. Hence when a prima facie case was made out against a Governor, his inexperienced successor was often persuaded to consent to his incarceration whilst the articles of impeachment were being investigated.

Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera (1635–44) had been Governor of Panamá before he was appointed to the Philippines. During his term of office here he had usually sided with the Jesuits on important questions taken up by the friars, and on being succeeded by Diego Fajardo, he was brought to trial, fined ₱ 25,000, and put into prison. After five yearsʼ confinement he was released by Royal Order and returned to Spain, where the King partially compensated him with the Government of the Canary Islands.

Juan Vargas (1678–84) had been in office for nearly seven years, and the Royal Commissioner who inquired into his acts took four years to draw up his report. He filled 20 large volumes of a statement of the charges made against the late Governor, some of which were grave, but the majority of them were of a very frivolous character. This is the longest inquiry of the kind on record.

Acting-Governor José Torralba (1715–17) was arrested on the termination of his Governorship and confined in the Fortress of Santiago, charged with embezzlement to the amount of ₱ 700,000. He had also to deposit the sum of ₱ 20,000 for the expenses of the inquiry commission. Several other officials were imprisoned with him as accomplices in his crimes. He is said to have sent his son with public funds on trading expeditions around the coasts, and his wife and young children to Mexico with an enormous sum of money defrauded from the Government. Figures at that date show, that when he took the Government, there was a balance in the Treasury of ₱ 238,849, and when he left it in two years and a half, the balance was ₱ 33,226, leaving a deficit of ₱ 205,623, whilst the expenses of the Colony were not extraordinary during that period. Amongst other charges, he was accused of having sold ten Provincial Government licences (encomiendas), many offices of notaries, scriveners, etc., and conceded 27 monthsʼ gambling licences to the Chinese in the Parian without accounting to the Treasury. He was finally sentenced to pay a fine of ₱ 100,000, the costs of the trial, the forfeiture of the ₱ 20,000 already deposited, perpetual deprivation of public office, and banishment from the Philippine Islands and Madrid. When the Royal Order reached Manila he was so ill that his banishment was postponed. He lived for a short time nominally under arrest, and was permitted to beg alms for his subsistence within the city until he died in the Hospital of San Juan de Dios in 1736.

The defalcations of some of the Governors caused no inconsiderable anxiety to the Sovereign. Pedro de Arandia, in his dual capacity of Gov.-General and Chief Justice (1754–59), was a corrupt administrator of his countryʼs wealth. He is said to have amassed a fortune of ₱ 25,000 during his five yearsʼ term of office, and on his death he left it all to pious works (vide “Obras pias”).

Governor Berenguer y Marquina (1788–93) was accused of bribery, but the King absolved him.

In the last century a Governor of Yloilo is said to have absconded in a sailing-ship with a large sum of the public funds. A local Governor was then also ex-officio administrator; and, although the system was afterwards reformed, official extortion was rife throughout the whole Spanish administration of the Colony, up to the last.

A strange drama of the year 1622 well portrays the spirit of the times—the immunity of a Gov.-General in those days, as well as the religious sentiment which accompanied his most questionable acts. Alonso Fajardo de Tua having suspected his wife of infidelity, went to the house where she was accustomed to meet her paramour. Her attire was such as to confirm her husbandʼs surmises. He called a priest and instructed him to confess her, telling him that he intended to take her life. The priest, failing to dissuade Fajardo from inflicting such an extreme penalty, took her confession and proffered her spiritual consolation. Then Fajardo, incensed with jealousy, mortally stabbed her. No inquiry into the occurrence seems to have been made, and he continued to govern for two years after the event, when he died of melancholy. It is recorded that the paramour, who was the son of a Cádiz merchant, had formerly been the accepted fiancé of Fajardoʼs wife, and that he arrived in Manila in their company. The Governor gave him time to confess before he killed him, after which (according to one account) he caused his house to be razed to the ground, and the land on which it stood to be strewn with salt. Juan de la Concepcion, however, says that the house stood for one hundred years after the event as a memorial of the punishment.

In 1640 Olivarez, King Philip IV.ʼs chief counsellor, had succeeded by his arrogance and unprecedented policy of repression in arousing the latent discontent of the Portuguese. A few years previously they had made an unsuccessful effort to regain their independent nationality under the sovereignty of the Duke of Braganza. At length, when a call was made upon their boldest warriors to support the King of Spain in his protracted struggle with the Catalonians, an insurrection broke out, which only terminated when Portugal had thrown off, for ever, the scourge of Spanish supremacy.

The Duke of Braganza was crowned King of Portugal under the title of John IV., and every Portuguese colony declared in his favour, except Ceuta, on the African coast. The news of the separation of Portugal from Spain reached Manila in the following year. The Gov.-General at that time—Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera—at once sent out an expedition of picked men under Juan Claudio with orders to take Macao,—a Portuguese settlement at the mouth of the Canton River, about 40 miles west of Hongkong. The attempt miserably failed, and the blue-and-white ensign continued to wave unscathed over the little territory. The Governor of Macao, who was willing to yield, was denounced a traitor to Portugal, and killed by the populace. Juan Claudio, who was taken prisoner, was generously liberated by favour of the Portuguese Viceroy of Goa, and returned to Manila to relate his defeat.[3]

The Convent of Santa Clara was founded in Manila in 1621 by Gerónima de la Asuncion, who, three years afterwards, was expelled from the management by the friars because she refused to admit reforms in the conventual regulations. The General Council subsequently restored her to the matronship for 20 years. Public opinion was at this time vividly aroused against the superiors of the convents, who, it was alleged, made serious inroads on society by inveigling the marriageable young women into taking the veil and to live unnatural lives. The public demanded that there should be a fixed limit to the number of nuns admitted. An ecclesiastic of high degree made strenuous efforts to rescue three nuns who had just been admitted, but the abbess persistently refused to surrender them until her excommunication was published on the walls of the nunnery.

In 1750 a certain Mother Cecilia, who had been in the nunnery of Santa Catalina since she was 16 years of age, fell in love with a Spaniard who lived opposite, named Francisco Antonio de Figueroa, and begged to be relieved of her vows and have her liberty restored to her. The Archbishop was willing to grant her request, which was, however, stoutly opposed by the Dominican friars. On appeal being made to the Governor, as viceregal patron, he ordered her to be set at liberty. The friars nevertheless defied the Governor, who, to sustain his authority, was compelled to order the troops to be placed under arms, and the commanding officer of the artillery to hold the cannons in readiness to fire when and where necessary. In view of these preparations, the friars allowed the nun to leave her confinement, and she was lodged in the College of Santa Potenciana pending the dispute. Public excitement was intense. The Archbishop ordered the girl to be liberated, but as his subordinates were still contumacious to his bidding, the Bishop of Cebú was invited to arbitrate on the question, but he declined to interfere, therefore an appeal was remitted to the Archbishop of Mexico. In the meantime the girl was married to her lover, and long afterwards a citation arrived from Mexico for the woman to appear at that ecclesiastical court. She went there with her husband, from whom she was separated whilst the case was being tried, but in the end her liberty and marriage were confirmed.

During the Government of Niño de Tabora (1626–32), the High Host and sacred vessels were stolen from the Cathedral of Manila. The Archbishop was in consequence sorely distressed, and walked barefooted to the Jesuitsʼ convent to weep with the priests, and therein find a solace for his mental affliction. It was surmised that the wrath of God at such a crime would assuredly be avenged by calamities on the inhabitants, and confessions were made daily. The friars agreed to appease the anger of the Almighty by making public penance and by public prayer. The Archbishop subjected himself to a most rigid abstinence. He perpetually fasted, ate herbs, drank only water, slept on the floor with a stone for a pillow, and flagellated his own body. On Corpus Christi day a religious procession passed through the public thoroughfares solemnly exhorting the delinquents to restore the body of Our Saviour, but all in vain. The melancholy prelate, weak beyond recovery from his self-imposed privations, came to the window of his retreat as the cortége passed in front of it, and there he breathed his last.

As in all other Spanish colonies, the Inquisition had its secret agents or commissaries in the Philippines. Sometimes a priest would hold powers for several years to inquire into the private lives and acts of individuals, whilst no one knew who the informer was. The Holy Office ordered that its Letter of Anathema, with the names in full of all persons who had incurred pains and penalties for heresy, should be read in public places every three years, but this order was not fulfilled. The Letter of Anathema was so read in 1669, and the only time since then up to the present day was in 1718.

During the minority of the young Spanish King Charles II. the regency was held by his mother, the Queen-Dowager, who was unfortunately influenced by favourites, to the great disgust of the Court and the people. Amongst these sycophants was a man named Valenzuela, of noble birth, who, as a boy, had followed the custom of those days, and entered as page to a nobleman—the Duke del Infantado—to learn manners and Court etiquette.

The Duke went to Italy as Spanish ambassador, and took Valenzuela under his protection. He was a handsome and talented young fellow, learned for those times,—intelligent, well versed in all the generous exercises of chivalry, and a poet by nature. On his return from Italy with the Duke, his patron caused him to be created a Cavalier of the Order of Saint James. The Duke shortly afterwards died, but through the influence of the Dowager-Queenʼs confessor—the notorious Nitard, also a favourite—young Valenzuela was presented at Court, where he made love to one of the Queenʼs maids-of-honour—a German—and married her. The Prince, Don Juan de Austria, who headed the party against the Queen, expelled her favourite (Nitard) from Court, and Valenzuela became Her Majestyʼs sole confidential adviser. Nearly every night, at late hours, the Queen went to Valenzuelaʼs apartment to confer with him, whilst he daily brought her secret news gleaned from the courtiers. The Queen created him Marquis of San Bartolome and of Villa Sierra, a first-class Grandee of Spain, and Prime Minister. He was a most perfect courtier; and it is related of him that when a bull-fight took place, he used to go to the royal box richly adorned in fighting attire, and, with profound reverence, beg Her Majestyʼs leave to challenge the bull. The Queen, it is said, never refused him the solicited permission, but tenderly begged of him not to expose himself to such dangers. Sometimes he would appear in the ring as a cavalier, in a black costume embroidered with silver and with a large white-and-black plume, in imitation of the Queenʼs half mourning. It was much remarked that on one occasion he wore a device of the sun with an eagle looking down upon it, and the words, “I alone have licence.”

He composed several comedies, and allowed them to be performed at his expense for the free amusement of the people. He also much improved the city of Madrid with fine buildings, bridges, and many public works to sustain his popularity amongst the citizens.

The young King, now a youth, ordered a deer hunt to be prepared in the Escorial grounds; and during the diversion His Majesty happened to shoot Valenzuela in the muscle of his arm, whether intentionally or accidentally is not known. However, the terrified Queen-mother fainted and fell into the arms of her ladies-in-waiting. This circumstance was much commented upon, and contributed in no small degree to the public odium and final downfall of Valenzuela in 1684. At length Don Juan de Austria returned to the Court, when the young King was of an age to appreciate public concerns, and he became more the Court favourite than ever Valenzuela or Nitard had been during the Dowager-Queenʼs administration. Valenzuela fell at once from the exclusive position he had held in royal circles and retired to the Escorial, where, by order of Don Juan de Austria, a party of young noblemen, including Don Juanʼs son, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, the Marquis of Valparaiso, and others of rank, accompanied by 200 horsemen, went to seize the disfavoured courtier. He was out walking at the time of their arrival, but he was speedily apprised of the danger by his bosom friend, the Prior of Saint Jerome Monastery. The priest hid him in the roof of the monastery, where, being nearly suffocated for want of ventilation, a surgeon was sent up to bleed him and make him sleep. The search party failed to find the refugee, and were about to return, when the surgeon treacherously betrayed the secret to them, and Valenzuela was discovered sleeping with arms by his side. He was made prisoner, confined in a castle, degraded of all his honours and rank, and finally banished by Don Juan de Austria to the furthermost Spanish possession in the world—the Philippines,—whilst his family was incarcerated in a convent at Talavera in Spain.

When the Pope heard of this violation of Church asylum in the Escorial committed by the nobles, he excommunicated all concerned in it; and in order to purge themselves of their sin and obtain absolution, they were compelled to go to church in their shirts, each with a rope around his neck. They actually performed this penance, and then the Nuncio accredited to the Spanish Court, Cardinal Mellini, relieved them of their ecclesiastical pains and penalties.

Valenzuela was permitted to establish a house within the prison of Cavite, where he lived for several years as a State prisoner and exile. When Don Juan de Austria died, the Dowager-Queen regained in a measure her influence at Court, and one of the first favours she begged of her son, the King, was the return of Valenzuela to Madrid. The King granted her request, and she at once despatched a ship to bring him to Spain, but the Secretary of State interfered and stopped it. Nevertheless, Valenzuela, pardoned and liberated, set out for the Peninsula, and reached Mexico, where he died from the kick of a horse.

In 1703 a vessel arrived in Manila Bay from India, under an Armenian captain, bringing a young man 35 years of age, a native of Turin, who styled himself Monseigneur Charles Thomas Maillard de Tournon, Visitor-General, Bishop of Savoy, Patriarch of Antioch, Apostolic Nuncio and Legate ad latere of the Pope. He was on his way to China to visit the missions, and called at Manila with eight priests and four Italian families.

Following the custom established with foreign ships, the custodian of the Fort of Cavite placed guards on board this vessel. This act seems to have aroused the indignation of the exalted stranger, who assumed a very haughty tone, and arrogantly insisted upon a verbal message being taken to the Governor (Domingo Sabalburco) to announce his arrival. In Manila these circumstances were much debated, and at length the Governor instructed the custodian of Cavite Fort to accompany the stranger to the City of Manila. On his approach a salute was fired from the city battlements, and he took up his residence in the house of the Maestre de Campo. There the Governor went to visit him as the Popeʼs legate, and was received with great arrogance. However, the Governor showed no resentment; he seemed to be quite dumfounded by the Patriarchʼs dignified airs, and consulted with the Supreme Court about the irregularity of a legate arriving without exhibiting the regium exequatur. The Court decided that the stranger must be called upon to present his Papal credentials and the royal confirmation of his powers with respect to Spanish dominions, and with this object a magistrate was commissioned to wait upon him. The Patriarch treated the commissioner with undisguised contempt, expressing his indignation and surprise at his position being doubted; he absolutely refused to show any credentials, and turned out the commissioner, raving at him and causing an uproarious scandal. At each stage of the negotiations with him the Patriarch put forward the great authority of the Pope, and his unquestionable right to dispose of realms and peoples at his will, and somehow this ruse seemed to subdue everybody; the Governor, the Archbishop, and all the authorities, civil and ecclesiastical, were overawed. The Archbishop, in fact, made an unconditional surrender to the Patriarch, who now declared that all State and religious authority must be subordinate to his will. The Archbishop was ordered by him to set aside his Archiepiscopal Cross, whilst the Patriarch used his own particular cross in the religious ceremonies, and left it in the Cathedral of Manila on his departure. He went so far as to cause his master of the ceremonies to publicly divest the Archbishop of a part of his official robes and insignia, to all which the prelate meekly consented. All the chief authorities visited the Patriarch, who, however, was too dignified to return their calls. Here was, in fact, an extraordinary case of a man unknown to everybody, and refusing to prove his identity, having absolutely brought all the authority of a colony under his sway! He was, as a matter of fact, the legate of Clement XI.

The only person to whom he appears to have extended his friendship was the Maestre de Campo, at the time under ecclesiastical arrest. The Maestre de Campo was visited by the Patriarch, who so ingeniously blinded him with his patronage, that this official squandered about ₱20,000 in entertaining his strange visitor and making him presents. The Patriarch in return insisted upon the Governor and Archbishop pardoning the Maestre de Campo of all his alleged misdeeds, and when this was conceded he caused the pardon to be proclaimed in a public Act. All the Manila officials were treated by the Patriarch with open disdain, but he created the Armenian captain of the vessel which brought him to Manila a knight of the “Golden Spur,” in a public ceremony in the Maestre de Campoʼs house in which the Gov.-General was ignored.

From Manila the Patriarch went to China, where his meddling with the Catholic missions met with fierce opposition. He so dogmatically asserted his unproved authority, that he caused European missionaries to be cited in the Chinese Courts and sentenced for their disobedience; but he was playing with fire, for at last the Emperor of China, wearied of his importunities, banished him from the country. Thence he went to Macao, where, much to the bewilderment of the Chinese population, he maintained constant disputes with the Catholic missionaries until he died there in 1710 in the Inquisition prison, where he was incarcerated at the instance of the Jesuits.

When King Philip V. became aware of what had occurred in Manila, he was highly incensed, and immediately ordered the Gov.-General to Mexico, declaring him disqualified for life to serve under the Crown. The senior magistrates of the Supreme Court were removed from office. Each priest who had yielded to the legateʼs authority without previously taking cognisance of the regium exequatur was ordered to pay ₱1,000 fine. The Archbishop was degraded and transferred from the Archbishopric of Manila to the Bishopric of Guadalajara in Mexico. In spite of this punishment, it came to the knowledge of the King that the ex-Archbishop of Manila, as Bishop of Guadalajara, was still conspiring with the Patriarch to subvert civil and religious authority in his dominions, with which object he had sent him ₱1,000 from Mexico, and had promised a fixed sum of ₱1,000 per annum, with whatever further support he could afford to give him. Therefore the King issued an edict to the effect that any legate who should arrive in his domains without royal confirmation of his Papal credentials should thenceforth be treated simply with the charity and courtesy due to any traveller; and in order that this edict should not be forgotten, or evaded, under pretext of its having become obsolete, it was further enacted that it should be read in full on certain days in every year before all the civil and ecclesiastical functionaries.

[1] From this date the Molucca Islands were definitely evacuated and abandoned by the Spaniards, although as many men and as much material and money had been employed in garrisons and conveyance of subsidies there as in the whole Philippine Colony up to that period.

[2] “Hist. Gen. de Philipinas,” by Juan de la Concepcion, Vol. VII., p. 48, published at Manila, 1788.

[3] Macao is held by the Portuguese since 1557. During the Union of Spain and Portugal (1581–1640), the Dutch made two unsuccessful attempts to seize it (1622 and 1627). This colony was the great European-Chinese emporium prior to Hong-Kong (1841), and paid crown rent to China up to 1848.

British Occupation of Manila

In 1761 King George III. had just succeeded to the throne of England, and the protracted contentions with France had been suspended for a while. It was soon evident, however, that efforts were being made to extinguish the power and prestige of Great Britain, and with this object a convention had been entered into between France and Spain known as the “Family Compact.” It was so called because it was an alliance made by the three branches of the House of Bourbon, namely, Louis XV. of France, Charles III. of Spain, and his son Ferdinand, who, in accordance with the Treaty of Vienna, had ascended the throne of Naples. Spain engaged to unite her forces with those of France against England on May 1, 1762, if the war still lasted, in which case France would restore Minorca to Spain. Pitt was convinced of the necessity of meeting the coalition by force of arms, but he was unable to secure the support of his Ministry to declare war, and he therefore retired from the premiership. The succeeding Cabinet were, nevertheless, compelled to adopt his policy, and after having lost many advantages by delaying their decision, war was declared against France and Spain.

The British were successful everywhere. In the West Indies the Caribbean Islands and Havana were captured with great booty by Rodney and Monckton, whilst a British Fleet was despatched to the Philippine Islands with orders to take Manila.

On September 14, 1762, a British vessel arrived in the Bay of Manila, refused to admit Spanish officers on board, and after taking soundings she sailed again out of the harbour.

In the evening of September 22 the British squadron, composed of 13 ships, under the command of Admiral Cornish, entered the bay, and the next day two British officers were deputed to demand the surrender of the Citadel, which was refused. Brigadier-General Draper thereupon disembarked his troops, and again called upon the city to yield. This citation being defied, the bombardment commenced the next day. The fleet anchored in front of a powder-magazine, took possession of the churches of Malate, Ermita, San Juan de Bagumbayan, and Santiago. Two picket-guards made an unsuccessful sortie against them. The whole force in Manila, at the time, was the Kingʼs regiment, which mustered about 600 men and 80 pieces of artillery. The British forces consisted of 1,500 European troops (one regiment of infantry and two companies of artillery), 3,000 seamen, 800 Sepoy fusileers, and 1,400 Sepoy prisoners, making a total of 6,830 men, including officers.[1]

There was no Gov.-General in the Philippines at the time, and the only person with whom the British Commander could treat was the acting-Governor, the Archbishop Manuel Antonio Rojo, who was willing to yield. His authority was, however, set aside by a rebellious war party, who placed themselves under the leadership of a magistrate of the Supreme Court, named Simon de Anda y Salazar. This individual, instead of leading them to battle, fled to the Province of Bulacan the day before the capture of Manila in a prahu with a few natives, carrying with him some money and half a ream of official stamped paper.[2] He knew perfectly well that he was defying the legal authority of the acting-Governor, and was, in fact, in open rebellion against his mandate. It was necessary, therefore, to give an official colour to his acts by issuing his orders and proclamations on Government-stamped paper, so that their validity might be recognized if he subsequently succeeded in justifying his action at Court.

On September 24 the Spanish batteries of San Diego and San Andres opened fire, but with little effect. A richly laden galleon—the Philipino—was known to be on her way from Mexico to Manila, but the British ships which were sent in quest of her fell in with another galleon—the Trinidad—and brought their prize to Manila. Her treasure amounted to about ₱2,500,000.[3]

A Frenchman resident in Manila, Monsieur Faller, made an attack on the British, who forced him to retire, and he was then accused by the Spaniards of treason. Artillery fire was kept up on both sides. The Archbishopʼs nephew was taken prisoner, and an officer was sent with him to hand him over to his uncle. However, a party of natives fell upon them and murdered them. The officerʼs head having been cut off, it was demanded by General Draper. Excuses were made for not giving it up, and the General determined thenceforth to continue the warfare with vigour and punish this atrocity. The artillery was increased by another battery of three mortars, placed behind the church of Santiago, and the bombardment continued.

Five thousand native recruits arrived from the provinces, and out of this number 2,000 Pampangos were selected. They were divided into three columns, in order to advance by different routes and attack respectively the churches of Santiago, Malate, and Ermita, and the troops on the beach. At each place they were driven back. The leader of the attack on Malate and Ermita—Don Santiago Orendain—was declared a traitor. The two first columns were dispersed with great confusion and loss. The third column retreated before they had sustained or inflicted any loss. The natives fled to their villages in dismay, and on October 5 the British entered the walled city. After a couple of hoursʼ bombardment, the forts of San Andrés and San Eugenio were demolished, the artillery overturned, and the defendersʼ fusileers and sappers were killed.

A council of war was now held by the Spaniards. General Draper sustained the authority of the Archbishop against the war party, composed chiefly of civilians determined to continue the defence in spite of the opinion of the military men, who argued that a capitulation was inevitable. But matters were brought to a crisis by the natives, who refused to repair the fortifications, and the Europeans were unable to perform such hard labour. Great confusion reigned in the city—the clergy fled through the Puerta del Parian, where there was still a native guard. According to Zúñiga, the British spent 20,000 cannon balls and 5,000 shells in the bombardment of the city.

Major Fell entered Manila (Oct. 6) at the head of his troops, and General Draper followed, leading his column unopposed, with two field-pieces in the van, whilst a constant musketry fire cleared the Calle Real (the central thoroughfare) as they advanced. The people fled before the enemy. The gates being closed, they scrambled up the walls and got into boats or swam off.

Colonel Monson was sent by Draper to the Archbishop-Governor to say that he expected immediate surrender. This requisition was disputed by the Archbishop, who presented a paper purporting to be terms of capitulation. The Colonel refused to take it, and demanded an unconditional surrender. Then the Archbishop, a Colonel of the Spanish troops, and Colonel Monson went to interview the General, whose quarters were in the Palace. The Archbishop, offering himself as a prisoner, presented the terms of capitulation, which provided for the free exercise of their religion; security of private property; free trade to all the inhabitants of the Islands, and the continuation of the powers of the Supreme Court to keep order amongst the ill-disposed. These terms were granted, but General Draper, on his part, stipulated for an indemnity of four millions of pesos, and it was agreed to pay one half of this sum in specie and valuables and the other half in Treasury bills on Madrid. The capitulation, with these modifications, was signed by Draper and the Archbishop-Governor. The Spanish Colonel took the document to the Fort to have it countersigned by the magistrates, which was at once done; the Fort was delivered up to the British, and the magistrates repaired to the Palace to pay their respects to the conquerors.

When the British flag was seen floating over the Fort of Santiago there was great cheering from the British Fleet. The Archbishop stated that when Draper reviewed the troops, more than 1,000 men were missing, including sixteen officers. Among these officers were a Major fatally wounded by an arrow on the first day of the assault, and the Vice-Admiral, who was drowned whilst coming ashore in a boat.

The natives who had been brought from the provinces to Manila were plundering and committing excesses in the city, so Draper had them all driven out. Guards were placed at the doors of the nunneries and convents to prevent outrages on the women, and then the city was given up to the victorious troops for pillage during three hours. Zúñiga, however, remarks that the European troops were moderate, but that the Indian contingents were insatiable. They are said to have committed many atrocities, and, revelling in bloodshed, even murdered the inhabitants. They ransacked the suburbs of Santa Cruz and Binondo, and, acting like savage victorious tribes, they ravished women, and even went into the highways to murder and rob those who fled. The three hours having expired, the troops were called in, but the following day a similar scene was permitted. The Archbishop thereupon besought the General to put a stop to it, and have compassion on the city. The General complied with this request, and immediately restored order under pain of death for disobedience. Some Chinese were in consequence hanged. General Draper himself killed one whom he found in the act of stealing, and he ordered that all Church property should be restored, but only some priestsʼ vestments were recovered.

Draper demanded the surrender of Cavite, which was agreed to by the Archbishop and magistrates, but the Commanding Officer refused to comply. The Major of that garrison was sent with a message to the Commander, but on the way he talked with such freedom about the surrender to the British, that the natives quitted their posts and plundered the Arsenal. The Commander, rather than face humiliation, retired to a ship, and left all further responsibility to the Major.

Measures were now taken to pay the agreed indemnity. However, the consequent heavy contributions levied upon the inhabitants, together with the silver from the pious establishments, church ornaments, plate, the Archbishopʼs rings and breast-cross, only amounted to ₱546,000. The British then proposed to accept one million at once and draw the rest from the cargo of the galleon Philipino, should it result that she had not been seized by the British previous to the day the capitulation was signed—but the one million was not forthcoming. The day before the capture of Manila a royal messenger had been sent off with ₱111,000, with orders to hide them in some place in the Laguna de Bay. The Archbishop now ordered their return to Manila, and issued a requisition to that effect, but the Franciscan friars were insubordinate, and armed the natives, whom they virtually ruled, and the treasure was secreted in Majayjay Convent (Tayabas Province). Thence, on receipt of the Archbishopʼs message, it was carried across country to a place in North Pampanga, bordering on Cagayán and Pangasinán. The British, convinced that they were being duped, insisted on their claim. Thomas Backhouse, commanding the troops stationed at Pasig, went up to the Laguna de Bay with 80 mixed troops, to intercept the bringing of the Philipino treasure. He attacked Tunasan, Vinan and Santa Rosa, and embarked for Pagsanján, which was then the capital of the Laguna Province. The inhabitants, after firing the convent and church, fled. Backhouse returned to Calamba, entered the Province of Batangas, overran it, and made several Austin friars prisoners. In Lipa he seized ₱3,000, and established his quarters there, expecting that the Philipino treasure would be carried that way; but on learning that it had been transported by sea to a Pampanga coast town, Backhouse returned to his post at Pasig.

In the capitulation, the whole of the Archipelago was surrendered to the British, but the magistrate Simon de Anda determined to appeal to arms. Draper used stratagem, and issued a proclamation commiserating the fate of the natives who paid tribute to Spaniards, and assuring them that the King of England would not exact it. The Archbishop, as Governor, became Draperʼs tool, sent messages to the Spanish families, persuading them to return, and appointed an Englishman, married in the country, to be Alderman of Tondo. Despite the strenuous opposition of the Supreme Court, the Archbishop, at the instance of Draper, convened a council of native headmen and representative families, and proposed to them the cession of all the Islands to the King of England. Draper clearly saw that the ruling powers in the Colony, judging from their energy and effective measures, were the friars, so he treated them with great respect. The Frenchman Faller, who unsuccessfully opposed the British assault, was offered troops to go and take possession of Zamboanga and assume the government there, but he refused, as did also a Spaniard named Sandoval.

Draper returned to Europe; Major Fell was left in command of the troops, whilst Drake assumed the military government of the city, with Smith and Brock as council, and Brereton in charge of Cavite. Draper, on leaving, gave orders for two frigates to go in search of the Philipino treasure. The ships got as far as Capul Island and put into harbour. They were detained there by a ruse on the part of a half-caste pilot, and in the meantime the treasure was stealthily carried away.

Simon de Anda, from his provincial retreat, proclaimed himself Gov.-General. He declared that the Archbishop and the magistrates, as prisoners of war, were dead in the eye of the law; and that his assumption of authority was based upon old laws. None of his countrymen disputed his authority, and he established himself in Bacolor. The British Council then convened a meeting of the chief inhabitants, at which Anda was declared a seditious person and deserving of capital punishment, together with the Marquis of Monte Castro, who had violated his parole dʼhonneur, and the Provincial of the Austin Friars, who had joined the rebel party. All the Austin friars were declared traitors for having broken their allegiance to the Archbishopʼs authority. The British still pressed for the payment of the one million, whilst the Spaniards declared they possessed no more. The Austin friars were ordered to keep the natives peaceable if they did not wish to provoke hostilities against themselves. At length, the British, convinced of the futility of decrees, determined to sally out with their forces, and 500 men under Thomas Backhouse went up the Pasig River to secure a free passage for supplies to the camp. Whilst opposite to Maybonga, a Spaniard, named Bustos, and his Cagayán troops fired on them. The British returned the fire, and Bustos fled to Mariquina. The British passed the river, and sent an officer with a white flag of truce to demand surrender. Bustos was insolent, and threatened to hang the officer if he returned. Backhouseʼs troops then opened fire and placed two field-pieces, which completely scared the natives, who fled in such great confusion that many were drowned in the river. Thence the British drove their enemy before them like a flock of goats, and reached the Bamban River, where the Sultan of Sulu[4] resided with his family. The Sultan, after a feigned resistance, surrendered to the British, who fortified his dwelling, and occupied it during the whole of the operations. There were subsequent skirmishes on the Pasig River banks with the armed insurgents, who were driven as far as the Antipolo Mountains.

Meanwhile, Anda collected troops; and Bustos, as his Lieutenant-General, vaunted the power of his chief through the Bulacan and Pampanga Provinces. A Franciscan and an Austin friar, having led troops to Masilo, about seven miles from Manila, the British went out to dislodge them, but on their approach most of the natives feigned they were dead, and the British returned without any loss in arms or men.

The British, believing that the Austin friars were conspiring against them in connivance with those inside the city, placed these friars in confinement, and subsequently shipped away eleven of them to Europe. For the same reason they at last determined to enter the Saint Augustine Convent, and on ransacking it, they found that the priests had been lying to them all the time. Six thousand pesos in coin were found hidden in the garden, and large quantities of wrought silver elsewhere. The whole premises were then searched, and all the valuables were seized. A British expedition went out to Bulacan, sailing across the Bay and up the Hagonoy River, where they disembarked at Malolos on January 19, 1763. The troops, under Captain Eslay, of the Grenadiers, numbered 600 men, many of whom were Chinese volunteers. As they advanced from Malolos, the natives and Spaniards fled. On the way to Bulacan, Bustos came out to meet them, but retreated into ambush on seeing they were superior in numbers. Bulacan Convent was defended by three small cannons. As soon as the troops came in sight of the convent, a desultory fire of case-shot made great havoc in the ranks of the resident Chinese volunteers forming the British vanguard. At length the British brought their field-pieces into action, and pointing at the enemyʼs cannon, the first discharge carried off the head of their artilleryman Ybarra. The panic-stricken natives decamped; the convent was taken by assault; there was an indiscriminate fight and general slaughter. The Alcalde and a Franciscan friar fell in action; one Austin friar escaped, and another was seized and killed to avenge the death of the British soldiers. The invading forces occupied the convent, and some of the troops were shortly sent back to Manila. Bustos reappeared near the Bulacan Convent with 8,000 native troops, of whom 600 were cavalry, but they dared not attack the British. Bustos then manoeuvred in the neighbourhood and made occasional alarms. Small parties were sent out against him, with so little effect that the British Commander headed a body in person, and put the whole of Bustosʼ troops to flight like mosquitoes before a gust of wind, for Bustos feared they would be pursued into Pampanga. After clearing away the underwood, which served as a covert for the natives, the British reoccupied the convent; but Bustos returned to his position, and was a second time as disgracefully routed by the British, who then withdrew to Manila.

At this time it was alleged that a conspiracy was being organized amongst the Chinese resident in the Province of Pampanga with the object of assassinating Anda and his Spanish followers. The Chinese cut trenches and raised fortifications, avowing that their bellicose preparations were only to defend themselves against the possible attack of the British; whilst the Spaniards saw in all this a connivance with the invaders. The latter no doubt conjectured rightly. Anda, acting upon the views of his party, precipitated matters by appearing with 14 Spanish soldiers and a crowd of native bowmen to commence the slaughter in the town of Guagua. The Chinese assembled there in great numbers, and Anda endeavoured in vain to induce them to surrender to him. He then sent a Spaniard, named Miguel Garcés, with a message, offering them pardon in the name of the King of Spain if they would lay down their arms; but they killed the emissary, and Anda therefore commenced the attack. The result was favourable for Andaʼs party, and great numbers of the Chinese were slain. Many fled to the fields, where they were pursued by the troops, whilst those who were captured were hanged. Such was the inveterate hatred which Anda entertained for the Chinese, that he issued a general decree declaring all the Chinese traitors to the Spanish flag, and ordered them to be hanged wherever they might be found in the provinces. Thus thousands of Chinese were executed who had taken no part whatever in the events of this little war.

Admiral Cornish having decided to return to Europe, again urged for the payment of the two millions of pesos instalment of the indemnity. The Archbishop was in great straits; he was willing to do anything, but his colleagues opposed him, and Cornish was at length obliged to content himself with a bill on the Madrid Treasury. Anda appointed Bustos Alcalde of Bulacan, and ordered him to recruit and train troops, as he still nurtured the hope of confining the British to Manila—perhaps even of driving them out of the Colony.

The British in the city were compelled to adopt the most rigorous precautions against the rising of the population within the walls, and several Spanish residents were arrested for intriguing against them in concert with those outside.

Several French prisoners from Pondicherry deserted from the British; and some Spanish regular troops, who had been taken prisoners, effected their escape. The Fiscal of the Supreme Court and a Señor Villa Corta were found conspiring. The latter was caught in the act of sending a letter to Anda, and was sentenced to be hanged and quartered—the quarters to be exhibited in public places. The Archbishop, however, obtained pardon for Villa Corta on the condition that Anda should evacuate the Pampanga Province: Villa Corta wrote to Anda, begging him to accede to this, but Anda absolutely refused to make any sacrifice to save his friendʼs life, and at the same time he wrote a disgraceful letter to the Archbishop, couched in such insulting terms that the British Commander burnt it without letting the Archbishop see it. Villa Cortaʼs life was saved by the payment of ₱3,000.

The treasure brought by the Philipino served Anda to organize a respectable force of recruits. Spaniards who were living in the provinces in misery, and a crowd of natives always ready for pay, enlisted. These forces, under Lieut.-General Bustos, encamped at Malinta, about five miles from Manila. The officers lodged in a house belonging to the Austin friars, around which the troops pitched their tents—the whole being defended by redoubts and palisades raised under the direction of a French deserter, who led a company. From this place Bustos constantly caused alarm to the British troops, who once had to retreat before a picket-guard sent to carry off the church bells of Quiapo. The British, in fact, were much molested by Bustosʼ Malinta troops, who forced the invaders to withdraw to Manila and reduce the extension of their outposts. This measure was followed up by a proclamation, dated January 23, 1763, in which the British Commander alluded to Bustosʼ troops as “canaille and robbers,” and offered a reward of ₱5,000 for Andaʼs head, declaring him and his party rebels and traitors to their Majesties the Kings of Spain and England. Anda, chafing at his impotence to combat the invading party by force of arms, gave vent to his feelings of rage and disappointment by issuing a decree, dated from Bacolor (Pampanga), May 19, 1763, of which the translated text reads as follows, viz.:—

“Royal Government Tribunal of these Islands for His Catholic Majesty:—Whereas the Royal Government Tribunal, Supreme Government and Captain-Generalship of His Catholic Majesty in these Islands are gravely offended at the audacity and blindness of those men, who, forgetting all humanity, have condemned as rebellious and disobedient to both their Majesties, him, who as a faithful vassal of His Catholic Majesty, and in conformity with the law, holds the Royal Tribunal, Government and Captain-Generalship; and having suffered by a reward being offered by order of the British Governor in council to whomsoever shall deliver me alive or dead; and by their having placed the arms captured in Bulacan at the foot of the gallows—seeing that instead of their punishing and censuring such execrable proceedings, the spirit of haughtiness and pride is increasing, as shown in the proclamation published in Manila on the 17th instant, in which the troops of His Majesty are infamously calumniated—treating them as blackguards and disaffected to their service—charging them with plotting to assassinate the English officers and soldiers, and with having fled when attacked—the whole of these accusations being false: Now therefore by these presents, be it known to all Spaniards and true Englishmen, that Messrs. Drake, Smith and Brock who signed the proclamation referred to, must not be considered as vassals of His Britannic Majesty, but as tyrants and common enemies unworthy of human society, and therefore, I order that they be apprehended as such, and I offer ten thousand pesos for each one of them alive or dead. At the same time, I withdraw the order to treat the vassals of His Britannic Majesty with all the humanity which the rights of war will permit, as has been practised hitherto with respect to the prisoners and deserters.”

Anda had by this time received the consent of his King to occupy the position which he had usurped, and the British Commander was thus enabled to communicate officially with him, if occasion required it: Drake therefore replied to this proclamation, recommending Anda to carry on the war with greater moderation and humanity.

On June 27, 1763, the British made a sortie from the city to dislodge Bustos, who still occupied Malinta. The attacking party consisted of 350 fusileers, 50 horsemen, a mob of Chinese, and a number of guns and ammunition. The British took up quarters on one side of the river, whilst Bustos remained on the other. The opposing parties exchanged fire, but neither cared nor dared to cross the water-way. The British forces retired in good order to Masilo, and remained there until they heard that Bustos had burnt Malinta House, belonging to the Austin friars, and removed his camp to Meycauayan. Then the British withdrew to Manila in the evening. On the Spanish side there were two killed, five mortally wounded, and two slightly wounded. The British losses were six mortally wounded and seven disabled. This was the last encounter in open warfare. Chinamen occasionally lost their lives through their love of plunder in the vicinity occupied by the British.

During these operations the priesthood taught the ignorant natives to believe that the invaders were infidels—and a holy war was preached. The friars, especially those of the Augustine Order,[5] abandoned their mission of peace for that of the sword, and the British met with a slight reverse at Masilo, where a religious fanatic of the Austin friars had put himself at the head of a small band lying in ambush.

On July 23, 1763, a British frigate brought news from Europe of an armistice, and the preliminaries of peace, by virtue of which Manila was to be evacuated (Peace of Paris, February 10, 1763), were received by the British Commander on August 27 following, and communicated by him to the Archbishop-Governor for the “Commander-in-Chief” of the Spanish arms. Anda stood on his dignity, and protested that he should be addressed directly, and be styled Captain-General. On this plea he declined to receive the communication. Drake replied by a manifesto, dated September 19, to the effect that the responsibility of the blood which might be spilt in consequence of Andaʼs refusal to accept his notification would rest with him. Anda published a counter-manifesto, dated September 28, in Bacolor (Pampanga), protesting that he had not been treated with proper courtesy, and claiming the governor-generalship.

Greater latitude was allowed to the prisoners, and Villa Corta effected his escape disguised as a woman. He fled to Anda,—the co-conspirator who had refused to save his life,—and their superficial friendship was renewed. Villa Corta was left in charge of business in Bacolor during Andaʼs temporary absence. Meanwhile the Archbishop became ill; and it was discussed who should be his successor in the government in the event of his death. Villa Corta argued that it fell to him as senior magistrate. The discussion came to the knowledge of Anda, and seriously aroused his jealousy. Fearing conspiracy against his ambitious projects, he left his camp at Polo, and hastened to interrogate Villa Corta, who explained that he had only made casual remarks in the course of conversation. Anda, however, was restless on the subject of the succession, and sought the opinion of all the chief priests and the bishops. Various opinions existed. Some urged that the decision be left to the Supreme Court; others were in favour of Anda, whilst many prudently abstained from expressing their views. Anda was so nervously anxious about the matter that he even begged the opinion of the British Commander, and wrote him on the subject from Bacolor (Pampanga) on November 2, 1763.

Major Fell seriously quarrelled with Drake about the Frenchman Faller, whom Admiral Cornish had left under sentence of death for having written a letter to Java accusing him of being a pirate and a robber. Drake protected Faller, whilst Fell demanded his execution, and the dispute became so heated that Fell was about to slay Drake with a bayonet, but was prevented by some soldiers. Fell then went to London to complain of Drake, hence Andaʼs letter was addressed to Backhouse, who took Fellʼs place. Anda, who months since had refused to negotiate or treat with Drake, still claimed to be styled Captain-General. Backhouse replied that he was ignorant of the Spaniardsʼ statutes or laws, but that he knew the Governor was the Archbishop. Anda thereupon spread the report that the British Commander had forged the Preliminaries of Peace because he could no longer hold out in warfare. The British necessarily had to send to the provinces to purchase provisions, and Anda caused their forage parties to be attacked, so that the war really continued, in spite of the news of peace, until January 30, 1764. On this day the Archbishop died, sorely grieved at the situation, and weighed down with cares. He had engaged to pay four millions of pesos and surrender the Islands, but could he indeed have refused any terms? The British were in possession; and these conditions were dictated at the point of the bayonet.

Immediately after the funeral of the Archbishop, Anda received despatches from the King of Spain, by way of China, confirming the news of peace to his Governor at Manila. Then the British acknowledged Anda as Governor, and proceeded to evacuate the city. But rival factions were not so easily set aside, and fierce quarrels ensued between the respective parties of Anda, Villa Corta, and Ustariz as to who should be Governor and receive the city officially from the British. Anda, being actually in command of the troops, held the strongest position. The conflict was happily terminated by the arrival at Marinduque Island of the newly-appointed Gov.-General, from Spain, Don Francisco de La Torre. A galley was sent there by Anda to bring His Excellency to Luzon, and he proceeded to Bacolor, where Anda resigned the Government to him on March 17, 1764.

La Torre sent a message to Backhouse and Brereton—the commanding officers at Manila and Cavite,—stating that he was ready to take over the city in due form, and he thereupon took up his residence in Santa Cruz, placed a Spanish guard with sentinels from that ward as far as the Pontoon Bridge (Puente de Barcas, which then occupied the site of the present Puente de España), where the British advance-guard was, and friendly communication took place. Governor Drake was indignant at being ignored in all these proceedings, and ordered the Spanish Governor to withdraw his guards, under threat of appealing to force. Backhouse and Brereton resented this rudeness and ordered the troops under arms to arrest Drake, whose hostile action, due to jealousy, they declared unwarrantable. Drake, being apprised of their intentions, escaped from the city with his suite, embarked on board a frigate, and sailed off.

La Torre was said to be indisposed on the day appointed for receiving the city. Some assert that he feigned indisposition as he did not wish to arouse Andaʼs animosity, and desired to afford him an opportunity of displaying himself as a delegate, at least, of the highest local authority by receiving the city from the British, whilst he pampered his pride by allowing him to enter triumphantly into it. As the city exchanged masters, the Spanish flag was hoisted once more on the Fort of Santiago amidst the hurrahs of the populace, artillery salutes, and the ringing of the church bells.

Before embarking, Brereton offered to do justice to any claims which might legitimately be established against the British authorities. Hence a sloop lent to Drake, valued at ₱4,000, was paid for to the Jesuits, and the ₱3,000 paid to ransom Villa Cortaʼs life was returned, Brereton remarking, that if the sentence against him were valid, it should have been executed at the time, but it could not be commuted by money payment. At the instance of the British authorities, a free pardon was granted and published to the Chinese, few of whom, however, confided in it, and many left with the retiring army. Brereton, with his forces, embarked for India, after despatching a packet-boat to restore the Sultan of Sulu to his throne. In connection with this expedition, 150 British troops temporarily remained on the Island of Balambangan, near Balabac Island, and Anda sent a messenger to inquire about this. The reply came that the Moros, in return for British friendliness, invited the hundred and fifty to a feast and treacherously slew 144 of them.

During this convulsed period, great atrocities were committed. Unfortunately the common felons were released by the British from their prisons, and used their liberty to perpetrate murders and robbery in alliance with those always naturally bent that way. So great did this evil become, so bold were the marauders, that in time they formed large parties, infested highways, attacked plantations, and the poor peasantry had to flee, leaving their cattle and all their belongings in their power. Several avenged themselves of the friars for old scores—others settled accounts with those Europeans who had tyrannized over them of old. The Chinese, whether so-called Christians or pagans, declared for and aided the British.

The proceedings of the choleric Simon de Anda y Salazár were approved by his Sovereign, but his impetuous disposition drove from him his best counsellors, whilst those who were bold enough to uphold their opinions against his, were accused of connivance with the British. Communications with Europe were scant indeed in those days, but Anda could not have been altogether ignorant of the causes of the war, which terminated with the Treaty of Paris.

A few months afterwards Anda returned to Spain and was received with favour by the King, who created him a Cavalier of the Order of Charles III. with a pension of 4,000 reales (about £40), and awarded him a pension of 3,000 pesos, and on November 6, 1767, appointed him a Councillor of Castile. In the course of the next three years Gov.-General José Raon, who superseded La Torre, had fallen into disgrace, and in 1770 Anda was appointed to the governor-generalship of the Islands, specially charged to carry out the royal will with respect to the expulsion of the Jesuits and the defence of Crown rights in ecclesiastical matters.

Anda at once found himself in conflict with the Jesuits, the friars, and the out-going Gov.-General Raon. As soon as Raon vacated his post, Anda, as Gov.-General, had his predecessor confined in the Fort of Santiago, where he died. At the same time he sent back to Spain two magistrates who had sided with Raon, imprisoned other judges, and banished military officers from the capital. Andaʼs position was a very peculiar one. A partisan of the friars at heart, he had undertaken the defence of Crown interests against them, but, in a measure, he was able to palliate the bitterness he thus created by expelling the Jesuits, who were an eyesore to the friars. The Jesuits might easily have promoted a native revolt against their departure, but they meekly submitted to the decree of banishment and left the Islands, taking away nothing but their clothing. Having rid himself of his rivals and the Jesuits, Anda was constantly haunted by the fear of fresh conflict with the British. He had the city walls repaired and created a fleet of ships built in the provinces of Pangasinán, Cavite, and Zambales, consisting of one frigate of war with 18 cannon, another with 32 cannon, besides 14 vessels of different types, carrying a total of 98 cannon and 12 swivel guns, all in readiness for the British who never reappeared.

Born on October 28, 1709, in the Province of Alava, Spain, Simon de Andaʼs irascible temper, his vanity, and his extravagant love of power created enmities and brought trouble upon himself at every step. Exhausted by six years of continual strife in his private and official capacities, he retired to the Austin Friarsʼ Hospital of San Juan de Dios, in Cavite, where, on October 30, 1776, he expired, much to the relief of his numerous adversaries. The last resting-place of his mortal remains is behind the altar of the Cathedral, marked by a tablet; and a monument erected to his memory—107 years after his death—stands on the quayside at the end of the Paseo de Santa Lucia, near the Fort of Santiago, Manila.

Consequent on the troubled state of the Colony, a serious rebellion arose in Ylogan (Cagayán Province) amongst the Timava natives, who flogged the Commandant, and declared they would no longer pay tribute to the Spaniards. The revolt spread to Ilocos and Pangasinán; in the latter province Don Fernando Araya raised a troop of 30 Spaniards with firearms, and 400 friendly natives with bows and arrows, and after great slaughter of the rebels the ringleaders were caught, and tranquillity was restored by the gallows.

A rising far more important occurred in Ilocos Sur. The Alcalde was deposed, and escaped after he had been forced to give up his staff of office. The leader of this revolt was a cunning and wily Manila native, named Diego de Silan, who persuaded the people to cease paying tribute and declare against the Spaniards, who, he pointed out, were unable to resist the English. The City of Vigan was in great commotion. The Vicar-General parleyed in vain with the natives; then, at the head of his troops, he dispersed the rebels, some of whom were taken prisoners. But the bulk of the rioters rallied and attacked, and burnt down part of the city. The loyal natives fled before the flames. The Vicar-Generalʼs house was taken, and the arms in it were seized. All the Austin friars within a large surrounding neighbourhood had to ransom themselves by money payments. Silan was then acknowledged as chief over a large territory north and south of Vigan. He appointed his lieutenants, and issued a manifesto declaring Jesus of Nazareth to be Captain-General of the place, and that he was His Alcalde for the promotion of the Catholic religion and dominion of the King of Spain. His manifesto was wholly that of a religious fanatic. He obliged the natives to attend Mass, to confess, and to see that their children went to school. In the midst of all this pretended piety, he stole cattle and exacted ransoms for the lives of all those who could pay them; he levied a tax of ₱100 on each friar. Under the pretence of keeping out the British, he placed sentinels in all directions to prevent news reaching the terrible Simon de Anda. But Anda, though fully informed by an Austin friar of what was happening, had not sufficient troops to march north. He sent a requisition to Silan to present himself within nine days, under penalty of arrest as a traitor. Whilst this order was published, vague reports were intentionally spread that the Spaniards were coming to Ilocos in great force. Many deserted Silan, but he contrived to deceive even the clergy and others by his feigned piety. Silan sent presents to Manila for the British, acknowledging the King of England to be his legitimate Sovereign. The British Governor sent, in return, a vessel bearing despatches to Silan, appointing him Alcalde. Elated with pride, Silan at once made this public. The natives were undeceived, for they had counted on him to deliver them from the British; now, to their dismay, they saw him the authorized magistrate of the invader. He gave orders to make all the Austin friars prisoners, saying that the British would send other clergy in their stead. The friars surrendered themselves without resistance and joined their Bishop near Vigan, awaiting the pleasure of Silan. The Bishop excommunicated Silan, and then he released some of the priests. The christian natives having refused to slay the friars, a secret compact was being made, with this object, with the mountain tribes, when a Spanish half-caste named Vicos obtained the Bishopʼs benediction and killed Silan; and the Ilocos rebellion, which had lasted from December 14, 1762, to May 28, 1763, ended.

Not until a score of little battles had been fought were the numerous riots in the provinces quelled. The loyal troops were divided into sections, and marched north in several directions, until peace was restored by March, 1765. Zúñiga says that the Spaniards lost in these riots about 70 Europeans and 140 natives, whilst they cost the rebels quite 10,000 men.

The submission made to the Spaniards, in the time of Legaspi, of the Manila and Tondo chiefs, was but of local importance, and by no means implied a total pacific surrender of the whole Archipelago; for each district had yet to be separately conquered. In many places a bold stand was made for independence, but the superior organization and science of the European forces invariably brought them final victory.

The numerous revolutionary protests registered in history against the Spanish dominion show that the natives, from the days of Legaspi onwards, only yielded to a force which they repeatedly, in each generation, essayed to overthrow. But it does not necessarily follow that either the motives which inspired the leaders of these social disturbances, or the acts themselves, were, in every case, laudable ones.

The Pampanga natives were among the first to submit, but a few years afterwards they were in open mutiny against their masters, who, they alleged, took their young men from their homes to form army corps, and busily employed the able-bodied men remaining in the district to cut timber for Government requirements and furnish provisions to the camp and to the Arsenal at Cavite.

In 1622 the natives of Bojol Island erected an oratory in the mountain in honour of an imaginary deity, and revolted against the tyranny of the Jesuit missionaries. They proclaimed their intention to regain their liberty, and freedom from the payment of tribute to foreigners, and taxes to a Church they did not believe in. Several towns and churches were burnt, and Catholic images were desecrated, but the rebels were dispersed by the Governor of Cebú, who, with a considerable number of troops, pursued them into the interior. In the same island a more serious rising was caused in 1744 by the despotism of a Jesuit priest named Morales, who arrogated to himself governmental rights, ordering the apprehension of natives who did not attend Mass, and exercising his sacerdotal functions according to his own caprice. The natives resisted these abuses, and a certain Dagóhoy, whose brotherʼs body had been left uninterred to decompose by the priestʼs orders, organized a revenge party, and swore to pay the priest in his own coin. The Jesuit was captured and executed, and his corpse was left four days in the sun to corrupt. Great numbers of disaffected natives flocked to Dagóhoyʼs standard. Their complaint was, that whilst they risked their lives in foreign service for the sole benefit of their European masters, their homes were wrecked and their wives and families maltreated to recover the tribute. Dagóhoy, with his people, maintained his independence for the space of 35 years, during which period it was necessary to employ constantly detachments of troops to check the rebelsʼ raids on private property. On the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Colony, Recoleto friars went to Bojol, and then Dagóhoy and his partisans submitted to the Government on the condition of all receiving a full pardon.

In 1622 an insurrection was set on foot in Leyte Island against Spanish rule, and the Governor of Cebú went there with 40 vessels, carrying troops and war material, to co-operate with the local Governor against the rebels. The native leader was made prisoner, and his head placed on a high pole to strike terror into the populace. Another prisoner was garrotted, four more were publicly executed by being shot with arrows, and another was burnt.

In 1629 an attempt was made in the Province of Surigao (then called Caraga), in the east of Mindanao Island, to throw off the Spanish yoke. Several churches were burnt and four priests were killed by the rebels, and the rising was only quelled after three yearsʼ guerilla warfare.

In 1649 the Gov.-General decided to supply the want of men in the Arsenal at Cavite and the increasing necessity for troops, by pressing the natives of Sámar Island into the Kingʼs service. Thereupon a native headman named Sumoroy killed the priest of Ybabao, on the east coast of Sámar, and led the mob who sacked and burnt the churches along the coast. The Governor at Catbalogan got together a few men, and sent them into the mountains with orders to send him back the head of Sumoroy, but instead of obeying they joined the rebels and sent him a pigʼs head. The revolt increased, and General Andrés Lopez Azáldegui was despatched to the island with full powers from the Gov.-General, whilst he was supported on the coast by armed vessels from Zamboanga. Sumoroy fled to the hills, but his mother was found in a hut; and the invading party wreaked their vengeance on her by literally pulling her to pieces. Sumoroy was at length betrayed by his own people, who carried his head to the Spanish Captain, and this officer had it exhibited on a pole in the village. Some years afterwards another rebel chief surrendered, under a pardon obtained for him by the priests, but the military authorities imprisoned and then hanged him.

The riots of 1649 extended to other provinces for the same cause. In Albay, the parish priest of Sorsogón had to flee for his life; in Masbate Island, a sub-lieutenant was killed; in Zamboanga, a priest was murdered; in Cebú, a Spaniard was assassinated; and in Surigao (then called Caraga) and Butuan, many Europeans fell victims to the fury of the populace. To quell these disturbances, Captain Gregorio de Castillo, stationed at Butuan, was ordered to march against the rebels with a body of infantry, but bloodshed was avoided by the Captain publishing a general pardon in the name of the King, and crowds of insurgents came to the camp in consequence. The Kingʼs name, however, was sullied, for very few of those who surrendered ever regained their liberty. They were sent prisoners to Manila, where a few were pardoned, others were executed, and the majority became galley-slaves.

In 1660 there was again a serious rising in Pampanga, the natives objecting to cut timber for the Cavite Arsenal without payment. The revolt spread to Pangasinán Province, where a certain Andrés Málong was declared king, and he in turn gave to another—Pedro Gumapos—the title of “Count.” Messages were sent to Zambales and other adjacent provinces ordering the natives to kill the Spaniards, under pain of incurring “King” Málongʼs displeasure.

Three army-corps were formed by the rebels: one of 6,000 men, under Melchor de Veras, for the conquest of Pampanga; another of 3,000 men, led by the titular count Gumapos, to annex Ilocos and Cagayán, whilst the so-called King Málong took the field against the Pangasinán people at the head of 2,000 followers. Ilocos Province declared in his favour, and furnished a body of insurgents under a chief named Juan Manzano, whilst everywhere on the march the titular kingʼs troops increased until they numbered about 40,000 men. On the way many Spaniards—priests and laymen—were killed. The Gov.-General sent by land to Pampanga 200 Spanish troops, 400 Pampangos and half-breeds, well armed and provisioned, and Mount Arayat was fortified and garrisoned by 500 men. By sea: two galleys, six small vessels, and four cargo launches—carrying 700 Spaniards and half-breeds, and 30 Pampangos—went to Bolinao, in Zambales Province. The rebels were everywhere routed, and their chiefs were hanged—some in Pampanga and others in Manila.

Almost each generation has called forth the strong arm of the conqueror to extinguish the flame of rebellion in one island or another, the revolt being sometimes due to sacerdotal despotism, and at other times to official rapacity.

In the last century, prior to 1896, several vain attempts to subvert Spanish authority were made, notably in 1811 in Ilocos, where the fanatics sought to establish a new religion and set up a new god. An attempt was then made to enlist the wild tribes in a plot to murder all the Spaniards, but it was opportunely discovered by the friars and suppressed before it could be carried out.

In June, 1823, an order was received from Spain to the effect that officers commissioned in the Peninsula should have precedence of all those appointed in the Colony, so that, for instance, a lieutenant from Spain would hold local rank above a Philippine major. The Philippine officers protested against this anomaly, alleging that the commissions granted to them in the name of the Sovereign were as good as those granted in Spain. The Gov.-General refused to listen to the objections put forward, and sent Captain Andrés Novales and others on board a ship bound for Mindanao. Novales, however, escaped to shore, and, in conspiracy with a certain Ruiz, attempted to overthrow the Government. At midnight all Manila was aroused by the cry of “Long live the Emperor Novales!” Disaffected troops promenaded the city; the people sympathized with the movement; flags were waved as the rebels passed through the streets; the barrack used by Novalesʼ regiment was seized; the Cathedral and Town Hall were occupied, and at 6 oʼclock in the morning Andrés Novales marched to Fort Santiago, which was under the command of his brother Antonio. To his great surprise, the brother Antonio stoutly refused to join in the rising, and Andrésʼ expostulations and exhortations were finally met with a threat to fire on him if he did not retire. Meanwhile, the Gov.-General remained in hiding until he heard that the fort was holding out against Andrésʼ assault, when he sent troops to assist the defenders. Hemmed in between the fort and the troops outside, Andrés Novales and Ruiz made their escape, but they were soon taken prisoners. Andrés Novales was found hiding underneath the drawbridge of the Puerta Real. The Gov.-General at once ordered Andrés Novales, Ruiz, and Antonio Novales to be executed. The Town Council then went in a body to the Gov.-General to protest against the loyal defender of Fort Santiago being punished simply because he was Andrés Novalesʼ brother. The Gov.-General, however, threatened to have shot any one who should say a word in favour of the condemned.

In a garden of the episcopal palace, near the ancient Puerta del Postigo, the execution of the three condemned men was about to take place, and crowds of people assembled to witness it. At the critical moment an assessor of the Supreme Court shouted to the Gov.-General that to take the life of the loyal defender of the fort, solely on the ground of his relationship to the rebel leader, would be an iniquity. His words found a sympathetic echo among the crowd, and the Gov.-General, deadly pale with rage, yielded to this demonstration of public opinion. Antonio Novales was pardoned, but the strain on his nerves weakened his brain, and he lived for many years a semi-idiot in receipt of a monthly pension of 14 pesos.

In 1827 the standard of sedition was raised in Cebú and a few towns of that island, but these disturbances were speedily quelled through the influence of the Spanish friars.

In 1828 a conspiracy of a separatist tendency was discovered, and averted without bloodshed.

In 1835 Feliciano Páran took the field against the Spaniards in Cavite Province, and held out so effectually that the Gov.-General came to terms with him and afterwards deported him to the Ladrone Islands.

In 1836 there was much commotion of a revolutionary character, the peculiar feature of it being the existence of pro-friar and anti-friar native parties, the former seeking to subject absolutely the civil government to ecclesiastical control.[6]

In 1841 a student for the priesthood, named Apolinario de la Cruz, affected with religious mania, placed himself at the head of a fanatical party in Tayabas, ostensibly for the purpose of establishing a religious sect. Some thousands of natives joined the movement, and troops had to be sent to suppress the rising. Having assumed the title of King of the Tagálogs, he pretended to have direct heavenly support, telling the ignorant masses that he was invulnerable and that the soldiersʼ bullets would fly from them like chaff before the wind.

In 1844, during a rising at Jimamaylan, in Negros Island, the Spanish Governor was killed. The revolt is said to have been due to the Governor having compelled the State prisoners to labour for his private account.

In 1854 a Spanish half-caste, named Cuesta, came back from Spain with the rank of major, and at once broke out into open rebellion. The cry was for independence, and four Luzon provinces rose in his support; but the movement was crushed by the troops and Cuesta was hanged.

In 1870 a certain Camerino raised rebellion in Cavite province, and after many unsuccessful attempts to capture him he came to terms with the Gov.-General, who gave him a salaried employment for a couple of years and then had him executed on the allegation that he was concerned in the rising of Cavite Arsenal.

In 1871 there existed a Secret Society of reformers who used to meet in Santa Cruz (Manila) at the house of the Philippine priest, Father Mariano.[7] From the house proper a narrow staircase led to a cistern about 25 feet square, in the side of which there was a door which closed perfectly. The cistern was divided into two unequal parts, the top compartment being full of water, whilst the lower part served as the reformersʼ conference room, so that if search were made, the cistern was, in fact, a cistern.

Among the members of this confraternity were Father Agustin Mendoza, the parish priest of Santa Cruz; Dr. José Búrgos, also a native priest; Máximo Paterno, the father of Pedro A. Paterno; Ambrosio Rianzares Bautista; and others still living (some personally known to me), under the presidency of José Maria Basa (now residing in Hong-Kong). This Secret Society demanded reforms, and published in Madrid their organ, Eco de Filipinas, copies of which reached the Islands. The copy for the paper was the result of the societyʼs deliberations. The monks, incensed at its publication, were, for a long time, puzzled to find out whence the information emanated. Many of the desired reforms closely affected the position of the regular clergy, the Philippine priests, led by Dr. Búrgos, urging the fulfilment of the Council of Trent decisions, which forbade the friars to hold benefices unless there were no secular priests available.

It appears that the friars, nevertheless, secured these ecclesiastical preferments by virtue of Papal Bulls of Pius V. and subsequent Popes, who authorized friars to act as parish priests, not in perpetuity, but so long as secular clergymen were insufficient in number to attend to the cure of souls. The native party consequently declared that the friars retained their incumbencies illegally and by intrusion, in view of the sufficiency of Philippine secular priests. Had the Council of Trent enactments been carried out to the letter, undoubtedly the religious communities in the Philippines would have been doomed to comparative political impotence. The friars, therefore, sought to embroil Dr. Búrgos and his party in overt acts of sedition, in order to bring about their downfall and so quash the movement. To this end they contrived to draw a number of Manila and Cavite natives into a conspiracy to subvert the Spanish Government. The native soldiers of the Cavite garrison were induced to co-operate in what they believed to be a genuine endeavour to throw off the Spanish dominion. They were told that rockets fired off in Manila would be the signal for revolt. It happened, however, that they mistook the fireworks of a suburban feast for the agreed signal and precipitated the outbreak in Cavite without any support in the capital. The disaffected soldiers seized the Arsenal, whilst others attacked the influential Europeans. Colonel Sábas was sent over to Cavite to quell the riot, and after a short, but stubborn resistance, the rebels were overcome, disarmed, and then formed up in line. On Colonel Sábas asking if there were any one who would not cry, “Viva España!” one man stepped forward a few paces out of the ranks. The Colonel shot him dead, and the remainder were marched to prison.

The ruse operated effectually on the lay authorities, who yielded to the Spanish monksʼ demand that the extreme penalty of the law should be inflicted upon their opponents. Thereupon, Dr. José Búrgos (aged 30 years), Father Jacinto Zamora (aged 35 years), and Father Mariano Gomez[8] (a dotard, 85 years of age) were executed (February 28, 1872) on the Luneta, the fashionable esplanade outside the walled city, facing the sea.

The friars then caused a bill of indictment to be put forward by the Public Prosecutor, in which it was alleged that a Revolutionary Government had been projected. The native clergy were terror-stricken. It was decreed that whilst the Filipinos already acting as parish priests would not be deposed, no further appointments would be made, and the most the Philippine novice could aspire to would be the position of coadjutor—practically servant—to the friar incumbent. Moreover, the opportunity was taken to banish to the Ladrone (Marianas) Islands many members of wealthy and influential families whose passive resistance was an eyesore to the friars. Among these was the late Máximo Paterno (q.v.), the father of Pedro A. Paterno; also Dr. Antonio M. Regidor y Jurado and José Maria Basa, who are still living.[9]

In 1889 I visited a penal settlement—La Colonia Agrícola de San Ramón—in Mindanao Island, and during my stay at the directorʼs house I was every day served at table by a native convict who was said to have been nominated by the Cavite rebels to the Civil Governorship of Manila. There was, however, no open trial from which the public could form an opinion of the merits of the case, and the idea of subverting the Spanish Government would appear to have been a fantastic concoction for the purposes stated. But from that date there never ceased to exist a secret revolutionary agitation which culminated in the events of 1898.

[1] Zúñigaʼs History, Vol II., Chap xii., English translation, published in London, 1814.

[2] Crónica de los P. P. Dominicos, Vol. IV., pp. 637 to 650, edition of Rivadenayra, published in Madrid.

[3] This money constituted the Manila merchantsʼ specie remittances from Acapulco, together with the Mexican subsidy to support the administration of this Colony, which was merely a dependency of Mexico up to the second decade of last century (vide Chap. xv.).

[4] Vicissitudes of Sultan Mahamad Alimudin (vide Chap. x.).

[5] So tenacious was the opposition of the Austin friars, both in Manila and the provinces, that the British appear to have regarded them as their special foes.

From the archives of Bauan Convent, Province of Batangas, I have taken the following notes, viz.:—The Austin friars lost ₱ 238,000 and 15 convents. Six of their estates were despoiled. The troops killed were 300 Spaniards, 500 Pampanga natives, and 300 Tagálog natives. Besides the Austin friars from the galleon Trinidad, who were made prisoners and shipped to Bombay, 10 of their Order were killed in battle and 19 were captured and exiled to India and Europe.

[6] The prominent men in this movement were the brothers Palmero, maternal uncles of the well-known Spanish soldier-politician, General Marcelo Azcárraga.

Born in 1832 in Manila, General Marcelo Azcárraga was the son of José Azcárraga, a Biscayan Spaniard, and his creole wife Dr. Maria Palmero. José Azcárraga was a bookseller, established in the Escolta (Binondo), in a building (burnt down in October, 1885) on the site where stood the General Post Office up to June, 1904. In the fire of 1885 the first MS. of the first edition of this work was consumed, and had to be re-written. José Azcárraga had several sons and daughters. His second son, Marcelo, first studied law at St. Thomasʼ University, and then entered the Nautical School, where he gained the first prize in mathematics. Sent to Spain to continue his studies, he entered the Military School, and in three yearsʼ time obtained the rank of Captain. For his services against the OʼDonnell revolutionary movement (1854) in Madrid, he was promoted to Major. At the age of twenty-three he obtained the Cross of San Fernando (with pension). Having served Spain with distinction in several important missions to Mexico, Cuba, and Sto. Domingo, he returned to Cuba and espoused the daughter of the great banker, Fesser, who gave him a fortune of £20,000 on the day of his marriage. In the year of Isabella II.ʼs deposition (1868) he returned to Spain, promoted the Bourbon restoration, and became Lieut.-General on the proclamation of Alfonso XII. (1875). He then became successively M.P., Senator by election, and life Senator. He was Minister of War under Cánovas del Castillo, on whose assassination (Aug. 8, 1897) he became Prime Minister of the Interim Government specially charged to keep order until after the unpopular marriage of the Princess of Asturias. After several Ministerial changes he again took the leadership of the Government, was lately President of the Senate, and on his retirement, at the age of seventy-two, he received the Toison de Oro (Golden Fleece)—the most elevated Order in Spain. On his motherʼs side he descends from the Philippine creole family of the Conde de Lizárraga, and is uncle to the Conde de Albay, better known in Philippine society as Señor Govantes.

[7] It was practically a secret branch of the Junta General de Reformas authorized to discuss reforms, and created by the Colonial Minister Becerra during the governor-generalship of General La Torre in the time of the Provisional Government in Spain which succeeded the deposed Queen Isabella II.

[8] He was the grandfather of one of the most conspicuous surviving generals of the Tagálog Rebellion (1896) and the War of Independence (1899).

[9] José Maria Basa was the son of Matias Basa, a builder and contractor by trade, who made a contract with the Spanish Government to fill up the stream which branched from the Pasig River and crossed the Escolta (Manila), where now stands the street called Calle de San Jacinto. In consideration of this work he was permitted to build houses on the reclaimed land, provided he made a thoroughfare where the former bed of the rivulet existed. This undertaking made his fortune. His son, José Maria, had several trading schemes, the most prosperous of which was his distillery at Trozo (Manila), which brought him large profits, and was a flourishing concern in 1872. On being amnestied, he established himself in Hong-Kong, where he is still living with his family in easy circumstances and highly respected. His unbounded hospitality to all who know him, and especially to his countrymen, has justly earned for him in Hong-Kong the title of the “Father of the Filipinos.”

Dr. Antonio Maria Regidor y Jurado, a young lawyer, was arrested and banished to the Ladrone Islands, whence he afterwards escaped to Hong-Kong in a foreign vessel, disguised as a priest. From that Colony he found his way to France, where he intended to settle, but eventually established himself in London, where he still holds a high position as a Spanish consulting lawyer. By his marriage with an Irish lady, he has a son and several charming daughters, his well-appointed home being the rendezvous of all the best class of Filipinos who visit the British metropolis.

The Chinese

Long before the foundation of Manila by Legaspi in 1571 the Chinese traded with these Islands. Their locus standi, however, was invariably a critical one, and their commercial transactions with the semi-barbarous Philippine Islanders were always conducted afloat. Often their junks were boarded and pillaged by the natives, but, in spite of the immense risk incurred, the Chinese lacked nothing in their active pursuit. Their chief home port was Canton.

Legaspi soon perceived the advantages which would accrue to his conquest by fostering the development of commerce with these Islands; and, as an inducement to the Chinese to continue their traffic, he severely punished all acts of violence committed against them.

In the course of time the Chinese had gained sufficient confidence under European protection, to come ashore with their wares. In 1588, Chinese were already paying rent for the land they occupied. Some writers assert that they propagated their religious doctrines as well as their customs, but nothing can be found to confirm this statement, and a knowledge of Chinese habits inclines one to think it most improbable. In their trading junks they frequently carried their idols, as a Romish priest carries his missal when he travels. The natives may have imitated the Chinese religious rites years before the Spaniards came. There is no evidence adduced to prove that they made any endeavour to proselytize the natives as the Spaniards did. On the other hand, there is reason to believe that some idols, lost by the Chinese in shipwreck and piratical attacks, have been, and still are, revered by the natives as authenticated miraculous images of Christian Saints (vide “Holy Child of Cebú” and “Our Lady of Cagsaysay”).

The Chinese contributed, in a large measure, to bring about a state of order and prosperity in the new Colony, by the introduction of their small trades and industries; and their traffic in the interior, and with China, was really beneficial, in those times, to the object which the conquerors had in view. So numerous, however, did they become, that it was found necessary to regulate the growing commerce and the modus vivendi of the foreign traders.

In the bad weather they were unable to go to and from their junks, and, fearing lest under such circumstances the trade would fall off, the Government determined to provide them with a large building called the Alcayceria. The contract for its construction was offered to any private person or corporation willing to take it up on the following terms, viz.:—The original cost, the annual expense of maintenance, and the annual rents received from the Chinese tenants were to be equally shared by the Government and the contractor. The contract was accepted by a certain Fernando de Mier y Noriega, who was appointed bailiff of the Alcayceria for life, and the employment was to be hereditary in his family, at a salary of 50 pesos per month. However, when the plan was submitted to the Government, it was considered too extensive, and was consequently greatly reduced, the Government defraying the total cost (₱ 48,000). The bailiffʼs salary was likewise reduced to ₱ 25 per month, and only the condition of sharing rent and expense of preservation was maintained. The Alcayceria, was a square of shops, with a back store, and one apartment above each tenement. It was inaugurated in 1580, in the Calle de San Fernando, in Binondo, opposite to where is now the Harbour-Masterʼs Office, and within firing range of the forts. In the course of years this became a ruin, and on the same site Government Stores were built in 1856. These, too, were wrecked in their turn by the great earthquake of 1863. In the meantime, the Chinese had long ago spread far beyond the limits of the Alcayceria, and another centre had been provided for them within the City of Manila. This was called the Parian, which is the Mexican word for market-place. It was demolished by Government order in 1860, but the entrance to the city at that part (constructed in 1782) still retains the name of Puerta del Parian.

Hence it will be seen that from the time of the conquest, and for generations following, the Spanish authorities offered encouragement and protection to the Chinese.

Dr. Antonio Morga, in his work on the Philippines, p. 349, writes (at the close of the 16th century): “It is true the town cannot exist without the Chinese, as they are workers in all trades and business, and very industrious and work for small wages.”

Juan de la Concepcion writes[1] (referring to the beginning of the 17th century); “Without the trade and commerce of the Chinese, these dominions could not have subsisted.” The same writer estimates the number of Chinese in the Colony in 1638 at 33,000.[2]

In 1686 the policy of fixing the statutory maximum number of Chinese at 6,000 was discussed, but commercial conveniences outweighed its adoption. Had the measure been carried out, it was proposed to lodge them all in one place within easy cannon range, in view of a possible rising.

In 1755 it was resolved to expel all non-Christian Chinese, but a term was allowed for the liquidation of their affairs and withdrawal. By June 30, 1755, the day fixed for their departure from Manila, 515 Chinamen had been sharp enough to obtain baptism as Christians, in order to evade the edict, besides 1,108 who were permitted to remain because they were studying the mysteries and intricacies of Christianity. 2,070 were banished from Manila, the expulsion being rigidly enforced on those newly arriving in junks.

Except a few Europeans and a score of Western Asiatics, the Chinese who remained were the only merchants in the Archipelago. The natives had neither knowledge, tact, energy, nor desire to compete with them. The Chinese were a boon to the Colony, for, without them, living would have been far dearer—commodities and labour of all kinds more scarce, and the export and import trade much embarrassed. The Chinese and the Japanese are really the people who gave to the natives the first notions of trade, industry, and fruitful work. The Chinese taught them, amongst many other useful things, the extraction of saccharine juice from the sugar-cane, the manufacture of sugar, and the working of wrought iron. They introduced into the Colony the first sugar-mills with vertical stone crushers, and iron boiling-pans.

The history of the last 150 years shows that the Chinese, although tolerated, were always regarded by the Spanish colonists as an unwelcome race, and the natives have learnt, from example, to despise them. From time to time, especially since the year 1763, the feeling against them has run very high.

The public clamoured for restrictions on their arrival, impediments to the traffic of those already established there, intervention of the authorities with respect to their dwellings and mode of living, and not a few urged their total expulsion. Indeed, such influence was brought to bear on the Indian Council at Madrid during the temporary Governorship of Juan Arechedera, Bishop of Nueva Segovia (1745–50), that the Archbishop received orders to expel the Chinese from the Islands; but, on the ground that to have done so would have prejudiced public interests, he simply archived the decree. Even up to the close of Spanish rule, the authorities and the national trading class considered the question from very distinct points of view; for the fact is, that only the mildest action was taken—just enough to appease the wild demands of the people. Still, the Chinaman was always subject to the ebb and flow of the tide of official goodwill, and only since 1843 were Chinese shops allowed to be opened on the same terms as other foreigners. There are now streets of Chinese shops.

The Chinaman is always ready to sell at any price which will leave him a trifling nett gain, whereas the native, having earned sufficient for his immediate wants, would stubbornly refuse to sell his wares except at an enormous profit.

Again, but for Chinese coolie competition,[3] constant labour from the natives would have been almost unprocurable. The native day-labourer would work two or three days, and then suddenly disappear. The active Chinaman goes day after day to his task (excepting only at the time of the Chinese New Year, in January or February), and can be depended upon; thus the needy native was pushed, by alien competition, to bestir himself. In my time, in the port of Yloilo, four foreign commercial houses had to incur the expense and risk of bringing Chinese coolies for loading and discharging vessels, whilst the natives coolly lounged about and absolutely refused to work. Moreover, the exactions of the native create a serious impediment to the development of the Colony. Only a very small minority of the labouring class will put their hands to work without an advance on their wages, and will often demand it without any guarantee whatsoever. If a native is commissioned to perform any kind of service, he will refuse to stir without a sum of money beforehand, whilst the Chinese very rarely expect payment until they have given value for it. Only the direst necessity will make an unskilled native work steadily for several weeks for a wage which is only to be paid when due. There is scarcely a single agriculturist who is not compelled to sink a share of his capital in making advances to his labourers, who, nevertheless, are in no way legally bound thereby to serve the capitalist; or, whether they are or not, the fact is, that a large proportion of this capital so employed must be considered lost. There are certain lines of business quite impossible without the co-operation of Chinese, and their exclusion will be a loss to the Colony.

Taxes were first levied on the Mongol traders in 1828. In 1852 a general reform of the fiscal laws was introduced, and the classification of Chinese dealers was modified. They were then divided into four grades or classes, each paying contributions according to the new tariff.

In 1886 the universal depression, which was first manifest in this Colony in 1884, still continued. Remedies of most original character were suggested in the public organs and private circles, and a renewed spasmodic tirade was directed against the Chinese. A petition, made and signed by numbers of the retail trading class, was addressed to the Sovereign; but it appears to have found its last resting-place in the Colonial Secretaryʼs waste-paper basket. The Americans in the United States and Mexico were in open riot against the Celestials—the Governments of Australia had imposed a capitation tax on their entry[4]—in British Columbia there was a party disposed to throw off its allegiance to Great Britain rather than forego its agitation against the Chinese. Why should not the Chinese be expelled from the Philippines, it was asked, or at least be permitted only to pursue agriculture in the Islands? In 1638, around Calamba and along the Laguna shore, they tilled the land; but the selfishness and jealousy of the natives made their permanence impossible. In 1850 the Chinese were invited to take up agriculture, but the rancorous feeling of the natives forced them to abandon the idea, and to seek greater security in the towns.

The chief accusation levelled against the Chinaman is, that he comes as an adventurer and makes money, which he carries away, without leaving any trace of civilization behind him. The Chinese immigrant is of the lowest social class. Is not the dream of the European adventurer, of the same or better class, to make his pile of dollars and be off to the land of his birth? If he spends more money in the Colony than the Chinaman does, it is because he lacks the Chinamanʼs self-abnegation and thriftiness. Is the kind of civilization taught in the colonies by low-class European settlers superior?

The Chinaman settled in the Philippines under Spanish rule was quite a different being to the obstinate, self-willed, riotous coolie in Hong-Kong or Singapore. In Manila he was drilled past docility—in six months he became even fawning, cringing, and servile, until goaded into open rebellion. Whatever position he might attain to, he was never addressed (as in the British Colonies) as “Mr.” or “Esqre,” or the equivalent, “Señor D.,” but always “Chinaman ——” (“Chino ——”).

The total expulsion of the Chinese in Spanish times would have been highly prejudicial to trade. Had it suited the State policy to check the ingress of the Chinese, nothing would have been easier than the imposition of a ₱50 poll tax. To compel them to take up agriculture was out of the question in a Colony where there was so little guarantee for their personal safety. The frugality, constant activity, and commendable ambition of the Celestial clashes with the dissipation, indolence and want of aim in life of the native. There is absolutely no harmony of thought, purpose, or habit between the Philippine Malay native and the Mongol race, and the consequence of Chinese coolies working on plantations without ample protection would be frequent assassinations and open affray. Moreover, a native planter could never manage, to his own satisfaction or interest, an estate worked with Chinese labour, but the European might. The Chinese is essentially of a commercial bent, and, in the Philippines at least, he prefers taking his chance as to the profits, in the bubble and risk of independent speculation, rather than calmly labour at a fixed wage which affords no stimulus to his efforts.

Plantations worked by Chinese owners with Chinese labour might nave succeeded, but those who arrived in the Colony brought no capital, and the Government never offered them gratuitous allotment of property. A law relating to the concession of State lands existed (”Terrenos baldíos” and “Colonias agrícolas”), but it was enveloped in so many entanglements and so encompassed by tardy process and intricate conditions, that few Orientals or Europeans took advantage of it.

History records that in the year 1603 two Chinese Mandarins came to Manila as Ambassadors from their Emperor to the Gov.-General of the Philippines. They represented that a countryman of theirs had informed His Celestial Majesty of the existence of a mountain of gold in the environs of Cavite, and they desired to see it. The Gov.-General welcomed them, and they were carried ashore by their own people in ivory and gilded sedan-chairs. They wore the insignia of High Mandarins, and the Governor accorded them the reception due to their exalted station. He assured them that they were entirely misinformed respecting the mountain of gold, which could only be imaginary, but, to further convince them, he accompanied them to Cavite. The Mandarins shortly afterwards returned to their country. The greatest anxiety prevailed in Manila. Rumours circulated that a Chinese invasion was in preparation. The authorities held frequent councils, in which the opinions were very divided. A feverish consternation overcame the natives, who were armed, and ordered to carry their weapons constantly. The armoury was overhauled. A war plan was discussed and adopted, and places were singled out for each division of troops. The natives openly avowed to the Chinese that whenever they saw the first signs of the hostile fleet arriving they would murder them all. The Chinese were accused of having arms secreted; they were publicly insulted and maltreated; the cry was falsely raised that the Spaniards had fixed the day for their extermination; they daily saw weapons being cleaned and put in order, and they knew that there could be no immediate enemy but themselves. There was, in short, every circumstantial evidence that the fight for their existence would ere long be forced upon them.

In this terrible position they were constrained to act on the offensive, simply to ensure their own safety. They raised fortifications in several places outside the city, and many an unhappy Chinaman had to shoulder a weapon reluctantly with tears in his eyes. They were traders. War and revolution were quite foreign to their wishes. The Christian rulers compelled them to abandon their adopted homes and their chattels, regardless of the future. What a strange conception the Chinese must have formed of His Most Catholic Majesty! In their despair many of them committed suicide. Finally, on the eve of Saint Francisʼ Day, the Chinese openly declared hostilities—beat their war-gongs, hoisted their flags, assaulted the armed natives, and threatened the city. Houses were burnt, and Binondo was besieged. They fortified Tondo; and the next morning Luis Perez Dasmariñas, an ex-Gov.-General, led the troops against them. He was joined by 100 picked Spanish soldiers under Tomás de Acuña. The nephew of the Governor and the nephew of the Archbishop rallied to the Spanish standard nearly all the flower of Castilian soldiery—and hardly one was left to tell the tale! The bloodshed was appalling. The Chinese, encouraged by this first victory, besieged the city, but after a prolonged struggle they were obliged to yield, as they could not provision themselves.

The retreating Chinese were pursued far from Manila along the Laguna de Bay shore, thousands of them being overtaken and slaughtered or disabled. Reinforcements met them on the way, and drove them as far as Batangas Province and into the Mórong district (now included in Rizal Province). The natives were in high glee at this licence to shed blood unresisted—so in harmony with their natural instincts. It is calculated that 24,000 Chinese were slain or captured in this revolt.

The priests affirm positively that during the defence of the city Saint Francis appeared in person on the walls to stimulate the Christians—thus the victory was ascribed to him.

This ruthless treatment of a harmless and necessary people—for up to this event they had proved themselves to be both—threatened to bring its own reward. They were the only industrious, thriving, skilful, wealth-producing portion of the population. There were no other artificers or tradespeople in the Colony. Moreover, the Spaniards were fearful lest their supplies from China of food for consumption in Manila,[5] and manufactured articles for export to Mexico, should in future be discontinued. Consequently they hastened to despatch an envoy to China to explain matters, and to reassure the Chinese traders. Much to their surprise, they found the Viceroy of Canton little concerned about what had happened, and the junks of merchandise again arrived as heretofore.

Notwithstanding the memorable event of 1603, another struggle was made by the Chinese 36 years afterwards. In 1639, exasperated at the official robbery and oppression of a certain doctor, Luis Arias do Mora, and the Governor of the Laguna Province, they rose in open rebellion and killed these officials in the town of Calamba. So serious was the revolt that the Gov.-General went out against them in person. The rebels numbered about 30,000, and sustained, for nearly a year, a petty warfare all around. The images of the Saints were promenaded in the streets of Manila; it was a happy thought, for 6,000 Chinese coincidentally surrendered. During this conflict an edict was published ordering all the Chinese in the provinces to be slain.

In 1660 there was another rising of these people, which terminated in a great massacre.

The Spaniards now began to reflect that they had made rather a bad bargain with the Mongol traders in the beginning, and that the Government would have done better had they encouraged commerce with the Peninsula. Up to this time the Spaniards had vainly reposed on their laurels as conquerors. They squandered lives and treasure on innumerable fruitless expeditions to Gamboge, Cochin China, Siam, Pegu, Japan, and the Moluccas, in quest of fresh glories, instead of concentrating their efforts in opening up this Colony and fostering a Philippine export trade, as yet almost unknown, if we exclude merchandise from China, etc., in transit to Mexico. From this period restrictions were, little by little, placed on the introduction of Chinese; they were treated with arrogance by the Europeans and Mexicans, and the jealous hatred which the native to this day feels for the Chinaman now began to be more openly manifested. The Chinaman had, for a long time past, been regarded by the European as a necessity—and henceforth an unfortunate one.

Nevertheless, the lofty Spaniard who by favour of the King had arrived in Manila to occupy an official post without an escudo too much in his pocket, did not disdain to accept the hospitality of the Chinese. It was formerly their custom to secure the goodwill and personal protection of the Spanish officials by voluntarily keeping lodging-houses ready for their reception. It is chronicled that these gratuitous residences were well furnished and provided with all the requisites procurable on the spot. For a whole century the Spaniards were lulled with this easy-going and felicitous state of things, whilst the insidious Mongol, whose clear-sighted sagacity was sufficient to pierce the thin veil of friendship proffered by his guest, was ever prepared for another opportunity of rising against the dominion of Castile, of which he had had so many sorry experiences since 1603. The occasion at last arrived during the British occupation of Manila in 1763. The Chinese voluntarily joined the invaders, but were unable to sustain the struggle, and it is estimated that some 6,000 of them were murdered in the provinces by order of the notorious Simon de Anda (vide p. 93). They menaced the town of Pasig—near Manila—and Fray Juan de Torres, the parish priest, put himself at the head of 300 natives, by order of his Prior, Fray Andrés Fuentes, to oppose them, and the Chinese were forced to retire.

On October 9, 1820, a general massacre of Chinese, British, and other foreigners took place in Manila and Cavite. Epidemic cholera had affected the capital and surrounding districts; great numbers of natives succumbed to its malignant effects, and they accused the foreigners of having poisoned the drinking-water in the streams. Foreign property was attacked and pillaged—even ships lying in the bay had to sail off and anchor out afar for safety. The outbreak attained such grave proportions that the clergy intervened to dissuade the populace from their hallucination. The High Host was carried through the streets, but the rioters were only pacified when they could find no more victims.

Amongst other reforms concerning the Chinese which the Spanish colonists and Manila natives called for in 1886, through the public organs, was that they should be forced to comply with the law promulgated in 1867, which provided that the Chinese, like all other merchants, should keep their trade-books in the Spanish language. The demand had the appearance of being based on certain justifiable grounds, but in reality it was a mere ebullition of spite intended to augment the difficulties of the Chinese.

The British merchants and bankers are, by far, those who give most credit to the Chinese. The Spanish and native creditors of the Chinese are but a small minority, taking the aggregate of their credits, and instead of seeking malevolently to impose new hardships on the Chinese, they could have abstained from entering into risky transactions with them. All merchants are aware of the Chinese trading system, and none are obliged to deal with them. A foreign house would give a Chinaman credit for, say, £300 to £400 worth of European manufactured goods, knowing full well, from personal experience, or from that of others, that the whole value would probably never be recovered. It remained a standing debt on the books of the firm. The Chinaman retailed these goods, and brought a small sum of cash to the firm, on the understanding that he would get another parcel of goods, and so he went on for years.[6] Thus the foreign merchants practically sunk an amount of capital to start their Chinese constituents. Sometimes the acknowledged owner and responsible man in one Chinese retail establishment would have a share in, or own, several others. If matters went wrong, he absconded abroad, and only the one shop which he openly represented could be embargoed, whilst his goods were distributed over several shops under any name but his. It was always difficult to bring legal proof of this; the books were in Chinese, and the whole business was in a state of confusion incomprehensible to any European. But these risks were well known beforehand. It was only then that the original credit had to be written off by the foreigner as a nett loss—often small when set against several years of accumulated profits made in successive operations.

The Chinese have guilds or secret societies for their mutual protection, and it is a well-ascertained fact that they had to pay the Spanish authorities very dearly for the liberty of living at peace with their fellow-men. If the wind blew against them from official quarters the affair brought on the tapis was hushed up by a gift. These peace-offerings, at times of considerable value, were procured by a tax privately levied on each Chinaman by the headmen of their guilds. In 1880–83 the Gov.-General and other high functionaries used to accept Chinese hospitality, etc.

In December, 1887, the Medal of Civil Merit was awarded to a Chinaman named Sio-Sion-Tay, resident in Binondo, whilst the Government for several years had made contracts with the Chinese for the public service. Another Chinaman, christened in the name of Cárlos Palanca, was later on awarded the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic, with the title of Excellency.

Many Chinese have adopted Christianity, either to improve their social standing, or to be enabled thereby to contract marriage with natives. Their intercessor and patron is Saint Nicholas, since the time, it is said, that a Chinaman, having fallen into the Pasig River, was in danger of being eaten by an alligator, and saved himself by praying to that saint, who caused the monster to turn into stone. The legendary stone is still to be seen near the left bank of the river.

There appears to be no perfectly reliable data respecting the number of Chinese residents in the Archipelago. In 1886 the statistics differed largely. One statistician published that there was a total of 66,740 men and 194 women, of whom 51,348 men and 191 women lived in Manila and suburbs, 1,154 men and 3 women in Yloilo, and 983 men in Cebú, the rest being dispersed over the coast villages and the interior. The most competent local authorities in two provinces proved to me that the figures relating to their districts were inexact, and all other information on the subject which I have been able to procure tends to show that the number of resident Chinese was underrated. I estimate that just before the Rebellion of 1896 there were 100,000 Chinese in the whole Colony, including upwards of 40,000 in and around the capital.

Crowds of Chinese passed to these Islands via Sulu (Joló), which, as a free port, they could enter without need of papers. Pretending to be resident colonists there, they managed to obtain passports to travel on business for a limited period in the Philippines, but they were never seen again in Sulu.

In Spanish times the Chinaman was often referred to as a Macao or a Sangley. The former term applied to those who came from Southern China (Canton, Macao, Amoy, etc.). They were usually cooks and domestic servants. The latter signified the Northern Chinaman of the trading class. The popular term for a Chinaman in general was a Suya.

In Manila and in several provincial towns where the Chinese residents were numerous, they had their own separate “Tribunals” or local courts, wherein minor affairs were managed by petty governors of their own nationality, elected bi-annually, in the same manner as the natives. In 1888 the question of admitting a Chinese Consulate in the Philippines was talked of in official circles, which proves that the Government was far from seeing the “Chinese question” in the same light as the Spanish or native merchant class. In the course of time they acquired a certain consideration in the body politic, and deputations of Chinese were present in all popular ceremonies during the last few years of Spanish rule.

Wherever the Chinese settle they exhibit a disposition to hold their footing, if not to strengthen it, at all hazards, by force if need be. In Sarawak their Secret Societies threatened to undermine the prosperity of that little State, and had to be suppressed by capital punishment. Since the British occupation of Hong-Kong in 1841, there have been two serious movements against the Europeans. In 1848 the Chinese murdered Governor Amiral of Macao, and the colonists had to fight for their lives. In Singapore the attempts of the Chinese to defy the Government called for coercive measures, but the danger is small, because the immigrant Chinaman has only the courage to act in mobs.

In Australia and the United States it was found necessary to enact special laws regulating the ingress of Mongols. Under the Spanish-Philippine Government the most that could be said against them, as a class, was that, through their thrift and perseverance, they outran the shopkeeping class in the race of life.

The Insular Government “Chinese Exclusion Act,” at present in operation, permits those Chinese who are already in the Islands to remain conditionally, but rigidly debars fresh immigration. The corollary is that, in the course of a few years, there will be no Chinese in the Philippines. The working of the above Act is alluded to in Chapter xxxi.

Under a native Government their lot is not likely to be a happy one. One of the aims of the Tagálog Revolutionists was to exclude the Chinese entirely from the Islands.

[1] “Hist. Gen. de Philipinas,” by Juan de la Concepcion, Vol. IV., p. 53. Published in Manila, 1788.

[2] Ibid., Vol. V., p. 429.

[3] About two per thousand of the resident Chinese were not originally coolies.

[4] General Wong Yung Ho, accompanied by a Chinese Justice of the High Court, visited Australia in the middle of the year 1887. In a newspaper of that Colony, it was reported that after these persons had been courteously entertained and shown the local institutions and industries, they had the effrontery to protest against the State Laws, and asked for a repeal of the “poll tax”—considered there the only check upon a Chinese coolie inundation!

[5] Just before the naval engagement of Playa Honda between Dutch and Spanish ships (vide p. 75) the Dutch intercepted Chinese junks on the way to Manila, bringing, amongst their cargoes of food, as many as 12,000 capons.

[6] Since about the year 1885, this system, which entailed severe losses, gradually fell into disuse, and business on cash terms became more general.

Wild Tribes and Pagans

The population of the Philippines does not consist of one homogeneous race; there are Mahometans, Pagans, and Christians, the last being in the majority. The one tribe is just as much “Filipino” as the other, and, from the point of view of nationality, they are all equally fellow-countrymen.[1] So far as tradition serves to elucidate the problem of their origin, it would appear that the Filipinos are a mixed people, descendants of Papuan, Arabian, Hindoo, Malay, Japanese, Chinese, and European forefathers.[2]

According to the last census (1903), the uncivilized population amounted to 8½ per cent. of the whole.

The chief of these tribes are the Aetas, or Negritos, the Gaddanes, Itavis, Igorrotes, Igorrote-Chinese, Tinguianes, Tagbunuas, Batacs, Manobos, etc. Also among the southern races of Mindanao Island, referred to in Chapters x. and xxix., there are several pagan tribes interspersed between the Mahometan clans.

I have used only the generic denominations, for whilst these tribes are sub-divided (for instance, the Buquils of Zambales, a section of the Negritos; the Guinaanes, a sanguinary people inhabiting the mountains of the Igorrote district, etc.), the fractions denote no material physical or moral difference, and the local names adopted by the different clans of the same race are of no interest to the general reader. The expression Bukidnon, so commonly heard, does not signify any particular caste, but, in a general sense, the people of the mountain (bukid).

AETAS, or NEGRITOS, numbering 22,000 to 24,000, inhabit the mountain regions of Luzon, Panay, Negros, and some smaller islands. They are dark, some of them being as black as African negroes. Their general appearance resembles that of the Alfoor Papuan of New Guinea. They have curly matted hair, like Astrakhan fur. The men cover only their loins, and the women dress from the waist to the knees. They are a spiritless and cowardly race. They would not deliberately face white men in anything like equal numbers with warlike intentions, although they would perhaps spend a quiverful of arrows from behind a tree at a retreating foe.

A Negrito Family.

The Aeta carries a bamboo lance, a palm-wood bow, and poisoned arrows when out on an expedition. He is wonderfully light-footed, and runs with great speed after the deer, or climbs a tree like a monkey. Groups of fifty to sixty souls live in community. Their religion seems to be a kind of cosmolatry and spirit-worship. Anything which for the time being, in their imagination, has a supernatural appearance is deified. They have a profound respect for old age and for their dead. They are of extremely low intellect, and, although some of them have been brought up by civilized families living in the vicinity of the Negrito mountainous country, they offer little encouragement to those who would desire to train them. Even when more or less domesticated, the Negrito cannot be trusted to do anything which requires an effort of judgement. At times his mind seems to wander from all social order, and an apparently overwhelming eagerness to return to his native haunts disconcerts all oneʼs plans for his civilization.

For a long time they were the sole masters of Luzon Island, where they exercised seignorial rights over the Malay immigrants, until these arrived in such numbers, that the Negritos were forced to retire to the highlands. The taxes imposed upon primitive Malay settlers by the Negritos were levied in kind, and when payment was refused, they swooped down in a posse, and carried off the head of the defaulter. Since the arrival of the Spaniards, the terror of the white man has made them take definitely to the mountains, where they appear to be very gradually decreasing.

The Spanish Government, in vain, made strenuous efforts to implant civilized habits among this weak-brained race.

In 1881 I visited the Cápas Missions in Upper Pampanga. The authorities had established there what is called a real,—a kind of model village of bamboo and palm-leaf huts,—to each of which a family was assigned. They were supplied with food, clothing and all necessaries of life for one year, which would give them an opportunity of tilling the land and providing for themselves in future. But they followed their old habits when the year had expired and the subsidy ceased. On my second visit they had returned to their mountain homes, and I could see no possible inducement for them to do otherwise. The only attraction for them during the year was the fostering of their inbred indolence; and it ought to have been evident that as soon as they had to depend on their own resources they would adopt their own way of living—free of taxes, military service, and social restraint—as being more congenial to their tastes.

Being in the Bataan Province some years ago, I rode across the mountain range to the opposite coast with a military friend. On our way we approached a Negrito real, and hearing strange noises and extraordinary calls, we stopped to consult as to the prudence of riding up to the settlement. We decided to go there, and were fortunate enough to be present at a wedding. The young bride, who might have been about thirteen years of age, was being pursued by her future spouse as she pretended to run away, and it need hardly be said that he succeeded in bringing her in by feigned force. She struggled, and again got away, and a second time she was caught. Then an old man with grey hair came forward and dragged the young man up a bamboo ladder. An old woman grasped the bride, and both followed the bridegroom. The aged sire then gave them a douche with a cocoa-nut shell full of water, and they all descended. The happy pair knelt down, and the elder having placed their heads together, they were man and wife. We endeavoured to find out which hut was allotted to the newly-married couple, but we were given to understand that until the sun had reappeared five times they would spend their honeymoon in the mountains. After the ceremony was concluded, several present began to make their usual mountain-call. In the lowlands, the same peculiar cry serves to bring home straggling domestic animals to their nocturnal resting-place.

There is something picturesque about a well-formed, healthy Negrita damsel, with jet-black piercing eyes, and her hair in one perfect ball of close curls. The men are not of a handsome type; some of them have a hale, swarthy appearance, but many of them present a sickly, emaciated aspect. A Negrita matron past thirty is perhaps one of the least attractive objects in humanity.

They live principally on fish, roots, and mountain rice, but they occasionally make a raid on the neighbouring valleys and carry off the herds. So great was their cattle-stealing propensity in Spanish times, that several semi-official expeditions were sent to punish the marauders, particularly on the Cordillera de Zambales, on the west side of Luzon Island.

The husbandry of the Negritos is the most primitive imaginable. It consists of scraping the surface of the earth—without clearance of forest—and throwing the seed. They never “take up” a piece of land, but sow in the manner described wherever they may happen temporarily to settle.

The GADDANES occupy the extreme N.W. corner of Luzon Island, and are entirely out of the pale of civilization. I have never heard that any attempt has been made to subdue them. They have a fine physical bearing; wear the hair down to the shoulders; are of a very dark colour, and feed chiefly on roots, mountain rice, game, fruits, and fish. They are considered the only really warlike and aggressively savage tribe of the north, and it is the custom of the young men about to marry to vie with each other in presenting to the sires of their future brides all the scalps they are able to take from their enemies, as proof of their manly courage. This practice prevails at the season of the year when the tree, commonly called by the Spaniards “the fire-tree,” is in bloom. The flowers of this tree are of a fire-red hue, and their appearance is the signal for this race to collect their trophies of war and celebrate certain religious rites. When I was in the extreme north, in the country of the Ibanacs,[3] preparing my expedition to the Gaddanes tribe, I was cautioned not to remain in the Gaddanes country until the fire-tree blossomed. The arms used by the Gaddanes are frightful weapons—long lances with tridented tips, and arrows pointed with two rows of teeth, made out of flint or sea-shells. These weapons are used to kill both fish and foe.

The ITAVIS inhabit the district to the south of that territory occupied by the Gaddanes, and their mode of living and food are very similar. They are, however, not so fierce as the Gaddanes, and if assaults are occasionally made on other tribes, it may be rather attributed to a desire to retaliate than to a love of bloodshed. Their skin is not so dark as that of their northern neighbours—the Gaddanes or the partially civilized Ibanacs—and their hair is shorter.

The IGORROTES are spread over a considerable portion of Luzon, principally from N. lat. 16° 30′ to 18°. They are, in general, a fine race of people, physically considered, but semi-barbarous and living in squalor. They wear their hair long. At the back it hangs down to the shoulders, whilst in front it is cut shorter and allowed to cover the forehead half-way like a long fringe. Some of them, settled in the districts of Lepanto and El Abra, have a little hair on the chin and upper lip. Their skin is of a dark copper tinge. They have flat noses, thick lips, high cheek-bones, and their broad shoulders and limbs seem to denote great strength, but their form is not at all graceful.

Like all the wild races of the Philippines, the Igorrotes are indolent to the greatest degree. Their huts are built bee-hive fashion, and they creep into them like quadrupeds. Fields of sweet potatoes and sugar-cane are under cultivation by them. They cannot be forced or persuaded to embrace the Western system of civilization. Adultery is little known, but if it occurs, the dowry is returned and the divorce settled. Polygamy seems to be permitted, but little practised. Murders are common, and if a member of one hut or family group is killed, that family avenges itself on one of the murdererʼs kinsmen, hence those who might have to “pay the piper” are interested in maintaining order. In the Province of La Isabela, the Negrito and Igorrote tribes keep a regular Dr. and Cr. account of heads. In 1896 there were about 100,000 head-hunting Igorrotes in the Benguet district. This tribe paid to the Spaniards a recognition of vassalage of one-quarter of a peso per capita in Benguet, Abra, Bontoc, and Lepanto.

Their aggressions on the coast settlers have been frequent for centuries past. From time to time they came down from their mountain retreat to steal cattle and effects belonging to the domesticated population. The first regular attempt to chastise them for these inroads, and afterwards gain their submission, was in the time of Governor Pedro de Arandia (1754–59), when a plan was concerted to attack them simultaneously from all sides with 1,080 men. Their ranches and crops were laid waste, and many Igorrotes were taken prisoners, but the ultimate idea of securing their allegiance was abandoned as an impossibility.

In 1881 General Primo de Rivera, at the head of a large armed force, invaded their district with the view of reducing them to obedience, but the apparent result of the expedition was more detrimental than advantageous to the project of bringing this tribe under Spanish dominion and of opening up their country to trade and enlightened intercourse. Whilst the expeditionary forces were not sufficiently large or in a condition to carry on a war à outrance successfully, to be immediately followed up by a military system of government, on the other hand, the feeble efforts displayed to conquer them served only to demonstrate the impotence of the Europeans. This gave the tribes courage to defend their liberty, whilst the licence indulged in by the white men at the expense of the mountaineers—and boasted of to me personally by many Spanish officers—had merely the effect of raising the veil from their protestations of goodwill towards the race they sought to subdue. The enterprise ignominiously failed; the costly undertaking was an inglorious and fruitless one, except to the General, who—being under royal favour since, at Sagunta, in 1875, he “pronounced” for King Alfonso—secured for himself the title of Count of La Union.

The Igorrotes have, since then, been less approachable by Europeans, whom they naturally regard with every feeling of distrust. Rightly or wrongly (if it can be a matter of opinion), they fail to see any manifestation of ultimate advantage to themselves in the arrival of a troop of armed strangers who demand from them food (even though it be on payment) and perturbate their most intimate family ties. They do not appreciate being “civilized” to exchange their usages, independence, and comfort for even the highest post obtainable by a native in the provinces, which then was practically that of local head servant to the district authority, under the name of Municipal Captain. To roam at large in their mountain home is far more enjoyable to them than having to wear clothes; to present themselves often, if not to habitually reside, in villages; to pay taxes, for which they would get little return—not even the boon of good highroads—and to act as unsalaried tax-collectors with the chance of fine, punishment, and ruin if they did not succeed in bringing funds to the Public Treasury.

An Igorrote Type (Luzon).

As to Christianity, it would be as hard a task to convince them of what Roman Catholicism deems indispensable for the salvation of the soul, as it would be to convert all England to the teachings of Buddha—although Buddhism is as logical a religion as Christianity. Just a few of them, inhabiting the lowlands in the neighbourhood of Vigan and other christian towns, received baptism and paid an annual tribute of half a peso from the year 1893 to 1896.

Being in Tuguegarao, the capital of Cagayán Province, about 60 miles up the Rio Grande, I went to visit the prisons, where I saw many of the worst types of Igorrotes. I was told that a priest who had endeavoured to teach them the precepts of Christianity, and had explained to them the marvellous life of Saint Augustine, was dismayed to hear an Igorrote exclaim that no coloured man ever became a white manʼs saint. Nothing could convince him that an exception to the rule might be possible. Could experience have revealed to him the established fact—the remarkable anomaly—that the grossest forms of immorality were only to be found in the trail of the highest order of white manʼs civilization?

The Igorrotes have worked the copper mines of their region for generations past, in their own primitive way, with astonishing results. They not only annually barter several tons of copper ingots, but they possess the art of manufacturing pots, cauldrons, tobacco-pipes, and other utensils made of that metal. They also understand the extraction of gold, which they obtain in very small quantities by crushing the quartz between heavy stones.

Specimens of the different tribes and races of these Islands were on view at the Philippine Exhibition held in Madrid in 1887. Some of them consented to receive Christian baptism before returning home, but it was publicly stated that the Igorrotes were among those who positively refused to abandon their own belief.

A selection of this tribe was included in the Filipinos on show at the San Louis Exhibition (U.S.A.) in 1904, and attracted particular attention. Some of them liked the United States so much that they tried hard to break away from their keepers in order to remain there.

The CALINGAS are a branch of the Igorrotes, found along the Cagayán River around Ilagán. They are not only head-hunters, but cannibals. A friend of mine, an American colonel, was up there some time during the war, and explained to me the difficulty he had in convincing a Calinga chief that a manʼs head is his personal property, and that to steal it is a crime.

The IGORROTE-CHINESE are supposed to be the descendants of the Chinese who fled to the hills on the departure of the corsair Li-ma-hong from Pangasinán Province in 1754 (vide p. 50). Their intermarriage with the Igorrote tribe has generated a caste of people quite unique in their character. Their habits are much the same as those of the pure Igorrotes, but with their fierce nature is blended the cunning and astuteness of the Mongol; and although their intelligence may be often misapplied, yet it is superior to that of the pure Igorrote. In the Province of Pangasinán there are numbers of natives of Chinese descent included in the domesticated population, and their origin is evidently due to the circumstances mentioned.

The TINGULANES inhabit principally the district of El Abra (N.W. coast, Luzon Is.). They were nominally under the control of the Spanish Government, who appointed their headmen petty governors of villages or ranches on the system adopted in the subdued districts. According to Father Ferrando (63 years ago), the form of oath taken in his presence by the newly-elected headman on receiving the staff of office was the following, viz.:—“May a pernicious wind touch me; may a flash of lightning kill me, and may the alligator catch me asleep if I fail to fulfil my duty.” The headman presented himself almost when he chose to the nearest Spanish Governor, who gave him his orders, which were only fulfilled according to the traditional custom of the tribe. Thus, the headman, on his return to the ranche, delegated his powers to the council of elders, and according to their decision he acted as the executive only. Whenever it was possible, they applied their own lex non scripta in preference to acting upon the Spanish Code.

According to their law, the crime of adultery is punished by a fine of 30 pesos value and divorce, but if the adultery has been mutual, the divorce is pronounced absolute, without the payment of a fine.

When a man is brought to justice on an accusation which he denies, a handful of straw is burnt in his presence. He is made to hold up an earthenware pot and say as follows:—“May my belly be converted into a pot like this, if I have committed the deed attributed to me.” If the transformation does not take place at once, he is declared to be innocent.

The Tinguianes are pagans, but have no temples. Their gods are hidden in the mountain cavities. Like many other religionists, they believe in the efficacy of prayer for the supply of their material wants. Hence if there be too great an abundance of rain, or too little of it, or an epidemic disease raging, or any calamity affecting the community in general, the Anitos (images representing the gods or saints) are carried round and exhorted, whilst Nature continues her uninterrupted course. The minister of Anito is also appealed to when a child is to be named. The infant is carried into the woods, and the pagan priest pronounces the name, whilst he raises a bowie-knife over the newborn creatureʼs head. On lowering the knife, he strikes at a tree. If the tree emits sap, the first name uttered stands good; if not, the ceremony is repeated, and each time the name is changed until the oozing sap denotes the will of the deity.

The Tinguianes are monogamists, and generally are forced by the parents to marry before the age of puberty, but the bridegroom, or his father or elder, has to purchase the bride at a price mutually agreed upon by the relations. These people live in cabins on posts or trees 60 to 70 feet from the ground, and defend themselves from the attacks of their traditional enemies, the Guinaanes, by heaving stones upon them. Nevertheless, in the more secure vicinities of the christian villages, these people build their huts similar to those of the domesticated natives. From the doors and window-openings skulls of buffaloes and horses are hung as talismans.

Physically they are of fine form, and the nose is aquiline. They wear the hair in a tuft on the crown, like the Japanese, but their features are similar to the ordinary lowland native. They are fond of music and personal ornaments. They tattoo themselves and black their teeth; and for these, and many other reasons, it is conjectured that they descend from the Japanese shipwrecked crews who, being without means at hand with which to return to their country, took to the mountains inland from the west coast of Luzon. I spent several months with this tribe, but I have never seen a Tinguian with a bow and arrow; they carry the lance as the common weapon, and for hunting and spearing fish.

Their conversion to Christianity has proved to be an impossible task. A Royal Decree of Ferdinand VI.. dated in Aranjuez, June 18, 1758, sets forth that the infidels called Tinguianes, Igorrotes, and by other names who should accept Christian baptism, should be exempt all their lives from the payment of tribute and forced labour. Their offspring, however, born to them after receiving baptism, would lose these privileges as well as the independence enjoyed by their forefathers. This penalty to future generations for becoming Christians was afterwards extended to all the undomesticated races.

Many of these tribes did a little barter traffic with the Chinese, but—with the hope that necessity would bring them down to the christian villages to procure commodities, and thus become socialized—the Government prohibited this trade in 1886.

The Tinguianes appear to be as intelligent as the ordinary subdued natives. They are by no means savages, and they are not entirely strangers to domestic life. A great many Christian families of El Abra and Ilocos Sur are of Tinguian origin, and I may mention here that the Ilocano dominated natives have the just reputation of being the most industrious Philippine people. For this reason, Ilocano servants and workmen are sought for in preference to most others.

A Tagálog Girl

The BASANES are a very timid people who inhabit the mountains of Mindoro Island. They have long, lank hair and whitish faces, and do not appear to be of one of the original races. They are occasionally met with (when they do not hide themselves) in the cordillera which runs north-west to south-east and then ends off in two spurs, between which, after passing Mount Halcon, there is a large valley leading to the southern shore. The Manguianes, another Mindoro wild tribe, come to the coast villages sometimes to barter, and bring pieces of gold for the purpose. They also wear gold jewellery made of the metal extracted by themselves.

There is another race of people whose source is not distinctly known, but, according to tradition, they descend from the Sepoys who formed part of the troops under British command during the military occupation of Manila in 1763 (vide p. 88). The legend is, that these HINDOOS, having deserted from the British army, migrated up the Pasig River. However that may be, the sharp-featured, black-skinned settlers in the Barrio de Dayap, of Cainta Town (Mórong district), are decidedly of a different stock to the ordinary native. The notable physical differences are the fine aquiline nose, bright expression, and regular features. They are Christians—far more laborious than the Philippine natives, and are a law-abiding people. I have known many of them personally for years. They were the only class who voluntarily presented themselves to pay the taxes to the Spaniards, and yet, on the ground that generations ago they were intruders on the soil, they were more heavily laden with imposts than their fellow-neighbours until the abolition of tribute in 1884.

A Pagan Type (Mindanao).

There are also to be seen in these Islands a few types of that class of tropical inhabitant, preternaturally possessed of a white skin and extremely fair hair—sometimes red—known as ALBINOS. I leave it to physiologists to elucidate the peculiarity of vital phenomena in these unfortunate abnormities of Nature. Amongst others, I once saw in Negros Island a hapless young Albino girl, with marble-white skin and very light pink-white hair, who was totally blind in the sunny hours of the day.

The Mahometan and other tribes, inhabiting the Sulu Sultanate, Mindanao, Palaúan (Parágua) and the adjacent islands of the South constituting “Moroland,” are described in Chapters x. and xxix.

[1] In old writings, laws, and documents, and in ordinary parlance up to the evacuation by the Spaniards in 1898, the inhabitants of these Islands (civilized or uncivilized) were almost invariably referred to as Indios, Indigenas, Naturales, Mestizos, Españoles-Filipinos, etc., the term “Filipino” being seldom used. The Revolution of 1896 generalized the appellation “Filipino” now in common use.

Throughout this work, “Filipino” is taken as the substantive and “Philippine” as the adjective, that being the correct English form.

The Americans, however, use “Filipino” both substantively and adjectivally.

[2] For an exhaustive treatise on this subject the reader is recommended to peruse A. R. Wallaceʼs “The Malay Archipelago.” Published in London, 1869.

[3] The Ibanacs are the ordinary domesticated natives inhabiting the extreme north of Luzon and the banks of the Rio Grande de Cagayán for some miles up. Some of them have almost black skins. I found them very manageable.

Mahometans and Southern Tribes

Simultaneously with the Spanish conquest of the Philippines, two Borneo chiefs, who were brothers, quarrelled about their respective possessions, and one of them had to flee. His partisans joined him, and they emigrated to the Island of Basílan,[1] situated to the south of Zamboanga (Mindanao Is.). The Moros, as they are called in the Islands, are therefore supposed to be descended from the Mahometan Dyaks of Borneo. They were a valiant, warlike, piratical people, who admired bravery in others—had a deep-rooted contempt for poltroons, and lavished no mercy on the weak.

In the suite of this emigrant chief, called Paguian Tindig, catoe his cousin Adasaolan, who was so captivated by the fertility of Basílan Island that he wished to remain there; so Tindig left him in possession and withdrew to Sulu Island, where he easily reduced the natives to vassalage, for they had never yet had to encounter so powerful a foe. So famous did Paguian Tindig become that, for generations afterwards, the Sultans of Sulu were proud of their descent from such a celebrated hero. After the Spaniards had pacified the great Butuan chief on the north coast of Mindanao, Tindig consented to acknowledge the suzerainty of their king, in exchange for undisturbed possession of the realm which he had just founded.

Adasaolan espoused the Princess Paguian Goan, daughter of Dimasangcay, King of Mindanao, by his wife Imbog, a Sulu woman, and with this relationship he embraced the Mahometan faith. His ambition increased as good fortune came to him, and, stimulated by the promised support of his father-in-law, he invaded Sulu, attacked his cousin Tindig, and attempted to murder him in order to annex his kingdom. A short but fierce contest ensued. Tindigʼs fortified dwelling was besieged in vain. The posts which supported the upper storey were greased with oil, and an entrance could not be effected. Wearied of his failures, Adasaolan retired from the enterprise, and Tindig, in turn, declared war on the Basílan king after he had been to Manila to solicit assistance from his Spanish suzerainʼs representative, who sent two armed boats to support him.

When Tindig, on his return from Manila, arrived within sight of Sulu, his anxious subjects rallied round him, and prepared for battle. The two armed boats furnished by the Spaniards were on the way, but, as yet, too far off to render help, so Adasaolan immediately fell upon Tindigʼs party and completely routed them. Tindig himself died bravely, fighting to the last moment, and the Spaniards, having no one to fight for when they arrived, returned to Manila with their armed boats.

Adasaolan, however, did not annex the territory of his defeated cousin. Rajah Bongso succeeded Tindig in the Government of Sulu, and when old age enfeebled him, he was wont to show with pride the scars inflicted on him during the war of independence.

Adasaolan then made alliances with Mindanao and Borneo people, and introduced the Mahometan religion into Sulu. Since then, Sulu (called “Joló,” by the Spaniards) has become the Mecca of the Southern Archipelago.[2]

The earliest records relating to Mindanao Island, since the Spanish annexation of the Philippines, show that about the year 1594 a rich Portuguese cavalier of noble birth, named Estevan Rodriguez, who had acquired a large fortune in the Philippines, and who had a wealthy brother in Mexico, proposed to the Governor Perez Dasmariñas the conquest of this island. For this purpose he offered his person and all his means, but having long waited in vain to obtain the royal sanction to his project, he prepared to leave for Mexico, disgusted and disappointed. He was on the point of starting for New Spain; he had his ship laden and his family on board, when the royal confirmation arrived with the new Governor, Dr. Antonio Morga (1595–96). Therefore he changed his plans, but despatched the laden ship to Mexico with the cargo, intending to employ the profits of the venture in the prosecution of his Mindanao enterprise. With the title of General, he and his family, together with three chaplain priests, started in another vessel for the south. They put in at Otong (Panay Is.) on the way, and left there in April, 1596. Having reached the great Mindanao River (Rio Grande), the ship went up it as far as Buhayen, in the territory of the chief Silongan. A party under Juan de la Jara, the Maestre de Campo, was sent ashore to reconnoitre the environs. Their delay in returning caused alarm, so the General buckled on his shield, and, with sword in hand, disembarked, accompanied by a Cebuáno servant and two Spaniards, carrying lances. On the way they met a native, who raised his campilán to deal a blow, which the General received on his shield, and cut down the foe to the waist. Then they encountered another, who clove the Generalʼs head almost in two, causing his death in six hours. The Cebuáno at once ran the native through with a lance. This brave was discovered to be the youngest brother of the chief Silongan, who had sworn to Mahomet to sacrifice his life to take that of the Castilian invader.

The Generalʼs corpse was sent to Manila for interment. The expedition led by the Maestre de Campo fared badly, one of the party being killed, another seriously wounded, and the rest fleeing on board. The next day it was decided to construct trenches at the mouth of the river, where the camp was established. The command was taken by the Maestre de Campo, whose chief exploit seems to have been that he made love to the deceased Generalʼs widow and proposed marriage to her, which she indignantly rejected. Nothing was gained by the expedition, and after the last priest died, the project was abandoned and the vessel returned to Cebú.

In 1638 another expedition against the Moros was headed by the Gov.-General Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, who made the first landing of troops in Sulu Island on April 17 of that year. He also established some military posts on the coast of Mindanao Island, one of which was Sampanilla (now called Malábang) on the Illana Bay shore. Four years afterwards it was abandoned until 1891, when General Weyler went there and had a fort built, which still exists.

It would appear that all over these Islands the strong preyed on the weak, and the boldest warrior or oppressor assumed the title of Sultan, Datto, etc., over all the territory he could dominate, making the dignity hereditary. So far as can be ascertained, one of the oldest titles was that of Prince of Sibuguey, whose territory was situated on the bay of that name which washes the N.E. coast of Zamboanga Province. The title fell into disuse, and the grandson of the last prince, the present Manguiguin, or Sultan of Mindanao, resides at Dinas. The sultanate dates from the year 1640, but, in reality, there never was a sultan with effective jurisdiction over the whole island, as the title would seem to imply. The Sultanʼs heir is styled the Rajahmudah.

The alliances effected between the Sulu and Mindanao potentates gave a great stimulus to piracy, which hitherto had been confined to the waters in the locality of those islands. It now spread over the whole of the Philippine Archipelago, and was prosecuted with great vigour by regular organized fleets, carrying weapons almost equal to those of the Spaniards. In meddling with the Mahometan territories the Spaniards may be said to have unconsciously lighted on a hornetsʼ nest. Their eagerness for conquest stirred up the implacable hatred of the Mahometan for the Christian, and they unwittingly brought woe upon their own heads for many generations. Indeed, if half the consequences could have been foreseen, they surely never would have attempted to gain what, up to their last day, they failed to secure, namely, the complete conquest of Mindanao and the Sulu Sultanate.

Weapons of the Moros.

(Left) “Bárong”; (right) “Kris”; (centre) The Sultan of Suluʼs dress sword, presented to the author by His Excellency.

For over two and a half centuries Mahometan war-junks ravaged every coast of the Colony. Not a single peopled island was spared. Thousands of the inhabitants were murdered, whilst others were carried into slavery for years. Villages were sacked; the churches were looted; local trade was intercepted; the natives subject to Spain were driven into the highlands, and many even dared not risk their lives and goods near the coasts. The utmost desolation and havoc were perpetrated, and militated vastly against the welfare and development of the Colony. For four years the Government had to remit the payment of tribute in Negros Island, and the others lying between it and Luzon, on account of the abject poverty of the natives, due to these raids. From the time the Spaniards first interfered with the Mahometans there was continual warfare. Expeditions against the pirates were constantly being fitted out by each succeeding Governor. Piracy was indeed an incessant scourge and plague on the Colony, and it cost the Spaniards rivers of blood and millions of dollars only to keep it in check.

In the last century the Mahometans appeared even in the Bay of Manila. I was acquainted with several persons who had been in Mahometan captivity. There were then hundreds who still remembered, with anguish, the insecurity to which their lives and properties were exposed. The Spaniards were quite unable to cope with such a prodigious calamity. The coast villagers built forts for their own defence, and many an old stone watch-tower is still to be seen on the islands south of Luzon. On several occasions the Christian natives were urged, by the inducement of spoil, to equip corsairs, with which to retaliate on the indomitable marauders. The Sulu people made captive the Christian natives and Spaniards alike, whilst a Spanish priest was a choice prize. And whilst Spaniards in Philippine waters were straining every nerve to extirpate slavery, their countrymen were diligently pursuing a profitable trade in it between the West Coast of Africa and Cuba!

One must admit that, indirectly, the Mahometan attacks had the good political effect of forcing hundreds of Christians up from the coast to people and cultivate the interior of these Islands.

Due to the enterprise of a few Spanish and foreign merchants, steamers at length began to navigate the waters of the Archipelago, provided with arms for defence, and piracy by Mahometans beyond their own locality was doomed. In the time of Gov.-General Norzagaray (1857–60), 18 steam gunboats were ordered out, and arrived in 1860, putting a close for ever to this epoch of misery, bloodshed, and material loss. The end of piracy brought repose to the Colony, and in no small degree facilitated its social advancement.

During the protracted struggle with the Mahometans, Zamboanga (Mindanao Is.) was fortified, and became the headquarters of the Spaniards in the south. After Cavite it was the chief naval station, and a penitentiary was also established there.[3] Its maintenance was a great burden to the Treasury—its existence a great eyesore to the enemy, whose hostility was much inflamed thereby. About the year 1635 its abandonment was proposed by the military party, who described it as only a sepulchre for Spaniards. The Jesuits, however, urged its continuance, as it suited their interests to have material support close at hand, and their influence prevailed in Manila bureaucratic centres.

In 1738 the fixed annual expenses of Zamboanga fort and equipment were 17,500 pesos, and the incidental disbursements were estimated at 7,500 pesos. These sums did not include the cost of scores of armed fleets which, at enormous expense, were sent out against the Mahometans to little purpose. Each new (Zamboanga) Governor of a martial spirit, and desiring to do something to establish or confirm his fame for prowess, seemed to regard it as a kind of duty to premise the quelling of imaginary troubles in Sulu and Mindanao. Some, with less patriotism than selfishness, found a ready excuse for filling their own pockets by the proceeds of warfare, in making feigned efforts to rescue captives. It may be observed, in extenuation, that, in those days, the Spaniards believed from their birth that none but a Christian had rights, whilst some were deluded by a conscientious impression that they were executing a high mission; myth as it was, it at least served to give them courage in their perilous undertakings. Peace was made and broken over and over again. Spanish forts were at times established in Sulu, and afterwards demolished. Every decade brought new devices to control the desperate foe. Several Governors-General headed the troops in person against the Mahometans with temporary success, but without any lasting effect, and almost every new Governor made a solemn treaty with one powerful chief or another, which was respected only as long as it suited both parties. This continued campaign, the details of which are too prolix for insertion here, may be qualified as a religious war, for Roman Catholic priests took an active part in the operations with the same ardent passion as the Mahometans themselves. Among these tonsured warriors who acquired great fame out of their profession may be mentioned Father Ducos, the son of a Colonel, José Villanueva, and Pedro de San Agustin, the last being known, with dread, by the Mahometans in the beginning of the 17th century under the title of the Captain-priest. One of the most renowned kings in Mindanao was Cachil Corralat, an astute, far-seeing chieftain, who ably defended the independence of his territory, and kept the Spaniards at bay during the whole of his manhood.

An interesting event in the Spanish-Sulu history is the visit of the Sultan Mahamad Alimudin to the Gov.-General in 1750, and his subsequent vicissitudes of fortune. The first royal despatch addressed by the King of Spain to the Sultan of Sulu was dated in Buen Retiro, July 12, 1744, and everything, for the time being, seemed to augur a period of peace. In 1749, however, the Sultan was violently deposed by an ambitious brother, Prince Bantilan, and the Sultan forthwith went to Manila to seek the aid of his suzerainʼs delegate, the Gov.-General of the Philippines, who chanced to be the Bishop of Nueva Segovia. In Manila the Priest-Governor cajoled his guest with presents, and accompanied him on horseback and on foot, with the design of persuading him to renounce his religion in favour of Christianity. The Sultan finally yielded, and avowed his intention to receive baptism. Among the friars an animated discussion ensued as to the propriety of this act, special opposition being raised by the Jesuits; but in the end the Sultan, with a number of his suite, outwardly embraced the Christian faith. The Sultan at his baptism received the name of Ferdinand I. of Sulu; at the same time he was invested with the insignia and grade of a Spanish Lieut.-General. Great ceremonies and magnificent feasts followed this unprecedented incident. He was visited and congratulated by all the élite of the capital. By proclamation, the festivities included four daysʼ illumination, three daysʼ procession of the giants,[4] three days of bull-fighting, four nights of fireworks, and three nights of comedy, to terminate with High Mass, a Te Deum, and special sermon for the occasion.

In the meantime, the Sultan had requested the Governor to have the Crown Prince, Princesses, and retainers escorted to Manila to learn Spanish manners and customs, and on their arrival the Sultan and his male and female suite numbered 60 persons. The Bishop-Governor defrayed the cost of their maintenance out of his private purse until after the baptism, and thenceforth the Government supported them in Manila for two years. At length it was resolved, according to appearances, to restore the Sultan Ferdinand I. to his throne. With that idea, he and his retinue quitted Manila in the Spanish frigate San Fernando, which was convoyed by another frigate and a galley, until the San Fernando fell in with bad weather off Mindoro Island, and had to make the Port of Calapan. Thence he proceeded to Yloilo, where he changed vessel and set sail for Zamboanga, but contrary winds carried him to Dapítan (N.W. coast of Mindanao Is.), where he landed and put off again in a small Visayan craft for Zamboanga, arriving there on July 12, 1751. Thirteen days afterwards the San Fernando, which had been repaired, reached Zamboanga also.

Before Ferdinand I. left Manila he had (at the instance of the Spanish Gov.-General, José de Obando, 1750–54) addressed a letter to Sultan Muhamad Amirubdin, of Mindanao. The original was written by Ferdinand I. in Arabic; a version in Spanish was dictated by him, and both were signed by him. These documents reached the Governor of Zamboanga by the San Fernando, but he had the original in Arabic retranslated, and found that it did not at all agree with the Sultanʼs Spanish rendering. The translation of the Arabic runs thus:—

“I shall be glad to know that the Sultan Muhamad Amirubdin and all his chiefs, male and female, are well. I do not write a lengthy letter, as I intended, because I simply wish to give you to understand, in case the Sultan or his chiefs and others should feel aggrieved at my writing this letter in this manner, that I do so under pressure, being under foreign dominion, and I am compelled to obey whatever they tell me to do, and I have to say what they tell me to say. Thus the Governor has ordered me to write to you in our style and language; therefore, do not understand that I am writing you on my own behalf, but because I am ordered to do so, and I have nothing more to add. Written in the year 1164 on the ninth day of the Rabilajer Moon, Ferdinand I., King of Sulu, who seals with his own seal.”

This letter was pronounced treasonable. Impressed with, or feigning, this idea, the Spaniards saw real or imaginary indications of a design on the part of the Sultan to throw off the foreign yoke at the first opportunity. All his acts were thus interpreted, although no positive proof was manifest, and the Governor communicated his suspicions to Manila. There is no explanation why the Spaniards detained the Sultan at Zamboanga, unless with the intention of trumping up accusations against him. The Sultan arrived there on July 12, and nothing was known of the discrepancy between the letters until after July 25. To suppose that the Sultan could ever return to reign peacefully as a Christian over Mahometan subjects was utterly absurd to any rational mind.

On August 3 the Sultan, his sons, vassals, and chiefs were all cast into prison, without opposition, and a letter was despatched, dated August 6, 1751, to the Governor in Manila, stating the cause. The Sultan was the first individual arrested, and he made no difficulty about going to the fort. Even the Prince Asin, the Sultanʼs brother, who had voluntarily come from Sulu in apparent good faith with friendly overtures to the Spaniards, was included among the prisoners. The reason assigned was, that he had failed to surrender christian captives as provided.

The prisoners, besides the Sultan, were the following, viz.:—

- Four sons of the Sultan.

- Prince Asin (brother).

- Prince Mustafá (son-in-law).

- Princess Panguian Banquiling (sister).

- Four Princesses (daughters).

- Datto Yamudin (a noble).

- 160 ordinary male and female retainers.

- Five brothers-in-law.

- One Mahometan Cherif.

- Seven Mahometan priests.

- Concubines with 32 female servants.

The political or other crime (if any) attributed to these last is not stated, nor why they were imprisoned. The few weapons brought, according to custom, by the followers of the Sultan who had come from Sulu to receive their liege-lord and escort him back to his country, were also seized.

A decree of Gov.-General José de Obando set forth the following accusations against the prisoners, viz.:—

(1) That Prince Asin had not surrendered captives. (2) That whilst the Sultan was in Manila, new captives were made by the party who expelled him from the throne. (3) That the number of arms brought to Zamboanga by Sulu chiefs was excessive. (4) That the letter to Sultan Muhamad Amirubdin insinuated help wanted against the Spaniards. (5) That several Mahometan, but no christian books were found in the Sultanʼs baggage. (6) That during the journey to Zamboanga he had refused to pray in christian form. (7) That he had only attended Mass twice. (8) That he had celebrated Mahometan rites, sacrificing a goat; and had given evidence in a hundred ways of being a Mahometan. (9) That his conversation generally denoted a want of attachment to the Spaniards, and a contempt for their treatment of him in Manila,[5] and, (10) that he still cohabited with his concubines, contrary to christian usage.

The greatest stress was laid on the recovery of the captive Christians, and the Gov.-General admitted that although the mission of the fleet was to restore the Sultan to the throne (which, by the way, does not appear to have been attempted), the principal object was the rescue of christian slaves. He therefore proposed that the liberty of the imprisoned nobles and chiefs should be bartered at the rate of 500 christian slaves for each one of the chiefs and nobles, and the balance of the captives for Prince Asin and the clergy. One may surmise, from this condition, that the number of Christians in captivity was very considerable.

A subsequent decree, dated in Manila December 21, 1751, ordered the extermination of the Mahometans with fire and sword; the fitting out of Visayan corsairs, with authority to extinguish the foe, burn all that was combustible, destroy the crops, desolate their cultivated land, make captives, and recover christian slaves. One-fifth of the spoil (the Real quinto) was to belong to the King, and the natives were to be exempt from the payment of tribute whilst so engaged.

Before giving effect to such a terrible, but impracticable resolution, it was thought expedient to publish a pamphlet styled a “Historical Manifest,” in which the Gov.-General professed to justify his acts for public satisfaction. However, public opinion in Manila was averse to the intended warfare, so to make it more popular, the Governor abolished the payment of one-fifth of the booty to the King. An appeal was made to the citizens of Manila for arms and provisions to carry on the campaign; they therefore lent or gave the following, viz.:—Twenty-six guns, 13 bayonets, 3 sporting guns, 15 carbines, 5 blunderbusses, 7 braces of pistols, 23 swords, 15 lances, 900 cannon balls, and 150 pesos from Spaniards, and a few lances and 188 pesos from natives.

Meanwhile, Prince Asin died of grief at his position.

Under the leadership of the Maestre de Campo of Zamboanga, hostilities commenced. With several ships he proceeded to Sulu, carrying a large armament and 1,900 men. When the squadron anchored off Sulu, a white and a red flag were hoisted from the principal fort, for the Spaniards to elect either peace or war. Several Sulus approached the fleet with white flags, to inquire for the Sultan. Evasive answers were given, followed by a sudden cannonade.

No good resulted to the Spaniards from the attack, for the Sulus defended themselves admirably. Tawi Tawi Island was next assaulted. A captain landed there with troops, but their retreat was cut off and they were all slain. The Commander of the expedition was so discouraged that he returned to Zamboanga and resigned. Pedro Gastambide then took command, but after having attacked Basílan Island fruitlessly, he retired to Zamboanga. The whole campaign was an entire fiasco. It was a great mistake to have declared a war of extermination without having the means to carry it out. The result was that the irate Sulus organized a guerilla warfare, by sea and by land, against all Christians, to which the Spaniards but feebly responded. The “tables were turned.” In fact, they were in great straits, and, wearied at the little success of their arms, endless councils and discussions were held in the capital.

Meanwhile, almost every coast of the Archipelago was energetically ravaged. Hitherto the Spaniards had only had the Sulus to contend with, but the licence given by the Gov.-General to reprisal excited the cupidity of unscrupulous officials, and, without apparent right or reason, the Maestre de Campo of Zamboanga caused a Chinese junk from Amoy, carrying goods to a friendly Sultan of Mindanao, to be seized. After tedious delay, vexation, and privation, the master and his crew were released and a part of the cargo restored, but the Maestre de Campo insisted upon retaining what he chose for his own use. This treachery to an amicable chief exasperated and undeceived the Mindanao Sultan to such a degree that he forthwith took his revenge by co-operating with the Sulus in making war on the Spaniards. Fresh fleets of armed canoes replenished the Sulu armadillas, ravaged the coasts, hunted down the Spanish priests, and made captives.

On the north coast of Mindanao several battles took place. There is a legend that over 600 Mahometans advanced to the village of Lubungan, but were repulsed by the villagers, who declared their patron, Saint James, appeared on horseback to help them. Fray Roque de Santa Mónica was chased from place to place, hiding in caves and rocks. Being again met by four Mahometans, he threatened them with a blunderbuss, and was left unmolested. Eventually he was found by friendly natives, and taken by them to a wood, where he lived on roots. Thence he journeyed to Linao, became raving mad, and was sent to Manila, where he died quite frantic, in the convent of his Order.

The Sultan and his fellow-prisoners had been conveyed to Manila and lodged in the Fortress of Santiago. In 1753 he petitioned the Gov.-General to allow his daughter, the Princess Faatima, and two slaves to go to Sulu about his private affairs. A permit was granted on condition of her returning, or, in exchange for her liberty and that of her two slaves, to remit 50 captives, and, failing to do either, the Sultan and his suite were to be deprived of their dignities and treated as common slaves, to work in the galleys, and to be undistinguished among the ordinary prisoners. On these conditions, the Princess left, and forwarded 50 slaves, and one more—a Spaniard, José de Montesinos—as a present.

The Princess Faatima, nevertheless, did return to Manila, bringing with her an Ambassador from Prince Bantilan, her uncle and Governor of Sulu, who, in the meantime, had assumed the title of Sultan Mahamad Miududin. The Ambassador was Prince Mahamad Ismael Datto Marayalayla. After an audience with the Governor, he went to the fort to consult with the captive Sultan, and they proposed a treaty with the Governor, of which the chief terms were as follows, viz.:—

An offensive and defensive alliance.

All captives within the Sultanate of Sulu to be surrendered within one year.

All articles looted from the churches to be restored within one year.

On the fulfilment of these conditions, the Sultan and his people were to be set at liberty.

The treaty was dated in Manila March 3, 1754. The terms were quite impossible of accomplishment, for the Sultan, being still in prison, had no power to enforce commands on his subjects.

The war was continued at great sacrifice to the State and with little benefit to the Spaniards, whilst their operations were greatly retarded by discord between the officials of the expedition, the authorities on shore, and the priests. At the same time, dilatory proceedings were being taken against the Maestre de Campo of Zamboanga, who was charged with having appropriated to himself othersʼ share of the war booty. Siargao Island (off the N.E. point of Mindanao Is.) had been completely overrun by the Mahometans; the villages and cultivated land were laid waste, and the Spanish priest was killed.

When the Governor Pedro de Arandia arrived in 1754, the Sultan took advantage of the occasion to put his case before him. He had, indeed, experienced some of the strangest mutations of fortune, and Arandia had compassion on him. By Arandiaʼs persuasion, the Archbishop visited and spiritually examined him, and then the Sultan confessed and took the Communion. In the College of Santa Potenciana there was a Mahometan woman who had been a concubine of the Sultan, but who now professed Christianity, and had taken the name of Rita Calderon. The Sultanʼs wife having died, he asked for this ex-concubine in marriage, and the favour was conceded to him. The nuptials were celebrated in the Governorʼs Palace on April 27, 1755, and the espoused couple returned to their prison with an allowance of 50 pesos per month for their maintenance.

In 1755 all the Sultanʼs relations and suite who had been incarcerated in Manila, except his son Ismael and a few chiefs, were sent back to Sulu. The Sultan and his chiefs were then allowed to live freely within the city of Manila, after having sworn before the Governor, on bended knees, to pay homage to him, and to remain peaceful during the Kingʼs pleasure. Indeed, Governor Arandia was so favourably disposed towards the Sultan Mahamad Alimudin (Ferdinand I.) that personally he was willing to restore him to his throne, but his wish only brought him in collision with the clergy, and he desisted.

The British, after the military occupation of Manila in 1763, took up the cause of the Sultan, and reinstated him in Sulu. Then he avenged himself on the Spaniards by fomenting incursions against them in Mindanao, which the Gov.-General, José Raon, was unable to oppose for want of resources. The Mahometans, however, soon proved their untrustworthiness to friend and foe alike. Their friendship lasted on the one side so long as danger could thereby be averted from the other, and a certain Datto Teng-teng attacked the British garrison one night at Balambangan and slaughtered all but six of the troops (vide pp. 92, 98).

In 1836 the sovereignty of the Sultan was distinctly recognized in a treaty made between him and Spain, whereby the Sultan had the right to collect dues on Spanish craft entering Joló, whilst Sulu vessels paid dues to the Spaniards in their ports as foreign vessels.

In 1844 Gov.-General Narciso Claveria led an expedition against the Moros and had a desperate, but victorious, struggle with them at the fort of Balanguigui (an islet 14 miles due east of Sulu Is.), for which he was rewarded with the title of Conde de Manila.

The town of Sulu (Joló) was formerly the residence of the Sultanʼs Court. This Sovereign had arrogantly refused to check the piratical cruisings made by his people against Spanish subjects in the locality and about the Islands of Calamianes; therefore, on February 11, 1851, General Antonio de Urbiztondo, Marquis de la Solana (an ex-Carlist chief), who had been appointed Gov.-General of the Philippines in the previous year, undertook to redress his nationʼs grievances by force. The Spanish flag was hoisted in several places. Sulu town, which was shelled by the gunboats, was captured and held by the invaders, and the Sultan Muhamed Pulalon fled to Maybun on the south coast, to which place the Court was permanently removed. At the close of this expedition another treaty was signed (1851), which provided for the annual payment of ₱1,500 to the Sultan and ₱600 each to three dattos, on condition that they would suppress piracy and promote mutual trade. Still the Mahometans paid the Spaniards an occasional visit and massacred the garrison, which was as often replaced by fresh levies.

In 1876 the incursions of the Mahometans and the temerity of the chiefs had again attained such proportions that European dominion over the Sulu Sultanate and Mindanao, even in the nominal form in which it existed, was sorely menaced. Consequent on this, an expedition, headed by Vice-Admiral Malcampo, arrived in the waters of the Sultanate, carrying troops, with the design of enforcing submission. The chief of the land forces appears to have had no topographical plan formed. The expedition turned out to be one of discovery. The troops were marched into the interior, without their officers knowing where they were going, and they even had to depend on Sulu guides. Naturally, they were often deceived, and led to precisely where the Mahometans were awaiting them in ambush, the result being that great havoc was made in the advance column by frequent surprises. Now and again would appear a few juramentados, or sworn Mahometans, who sought their way to Allah by the sacrifice of their own blood, but causing considerable destruction to the invading party. With a kris at the waist, a javelin in one hand, and a shield supported by the other, they would advance before the enemy, dart forward and backwards, make zigzag movements, and then, with a war-whoop, rush in three or four at a time upon a body of Christians twenty times their number, giving no quarter, expecting none—to die, or to conquer! The expedition was not a failure, but it gained little. The Spanish flag was hoisted in several places, including Sulu (Joló), where it remained from February 29, 1876, until the Spanish evacuation of the Islands in 1898.

The Mahometans (called by the Spaniards Moros) now extend over nine-tenths of Mindanao Island, and the whole of the Sultanate of Sulu, which comprises Sulu Island (34 miles long from E. to W., and 12 miles in the broadest part from N. to S.) and about 140 others, 80 to 90 of which are uninhabited.

The native population of the Sulu Sultanate alone would be about 100,000, including free people, slaves, and some 20,000 men-at-arms under orders of the Dattos.[6] The domains of His Highness reach westward as far as Borneo, where, up to 25 years ago, the Sultanate of Brunei[7] was actually tributary (and now nominally so) to that of Sulu. The Sultan of Sulu is also feudal lord of two vassal Sultanates in Mindanao Island. There is, moreover, a half-caste branch of these people in the southern half of Palauan Island (Parágua) of a very subdued and peaceful nature, compared with the Sulu, nominally under the Sulu Sultanʼs rule.

In Mindanao Island only a small coast district here and there was really under Spanish empire, although Spain (by virtue of an old treaty, which never was respected to the letter) claimed suzerainty over all the territory subject to the Sultan of Sulu. After the Sulu war of 1876 the Sultan admitted the claim more formally, and on March 11, 1877, a protocol was signed by England and Germany recognizing Spainʼs rights to the Tawi Tawi group and the chain of islands stretching from Sulu to Borneo. At the same time it was understood that Spain would give visible proof of annexation by establishing military posts, or occupying these islands in some way, but nothing was done until 1880, when Spain was stirred into action by a report that the Germans projected a settlement there. A convict corps at once took possession, military posts were established, and in 1882 the 6th Regiment of regular troops was quartered in the group at Bongao and Siassi.

Meanwhile, in 1880, a foreign colonizing company was formed in the Sultanate of Brunei, under the title of “British North Borneo Co.” (Royal Charter of November 7, 1881). The company recognized the suzerain rights of the Sultan of Sulu, and agreed to pay to him an annual sum as feudal lord. Spain protested that the territory was hers, but could show nothing to confirm the possession. There was no flag, or a detachment of troops, or anything whatsoever to indicate that the coast was under European protection or dominion. Notes were exchanged between the Cabinets of Madrid and London, and Spain relinquished for ever her claim to the Borneo fief of Brunei.

The experience of the unfortunate Sultan Alimudin (Ferdinand I.) taught the Sulu people such a sad lesson that subsequent sultans have not cared to risk their persons in the hands of the Spaniards. There was, moreover, a Nationalist Party which repudiated dependence on Spain, and hoped to be able eventually to drive out the Spaniards. Therefore, in 1885, when the heir to the throne, Mohammad Jamalul Kiram (who was then about 15 years old) was cited to Manila to receive his investiture at the hands of the Gov.-General, he refused to comply, and the Government at once offered the Sultanate to his uncle, Datto Harun Narrasid, who accepted it, and presented himself to the Gov.-General in the capital.

The ceremony of investiture took place in the Government House at Malacañan near Manila on September 24, 1886, when Datto Harun took the oath of allegiance to the King of Spain as his sovereign lord, and received from the Gov.-General, Emilio Terrero, the title of His Excellency Paduca Majasari Maulana Amiril Mauminin Sultan Muhamad Harun Narrasid, with the rank of a Spanish lieut.-general. The Gov.-General was attended by his Secretary, the Official Interpreter, and several high officers. In the suite of the Sultan-elect were his Secretary, Tuan Hadji Omar, a priest, Pandita Tuan Sik Mustafá, and several dattos. For the occasion, the Sultan-elect was dressed in European costume, and wore a Turkish fez with a heavy tassel of black silk. His Secretary and Chaplain appeared in long black tunics, white trousers, light shoes, and turbans. Two of the remainder of his suite adopted the European fashion, but the others wore rich typical Moorish vestments.

The Sultan returned to his country, and in the course of three months the Nationalist Party chiefs openly took up arms against the King of Spainʼs nominee, the movement spreading to the adjacent islands of Siassi and Bongao, which form part of the Sultanate.[8]

The Mahometans on the Great Mindanao River, from Cottabato[9] upwards, openly defied Spanish authority; and in the spring of 1886 the Government were under the necessity of organizing an expedition against them. The Spaniards had ordered that native craft should carry the Spanish flag, otherwise they would be treated as pirates or rebels. In March, 1887, the cacique of the Simonor ranche (Bongao Is.), named Pandan, refused any longer to hoist the christian ensign, and he was pursued and taken prisoner. He was conveyed on the gunboat Panay to Sulu, and on being asked by the Governor why he had ceased to use the Spanish flag, he haughtily replied that “he would only answer such a question to the Captain-General,” and refused to give any further explanation. Within a month after his arrest the garrison of Sulu (Joló) was strengthened by 377 men, in expectation of an immediate general rising, which indeed took place. The Spanish forces were led by Majors Mattos and Villa Abrille, under the command of Brig.-General Seriná. They were stoutly opposed by a cruel and despotic chief, named Utto, who advanced at the head of his subjects and slaves. With the co-operation of the gunboats up the river, the Mahometans were repulsed with great loss.

Scores of expeditions had been led against the Mindanao natives, and their temporary submission had usually been obtained by the Spaniards—on whose retirement, however, the natives always reverted to their old customs, and took their revenge on the settlers. Moreover, the petty jealousies existing between the highest officers in the south rendered every peaceful effort fruitless.

Datto Utto having defiantly proclaimed that no Spaniard should ever enter his territory, an armed expedition was fitted out; and from the example of his predecessor in 1881 (vide p. 124) the Gov.-General, Emilio Terrero, perchance foresaw in a little war the vision of titles and more material reward, besides counterbalancing his increasing unpopularity in Manila, due to the influence of my late friend, the Government Secretary Felipe Canga-Argüelles. Following in the wake of those who had successfully checked the Mahometans in the previous spring, he took the chief command in person in the beginning of January, 1887, to force a recantation of Datto Uttoʼs utterances.

The petty Sultans of Bacat, Buhayen and Kudaran͠gan in vain united their fortunes with those of Utto. The stockades of cocoanut trunks, palma-bravas (q.v.) and earth (cottas) were easily destroyed by the Spanish artillery, and their defenders fled under a desultory fire. There were very few casualties on either side. Some of the Christian native infantry soldiers suffered from the bamboo spikes (Spanish, puas) set in the ground around the stockades, but the enemy had not had time to cover with brushwood the pits dug for the attacking party to fall into. In about two months the operations ended by the submission of some chiefs of minor importance and influence; and after spending so much powder and shot and Christian blood, the General had not even the satisfaction of seeing either the man he was fighting against or his enemyʼs ally, the Sultan of Kudaran͠gan. This latter sent a priest, Pandita Kalibaudang, and Datto Andig to sue for peace and cajole the General with the fairest promises. Afterwards the son and heir of this chief, Rajahmudah Tambilanang, presented himself, and he and his suite of 30 followers were conducted to the camp in the steam launch Carriedo. Utto, whose residence had been demolished, had not deigned to submit in person, but sent, as emissaries, Dattos Sirun͠gang, Buat and Dalandung, who excused only the absence of Uttoʼs prime minister. Capitulations of peace were handed to Uttoʼs subordinates, who were told to bring them back signed without delay, for despatches from the Home Government, received four or five weeks previously, were urging the General to conclude this affair as speedily as possible. They were returned signed by Utto—or by somebody else—and the same signature and another, supposed to be that of his wife, the Ranee Pudtli (a woman of great sway amongst her people) were also attached to a letter, offering complete submission.

The Spaniards destroyed a large quantity of rice-paddy, and stipulated for the subsequent payment of a war indemnity in the form of cannons (lantacas), buffaloes, and horses.

The General gave the emissaries some trifling presents, and they went their way and he his,—to Manila, which he entered in state on March 21, with flags flying, music playing, and the streets decorated with bunting of the national colours, to give welcome to the conqueror of the Mahometan chief—whom he had never seen—the bearer of peace capitulations signed—by whom? As usual, a Te Deum was celebrated in the Cathedral for the victories gained over the infidels; the officers and troops who had returned were invited by the Municipality to a theatrical performance, and the Gov.-General held a reception in the Palace of Malacañan. Some of the troops were left in Mindanao, it having been resolved to establish armed outposts still farther up the river for the better protection of the port and settlement of Cottabato.

Whilst the Gov.-General headed this military parade in the Cottabato district, the ill-feeling of the Sulu natives towards the Spaniards was gradually maturing. An impending struggle was evident, and Colonel Juan Arolas, the Governor of Sulu, concentrated his forces in expectation. The Sulus, always armed, prepared for events in their cottas; Arolas demanded their surrender, which was refused, and they were attacked. Two cottas, well defended, were ultimately taken, not without serious loss to the Spaniards. In the report of the slain a captain was mentioned. Arolas then twice asked for authority to attack the Mahometans at Maybun, and was each time refused. At length, acting on his own responsibility, on April 15, 1887, he ordered a gunboat to steam round to Maybun and open fire at daybreak on the Sultanʼs capital, which was in possession of the party opposed to the Spanish nominee (Harun Narrasid). At 11 oʼclock the same night he started across country with his troops towards Maybun, and the next morning, whilst the enemy was engaged with the gunboat, he led the attack on the land side. The Mahometans, quite surprised, fought like lions, but were completely routed, and the seat of the Sultanate was razed to the ground. It was the most crushing defeat ever inflicted on the Sulu Nationalist Party. The news reached Manila on April 29, and great praise was justly accorded to Colonel Arolas, whose energetic operations contrasted so favourably with the Cottabato expedition. All manner of festivities in his honour were projected in Manila, but Arolas elected to continue the work of subduing the Moro country. Notwithstanding his well-known republican tendencies, on September 20, 1887, the Queen-Regent cabled through her Ministry her acknowledgment of Colonel Arolasʼ valuable services, and the pleasure it gave her to reward him with a Brig.-Generalʼs commission.[10]

In 1895 an expedition against the Mahometans was organized under the supreme command of Gov.-General Ramon Blanco. It was known as the Marahui (or Marauit) Campaign. The tribes around Lake Lanao (ancient name Malanao) and the Marahui district had, for some time past, made serious raids on the Spanish settlement at Ylígan, which is connected with Lake Lanao by a river navigable only by canoes. Indeed, the lives and property of Christians in all the territory adjoining Yligan were in great jeopardy, and the Spanish authorities were set at defiance. It was therefore resolved, for the first time, to attack the tribes and destroy their cottas around the lake for the permanent tranquillity of Yligan. The Spanish and native troops alike suffered great hardships and privations. Steam launches in sections (constructed in Hong-Kong), small guns, and war material were carried up from Yligan to the lake by natives over very rugged ground. On the lake shore the launches were fitted up and operated on the lake, to the immense surprise of the tribes. From the land side their cottas were attacked and destroyed, under the command of my old friend Brig.-General Gonzalez Parrado. The operations, which lasted about three months, were a complete success, and General Gonzalez Parrado was rewarded with promotion to General of Division. Lake Lanao, with the surrounding district and the route down to Yligan, was in possession of the Spaniards, and in order to retain that possession without the expense of maintaining a large military establishment, it was determined to people the conquered territory with Christian families from Luzon and the other islands situated north of Mindanao. It was the attempt to carry out this colonizing scheme which gave significance to the Marahui Expedition and contributed to that movement which, in 1896, led to the downfall of Spanish rule in the Archipelago.

The last Spanish punitive expedition against the Mindanao Mahometans was sent in February, 1898, under the command of General Buille. The operations lasted only a few days. The enemy was driven into the interior with great loss, and one chief was slain. The small gunboats built in Hong-Kong for the Marahui Campaign—the General Blanco, Corcuera, and Lanao—again did good service.

There are three branches or tribes of the Malanao Moros around the Lake Lanao:

- (1) Bayabos, at the north of the Lake, their centre being Marahui.

- (2) Onayans, at the south of the Lake, their centre being Bayan.

- (3) Macui tribe includes the remaining Lake Lanao people, except a few independent ranches to the east of the Macui, belonging to the Bayabos. The Macui claim to be the most ancient, although no tribe can trace descent farther back than the 13th century. Intermarriage has destroyed traces, but there are over a hundred sultans who claim to be of royal blood.

The other principal Mindanao tribes are as follows, viz.:—Aetas, in the regions near Mount Apo (vide p. 121).

- Bagobos, on the foothills of Mount Apo. A peaceful people, disposed to work, and reputed to be human sacrificers.

- Manobos, in the valley of the Agusan River. There are also some on the Gulf of Davao and in the Cottabato district.

- Samales inhabit the small islands in the Gulf of Davao, but there is quite a large colony of them at Magay, a suburb of Zamboanga, (from the neighbouring islets) under Rajahmudah Datto Mandi.

- Subuanos occupy the peninsula of the Zamboanga Province. They are docile and lazy, and much prone to stealing. They are far less courageous than the Samales, by whom they are overawed. Some physiognomists consider them to be of the same caste as the Manobos, the Guimbanos of Sulu, and the Samecas of Basilan.

- Tagubans live on the north shore of the Gulf of Davao.

- Tirurayas inhabit the mountains to the west of the Rio Grande.

There is a large number of smaller tribes.

A few years ago we were all alarmed on Corpus Christi Day, during the solemn procession of that feast in Cottabato, by the sudden attack of a few Mahometans on the crowd of Christians assembled. Of course the former were overwhelmed and killed, as they quite expected to be. They were of that class known as juramentados, or sworn Mahometans, who believe that if they make a solemn vow, in a form binding on their consciences, to die taking the blood of a Christian, their souls will immediately migrate to the happy hunting-ground, where they will ever live in bliss, in the presence of the Great Prophet. This is the most dangerous sect of Mahometans, for no exhibition of force can suffice to stay their ravages, and they can only be treated like mad dogs, or like a Malay who has run ámok.

The face of a Mindanao south coast Moro is generally pleasant, but a smile spoils his appearance; the parting lips disclose a filthy aperture with dyed teeth in a mahogany coloured foam of masticated betel-nut. Holes as large as sixpences are in the ears of the women, who, when they have no ear-rings, wear a piece of reed with a vermilion tip. The dress is artistically fantastic, with the sárong and the jábul and no trousers visible. Apparently the large majority (perhaps 70 per cent.) of the Párang-Párang Moros have a loathsome skin disease. Those who live on shore crop their hair, but the swamp, river, and sea people who live afloat let it grow long.

The Sulu Islanders, male and female, dress with far greater taste and ascetic originality than the christian natives. The women are fond of gay colours, the predominant ones being scarlet and green. Their nether bifurcated garment is very baggy, the bodice is extremely tight, and, with equally close-fitting sleeves, exhibits every contour of the bust and arms. They use also a strip of stuff sewn together at the ends called the jábul, which serves to protect the head from the sun-rays. The end of the jábul would reach nearly down to the feet, but is usually held retroussé under the arm. They have a passion for jewellery, and wear many finger-rings of metal and sometimes of sea-shells, whilst their ear-rings are gaudy and of large dimensions. The hair is gracefully tied in a coil on the top of the head, and their features are at least as attractive as those of the generality of Philippine christian women.

The men wear breeches of bright colours, as tight as gymnastsʼ pantaloons, with a large number of buttons up the sides; a kind of waistcoat buttoning up to the throat; a jacket reaching to the hips, with close sleeves, and a turban. A chiefʼs dress has many adornments of trinkets, and is quite elegant, a necessary part of his outfit being the bárong (sword), which apparently he carries constantly.

They are robust, of medium height, often of superb physical development; of a dusky bronze colour, piercing eyes, low forehead, lank hair, which is dressed as a chignon and hangs down the back of the neck. The body is agile, the whole movement is rapid, and they have a wonderful power of holding the breath under water. They are of quick perception, audacious, haughty, resolute, zealous about their genealogies; extremely sober, ready to promise everything and do nothing, vindictive and highly suspicious of a strangerʼs intentions. Their bearing towards the Christian, whom they call the infidel, is full of contempt. They know no gratitude, and they would not cringe to the greatest Christian potentate. They are very long-suffering in adversity, hesitating in attack, and the bravest of the brave in defence. They disdain work as degrading and only a fit occupation for slaves, whilst warfare is, to their minds, an honourable calling. Every male over 16 years of age has to carry at least one fighting-weapon at all times, and consider himself enrolled in military service.

They have a certain knowledge of the Arts. They manufacture on the anvil very fine kris daggers, knives, lance-heads, etc. Many of their fighting-weapons are inlaid with silver and set in polished hardwood or ivory handles artistically carved.

In warfare they carry shields, and their usual arms on land are the campilán, a kind of short two-handed sword, wide at the tip and narrowing down to the hilt, the bárong for close combat, the straight kris for thrusting and cutting, and the waved, serpent-like kris for thrusting only. They are dexterous in the use of arms, and can most skilfully decapitate a foe at a single stroke. At sea they use a sort of assegai, called bagsacay or simbilin, about half an inch in diameter, with a sharp point. Some can throw as many as four at a time, and make them spread in the flight; they use these for boarding vessels. They make many of their own domestic utensils of metal, also coats of mail of metal wire and buffalo horn, which resist hand-weapons, but not bullets. The wire probably comes from Singapore.

The local trade is chiefly in pearls, mother-of-pearl, shells, shark fins, etc.[11] The Sultan, in Spanish times, had a sovereign right to all pearls found which exceeded a certain size fixed by Sulu law—hence it was very difficult to secure an extraordinary specimen. The Mahometans trade at great distances in their small craft, called vintas, for they are wonderfully expert navigators. Their largest vessels do not exceed seven tons, and they go as far as Borneo, and even down to Singapore on rare occasions.

A Scene in the Moro Country

I found that almost any coinage was useful for purchasing in the market-places. I need hardly add that the Chinese small traders have found their way to these regions; and it would be an unfavourable sign if a Chinaman were not to be seen there, for where the frugal Celestial cannot earn a living one may well assume there is little prosperity. Small Chinese coins (known as cash in the China Treaty Ports) are current money there, and I think, the most convenient of all copper coins, for, having a hole in the centre, they can be strung together. Chinese began to trade with this island in 1751.

Zamboanga Fortress (“Fuerza del Pilar”)

The root of the Sulu language is Sanscrit, mixed with Arabic. Each Friday is dedicated to public worship, and the faithful are called to the temple by the beating of a box or hollow piece of wood. All recite the Iman with a plaintive voice in honour of the Great Prophet; a slight gesticulation is then made whilst the Pandita reads a passage from the Mustah. I observed that no young women put in an appearance at the temple on the occasion of my visit.

At the beginning of each year there is a very solemn ceremonial, and, in the event of the birth or death of a child, or the safe return from some expedition, it is repeated. It is a sort of Te Deum in conformity with Mahometan rites. During a number of days in a certain month of the year they abstain from eating, drinking, and pleasure of all kinds, and suffer many forms of voluntary penance. Strangers are never allowed, I was told, inside the Mosque of the Sultan. The higher clergy are represented by the hereditary Cherif, who has temporal power also. The title of Pandita simply means priest, and is the common word used in Mindanao as well as in Palaúan Island. He seems to be almost the chief in his district—not in a warlike sense, like the Datto; but his word has great influence. He performs all the functions of a priest, receives the vow of the juramentados, and expounds the mysteries and the glories of that better world whither they will go without delay if they die taking the blood of a Christian.

In theory, the Moros accept the Koran and the teachings of Mahomet: in practice, they omit the virtues of their religious system and follow those precepts which can be construed into favouring vice; hence they interpret guidance of the people by oppression, polygamy by licentiousness, and maintenance of the faith by bloodshed. Relays of Arabs come, from time to time, under the guise of Koran expounders, to feed on the people and whet their animosity towards the Christian.

The Panditas are doctors also. If a Datto dies, they intone a dolorous chant; the family bursts into lamentations, which are finally drowned in the din of the clashing of cymbals and beating of gongs, whilst sometimes a gun is fired. In rush the neighbours, and join in the shouting, until all settle down quietly to a feast. The body is then sprinkled with salt and camphor and dressed in white, with the kris attached to the waist. There is little ceremony about placing the body in the coffin and burying it. The mortuary is marked by a wooden tablet—sometimes by a stone, on which is an inscription in Arabic. A slip of board, or bamboo, is placed around the spot, and a piece of wood, carved like the bows of a canoe, is stuck in the earth; in front of this is placed a cocoanut shell full of water.

The old native town, or cotta of Sulu (Joló) was a collection of bamboo houses built upon piles extending a few hundred yards into the sea. This was all demolished by the Spaniards when they permanently occupied the place in 1876, excepting the Military Hospital, which was re-constructed of light materials, native fashion. The sea-beach was cleared, and the native village put back inland.

The site is an extremely pretty little bay on the north of the island, formed by the points Dangapic and Candea, and exactly in front, about four or five miles off, there are several low-lying islets, well wooded, with a hill abruptly jutting out here and there, the whole forming a picturesque miniature archipelago.

Looking from the sea, in the centre stands the modern Spanish town of Sulu (Joló), built on the shore, rising about a couple of yards above sea-level, around which there is a short stone and brick sea-wall, with several bends pleasantly relieving the monotony of a straight line.

Forming a background to the European town, there are three thickly wooded hillocks almost identical in appearance, and at each extremity of the picture, lying farther back inland, there is a hill sloping down gradually towards the coast. The slope on the eastern extremity has been cleared of undergrowth to the extent of about 50 acres, giving it the appearance of a vast lawn. At the eastern and western extremities are the native suburbs, with huts of light material built a few yards into the sea. On the east side there is a big Moro bungalow, erected on small tree-trunks, quite a hundred yards from the beach seawards. To the west, one sees a long shanty-built structure running out to sea like a jetty; it is the shore market. The panorama could not be more charming and curious. Still farther west, towering above every other, stands the Bad Tumantangas peak (Mount of Tears), the last point discernible by the westward-journeying Joloano, who is said to sigh with patriotic anguish at its loss to view, with all the feeling of a Moorish Boabdil bidding adieu to his beloved Granada.

The town is uniformly planned, with well-drained streets, running parallel, crossed at rectangles by lovely avenues of shading trees. Here and there are squares, pretty gardens, and a clean and orderly market-place. There is a simple edifice for a church, splendid barracks equal to those in Manila when these were built, many houses of brick and stone, others of wood, and all roofed with corrugated iron.

The neighbourhood is well provided with water from natural streams. The town is supplied with drinking-water conducted in pipes, laid for the purpose from a spring about a mile and a quarter distant, whilst other piping carries water to the end of the pier for the requirements of shipping. This improvement, the present salubrity of the town (once a fever focus), and its latest Spanish embellishments, are mainly due to the intelligent activity of its late Governors, Colonel (now General) González Parrado, and the late General Juan Arolas.

The town is encircled on the land side by a brick loop-holed wall. The outside (Spanish) defences consisted of two forts, viz:—The “Princesa de Asturias” and “Torre de la Reina” and within the town those of the “Puerta Blockaus”, “Puerta España” and the redoubt “Alfonso XII.”—this last had a Nordenfeldt gun.

The Spanish Government of Sulu was entirely under martial law, and the Europeans (mostly military men) were constantly on the alert for the ever-recurring attacks of the natives.

The general aspect of Sulu (Joló) is cheerful and attractive. The day scene, enlivened by the Moro, passing to and fro with his lithe gait, in gay attire, with the bárong in a huge sash, and every white man, soldier or civilian, carrying arms in self-defence, may well inflame the imaginative and romantic mind. One can hardly believe one is still in the Philippines. At night, the shaded avenues, bordered by stately trees, illuminated by a hundred lamps, present a beautiful, picturesque scene which carries the memory far, far away from the surrounding savage races. Yet all may change in a trice. There is a hue and cry; a Moro has run ámok—his glistening weapon within a foot of his escaping victim; the Christian native hiding away in fear, and the European off in pursuit of the common foe; there is a tramping of feet, a cracking of firearms; the Moro is biting the dust, and the memory is brought abruptly back from imaginationʼs flights to full realization of oneʼs Mahometan entourage.

By a decree dated September 24, 1877, all the natives, and other races or nationalities settled there, were exempted from all kinds of contributions or taxes for 10 years. In 1887 the term was extended for another 10 years; hence, no imposts being levied, all the Spaniards had to do was to maintain their prestige with peace.

In his relations with the Spaniards, the Sultan held the title of Excellency, and he, as well as several chiefs, received annual pensions from the Government at the following rates:—

Pesos.

Sultan of Sulu

2,400

Sultan of Mindanao

1,000

Datto Beraduren, heir to the Sulu Sultanate

700

Paduca Datto Alimudin, of Sulu

600

Datto Amiral, of Mindanao

800

Other minor pensions

600

₱6,100

and an allowance of 2 pesos for each captive rescued, and 3 pesos for each pirate caught, whether in Sulu or Mindanao waters.

The Sultan is the Majasari (the stainless, the spotless)—the Pontiff-king—the chief of the State and the Church; but it is said that he acknowledges the Sultan of Turkey as the Padishah. He is the irresponsible lord and master of all life and property among his subjects, although in his decrees he is advised by a Council of Elders.

Nevertheless, in spite of his absolute authority, he does not seem to have perfect control over the acts of his nobles or chiefs, who are a privileged class, and are constantly waging some petty war among themselves, or organizing a marauding expedition along the coast. The Sultan is compelled, to a certain extent, to tolerate their excesses, as his own dignity, or at least his own tranquillity, is in a great measure dependent on their common goodwill towards him. The chiefs collect tribute in the name of the Sultan, but they probably furnish their own wants first and pay differences into the Royal Treasury, seeing that it all comes from their own feudal dependents.

The Sultan claims to be the nominal owner of all the product of Sulu waters. In the valuable Pearl Fisheries he claims to have a prior right to all pearls above a certain value, although the finder is entitled to a relative bounty from the Sultan. “Ambal,” a product found floating on the waters and much esteemed by the Chinese as medicine, is subject to royal dues. The great pearl-fishing centre is Siassi Island (in the Tapul group), lying about 20 miles south of Sulu Island.

The Sultanate is hereditary under the Salic Law. The Sultan is supported by three ministers, one of whom acts as Regent in his absence (for he might choose to go to Singapore, or have to go to Mecca, if he had not previously done so); the other is Minister of War, and the third is Minister of Justice and Master of the Ceremonies.

Slavery exists in a most ample sense. There are slaves by birth and others by conquest, such as prisoners of war, insolvent debtors, and those seized by piratical expeditions to other islands. A creole friend of mine was one of these last. He had commenced clearing an estate for cane-growing on the Negros coast, when he was seized and carried off to Sulu Island. In a few years he was ransomed and returned to Negros, where be formed one of the finest sugar haciendas and factories in the Colony.

In 1884 a Mahometan was found on a desolate isle lying off the Antique coast (Panay Is.), and of course had no document of identity, so he was arrested and confined in the jail of San José de Buenavista. From prison he was eventually taken to the residence of the Spanish Governor, Don Manuel Castellon, a very humane gentleman and a personal friend of mine. In Don Manuelʼs study there was a collection of native arms which took the strangerʼs fancy; one morning he seized a kris and lance, and, bounding into the breakfast-room, capered about, gesticulated, and brandished the lance in the air, much to the amusement of the Governor and his guests. But in an instant the fellow (hitherto a mystery, but undoubtedly a juramentado) hurled the lance with great force towards the Public Prosecutor, and the missile, after severing his watch-chain, lodged in the side of the table. The Governor and the Public Prosecutor at once closed with the would-be assassin, whilst the Governorʼs wife, with great presence of mind, thrust a table-knife into the culpritʼs body between the shoulder-blade and the collar-bone. The man fell, and, when all supposed he was dead, he suddenly jumped up. No one had thought of taking the kris out of his grasp, and he rushed around the apartment and severely cut two of the servants, but was ultimately despatched by the bayonets of the guards who arrived on hearing the scuffle. The Governor showed me his wounds, which were slight, but his life was saved by the valour of his wife—Doña Justa.

It has often been remarked by old residents, that if free licence were granted to the domesticated natives, their barbarous instincts would recur to them in all vigour. Here was an instance. The body of the Moro was carried off by an excited populace, who tied a rope to it, beat it, and dragged it through the town to a few miles up the coast, where it was thrown on the sea-shore. The priests did not interfere; like the Egyptian mummies cast on the Stygian shores, the culprit was unworthy of sepulture—besides, who would pay the fees?

During my first visit to Sulu in 1881, I was dining with the Governor, when the conversation ran on the details of an expedition about to be sent to Maybun, to carry despatches received from the Gov.-General for the Sultan, anent the Protectorate. The Governor seemed rather surprised when I expressed my wish to join the party, for the journey is not unattended with risk to oneʼs life. [I may here mention that only a few days before I arrived, a young officer was sent on some mission a short distance outside the town of Joló, accompanied by a patrol of two guards. He was met by armed Mahometans, and sent back with one of his hands cut off. I remember, also, the news reaching us that several military officers were sitting outside a café in Joló Town, when a number of juramentados came behind them and cut their throats.] However, the Governor did not oppose my wish—on the contrary, he jocosely replied that he could not extend my passport so far, because the Sulus would not respect it, yet the more Europeans the better.

Officials usually went by sea to Maybun, and a gunboat was now and again sent round the coast with messages to the Sultan, but there was no Government vessel in Joló at this time.

Our party, all told, including the native attendants, numbered about 30 Christians, and we started early in the morning on horseback. I carried my usual weapon—a revolver—hoping there would be no need to use it on the journey. And so it resulted; we arrived, without being molested in any way, in about three hours, across a beautiful country.

We passed two low ranges of hills, which appeared to run from S.W. to N.E., and several small streams, whilst here and there was a ranche of the Sultanʼs subjects. Each ranche was formed of a group of 10 to 20 huts, controlled by the cacique. Agriculture seemed to be pursued in a very pristine fashion, but, doubtless owing to the exuberant fertility of the soil, we saw some very nice crops of Rice, Indian Corn, Sugar Cane, and Indigo and Coffee plantations on a small scale. In the forest which we traversed there were some of the largest bamboos I have ever seen, and fine building timber, such as Teak, Narra, Molave, Mangachapuy, and Camagon (vide Woods). I was assured that Cedars also flourished on the island. We saw a great number of monkeys, wild pigeons, cranes, and parrots, whilst deer, buffaloes, and wild goats are said to abound in these parts.

On our arrival at Maybun, we went first to the bungalow of a Chinaman—the Sultanʼs brother-in-law—where we refreshed ourselves with our own provisions, and learnt the gossip of the place. On inquiry, we were told that the Sultan was sleeping, so we waited at the Chinamanʼs. I understood this man was a trader, but there were no visible signs of his doing any business. Most of our party slept the siesta, and at about four oʼclock we called at the Palace. It was a very large building, well constructed, and appeared to be built almost entirely of materials of the country. A deal of bamboo and wood were used in it, and even the roof was made of split bamboo, although I am told that this was replaced by sheet-iron when the young Sultan came to the throne. The vestibule was very spacious, and all around was pleasantly decorated with lovely shrubs and plants peculiar to most mid-tropical regions. The entrance to the Palace was always open, but well guarded, and we were received by three Dattos, who saluted us in a formal way, and, without waiting to ask us any question, invited us, with a wave of the hand, to follow them into the throne-room.[12] The Sultan was seated on our entering, but when the bearer of the despatches approached with the official interpreter by his side, and we following, he rose in his place to greet us.

His Highness was dressed in very tight silk trousers, fastened partly up the sides with showy chased gold or gilt buttons, a short Eton-cut olive-green jacket with an infinity of buttons, white socks, ornamented slippers, a red sash around his waist, a kind of turban, and a kris at his side. His general appearance was that of a Spanish bull-fighter with an Oriental finish off. We all bowed low, and the Sultan, surrounded by his Sultanas, put his hands to his temples, and, on lowering them, he bowed at the same time. We remained standing whilst some papers were handed to him. He looked at them—a few words were said in Spanish, to the effect that the bearer saluted His Highness in the name of the Governor of Sulu. The Sultan passed the documents to the official interpreter, who read or explained them in the Sulu language; then a brief conversation ensued, through the interpreter, and the business was really over. After a short pause, the Sultan motioned to us to be seated on floor-cushions, and we complied. The cushions, covered with rich silk, were very comfortable. Servants, in fantastic costumes, were constantly in attendance, serving betel-nut to those who cared to chew it.

One Sultana was fairly pretty, or had been so, but the others were heavy, languid, and lazy in their movements; and their teeth, dyed black, did not embellish their personal appearance. The Sultan made various inquiries, and passed many compliments on us, the Governor, Gov.-General, etc., which were conveyed to us through the interpreter. Meanwhile, the Sultanas chatted among themselves, and were apparently as much interested in looking at us as we were in their style, features, and attire. They all wore light-coloured “dual garments” of great width, and tight bodices. Their coiffure was carefully finished, but a part of the forehead was hidden by an ungraceful fringe of hair.

We had so little in common to converse on, and that little had to be said through the interpreter, that we were rather glad when we were asked to take refreshments. It at least served to relieve the awkward feeling of glancing at each other in silence. Chocolate and ornamental sweetmeats were brought to us, all very unpalatable. When we were about to take our departure, the Sultan invited us to remain all night in the Palace. The leader of our party caused to be explained to him that we were thankful for his gracious offer, but that, being so numerous, we feared to disturb His Highness by intruding so far on his hospitality. Still the Sultan politely insisted, and whilst the interpretation was being transmitted I found an opportunity to acquaint our chief of my burning curiosity to stay at the Palace. In any case, we were a large number to go anywhere, so our leader, in reply to the Sultan, said that he and four Europeans of his suite would take advantage of His Highnessʼs kindness.

We withdrew from the Sultanʼs presence, and some of us Europeans walked through the town accompanied by functionaries of the royal household and the interpreter. There was nothing striking in the place; it was like most others. There were some good bungalows of bamboo and thatching. I noticed that men, women, and children were smoking tobacco or chewing, and had no visible occupation. Many of the smaller dwellings were built on piles out to the sea. We saw a number of divers preparing to go off to get pearls, mother-of-pearl, etc. They are very expert in this occupation, and dive as deep as 100 feet. Prior to the plunge they go through a grotesque performance of waving their arms in the air and twisting their bodies, in order—as they say—to frighten away the sharks; then with a whoop they leap over the edge of the prahu, and continue to throw their arms and legs about for the purpose mentioned. They often dive for the shark and rip it up with a kris.

Five of us retired to the Palace that night, and were at once conducted to our rooms. There was no door to my room; it was, strictly speaking, an alcove. During the night, at intervals of about every hour, as it seemed to me, a Palace servant or guard came to inquire how the Señor was sleeping, and if I were comfortable. “Duerme el Señor?” (“Does the gentleman sleep?”) was apparently the limit of his knowledge of Spanish. I did not clearly understand more than the fact that the man was a nuisance, and I regretted there was no door with which to shut him out. The next morning we paid our respects to His Highness, who furnished us with an escort—more as a compliment than a necessity—and we reached Joló Town again, after a very enjoyable ride through a superb country.

The Sultanʼs subjects are spread so far from the centre of government—Maybun—that in some places their allegiance is but nominal. Many of them residing near the Spanish settlements are quick at learning Castilian sufficiently well to be understood, but the Spaniards tried in vain to subject them to a European order of things.

About 20 miles up the coast, going north from Zamboanga, the Jesuits sent a missionary in 1885 to convert the Subuanos. He endeavoured to persuade the people to form a village. They cleared a way through the forest from the beach, and at the end of this opening, about three-quarters of a mile long, I found a church half built of wood, bamboo, and palm-leaves. I had ridden to the place on horseback along the beach, and my food and baggage followed in a canoe. The opening was so roughly cleared that I thought it better to dismount when I got half way. As the church was only in course of construction, and not consecrated, I took up my quarters there. I was followed by a Subuano, who was curious to know the object of my visit. I told him I wished to see the headman, so this personage arrived with one of his wives and a young girl. They sat on the floor with me, and as the cacique could make himself understood in Spanish, we chatted about the affairs of the town in posse. The visiting priest had gone to the useless trouble of baptizing a few of these people. They appeared to be as much Christian as I was Mahometan. The cacique had more than one wife—the word of the Pandita of the settlement was the local law, and the Pandita himself of course had his seraglio. I got the first man, who had followed me, to direct me to the Panditaʼs house. My guide was gaily attired in bright red tight acrobat breeches, with buttons up the side, and a jacket like a waistcoat, with sleeves so close-fitting that I suppose he seldom took the trouble to undress himself. I left the cacique, promising to visit his bungalow that day, and then my guide led me through winding paths, in a wood, to the hut of the Pandita. On the way I met a man of the tribe carrying spring-water in a bamboo, which he tilted to give me a drink. To my inquiries if he were a Christian, and if he knew the Castilian Pandita (Spanish priest), he replied in the affirmative; continuing the interrogation, I asked him how many gods there were, and when he answered “four,” I closed my investigation of his Christianity. My guide was too cunning to take me by the direct path to the Panditaʼs bungalow. He led me into a half-cleared plot of land facing it, whence the inmates could see us for at least ten minutes making our approach. When we arrived, and after scrambling up the staircase, which was simply a notched trunk of a tree about nine inches diameter, I discovered that the Pandita, forewarned, had fled to the mountain close by, leaving his wives to entertain the visitor. I found them all lounging and chewing betel-nut, and when I squatted on the floor amongst them they became remarkably chatty. Then I went to the caciqueʼs bungalow. In the rear of this dwelling there was a small forge, and the most effective bellows of primitive make which I have ever seen in any country. It was a double-action apparatus, made entirely of bamboo, except the pistons, which were of feathers. These pistons, working up and down alternately by a bamboo rod in each hand, sustained perfectly a constant draught of air. One man was squatting on a bamboo bench the height of the bellowsʼ rods, whilst the smith crouched on the ground to forge his kris on the anvil.

The headmanʼs bungalow was built the same as the others, but with greater care. It was rather high up, and had the usual notched log-of-wood staircase, which is perhaps easy to ascend with naked feet. The cacique and one of his wives were seated on mats on the floor. After mutual salutations the wife threw me three cushions, on which I reclined—doing the dolce far niente whilst we talked about the affairs of the settlement. The conversation was growing rather wearisome anent the Spanish priest having ordered huts to be built without giving materials, about the scarcity of palm-leaves in the neighbourhood, and so forth, so I bade them farewell and went on to another hut. Here the inmates were numerous—four women, three or four men, and two rather pretty male children, with their heads shaven so as to leave only a tuft of hair towards the forehead about the size of a crown piece. To entertain me, six copper tom-toms were brought out, and placed in a row on pillows, whilst another large one, for the bass accompaniment, was suspended from a wooden frame. A man beat the bass with a stick, whilst the women took it in turns to kneel on the floor, with a stick in each hand, to play a tune on the series of six. A few words were passed between the three men, when suddenly one of them arose and performed a war-dance, quaintly twisting his arms and legs in attitudes of advance, recoil, and exultation. The dance finished, I mounted my horse and left the settlement in embryo, called by the missionaries Reus, which is the name of a town in Catalonia.

The climate of Mindanao and Sulu Islands is healthy and delightful. The heat of Zamboanga is moderated by daily breezes, and in Sulu, in the month of June, it is not oppressive. A yearʼs temperature readings on the Illana Bay coast (Mindanao Is.) are as follows, viz.:—

Average of

Inside the House, Fahrenheit.

Outside in the Shade, Fahrenheit.

6 a.m.

Noon.

6 p.m.

6 a.m.

Noon.

6 p.m.

Jan.–March

73°

84°

83°

72°

84°

80°

April–June

74½°

83°

78½°

74½°

92½°

78°

July–Sept.

74°

84°

80°

72½°

88°

79°

Oct.–Dec.

73°

85°

80°

73°

83°

78°

The Island of Palaúan (Parágua) was anciently a dependency of the Sultanate of Brunei (Borneo), hence the dominion over this island of the Sultan of Sulu as suzerain lord of Brunei. At the beginning of the 18th century Spaniards had already settled in the north of it. It had a very sparse population, and a movement was set on foot to subjugate the natives. In order to protect the Spanish settlers from Mahometan attacks a fort was established at Labo. However, the supplies were not kept up, and many of the garrison died of misery, hunger, and nakedness, until 1720, when it was abandoned.

Some years afterwards the island was gratuitously ceded to the Spaniards by the Sultan of Sulu, at their request. Captain Antonio Fabeau was sent there with troops to take formal possession, being awarded the handsome salary of ₱50 per month for this service. On the arrival of the ships, an officer was sent ashore; the people fled inland, and the formalities of annexation were proceeded with unwitnessed. The only signs of possession left there were the corpses of the troops and sailors who died from eating rotten food, or were murdered by Mahometans who attacked the expedition. Subsequently a fortress was established at Taytay, where a number of priests and laymen in a few years succeeded in forming a small colony, which at length shared the fate of Labo. The only Spanish settlement in the island at the date of the evacuation was the colony of Puerta Princesa, on the east coast.[13]

Before starting on my peregrination in Palaúan Island, I sought in vain for information respecting the habits and nature of the Tagbanúas, a half-caste Malay-Aeta tribe, disseminated over a little more than the southern half of the island.[14] It was only on my arrival at Puerta Princesa that I was able to procure a vague insight into the peculiarities of the people whom I intended to visit. The Governor, Don Felipe Canga-Argüelles, was highly pleased to find a traveller who could sympathize with his efforts, and help to make known, if only to the rest of the Archipelago, this island almost unexplored in the interior. He constantly wrote articles to one of the leading journals of Manila, under the title of “Echoes from Parágua” (Palaúan), partly with the view of attracting the attention of the Government to the requirements of the Colony, but also to stimulate a spirit of enterprise in favour of this island, rich in hardwoods, etc.

Puerta Princesa is a good harbour, situated on a gulf. The soil was levelled, trees were planted, and a slip for repairing vessels was constructed. There was a fixed white light visible eleven miles off. It was a naval station for two gunboats, the Commander of the station being ex-officio Governor of the Colony. It was also a Penal Settlement for convicts, and those suspected by the civil or religious authorities. To give employment to the convicts and suspects, a model sugar-estate was established by the Government. The locality supplied nearly all the raw material for working and preserving the establishment, such as lime, stone, bricks, timber, sand, firewood, straw for bags, rattans, etc.

The aspect of the town is agreeable, and the environs are pretty, but there is a great drawback in the want of drinking-water, which, in the dry season, has to be procured from a great distance.

The Governor showed me great attention, and personally took command of a gunboat, which conducted me to the mouth of the Iguajit River. This is the great river of the district, and is navigable for about three miles. I put off in a boat manned by marines, and was rowed about two miles up, as far as the mission station. The missionary received me well, and I stayed there that night, with five men, whom I had engaged to carry my luggage, for we had a journey before us of some days on foot to the opposite coast.

My luggage, besides the ordinary travelling requisites and provisions, included about 90 yards of printed stuffs of bright colours, six dozen common handkerchiefs, and some 12 poundsʼ weight of beads on strings, with a few odds and ends of trinkets; whilst my native bearers were provided with rice, dried fish, betel-nut, tobacco, etc., for a week or more. We set out on foot the next day, and in three days and a half we reached the western shore.

The greatest height above the sea-level on our route was about 900 metres, according to my aneroid reading, and the maximum heat at mid-day in the shade (month of January) was 82° Fahr. The nights were cold, comparatively speaking, and at midnight the thermometer once descended to 59° Fahr.

The natives proved to be a very pacific people. We found some engaged in collecting gum from the trees in the forest, and others cutting and making up bundles of rattans. They took these products down to the Iguajit River mission station, where Chinese traders bartered for them stuffs and other commodities. The value of coin was not altogether unknown in the mission village, although the difference in value between copper and silver coinage was not understood. In the interior they lived in great misery, their cabins being wretched hovels. They planted their rice without ploughing at all, and all their agricultural implements were made of wood or bamboo.

The native dress is made of the bark of trees, smashed with stones, to extract the ligneous parts. In the cool weather they make tunics of bark, and the women wear drawers of the same material. They adorn their waists with sea-shell and cocoanut shell ornaments, whilst the fibre of the palm serves for a waistband. The women pierce very large holes in their ears, in which they place shells, wood, etc. They never bathe intentionally. Their arms are bows and arrows, and darts blown through a kind of pea-shooter made of a reed resembling bojo (q.v). They are a very dirty people, and they eat their fish or flesh raw.

I had no difficulty whatever in procuring guides from one group of huts to the next on payment in goods, and my instructions were always to lead me towards the coast, the nearest point of which I knew was due west or a few points to the north.

We passed through a most fertile country the whole way. There were no rivers of any importance, but we were well supplied with drinking-water from the numerous springs and rivulets. The forests are very rich in good timber, chiefly Ipil (Eperma decandria), a very useful hardwood (vide Woods). I estimated that many of these trees, if felled, would have given clean logs of 70 to 80 feet long. I presume the felling of timber was not attempted by these natives on account of the difficulties, or rather, total want of transport means. From a plateau, within half a dayʼs journey of the opposite coast, the scenery was remarkably beautiful, with the sea to the west and an interminable grandeur of forest to the east. There were a few fishermen on the west coast, but further than that, there was not a sign of anything beyond the gifts of Nature. About half a mile from the coast, on the fringe of the forest, there was a group of native huts, two of which were vacated for our accommodation in exchange for goods.

With an abundance of fish, we were able to economize our provisions. One of my men fell ill with fever, so that we had to wait two days on the west coast, whilst I dosed him with Enoʼs fruit salt and quinine. In the meantime, I studied the habits of these people. Among the many things which astonished them was the use of matches, whilst our cooking highly amused them. Such a thing as a horse I suppose had never been seen here, although I would gladly have bought or hired one, for I was very weary of our delay. We all went on the march again, on foot nearly all the way, by the same passes to the Iguajit River, where we found a canoe, which carried us back to Puerta Princesa.

The island produces many marketable articles, such as beeswax, edible birdʼs nests, fine shells, dried shell-fish, a few pearls, bush-rope or palásan (q.v.) of enormous length, wild nutmegs, ebony, logwood, etc., which the Chinese obtain in barter for knives and other small manufactures.

The first survey of the Palaúan Island coast is said to have been made by the British. A British map of Puerta Princesa, with a few miles of adjoining coast, was shown to me in the Government House of this place. It appears that the west coast is not navigable for ships within at least two miles of the shore, although there are a few channels leading to creeks. Vessels coming from the west usually pass through the Straits of Balábac, between the island of that name and the islets off the Borneo Island coast.

In the Island of Balábac there was absolutely nothing remarkable to be seen, unless it were a little animal about the size of a big cat, but in shape a perfect model of a doe.[15] I took one to Manila, but it died the day we arrived. No part of the island (which is very mountainous and fertile) appeared to be cultivated, and even the officials at the station had to obtain supplies from Manila, whilst cattle were brought from the Island of Cuyo, one of the Calamianes group.

In the latter years, the Home Government made efforts to colonize Palaúan Island by offering certain advantages to emigrants. By Royal Order, dated February 25, 1885, the Islands of Palaúan and Mindanao were to be occupied in an effectual manner, and outposts established, wherever necessary, to guarantee the secure possession of these islands. The points mentioned for such occupation in Palaúan Island were Tagbusao and Malihut on the east coast, and Colasian and Malanut on the west coast. It also confirmed the Royal Decree of July 30, 1860, granting to all families emigrating to these newly established military posts, and all peaceful tribes of the Islands who might choose to settle there, exemption from the payment of tribute for six years. The families would be furnished with a free passage to these places, and each group would be supplied with seed and implements.

A subsequent Royal Order, dated January 19, 1886, was issued, to the effect:—That the Provincial Governors of the Provinces of North and South Ilocos were to stimulate voluntary emigration of the natives to Palaúan Island, to the extent of 25 families from each of the two provinces per annum. That any payments due by them to the Public Treasury were to be condoned. That such families and any persons of good character who might establish themselves in Palaúan should be exempt from the payment of taxes for ten years, and receive free passage there for themselves and their cattle, and three hectares of land gratis, to be under cultivation within a stated period. That two chupas of rice (vide Rice measure) and ten cents of a peso should be given to each adult, and one chupa of rice to each minor each day during the first six months from the date of their embarking. That the Governor of Palaúan should be instructed respecting the highways to be constructed, and the convenience of opening free ports in that island. That the land and sea forces should be increased; and of the latter, a third-rate man-oʼ-war should be stationed on the west coast. That convicts should continue to be sent to Palaúan, and the Governor should be authorized to employ all those of bad conduct in public works. That schools of primary instruction should be established in the island wherever such might be considered convenient, etc., etc.[16]

The Spaniards (in 1898) left nearly half the Philippine Archipelago to be conquered, but only its Mahometan inhabitants ever persistently took the aggressive against them in regular continuous warfare. The attempts of the Jesuit missionaries to convert them to Christianity were entirely futile, for the Panditas and the Romish priests were equally tenacious of their respective religious beliefs. The last treaty made between Spain and Sulu especially stipulated that the Mahometans should not be persecuted for their religion.

To overturn a dynasty, to suppress an organized system of feudal laws, and to eradicate an ancient belief, the principles of which had firmly established themselves among the populace in the course of centuries, was a harder task than that of bringing under the Spanish yoke detached groups of Malay immigrants. The pliant, credulous nature of the Luzon settlers—the fact that they professed no deeply-rooted religion, and—although advanced from the migratory to the settled condition—were mere nominal lieges of their puppet kinglings, were facilities for the achievement of conquest. True it is that the dynasties of the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru yielded to Spanish valour, but there was the incentive of untold wealth; here, only of military glory, and the former outweighed the latter.

If the Spaniards failed to subjugate the Mahometans, or to incorporate their territory in the general administrative system of the Colony, after three centuries of intermittent endeavour, it is difficult to conceive that the Philippine Republic (had it subsisted) would have been more successful. It would have been useless to have resolved to leave the Moros to themselves, practically ignoring their existence. Any Philippine Government must needs hold them in check for the public weal, for the fact is patent that the Moro hates the native Christian not one iota less than he does the white man.

[1] According to Father Pedro Murillo, the ancient name of Basílan was Taguima, so called from a river there of that name.

[2] Mahometanism appears to have been introduced into the Islands of Borneo and Mindanao by Arabian missionary prophets.

[3] It was called the Fuerza del Pilar, and is now the American Moro Province military headquarters and head quartermasterʼs office and dépòt. The image of Our Lady in a niche in the north wall is much revered by Catholics.

[4] Paseo de los gigantes, the custom still existing in Spain of introducing giant figures into popular festivities, reminding one of Guy Fawkes.

[5] The Sultan complained that he had not been treated in Manila with dignity equal to his rank and quality, and that he had constantly been under guard of soldiers in his residence (this was explained to be a guard-of-honour).

[6] Cholera has considerably reduced the population. In 1902 this disease carried off about 10 per cent.

[7] Brûnei signifies, in pure Malay, the whole of Borneo Island.

[8] The Sultan told me years afterwards that his uncleʼs nomination by the Spaniards troubled him very little, as he was always recognized by his people as their sovereign. In the end intrigues were made against Datto Harun Narrasid, who agreed to accept his nephewʼs vassal sultanate of Parágua, where he died, and was succeeded by his son, Sultan Tattarassa, whom I met in Joló in 1904.

[9] Cottabato is derived from Cotta, a fort, and Bató, stone.

[10] By Royal Order of June, 1890, Brig.-General Arolas was appointed Governor of Mindanao. He died in Valencia (Spain) May, 1899.

[11] According to Sonnerat, Sulu Island produced elephants!—vide “Voyages aux Indes et à la Chine,” Vol. III., Chap. x. I have not seen the above statement confirmed in any writing. Certainly there is no such animal in these islands at the present day.

[12] This building was destroyed by Colonel Arolas, April 15, 1887 (vide p. 144).

[13] A few outposts had recently been established by Royal Decree. They were all under the command of a captain, vide Chap. xiii.

[14] There is another tribe in Palaúan Island called Batacs, with Papuan noses, curly hair, and very dark skin. Their origin is a mystery.

[15] Alfred Marche calls this the Tragulus ranchil, and says it is also to be found in Malacca, Cochin China, and Pulo Condor (vide “Luçon et Palaouan,” par A. Marche. Paris, 1887).

[16] By Royal Order of August 20, 1888, a concession of 12,000 to 14,000 hectares of land in Palaúan was granted to Felipe Canga-Argüelles y Villalba, ex-Governor of Puerta Princesa, for the term of 20 years.

He could work mines, cut timber, and till the land so conceded under the law called “Ley de Colonias Agrícolas,” of September 4, 1884, which was little more than an extension to the Philippines of the Peninsula forest and agricultural law of June 3, 1868 (vide Gaceta de Madrid of September 29, 1888). It appears, however, from the Colonial Ministerʼs despatch No. 515, to the Gov.-General of the Colony, dated May 24, 1890, that the concessionaire had endeavoured to associate himself with foreigners for the working of the concession. I myself had received from him several letters on the subject. The wording of the despatch shows that suspicion was entertained of an eventual intention to declare territorial independence in Palaúan. The Government, wishing to avoid the possibility of embroilment with a foreign nation, unfortunately felt constrained to impose such restrictions upon the concessionaire as to render his enterprise valueless.

Domesticated Natives—Origin—Character

The generally-accepted theory regarding the origin of the composite race which may be termed “domesticated natives,” is, that their ancestors migrated to these Islands from Malesia, or the Malay Peninsula. But so many learned dissertations have emanated from distinguished men, propounding conflicting opinions on the descent of the Malays themselves, that we are still left on the field of conjecture.

There is good reason to surmise that, at some remote period, these Islands and the Islands of Formosa and Borneo were united, and possibly also they conjointly formed a part of the Asiatic mainland. Many of the islets are mere coral reefs, and some of the larger islands are so distinctly of coral formation that, regarded together with the numerous volcanic evidences, one is induced to believe that the Philippine Archipelago is the result of a stupendous upheaval by volcanic action.[1] At least it seems apparent that no autochthonous population existed on these lands in their island form. The first settlers were probably the Aetas, called also Negritos and Balugas, who may have drifted northwards from New Guinea and have been carried by the strong currents through the San Bernadino Straits and round Punta Santiago until they reached the still waters in the neighbourhood of Corregidor Island, whilst others were carried westwards to the tranquil Sulu Sea, and travelling thence northwards would have settled on the Island of Negros. It is a fact that for over a century after the Spanish conquest, Negros Island had no other inhabitants but these mountaineers and escaped criminals from other islands.

The sturdy races inhabiting the Central Luzon highlands, decidedly superior in physique and mental capacity to the Aetas, may be of Japanese origin, for shortly after the conquest by Legaspi a Spanish galley cruising off the north coast of Luzon fell in with Japanese, who probably penetrated to the interior of that island up the Rio Grande de Cagayán. Tradition tells us how the Japanese used to sail down the east coast of Luzon as far as the neighbourhood of Lamon Bay, where they landed and, descending the little rivers which flowed into the Lake of Bay, settled in that region which was called by the first Spanish conquerors Pagsanján Province, and which included the Laguna Province of to-day, with a portion of the modern Tayabas Province.

A Visayan Girl

Either the Japanese extended their sphere from the Lake of Bay shore, or, as some assert (probably erroneously), shipwrecked Japanese went up the Pansipít River to the Bómbon Lake: the fact remains that Taal, with the Bómbon Lake shore, was a Japanese settlement, and even up to now the Taaleños have characteristics differing from those of the pure Malay immigrant descendants. The Philippine patriot, Dr. José Rizal, was a good Japanese-Malay type.

A Tagálog Girl

The Tagálogs, who occupy a small portion of Luzon Island, chiefly the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Rizal, and Bulacan, are believed to be the cross-breed descendants of these Japanese immigrants. At the period of the Spanish conquest the Tao ílog, that is to say, “the man who came by the river,” afterwards corrupted into the more euphonious name of Tagálog, occupied only the lands from the south shore of Laguna de Bay southwards. Some traded with the Malay settlers at Maynila (as the city on the Pasig River was then called) and, little by little, radicated themselves in the Manila suburbs of Quiapo, Sampáloc, and Santa Cruz.[2]

From the West, long before the Spanish conquest, there was a great influx of Malays, who settled on the shores and the lowlands and drove the first settlers (Aetas) to the mountains. Central Luzon and the Lake environs being already occupied, they spread all over the vacant lands and adjacent islands south of Luzon. These expeditions from Malesia were probably accompanied by Mahometan propagandists, who had imparted to the Malays some notions, more or less crude, of their religion and culture, for at the time of Legaspiʼs arrival in Manila we find he had to deal with two chiefs, or petty kings, both assuming the Indian title of Rajah, whilst one of them had the Mahometan Arabic name of Soliman. Hitherto the Tao ílog, or Tagálog, had not descended the Pasig River so far as Manila, and the religious rites of the Tondo-Manila people must have appeared to Legaspi similar to the Mahometan rites,[3] for in several of his despatches to his royal master he speaks of these people as Moros. All the dialects spoken by the Filipinos of Malay and Japanese descent have their root in the pure Malay language. After the expulsion of all the adult male Japanese Lake settlers in the 17th century, it is feasible to suppose that the language of the males who took their place in the Lake district and intermarried there, should prevail over the idiom of the primitive settlers, and possibly this amalgamation of speech accounts for the difference between the Tagálog dialect and others of these islands peopled by Malays.

The Malay immigration must have taken place several generations prior to the coming of the Spaniards, for at that period the lowland occupants were already divided into peoples speaking different dialects and distinguishing themselves by groups whose names seem to be associated with the districts they inhabited, such as Pampanga, Iloco, and Cagayán; these denominations are probably derived from some natural condition, such as Pámpang, meaning a river embankment, Ilog, a river, Cauáyan, a bamboo, etc.

In a separate chapter (x.) the reputed origin of the Mahometans of the southern islands is alluded to. They are also believed to be immigrants from the West, and at the time of the conquest recent traditions which came to the knowledge of the Spaniards, and were recorded by them, prove that commercial relations existed between Borneo and Manila. There is a tradition[4] also of an attempted conquest of Luzon by a Borneo chief named Lacasama, about 250 years before the Spanish advent; but apparently the expedition came to grief near Luzon, off an island supposed by some to be Masbate.

The descendants of the Japanese and Malay immigrants were the people whom the Spanish invaders had to subdue to gain a footing. To the present day they, and the correlative Chinese and Spanish half-castes, are the only races, among the several in these Islands, subjected, in fact, to civilized methods. The expression “Filipino” neither denotes any autochthonous race, nor any nationality, but simply one born in those islands named the Philippines: it is, therefore, open to argument whether the child of a Filipino, born in a foreign country, could be correctly called a Filipino.

The christianized Filipinos, enjoying to-day the benefits of European training, are inclined to repudiate, as compatriots, the descendants of the non-christian tribes, although their concurrent existence, since the time of their immigrant forefathers, makes them all equally Filipinos. Hence many of them who were sent to the St. Louis Exhibition in 1904 were indignant because the United States Government had chosen to exhibit some types of uncivilized natives, representing about one-twelfth of the Philippine population. Without these exhibits, and on seeing only the educated Filipinos who formed the Philippine Commission, the American people at home might well have asked—Is not American civilization a superfluity in those islands?

The inhabitants of these Islands were by no means savages, entirely unreclaimed from barbarism before the Spanish advent in the 16th century. They had a culture of their own, towards which the Malay settlers themselves appear to have contributed very little. In the nascent pre-Spanish civilization, Japanese immigrants were almost the only agriculturists, mine-workers, manufacturers, gold-seekers, goldsmiths, and masters of the industrial arts in general. Pagsanján (Laguna) was their great industrial centre. Malolos (Bulacan) was also an important Japanese trading base. Whilst working the mines of Ilocos their exemplary industry must undoubtedly have influenced the character of the Ilocanos. Away down in the Bicol country of Camarines, the Japanese pushed their trade, and from their great settlement in Taal their traffic must have extended over the whole province, first called by the Spaniards Taal y Balayán, but since named Batangas. From the Japanese, the Malays learnt the manufacture of arms, and the Igorrotes the art of metal-working. Along the coasts of the large inhabited islands the Chinese travelled as traders or middlemen, at great personal risk of attack by individual robbers, bartering the goods of manufacturers for native produce, which chiefly consisted of sinamay cloth, shark-fin, balate (trepang), edible birdsʼ-nests, gold in grain, and siguey-shells, for which there was a demand in Siam for use as money. Every north-east monsoon brought down the junks to barter leisurely until the south-west monsoon should waft them back, and neither Chinese nor Japanese made the least attempt, nor apparently had the least desire, to govern the Islands or to overrule the natives. Without coercion, the Malay settlers would appear to have unconsciously submitted to the influence of the superior talent or astuteness of the sedulous races with whom they became merged and whose customs they adopted, proof of which can be traced to the present day.[5] Presumably the busy, industrious immigrants had neither time nor inclination for sanguinary conflicts, for those recorded appear to be confined to the raids of the migratory mountaineers and an occasional attack by some ambitious Borneo buccaneer. The reader who would wish to verify these facts is recommended to make a comparative study of native character in Vigan, Malolos, Taal, and Pagsanján.

In treating of the domesticated nativesʼ character, I wish it to be understood that my observations apply solely to the large majority of the six or seven millions of them who inhabit these Islands.

In the capital and the ports open to foreign trade, where cosmopolitan vices and virtues obtain, and in large towns, where there is a constant number of domiciled Europeans and Americans, the native has become a modified being. It is not in such places that a just estimate of character can be arrived at, even during many yearsʼ sojourn. The native must be studied by often-repeated casual residence in localities where his, or her, domestication is only “by law established,” imposing little restraint upon natural inclinations, and where exotic notions have gained no influence.

Several writers have essayed to depict the Philippine native character, but with only partial success. Dealing with such an enigma, the most eminent physiognomists would surely differ in their speculations regarding the Philippine native of the present day. That Catonian figure, with placid countenance and solemn gravity of feature, would readily deceive any one as to the true mental organism within. The late parish priest of Alaminos (Batangas)—a Franciscan friar, who spent half his life in the Colony—left a brief manuscript essay on the native character. I have read it. In his opinion, the native is an incomprehensible phenomenon, the mainspring of whose line of thought and the guiding motive of whose actions have never yet been, and perhaps never will be, discovered.

The reasoning of a native and a European differs so largely that the mental impulse of the two races is ever clashing. Sometimes a native will serve a master satisfactorily for years, and then suddenly abscond, or commit some such hideous crime as conniving with a brigand band to murder the family and pillage the house.

When the hitherto faithful servant is remonstrated with for having committed a crime, he not unfrequently accounts for the fact by saying, “Señor, my head was hot.” When caught in the act on his first start on highway robbery or murder, his invariable excuse is that he is not a scoundrel himself, but that he was “invited” by a relation or compadre to join the company.

He is fond of gambling, profligate, lavish in his promises, but lâche in the extreme as to their fulfilment. He will never come frankly and openly forward to make a clean breast of a fault committed, or even a pardonable accident, but will hide it, until it is found out. In common with many other non-European races, an act of generosity or a voluntary concession of justice is regarded as a sign of weakness. Hence it is that the experienced European is often compelled to be more harsh than his real nature dictates.

If one pays a native 20 cents for a service performed, and that be exactly the customary remuneration, he will say nothing, but if a feeling of compassion impels one to pay 30 cents, the recipient will loudly protest that he ought to be paid more.[6] In Luzon the native is able to say “Thank you” (salámat-pô) in his mother-tongue, but in Panay and Negros there is no way of expressing thanks in native dialect to a donor (the nearest approach to it is Dios macbáyat); and although this may, at first sight, appear to be an insignificant fact, I think, nevertheless, a great deal may be deduced from it, for the deficiency of the word in the Visaya vernacular denotes a deficiency of the idea which that word should express.

If the native be in want of a trivial thing, which by plain asking he could readily obtain, he will come with a long tale, often begin by telling a lie, and whilst he invariably scratches his head, he will beat about the bush until he comes to the point, with a supplicating tone and a saintly countenance hiding a mass of falsity. But if he has nothing to gain for himself, his reticence is astonishingly inconvenient, for he may let oneʼs horse die and tell one afterwards it was for want of rice-paddy, or, just at the very moment one wants to use something, he will tell one “Uala-pô”—there is not any.

I have known natives whose mothers, according to their statement, have died several times, and each time they have tried to beg the loan of the burial expenses. The mother of my first servant died twice, according to his account.

Even the best class of natives do not appreciate, or feel grateful for, or even seem to understand a spontaneous gift. Apparently, they only comprehend the favour when one yields to their asking. The lowest classes never give to each other, unsolicited, a centʼs worth, outside the customary reciprocal feast-offerings. If a European makes voluntary gratuities to the natives, he is considered a fool—they entertain a contempt for him, which develops into intolerable impertinence. If the native comes to borrow, lend him a little less than he asks for, after a verbose preamble; if one at once lent, or gave, the full value requested, he would continue to invent a host of pressing necessities, until oneʼs patience was exhausted. He seldom restores the loan of anything voluntarily. On being remonstrated with for his remissness, after the date of repayment or return of the article has expired, he will coolly reply, “You did not ask me for it.” An amusing case of native reasoning came within my experience just recently. I lent some articles to an educated Filipino, who had frequently been my guest, and, at the end of three months, I requested their return. Instead of thanking me for their use, he wrote a letter expressing his indignation at my reminder, saying that I “ought to know they were in very good hands!” A native considers it no degradation to borrow money: it gives him no recurrent feeling of humiliation or distress of mind. Thus, he will often give a costly feast to impress his neighbours with his wealth and maintain his local prestige, whilst on all sides he has debts innumerable. At most, with his looseness of morality, he regards debt as an inconvenience, not as a calamity.

Before entering another (middle- or lower-class) nativeʼs house, he is very complimentary, and sometimes three minutesʼ polite excusatory dialogue is exchanged between the visitor and the native visited before the former passes the threshold. When the same class of native enters a Europeanʼs house, he generally satisfies his curiosity by looking all around, and often pokes his head into a private room, asking permission to enter afterwards.

The lower-class native never comes at first call; among themselves it is usual to call five or six times, raising the voice each time. If a native is told to tell another to come, he seldom goes to him to deliver the message, but calls him from a distance. When a native steals (and I must say they are fairly honest), he steals only what he wants. One of the rudest acts, according to their social code, is to step over a person asleep on the floor. Sleeping is, with them, a very solemn matter; they are very averse to waking any one, the idea being, that during sleep the soul is absent from the body, and that if slumber be suddenly arrested the soul might not have time to return. When a person, knowing the habits of the native, calls upon him and is told “He is asleep,” he does not inquire further—the rest is understood: that he may have to wait an indefinite time until the sleeper wakes up—so he may as well depart. To urge a servant to rouse one, one has to give him very imperative orders to that effect: then he stands by oneʼs side and calls “Señor, señor!” repeatedly, and each time louder, until one is half awake; then he returns to the low note, and gradually raises his voice again until one is quite conscious.

In Spanish times, wherever I went in the whole Archipelago—near the capital, or 500 miles from it—I found mothers teaching their offspring to regard the European as a demoniacal being, an evil spirit, or, at least, as an enemy to be feared! If a child cried, it was hushed by the exclamation, “Castila!” (European). If a white man approached a poor hut or a fine native residence, the cry of caution, the watchword for defence was always heard—“Castila!”—and the children hastened their retreat from the dreaded object. But this is now a thing of the past since the native crossed swords with the “Castila” (q.v.) and the American on the battle-field, and, rightly or wrongly, thoroughly believes himself to be a match for either in equal numbers.

The Filipino, like most Orientals, is a good imitator, but having no initiative genius, he is not efficient in anything. He will copy a model any number of times, but one cannot get him to make two copies so much alike that the one is undistinguishable from the other. Yet he has no attachment for any occupation in particular. To-day he will be at the plough; to-morrow a coachman, a collector of accounts, a valet, a sailor, and so on; or he will suddenly renounce social trammels in pursuit of lawless vagabondage. I once travelled with a Colonel Marqués, acting-Governor of Cebú, whose valet was an ex-law student. Still, many are willing to learn, and really become very expert artisans, especially machinists.

The native is indolent in the extreme, and never tires of sitting still, gazing at nothing in particular. He will do no regular work without an advance; his word cannot be depended upon; he is fertile in exculpatory devices; he is momentarily obedient, but is averse to subjection. He feigns friendship, but has no loyalty; he is calm and silent, but can keep no secret; he is daring on the spur of the moment, but fails in resolution if he reflects. He is wantonly unfeeling towards animals; cruel to a fallen foe; tyrannical over his own people when in power; rarely tempers his animosities with compassion or pity, but is devotedly fond of his children. He is shifty, erratic, void of chivalrous feeling; and if familiarity be permitted with the common-class native, he is liable to presume upon it. The Tagálog is docile and pliant, but keenly resents an injustice.

Native superstition and facile credulity are easily imposed upon. A report emitted in jest, or in earnest, travels with alarming rapidity, and the consequences have not unfrequently been serious. The native rarely sees a joke, and still more rarely makes one. He never reveals anger, but he will, with the most profound calmness, avenge himself, awaiting patiently the opportunity to use his bowie-knife with effect. Mutilation of a vanquished enemy is common among these Islanders. If a native recognizes a fault by his own conscience, he will receive a flogging without resentment or complaint; if he is not so convinced of the misdeed, he will await his chance to give vent to his rancour.

He has a profound respect only for the elders of his household, and the lash justly administered. He rarely refers to past generations in his lineage, and the lowest class do not know their own ages. The Filipino, of any class, has no memory for dates. In 1904 not one in a hundred remembered the month and year in which General Aguinaldo surrendered. During the Independence war, an esteemed friend of mine, a Philippine priest, died, presumably of old age. I went to his town to inquire all about it from his son, but neither the son nor another near relation could recollect, after two daysʼ reflection, even the year the old man passed away. Another friend of mine had his brains blown out during the Revolution. His brother was anxious to relate the tragedy to me and how he had lost 20,000 pesos in consequence, but he could not tell me in which month it happened. Families are very united, and claims for help and protection are admitted however distant the relationship may be. Sometimes the connection of a “hanger-on” with his hostʼs family will be so remote and doubtful, that he can only be recognized as “un poco pariente nada mas” (a sort of kinsman). But the house is open to all.

The native is a good father and a good husband, unreasonably jealous of his wife, careless of the honour of his daughter, and will take no heed of the indiscretions of his spouse committed before marriage. Cases have been known of natives having fled from their burning huts, taking care to save their fighting-cocks, but leaving their wives and children to look after themselves.

If a question be suddenly put to a native, he apparently loses his presence of mind, and gives the reply most convenient to save himself from trouble, punishment, or reproach. It is a matter of perfect indifference to him whether the reply be true or not. Then, as the investigation proceeds, he will amend one statement after another, until, finally, he has practically admitted his first explanation to be quite false. One who knows the native character, so far as its mysteries are penetrable, would never attempt to get at the truth of a question by a direct inquiry—he would “beat about the bush,” and extract the truth bit by bit. Nor do the natives, rich or poor, of any class in life, and with very few exceptions in the whole population, appear to regard lying as a sin, but rather as a legitimate, though cunning, convenience, which should be resorted to whenever it will serve a purpose. It is my frank opinion that they do not, in their consciences, hold lying to be a fault in any degree. If the liar be discovered and faced, he rarely appears disconcerted—his countenance rather denotes surprise at the discovery, or disappointment at his being foiled in the object for which he lied. As this is one of the most remarkable characteristics of the Filipino of both sexes in all spheres of life, I have repeatedly discussed it with the priests, several of whom have assured me that the habit prevails even in the confessional.[7] In the administration of justice this circumstance is inconvenient, because a witness is always procurable for a few pesos. In a law-case, in which one or both parties belong to the lowest class, it is sometimes difficult to say whether the false or the true witnesses are in majority.

Men and women alike find exaggerated enjoyment in litigation, which many keep up for years. Among themselves they are tyrannical. They have no real sentiment, nor do they practise virtue for virtueʼs sake, and, apart from their hospitality, in which they (especially the Tagálogs) far excel the European, all their actions appear to be only guided by fear, or interest, or both.

The domesticated Tagálogs of Luzon have made greater progress in civilization and good manners than the Visayos of Panay and Negros. The Tagálog differs vastly from his southern brother in his true nature, which is more pliant, whilst he is by instinct cheerfully and disinterestedly hospitable. Invariably a European wayfarer in a Tagálog village is invited by one or another of the principal residents to lodge at his house as a free guest, for to offer payment would give offence. A present of some European article might be made, but it is not at all looked for. The Tagálog host lends his guest horses or vehicles to go about the neighbourhood, takes him round to the houses of his friends, accompanies him to any feast which may be celebrated at the time of his visit, and lends him his sporting-gun, if he has one. The whole time he treats him with the deference due to the superiority which he recognizes. He is remarkably inquisitive, and will ask all sorts of questions about oneʼs private affairs, but that is of no consequence—he is not intrusive, and if he be invited to return the visit in the capital, or wherever one may reside, he accepts the invitation reluctantly, but seldom pays the visit. Speaking of the Tagálog as a host, pure and simple, he is generally the most genial man one could hope to meet.

A Visayan Planter

The Negros and Panay Visayoʼs cold hospitality is much tempered with the prospect of personal gain—quite a contrast to the Tagálog. On the first visit he might admit the white traveller into his house out of mere curiosity to know all about him—whence he comes—why he travels—how much he possesses—and where he is going. The basis of his estimation of a visitor is his worldly means; or, if the visitor be engaged in trade, his power to facilitate his hostʼs schemes would bring him a certain measure of civility and complaisance. He is fond of, and seeks the patronage of Europeans of position. In manners, the Negros and Panay Visayo is uncouth and brusque, and more conceited, arrogant, self-reliant, ostentatious, and unpolished than his northern neighbour. If remonstrated with for any fault, he is quite disposed to assume a tone of impertinent retort or sullen defiance. The Cebuáno is more congenial and hospitable.

The women, too, are less affable in Panay and Negros, and evince an almost incredible avarice. They are excessively fond of ornament, and at feasts they appear adorned with an amount of gaudy French jewellery which, compared with their means, cost them a lot of money to purchase from the swarm of Jew pedlars who, before the Revolution of 1896, periodically invaded the villages.

A Chinese Half-caste

If a European calls on a well-to-do Negros or Panay Visayo, the women of the family saunter off in one direction or another, to hide themselves in other rooms, unless the visitor be well known to the family. If met by chance, perhaps they will return a salutation, perhaps not. They seldom indulge in a smile before a stranger; have no conversation; no tuition beyond music and the lives of the Saints, and altogether impress the traveller with their insipidity of character, which chimes badly with their manifest air of disdain.

The women of Luzon (and in a slightly less degree the Cebuánas) are more frank, better educated, and decidedly more courteous and sociable. Their manners are comparatively lively, void of arrogance, cheerful, and buoyant in tone. However, all over the Islands the women are more parsimonious than the men; but, as a rule, they are more clever and discerning than the other sex, over whom they exercise great influence. Many of them are very dexterous business women and have made the fortunes of their families. A notable example of this was the late Doña Cornelia Laochanco, of Manila, with whom I was personally acquainted, and who, by her own talent in trading transactions, accumulated considerable wealth. Doña Cornelia (who died in 1899) was the foundress of the system of blending sugar to sample for export, known in Manila as the fardería. In her establishment at San Miguel she had a little tower erected, whence a watchman kept his eye on the weather. When threatening clouds appeared a bell was tolled and the mats were instantly picked up and carried off by her Chinese coolie staff, which she managed with great skill, due, perhaps, to the fact that her three husbands were Chinese.

The Philippine woman makes an excellent general servant in native families; in the same capacity, in European service, she is, as a rule, almost useless, but she is a good nursemaid.

The Filipino has many excellent qualities which go far to make amends for his shortcomings. He is patient and forbearing in the extreme, remarkably sober, plodding, anxious only about providing for his immediate wants, and seldom feels “the canker of ambitious thoughts.” In his person and his dwelling he may serve as a pattern of cleanliness to all other races in the tropical East. He has little thought beyond the morrow, and therefore never racks his brains about events of the far future in the political world, the world to come, or any other sphere. He indifferently leaves everything to happen as it may, with surprising resignation. The native, in general, will go without food for many hours at a time without grumbling; and fish, rice, betel-nut, and tobacco are his chief wants. Inebriety is almost unknown, although strong drink (nipa wine) is plentiful.

In common with other races whose lives are almost exclusively passed amid the ever-varying wonders of land and sea, Filipinos rarely express any spontaneous admiration for the beauties of Nature, and seem little sensible to any aspect thereof not directly associated with the human interest of their calling. Few Asiatics, indeed, go into raptures over lovely scenery as Europeans do, nor does “the gorgeous glamour of the Orient” which we speak of so ecstatically strike them as such.

When a European is travelling, he never needs to trouble about where or when his servant gets his food or where he sleeps—he looks after that. When a native travels, he drops in amongst any group of his fellow-countrymen whom he finds having their meal on the roadside, and wherever he happens to be at nightfall, there he lies down to sleep. He is never long in a great dilemma. If his hut is about to fall, he makes it fast with bamboo and rattan-cane. If a vehicle breaks down, a harness snaps, or his canoe leaks or upsets, he always has his remedy at hand. He stoically bears misfortune of all kinds with the greatest indifference, and without the least apparent emotion. Under the eye of his master he is the most tractable of all beings. He never (like the Chinese) insists upon doing things his own way, but tries to do just as he is told, whether it be right or wrong. A native enters oneʼs service as a coachman, but if he be told to paddle a boat, cook a meal, fix a lock, or do any other kind of labour possible to him, he is quite agreeable. He knows the duties of no occupation with efficiency, and he is perfectly willing to be a “jack-of-all-trades.” Another good feature is that he rarely, if ever, repudiates a debt, although he may never pay it. So long as he gets his food and fair treatment, and his stipulated wages in advance, he is content to act as a general-utility man; lodging he will find for himself. If not pressed too hard, he will follow his superior like a faithful dog. If treated with kindness, according to European notions, he is lost. The native never looks ahead; if left to himself, he will do all sorts of imprudent things, from sheer want of reflection on the consequences, when, as he puts it, “his head is hot” from excitement due to any cause.

On March 15, 1886, I was coming round the coast of Zambales in a small steamer, in which I was the only saloon passenger. The captain, whom I had known for years, found that one of the cabin servants had been systematically pilfering for some time past. He ordered the steward to cane him, and then told him to go to the upper deck and remain there. He at once walked up the ladder and threw himself into the sea; but the vessel stopped, a boat was lowered, and he was soon picked up. Had he been allowed to reach the shore, he would have become what is known as a remontado and perhaps eventually a brigand, for such is the beginning of many of them.

The thorough-bred native has no idea of organization on a large scale, hence a successful revolution is not possible if confined to his own class unaided by others, such as Creoles and foreigners. He is brave, and fears no consequences when with or against his equals, or if led by his superiors; but a conviction of superiority—moral or physical—in the adversary depresses him. An excess of audacity calms and overawes him rather than irritates him.

His admiration for bravery and perilous boldness is only equalled by his contempt for cowardice and puerility, and this is really the secret of the nativeʼs disdain for the Chinese race. Under good European officers he makes an excellent soldier, and would follow a brave leader to death; however, if the leader fell, he would at once become demoralized. There is nothing he delights in more than pillage, destruction, and bloodshed, and when once he becomes master of the situation in an affray, there is no limit to his greed and savage cruelty.

Yet, detesting order of any kind, military discipline is repugnant to him, and, as in other countries where conscription is the law, all kinds of tricks are resorted to to avoid it. On looking over the deeds of an estate which I had purchased, I saw that two brothers, each named Catalino Raymundo, were the owners at one time of a portion of the land. I thought there must have been some mistake, but, on close inquiry, I found that they were so named to dodge the Spanish recruiting officers, who would not readily suppose there were two Catalino Raymundos born of the same parents. As one Catalino Raymundo had served in the army and the other was dead, no further secret was made in the matter, and I was assured that this practice was common among the poorest natives.

In November, 1887, a deserter from the new recruits was pursued to Langca, a ward of Meycauáyan, Bulacan Province, where nearly all the inhabitants rose up in his defence, the result being that the Lieutenant of Cuadrilleros was killed and two of his men were wounded. When the Civil Guard appeared on the spot, the whole ward was abandoned.

According to the Spanish army regulations, a soldier cannot be on sentinel duty for more than two hours at a time under any circumstances. Cases have been known of a native sentinel having been left at his post for a little over that regulation time, and to have become phrenetic, under the impression that the two hours had long since expired, and that he had been forgotten. In one case the man had to be disarmed by force, but in another instance the sentinel simply refused to give up his rifle and bayonet, and defied all who approached him. Finally, an officer went with the colours of the regiment in hand to exhort him to surrender his arms, adding that justice would attend his complaint. The sentinel, however, threatened to kill any one who should draw near, and the officer had no other recourse open to him but to order a European soldier to climb up behind the sentry-box and blow out the insubordinate nativeʼs brains.

In the seventies, a contingent of Philippine troops was sent to assist the French in Tonquin, where they rendered very valuable service. Indeed, some officers are of opinion that they did more to quell the Tuh Duc rising than the French troops themselves. When in the fray, they throw off their boots, and, barefooted, they rarely falter. Even over mud and swamp, a native is almost as sure-footed as a goat on the brink of a quarry. I have frequently been carried for miles in a hammock by four natives and relays, through morassy districts too dangerous to travel on horseback. They are great adepts at climbing wherever it is possible for a human being to scale a height; like monkeys, they hold as much with their feet as with their hands; they ride any horse barebacked without fear; they are utterly careless about jumping into the sea among the sharks, which sometimes they will intentionally attack with knives, and I never knew a native who could not swim. There are natives who dare dive for the caiman and rip it up. If they meet with an accident, they bear it with supreme resignation, simply exclaiming “desgracia pá”—it was a misfortune.

I can record with pleasure my happy recollection of many a light-hearted, genial, and patient native who accompanied me on my journeys in these Islands. Comparatively very few thorough-bred natives travel beyond their own islands, although there is a constant flow of half-castes to and from the adjacent colonies, Europe, etc.

The native is very slowly tempted to abandon the habits and traditional customs of his forefathers, and his ambitionless felicity may be envied by any true philosopher.

No one who has lived in the Colony for years could sketch the real moral portrait of such a remarkable combination of virtues and vices. The domesticated nativeʼs character is a succession of surprises. The experience of each year modifies oneʼs conclusions, and the most exact definition of such an inscrutable being is, after all, hypothetical. However, to a certain degree, the characteristic indolence of these Islanders is less dependent on themselves than on natural law, for the physical conditions surrounding them undoubtedly tend to arrest their vigour of motion, energy of life, and intellectual power.

The organic elements of the European differ widely from those of the Philippine native, and each, for his own durability, requires his own special environment. The half-breed partakes of both organisms, but has the natural environment of the one. Sometimes artificial means—the mode of life into which he is forced by his European parent—will counteract in a measure natural law, but, left to himself, the tendency will ever be towards an assimilation to the native. Original national characteristics disappear in an exotic climate, and, in the course of time, conform to the new laws of nature to which they are exposed.

It is an ascertained fact that the increase of energy introduced into the Philippine native by blood mixture from Europe lasts only to the second generation, whilst the effect remains for several generations when there is a similarity of natural surroundings in the two races crossed. Moreover, the peculiar physique of a Chinese or Japanese progenitor is preserved in succeeding generations, long after the Spanish descendant has merged into the conditions of his environment.

The Spanish Government strove in vain against natural law to counteract physical conditions by favouring mixed marriages,[8] but Nature overcomes manʼs law, and climatic influence forces its conditions on the half-breed. Indeed, were it not for new supplies of extraneous blood infusion, European characteristics would, in time, become indiscernible among the masses. Even on Europeans themselves, in defiance of their own volition, the new physical conditions and the influence of climate on their mental and physical organisms are perceptible after two or three decades of yearsʼ residence in the mid-tropics.

All the natives of the domesticated type have distinct Malay, or Malay-Japanese, or Mongol features—prominent cheek-bones, large and lively eyes, and flat noses with dilated nostrils. They are, on the average, of rather low stature, very rarely bearded, and of a copper colour more or less dark. Most of the women have no distinct line of hair on the forehead. Some there are with a frontal hairy down extending to within an inch of the eyes, possibly a reversion to a progenitor (the Macacus radiata) in whom the forehead had not become quite naked, leaving the limit between the scalp and the forehead undefined. The hair of both males and females stands out from the skin like bristles, and is very coarse. The coarseness of the femaleʼs hair is, however, more than compensated by its luxuriance; for, provided she be in a normal state of health, up to the prime of life the hair commonly reaches down to the waist, and occasionally to the ankles. The women are naturally proud of this mark of beauty, which they preserved by frequent washings with gogo (q.v.) and the use of cocoanut oil (q.v.). Hare-lip is common. Children, from their birth, have a spot at the base of the vertebrae, thereby supporting the theory of Professor Huxleyʼs Anthropidae sub-order—or man (vide Professor Huxleyʼs “An Introduction to the Classification of Animals,” p. 99. Published 1869).

Marriages between natives are usually arranged by the parents of the respective families. The nubile age of females is from about 11 years. The parents of the young man visit those of the maiden, to approach the subject delicately in an oratorical style of allegory. The response is in like manner shrouded with mystery, and the veil is only thrown off the negotiations when it becomes evident that both parties agree. Among the poorer classes, if the young man has no goods to offer, it is frequently stipulated that he shall serve on probation for an indefinite period in the house of his future bride,—as Jacob served Laban to make Rachel his wife,—and not a few drudge for years with this hope before them.

Sometimes, in order to secure service gratis, the elders of the young woman will suddenly dismiss the young man after a prolonged expectation, and take another Catipad. as he is called, on the same terms. The old colonial legislation—“Leyes de Indias”—in vain prohibited this barbarous ancient custom, and there was a modern Spanish law (of which few availed themselves) which permitted the intended bride to be “deposited” away from parental custody, whilst the parents were called upon to show cause why the union should not take place. However, it often happens that when Cupid has already shot his arrow into the virginal breast, and the betrothed foresee a determined opposition to their mutual hopes, they anticipate the privileges of matrimony, and compel the brideʼs parents to countenance their legitimate aspirations to save the honour of the family. Honi soit qui mal y pense—they simply force the hand of a dictatorial mother-in-law. The women are notably mercenary, and if, on the part of the girl and her people, there be a hitch, it is generally on the question of dollars when both parties are native. Of course, if the suitor be European, no such question is raised—the ambition of the family and the vanity of the girl being both satisfied by the alliance itself.

When the proposed espousals are accepted, the donations propter nuptias are paid by the father of the bridegroom to defray the wedding expenses, and often a dowry settlement, called in Tagálog dialect “bigaycaya” is made in favour of the bride. Very rarely the brideʼs property is settled on the husband. I never heard of such a case. The Spanish laws relating to married personsʼ property were quaint. If the husband were poor and the wife well-off, so they might remain, notwithstanding the marriage. He, as a rule, became a simple administrator of her possessions, and, if honest, often depended on her liberality to supply his own necessities. If he became bankrupt in a business in which he employed also her capital or possessions, she ranked as a creditor of the second class under the “Commercial Code.” If she died, the poor husband, under no circumstances, by legal right (unless under a deed signed before a notary) derived any benefit from the fact of his having espoused a rich wife: her property passed to their legitimate issue, or—in default thereof—to her nearest blood relation. The children might be rich, and, but for their generosity, their father might be destitute, whilst the law compelled him to render a strict account to them of the administration of their property during their minority. This fact has given rise to many lawsuits.

A married woman often signs her maiden name, sometimes adding “de ——” (her husbandʼs surname). If she survives him, she again takes up her nomen ante nuptias amongst her old circle of friends, and only adds “widow of ——” to show who she is to the public (if she be in trade), or to those who have only known her as a married woman. The offspring use both the parental surnames, the motherʼs coming after the fatherʼs; hence it is the more prominent. Frequently, in Spanish documents requiring the mention of a personʼs name in full, the motherʼs maiden surname is revived.

Thus marriage, as I understand the spirit of the Spanish law, seems to be a simple contract to legitimize and license procreation.

Up to the year 1844, only a minority of the christian natives had distinctive family names. They were, before that date, known by certain harsh ejaculations, and classification of families was uncared for among the majority of the population. Therefore, in that year, a list of Spanish surnames was sent to each parish priest, and every native family had to adopt a separate appellation, which has ever since been perpetuated. Hence one meets natives bearing illustrious names such as Juan Salcedo, Juan de Austria, Rianzares, Ramon de Cabrera, Pio Nono Lopez, and a great many Legaspis.

When a wedding among natives was determined upon, the betrothed went to the priest—not necessarily together—kissed his hand, and informed him of their intention. There was a tariff of marriage fees, but the priest usually set this aside, and fixed his charges according to the resources of the parties. This abuse of power could hardly be resisted, as the natives have a radicate aversion to being married elsewhere than in the village of the bride. The priest, too (not the bride), usually had the privilege of “naming the day.” The fees demanded were sometimes enormous, the common result being that many couples merely cohabited under mutual vows because they could not pay the wedding expenses.

The banns were verbally published after the benediction following the conclusion of the Mass. In the evening, prior to the marriage, it was compulsory on the couple to confess and obtain absolution from the priest. The nuptials almost invariably took place after the first Mass, between five and six in the morning, and those couples who were spiritually prepared first presented themselves for Communion. Then an acolyte placed over the shoulders of the bridal pair a thick mantle or pall. The priest recited a short formula of about five minutesʼ duration, put his interrogations, received the muttered responses, and all was over. To the espoused, as they left the church, was tendered a bowl of coin; the bridegroom passed a handful of the contents to the bride, who accepted it and returned it to the bowl. This act was symbolical of his giving to her his worldly goods. Then they left the church with their friends, preserving that solemn, stoical countenance common to all Malay natives. There was no visible sign of emotion as they all walked off, with the most matter-of-fact indifference, to the paternal abode. This was the custom under the Spaniards, and it still largely obtains; the Revolution decreed civil marriage, which the Americans have declared lawful, but not compulsory.

After the marriage ceremony the feast called the Catapúsan[9] begins. To this the vicar and headmen of the villages, the immediate friends and relatives of the allied families, and any Europeans who may happen to be resident or sojourning, are invited. The table is spread, à la Russe, with all the good things procurable served at the same time—sweetmeats predominating. Imported beer, Dutch gin, chocolate, etc., are also in abundance. After the early repast, both men and women are constantly being offered betel-nut to masticate, and cigars or cigarettes, according to choice.

Meanwhile, the company is entertained by native dancers. Two at a time—a young man and woman—stand vis-à-vis and alternately sing a love ditty, the burthen of the theme usually opening by the regret of the young man that his amorous overtures have been disregarded. Explanations follow, in the poetic dialogue, as the parties dance around each other, keeping a slow step to the plaintive strains of music. This is called the Balítao. It is most popular in Visayas.

Another dance is performed by a young woman only. If well executed it is extremely graceful. The girl begins singing a few words in an ordinary tone, when her voice gradually drops to the diminuendo, whilst her slow gesticulations and the declining vigour of the music together express her forlornness. Then a ray of joy seems momentarily to lighten her mental anguish; the spirited crescendo notes gently return; the tone of the melody swells; her measured step and action energetically quicken—until she lapses again into resigned sorrow, and so on alternately. Coy in repulse, and languid in surrender, the danseuse in the end forsakes her sentiment of melancholy for elated passion.

The native dances are numerous. Another of the most typical, is that of a girl writhing and dancing a pas seul with a glass of water on her head. This is known as the Comítan.

When Europeans are present, the bride usually retires into the kitchen or a back room, and only puts in an appearance after repeated requests. The conversation rarely turns upon the event of the meeting; there is not the slightest outward manifestation of affection between the newly-united couple, who, during the feast, are only seen together by mere accident. If there are European guests, the repast is served three times—firstly for the Europeans and headmen, secondly for the males of less social dignity, and lastly for the women. Neither at the table nor in the reception-room do the men and women mingle, except for perhaps the first quarter of an hour after the arrival, or whilst dancing continues.

About an hour after the mid-day meal, those who are not lodging at the house return to their respective residences to sleep the siesta. On an occasion like this—at a Catapúsan given for any reason—native outsiders, from anywhere, always invade the kitchen in a mob, lounge around doorways, fill up corners, and drop in for the feast uninvited, and it is usual to be liberally complaisant to all comers.

As a rule, the married couple live with the parents of one or the other, at least until the family inconveniently increases. In old age, the elder members of the families come under the protection of the younger ones quite as a matter of course. In any case, a newly-married pair seldom reside alone. Relations from all parts flock in. Cousins, uncles and aunts, of more or less distant grade, hang on to the recently-established household, if it be not extremely poor. Even when a European marries a native woman, she is certain to introduce some vagabond relation—a drone to hive with the bees—a condition quite inevitable, unless the husband be a man of specially determined character.

Death at childbirth is very common, and it is said that 25 per cent. of the new-born children die within a month.

Among the lowest classes, whilst a woman is lying-in, the husband closes all the windows to prevent the evil spirit (asuan) entering; sometimes he will wave about a stick or bowie-knife at the door, or on top of the roof, for the same purpose. Even among the most enlightened, at the present day, the custom of shutting the windows is inherited from their superstitious forefathers, probably in ignorance of the origin of this usage.

In Spanish times it was considered rather an honour than otherwise to have children by a priest, and little secret was made of it.

In October, 1888, I was in a village near Manila, at the bedside of a sick friend, when the curate entered. He excused himself for not having called earlier, by explaining that “Turing” had sent him a message informing him that as the vicar (a native) had gone to Manila, he might take charge of the church and parish. “Is ‘Turing’ an assistant curate?” I inquired. My friend and the pastor were so convulsed with laughter at the idea, that it was quite five minutes before they could explain that the intimation respecting the parochial business emanated from the absent vicarʼs bonne amie.

Consanguine marriages are very common, and perhaps this accounts for the low intellect and mental debility perceptible in many families.

Poor parents offer their girls to Europeans for a loan of money, and they are admitted under the pseudonym of sempstress or housekeeper. Natives among themselves do not kiss—they smell each other, or rather, they place the nose and lip on the cheek and draw a long breath.

Marriages between Spaniards and pure native women, although less frequent than formerly, still take place. Since 1899 many Americans, too, have taken pure native wives. It is difficult to apprehend an alliance so incongruous, there being no affinity of ideas, the only condition in common being, that they are both human beings professing Christianity. The husband is either drawn towards the level of the native by this heterogeneous relationship, or, in despair of remedying the error of a passing passion, he practically ignores his wife in his own social connections. Each forms then a distinct circle of friends of his, or her, own selection, whilst the woman is but slightly raised above her own class by the white manʼs influence and contact. There are some exceptions, but I have most frequently observed in the houses of Europeans married to native women in the provinces, that the wives make the kitchen their chief abode, and are only seen by the visitor when some domestic duty requires them to move about the house. Familiarity breeds contempt, and these mésalliances diminish the dignity of the superior race by reducing the birth-origin of both parents to a common level in their children.

A Tagálog Milkwoman

The Spanish half-breeds and Creoles constitute a very influential body. A great number of them are established in trade in Manila and the provinces. Due to their European descent, more or less distant, they are of quicker perception, greater tact, and gifted with wider intellectual faculties than the pure Oriental class. Also, the Chinese half-breeds,—a caste of Chinese fathers and Philippine mothers,—who form about one-sixth of the Manila population, are shrewder than the natives of pure extraction, their striking characteristic being distrust and suspicion of anotherʼs intentions. It is a curious fact that the Chinese half-caste speaks with as much contempt of the Chinaman as the thorough-bred Filipino does, and would fain hide his paternal descent. There are numbers of Spanish half-breeds fairly well educated, and just a few of them very talented. Many of them have succeeded in making pretty considerable fortunes in their negotiations, as middlemen, between the provincial natives and the European commercial houses. Their true social position is often an equivocal one, and the complex question has constantly to be confronted whether to regard a Spanish demi-sang from a native or European standpoint. Among themselves they are continually struggling to attain the respect and consideration accorded to the superior class, whilst their connexions and purely native relations link them to the other side. In this perplexing mental condition, we find them on the one hand striving in vain to disown their affinity to the inferior races, and on the other hand, jealous of their true-born European acquaintances. A morosity of disposition is the natural outcome. Their character generally is evasive and vacillating. They are captious, fond of litigation, and constantly seeking subterfuges. They appear always dissatisfied with their lot in life, and inclined to foster grievances against whoever may be in office over them. Pretentious in the extreme, they are fond of pomp and paltry show, and it is difficult to trace any popular movement, for good or for evil, without discovering a half-breed initiator, or leader, of one caste or another. They are locally denominated Mestizos.

A Tagálog Townsman

The Jesuit Father, Pedro Murillo Velarde, at p. 272 of his work on this Colony, expressed his opinion of the political-economical result of mixed marriages to the following effect:—“Now,” he says, “we have a querulous, discontented population of half-castes, who, sooner or later, will bring about a distracted state of society, and occupy the whole force of the Government to stamp out the discord.” How far the prophecy was fulfilled will be seen in another chapter.

Being naturally prone to superstitious beliefs, the Islanders accepted, without doubting, all the fantastic tales which the early missionaries taught them. Miraculous crosses healed the sick, cured the plague, and scared away the locusts. Images, such as the Holy Child of Ban͠gi, relieved them of all worldly sufferings. To this day they revere many of these objects, which are still preserved.

The most ancient miraculous image in these Islands appears to be the Santo Nino de Cebú—the Holy Child of Cebú. It is recorded that on July 28, 1565, an image of the Child Jesus was found on Cebú Island shore by a Basque soldier named Juan de Camus. It was venerated and kept by the Austin friars. Irreverent persons have alleged it was a pagan idol. Against this, it may be argued that the heathen Cebúanos were not known to have been idolaters. In 1627 a fire occurred in Cebú city, when the Churches of Saint Nicholas and of the Holy Child were burnt down. The image was saved, and temporarily placed in charge of the Recoleto friars. A fire also took place on the site of the first cross erected on the island by Father Martin de Rada, the day Legaspi landed, and it is said that this cross, although made of bamboo, was not consumed. There now stands an Oratory, wherein on special occasions is exposed the original cross. Close by is the modern Church of the Holy Child.

In June, 1887, the Prior of the convent conducted me to the strong-room where the wonderful image is kept. The Saint is of wood, about fifteen inches high, and laden with silver trinkets, which have been presented on different occasions. When exposed to public view, it has the honours of field-marshal accorded to it. It is a mystic deity with ebon features—so different from the lovely Child presented to us on canvas by the great masters! During the feast held in its honour (January 20), pilgrims from the remotest districts of the island and from across the seas come to purify their souls at the shrine of “The Holy Child.” In the same room was a beautiful image of the Madonna, besides two large tin boxes containing sundry arms, legs, and heads of Saints, with their robes in readiness for adjustment on procession days. The patron of Cebú City is Saint Vidal.

The legend of the celestial protector of Manila is not less interesting. It is related that in Dilao (now called Paco), near Manila, a wooden image of Saint Francis de Assisi, which was in the house of a native named Alonso Cuyapit, was seen to weep so copiously that many cloths were moistened by its tears. The image, with its hands outspread during three hours, invoked Godʼs blessing on Manila. And then, on closing its hands, it grasped a cross and skull. Vows were made to the Saint, who was declared protector of the capital, and the same image is now to be seen in the Franciscan Church, under the appellation of San Francisco de las lágrimas—“Saint Francis of Tears.”

Up to the seventies of last century, a disgusting spectacle used to be annually witnessed at the Church of San Miguel (Manila) on December 8; it was a realistic representation of the Immaculate Conception!

“Our Lady of Cagsaysay,” near Taal (Batangas), has been revered for many years both by Europeans and natives. So enthusiastic was the belief in the miraculous power of this image, that the galleons, when passing the Batangas coast on their way to and from Mexico, were accustomed to fire a salute from their guns (vide pp. 18, 19). This image was picked up by a native in his fishing-net, and he placed it in a cave, where it was discovered by other natives, who imagined they saw many extraordinary lights around it. According to the local legend, they heard sweet sonorous music proceeding from the same spot, and the image came forward and spoke to a native woman, who had brought her companions to adore the Saint.

The history of the many shrines all over the Colony would well fill a volume; however, by far the most popular one is that of the Virgin of Antipolo—Nuestra Señora de Buen Viaje y de la Paz, “Our Lady of Good Voyage and Peace.”

This image is said to have wrought many miracles. It was first brought from Acapulco (Mexico) in 1626 in the State galleon, by Juan Niño de Tabora, who was appointed Gov.-General of these Islands (1626–32) by King Philip IV. The Saint, it is alleged, had encountered numberless reverses between that time and the year 1672, since which date it has been safely lodged in the Parish Church of Antipolo—a village in the old Military District of Mórong (Rizal Province)—in the custody of the Austin friars. In the month of May, thousands of people repair to this shrine; indeed, this village of 3,800 inhabitants (diminished to 2,800 in 1903) chiefly depends upon the pilgrims for its existence, for the land within the jurisdiction of Antipolo is all mountainous and very limited in extent. The priests also do a very good trade in prints of Saints, rosaries, etc., for the sale of which, in Spanish times, they used to open a shop during the feast inside and just in front of the convent entrance. The total amount of money spent in the village by visitors during the pilgrimage has been roughly computed to be ₱30,000. They come from all parts of the Islands.

The legends of the Saint are best described in a pamphlet published in Manila,[10] from which I take the following information.

The writer says that the people of Acapulco (Mexico) were loth to part with their Holy Image, but the saintly Virgin herself, desirous of succouring the inhabitants of the Spanish Indies, smoothed all difficulties. During her first voyage, in the month of March, 1626, a tempest arose, which was calmed by the Virgin, and all arrived safely in the galleon at the shores of Manila. She was then carried in procession to the Cathedral, whilst the church bells tolled and the artillery thundered forth salutes of welcome. A solemn Mass was celebrated, which all the religious communities, civil authorities, and a multitude of people attended.

Six years afterwards the Gov.-General Juan Niño de Tabora died. By his will he intrusted the Virgin to the care of the Jesuits, whilst a church was being built under the direction of Father Juan Salazár for her special reception. During the erection of this church, the Virgin often descended from the altar and exhibited herself amongst the flowery branches of a tree, called by the natives Antipolo (Artocarpus incisa). The tree itself was thenceforth regarded as a precious relic by the natives, who, leaf by leaf and branch by branch, were gradually carrying it off. Then Father Salazar decreed that the tree-trunk should serve for a pedestal to the Divine Miraculous Image—hence the title “Virgin of Antipolo.”

In 1639 the Chinese rebelled against the Spanish authority (vide p. 115). In their furious march through the ruins and the blood of their victims, and amidst the wailing of the crowd, they attacked the Sanctuary wherein reposed the Virgin. Seizing the Holy Image, they cast it into the flames, and when all around was reduced to ashes, there stood the Virgin of Antipolo, resplendent, with her hair, her lace, her ribbons and adornments intact, and her beautiful body of brass without wound or blemish! Passionate at seeing frustrated their designs to destroy the deified protectress of the Christians, a wanton infidel stabbed her in the face, and all the resources of art have ever failed to heal the lasting wound. Again the Virgin was enveloped in flames, which hid the appalling sight of her burning entrails. Now the Spanish troops arrived, and fell upon the heretical marauders with great slaughter; then, glancing with trembling anxiety upon the scene of the outrage, behold! with glad astonishment they descried the Holy Image upon a smouldering pile of ashes—unhurt! With renewed enthusiasm, the Spanish warriors bore away the Virgin on their shoulders in triumph, and Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera, the Gov.-General at the time, had her conveyed to Cavite to be the patroness of the faithful upon the high seas.

A galleon arrived at Cavite, and being unable to go into port, the commander anchored off at a distance. Then the new Gov.-General, Diego Fajardo (1644–53), sent the Virgin on board, and, by her help, a passage was found for the vessel to enter.

Later on, twelve Dutch warships appeared off Marivéles, the northwestern extremity of Manila Bay. They had come to attack Cavite, and in their hour of danger the Spaniards appealed to the Virgin, who gave them a complete victory over the Dutchmen, causing them to flee, with their commander mortally wounded. During the affray, the Virgin had been taken away for safety on board the San Diego, commanded by Cépeda. In 1650 this vessel returned, and the pious prelate, José Millan Poblete,[11] thought he perceived clear indications of an eager desire on the part of the Virgin to retire to her Sanctuary. The people, too, clamoured for the Saint, attributing the many calamities with which they were afflicted at that period to her absence from their shores. Assailed by enemies, frequently threatened by the Dutch, lamenting the loss of several galleons, and distressed by a serious earthquake, their only hope reposed in the beneficent aid of the Virgin of Antipolo.

But the galleon San Francisco Xavier feared to make the journey to Mexico without the saintly support, and for the sixth time the Virgin crossed the Pacific Ocean. In Acapulco the galleon lay at anchor until March, 1653, when the newly-appointed Gov.-General, Sabiniano Manrique de Lara, Archbishop Miguel Poblete, Father Rodrigo Cárdenas, Bishop-elect of Cagayán, and many other passengers embarked and set sail for Manila. Their sufferings during the voyage were horrible. Almost overcome by a violent storm, the ship became unmanageable. Rain poured in torrents, whilst her decks were washed by the surging waves, and all was on the point of utter destruction. In this plight the Virgin was exhorted, and not in vain, for at her command the sea lessened its fury, the wind calmed, black threatening clouds dispersed, all the terrors of the voyage ceased, and under a beautiful blue sky a fair wind wafted the galleon safely to the port of Cavite.

These circumstances gained for the Saint the title of “Virgin of Good Voyage and Peace”; and the sailors,—who gratefully acknowledged that their lives were saved by her sublime intercession,—followed by the ecclesiastical dignitaries and military chiefs, carried the image to her retreat in Antipolo (September 8, 1653), where it was intended she should permanently remain. However, deprived of the succour of the Saint, misfortunes again overtook the galleons. Three of them were lost, and the writer of the brochure to which I refer supposes (Chap. iv.) that perchance the sea, suffering from the number of furrows cut by the keels of the ships, had determined to take a fierce revenge by swallowing them up!

Once more, therefore, the Virgin condescended to accompany a galleon to Mexico, bringing her back safely to Philippine shores in 1672.

This was the Virginʼs last sea voyage. Again, and for ever, she was conveyed by the joyous multitude to her resting-place in Antipolo Church, and on her journey thither, there was not a flower, adds the chronicler, which did not greet her by opening a bud—not a mountain pigeon which remained in silence, whilst the breezes and the rivulets poured forth their silent murmurings of ecstasy. Saintly guardian of the soul, dispersing mundane evils!—no colours, the chronicler tells us, can paint the animation of the faithful; no discourse can describe the consolation of the pilgrims in their adoration at the Shrine of the Holy Virgin of Antipolo.

Yet the village of Antipolo and its neighbourhood was, in Spanish times, the centre of brigandage, the resort of murderous highwaymen, the focus of crime. What a strange contrast to the sublime virtues of the immortal divinity enclosed within its Sanctuary!

On November 26, 1904, this miraculous Image was temporarily removed from Antipolo to Manila for the celebration of the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Carried by willing hands to the place of embarkation, it made the voyage to the capital, down the Pasig River, in a gorgeously decorated barge, towed by a steam launch, escorted by hundreds of floating craft and over 20,000 natives, marching along the river banks in respectful accompaniment. The next day a procession of about 35,000 persons followed the Virgin to the Cathedral of Manila, where she was enshrined, awaiting the great event of December 8. Subsequently she was restored to her shrine at Antipolo.

The most lucrative undertaking in the Colony is that of a shrine. It yields all gain, without possible loss. Among the most popular of these “Miraculous Saint Shows” was that of Gusi, belonging to the late parish priest of Ilug, in Negros Island. At Gusi, half an hourʼs walk from the Fatherʼs parish church, was enthroned San Joaquin, who, for a small consideration, consoled the faithful or relieved them of iheir sufferings. His spouse, Santa Ana, having taken up her residence in the town of Molo (Yloilo Province), was said to have been visited by San Joaquin once a year. He was absent on the journey at least a fortnight, but the waters in the neighbourhood of the Shrine being sanctified the clientèle was not dispersed. Some sceptics have dared to doubt whether San Joaquin really paid this visit to his saintly wife, and alleged that his absence was feigned, firstly to make his presence longed for, and secondly to remove the cobwebs from his hallowed brow, and give him a wash and brush up for the year. The Shrine paid well for years—every devotee leaving his mite. At the time of my pilgrimage there, the holy Fatherʼs son was the petty-governor of the same town of Ilug.

Shrine-owners are apparently no friends of free trade. In 1888 there was a great commotion amongst them when it was discovered that a would-be competitor and a gownsman had conspired, in Pampanga Province, to establish a Miraculous Saint, by concealing an image in a field in order that it should “make itself manifest to the faithful,” and thenceforth become a source of income.

It is notorious that in a church near Manila, a few years ago, an image was made to move the parts of its body as the reverend preacher exhorted it in the course of his sermon. When he appealed to the Saint, it wagged its head or extended its arms, whilst the female audience wept and wailed. Such a scandalous disturbance did it provoke that the exhibition was even too monstrous for the clergy themselves, and the Archbishop prohibited it. But religion has many wealth-producing branches. In January, 1889, a friend of mine showed me an account rendered by the Superior of the Jesuitsʼ School for the education of his sons, each of whom was charged with one peso as a gratuity to the Pope, to induce him to canonize a deceased member of their Order. I have been most positively assured by friends, whose good faith I ought not to doubt, that San Pascual Bailón really has, on many occasions, had compassion on barren women (their friends) and given them offspring. Jose Rizal, in his “Noli me tangere” hints that the real Pascual was a friar.

Trading upon the credulity of devout enthusiasts by fetishism and shrine quackery is not altogether confined to the ecclesiastics. A Spanish layman in Yloilo, some few years ago, when he was an official of the prison, known as the “Cotta,” conceived the idea of declaring that the Blessed Virgin and Child Jesus had appeared in the prison well, where they took a bath and disappeared. When, at length, the belief became popular, hundreds of natives went there to get water from the well, and the official imposed a tax on the pilgrims, whereby he became possessed of a modest fortune, and owned two of the best houses in the Square of Yloilo.

The Feast of Tigbáuang (near Yloilo), which takes place in January, is also much frequented on account of the miracles performed by the patron Saint of the town. The faith in the power of this minor divinity to dispel bodily suffering is so deeply rooted that members of the most enlightened families of Yloilo and the neighbouring towns go to Tigbáuang simply to attend High Mass, and return at once. I have seen steamers entering Yloilo from this feast so crowded with passengers that there was only standing room for them.

An opprobrious form of religious imposture—perhaps the most contemptible—which frequently offended the public eye, before the American advent, was the practice of prowling about with doll-saints in the streets and public highways. A vagrant, too lazy to earn an honest subsistence, procured a licence from the monks to hawk about a wooden box containing a doll or print covered by a pane of glass. This he offered to hold before the nose of any ignorant passer-by who was willing to pay for the boon of kissing the glass!

During Holy Week, a few years ago, the captain of the Civil Guard in Tayabas Province went to the town of Atimonan, and saw natives in the streets almost in a state of nudity doing penance “for the wounds of Our Lord.” They were actually beating themselves with flails, some of which were made of iron chain, and others of rope with thongs of rattan-cane. Having confiscated the flails—one of which he gave to me—he effectually assisted the fanatics in their penitent castigation. Alas! to what excesses will faith, unrestrained by reason, bring one!

The result of tuition in mystic influences is sometimes manifested in the appearance of native Santones—indolent scamps who roam about in remote villages, feigning the possession of supernatural gifts, the faculty of saving souls, and the healing art, with the object of living at the expense of the ignorant. I never happened to meet more than one of these creatures—an escaped convict named Apolonio, a native of Cabuyao (Laguna), who, assuming the character of a prophet and worker of miracles, had fled to the neighbourhood of San Pablo village. I have often heard of them in other places, notably in Cápis Province, where the Santones were vigorously pursued by the Civil Guard, and as recently as May, 1904, a notorious humbug of this class, styling himself Pope Isio, alias Nazarenong Gala, was arrested in West Negros and punished under American authority.

The Spanish clergy were justifiably zealous in guarding the Filipinos from a knowledge of other doctrines which would only lead them to immeasurable bewilderment. Hence all the civilized natives were Roman Catholics exclusively. The strict obedience to one system of Christianity, even in its grossly perverted form, had the effect desired by the State, of bringing about social unity to an advanced degree. Yet, so far as I have observed, the native seems to understand extremely little of the “inward and spiritual grace” of religion. He is so material and realistic, so devoid of all conception of things abstract, that his ideas rarely, if ever, soar beyond the contemplation of the “outward and visible signs” of christian belief. The symbols of faith and the observance of religious rites are to him religion itself. He also confounds morality with religion. Natives go to church because it is the custom. Often if a native cannot put on a clean shirt, he abstains from going to Mass. The petty-governor of a town was compelled to go to High Mass accompanied by his “ministry.” In some towns the Barangay Chiefs were fined or beaten if they were absent from church on Sundays and certain Feast Days.[12]

As to the women, little or no pressure was necessary to oblige them to attend Mass; many of them pass half their existence between private devotion and the confessional.

The parish priest of Lipa (Batangas) related to a friend of mine that having on one occasion distributed all his stock of pictures of the Saints to those who had come to see him on parochial business, he had to content the last suppliant with an empty raisin-box, without noticing that on the lid there was a coloured print of Garibaldi. Later on Garibaldiʼs portrait was seen in a hut in one of the suburbs with candles around it, being adored as a Saint.

A curious case of native religious philosophy was reported in a Manila newspaper.[13] A milkman, accused by one of his customers of having adulterated the milk, of course denied it at first, and then, yielding to more potent argument than words, he confessed that he had diluted the milk with holy water from the church fonts, for at the same time that he committed the sin he was penitent.

Undoubtedly Roman Catholicism appears to be the form of Christianity most successful in proselytizing uncivilized races, which are impressed more through their eyes than their understanding. If the grandeur of the ritual, the magnificence of the processions, the lustre of the church vessels and the images themselves have never been understood by the masses in the strictly symbolic sense in which they appeal to us, at least they have had their influence in drawing millions to civilization and to a unique uniformity of precept, the practice of which it is beyond all human power to control.

For Music the native has an inherent passion. Musicians are to be found in every village, and even among the very poorest classes. Before the Revolution there was scarcely a parish, however remote, without its orchestra, and this natural taste was laudably encouraged by the priests. Some of these bands acquired great local fame, and were sought for wherever there was a feast miles away. The players seemed to enjoy it as much as the listeners, and they would keep at it for hours at a time, as long as their bodily strength lasted. Girls from six years of age learn to play the harp almost by instinct, and college girls quickly learn the piano. There are no native composers—they are but imitators. There is an absence of sentimental feeling in the execution of set music (which is all foreign), and this is the only drawback to their becoming fine instrumentalists. For the same reason, classical music is very little in vogue among the Philippine people, who prefer dance pieces and ballad accompaniments. In fact, a native musical performance is so void of soul and true conception of harmony that at a feast it is not an uncommon thing to hear three bands playing close to each other at the same time; and the mob assembled seem to enjoy the confusion of the melody! There are no Philippine vocalists worth hearing.

Travelling through the Laguna Province in 1882 I was impressed by the ingenuity of the natives in their imitation of European musical instruments. Just an hour before I had emerged from a dense forest, abundantly adorned with exquisite foliage, and where majestic trees, flourishing in gorgeous profusion, afforded a gratifying shelter from the scorching sun. Not a sound was heard but the gentle ripple of a limpid stream, breaking over the boulders on its course towards the ravine below. But it was hardly the moment to ponder on the poetic scene, for fatigue and hunger had almost overcome sentimentality, and I got as quickly as I could to the first resting-place. This I found to be a native cane-growerʼs plantation bungalow, where quite a number of persons was assembled, the occasion of the meeting being the baptism and benediction of the sugar-cane mill. Before I was near enough, however, to be seen by the party—for it was nearly sunset—I heard the sound of distant music floating through the air. Such a strange occurrence excited my curiosity immensely, and I determined to find out what it all meant. I soon discovered that it was a bamboo band returning from the feast of the “baptism of the mill.” Each instrument was made of bamboo on a semi-European model, and the players were merely farm-labourers.

Philippine musicians have won fame outside their own country. Some years ago there was a band of them in Shanghai and another in Cochin China on contract. It was reported, too, that the band of the Constabulary sent to the St. Louis Exhibition in 1904 was the delight of the people in Honolulu, where they touched en route.

Slavery was prohibited by law as far back as the reign of Philip II.;[14] it nevertheless still exists in an occult form among the natives. Rarely, if ever, do its victims appeal to the law for redress, firstly, because of their ignorance, and secondly, because the untutored class have an innate horror of resisting anciently-established custom, and it would never occur to them to do so. Moreover, in the time of the Spaniards, the numberless procuradores and pica-pleitos—touting solicitors had no interest in taking up cases so profitless to themselves. Under the pretext of guaranteeing a loan, parents readily sell their children (male or female) into bondage. The child is handed over to work until the loan is repaid; but as the day of restitution of the advance never arrives, neither does the liberty of the youthful victim. Among themselves it was a law, and is still a practised custom, for the debts of the parents to pass on to the children, and, as I have said before, debts are never repudiated by them. Slavery, in an overt form, now only exists among some wild tribes and the Moros.

Education was almost exclusively under the control of the friars. Up to the year 1844 anything beyond religious tuition was reserved for the Spanish youth, the half-castes, and the children of those in office. Among the many reforms introduced in the time of Gov.-General Narciso Claveria (1844–49), that of extending Education to the provincial parishes was a failure. In the middle of the reign of Isabella II. (about 1850) it was the exclusive privilege of the classes mentioned and the native petty aristocracy, locally designated the gente ilustrada and the pudientes (Intellectuals and people of means and influence). Education, thus limited, divided the people into two separate castes, as distinct as the ancient Roman citizen and the plebeian. Residing chiefly in the ports open to foreign trade, the Intellectuals acquired wealth, possessed rich estates and fine houses artistically adorned. Blessed with all the comforts which money could procure and the refinement resulting from education, they freely associated and intermarried with the Spaniards, whose easy grace and dignified manners they gradually acquired and retain, to a great extent, to the present day. The other caste—the Illiterates—were dependents of the Intellectuals. Without mental training, with few wants, and little expenses, they were as contented, in their sphere, as the upper class were in theirs. Like their masters, they had their hopes, but they never knew what misery was, as one understands it in Europe, and in this felicitous, ambitionless condition, they never urgently demanded education, even for their children. The movement came from higher quarters, and during the OʼDonnell ministry a Royal Decree was sent from Madrid establishing schools throughout the provinces.

On the banks of the Pasig River there was a training college for schoolmasters, who were drafted off to the villages with a miserable stipend, to teach the juvenile rustics. But the governmental system of centralization fell somewhat hard on the village teacher. For instance, I knew one who received a monthly salary of 16 pesos, and every month he had to spend two of them to travel to Manila and back to receive the money—an outlay equal to 12½ per cent. of his total income. For such a wretched pittance great things were not to be expected of the teacher, even though he had had a free hand in his work. Other circumstances of greater weight contributed to keep the standard of education among the common townfolk very low; in some places to abolish it totally. The parish priests were ex-officio Inspectors of Schools for primary instruction, wherein it was their duty to see that the Spanish language was taught. The old “Laws of the Indies” provided that christian doctrine should be taught to the heathen native in Spanish.[15] Several decrees confirming that law were issued from time to time, but their fulfilment did not seem to suit the policy of the friars. On June 30, 1887, the Gov.-General published another decree with the same object, and sent a communication to the Archbishop to remind him of this obligation of his subordinates, and the urgency of its strict observance. But it had no effect whatever, and the poor-class villagers were only taught to gabble off the christian doctrine by rote, for it suited the friar to stimulate that peculiar mental condition in which belief precedes understanding. The school-teacher, being subordinate to the inspector, had no voice in the matter, and was compelled to follow the views of the priest. Few Spaniards took the trouble to learn native dialects (of which there are about 30), and only a small percentage of the natives can speak intelligible Spanish. There is no literature in dialect; the few odd compositions in Tagalog still extant are wanting in the first principles of literary style. There were many villages with untrained teachers who could not speak Spanish; there were other villages with no schools at all, hence no preparation whatever for municipal life.

If the friars had agreed to the instruction of the townfolk through the medium of Spanish, as a means to the attainment of higher culture, one could well have understood their reluctance to teach it to the rural labourers, because it is obvious to any one who knows the character of this class that the knowledge of a foreign language would unfit them for agricultural labour and the lower occupations, and produce a new social problem. Even this class, however, might have been mentally improved by elementary books translated into dialect. But, unfortunately, the friars were altogether opposed to the education of the masses, whether through dialect or Spanish, in order to hold them in ignorant subjection to their own will, and the result was that the majority grew up as untutored as when they were born.

Home discipline and training of manners were ignored, even in well-to-do families. Children were left without control, and by excessive indulgence allowed to do just as they pleased; hence they became ill-behaved and boorish.

Planters of means, and others who could afford it, sent their sons and daughters to private schools, or to the colleges under the direction of the priests in Manila, Jaro (Yloilo Province), or Cebú. A few—very few—sent their sons to study in Europe, or in Hong-Kong.

According to the Budget of 1888 the State contributed to the expense of Education, in that year, as follows, viz.:—

P. cts.

Schools and Colleges for high-class education in Manila, including Navigation, Drawing, Painting, Book-keeping, Languages, History, Arts and Trades, Natural History Museum and Library and general instruction.

86,450 00

School of Agriculture (including 10 schools and model farms in 10 Provinces)

113,686 64

General Expenses of Public Instruction, including National Schools in the Provinces

38,513 70

₱238,650 34

The teaching offered to students in Manila was very advanced, as will be seen from the following Syllabus of Education in the Municipal Athenæum of the Jesuits:—

Agriculture.

Geometry.

Philosophy.

Algebra.

Greek.

Physics and Chemistry.

Arithmetic.

History.

Rhetoric and Poetry.

Commerce.

Latin.

Spanish Classics.

Geography.

Mechanics.

Spanish Composition.

English.

Natural History.

Topography.

French.

Painting.

Trigonometry.

In the highest Girlsʼ School—the Santa Isabel College—the following was the curriculum, viz.:—

Arithmetic.

Geology.

Philippine History.

Drawing.

Geometry.

Physics.

Dress-cutting.

History of Spain.

Reading.

French.

Music.

Sacred History.

Geography.

Needlework.

Spanish Grammar.

There were also (for girls) the Colleges of Santa Catalina, Santa Rosa, La Concordia, the Municipal School, etc. A few were sent to the Italian Convent in Hong-Kong.

A college known as Saint Thomasʼ was founded in Manila by Fray Miguel de Benavides, third Archbishop of Manila, between the years 1603 and 1610. He contributed to it his library and ₱ 1,000, to which was added a donation by the Bishop of Nueva Segovia of ₱ 3,000 and his library. In 1620 it already had professors and masters under Government auspices. It received three Papal Briefs for 10 years each, permitting students to graduate in Philosophy and Theology. It was then raised to the status of a University in the time of Philip IV. by Papal Bull of November 20, 1645. The first rector of Saint Thomasʼ University was Fray Martin Real de la Cruz. In the meantime, the Jesuitsʼ University had been established. Until 1645 it was the only place of learning superior to primary education, and conferred degrees. The Saint Thomasʼ University (under the direction of Dominican friars) now disputed the Jesuitsʼ privilege to confer degrees, claiming for themselves exclusive right by Papal Bull. A lawsuit followed, and the Supreme Court of Manila decided in favour of Saint Thomasʼ. The Jesuits appealed to the King against this decision. The Supreme Council of the Indies was consulted, and revoked the decision of the Manila Supreme Court, so that the two Universities continued to give degrees until the Jesuits were expelled from the Colony in 1768. From 1785 Saint Thomasʼ University was styled the “Royal University,” and was declared to rank equally with the Peninsular Universities.

There were also the Dominican College of San Juan de Letran, founded in the middle of the 17th century, the Jesuit Normal School, the Convent of Mercy for Orphan Students, and the College of Saint Joseph. This last was founded in 1601, under the direction of the Jesuits. King Philip V. gave it the title of “Royal College,” and allowed an escutcheon to be erected over the entrance. The same king endowed three professorial chairs with ₱ 10,000 each. Latterly it was governed by the Rector of the University, whilst the administration was confided to a licentiate in pharmacy.

At the time of the Spanish evacuation, therefore, the only university in the City of Manila was that of Saint Thomas, which was empowered to issue diplomas of licentiate in law, theology, medicine, and pharmacy to all successful candidates, and to confer degrees of LL.D. The public investiture was presided over by the Rector of the University, a Dominican friar; and the speeches preceding and following the ceremony, which was semi-religious, were made in the Spanish language.

In connection with this institution there was the modern Saint Thomasʼ College for preparing students for the University.

The Nautical School naturally stood outside the sphere of ecclesiastical control. Established in 1839 in Calle Cabildo (walled city), its purpose was to instruct youths in the science of navigation and prepare them for the merchant service within the waters of the Archipelago and the adjacent seas. During the earthquake of 1863 the school building was destroyed. It was then re-established in Calle San Juan de Letran, subsequently located in Calle del Palacio, and was finally (in 1898) removed from the walled city to the business quarter of Binondo. Special attention was given to the teaching of mathematics, and considerable sums of money were allocated, from time to time, for the equipment of this technical centre of learning.

One of the most interesting and amusing types of the native was the average college student from the provinces. After a course of two, three, up to eight years, he learnt to imitate European dress and ape Western manners; to fantastically dress his hair; to wear patent-leather shoes, jewellery, and a latest-fashioned felt hat adjusted carefully towards one side of his head. He went to the theatre, drove a “tilbury,” and attended native réunions, to deploy his abilities before the beau sexe of his class. During his residence in the capital, he was supposed to learn, amongst other subjects, Latin, Divinity, Philosophy, and sometimes Theology, preparatory, in many cases, to succeeding his father in a sugar-cane and rice plantation. The average student had barely an outline idea of either physical or political geography, whilst his notions of Spanish or universal history were very chaotic. I really think the Manila newspapers—poor as they were—contributed very largely to the education of the people in this Colony.

Still, there are cases of an ardent genius shining as an exception to his race. Amongst the few, there were two brothers named Luna—the one was a notably skilful performer on the guitar and violin, who, however, died at an early age. The other, Juan Luna, developed a natural ability for painting. A work of his own conception—the “Spoliarium,” executed by him in Rome in 1884—gained the second prize at the Madrid Academy Exhibition of Oil Paintings. The Municipality of Barcelona purchased this chef dʼoeuvre for the City Hall. Other famous productions of his are “The Battle of Lepanto,” “The Death of Cleopatra,” and “The Blood Compact” (q.v). This last masterpiece was acquired by the Municipality of Manila for the City Hall, but was removed when the Tagálog Rebellion broke out, for reasons which will be understood after reading Chapter xxii. This artist, the son of poor parents, was a second mate on board a sailing ship, when his gifts were recognized, and means were furnished him with which to study in Rome. His talent was quite exceptional, for these Islanders are not an artistic people. Having little admiration for the picturesque and the beautiful in Nature, they cannot depict them: in this respect they form a decided contrast to the Japanese. Paete (La Laguna) is the only place I know of in the provinces where there are sculptors by profession. The Manila Academy was open to all comers of all nationalities, and, as an ex-student under its Professors Don Lorenzo Rocha and Don Agustin Saez, I can attest to their enthusiasm for the progress of their pupils.

Middle-class Tagálog Natives

In the General Post and Telegraph Office in Manila I was shown an excellent specimen of wood-carving—a bust portrait of Mr. Morse (the celebrated inventor of the Morse system of telegraphy)—the work of a native sculptor. Another promising native, Vicente Francisco, exhibited some good sculpture work in the Philippine Exhibition, held in Madrid in 1887: the jury recommended him for a State pension, to study in Madrid and Rome. The beautiful design of the present insular coinage (Philippine peso) is the work of a Filipino. The biography of the patriot martyr Dr. José Rizal (q.v.), the most brilliant of all Filipinos, is related in another chapter.

The native of cultivated intellect, on returning from Europe, found a very limited circle of friends of his own new training. If he returned a lawyer or a doctor, he was one too many, for the capital swarmed with them; if he had learnt a trade, his knowledge was useless outside Manila, and in his native village his technical acquirements were generally profitless. Usually the nativeʼs sojourn in Europe made him too self-opinionated to become a useful member of society. It remains to be seen how American training will affect them.

The (American) Insular Government has taken up the matter of Philippine education very earnestly, and at considerable outlay: the subject is referred to in Chapter xxx.

The intellectual and spiritual life, as we have it in Europe, does not exist in the Philippines. If ever a Filipino studied any subject, purely for the love of study, without the hope of material or social advantage being derived therefrom, he would be a rara avis.

The DISEASE most prevalent among the Filipinos is fever—especially in the spring: and although, in general, they may be considered a robust, enduring race, they are less capable than the European of withstanding acute disease. I should say that quite 50 per cent. of the native population are affected by cutaneous disease, said to be caused by eating fish daily, and especially shell-fish. It is locally known as Sarnas: natives say that monkey flesh cures it.

In 1882 Cholera morbus in epidemic form ravaged the native population, carrying off thousands of victims, the exact number of which has never been published. The preventive recommended by the priests on this occasion, viz., prayer to Saint Roque, proved quite ineffectual to stay the plague. A better remedy, found in the country, is an infusion of Niota tetrapetala (Tagálog, Manungal). From time to time this disease reappears. The returns given in the Official Gazette of March 2, 1904, Vol. II., No. 9, show the average monthly mortality due to Cholera, in the 20–1/3 months between March 20, 1902, and December 1, 1903, to be 5,360. Annually, many natives suffer from what is called Colerin—a mild form of Cholera, but not epidemic. In the spring, deaths always occur from acute indigestion, due to eating too plentifully of new rice. Many who have recovered from Cholera become victims to a disease known as Beri-Beri, said to be caused by the rice and fish diet. The first symptom of Wet Beri-Beri is a swelling of the legs, like dropsy; that of Dry Beri-Beri is a wasting away of the limbs. Smallpox makes great ravages, and Measles is a common complaint. Lung and Bronchial affections are very rare. The most fearful disease in the Colony is Leprosy.[16] To my knowledge it is prevalent in the Province of Bulacan (Luzon Is.), and in the islands of Cebú and Negros. There is an asylum for lepers near Manila and at Mabolo, just outside the City of Cebú (vide Lepers), but no practical measures were ever adopted by the Spaniards to eradicate this disease. The Spanish authorities were always too indifferent about the propagation of leprosy to establish a home on one island for all male lepers and another home, on another island, for female lepers—the only effectual way to extirpate this awful malady. In Baliuag (Bulacan), leper families, personally known to me, were allowed to mix with the general public. In Cebú and Negros Islands they were permitted to roam about on the highroads and beg.

The Insular Government has taken up the question of the Lepers, and in 1904 a tract of land was purchased in the Island of Culion (Calamianes group) to provide for their hygienic isolation. According to the Official Gazette of March 2, 1904, Vol. II., No. 9, the total number of lepers, of whom the Insular Government had obtained cognizance, up to December 31, 1903, was 3,343. Besides these there would naturally be an unknown number who had escaped recognition.

There is apparently little Insanity in the Islands. From the Report of the Commissioner of Public Health for February, 1904, it would appear that there were only about 1,415 insane persons in a population of over seven-and-a-half millions.

Since the American advent (1898) the Death-rate is believed to have notably decreased. The Report of the Commissioner of Public Health for 1904 states the death-rate per thousand in Manila to have been as follows, viz.:—Natives 53.72; Europeans other than Spaniards 16.11; Spaniards 15.42; and Americans 9.34. The Commissioner remarks that “over 50 per cent. of the children born in the city of Manila never live to see the first anniversary of their birthday.” The Board of Health is very active in the sanitation of Manila. Inspectors make frequent domiciliary visits. The extermination of rats in the month of December, 1903, amounted to 24,638. House-refuse bins are put into the streets at night, and an inspector goes round with a lamp about midnight to examine them. Dead animals, market-rubbish, house-refuse, rotten hemp, sweepings, etc., are all cremated at Palomar, Santa Cruz, and Paco, and in July, 1904, this enterprising department started the extermination of mosquitoes! In the suburbs of Manila there are now twelve cemeteries and one crematorium.

[1] We have several modern instances of similar volcanic disturbances creating and demolishing land surface, on an infinitely lesser scale—e.g., the disappearance of Krakatoa and the entire town and busy port of Anger in 1883; the eruption which swallowed up the whole inhabited Japanese island Torii Shima; the appearance of an entirely new island, Nii Shima (about lat. 25° N.), within the past twelve months; and, within the historical period, the apparition of the Kurile Islands.

[2] Vide Chap. v. By way of retaliation for the expulsion of Spanish missionaries from Japan in the l7th century, all the male Japanese above ten years of age were ordered to leave their settlements up the Lake. Under this order over 20,000 of them were expelled from the Colony. There was a Japanese temple existing (though not in use as such) in the suburbs of Manila up to last century, when Gov.-General Norzagaray (1857–60) had it destroyed.

[3] The Spaniards must have been quite cognisant of these rites, seeing that the Moorish invasion of Spain lasted nearly eight centuries, namely from the year 711 up to 1492—only a couple of decades before Legaspiʼs generation.

[4] Based on this tradition, Don José Carvajal has written a very interesting play entitled Ligaya. It was produced at the National Theatre, Manila, in 1904.

[5] Possibly the people of Tondo (Manila) learnt from the Chinese the art of preparing that canine delicacy called Cúbang-aso.

[6] Consequent on the American advent, wages steadily rose proportionately to the increased cost of everything. But when, later on, wages far exceeded the nativeʼs needs, he demanded more and actually went on strike to obtain it!

[7] With regard to this characteristic among the Chinese, Sir John Bowring (late Governor of Hong-Kong) affirms that the Chinese respect their writings and traditions, whilst they do not believe a lie to be a fault, and in some of their classical works it is especially recommended, in order to cheat and confuse foreign intruders (vide “A Visit to the Philippine Islands,” by Sir John Bowring, LL.D., F.R.S. Manila, 1876 Spanish edition, p. 176).

[8] See the Army Regulations for the advantages granted to military men who married Philippine-born women (videalso p. 53).

[9] Catapúsan signifies in native dialect the gathering of friends, which terminates the festival connected with any event or ceremony, whether it be a wedding, a funeral, a baptism, or an election of local authorities, etc. The festivities after a burial last nine days, and on the last day of wailing, drinking, praying, and eating, the meeting is called the Catapúsan.

[10] “Historia de Nuestra Señora La Virgen de Antipolo,” by M. Romero. Published in Manila, 1886.

[11] He became a prelate twenty-one years afterwards, having been ordained Bishop of Nueva Segovia in 1671.

[12] A decree issued by Don Juan de Ozaeta, a magistrate of the Supreme Court, in his general visit of inspection to the provinces, dated May 26, 1696, enacts the following, viz.:—“That Chinese half-castes and headmen shall be compelled to go to church and attend Divine Service, and act according to the customs established in the villages.” The penalty for an infraction of this mandate by a male was “20 lashes in the public highway and two monthsʼ labour in the Royal Rope Walk (in Taal), or in the Galleys of Cavite.” If the delinquent was a female, the chastisement was “one month of public penance in the church.” The Alcalde or Governor of the Province who did not promptly inflict the punishment was to be mulcted in the sum of “₱200, to be paid to the Royal Treasury.”

[13] Diario de Manila, Saturday, July 28, 1888.

[14] Vide p. 54. According to Concepcion, there were headmen at the time of the Conquest who had as many as 300 slaves, and as a property they ranked next in value to gold (vide “Hist. Gen. de Philipinas,” by Juan de la Concepcion, published in Manila in 1788, in 14 volumes).

[15] Vide “Recopilacion de las Leyes de Indias,” Ley V. xiii., lib. i.

[16] Referring to Leprosy, the Charity Record, London, December 15, 1898, says:—“Reliable estimates place the number of lepers in India, China, and Japan at 1,000,000. About 500,000 probably would be a correct estimate for India only, although the official number is less, owing to the many who from being hidden, or homeless, or from other causes, escape enumeration.”

The Religious Orders

History attests that at least during the first two centuries of Spanish rule, the subjugation of the natives and their acquiescence in the new order of things were obtained more by the subtle influence of the missionaries than by the sword. As the soldiers of Castile carried war into the interior and forced its inhabitants to recognize their King, so the friars were drafted off from the mother country to mitigate the memory of bloodshed and to mould Spainʼs new subjects to social equanimity. In many cases, in fact, the whole task of gaining their submission to the Spanish Crown and obedience to the dictates of Western civilization was confided solely to the pacific medium of persuasion. The difficult mission of holding in check the natural passions and instincts of a race which knew no law but individual will, was left to the successors of Urdaneta. Indeed, it was but the general policy of Philip II. to aggrandize his vast realm under the pretence of rescuing benighted souls. The efficacy of conversion was never doubted for a moment, however suddenly it might come to pass, and the Spanish cavalier conscientiously felt that he had a high mission to fulfil under the Banner of the Cross. In every natural event which coincided with their interests, in the prosecution of their mission, the wary priests descried a providential miracle.

In their opinion the non-Catholic had no rights in this world—no prospect of gaining the next. If the Pope claimed the whole world (such as was known of it) to be in his gift—how much more so heathen lands! The obligation to convert was imposed by the Pope, and was an inseparable condition of the conceded right of conquest. It was therefore constantly paramount in the conquerorʼs mind.[1] The Pope could depose and give away the realm of any sovereign prince “si vel paulum deflexerit.” The Monarch held his sceptre under the sordid condition of vassalage; hence Philip II., for the security of his Crown, could not have disobeyed the will of the Pontiff, whatever his personal inclinations might have been regarding the spread of Christianity.[2] If he desired it, he served his ends with advantage to himself—if he were indifferent to it, he secured by its prosecution a formidable ally in Rome. America had already drained the Peninsula of her able-bodied men to such an extent that a military occupation of these Islands would have overtaxed the resources of the mother country. The co-operation of the friars was, therefore, an almost indispensable expedient in the early days, and their power in secular concerns was recognized to the last by the Spanish-Philippine authorities, who continued to solicit the aid of the parish priests in order to secure obedience to decrees affecting their parishioners.

Up to the Rebellion of 1896 the placid word of the ecclesiastic, the superstitious veneration which he inspired in the ignorant native, had a greater law-binding effect than the commands of the civil functionary. The gownsman used those weapons appropriate to his office which best touched the sensibilities and won the adhesion of a rude audience. The priest appealed to the soul, to the unknown, to the awful and the mysterious. Go where he would, the convertʼs imagination was so pervaded with the mystic tuition that he came to regard his tutor as a being above common humanity. The feeling of dread reverence which he instilled into the hearts of the most callous secured to him even immunity from the violence of brigands, who carefully avoided the man of God. In the State official the native saw nothing but a man who strove to bend the will of the conquered race to suit his own. A Royal Decree or the sound of the cornet would not have been half so effective as the elevation of the Holy Cross before the fanatical majority, who became an easy prey to fantastic promises of eternal bliss, or the threats of everlasting perdition. Nor is this assertion by any means chimerical, for it has been proved on several occasions, notably in the raising of troops to attempt the expulsion of the British in 1763, and in the campaign against the Sultan of Sulu in 1876. But through the Cavite Conspiracy of 1872 (vide p. 106) the friars undoubtedly hastened their own downfall. Many natives, driven to emigrate, cherished a bitter hatred in exile, whilst others were emerging yearly by hundreds from their mental obscurity. Already the intellectual struggle for freedom from mystic enthralment had commenced without injury to faith in things really divine.

Each decade brought some reform in the relations between the parish priest and the people. Link by link the chain of priestcraft encompassing the development of the Colony was yielding to natural causes. The most enlightened natives were beginning to understand that their spiritual wants were not the only care of the friars, and that the aim of the Religious Orders was to monopolize all within their reach, and to subordinate to their common will all beyond their mystic circle. The Romish Church owes its power to the uniformity of precept and practice of the vast majority of its members, and it is precisely because this was the reverse in political Spain—where statesmen are divided into a dozen or more groups with distinct policies—that the Church was practically unassailable. In the same way, all the members of a Religious Order are so closely united that a quarrel with one of them brings the enmity and opposition of his whole community. The Progressists, therefore, who combated ecclesiastical preponderance in the Philippines, demanded the retirement of the friars to conventual reclusion or missions, and the appointment of clérigos, or secular clergymen to the vicarages and curacies. By such a change they hoped to remedy the abuses of collective power, for a misunderstanding with a secular vicar would only have provoked a single-handed encounter.

That a priest should have been practically a Government agent in his locality would not have been contested in the abstract, had he not, as a consequence, assumed the powers of the old Roman Censors, who exercised the most dreaded function of the Regium Morum. Spanish opinion, however, was very much divided as to the political safety of strictly confining the friars to their religious duties. It was doubted by some whether any State authority could ever gain the confidence or repress the inherent inclinations of the native like the friar, who led by superstitious teaching, and held the conscience by an invisible cord through the abstract medium of the confessional. Others opined that a change in the then existing system of semi-sacerdotal Government was desirable, if only to give scope to the budding intelligence of the minority, which could not be suppressed.

Emerging from the lowest ranks of society, with no training whatever but that of the seminary, it was natural to suppose that these Spanish priests would have been more capable than ambitious political men of the world of blending their ideas with those of the native, and of forming closer associations with a rural population engaged in agricultural pursuits familiar to themselves in their own youth. Before the abolition of monasteries in Spain the priests were allowed to return there after 10 years residence in the Colony; since then they have usually entered upon their new lives for the remainder of their days, so that they naturally strove to make the best of their social surroundings.

The Civil servant, as a rule, could feel no personal interest in his temporary native neighbours, his hopes being centred only in rising in the Civil Service there or elsewhere—Cuba or Porto Rico, or where the ministerial wheel of fortune placed him.

The younger priests—narrow-minded and biased—those who had just entered into provincial curacies—were frequently the greater bigots. Enthusiastic in their calling, they pursued with ardour their mission of proselytism without experience of the world. They entered the Islands with the zeal of youth, bringing with them the impression imparted to them in Spain, that they were sent to make a moral conquest of savages. In the course of years, after repeated rebuffs, and the obligation to participate in the affairs of everyday life in all its details, their rigidity of principle relaxed, and they became more tolerant towards those with whom they necessarily came in contact. They were usually taken from the peasantry and families of lowly station. As a rule they had little or no secular education, and, regarding them apart from their religious training, they might be considered a very ignorant class. Amongst them the Franciscan friars appeared to be the least—and the Austins the most—polished of all.

The Spanish parish priest was consulted by the native in all matters; he was, by force of circumstances, often compelled to become an architect,—to build the church in his adopted village—an engineer, to make or mend roads, and more frequently a doctor. His word was paramount in his parish, and in his residence he dispensed with that stern severity of conventual discipline to which he had been accustomed in the Peninsula. Hence it was really here that his mental capacity was developed, his manners improved, and that the raw sacerdotal peasant was converted into the man of thought, study, and talent—occasionally into a gentleman. In his own vicinity, when isolated from European residents, he was practically the representative of the Government and of the white race as well as of social order. His theological knowledge was brought to bear upon the most mundane subjects. His thoughts necessarily expanded as the exclusiveness of his religious vocation yielded to the realization of a social position and political importance of which he had never entertained an idea in his native country.

So large was the party opposed to the continuance of priestly influence in the Colony that a six-monthsʼ resident would not fail to hear of the many misdeeds with which the friars in general were reproached. It would be contrary to fact to pretend that the bulk of them supported their teaching by personal example. I was acquainted with a great number of the friars, and their offspring too, in spite of their vow of chastity; whilst many lived in comparative luxury, notwithstanding their vow of poverty.

There was the late parish priest of Malolos, whose son, my friend, was a prominent lawyer. Father S——, of Bugason, had a whole family living in his parish. An Archbishop who held the See in my time had a daughter frequently seen on the Paseo de Santa Lucia; and in July, 1904, two of his daughters lived in Calle Quiotan, Santa Cruz, Manila, and two others, by a different mother, in the town of O——. The late parish priest of Lipa, Father B——, whom I knew, had a son whom I saw in 1893. The late incumbent of Santa Cruz, Father M—— L——, induced his spiritual flock to petition against his being made prior of his Order in Manila so that he should not have to leave his women. The late parish priest (friar) of Baliuag (Bulacan) had three daughters and two sons. I was intimately acquainted with the latter; one was a doctor of medicine and the other a planter, and they bore the surname of Gonzalez. At Cadiz Nuevo (Negros Is.) I once danced with the daughter of a friar (parish priest of a neighbouring village), whilst he took another girl as his partner. I was closely acquainted, and resided more than once, with a very mixed-up family in the south of Negros Island. My host was the son of a secular clergyman, his wife and sister-in-law were the daughters of a friar, this sister-in-law was the mistress of a friar, my host had a son who was married to another friarʼs daughter, and a daughter who was the wife of a foreigner. In short, bastards of the friars are to be found everywhere in the Islands. Regarding this merely as the natural outcome of the celibate rule, I do not criticize it, but simply wish to show that the pretended sanctity of the regular clergy in the Philippines was an absurdity, and that the monks were in no degree less frail than mankind in common.

The mysterious deaths of General Solano (August 1860) and of Zamora, the Bishop-elect of Cebú (1873), occurred so opportunely for Philippine monastic ambition that little doubt existed in the public mind as to who were the real criminals. When I first arrived in Manila, a quarter of a century ago, a fearful crime was still being commented on. Father Piernavieja, formerly parish priest of San Miguel de Mayumo, had recently committed a second murder. His first victim was a native youth, his second a native woman enceinte. The public voice could not be raised very loudly then against the priests, but the scandal was so great that the criminal friar was sent to another province—Cavite—where he still celebrated the holy sacrifice of the Eucharist. Nearly two decades afterwards—in January 1897—this rascal met with a terrible death at the hands of the rebels. He was in captivity, and having been appointed “Bishop” in a rebel diocese, to save his life he accepted the mock dignity; but, unfortunately for himself, he betrayed the confidence of his captors, and collected information concerning their movements, plans, and strongholds for remittance to his Order. In expiation of his treason he was bound to a post under the tropical sun and left there to die. See how the public in Spain are gulled! In a Málaga newspaper this individual was referred to as a “venerable figure, worthy of being placed high up on an altar, before which all Spaniards should prostrate themselves and adore him. As a religieux he was a most worthy minister of the Lord; as a patriot he was a hero.”

Within my recollection, too, a friar absconded from a Luzon Island parish with a large sum of parochial funds, and was never heard of again. The late parish priests of Mandaloyan and Iba did the same.

I well remember another interesting character of the monastic Orders. He had been parish priest in a Zambales province town, but intrigues with a soi-disant cousine brought him under ecclesiastical arrest at the convent of his Order in Manila. Thence he escaped, and came over to Hong-Kong, where I made his acquaintance in 1890. He told me he had started life in an honest way as a shoemakerʼs boy, but was taken away from his trade to be placed in the seminary. His mind seemed to be a blank on any branch of study beyond shoemaking and Church ritual. He pretended that he had come over to Hong-Kong to seek work, but in reality he was awaiting his cousine, whom he rejoined on the way to Europe, where, I heard, he became a garçon de café in France.

In 1893 there was another great public scandal, when the friars were openly accused of having printed the seditious proclamations whose authorship they attributed to the natives. The plan of the friars was to start the idea of an intended revolt, in order that they might be the first in the field to quell it, and thus be able to again proclaim to the Home Government the absolute necessity of their continuance in the Islands for the security of Spanish sovereignty. But the plot was discovered; the actual printer, a friar, mysteriously disappeared, and the courageous Gov.-General Despujols, Conde de Caspe, was, through monastic influence, recalled. He was very popular, and the public manifestation of regret at his departure from the Islands was practically a protest against the Religious Orders.

In June, 1888, some cases of personal effects belonging to a friar were consigned to the care of an intimate friend of mine, whose guest I was at the time. They had become soaked with sea-water before he received them, and a neighbouring priest requested him to open the packages and do what he could to save the contents. I assisted my friend in this task, and amongst the friarʼs personal effects we were surprised to find, intermixed with prayer-books, scapularies, missals, prints of saints, etc., about a dozen most disgustingly obscene double-picture slides for a stereoscope. What an entertainment for a guide in morals! This same friar had held a vicarage before in another province, but having become an habitual drunkard, he was removed to Manila, and there appointed a confessor. From Manila he had just been again sent to take charge of the cure of souls.

I knew a money-grabbing parish priest—a friar—who publicly announced raffles from the pulpit of the church from which he preached morality and devotion. On one occasion a 200-peso watch was put up for ₱500—at another time he raffled dresses for the women. Under the pretext of being a pious institution, he established a society of women, called the Association of St. Joseph (Confradia de San José), upon whom he imposed the very secular duties of domestic service in the convent and raffle-ticket hawking. He had the audacity to dictate to a friend of mine—a planter—the value of the gifts he was to make to him, and when the planter was at length wearied of his importunities, he conspired with a Spaniard to deprive my friend of his estate, alleging that he was not the real owner. Failing in this, he stirred up the petty-governor and headmen against him. The petty-governor was urged to litigation, and when he received an unfavourable sentence, the priest, enraged at the abortive result of his malicious intrigues, actually left his vicarage to accompany his litigious protégé to the chief judge of the province in quest of a reversion of the sentence.

A priest of evil propensities brought only misery to his parish and aroused a feeling of odium against the Spanish friars in general. As incumbents they held the native in contempt. He who should be the parishioner was treated despotically as the subject whose life, liberty, property, and civil rights were in his sacerdotal lordʼs power. And that power was not unfrequently exercised, for if a native refused to yield to his demands, or did not contribute with sufficient liberality to a religious feast, or failed to come to Mass, or protected the virtue of his daughter, or neglected the genuflexion and kissing of hands, or was out of the priestʼs party in the municipal affairs of the parish, or in any other trivial way became a persona non grata at the “convent,” he and his family would become the pastorʼs sheep marked for sacrifice. As Government agent it was within his arbitrary power to attach his signature to or withhold it from any municipal document. From time to time he could give full vent to his animosity by secretly denouncing to the civil authorities as “inconvenient in the town” all those whom he wished to get rid of. He had simply to send an official advice to the Governor of the province, who forwarded it to the Gov.-General, stating that he had reason to believe that the persons mentioned in the margin were disloyal, immoral, or whatever it might be, and recommend their removal from the neighbourhood. A native so named suddenly found at his door a patrol of the Civil Guard, who escorted him, with his elbows tied together, from prison to prison, up to the capital town and thence to Manila. Finally, without trial or sentence, he was banished to some distant island of the Archipelago. He might one day return to find his family ruined, or he might as often spend his last days in misery alone. Sometimes a native who had privately heard of his “denunciation” became a remontado, that is to say he fled to the mountains to lead a bandits life where the evils of a debased civilization could not reach him. Banishment in these circumstances was not a mere transportation to another place, but was attended with all the horrors of a cruel captivity, of which I have been an eye-witness. From the foregoing it may be readily understood how the conduct of the regular clergy was the primary cause of the Rebellion of 1896; it was not the monksʼ immorality which disturbed the mind of the native, but their Cæsarism which raised his ire. The ground of discord was always infinitely more material than sentimental. Among the friars, however, there were many exceptional men of charming manners and eminent virtue. If little was done to coerce the bulk of the friars to live up to the standard of these exceptions, it was said to be because the general interests of Mother Church were opposed to investigation and admonition, for fear of the consequent scandal destructive of her prestige.

The Hierarchy of the Philippines consists of one Archbishop in Manila, and four Suffragan Bishoprics, respectively of Nueva Segovia, Cebú, Jaro, and Nueva Cáceres.[3] The provincials, the vicars-general, and other officers of the Religious Orders were elected by the Chapters and held office for four years. The first Bishop of Manila took possession in 1581, and the first Archbishop in 1598.

The Jesuits came to these Islands in 1581, and were expelled therefrom in 1770 by virtue of an Apostolic Brief[4] of Pope Clement XIV., but were permitted to return in 1859, on the understanding that they would confine their labours to scholastic education and the establishment of missions amongst uncivilized tribes. Consequently, in Manila they refounded their school—the Municipal Athenæum—a mission house, and a Meteorological Observatory, whilst in many parts of Mindanao Island they have established missions, with the vain hope of converting Mahometans to Christianity.[5] The Jesuits, compared with the members of the other Orders, are very superior men, and their fraternity includes a few, and almost the only, learned ecclesiastics who came to the Colony. Since their return to the Islands (1859) in the midst of the strife with the Religious Orders, the people recognized the Jesuits as disinterested benefactors of the country.

Several Chinese have been admitted to holy orders, two of them having become Austin Friars.[6] The first native friars date their admission from the year 1700, since when there have been sixteen of the Order of St. Augustine. Subsequently they were excluded from the confraternities, and only admitted to holy orders as vicars, curates to assist parish vicars, chaplains, and in other minor offices. Up to the year 1872 native priests were appointed to benefices, but in consequence of their alleged implication in the Cavite Conspiracy of that year, their church livings, as they became vacant, were given to Spanish friars, whose headquarters were established in Manila.

The Austin Friars were the religious pioneers in these Islands; they came to Cebú in 1565 and to Manila in 1571; then followed the Franciscans in 1577; the Dominicans in 1587, a member of this Order having been ordained first Bishop of Manila, where he arrived in 1581. The Recoletos (unshod Augustinians), a branch of the Saint Augustine Order, came to the Islands in 1606; the Capuchins—the lowest type of European monk in the Far East, came to Manila in 1886, and were sent to the Caroline Islands (vide p. 45). The Paulists, of the Order of Saint Vincent de Paul, were employed in scholastic work in Nueva Cáceres, Jaro, and Cebú, the same as the Jesuits were in Manila. The Benedictines came to the Islands in 1895. Only the members of the first four Orders above named were parish priests, and each (except the Franciscans) possessed agricultural land; hence the animosity of the natives was directed against these four confraternities only, and not against the others, who neither monopolized incumbencies, nor held rural property, but were simply teachers, or missionaries, whose worldly interests in no way clashed with those of the people. Therefore, whenever there was a popular outcry against “the friars,” it was understood to refer solely to the Austins, the Franciscans, the Dominicans and the Recoletos.[7] There was no Spanish secular clergy in the Islands, except three or four military chaplains.

The Church was financially supported by the State to the extent of about three-quarters of a million pesos per annum.

The following are some of the most interesting items taken from “The Budget for 1888,” viz.:—

SANCTORUM or Church tax of 18¾ cents (i.e., 1½ reales) on each Cédula personal, say on 2,760,613 Cédulas in 1888, less 4 per cent, cost of collection

₱496,910.00

The friars appointed to incumbencies received in former times tithes from the Spaniards, and a Church tax from the natives computed by the amount of tribute paid. Tithe payment (diézmos prediales) by the Spaniards became almost obsolete, and the Sanctorum tax on Cédulas was paid to the Church through the Treasury (vide p. 55).

There were priests in missions and newly-formed parishes where the domiciled inhabitants were so few that the Sanctorum tax on the aggregate of the Cédulas was insufficient for their support. These missionaries were allowed salaries, and parish priests were permitted to appropriate from their revenues, as annual stipend, amounts ranging from 500 to 800 pesos, as a rule, with a few exceptions (such as Binondo parish and others), rated at 1,200 pesos, whilst one, at least (the parish priest, or missionary of Vergara, Davao Province), received 2,200 pesos a year. In practice, however, a great many parish priests spent far more than their allotted stipends.

A project was under consideration to value the incumbencies, and classify them, like the Courts of Justice (vide p. 234), with the view of apportioning to each a fixed income payable by the Treasury in lieu of accounting to the Church for the exact amount of the Sanctorum.

By decree of Gov.-General Terrero, dated November 23,1885, the State furnished free labour (by natives who did not pay poll-tax) for Church architectural works, provided it was made clear that the cost of such labour could not be covered by the surplus funds of the Sanctorum. The chief items of Church expenditure were as follows, viz.:—

State outlay for Church.

P. cts.

Archbishopʼs salary

12,000 00

Other salaries (Cathedral)

40,300 00

Other expenses (Cathedral)

3,000 00

Four Bishops, each with a salary of ₱6,000

24,000 00

Court of Arches (amount contributed by the State[8])

5,000 00

Chaplain of Los Baños

120 00

Sulu Mission

1,000 00

Mission House in Manila for Capuchin friars

1,700 00

12 Capuchins (State paid) for the Caroline and Pelew Islands—6 at ₱300 and 6 at ₱500 each per annum

4,800 00

Transport of Missionaries estimated at about, per annum

10,000 00

The anticipated total State outlay for the support of the Church, Missions, Monasteries, Convents, etc., including the above and all other items for the financial year of 1888 was

₱724,634 50

Moreover, the religious Corporations possessed large private revenues. The Dominicansʼ investments in Hong-Kong, derived from capitalized income, are still considerable. The Austin, Recoleto, and Dominican friars held very valuable real estate in the provinces, which was rented to the native agriculturists on conditions which the tenants considered onerous. The native planters were discontented with the treatment they received from these landowners, and their numerous complaints formed part of the general outcry against the regular clergy. The bailiffs of these corporation lands were unordained brothers of the Order. They resided in the Estate Houses, and by courtesy were styled “fathers” by the natives. They were under certain religious vows, but not being entitled to say Mass, they were termed “legos,” or ignorant men, by their own Order.

The clergy also derived a very large portion of their incomes from commissions on the sale of cédulas, sales of Papal Bulls, masses, pictures, books, chaplets and indulgences, marriage, burial and baptismal fees, benedictions, donations touted for after the crops were raised, legacies to be paid for in masses, remains of wax candles left in the church by the faithful, fees for getting souls out of purgatory, alms, etc. The surplus revenues over and above parochial requirements were supposed to augment the common Church funds in Manila. The Corporations were consequently immensely wealthy, and their power and influence were in consonance with that wealth.

Each Order had its procurator in Madrid, who took up the cudgels in defence of his Corporationʼs interest in the Philippines whenever this was menaced. On the other hand, the Church, as a body politic, dispensed no charity, but received all. It was always begging; always above civil laws and taxes; claimed immunity, proclaimed poverty, and inculcated in others charity to itself.

Most of the parish priests—Spanish or native—were very hospitable to travellers, and treated them with great kindness. Amongst them there were some few misanthropes and churlish characters who did not care to be troubled by anything outside the region of their vocation, but on the whole I found them remarkably complaisant.

In Spain there were training colleges of the three Communities, in Valladolid, Ocaña, and Monte Agudo respectively, for young novices intended to be sent to the Philippines, the last Spanish Colony where friars held vicarages.

The ecclesiastical archives of the Philippines abound with proofs of the bitter and tenacious strife sustained, not only between the civil and Church authorities, but even amongst the religious communities themselves. Each Order was so intensely jealous of the others, that one is almost led to ponder whether the final goal of all could have been identical. All voluntarily faced death with the same incentive, whilst amicable fellowship in this world seemed an impossibility. The first Bishop (vide p. 56) struggled in vain to create a religious monopoly in the Philippines for the exclusive benefit of the Augustine Order. It has been shown how ardent was the hatred which the Jesuits and the other Religious Orders mutually entertained for each other. Each sacred fraternity laboured incessantly to gain the ascendancy in the conquered territories, and their Divine calling served for nothing in palliating the acrimony of their reciprocal accusations and recriminations, which often involved the civil power.

For want of space I can only refer to a few of these disputes.

The Austin friars attributed to the Jesuits the troubles with the Mahometans of Mindanao and Sulu, and, in their turn, the Jesuits protested against what they conceived to be the bad policy of the Government, adopted under the influence of the other Orders in Manila. So distinct were their interests that the Augustine chroniclers refer to the other Orders as different religions.

In 1778 the Province of Pangasinán was spiritually administered by the Dominicans, whilst that of Zambales was allotted to the Recoletos. The Dominicans, therefore, proposed to the Recoletos to cede Zambales to them, because it was repugnant to have to pass through Recoleto territory going from Manila to their own province! The Recoletos were offered Mindoro Island in exchange, which they refused, until the Archbishop compelled them to yield. Disturbances then arose in Zambales, the responsibility of which was thrown on the Dominicans by their rival Order, and the Recoletos finally succeeded in regaining their old province by intrigue.

During the Governorship of Martin de Urena, Count de Lizárraga (1709–15), the Aragonese and Castilian priests quarrelled about the ecclesiastical preferments.

At the beginning of the 18th century the Bishop-elect of Cebú, Fray Pedro Saez de la Vega Lanzaverde, refused to take possession because the nomination was in partibus. He objected also that the Bishopric was merely one in perspective and not yet a reality. The See remained vacant whilst the contumacious priest lived in Mexico. Fray Sebastian de Jorronda was subsequently appointed to administer the Bishopric, but also refused, until he was coerced into submission by the Supreme Court (1718).

In 1767 the Austin friars refused to admit the episcopal visits, and exhibited such a spirit of independence that Pope Benedict XIV. was constrained to issue a Bull to exhort them to obey, admonishing them for their insubordination.

The friars of late years were subject to a visiting priest—the Provincial—in all matters de vita et moribus, to the Bishop of the diocese in all affairs of spiritual dispensation, and to the Gov.-General as vice-royal patron in all that concerned the relations of the Church to the Civil Government.[9]

An observant traveller, unacquainted with the historical antecedents of the friars in the Philippines, could not fail to be impressed by the estrangement of religious men, whose sacred mission, if genuine, ought to have formed an inseverable bond of alliance and goodfellowship.

[1] Navarreteʼs “Coleccion de los Viajes y Descubrimientos,” tom. II., Nos. 12, 18. Madrid, 1825.

[2] In the turbulent ages, centuries ago, it was not an uncommon thing for a prince or nobleman to secure his domain against seizure or conquest by transferring it nominally to the Pope, from whom he thenceforth held it as a papal fief.

[3] Under the Spanish Government, the See of Manila comprised the provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, Zambales, Cavite, La Laguna, Bataán, Island of Mindoro, and part of Tárlac. The other part of Tárlac was in the See of Nueva Segovia, which had (in 1896) ecclesiastical control over 997,629 Christians and 172,383 pagans. The See of Jaro is the one most recently created (1867).

[4] The Royal Decree setting forth the execution of this Brief was printed in Madrid in 1773. This politic-religious Order was banished from Portugal and Spain in 1767. In Madrid, on the night of March 31, the Royal Edict was read to the members of the Company of Jesus, who were allowed time to pack up their most necessary chattels and leave for the coast, where they were hurriedly embarked for Rome. The same Order was suppressed for ever in France in 1764.

[5] At the date of the Tagálog Rebellion (1896) the Jesuits in the Islands were as follows: In Manila, 24 priests, 25 lay brothers, and 13 teachers; in Mindanao, 62 priests and 43 lay brothers, making a total of 167 individuals. They were not allowed to possess real estate.

[6] Vide “Catálogo de los Religiosos de N.S.P. San Agustin.” Published in Manila, 1864.

[7] The Augustinian Order was founded in the 4th century; the Franciscan in 1210 and confirmed by Papal Bull in 1223; the Dominican in 1261; the Recoleto in 1602; the Benedictine in 530; the Capuchin in 1209 and the Paulist in 1625.

[8] For any further expense this might incur, 3 per cent, was deducted from the parish priestsʼ emoluments.

[9] “Recopilacion de las Leyes de Indias.”—Ley 46, tit. 14, lib. 1°, forbids priests and members of any religious body to take part in matters of Civil Government.

Spanish Insular Government

From the days of Legaspi the supreme rule in these Islands was usually confided for indefinite periods to military men: but circumstances frequently placed naval officers, magistrates, the Supreme Court, and even ecclesiastics at the head of the local government. During the last half century of Spanish rule the common practice was to appoint a Lieut.-General as Governor, with the local rank of Captain-General pending his three-yearsʼ term of office. An exception to this rule in that period was made (1883–85) when Joaquin Jovellar, a Captain-General and ex-War Minster in Spain, was specially empowered to establish some notable reforms—the good policy of which was doubtful. Again, in 1897, Fernando Primo de Rivera, Marquis de Estella, also a Captain-General in Spain, held office in Manila under the exceptional circumstances of the Tagálog Rebellion of 1896, in succession to Ramon Blanco, Marquis de Peña Plata. Considering that Primo de Rivera, during his previous Gov.-Generalship (1880–83), had won great popularity with the Filipinos, he was deemed, in Madrid, to be the man most capable of arresting the revolutionary movement. How far the confidence of the Home Government was misplaced will be seen in Chapter xxii.

Soon after the conquest the Colony was divided and sub-divided into provinces and military districts as they gradually yielded to the Spanish sway. Such districts, called Encomiendas,[1] were then farmed out to Encomenderos, who exercised little scruple in their rigorous exactions from the natives. Some of the Encomenderos acquired wealth during the terms of their holdings, whilst others became victims to the revenge of their subjects. They must indeed have been bold, enterprising men who, in those days, would have taken charge of districts distant from the capital. It would appear that their tenure was, in a certain sense, feudal, for they were frequently called upon to aid the Central Government with vessels, men, and arms against the attacks of common enemies. Against Mahometan incursions necessity made them warriors,—if they were not so by taste,—civil engineers to open communications with their districts, administrators, judges, and all that represented social order. Encomiendas were sometimes given to Spaniards as rewards for high services rendered to the commonwealth,[2] although favouritism or (in later years) purchase-money more commonly secured the vacancies, and the holders were quite expected to make fortunes in the manner they thought fit, with due regard for the Royal Treasury (vide p. 54).

The Encomenderos were, in the course of time, superseded by Judicial Governors, called Alcaldes, who received small salaries, from £60 per annum and upwards, but were allowed to trade. The right to trade—called “indulto de comercio”—was sold to the Alcalde-Governors, except those of Tondo,[3] Zamboanga, Cavite, Nueva Ecija, Islas Batanes and Antique, whose trading right was included in the emoluments of office. The Governmentʼs object was economy.

In 1840 Eusebio Mazorca wrote thus[4]:—“The salary paid to the chiefs of provinces who enjoy the right of trade is more or less ₱300 per annum, and after deducting the amount paid for the trading right, which in some provinces amounts to five-sixths of the whole—as in Pangasinán; and in others to the whole of the salary—as in Caraga; and discounting again the taxes, it is not possible to conceive how the appointment can be so much sought after. There are candidates up to the grade of brigadier who relinquish a ₱3,000 salary to pursue their hopes and projects in governorship.”

This system obtained for many years, and the abuses went on increasing. The Alcaldes practically monopolized the trade of their districts, unduly taking advantage of their governmental position to hinder the profitable traffic of the natives and bring it all into their own hands. They tolerated no competition; they arbitrarily fixed their own purchasing prices, and sold at current rates. Due to the scarcity of silver in the interior, the natives often paid their tribute to the Royal Treasury in produce,—chiefly rice,—which was received into the Royal Granaries at a ruinously low valuation, and accounted for to the State at its real value; the difference being the illicit profit made by the Alcalde. Many of these functionaries exercised their power most despotically in their own circuits, disposing of the nativesʼ labour and chattels without remuneration, and not unfrequently, for their own ends, invoking the Kingʼs name, which imbued the native with a feeling of awe, as if His Majesty were some supernatural being.

In 1810 Tomás de Comyn wrote as follows:—“In order to be a chief of a province in these Islands, no training or knowledge or special services are necessary; all persons are fit and admissible.... It is quite a common thing to see a barber or a Governorʼs lackey, a sailor or a deserter, suddenly transformed into an Alcalde, Administrator, and Captain of the forces of a populous province without any counsellor but his rude understanding, or any guide but his passions.”[5]

By Royal Decree of 1844 Government officials were thenceforth strictly prohibited to trade, under pain of removal from office.

In the year 1850 there were 34 Provinces, and two Political Military Commandancies. Until June, 1886, the offices of provincial Civil Governor and Chief Judge of that province were vested in the same person—the Alcalde Mayor. This created a strange anomaly, for an appeal against an edict of the Governor had to be made to himself as Judge. Then if it were taken to the central authority in Manila, it was sent back for “information” to the Judge-Governor, without independent inquiry being made in the first instance; hence protest against his acts was fruitless.

During the Regency of Queen Maria Christina, this curious arrangement was abolished by a Decree dated in Madrid, February 26, 1886, to take effect on June 1 following.

Eighteen Civil Governorships were created, and Alcaldesʼ functions were confined to their judgeships; moreover, the Civil Governor was assisted by a Secretary, so that two new official posts were created in each of these provinces.

The Archipelago, including Sulu, was divided into 19 Civil Provincial Governments, four Military General Divisions, 43 Military Provincial Districts, and four Provincial Governments under Naval Officers, forming a total of 70 Divisions and Sub-Divisions.

COST OF SPANISH ADMINISTRATION

P. cts.

The Gov.-General received a salary of

40,000 00

The Central Government Office, called “Gobierno General,” with its Staff of Officials and all expenses

43,708 00

The General Government Centre was assisted in the General Administration of the Islands by two other Governing Bodies, namely:

The General Direction of Civil Administration

29,277 34

The Administrative Council

28,502 00

The Chief of the General Direction received a salary of ₱12,000, with an allowance for official visits to the Provinces of ₱500 per annum.

The Council was composed of three Members, each at a salary of ₱4,700, besides a Secretary and officials.

Seventy divisions and sub-divisions as follows, viz.:—

Civil Governments

Manila Pce

Salary of Civil Governor ₱5,000 Total Cost.

20,248 00

Alday, Batangas, Bulacan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Laguna, Pampanga, Pangasinán.

Eight First-Class Govts.:

Salary of each Civil Gov. ₱4,500

Total cost of each Govt. ₱8,900

Eight First-Class Govts. cost

71,200 00

Bataán, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Mindoro, Nueva Eclia, Tayabas, Zambales.

Seven Second-Class Govts.:

Salary of each Civil Gov. ₱4,000

Total cost of each Govt. ₱7,660

Seven Second-Class Govts. cost

53,620 00

Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya

Three Third-Class Govts.:

Salary of each Civil Gov. ₱3,500

Total cost of each Govt. ₱6,700

Three Third-Class Govts. cost

20,100 00

Military General Governments

Under a Brig.-Gen. and Staff

Gen. Division of S. Visayas

10,975 00

Gen. Division of N. Visayas

10,975 00

Gen. Division of Mindanao

17,825 00

Gen. Division of Cavite

6,596 66

Military Provinces and Districts

Under a Colonel and Staff

Sulu

7,240 00

Yloilo

4,410 00

Cottabato

5,426 00

Under a Lieut.-Colonel and Staff

East Carolines and Pelew Islands

4,900 00

West Carolines and Pelew Islands

5,970 00

Cebú

3,500 00

Cápiz

3,500 00

Misámis

4,816 66

Ladrone Islands

4,975 00

Under a Major and Staff

Zamboanga

3,856 66

Surigao

4,356 66

Davao

4,156 66

Dapítan

2,692 00

Zucuran

2,692 00

La Union, Antique, Sámar, Leyte, El Abra, Bojol, Tárlac, Negros, Morong

Each under a Major:—

Nine Districts @ ₱3,040

27,360 00

Batanes, Calamianes, Romblun, Benguet, Lepanto, Burias, Infante, Príncipe, Bontoc, Concepcion:

Each under a Captain:—

Ten Districts @ ₱1,980

19,800 00

Cagayán (Mindanao)—Biling, Nueva Vizcaya, Sasangani (Palaúan)

Each under a Captain:—

Five Districts @ ₱1,792

8,960 00

Siassi, Bongao, Tatoan

Each under a Captain:—

Three Districts @ ₱2,032

6,096 00

Escalante,[6] under a Lieutenant

1,525 00

Masbate, under a Cavalry Sub-Lieutenant

1,450 00

Provincial Governments under Naval Officers, Officers in Charge of Naval Stations as ex-officio Governors

Corregidor

3,821 00

Balábac

3,960 00

Isabela de Basílan

5,276 66

Palaúan (Puerta Princesa)

6,910 00

Total cost of General Government of the Islands

500,677 96

Deduct—

Officersʼ Pay, etc., included in Army Estimates ₱145,179 96

Officersʼ Pay, etc., included in Navy Estimates 14,640 00

159,819 96

₱340,858 00

The Spanish Government intended, in due course, to establish Civil Government throughout the Islands. A Civil Governor was the representative of the Gov.-General, whose orders and decrees he had to publish and execute at his own discretion. He could not absent himself from his province without permission. He had to maintain order, veto petitions for armsʼ licences, hold under his orders and dispose of the Civil Guard, Carabineers, and local guards. He could suspend the pay for ten days of any subordinate official who failed to do his duty, or he could temporarily suspend him in his functions with justifiable cause, and propose to the Gov.-General his definite removal. He had to preside at all municipal elections; to bring delinquents to justice; to decree the detention on suspicion of any individual, and place him at the disposal of the chief judge within three days after his capture; to dictate orders for the government of the towns and villages; to explain to the petty-governors the true interpretation of the law and regulations affecting their districts.

The Governor was chief of police, and could impose fines up to ₱50 without the intervention of judicial authority; and in the event of the mulcted person being unable to pay, he could order his imprisonment at the rate of one dayʼs detention for each half-peso of the fine; it was provided, however, that the imprisonment could not exceed 30 days in any case. He had to preside at the ballot for military conscription, but he could delegate this duty to his Secretary, or, failing him, to the Administrator. Where no harbour-master had been appointed, the Civil Governor acted as such. He had the care of the primary instruction; and it was his duty specially to see that the native scholars were taught the Spanish language. Land concessions, improvements tending to increase the wealth of the province, permits for felling timber, and the collection of excise taxes were all under his care. He had also to furnish statistics relating to the labour poll-tax; draw up the provincial budget; render provincial and municipal accounts, etc., all of which had to be counter-signed under the word Intervine by the Secretary. He was provincial postmaster-general, chief of telegraph service, prisons, charities, board of health, public works, woods and forests, mines, agriculture and industry. Under no circumstances could he dispose of the public funds, which were in the care of the Administrator and Interventor, and he was not entitled to any percentages (as Alcalde-Governors formerly were), or any emoluments whatsoever further than his fixed salary.

A Governor had to be a Spaniard over 30 years of age. It is curious to note, from its political significance, that among the many classes of persons eligible for a Civil Governorship were those who had been Members of the Spanish Parliament or Senate during one complete session.

Upon the whole, a Provincial Governor passed life very comfortably if he did not go out of his way to oppress his subjects and create discord. His tranquillity, nevertheless, was always dependent upon his maintaining a good understanding with the priesthood of his district, and his conformity with the demands of the friars. If he had the misfortune to cross their path, it brought him a world of woe, and finally his downfall. There have been Provincial Governors who in reality held their posts by clerical influence, whilst others who exercised a more independent spirit—who set aside Church interests to serve those of the State, with which they were intrusted—fell victims to sacerdotal intrigue; for the subordinates of the hierarchy had power to overthrow as well as to support those who were appointed to their districts. Few improvements appear to have been made in the provinces by the initiative of the local Governors, nor did they seem to take any special interest in commercial and agricultural advancement. This lack of interest was somewhat excusable and comprehensible, however, seeing that after they were appointed, and even though they governed well within the strict limitations of their office, they were constantly expecting that a ministerial change or the fall of a single minister might remove them from their posts, or that the undermining influence of favouritism might succeed in accomplishing their withdrawal. It was natural, therefore, that they should have been indifferent about the fostering of new agricultural enterprises, of opening tracks for bringing down timber, of facilitating trade, or of in any way stimulating the development of the resources of a province when the probability existed that they would never have the personal satisfaction of seeing the result of their efforts.

Some Governors with whom I am personally acquainted have, in spite of all discouragement, studied the wants of their provinces, but to no purpose. Their estimates for road-making and mending, bridge-building, and public works generally were shelved in Manila, whilst the local funds (Fondos locales), which ought to have been expended in the localities where they were collected, were seized by the authorities in the capital and applied to other purposes.

An annual statement of one province will be sufficient, as an example, to illustrate the nature of this local tax:—

LOCAL FUNDS[7]—ALBAY PROVINCE

Provincial Revenue

P. cts.

P. cts.

Stamps on Weights and Measures

2,490 00

Billiard Tax and Live Stock credentials

496 00

90% of fines for shirking forced labour

1,500 00

Tax in lieu of forced labour

85,209 00

Vehicle tax

4,000 00

93,695 00

Municipal Revenue

Tax paid by sellers in the public market-place

7,050 00

Tax on slaughter of animals for food

12,098 00

Tax on local sales of hemp

40 00

90% of the Municipal fines and tax on Chinese

554 00

10% on tithes paid and house-property tax

380 00

10% on Industrial licences

5,710 00

10% on Alcohol licences

2,525 00

28,357 00

₱122,052 00

In the same year this province contributed to the common funds of the Treasury a further sum of ₱133,009.

There was in each town another local tax called Caja de Comunidad, contributed to by the townspeople to provide against any urgent necessity of the community, but it found its way to Manila and was misappropriated, like the Fondos locales.

There was not a peso at the disposal of the Provincial Governor for local improvements. If a bridge broke down so it remained for years, whilst thousands of travellers had to wade through the river unless a raft were put there at the expense of the very poorest people by order of the petty-governor of the nearest village. The “Tribunal,” which served the double purpose of Town Hall and Dâk Bungalow for wayfarers, was often a hut of bamboo and palm-leaves, whilst others, which had been decent buildings generations gone by, lapsed into a wretched state of dilapidation. In some villages there was no Tribunal at all, and the official business had to be transacted in the municipal Governorʼs house. I first visited Calamba (La Laguna) in 1880, and for 14 years, to my knowledge, the headmen had to meet in a sugar-store in lieu of a Tribunal. In San José de Buenavista, the capital town of Antique Province, the Town Hall was commenced in good style and left half finished during 15 years. Either some one for pityʼs sake, or the headmen for their own convenience, went to the expense of thatching over half the unfinished structure, which was therefore saved from entire ruin, whilst all but the stone walls of the other half rotted away. So it continued until 1887, when the Government authorized a partial restoration of this building.

As to the roads connecting the villages, quite 20 per cent. of them serve only for travellers on foot, on horse or on buffalo back at any time, and in the wet season certainly 60 per cent, of all the Philippine highways are in too bad a state for any kind of passenger conveyance to pass with safety. In the wet season, many times I have made a sea journey in a prahu, simply because the highroad near the coast had become a mud-track, for want of macadamized stone and drainage, and only serviceable for transport by buffalo. In the dry season the sun mended the roads, and the traffic over the baked clods reduced them more or less to dust, so that vehicles could pass. Private property-owners expended much time and money in the preservation of public roads, although a curious law existed prohibiting repairs to highways by non-official persons.

Every male adult inhabitant (with certain specified exceptions) had to give the State fifteen daysʼ labour per annum, or redeem that labour by payment. Of course thousands of the most needy class preferred to give their fifteen days. This labour and the redemption-money were only theoretically employed in local improvements. This system was reformed in 1884 (vide p. 224).

The Budget for 1888 showed the trivial sum of ₱120,000 to be used in road-making and mending in the whole Archipelago. It provided for a Chief Inspector of Public Works with a salary of ₱6,500, aided by a staff composed of 48 technical and 82 non-technical subordinates. As a matter of fact, the Provincial and District Governors often received intimation not to encourage the employment of labour for local improvements, but to press the labouring-class to pay the redemption-tax to swell the central coffers, regardless of the corresponding misery, discomfort, and loss to trade in the interior. But labour at the Governorʼs disposal was not alone sufficient. There was no fund from which to defray the cost of materials; or, if these could be found without payment, some one must pay for the transport by buffaloes and carts and find the implements for the labourersʼ use. How could hands alone repair a bridge which had rotted away? To cut a log of wood for the public service would have necessitated communications with the Inspection of Woods and Forests and other centres and many monthsʼ delay.

The system of controlling the action of one public servant by appointing another under him to supervise his work has always found favour in Spain, and was adopted in this Colony. There were a great many Government employments of the kind which were merely sinecures. In many cases the pay was small, it is true, but the labour was often of proportionately smaller value than that pay. With very few exceptions, all the Government Offices in Manila were closed to the public during half the ordinary working-day,—the afternoon,—and many of the Civil Service officials made their appearance at their desks about ten oʼclock in the morning, retiring shortly after mid-day, when they had smoked their habitual number of cigarettes.

The crowd of office-seekers were indifferent to the fact that the true source of national vigour is the spirit of individual self-dependence. Constant clamour for Government employment tends only to enfeeble individual effort, and destroys the stimulus, or what is of greater worth, the necessity of acting for oneʼs self. The Spaniard (except the Basque and the Catalonian) looks to the Government for active and direct aid, as if the Public Treasury were a natural spring at the waters of which all temporal calamities could be washed away—all material wants supplied. He will tell you with pride rather than with abashment that he is an empleado—a State dependent.

National progress is but the aggregate of personal individual activity rightly directed, and a nation weakens as a whole as its component parts become dormant, or as the majority rely upon the efforts of the few. The spirit of Cæsarism—“all for the people and nothing by them”—must tend not only to political slavery, but to a reduction in commercial prosperity, national power, and international influence. The Spaniards have indeed proved this fact. The best laws were never intended to provide for the people, but to regulate the conditions on which they could provide for themselves. The consumers of public wealth in Spain are far too numerous in proportion to the producers; hence not only is the State constantly pressed for funds, but the busy bees who form the nucleus of the nationʼs vitality are heavily taxed to provide for the dependent office-seeking drones. It is the fatal delusion that liberty and national welfare depend solely upon good government, instead of good government depending upon united and co-operative individual exertion, that has brought the Spanish nation to its present state of deplorable impotence.

The Government itself is but the official counterpart of the governed. By the aid of servile speculators, a man in political circles struggles to come to the front—to hold a portfolio in the ministry—if it only be for a session, when his pension for life is assured on his retirement. Merit and ability have little weight, and the proteges of the outgoing minister must make room for those of the next lucky ministerial pension-seeker, and so on successively. This Colony therefore became a lucrative hunting-ground at the disposal of the Madrid Cabinet wherein to satisfy the craving demands of their numerous partisans and friends. They were sent out with a salary and to make what they could,—at their own risk, of course,—like the country lad who was sent up to London with the injunction from his father, “Make money, honestly if you can, but make it.”

From the Conquest up to 1844, when trading by officials was abolished, it was a matter of little public concern how Government servants made fortunes. Only when the jealousy of one urged him to denounce another was any inquiry instituted so long as the official was careful not to embezzle or commit a direct fraud on the Real Haber (the Treasury funds). When the Real Haber was once covered, then all that could be got out of the Colony was for the benefit of the officials, great and small. In 1840, Eusebio Mazorca wrote as follows:[8]—“Each chief of a province is a real sultan, and when he has terminated his administration, all that is talked of in the capital is the thousands of pesos clear gain which he made in his Government.”

Eusebio Mazorca further states:[9]—“The Governor receives payment of the tribute in rice-paddy, which he credits to the native at two reales in silver per caban. Then he pays this sum into the Royal Treasury in money, and sells the rice-paddy for private account at the current rate of six, eight or more reales in silver per caban, and this simple operation brings him 200 to 300 per cent. profit.”

The same writer adds:—“Now quite recently the Interventor of Zamboanga is accused by the Governor of that place of having made some ₱15,000 to ₱16,000 solely by using false measures ... The same Interventor to whom I refer, is said to have made a fortune of ₱50,000 to ₱60,000, whilst his salary as second official in the Audit Department[10] is ₱540 per annum.” According to Zúñiga, the salary of a professor of law with the rank of magistrate was ₱800 per annum.

Up to June, 1886, the provincial taxes being in the custody of the Administrator, the Judicial Governor had a percentage assigned to him to induce him to control the Administratorʼs work. The Administrator himself had percentages, and the accounts of these two functionaries were checked by a third individual styled the “Interventor,” whose duties appeared to be to intervene in the casting-up of his superiorsʼ figures. He was forbidden to reside with the Administrator. After the above date the payment of all these percentages ceased.

But for the peculations by Government officials from the highest circles downwards, the inhabitants of the Colony would doubtless have been a million or so richer per annum. One frequently heard of officials leaving for Spain with sums far exceeding the total emoluments they had received during their term of office. Some provincial employees acquired a pernicious habit of annexing what was not theirs by all manner of pretexts. To cite some instances: I knew a Governor of Negros Island who seldom saw a native pass the Government House with a good horse without begging it of him; thus, under fear of his avenging a refusal, his subjects furnished him little by little with a large stud, which he sold before he left, much to their disgust.

In another provincial capital there happened to be a native headman imprudently vain enough to carry a walking-stick with a chased gold-knob handle studded with brilliants. It took the fancy of the Spanish Governor, who repeatedly expressed his admiration of it, hoping that the headman would make him a present of it. At length, when the Governor was relieved of his post, he called together the headmen to take formal leave of them, and at the close of a flattering speech, he said he would willingly hand over his official-stick as a remembrance of his command. In the hubbub of applause which followed, he added, “and I will retain a souvenir of my loyal subordinates.” Suiting the action to the word, he snatched the coveted stick out of the hand of the owner and kept it. A Gov.-General in my time enriched himself by peculation to such an extent that he was at his witsʼ end to know how to remit his ill-gotten gains clandestinely. Finally, he resolved to send an army Captain over to Hong-Kong with ₱35,000 to purchase a draft on Europe for him. The Captain went there, but he never returned.

There were about 725 towns and 23 missions in the Colony. Each town was locally governed by a native—in some cases a Spanish or Chinese half-caste—who was styled the petty-governor or Gobernadorcillo, whilst his popular title was that of Capitan. This service was compulsory. The elections of Gobernadorcillos and their subordinates took place every two years, the term of office counting from the July 1 following such elections. In the few towns where the Gobernadorcillos were able to make considerable sums, the appointment was eagerly sought for, but as a rule it was considered an onerous task, and I know several who have paid bribes to the officials to rid them of it, under the pretext of ill-health, legal incapacity, and so on. The Gobernadorcillo was supported by what was pompously termed a “ministry,” composed of two lieutenants of the town, lieutenants of the wards, the chiefs of police, of plantations, and of live-stock.

The Gobernadorcillo was nominally the delegate and practically the servant of his immediate chief, the Provincial Governor. He was the arbiter of local petty questions, and endeavoured to adjust them, but when they assumed a legal aspect, they were remitted to the local Justice of the Peace, who was directly subordinate to the Provincial Chief Judge. He was also responsible to the Administrator for the collection of taxes—to the Chief of the Civil Guard for the capture of criminals, and to the priest of his parish for the interests of the Church. His responsibility for the taxes to be collected sometimes brought him imprisonment, unless he succeeded in throwing the burden on the actual collectors—the Cabezas de Barangay.

The Gobernadorcillo was often put to considerable expense in the course of his two years, in entertaining and supplying the wants of officials passing through. To cover this outlay, the loss of his own time, the salaries of writers in the Town Hall, presents to his Spanish chiefs to secure their goodwill, and other calls upon his private income, he naturally had to exact funds from the townspeople. Legally, he could receive, if he chose (but few did), the munificent salary of ₱2 per month, and an allowance for clerks equal to about one-fifth of what he had to pay them. Some of these Gobernadorcillos were well-to-do planters, and were anxious for the office, even if it cost them money, on account of the local prestige which the title of “Capitan” gave them, but others were often so poor that if they had not pilfered, this compulsory service would have ruined them. However, a smart Gobernadorcillo was rarely out of pocket by his service. One of the greatest hardships of his office was that he often had to abandon his plantation or other livelihood to go to the provincial capital at his own expense whenever he was cited there. Many of them who did not speak or understand Spanish had to pay and be at the mercy of a Secretary (Directorcillo), who was also a native.

When any question arose of general interest to the townspeople (such as a serious innovation in the existing law, or the annual feasts, or the anticipated arrival of a very big official, etc.) the headmen (principalia) were cited to the Town Hall. They were also expected to assemble there every Sunday and Great Feast Days (three-cross Saint days in the Calendar), to march thence in procession to the church to hear Mass, under certain penalties if they failed to attend. Each one carried his stick of authority; and the official dress was a short Eton jacket of black cloth over the shirt, the tail of which hung outside the trousers. Some Gobernadorcillos, imbued with a sense of the importance and solemnity of office, ordered a band to play lively dance music at the head of the cortége to and from the church. After Mass they repaired to the convent, and on bended knee kissed the priestʼs hand. Town affairs were then discussed. Some present were chided, others were commended by their spiritual dictator.

In nearly every town the people were, and still are, divided into parties holding divergent views on town affairs, each group being ready to give the other a “stab in the back” when the opportunity offers, and not unfrequently these differences seriously affect the social relations of the individual members.

For the direct collection of taxes each township was sub-divided into groups of forty or fifty families called Barangays: each group had to pay taxes to its respective head, styled Cabeza de Barangay, who was responsible to the petty-governor, who in turn made the payment to the Provincial Administrator for remission to the Treasury (Intendencia) in Manila. This Barangay chiefdom system took its origin from that established by the natives themselves prior to the Spanish conquest, and in some parts of the Colony the original title of datto was still applied to the chief. This position, hereditary among themselves, continued to be so for many years under Spanish rule, and was then considered an honourable distinction because it gave the heads of certain families a birthright importance in their class. Later on they were chosen, like all the other native local authorities, every two years, but if they had anything to lose, they were invariably re-elected. In order to be ranked among the headmen of the town (the principalia), a Barangay chief had to serve for ten years in that capacity unless he were, meanwhile, elected to a higher rank, such as lieutenant or gobernadorcillo. Everybody, therefore, shirked the repugnant obligations of a chiefdom, for the Government rarely recognized any bad debts in the collection of the taxes, until the chief had been made bankrupt and his goods and chattels sold to make good the sums which he could not collect from his group, whether it arose from their poverty, death, or from their having absconded. I have been present at auction sales of live-stock seized to supply taxes to the Government, which admitted no excuses or explanations. Many Barangay chiefs went to prison through their inability or refusal to pay othersʼ debts. On the other hand, there were among them some profligate characters who misappropriated the collected taxes, but the Government had really little right to complain, for the labour of tax-gathering was a forced service without remuneration for expenses or loss of time incurred.

In many towns, villages, and hamlets there were posts of the Civil Guard established for the arrest of criminals and the maintenance of public order; moreover, there was in each town a body of guards called Cuadrilleros for the defence of the town and the apprehension of bandits and criminals within the jurisdiction of the town only. The town and the wards together furnished these local guards, whose social position was one of the humblest and least enviable. There were frequent cases of Cuadrilleros passing over to a band of brigands. Some years ago the whole muster belonging to the town of Mauban (Tayabas) suddenly took to the mountains; on the other hand, many often rendered valuable aid to society, but their doubtful reliability vastly diminished their public utility.

From the time Philippine administration was first organized up to the year 1884, all the subdued natives paid tribute. Latterly it was fixed at one peso and ten cents per annum, and those who did not choose to work for the Government during forty days in the year, paid also a poll-tax (fallas) of ₱3 per annum. But, as a matter of fact, thousands were declared as workers who never did work, and whilst roads were in an abominable condition and public works abandoned, not much secret was made of the fact that a great portion of the poll-tax never reached the Treasury. These pilferings were known to the Spanish local authorities as caidas or droppings; and in a certain province I met at table a provincial chief judge, the nephew of a general, and other persons who openly discussed the value of the different Provincial Governments (before 1884) in Luzon Island, on the basis of so much for salary and so much for fees and caidas.

However, although the tribute and fallas system worked as well as any other would under the circumstances, for some reason, best known to the authorities, it was abolished. In lieu thereof a scheme was proposed, obliging every civilized inhabitant of the Philippines, excepting only public servants, the clergy, and a few others, to work for fifteen days per annum without the right of redeeming this obligation by payment. Indeed, the decree to that effect was actually received in Manila from the Home Government, but it was so palpably ludicrous that the Gov.-General did not give it effect. He had sufficient common sense to foresee in its application the extinction of all European prestige and moral influence over the natives if Spanish and foreign gentlemen of good family were seen sweeping the streets, lighting the lamps, road-mending, guiding buffalo-carts loaded with stones, and so on. This measure, therefore, regarded by some as a practical joke, by others as the conception of a lunatic theorist—was withdrawn, or at least allowed to lapse.

Nevertheless, those in power were bent on reform, and the Peninsular system of a document of identity (Cédula personal), which works well amongst Europeans, was then adopted for all civilized classes and nationalities above the age of 18 years without exception, its possession being compulsory. The amount paid for this document, which was of nine classes,[11] from ₱25 value downwards, varied according to the income of the holder or the cost of his trading-licences. Any person holding this document of a value under ₱3½ was subject to fifteen daysʼ forced labour per annum, or to pay 50 cents for each day he failed to work. The holder of a document of ₱3½ or over paid also ₱1½ “Municipal Tax” in lieu of labour. The “Cédula” thenceforth served as a passport for travelling within the Archipelago, to be exhibited at any time on demand by the proper authority. No legal document was valid unless the interested parties had produced their Cédulas, the details of which were inscribed in the legal instrument. No petitions would be noticed, and very few transactions could be made in the Government offices without the presentation of this identification document. The decree relating to this reform, like most ambiguous Spanish edicts, set forth that any person was at liberty to take a higher-valued Cédula than that corresponding to his position, without the right of any official to ask the reason why. This clause was prejudicial to the public welfare, because it enabled thousands of able-bodied natives to evade labour for public improvements of imperative necessity in the provinces. The public labour question was indeed altogether a farce, and simply afforded a pretext for levying a tax.

It would appear that whilst the total amount of taxation in Spanish times was not burdensome, the fiscal system was obviously defective.

The (American) Insular Government has continued the issue of the Cédula on a reasonable plan which bears hard on no one. Forced labour is abolished; government work is paid for out of the taxes; and the uniform cost of the Cédula is one peso for every male between the ages of 18 and 60 years.

In 1890 certain reforms were introduced into the townships, most of which were raised to the dignity of Municipalities. The titles of Gobernadorcillo and Directorcillo (the words themselves in Spanish bear a sound of contempt) were changed to Capitan Municipal and Secretario respectively (Municipal Captain and Secretary) with nominally extended powers. For instance, the Municipal Captains were empowered to disburse for public works, without appeal to Manila, a few hundred pesos in the year (to be drawn, in some cases, from empty public coffers, or private purses). The functions of the local Justices of the Peace were amplified and abused to such a degree that these officials became more the originators of strife than the guardians of peace. The old-established obligation to supply travellers, on payment therefor, with certain necessaries of life and means of transport was abolished.

Hitherto it had been the custom for a traveller on arriving at a town without knowing any one there, or without letters of introduction, to alight (by right) at the Tribunal, or Town Hall. Each such establishment had, or ought to have had, a tariff of necessary provisions and the means of travelling to the next town (such as ponies, gigs, hammocks, sedan-chairs, etc., according to the particular conditions of the locality). Each Barangay or Cabezeria furnished one Cuadrillero (vide pp. 223, 224) for the service of the Tribunal, so that the supply of baggage-carriers, bearers, etc., which one needed could not be refused on payment. The native official in charge of this service to travellers, and in control of the Cuadrilleros, was styled the Alguacil. Hence the Tribunal served the double purpose of Town Hall and casual ward for wayfarers. There were all sorts of Tribunales, from the well-built stone and wood house to the poverty-stricken bamboo shanty where one had to pass the night on the floor or on the table.

By decree of Gov.-General Weyler (1888–91) dated October 17, 1888, which came into force on January 1, 1889, the obligation of the Tribunal officials to supply provisions to travelling civilians had been already abolished, although, under both reforms, civilians could continue to take refuge at the Tribunal as theretofore. Notwithstanding the reform of 1890, until the American advent the European traveller found it no more difficult than before to procure en route the requisite means for provincial travelling.

[1] In the early days of Mexican conquest, the conquered land was apportioned to the warriors under the name of Repartimentos, but such divisions included the absolute possession of the natives as slaves (vide “La vida y escritos del P. Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, Obispo de Chiapa,” by Antonio Maria Fabié, Colonial Minister in the Cánovas Cabinet of 1890 Madrid).

[2] Juan Salcedo, Legaspiʼs grandson (vide Chaps. ii. and iv.) was rewarded with several Encomiendas in the Ilocos provinces, on the west coast of Luzon, where he levied a tribute on the natives whom he subdued.

[3] Changed afterwards to Manila Province; now called Rizal Province (Mórong district incorporated therein) since the American occupation.

[4] “Noticias de Filipinas,” by Don Eusebio Mazorca. Inedited MS. dated 1840, in the Archives of Bauan Convent, Province of Batangas.

[5] The text reads thus:—“Para ser jefe de Provincia en estas Islas no se requiere carrera, conocimientos ni servicios determinados, todos son aptos y admisibles.... Es cosa bastante comun ver á un peluquero ó lacayo de un gobernador, á un marinero y á un desertor transformado de repente en Alcalde-Mayor, sub-delegado y Capitan á guerra de una provincia populosa, sin otro consejero que su rudo entendimiento, ni mas guia que sus pasiones.” Tomás de Comyn was an employee of the “Real Compañia de Filipinas” (q.v.), and subsequently Spanish Consul-General in Lisbon.

[6] Transferred to Bais in January, 1889, in consequence of the rise of brigandage in the S.E. of Negros Island.

The brigands, under the leadership of a native named Camartin and another, who declared themselves prophets, plundered the planters along that coast, and committed such notorious crimes that troops had to be despatched there under the command of the famous Lieut.-Colonel Villa-Abrille. The Gov.-General Valeriano Weyler went to the Visayas Islands and personally directed the operations.

[7] From January 1, 1889, the Government Financial year was made concurrent with the year of the Calendar.

[8] The text reads thus:—“Cada Jefe de Provincia es un verdadero Sultan y cuando acaba su administracion solo se habla en la Capital de los miles de pesos que sacó limpios de su alcaldia.”—“Noticias de Filipinas,” by Don Eusebio Mazorca. Inedited MS. dated 1840. In the archives of Bauan Convent, Province of Batangas.

[9] The text reads thus:—“Cobrando el Alcalde en palay el tributo, solo abona al indio dos reales plata por caban; introduce en cajas reales su importe en metalico y vende despues el palay en seis, ocho y a veces mas reales fuertes plata cada caban y le resulta con esta sencilla operacion un doscientos ó trescientos por ciento de ganancia.... Ahora recientito está acusado el Ministro Interventor de Zamboanga por el Gobernador de aquella plaza de habérse utilizado aquel de 15,000 á 16,000 pesos solo con el trocatinte de la medida.... Se cuenta al mismo interventor á que me refiero 50,000 á 60,000 pesos cuando el sueldo de su empleo—oficial 2° de la Contaduria—es de 540 pesos al año.”—Ibid.

[10] The Audit Office was suppressed and revived, and again suppressed on January 1, 1889.

[11] There was also a tenth class gratis for the clergy, army and navy forces, and convicts, and a “privileged” class gratis for petty-governors and their wives, Barangay chiefs and their wives, and Barangay chiefsʼ assistants, called “primogénito” (primogénito means first born—perhaps it was anticipated that he Would “assist” his father in his gratuitous government service).

Spanish-Philippine Finances

The secession of Mexico from the Spanish Crown in the second decade of last century brought with it a complete revolution in Philippine affairs. Direct trade with Europe through one channel or another had necessarily to be permitted. The “Situado,” or subsidy (vide p. 244), received from Mexico became a thing of the past, and necessity urged the home authorities to relax, to a certain extent, the old restraint on the development of Philippine resources.

In 1839 the first Philippine Budget was presented in the Spanish Córtes, but so little interest did the affairs of the Colony excite that it provoked no discussion. After the amendment of only one item the Budget was adopted in silence. It was not the practice in the earliest years to publish the full Philippine Budget in the Islands, although allusion was necessarily made to items of it in the Gaceta de Manila. However, it could be seen without difficulty in Madrid. Considering that the Filipinos had no political rights, except for the very brief period alluded to in Chapter xxii. (vide Córtes de Cádiz), it is evident that popular discussion of public finance would have been undesirable, because it could have led to no practical issue.

There is apparently no record of the Philippine Islands having been at any time in a flourishing financial condition. With few exceptions, in latter years the collected revenue of the Colony was usually much less than the estimated yield of taxes. The Budget for 1888 is here given in detail as an example.

PHILIPPINE BUDGETS

Financial Year.

Estimated Income.

Income Realized.

Difference.

₱

₱

₱

1884–85

11,298,508.98

9,893,745.87

1,404,763.11

1885–86

11,528,178.00

9,688,029.70

1,840,148.30

1886–87

11,554,379.00

9,324,974.08

2,229,404.92

1894–95

13,280,139.40

13,579,900.00

299,760.60

1896–97

17,086,423.00

17,474,000.00

387,577.00

Anticipated Revenue, Year 1888

₱ cts.

Direct Taxes

5,206,836 93

Customs Dues

2,023,400 00

Government Monopolies (stamps, cock-fighting, opium, gambling, etc.)

1,181,239 00

Lotteries and Raffles

513,200 00

Sale of State property

153,571 00

War and Marine Department (sale of useless articles. Gain on repairs to private ships in the Government Arsenal)

15,150 00

Sundries

744,500 00

9,837,896 93

Anticipated Expenditure, year 1888

9,825,633 29

Anticipated Surplus

₱ 12,263 64

The actual deficit in the last previous Budget for which there was no provision was estimated at ₱1,376,179.56, against which the above balance would be placed. There were some remarkable inconsistencies in the 1888 Budget. The Inspection of Woods and Forests was an institution under a Chief Inspector with a salary of ₱6,500, assisted by a technical staff of 64 persons and 52 non-technical subordinates. The total cost for the year was estimated at ₱165,960, against which the expected income derived from duties on felled timber was ₱80,000; hence a loss of ₱85,960 was duly anticipated to satisfy office-seekers. Those who wished to cut timber were subjected to very complicated and vexatious regulations. The tariff of duties and mode of calculating it were capriciously modified from time to time on no commercial basis whatever. Merchants who had contracted to supply timber at so much per foot for delivery within a fixed period were never sure of their profits; for the dues might, meanwhile, be raised without any consideration for trading interests. The most urgent material want of the Colony was easy means of communication with the interior of the Islands. Yet, whilst this was so sadly neglected, the Budget provided the sum of ₱113,686.64 for a School of Agriculture in Manila and 10 model farms and Schools of Cultivation in the provinces. It was not the want of farming knowledge, but the scarcity of capital and the scandalous neglect of public highways and bridges for transport of produce which retarded agriculture. The 113,000 pesos, if disbursed on roads, bridges, town halls, and landing-jetties, would have benefited the Colony; as it was, this sum went to furnish salaries to needy Spaniards.

The following are some of the most interesting items of the Budget:

Curious Items of Revenue

₱ cts.

2,760,613 Identification Documents (Cedulas personales), costing 4 per cent, to collect—gross value

4,401,629 25

Tax on the above, based on the estimated local consumption of Tobacco

222,500 00

Chinese Capitation Tax

236,250 00

Tax on the above for the estimated local consumption of Tobacco

11,250 00

Recognition of vassalage collected from the unsubdued mountain tribes

12,000 00

Industrial and Trading Licences (costing ½ per cent, to collect), gross value

1,350,000 00

Yield of the Opium Contract (farmed out)

483,400 00

Yield of the Cock-fighting Contract (farmed out)

149,039 00

Lotteries and Raffles, nett profit say

501,862 00

State Lands worked by miners

100 00

Sale of State Lands

50,000 00

Mint—Profits on the manipulation of the bullion, less expenses of the Mint (₱ 46,150), nett

330,350 00

Stamps and Stamped Paper

548,400 00

Convict labour hired out

50,000 00

Curious Items of Expenditure

₱ cts.

34 per cent, of the maintenance of Fernando Po (by Decree of August 5, 1884)

68,618 18

Share of the pension paid to the heir of Christopher Columbus, the Duke de Veragua (₱ 23,400 a year)

3,000 00

Share of the pension paid to Ferdinand Columbus, Marquis de Bárboles

1,000 00

The Marquis de Bedmar is the heir of the assayer and caster in the Mint of Potosi (Peru). The concern was taken over by the Spanish Government, in return for an annual perpetual pension, of which this Colony contributed the sum of

1,500 00

The Consular and Diplomatic Services, Philippine Share

66,000 00

Postal and Telegraph Services (staff of 550 persons)

406,547 17

The Submarine Cable Co. Subsidy (Bolinao to Hong-Kong)

48,000 00

Charitable Institutions partly supported by Government, including the “Lepersʼ Hospital” ₱500

26,887 50

The Army and Armed Land Forces

Rank and File and Non-commissioned Officers as follows:—

Infantry, Artillery, Engineer, and Carabineer Corps

9,470

Cavalry Corps

407

Disciplinary Corps (Convicts)

630

Disciplinary Corps (Non-commissioned Officers)

92

Three Civil Guard Corps (Provincial Constabulary)

3,342

Veteran Civil Guard Corps (Manila Military Police)

400

Total number of men

14,341

ARMY OFFICERS IN THE PHILIPPINES.

YEAR 1888.

HOW EMPLOYED.

Lieutenant-Generals.

Brigadier-Generals.

Colonels.

Lieutenant-Colonels.

Majors.

Captains.

Lieutenants.

Sub-Lieutenants.

TOTALS.

Governor-General, with local rank of Captain-General

1

1

Employed in Government Administration, Political Military Provincial Governments, Staff Officers and Officers at the Orders of the Governor-General

1

7

7

14

39

37

23

12

140

With command or attached to Army Corps and Disciplinary Corps

5

11

14

88

136

127

381

Civil Guard

3

3

9

33

54

54

156

Veteran Civil Guard

1

6

6

13

Invalid Corps

1

1

Military Academy

1

1

2

4

Prisons and Penitentiaries

1

1

4

3

9

Commissariat Department

1

1

1

14

18

35

Judicial Audit Department

1

1

2

2

6

In expectation of service

1

3

6

12

12

12

46

In excess of Active Service requirements

3

1

7

9

20

Total of Officers

2

9

19

36

73

191

262

220

812

The Archbishop, as Vicar-General of the Armed Forces, ranked in precedence as a Field-Marshal. (In the Spanish Army a Field-Marshal ranks between a Brig.-General and Lieut.-General.)

OFFICERSʼ PAY PER ANNUM

RANK.

Ordinary Pay.

When Commanding a Corps. Extra.

When in Civil Guard.

When in Veteran Civil Guard.

₱

₱

₱

₱

Captain-General was paid as Governor-General of the Colony

40,000[1]

Lieutenant-General (local rank), Sub-Inspector of Army Corps

12,000

Brigadier-General

4,500

800

Colonel

3,450

600

4,200

Lieutenant-Colonel

2,700

400

3,288

Major

2,400

2,520

2,880

Captain

1,500

1,584

Lieutenant

1,125

1,242

1,485

Sub-Lieutenant

975

1,068

1,275

After 6 yearsʼ and up to 9 yearsʼ service, an officer could claim a free passage back to the Peninsula for himself and, if married, his family.

After 9 yearsʼ service, his retirement from the Colony for three years was compulsory. If he nevertheless wished to remain in the Colony, he must quit military service. If he left before completing six yearsʼ service, he would have to pay his own passage unless he went “on commission” or with sick-leave allowance.

Estimated Annual Disbursements for—

₱ cts

The Civil Guard (Constabulary), composed of Three Corps = 3,342 Men and 156 Officers

638,896 77

The Veteran Civil Guard (Manila Police) One Corps = 400 Men and 13 Officers

73,246 88

The Disciplinary Corps, Maintenance of 630 Convicts and Material

56,230 63

(For the Disciplinary Convict Corps) 92 Non-commissioned Officers and 23 Officers

47,909 51

₱104,140 14

Army Estimates

₱ cts

Estimate according to the Budget for 1888 Plus the following sums charged on other estimates, viz.:—

3,016,185 91

Disciplinary Corps, maintenance of 630 Convicts and material

56,230 63

The Civil Guard

638,896 77

The Veteran Civil Guard

73,246 88

Pensions

117,200 00

Transport and maintenance of Recruits from Provinces

6,000 00

Expeditions to be made against the Moros—Religious ceremonies to celebrate Victories gained over them—Maintenance of War Prisoners, etc.

11,000 00

Total cost of Army and Armed Land Forces

₱3,918,760 19

Before the walls were built around Manila, about the year 1590, each soldier and officer lived where he pleased, and, when required, the troops were assembled by the bugle call.

At the close of the 16th century barracks were constructed, but up to the middle of last century the native troops were so badly and irregularly paid that they went from house to house begging alms of the citizens (vide p. 53, King Philip II.ʼs Decree).

In the 17th century troops died of sheer want in the Fort of Ylígan (Mindanao Is.), and when this was represented to the Gov.-General he generously ordered that the Spanish soldiers were in future to be paid ₱2 per month and native soldiers ₱1 per month to hold the fort, at the risk of their lives, against attack from the Mahometans.

In the forts of Labo and Taytay (Palaúan Is.) the soldiersʼ pay was only nominal, rations were often short, and their lives altogether most wretched. Sometimes they were totally overlooked by the military chiefs, and they had to seek subsistence as best they could when provisions were not sent from the capital (videp. 157).

Mexican soldiers arrived in nearly every ship, but there were no barracks for them, no regular mode of living, no regulations for their board and lodging, etc.; hence many had to subsist by serving natives and half-breeds, much to the discredit of the mother country, and consequent loss of prestige. Each time a new expedition was organized a fresh recruiting had to be made at great cost and with great delay. There was practically no regular army except those necessarily compelled to mount guard, etc., in the city. Even the officers received no regular pay until 1754, and there was some excuse for stealing when they had a chance, and for the total absence of enthusiasm in the Service. When troops were urgently called for, the Gov.-General had to bargain with the officers to fill the minor posts by promises of rewards, whilst the high commands were eagerly sought for, not for the pay or the glory, but for the plunder in perspective.

In 1739 the Armoury in Manila contained only 25 Arquebuses of native make, 120 Biscayan muskets, 40 Flint guns, 70 Hatchets, and 40 Cutlasses.

The first regular military organization in these Islands was in the time of Governor Pedro Manuel de Arandia (1754), when one regiment was formed of five companies of native soldiers, together with four companies of troops which arrived with the Governor from Mexico. This corps, afterwards known as the “Kingʼs Regiment”[2] (Regimiento del Rey) was divided into two battalions, increased to 10 companies each as the troops returned from the provinces.

The 20 companies were each composed as follows:—

1 captain, 1 lieutenant, 1 sub-lieutenant, 4 sergeants, 2 drummers, 6 first corporals, 6 seconds corporals, and 88 rank and file.

The Gov.-Generalʼs Body Guard of Halberdiers was reformed, and thenceforth consisted of 18 men, under a captain and a corporal.

The Monthly Pay under these reforms was as follows:—

Staff Officers.

P.

Regimental Officers and Staff

P. c.

Governor-Generalʼs Body Guard

P.

Chief of the Staff

40

Captain

25 00

Captain

35

Adjutant-Major.

25

Lieutenant.

18 00

Corporal

10

Adjutant.

18

Sub-Lieutenant.

14 00

Guards

5

Captain

12

Sergeant

4 00

Drummer

3 00

First Corporal

3 25

Second Corporal

3 00

Rank and File

2 62½

From October 1, 1754, the troops were quartered in barracks, Commissariat Officers were appointed, and every man and every officer was regularly paid fortnightly. The soldiers were not used to this discipline, and desertion was frequent. They much preferred the old style of roaming about to beg or steal and live where they chose until they were called out to service, and very vigorous measures had to be adopted to compel them to comply with the new regulations.

In May, 1755, four artillery brigades were formed, the commanding officer of each receiving ₱30 per month pay.

In 1757 there were 16 fortified provincial outposts, at a total estimated cost of ₱37,638 per annum (including Zamboanga, the chief centre of operations against the Mahometans, which alone cost ₱18,831 in 1757), besides the armed forces and Camp of Manila, Fort Santiago, and Cavite Arsenal and Fort, which together cost a further sum of ₱157,934 for maintenance in that year.

SPANISH VESSELS IN PHILIPPINE WATERS

Year 1898

Name.

Class.

Tons.

H.P.

Reina Cristina

Cruiser

3,500

3,950

Castilla

Cruiser

3,260

4,400

Don Anto. de Ulloa

Cruiser

1,200

1,523

Don Juan de Austria

Cruiser

1,130

1,600

Isla de Cuba

Cruiser

1,048

2,200

Isla de Luzon

Cruiser

1,048

2,200

Velasco

Gunboat

1,152

1,500

Elcano

Gunboat

560

600

General Lezo

Gunboat

520

600

Argos

Gunboat

508

600

Marqués del Duero

Gunboat

500

550

Manila

Transport

1,900

750

General Alava

Transport

1,200

1,000

Cebú

Transport

532

600

Callao

Gunboat, and 4 others very small, besides 3 armed steam launches built in Hong-Kong, viz.:—Lanao, Corcuera, and General Blanco.

NAVAL DIVISIONS

Station.

Commanderʼs Pay.

₱

South Division

5,760

Palaúan (Pta. Princesa)

4,560

Isabel de Basílan

3,360

Balábac Island

3,360

Corregidor Island

3,360

West Caroline Islands

3,360

East Caroline Islands

4,560

Navy Estimates—Judicial Statistics HARBOUR-MASTERS

Station.

Pay.

Station.

Pay.

₱

₱

Manila

3,200

Pangasinán

1,500

Yloilo

3,200

Ilocos Norte y Sur.

1,500

Cebú

1,500

Cagayán

1,500

Cápis

1,500

Ladrone Islands

1,500

Zamboanga

1,500

Laguimanoc (Civilian)

144

The Chief of the Philippine Naval Forces was a Rear-Admiral receiving ₱16,392 per annum.

There were two Brigades of Marine Infantry, composed of 376 men with 18 officers.

Cavite Arsenal

The chief Naval Station was at Cavite, six miles from Manila. The forces at this station were 90 Marines as Guards, and 244 Marines as reserves. One hundred convicts were employed for Arsenal labour.

The Officer in command of the Cavite Arsenal and Naval Station took rank after the Rear-Admiral, and received a salary of ₱8,496 per annum.

The Navy Estimates (Budget for 1888) amounted to ₱2,573,776·27.

SPANISH JUDICIAL STATISTICS

Civil and Criminal Law Courts

The Civil and Criminal Law Courts were as follows, viz.:—

2 Supreme Courts in Manila and Cebú, quite independent of each other.

4 First-Class Courts of Justice in Manila (called “de término.”)

8 First-Class Courts of Justice in the Provinces (called “de término.”)

10 Second-Class Courts of Justice in the Provinces (called “de ascenso.”)

19 Third-Class Courts of Justice in the Provinces (called “de entrada.”)

7 Provincial Governments with judicial powers.

Judgesʼ Salaries

President of the Supreme Court of Manila

₱7,000

President of the Supreme Court of Cebu

6,000

Judge of each of the 12 First-Class Courts

4,000

Judge of each of the 10 Second-Class Courts

3,000

Judge of each of the 19 Third-Class Courts

2,000

Law Courts Estimate for 1888

₱ cts.

Supreme Court of Manila

90,382 00

Supreme Court of Cebú

49,828 00

All the minor Courts and allowances to Provincial Governors with judicial powers

192,656 00

Estimated total cost for the year

₱332,866 00

Penitentiaries and Convict Settlements

Manila (Bilíbid Jail) containing on an average

900 Native Convicts

And in 1888 there were also

3 Spanish Convicts

Cavite Jail contained in 1888

51 Native Convicts

Zamboanga Jail contained in 1888

98 Native Convicts

Agricultural Colony of San Ramon (Zamboanga), worked by convict labour, contained in 1888

164 Native Convicts

Ladrone Island Penal Settlement contained in 1888

101 Native Convicts

Ladrone Island Penal Settlement contained in 1888

3 Spanish Convicts

In the Army and Navy Services

730 Native Convicts

2,045 Convicts

Total estimated disbursements for Penitentiaries and Convict maintenance in the Settlements for the year

₱82,672.71

BRIGANDAGE first came into prominence in Governor Arandiaʼs time (1754–59), and he used the means of “setting a thief to catch a thief,” which answered well for a short time, until the crime became more and more habitual as provincial property increased in value and capital was accumulated there. In 1888 the Budget provided an allowance of 2,000 pesos for rewards for the capture or slaughter of these ruffians. Up to the end of Spanish rule, brigandage, pillage, and murder were treated with such leniency by the judges that there was little hope for the extinction of such crimes. When a band of thieves and assassins attacked a village or a residence, murdered its inhabitants, and carried off booty, the Civil Guard at once scoured the country, and often the malefactors were arrested. The Civil Guard was an excellent institution, and performed its duty admirably well; but as soon as the villains were handed over to the legal functionaries, society lost hope. Instead of the convicted criminals being garrotted according to law, as the public had a right to demand, they were “protected”; some were let loose on the world again, whilst others were sent to prison and allowed to escape, or they were transported to a penal settlement to work without fetters, where they were just as comfortable as if they were working for a private employer. I record these facts from personal knowledge, for my wanderings in the Islands brought me into contact with all sorts and conditions of men. I have been personally acquainted with many brigands, and I gave regular employment to an ex-bandit for years.

The Philippine brigand—known in the northern islands as Tulisán and in the southern islands as Pulaján—is not merely an outlaw, such as may yet be found in Southern and Eastern Europe; his infamous work of freebooting is never done to his satisfaction without the complement of bloodshed, even though his victim yield to him all without demur. Booty or no booty, blood must flow, if he be the ordinary Tulisán of the type known to the Tagálogs as dugong-aso (blood of a dog). as distinguished from the milder Tulisán pulpul (literally, the blunt brigand), who robs, uses no unnecessary violence, but runs away if he can, and only fights when he must.

At Christmas, 1884, I went to Laguimanoc in the Province of Tayabas to spend a few days with an English friend of mine.[3] On the way there, at Sariaya, I stayed at the house of the Captain of the Civil Guard, when a message came to say that an attack had been made the night before on my friendʼs house, his manager, a Swede, having been killed, and many others in the village wounded. The Captain showed me the despatch, and invited me to join him as a volunteer to hunt down the murderers. I agreed, and within half an hour we were mounted and on their track all through that dark night, whilst the rain poured in torrents. Four native soldiers were following us on foot. We jumped over ditches, through rice-paddy fields and cocoanut plantations, and then forded a river, on the opposite bank of which was the next guardsʼ post in charge of a lieutenant, who joined us with eight foot-soldiers. That same night we together captured five of the wretches, who had just beached a canoe containing part of their spoils. The prisoners were bound elbows together at their backs and sent forward under escort. We rode on all night until five oʼclock the next morning, arriving at the convent of Pagbilao just as Father Jesus was going down to say Mass. I had almost lost my voice through being ten hours in the rain; but the priest was very attentive to us, and we went on in a prahu to the village where the crime had been committed. In another prahu the prisoners were sent in charge of the soldiers. In the meantime, the Chief Judge and the Government Doctor of the province had gone on before us. On the way we met a canoe going to Pagbilao, carrying the corpse of the murdered Swede for burial. When we arrived at Laguimanoc, we found one native dead and many natives and Chinese badly wounded.

My friendʼs house had the front door smashed in—an iron strong-box had been forced, and a few hundred pesos, with some rare coins, were stolen. The furniture in the dining-room was wantonly hacked about with bowie-knives, only to satisfy a savage love for mischief. His bedroom had been entered, and there the brigands began to make their harvest; the bundles of wearing-apparel, jewellery, and other valuables were already tied up, when lo! the Virgin herself appeared, casting a penetrating glance of disapproval upon the wicked revelry! Forsaking their plunder, the brigands fled in terror from the saintly apparition. And when my friend re-entered his home and crossed the bloodstained floor of the dining-room to go to his bedroom, the cardboard Virgin, with a trade advertisement on the back, was still peeping round the door-jamb to which she was nailed, with the words “Please to shut the door” printed on her spotless bust.

The next day the Captain remained in the village whilst I went on with the Lieutenant and a few guards in a prahu down the coast, where we made further captures, and returned in three days. During our journey in the prahu the wind was so strong that we resolved to beach our craft on the seashore instead of attempting to get over the shoal of the San Juan River. We ran her ashore under full sail, and just at that moment a native rushed towards us with an iron bar in his hand. In the evening gloom he must have mistaken us for a party of weather-beaten native or Chinese traders whose skulls he might smash in at a stroke and rifle their baggage. He halted, however, perfectly amazed when two guards with their bayonets fixed jumped forward in front of him. Then we got out, took him prisoner, and the next day he was let off with a souvenir of the lash, as there was nothing to prove that he was a brigand by profession. The second leader of the brigand gang was shot through the lungs a week afterwards, by the guards who were on his track, as he was jumping from the window-opening of a hut, and there he died.

The Captain of the Civil Guard received an anonymous letter stating where the brigand chief was hiding. This fact came to the knowledge of the native cuadrillero officer who had hitherto supplied his friend, the brigand, with rice daily, so he hastened on before the Captain could arrive, and imposed silence for ever on the fugitive bandit by stabbing him in the back. Thus the cuadrillero avoided the disclosure of unpleasant facts which would have implicated himself. The prisoners were conducted to the provincial jail, and three years afterwards, when I made inquiries about them, I learnt that two of them had died of their wounds, whilst not a single one had been sentenced.

The most ignorant classes believe that certain persons are possessed of a mystic power called anting-anting, which preserves them from all harm, and that the body of a man so affected is even refractory to bullet or steel. Brigands are often captured wearing medallions of the Virgin Mary or the Saints as a device of the anting-anting. In Maragondón (Cavite), the son of a friend of mine was enabled to go into any remote place with impunity, because he was reputed to be possessed of this charm. Some highwaymen, too, have a curious notion that they can escape punishment for a crime committed in Easter Week, because the thief on the cross was pardoned his sins.

In 1885 I purchased a small estate, where there was some good wild-boar hunting and snipe-shooting, and I had occasion to see the man who was tenant previous to my purchase, in Manila Jail. He was accused of having been concerned in an attack upon the town of Mariquina, and was incarcerated for eighteen months without being definitely convicted or acquitted. Three months after his release from prison he was appointed petty-governor of his own town, much to the disgust of the people, who in vain petitioned against it in writing.

I visited the Penal Settlement, known as the Agricultural Colony of San Ramon, situated about fifteen miles north of Zamboanga, where I remained twelve days. The director of the settlement was D. Felipe Dujiols, an army captain who had defended Oñate (in Guipuzcoa, Spain), during the Carlist war; so, as we were each able to relate our personal experiences of that stirring period, we speedily became friends. As his guest, I was able to acquire more ample information about the system of convict treatment. With the 25 convicts just arrived, there were in all 150 natives of the most desperate class—assassins, thieves, conspirators, etc., working on this penal settlement. They were well fed, fairly well lodged, and worked with almost the same freedom as independent labourers. Within a few yards of the directorʼs bungalow were the barracks, for the accommodation of a detachment of 40 soldiers—under the command of a lieutenant—who patrolled the settlement during the day and mounted guard at night. During my stay one prisoner was chained and flogged, but that was for a serious crime committed the day before. The severest hardship which these convicts had to endure under the rule of my generous host, D. Felipe, was the obligation to work as honest men in other countries would be willing to do. In this same penal settlement, some years ago, a party of convicts attacked and killed three of the European overseers, and then escaped to the Island of Basilan, which lies to the south of Zamboanga. The leader of these criminals was a native named Pedro Cuevas, whose career is referred to at length in Chap. xxix.

Within half a dayʼs journey from Manila there are several well-known maraudersʼ haunts, such as San Mateo, Imus, Silan, Indan, the mouths of the Hagonoy River (Pampanga), etc. In 1881 I was the only European amongst 20 to 25 passengers in a canoe going to Balanga on the west shore of Manila Bay, when about midday a canoe, painted black and without the usual outriggers, bore down upon us, and suddenly two gun-shots were fired, whilst we were called upon to surrender. The pirates numbered eight; they had their faces bedaubed white and their canoe ballasted with stones. There was great commotion in our craft; the men shouted and the women fell into a heap over me, reciting Ave Marias, and calling upon all the Saints to succour them. Just as I extricated myself and looked out from under the palm-leaf awning, the pirates flung a stone which severely cut our pilotʼs face. They came very close, flourishing their knives, but our crew managed to keep them from boarding us by pushing off their canoe with the paddles. When the enemy came within range of my revolver, one of their party, who was standing up brandishing a bowie-knife, suddenly collapsed into a heap. This seemed to discourage the rest, who gave up the pursuit, and we went on to Balanga.

The most famous Tulisán within living memory was a Chinese half-caste named Juan Fernandez, commonly known as Tancad (“tall,” in Tagálog) because of his extraordinary stature. His sphere of operations was around Bulacan, Tárlac, Mórong, and Nueva Ecija. He took part in 21 crimes which could have been proved against him, and doubtless many more. A man of wonderful perception and great bravery, he was only 35 years old when he was captured in Bulacan Province by the Spanish Captain Villa Abrille. Brought before a court-martial on the specific charge of being the chief actor in a wholesale slaughter at Tayud, which caused a great sensation at the time, he and ten of his companions were executed on August 28, 1877, to the immense relief of the people, to whom the very name of Tancad gave a thrill of horror.

No one experienced in the Colony ever thought of privately prosecuting a captured brigand, for a criminal or civil lawsuit in the Philippines was one of the worst calamities that could befall a man. Between notaries, procurators, barristers, and the sluggish process of the courts, a litigant was fleeced of his money, often worried into a bad state of health, and kept in horrible suspense for years. It was as hard to get the judgement executed as it was to win the case. Even when the question at issue was supposed to be settled, a defect in the sentence could always be concocted to re-open the whole affair. If the case had been tried and judgement given under the Civil Code, a way was often found to convert it into a criminal case; and when apparently settled under the Criminal Code, a flaw could be discovered under the Laws of the Indies, or the Siete Partidas, or the Roman Law, or the Novisima Recopilacion, or the Antiguos fueros, Decrees, Royal Orders, Ordenanzas de buen Gobierno, and so forth, by which the case could be re-opened. It was the same in the 16th century (vide p. 56).

I knew a planter in Negros Island who was charged with homicide. The judge of his province acquitted him, but fearing that he might again be arrested on the same charge, he came up to Manila with me to procure a ratification of the sentence in the Supreme Court. The legal expenses were so enormous that he was compelled to fully mortgage his plantation. Weeks passed, and having spent all his money without getting justice, I lent his notary £40 to assist in bringing the case to an end. The planter returned to Negros apparently satisfied that he would be troubled no further, but later on, the newly-appointed judge in that Island, whilst prospecting for fees by turning up old cases, unfortunately came across this one, and my planter acquaintance was sentenced to eight yearsʼ imprisonment, although the family lawyer, proceeding on the same shifty lines, still hoped to find defects in the sentence in order to reverse it in favour of his client.

Availing oneʼs self of the dilatoriness of the Spanish law, it was possible for a man to occupy a house, pay no rent, and refuse to quit on legal grounds during a couple of years or more. A person who had not a cent to lose could persecute another of means by a trumped-up accusation until he was ruined, by an “informacion de pobreza”—a declaration of poverty—which enabled the persecutor to keep the case going as long as he chose without needing money for fees.[4] A case of this kind was often started at the instigation of a native lawyer. When it had gone on for a certain time, the prosecutorʼs adviser would propose an “extra-judicial arrangement,” to extort costs from the wearied and browbeaten defendant.

About the year 1886 there was a cause célèbre, the parties being the firm of Jurado & Co. versus the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. The Bank had agreed to make advances on goods to be imported by the firm in exchange for the firmʼs acceptances. The agreement was subject to six monthsʼ notice from the Bank. In due course the Bank had reason to doubt the genuineness of certain documents. Mr. Jurado was imprisoned, but shortly released on bail. He was dismissed from his official post of second chief of Telegraphs, worth ₱4,000 a year. Goods, as they arrived for his firm, were stored pending litigation, and deteriorated to only a fraction of their original value. His firm was forced by these circumstances into liquidation, and Mr. Jurado sued the Bank for damages. The case was open for several years, during which time the Bank coffers were once sealed by judicial warrant, a sum of cash was actually transported from the Bank premises, and the manager was nominally arrested, but really a prisoner on parole in his house. Several sentences of the Court were given in favour of each party. Years after this they were all quashed on appeal to Madrid. Mr. Jurado went to Spain to fight his case, and in 1891 I accidentally met him and his brother (a lawyer) in the street in Madrid. The brother told me the claim against the Bank then amounted to ₱935,000, and judgement for that sum would be given within a fortnight. Still, years after that, when I was again in Manila, the case was yet pending, and another onslaught was made on the Bank. The Court called on the manager to deliver up the funds of the Bank, and on his refusal to do so a mechanic was sent there to open the safes, but he laboured in vain for a week. Then a syndicate of Philippine capitalists was formed to fleece the Bank, one of its most energetic members being a native private banker in Manila. Whilst the case was in its first stages I happened to be discussing it at a shop in the Escolta when one of the partners, a Spaniard, asked me if I would like to see with my own eyes the contending lawyers putting their heads together over the matter. “If so,” said he, “you have only to go through my shop and up the winding back staircase, from the landing of which you can see them any day you like at one oʼclock.” I accepted his invitation, and there, indeed, were the rival advocates laughing, gesticulating, and presumably cogitating how they could plunder the litigant who had most money to spend. At one stage of the proceedings the Bank specially retained a Spanish lawyer of great local repute, who went to Madrid to push the case. Later on Mr. Francis, Q.C., was sent over to Manila from Hong-Kong to advise the Bank. The Prime Minister was appealed to and the good offices of our Ambassador in Madrid were solicited. For a long time the Bank was placed in a most awkward legal dilemma. The other side contended that the Bank could not be heard, or appear for itself or by proxy, on the ground that under its own charter it had no right to be established in Manila; that, in view of the terms of that charter, it had never been legally registered as a Bank in Manila, and that it had no legal existence in the Philippines. This was merely a technical quibble. Several times when the case was supposed to be finally settled, it was again re-opened. Happily it may now be regarded as closed for ever.

A great many well-to-do natives have a mania for seeing their sons launched into the “learned professions”; hence there was a mob of native doctors who made a scanty living, and a swarm of half-lawyers, popularly called “abogadillos,” who were a pest to the Colony. Up to the beginning of the 18th century the offices of solicitors and notaries were filled from Mexico, where the licences to practise in Manila were publicly sold. After that period the colleges and the university issued licences to natives, thus creating a class of native pettifogging advocates who stirred up strife to make cases, for this purpose availing themselves of the intricacies of the law.

The Spanish-Philippine Criminal Law Procedure was briefly as follows:—(1) The Judge of Instruction took the sumaria, i.e., the inquiry into whether a crime had been committed, and, if so, who was the presumptive culprit. It was his duty to find the facts and sift the case. In a light case he could order the immediate arrest of the presumptive delinquent; in a grave case he would remit it. (2) In the Court of First Instance the verbal evidence was heard and sifted, the fiscal, or prosecuting attorney, expressing his opinion to the judge. The judge would then qualify the crime, and decide who was the presumptive culprit. Then the defence began, and when this was exhausted the judge would give his opinion. This court could not acquit or condemn the accused. The opinion on the sumaria was merely advisory, and not a sentence. This inquiry was called the “vista”; it was not in reality a trial, as the defendant was not allowed to cross-examine; but, on the other hand, in theory, he was not called upon to prove his innocence before two courts, but before the sentencing court (Audiencia) only. The case would then be remitted with the sumaria, and the opinion of the Court of First Instance, to the Audiencia, or Supreme Court, for review of errors of law, but not of facts which remained. The Audiencia did not call for testimony, but, if new facts were produced, it would remit back the sumaria to the lower court, with the new written testimony added to the autos (documents in the case). These new witnesses were never confronted with the accused, and might never be seen by him, and were not cross-examined. If no new facts were elicited, the record of the lower court would be accepted by the Audiencia, errors of law being the only point at issue, and this court might at once pass sentence. In practice the Audiencia usually treated the finding of the lower court as sentence (not merely opinion), and confirmed it, if no new testimony were produced and there were no errors of law. But, although the opinion of the lower court might be practically an acquittal, the Audiencia might find errors of law, thus placing the accused twice in jeopardy. If the case were remitted back, in view of new testimony, it finally returned to the Audiencia for decision, nine judges being required to give their opinion in a grave case, so that if the Court of First Instance and five judges of the Audiencia found the accused guilty, there was a majority against him. The sentencing court was always the Audiencia. If the sentence were against the accused, a final appeal could be made, by “writ of error,” to the Supreme Court of Spain, whose decision, however, rested not on facts, but on errors of law.

The (American) Insular Government tacitly admitted that the Spanish written law was excellent, notwithstanding its fulfilment being dilatory. The Spanish Penal Code has been adopted in its general application, but a new code, based on it, was in course of compilation in 1904. The application of the Spanish Code occasionally evolves some curious issues, showing its variance with fundamental American law. For instance, in September, 1905, a native adulteress having been found by her husband in flagrante delicto, he stabbed her to death. The Spanish law sustains the husbandʼs right to slay his faithless consort and her paramour, in such circumstances (vide p. 80), but provides that the lawful slayer shall be banished from the country. The principle of this law is based on Roman law, human instinctive reasoning, and the spirit of the law among the Latin nations of Europe. American law assumes this natural act of the husband to be a crime, but whilst admitting the validity of the Spanish Code in these Islands, the American bench was puzzled to decide what punishment could be inflicted if the arraigned husband committed contempt of court by thereafter returning to his native land.

[1] This was not included in Army Estimates, but in Civil Government. Officers from Captain (inclusive) upwards “In expectation of Service” and “In excess of Active Service requirements,” received only four-fifths of ordinary pay.

[2] In 1888 the “Kingʼs Regiment” was divided into two regiments, under new denominations, viz.:—“Castillo, No. 1” (April 3), and “España, No. 1” (June 18).

[3] This gentleman is at present residing in the county of Essex, England.

[4] Under British law, a litigant is not allowed to bring and conduct an action in formá pauperis until it is proved that he is not worth £5 after his debts are paid; and, moreover, he must obtain a certificate from a barrister that he has good cause of action.

Trade of the Islands

Its Early History

From within a year after the foundation of the Colony up to the second decade of last century direct communication with Mexico was maintained by the State galleons, termed the Naos de Acapulco. The first sailings of the galleons were to Navidad, but for over two centuries Acapulco was the port of destination on the Mexican side, and this inter-communication with New Spain only ceased a few years before that Colony threw off its allegiance to the mother country. But it was not alone the troubled state of political affairs which brought about the discontinuance of the galleonsʼ voyages, although the subsequent secession of Mexico would have produced this effect. The expense of this means of intercourse was found to be bearing too heavily upon the scanty resources of the Exchequer, for the condition of Spainʼs finances had never, at any period, been so lamentable.

The Commander of the State Nao had the title of General, with a salary of ₱40,000 per annum. The chief officer received ₱25,000 a year. The quarter-master was remunerated with 9 per cent, on the value of the merchandise shipped, and this amounted to a very considerable sum per voyage.

The last State galleon left Manila for Mexico in 1811, and the last sailing from Acapulco for Manila was in 1815.

These ships are described as having been short fore and aft, but of great beam, light draught, and, when afloat, had a half-moon appearance, being considerably elevated at bows and stern. They were of 1,500 tons burden, had four decks, and carried guns.

A Spanish-Mexican Galleon

The Gov.-General, the clergy, the civil functionaries, troops, prisoners, and occasionally private persons, took passage in these ships to and from the Philippines. It was practically the Spanish Mail.

A Canoe

The Colony had no coin of its own.[1] It was simply a dependency of Mexico; and all that it brought in tribute and taxes to its Royal Treasury belonged to the Crown, and was at the Kingʼs disposal. For many years these payments were made wholly—and afterwards partially—in kind, and were kept in the Royal Stores. As the junks from China arrived each spring, this colonial produce belonging to the Crown was bartered for Chinese wares and manufactures. These goods, packed in precisely 1,500 bales, each of exactly the same size, constituted the official cargo, and were remitted to Mexico by the annual galleon. The surplus space in the ship was at the disposal of a few chosen merchants who formed the “Consulado,”—a trading ring which required each member to have resided in the Colony a stipulated number of years, and to be possessed of at least eight thousand pesos.

A Casco (Sailing-barge)

For the support of the Philippine administration Mexico remitted back to Manila, on the return of the galleon, a certain percentage of the realized value of the above-mentioned official cargo, but seeing that in any case—whether the Philippine Treasury were flourishing or not—a certain sum was absolutely necessary for the maintenance of the Colony, this remittance, known as the “Real Situado,” or royal subsidy, was, from time to time, fixed.[2]

A Prahu (Sailing-canoe)

The Philippine Colony was therefore nominally self-supporting, and the Situado was only a guaranteed income, to be covered, as far as it could be, by shipments of foreign bartered manufactures and local produce to Mexico. But, as a matter of fact, the Mexican subsidy seldom, if ever, was so covered.

By Royal Decree of June 6, 1665, the Mexican subsidy to the Philippines was fixed at ₱2,500,000, of which ₱2,000,000 was remitted in coin and ₱500,000 in merchandise for the Royal Stores. Against this was remitted value in goods (Philippine taxes and tribute) ₱ 176,101.40 so that the net Subsidy, or donation, from Mexico was ₱ 2,323,898.60.

Hence, in the course of time, coin—Mexican dollars called pesos—found its way in large quantities to the Philippines, and thence to China.

The yearly value of the merchantsʼ shipments was first limited to ₱250,000, whilst the return trade could not exceed ₱500,000 in coin or stores, and this was on the supposition that 100 per cent. profit would be realized on the sales in Mexico.

The allotment of surplus freight-room in the galleon was regulated by the issue of boletas—documents which, during a long period, served as paper money in fact, for the holders were entitled to use them for shipping goods, or they could transfer them to others who wished to do so. The demand for freight was far greater than the carrying power provided. Shipping warrants were delivered gratis to the members of the Consulado, to certain ecclesiastics, and others. Indeed, it is asserted by some writers that the Governorʼs favourites were served with preference, to the prejudice of legitimate trade.

The Spaniards were not allowed to go to China to fetch merchandise for transhipment, but they could freely buy what was brought by the Chinese. Indian and Persian goods uninterruptedly found their way to Manila. Spanish goods came exclusively viâ Mexico.

The mail galleon usually sailed in the month of July in each year, and the voyage occupied about five months. Very strict regulations were laid down regarding the course to be steered, but many calamities befell the ships, which were not unfrequently lost through the incapacity of the officers who had procured their appointments by favour. For a century and a half there was practically no competition. All was arranged beforehand as to shape, quantity, size, etc., of each bale. There was, however, a deal of trickery practised respecting the declared values, and the boletas were often quoted at high prices. Even the selling-price of the goods sent to Mexico was a preconcerted matter.

The day of the departure of the galleon or its arrival with a couple of millions of pesos or more,[3] and new faces, was naturally one of rejoicing—it was almost the event of the year. A Te Deum was chanted in the churches, the bells tolled, and musicians perambulated the streets, which were illuminated and draped with bunting.

So far as commercial affairs were concerned, the Philippine merchants passed very easy lives in those palmy days. One, sometimes two, days in the week were set down in the calendar as Saint-days to be strictly observed; hence an active business life would have been incompatible with the exactions of religion. The only misadventure they had to fear was the loss of the galleon. Market fluctuations were unknown. During the absence of the galleon, there was nothing for the merchants to do but to await the arrival of the Chinese junks in the months of March, April, and May, and prepare their bales. For a century and a half this sort of trading was lucrative; it required no smartness, no spirit of enterprise or special tact. Shippers were busy for only three months in the year, and during the remaining nine months they could enjoy life as they thought fit—cut off from the rest of the world.

Some there were who, without means of their own, speculated with the Obras Piasfunds, lent at interest.[4]

The Philippine merchants often lost the value of their shipments in the State galleons by shipwreck or seizure by enemies. Mexico frequently lost the Philippine remittances to her, and the specie she sent to the Philippines. The State galleon made only one voyage a year there and back, if all went well; but if it were lost, the shipment had to be renewed, and it often happened that several galleons were seized in a year by Spainʼs enemies.

The abortive attempt to annex the British Isles to the Spanish Crown in 1588 brought about the collapse of Spainʼs naval supremacy, enabling English mariners to play havoc with her galleons from America. The Philippine Islands, as a colony, had at that date only just come into existence, but during the series of Anglo-Spanish wars which preceded the “Family Compact” (vide p. 87), Philippine-Mexican galleons laden with treasure became the prey of British commanders, notably Admiral Anson. The coasts were beset by Ansonʼs squadron. He was the terror of the Philippines from the year 1743. His exploits gave rise to consternation, and numerous councils were held to decide what to do to get rid of him. The captured galleon Pilar gave one-and-a-half million pesos to the enemy—the Covadonga was an immense prize. All over the Islands the Spaniards were on the alert for the dreaded foe; every provincial Governor sent look-outs to high promontories with orders to signal by beacons if the daring Britisherʼs ships were seen hovering about, whilst, in Manila, the citizens were forewarned that, at any moment, they might be called upon to repel the enemy.

Not only in fleets of gold-laden vessels did Spain and her dependencies lose immense wealth through her hostile ambition, for in view of the restrictions on Philippine trade, and the enormous profits accruing to the Spanish merchants on their shipments, British, Dutch, French, and Danish traders competed with them. Shippers of these nationalities bought goods in Canton, where they established their own factories, or collecting-stores. In 1731 over three millions of Mexican dollars (pesos) were taken there for making purchases, and these foreign ships landed the stuffs, etc., in contraband at the American ports, where Spaniards themselves co-operated in the trade which their absolute King declared illicit, whilst the traders considered it a natural right.

As the Southern (Peninsula) Spanish merchants were helpless to stay this competition, which greatly affected their profits, their rancorous greed made them clamour against the Philippine trade, to which they chose to attribute their misfortunes, and the King was petitioned to curtail the commerce of this Colony with Mexico for their exclusive benefit. But it was not Spanish home trade alone which suffered: Acapulco was so beset by smugglers, whose merchandise, surreptitiously introduced, found its way to Mexico City, that, in latter days, the Philippine galleonsʼ cargoes did not always find a market. Moreover, all kinds of frauds were practised about this time in the quality of the goods baled for shipment, and the bad results revealed themselves on the Mexican side. The shippers, unwisely, thought it possible to deceive the Mexicans by sending them inferior articles at old prices; hence their disasters became partly due to “the vaulting ambition that oʼerleaps itself and falls on tʼother side.” The Governor commissioned four of the most respectable Manila traders to inspect the sorting and classification of the goods shipped. These citizens distinguished themselves so highly, to their own advantage, that the Governor had to suppress the commission and abandon the control, in despair of finding honest colleagues. Besides this fraud, contraband goods were taken to Acapulco in the galleons themselves, hidden in water-jars.

In the time of Governor Pedro de Arandia (1754–59) the 100 per cent. fixed profit was no longer possible. Merchants came down to Acapulco and forced the market, by waiting until the ships were obliged to catch the monsoon back, or lie up for another season, so that often the goods had to be sold for cost, or a little over. In 1754 returns were so reduced that the Consulado was owing to the Obras Pias over ₱300,000, and to the Casa Misericordia ₱147,000, without any hope of repayment. The Casa Misericordia lent money at 40 per cent., then at 35 per cent., and in 1755 at 20 per cent. interest, but the state of trade made capital hardly acceptable even at this last rate.

Early in the 18th century the Cadiz merchants, jealous of the Philippine shippers, protested that the home trade was much injured by the cargoes carried to Mexico in Philippine bottoms. So effectually did they influence the King in their favour that he issued a decree prohibiting the trade between China and the Philippines in all woven stuffs, skein and woven silk and clothing, except the finest linen. Manila imports from China were thereby limited to fine linen, porcelain, wax, pepper, cinnamon, and cloves. At the expiration of six months after the proclamation of the decree, any remaining stocks of the proscribed articles were to be burnt! Thenceforth trade in such prohibited articles was to be considered illicit, and such goods arriving in Mexico after that date were to be confiscated.

By Royal Decree dated October 27, 1720, and published in Mexico by the Viceroy on February 15, 1724, the following was enacted, viz.:—That in future there should be two galleons per annum, instead of one as heretofore, carrying merchandise to Acapulco, each to be of 500 tons. That the merchandise sent in the two was to be of the value of ₱300,000 precisely in gold, cinnamon, wax, porcelain, cloves, pepper, etc., but not silks, or stuffs of any kind containing silk, under pain of confiscation, to be allotted in three equal parts, namely, to the Fiscal officer, the Judge intervening, and the informer, and perpetual banishment from the Indies of all persons concerned in the shipment. That the number of Manila merchants was to be fixed, and any one not included in that number was to be prohibited from trading. No ecclesiastic, or professor of religion, or foreigner could be included in the elected few, whose rights to ship were non-transferable. That if the proceeds of the sale happened to exceed the fixed sum of ₱600,000, on account of market prices being higher than was anticipated, only that amount could be brought back in money, and the difference, or excess, in goods. [If it turned out to be less than that amount, the difference could not be remitted in cash by Mexican merchants for further purchases, the spirit of the decree being to curtail the supply of goods from this Colony to Mexico, for the benefit of the Spanish home traders. The infringer of this regulation was subject to the penalties of confiscation and two yearsʼ banishment from the Indies.]

By Royal Decree of the year 1726, received and published in Manila on August 9, 1727, the following regulations were made known, viz.:—That the prohibition relating to silk and all-silk goods was revoked. That only one galleon was to be sent each year (instead of two) as formerly. That the prohibition on clothing containing some silk, and a few other articles, was maintained. That for five years certain stuffs of fine linen were permitted to be shipped, to the limit of 4,000 pieces per annum, precisely in boxes containing each 500 pieces.

The Southern Spanish traders in 1729 petitioned the King against the Philippine trade in woven goods, and protested against the five-yearsʼ permission granted in the above decree of 1726, declaring that it would bring about the total ruin of the Spanish weaving industry, and that the galleons, on their return to the Philippines, instead of loading Spanish manufactures, took back specie for the continuance of their traffic to the extent of three or four millions of pesos each year. The King, however, refused to modify the decree of 1726 until the five years had expired, after which time the Governor was ordered to load the galleons according to the former decree of 1720.

The Manila merchants were in great excitement. The Governor, under pretext that the original Royal Decree ought to have been transmitted direct to the Philippines and not merely communicated by the Mexican Viceroy, agreed to “obey and not fulfil” its conditions.

From the year 1720, during the period of prohibitions, the Royal Treasury lost about ₱50,000 per annum, and many of the taxes were not recovered in full. Besides this, the donations to Government by the citizens, which sometimes had amounted to ₱40,000 in one year, ceased. A double loss was also caused to Mexico, for the people there had to pay much higher prices for their stuffs supplied by Spanish (home) monopolists, whilst Mexican coffers were being drained to make good the deficits in the Philippine Treasury. The Manila merchants were terribly alarmed, and meeting after meeting was held. A Congress of Government officials and priests was convened, and each priest was asked to express his opinion on the state of trade.

Commercial depression in the Philippines had never been so marked, and the position of affairs was made known to the King in a petition, which elicited the Royal Decree dated April 8, 1734. It provided that the value of exports should thenceforth not exceed ₱500,000, and the amount permitted to return was also raised to ₱1,000,000 (always on the supposition that 100 per cent. over cost laid down would be realized). The dues and taxes paid in Acapulco on arrival, and the dues paid in Manila on starting, amounted to 17 per cent. of the million expected to return.[5] This covered the whole cost of maintenance of ships, salaries, freight, and charges of all kinds which were paid by Government in the first instance, and then recovered from the Consulado.

The fixed number of merchants was to be decided by the merchants themselves without Government intervention. Licence was granted to allow those of Cavite to be of the number, and both Spaniards and natives were eligible. Military and other professional men, except ecclesiastics, could thenceforth be of the number. Foreigners were strictly excluded. The right to ship (boleta) was not to be transferable, except to poor widows. A sworn invoice of the shipment was to be sent to the royal officials and magistrate of the Supreme Court of Mexico for the value to be verified. The official in charge, or supercargo, was ordered to make a book containing a list of the goods and their respective owners, and to hand this to the commander of the fortress in Acapulco, with a copy of the same for the Viceroy. The Viceroy was to send his copy to the Audit Office to be again copied, and the last copy was to be forwarded to the Royal Indian Council.

Every soldier, sailor, and officer was at liberty to disembark with a box containing goods of which the Philippine value should not exceed ₱30, in addition to his private effects. All hidden goods were to be confiscated, one-half to the Royal Treasury, one-fourth to the Judge intervening, and one-fourth to the informer; but, if such confiscated goods amounted to ₱50,000 in value, the Viceroy and Mexican Council were to determine the sum to be awarded to the Judge and the informer.

If the shipment met a good market and realized more than 1,000,000 pesos, only 1,000,000 could be remitted in money, and the excess in duty-paid Mexican merchandise. If the shipment failed to fetch 1,000,000, the difference could not be sent in money for making new purchases. (The same restriction as in the decree of 1720.)

The object of these measures was to prevent Mexicans supplying trading capital to the Philippines instead of purchasing Peninsula manufactures. It was especially enacted that all goods sent to Mexico from the Philippines should have been purchased with the capital of the Philippine shippers, and be their exclusive property without lien. If it were discovered that on the return journey of the galleon merchandise was carried to the Philippines belonging to the Mexicans, it was to be confiscated, and a fine imposed on the interested parties of three times the value, payable to the Royal Treasury, on the first conviction. The second conviction entailed confiscation of all the culpritsʼ goods and banishment from Mexico for 10 years.

The weights and measures of the goods shipped were to be Philippine, and, above all, wax was to be sent in pieces of precisely the same weight and size as by custom established.

The Council for freight allotment in Manila was to comprise the Governor, the senior Magistrate, and, failing this latter, the Minister of the Supreme Court next below him; also the Archbishop, or in his stead the Dean of the Cathedral; an ordinary Judge, a Municipal Councillor, and one merchant as Commissioner in representation of the eight who formed the Consulado of merchants.

The expulsion of the non-christian Chinese in 1755 (vide p. 111) caused a deficit in the taxes of ₱30,000 per annum. The only exports of Philippine produce at this date were cacao, sugar, wax, and sapanwood. Trade, and consequently the Treasury, were in a deplorable state. To remedy matters, and to make up the above ₱30,000, the Government proposed to levy an export duty which was to be applied to the cost of armaments fitted out against pirates. Before the tax was approved of by the King some friars loaded a vessel with export merchandise, and absolutely refused to pay the impost, alleging immunity. The Governor argued that there could be no religious immunity in trade concerns. The friars appealed to Spain, and the tax was disapproved of; meantime, most of the goods and the vessel itself rotted pending the solution of the question by the Royal Indian Council.

There have been three or four periods during which no galleon arrived at the Philippines for two or three consecutive years, and coin became very scarce, giving rise to rebellion on the part of the Chinese and misery to the Filipinos. After the capture of the Covadonga by the British, six years elapsed before a galleon brought the subsidy; then the Rosario arrived with 5,000 gold ounces (nominally ₱80,000).

However, besides the subsidy, the Colony had certain other sources of public revenue, as will be seen by the following:—

PHILIPPINE BUDGET FOR THE YEAR 1757

INCOME.

₱ cts.

Stamped Paper

12,199 87½

Port and Anchorage Dues

25,938 00

Sale of Offices, such as Notaries, Public Scribes, Secretaryships, etc.

5,839 12½

Offices hired out

4,718 75

Taxes farmed out

28,500 00

Excise duties

4,195 00

Sale of Encomiendas, and 22 provincial govts. hired out

263,588 00

Divers taxes, fines, pardons, etc.

18,156 00

Tribute, direct tax

4,477 00

Sudsidy from Mexico

250,000 00

Deficit

79,844 00

₱ 697,455 75

EXPENDITURE.

₱ cts.

Supreme Court

34,219 75

Treasury and Audit Office

12,092 00

University

800 00

Cost of the annual Galleon

23,465 00

Clergy

103,751 00

Land and sea forces all over the Philippines including offensive and defensive operations against Moros—Staff and Material

312,864 00

Salaries, Hospital and Divers Expenses

70,158 00

Remittance in Merchandise to Mexico on account of the Subsidy

140,106 00

₱ 697,455 75

When the merchant citizens of Manila were in clover, they made donations to the Government to cover the deficits, and loans were raised amongst them to defray extraordinary disbursements, such as expeditions against the Mahometans, etc. In the good years, too, the valuation of the merchandise shipped and the corresponding returns were underrated in the sworn declarations, so that an immensely profitable trade was done on a larger scale than was legally permitted. Between 1754 and 1759, in view of the reduced profits, due to the circumstances already mentioned, the Manila merchants prayed the King for a reduction of the royal dues, which had been originally fixed on the basis of the gross returns being equal to double the cost of the merchandise laid down in Acapulco. To meet the case, another Royal Decree was issued confirming the fixed rate of royal dues and disbursements, but in compensation the cargo was thenceforth permitted to include 4,000 pieces of fine linen, without restriction as to measure or value; the sworn value was abolished, and the maximum return value of the whole shipment was raised to one-and-a-half millions of pesos. Hence the total dues and disbursements became equal to 11⅓ per cent. instead of 17 per cent., as heretofore, on the anticipated return value.

In 1763 the Subsidy, together with the Consulado shippersʼ returns, amounted in one voyage to two-and-a-half millions of pesos (vide p. 88). After the independence of Mexico (1819), tribute in kind (tobacco) was, until recently, shipped direct to Spain, and Peninsula coin began to circulate in these Islands (vide Currency).

Consequent on the banishment of the non-christian Chinese in 1755, trade became stagnant. The Philippines now experienced what Spain had felt since the reign of Phillip III., when the expulsion of 900,000 Moorish agriculturists and artisans crippled her home industries, which needed a century and a half to revive. The Acapulco trade was fast on the wane, and the Manila Spanish merchants were anxious to get the local trade into their own hands. Every Chinese shop was closed by Government order, and a joint-stock trading company of Spaniards and half-breeds was formed with a capital of ₱76,500, in shares of ₱500 each. Stores were opened in the business quarter, each under the control of two Spaniards or half-breeds, the total number of shopmen being 21. The object of the company was to purchase clothing and staple goods of all kinds required in the Islands, and to sell the same at 30 per cent. over cost price. Out of the 30 per cent. were to be paid an 8 per cent. tax, a dividend of 10 per cent. per annum to the shareholders, and the remainder was to cover salaries and form a reserve fund for new investments. The company found it impossible to make the same bargains with the Chinese sellers as the Chinese buyers had done, and a large portion of the capital was soon lost. The funds at that date in the Obras Pias amounted to ₱159,000, and the trustees were applied to by the company for financial support, which they refused. The Governor was petitioned; theologians and magistrates were consulted on the subject. The theological objections were overruled by the judicial arguments, and the Governor ordered that ₱130,000 of the Obras Pias funds should be loaned to the company on debentures; nevertheless, within a year the company failed.

A commercial company, known as the “Compañia Guipuzcoana de Carácas,” was then created under royal sanction, and obtained certain privileges. During the term of its existence, it almost monopolized the Philippine-American trade, which was yet carried on exclusively in the State galleons. On the expiration of its charter, about the year 1783, a petition was presented to the Home Government, praying for a renewal of monopolies and privileges in favour of a new trading corporation, to be founded on a modified basis. Consequently, a charter (Real cédula) was granted on March 10, 1785, to a company, bearing the style and title of the “Real Compañia de Filipinas.” Its capital was ₱8,000,000, in 32,000 shares of ₱250 each. King Charles III. took up 4,000 shares; another 3,000 shares were reserved for the friars and the Manila Spanish or native residents, and the balance was allotted in the Peninsula.

The defunct company had engaged solely in the American trade, employing the galleons; its successor left that sphere of commerce and proposed to trade with the East and Europe.

”[6]To the ʼReal Compañia de Filipinasʼ was conceded the exclusive privilege of trade between Spain and the Archipelago, with the exception of the traffic between Manila and Acapulco. Its ships could fly the Royal Standard, with a signal to distinguish them from war-vessels. It was allowed two years, counting from the date of charter, to acquire foreign-built vessels and register them under the Spanish flag, free of fees. It could import, duty free, any goods for the fitting out of its ships, or shipsʼ use. It could take into its service royal naval officers, and, whilst these were so employed, their seniority would continue to count, and in all respects they would enjoy the same rights as if they were serving in the navy. It could engage foreign sailors and officers, always provided that the captain and chief officer were Spaniards. All existing Royal Decrees and Orders, forbidding the importation into the Peninsula of stuffs and manufactured articles from India, China, and Japan were abrogated in favour of this company. Philippine produce, too, shipped to Spain by the company, could enter duty free. The prohibition on direct traffic with China and India was thenceforth abolished in favour of all Manila merchants, and the companyʼs ships in particular could call at Chinese ports. The company undertook to support Philippine agriculture, and to spend, with this object, 4 per cent, of its nett profits.”

In order to protect the companyʼs interests, foreign ships were not allowed to bring goods from Europe to the Philippines, although they could land Chinese and Indian wares.

By the Treaties of Tordesillas and Antwerp (q.v.), the Spaniards had agreed that to reach their Oriental possessions they would take only the Western route, which would be viá Mexico or round Cape Horn. These treaties, however, were virtually quashed by King Charles III. on the establishment of the “Real Compañia de Filipinas.” Holland only lodged a nominal protest when the companyʼs ships were authorized to sail to the Philippines viá the Cape of Good Hope, for the Spaniardsʼ ability to compete had, meanwhile, vastly diminished.

With such important immunities, and the credit which ought to have been procurable by a company with ₱8,000,000 paid-up capital, its operations might have been relatively vast. However, its balance sheet, closed to October 31, 1790 (five-and-a-half years after it started), shows the total nominal assets to be only ₱10,700,194, largely in unrecoverable advances to tillers. The working account is not set out. Although it was never, in itself, a flourishing concern, it brought immense benefit to the Philippines (at the expense of its shareholders) by opening the way for the Colonyʼs future commercial prosperity. This advantage operated in two ways. (1) It gave great impulse to agriculture, which thenceforth began to make important strides. By large sums of money, distributed in anticipation of the 4 per cent, on nett profit, and expended in the rural districts, it imparted life, vigour and development to those germs of husbandry—such as the cultivation of sugar-cane, tobacco, cotton, indigo, pepper, etc.—which, for a long time had been, and to a certain extent are still, the staple dependence of many provinces. (2) It opened the road to final extinction of all those vexatious prohibitions of trade with the Eastern ports and the Peninsula which had checked the energy of the Manila merchants. It was the precursor of free trade—the stepping-stone to commercial liberty in these regions.

The causes of its decline are not difficult to trace. Established as it was on a semi-official basis, all kinds of intrigues were resorted to—all manner of favouritism was besought—to secure appointments, more or less lucrative, in the Great Company. Influential incapacity prevailed over knowledge and ability, and the men intrusted with the direction of the companyʼs operations proved themselves inexperienced and quite unfit to cope with unshackled competition from the outer world. Their very exclusiveness was an irresistible temptation to contrabandists. Manila private merchants, viewing with displeasure monopoly in any form, lost no opportunity of putting obstacles in the way of the company. Again, the willing concurrence of native labourers in an enterprise of magnitude was as impossible to secure then as it is now. The native had a high time at the expense of the company, revelling in the enjoyment of cash advances, for which some gave little, others nothing. Success could only have been achieved by forced labour, and this right was not included in the charter.

In 1825 the company was on the point of collapse, when, to support the tottering fabric, its capital was increased by ₱12,500,000 under Real Cédula of that year, dated June 22. King Charles IV. took 15,772 (₱250) shares of this new issue. But nothing could save the wreck, and finally it was decreed, by Real Cédula of May 28, 1830, that the privileges conceded to the “Real Compañia de Filipinas” had expired—and Manila was then opened to Free Trade with the whole world. It marked an epoch in Philippine affairs.

In 1820 the declared independence of Mexico, acknowledged subsequently by the European Powers, forced Spain to a decision, and direct trade between the Philippines and the mother country became a reluctant necessity. No restrictions were placed on the export to Spain of colonial produce, but value limitations were fixed with regard to Chinese goods. The export from the Philippines to Acapulco, Callao, and other South American ports was limited to ₱750,000 at that date. In the same year (1820) permission was granted for trade between Manila and the Asiatic ports. Twenty-two years afterwards one-third of all the Manila export trade was done with China.

When the galleons fell into disuse, communication was definitely established with Spain by merchant sailing ships viâ the Cape of Good Hope, whilst the opening of the Suez Canal (1869) brought the Philippines within 32 daysʼ journey by steamer from Barcelona.

The voyage viâ the Cape of Good Hope occupied from three to six months; the sailings were less frequent than at the present day, and the journey was invariably attended with innumerable discomforts. It was interesting to hear the few old Spanish residents, in my time, compare their privations when they came by the Cape with the luxurious facilities of later times. What is to-day a pleasure was then a hardship, consequently the number of Spaniards in the Islands was small; their movements were always known. It was hardly possible for a Spaniard to acquire a sum of money and migrate secretly from one island to another, and still less easy was it for him to leave the Colony clandestinely.

The Spaniard of that day who settled in the Colony usually became well known during the period of the service which brought him to the Far East. If, after his retirement from public duty, on the conclusion of his tenure of office, he decided to remain in the Colony, it was often due to his being able to count on the pecuniary support and moral protection of the priests. The idea grew, so that needy Spaniards in the Philippines, in the course of time, came to entertain a kind of socialistic notion that those who had means ought to aid and set up those who had nothing, without guarantee of any kind: “Si hubiera quien me proteja!” was the common sigh—the outcome of Cæsarism nurtured by a Government which discountenanced individual effort. Later on, too, many natives seemed to think that the foreign firms, and others employing large capital, might well become philanthropic institutions, paternally assisting them with unsecured capital. The natives were bred in this moral bondage: they had seen trading companies, established under royal sanction, benefit the few and collapse; they had witnessed extensive works, undertaken por viâ de administracion miscarry in their ostensible objects but prosper in their real intent, namely, the providing of berths for those who lived by their wits.

The patriarchal system was essayed by a wealthy firm of American merchants (Russell & Sturgis) with very disastrous results to themselves. They distributed capital all over the Colony, and the natives abused their support in a most abominable manner. A native, alleging that he had opened up a plantation, would call on the firm and procure advances against future crops after scant inquiry. Having once advanced, it was necessary to continue doing so to save the first loans.

Under the auspices of the late Mr. Nicholas Loney, great impulse was given to the commerce of Yloilo, and, due to his efforts, the Island of Negros was first opened up. His memory is still revered, and he is often spoken of as the original benefactor to the trading community of that district. Russell & Sturgis subsequently extended their operations to that locality. The result was that they were deceived in every direction by the natives, who, instead of bringing in produce to pay off advances, sent their sons to college, built fine houses, bought pianos, jewellery, etc., and in a hundred ways satisfied their pride and love for outward show in a manner never known before, at the expense of the American capitalists. As bankers, the firm enjoyed the unlimited confidence of those classes who had something to lose as well as to gain; hence it is said that, the original partners having withdrawn their money interest, the firm endeavoured to continue the business with a working capital chiefly derived from the funds deposited by private persons at 8 per cent, per annum. All might have gone well but for the rascality of the native agriculturists, who brought about the failure of the house in 1875 by taking loans and delivering no produce. The news amazed everybody. Trade was, for the moment, completely paralyzed. The great firm, which for years had been the mainspring of all Philippine mercantile enterprise, had failed! But whilst many individuals suffered (principally depositors at interest), fifty times as many families to-day owe their financial position to the generosity of the big firm; and I could mention the names of half a dozen real-estate owners in Yloilo Province who, having started with nothing, somehow found themselves possessing comparatively large fortunes at the time of the liquidation.

Consequent on the smash, a reaction set in which soon proved beneficial to the Colony at large. Foreign and Spanish houses of minor importance, which had laboured in the shade during the existence of the great firm, were now able to extend their operations in branches of trade which had hitherto been practically monopolized.

Before Manila was opened to foreign trade, even in a restricted form, special concessions appear to have been granted to a few traders. One writer mentions that a French mercantile house was founded in Manila many years prior to 1787, and that an English firm obtained permission to establish itself in 1809. In 1789 a foreign ship was allowed to enter the port of Manila and to discharge a cargo. This would appear to have been the first. In olden times the demand for ordinary foreign commodities was supplied by the Chinese traders and a few Americans and Persians. During the latter half of the 18th century a Spanish man-of-war occasionally arrived, bringing European manufactures for sale, and loaded a return cargo of Oriental goods.

The Philippine Islands were but little known in the foreign markets and commercial centres of Europe before the middle of the 19th century. Notwithstanding the special trading concessions granted to one foreigner and another from the beginning of last century, it was not until the port of Manila was unrestrictedly opened to resident foreign merchants in 1834 that a regular export trade with the whole mercantile world gradually came into existence.

It is said that whilst the charter of the “Real Compañia de Filipinas” was still in force (1785–1830) a Mr. Butler[7] solicited permission to reside in and open up a trade between Manila and foreign ports; but his petition was held to be monstrous and grievously dangerous to the political security of the Colony; hence it was rejected. The Spaniards had had very good reason to doubt foreign intercourse after their experience of 1738, when they preferred a war with England to a gross abuse of the Asiento contract entered into under the Treaty of Utrecht.[8] Subsequently the American firm already mentioned, Russell & Sturgis, made a request to be allowed to trade, which, having the support of the Gov.-General of the day, was granted; and Mr. Butler, taking advantage of this recent precedent, also succeeded in founding a commercial house in Manila. To these foreigners is due the initiation of the traffic in those products which became the staple trade of the Colony and paved the way for the bulk of the business being, as it is to-day, in the hands of European and American merchants.

The distrustful sentiment of olden times (justifiable in the 18th century) pervaded the Spaniardsʼ commercial and colonial policy up to their last day. Proposed reforms and solicitations for permission to introduce modern improvements were by no means welcomed. In the provinces clerical opposition was often cast against liberal innovations, and in the Government bureaux they were encompassed with obstructive formalities, objections, and delays.[9]

By Royal Ordinance of 1844 strangers were excluded from the interior; in 1857 unrepealed decrees were brought forward to urge the prohibition of foreigners to establish themselves in the Colony; and, as late as 1886, their trading here was declared to be “prejudicial to the material interests of the country.”[10]

The support of the friars referred to in p. 255 became a thing of the past. Colonists had increased tenfold, the means of communication and of exit were too ample for the security of the lenders, who, as members of religious communities, could not seek redress at law, and, moreover, those “lucky hits” which were made by penniless Europeans in former times by pecuniary help “just in the nick of time” were no longer possible, for every known channel of lucrative transaction was in time taken up by capitalists.

It was the capital brought originally to the Philippines through foreign channels which developed the modern commerce of the Colony, and much of the present wealth of the inhabitants engaged in trade and agriculture is indirectly due to foreign enterprise. Negros Island was entirely opened up by foreign capital. In Manila, the fathers of many of the half-castes and pure natives who at this day figure as men of position and standing, commenced their careers as messengers, warehouse-keepers, clerks, etc., of the foreign houses.

There were a great many well-to-do Spaniards in trade, but few whose funds on starting were brought by them from the Peninsula. The first Spanish steamer-owner in the Colony, a baker by trade, owed his prosperity to the support of Russell & Sturgis. One of the richest Spanish merchants (who died in 1894) once kept a little grocerʼs shop, and after the failure of Russell & Sturgis he developed into a merchant and shipowner whose firm became, in time, the largest Spanish house operating in hemp and other produce.

About 14 Spanish firms of a certain importance were established in Manila, Yloilo, and Cebú, in addition to the Europeans trading here and there on the coasts of the Islands. In Manila there were (and are still) two foreign bank branches[11] (one with a sub-branch in Yloilo), three bank agencies, and the Philippine private banking-house of J. M. Tuason & Co.; also the “Banco Español-Filipino,” which was instituted in 1852, with a capital of ₱400,000, in 2,000 shares of ₱200 each. The capital was subsequently increased to ₱600.000.[12] Authorized by charter, it issued notes payable to bearer on demand from ₱10 upwards. The legal maximum limit of note issue was ₱1,200,000, whilst the actual circulation was about ₱100,000 short of that figure. This bank did a very limited amount of very secure business, and it has paid dividends of 12 to 15 per cent.; hence the shares were always at a premium. In 1888, when 12 per cent, dividend was paid, this stock was quoted at ₱420; in 1895 it rose to ₱435. The Obras Pias funds (vide p. 245) constituted the orginal capital of the bank. The new position of this institution, under the (American) Insular Government since 1905, is explained in Chapter xxxi.

The first Philippine bank was opened in Manila by a certain Francisco Rodriguez about the year 1830.

From the conquest up to the year 1857 there was no Philippine coinage. Mexican dollars were the only currency, and in default of subsidiary money these dollars, called pesos, were cut. In 1764 cut money was prohibited, and small Spanish silver and copper coins came to the Islands. In 1799 the Gov.-General forbade the exportation of money, and fixed the peso at 8 reales fuertes and the real at 17 cuartos. Shortly afterwards gold came to the Islands, and was plentiful until 1882. In 1837 other copper coins came from Spain, and the real fuerte was fixed at 20 cuartos. In 1857 the Manila mint was established, pesetas were introduced, five being equal to one peso, and 32 cuartos being equal to one peseta. Contemporaneously the coinage in Spain was 34 cuartos to one peseta and 5 pesetas to one duro—the coin nominally equivalent to the peso—but the duro being subdivided into 20 reales vellon, the colonial real fuerte came to be equivalent to 2½ reales vellon. The evident intention was to have one common nominal basis (peso and duro), but subdivided in a manner to limit the currency of the colonial coinage to its own locality. With pesos, reales, cuartos, maravedis, and ounces of gold, bookkeeping was somewhat complicated; however, the Government accounts were rendered easy by a decree dated January 17, 1857, which fixed pesos and cents for official reckoning. Merchants then adopted this standard. Up to 1860 gold was so abundant that as much as 10 per cent, was paid to exchange an onza of gold (₱16) for silver. In 1878 gold and silver were worth their nominal relative values. Gold, however, has gradually disappeared from the Colony, large quantities having been exported to China. In 1881 the current premium for purchasing gold was 2 per cent., and at the beginning of 1885 as much as 10 per cent. premium was paid for Philippine gold of the Isabella II or any previous coinage. The gold currency of Alfonso XII. (1875–85) was always of less intrinsic value than the coin of earlier date, the difference averaging about 2 per cent. At the present day gold could only be obtained in very limited quantities at about the same rate as sight drafts on Europe. Philippine gold pieces are rare.

In 1883 Mexican dollars of a later coinage than 1877 were called in, and a term was fixed after which they would cease to be legal tender. In 1885 decimal bronze coins were introduced. In July, 1886, a decree was published calling in all foreign and Chinese chop dollars[13] within six months, after which date the introducer of such coin into the Colony would be subject to the penalty of a fine equal to 20 per cent. of the value imported, the obligation to immediately re-export the coin, and civil action for the misdemeanour. At the expiration of the six months the Treasury was not in a position to effect the conversion of the foreign medium in private hands prior to the publication of the decree. The term was extended, but in time the measure became practically void, so far as the legal tender was concerned. However, the importation of Mexican dollars was still prohibited; but, as they remained current in Manila at par value, whilst in Hong-Kong and Singapore they could be bought for 8 to 12 per cent, (and in 1894 25 per cent.) less than Manila dollars, large quantities were smuggled into the Colony. It is estimated that in the year 1887 the clandestine introduction of Mexican dollars into Manila averaged about ₱150,000 per month. I remember a Chinaman was caught in September, 1887, with ₱164,000, imported in cases declared to contain matches. In 1890 there was a “boom” in the silver market. Owing to the action of the American Silverites, the Washington Treasury called for a monthly supply of 4,000,000 of silver dollars; consequently sight rate on London in Hong-Kong touched 3s. 10¼d., and in Manila rose to 3s. 10½d., but a rapid reaction set in when the Treasury demand ceased. In 1895 we heard in Manila that the Government were about to coin Philippine pesos and absolutely demonetize Mexicans as a medium in the Islands. But this measure was never carried out, probably because the Government had not the necessary cash with which to effect the conversion. Some few Philippine peso pieces were, however, put into circulation concurrently with the Mexican pesos.

In June, 1903, the ss. Don Juan, owned by Francisco L. Rojas, of Manila, took on board in Hong-Kong about $400,000 Mexicans (i.e., pesos) for the purpose of smuggling them into Manila. On board there were also, as passengers, a Señor Rodoreda and a crowd of Chinese coolies. The vessel caught fire off the west coast of Luzon. The captain, the crew, and the Spanish passenger abandoned the ship in boats, leaving the Chinese to their awful fate. A steam launch was sent alongside and saved a few dollars, whilst the despairing Chinese became victims to the flames and sharks. The shipʼs burnt-out hull was towed to Manila Bay. The remaining dollars were confiscated, and the captain and chief engineer were prosecuted.

The universal monetary crisis due to the depreciation of silver was experienced here, and the Government made matters still worse by coining half-pesos and 20-cent pieces, which had not the intrinsic value expressed, and exchange consequently fell still lower. In September, 1887, a Madrid periodical, Correo de España, stated that the bastard Philippine 50-cent pieces were rejected in Madrid even by money-changers. In May, 1888, the peso was quoted at 3s.2¾d. (over 19 per cent. below nominal value), and shippers to the Colony, who had already suffered considerably by the loss on exchange, had their interests still further impaired by this action of the Treasury. For Exchange Fluctuations vide Chap, xxxi., “Trade Statistics.”

A Custom-house was established and port opened in Zamboanga (Mindanao Is.) for direct communication with abroad in 1831; those of Sual (Pangasinán) and Yloilo (Panay Is.) in 1855, and that of Cebú in 1863. The Custom-house of Sual was subsequently abolished, and the port having been closed to direct foreign trade, the place has lost its former importance, and lapsed into the state of a lifeless village.

Special permission could be obtained for ships to load in and sail direct from harbours where no Custom-houses were established, on a sum of money being lodged beforehand at the Caja de Depósitos in Manila, to cover duties, dues, etc., to be assessed.

After the opening of the port of Yloilo, three years elapsed before a cargo of produce sailed thence to a foreign port. Since then it has gradually become the shipping centre for the crops (chiefly sugar and sapanwood) raised in the islands of Panay and Negros. From about the year 1882 to 1897 it attracted a portion of what was formerly the Cebú trade. Since then the importance of Yloilo has diminished. Its development as a port was entirely due to foreigners, and considerably aided agriculture in the Visayas Islands. Heretofore the small output of sugar (which had never reached 1,000 tons in any year) had to be sent up to Manila. The expense of local freight, brokerages, and double loading and discharging left so little profit to the planters that the results were then quite discouraging. None but wooden sugar-cane mills were employed at that time, but since then many small steam-power factories have been erected (vide Sugar). The produce shipped in Yloilo[14] was principally carried to the United States in American sailing-ships.

For figures relating to Chief Exports from the various ports, vide Chap. xxxi., “Trade Statistics.”

Most of the carrying Import trade was in the hands of subsidized Spanish steamer-owners, whilst the larger portion of the Exports was conveyed in foreign vessels, which arrived in ballast from Eastern ports where they had left cargoes.

Smuggling was carried on to a considerable extent for years, and in 1891 a fresh stimulus was given to contraband by the introduction of a Protectionist Tariff, which came into force on April 1 of that year, and under which Spanish goods brought in Spanish ships were allowed to enter free of duty.[15]

In order to evade the payment of the Manila Port Works Tax (q.v.), for which no value was given, large quantities of piece-goods for Manila were shipped from Europe to Yloilo, passed through the Custom-house there and re-shipped in inter-island steamers to Manila. In 1890 some two-thirds of the Yloilo foreign imports were for re-shipment.

The circumstances which directly led to the opening of Zamboanga (in 1831) as a commercial port are interesting when it is remembered that Mindanao Island is still quasi-independent in the interior—inhabited by races unconquered by the Spaniards, and where agriculture by civilized settlers is as yet nascent. It appears that the Port of Joló (Sulu Is.) had been, for a long time, frequented by foreign ships, whose owners or officers (chiefly British) unscrupulously supplied the Sulus with sundry manufactured goods, including arms of warfare, much to the detriment of Spanish interests there, in exchange for mother-of-pearl, pearls, gums, etc. The Spaniards claimed suzerain rights over the island, but were not strong enough to establish and protect a Custom-house, so they imposed the regulation that ships loading in Joló should put in at Zamboanga for clearance to foreign ports. The foreigners who carried on this illicit traffic protested against a sailing-ship being required to go out of her homeward course about one hundred and twenty miles for the mere formality of customs clearance. A British ship (and perhaps many before her) sailed straight away from Joló, in defiance of the Spaniards, and the matter was then brought to the notice of the British Government, who intimated that either Joló must be declared a free port or a Custom-house must be established there. The former alternative was chosen by the Spaniards, but Zamboanga remained an open port for foreign trade which very rarely came.

The supreme control of merchant shipping and naval forces was vested in the same high official. No foreigner was permitted to own a vessel trading between Spain and her colonies, or between one Spanish colony and another, or doing a coasting trade within the Colony. This difficulty was however readily overcome, and reduced to a mere ineffective formality, by foreigners employing Spaniards to become nominal owners of their vessels. Thus a very large portion of the inter-island steamer carrying-trade was virtually conducted by foreigners, chiefly British.

Mail-steamers, subsidized by the Government, left the capital every fortnight for the different islands, and there was a quarterly Pacific Mail Service to the Ladrone Islands.[16] Regular mails arrived from, and left for, Europe every fortnight, but as there were intermediate opportunities of remitting and receiving correspondence, really about three mails were received and three despatched every month. The mail-route for Europe is viâ Singapore, but there were some seven or eight sailings of steamers per month between Manila and Hong-Kong (the nearest foreign colony—640 miles), whence mails were forwarded to Europe, Australia, Japan, the United States, etc.

Between the capital and several ports in the adjacent provinces there was a daily service of passenger and light cargo-steamers.

Between Yloilo and the adjoining Province of Antique, the District of Concepcion and the Islands of Negros and Cebú, there were some half-dozen small steamers, belonging to Filipinos and Spaniards, running regularly with passengers and merchandise, whilst in the sugar-producing season—from January to May—they were fully freighted with cargoes of this staple article.

The carrying-trade in sailing craft between the Islands was chiefly in the hands of natives and half-castes. There were also a few Spanish sailing-ship owners, and in the Port of Yloilo a few schooners (called lorchas), loading from 40 to 100 tons of sugar, were the property of foreigners, under the nominal ownership of Spanish subjects, for the reasons mentioned in the preceding page.

The principal exporters employ middlemen for the collecting of produce, and usually require their guarantee for sales at credit to the provincial purchasers of imports. These middlemen are always persons of means, born in the Colony, and, understanding both the intricacies of the native character and the European mode of transacting business, they serve as very useful—almost indispensable—intermediaries.

It was only when the crisis in the Sugar trade affected the whole world, and began to be felt in the Philippines in 1884, that the majority of the natives engaged in that industry slowly began to understand that the current price of produce fluctuated according to supply and demand. Before transactions were so thoroughly in the hands of middlemen, small producers used to take their samples to the purchasers, “to see how much they cared to pay” as they expressed it—the term “market price” seldom being used or understood in the provinces, because of the belief that prices rose or fell according to the caprice or generosity of the foreign buyer. Accustomed to deal, during the first centuries of the Spanish occupation, with the Chinese, the natives, even among themselves, rarely have fixed prices in retail dealings, and nearly every quotation in small traffic is taken only as a fancy price, subject to considerable rebate before closing. The Chinese understand the native pretty well; they study his likings, and they so fix their prices that an enormous reduction can be made for his satisfaction. He goes away quite contented, whilst the Chinaman chuckles over having got the best of the bargain. Even the import houses, when they advertise their goods for sale, seldom state the prices; it seems as if all regarded the question of price as a shifty one.

The system of giving credit in the retail trade of Manila, and a few provincial towns, was the ruin of many shopkeepers. There were few retailers who had fixed prices; most of them fluctuated according to the race, or nationality, of the intending customer. The Chinese dealer made no secret about his price being merely nominal. If on the first offer the hesitating purchaser were about to move away, he would call after him and politely invite him to haggle over the bargain.[17]

The only real basis of wealth in the Colony is the raw material obtained by Agriculture, and Forest produce. Nothing was done by the conquerors to foster the Industrial Arts, and the Manufacturing Trades were of insignificant importance. Cigars were the only manufactured export staple, whilst perfumes, a little cordage, and occasionally a parcel of straw or finely-split bamboo hats were shipped.

In the Provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga, split-cane and Nito (lygodium) hats, straw mats, and cigar-cases are made. Some of the finest worked cigar-cases require so much time for making that they cost up to ₱20 each. Hats can only be obtained in quantities by shippers through native middlemen.

In Yloilo Province a rough cloth called Sinamay is woven[18] from selected hemp fibre. Also in this province and that of Antique (Panay Is.), Piña muslin of pure pine-leaf fibre and Husi of mixed pine-leaf and hemp filament are made. Ilocos Province has a reputation in these Islands for its woollen and dyed cotton fabrics. Taal (Batangas) also produces a special make of cotton stuffs. Pasig, on the river of that name, and Sulípan (Pampanga), are locally known for their rough pottery, and Cápiz and Romblon for their sugar-bags.

Paete, at the extreme east of the Laguna de Bay, is the centre for white-wood furniture and wood-carving. In Mariquina, near Manila, wooden clogs and native leather shoes are made. Santa Cruz (Manila) is the gold and silver-workersʼ quarter. The native women in nearly all the civilized provinces produce some very handsome specimens of embroidery on European patterns. Mats to sleep upon (petates) straw bags (bayones), baskets (tampipes), alcohol, bamboo furniture, buffalo-hide leather, wax candles, soap, etc., have their centres of manufacture on a small scale. The first Philippine brewery was opened October 4, 1890, in San Miguel (Manila) by Don Enrique Barretto, to whom was granted a monopoly by the Spanish Government for twenty years. It is now chiefly owned by a Philippine half-caste, Don Pedro P. Rojas (resident in Paris), who formed it into a company which has become a very flourishing concern. Philippine capital alone supports these manufactures. The traffic and consumption being entirely local, the consequent increase of wealth to the Colony is the economized difference between them and imported articles. These industries bring no fresh capital to the Colony, by way of profits, but they contribute to check its egress by the returns of agriculture changing hands to the local manufacturer instead of to the foreign merchant.

Want of cheap means of land-transport has, so far, been the chief drawback to Philippine manufactures, which are of small importance in the total trade of the Colony.

Philippine railways were first officially projected in 1875, when a Royal Decree of that year, dated August 6, determined the legislative basis for works of that nature. The Inspector of Public Works was instructed to form a general plan of a railway system in Luzon Island. The projected system included (1) a line running north from Manila through the Provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, and Pangasinán. (2) A line running south from Manila, along the Laguna de Bay shore and eastwards through Tayabas, Camarines, and Albay Provinces. (3) A branch from this line on the Laguna de Bay shore to run almost due south to Batangas. The lines to be constructed were classed under two heads, viz.:—(1) Those of general public utility to be laid down either by the State or by subsidized companies, the concession in this case being given by the Home Government; and (2) those of private interest, for the construction of which concessions could be granted by the Gov.-General.

In 1885 the Government solicited tenders for the laying of the first line of railway from Manila to Dagúpan—a port on the Gulf of Lingayen, and the only practicable outlet for produce from the Province of Pangasinán and Tárlac District. The distance by sea is 216 miles—the railway line 196 kilometres (say 120 miles). The subsidy offered by the Government amounted to about ₱7,650 per mile, but on three occasions no tender was forthcoming either from Madrid or in Manila, where it was simultaneously solicited. Subsequently a modified offer was made of a guaranteed annual interest of 8 per cent, on a maximum outlay of ₱4,964,473.65, and the news was received in Manila in October, 1886, that the contract had been taken up by a London firm of contractors. The prospectus of “The Manila Railway Co., Ltd,” was issued in February, 1888. The line was to be completed within four years from July 21, 1887, and at the end of ninety-nine years the railway and rolling-stock were to revert to the Spanish Government without compensation. The rails, locomotives (36 tons and 12 tons each), tenders, coaches, waggons, and ironwork for bridges all came from England. The first stone of the Central Station in Manila (Bilibid Road, Tondo) was laid by Gov.-General Emilio Terrero on July 31, 1887. In 1890 the original contractors failed, and only the first section of 28 miles was opened to traffic on March 24, 1891.

Many other circumstances, however, contributed to delay the opening of the whole line. Compensation claims were very slowly agreed to; the Government engineers slightly altered the plans; the companyʼs engineers could not find a hard strata in the bed of the Calumpit River[19] (a branch of the Rio Grande de Pampanga) on which to build the piers of the bridge; and lastly the Spanish authorities, who had direct intervention in the work, found all sorts of excuses for postponing the opening of the line. When the Civil Director was applied to, he calmly replied that he was going to the baths, and would think about it. Finally, on appeal to the highest authority, Gov.-General Despujols himself went up to Tárlac, and in an energetic speech, reflecting on the dilatoriness of his subordinates, he declared the first Philippine railway open to traffic on November 23, 1892. For about a year and a half passengers and goods were ferried across the Calumpit River in pontoons. Large caissons had to be sunk in the river in which to build the piers for the iron bridge, which cost an enormous sum of money in excess of the estimate. Later on heavy rains caused a partial inundation of the line, the embankment of which yielded to the accumulated mass of water, and traffic to Dagúpan was temporarily suspended. The total outlay on the line far exceeded the companyʼs original calculation, and to avert a financial collapse fresh capital had to be raised by the issue of 6 per cent. Prior Lien Mortgage Bonds, ranking before the debenture stock. The following official quotations on the London Stock Exchange will show the public appreciation of the Manila Railway Companyʼs shares and bonds:—

OFFICIAL QUOTATIONS.

December.

7% Cum. Pref. £10 Shares.

6% Deb. £100 Stock.

6% Prior Lien Mort. Bonds, Series A., £100.

6% Prior Lien Mort. Bonds, Series B., £100.

£

£

£

£

1893

2

49

98

87

1894

1

32

104

91

1895

½

29

107

85

1896

¼

22

96

64

1897

¼

19

101

75

1898

1¾

45

110

98

1899

1¾

33½

101½

87½

1900

1½

42

103½

97

1901

2

55

108

102

1902

1½

52

109

102

1903

1½

58

108

104

1904

3½

83

110

107

1905

4¾

117

110

106

Up to July 1, 1905, the interest has been regularly paid on the Prior Lien Bonds. No interest has been paid on the debentures (up to December, 1905) since July 1, 1891, nor on the 7 per cent. Cumulative Preference Shares since July 1, 1890. On January 26, 1895, these shares were officially quoted, for sellers, 0.

Including the termini in Manila (Tondo) and Dagúpan, there are 29 stations and 16 bridges along the main line, over which the journey occupies eight hours. There are two branch lines, viz.:—from Bigaá to Cabanatúan (Nueva Ecija), and from Angeles (Pampanga) to Camp Stotsenberg. From the Manila terminus there is a short line (about a mile) running down to the quay in Binondo for goods traffic only. The country through which this line passes is flat, and has large natural resources, the development of which—without a railway—had not been feasible owing to the ranges of mountains—chiefly the Cordillera of Zambales—which run parallel to the coast.

The railway is ably managed, but when I travelled on it in 1904 much of the rolling-stock needed renewal.

In 1890, under Royal Order No. 508, dated June 11 of that year, a 99 yearsʼ concession was granted to a British commercial firm in Manila to lay a 21-mile line of railway, without subsidy, from Manila to Antipolo, to be called the “Centre of Luzon Railway.” The work was to be commenced within one year and finished within two years. The basis of the anticipated traffic was the conveyance of pilgrims to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Voyage and Peace (vide p. 184); but, moreover, the proposed line connected the parishes of Dilao (then 4,380 pop.), Santa Ana (then 2,115 pop.), Mariquina (then 10,000 pop.), Cainta (then 2,300 pop.), and Taytay (then 6,500 pop.)—branching to Pasig and Angono—with Antipolo (then 3,800; now 2,800 pop.). The estimated outlay was about ₱1,000,000, but the concession was abandoned. The project has since been revived under American auspices.

Under Spanish government there was a land Telegraph Service from Manila to all civilized parts of Luzon Island—also in Panay Island from Cápiz to Yloilo, and in Cebú Island from the city of Cebú across the Island and up the west coast as far north as Tuburan. There was a land-line from Manila to Bolinao (Zambales), from which point a submarine cable was laid in April, 1880, by the Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company, Ltd., whereby Manila was placed in direct telegraphic communication with the rest of the world. For this service the Spanish Government paid the company ₱4,000 a month for a period of 10 years, which expired in June, 1890. In April, 1898, the same company detached the cable from Bolinao and carried it on to Manila in the s.s. Sherard Osborn, 207 nautical miles having been added to the cable for the purpose. In return for this service the Spanish Government gave the company certain exclusive rights and valuable concessions. In May, 1898, the American Admiral Dewey ordered the Manila-Hong-Kong cable to be cut, but the connection was made good again after the Preliminaries of Peace with Spain were signed (August 12, 1898). Cable communication was suspended, therefore, from May 2 until August 21 of that year.

In 1897 another submarine cable was laid by the above company, under contract with the Spanish Government, connecting Manila with the Southern Islands of Panay and Cebú (Tuburan). The Manila-Panay cable was also cut by order of Admiral Dewey (May 23, 1898), but after August 12, under an arrangement made between the American and Spanish Governments, it was re-opened on a neutral basis, and the companyʼs own staff worked it direct with the Manila public, instead of through the medium of Spanish officials.

Since the American occupation a new cable connecting the Islands with the United States has been laid (opened July 4, 1903), whilst a network of submarine and land-wires has been established throughout the Archipelago.

Owing to their geographical position, none of the Philippine ports are on the line of the regular mail and passenger steamers en route elsewhere; hence, unlike Hong-Kong, Singapore, and other Eastern ports, there is little profit to be derived from a cosmopolitan floating population. Due, probably, to the tedious Customs regulations—the obligation of every person to procure, and carry on his person, a document of identification—the requirement of a passport to enter the Islands, and complicated formalities to recover it on leaving—the absence of railroads and hotels in the interior and the difficulties of travelling—this Colony, during the Spanish régime, was apparently outside the region of tourists and “globe-trotters.” Indeed the Philippine Archipelago formed an isolated settlement in the Far East which traders or pleasure-seekers rarely visited en passant to explore and reveal to the world its natural wealth and beauty. It was a Colony comparatively so little known that, forty years ago, fairly educated people in England used to refer to it as “The Manillas,” whilst up to the end of Spanish rule old residents, on visiting Singapore and Hong-Kong, were often highly amused by the extravagant notions which prevailed, even there, concerning the Philippines. But the regulations above referred to were an advantage to the respectable resident, for they had the desirable effect of excluding many of those nondescript wanderers and social outcasts who invade other colonies.

Since the Revolution there has been a large influx of American tourists to the Islands, arriving in the army-transports, passage free, to see “the new possession,” as the Archipelago is popularly called in the United States.

[1] According to Zúñiga (“Hist. de Philipinas”), the ancient inhabitants of Luzon Island had a kind of shell-money—the Siguey shell. Siguey shells are so plentiful at the present day that they are used by children to play at Sunca.

[2] Situado is not literally “Subsidy,” but it was tantamount to that.

[3] The values of shipments by law established were little regarded.

[4] The Obras Pias (i.e., Pious Works) funds were legacies left exclusively by Spaniards, chiefly pious persons, for separate beneficent objects. Two-thirds of the capital were to be lent at interest, to stimulate trade abroad, and one-third was to be a reserve against possible losses. When the accumulated interest on the original capital had reached a certain amount, it was to be applied to the payment of masses for the repose of the donorsʼ souls.

The peculations of the Gov.-General Pedro Manuel de Arandia (1754–59) permitted him to amass a fortune of a quarter of a million pesos in less than five yearsʼ service, which sum he left to pious works. On the secession of Mexico (in 1819) the Government took over the Obras Pias funds, to control their administration. There is reason to believe that many of the donations were the fruits of the corrupt practices of high officials, the legacies being for their benefit hereafter.

The funds were severally administered by the four boards of San Francisco, Santo Domingo, the Recoletos and Santa Isabel, controlled by one general board of management. In 1850 the Spanish Government, in the exercise of its right (Real patronato) to intervene in all ecclesiastical administrative affairs, ordered these funds to be transferred to a banking establishment entitled the “Banco Español de Isabel II.,” more generally known as the “Banco Español-Filipino” (q.v.). The Obras Pias funds constituted the original capital of this bank. The board, presided over by the Archbishop, still continued to control the manipulation of these funds by the bank, the income derived from the original capital having to be paid out in accordance with the wills of the several founders of the fund. Up to the close of Spanish rule, money was lent out of this fund on mortgages in and near Manila, at six per cent. interest per annum.

[5] It happened at this date that the dues, etc., equalled 17 per cent. on the anticipated 1,000,000 pesos, but they were not computed by percentage. The Royal Dues were a fixed sum since about the year 1625, so that when the legal value of the shipments was much less, the dues and other expenses represented a much higher percentage. The charges were as follows, viz.:—

Royal Dues.

₱160,000

Port Dues at Acapulco.

2,000

Disbursements paid in Manila on the shipʼs departure.

7,500

Port and Anchorage Dues on arrival in Philippines.

500

₱170,000

[6] “La Libertad del comercio de Filipinas,” by Manuel Azcárraga.

[7] Mr. John B. Butler, who was born in 1800, resided many years in Manila, and married a native wife. He died on October 4, 1855, in London, whence his mortal remains were brought to Manila in 1860, at the instance of his widow, and interred in Saint Augustineʼs Church, near an altar on the left side of the nave. The site is marked by a marble inscribed slab.

[8] The Peace of Utrecht, signed in 1713, settled the succession of Philip, the French Dauphin, to the Spanish throne, whilst among the concessions which England gained for herself under this treaty was a convention with Spain, known as the Asiento contract. This gave the British the right to send one shipload of merchandise yearly to the Spanish colonies of America. Nevertheless, many ships went instead of one. An armed contest ensued (1739–42), and although the Spaniards lost several galleons in naval combats undertaken by Admiral Vernon and Commodore Anson, the British losses were not inconsiderable.

So prejudicial to the vital interests of Spain was the abuse of the ceded right held to be that the earliest efforts of the first new Cabinet under Ferdinand VI. were engaged in a revision of the commercial differences between that country and England. England was persuaded to relinquish the Asiento contract in exchange for advantages of greater consideration in another direction.

About a century ago England took over from Spain Nootka Sound, a station on the Pacific coast, where a nourishing fur trade was carried on by British settlers. The cession was accorded under a solemn promise not to trade thence with the Spanish colonies of South America.

[9] For example: vide “Memoria leida por el Secretario de la Cámara de Comercio de Manila, Don F. de P. Rodoreda, en 28 de Marzo de 1890,” p. 6 (published in Manila by Diaz Puertas y Compañia).

It remarks: “Jurado Mercantil—El expediente siguió la penosa perigrinacion de nuestro pesado y complicado engranaje administrativo y llevaba ya muy cerca de dos años empleados en solo recorrer dos de los muchos Centros consultivos á que debía ser sometido, etc.”

[10] The following is an extract from the text of the preamble to a Decree, dated March 19, 1886, relative to the organization of the Philippine Exhibition held in Madrid, signed by the Colonial Minister, Don German Gamazo:

“Con él se logrará que la gran masa de numerario que sale de la Metrópoli para adquirir en paises extranjeros algodon, azúcar, cacao, tabaco y otros productos vaya á nuestras posesiones de Oceania donde comerciantes extranjeros los acaparan con daño evidente de los intereses materiales del pais.”

[11] (1) The “Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation,” incorporated in 1867. Position on June 30, 1905: Capital all paid up, $10,000,000 (Mex.): sterling reserve, £1,000,000; silver reserve, $8,500,000 (Mex.); reserve liability of proprietors, $10,000,000 (Mex.). (2) The “Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China,” incorporated in 1853. Position on December 31, 1904: Capital all paid up, £800,000; reserve fund, £875,000; reserve liability of proprietors, £800,000.

[12] “Banco Español-Filipino.” Position on June 30, 1905: Capital, ₱1,500,000; reserve fund, ₱900,000. It has a branch in Yloilo.

[13] Chop dollars are those defaced by private Chinese marks.

[14] Yloilo had its “Gremio de Comerciantes” (Board of Trade), constituted by Philippine General-Government Decree of September 5, 1884, and Manila had Chamber of Commerce. Since the Revolution Yloilo has also a Chamber of Commerce, and Manila several of different nationalities.

[15] Vide Board of Trade Journal (British) for February and April, 1891.

[16] Manila to Yap, 1,160 miles. Yap to Ponapé, 1,270 miles. Ponapé to Apra, 880 miles.

[17] “Vd cuidado de regatear,” was the invitation to haggle.

[18] Weaving was taught to the natives by a Spanish priest about the year 1595.

[19] The extra delay was quite a year, and the cause having become common talk among the natives in the neighbourhood, many of them suggested that an evil spirit prevented the foundations of the bridge being built. They proposed to propitiate him by throwing live children into the river; consequently many mothers migrated with their infants until they heard that the difficulty was overcome.

Agriculture

In years gone by, before so many colonies were opened up all over the world, the few who, in the Philippines, had the courage to face the obstacles to agriculture in a primitive country made fairly large fortunes in the main staple products—sugar and hemp. Prices were then treble what they have since been, labour was cheaper, because the needs of the labouring-class were fewer, and, owing to the limited demand and the rarity of epidemic cattle-disease, buffaloes for tilling were worth one-eighth of what they cost at the present day. Although the amount of trade was vastly less, those natives engaged in it were in sounder positions than the same class generally is now.

Within the last few years there are hundreds who have embarked in agricultural enterprises with only one-tenth of the capital necessary to make them successful. A man would start planting with only a few hundred pesos and a tract of cleared land, without title-deeds, and consequently of no negotiable value. In the first year he inevitably fell into the hands of money-lenders, who reasonably stipulated for a very high rate of interest in view of the absence of guarantees. The rates of interest on loans under such circumstances varied as a rule from 12 to 24 per cent. I know a Visayo native who, by way of interest, commission, and charges, demanded as much as 30 per cent. I need not refer to the isolated cases which have come to my knowledge of over 100 per cent. being charged. As at the present day agriculture in the Philippines does not yield 30 per cent. nett profit, it naturally follows that the money-lender at this rate has to attach the estate upon which he has made loans, and finally becomes owner of it. In the meantime, the tiller who has directed the labour of converting a tract of land into a plantation, simply gets a living out of it. Some few were able to disencumber their property by paying, year by year, not only the whole of the nett returns from the plantation, but also the profits on small traffic in which they may have speculated. It seldom happened, however, that the native planter was sufficiently loyal to his financial supporter to do this: on the contrary, although he might owe thousands of pesos, he would spend money in feasts, and undertake fresh obligations of a most worthless nature. He would buy on credit, to be paid for after the next crop, a quantity of paltry jewellery from the first hawker who passed his way, or let the cash slip out of his hands at the cock-pit or the gambling-table.

Even the most provident seemed to make no reserve for a bad year, and the consequence was that in 1887 I think I may safely assert that if all the Philippine planters had had to liquidate within twelve months, certainly 50 per cent. of them would have been insolvent. One of the most hazardous businesses in the Colony is that of advancing to the native planters, unless it be done with the express intention of eventually becoming owner of an estate, which is really often the case.

The conditions of land-tenure in Luzon Island under Spanish rule stood briefly thus:—The owners either held the lands by virtue of undisturbed possession or by transferable State grant. The tenants—the actual tillers—were one degree advanced beyond the state of slave cultivators, inasmuch as they could accumulate property and were free to transfer their services. They corresponded to that class of farmers known in France as métayers and amongst the Romans of old as Coloni Partiarii, with no right in the land, but entitled to one-half of its produce. Like the ancients, they had to perform a number of services to the proprietor which were not specified in writing, but enforced by usage. Tenants of this kind recently subsisted—and perhaps still do—in Scotland (vide “Wealth of Nations,” by Adam Smith, edition of 1886, p. 160). Leases for long periods were exceptional, and I never heard of compensation being granted for improvements of Philippine estates. The conditions in Visayas are explained on p. 274.

The value of land suitable for SUGAR-CANE growing varies considerably, being dependent on proximity to a port, or sugar-market, and on quality, facilities for drainage, transport, site, boundaries, etc.

In the Province of Bulacan, land which in a great measure is exhausted and yields only an average of 21 tons of cane per acre, was valued (prior to the American occupation), on account of its nearness to the capital, at ₱115 per acre. In Pampanga Province, a little further north, the average value of land, yielding, say, 30 tons of cane per acre, was ₱75 per acre. Still further north, in the Province of Nueva Ecija, whence transport to the sugar-market is difficult and can only be economically effected in the wet season by river, land producing an average of 35 tons of cane per acre would hardly fetch more than ₱30 per acre. Railroads will no doubt eventually level these values.

In reality, Bulacan land is priced higher than its intrinsic value as ascertained by yield and economy of produce-transport. The natives are, everywhere in the Colony, more or less averse to alienating real estate inherited from their forefathers, and as Bulacan is one of the first provinces where lands were taken up, centuries ago, an attachment to the soil is particularly noticeable. In that province, as a rule, only genuine necessity, or a fancy price far in excess of producing-worth, would induce an owner to sell his land.

Land grants were obtainable from the Spanish Government by proving priority of claim, but the concession was only given after wearisome delay, and sometimes it took years to obtain the title-deeds. Then large capital was requisite to utilize the property, the clearance often costing more than the virgin tract, whilst the eviction of squatters was a most difficult undertaking: “Jʼy suis et jʼy reste,” thought the squatter, and the grantee had no speedy redress at law. On the other hand, the soil is so wonderfully rich and fertile that the study of geoponics and artificial manuring was never thought essential.

The finest sugar-cane producing island in the Archipelago is Negros, in the Visaya district, between N. latitudes 9° and 11°. The area of the Island is about equal to that of Porto Rico, but for want of capital is only about one-half opened up. Nevertheless, it sent to the Yloilo market in 1892 over 115,000 tons of raw sugar—the largest crop it has yet produced. In 1850 the Negros sugar yield was 625 tons.

The price of uncleared land there, suitable for sugar-cane cultivation, in accessible spots, was, say, ₱35 per acre, and cleared land might be considered worth about ₱70 per acre. The yield of sugar-cane may be estimated at 40 tons per acre on the estates opened up within the last ten years, whilst the older estates produce per acre nearly 30 tons of cane, but of a quality which gives such a high-class sugar that it compensates for the decrease in quantity, taking also into account the economy of manipulating and transporting less bulk.

Otaheiti cane (yellow) is generally planted in Luzon, whilst Java cane (red) is most common in the southern islands. Tubo is the Tagálog generic name for sugar-cane.

The following equivalents of Philippine land-measures may be useful, viz.:—

1 Quiñon

= 40,000 square varas = 10,000 square brazas.

= 5 cabans = 6.9444 acres = 2.795 hectares.

1 Balita

= 4,000 square varas = 1,000 square brazas.

= .69444 acre = .2795 hectare.

1 Loan

= 400 square varas = 100 square brazas.

= .06944 acre = .02795 hectare.

1 Square Braza

= 3.3611 square English yards.

= 4,355.98 square English inches.

1 Square Vara

= .8402 square English yards.

= 1,088.89 square English inches.

1 Acre

= 5,760 square varas = 1.44 balitas.

= .72 caban = .404671 hectare.

The average yield of sugar per acre is about as follows, viz.:—

Pampanga Province, say @ 6½% extraction

= 1.95 Tons of Sugar.

Other Northern provinces, say @ 5½% extraction

= 1.65 Tons of Sugar.

Negros Island (with almost exclusively European mills), say @ 7½% extraction

= 2.75 Tons of Sugar.

From Yloilo the sugar is chiefly exported to the United States, where there is a demand for raw material only from the Philippines for the purpose of refining, whilst from Manila a certain quantity of crystal-grain sugar is sent, ready for consumption, to Spain. Consequently, in the Island of Luzon, a higher class of machinery is employed. In 1890 there were five private estates, with vacuum-pans erected, and one refinery, near Manila, (at Malabón). Also in 1885 the Government acquired a sugar-machinery plant with vacuum-pan for their model estate at San Ramon in the Province of Zamboanga; the sugar turned out at the trial of the plant in my presence was equal to 21 D. S. of that year. Convict labour was employed. During the Rebellion half the machinery on this estate was destroyed or stolen.

It is a rare thing to see other than European mills in the Island of Negros, whilst in every other sugar-producing province roughly-made vertical cattle-mills of wood, or stone (wood in the south and stone in the north), as introduced by the Chinese, are still in use. With one exception (at Cabanatúan, Nueva Ecija), which was a failure, the triple-effect refining-plant is altogether unknown in this Colony.

The sugar-estates generally are small. There are not a dozen estates in the whole Colony which produce over 1,000 tons of raw sugar each per season. An estate turning out 500 tons of sugar is considered a large one. I know of one estate which yielded 1,500 tons, and another 1,900 tons in a good season. In the Island of Negros there is no port suitable for loading ships of large tonnage, and the crops have to be carried to the Yloilo market, in small schooners loading from 40 to 100 tons (vide p. 263). From the estates to the coast there are neither canals nor railroads, and the transport is by buffalo-cart.

The highest tablelands are used for cane-planting, which imperatively requires a good system of drainage. In Luzon Island the output of sugar would be far greater if more attention were paid to the seasons. The cane should be cut in December, and the milling should never last over ten weeks. The new cane-point setting should be commenced a fortnight after the milling begins, and the whole operation of manufacture and planting for the new crop should be finished by the middle of March. A deal of sugar is lost by delay in each branch of the field labour. In the West Indies the planters set the canes out widely, leaving plenty of space for the development of the roots, and the ratoons serve up to from five to twenty years. In the Philippines the setting of cane points is renewed each year, with few exceptions, and the planting is comparatively close.

Bulacan sugar-land, being more exhausted than Pampanga land, will not admit of such close planting, hence Bulacan land can only find nourishment for 14,300 points per acre, whilst Pampanga land takes 17,800 points on average computation.

In Negros, current sugar is raised from new lands (among the best) and from lands which are hardly considered suitable for cane-planting. Good lands are called “new” for three crops in Negros, and during that period the planting is close, to choke the cane and prevent it becoming aqueous by too rapid development.

In the Northern Philippines “clayed” sugar (Spanish, Azúcar de pilon) is made. The massecuite, when drawn from the pans, is turned into earthenware conic pots containing about 150 lb. weight. When the mass has set, the pot is placed over a jar (Tagalog, oya) into which the molasses drains. In six months, if allowed to remain over the jar, it will drain about 20 per cent, of its original weight, but it is usually sold before that time, if prices are favourable.

The molasses is sold to the distilleries for making Alcohol,[1] whilst there is a certain demand for it for mixing with the drinking-water given to Philippine ponies, although this custom is now falling into disuse, in Manila at least, because molasses is never given to the American imported horses.

From nine tests which I made with steam machinery, of small capacity, in different places in the northern provinces, without interfering with the customary system of manipulating the cane or the adjustment of the mill rolls, I found the—

Average juice extraction to be

56.37%

Average moisture in the megass on leaving the mill

23.27%

Average amount of dry megass[2]

20.36%

100.00%

The average density of juice in the cane worked off as above was 10¾° Beaumé.

In Negros the process is very different. The juice is evaporated in the pan-battery to a higher point of concentration, so that the molasses becomes incorporated with the saccharine grain. It is then turned out into a wooden trough, about 8 feet long by 4 feet wide, and stirred about with shovels, until it has cooled so far as to be unable to form into a solid mass, or lumps. When quite cold, the few lumps visible are pounded, and the whole is packed in grass bags (bayones). Sugar packed in this way is deliverable to shippers, whereas “clayed” sugar can only be sold to the assorters and packers (farderos), who sun-dry it on mats and then bag it after making up the colour and quality to exporterʼs sample (vide p. 173).

The Labour system in the Northern Philippines is quite distinct from that adopted in the South. The plantations in the North are worked on the co-operative principle (sistema de inquilinos). The landowner divides his estate into tenements (aparcerias), each tenant (aparcero) being provided with a buffalo and agricultural implements to work up the plot, plant, and attend to the cane-growth as if it were his own property. Wherever the native goes to work he carries the indispensable bowie-knife (Tagálog, guloc; Spanish, bolo). When the cutting-season arrives, one tenant at a time brings in his cane to the mill, and when the sugar is worked off, usually one-third, but often as much as one-half of the output, according to arrangement, belongs to the tenant. The tenant provides the hands required for the operations of cane-crushing and sugar-making; the cost of machinery and factory establishment is for the account of the landowner, who also has to take the entire risk of typhoons, inundations, drought, locusts,[3] etc.

During the year, whilst the cane is maturing, the tenants receive advances against their estimated share, some even beyond the real value, so that, in nearly every case, the full crop remains in the hands of the estate-owner. In the general working of the plantation hired day-labour is not required, the tenants, in fact, being regarded, in every sense, as servants of the owner, who employs them for whatever service he may need. Interest at 10 to 12 per cent. per annum is charged upon the advances made in money, rice, stuffs, etc., during the year; and on taking over the tenantʼs share of output, as against these advances, a rebate on current price of the sugar is often agreed to.

In the South, plantations are worked on the daily-wages system, (sistema de jornal), and the labourer will frequently exact his pay for several weeks in advance. Great vigilance is requisite, and on estates exceeding certain dimensions it is often necessary to subdivide the management, apportioning it off to overseers, or limited partners, called “Axas.” Both on European and native ownersʼ estates these axas were often Spaniards. The axasʼ interest varies on different properties, but, generally speaking, he is either credited with one-third of the product and supplied with necessary capital, or he receives two-thirds of the yield of the land under his care and finds his own working capital for its tilth, whilst the sunk capital in land, machinery, sheds, stores, etc., is for the account of the owner.

In 1877 a British company—the “Yengarie”—was started with a large capital for the purpose of acquiring cane-juice all over the Colony and extracting from it highly-refined sugar. The works, fitted with vacuum-pans and all the latest improvements connected with this class of apparatus, were established at Mandaloyan, about three miles from Manila up the Pasig River. From certain parts of Luzon Island the juice was to be conveyed to the factory in tubes, and the promoter, who visited Cebú Island, proposed to send schooners there fitted with tanks, to bring the defecated liquid to Mandaloyan. The project was an entire failure from the beginning (for the ordinary shareholders at least), and in 1880 the machinery plant was being realized and the company wound up.

A Sugar-estate House, Southern Philippines

The classification of sugar in the South differs from that in the North. In the former market it is ranked as Nos. 0, 1, 2, 3 Superior and Current. For the American market these qualities are blended, to make up what is called “Assorted Sugar,” in the proportion of one-eighth of No. 1, two-eighths of No. 2, and five-eighths of No. 3. In the North the quality is determined on the Dutch standard. The New York and London markets fix the prices, which are cabled daily to the foreign merchants in Manila.

From a series of estimates compiled by me I find that to produce 7,000 to 10,000 piculs, the cost laid down in Yloilo would be, say, ₱2.00 per picul (₱32.00 per ton); the smaller the output the larger is the prime cost, and vice-versa.

Fortunes have been made in this Colony in cane-sugar, and until the end of 1883 sugar-planting paid the capitalist and left something to the borrowing planter; now it pays only interest on capital. From the year 1884 the subsidized beet-root sugar manufacturers on the continent of Europe turned out such enormous quantities of this article that the total yield of sugar exceeded the worldʼs requirements. The consequence was that the cane-sugar manufacture declined almost at the same ratio as that of beet-root advanced, as will be seen from the subjoined figures:—

Tons.

The worldʼs production in 1880; cane sugar

3,285,714

The worldʼs production in 1880; beet sugar

1,443,349

4,729,063

Tons.

The worldʼs production in 1887, cane sugar

2,333,004

The worldʼs production in 1887, beet sugar

2,492,610

4,825,614

Tons.

Beet sugar

Increase 1,049,261

Cane sugar

Decrease 952,710

The worldʼs output was

Increased 96,551

Since the above date, however, the output of Beet Sugar has become about double that of Cane Sugar, as will be seen from the following figures, viz.:—

Worldʼs Production.

Season of 1899–1900.

Season of 1900–1901.

Tons.

Tons.

Cane sugar

2,867,041

3,425,022

Beet sugar

5,607,944

6,096,858

8,474,985

9,521,880

On estates already established at old prices, cane-sugar production pays an interest on capital, but the capitalist is not necessarily the planter and nominal owner, as has been explained. Since the American occupation the cost of labour, living, material, live-stock, and all that the planter or his estate need, has increased so enormously that the colonist should ponder well before opening up a new estate for cane-growing in world-wide competition. For figures of Sugar Shipments vide Chap, xxxi., “Trade Statistics.”

RICE (Oryza) being the staple food of the Filipinos, it is cultivated more or less largely in every province of the Colony. Its market value fluctuates considerably according to the stocks in hand and the season of the year. It appears to be the only branch of agriculture in which the lower classes of natives take a visible pleasure and which they understand thoroughly. In 1897 about 80,000 tons were raised.

The natives measure and sell rice (Tagálog, bigas) and paddy (Tagálog, palay) by the caban and its fractions; the caban dry measure is as follows, viz:—

4 Apatans = 1 Chupa; 8 Chupas = 1 Ganta; 25 Gantas = 1 Caban,

the equivalent of which in English measure is thus, viz:—

1 Atapan

= .16875 of a pint.

1 Chupa

= .675 of a pint.

1 Ganta

= 2 quarts, 1⅖ pints.

1 Caban

= 16 gallons, 3 quarts, 1 pint.

Rice of foreign importation is weighed and quoted by the picul of 133⅓ lbs. avoirdupois, subdivided as follows, viz.:—

16 Taels = 1 Catty; 10 Catties = 1 Chinanta; 10 Chinantas = 1 Picul.

Thirty years ago rice was exported from the Philippines, but now not even sufficient is produced for home consumption, hence this commodity is imported in large quantities from Siam, Lower Burmah, and Cochin China to supply the deficiency. In 1897 nearly 65,000 tons of rice were brought from those countries, and since the American occupation the annual receipts of foreign rice have increased to fivefold. Sual (Pangasinán), on the Gulf of Lingayen, was, thirty-five years ago, a port of importance, whence rice was shipped to China (vide p. 261). This falling off of rice-production did not, however, imply a loss to the population in Spanish times when imported rice was sold cheaply, because, in many provinces, land formerly used for rice-growing was turned to better account for raising other crops which paid better in a fairly good market.

The natives everywhere continue to employ the primitive method of treating rice-paddy for domestic and local use. The grain is generally husked by them in a large mortar hewn from a block of molave, or other hardwood, in which it is beaten by a pestle. Sometimes two or three men or women with wooden pestles work at the same mortar. This mortar is termed, in Tagálog dialect, Luzon, the name given to the largest island of the group. However, I have seen in the towns of Candava (Pampanga), Pagsanján (La Laguna), near Calamba in the same province, in Naig (Cavite), in Camarines Province, and a few other places, an attempt to improve upon the current system by employing an ingenious wooden mechanical apparatus worked by buffaloes. It consisted of a vertical shaft on which was keyed a bevel-wheel revolving horizontally and geared into a bevel pinion fixed upon a horizontal shaft. In this shaft were adjusted pins, which, at each revolution, caught the corresponding pins in vertical sliding columns. These columns (five or six)—being thereby raised and allowed to fall of their own weight when the raising-pins had passed on—acted as pounders, or pestles, in the mortars placed below them. Subsequently, notable progress was made in Camarines Province by Spaniards, who, in 1888, employed steam power, whilst in Pagsanján (La Laguna) animal motive power was substituted by that of steam. Also, near Calamba, in the same province, water power was eventually employed to advantage. In Negros, near the village of Candaguit, there was one small rice-machinery plant worked by steam power, brought by a Spaniard from Valencia in Spain. Presumably it was not a success, as it remained only a short time in use.

Finally the Manila-Dagúpan Railway gave a great stimulus to the rice-husking and pearling industry, which was taken up by foreigners. There are now important rice steam-power mills established at Calumpit, Gerona, Moncada, Bayambang, and other places along the line from Calumpit towards Dagúpan, which supply large quantities of cleaned rice to Manila and other provinces, where it is invariably more highly appreciated than the imported article. Also, at Nueva Cáceres (Camarines), in 1896, a large steam-power rice mill was being worked by Don Manuel Pardo, who had a steamer specially constructed in Hong-Kong for the transport of his output to the provincial markets.

The average yield of cleaned rice from the paddy is 50 per cent., whilst no special use is found for the remaining 50 per cent. of coarse paddy-bran. The fine bran, almost dust (called in Tagálog Tiki Tiki), serves, however, for several purposes on the farm. The rice grain which is broken in the husking is known as Pináua in Tagálog.

The customary charge for husking and winnowing a caban of paddy is 12½ cents, so that as two cabans of paddy give one caban of rice, the cost of this labour would be 25 cents per caban of rice.

The average amount of rice consumed by a working man per day is estimated at four chupas, or, say, close upon eight cabans per annum, which, on the old reckoning—that is to say in Spanish times, taking an average price of 1 peso per caban of paddy = 2 pesos per caban of rice, plus 25 cents for cleaning = 2.25 pesos per caban of clean rice—amounts to 18 pesos per annum. A nativeʼs further necessities are fish, an occasional piece of buffalo, betel-nut, tobacco, six yards of cotton print-stuff, and payment of taxes, all of which (including rice) amounted to say ₱50 in the year, so that a man earning 20 cents per day during 300 days lived well, provided he had no unforeseen misfortunes. Cock-fighting and gambling of course upset the calculation.

There are, it is said, over 20 different kinds of rice-paddy. These are comprised in two common groups—the one is called Macan rice (Spanish, Arroz de Semillero) which is raised on alluvial soil on the lowlands capable of being flooded conveniently with water, and the other has the general denomination (in Luzon Is.) of Paga or Dumali (Spanish, Arroz de Secano) and is cultivated on high lands and slopes where inundation is impracticable.

The Macan, or low-land rice, is much the finer quality, the grain being usually very white, although Macan rice is to be found containing up to 25 per cent. of red grain, known in Tagálog as Tan͠gi, or Malagcquit. The white grain is that most esteemed. The yield of grain varies according to the quality of the soil. In the north of Bulacan Province the average crop of Macan rice may be taken at 80 cabans of grain for one caban of seed. In the south of the same province the return reaches only one-half of that. In the east of Pampanga Province, in the neighbourhood of Aráyat, Magálang, and Candava villages, the yield is still higher, giving, in a good year, as much as 100 cabans for one of seed. In Negros a return of 50 cabans to one may be taken as a fair average.

Paga rice always shows a large proportion of red grain, and the return is, at the most, half that of Macan yield, but whilst rarely more than one crop per annum is obtained from low-lands (Macan rice)—taking the average throughout the Islands—in most places up to three crops of Paga rice can be obtained.

Besides the ordinary agricultural risks to which rice cultivation is exposed, a special danger often presents itself. The Paga rice is frequently attacked by flies (Tagálog, Alutan͠gia), which suck the flower just before seeding, and the person in charge of the plantation has to stroll in the evenings and mornings among the setting to whisk off these insects with a bunch of straws on the end of a stick, or catch them with a net to save the grain. Both Macan and Paga are sometimes damaged by an insect, known in Ilocos Province as Talibatab, which eats through the stalk of the plant before maturity, causing the head, or flower, to droop over and wither, but this does not happen every season.

To plant Macan rice the grain or seed is sown in the month of June on a piece of land called the “seeding-plot,” where, in six weeks, it attains a height of about one foot, and, provided the rains have not failed, it is then pulled up by the roots and transplanted, stem by stem, in the flooded fields. Each field is embanked with earth (Tagálog, pilápil) so that the water shall not run off, and just before the setting is commenced, the plough is passed for the last time. Then men, women, and children go into the inundated fields with their bundles of rice-plant and stick the stalks in the soft mud one by one. It would seem a tedious operation, but the natives are so used to it that they quickly cover a large field. In four months from the transplanting the rice is ripe, but as at the end of November there is still a risk of rain falling, the harvest is usually commenced at the end of December, after the grain has hardened and the dry season has fairly set in. If, at such an abnormal period, the rains were to return (and such a thing has been known), the sheaves, which are heaped for about a month to dry, would be greatly exposed to mildew owing to the damp atmosphere. After the heaping—at the end of January—the paddy, still in the straw, is made into stacks (Tagálog, Mandalá). In six weeks more the grain is separated from the straw, and this operation has to be concluded before the next wet season begins—say about the end of April. On the Pacific coast (Camarines and Albay), where the seasons are reversed (vide p. 22), rice is planted out in September and reaped in February.

The separation of the grain is effected in several ways. Some beat it out with their feet, others flail it, whilst in Cavite Province it is a common practice to spread the sheaves in a circular enclosure within which a number of ponies and foals are trotted.

In Negros Island there is what is termed Ami rice—a small crop which spontaneously rises in succession to the regular crop after the first ploughing.

It seldom happens that a “seeding-plot” has to be allowed to run to seed for want of rain for transplanting, but in such an event it is said to yield at the most tenfold.

Nothing in Nature is more lovely than a valley of green half-ripened rice-paddy, surrounded by verdant hills. Rice harvest-time is a lively one among the poor tenants in Luzon, who, as a rule, are practically the landownerʼs partners working for half the crop, against which they receive advances during the year. Therefore, cost of labour may be taken at 50 per cent. plus 10 per cent. stolen from the ownerʼs share.

Paddy-planting is not a lucrative commercial undertaking, and few take it up on a large scale. None of the large millers employing steam power are, at the same time, grain cultivators. There is this advantage about the business, that the grower is less likely to be confronted with the labour difficulty, for the work of planting out and gathering in the crop is, to the native and his family, a congenial occupation. Rice-cultivation is, indeed, such a poor business for the capitalist that perhaps a fortune has never been made in that sole occupation, but it gives a sufficient return to the actual tiller of his own land. The native woman is often quite as clever as her husband in managing the estate hands, for her tongue is usually as effective as his rattan. I venture to say there are not six white men living who, without Philippine wives, have made fortunes solely in agriculture in these Islands.

[1] The sale of Alcohol was a Government monopoly until 1862. Molasses is sold by the Tinaja, an earthenware jar measuring 19 inches in height and 17½ inches at the maximum diameter; it contains 16 gantas (liquid measure) = say 11 gallons.

[2] British patents for paper-making from sugar-cane fibre were granted to Berry in 1838, Johnson in 1855, Jullion in 1855, Ruck and Touche (conjointly) in 1856, and Hook in 1857.

[3] Since about the year 1885 a weed has been observed to germinate spontaneously around the roots of the sugar-cane in the Laguna Province. The natives have given it the name of Bulaclac n͠g tubo (Sugar-cane flower). It destroys the saccharine properties of the cane. The bitter juice of this weed has been found to be a useful palliative for certain diseases.

Manila Hemp—Coffee—Tobacco

HEMP (Musa textilis)—referred to by some scientific writers as M. troglodytarum—is a wild species of the plantain (M. paradisiaca) found growing in many parts of the Philippine Islands. It so closely resembles the M. paradisiaca, which bears the well-known and agreeable fruit—the edible banana, that only connoisseurs can perceive the difference in the density of colour and size of the green leaves—those of the hemp-plant being of a somewhat darker hue, and shorter. The fibre of a number of species of Musa is used for weaving, cordage, etc., in tropical countries.

This herbaceous plant seems to thrive best on an inclined plane, for nearly all the wild hemp which I have seen has been found on mountain slopes, even far away down the ravines. Although requiring a considerable amount of moisture, hemp will not thrive in swampy land, and to attain any great height it must be well shaded by other trees more capable of bearing the sunʼs rays. A great depth of soil is not indispensable for its development, as it is to be seen flourishing in its natural state on the slopes of volcanic formation. In Albay Province it grows on the declivities of the Mayon Volcano.

The hemp-tree in the Philippines reaches an average height of 10 feet. It is an endogenous plant, the stem of which is enclosed in layers of half-round petioles. The hemp-fibre is extracted from these petioles, which, when cut down, are separated into strips, five to six inches wide, and drawn under a knife attached at one end by a hinge to a block of wood, whilst the other end is suspended to the extremity of a flexible stick. The bow tends to raise the knife, and a cord, attached to the same end of the knife, and a treadle are so arranged that by a movement of the foot the operator can bring the knife to work on the hemp petiole with the pressure he chooses. The bast is drawn through between the knife and the block, the operator twisting the fibre, at each pull, around a stick of wood or his arm, whilst the parenchymatous pulp remains on the other side of the knife. There is no use for the pulp. The knife should be without teeth or indentations, but nearly everywhere in Capis Province I have seen it with a slightly serrated edge. The fibre is then spread out to dry, and afterwards tightly packed in bales with iron or rattan hoops for shipment.

A finer fibre than the ordinary hemp is sometimes obtained in small quantities from the specially-selected edges of the petiole, and this material is used by the natives for weaving. The quantity procurable is limited, and the difficulty in obtaining it consists in the frequent breakage of the fibre whilst being drawn, due to its comparative fragility. Its commercial value is about double that of ordinary first-class cordage hemp. The stuff made from this fine fibre (in Bicol dialect, Lúpis) suits admirably for ladiesʼ dresses. Ordinary hemp fibre is used for the manufacture of coarse native stuff, known in Manila as Sinamay, much worn by the poorer classes of natives; large quantities of it come from Yloilo. In Panay Island a kind of texture called Husi is made of a mixture of fine hemp (lúpis) and pine-apple leaf fibre. Sometimes this fabric is palmed off on foreigners as pure piña stuff, but a connoisseur can easily detect the hemp filament by the touch of the material, there being in the hemp-fibre, as in horsehair, a certain amount of stiffness and a tendency to spring back which, when compressed into a ball in the hand, prevents the stuff from retaining that shape. Piña fibre is soft and yielding.

Many attempts have been made to draw the hemp fibre by machinery, but in spite of all strenuous efforts, no one has hitherto succeeded in introducing into the hemp districts a satisfactory mechanical apparatus. If the entire length of fibre in a strip of bast could bear the strain of full tension, instead of having to wind it around a cylinder (which would take the place of the operatorʼs hand and stick under the present system), then a machine could be contrived to accomplish the work. Machines with cylinders to reduce the tension have been constructed, the result being admirable so far as the extraction of the fibre is concerned, but the cylinder upon which the fibre coiled, as it came from under the knife, always discoloured the material. A trial was made with a glass cylinder, but the same inconvenience was experienced. On another occasion the cylinder was dispensed with, and a reciprocating-motion clutch drew the bast, running to and fro the whole length of the fibre frame, the fibre being gripped by a pair of steel parallel bars on its passage in one or two places, as might be necessary, to lessen the tension. These steel bars, however, always left a transversal black line on the filament, and diminished its marketable value. What is desired is a machine which could be worked by one man and turn out at least as much clean fibre as the old apparatus could with two men. Also that the whole appliance should be portable by one man.

In 1886 the most perfect mechanical contrivance hitherto brought out was tried in Manila by its Spanish inventor, Don Abelardo Cuesta; it worked to the satisfaction of those who saw it, but the saving of manual labour was so inconsiderable that the greater bulk of hemp shipped is still extracted by the primitive process.

In September, 1905, Fray Mateo Atienza, of the Franciscan Order, exhibited in Manila a hemp-fibre-drawing machine of his own invention, the practical worth of which has yet to be ascertained. It is alleged that this machine, manipulated by one man, can, in a given time, turn out 104 per cent. more clean fibre than the old-fashioned apparatus worked by two men.

Musa textilis has been planted in British India as an experiment, with unsatisfactory result, evidently owing to a want of knowledge of the essential conditions of the fibre-extraction. One report[1] says—

“The first trial at extracting the fibre failed on account of our having no proper machine to bruise the stems. We extemporized a two-roller mill; but as it had no cog-gearing to cause both rollers to turn together, the only one on which the handle or crank was fixed turned, with, the result of grinding the stems to pulp instead of simply bruising them.”

In the Philippines one is careful not to bruise the stems, as this would weaken the fibre and discolour it.

Another statement from British India shows that Manila hemp requires a very special treatment. It runs thus:—

“The mode of extraction was the same as practised in the locality with Ambadi (brown hemp) and sunn hemp, with the exception that the stems were, in the first place, passed through a sugar-cane mill which got rid of sap averaging 50 per cent. of the whole. The stems were next rotted in water for 10 to 12 days, and afterwards washed by hand and sun-dried. The out-turn of fibre was 1¾ lbs. per 100 lbs. of fresh stem, a percentage considerably higher than the average shown in the Saidápet experiments; it was however of bad colour and defective in strength.”

If treated in the same manner in the Philippines, a similar bad result would ensue; the pressure of mill rollers would discolour the fibre, and the soaking with 48 per cent. of pulp, before being sun-dried, would weaken it.

Dr. Ure, in his “Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines,” p. 1, thus describes Manila Hemp:—

“A species of fibre obtained in the Philippine Islands in abundance. Some authorities refer these fibres to the palm-tree known as the Abacá or Anisa textilis. There seem indeed to be several well-known varieties of fibre included under this name, some so fine that they are used in the most delicate and costly textures, mixed with fibres of the pine-apple, forming piña muslins and textures equal to the best muslins of Bengal.[2]

“Of the coarser fibres, mats, cordage and sail-cloth are made. M. Duchesne states that the well-known fibrous manufactures of Manila have led to the manufacture of the fibres themselves, at Paris, into many articles of furniture and dress. Their brilliancy and strength give remarkable fitness for bonnets, tapestry, carpets, network, hammocks, etc. The only manufactured articles exported from the Philippine Islands, enumerated by Thomas de Comyn, Madrid, 1820 (translated by Walton), besides a few tanned buffalo-hides and skins, are 8,000 to 12,000 pieces of light sail-cloth and 200,000 lbs. of assorted Abacá cordage.”

Manila-hemp rope is very durable; it is equally applicable to cables and to shipsʼ standing and running rigging, but wanting in flexibility.[3]

Hemp-growing, with ample capital, appears to be the most lucrative and least troublesome of all agricultural enterprises in staple export produce in the Colony, whilst it is quite independent of the seasons. The plant is neither affected by disease nor do insects attack it, and the only ordinary risks appear to be hurricanes, drought, insufficient weeding, and the ravages of the wild boar.

Planted in virgin soil, each shoot occupies, at first, a space of 20 English square feet. In the course of time, this regularity of distribution disappears as the original plant is felled and the suckers come up anywhere, spontaneously, from its root. The plant requires three years to arrive at cutting maturity, or four years if raised from the seed; most planters, however, transplant the six-month suckers, instead of the seed, when forming a new plantation. The stem should be cut for fibre-drawing at the flowering maturity; in no case should it be allowed to bear fruit, as the fibre is thereby weakened, and there is sometimes even a waste of material in the drawing, as the accumulation of fibre with the sap at the knife is greater.

The average weight of dry fibre extracted from one plant equals 10 ounces, or say 2 per cent, of the total weight of the stem and petioles; but as in practice there is a certain loss of petioles, by cutting out of maturity, whilst others are allowed to rot through negligence, the average output from a carefully-managed estate does not exceed 3–60 cwt. per acre, or say 4 piculs per caban of land.

The length of the bast, ready for manipulation at the knife, averages in Albay 6 feet 6 inches.

The weight of moisture in the wet fibre, immediately it is drawn from the bast, averages 56 per cent. To sun-dry the fibre thoroughly, an exposure of five hours is necessary.

The first petioles forming the outer covering, and the slender central stem itself around which they cluster, are thrown away. Due to the inefficient method of fibre-drawing, or rather the want of mechanical appliances to effect the same, the waste of fibre probably amounts to as much as 30 per cent. of the whole contained in the bast.

In sugar-cane planting, the poorer the soil is the wider the cane is planted, whilst the hemp-plant is set out at greater space on virgin land than on old, worked land, the reason being that the hemp-plant in rich soil throws out a great number of shoots from the same root, which require nourishment and serve for replanting. If space were not left for their development, the main stem would flower before it had reached its full height and circumference, whereas sugar-cane is purposely choked in virgin soil to check its running too high and dispersing the saccharine matter whilst becoming ligneous.

A great advantage to the colonist, in starting hemp-growing in virgin forest-land, consists in the clearance requiring to be only partial, whilst newly opened up land is preferable, as on it the young plants will sometimes throw up as many as thirty suckers. The largest forest-trees are intentionally left to shade the plants and young shoots, so that only light rooting is imperatively necessary. In cane-planting, quite the reverse is the case, ploughing and sunshine being needful.

The great drawback to the beginner with limited capital is the impossibility of recouping himself for his labour and recovering profit on outlay before three years at least. After that period the risk is small, drought being the chief calamity to be feared. The plants being set out on high land are extremely seldom inundated, and a conflagration could not spread far amongst green leaves and sappy petioles. There is no special cropping season as there is in the case of sugar-cane, which, if neglected, brings a total loss of crop; the plants naturally do not all mature at precisely the same time, and the fibre-extraction can be performed with little precipitation, and more or less all the year round, although the dry season is preferable for the sun-bleaching. If, at times, the stage of maturity be overlooked, it only represents a percentage of loss, whilst a whole plantation of ripe sugar-cane must all be cut with the least possible delay. No ploughing is necessary, although the plant thrives better when weeding is carefully attended to; no costly machinery has to be purchased and either left to the mercy of inexperienced hands or placed under the care of highly-paid Europeans, whilst there are few agricultural implements and no live-stock to be maintained for field labour.

The hemp-fibre, when dry, runs a greater risk of fire than sugar, but upon the whole, the comparative advantages of hemp cultivation over sugar-cane planting appear to be very great.

Hemp-fibre is classified by the large provincial dealers and Manila firms as of first, second, and third qualities. The dealers, or acopiadores, in treating with the small native collectors, or their own workpeople, take delivery of hemp under two classes only, viz.:—first quality (corriente) and second quality (colorada), the former being the whiter, with a beautiful silky gloss.

The difficulties with which the European hemp-cultivator has to contend all centre to the same origin—the indolence of the native; hence there is a continual struggle between capitalist and labourer in the endeavour to counterbalance the nativeʼs inconstancy and antipathy to systematic work. Left to himself, the native cuts the plant at any period of its maturity. When he is hard pressed for a peso or two he strips a few petioles, leaving them for days exposed to the rain and atmosphere to soften and render easier the drawing of the fibre, in which putrefaction has commenced. The result is prejudicial to the dealer and the plantation owner, because the fibre discolours. Then he passes the bast under a toothed knife, which is easy to work, and goes down to the village with his bundle of discoloured coarse fibre with a certain amount of dried sap on it to increase the weight. He chooses night-time for the delivery, so that the acopiador may be deceived in the colour upon which depends the selection of quality, and in order that the fibre, absorbing the dew, may weigh heavier. These are the tricks of the trade well known to the native. The large dealers and plantation owners use every effort to enforce the use of knives without teeth, so that the fibre may be fine, perfectly clean and white, to rate as first-class; the native opposes this on the ground that he loses in weight, whilst he is too dull to appreciate his gain in higher value. For instance, presuming the first quality to be quoted in Manila at a certain figure per picul and the third quality at two pesos less, even though the first-class basis price remained firm, the third-class price would fall as the percentage of third-class quality in the supplies went on increasing.

Here and there are to be found hemp-plants which give a whiter fibre than others, whilst some assert that there are three or four kinds of hemp-plant; but in general all will yield commercial first-class hemp (Abacá corriente), and if the native could be coerced to cut the plant at maturity—draw the fibre under a toothless knife during the same day of stripping the petioles—lodge the fibre as drawn on a clean place, and sun-dry it on the first opportunity, then (the proprietors and dealers positively assert) the output of third-quality need not exceed 5 to 6 per cent. of the whole produced. In short, the question of quality in Abacá has vastly less relation to the species of the plant than to the care taken in its extraction and manipulation.

The Chinese very actively collect parcels of hemp from the smallest class of native owners, but they also enter into contracts which bring discredit to the reputation of a province as a hemp-producing district. For a small sum in cash a Chinaman acquires from a native the right to work his plantation during a short period. Having no proprietary interest at stake, and looking only to his immediate gain, he indiscriminately strips plants, regardless of maturity, and the property reverts to the small owner in a sorely dilapidated condition. The market result is that, although the fibre drawn may be white, it is weak, therefore dealings with the Chinese require special scrutiny. Under the native system each labourer on an “estate” (called in Albay Province laté) is remunerated by receiving one-half of all the fibre he draws; the other half belongs to the laté owner. The share corresponding to the labourer is almost invariably delivered at the same time to the employer, who purchases it at the current local value—often at much less.

In sugar-planting, as no sugar can be hoped for until the fixed grinding-season of the year, planters have to advance to their workpeople during the whole twelve months in Luzon, under the aparcero system. If, after so advancing during six or eight months, he loses half or more of his crop by natural causes, he stands a poor chance of recovering his advances of that year. There is no such risk in the case of hemp; when a man wants money he can work for it, and bring in his bundle of fibre and receive his half-share value. The few foreigners engaged in hemp-planting usually employ wage labour.

In Manila the export-houses estimate the prices of second and third qualities by a rebate from first-class quality price. These rates necessarily fluctuate. When the deliveries of second and third qualities go on increasing in their proportion to the quantity of first-class sent to the market, the rebate for lower qualities on the basis price (first-class) is consequently augmented. If the total supplies to Manila began to show an extraordinarily large proportionate increase of lower qualities, these differences of prices would be made wider, and in this manner indirect pressure is brought to bear upon the provincial shippers to send as much first-class quality as possible.

The labour of young plant-setting in Albay Province in Spanish times was calculated at 3 pesos per 1,000 plants; the cost of shoots 2 feet high, for planting out, was from 50 cents to one peso per 100. However, as proprietors were frequently cheated by natives who, having agreed to plant out the land, did not dig holes sufficiently deep, or set plants without roots, it became customary in Luzon to pay 10 pesos per 100 live plants, to be counted at the time of full growth, or say in three years, in lieu of paying for shoots and labour at the prices stated above. The contractor, of course, lived on the estate.

In virgin soil, 2,500 plants would be set in one pisoson of land (vide Albay land measure), or say 720 to each acre.

A hemp-press employing 60 men and boys should turn out 230 bales per day. Freight by mail steamer to Manila in the year 1890 from Albay ports beyond the San Bernardino Straits, was 50 cents per bale; from ports west of the Straits, 37½ cents per bale.

In the extraction of the fibre the natives work in couples; one man strips the bast, whilst his companion draws it under the knife. A fair weekʼs work for a couple, including selection of the mature plants and felling, would be about 300 lbs. However, the labourer is not able to give his entire attention to fibre-drawing, for occasionally a day has to be spent in weeding and brushwood clearance, but his half-share interest covers this duty.

Shipping Hemp in the Provinces

The finest quality of hemp is produced in the Islands of Leyte and Marinduque, and in the Province of Sorsogón, especially Gúbat, in Luzon Island.

Previous to the year 1825, the quantity of hemp produced in these Islands was insignificant; in 1840 it is said to have exceeded 8,500 tons. The average annual shipment of hemp during the 20 years preceding the American occupation, i.e., 1879–98, was 72,815 tons, produced (annual average over that period) approximately as follows, viz.:—in Albay and Sorsogón, 32,000 tons; in Leyte, 16,000 tons; in Sámar, 9,000 tons; in Camarines, 4,500 tons; in Mindanao, 4,000 tons; in Cebú, 2,500 tons; in all the other districts together, 4,815 tons.

Albay Province is still the leading hemp district in the Islands. A small quantity of low-quality hemp is produced in Cápis Province (Panay Is.); collections are also made along the south-east coast of Negros Island from Dumaguete northwards and in the district of Maúban[4] on the Pacific coast of Tayabas Province (Luzon Is). For figures of Hemp Shipments, vide Chap. xxxi., “Trade Statistics.”

The highest Manila quotation for first-quality hemp (corriente) during the years 1882 to 1896 inclusive was ₱17.21½ per picul, and the lowest in the same period ₱6.00 per picul (16 piculs = 1 ton; 2 piculs = 1 bale), whilst specially selected lots from Sorsogón and Marinduque fetched a certain advance on these figures.

Albay Province (local) Land Measure

1 Topon

= 16 square Brazas = 53.776 English square yards.

312½ Topones

= 1 Pisoson = 5,000 square Brazas.

312½ Topones

= ½ of Quiñon = 2½ Cabanes = 3.472 acres.

During the decade prior to the commercial depression of 1884, enormous sums of money were lent by foreign firms and wealthy hemp-staplers to the small producers against deliveries to be effected. But experience proved that lending to native producers was a bad business, for, on delivery of the produce, they expected to be again paid the full value and pass over the sums long due. Hence, capital which might have been employed to the mutual advantage of all concerned, was partially withheld, and the natives complained then, as they do now, that there is no money.

Fortunately for the Philippines, the fibre known as Manila hemp is a speciality of the Colony, and the prospect of over-production, almost annihilating profits to producers—as in the sugar colonies—is at present remote, although the competition with other fibre is severe. The chief fibre-producing countries, besides this colony, are New Zealand, Mauritius, East Indies, Italy, Russia, North America (sisal) and Mexico (henequen).

In 1881 the Abacá plants presented to the Saigon Botanical Gardens were flourishing during the management of Mons. Coroy, but happily for this Colony the experiment, which was to precede the introduction of “Manila Hemp” into French Cochin China, was abandoned, the plants having been removed by that gentlemanʼs successor. In 1890 “Manila Hemp” was cultivated in British North Borneo by the Labuk Planting Company, Limited, and the fibre raised on their estates was satisfactorily reported on by the Rope Works in Hong-Kong.

In view of the present scarcity of live-stock, hemp, which needs no buffalo tillage, would seem to be the most hopeful crop of the future. It will probably advance as fast as sugar cultivation is receding, and command a good remunerative price. Moreover, as already explained, not being distinctly a season crop as sugar is, nor requiring expensive machinery to produce it, its cultivation is the most recommendable to American colonists.

COFFEE (Coffea arabica) planting was commenced in the Colony early in the last century. Up to 1889 plantation-owners in the Province of Batangas assured me that the trees possessed by their grandfathers were still flourishing, whilst it is well known that in many coffee-producing colonies the tree bears profitably only up to the twenty-fifth year, and at the thirtieth year it is quite exhausted. Unless something be done to revive this branch of agriculture it seems as if coffee would soon cease to be an article of export from these Islands. In the year 1891 the crops in Luzon began to fall off very considerably, in a small measure due to the trees having lost their vigour, but chiefly owing to the ravages of a worm in the stems. In 1892–93 the best and oldest-established plantations were almost annihilated. Nothing could be done to stop the scourge, and several of the wealthiest coffee-owners around Lipa, personally known to me, ploughed up their land and started sugar-cane growing in place of coffee. In 1883 7,451 tons of coffee were shipped, whilst in 1903 the total export did not reach four tons.

The best Philippine Coffee comes from the Provinces of Batangas, La Laguna and Cavite (Luzon Is.), and includes a large proportion of caracolillo, which is the nearest shape to the Mocha bean and the most esteemed. The temperate mountain regions of Benguet, Bontoc, and Lepanto (N.W. Luzon) also yield good coffee.

The most inferior Philippine coffee is produced in Mindanao Island, and is sent up to Manila sometimes containing a quantity of rotten beans. It consequently always fetches a lower price than Manila (i.e., Luzon) coffee, which is highly prized in the market.

MANILA QUOTATIONS FOR THE TWO QUALITIES

Average Prices throughout the Years

Per Picul of 133⅓ Eng. lbs.

1882

1883

1884

1885

1886

1887

1888

1890

1891

P. cts.

P. cts.

P. cts.

P. cts.

P. cts.

P. cts.

P. cts.

P. cts.

P. cts.

Manila (Luzon) Coffee

10.25

12.00

12.68

12.00

12.17

26.14

21.47

31.00

30.50

Mindanao Coffee

9.30

10.00

12.00

9.87

9.56

19.50 nom.

20.34

25.80

24.40

Quotations later than 1891 would serve no practical purpose in the above table of comparison, as, due to the extremely small quantity produced, almost fancy prices have ruled since that date. In 1896, for instance, the market price ran up to ₱35 per picul, whilst some small parcels exchanged hands at a figure so capriciously high that it cannot be taken as a quotation. For figures of Coffee Shipments, vide Chap, xxxi., “Trade Statistics.”

I investigated the system of coffee-growing and trading in all the Luzon districts, and found it impossible to draw up a correct general estimate showing the nett cost laid down in Manila market. The manner of acquiring the produce and the conditions of purchase varied so greatly, and were subject to so many peculiar local circumstances, that only an approximate computation could be arrived at.

Some of the provincial collectors had plantations of their own; others had not, whilst none of them depended entirely upon the produce of their own trees for fulfilling the contracts in the capital.

Coffee was a much more fluctuating concern than hemp, as the purchase-rate (although perhaps low) was determined out of season several months before it was seen how the market would stand for the sale of that coffee; in hemp transactions (there being practically no season for hemp) the purchase-money need only be paid on delivery of the produce by the labourer at rates proportionate to Manila prices, unless the dealer be simply a speculator, in which case, having contracted in Manila to deliver at a price, he must advance to secure deliveries to fulfil his contract. Therefore, in coffee, a provincial collector might lose something on the total yearʼs transactions or he might make an enormous profit, if he worked with his own capital. If he borrowed the capital from Manila dealers—middlemen—as was often the case, then he might make a fortune for his Manila friends, or he might lose another yearʼs interest on the borrowed funds.

In Cavite Province districts there was another way of negotiating coffee speculations. The dealer with capital advanced at, say, 6 or 7 pesos per picul “on joint account up to Manila.” The planter then bound himself to deliver so many piculs of coffee of the next gathering, and the difference between the advance rate and the sale price in Manila was shared between the two, after the capitalist had deducted the charges for transport, packing, commission in Manila, etc. All the risk was, of course, on the part of the capitalist, for if the crop failed the small planter had no means of refunding the advance.

On a carefully-managed plantation, a caban of land (8,000 square Spanish yards) was calculated to yield 10.40 piculs (= 12½ cwt.) of clean coffee, or, say, 9 cwt. per acre. The selling value of a plantation, in full growth, was about ₱250 per caban, or, say, ₱180 per acre. After 1896 this land value was merely nominal.

The trees begin to give marketable coffee in the fourth year of growth, and flourish best in hilly districts and on highlands, where the roots can be kept dry, and where the average temperature does not exceed 70° Fahr. Caracolillo is found in greater quantities on the highest declivities facing east, where the morning sun evaporates the superfluous moisture of the previous nightʼs dew.

In the Province of Cavite there appeared to be very little system in the culture of the coffee-tree. Little care was taken in the selection of shading-trees, and pruning was much neglected. Nevertheless, very fine coffee was brought from the neighbourhood of Indan, Silan, Alfonso, and Amadeo. The Batangas bean had the best reputation in Manila; hence the Indan product was sometimes brought to that market and sold as Batangas coffee.

In Batangas the coffee-plant is usually shaded by a tree called Madrecacao (Gliricidia maculata)—Tagálog, Galedupa pungam. On starting a plantation this tree is placed in rows, each trunk occupying one Spanish yard, and when it has attained two or three feet in height the coffee-shoot is planted at each angle. Between the third and eighth years of growth every alternate shading-tree and coffee-plant is removed, as more space for development becomes necessary. The coffee-plants are pruned from time to time, and on no account should the branches be allowed to hang over and meet. Around the wealthy town of Lipa some of the many coffee-estates were extremely well kept up, with avenues crossing the plantations in different directions.

At the end of eight years, more or less, according to how the quality of soil and the situation have influenced the development, there would remain, say, about 2,400 plants in each caban of land, or 1,728 plants per acre. Comparing this with the yield per acre, each tree would therefore give 9.33 ounces of marketable coffee, whilst in Peru, where the coffee-tree is planted at an elevation of 5,000 to 6,000 feet above sea-level, each tree is said to yield one pound weight of beans.

In the Philippines the fresh ripe berries, when thoroughly sun-dried, lose an average weight of 52 per cent. moisture.

The sun-dried berries ready for pounding (husking) give an average of 33.70 of their weight in marketable coffee-beans.

It takes eight cabanes measure (vide p. 276) of fresh-picked ripe berries to turn out one picul weight of clean beans.

Owing to the fact that one year in every five gives a short crop, due either to the nature of the plant or to climatic variations, it pays better to collect coffee from the very small growers rather than sink capital in large estates on the aparcero system (q.v.).

The coffee-plant imperatively requires shade and moisture, and over-pruning is prejudicial. If allowed to run to its natural height it would grow up to 15 to 25 feet high, but it is usually kept at 7 to 10 feet. The leaves are evergreen, very shining, oblong, leathery, and much resemble those of the common laurel. The flowers are small, and cluster in the axils of the leaves. They are somewhat similar to the Spanish jasmine, and being snow-white, the effect of a coffee plantation in bloom is delightful, whilst the odour is fragrant. The fruit, when ripe, is of a dark scarlet colour, and the ordinary coffee-berry contains two semi-elliptic seeds of a horny or cartilaginous nature glued together and enveloped in a coriaceous membrane; when this is removed each seed is found covered with a silver-grey pellicle.

The Caracolillo coffee-berry contains only one seed, with a furrow in the direction of the long axis, which gives it the appearance of being a geminous seed with an inclination to open out on one side.

In Arabia Felix, where coffee was first planted in the 15th century, and its cultivation is still extensive, the collection of the fruit is effected by spreading cloths under the trees, from which, on being violently shaken, the ripe berries fall, and are then placed upon mats to dry, after which the beans are pressed under a heavy roller.

In the Philippines, women and children—sometimes men—go into the plantations with baskets and pick the berries. The fruit is then heaped, and, in a few days, washed, so that a great portion of the pulp is got rid of. Then the berries are dried and pounded in a mortar to separate the inner membrane and pellicle; these are winnowed from the clean bean, which constitutes the coffee of commerce and is sent in bags to Manila for sale.

The Philippine plantations give only one crop yearly, whilst in the West Indies beans of unequal ripeness are to be found during eight months of the twelve, and in Brazil there are three annual gatherings.

The seed of the TOBACCO-PLANT (Nicotiana tabacum) was among the many novelties introduced into the Philippines from Mexico by Spanish missionaries, soon after the possession of the Colony by the Spaniards was an accomplished fact. From this Colony it is said to have been taken in the 16th or 17th century into the south of China, where its use was so much abused that the sale of this so-called noxious article was, for a long time, prohibited under penalty of death.

During the first two centuries of Spanish dominion but little direct attention was paid to the tobacco question by the Government, who only nominally held, but did not assert, the exclusive right of traffic in this article. At length, in the year 1781, during the Gov.-Generalship of José Basco y Vargas (a naval officer), the cultivation and sale of tobacco was formally decreed a State monopoly, which lasted up to the end of the year 1882. In the meantime, it became an important item of public revenue. In 1882 the profits of the Tobacco Monopoly amounted to half the Colonyʼs Budget expenditure.

A few years before that date a foreign company offered to guarantee the Budget (then about ₱15,000,000), in exchange for the Tobacco Monopoly, but the proposal was not entertained, although in the same year the Treasury deficit amounted to ₱2,000,000.

By Royal Decree of July 1, 1844, a contract was entered into with the firm of OʼShea & Co., renting to them the Monopoly, but it was suddenly rescinded. The annual profits from tobacco to the Government at that date were about ₱2,500,000.

Government Profit

1840

₱2,123,505

1845

2,570,679

1850

3,036,611

1855

3,721,168

1859

4,932,463

1860

over 5,000,000

1869

5,230,581

A bale of tobacco contains 4,000 leaves in 40 bundles (manos), of 100 leaves each.

The classification of the deliveries depended on the districts where the crop was raised and the length of the leaf.

The tobacco trade being also a Government concern in Spain, this Colony was required to supply the Peninsula State Factories with 90,000 quintals (of 100 Span, lbs.) of tobacco-leaf per annum.

Government Monopoly was in force in Luzon Island only. The tobacco districts of that island were Cagayán Valley (which comprises La Isabela), La Union, El Abra, Ilocos Sur y Norte and Nueva Ecija. In no other part of Luzon was tobacco-planting allowed, except for a short period on the Caraballo range, inhabited by undomesticated mountain tribes, upon whom prohibition would have been difficult to enforce. In 1842 the Igorrotes were allowed to plant, and, in the year 1853, the Government collection from this source amounted to 25,000 bales of excellent quality. The total population of these districts was, in 1882 (the last year of Monopoly), about 785,000.

The Visayas Islands were never under the Monopoly system. The natives there were free to raise tobacco or other crops on their land. It was not until 1840 that tobacco-planting attracted general attention in Visayas. Government factories or collecting-centres were established there for classifying and storing such tobacco as the Visayos cared to bring in for sale to the State, but they were at liberty to sell their produce privately or in the public markets. They also disposed of large quantities by contraband to the Luzon Island Provinces.[5]

Antique Province never yielded more tobacco than could be consumed locally. In 1841 the Antique tobacco crop was valued at ₱80,000. But, in the hope of obtaining higher prices, the enthusiastic Provincial Governor, Manuel Iturriaga, encouraged the growers, in 1843, to send a trial parcel to the Government collectors; it was, however, unclassed and rejected.

Mindoro, Lucban, and Marinduque Islands produced tobacco about sixty years ago, and in 1846 the Government established a collecting-centre in Mindoro; but the abuses and cruelty of the officials towards the natives, to force them to bring in their crops, almost extinguished this class of husbandry.

During the period of Monopoly in the Luzon districts, the production was very carefully regulated by the Home Government, by enactments revised from time to time, called “General Instructions for the Direction, Administration and Control of the Government Monopolies.”[6] Compulsory labour was authorized, and those natives in the northern provinces of Luzon Island who wished to till the land (the property of the State)—for title-deeds were almost unknown and never applied for by the natives—were compelled to give preference to tobacco. In fact, no other crops were allowed to be raised. Moreover, they were not permitted peacefully to indulge their indolent nature—to scrape up the earth and plant when and where they liked for a mere subsistence. Each family was coerced into contracting with the Government to raise 4,000 plants per annum, subject to a fine in the event of failure. The planter had to deliver into the State stores all the tobacco of his crop—not a single leaf could he reserve for his private consumption.

Lands left uncultivated could be appropriated by the Government, who put their own nominees to work them, and he who had come to consider himself owner, by mere undisturbed possession, lost the usufruct and all other rights for three years. His right to the land, in fact, was not freehold, but tenure by villein socage.

Emigrants were sent north from the west coast Provinces of North and South Ilocos. The first time I went up to Cagayán about 200 emigrant families were taken on board our vessel at North Ilocos, en route for the tobacco districts, and appeared to be as happy as other natives in general. They were well supplied with food and clothing, and comfortably lodged on their arrival at the Port of Aparri.

In the Government Regulations referred to, the old law of Charles III., which enacted that a native could not be responsible at law for a debt exceeding ₱5, was revived, and those emigrants who had debts were only required to liquidate them out of their earnings in the tobacco district up to that legal maximum value.

As soon as the native growers were settled on their lands their condition was by no means an enviable one. A Nueva Ecija landowner and tobacco-grower, in a letter to El Liberal (Madrid) in 1880, depicts the situation in the following terms:—The planter, he says, was only allowed to smoke tobacco of his own crop inside the aërating-sheds which were usually erected on the fields under tilth. If he happened to be caught by a carabineer only a few steps outside the shed with a cigar in his mouth he was fined 2 pesos—if a cigarette, 50 cents—and adding to these sums the costs of the conviction, a cigar of his own crop came to cost him ₱7.37½, and a cigarette ₱1.87½. The fines in Nueva Ecija amounted to an annual average of ₱7,000 on a population of 170,000. From sunrise to sunset the native grower was subject to domiciliary search for concealed tobacco—his trunks, furniture, and every nook and corner of his dwelling were ransacked. He and all his family—wife and daughters—were personally examined: and often an irate husband, father, or brother, goaded to indignation by the indecent humiliation of his kinswoman, would lay hands on his bowie-knife and bring matters to a bloody crisis with his wanton persecutors... The leaves were carefully selected, and only such as came under classification were paid for. The rejected bundles were not returned to the grower, but burnt—a despairing sacrifice to the toiler! The Cabezas de Barangay (vide p. 223) had, under penalty of arrest and hard labour, to see that the families fulfilled their onerous contract. Corporal punishment, imprisonment, and amercement resulted; of frequent occurrence were those fearful scenes which culminated in riots such as those of Ilocos in 1807 and 1814, when many Spaniards fell victims to the nativesʼ resentment of their oppression.

Palpable injustice, too, was imposed by the Government with respect to the payments. The Treasury paid loyally for many years, but as generation succeeded generation, and the native growersʼ families came to feel themselves attached to the soil they cultivated, the Treasury, reposing on the security of this constancy, no longer kept to the compact. The officials failed to pay with punctuality to the growers the contracted value of the deliveries to the State stores. They required exactitude from the native—the Government set the example of remissness. The consequence was appalling. Instead of money Treasury notes were given them, and speculators of the lowest type used to scour the tobacco-growing districts to buy up this paper at an enormous discount. The misery of the natives was so distressing, the distrust of the Government so radicate, and the want of means of existence so urgent, that they were wont to yield their claims for an insignificant relative specie value. The speculators held the bonds for realization some day; the total amount due by the Government at one time exceeded ₱1,500,000. Once the Treasury was so hard-pressed for funds that the tobacco ready in Manila for shipment to Spain had to be sold on the spot and the 90,000 quintals could not be sent—hence purchases of Philippine tobacco had to be made by tender in London for the Spanish Government cigar factories.

At length, during the government of General Domingo Moriones (1877–80), it was resolved to listen to the overwhelming complaints from the North, and pay up to date in coin. But, to do this, Spain, always in a state of chronic insolvency, had to resort to an abominable measure of disloyalty. The funds of the Deposit Bank (Caja de Depósitos) were arbitrarily appropriated, and the deposit-notes, bearing 8 per cent. interest per annum, held by private persons, most of whom were Government clerks, etc., were dishonoured at due date. This gave rise to great clamour on the part of those individuals whose term of service had ceased (cesantes), and who, on their return to Spain, naturally wished to take their accumulated savings with them. The Gov.-General had no other recourse open to him but to reinstate them in their old positions, on his own responsibility, pending the financial crisis and the receipt of instructions from the Government at Madrid.

For a long time the question of abolishing the Monopoly had been debated, and by Royal Order of May 20, 1879, a commission was appointed to inquire into the convenience of farming out the tobacco traffic. The natives were firmly opposed to it; they dreaded the prospect of the provinces being overrun by a band of licensed persecutors, and of the two evils they preferred State to private Monopoly. Warm discussions arose for and against it through the medium of the Manila newspapers. The “Consejo de Filipinas,” in Madrid, had given a favourable report dated May 12, 1879, and published in the Gaceta de Madrid of July 13, 1879. The clergy defeated the proposal by the Corporations of Friars jointly presenting a Memorial against it—and it was thenceforth abandoned. The Tobacco Monopoly was the largest source of public revenue, hence the doubt as to the policy of free trade and the delay in granting it. There existed a possibility of the Treasury sustaining an immense and irretrievable loss, for a return to Monopoly, after free trade had been allowed, could not for a moment be thought of. It was then a safe income to the Government, and it was feared by many that the industry, by free labour, would considerably fall off.

As already stated, the Government Monopoly ceased on December 31, 1882, when the tobacco cultivation and trade were handed over to private enterprise. At that date there were five Government Cigar and Cigarette Factories, viz.:—Malabon, Arroceros, Meisig, El Fortin, and Cavite, giving employment to about 20,000 operatives.

Up to within a year of the abolition of Monopoly, a very good smokeable cigar could be purchased in the estancos[7] from one half-penny and upwards, but as soon as the free trade project was definitely decided upon, the Government factories, in order to work off their old stocks of inferior leaf, filled the estancos with cigars of the worst quality.

The Colonial Treasurer-General at the time of this reform entertained very sanguine hopes respecting the rush which would be made for the Government brands, and the general public were led to believe that a scarcity of manufactured tobacco would, for some months, at least, follow the establishment of free trade in this article. With this idea in view, Government stocks sold at auction aroused competition and fetched unusually high prices at the close of 1882 and the first month of the following year, in some cases as much as 23/– per cwt. being realized over the upset prices. However, the Treasurer-General was carried too far in his expectations. He was unfortunately induced to hold a large amount of Government manufactured tobacco in anticipation of high offers, the result being an immense loss to the Treasury, as only a part was placed, with difficulty, at low prices, and the remainder shipped to Spain. In January, 1883, the stock of tobacco in Government hands amounted to about 100 tons of 1881 crop, besides the whole crop of 1882. Little by little the upset prices had to be lowered to draw buyers. The tobacco shipped during the first six months of the year 1883 was limited to that sold by auction out of the Government stocks, for the Government found themselves in a dilemma with their stores of this article, and the free export only commenced half a year after free production was granted. On December 29, 1883, a Government sale by auction was announced at 50 per cent. reduction on their already low prices, but the demand was still very meagre. Finally, in the course of 1884, the Government got rid of the bulk of their stock, the balance being shipped to the mother country. The colonial authorities continued to pay the ancient tobacco-tribute to Spain, and the first contract, with this object, was made during that year with a private company for the supply of about 2,750 tons.

During the first year of Free Trade, cigar and cigarette factories were rapidly started in Manila and the provinces, but up to 1897 only some eight or ten factories had improved the quality of the manufactured article, whilst prices rose so considerably that the general public probably lost by the reform. Cigars, like those sold in the estancos in 1881, could never again be got so good for the same price, but at higher prices much better brands were offered.

A small tax on the cigar and tobacco-leaf trade, officially announced in August, 1883, had the beneficial effect of causing the closure of some of the very small manufactories, and reduced the probability of a large over-supply of an almost worthless article.

Export-houses continued to make large shipments of leaf-tobacco and cigars until the foreign markets were glutted with Philippine tobacco in 1883, and in the following years the export somewhat decreased. For figures of Tobacco Leaf and Cigar Shipments, vide Chap, xxxi., “Trade Statistics.”

As to the relative quality of Philippine tobacco, there are very divided opinions. Decidedly the best Manila cigars cannot compare with those made from the famous leaf of the Vuelta de Abajo (Cuba), and in the European markets they have very justly failed to meet with the same favourable reception as the Cuban cigars generally.

During my first journey up the Cagayán River, I was told that some years ago the Government made earnest efforts to improve the quality of the plant by the introduction of seed from Cuba, but unfortunately it became mixed up with that usually planted in the Philippine provinces, and the object in view failed completely. On my renewed visit to the tobacco districts, immediately after the abolition of monopoly, the importance of properly manipulating the green leaf did not appear to be thoroughly appreciated. The exact degree of fermentation was not ascertained with the skill and perseverance necessary to turn out a well-prepared article. Some piles which I tested were over-heated (taking the Java system as my standard), whilst larger quantities had been aërated so long in the shed, after cutting, that they had lost their finest aroma.

There are many risks in tobacco-leaf trading. The leaf, during its growth, is exposed to perforation by a worm which, if not brushed off every morning, may spread over the whole field. Through the indolence of the native cultivator this misfortune happens so frequently that rarely does the Cagayán Valley tobacco contain (in the total crop of the season) more than 10 per cent. of perfect, undamaged leaves. In the aërating-sheds another kind of worm appears in the leaf; and, again, after the leaves are baled or the cigars boxed, an insect drills little holes through them—locally, it is said to be “picado.”

Often in the dry season (the winter months) the tobacco-leaf, for want of a little moisture, matures narrow, thick and gummy, and contains an excess of nicotine, in which case it can only be used after several yearsʼ storage. Too much rain entirely spoils the leaf. Another obstacle to Philippine cigar manufacture is the increasing universal demand for cigars with light-coloured wrappers, for which hardly two per cent. of the Philippine leaf is suitable in world competition, whilst the operative cannot handle with economy the delicate light-coloured Sumatra wrapper. The difficulties of transport are so great that it costs more to bring the finest tobacco-leaf from the field to the Manila factory than it would to send it from Manila to Europe in large parcels. The labour question is also an important consideration, for it takes several years of daily practice for a Filipino to turn out a first-class marketable cigar; the most skilful operatives can earn up to ₱50 a month.

The best quality of Philippine tobacco is produced in the northern provinces of Luzon Island, the choicest selections coming from Cagayán and La Isabela. The Provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Ilocos Sur y Norte, La Union, Nueva Ecija, and even Pampanga, yield tobacco.

In the Visayas, tobacco is cultivated in Panay Island and on the east coast of Negros Island (district of Escalante) and Cebú Island—also to a limited extent in Mindanao. The Visaya leaf generally is inferior in quality, particularly that of Yloilo Province, some of which, in fact, is such rubbish that it is difficult to understand how a profit can be expected from its cultivation. The Escalante (Negros, E. coast) and the Barili (Cebú W. coast) tobacco seemed to me to be the fullest flavoured and most agreeable leaf in all the Visayas.

A tobacco plantation is about as pretty as a cabbage-field.

In 1883 a company, styled The General Philippine Tobacco Company (“Compañia General de Tabacos de Filipinas”), formed in Spain and financially supported by French capitalists, was established in this Colony with a capital of £3,000,000. It gave great impulse to the trade by soon starting with five factories and purchasing four estates (“San Antonio,” “Santa Isabel,” “San Luis,” and “La Concepcion”), with buying-agents in every tobacco district. Up to 1898 the baled tobacco-leaf trade was chiefly in the hands of this company. Little by little the company launched out into other branches of produce-purchasing, and lost considerable sums of money in the provinces in its unsuccessful attempt to compete with the shrewd foreign merchants, but it is still a good going concern.

Prices and Weights of some of the best Cigars Manufactured in Manila packed in Boxes ready for Use or Shipment.

Per Thousand.

In Boxes of

Per Thousand.

In Boxes of

lbs.

Pesos

lbs.

Pesos

30

500

10

17

45

50

30

200

25

17

40

50

17

150

25

12

30

50

25

125

25

16

24

50

23

70

25

12

20

100

17

60

50

16

18

100

18

50

50

4½

13

100

Cigars and cigarettes are now offered for sale in every town, village, and hamlet of the Islands, and their manufacture for the immense home consumption (which, of cigars, is about one-third of the whole output), and to supply the demand for export, constitutes an important branch of trade, giving employment to thousands of operatives.

[1] Extract from a letter dated September 29, 1885, from H. Strachan, Esq., Superintendent, Government Experimental Farm, Hyderabad, Sindh—and Extract from a letter dated February 13, 1886, from A. Stormont, Esq., Superintendent, Government Experimental Farm, Khandesh (vide “The Tropical Agriculturist,” Colombo, June 1, 1886, p. 876 et seq.).

[2] The extremely fine muslin of delicate texture known in the Philippines as Piña is made exclusively of pine-apple leaf fibre. When these fibres are woven together with the slender filament drawn from the edges of the hemp petiole, the manufactured article is called Husi.

[3] A British patent for Manila hemp-paper was granted to Newton in 1852.

[4] A large proportion of the product sent from Maúban to Manila as marketable hemp is really a wild hemp-fibre locally known by the name of Alinsanay. It is a worthless, brittle filament which has all the external appearance of marketable hemp. A sample of it broke as easily as silk thread between my fingers. Its maximum strength is calculated to be one-fourth of hemp fibre.

[5] Vide Instructions re Contraband from the Treasury Superintendent, Juan Manuel de la Matta, to the “Intendente de Visayas” in 1843.

[6] Instruccion General para la Direccion, Administracion y Intervencion de las Rentas Estancadas, 1849.

[7] Licensed depôts for the sale of monopolized goods.

Sundry Forest and Farm Produce

Maize—Cacao—Coprah, Etc.

Maize (Zea mays), or “Indian Corn,” forms the staple article of food in lieu of rice in a limited number of districts, particularly in the South, although as a rule this latter cereal is preferred.

Many agriculturists alternate their crops with that of maize, which, it is said, does not impoverish the land to any appreciable extent. There is no great demand for this grain, and it is generally cultivated rather as an article for consumption in the growerʼs household than for trade. Planted in good land it gives about 200-fold, and two crops in the year = 400-fold per annum; but the setting out of one caban of maize grain occupies five times the surface required for the planting of the same measure of rice grain. An ordinary caban of land is 8,000 square Spanish yards (vide Land Measure, p. 271), and this superficie derives its denomination from the fact that it is the average area occupied by the planting out of one caban measure of rice grain. The maize caban of land is quite a special measure, and is equal to 5 rice cabans. Estimating, therefore, the average yield of rice-paddy to be 50 cabanes measure per ordinary caban of land, the same superficie, were it suitable for maize-raising, would give one-fifth of 400-fold per annum = 80 cabanes measure of maize per rice caban of land.

The current price of maize, taking the average in several provinces, is rarely above that of paddy for the same measure, whilst it is often lower, according to the demand, which is influenced by the custom of the natives in the vicinity where it is offered for sale.

It is eaten after being pulverized between stone or hardwood slabs with the surfaces set horizontally, the upper one being caused to revolve on the lower one, which is stationary. In many village market-places one sees heads of maize roasted and exposed for sale. This is of a special quality, grown in alluvial soil—the intervals of rivers which overflow at certain seasons of the year. Three crops per annum are obtainable on land of this kind, so that the supply is constant all the year round. Before the American occupation, the price of the raw maize-heads to the market-sellers was about 60 cuartos per 100, which they retailed out roasted at one cuarto each (3½ cuartos equal about one penny); the profit was therefore proportionately large when local festivities created a demand.

The CACAO-TREE—(Theobroma cacao, or “Food of the gods,” as Linnæus called it)—a native of Central America, flourishes in these Islands in the hot and damp districts.

It is said to have been imported into the Philippines towards the end of the 17th century from Mexico, where it has been in very ancient use. Gaspar de San Agustin records the following[1]:—“In the year 1670 a navigator, Pedro Brabo de Lagunas, brought from Acapulco a pot containing a cacao-plant which he gave to his brother, Bartolomé Brabo, a priest in Camarines, from whom it was stolen by a Lipa native, Juan del Aguila, who hid it and took care of it, and from it was propagated all the original Philippine stock.”

Outside the tropics the tree will grow in some places, but gives no fruit. The Philippine quality is very good, and compares favourably with that of other countries, the best being produced between latitudes 11° and 12° N.

The cultivation of cacao is an extremely risky and delicate business, as, often when the planterʼs hopes are about to be realized, a slight storm will throw down the almost-ripened fruit in a day. A disease sometimes attacks the roots and spreads through a plantation. It would be imprudent, therefore, to devote oneʼs time exclusively to the cultivation of this product at the risk of almost instantaneous ruin. Usually, the Philippine agriculturist rightly regards cacao only as a useful adjunct to his other crops. In the aspect of a cacao plantation there is nothing specially attractive. The tree itself is not pretty. The natives who grow the fruit usually make their own chocolate at home by roasting the beans over a slow fire, and after separating them from their husks (like almond-skins), they pound them with wet sugar, etc., into a paste, using a kind of rolling-pin on a concave block of wood. The roasted beans should be made into chocolate at once, as by exposure to the air they lose flavour. Small quantities of cacao are sent to Spain, but the consumption in the Colony, when made into chocolate[2] by adding sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, etc., to counteract the natural bitterness of the bean, is considerable. In making the paste, a large quantity of sugar is added, varying from one-third of its weight to equal parts, whilst one pod of vanilla is sufficient for 1½ lbs. of cacao. Chocolate is often adulterated with roasted rice and Pili nuts. The roasted Pili nut alone has a very agreeable almond taste. As a beverage, chocolate is in great favour with the Spaniards and half-castes and the better class of natives. In every household of any pretensions the afternoon caller is invited to “merendar con chocolate,” which corresponds to the English “5 oʼclock tea.”

The cacao-beans or kernels lie in a fruit something like a gherkin, about 5 inches long and 3 inches in diameter, and of a dark reddish colour when ripe. The tree bears its fruit on the main branches, or on the trunk itself, but never on twigs or thin branches. The fruit contains from 15 to 25 beans, in regular rows, with pulpy divisions between them like a water-melon. The kernels are about the size, shape, and colour of almonds, obtuse at one end, and contain a fatty or oily matter to the extent of one-half their weight. In order to make “soluble cocoa” as sold in Europe this fatty substance is extracted.

The beans are planted out at short distances in orchards, or in the garden surrounding the ownerʼs dwelling. The tree, in this Colony, does not attain a great height—usually up to 10 feet—whereas in its natural soil it grows up to 30 feet at least. Like coffee, it bears fruit in the fourth year, and reaches maturity in the sixth year. The fair annual yield of a tree, if not damaged by storms or insects, would be about three pints measure of beans, which always find a ready sale. The tree is most delicate; a slight laceration of the root, or stagnant water near it, may kill it; it needs a moisture-laden sultry air, which, however, must not exceed 75° Fahr.

If all went well with the crop, large profits might accrue to the cacao-planter, but it rarely happens (perhaps never) during the six months of fruit-ripening that losses are not sustained by hurricanes, disease in the tree, the depredations of parrots, monkeys, rats, and other vermin, etc. Practically speaking, cacao-planting should only be undertaken in this Colony by agriculturists who have spare capital and can afford to lose a crop one year to make up for it in the next. The venture pays handsomely in fortunate seasons, but it is not the line of planting to be taken up by hand-to-mouth colonists who must seek immediate returns, nor as a sole occupation.

CASTOR OIL is obtained in a few places from the seeds of the Palma Christi or Ricinus communis, but the plant is not cultivated, and the oil has not yet become an article of current trade.

GOGO (Entada pursætha), sometimes called Bayogo in Tagálog, is a useful forest product in general demand, on sale at every market-place and native general shop. It is a fibrous bark, taken in strips of 3 or 4 feet long. It looks exactly like cocoa-nut coir, except that its colour is a little lighter and brighter. It is used for cleansing the hair, for which purpose a handful is put to soak in a basin of water overnight, and the next morning it will saponify when rubbed between the hands. The soap which issues therefrom is then rubbed in the hair at the time of bathing. It is in common use among the natives of both sexes and many Europeans. An infusion of Gogo is a purgative. If placed dry in the tinaja jars (Tagálog, Tapayan), containing cacao-beans, the insects will not attack the beans.

CAMOTE (Convolvulus batatas) is the sweet potato or Yam, the foliage of which quickly spreads out like a carpet over the soil and forms tubers, like the common potato. It is a favourite article of food among the natives, and in nearly every island it is also found wild. In kitchen-gardens it is planted like the potato, the tuber being cut in pieces. Sometimes it is dried (Tagálog, Pacúmbong camote). It is also preserved whole in molasses (Tagálog, Palúbog na camote).

GABI (Caladium) is another kind of esculent root, palatable to the natives, similar to the turnip, and throws up stalks from 1 to 3 feet high, at the end of which is an almost round leaf, dark green, from 3 to 5 inches diameter at maturity.

POTATOES are grown in Cebú Island, but they are rarely any larger than walnuts. With very special care a larger size has been raised in Negros Island; also potatoes of excellent flavour and of a pinkish colour are cultivated in the district of Benguet; in Manila there is a certain demand for this last kind.

MANI (Arachis hypogæa), commonly called the “Pea-nut,” is a creeping plant, which grows wild in many places. It is much cultivated, however, partly for the sake of the nut or fruit, but principally for the leaves and stalks, which, when dried, even months old, serve as an excellent and nutritious fodder for ponies. It contains a large quantity of oil, and in some districts it is preferred to the fresh-cut zacate grass, with which the ponies and cattle are fed in Manila.

The Philippine pea-nut is about as large as that seen in England. In 1904 the American Bureau of Agriculture brought to the Islands for seed a quantity of New Orleans pea-nuts two to three times larger.

ARECA PALM (Areca calechu) (Tagálog, Bon͠ga), the nut of which is used to make up the chewing betel when split into slices about one-eighth of an inch thick. This is one of the most beautiful palms. The nuts cluster on stalks under the tuft of leaves at the top of the tall slender stem. It is said that one tree will produce, according to age, situation, and culture, from 200 to 800 nuts yearly. The nut itself is enveloped in a fibrous shell, like the cocoa-nut. In Europe a favourite dentifrice is prepared from the areca-nut.

BUYO (Piper betle) (Tagálog, Igmô), is cultivated with much care in every province, as its leaf, when coated with lime made from oyster-shells and folded up, is used to coil round the areca-nut, the whole forming the buyo (betel), which the natives of these Islands, as in British India, are in the habit of chewing. To the chew a quid of tobacco is sometimes added. A native can go a great number of hours without food if he has his betel; it is said to be stomachical. After many years of habit in chewing this nut and leaf it becomes almost a necessity, as is the case with opium, and it is believed that its use cannot, with safety, be suddenly abandoned. To the newly-arrived European, it is very displeasing to have to converse with a native betel-eater, whose teeth and lips appear to be smeared with blood. The buyo plant is set out on raised beds and trained (like hops) straight up on sticks, on which it grows to a height of about 6 feet. The leaf is of a bright green colour, and only slightly pointed. In all market-places, including those of Manila, there is a great sale of this leaf, which is brought fresh every day.

COCOANUT (Cocos nucifera) plantations pay very well, and there is a certain demand for the fruit for export to China, besides the constant local sales in the tianguis.[3] Niog is the Tagálog name for the cocoanut palm. Some tap the tree by making an incision in the flowering (or fruit-bearing) stalk, under which a bamboo vessel, called a bombon, is hung to receive the sap. This liquid, known as tuba, is a favourite beverage among the natives. As many as four stalks of the same trunk can be so drained simultaneously without injury to the tree. In the bottom of the bombon is placed about as much as a desert spoonful of pulverized Ton͠go bark (Rhizophora longissima) to give a stronger taste and bright colour to the tuba. The incision—renewed each time the bombon is replaced—is made with a very sharp knife, to which a keen edge is given by rubbing it on wood (Erythrina) covered with a paste of ashes and oil. The sap-drawing of a stalk continues incessantly for about two months, when the stalk ceases to yield and dries up. The bombons containing the liquid are removed, empty ones being put in their place every twelve hours, about sunrise and sunset, and the seller hastens round to his clients with the morning and evening draught, concluding his trade at the market-place or other known centres of sale. If the tuba is allowed to ferment, it is not so palatable, and becomes an intoxicating drink. From the fermented juice the distilleries manufacture a spirituous liquor, known locally as cocoa-wine. The trees set apart for tuba extraction do not produce nuts, as the fruit-forming elements are taken away.

The man who gets down the tuba has to climb the first tree, on the trunk of which notches are cut to place his toes in. From under the tuft of leaves two bamboos are fastened, leading to the next nearest tree, and so on around the group which is thus connected. The bottom bamboo serves as a bridge, and the top one as a handrail. Occasionally a man falls from the top of a trunk 70 or 80 feet high, and breaks his neck. The occupation of tuba drawing is one of the most dangerous.

When the tree is allowed to produce fruit, instead of yielding tuba, the nuts are collected about every four months. They are brought down either by a sickle-shaped knife lashed on to the end of a long pole, or by climbing the tree with the knife in hand. When they are collected for oil-extraction, they are carted on a kind of sleigh,[4] unless there be a river or creek providing a water-way, in which latter case they are tied together, stalk to stalk, and floated in a compact mass, like a raft, upon which the man in charge stands.

The water or milk found inside a cocoanut is very refreshing to the traveller, and has this advantage over fresh water, that it serves to quench the thirst of a person who is perspiring, or whose blood is highly heated, without doing him any harm.

Well-to-do owners of cocoanut-palm plantations usually farm out to the poorer people the right to extract the tuba, allotting to each family a certain number of trees. Others allow the trees to bear fruit, and although the returns are, theoretically, not so good, it pays the owner about the same, as he is less exposed to robbery, being able more closely to watch his own interests. The trees bear fruit in the fifth year, but, meanwhile, care must be taken to defend them from the browsing of cattle. If they survive that period they will live for a century. At seven yearsʼ growth the cocoanut palm-tree seldom fails to yield an unvarying average crop of a score of large nuts, giving a nett profit of about one peso per annum.

The cocoanut is largely used for culinary purposes in the Islands. It is an ingredient in the native “curry” (of no resemblance to Indian curry), and is preserved in several ways, the most common being the Bocayo, a sort of cocoanut toffee, and the Matamis na macapuno, which is the soft, immature nut preserved in molasses.

In the Provinces of Tayabas, La Laguna, E. Batangas and district of La Infanta, the cocoanut-palm is extensively cultivated, solely for the purpose of extracting the oil from the nut. The cocoanut-oil factories are very rough, primitive establishments, usually consisting of eight or ten posts supporting a nipa palm-leaf roof, and closed in at all sides with split bamboos. The nuts are heaped for a while to dry and concentrate the oil in the fruit. Then they are chopped, more or less, in half. A man sits on a board with his feet on a treadle, from which a rope is passed over, and works to and fro a cylindrical block, in the end of which is fixed an iron scraper. He picks up the half-nuts one at a time, and on applying them to the scraper in motion, the white fruit, or pith, falls out into a vessel underneath. These scrapings are then pressed between huge blocks of wood to express the oil, and the mass is afterwards put into cast-iron cauldrons, of Chinese make, with water, which is allowed to simmer and draw out the remaining fatty particles, which are skimmed off the surface. When cold, it is sent off to market in small, straight-sided kegs, on ponies which carry two kegs—one slung on each side. The average estimated yield of the cocoanuts, by the native process, is as follows, viz.:—250 large nuts give one cwt. of dried coprah, yielding, say, 10 gallons of oil.

Small quantities of Cocoanut Oil (Tagálog, Lan͠guis n͠g niog) are shipped from the Philippines, but in the Colony itself it is an important article of consumption. Every dwelling, rich or poor, consumes a certain amount of this oil nightly for lighting. For this purpose it is poured into a glass half full of water, on which it floats, and a wick, made of pith, called tinsin, introduced by the Chinese, is suspended in the centre of the oil by a strip of tin. As the oil is consumed, the wick is lowered by slightly bending the tin downwards. There are few dwelling-houses, or huts, without a light of some kind burning during the whole night in expectation of a possible earthquake, and the vast majority use cocoanut oil because of the economy.

It is also in use for cooking in some out-of-the-way places, and is not unpalatable when quite fresh. It is largely employed as a lubricant for machinery, for which purpose, however, it is very inferior. Occasionally it finds a medicinal application, and the natives commonly use it as hair-oil. In Europe, cocoa-nut oil is a white solid, and is used in the manufacture of soap and candles; in the tropics it is seldom seen otherwise than in a liquid state, as it fuses a little above 70° Fahr.

It is only in the last few years that Coprah has acquired importance as an article of export. There are large cocoanut plantations on all the principal islands, whence supplies are furnished to meet the foreign demand, which is likely to increase considerably.

For figures of COPRAH Shipments, vide Chap. xxxi., “Trade Statistics.”

Uses are also found for the hard Shell of the nut (Tagálog, Baoo). In native dwellings these shells serve the poor for cups (tabo ) and a variety of other useful domestic utensils, whilst by all classes they are converted into ladles with wooden handles. Also, when carbonized, the shell gives a black, used for dyeing straw hats.

Very little use is made of the Coir (Tagálog, Bunot), or outer fibrous skin, which in other countries serves for the manufacture of cocoanut matting, coarse brushes, hawsers, etc. It is said that coir rots in fresh water, whereas salt water strengthens it. It would therefore be unsuitable for running rigging, but for shipsʼ cables it cannot be surpassed in its qualities of lightness and elasticity. As it floats on water, it ought to be of great value on ships, whilst of late years its employment in the manufacture of light ocean telegraph cables has been seriously considered, showing, as it does, an advantage over other materials by taking a convex curve to the water surface—an important condition in cable-laying.[5] The Spaniards call this product Banote. In this Colony it often serves for cleaning floors and shipsʼ decks, when the nut is cut into two equal parts across the grain of the coir covering, and with it a very high polish can be put on to hardwoods.

The stem of the Cocoanut Palm is attacked by a very large beetle with a single horn at the top of its head. It bores through the bark and slightly injures the tree, but I never heard that any had died in consequence. In some countries this insect is described as the rhinoceros beetle, and is said to belong to the Dynastidæ species.

In the Philippines, the poorest soil seems to give nourishment to the cocoanut-palm; indeed, it thrives best on, or near, the sea-shore, as close to the sea as where the beach is fringed by the surf at high tide. The common cocoanut-palm attains a height of about sixty feet, but there is also a dwarf palm with the stem sometimes no taller than four feet at full growth, which also bears fruit, although less plentifully. A grove of these is a pretty sight.

Sir Emerson Tennent, referring to these trees in Ceylon, is reported to have stated[6] that the cocoanut-palm “acts as a conductor in protecting houses from lightning. As many as 500 of these trees were struck in a single pattoo near Pattalam during a succession of thunderstorms in April 1859.”—Colombo Observer.

NIPA PALM (Nipa fruticans) is found in mangrove swamps and flooded marshy lands. It has the appearance of a gigantic fern, and thrives best in those lands which are covered by the sea at high tide. In the same manner as the cocoanut-palm, the sap is extracted by incision made in the fruit-bearing stalk, and is used for distilling a liquid known as nipa wine, which, however, should properly be termed a spirit. The leaves, which are very long, and about three to five inches wide, are of immense value in the country for thatched roofs. Nipa is not to be found everywhere; one may go many miles without seeing it, in districts devoid of marshes and swampy lowlands. In El Abra district (Luzon Is.) nipa is said to be unknown. In such places, another material supplies its want for thatching, viz.:—

COGON (Saccharum koenigii), a sort of tall jungle grass with a very sharp edge, plentifully abundant precisely where nipa cannot be expected to grow. I have ridden through cogon five feet high, but a fair average would be about three to four feet. It has simply to be cut and sun-dried and is ready for roof thatching.

The COTTON-TREE (Gossypium herbaceum, Linn. ?), (Tagálog, Bulac), is found growing in an uncultivated state in many islands of the Archipelago. Long-staple cotton was formerly extensively cultivated in the Province of Ilocos Norte, whence, many years ago, large quantities of good cotton-stuffs were exported. This industry still exists. The cultivation of this staple was, however, discouraged by the local governors, in order to urge the planting of tobacco for the Government supplies. It has since become difficult to revive the cotton production, although an essay, in pamphlet form (for which a prize was awarded in Madrid), was gratuitously distributed over the Colony in 1888 with that object. Nevertheless, cotton spinning and weaving are still carried on, on a reduced scale, in the Ilocos provinces (Luzon west coast).

Wild cotton is practically useless for spinning, as the staple is extremely short, but perhaps by hybridization and careful attention its culture might become valuable to the Colony. The pod is elliptical, and the cotton which bursts from it at maturity is snow-white. It is used for stuffing pillows and mattresses. It was a common thing, before the American occupation, to see (wild) cotton-trees planted along the highroad to serve as telegraph-posts; by the time the seed is fully ripe, every leaf has fallen, and nothing but the bursting pods remain hanging to the branches.

The BURI PALM is a handsome species, of tall growth, with fan-like leaves. Its juice serves as a beverage resembling tuba. The trunk yields a sago flour. The leaves are beaten on boulder stones to extract a fibre for rope-making, of great strength and in constant demand.

The DITÁ TREE, said to be of the family of the Apocynese and known to botanists as Alstonia scholaris, is possibly a species of cinchona. The pulverized bark has a bitter taste like quinine, and is successfully used by the natives to allay fever. A Manila chemist once extracted from the bark a substance which he called ditaïne, the yield of crystallizable alkaloid being 2 per cent.

PALMA BRAVA (Coripha minor) (Tagálog, Ban͠ga),[7] is a species of palm, the trunk of which is of great local value. It is immensely strong, and will resist the action of water for years. These trees are employed as piles for quay and pier making—for bridges, stockades, and in any works where strength, elasticity, and resistance to water are required in combination. When split, a fibrous pith is found in the centre much resembling cocoanut coir, but the ligneous shell of the stem still retains its qualities of strength and flexibility, and is used for vehicle-shafts, cooliesʼ carrying-poles, and a variety of other purposes.

BAMBUSA (Bambusa arundinacea) is a graminifolious plant—one of the most charmingly picturesque and useful adornments of Nature bestowed exuberantly on the Philippine Islands. It grows in thick tufts in the woods and on the banks of rivers. Its uses are innumerable, and it has not only become one of the articles of primary necessity to the native, but of incalculable value to all in the Colony.

There are many kinds of bamboos, distinct in formation and size. The Tagálog generic name for knotted bamboo is Cauáyan; the Spanish name is Caña espina. The most common species grows to a height of about 60 feet, with a diameter varying up to eight inches, and is of wonderful strength, due to its round shape and the regularity of its joints. Each joint is strengthened by a web inside. It is singularly flexible, light, elastic, and of matchless floating power. The fibre is tough, but being perfectly straight, it is easy to split. It has a smooth glazed surface, a perfectly straight grain, and when split on any surface, it takes a high polish by simple friction. Three cuts with the bowie-knife are sufficient to hew down the largest bamboo of this kind, and the green leaves, in case of extreme necessity, serve for horsesʼ fodder.

There is another variety also hollow, but not so large as that just described. It is covered with a natural varnish as hard as steel. It is also used for native cabin-building and many other purposes.

A third species, seldom found more than five inches in diameter, is much more solid, having no cavity in the centre divided by webs. It cannot be applied to so many purposes as the first, but where great strength is required it is incomparable.

When the bamboo-plant is cultivated with the view of rendering it annually productive, the shoots are pruned in the dry season at a height of about seven feet from the ground. In the following wet season, out of the clump germinate a number of young shoots, which, in the course of six or eight months, will have reached their normal height, and will be fit for cutting when required. Bamboo should be felled in the dry season before the sap begins to ascend by capillary attraction. If cut out of season it is prematurely consumed by grub (gojo), but this is not much heeded when wanted in haste.

The northern native builds his hut entirely of bamboo with nipa palm-leaf or cogon thatching; in the Province of Yloilo I have seen hundreds of huts made entirely of bamboo, including the roofing. To make bamboo roofing, the hollow canes are split longitudinally, and, after the webbed joints inside have been cut away, they are laid on the bamboo frame-work, and fit into each other, the one convexly, the next one concavely, and so on alternately. In frame-work, no joinerʼs skill is needed; two-thirds of the bamboo are notched out on one side, and the other third is bent to rectangle. A rural bungalow can be erected in a week. When Don Manuel Montuno, the late Governor of Mórong, came with his suite to stay at my up-country bungalow for a shooting expedition, I had a wing added in three days, perfectly roofed and finished.

No nails are ever used, the whole being bound with bejuco. The walls of the cabin are made by splitting the bamboo, and, after removing the webbed joints, each half is beaten out flat. Even in houses of certain pretensions I have often seen split-bamboo flooring, which is highly effective, as it is always clean and takes a beautiful polish when rubbed over a few times with plantain-leaves. In the parish church of Las Piñas, near Manila, there was an organ made of bamboo, of excellent tone, extant up to the year of the Revolution.

When the poor village native wants to put up his house he calls a bayanin, and his neighbours assemble to give him a hand. The bowie-knife is the only indispensable tool. One cuts the bamboo to lengths, another splits it, a third fits it for making the frame-work, another threads the dried nipa-leaves for the roofing, and thus a modest bahay is erected in a week. The most practicable dwelling is the bamboo and nipa house, the only serious drawback being the risk of fire.

Rafts, furniture of all kinds, scaffolding, spoons, carts, baskets, sledges, fishing-traps, fleams, water-pipes, hats, dry and liquid measures, cups, fencing, canoe-fittings, bridges, carrying-poles for any purpose, pitchforks, and a thousand other articles are made of this unexcelled material. Here it serves all the purposes to which the osier is applied in Europe. It floats in water, serves for fuel, and ropes made of it are immensely strong. Bamboo salad is prepared from the very young shoots, cut as soon as they sprout from the root. The value of bamboo in Manila varies according to the season of the year and length of the bamboo, the diameter of course being proportionate.

BOJO (Tagálog, Buho) is a kind of cane, somewhat resembling the bamboo in appearance only. It has very few knots; is brittle, perfectly smooth on the outer and inner surfaces—hollow, and grows to about 25 feet high by 2 inches diameter, and is not nearly so useful as the bamboo. It is used for making light fences, musical instruments, fishing-rods, inner walls of huts, fishing-traps, torches, etc.

BEJUCO, or Rattan-cane, belonging to the Calamus family (Tagálog, Hiantoc, also Dit-án), is a forest product commonly found in lengths of, say, 100 feet, with a maximum diameter of half-an-inch. It is of enormous strength and pliancy. Its uses are innumerable. When split longitudinally it takes the place of rope for lashing anything together; indeed, it is just as useful in the regions of its native habitat as cordage is in Europe. It serves for furniture and bedstead-making, and it is a substitute for nails and bolts. Hemp-bales, sugar-bags, parcels of all kinds are tied up with it, and hats are made of it. The ring through a buffaloʼs nose is made of whole rattan, to which is often attached a split strip for a guiding-rein. Every joint in a nativeʼs hut, his canoe, his fence, his cart, woodwork of any kind—indeed, everything to be made fast, from a bundle of sticks to a broken-down carriage, is lashed together with this split material, which must, when so employed, be bent with the shiny skin outside, otherwise it will infallibly snap. The demand for this article is very large.

BUSH-ROPE (Calamus maximus) (Tagálog, Palásan) is also a forest product, growing to lengths of about 100 feet, with a maximum diameter of one inch and a quarter. It is immensely strong. It is used for raft cables for crossing rivers, stays for bamboo suspension-bridges, and a few other purposes. It is sometimes found with knots as far apart as 30 feet. It is a species quite distinct from the WALKING-STICK PALASAN (Calamus gracilis) (Tagálog, Tabola) the appreciated feature of which is the proximity of the knots. I have before me a specimen 34 inches long with 26 knots.

GUM MASTIC (Almáciga) is an article of minor importance in the Philippine exports, the supply being very limited. It is said that large quantities exist; but as it is only procurable in almost inaccessible mountainous and uncivilized districts, first-hand collectors in the provinces, principally Chinese, have to depend upon the services and goodwill of unsubdued tribes. It is chiefly obtained by barter, and is not a trade which can be worked up systematically. The exports of this product fluctuate considerably in consequence. For figures of GUM MASTIC shipments, vide Chap, xxxi., “Trade Statistics.”

GUTTA-PERCHA was formerly a more important article of trade in these Islands until the Chinese drove it out of the market by adulteration. A little is shipped from Zamboanga.

WAX (Tagálog, patquit) and cinnamon are to be found in much the same way as gum mastic. There is a large consumption of wax in the Islands for candles used at the numerous religious feasts. The cinnamon is very inferior in quality. It is abundant in Mindanao Island, but, like gum mastic, it can only be procured in small quantities, depending on the caprice or necessities of the mountain-tribes. Going along the seashore in Zamboanga Province, on one occasion, I met a mountaineer carrying a bundle of cinnamon to Zamboanga Port—many miles distant—to sell the bark to the Chinese at [Peso}8 per picul. I bought his load, the half of which I sent to Spain, requesting a friend there to satisfy my curiosity by procuring a quotation for the sample in the Barcelona market. He reported that the quality was so low that only a nominal price could be quoted, and that it stood nowhere compared with the carefully cultivated Ceylon product.

EDIBLE BIRDʼS NEST (Collocalia troglodytes—Coll. nodifica esculenta Bonap.) is an article of trade with the Chinese, who readily purchase it at high prices. It is made by a kind of sea-swallow, and in appearance resembles vermicelli, variegated with blood-coloured spots. The nests are found in high cliffs by the sea, and the natives engaged in their collection reach them by climbing up bush-rope or bamboos with the branch-knots left on to support themselves with their toes. It is a very dangerous occupation, as the nests are always built high in almost inaccessible places. The Filipino risks his life in collecting them, whilst the Chinaman does the safe and profitable business of trading in the article. In the Philippines the collection begins in December, and the birds deprived of their nests have then to build a second nest for laying their eggs. These second nests are gathered about the end of January, and so on up to about the fourth collection. Each successive nest decreases in commercial value, and the last one is hardly worth the risk of taking. Even though there might be venturesome collectors who would dislodge the last nests, the wet season fortunately sets in and prevents their being reached, hence the bird is at length able to continue propagation. Birdʼs-nest soup is a delicacy in great demand in China.

These nests are chiefly found in the Calamities group of islands, particularly in Busuanga Island. The Sulu Archipelago and Palaúan Island also furnish a small quantity of edible birdsʼ-nests.

BALATE, or Trepang, is a species of sea-slug, for which the natives find a ready sale to the Chinese at good prices. The fish is preserved by being gutted, cooked, and sun-dried, and has a shrimp taste. It is found in greatest quantities off the Calamianes and Palaúan Islands.

SAPAN-WOOD (Caesalpina sappan) (Tagálog, Sibucao, or Sápang), of an inferior quality compared with the Pernambuco wood, is a Philippine product found in most of the large islands. It is a short, unattractive tree, with epigeous branches spreading out in a straggling manner. The leaves are small and sparse. The wood is hard, heavy, crooked, and full of knots. It sinks in water, and is susceptible of a fine polish. It is whitish when fresh cut, but assumes a deep red colour on exposure to the air. The only valuable portion is the heart of the branch, from which is taken a dye known in the trade as “false crimson,” to distinguish it from the more permanent cochineal dye. The whole of the colouring-matter can be extracted with boiling water. It is usually shipped from Manila and Yloilo as dunnage, a small quantity coming also from Cebú. For figures of SAPAN-WOOD shipments, vide Chap, xxxi., “Trade Statistics.”

The SAPS of certain Philippine trees serve to give a polished coating to the smoothed surface of other woods. The kind which I have experimented with most successfully is that of the Ipil tree (Eperna decandria). This gives a glazed covering very similar to Japan-ware varnish. It takes better to the wood in a cold climate than in the tropics. I have tried it both in the Philippines and in Europe.

DYE SAPS are also numerous—for instance, that of the species Marsedenia, called in Bicol dialect Payanguit and Aringuit, with which hemp can be dyed blue; the juice of the skin of a root, known in Bicol as Morinda, is used for dyeing hemp red; the sap of the Talisay tree (Terminalia mauritiana) gives a black dye, and that of the Calumpit tree (Terminalia edulis) is a good straw-coloured dye.

HARDWOODS.—These Islands are remarkably rich in valuable timber-trees. For some of the details which I will give of the properties and applicability of the varieties in general demand, I am indebted to Mr. H. G. Brown (of H. G. Brown & Co. Limited,[8] steam saw-mill proprietors in Tayabas Province), admitted to be the most experienced person in this branch of Philippine trade.

Aranga (Homalium) gives logs up to 75 feet long by 24 inches square. It is specially used for sea piling and all kinds of marine work which is subject to the attacks of sea-worm (Teredo navalis).

Acle (Mimosa acle) gives logs up to 32 feet by 28 inches square. It is strong, tenacious, and durable, whilst it has the speciality of being difficult to burn, and is much used in house-building; it polishes well, and is much prized by the natives. It is supposed to be identical with the Payengadu of Burmah.

Anagap (Pithecolobium montanum, Benth.) gives logs up to 18 feet long by 16 inches square. It is sometimes used for house furniture and fittings and for other purposes where a light durable wood is wanted and is not exposed to sun and rain.

Apiton (Dipterocarpus griffithi, Miq.) gives logs up to 70 feet long by 24 inches square. It contains a gum of which incense is made, is light when seasoned, works well, and will serve for furniture and general joinerʼs purposes.

Antipolo (Artocarpus incisa) is much esteemed for vesselsʼ outside planking, keels, etc. It is light, very strong, resists sea-worm (Teredo navalis) entirely, and effects of climate. It does not warp when once seasoned, and is a most valuable wood.

Anobing (Artocarpus ovata) is said to resist damp as well as Molave does, but it is not appreciated as a good hardwood. It is plentiful, especially in the district of Laguna de Bay.

Betis (Azaola—Payena betis?) gives logs up to 65 feet long by 20 inches square. It is proof against sea-worm, is used for salt or fresh water piling, piers, wharves, etc.; also for keels and many other parts of ship-building, and where a first-class wood is indispensably necessary. It is somewhat scarce.

Batitinan (Lagerstroemia batitinan) gives logs up to 40 feet long by 18 inches square. Is very strong, tough, and elastic; generally used for shipsʼ outside planking above water. It stands the climate well when properly seasoned; is a wood of the first quality, and can be used for any purpose except those involving interment in the ground or exposure to ravages of sea-worm. This wood is very much stronger than Teak, and could be used to advantage in its place for almost all purposes. It makes a good substitute for Black Walnut in furniture.

Banaba (Munchaustia speciosa—Lagerstremis speciosa?)—a strong and useful wood much used in house- and ship-building; it is thoroughly reliable when seasoned, otherwise it shrinks and warps considerably. Bansalague (Mimusops elengi, Linn.) gives logs up to 45 feet long by 18 inches square. It seems to be known in Europe as bullet-tree wood. It can be driven like a bolt, and from this fact and its durability it is frequently used for treenails in ship-building in Manila, etc. It is also used for axe and other tool-handles, belaying-pins, etc., and on account of its compact, close grain it is admirably adapted for turning purposes; it lasts well in the ground.

Bancal (Nauclea gluberrima) gives logs up to 24 feet long by 16 inches square. This wood is of a yellow colour and very easy to work. It is used for general joinerʼs work in house-building, etc.

Cedar (Cedrela odorata), of the same natural order as Mahogany (Linn.), gives logs up to 40 feet long by 35 inches square, and is used principally for cigar-boxes. In the Colony it is known as Calantás. It makes very handsome inside house-fittings.

Camagon or Mabolo (a variety of Diospyros philoshantera) is procured in roughly rounded logs of 9 feet and upwards in length, by up to 12 inches in diameter. It is a close-grained, brittle wood, and takes a good polish; its colour is black with yellow streaks, and it is used for furniture-making. It might be termed the Philippine Coromandel wood, and is sometimes referred to as “false ebony.”

Dúngon (a variety of Herculia ambiformis—Sterculia cymbiformis, Blanco) grows up to 50 feet long, giving logs up to 20 inches square. It is sometimes called Ironwood, is very hard and durable, and specially strong in resisting great transverse pressure, or carrying such weight as a heavy roof. It is used for keels on account of its great strength—it does not resist the sea-worm; it is applied to all purposes in Manila where more than ordinary strength is required when Molave cannot be procured in sufficiently great lengths and Ipil is unattainable.

Dinglas (Decandria—Bucida comintana) gives logs up to 30 feet by 16 inches square—occasionally even larger sizes. This will also serve as a substitute for Black Walnut in furniture; it is very strong, hard, and durable.

Ebony (Diospyros nigra) is also found in very limited quantities.

Guijo (Dipterocarpus guijo) gives logs up to 75 feet long by 24 inches square—is very strong, tough and elastic. In Manila this wood is invariably used for carriage wheels and shafts. In Hong-Kong it is used, amongst other purposes, for wharf-decks or flooring.

Ipil (Eperna decandria) gives logs up to 50 feet long by 26 inches square. It has all the good qualities of Molave, except resistance to sea-worm (in which respect it is the same as Teak), and may be as much relied on for duration under ground; for sleepers it equals Molave.

Lanete (Anaser laneti) gives logs up to 25 feet long by 18 inches square. It is useful for sculpture, musical instruments, decoration, turning, and cabinet purposes.

Laúan (Dipterocarpus thurifera) is obtained in sizes the same as Guijo. It is a light, useful wood, and easily worked. It is said that the outside planks of the old Philippine-Mexican galleons were of this wood because it did not split with shot.

Molave (Vitex geniculata) (Tagalog, Molauin), gives logs up to 35 feet long by 24 inches square. It resists sea-worm (Teredo navalis), white ants (Termes), and action of climate, and consequently is specially valuable for work on the surface of or under ground, and generally for all purposes where an extra strong and durable wood is required. Often growing crooked, it is commonly used (where produced and in adjacent countries) for frames of vessels. Owing to its imperviousness to ligniperdous insects and climate, it cannot possibly be surpassed for such purposes as railway-sleepers. This wood is practically everlasting, and is deservedly called by the natives, “Queen of the Woods.” It pays better to sell Molave in baulks or logs, rather than sawn to specification, because this tree has the great defect of being subject to heart-cup.

Mr. Thomas Laslett, in his work on timber,[9] says, in reference to Molave, “It can be recommended to notice as being fit to supplement any of the hardwoods in present use for constructive purposes.” From the same work I have extracted the following record of experiments made by Mr. Laslett with this wood:—

TENSILE EXPERIMENTS.—AVERAGE OF FIVE SPECIMENS

Dimensions of each piece.

Specific gravity.

Weight the piece broke with.

Direct cohesion one square inch.

lbs.

2″ × 2″ × 30″

1021.6

31,248

7,812

TRANSVERSE EXPERIMENTS.—AVERAGE OF THREE SPECIMENS

DEFLECTIONS.

Total weight required to break each piece.

Specific gravity.

Weight reduced to specific gravity 1,000.

Weight required to break one square inch.

With the apparatus weighing 390 lbs.

After the weight was removed

At the crisis of breaking.

lbs.

lbs.

1.25

.166

5.166

1,243.3

1013

1231

310.83

N.B.—It breaks on test with a scarf-like fracture.

Mangachapuy (Dipterocarpus mangachapuy—Vatica apteranthera) gives logs up to 55 feet long by 20 inches square. It is very elastic and withstands the climate, when seasoned, as well as Teak. It is used in Manila for masts and decks of vessels and for all work exposed to sun and rain. It is much esteemed and in great demand by those who know its good qualities.

Macasin can be used for interior house work and floors. It is somewhat inferior to Banaba, but supplies its place when Banaba is scarce. It can be got in greater length and square than Banaba.

Malatapay (a variety of Diospyros philoshantera), veined black and red. It resembles Camagon.

Mancono is a very hard wood found in Mindanao Island; it is classed as a species of lignum-vitæ.

Narra (Pterocarpus palidus santalinus) gives logs up to 35 feet long by 26 inches square. It is the Mahogany of the Philippines, inasmuch as it is always employed in Manila in the manufacture of furniture, for notwithstanding its somewhat open grain, it polishes well, and is prettily marked. There is a variety of shades in different logs varying from straw colour to blood-red, the former being more common; all are, however, equally esteemed. It is a first-rate wood for general purposes. In the London market it is classed with the Padouk of Burmah.

Palo Maria de Playa (P. Polyandria—Calophyllum inophyllum) (Tagálog, Dangcalán), is greatly appreciated for crooks and curves, but as a rule cannot be found of suitable dimensions for large vessels. It is better than Molave for this purpose, for, due to the absence of acrid juices, iron bolts do not corrode in it. It is exceedingly tough and not so heavy as Molave.

Supa (Sindora wallichii, Benth.) gives logs up to 40 feet long by 28 inches square. It produces an oil, and is a strong wood for general purposes, polishes well and can be used advantageously for house decorations and furniture.

Tíndalo (Eperna rhomboidea) is about the same as Acle in its principal features, but not notable for resisting fire. It is useful for general purposes, and in particular for decorations and furniture. It is somewhat brittle, and takes a high polish.

Yacal (Dipterocarpus plagatus) gives logs up to 50 feet long by 22 inches square. It is proof against white ants, has great strength and tenacity, and is much valued in Manila for house-building, etc.

Natives employed in the felling of timber often become very expert in the selection and appreciation of the standing trunks.

The approximate order of resistance of the best woods, estimated by their practical employment and not by theoretical comparative experiments, would be as follows, viz.:—

HARDWOOD STRAINS

Tensile Strain.

Transverse Strain.

1

Dúngon.

8 Acle.

1 Molave.

8 Banaba.

2

Yacal.

9 Narra.

2 Camagon.

9 Yacal.

3

Ipil.

10 Tíndalo.

3 Ipil.

10 Mangachapuy.

4

Mangachapuy.

11 Molave.

4 Acle.

11 Laúan.

5

Guijo.

12 Laúan.

5 Dúngon.

12 Guijo.

6

Banaba.

13 Cedar.

6 Tíndalo.

13 Cedar.

7

Camagon.

14 Lanete.

7 Narra.

14 Lanete.

The hardwoods of the Philippines, suitable for building and trade requirements as described above, are those in general use only. Altogether about fifty kinds exist, but whilst some are scarce, others do not yield squared logs of sufficient sizes to be of marketable value. Amongst these are the Quercus concentrica (Tagálog, Alayan), a sort of oak; the Gimbernatia calamansanay (Tagálog, Calamansanay); the Cyrtocarpa quinquestyla (Tagálog, Amaguís), and others.

To carry on successfully a timber trade in this Colony, with ability to fulfil contracts, it is necessary to employ large capital. Firstly, to ensure supplies by the cutters, the trader must advance them sums amounting in the total to thousands of pesos, a large percentage of which he can only nominally recover by placing them against future profits; secondly, he must own several sailing-ships, built on a model suited to this class of business. Several Europeans have lost the little money they had by having to freight unsuitable craft for transport to the place of delivery, and by only advancing to the native fellers just when they wanted logs brought down to the beach, instead of keeping them constantly under advance. With sufficient capital, however, a handsome profit is to be realized in this line of business, if it is not killed by too much new legislation.

So far Philippine woods have not met in London with the appreciation due to their excellent qualities, possibly because they are not sufficiently well known. In China, however, they are in great demand, in spite of the competition from Borneo (Kúdat and Sandákan) and Australian shippers. Since the American occupation, large shipments of Oregon Pine have been made to the Colony: how this wood will stand the climate is not yet ascertainable.

FRUITS.—There are few really choice, luscious fruits in the Philippines which can compare with the finest European species. Nothing in this Colony can equal our grape, peach, cherry, or strawberry.

The Mango (Manguifera indica—Pentandrie, Linn.) ranks first in these Islands. It is oblong—oval-shaped—flattened slightly on both sides, about five inches long, and of a yellow colour when ripe. It is very delicious, succulent, and has a large stone in the centre from which fibres run at angles. To cut it, the knife must be pressed down from the thick end, otherwise it will come in contact with the fibres. Philippine mangoes are far superior to any others grown in the East. This fruit has a slight flavour of turpentine, and, as to smell, Manuel Blanco[10] doubts whether it more resembles bugs, onions, or tar. The trees are very large and majestic—the leaves are dark green, and the whole appearance strikingly noble. Great care is needed to rear the fruit. The natives cut notches in the trunk, and from the time the tree begins to flower until the fruit is half matured, they light fires on the ground under its branches, as the smoke is said to hasten the development. The tree begins to bear fruit at ten years old.

The first mangoes of the season are forced, and even picked before they are ripe, so that they may more quickly turn yellow. They are brought to the Manila market in February, and fetch as much as 20 cents each. The natural ripening time is from the end of March. In the height of the season they can be bought for two dollars per hundred. Epicures eat as many as ten to a dozen a day, as this fruit is considered harmless to healthy persons. Mango jelly is also appreciated by Europeans as well as natives. Luzon and Cebú Islands appear to produce more mangoes than the rest of the Archipelago. From my eight mango-trees in Mórong district I got annually two pickings, and one year three pickings from two trees.

There are other species of mango-tree of the genus Terebinthaceae, viz.:—Manguifera anisodora, M. altissima, M. rostrata and M. sinnata.

The Banana or Plantain (Musa paradisiaca) is plentiful all over the Islands at all seasons. It grows wild, and is also largely cultivated. It is the fruit of an herbaceous endogenous plant of the natural order Musaceae. It is said that the specific name paradisiaca is derived, either from a supposition that the plantain was the forbidden fruit of Eden[11], or from an Arabic legend that Adam and Eve made their first aprons of the leaves of this tree, which grow to a length of five to six feet, with a width of 12 to 14 inches. Some 10 to 12 distinct varieties of bananas are commonly to be seen, whilst it is asserted that there are over 50 sorts differing slightly from each other. The Tagálog generic name for this tree and fruit is Ságuing. The species known in Tagálog dialect as Lacatan and Bon͠gúlan, of a golden or orange tinge when the skin is removed and possessing a slight pineapple flavour, are the choicest. The Tóndoc is also a very fine class. The stem of the banana-plantain is cut down after fruiting, and the tree is propagated by suckers.[12] Renewal of the tree from the seed is only necessary every 12 to 18 years. The fruit is borne in long clusters on strong stalks which bend over towards the earth. As the suckers do not all rise simultaneously, the stages of growth of the young fruit-bearing trees vary, so that there is a constant supply all the year round. Moreover, it is customary to cut down, and hang up in the house, the stalk sustaining the fruit before it is ripe, so that each fruit can be eaten as it matures. The glossy leaves of the banana-plantain are exceedingly beautiful. They are used for polishing hardwood floors; they serve as a substitute for plates at the tiánguis and for wrapping-paper at the small native and Chinese grocersʼ shops. In rural places if a carromata driver cannot find a leather horse-collar, he improvises one of banana-leaf.

The Papaw tree (Carica. papaya) flourishes wild—a prolific growth—attains a height of 20 to 25 feet, and is very picturesque. The leaves emerge in a cluster from the top of the stem, and are about 20 to 30 inches long. They can be used as a substitute for soap for washing linen. The foliage has the peculiar property of making meat or poultry tender if hung up in the branches. The fruit is of a rich olive green, and remains so almost to maturity, when it quickly turns yellow. Both in shape and flavour it is something like a melon, and, although more insipid, it is refreshing in this climate. Containing a quantity of pepsine, it is often recommended by doctors as a dessert for persons with weak digestive organs.

Besides these fruits, there are Pómelo oranges, about four times the size of the largest European orange; ordinary-sized Oranges of three sorts; Citron; Jack fruit (Anona muricata, Linn., or more probably Artocarpus integrifolia) (Tagálog, Nangca); Custard Apples (Anona squamosa, Linn.) (Tagálog, Atis); Bread-fruit (Artocarpus camansi) (Tagálog, Dalan͠gian or Dalamian); Lomboy (Calyptrantes jambolana—Icosandrie, Linn.), which looks like a damson; Santol (Sandoricum ternatum—Decandrie, Linn.), delicious prepared in syrup; Condol, (Monoecia syngenesia—Cucurbita pepo aspera), a kind of white pumpkin for preserving; Limes (Tagálog, Limonsuangi); small green Limes (Tagálog, Calamánsi) for preserving; another kind called Lucban; a diminutive Mango (Manguifera altissima) (Tagálog, Paho), which is brined and then put in vinegar; Pomegranates (Punica granatum); a very inferior species of wild Strawberry; Chico (Achras sapota—Hexandrie, Linn.), the Chico sapoti of Mexico, extremely sweet, the size and colour of a small potato; Lanson (Lansium domesticum), a curious kind of fruit of an agreeable sweet and acid flavour combined. The pericarp is impregnated with a white viscous fluid, which adheres very tenaciously to the fingers. When the inner membrane is removed the edible portion is exhibited in three divisions, each of which envelops a very bitter stone. It is abundant in La Laguna.

Guavas (Psidium pyriferum guyava, Linn.) (Tagálog, Bayabas) of very fine quality, from which jelly is made, are found wild in great abundance. They are so plentiful on waste lands that I have never seen them cultivated. The peel is an excellent astringent. Lemons[13] of two kinds are grown—sometimes as many as a dozen of the small species, about the size of a walnut, may be seen hanging at one time on a tree only 18 inches high; a well-known small species is called Dayap in Tagálog. Mangosteens, the delicate fruit of the Straits Settlements, are found in the islands of Mindanao and Sulu. In Mindanao Island, on the neck of land forming the western extremity, the Durien thrives. It is about as large as a pineapple, white inside, and when ripe it opens out in three or four places. It is very delicious eating, but has a fetid smell. The seeds, as large as beans, are good to eat when roasted. The tree bears fruit about every 20 years.

Pineapples (Bromelia ananas, Linn.) are abundant in the Southern Islands, where they are cultivated exclusively for the sake of the leaves, the delicate fibres of which are used to manufacture the fine, costly texture known as Piña (q.v.). This fruit, which is not so fine as the Singapore and Cuban species, is in little demand in the Philippines, as it is justly considered dangerous to eat much of it.

Grape acclimatization has been attempted in the Philippines, but with very mediocre results. Cebú seems to be the island most suitable for vine culture, but the specimens of fruit produced can bear no comparison with the European. In Naga (Cebú Is.) I have eaten green Figs grown in the orchard of a friendʼs house.

Tamarinds (Tamarindus indica, Linn.) (Tagálog, Sampáloc) are never planted for the sake of the fruit. The tree grows wild, and the fruit resembles a bean. Picked whilst green, it is used by the natives to impart a flavour to certain fish sauces. When allowed to ripen fully, the fruit-pod takes a light-brown colour—is brittle, and cracks all over under a slight pressure of the fingers. The whole of the ripe fruit can then be drawn out by pulling the bean-stalk. The ripe tamarind appears to be little appreciated by any one, and it is extremely seldom seen, even in the form of a preserve, in a native dwelling. Containing, as it does, a large quantity of tannin, it is sometimes used by the Manila apothecaries, and I once heard that a small parcel was being collected for shipment to Italy.

Botanical Specimen

The Mabolo (Diospyros discolor) (Tagálog, Mabolo, also Talang) is a fruit of great external beauty and exquisite aroma. It is about the size of a large peach, the pubescent skin being of a fine red colour, but it is not very good eating. CHILLIES (Capsicum minimum, Blanco), GINGER (Zingiber officinale, Linn.), CAPSICUMS (Capsicum tetragonum, Mill), CAPERS (Capparris mariana) and VANILLA are found in a wild state. SAGO is produced in small quantities in Mindoro Island, where the sago-plant flourishes. The pith is cut out, washed, sun-dried, and then pounded. The demand for this nutritious article is very limited. In 1904 I found the CASSAVA plant growing near the south coast of Mindanao Island.

There are many other kinds of orchard and wild fruits of comparatively inferior quality, chiefly used by the natives to make preserves. There is also a large variety of tuberose and other vegetable products, never eaten by Europeans, such as the favourite Síncamas (Decandria—Pachyrhizus angulatus), resembling a small turnip. The natives have a taste for many fruits plucked half ripe.

The FLOWERS of these Islands are too numerous for their description to come within the scope of this work. To the reader who seeks an exhaustive treatise on the Botany of the Philippines, I would recommend Manuel Blancoʼs “Flora de Filipinas,”[14] from which I have taken the following brief notes.

PHILIPPINE FLOWERS

According to Manuel Blanco

Orders.

Genera.

Species.

Varieties.

Sub-varieties.

Dicotyledones

126

842

2,571

349

5

Monocotyledones

26

325

1,425

270

25

Acotyledones

3

56

483

11

—

155

1,223

4,479

630

30

Some of the most curious and beautiful botanical specimens, not already described in the preceding pages, are the following, viz.:—

Arum (?) divaricatum, Linn. (Tagálog, Gabigabihán).—A delicate bulb. Common in Pasig and Manila.

Amaryllis atamasco, Blanco (Tagálog, Bácong).—A bulb. Grows to 3 feet. Beautiful large red flower. Blooms in February.

Agave americana (Tagálog, Magui).—It is one of a large variety of Aloes. (Mexican origin?)

Asplendium nidus.—The beautiful Nest-fern.

Bignonia quadripinnata, Blanco (Tagálog, Pinca-Pincahán).—A curious flower.

Clerodendron longiflorum, D.C.—An extremely beautiful and delicate white flower.

Botanical Specimen

Cactus pitajaya, Blanco (Tagálog, Flor de Caliz).—Gives a grand, showy flower.

Caryota urens, Linn (Tagálog, Taquipan).—A beautiful palm. Grows to 22 feet. The fruit, when tender, is masticated like the Areca catechu.

Caryota onusta, Blanco (Tagálog, Cáuong).—A fine palm. Gives a sweet juice which turns into good vinegar. The trunk gives a Sago, called by the natives Yoro. The ripe seeds are a deadly poison. An infusion of the seeds in water is so caustic that it has been used to throw on to Moro pirates and thieves; wherever it touches the body it burns so terribly that none can suffer it or cure it. Sometimes it is thrown into the rivers to stupefy the fish, which then float and can be caught with the hand. When unripe the seeds are made into a preserve. The seeds have also medicinal properties.

Cryptogamia.—Nine families of very luxuriant ferns.

Cryptogamia.—Boletus sanguineus (Tagálog, Culapô).—A curious blood-red Fungus.

Dillenia Reifferscheidia (Tagálog, Catmon).—A very singular, showy flower.

Exocarpus ceramica, D.C.—A curious Cactus.

Euphorbia tirucalli, Linn.—A curious Cactus.

Erythrina carnea, Blanco (Tagálog, Dapdap).—Grows to 20 feet. Gives a lovely red flower.

Hibiscus syriacus, Linn. (Several varieties of Hibiscus.)

Hibiscus abelmoschus, Linn.

Mimosa pudica, Linn.—Mimosa asperata, Blanco (Tagálog, Mahíhin).—The “Sensitive Plant,” so called because at the least contact with anything it closes up all the little petals forming the leaf. It is one of the most curious plants in the Islands. It has a small red flower. Grows only a few inches from the ground, among the grass.

Mimosa tenuifolia, Blanco.—The “Sensitive Tree,” which has the same property of closing the leaf on contact.

Mimosa scutifera, Blanco.—A tree with seed-pods hanging down like curls.

Momordica sphoeroidea, Blanco (Tagálog, Buyoc-buyoc).—Climbs high trees. The fruit is eaten when cooked. Soap is obtained from the roots.

Nelumbium speciosum, Wild (Tagálog, Baino; Igorrote, Sucao).—An aquatic plant found in the Lake of Bay and other places. Beautiful pink or red flower. The natives eat the roots and seeds.

Passiflora laurifolia, Linn.—A curious Passion-flower, quite different to the European species.

Pancratium zeylanicum (Tagálog, Caton͠gal).—A bulb giving a very peculiar flower.

Pinus toeda.—The only kind of Pine known here. To be found in the mountains of Mancayan (Lepanto) and Benguet.

Botanical Specimen

Spathodea luzonica, Blanco (Tagálog, Tue).—Grows to 15 feet. Gives a gorgeous white flower. Common on the sea-shores. The wood is used for making guitars and clogs.

PHILIPPINE ORCHIDS

The principal Orders

** Natural crosses or hybrids—rare and valuable.

Genera.

Species.

Aerides

Augustiarium

Lawrenciæ

Marginatum

Quinquevulnerum

Roebelinii

Sanderianum

Bulbophyllum

Dearei

Cymbidium

Pendulum

Pendulum atro purpureum

Cypripedium

Lævigatum

Boxallii

Stonei

Argus

Dendrobium

Anosmum

Aurem philippinense

Crumenatum

Erythroxanthum

Dearei

Macrophyllum

Superbum

Superbum giganteum

Platycanlon

Taurinum

Gramatophyllum

Measuresianum

Multiflorum

Multiflorum tigrinum

Speciosum

Phalænopsis

Amabalis

**

Casta

**

Intermedia

**

Intermedia brymeriana

**

Intermedia portei

**

Intermedia lencorrhoda

Luddemaniana ochracia

Schilleriana

Rosea

Sanderiana

Sanderiana punctata

Stuartiana

Stuartiana bella

Stuartiana nobilis

Stuartiana punctatissima

Schilleriana vestalis

Veitchiana

Veitchiana brachyodon

Platyclinis or Dendrochilum

Cobbiana

Filiformis

Glumacea

Uncata

Renanthera

Storiei

Saccolabeum

Violaccum

Blumei

Blumei majus

Sarcochilus

Unguiculatus

Vanda

Sanderiana

Sanderiana albata

Sanderiana labello viridi

Batemanii

Lamellata boxallii

The generic name for Orchid in Tagálog is Dapo.

Some interesting facts relating to Philippine Botany

Sweet-smelling Flowers are very rare. Of the few, the most popular in Manila is the Sampaguita (probably a corruption of the Spanish name Santa Paquita), which is sold made up in necklet form on cotton.

Looking on to the Pasig River at Manila in the early morning, one often sees large masses of floating verdure of a small-cabbage appearance. This aquatic plant is the Pistia stratiotes, Linn., (Tagálog, Quiapo).

Botanical Specimen

The firewood in common use as fuel, in great demand, and known as Raja de Tan͠gal, is the Rhizophora longissima. It is also useful for fencing, roof-framing, etc. Another well-known firewood is the Rhizophora gynnorhiza (Tagálog, Bacaúan). Lan͠gary is also used as firewood of an inferior quality. They are swamp-trees.

The species Pteclobyum gives the “Locust-bean,” as sold at every little sweetmeat shop in London. This tree (when raised on or transplanted to highlands) may be called the friend of the coffee-plant, for it opens its leaves in the sunshine to shade it and closes them when rain is about to fall, so that the coffee-plant may be refreshed by the water. Also, at night, it closes its leaves to give the coffee-plant the benefit of the dew. Another peculiar feature is that the branches lopped off for household fuel can, when barked, be used at once, without needing to be dried or seasoned. Its natural habitat is the mangrove swamp, and the trunk and root give market fuel.

Colot-colotán, or Manquit, is the Tagálog name given to the Chrysopogon aciculatus, Trin. (Spanish, Amor seco)—the little particles like pointed grass-seeds which stick to oneʼs trousers or skirt when crossing an uncultivated field and can only be removed by picking them out one by one.

The Tagálog affix aso, to the name of a botanical specimen, means pseudo, i.e. not the genuine species; v.g., Síncamas is the Decandria—Pachyrhizus angulatus (vide p. 321), whereas Sincamas-aso is the D.—Pachyrhizus montanus.

Many places take their names from trees and plants, v.g.:—

Antipolo

(Rizal)

a tree.

Bauang

(Batangas)

garlic.

Bulacan

(Bulacan)

a tree.

Cápas

(Pangasinán)

the cotton-tree (Igorrote dialect).

Camagon Is.

a tree.

Cabuyao

(Laguna)

a tree.

Calumpit

(Bulacan)

a tree.

Culasi

(Antique)

a tree.

Iba

(Zambales)

a plant.

Lucbang

(Tayabas)

a small lime.

Lipa

(Batangas)

nettle.

Quiapo

(Manila suburb)

an aquatic plant.

Sampáloc

(Manila suburb)

the tamarind-tree.

Salomague

(Ilocos)

the tamarind-tree. (Igorrote dialect).

Tabaco

(Albay)

the tobacco-plant.

Taal

(Batangas)

a tree (same as Ipil).

Talisay

(Batangas)

a tree.

Medicinal Herbs, Roots, Leaves, and Barks abound everywhere. Nature provides ample remedies for dysenteric, strumatic, scorbutic, and many other diseases. An extensive work on the subject was compiled by Ignacio de Mercado, the son of a Spanish Creole father and Tagálog mother, born in 1648 at Parañaque, seven miles from Manila. He was parish priest in Lipa in 1674, and subsequently held several other incumbencies up to his death, which took place in Bauang (Batangas) on March 29, 1698. His MS. passed from the pharmacy of one religious corporation to another to be copied, and for over a century after the British occupation of Manila (1762–63) it was supposed to be lost. Finally, in 1876, it was discovered by Don Domingo Vidal y Soler, who gave it to the Augustine friars for publication, but I am not aware that it was ever printed. According to Manuel Blanco, Ignacio de Mercadoʼs MS. describes 483 medicinal specimens, and attached to the description are 171 coloured sketches of medicinal plants, leaves, woods, and barks, and also 35 coloured sketches of plants, etc., without any description of their medicinal properties. The only one of these remedies which I have had occasion to test on myself is Tagulaúay Oil, extracted from the leaves of the plant called in Tagálog Tan͠gantan͠gan. It is an excellent styptic.

Ylang-Ylang (Anona odoratissima, Blanco; Cananga odorata, Hook) and Champaca (Michelia champaca, Linn.) yield odoriferous essential oils, and these fine perfumes are, especially the former, exported to foreign countries. The export of Ylang-Ylang in the years 1902 and 1903 amounted to 3,949 and 5,942 gallons respectively.

[1] “Hist. de Filipinas,” by Gaspar de San Agustin. MS. in the Convento de San Agustin, Manila. The date of the introduction of cacao into these Islands is confirmed by Juan de la Concepcion in his “Hist. General de Philipinas,” Vol. IX. p. 150. Published in 14 vols., Manila, 1788.

[2] The word chocolate is derived from the Mexican word chocolatl. The Mexicans, at the time of the conquest, used cacao-beans as money. The grandees of the Aztec Court ate chocolate made of the ground bean mixed with Indian corn and rocou (vide W. H. Prescottʼs “Hist. of the Conquest of Mexico”).

Chocolate was first used in Spain in 1520; in Italy in 1606; in England in 1657, and in Germany in 1700.

[3] Tiangui, from the Mexican word Tianguez, signifies “small market.”

[4] Spanish, Carroza; Tagálog, Hila or Parágus; Visaya, Cángas or Dagandan.

[5] British patents for papermaking from cocoanut fibre were granted to Newton in 1852, and to Holt and Forster in 1854. A process for making paper from the cocoanut kernel was patented by Draper in 1854.

[6] Vide The Tropical Agriculturist, Colombo, August 2, 1886.

[7] Not to be confounded with Ban͠gá,—Tagálog for a terra-cotta water-pot.

[8] This company was formed in Hong-Kong and incorporated May 16, 1889, with a capital of ₱300,000 divided into 6,000 ₱50 shares, to take over and work the prosperous business of Mr. H. G. Brown. Its success continued under the three yearsʼ able management of Mr. Brown. During that period it paid an average yearly dividend of 8–1/3%, and in 1890 its shares were freely dealt in on the Hong-Kong market at 50% premium. On the retirement of Mr. Brown in March, 1891, the company gradually dwindled down to a complete wreck in 1894. It is still (year 1905) in liquidation.

[9] “Timber and Timber Trees,” by Thomas Laslett (Timber Inspector to the Admiralty). London, 1875.

[10] The same writer also makes the following interesting remark:—“Y tal vez de aquí viene el olor (brea) como empireumatico muy notable de los excrementos en este tiempo!” Vide “Flora de Filipinos,” by Father Manuel Blanco, Vol. I., p. 228. Published in Manila in 4 vols., 1879.

[11] Clavigeroʼs “Storia Antica del Messico.”

[12] British patents for paper-making from banana fibre were granted to Berry in 1838; Lilly in 1854; Jullion in 1855; Burke in 1855; and Hook in 1857. In these Islands a cloth is woven from this fibre.

[13] To express juice from the small species of lemon, the fruit should be cut from the stalk end downwards. If cut otherwise the juice will not flow freely.

[14] “Flora de Filipinas,” by Father Manuel Blanco. Published in Manila by the Augustine Order in 4 vols., 1879.

Mineral Products

Coal—Gold—Iron—Copper—Sulphur, Etc.

Owing to the scarcity of manufacturing industries in this Colony, the consumption of COAL is very limited, and up to 1889 it hardly exceeded 25,000 tons per annum. In 1892 nearly double that quantity found a market. In 1896 the coal imported from Newcastle (New South Wales) alone amounted to 65,782 tons; in 1897 to 89,798 tons. A small proportion of this is employed in the forges, foundries, and a few steam-power factories, most of them situated around Manila, but by far the greater demand is for coaling steam-ships. Since the American occupation the increase of steam-shipping and the establishment of ice-plants all over the Colony have raised the consumption of coal. Wood fuel is still so abundant in rural districts that coal will probably not be in general request for the steam sugar-mills for many years to come.

Australia, Great Britain, and Japan supply coal to this Colony; in 1892 Borneo traders sent several cargoes of inferior product to Manila; nevertheless, local capital has been expended from time to time in endeavours to work up the home deposits.

Philippine coal is more correctly speaking highly carbonized lignite of the Tertiary age, and analogous to Japanese coal. Batan Island, off the south-east coast of Luzon Island, is said to have the finest lignite beds in the Archipelago.

The island of Cebú contains large deposits of lignite. The mines of Compostela are estimated to be very rich in quantity and of medium quality. The late owner, Isaac Conui, for want of capital, was unable to develop them fully. Transport by buffalo-carts from the mines to the coast was very deficient and costly, and Conui, who was frequently my guest in Manila in 1883, unsuccessfully sought to raise capital for constructing a line of railway from the collieries to Compostela village (east coast). They were then taken up by a Spaniard, with whom the Spanish Government made contracts for coaling the gunboats. A tram line was laid down to the pits, but there was a great lack of promptitude in deliveries, and I heard of ships lying off the coaling-wharf for several hours waiting to start coaling. The enterprise has by no means given an adequate return for the over ₱100,000 invested in it up to the year 1897. The coal-mine of Danao, on the same coast, has not been more prosperous. When I visited it in 1896 it had not yielded a cent of nett profit. In 1904 I made the acquaintance, in Cebú Island, of a holder of ₱47,000 interest in this enterprise. He told me that he had got no return for his money in it. He had spent ₱1,000 himself to have the mine inspected and reported on. He sent the report to his co-partners in Manila, and heard no more about it until he went to the capital, where he learnt that the Managing Director had resigned, and no one knew who was his successor, what had become of his report, or anything definite relating to the concern.

Anthracite has been found in Cebú,[1] and satisfactory trials have been made with it, mixed with British bituminous coal. Perhaps volcanic action may account for the volatile bituminous oils and gases having been driven off the original deposits. The first coal-pits were sunk in Cebú in the Valle de Masanga, but the poor commercial results led to their abandonment about the year 1860. There are also extensive unworked coal deposits a few miles from the west coast village of Asturias, which I visited in 1896 with a planter friend, Eugenio Alonso, who was endeavouring to form a coal-mining syndicate. The Revista Minera (a Madrid mining journal) referred in 1886 to the coal of the Alpacó Mountain, in the district of Naga (Cebú Is.) as being pure, dry, of easy combustion, carrying a strong flame, and almost free from sulphur pyrites. Cebú coal is said to be of better quality and cleaner than the Labuan and Australian products, but its heating powers being less, it is less serviceable for long sea voyages.

The coal-mines in the hills around the Cumansi Valley, about eight miles from the Cebú coast (Danao) have been worked for years without financial success. The quality is reported excellent. Indeed, in several of the larger islands of the Colony there are outcrop indications of workable coal, unobtainable for want of transport facilities.

In the Province of Albay, the Súgod Collieries were started by a company formed in the year 1874. There were some fifteen partners, each of whom subscribed a capital of ₱14,300. One of these partners, Ceferino de Arámburu, told me that for a while the result was so good that a Manila banking firm offered to take over the concern from the shareholders at a premium of 20 per cent. upon the original capital. About 4,000 tons of coal were extracted, most of which was given away as samples, in the hope of large contracts resulting from the trials, although it is said that the consumption was too rapid, and that it had to be mixed with Cardiff coal. Seven pits were sunk, and the concern lingered on until the year 1881, when its working was relinquished. The failure was attributed to the shallowness of the pits, which were only 30 metres deep, whilst it was supposed that if the excavation had been continued before these pits were flooded, shale and limestone strata could have been removed, exposing a still more valuable seam, in which case it might have been worth while providing pumping-machinery. The cost of extraction and delivery on the coast was estimated at 75 cents of a peso per ton, whilst Cardiff coal in Manila was worth, at the time, about eight pesos per ton, and the Australian product ranged usually at one to one and a half pesos below that figure, port tax unpaid.

In January, 1898, “The Philippine Mining and Development Company, Limited,” was formed in Hong-Kong with a capital of $1,600,000 (Mex.) in 160,000 $10 shares for the development of Philippine coal deposits and other industries, under the management of a Scotch merchant of long standing and good repute in Manila (since deceased). The Spanish-American conflict which arose four months later impeded active operations by the company.

In May, 1902, a company styled “Minas de Carbon de Batan” was constituted to purchase from and exploit the coal-mines of Messrs. Gil Hermanos, situated in the Island of Batan, Sorsogón Province. The purchase price was fixed at ₱500,000, and the companyʼs capital at ₱1,000,000 divided into 5,000 equal shares. Hopeful reports were made on the property by an American, a Spanish, and a Japanese mining engineer respectively. When I interviewed the Managing Director of the company, in Manila, two years after its formation, no dividend had yet been paid to the shareholders.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSES OF COAL

Source.

Fixed Carbon.

Volatile matter.

Water.

Ash.

per cent.

per cent.

per cent.

per cent.

Cardiff

83.00

8.60

4.50

3.90

Australia

71.45

16.25

2.90

9.40

Cebú

57.94

31.75

9.23

1.08

Rock Spring, Wyo.

56.50

34.50

6.25

2.75

Cebú

51.96

37.56

7.80

2.68

Cebú

49.50

35.03

11.18

3.62

I do not know that any capitalist has ever received an adequate return for his investment in Philippine coal-mining.

From the earliest period of the Spanish occupation of these Islands, attention has been given to GOLD-SEEKING.

It is recorded that in the year 1572 Captain Juan Salcedo (Legaspiʼs grandson) went to inspect the mines of Paracale, (Camarines); and in the same district the village of Mambulao has long enjoyed fame for the gold-washing in its vicinity.

In the time of Governor Pedro de Arandia (1754–59), a certain Francisco Estorgo obtained licence to work these Paracale mines, and five veins are said to have been struck. The first was in the Lipa Mountain, where the mine was called “San Nicolás de Tolentino”; the second, in the Dobójan Mountain, was called “Nuestra Señora de la Soledad de Puerta Vaga”; the third, in Lipara, was named “Mina de las Animas”; the fourth, in the territory of San Antonio, took the name of “San Francisco,” and the fifth, in the Minapa Mountains, was named “Nuestra Señora de los Dolores,” all in the district of Paracale, near the village of Mambulao. The conditions of Estorgoʼs licence were, that one-fifth (real quinto) of the output should belong to the King; that Estorgo was authorized to construct, arm, and garrison a fort for his own defence against anticipated attacks from Mahometans, and that he should have the title of Castellano, or guardian of the fort. It was found necessary to establish the smelting-works in Mambulao, so he obtained a licence to erect another fort there on the same conditions, and this fort was named “San Cárlos.” In a short time the whole enterprise came to grief. Estorgoʼs neighbours, instigated by native legal pettifoggers in Manila, raised endless lawsuits against him; his means were exhausted, and apparatus being wanted to work the mines, he had to abandon them.

About the same time, the gold-mines of Pangotcotan and Acupan (Benguet district) were worked to advantage by Mexicans, but how much metal was won cannot be ascertained. The extensive old workings show how eagerly the precious metal was sought in the past. The Spanish Government granted only concessions for gold-mining, the title remaining in the Crown. Morga relates (1609) that the Crown royalty of one-tenth (vide p. 53) of the gold extracted amounted to ₱10,000 annually. According to Centeno, the total production of gold in all the Islands in 1876 did not not exceed ₱3,600.

During the Government of Alonso Fajardo de Tua (1618–24) it came to the knowledge of the Spaniards that half-caste Igorrote-Chinese in the north of Luzon peacefully worked gold-deposits and traded in the product. Therefore Francisco Carreño de Valdés, a military officer commanding the Provinces of Pangasinán and Ilocos, obtained permission from the Governor to make a raid upon these Igorrote-Chinese and appropriate their treasure-yielding territory. After a seven daysʼ march the Spanish gold-seekers and troops arrived at the deposits, where they took up their quarters without resistance. The natives held aloof whilst mutual offers of peace were made. When the Spaniards thought they were in secure possession of the neighbourhood, the natives attacked and slaughtered a number of them. The commander of the district and the leader of the native troops were among the slain. Then they removed the camp to a safer place; but provisions ran short and the wet season set in, so the survivors marched back to the coast with the resolution to renew their attempt to possess the spoil in the following year. In the ensuing dry season they returned and erected a fort, whence detachments of soldiers scoured the neighbourhood to disperse the Igorrote-Chinese, but the prospectors do not appear to have procured much gold.

Many years ago a Spanish company was formed to work a gold-mine near the mountain of Malaguit, in the Province of Camarines Norte, but it proved unsuccessful.

At the beginning of last century a company was founded, under the auspices of the late Queen Christina of Spain (great-grandmother of the present King Alfonso XIII.), which was also an utter failure. I was told that the company had spacious offices established in Manila, whence occasionally the employees went up to the mines, situated near the Caraballo Mountain, as if they were going to a picnic. When they arrived there, all denoted activity—for the feast; but the mining work they did was quite insignificant compared with the squandered funds, hence the disaster of the concern.

The coast of Surigao (north-east extremity of Mindanao Is.) has been known for centuries to have gold-deposits. A few years ago it was found in sufficiently large quantities near the surface to attract the attention of capitalists. A sample of the washings was given to me, but gold extraction was never taken up in an organized way in that district. A friend of mine, a French merchant in Manila, told me in 1886 that for a long time he received monthly remittances of 4½ to 5½ lbs. of alluvial gold from the Surigao coast, extracted by the natives on their own account. In the same district a Spaniard attempted to organize labour for systematic gold-washing, but the friars so influenced the natives against him that he could only have continued his project at the risk of his life, therefore he gave it up.

In an independent way, the natives obtain gold from earth-washings in many districts, particularly in the unsubdued regions of Luzon Island, where it is quite a common occupation. The product is bartered on the spot to the Chinese ambulant traders for other commodities. Several times, whilst deer-stalking near the river, a few miles past Montalbán (Rizal), I have fallen in with natives washing the sand from the river bed in search of gold, and they have shown me some of their findings, which they preserve in quills.

In other places in Luzon Island gold is procured in very small quantities by washing the earth from the bottoms of pits dug from 20 to 25 feet deep and 3 feet wide. The extraction of gold from auriferous rock is also known to the natives. The rock is broken by a stone on an anvil of the same material. Then the broken pieces are crushed between roughly-hewn stone rollers put in motion by buffaloes, the pulverized ore being washed to separate the particles of the precious metal. I should hardly think the yield was of much account, as the people engaged in its extraction seemed to be miserably poor.

Gold probably exists in all the largest islands of the Archipelago, but in a dispersed form; for the fact is, that after centuries of search, large pockets or veins of it have never been traced to defined localities, and, so far as discoveries up to the present demonstrate, this Colony cannot be considered rich in auriferous deposits. Until the contrary has been proved, I venture to submit the theory that every gold-bearing reef in these Islands, accessible to man, has been disintegrated by volcanic action ages ago.

In 1887 a Belgian correspondent wrote to me inquiring about a company which, he stated, had been formed for working a Philippine mine of Argentiferous Lead. On investigation I learnt that the mines referred to were situated at Acsúbing, near the village of Consolacion, and at Panoypoy, close to the village of Talamban in Cebú Island. They became the property of a Frenchman[2] about the beginning of 1885, and so far no shipment had been made, although the samples sent to Europe were said to have yielded an almost incredibly enormous amount of gold (!), besides being rich in galena (sulphide of lead) and silver. I went to Cebú Island in June, 1887, and called on the owner in Mandaue with the object of visiting these extraordinary mines; but they were not being worked for want of funds, and he left for Europe the same year, the enterprise being finally abandoned.

In 1893 “The Philippines Mineral Syndicate” was formed in London to work scientifically the historical Mambulao Gold Mines already referred to. One pound shares were offered in these Islands and subscribed to by all classes, from the British Consul at that time down to native commercial clerks. Mr. James Hilton, a mining engineer, had reported favourably on the prospects. After the usual gold-mining period of disappointment had passed away, an eccentric old gentleman was sent out as an expert to revive the whole concern and set it upon a prosperous basis. I had many conversations with him in Manila before he went to Mambulao, where he soon died. Heavy machinery came out from Europe, and a well-known Manila resident, not a mining engineer, but an all-round smart man, was sent to Mambulao, and, due to his ability, active operations commenced. This most recent earnest venture in Philippine gold-mining has not, however, so far proved to be a Golconda to the shareholders.

That there is gold in Mindoro Island is evident from the fact that the Minguianes, a wild tribe, wear gold jewellery made by themselves, and come down to the coast villages to barter with this metal, for they do not understand trading with the coin medium.

As a general rule, failure in most Philippine mining speculations was chiefly due to the unwillingness of the native to co-operate with European capitalists in search of quick fortunes for themselves. The native rustic did not seek and would not submit to constant organized and methodical labour at a daily wage, to be paid periodically when he had finished his work. The only class whom one could employ in the neighbourhood of the mines was migratory and half-subjected, whilst there was no legislation whatever in force regulating the relations between workers and capitalists. Some suggested the employment of Chinese, but the obstacles to this proposal have been pointed out in Chap. viii. It is very doubtful whether much profitable mining will ever be done in this Colony without Chinese labour. Again, the wretched state of the public highways obliged the few enterprising capitalists to spend their money on the construction of roads which had already been paid for in taxes.

It is calculated that in the working of mines in the Philippines, as much as ₱1,300,000 was spent from the beginning of the last century up to 1876, without the least satisfactory result.

A Spanish writer[3] asserts that on the coasts of Taal and Bauan, in the Province of Batangas, there were many traces of old gold-mines, and remarks: “We are already scared in this enlightened century at the number who have spent their silver and their health in excavating mines in the Philippines, only to undeceive themselves, and find their miserable greed punished.”

Still Gold-seeking continues, and the hope of many an American to-day is centred in the possibility of finding the smile of fortune in the Benguet and other districts now being scoured by prospectors.

Iron-mines, situated a few miles from Manila, were worked about the middle of the 18th century by Government, but the result being disastrous, a concession of working rights was put up to public auction, and adjudicated to a certain Francisco Salgado, who engaged to pay annually to the State ₱20,500 in gold and 125 tons of iron. The concern was an entire failure, chiefly owing to the usual transport difficulty. Salgado afterwards discovered an iron mine in a place called Santa Inés, near Bosoboso, in the district of Mórong, and obtained a concession to work it. The ore is said to have yielded 75 per cent. of pure metal. The greatest obstacle which Salgado had to contend with was the indolence of the natives, but eventually this was overcome by employing Chinese in their stead. All went well for a time, until the success which attended the undertaking awoke envy in the capital. Salgado found it desirable to erect his smelting-furnaces on the banks of the Bosoboso River to obtain a good water supply. For this a special permission had to be solicited of the Gov.-General, so the opportunity was taken to induce this authority to put a stop to the whole concern on the ground that the Chinese workmen were not Christians! Salgado was ordered to send these Chinese to the Alcayceria in Binondo (Manila), and ship them thence to China at his own expense. Moreover, on the pretext that the iron supplied to the Royal Stores had been worked by infidels, the Government refused to pay for the deliveries, and Salgado became a ruined victim of religious fanaticism.

The old parish priest of Angat, in Bulacan Province, once gave me the whole history of the rich iron-mines existing a few miles from that town. It appears that at about the beginning of last century, two Englishmen made vain efforts to work these mines. They erected expensive machinery (which has since disappeared piece by piece), and engaged all the headmen around, at fixed salaries, to perform the simple duty of guaranteeing a certain number of men each to work there daily. The headmen were very smart at receiving their pay, some of them having the audacity to ask for it in advance; yet the number of miners diminished, little by little, and no reasonable terms could induce them to resume work. The priest related that, after the Englishmen had spent a fortune of about £40,000, and seeing no result, in despair they hired a canoe, telling the native in charge to paddle out to sea, where they blew their brains out with pistols.

Afterwards a Spaniard, who had made money during years of office as Chief Judge and Governor of the Bulacan Province, thought he could, by virtue of the influence of his late position, command the services of all the labourers he might require to work the mine. It was a vain hope; he lost all his savings, and became so reduced in circumstances that for a long time he was a pauper, accepting charity in the parish convents of the province.

The Angat iron-mines undoubtedly yield a very rich ore—it is stated up to 85 per cent. of metal. Up to the Revolution they were still worked on a small scale. In 1885, at the foot of these ferruginous hills, I saw a rough kind of smelting-furnace and foundry in a dilapidated shed, where the points of ploughshares were being made. These were delivered at a fixed minimum price to a Chinaman who went to Binondo (Manila) to sell them to the Chinese ironmongers. In Malolos (Bulacan) I met one of the partners in this little business—a Spanish half-caste—who told me that it paid well in proportion to the trifling outlay of capital. If the natives chose to bring in mineral they were paid for it; when they did not come, the works and expenses were temporarily stopped.

In Baliuag, a few miles from Angat, where I have stayed a score of times, I observed, at the threshold of several houses, slabs of iron about 8 feet long by 2 feet wide and 5 inches thick. I inquired about the origin of this novelty, and several respectable natives, whom I had known for years, could only inform me that their elders had told them about the foreigners who worked the Angat mines, and that the iron in question came from there. Appearing to belong to no one in particular, the slabs had been appropriated.

Copper is extracted in small quantities by both the wild tribes of the North and the Mahometans of the South, who manufacture utensils of this metal for their own use. In the North, half-worked copper is obtained from the Igorrotes, but the attempt of a company—the Compañia Cantabro-Filipina, established in the middle of last century—to exploit the copper deposits in Mancayan, in the district of Lepanto, has hardly been more successful than all other mining speculations undertaken on a large scale in this Colony.

Marble exists in large beds in the Province of Bataan, which is the west-coast boundary of Manila Bay, and also in the Island of Romblon, but, under the circumstances explained, no one cared to risk capital in opening quarries. In 1888 surface (boulder) marble was being cut near Montalbán (Rizal) under contract with the Dominican friars to supply them with it for their church in Manila. It was of a motley whitish colour, polished well, and a sample of it sent by me to a marble-importer in London was reported on favourably.

Granite is not found in these Islands, and there is a general want of hard stone for building purposes. Some is procurable at Angono, up the Lake of Bay, and it is from here that the stone was brought by the Spaniards for the Manila Port Works. Granite is brought over from Hong-Kong when needed for works of any importance, such as the new Government House in Manila City, in course of construction when the Spaniards evacuated the Islands. For ordinary building operations there is a material—a kind of marl-stone called Adobe—so soft when quarried that it can be cut out in small blocks with a hand-saw, but it hardens considerably on exposure to the air.

Gypsum deposits occur in a small island opposite to the town of Culasi (Antique) on the west coast of Panay, called Marilisan. The superincumbent marl has been removed in several places where regular workings were carried on for years by natives, and shiploads of it were sent to Manila until the Spanish Government prohibited its free extraction and export.

Sulphur exists in many islands, sometimes pure, in unlimited quantities, and often mixed with copper, iron, and arsenic. The crater peak of the Taal Volcano in the Bómbon Lake burst in 1749 (vide p. 18), and from that date, until the eruption of 1754, sulphur was extracted by the natives. These deposits were again worked in 1780, and during a few years following. Bowring states[4] that a well-known naturalist once offered a good sum of money for the monopoly of working the sulphur mines in the Taal district.

Mineral oil was discovered some 12 years ago in the mountains of Cebú Island, a few miles from the west-coast town of Toledo. A drill-boring was made, and I was shown a sample of the crude Oil. An Irishman was then conducting the experimental works. Subsequently a British engineer visited the place, and reported favourably on the prospects. In 1896 I was again at the borings. Some small machinery had been erected for working the drills. A Dutch mining engineer was in charge of the work, which was being financed by a small British syndicate; but so far a continuous flow had not been obtained, and it was still doubtful whether a well had been struck or not. The Dutchman was succeeded by an American, who, when the Spanish-American War was on the point of breaking out, had to quit the place, and the enterprise has since remained in suspense.

There is a tendency, in most new and unexplored countries, to see visionary wealth in unpenetrated regions—to cast the eye of imagination into the forest depths and the bowels of the earth, and become fascinated with the belief that Nature has laid vast treasures therein; and the veil of mystery constitutes a tradition until it is rent by scientific investigation.

[1] For more ample details vide “Rápida descripcion de la Isla de Cebú,” by Enrique Abella y Casariega. Published by Royal Order in Madrid, 1886.

[2] Monsieur Jean Labedan, who had been the original proprietor of the “Restaurant de Paris” in La Escolta, Manila.

[3] “Hist. de la Provincia de Batangas,” por D. Pedro Andrés de Castro y Amadés, 1790. Inedited MS. in the archives of Bauan Convent (Batangas).

[4] “A Visit to the Philippine Islands,” by Sir John Bowring, Spanish translation, p. 67. Manila, 1876.

Domestic Live-stock—Ponies, Buffaloes, Etc.

The Phillipine pony is not an indigenous animal. It is said to have originated from the small Andalusian horse and the Chinese mare. I have ridden more than 500 Philippine ponies, and, in general, I have found them swift, strong, and elegant animals when well cared for. Geldings are rarely met with. Before the American occupation ponies ranged in value from ₱25 to ₱150 for a sound animal. Unfortunately, prices of everything have risen since 1898, and, moreover, a fatal horse-disease, called “surra,” unknown in the Islands before that period, has considerably reduced the stock of ponies. Due to these causes, ponies cost to-day about three times the former prices.

The importation of Spanish and Australian horses resulted in failure, because green grass (zacate)—the fodder of Philippine ponies—was not the diet they had been accustomed to. Amateur enthusiasts constantly urged the Spanish authorities to take measures for the improvement of the breed, and in 1888 the acting Gov.-General Moltó sent a commission to British India to purchase breeding-horses and mares. A number of fine animals was brought to Manila, but the succeeding Gov.-General, Weyler, disapproved of the transaction, and the stock was sold to the public. Two stallions and two mares fetched together ₱2,600, the prices of the others ranging about ₱700 each.

Pony-races took place at Santa Mesa (Manila) every spring. They were organized by “the Manila Jockey Club,” usually patronized by the Gov.-General of the day, and the great meet lasted three days, when prizes were awarded to the winners. Ponies which had won races in Manila fetched from ₱300 to ₱1,000. The new racecourse is at Pasay.

In Cebú also there were pony races every autumn on the racecourse facing the Cotta and the Government House.

Since 1898 the American authorities have imported thousands of horses from the United States for the public service, and American dealers have brought quantities of them from Australia and the United States for private sale. All their fodder, however, has to be procured from America in pressed bales, as they cannot thrive on the food of the country. It is thought, however, that a plant, called Teosinte, which is now being cultivated, will be suitable for horse-fodder when the animals become thoroughly acclimatized.

The ordinary native has no notion of the proper treatment of ponies, his idea being, generally, that this highly nervous animal can be managed by brute force and the infliction of heavy punishment. Sights, as painful as they are ridiculous, are often the result of this error. Unfortunately, the lower-class native feels little attachment to any animal but the Buffalo, or Carabao, as it is called here, and the family pig.

Buffaloes six years old are considered in the prime of life for beginning work, and will continue at hard labour, when well pastured and bathed, for another six years. At 12 years of age a carefully worked buffalo will still serve for light labour for about five years. It is an amphibious animal, and if left to itself it would pass quite one-third of its life in water or mud, whilst it is indispensable to allow it to bathe every day. When grazing near flooded land it will roam into the water up to its neck and immerse its head for two minutes at a time, searching for vegetable food below the surface. Whilst undisturbed in the field it is usually accompanied by five or six white herons, which follow in its trail in perfect security and feed on the worms and insects brought to the surface by its foot-prints. It seems also to enjoy the attentions of a small black bird, which hops about on its back and head to cleanse its skin and ears of vermin. It is curious to watch this bird flying towards the buffalo, which raises its head to receive it.

The rustic and the buffalo are familiar companions, and seem to understand each other perfectly well. There is a certain affinity between them in many ways. When a peasant is owner of the animal he works, he treats it almost like one of the family. It is very powerful, docile, slow in its movements, and easy to train. Many times I have seen a buffalo ridden and guided by a piece of split rattan attached to a rattan-ring in its nostril by a child three years of age. It knows the voices of the family to which it belongs, and will approach or stand still when called by any one of them. It is not of great endurance, and cannot support hard work in the sun for more than a couple of hours without rest and bathing if water be near. Europeans cannot manage this animal, and very few attempt it; it requires the patience, the voice, and the peculiar movement of the native.

Altogether the buffalo may be considered the most useful animal in the Philippines. It serves for carting, ploughing, carrying loads on its back, and almost all labour of the kind where great strength is required for a short time. A peasant possessed of a bowie-knife, a buffalo, and good health, need not seek far to make an independent living. I owe a certain gratitude to buffaloes, for more than once they have pulled my carriage out of the mud in the provinces, where horses could get along no farther. Finally, buffalo-meat is an acceptable article of food when nothing better can be got; by natives it is much relished. Its flesh, like that of deer and oxen, is sometimes cut into thin slices and sun-dried, to make what is called in the Philippines Tapa, in Cuba Tasajo, and in Spain Cecina.

In the Visayas Islands oxen are used as draught-animals as frequently as buffaloes,—sometimes even for carriages.

Wild buffaloes are met with, and, when young, they are easily tamed. Buffalo-hunting, as a sport, is a very dangerous diversion, and rarely indulged in, as death or victory must come to the infuriated beast or the chaser. A good hunting-ground is Nueva Ecija, near the Caraballo de Baler Mountain.

The domesticated buffalo is subject to a bronchial disease called garrotillo; it rarely recovers from a serious sprain, and more rarely still from a broken leg. In 1887–88, an epidemic disease, previously unknown, appeared among the cattle, and several thousands of them died. From the autopsy of some diseased buffaloes, it was seen that the inside had become converted into blood. Agriculturists suffered great losses. In the poor neighbourhood of Antipolo alone, 1,410 head of cattle died within four months, according to a report which the Governor of Mórong showed to me. An old acquaintance of mine in Bulacan Province lost 85 per cent. of his live-stock in the season, whilst the remainder were more or less affected.

As a consequence of the Revolution (1896–98) and the War of Independence (1899–1901) the stock of buffaloes was considerably reduced, many thousands of these useful animals having been stolen from their owners by the belligerents, only to slay them or work them to death. When peace dawned again on the Colony, rinderpest commenced to make ravages in the buffalo herds, which are now reduced to a mere fraction of what they were in 1896. The consequences of these losses in live-stock are referred to in Chap. xxxi. Before the wars, a buffalo could be got for ₱10 in places, such as hemp districts, where ploughing is seldom necessary, whilst in the sugar-yielding Island of Negros ₱30 was about the lowest price for an average trained animal. The present value is from ₱125 to ₱250.

In all my travels in this Colony I have seen only five DONKEYS, which were imported simply as curiosities.

Mules have been imported into the Islands by the American authorities for the public service. If sold they would fetch about ₱300 each. They are the most satisfactory draught-animals ever introduced and, but for the fear of the new disease “surra,” might take the place of buffaloes in agriculture.

Sheep do not thrive in this climate. They are brought from Shanghai, and, as a rule, they languish and die in a few months. Oxen, goats, dogs, cats, pigs, monkeys, fowls, ducks, turkeys, and geese are among the ordinary domestic live-stock. Both the dogs and the cats are of very poor species, and the European breeds are eagerly sought for. The better class of natives have learned to appreciate the higher instincts of the European dog. Many Chinese dogs with long, straight hair, pointed nose, small eyes, and black tongues are brought over from Hong-Kong. All thoroughbred Philippine cats have a twist in their tails, and are not nearly so fine as the European race.

Natives do not particularly relish mutton or goatʼs flesh, which they say is heating to the blood. I have found stewed monkey very good food, but the natives only eat it on very rare occasions, solely as a cure for cutaneous diseases. No flesh, fish or poultry has the same flavour here as in Europe; sometimes, indeed, the meat of native oxen sold in Manila has a repulsive taste when the animal has been quickly fattened for the market on a particular herb, which it eats readily. Neither can it be procured so tender as in a cold climate. If kept in an ice-chest it loses flavour; if hung up in cool air it becomes flabby and decomposes. However, the cold-storage established by the American authorities and private firms, since 1898, has greatly contributed to improve the supply of tender meat, and meat shipments are regularly received from Australia and America.

The seas are teeming with fish, and there are swarms of sharks, whose victims are numerous, whilst crocodiles are found in most of the deep rivers and large swamps in uncultivated tracts. The Taclobo sea-shell is sometimes found weighing up to about 180 lbs. Fresh-water fish is almost flavourless and little appreciated.

In all the rice-paddy fields, small fish called Dalág (Ophiocephalus vagus), are caught by the natives, for food, with cane nets, or rod and line, when the fields are flooded. Where this piscatorial phenomenon exists in the dry season no one has been able satisfactorily to explain.

The only beast of prey known in the Philippines is the wild cat, and the only wild animal to be feared is the buffalo.

Both the jungles and the villages abound with insects and reptilia, such as lizards, snakes, iguanas, frogs, and other batrachian species, land-crabs, centipedes[1], tarantulas, scorpions, huge spiders, hornets, common beetles, queen-beetles (elator noctilucus) and others of the vaginopennous order, red ants (formica smaragdina), etc. Ants are the most common nuisance, and food cannot be left on the table a couple of hours without a hundred or so of them coming to feed. For this reason sideboards and food-cupboards are made with legs to stand in basins of water. There are many species of ants, from the size of a pinʼs head to half an inch long. On the forest-trees a bag of a thin whitish membrane, full of young ants, is sometimes seen hanging, and the traveller, for his own comfort, should be careful not to disturb it.

Boa-Constrictors are also found, but they are rare, and I have never seen one in freedom. They are the most harmless of all snakes in the Philippines. Sometimes the Visayos keep them in their houses, in cages, as pets. Small PYTHONS are common. The snakes most to be dreaded are called by the natives Alupong and Daghong-palay (Tagálog dialect). Their bite is fatal if not cauterized at once. The latter is met with in the deep mud of rice-fields and amongst the tall rice-blades, hence its name. Stagnant waters are nearly everywhere infested with LEECHES. In the trees in dense forests there is also a diminutive species of leech which jumps into oneʼs eyes.

In the houses and huts in Manila, and in most low-lying places, mosquitoes are troublesome, but thanks to an inoffensive kind of lizard with a disproportionately big ugly head called the chacon, and the small house-newt, one is tolerably free from crawling insects. NEWTS are quite harmless to persons, and are rather encouraged than otherwise. If one attempts to catch a newt by its tail it shakes it off and runs away, leaving it behind. Rats and mice are numerous. There are myriads of cockroaches; but happily fleas, house-flies, and bugs are scarce. In the wet-season evenings the croaking of frogs in the pools and swamps causes an incessant din.

In the dry-season evenings certain trees are illuminated by swarms of fire-flies, which assemble and flicker around the foliage as do moths around the flame of a candle. The effect of their darting in and out like so many bright sparks between the branches is very pretty.

There are many very beautiful MOTHS and BUTTERFLIES. In 1897 I brought home about 300 specimens of Philippine butterflies for the Hon. Walter Rothschild.

The WHITE ANT (termes), known here as Anay, is by far the most formidable insect in its destructive powers. It is also common in China. Here it eats through most woods, but there are some rare exceptions, such as Molave, Ipil, Yacal, etc. If white ants earnestly take possession of the woodwork of a building not constructed of the finest timber, it is a hopeless case. I have seen deal-wood packing-cases, which have come from Europe, so eaten away that they could not be lifted without falling to pieces. Merchantsʼ warehouses have had to be pulled down and rebuilt owing to the depredations of this insect, as, even if the building itself were not in danger, no one would care to risk the storage of goods inside. The destruction caused by anay is possibly exaggerated, but there is no doubt that many traders have lost considerable sums through having had to realize, at any price, wares into which this insect had penetrated.

Bats are to be seen in this Colony, measuring up to 5 feet from tip to tip of their wings. They are caught for the value of their beautiful soft skins, which generally find a sale to Europeans returning home. Bat-shooting is a good pastime, and a novelty to Europeans. Small Bats frequently fly into the houses in the evening.

Deer and WILD BOARS are plentiful, and afford good sport to the huntsman. In Mórong district—in Negros Island—and in Rizal Province, on and in the vicinity of the estate which I purchased—I have had some good runs. Monkeys, too, abound in many of the forests. In all the islands there is enjoyment awaiting the sportsman. Pheasants, snipe, a dozen varieties of wild pigeons, woodcock, jungle-fowl (gallus bankiva), wild ducks, water-fowl, etc. are common, whilst there are also turtle-doves, calaos (buceros hydrocorax), hawks, cranes, herons, crows, parrots, cockatoos, kingfishers, parroquets, and many others peculiar to the Archipelago which I will leave to ornithologists to describe.[2] One curious species of pigeon (calanas nicobarina) is called in Spanish Paloma de puñalada because of the crimson feathers on its breast, which look exactly as if they were blood-stained from a dagger-stab.[3] In 1898 I saw some specimens of this pigeon in the Hamburg Zoological Gardens. There are several birds of gorgeous plumage, such as the oropendolo (Spanish name).

It is a curious fact that these Islands have no singing birds.

The LOCUST PLAGUE is one of the great risks the planter has to run. In 1851 the Government imported some MARTINS from China with the hope of exterminating the locusts. When the birds arrived in the port of Manila they were right royally received by a body of troops. A band of music accompanied them with great ceremony to Santa Mesa, where they were set at liberty, and the public were forbidden to destroy them under severe penalties. At that date there were countless millions of locusts among the crops. These winged insects (Tagálog, balan͠g) come in swarms of millions at a time, and how to exterminate them is a problem. I have seen a mass of locusts so dense that a row of large trees the other side of them could not be distinguished. Sailing along the Antique coast one evening, I observed, on the fertile shore, a large brown-coloured plateau. For the moment I thought it was a tract of land which had been cleared by fire, but on nearing it I noticed that myriads of locusts had settled on several fields. We put in quite close to them and I fired off a revolver, the noise of which caused them to move off slowly in a cloud. When locusts settle on cultivated lands, miles of crops are often ruined in a night by the foliage being consumed, and at daybreak only fields of stalks are to be seen. In the daytime, when the locusts are about to attack a planted field, the natives rush out with their tin cans, which serve as drums, bamboo clappers, red flags, etc., to scare them off, whilst others light fires in open spaces with damp fuel to raise smoke. Another effective method adopted to drive them away is to fire off small mortars, such as the natives use at provincial feasts, as these insects are sensitive to the least noise.

The body of a locust is similar in appearance to a large grasshopper. The females are of a dark brown colour, and the males of a light reddish-brown. The female extends the extremity of her body in the form of an augur, with which she pierces the earth to the depth of an inch, there to deposit her eggs. In two or three weeks the eggs hatch. Every few days the females lay eggs, if allowed to settle. The newly-born insects, having no wings until they are about ten days old, cannot be driven off, and in the meantime they make great havoc among the crops, where it is difficult to extinguish them. The method employed to get rid of them is to place a barrier, such as sheets of corrugated iron roofing, at one side of a field, dig a pit in front of the barrier, and send a number of men to beat round the three sides of the field until the young locusts jump in heaps into the pit. I have heard planters say that they have succeeded, in this way, in destroying as much as 20 tons of locusts in one season. I do not know the maximum distance that locusts can fly in one continuous journey, but they have been known to travel as much as 60 miles across the sea. Millions of unwinged locusts (called lucton) have been seen floating down river streams, whilst, however, the winged insect cannot resist the heavy rains which accompany a hurricane.

It is said that the food passes through the body of a locust as fast as it eats, and that its natural death is due either to want of nourishment, or to a small worm which forms in the body and consumes it. It is also supposed that the female dies after laying a certain number of eggs. Excepting the damage to vegetation, locusts are perfectly harmless insects, and native children catch them to play with; also, when fried, they serve as food for the poorest classes—in fact, I was assured, on good authority, that in a certain village in Tayabas Province, where the peasants considered locusts a dainty dish, payment was offered to the parish priest for him to say Mass and pray for the continuance of the luxury. In former times, before there were so many agriculturists interested in their destruction, these insects have been known to devastate the Colony during six consecutive years.

In the mud of stagnant waters, a kind of beetle, called in Visaya dialect Tan͠ga, is found, and much relished as an article of food. In the dry season, as much as fifty cents a dozen is paid for them in Molo (Yloilo) by well-to-do natives. Many other insects, highly repugnant to the European, are a bonne bouche for the natives.

[1] An effective cure for a centipede bite is a plaster of garlic mashed until the juice flows. The plaster must be renewed every hour.

[2] A good dish can be made of the rice-birds, known locally as Maya (Munia oryzivora, Bonap.; Estrelda amandava, Gray) and the Bato-Bató and Punay pigeons (Ptilinopus roseicollis, Gray).

[3] According to Edouard Verreux, cited by Paul de la Gironnière in his “Aventures dʼun gentilhomme Breton aux Iles Philippines,” p. 394 (Paris 1857), there were at that date 172 classified birds in this Archipelago.

Manila Under Spanish Rule

Manila, the capital of the Philippines, is situated on the Island of Luzon at the mouth and on the left (south) bank of the Pasig River, at N. lat. 14° 36′ by E. long. 120° 52′. It is a fortified city, being encircled by bastioned and battlemented walls, which were built in the time of Governor Gomez Perez Dasmariñas, about the year 1590. It is said that the labour employed was Chinese. These walls measure about two miles and a quarter long, and bore mounted old-fashioned cannon. The fortifications are of stone, and their solid construction may rank as a chef dʼoeuvre of the 16th century. The earthquake of 1880 caused an arch of one of the entrances to fall in, and elsewhere cracks are perceptible. These defects were never made good. The city is surrounded by water—to the north the Pasig River, to the west the sea, and the moats all around. These moats are paved at the bottom, and sluices—perhaps not in good working order at the present day—are provided for filling them with water from the river.

The demolition of the walls and moats was frequently debated by commissions specially appointed from Spain—the last in October, 1887. It is said that a commission once recommended the cleansing of the moats, which were half full of mud, stagnant water, and vegetable putrid matter, but the authorities hesitated to disturb the deposit, for fear of fetid odours producing fever or other endemic disease.

These city defences, although quite useless in modern warfare with a foreign Power, as was proved in 1898, might any day have been serviceable as a refuge for Europeans in the event of a serious revolt of the natives or Chinese. The garrison consisted of one European and several native regiments.

There are eight drawbridge entrances to the Citadel[1] wherein were some Government Offices, branch Post and Telegraph Offices, the Custom-house (temporarily removed to Binondo since May 4, 1887, during the construction of the new harbour), Colleges, Convents, Monasteries, a Prison, numerous Barracks, a Mint, a Military Hospital, an Academy of Arts, a University, a statue of Charles IV. situated in a pretty square, a fine Town Hall, a Meteorological Observatory, of which the director was a Jesuit priest, an Artillery Dépôt, a Cathedral and 11 churches.[2] The little trade done in the city was exclusively retail. In the month of April or May, 1603, a great fire destroyed one-third of the city, the property consumed being valued at ₱1,000,000.

The Old Walls of Manila City

Manila City was a lifeless capital, with narrow streets all running at right angles with each other, of sombre, monastic aspect. It had no popular cafés, no opera-house or theatre; indeed absolutely no place of recreation. Only the numerous religious processions relieved the uniformity of city life. The whole (walled) city and its environments seem to have been built solely with a view to self-defence. Since 1887 it had been somewhat embellished by gardens in the public squares.

Besides the churches of the walled city, those of the suburbs are of great historical interest. In the Plaza de Santa Cruz is established the Monte de Piedad, or Public Pawnshop—a fine building—erected under the auspices of Archbishop Pedro Payo.

The great trading-centre is the Island of Binondo, on the right (north) bank of the Pasig River, where the foreign houses are established. On the city side of the river, where there was little commerce and no export or import trade whatever, a harbour was in course of construction, without the least hope of its ever being completed by the Spaniards. All the sea-wall visible of these works was carried away by a typhoon on September 29, 1890. To defray the cost of making this harbour, a special duty (not included in the Budget) of one per cent. on exports, two per cent. on imports, 10 cents per ton on vessels (besides the usual tonnage dues of eight cents per register ton), and a fishing-craft tax were collected since June, 1880. For eighteen yearsʼ dues-collection of several millions of pesos only a scrap of sea-wall was to be seen beyond the river in 1898, of no use to trade or to any one. In 1882 fourteen huge iron barges for the transport of stone from Angono for the harbour were constructed by an English engineer, Mr. W. S. Richardson, under contract with the Port Works, for ₱82,000.

The Port of Manila was officially held to extend for 27 miles westward from the mouth of the Pasig River. This tortuous river, about 14 miles long, flows from the Laguna de Bay.

The anchorage of the port was in the bay, two to two and a half miles south-west from the red light at the river-entrance, in about six fathoms. There was no special locality reserved for warships.

Ships at the anchorage communicated with the shore by their own boats or steam-launch, and the loading and discharging of vessels was chiefly effected in the bay, one to three miles off the river mouth, by means of lighters called cascoes.

Manila Bay has a circumference of 120 nautical miles, and is far too large to afford adequate protection to ships. The country around it is flat in character and has really nothing attractive.

On October 20, 1882, a typhoon drove 11 ships and one steamer ashore from their anchorage, besides dismasting another and causing three more to collide. When a typhoon is approaching vessels have to run to Cavite for shelter.

The entrance to the bay is divided into two passages by the small Island of Corregidor, on which was a lighthouse showing a revolving bright light, visible 20 miles off. Here was also a signal-station, communicating by a semaphore with a telegraph station on the opposite Luzon coast, and thence by wire with Manila. North of Corregidor Island is situated the once important harbour of Marivéles.[3]

The entrance to the Pasig River is between two moles, which run out westward respectively from the citadel on the south bank and from the business suburb of Binondo on the north bank. At the outer extremity of the northern mole was a lighthouse, showing a fixed red light, visible eight miles.

Vessels drawing up to 13 feet could enter the river. In the middle of 1887 a few electric lights were established along the quays from the river mouth to the first bridge, and one light also on that bridge, so that steamers could enter the river after sunset if desired. The wharfage is wholly occupied by steamers and sailing-craft trading within the Archipelago. The tides are very irregular. The rise and fall at springs may be taken to be five feet.

Up to 1887 ships needing repairs had to go to Hong-Kong, but in that year a patent slip was established at Cañacao Bay, near Cavite, seven miles southward from the Manila Bay anchorage. The working capacity of the hydraulic hauling power of the slip was 2,000 tons.

At Cavite, close by Cañacao, there was a Government Arsenal and a small slip, having a hauling power of about 500 tons.

Up to the year 1893 the streets of Manila City and suburbs were badly lighted—petroleum lamps, and sometimes cocoanut oil, being used. (The paving was perhaps more defective than the lighting.) In 1892 an Electric Light Company was formed, with a share capital of ₱500,000 (₱350,000 paid up) for illuminating the city and suburbs and private lighting. Under the contract with the Municipality the company received a grant of ₱60,000, and the concern was in full working order the following year. The poorest working class of Manila—fishermen, canoemen, day labourers, etc.—live principally in the ward of Tondo, where dwellings with thatched roofs were allowed to be constructed. In the wet season the part of this ward nearest to the city was simply a mass of pollution. The only drainage was a ditch cut around the mud-plots on which the huts were erected. Many of these huts had pools of stagnant water under them for months, hence it was there that the mortality from fever was at its maximum ratio in the dry season when evaporation commenced. Half the shore side of Tondo has been many times devastated by conflagrations and by hurricanes, locally termed báguios.

La Escolta—The principal street in Binondo, the commercial quarter of Manila.

Binondo presents an aspect of great activity during the day. The import and export trade is still largely in the hands of British merchants, and the retail traffic is, to a great extent, monopolized by the Chinese. Their tiny shops, grouped together in rows, form bazaars. At each counter sits a Chinaman, casting up accounts, with the ancient abacus[4] still serving him for practical reckoning. Another is ready at the counter to strike the bargain, whilst a third crafty Celestial lounges about the entrance to tout for custom, with a margin on his prices for haggling which is high or low according to whether the intending purchaser be American, European, half-caste, or native.

There is hardly a street without Chinese dealers, but their principal centre is the Rosario, whilst the finest American and European shops are to be found in the Escolta.[5]

In 1881 a great fire occurred in the Escolta, and since then the class of property in that important thoroughfare has been much improved. In October, 1885, a second serious fire took place in this street, and on the site of the ruins there now stands a fine block of buildings formerly occupied by the Central Post Office and Telegraph Station, and a row of good shops in European style.

During the working hours were to be seen hundreds of smart Chinese coolies, half-naked, running in all directions with loads, or driving carts, whilst the natives dreamily sauntered along the streets, following their numerous occupations with enviable tranquillity. In the doorways here and there were native women squatting on the flag-stones, picking lice from each otherʼs heads, and serving a purchaser between-times with cigars, betel-nut, and food, when occasion offered.

Certain small handicrafts are almost entirely taken up by the Chinese, such as boot-making, furniture-making, small smithʼs-work and casting, tin-working, tanning, dyeing, etc., whilst the natives are occupied as silversmiths, engravers, saddlers, water-colour painters, furniture-polishers, bookbinders, etc. A few years ago the apothecaries were almost exclusively Germans; now the profession is shared with natives, half-castes, and one British firm.

The thoroughfares were crowded with carriages during the whole day drawn by pretty native ponies. The public conveyance regulations in Spanish times were excellent. The rates for hiring were very moderate, and were calculated by the time engaged. Incivility of drivers was a thing almost unknown. Their patience was astonishing. They would, if required, wait for the fare for hours together in a drenching rain without a murmur. Having engaged a vehicle (in Manila or elsewhere) it is usual to guide the driver by calling out to him each turn he has to take. Thus, if he be required to go to the right—mano (hand) is the word used; if to the left—silla (saddle) is shouted. This custom originated in the days before natives were intrusted to drive, when a postilion rode the left (saddle) pony, and guided his right (hand) animal with a short rein.

Through the city and suburbs ran lines of tramway with cars drawn by ponies, and (from October 20, 1888 until 1905) a steam tramway operated as far as Malabon.

Fortunately, Easter week brought two days of rest every year for the ponies, namely, Holy Thursday and Good Friday. As in Spain also, with certain exceptions, such as doctors, urgent Government service, etc., vehicles were not permitted in the streets and highways on those days. Soldiers passing through the streets on service carried their guns with the muzzles pointing to the ground. The church bells were tolled with muffled hammers; hence, the vibration of the metal being checked, the peal sounded like the beating of so many tin cans. The shops were closed, and, so far as was practicable, every outward appearance of care for worldly concerns was extinguished, whilst it was customary for the large majority of the population—natives as well as Europeans—who went through the streets to be attired in black. On Good Friday afternoon there was an imposing religious procession through the city and suburbs. On the following Saturday morning (Sábado de Gloria), there was a lively scene after the celebration of Mass. In a hundred portals and alleys, public and private vehicles were awaiting the peal of the unmuffled church bells. The instant this was heard there was a rush in all directions—the clanking of a thousand poniesʼ feet; the rumbling sound of hundreds of carriages. The mingled shouts of the natives and the Chinese coolies showed with what bated anxiety and forced subjection material interest and the affairs of this life had been held in check and made subservient to higher thoughts.

An official computation in the year 1885 stated the average number of vehicles which passed through the main street of the city (Calle Real) per day to be 950; through the Escolta, the principal street of Binondo, 5,000; and across the bridge, connecting Binondo with Manila City (where the river is 350 feet wide), 6,000.

Sir John Bowring, in the account of his short visit to Manila in 1858, says he was informed on good authority that the average number of vehicles passing daily at that date through the Escolta amounted to 915; across the bridge, between Binondo and Manila, 1,256; so that apparently in 27 years the number of vehicles in use had increased by about five to one.

The Pasig River is navigable by steam-launches and specially-constructed steamers of light draught, which go up the whole distance into the Laguna de Bay. The river is crossed at Manila and suburbs by three bridges, the chief of which is the Puente de España.[6]

In the suburbs there were four Theatres, in none of which a dramatic company of any note would consent to perform. In one (the Teatro Filipino) the performance could be partly seen from the street; another (the Teatro de Tondo) was situated in a dirty thoroughfare in a low quarter; the third (the Teatro del Principe) usually gave an entertainment in dialect for the amusement of the natives; and the fourth (the Teatro Zorrilla), located in Tondo, was built to serve as theatre or circus without any regard to its acoustic properties; hence only one-third of the audience could hear the dialogue. There was a permanent Spanish Comedy Company (on tour at times in Yloilo and Cebú), and occasionally a troupe of foreign strolling players, a circus, a concert, or an Italian Opera Company came to Manila to entertain the public for a few weeks.

In 1880 there used to be a kind of tent-theatre, called the Carrillo where performances were given without any pretence to histrionic art or stage regulations. The scenes were highly ridiculous, and the gravest spectator could not suppress laughter at the exaggerated attitudes and comic display of the native performers. The public had full licence to call to the actors and criticize them in loud voices séance tenante—often to join in the choruses and make themselves quite at home during the whole spectacle. About a year afterwards the Carrillo was suppressed. The first Spaniards who systematically taught the Filipinos European histrionics were Ramon Cubero and his wife, Elisea Raguer (both very popular in their day), whose daughter married the Philippine actor and dramatic author José Carvajal. The old-fashioned native play was the “Moro Moro,” which continued in full vogue, in the provinces, up to the end of Spanish dominion.[7]

In the suburb of Paco there was a bull-ring, which did not generally attract the élite, as a bull-fight there was simply a burlesque upon this national sport as seen in Spain. I have witnessed a Manila espada hang on to the tail of his victim, and a banderillero meet the rush of the bull with a vault over his head, amidst hoots from the shady class of audience who formed the habitués of the Manila ring.

The Civil Governor of the Province had full arbitrary power to enforce the regulations relating to public performances, but it was seldom he imposed a fine. The programme had to be sanctioned by authority before it was published, and it could neither be added to nor any part of it omitted, without special licence. The performance was given under the censorship of the Corregidor or his delegate, whose duty it was to guard the interests of the public, and to see that the spectacle did not outrage morality.

The ostensible purpose of every annual feast all over the Colony was to render homage to the local patron Saint and give thanks for mercies received in the past year. Every town, village, and suburb was supposed to be specially cared for by its patron Saint, and when circumstances permitted it there was a religious procession, which was intended to impress on the minds of the faithful the virtue of the intercessors by ocular demonstration. Vast sums of money were expended from time to time in adornment of the images, the adoration of which seemed to be tinctured with pantheistic feeling, as if these symbols were part of the Divine essence.

Among the suburban feasts of Manila, that of Binondo was particularly striking. It took place in the month of October. An imposing illuminated procession, headed by the clergy, guarded by troops, and followed up by hundreds of native men, women and children carrying candles, promenaded the principal streets of the vicinity. But the religious feeling of the truly devoted was shocked by one ridiculous feature—the mob of native men, dressed in gowns and head-wreaths, in representation of the Jews who persecuted our Saviour, rushing about the streets in tawdry attire before and after the ceremony in such apparent ignorance of the real intention that it annulled the sublimity of the whole function.

All Saintsʼ Day—November 1—brought a large income to the priests in the most frequented parish churches. This is one of the days on which souls can be got out of Purgatory. The faithful flocked in mobs to the popular shrines, where an effort was made to place a lighted wax candle at the foot of the altar, and on bended knee to invoke the Saintsʼ aid on behalf of their departed relatives and friends. But the crowd was so great that the pious were not permitted this consolation for more than two or three minutes. Sacristans made them move on, to leave room for new-comers, and their candles were then extinguished and collected in heaps, Chinese infidel coolies being sometimes employed to carry away the spoil to the parish priestʼs store. The wax was afterwards sold to dealers. One church is said to have collected on November 1, 1887, as much as 40 cwts., valued at ₱37 per cwt. This day was a public holiday, and in the afternoon and evening it was the custom to visit the last resting-places, to leave a token of remembrance on the tombs of the lamented.

The Asylum for Lepers, at Dalumbayan, in the ward of Santa Cruz, was also visited the same day, and whilst many naturally went there to see their afflicted relations and friends, others, of morbid tastes, satisfied their curiosity. This Asylum, subsidized by Government to the extent of ₱500 per annum, was, in the time of the Spaniards, under the care of Franciscan friars.

In January or February the Chinese celebrate their New Year, and suspend work during a week or ten days. The authorities did not permit them to revel in fun to the extent they would have done in their own country; nevertheless, Chinese music, gongs, and crackers were indulged in, in the quarters most thickly populated by this race.

The natives generally have an unbounded passion for cock-fighting, and in the year 1779 it occurred to the Government that a profitable revenue might be derived from a tax on this sport. Thenceforth it was only permitted under a long code of regulations on Sundays and feast days, and in places officially designated for the “meet” of the combatants. In Manila alone the permission to meet was extended to Thursdays. The cock-pit is called the Gallera, and the tax was farmed out to the highest bidding contractor, who undertook to pay a fixed annual sum to the Government, making the best he could for himself out of the gross proceeds from entrance-fees and sub-letting rents in excess of that amount. In like manner the Government farmed out the taxes on horses, vehicles, sale of opium, slaughter of animals for consumption, bridge-tolls, etc., and, until 1888, the market dues. Gambling licences also brought a good revenue, but it would have been as impossible to suppress cock-fighting in the Islands as gambling in England.[8]

The Spanish laws relating to the cock-pit were very strict, and were specially decreed on March 21,1861. It was enacted that the maximum amount to be staked by one person on one contest should be 50 pesos. That each cock should wear only one metal spur. That the fight should be held to be terminated on the death of one or both cocks, or when one of them retreated. However, the decree contained in all a hundred clauses too tedious to enumerate. Cock-fighting is discussed among the natives with the same enthusiasm as horse-racing is in England. The majority of sportsmen rear cocks for several years, bestowing upon them as much tender care as a mother would on her infant. When the hope of the connoisseur has arrived at the age of discretion and valour, it is put forward in open combat, perhaps to perish in the first encounter. And the patient native goes on training others.

Within twenty minutesʼ drive from Manila, at Nagtájan, on the right bank of the Pasig River, there was a good European club (since removed to Ermita), of which the members were chiefly English-speaking merchants and employees. The entrance-fee was [Pesos]30; the monthly subscription was [Pesos]5, and [Pesos]1 per month extra for the use of a fairly good library.

The principal hotel—the “Hotel de Oriente”—was opened in Binondo in January, 1889, in a large two-storeyed building, with 83 rooms for the public service, and stabling for 25 horses. It was the first building specially erected in the Colony for an hotel. The accommodation and board were good. It ranked with the best hotels in the East. [In 1903 the building was purchased by the (American) Insular Government for public offices.] In Manila City and Binondo there were several other Spanish hotels where the board was tolerable, but the lodging and service abominable. There was a telephone system established throughout the city and its environs.

The press was represented by five dailies—El Diario de Manila, La Oceania Española, three evening papers, El Comercio, La Voz de España, and (from March 3, 1889) La Correspondencia de Manila—also a bi-weekly, La Opinion. Some good articles appeared at times in the three dailies first mentioned, but as newspapers strictly so-called, the information in all was remarkably scant, due to the strict censorship exercised jointly by a priest and a layman. There was also a purely official organ—the Gaceta de Manila.

The first news-sheet published in Manila appears to have been the Filántropo, in the year 1822, which existed only a few years. Others followed and failed in a short time. The first Manila daily paper was the Estrella, which started in 1846 and lasted three years. Since then several dailies have seen the light for a brief period. The Diario de Manila, started in 1848, was the oldest newspaper of those existing at the end of the Spanish regime.

In Spain journalism began in the 17th century by the publication, at irregular intervals, of sheets called “Relaciones.” The first Spanish newspaper, correctly so called, was established in the 18th century. Seventy-eight years ago there was only one regular periodical journal in Madrid. After the Peninsula War, a step was made towards political journalism. This led to such an abuse of the pen that in 1824 all, except the Gaceta de Madrid, the Gaceta de Bayona, the Diario, and a few non-political papers were suppressed. Madrid has now scores of newspapers, of which half a dozen are very readable. The Correspondencia de España, founded by the late Marquis de Santa Ana as a Montpensier organ, used to afford me great amusement in Madrid. It contained columns of most extraordinary events in short paragraphs (gacetillas), and became highly popular, hundreds of persons eagerly waiting to secure a copy. In a subsequent issue, a few days later, many of the paragraphs in the same columns were merely corrections of the statements previously published, but so ingeniously interposed that the hoax took the public for a long time. Newspapers from Spain were not publicly exposed for sale in Manila; those which were seen came from friends or by private subscription, whilst many were proscribed as inculcating ideas dangerously liberal.

There was a botanical garden, rather neglected, although it cost the Colony about ₱8,600 per annum. The stock of specimens was scanty, and the grounds were deserted by the general public. It was at least useful in one sense—that bouquets were supplied at once to purchasers at cheap rates, from 25 cents and upwards.

In the environs of Manila there are several pleasant drives and promenades, the most popular one being the Luneta, where a military band frequently played after sunset. The Gov.-Generalʼs palace[9] and the residences of the foreign European population and well-to-do natives and Spaniards were in the suburbs of the city outside the commercial quarter. Some of these private villas were extremely attractive, and commodiously designed for the climate, but little attention was paid until quite the latter days to architectural beauty.

Very few of the best private residences have more than one storey above the ground-floor. The ground-floor is either uninhabited or used for lodging the native servants, or as a coach-house, on account of the damp. From the vestibule main entrance (zaguan) one passes to the upper floor, which constitutes the house proper, where the family resides. It is usually divided into a spacious hall (caida), leading from the staircase to the dining and reception-rooms; on one or two sides of these apartments are the dormitories and other private rooms. The kitchen is often a separate building, connected with the house by a roofed passage; and by the side of the kitchen, on the same level, is a yard called the azotea—here the bath-room is erected. The most modern houses have corrugated-iron roofs. The ground-floor exterior walls are of stone or brick, and the whole of the upper storey is of wood, with sliding windows all around. Instead of glass, opaque oyster-shells (Tagálog, cápis) are employed to admit the light whilst obstructing the sunʼs rays. Formerly the walls up to the roof were of stone, but since the last great earthquake of 1880 the use of wood from the first storey upwards has been rigorously enforced in the capital and suburbs for public safety. Iron roofs are very hot, and there are still some few comfortable, spacious, and cool suburban residences with tile roof or with the primitive cogon-grass or nipa palm-leaf thatching, very conducive to comfort although more liable to catch fire.

In Spanish times there were no white burglars, and the main entrance of a dwelling-house was invariably left open until the family retired for the night. Mosquitoes abound in Manila, coming from the numerous malarious creeks which traverse the wards, and few persons can sleep without a curtain. To be at oneʼs ease, a daily bath is indispensable. The heat from 12 to 4 p.m. is oppressive from March to May, and most persons who have no afternoon occupation, sleep the siesta from 1 to 3 oʼclock. The conventional lunch-hour all over the Colony is noon precisely, and dinner at about 8 oʼclock. The visiting hours are from 5 to 7 in the evening, and réunions and musical soirées from 9. Society was far less divided here than in the British-Asiatic Colonies. There was not the same rigid line drawn as in British India between the official, non-official, and native. Spaniards of the best families in the capital endeavoured, with varying success, to europeanize the people of the country, and many of them exchanged visits with half-breeds, and at times with wealthy pure natives. Spanish hospitality in the Philippines was far more marked than in Europe, and educated foreigners were generally received with great courtesy.

Since the year 1884 the city and suburbs are well supplied with good drinking-water, which is one of the most praiseworthy modern improvements undertaken by the Spanish Government. To provide for this beneficial work, a Spanish philanthropist, named Carriedo—a late commander of an Acapulco galleon—left a sum of money in the 18th century, in order that the capital and accumulated interest might one day defray the expense. The water supply (brought from Santólan, near Mariquina), being more than sufficient for general requirements, the city and suburbs were, little by little, adorned with several public fountains. Although Manila lies low the climate is healthy, and during several years of personal observation I found the average maximum and minimum temperature at noon in the shade to be 98° and 75° Fahr. respectively. The climate of Manila may be generally summed up as follows, viz.:—December, January, and February, a delightful spring; March, April, and May, an oppressive heat; June, July, August, and September, heavy rains and more tolerable heat; October and November, doubtful—sometimes very wet, sometimes fairly dry. Briefly, as to climate, it is a pleasant place to reside in.

In 1593 Manila already had a coat-of-arms, with the title of “Muy Insigne y siempre leal Ciudad” and in the beginning of the 17th century King Philip III. conferred upon it the title of “La muy noble Ciudad ”; hence it was lately styled “La muy noble y siempre leal Ciudad” (the very noble and always loyal city).

According to Gironnière,[10] the civilized population of this Colony in 1845 was as follows, namely:—

Europeans (including 500 Friars)

4,050

Spanish-native half-breeds

8,584

Spanish-native-Chinese half-breeds.

180,000

Chinese

9,901

Pure natives

3,304,742

Total civilized population

3,507,277

In the last Spanish census, taken in 1876, the total number of inhabitants, including Europeans and Chinese, was shown to be a little under 6,200,000, but a fixed figure cannot be relied upon because it was impossible to estimate exactly the number of unsubdued savages and mountaineers, who paid no taxes. The increase of native population was rated at about two per cent, per annum, except in the Negrito or Aeta tribes, which are known to be decreasing.

In Manila City and wards it is calculated there were in 1896 about 340,000 inhabitants, of which the ratio of classes was approximately the following, namely:—

Per cent.

Pure natives

68.00

Chinese half-breeds

16.65

Chinese

12.25

Spaniards and Creoles

1.65

Spanish half-breeds

1.30

Foreigners (other than Chinese)

0.15

100.00

The walled city alone contained a population of about 16,000 souls.

Typhoons affect Manila more or less severely about once a year, nearly always between April and middle of December, and sometimes cause immense destruction to property. Roofs of houses are carried away; the wooden upper-storey frontages are blown out; ships are torn from their moorings; small craft laden with merchandise are wrecked, and the inhabitants flee from the streets to make fast their premises, and await in intense anxiety the conclusion of the tempest. A hurricane of this description desolated Manila in October, 1882, and, at the same time, the wind was accompanied by torrents of rain, which did great damage to the interiors of the residences, warehouses, and offices. A small house, entirely made of wood, was blown completely over, and the natives who had taken refuge on the ground-floor were left, without a momentʼs notice, with the sky for a roof. Two Chinamen, who thought to take advantage of the occasion and economically possess themselves of galvanized-iron roofing, had their heads nearly severed by sheets of this material flying through the air, and their dead bodies were picked up in the Rosario the next morning. I was busy with the servants all that day in my house, in the unsuccessful attempt to fasten the windows and doors. Part of the kitchen was carried away; water came in everywhere; and I had to wait patiently, with an umbrella over me, until the storm ceased. The last similarly destructive hurricane, affecting Manila, occurred on September 26, 1905.

Manila is also in constant danger of destruction from earthquakes. The most serious one within the last century occurred in June, 1863. The shock lasted half a minute, and the falling débris of the upheaved buildings caused 400 deaths, whilst 2,000 persons were wounded. The total loss of property on that occasion was estimated at ₱ 8,000,000. Official returns show that 46 public edifices were thrown down; 28 were nearly destroyed; 570 private buildings were wrecked, and 528 were almost demolished. Simultaneously, an earthquake occurred in Cavite—the port and arsenal south-west of Manila—destroying several public buildings. In 1898 many of the ruins caused by this earthquake were still left undisturbed within the City of Manila. In 1863 the best buildings had heavy tiled roofs, and many continued so, in spite of the severe lesson, until after the shock of 1880, when galvanized corrugated iron came into general use for roofing, and, in fact, no one in Manila or Binondo now builds a house without it.

In 1880 no lives were lost, but the damage to house property was considerable. The only person who suffered physically from this calamity was an Englishman, Mr. Parker, whose arm was so severely injured that it was found necessary to amputate it.

Prior to 1863 the most serious earthquakes recorded happened in November, 1610; November, 1645; August, 1658; in 1675; in 1699; in 1796, and in 1852. Consequent on the shock of 1645, all the public buildings were destroyed excepting one monastery and two churches, some 600 persons were killed, and the Gov.-General was extricated from the ruins of his palace. [11]According to the Jesuit Father Faura, Director of the Manila Observatory, the following slight quakes occurred in 1881, viz.:—3 in July, 7 in August, 10 in September, and 3 in October. Earth-tremors almost imperceptible are so frequent in these Islands that one hardly heeds them after a few monthsʼ residence.

In a cosmopolitan city like Manila—the temporary home of so many different races—it was interesting to observe the varied wearing-apparel in vogue. The majority of the Spaniards wore the European costume; the British generally dressed in white drill, with the coat buttoned up to the neck, and finished off with a narrow collar of the same material. The Chinese always preserved their own peculiar national dress—the most rational of all—with the pig-tail coiled into a chignon. The pure natives and many half-breeds wore the shirt outside the trousers. It was usually white, with a long stiff front, and cut European fashion; but often it was made of an extremely fine yellow-tinted expensive material, called piña (vide p. 283). Some few of the native jeunesse dorée of Manila donned the European dress, much to their apparent discomfort. The official attire of the headman of a Manila ward and his subordinates was a shirt with the tail outside the trousers, like other natives or half-breeds, but over which was worn the official distinction of a short Eton jacket, reaching to the hips. All this is now changing, with a tendency to imitate the Americans.

A native woman wore, as she does now, a flowing skirt of gay colours—bright red, green, and white being the common choice. The length of train, and whether the garment be of cotton, silk, or satin, depends on her means. Corsets are not yet the fashion, but a chemisette, which just covers her breast, and a starched neckcloth (pañuelo) of piña or husi stuff are in common use. The pañuelo is square, and, being folded triangularly, it hangs in a point down the back and stands very high up at the neck, in the 17th century style, whilst the other two points are brooched where they meet at the top of the chemisette décolletée. To this chemisette are added immensely wide short sleeves. Her hair is brushed back from the forehead, without a parting, and coiled into a tight, flat chignon. In her hand she carries a fan, without which she would feel lost. Native women have an extravagant desire to possess jewellery—even if they never wear it. The head is covered with a white mantle of very thin material, sometimes figured, but more often this and the neckcloth are embroidered—a work in which they excel. Finally, her naked feet are partly enveloped in chinelas—a kind of slipper, flat, like a shoe-sole with no heel, but just enough upper in front to put four toes inside. Altogether, the appearance of a Philippine woman of well-to-do family dressed on a gala day is curious, sometimes pretty, but, in any case, admirably suited to the climate.

Since 1898 American example, the great demand for piña muslin, at any price, by American ladies, and the scarcity of this texture, due to the plants having been abandoned during the wars, have necessarily brought about certain modifications in female attire.

There is something very picturesque in the simple costume of a peasant woman going to market. She has no flowing gown, but a short skirt, enveloped in a tápis, generally of cotton. It is simply a rectangular piece of stuff; as a rule, all blue, red, or black. It is tucked in at the waist, drawn very tightly around the loins, and hangs over the skirt a little below the knees, the open edges being at the back.

At times the better class wear the more becoming short skirt and tápis of silk or satin, with gold-lace embroidered chinelas. This dress is elegant, and adds a charm to the wearer.

The tápi is smaller. It is not used in the street; it is a sort of négligé apparel worn in the house only, or for going to the bath. The poorest classes go to the river-side to bathe in it. It is drawn all around from the waist downwards.

The patadiong is more commonly worn by the Visaya than the northern woman. It is somewhat like the tápis, but is drawn round the waist from the back, the open edges meeting, more or less, at the front. In Luzon Island the old women generally prefer this to the tápis.

On feast days and special occasions, or for dances, the young women who can afford it sport the gaudy flowing gown of bright particoloured striped silk or satin, known as the saya suelta, with the train cut in a peculiar fashion unknown in Europe.

The figure of a peasant woman is erect and stately, due to her habit from infancy of carrying jars of water, baskets of orchard produce, etc., on her head with a pad of coiled cloth. The characteristic bearing of both sexes, when walking, consists in swinging the arms (but more often the right arm only) to and fro far more rapidly than the stride, so that it gives them the appearance of paddling.

A “first class” Manila funeral, before the American advent, was a whimsical display of pompous ignorance worth seeing once. There was a hideous bier with rude relics of barbarism in the shape of paltry adornments. A native driver, with a tall “chimney pot” hat, full of salaried mournfulness, drove the white team. The bier was headed by a band of music playing a lively march, and followed by a line of carriages containing the relations and friends of the deceased. The burial was almost invariably within twenty-four hours of the decease—sometimes within six hours.

There is nothing in Manila which instantly impresses one as strikingly national, whether it be in artistic handicraft, music, painting, sculpture, or even diversions. The peculiar traditional customs of an Eastern people—their native dress, their characteristic habits, constitute—by their originality and variation, the only charm to the ordinary European traveller. The Manila middle-class native, in particular, possesses none of this. He is but a vivid contrast to his vivacious Spanish model, a striking departure from his own picturesque aboriginal state, and an unsuccessful imitator of the grace and easy manners of his Western tutor. In short, he is neither one thing nor the other in its true representation compared with the genial, genuine, and natural type to be found in the provinces.

Many yearsʼ residence in Manila, or in any one particular locality of the Archipelago, will not enable either the alien or the native to form a just opinion of the physical, social, or economic conditions of the Colony; they can only be understood after extensive travelling through and around the Islands. Nor will three or four tours suffice for the intelligent inquirer, because first impressions often lead to false conclusions; information obtained through one source must needs be verified by another; the danger of mistaking isolated cases for general rules has to be avoided, and, lastly, the native does not reveal to the first-time traveller the intricacies of Philippine life. Furthermore, the traveller in any official capacity is necessarily the least informed person concerning the real thought and aspirations of the Filipino or true Philippine life; his position debars him from the opportunity of investigating these things.

A Riverside Washing-scene

It would be beyond the scope of this work to take the reader mentally through the thousand or more miles of lovely scenery, and into the homes of the unsophisticated classes who still preserve, unalloyed, many of their natural characteristics and customs. But within half a dayʼs journey from the capital there are many places of historical interest, among which, on account of its revived popularity since the American advent, may be mentioned Los Baños, on the south shore of the Laguna de Bay.

Los Baños (the baths) owes its origin to the hot springs flowing from the volcanic Maquíling Mountain, which have been known to the natives from time immemorial when the place was called Maynit, which signifies “hot.”

At the close of the 16th century these mineral waters attracted the attention of Martyr Saint Pedro Bautista (vide p. 64), who sent a brother of his Order to establish a hospital for the natives. The brother went there, but shortly returned to Manila and died. So the matter remained in abeyance for years. Subsequently a certain Fray Diego de Santa Maria, an expert in medicine and the healing art, was sent there to test the waters. He found they contained properties highly beneficial in curing rheumatism and certain other maladies, so thenceforth many natives and Spaniards went there to seek bodily relief. But there was no convenient abode for the visitors; no arrangements for taking the baths, and the Government did nothing. A Franciscan friar was appointed chaplain to the sick visitors, but his very incommodious residence was inadequate for the lodging of patients, and, for want of funds, the priest abandoned the project of establishing a hospital, and returned to Manila. In 1604 the Gov.-General, Pedro Bravo de Acuña, gave his attention to this place, and consented to the establishment of a hospital, church, and convent. The hospital was constructed of bamboo and other light material, and dedicated to Our Lady of Holy Waters.

Fray Diego de Santa Maria was appointed to the vicarage and the charge of the hospital. The whole was supported by gifts from the many sick persons who went there, but the greatest difficulty was to procure food. Several natives made donations of lands, with the produce of which the hospital was to be maintained. These gifts, however, proved insufficient. The priests then solicited permission from the villagers of Pila (on the lake shore near Santa Cruz) to pasture cattle on the tongue of land on the opposite coast called Jalajala, which belonged to them. With their consent a cattle-ranche was established there; subsequently, a building was erected, and the place was in time known as the Estancia de Jalajala. Then the permission was asked for and obtained from the Pila natives to plant cocoanut palms, fruit-trees, and vegetables. Later on the Austin and Franciscan friars quarrelled about the right of dominion over the place and district called Maynit, but eventually the former gave way and ceded their alleged rights in perpetuity to the Franciscans.

In 1640 Los Baños (formerly a dependency of Bay, under the Austin friars) was constituted a “town.” The Franciscans continued to beg one concession after another, until at length, in 1671, stone buildings were commenced—a church, convent, hospital, bathing-pond, vapour-house, etc., being constructed. Natives and Europeans flocked in numbers to these baths, and it is said that people even came from India to be cured. The property lent and belonging to the establishment, the accumulated funds, and the live-stock had all increased so much in value that the Government appointed an administrator. Thenceforth the place declined; its popularity vanished; the administrator managed matters so particularly for his own benefit that food again became scarce, and the priest was paid only 10 pesos per month as salary. In Jalajala a large house was built; the land was put under regular cultivation; tenants were admitted; but when the property was declared a royal demesne the Pila inhabitants protested, and nominally regained possession of the lent property. But the administrator re-opened and contested the question in the law-courts, and, pending these proceedings, Jalajala was rented from the Government. During this long process of legal entanglements the property had several times been transferred to one and another until the last holder regarded it as his private estate.

At the beginning of last century Jalajala came into the possession of M. Paul de la Gironnière, from whom it passed to another Frenchman, at whose death a third Frenchman, M. Jules Daillard, became owner. On his decease it became the property of an English Bank, from whom it was purchased by the Franciscan friars, in 1897, for the sum of ₱.50,000, and re-sold by them to a Belgian firm in 1900.

The bathing establishment was gradually falling into decay, until its complete ruin was brought about by a fire, which left only the remnant of walls. The priest continued there as nominal chaplain with his salary of 10 pesos per month and an allowance of rice. The establishment was not restored until the Government of Domingo Moriones (1877–80). A vapour bath-house and residence were built, but the hospital was left unfinished, and it was rotting away from neglect when the Spaniards evacuated the Islands.

The portion of the Hospital of Los Baños which remained intact, and the house attached thereto, which the natives called “the palace,” served to accommodate invalids who went to take the cure. These baths should only be taken in the dry season—December to May.

Besides the convent and church the town simply consisted of a row of dingy bungalows on either side of the highroad, with a group of the same on the mountain side. Since the American advent the place has been much improved and extended.

On his way from Manila to Los Baños the traveller will pass (on the left bank of the Pasig River) the ruins of Guadalupe Church, which mark the site of a great massacre of Chinese during their revolt in 1603 (vide p. 114). The following legend of this once beautiful and popular church was given to me by the Recoleto friars at the convent of the Church of La Soledad, in Cavite:—During the construction of the world-famed Escorial, by order of Philip II., the architectʼs nephew, who was employed by his uncle on the work, killed a man. The King pardoned him on condition that he be banished to the Philippines. He therefore came to Manila, took holy orders, and designed and superintended the building of Guadalupe Church, from the scaffolding of which he fell, and having been caught by the neck in a rope suspended from the timbers he was hanged.

During the wars of the Rebellion and Independence this ancient building was destroyed, only the shot-riddled and battered outer walls remaining in 1905.

[1] The city walls were undoubtedly a great safeguard for the Spaniards against the frequent threats of the Mindanao and Sulu pirates who ventured into the Bay of Manila up to within 58 years ago. Also, for more than a century, they were any day subject to hostilities from the Portuguese, whilst the aggressive foreign policy of the mother country during the 17th century exposed them to reprisals by the Dutch fleets, which in 1643 threatened the city of Manila. Formerly the drawbridges were raised, and the city was closed and under sentinels from 11 oʼclock p.m. until 4 oʼclock a.m. It continued so until 1852, when, in consequence of the earthquake of that year, it was decreed that the city should thenceforth remain open night and day. The walled city was officially styled the Plaza de Manila, its last Spanish military governor being General Rizzo, who left for Europe in December, 1898. The most modern drawbridge entrance was the Puerta de Isabel II, (1861), facing the Pasig River.

[2] The Cathedral has been destroyed four times by fire and earthquake, and rebuilt by successive archbishops.

[3] MARIVÉLES.—Much historical interest is attached to this place. It was the chief port of the Jurisdiction of Marivéles under the old territorial division which comprised the island now called Corregidor. Marivéles is now included in the Province of Bataán.

The first Spanish missionary who attempted to domesticate the natives of the Marivéles coast was stoned by them, and died in Manila in consequence. An insubordinate Archbishop was once banished to Marivéles. Through the narrow channel between this port and Corregidor Island, known as Boca chica, came swarms of Asiatic trading-junks every spring for over two centuries. Forming the extreme point of Manila Bay, here was naturally the watchguard for the safety of the capital. It was the point whence could be descried the movements of foreign enemies—Dutch, British, Mahometan, Chinese, etc.; it was the last refuge for ships about to venture from the Islands to foreign parts. Yet, with all these antecedents, it is, to-day, one of the poorest and most primitive villages of the Colony. From its aspect one could almost imagine it to be at the furthermost extremity of the Archipelago. Its ancient name was Camaya, and how it came to be called Marivéles is accounted for in the following interesting legend:—About the beginning of the 17th century one of the Mexican galleons brought to Manila a family named Vélez, whose daughter was called Maria. When she was 17 years of age this girl took the veil in Santa Clara Convent (vide p. 81), and there responded to the attentions of a Franciscan monk, who fell so desperately in love with her that they determined to elope to Camaya and wait there for the galleon which was to leave for Mexico in the following July. The girl, disguised in a monkʼs habit, fled from her convent, and the lovers arrived safely in Camaya in a hired canoe, tired out after the sea-passage under a scorching sun. The next day they went out to meet the galleon, which, however, had delayed her sailing. In the meantime the elopement had caused great scandal in Manila. A proclamation was published by the town-crier calling upon the inhabitants to give up the culprits, under severe penalties for disobedience. Nothing resulted, until the matter oozed out through a native who was aware of their departure. Then an alderman of the city set out in a prahu in pursuit of the amorous fugitives, accompanied by a notary and a dozen arquebusiers. After searching in vain all over the island now called Corregidor, they went to Camaya, and there found the young lady, Maria, on the beach in a most pitiable condition, with her dress torn to shreds, and by her side the holy friar, wearied and bleeding from the wounds he had received whilst fighting with the savage natives who disputed his possession of the fair maiden. The search-party found there a canoe, in which the friar was conveyed to Manila in custody, whilst the girl was taken charge of by the alderman in the prahu. From Manila the sinful priest was sent to teach religion and morality to the Visaya tribes; the romantic nun was sent back to the City of Mexico to suffer perpetual reclusion in a convent.

From these events, it is said, arose the names of Corregidor (Alderman) Island, which lies between the rocks known as Fraile (Friar) and Monja (Nun), whilst the loversʼ refuge thenceforth took the name of Marivéles (Maria Vélez).

Ships arriving from foreign or Philippine infected ports were quarantined off Marivéles, under Spanish regulations. During the great cholera epidemic of 1882 a Lazaretto was established here.

[4] The abacus consists of a frame with a number of parallel wires on which counting-beads are strung. It is in common use in China.

[5] Escolta (meaning Escort), the principal thoroughfare in the business quarter (Binondo), is said to have been so named during the British occupation (1762–63), when the British Commander-in-Chief passed through it daily with his escort.

[6] On the site of this last bridge the Puente de Barcas (Pontoon Bridge) existed from 1632 to 1863, when it was destroyed by the great earthquake of that year. The new stone bridge was opened in 1875, and called the Puente de España.

[7] The burthen of a native play in the provinces was almost invariably founded on the contests between the Mahometans of the South and the Christian natives under Spanish dominion.

The Spaniards, in attaching the denomination of Moros to the Mahometans of Sulu, associated them in name with the Mahometan Moors who held sway over a large part of Hispania for over seven centuries (711–1492). A “Moro Moro” performance is usually a drama—occasionally a melodrama—in which the native actors, clad in all the glittering finery of Mahometan nobility and Christian chivalry, assemble in battle array before the Mahometan princesses, to settle their disputes under the combined inspirations of love and religious persuasion. The princesses, one after the other, pining under the dictates of the heart in defiance of their creed, leave their fate to be sealed by the outcome of deadly combat between the contending factions. Armed to the teeth, the cavaliers of the respective parties march to and fro, haranguing each other in monotonous tones. After a long-winded, wearisome challenge, they brandish their weapons and meet in a series of single combats which merge in a general mêlée as the princes are vanquished and the hand of the disputed enchantress is won.

The dialogue is in the idiom of the district where the performance is given, and the whole play (lasting from four to six nights) is brief compared with Chinese melodrama, which often extends to a month of nights.

Judged from the standard of European histrionism, the plot is weak from the sameness and repetition of the theme. The declamation is unnatural, and void of vigour and emphasis. The same tone is maintained from beginning to end, whether it be in expression of expostulatory defiance, love, joy, or despair. But the masses were intensely amused; thus the full object was achieved. They seemed never to tire of gazing at the situations created and applauding vociferously the feigned defeat of their traditional arch-foes.

[8] The favourite game of the Tagálogs is Panguingui—of the Chinese Chapdiki.

[9] The Government House, located in the city, which was thrown down in the earthquake of 1863, has not been rebuilt. Its reconstruction was only commenced by the Spaniards in 1895. The Gov.-General therefore resided after 1863 at his suburban palace at Malacañan, on the river-side.

[10] “Aventures dʼun gentilhomme Breton aux Iles Philippines,” par Paul de la Gironnière. Paris, 1875.

[11] Vide “Terremotos de Nueva Vizcaya en 1881,” by Enrique Abella y Casariega Published in Madrid.

The Tagálog Rebellion of 1896–98

First Period

After the Napoleonic wars in Spain, the “Junta Suprema Central del Reino” convened the famous “Córtes de Cádiz” by decree dated September 12, 1809. This junta was succeeded by another—“El Supremo Consejo de la Regencia”—when the Córtes passed the first Suffrage Bill known in Spain on January 29, 1810. These Córtes assembled deputies from all the Colonies—Cuba, Venezuela, Chile, Guatemala, Santa Fé, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, etc.; in fact, all those dependencies which constituted the four Viceroyalties and the eight Captain-Generalships of the day. The Philippine deputy, Ventura de los Reyes, signed the Act of Constitution of 1812. In 1820 the Córtes again admitted this Colonyʼs representatives, amongst whom were Vicente Posadas, Eulalio Ramirez, Anselmo Jorge Fajárdos, Roberto Pimental, Esteban Marqués, José Florentino, Manuel Saez de Vismanos, José Azcárraga, and nine others. They also took part in the parliamentary debates of 1822 and 1823. The Constitution was shortly afterwards suspended, but on the demise of Ferdinand VII. the Philippine deputies, Brigadier Garcia Gamba and the half-breed Juan Francisco Lecáros, sat in Parliament. Again, and for the last time, Philippine members figured in the Córtes of the Isabella II. Regency; then, on the opening of Parliament in 1837, their exclusion, as well as the government of the Ultramarine Provinces by special laws, was voted.

The friars, hitherto regarded by the majority of Filipinos as their protectors and friendly intermediaries between the people and the civil rulers, had set their faces against the above radical innovations, foreseeing in them a death-blow to their own preponderance. Indeed, the “friar question” only came into existence after the year 1812.

In 1868 Queen Isabella II. was deposed, and the succeeding Provisional Government (1868–70), founded on Republican principles, caused an Assembly of Reformists to be established in Manila. The members of this Junta General de Reformas were five Filipinos, namely, Ramon Calderon, Bonifacio Saez de Vismanos, Lorenzo Calvo, Gabriel Gonzalez Esquibel, and Joaquin Pardo de Tavera; eleven civilian Spaniards, namely, Joaquin J. Inchausti, Tomàs Balbas y Castro, Felino Gil, Antonio Ayala, with seven others and five Spanish friars, namely, Father Fonseca, Father Domingo Trecera, Rector of the University, (Dominicans), one Austin, one Recoleto and one Franciscan friar. This junta had the power to vote reforms for the Colony, subject to the ratification of the Home Government. But monastic influence prevailed; the reforms voted were never carried into effect, and long before the Bourbon restoration took place (1874) the Philippine Assembly had ceased to exist. But it was impossible for the mother country, which had spontaneously given the Filipinos a taste of political equality, again to yoke them to the old tutelage without demur. Alternate political progress and retrogression in the Peninsula cast their reflex on this Colony, but the first sparks of liberty had been gratuitously struck which neither reaction in the Peninsula nor persecution in the Colony itself could totally extinguish. No Filipino, at that period, dreamed of absolute independence, but the few who had been taught by their masters to hope for equal laws, agitated for their promulgation and became a thorn in the side of the Monastic Orders. Only as their eyes were spontaneously opened to liberty by the Spaniards themselves did they feel the want of it.

The Cavite Rising of 1872 (vide p. 106), which the Philippine Government unwisely treated as an important political movement and mercilessly avenged itself by executions and banishment of many of the best Manila families, was neither forgotten nor forgiven. To me, as a foreigner, scores of representative provincial natives did not hesitate to open their hearts in private on the subject. The Government lost considerably by its uncalled-for severity on this occasion. The natives regarded it as a sign of apprehension, and a proof of the intention to rule with an iron rod. The Government played into the hands of the Spanish clergy, and all the friars gained by strengthening their monopoly of the incumbencies they lost in moral prestige. Thinking men really pitied the Government, which became more and more the instrument of the ecclesiastics. Since then, serious ideas of a revolution to be accomplished one day took root in the minds of influential Filipinos throughout the provinces adjacent to Manila. La Solidaridad, a Philippine organ, founded in Madrid by Marcelo Hilario del Pilar, Mariano Ponce, Eduardo Leyte and Antonio Luna for the furtherance of Philippine interests was proscribed, but copies entered the Islands clandestinely. In the villages, secret societies were formed which the priests chose to call “Freemasonry”; and on the ground that all vows which could not be explained at the confessional were anti-christian, the Archbishop gave strict injunctions to the friars to ferret out the so-called Freemasons. Denunciations by hundreds quickly followed, for the priests willingly availed themselves of this licence to get rid of anti-clericals and others who had displeased them. In the town of Malolos (which in 1898 became the seat of the Revolutionary Congress) Father Moïses Santos caused all the members of the Town Council to be banished, and when I last dined with him in his convent, he told me he had cleared out a few more and had his eye on others. From other villages, notably in the provinces around the capital, the priests had their victims escorted up to Manila and consigned to the Gov.-General, who issued the deportation orders without trial or sentence, the recommendation of the all-powerful padre being sufficient warrant. Thus hundreds of families were deprived of fathers and brothers without warning or apparent justification;—but it takes a great deal to rouse the patient native to action. Then in 1895 came the Marahui campaign in Mindanao (vide p. 144). In order to people the territory around Lake Lanao, conquered from the Moros, it was proposed to invite families to migrate there from the other islands, and notifications to this effect were issued to all the provincial governors. At first it was put to the people in the smooth form of a proposal. None volunteered to go, because they could not see why they should give up what they had to go and waste their lives on a tract of virgin soil with the very likely chance of a daily attack from the Moros. Peremptory orders followed, requiring the governors to send up “emigrants” for the Ylígan district. This caused a great commotion in the provinces, and large numbers of natives abandoned their homes to evade anticipated violence. I have no proof as to who originated this scheme, but there is the significant fact that the orders were issued only to the authorities of those provinces supposed to be affected by the secret societies. Under the then existing system, the governors could not act in a case like this without the co-operation of the parish priests; hence during the years 1895 and 1896 a systematic course of official sacerdotal tyranny was initiated which, being too much even for the patient Filipino, was the immediate cause of the members of the Katipunan secret society hastening their plans for open rebellion, the plot of which was prematurely discovered on Thursday, August 20, 1896. The rebellion in Cuba was calling for all the resources in men and material that Spain could send there. The total number of European troops dispersed over these Islands did not exceed 1,500 well armed and well officered, of which about 700 were in Manila. The native auxiliaries amounted to about 6,000. The impression was gaining ground that the Spaniards would be beaten out of Cuba; but whilst this idea gave the Tagálogs moral courage to attempt the same in these Islands, so far as one could then foresee, Spainʼs reverse in the Antilles and the consequent evacuation would have permitted her to pour troops into Manila, causing the nativesʼ last chance to vanish indefinitely.

Several months before the outbreak, the Katipunan sent a deputation to Japan to present a petition to the Mikado, praying him to annex the Philippines. This petition, said to have been signed by 5,000 Filipinos, was received by the Japanese Government, who forwarded it to the Spanish Government; hence the names of 5,000 disaffected persons were known to the Philippine authorities, who did not find it politic to raise the storm by immediate arrests.

The so-called “Freemasonry” which had so long puzzled and irritated the friars, turned out, therefore, to be the Katipunan, which simply means the “League.”[1] The leaguers, on being sworn in, accepted the “blood compact” (vide p. 28), taking from an incision on the leg or arm the blood with which to inscribe the roll of fraternity. The cicatrice served also as a mark of mutual recognition, so that the object and plans of the leaguers should never be discussed with others. The drama was to have opened with a general slaughter of Spaniards on the night of August 20, but, just in the nick of time, a woman sought confession of Father Mariano Gil (formerly parish priest of Bigaá, Bulacan), then the parish priest of Tondo, a suburb of Manila, and opened the way for a leaguer, whose heart had failed him, to disclose the plot on condition of receiving full pardon. With this promise he made a clean breast of everything, and without an hourʼs delay the civil guard was on the track of the alleged prime movers. Three hundred supposed disaffected persons were seized in Manila and the Provinces of Pampanga and Bulacan within a few hours, and, large numbers being brought in daily, the prisons were soon crowded to excess. The implacable Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda advocated extermination by fire and sword and wholesale executions. Gov.-General Ramon Blanco hesitated to take the offensive, pending the arrival of reinforcements which were called for. He informed the Home Government that the rising was of no great importance, but that he required 1,000 more troops to be sent at once. The reply from Madrid was that they were sending 2,000 men, 2,000,000 cartridges, 6,000 Remington rifles, and the gunboats Isla de Cuba and Isla de Luzon. Each steamer brought a contingent of troops, so that General Blanco had a total of about 10,000 Spanish regulars by the end of November. Spainʼs best men had been drafted off to Cuba, and these were chiefly raw levies who had all to learn in the art of warfare.

Meanwhile, the rebellion had assumed alarming proportions. Among the first to be seized were many of the richest and most prominent men in the Colony—the cream of Manila society. There was intense excitement in the capital as their names gradually leaked out, for many of them were well known to us personally or by repute. No one who possessed wealth was safe. An opulent Chinese half-caste, Don Pedro P. Rojas, who was popularly spoken of as the prime supporter of the rebellion, was a guest at Government House two days before the hour fixed for the general slaughter. It cost him a fortune to be allowed to leave the Islands. He took his passage for Europe in the Isla de Panay, together with Dr. Rizal, but very prudently left that steamer at Singapore and went on in the French mail to Marseilles and thence to Paris, where he was still residing in 1905. No documentary evidence could be produced against him, and on June 1, 1897, the well-known politician, Romero Robledo, undertook his defence in the Córtes, in Madrid, in a brilliant speech which had no effect on his parliamentary colleagues. For the Spaniards, indeed, the personal character of Pedro P. Rojas was a matter of no moment. The Manila court-martial, out of whose jurisdiction Rojas had escaped, held his estates, covering over 70,000 acres, under embargo, caused his numerous steam cane-mills to be smashed, and his beautiful estate-house to be burnt, whilst his 14,000 head of cattle disappeared. Subsequently the military court exonerated Pedro P. Rojas in a decree which stated “that all those persons who made accusations against him have unreservedly retracted them, and that they were only extracted from such persons by the tortures employed by the Spanish officials; that the supposed introduction of arms into the Colony through an estate owned by Pedro P. Rojas is purely fantastical, and that the only arms possessed by the rebels were those taken by them in combat from the Spanish soldiers.”[2] But his second cousin, Francisco L. Rojas, a shipowner, contrabandist, and merchant, was not so fortunate. He was also one of the first seized, and his trial was pending until General Blanco left the Islands. During this period Rojasʼ wife besought the General to release him, but he could not do so without incurring public censure, in view of the real or fictitious condemnatory evidence brought against him by the court-martial. The chief accusation was that of importing arms for the rebellion. It even became a current topic, for a few weeks, that some German merchants had made a contract with Rojas to sell him the arms, but the Spanish authorities had sufficient good sense, on this occasion, not to be guided by public outcry. When General Polavieja arrived, Francisco L. Rojasʼ fate became a certainty, and he was executed as a traitor. The departure of Pedro P. Rojas and the serenity of General Blanco aroused great indignation among the civilian Spaniards who clamoured for active measures. A week passed before it was apparent to the public that he had taken any military action. Meanwhile, he was urged in vain by his advisers to proclaim martial law. The press censor would not allow the newspapers to allude to the conspirators as “rebels,” but as “brigands” (tulisanes). The authorities were anxious to stifle the notion of rebellion, and to treat the whole movement as a marauding affair. On August 23 the leading newspaper published a patriotic appeal to the Spaniards to go en masse the next day to the Gov.-General to concert measures for public safety. They closed their shops and offices, and assembled before Government House; but the General refused to receive them, and ordered the newspaper to pay a fine of ₱500, which sum was at once raised in the streets and cafés.

On August 26, 1,000 rebels made a raid on Coloocan, four miles outside the capital. They killed a few Chinese, and seized others to place them in the van of their fighting men. The armed crowd was kept at bay by a posse of civil guards, until they learnt that a cavalry reinforcement was on the way from Manila. Then the rebels, under cover of darkness, fled towards the river, and were lost sight of. The next morning I watched the troopers cross over the Puente de España. There was mud up to the poniesʼ bellies, for they had scoured the district all around. The hubbub was tremendous among the habitual saunterers on the Escolta—the Rialto of Manila. For the next few days every Spaniard one met had some startling news to tell, until, by the end of the week, a reaction set in, and amidst jokes and copitas of spirits, the idea that the Coloocan affair was the prelude to a rebellion was utterly ridiculed. The Gov.-General still refused to proclaim martial law, considering such a grave measure unnecessary, when suddenly the whole city was filled with amazement by the news of a far more serious attack near Manila.

About 4 a.m. on Sunday, August 30, the rebels concentrated at the village of San Juan del Monte, distant half an hour on horseback from the city gates. They endeavoured to seize the powder magazine. One Spanish artilleryman was killed and several of the defenders were badly wounded whilst engaged in dropping ammunition from window openings into a stream which runs close by. Cavalry and infantry reinforcements were at once sent out, and the first battle was fought at the entrance to the village of San Juan del Monte. The rebels made a hard stand this time under the leadership of Sancho Valenzuela (a hemp-rope maker in a fairly good way of business), but he showed no military skill and chiefly directed his men by frantic shouts from the window of a wooden house. Naturally, as soon as they had to retreat, Valenzuela and his three companions were taken prisoners. The rebels left about 80 dead on the field and fled towards the Pasig River, which they tried to cross. Their passage was at first cut off by gunboats, which fired volleys into the retreating mob and drove them higher up the bank, where there was some hand-to-hand fighting. Over a hundred managed to get into canoes with the hope of reaching the Lake of Bay; but, as they passed up the river, the civil guard, lying in ambush on the opposite shore, fired upon them, and in the consequent confusion every canoe was upset. The loss to the rebels in the river and on the bank was reckoned at about 50. The whole of that day the road to San Juan del Monte was occupied by troops, and no civilian was allowed to pass. At 3 p.m. the same day martial law was proclaimed in Manila and seven other Luzon provinces.

The next morning at sunrise I rode out to the battlefield with the correspondent of the Ejército Español (Madrid). The rebel slain had not yet been removed. We came across them everywhere—in the fields and in the gutters of the highroad. Old men and youths had joined in the scrimmage and, with one exception, every corpse we saw was attired in the usual working dress. This one exception we found literally upside down with his head stuck in the mud of a paddy-field. Our attention was drawn to him (and possibly the Spaniardsʼ bullets, too) by his bright red baggy zouave trousers. We rode into the village, which was absolutely deserted by its native inhabitants, and stopped at the estate-house of the friars where the Spanish officers lodged. The padre looked extremely anxious, and the officers advised us not to go the road we intended, as rebel parties were known to be lurking there. The military advice being practically a command, we took the highroad to Sampáloc on our way back to the city.

In the meantime the city drawbridges, which had probably not been raised since 1852 (vide p. 343, footnote), were put into working order—the bushes which had been left to flourish around the approaches were cut down, and the Spanish civilians were called upon to form volunteer cavalry and infantry corps. So far the rebel leaders had issued no proclamation. It was not generally known what their aims were—whether they sought independence, reforms, extermination of Spaniards or Europeans generally. The attitude of the thoroughbred native non-combatants was glum silence born of fear. The half-castes, who had long vaunted their superior birth to the native, found themselves between two stools. If the natives were going to succeed in the battle, they (the half-castes) would want to be the peaceful wire-pullers after the storm. On the other hand, they had so long striven to be regarded as on a social equality with the Spaniards that they could not now abstain from espousing their cause against the rebels without exciting suspicion. Therefore, in the course of a few days, the half-castes resident in the capital came forward to enlist as volunteers. But no one imagined, at that time, how widespread was the Katipunan league. To the profound surprise of the Spaniards it was discovered, later on, that many of the half-caste volunteers were rebels in disguise, bearing the “blood compact” mark, and presumably only waiting to see which way the chances of war would turn to join the winning side.

Under sentence of the court-martial established on August 30, the four rebel leaders in the battle of San Juan del Monte were executed on September 4, on the Campo de Bagumbayan, facing the fashionable Luneta Esplanade, by the seashore. Three sides of a square were formed by 1,500 Spanish and half-caste volunteers and 500 regular troops. Escorted by two Austin and two Franciscan friars, the condemned men walked to the execution-ground from the chapel within the walled city, where they had been confined since the sentence was passed. They were perfectly self-composed. They arrived on the ground pinioned; their sentence was read to them and Valenzuela was unpinioned for a minute to sign some document at a table. When he was again tied up, all four were made to kneel on the ground in a row facing the open sea-beach side of the square. Then amidst profound silence, an officer, at the head of 16 Spanish soldiers, walked round the three sides of the square, halting at each corner to pronounce publicly the formula—“In the name of the King! Whosoever shall raise his voice to crave clemency for the condemned shall suffer death.” The 16 soldiers filed off in fours and stood about five yards behind each culprit. As the officer lowered his sword the volley was fired, and all but Valenzuela sank down and rolled over dead. It was the most impressive sight I had witnessed for years. The bullets, which had passed clean through Valenzuelaʼs body, threw up the gravel in front of him. He remained kneeling erect half a minute, and then gradually sank on his side. He was still alive, and four more shots, fired close to his head, scattered his brains over the grass. Conveyances were in readiness to carry off the corpses, and the spectators quitted the mournful scene in silence. This was the first execution, which was followed by four others in Manila and one in Cavite in General Blancoʼs time, and scores more subsequently.

Up the river the rebels were increasing daily, and at Pasig a thousand of them threatened the civil guard, compelling that small force and the parish priest to take refuge in the belfry tower. On the river-island of Pandácan, just opposite to the European Club at Nagtájan, a crowd of armed natives, about 400 strong, attacked the village, sacked the church, and drove the parish priest up the belfry tower. In this plight the padre was seen to wave a handkerchief, and so drew the attention of the guards stationed higher up the river. Aid was sent to him at once; the insurgents were repulsed with great loss, but one European sergeant was killed, and several native soldiers wounded. The rebellion had spread to the northern province of Nueva Ecija, where the Governor and all the Europeans who fled to the Government House in San Isidro were besieged for a day (September 8) and only saved from capture by the timely arrival from Manila of 500 troops, who outflanked the insurgents and dispersed them with great slaughter. In Bulacan the flying column under Major Lopez Arteaga had a score of combats with the rebels, who were everywhere routed. Spaniards and creoles were maltreated wherever they were found. A young creole named Chofré, well known in Manila, went out to Mariquina to take photographic views with a foreign half-caste friend of his named Augustus Morris. When they saw the rebels they ran into a hut, which was set fire to. Morris (who was not distinguishable as a foreigner) tried to escape and was shot, whilst Chofré was burnt to death. From Maragondón a Spanish lady was brought to Manila raving mad. At 23, Calle Cabildo (Manila), the house of a friend of mine, I several times saw a Spanish lady who had lost her reason in Mariquina, an hourʼs drive from Manila.

Crowds of peaceful natives swarmed into the walled city from the suburbs. The Gov.-General himself abandoned his riverside residence at Malacañan, and came with his staff to Calle Potenciana. During the first four months quite 5,000 Chinese, besides a large number of Spanish and half-caste families, fled to Hong-Kong. The passport system was revived; that is to say, no one could leave Manila for the other islands or abroad without presenting himself personally at the Civil Governorʼs office to have his cédula personal viséd.

The seditious tendency of a certain Andrés Bonifacio, a warehouse-man in the employ of a commercial firm in Manila, having come to the knowledge of the Spaniards, he was prematurely constrained to seek safety in Cavite Province which, thenceforth, became the most important centre of the rebellion. Simultaneously Emilio Aguinaldo[3] rallied his fighting-men, and for a short while these two organizers operated conjointly, Bonifacio being nominally the supreme chief. From the beginning, however, there was discord between the two leaders as to the plan of campaign to be adopted. Bonifacio advocated barbarous persecution and extermination of the Europeans, whilst Aguinaldo insisted that he was fighting for a cause for which he sought the sympathy and moral support of friends of liberty all the world over and that this could never be obtained if they conducted themselves like savages. Consequent on this disagreement as to the modus operandi, Bonifacio and Aguinaldo became rivals, each seeking the suppression of the other. Aguinaldo himself explains[4] that Bonifacio having condemned him to death, he retaliated in like manner, and the contending factions met at Naig. Leaving his armed followers outside, Aguinaldo alone entered the house where Bonifacio was surrounded by his counsellors, for he simply wished to have an understanding with his rival. Bonifacio, however, so abusively confirmed his intention to cut short Aguinaldoʼs career that the latter withdrew, and ordered his men to seize Bonifacio, who was forthwith executed, by Aguinaldoʼs order, for the prosperity of the cause and the good of his country.

The Province of Cavite

Bonifacioʼs followers were few, and, from this moment, Emilio Aguinaldo gradually rose from obscurity to prominence. Born at Cauit[5] (Cavite) on March 22, 1869, of poor parents, he started life in the service of the incumbent of San Francisco de Malabon. Later on he went to Manila, where, through the influence of a relative, employed in a humble capacity in the capital, he was admitted into the College of San Juan de Letran under the auspices of the Dominican friars. Subsequently he became a schoolmaster at Silan (Cavite), and at the age of twenty-six years he was again in his native town as petty-governor (Municipal Captain). He is a man of small frame with slightly webbed eyes, betraying the Chinese blood in his veins, and a protruding lower lip and prominent chin indicative of resolve. Towards me his manner was remarkably placid and unassuming, and his whole bearing denoted the very antithesis of the dashing warrior. Throughout his career he has shown himself to be possessed of natural politeness, and ever ready with the soft answer that turneth away wrath. He understands Spanish perfectly well, but does not speak it very fluently. Aguinaldoʼs explanation to me of the initial acts of rebellion was as follows:—He had reason to know that, in consequence of something having leaked out in Manila regarding the immature plans of the conspirators, he was a marked man, so he resolved to face the situation boldly. He had then been petty-governor of his town (Cauit) sixteen months, and in that official capacity he summoned the local detachment of the civil guard to the Town Hall, having previously arranged his plan of action with the town guards (cuadrilleros). Aguinaldo then spoke aside to the sergeant, to whom he proposed the surrender of their arms. As he quite anticipated, his demand was refused, so he gave the agreed signal to his cuadrilleros, who immediately surrounded the guards and disarmed them. Thereupon Aguinaldo and his companions, being armed, fled at once to the next post of the civil guard and seized their weapons also. With this small equipment he and his party escaped into the interior of the province, towards Silan, situated at the base of the Sun͠gay[6] Mountain, where the numerous ravines in the slopes running towards the Lake Bómbon (popularly known as the Lake of Taal) afforded a safe retreat to the rebels. Hundreds of natives soon joined him, for the secret of Aguinaldoʼs influence was the widespread popular belief in his possession of the anting-anting (vide p. 237); his continuous successes, in the first operations, strengthened this belief; indeed, he seemed to have the lucky star of a De Wet without the military genius.

On August 31, 1896, eleven days after the plot was discovered in Manila, he issued his pronunciamiento simultaneously at his birthplace, at Novaleta, and at San Francisco de Malabon. This document, however, is of little historic value, for, instead of setting forth the aims of the revolutionists, it is simply a wild exhortation to the people, in general vague terms, to take arms and free themselves from oppression. In San Francisco de Malabon Aguinaldo rallied his forces prior to their march to Imus,[7] their great strategic point. The village itself, situated in the centre of a large, well-watered plain, surrounded by planted land, was nothing—a mere collection of wooden or bamboo-and-thatch dwellings. The distance from Manila would be about 16 miles by land, with good roads leading to the bay shore towns. The people were very poor, being tenants or dependents of the friars; hence the only building of importance was the friarsʼ estate-house, which was really a fortress in the estimation of the natives. This residence was situated in the middle of a compound surrounded by massive high walls, and to it some 17 friars fled on the first alarm. For the rebels, therefore, Imus had a double value—the so-called fortress and the capture of the priests. After a siege which lasted long enough for General Blanco to have sent troops against them, the rebels captured Imus estate-house on September 1, and erected barricades there. Thirteen of the priests fell into their hands. They cut trenches and threw up earthworks in several of the main roads of the province, and strengthened their position at Novaleta. Marauding parties were sent out everywhere to steal the crops and live-stock, which were conveyed in large quantities to Imus. Some of the captured priests were treated most barbarously. One was cut up piecemeal; another was saturated with petroleum and set on fire, and a third was bathed in oil and fried on a bamboo spit run through the length of his body. There was a Requiem Mass for this event. During the first few months of the rising many such atrocities were committed by the insurgents. The Naig outrage caused a great sensation in the capital. The lieutenant had been killed, and the ferocious band of rebels seized his widow and daughter eleven years old. The child was ravished to death, and they were just digging a pit to bury the mother alive when she was rescued and brought to Manila in the steam-launch Mariposa raving mad, disguised as a native woman. Aguinaldo, personally, was humanely inclined, for at his headquarters he held captive one Spanish trooper, an army lieutenant, a Spanish planter, a friar, and two Spanish ladies, all of whom were fairly well treated. The priest was allowed to read his missal, the lieutenant and trooper were made blacksmiths, and the planter had to try his hand at tailoring.

The insurgents occupied Parañaque and Las Piñas on the outskirts of Manila, and when General Blanco had 5,000 fresh troops at his disposal he still refrained from attacking the rebels in their positions. Military men, in conversation with me, excused this inaction on the ground that, to rout the rebels completely without having sufficient troops to garrison the places taken and to form flying columns to prevent the insurgents fleeing to the mountain fastnesses, would only require them to do the work over again when they reappeared. So General Blanco went on waiting in the hope that more troops would arrive with which to inflict such a crushing defeat on the rebels as would ensure a lasting peace. The rebels were in possession of Imus for several months. Three weeks after they took it, artillery was slowly carried over to Cavite, which is connected with the mainland by a narrow isthmus, so the rebels hastened to construct a long line of trenches immediately to the south of this (vide map), whereby communication with the heart of the province was effectually cut off. Not only did their mile and a half of trenches and stockade check any advance into the interior from the isthmus, but it served as a rallying-point whence Cavite itself was menaced. The Spaniards, therefore, forced to take the offensive to save Cavite falling into rebel hands, made an attack on the Novaleta defences with Spanish troops and loyal native auxiliaries on November 10. The next day the Spaniards were repulsed at Binacayan with the loss of one-third of the 73rd Native Regiment and 60 Spanish troops, with 50 of both corps wounded. The intention to carry artillery towards Imus was abandoned and the Spaniards fell back on Dalahican, about a mile north of the rebel trenches of Novaleta, where they established a camp at which I spent a whole day. They had four large guns and two bronze mortars; in the trench adjoining the camp they had one gun. The troops numbered 3,500 Spaniards under the command of General Rios. The 73rd Native Regiment survivors had quarters there, but they were constantly engaged in making sorties on the road leading to Manila. No further attempt was made in General Blancoʼs time to dislodge the rebels from their splendidly-constructed trenches, which, however, could easily have been shelled from the sea side.

A number of supposed promoters of the rebellion filled the Cavite prison, and I went over to witness the execution of 13 of them on September 12. I knew two or three of them by sight. One was a Chinese half-caste, the son of a rich Chinaman then living. The father was held to be a respectable man of coolie origin, but the son, long before the rebellion, had a worthless reputation.

In the Provinces of Pampanga and Bulacan, north of Manila, the rebel mob, under the command of a native of Cabiao (Nueva Ecija) named Llaneras, was about 3,000 strong. To oppose this Major Lopez Arteaga had a flying column of 500 men, and between the contending parties there were repeated encounters with no definite result. Whenever the rebels were beaten off and pursued they fled to their strongholds of San Mateo (Manila, now Rizal) and Angat (Bulacan). The Spaniards made an unsuccessful attempt to dislodge the enemy at Angat, whilst at San Mateo, where they were supposed to be 5,000 strong, they were left undisturbed. The rebels attacked Calumpit (Bulacan), pillaged several houses, decapitated an Englishmanʼs cook, and drove the civil guard and the parish priest up the belfry tower. On the other side of the river, Llaneras visited the rice-mills of an Anglo-American firm, took some refreshment, and assured the manager, Mr. Scott, that the rebels had not the least intention to interfere with any foreigners (as distinguished from Spaniards), against whom they had no complaint whatever.

At length a plan of campaign was prepared, and expeditionary forces were to march in two directions through the disaffected provinces south of Manila, and combine, according to circumstances, when the bulk of the rebels could be driven together. One division operated from the lake town of Viñan, whilst General Jaramillo took his troops round to Batangas Province and worked northwards. Before the lake forces had gone very far they met with a reverse at the hands of the rebels in the neighbourhood of Carmona, but rallied and pushed on towards the rebel quarters near Silan, where the enemy was apparently concentrating for a great struggle. The combined columns under General Jaramillo at length opened the attack. A pitched battle was fought, and no quarter was given on either side. This fierce contest lasted a whole day, and the Spaniards were forced to retire with considerable loss. The combined operations accomplished nothing decisive, and served only to check an advance on the capital by the rebels, who were already in practical possession of the whole of Cavite province excepting the port, arsenal, and isthmus of Cavite.

In Manila the volunteers mounted guard whilst the regulars went to the front. For a while the volunteers were allowed to make domiciliary search, and they did very much as they liked. Domiciliary search was so much abused that it had to be forbidden, for the volunteers took to entering any house they chose, and roughly examined the persons of natives to see if they had the Katipunan brand. Crowds of suspects were brought into Manila, and shiploads of them were sent away in local steamers to the Caroline Islands and Mindanao, whilst every mail-steamer carried batches of them en route for Fernando Po. On October 1 the s.s. Manila sailed with 300 Filipinos for Chafarinas Islands, Ceuta, and other African penal settlements. In the local steamers many of them died on the way. The ordinary prisons were more than full, and about 600 suspects were confined in the dungeons of Fort Santiago at the mouth of the Pasig River, where a frightful tragedy occurred. The dungeons were over-crowded; the river-water filtered in through the crevices in the ancient masonry; the Spanish sergeant on duty threw his rug over the only light- and ventilating-shaft, and in a couple of days carts were seen by many citizens carrying away the dead, calculated to number 70. Provincial governors and parish priests seemed to regard it as a duty to supply the capital with batches of “suspects” from their localities. In Vigan, where nothing had occurred, many of the heads of the best families and moneyed men were arrested and brought to Manila in a steamer. They were bound hand and foot, and carried like packages of merchandise in the hold. I happened to be on the quay when the steamer discharged her living freight with chains and hooks to haul up and swing out the bodies like bales of hemp. From Nueva Cáceres (Camarines), the Abellas and several other rich families and native priests were seized and shipped off. Poor old Manuel Abella, like scores of others, was tortured in Bilibid prison and finally shot. He was a notary, unfortunately possessed of a fine estate coveted by an impecunious Spaniard, who denounced Abella, and was rewarded by being appointed “Administrator” of his property, out of which he so enriched himself that he was able, in a few months, to return to Spain in a good financial position. A friend of mine, a native planter of Balayán, was imprisoned for months, and then sent back to his town declared innocent. He had been a marked man since 1895, just after his son Quintin, a law student, had had a little altercation with his clerical professors in Manila. Thousands of peaceful natives were treated with unjustifiable ferocity. The old torture-chamber on the ground-floor of the convent of Baliuag (Bulacan) is still shown to visitors. The court-martial, established under the presidency of a colonel, little by little practised systematic extortion, for, within three months of the outbreak, hundreds of the richest natives and half-castes in Manila were imprisoned for a few days and released conditionally. From the lips of my late friend, Telesforo Chuidian, a wealthy Chinese half-caste, known to all Manila society, I heard of the squalid misery and privations to which he and others of his class were subjected, but the complete list would fill a page. Some were even re-arrested for the same nefarious purpose, and the daily papers published their names on each occasion. Archbishop Nozaleda and Gov.-General Blanco were at variance from the beginning of the revolt, and in accordance with historical precedent it could only end in one way, namely, that the clerical party advised the Cánovas Ministry to recall the General and appoint in his stead another who would be obedient to the friars.

General Blanco was not sufficiently sanguinary for the monks. As a strategist he had refused, at the outset, to undertake with 1,500 European troops a task which was only accomplished by his successor with 28,000 men. But the priests thought they knew better, and Blanco left for Spain in December, 1896. The relative positions of the parties at this crisis stood as follows:—The rebels were in possession of the whole of the Province of Cavite excepting the city and arsenal of Cavite and the isthmus connecting that city with the mainland. They were well fortified at Imus with trenches and stockades extending from the estate-house fort in several directions, defended by an army of 6,000 to 7,000 men. Their artillery was most primitive, however, consisting only of a few small guns called lantacas, some new guns of small calibre roughly cast out of the church bells, and iron waterpipes of large diameter converted into mitrailleuse mortars. They were strongly entrenched behind a mile and a half of strategically constructed earthworks defending the town of Novaleta, which they held. They were supposed to have at least 20,000 men in occupation there. Including San Francisco de Malabon, Silan, Perez Dasmariñas, and the several other places they held, their total force in the whole province was estimated at 35,000 men. About one-fifth of that number was armed with rifles (chiefly Maüsers), the remainder carrying bowie-knives and bamboo lances. The bowie-knife was irresistible by the Spaniards when the native came to close-quarter fighting. The rebels had ample supplies of rice, buffaloes, etc., stolen from the non-combatant natives. To my personal knowledge they had daily communication with Manila, and knew everything that was going on there and the public feeling in the capital. They had failed in the attempt to seize the town of Santa Cruz (La Laguna), where they killed one Spaniard and then retreated. Loyal natives in Viñan organized volunteer forces to keep them out of that town. Those Manila volunteers known as the Guerrilla á muerte battalion, with a few regulars, frequently patrolled the lake coast in steam-launches from Manila, and kept the rebels from occupying that district. North of Manila the rebellion reached no farther than Bulacan and Pampanga Provinces, where Llanerasʼs flying column, together with the rebels in the mountain fastnesses of Angat and San Mateo, amounted to about 10,000 men. Llaneras notified the Manila-Dagúpan (English) Railway officials that they were to cease carrying loyal troops on their line; but as those orders were not heeded, a train was wrecked on November 19 about 20 miles up from the capital. The locomotive and five carriages were smashed, the permanent-way was somewhat damaged, five individuals were wounded, and the total loss sustained was estimated at ₱40,000. In the last week of November the friarsʼ estate-house at Malinta, some five miles north of Manila, was in flames; we could see the blaze from the bay. The slightest reverse to Spanish arms always drew a further crowd of rebels into the field.

The total European force when General Blanco left was about 10,000 men. In Cavite Province the Spaniards held only the camp of Dalahican, and the city and arsenal of Cavite with the isthmus. The total number of suspects shipped away was about 1,000. I was informed by my friend the Secretary of the Military Court that 4,377 individuals were awaiting trial by court-martial. The possibility of the insurgents ever being able to enter the capital was never believed in by the large majority of Europeans, although from a month after the outbreak the rebels continued to hold posts within a couple of hoursʼ march from the old walls. The natives, however, were led to expect that the rebels would make an attempt to occupy the city on Saint Andrewʼs Day (the patron-saint day of Manila, vide p. 50). The British Consul and a few British merchants were of opinion that a raid on the capital was imminent, and I, among others, was invited by letter, dated Manila, November 16, 1896, and written under the authority of H.B.M.ʼs Consul, to attend a meeting on the 18th of that month at the offices of a British establishment to concert measures for escape in such a contingency. In spite of these fears, business was carried on without the least apparent interruption.

When General Blanco reached Spain he quietly lodged at the Hotel de Roma in Madrid, and then took a private residence. Out of courtesy he was offered a position in the Cuarto Militar, which he declined to accept. For several months he remained under a political cloud, charged with incompetency to quell the Philippine Rebellion. But there is something to be said in justification of Blancoʼs inaction. He was importuned from the beginning by the relentless Archbishop and many leading civilians to take the offensive and start a war à outrance with an inadequate number of European soldiers. His 6,000 native auxiliaries (as it proved later on) could not be relied upon in a civil war. Against the foreign invader, with Spanish prestige still high, they would have made good loyal fighting-material. Blanco was no novice in civil wars. I remember his career during the previous twenty-five years. With his 700 European troops he parried off the attacks of the first armed mobs in the Province of Manila (now Rizal), and defended the city and the approaches to the capital. Five hundred European troops had to be left, here and there, in Visayas for the ordinary defence. Before the balance of 300 could be embarked in half a dozen places in the south and landed in Manila, the whole Province of Cavite was in arms. He could not leave the defence of the city entirely in the hands of untrained and undrilled volunteers and march the whole of his European regular troops into another province. A severe reverse, on the first encounter, might have proved fatal to Spanish sovereignty. Blanco had the enormous disadvantage (one must live there to appreciate it) of the wet season, and the rebels understood this. He had, therefore, to damp the movement by feigning to attach to it as little importance as possible. Lastly, Blanco was a man of moderate and humane tendencies; a colonial governor of the late Martinez Campos school, whose policy is—when all honourable peaceful means are exhausted, use force.

The Cánovas party was broken up by the assassination of the Prime Minister on August 8, 1897. This ministry was followed by the provisional Azcárraga Cabinet, which, at the end of six weeks, was superseded by the Liberal party under the leadership of Práxedes Sagasta, who, to temporize with America, recalled the inflexible General Weyler from Cuba, and on October 9 appointed General Ramon Blanco, Marquis de Peña Plata, to take the command there.

General Camilo Polavieja (Marquis de Polavieja) arrived in Manila in December, 1896, as the successor of Blanco and the chosen Messiah of the friars. He had made a great name in Cuba as an energetic military leader, which, in Spanish colonies, always implied a tinge of wanton cruelty. In Spain he was regarded as the right arm of the ultra-clericals and a possible supporter of Carlism. He was accompanied by General Lachambre, whose acquaintance I made in Havana. In the same steamer with General Polavieja came 500 troops, whilst another steamer simultaneously brought 1,500. Polavieja, therefore, on landing, had about 12,000 European troops and 6,000 native auxiliaries; but each steamer brought fresh supplies until the total European land forces amounted to 28,000. By this time, however, the 6,000 native troops were very considerably reduced by desertion, and the remainder could hardly be relied upon. But Polavieja started his campaign with the immense advantage of having the whole of the dry season before him. General Lachambre, as Deputy Commander of the forces, at once took the field against the rebels in Cavite Province. It would be tedious to relate in detail the numerous encounters with the enemy over this area. Battles were fought at Naig, Maragondón, Perez Dasmariñas, Nasugbú, Taal, Bacoor, Novaleta, and other places. Imus, which in Manila was popularly supposed to be a fortress of relative magnitude, whence the rebels would dispute every inch of ground, was attacked by a large force of loyal troops. On their approach the rebels set fire to the village and fled. Very few remained to meet the Spaniards, and as these few tried to escape across the paddy-fields and down the river they were picked off by sharp-shooters. It was a victory for the Spaniards, inasmuch as their demonstration of force scared the rebels into evacuation. But it was necessary to take Silan, which the rebels hastened to strengthen, closely followed up by the Spaniards. The place was well defended by earthworks and natural parapets, and for several hours the issue of the contest was doubtful. The rebels fought bravely, leaping from boulder to boulder to meet the foe. In every close-quarter combat the bowie-knife had a terrible effect, and the loyal troops had suffered heavily when a column of Spaniards was marched round to the rear of the rebelsʼ principal parapet. They were lowered down with ropes on to a rising ground facing this parapet, and poured in a continuous rifle fire until the rebels had to evacuate it, and the general rout commenced with great slaughter to the insurgents, who dispersed in all directions. Their last stronghold south of Manila having been taken, they broke up into small detachments, which were chased and beaten wherever they made a stand. The Spaniards suffered great losses, but they gained their point, for the rebels, unable to hold any one place against this onslaught, were driven up to the Laguna Province and endeavoured unsuccessfully to hold the town of Santa Cruz. It is interesting to remark, in order to show what the rebel aim at that time really was, that they entered here with the cry of “Long live Spain; Death to the Friars!” After three monthsʼ hard fighting, General Lachambre was proclaimed the Liberator of Cavite and the adjoining districts, for, by the middle of March, 1897, every rebel contingent of any importance in that locality had been dispersed.

Like every other Spanish general in supreme command abroad, Polavieja had his enemies in Spain. The organs of the Liberal party attacked him unsparingly. Polavieja, as everybody knew, was the chosen executive of the friars, whose only care was to secure their own position. He was dubbed the “General Cristiano.” He was their ideal, and worked hand-in-hand with them. He cabled for more troops to be sent with which to garrison the reconquered districts and have his army corps free to stamp out the rebellion, which was confined to the Northern Provinces. Cuba, which had already drained the Peninsula of over 200,000 men, still required fresh levies to replace the sick and wounded, and Polaviejaʼs demand was refused. Immediately after this he cabled that his physical ailments compelled him to resign the commandership-in-chief, and begged the Government to appoint a successor. The Madrid journals hostile to him thereupon indirectly attributed to him a lie, and questioned whether his resignation was due to ill-health or his resentment of the refusal to send out more troops. Still urging his resignation, General Fernando Primo de Rivera was gazetted to succeed him, and Polavieja embarked at Manila for Spain on April 15, 1897. General Lachambre, as the hero of Cavite, followed to receive the applause which was everywhere showered upon him in Spain. As to Polaviejaʼs merits, public opinion was very much divided, and as soon as it was known that he was on the way, a controversy was started in the Madrid press as to how he ought to be received. El Imparcial maintained that he was worthy of being honoured as a 19th century conquering hero. This gave rise to a volley of abuse on the other side, who raked up all his antecedents and supposed tendencies, and openly denounced him as a dangerous politician and the supporter of theocratic absolutism. According to El Liberal of May 11, Señor Ordax Avecilla, of the Red Cross Society, stated in his speech at the Madrid Mercantile Club, “If he (the General) thought of becoming dictator, he would fall from the heights of his glory to the Hades of nonentity.” His enemies persistently insinuated that he was really returning to Spain to support the clericals actively. But perhaps the bitterest satire was levelled against him in El Pais of May 10, which, in an article headed “The Great Farce,” said: “Do you know who is coming? Cyrus, King of Persia; Alexander, King of Macedonia; Cæsar Augustus; Scipio the African; Gonzalo de Córdova; Napoleon, the Great Napoleon, conqueror of worlds. What? Oh, unfortunate people, do you not know? Polavieja is coming, the incomparable Polavieja, crowned with laurels, commanding a fleet laden to the brim with rich trophies; it is Polavieja, gentlemen, who returns, discoverer of new worlds, to lay at the feet of Isabella the Catholic his conquering sword; it is Polavieja who returns after having cast into obscurity the glories of Hernan Cortés; Polavieja, who has widened the national map, and brings new territories to the realm—new thrones to his queen. What can the people be thinking of that they remain thus in silence? Applaud, imbeciles! It is Narvaez who is resuscitated. Now we have another master!” No Spanish general who had arrived at Polaviejaʼs position would find it possible to be absolutely neutral in politics, but to compare him with Narvaez, the military dictator, proved in a few daysʼ time to be the grossest absurdity. On May 13 Polavieja arrived in Barcelona physically broken, half blind, and with evident traces of a disordered liver. His detractors were silent; an enthusiastic crowd welcomed him for his achievements. He had broken the neck of the rebellion, but by what means? Altogether, apart from the circumstances of legitimate warfare, in which probably neither party was more merciful than the other, he initiated a system of striking terror into the non-combatant population by barbarous tortures and wholesale executions. On February 6, 1897, in one prison alone (Bilibid) there were 1,266 suspects, most of whom were brought in by the volunteers, for the forces in the field gave little quarter and rarely made prisoners. The functions of the volunteers, organized originally for the defence of the city and suburbs, became so elastic that, night after night, they made men and women come out of their houses for inspection conducted most indecorously. The men were escorted to the prisons from pure caprice, and subjected to excessive maltreatment. Many of them were liberated in the course of a few days, declared innocent, but maimed for life and for ever unable to get a living. Some of these victims were well known to everybody in Manila; for instance, Dr. Zamora, Bonifacio Arévalo the dentist, Antonio Rivero (who died under torture), and others. The only apparent object in all this was to disseminate broadcast living examples of Spanish vengeance, in order to overawe the populace. Under General Blancoʼs administration such acts had been distinctly prohibited on the representation of General Cárlos Roca.

Dr. José Rizal

The Philippine Patriot, executed Dec. 30, 1896.

Polaviejaʼs rule brought the brilliant career of the notable Filipino, Dr. José Rizal y Mercado, to a fatal end. Born in Calamba (La Laguna), three hoursʼ journey from Manila, on June 19, 1861, he was destined to become the idol of his countrymen, and consequently the victim of the friars and General Polavieja. Often have I, together with the old native parish priest, Father Leoncio Lopez, spent an hour with Joséʼs father, Francisco Mercado, and heard the old man descant, with pride, on the intellectual progress of his son at the Jesuitsʼ school in Manila. Before he was fourteen years of age he wrote a melodrama in verse entitled Junto al Pasig (“Beside the Pasig River”), which was performed in public and well received. But young José yearned to set out on a wider field of learning. His ambition was to go to Europe, and at the age of twenty-one he went to Spain, studied medicine, and entered the Madrid University, where he graduated as Doctor of Medicine and Philosophy. He subsequently continued his studies in Paris, Brussels, London, and at several seats of learning in Germany, where he obtained another degree, notwithstanding the fact that he had the difficulty of a foreign language to contend with. As happened to many of his confrères in the German Universities, a career of study had simultaneously opened his eyes to a clearer conception of the rights of humanity. Thrown among companions of socialistic tendencies, his belief in and loyalty to the monarchical rule of his country were yet unshaken by the influence of such environment; he was destined only to become a disturbing element, and a would-be reformer of that time-worn institution which rendered secular government in his native land a farce. To give him a party name, he became an anti-clerical, strictly in a political and lawful sense. He was a Roman Catholic, but his sole aim, outside his own profession, was to save his country from the baneful influence of the Spanish friars who there held the Civil and Military Government under their tutelage. He sought to place his country on a level of material and moral prosperity with others, and he knew that the first step in that direction was to secure the expulsion of the Monastic Orders. He sympathized with that movement which, during his childhood, culminated in the Cavite Conspiracy (vide p. 106). He looked profoundly into the causes of his countryʼs unhappiness, and to promote their knowledge, in a popular form, he wrote and published in Germany, in the Spanish language, a book entitled “Noli me tángere.” It is a censorious satirical novel, of no great literary merit, but it served the authorʼs purpose to expose the inner life, the arrogance, and the despotism of the friars in their relations with the natives. On his return to the Islands, a year after the publication of this work, we met at the house of a mutual friend and conversed on the subject of “Noli me tángere,” a copy of which he lent to me.

Don Felipe Agoncillo

Ex-High Commissioner in Europe for the Philippine Republic.

As an oculist Rizal performed some very clever operations, but he had another mission—one which brought upon him all the odium of the clerical party, but which as quickly raised him in popular esteem in native circles. He led a party in his own town who dared to dispute the legality of the Dominican Orderʼs possession of a large tract of agricultural land. He called upon the Order to show their title-deeds, but was met with a contemptuous refusal. At length prudence dictated a return to Europe. I often recall the farewell lunch we had together at the Restaurant de Paris, in the Escolta. During his absence his own relations and the chief families in his town became the objects of persecution. They were driven from the lands they cultivated and rented from the Religious Order, without compensation for improvements, and Spaniards took their holdings. In 1890 Rizal saw with his own eyes, and perhaps with envy, the growing prosperity of Japan; but the idea of annexation to that country was distasteful to him, as he feared the Japanese might prove to be rather harsh masters. On his return to Europe he contributed many brilliant articles to La Solidaridad, the Madrid-Philippine organ mentioned on p. 363; but, disgusted with his failure to awaken in Spain a sympathetic interest in his own countryʼs misfortunes, he left that field of work and re-visited London, where he found encouragement and very material assistance from an old friend of mine, a distinguished Filipino. Rizalʼs financial resources were none too plentiful, and he himself was anxious for a position of productive activity. It was proposed that he should establish himself in London as a doctor, but with his mind always bent on the concerns of his country he again took to literary work. He edited a new edition of Dr. Antonio de Morgaʼs work on the Philippines[8] (the original was published in Mexico in 1609), with notes, and wrote a new book in the form of romance, entitled “El Filibusterismo,”[9] the purpose of which was to show how the Filipinos were goaded into outlawry.

About this time two priests, C—— and C——, who had seceded from the Roman Catholic Church, called upon my Philippine friend to urge him to take an interest in their projected evangelical work in the Islands. They even proposed to establish a new Church there and appoint a hierarchy—an extremely risky venture indeed. My friend was asked to nominate some Filipino for the archbishopric. It was put before Rizal, but he declined the honour on the ground that the acceptance of such an office would sorely offend his mother. Finally, in 1893, a Pampanga Filipino, named C——, came on the scene and proposed to furnish Rizal with ample funds for the establishment of a Philippine college in Hong-Kong. Rizal accepted the offer and set out for that colony, where he waited in vain for the money. For a while he hesitated between following the medical profession in Hong-Kong and returning to Manila. Mutual friends of ours urged him not to risk a re-entry into the Islands; nevertheless, communications passed between him and the Gov.-General through the Spanish Consul, and nothing could induce him to keep out of the lionʼs mouth. Rizal avowed that he had been given to understand that he could return to the Islands without fear for his personal safety and liberty. He arrived in Manila and was arrested. His luggage was searched in the Custom-house, and a number of those seditious proclamations referred to at p. 204 were found, it was alleged, in his trunks. It is contrary to all common sense to conceive that a sane man, who had entertained the least doubt as to his personal liberty, would bring with him, into a public department of scrutiny, documentary evidence of his own culpability. He was arraigned before the supreme authority, in whose presence he defended himself right nobly. The clerical party wanted his blood, but Gov.-General Despujols would not yield. Rizal was either guilty or innocent, and should have been fully acquitted or condemned; but to meet the matter half way he was banished to Dapítan, a town on the north shore of Mindanao Island. I saw the bungalow, situated at the extremity of a pretty little horse-shoe bay, where he lived nearly four years in bondage. His bright intelligence, his sociability, and his scientific attainments had won him the respect and admiration of both the civil and religious local authorities. He had such a well-justified good repute as an oculist that many travelled across the seas to seek his aid. The Cuban insurrection being in full operation, it opened the way for a new and interesting period in Rizalʼs life. Reading between the lines of the letters he was allowed to send to his friends, there was evidence of his being weighed down with ennui from inactivity, and his friends in Europe took the opportunity of bringing pressure on the Madrid Government to liberate him. In a house which I visit in London there were frequent consultations as to how this could be effected. In the end it was agreed to organize a bogus “Society for the Liberation of Prisoners in the Far East.” A few ladies met at the house mentioned, and one of them, Miss A——, having been appointed secretary, she was sent to Madrid to present a petition from the “Society” to the Prime Minister, Cánovas del Castillo, praying for the liberation of Rizal in exchange for his professional services in the Spanish army operating in Cuba, where army doctors were much needed. Hints were deftly thrown out about the “Societyʼs” relations with other European capitals, and the foreign lady-secretary played her part so adroitly that the Prime Minister pictured to himself ambassadorial intervention and foreign complications if he did not grant the prayer of what he imagined to be an influential society with potential ramifications. The Colonial Minister opposed the petition; the War Minister, being Philippine born, declined to act on his own responsibility for obvious reasons. Repeated discussions took place between the Crown advisers, to whom, at length, the Prime Minister disclosed his fears, and finally the Gov.-General of the Philippines, Don Ramon Blanco, was authorized to liberate Rizal, on the terms mentioned, if he saw no objection. As my Philippine friend, who went from London to Madrid about the matter, remarked to the War Minister, “Rizal is loyal; he will do his duty; but if he did not, one more or less in the rebel camp—what matters?” The Gov.-General willingly acted on the powers received from the Home Government, and Rizalʼs conditional freedom dated from July 28, 1896. The governor of Dapítan was instructed to ask Rizal if he wished to go to Cuba as an army doctor, and the reply being in the affirmative, he was conducted on board the steamer for Manila, calling on the way at Cebú, where crowds of natives and half-castes went on board to congratulate him. He had become the idol of the people in his exile; his ideas were then the reflection of all Philippine aims and ambitions; the very name of Rizal raised their hopes to the highest pitch. Most fantastic reports were circulated concerning him. Deeds in Europe, almost amounting to miracles, were attributed to his genius, and became current talk among the natives when they spoke sotto voce of Rizalʼs power and influence. He was looked up to as the future regenerator of his race, capable of moving armies and navies for the cause of liberty. Their very reverence was his condemnation in the eyes of the priests.

There were no inter-island cables in those days, and the arrival of Rizal in the port of Manila was a surprise to the friars. They expostulated with General Blanco. They openly upbraided him for having set free the soul of disaffection; but the general would not relinquish his intention, explaining, very logically, that if Rizal were the soul of rebellion he was now about to depart. The friars were eager for Rivalʼs blood, and the parish priest of Tondo arranged a revolt of the caudrilleros (guards) of that suburb, hoping thereby to convince General Blanco that the rebellion was in full cry, consequent on his folly. No doubt, by this trick of the friars, many civilian Spaniards were deceived into an honest belief in the ineptitude of the Gov.-General. In a state of frenzy a body of them, headed by Father Mariano Gil, marched to the palace of Malacañan to demand an explanation of General Blanco. The gates were closed by order of the captain of the guard. When the general learnt what the howling outside signified he mounted his horse, and, at the head of his guards, met the excited crowd and ordered them to quit the precincts of the palace, or he would put them out by force. The abashed priest[10] thereupon withdrew with his companions, but from that day the occult power of the friars was put in motion to bring about the recall of General Blanco. In the meantime Rizal had been detained in the Spanish cruiser Castilla lying in the bay. Thence he was transferred to the mail-steamer Isla de Panay bound to Barcelona. He carried with him letters of recommendation to the Ministers of War and the Colonies, courteously sent to him by General Blanco with the following letter to himself:—

(Translation.)

MANILA, 30th August, 1896.

DR. JOSE RIZAL.

MY DEAR SIR,—

Enclosed I send you two letters, for the Ministers of War and the Colonies respectively, which I believe will ensure to you a good reception. I cannot doubt that you will show me respect in your relations with the Government, and by your future conduct, not only on account of your word pledged, but because passing events must make it clear to you how certain proceedings, due to extravagant notions can only produce hatred, ruin, tears and bloodshed. That you may be happy is the desire of Yours, etc.,

RAMON BLANCO.

He had as travelling companion Don Pedro P. Rojas, already referred to, and had he chosen he could have left the steamer at Singapore as Rojas did. Not a few of us who saw the vessel leave wished him “God speed.” But the clerical party were eager for his extermination. He was a thorn in the side of monastic sway; he had committed no crime, but he was the friarsʼ arch-enemy and bête noire. Again the lay authorities had to yield to the monks. Dr. Rizal was cabled for to answer certain accusations; hence on his landing in the Peninsula he was incarcerated in the celebrated fortress of Montjuich (the scene of so many horrors), pending his re-shipment by the returning steamer. He reached Manila as a State prisoner in the Colon, isolated from all but his jailors. It was materially impossible for him to have taken any part in the rebellion, whatever his sympathies may have been. Yet, once more, the wheel of fortune turned against him. Coincidentally the parish priest of Mórong was murdered at the altar whilst celebrating Mass on Christmas Day, 1896. The importunity of the friars could be no longer resisted; this new calamity seemed to strengthen their cause. The next day Rizal was brought to trial for sedition and rebellion, before a court-martial composed of eight captains, under the presidency of a lieutenant-colonel. No reliable testimony could be brought against him. How could it be when, for years, he had been a State prisoner in forced seclusion? He defended himself with logical argument. But what mattered? He was condemned beforehand to ignominious death as a traitor, and the decree of execution was one of Polaviejaʼs foulest acts. During the few days which elapsed between sentence and death he refused to see any priest but a Jesuit, Padre Faura, his old preceptor, who hastened his own death by coming from a sick bed to console the pupil he was so proud of. In his last moments his demeanour was in accordance with his oft-quoted saying, “What is death to me? I have sown the seed; others are left to reap.” In his condemned cell he composed a beautiful poem of 14 verses (“My last Thought”), which was found by his wife and published. The following are the first and last verses.

MI ULTIMO PENSAMIENTO.

Adios, Pátria adorada, region del sol querida,

Perla del Mar de Oriente, nuestro perdido Eden.

A dárte voy alegre la triste mústia vida,

Y fuera mas brillante, mas fresca, mas florida,

Tambien por ti la diera, la diera por tu bien.

Adios, padres y hermanos, trozos del alma mia.

Amigos de la infancia en el perdido hogar.

Dad gracias que descanso del fatigoso dia;

Adios, dulce extrangera, mi amiga, mi alegria,

Adios, queridos seres, morir es descansar.

The woman who had long responded to his love was only too proud to bear his illustrious name, and in the sombre rays which fell from his prison grating, the vows of matrimony were given and sanctified with the sad certainty of widowhood on the morrow. Fortified by purity of conscience and the rectitude of his principles, he felt no felonʼs remorse, but walked with equanimity to the place of execution. About 2,000 regular and volunteer troops formed the square where he knelt facing the seashore, on the blood-stained field of Bagumbayan. After an officer had shouted the formula, “In the name of the King! Whosoever shall raise his voice to crave clemency for the condemned, shall suffer death,” four bullets, fired from behind by Philippine soldiers, did their fatal work. This execution took place at 6 a.m. on December 30, 1896. An immense crowd witnessed, in silent awe, this sacrifice to priestcraft. The friars, too, were present en masse, many of them smoking big cigars, jubilant over the extinction of that bright intellectual light which, alas! can never be rekindled.

The circumstances under which Rizal, in his exile, made the acquaintance of Josephine Taufer, who became his wife, are curious. The account was given to me by Mrs. Rizalʼs foster-father as we crossed the China Sea together. The foster-father, who was an American resident in Hong-Kong, found his eyesight gradually failing him. After exhausting all remedies in that colony, he heard of a famous oculist in Manila named Rizal, a Filipino of reputed Japanese origin. Therefore, in August, 1894, he went to Manila to seek the great doctor, taking with him a Macao servant, his daughter, and a girl whom he had adopted from infancy. The Philippine Archipelago was such a terra incognita to the outside world that little was generally known of it save the capital, Manila. When he reached there he learnt, to his dismay, that the renowned practitioner was a political exile who lived in an out-of-the-way place in Mindanao Island. Intent on his purpose, he took ship and found the abode of Dr. Rizal. The American had been forsaken by his daughter in Manila, where she eventually married a young native who had neither craft nor fortune. The adopted daughter, therefore, was his companion to Dapítan. When they arrived at the bungalow the bright eyes of the lovely Josephine interested the doctor far more than the sombre diseased organs of her foster-father. The exile and the maiden, in short, fell in love with each other, and they mutually vowed never to be parted but by force. The old manʼs eyes were past all cure, and in vain he urged the girl to depart with him; love dissented from the proposition, and the patient found his way back to Manila, and thence to Hong-Kong, with his Macao servant—a sadder, but a wiser man. The foster-child remained behind to share the hut of the political exile. When, an hour after her marriage, she became Widow Rizal, her husbandʼs corpse, which had received sepulture in the cemetery, was guarded by soldiers for four days lest the superstitious natives should snatch the body and divide it into a thousand relics of their lamented idol. Then Josephine started off for the rebel camp at Imus. On her way she was often asked, “Who art thou?” but her answer, “Lo! I am thy sister, the widow of Rizal!” not only opened a passage for her, but brought low every head in silent reverence. Amidst mourning and triumph she was conducted to the presence of the rebel commander-in-chief, Emilio Aguinaldo, who received her with the respect due to the sorrowing relict of their departed hero. But the formal tributes of condolence were followed by great rejoicing in the camp. She was the only free white woman within the rebel lines. They lauded her as though an angelic being had fallen from the skies; they sang her praises as if she were a modern Joan of Arc sent by heaven to lead the way to victory over the banner of Castile. But she chose, for the time being, to follow a more womanly vocation, and, having been escorted to San Francisco de Malabon, she took up her residence in the convent to tend the wounded for about three weeks. Then, when the battle of Perez Dasmariñas was raging, our heroine sallied forth on horseback with a Mäuser rifle over her shoulder, and—as she stated with pride to a friend of mine who interviewed her—she had the satisfaction of shooting dead one Spanish officer, and then retreated to her convent refuge. Again, she was present at the battle of Silan, where her heroic example of courage infused new life into her brother rebels. The carnage on both sides was fearful, but in the end the rebels fell back, and there, from a spot amidst mangled corpses, rivulets of blood, and groans of death, Josephine witnessed many a scene of Spanish barbarity—the butchery of old inoffensive men and women, children caught up by the feet and dashed against the walls, and the bayonet-charge on the host of fugitive innocents. The rebels having been beaten everywhere when Lachambre took the field, Josephine had to follow in their retreat, and after Imus and Silan were taken, she, with the rest, had to flee to another province, tramping through 23 villages on the way. She was about to play another rôle, being on the point of going to Manila to organize a convoy of arms and munitions, when she heard that certain Spaniards were plotting against her life. So she sought an interview with the Gov.-General, who asked her if she had been in the rebel camp at Imus. She replied fearlessly in the affirmative, and, relying on the security from violence afforded by her sex and foreign nationality, there passed between her and the Gov.-General quite an amusing and piquant colloquy. “What did you go to Imus for?” inquired the General. “What did you go there for?” rejoined Josephine. “To fight,” said the General. “So did I,” answered Josephine. “Will you leave Manila?” asked the General. “Why should I?” queried Josephine. “Well,” said the General, “the priests will not leave you alone if you stay here, and they will bring false evidence against you. I have no power to overrule theirs.” “Then what is the use of the Gov.-General?” pursued our heroine; but the General dismissed the discussion, which was becoming embarrassing, and resumed it a few days later by calling upon her emphatically to quit the Colony. At this second interview the General fumed and raged, and our heroine too stamped her little foot, and, woman-like, avowed “she did not care for him; she was not afraid of him.” It was temerity born of inexperience, for one word of command from the General could have sent her the way many others had gone, to an unrevealed fate. Thus matters waxed hot between her defiance and his forbearance, until visions of torture—thumb-screws and bastinado—passed so vividly before her eyes that she yielded, as individual force must, to the collective power which rules supreme, and reluctantly consented to leave the fair Philippine shores in May, 1897, in the s.s. Yuensang, for a safer resting-place on the British soil of Hong-Kong.

The execution of Dr. Rizal was a most impolitic act. It sent into the field his brother Pasciano with a large following, who eventually succeeded in driving every Spaniard out of their native province of La Laguna. They also seized the lake gunboats, took an entire Spanish garrison prisoner, and captured a large quantity of stores. Pasciano rose to the rank of general before the rebellion ended.[11]

General Fernando Primo de Rivera, Marquis de Estella, arrived in Manila, as the successor of General Camilo Polavieja, in the spring of 1897. He knew the country and the people he was called upon to pacify, having been Gov.-General there from April, 1880, to March, 1883. A few days after his arrival he issued a proclamation offering an amnesty to all who would lay down their arms within a prescribed period. Many responded to this appeal, for the crushing defeat of the rebels in Cavite Province, accompanied by the ruthless severity of the soldiery during the last Captain-Generalcy, had damped the ardour of thousands of would-be insurgents. The rebellion was then confined to the north of Manila, but, since Aguinaldo had evacuated Cavite and joined forces with Llaneras, the movement was carried far beyond the Provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga. Armed mobs had risen in Pangasinán, Zambales, Ilocos, Nueva Ecija, and Tárlac. Many villages were entirely reduced to ashes by them; crops of young rice too unripe to be useful to anybody were wantonly destroyed; pillage and devastation were resorted to everywhere to coerce the peaceful inhabitants to join in the movement. On the other hand, the nerves of the priests were so highly strung that they suspected every native, and, by persistently launching false accusations against their parishioners, they literally made rebels. Hence at Candon (Ilocos Sur), a town of importance on the north-west coast of Luzon, five influential residents were simply goaded into rebellion by the frenzied action of the friars subordinate to the Bishop of Vigan, Father José Hévia de Campomanes. These residents then killed the parish priest, and without arms fled for safety to the mountain ravines. A few months before, at the commencement of the rebellion, this same Austin friar, Father Rafael Redondo, had ignominiously treated his own and other native curates by having them stripped naked and tied down to benches, where he beat them with the prickly tail of the ray-fish to extort confessions relating to conspiracy. In San Fernando de la Union the native priests Adriano Garcés, Mariano Gaerlan, and Mariano Dacanaya were tortured with a hot iron applied to their bodies to force a confession that they were freemasons. The rebels attacked Bayambang (Pangasinán), drove out the Spanish garrison, seized the church and convent in which they had fortified themselves, made prisoner the Spanish priest, burnt the Government stores, Court-house, and Spanish residences, but carefully avoided all interference with the British-owned steam rice-mill and paddy warehouses. Troops were sent against them by special train from Tárlac, and they were beaten out of the place with a loss of about 100 individuals; but they carried off their clerical prisoner. General Monet operated in the north against the rebels with Spanish and native auxiliary forces. He attacked the armed mobs in Zambales Province, where encounters of minor importance took place almost daily, with no decisive victory for either party. He showed no mercy and took no prisoners; his troops shot down or bayoneted rebels, non-combatants, women and children indiscriminately. Tillage was carried on at the risk of oneʼs life, for men found going out to their lands were seized as spies and treated with the utmost severity as possible sympathizers with the rebels. He carried this war of extermination up to Ilocos, where, little by little, his forces deserted him. His auxiliaries went over to the rebels in groups. Even a few Spaniards passed to the other side, and after a protracted struggle which brought no advantage to the Government, he left garrisons in several places and returned to Manila. In Aliaga (Nueva Ecija) the Spaniards had no greater success. The rebels assembled there in crowds, augmented by the fugitive mobs from Pangasinán, and took possession of the town. The Spaniards, under General Nuñez, attacked them on two sides, and there was fought one of the most desperate battles of the north. It lasted about six hours: the slaughter on both sides was appalling. The site was strewn with corpses, and as the rebels were about to retreat General Nuñez advanced to cut them off, but was so severely wounded that he had to relinquish the command on the field. But the flight of the insurgents was too far advanced to rally them, and they retired south towards Pampanga.

In Tayabas the officiousness of the Governor almost brought him to an untimely end. Two well-known inhabitants of Pagsanján (La Laguna) were accused of conspiracy, and, without proof, court-martialled and executed. The Governor went to witness the scene, and returning the next day with his official suite, he was waylaid near Lucbang by a rebel party, who killed one of the officers and wounded the Governor. Filipinos returning to Manila were imprisoned without trial, tortured, and shipped back to Hong-Kong as deck passengers. The wet season had fully set in, making warfare in the provinces exceedingly difficult for the raw Spanish recruits who arrived to take the place of the dead, wounded, and diseased. Spain was so hard pressed by Cuban affairs that the majority of these last levies were mere boys, ignorant of the use of arms, ill clad, badly fed, and with months of pay in arrear. Under these conditions they were barely a match for the sturdy Islanders, over mountains, through streams, mud-pools, and paddy-fields. The military hospitals were full; the Spaniards were as far off extinguishing the Katipunan as the rebels were from being able to subvert Spanish sovereignty. The rebels held only two impregnable places, namely Angat and San Mateo, but whilst they carried on an interminable guerilla warfare they as carefully avoided a pitched battle. The Gov.-General, then, had resort to another edict, dated July 2, 1897, which read thus:—

EDICT

Don Fernando Primo de Rivera y Sobremonte, Marquis de Estella, Governor and Captain-General of the Philippines, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

Whereas the unlimited amplitude given to my former edicts by some authorities who are still according the benefits of the amnesty to those who present themselves after the expiration of the conceded time, imperatively calls for a most absolute and positive declaration that there is a limit to clemency and pardon, otherwise the indefinite postponement of the application of the law may be interpreted as a sign of debility; and

Whereas our generosity has been fully appreciated by many who have shown signs of repentance by resuming their legal status, whilst there are others who abuse our excessive benevolence by maintaining their rebellious attitude, and encroach on our patience to prolong the resistance; and

Whereas it is expedient to abolish the spectacle of a few groups, always vanquished whilst committing all sorts of felonies under the protection of a fictitious political flag, maintaining a state of uneasiness and corruption;

Now, therefore, the authorities must adopt every possible means of repression, and I, as General-in-Chief of the Army,

Order and Command

Article 1.—All persons having contracted responsibilities up to date on account of the present rebellion who fail to report themselves to the authorities or military commanders before the 10th of July will be pursued and treated as guilty.

Article 2.—Commanding generals in the field, military and civil governors in districts where the rebels exist, will prohibit all inhabitants from leaving the villages and towns, unless under absolute necessity for agricultural purposes, or taking care of rural properties or other works. Those comprised in the latter class will be provided by the municipal captains with a special pass, in which will be noted the period of absence, the place to be visited, and the road to be taken, always provided that all persons absenting themselves from the villages without carrying such passes, and all who, having them, deviate from the time, road, or place indicated, will be treated as rebels.

Article 3.—After the 10th instant all persons will be required to prove their identity by the personal document (cédula personal), together with the pass above-mentioned, and neither the amnesty passes already granted nor any other document will have any legal validity.

All who contravene these orders will be tried by court-martial.

FERNANDO PRIMO DE RIVERA.

The indiscreetness of this measure was soon evident. It irritated the well-disposed inhabitants, from whom fees were exacted by the Gov.-Generalʼs venal subordinates; the rigorous application of the edict drove many to the enemyʼs camp, and the rebels responded to this document by issuing the following Exhortation in Tagálog dialect, bearing the pseudonym of “Malabar.” It was extensively circulated in July, 1897, but bears no date. The Spanish authorities made strenuous but unsuccessful efforts to confiscate it. It is an interesting document because (1) It admits how little territory the Katipunan itself considered under its dominion. (2) It sets forth the sum total of the rebelsʼ demands at that period. (3) It admits their impotence to vanquish the loyal forces in open battle.

To the Brave Sons of the Philippines

The Spaniards have occupied the towns of Cavite Province because we found it convenient to evacuate them. We must change our tactics as circumstances dictate.

We have proved it to be a bad policy to be fortified in one place awaiting the enemyʼs attack. We must take the offensive when we get the chance, adopting the Cuban plan of ambush and guerilla warfare. In this way we can, for an indefinite period, defy Spain, exhaust her resources, and oblige her to surrender from poverty, for it must be remembered that the very Spanish newspapers admit that each soldier costs a dollar a day, and adding to this his passage money, clothing and equipment, the total amounts to a considerable sum. Considering that Spanish credit abroad is exhausted, that her young men, to avoid conscription, are emigrating to France and elsewhere in large numbers, Spain must of necessity yield in the end. You already know that Polavieja resigned because the Government were unable to send him the further 20,000 men demanded. The Cubans, with their guerilla system, avoiding encounters unfavourable to themselves, have succeeded in wearying the Spaniards, who are dying of fever in large numbers. Following this system, it would be quite feasible to extend the action of the Katipunan to Ilocos, Pangasinán, Cagayán, and other provinces, because our brothers in these places, sorely tyrannized by the Spaniards, are prepared to unite with us.

The Provinces of Zambales, Tárlac, Tayabas, etc., are already under the Katipunan Government, and to complete our success, the revolutionary movement should become general, for the ends which we all so ardently desire, namely:

(1) Expulsion of the friars and restitution to the townships of the lands which the friars have appropriated, dividing the incumbencies held by them, as well as the episcopal sees equally between Peninsular and Insular secular priests.

(2) Spain must concede to us, as she has to Cuba, Parliamentary representation, freedom of the Press, toleration of all religious sects, laws common with hers, and administrative and economic autonomy.

(3) Equality in treatment and pay between Peninsular and Insular civil servants.

(4) Restitution of all lands appropriated by the friars to the townships, or to the original owners, or in default of finding such owners, the State is to put them up to public auction in small lots of a value within the reach of all and payable within four years, the same as the present State lands.

(5) Abolition of the Government authoritiesʼ power to banish citizens, as well as all unjust measures against Filipinos; legal equality for all persons, whether Peninsular or Insular, under the Civil as well as the Penal Code.

The war must be prolonged to give the greatest signs of vitality possible, so that Spain may be compelled to grant our demands, otherwise she will consider us an effete race and curtail, rather than extend, our rights.

MALABAR.

Shortly after this Emilio Aguinaldo, the recognized leader of the rebels, issued a Manifiesto in somewhat ambiguous terms which might imply a demand for independence. In this document he says:—

We aspire to the glory of obtaining the liberty, independence, and honour of the country.... We aspire to a Government representing all the live forces of the country, in which the most able, the most worthy in virtue and talent, may take part without distinction of birth, fortune, or race. We desire that no monk, or friar, shall sully the soil of any part of the Archipelago, nor that there shall exist any convent, etc., etc.

Every month brought to light fresh public exhortations, edicts, and proclamations from one side or the other, of which I have numerous printed copies before me now. About this time the famous Philippine painter, Juan Luna (vide p. 195), was released after six monthsʼ imprisonment as a suspect. He left Manila en route for Madrid in the Spanish mail-steamer Covadonga in the first week of July and returned to Manila the next year (November 1898).

In the field there were no great victories to record, for the rebels confined themselves exclusively to harassing the Spanish forces and then retreating to the mountains. To all appearances trade in Manila and throughout the Islands was little affected by the war, and as a matter of fact, the total exports showed a fair average when compared with previous years. The sugar production was, however, slightly less than in 1896, owing to a scarcity of hands, because, in the ploughing season, the young labourers in Negros were drafted off to military service. Total imports somewhat increased, notwithstanding the imposition of a special 6 per cent. ad valorem tax.

But the probability of an early pacification of the Islands was remote. By the unscrupulous abuse of their functions the volunteers were obliging the well-intentioned natives to forsake their allegiance, and General Primo de Rivera was constrained to issue a decree, dated August 6, forbidding all persons in military service to plunder, or intimidate, or commit acts of violence on persons, or in their houses, or ravish women, under penalty of death. In the same month the General commissioned a Filipino, Don Pedro Alejandro Paterno, to negotiate terms of capitulation with the rebels. By dint of bribes and liberal expenditure of money (vide Paternoʼs own letter at p. 410) Paterno induced the minor chiefs in arms to accept, in principle, the proposal of peace on the basis of reforms and money. Paterno was appointed by the Gov.-General sole mediator in the discussion of the terms to be made with Emilio Aguinaldo, and the Generalʼs private secretary, Don Niceto Mayoral, was granted special powers to arrange with Paterno the details of the proposed treaty. From Paternoʼs lips I have the following account of the negotiations:—

On August 4, 1897, he started on a series of difficult journeys into the rebel camps to negotiate severally with the chiefs, who, one after the other, stoutly refused to capitulate. On August 9 he interviewed Aguinaldo at Biac-na-bató, situated in the mountains, about a mile north of San Miguel de Mayumo (Bulacan). Aguinaldo withheld his decision until Paterno could report to him the definite opinions of his generals. Thereupon Paterno returned to the rebel chiefs, some of whom still tenaciously held out, whilst others were willing to capitulate, subject to Aguinaldoʼs approval. Paternoʼs mission was daily becoming more perilous, for the irreconcilable leaders regarded him as an evil genius sent to sow discord in the camp. After many delays the principal warriors assembled at Biac-na-bató on October 31 and held a great meeting, which Paterno, who is a fluent speaker, attended and harangued his audience in eloquent phrases, but to no purpose. His position was now a somewhat critical one. Several of the chiefs assumed such a defiant attitude that but for the clement nature of Aguinaldo, Paterno might never have returned to tell the tale. They clamorously insisted on their resolution to fight. Then Paterno adroitly brought matters to a crisis in a bold peroration which changed the whole scene. “Capitulate,” he exclaimed, “or get hence and vanquish the enemy! Is victory to be gained in this hiding-place?” Piqued by this fearless challenge, General Natividad immediately sallied forth with his troops and encountered the Spaniards for the last time. His dead body was brought into the camp, and, in the shades of night, with sombre lights flickering around them, in the presence of Natividadʼs bleeding corpse, again Paterno exhorted them to reflect on the prospects in the field and the offer of capitulation. Impressed by the lugubrious scene, Aguinaldo yielded, and the next day peace negotiations were opened. But other difficulties intervened. Aguinaldo having heard that a subordinate chief was conspiring to force his hand to capitulate, abruptly cast aside the papers, declaring that he would never brook coercion. The deadlock lasted a whole day, but at length Aguinaldo signed conditions, which Paterno conveyed to General Primo de Rivera at San Fernando (Pampanga). The willingness to capitulate was by no means unanimous. Paterno was forewarned that on his route a party of 500 Irreconcilables were waiting to intercept and murder him, so to evade them he had to hide in a wood. Fifteen minutesʼ delay would have cost him his life. Even a Spanish colonel for some occult reason sought to frustrate the peace negotiations by falsely reporting to General Primo de Rivera that Paterno was inciting the rebels to warfare. But the General believed in Paternoʼs good faith, although he declared the terms proposed unacceptable, and in like manner three other amended proposals were rejected, until finally the fifth document was accepted as tantamount to a Protocol of Peace to serve as a basis for the treaty. Here ends Paternoʼs verbal declaration.

The Protocol was signed in duplicate by Emilio Aguinaldo of the one part, and Pedro A. Paterno, as Peacemaker, of the other part. One copy was archived in the office of the Gobierno General in Manila,[12] and the other was remitted to the Home Government with a despatch from the Gov.-General.

General Emilio Aguinaldo

(From a portrait presented by him to the Author.)

After many consultations and much deliberation it was decided at a Cabinet meeting to approve unreservedly of the negotiations, and to that effect a cablegram was sent to General Primo de Rivera fully empowering him to conclude a treaty of peace on the basis of the Protocol. Meanwhile, it soon became evident that there were three distinct interests at stake, namely, those of Spain and the Spanish people, those of the friars, and the claims of the rebels. Consequently the traditional feud between the Archbishop of Manila and the Captain-General was revived.

General Primo de Rivera in his despatch urged the Madrid Government to grant certain reforms, in any case, which could not fail to affect the hitherto independent position of the friars in governmental affairs. He also drew the attention of the Government to the defenceless condition of the capital in the event of a foreign attack (vide Senate speeches reported in the Diario de las Sesiones, Madrid, 1899 and 1900). The friars were exceedingly wroth, and combined to defeat the Generalʼs efforts to come to an understanding with the rebels. They secretly paid natives to simulate the Katipunan in the provinces, and the plot only came to light when these unfortunate dupes fell into the hands of the military authorities and confessed what had happened. Nevertheless, the General pursued the negotiations with Paterno as intermediary. Aguinaldoʼs original demand was for a total indemnity of ₱3,000,000, but, in the course of the negotiations alluded to, it was finally reduced to ₱1,700,000, inclusive of ₱800,000 to be paid to Aguinaldo on his retirement from the Colony.

H.E. Don Pedro a Paterno

(From a portrait presented by him to the Author.)

The terms of the Protocol of Peace having been mutually agreed upon, a treaty, known as the Pacto de Biac-na-bató,[13] is alleged to have been signed at Biac-na-bató on December 14, 1897, between Emilio Aguinaldo and others of the one part, and Pedro A. Paterno, as attorney for the Captain-General, acting in the name of the Spanish Government, of the other part. Under this treaty the rebels undertook to deliver up their arms and ammunition of all kinds to the Spaniards; to evacuate the places held by them; to conclude an armistice for three years for the application and development of the reforms to be introduced by the other part, and not to conspire against Spanish sovereignty in the Islands, nor aid or abet any movement calculated to counteract those reforms. Emilio Aguinaldo and 34 other leaders undertook to quit the Philippine Islands and not return thereto until so authorized by the Spanish Government, in consideration whereof the above-mentioned ₱800,000 was to be paid as follows:--₱400,000 in a draft on Hong-Kong to be delivered to Aguinaldo on his leaving Biac-na-bató [This draft was, in fact, delivered to him]; ₱200,000 payable to Aguinaldo as soon as he should send a telegram to the revolutionary general in command at Biac-na-bató, ordering him to hand over the rebelsʼ arms to the Captain-Generalʼs appointed commissioner [This telegram was sent], and the final ₱200,000 immediately after the singing of the Te Deum which would signify an official recognition of peace.

It was further alleged that on behalf of the Spanish Government many radical reforms and conditions were agreed to (outside the Treaty of Biac-na-bató), almost amounting to a total compliance with the demands of the rebels. But no evidence whatever has been adduced to confirm this allegation. Indeed it is a remarkable fact that neither in the Madrid parliamentary papers (to copies of which I have referred), nor in the numerous rebel proclamations and edicts, nor in the published correspondence of Pedro A. Paterno, is even the full text of the treaty given. It is singular that the rebels should have abstained from publishing to the world those precise terms which they say were accepted and not fulfilled by the Spanish Government, which denies their existence.

Whatever reforms might have been promised would have been purely governmental matters which required no mediator for their execution; but as to the money payments to be made, Paterno was to receive them from the Government and distribute them. An Agreement to this effect was, therefore, signed by General Primo de Rivera and Pedro A. Paterno in the following terms, viz.:—

In the peace proposals presented by the sole mediator, Don Pedro Alejandro Paterno, in the name and on behalf of the rebels in arms, and in the Peace Protocol which was agreed to and submitted to His Majestyʼs Government, which approved of the same, there exists a principal clause relating to the sums of money which were to be handed over to the rebels and their families as indemnity for the loss of their goods consequent on the war, which sums amounted to a total of ₱1,700,000, which the mediator, Señor Paterno, was to distribute absolutely at his discretion, but the payment of the said sum will have to be subject to the conditions proposed by the representative of the Government, H.E. the General-in-Chief of this Army. These conditions were agreed to be as follows, viz.:—

(1) For the rebels in arms a draft for the sum of ₱400,000 will be handed to Señor Paterno, payable in Hong-Kong, as well as two cheques for ₱200,000 each, payable only on the condition of the Agreement being fulfilled on the other part. (2) For the families of those who were not rebels in arms, or engaged in rebellion, but who have likewise suffered the evils of war, the balance of the sum offered shall be paid in three equal instalments, the last to be paid six months after the date on which the Te Deum shall be sung, assuming the peace to become an accomplished fact. Peace shall be held to be effectively concluded if, during the interval of these instalment periods, no party of armed rebels, with recognized leader, shall exist, and if no secret society shall have been discovered as existing here or abroad with the proved object of conspiracy by those who benefit by these payments. The representative of the rebels, Don Pedro Alejandro Paterno, and the representative of the Government, the Captain-General Don Fernando Primo de Rivera, agree to the above conditions, in witness whereof each representative now signs four copies of the same tenour and effect, one being for the Government, another for the archives of the Captain-Generalcy, and one copy each for the said representatives. [14]Done in Manila on the 15th of December, 1897.

FERNANDO PRIMO DE RIVERA,

The General-in-Chief.

PEDRO A. PATERNO,

The Mediator.

In the course of a few days a military deputation was sent by the Gov.-General, under the leadership of Lieut.-Colonel Primo de Rivera, to meet Aguinaldo and his 34 companions-in-arms at a place agreed upon in the Province of Pangasinán. They had a repast together, and Aguinaldo called for cheers for Spain, in which all heartily joined. Thence they proceeded in vehicles to Sual to await the arrival of the s.s. Uranus, in which they embarked for Hong-Kong on Monday, December 27, 1897. Armed rebel troops were stationed at several places all along the route to Sual, ready to avenge any act of treachery, whilst two Spanish generals were held as hostages at the rebel camp at Biac-na-bató until Aguinaldo cabled his safe arrival in Hong-Kong.

Aguinaldo had very rightly stipulated that a Spanish officer of high rank should accompany him and his followers to Hong-Kong as a guarantee against foul play. The Gov.-General, therefore, sent with them his two nephews, Lieut.-Colonel Primo de Rivera and Captain Celestino Espinosa, and Major Antonio Pezzi. Aguinaldo and eight other chiefs, namely, Gregorio H. del Pilar, Wenceslao Vinegra, Vito Belarmino, Mariano Llaneras, Antonio Montenegro, Luis Viola, Manuel Fino, and Escolástico Viola, stayed at the Hong-Kong Hotel, whilst the remainder took up their abode elsewhere in the city. Aguinaldo cashed his draft for ₱400,000, but as to the other two instalments of the ₱800,000, the Spanish Government defaulted.

There was great rejoicing in Manila, in Madrid, and in several Spanish cities, and fêtes were organized to celebrate the conclusion of peace. In Manila particularly, amidst the pealing of bells and strains of music, unfeigned enthusiasm and joy were everywhere evident. It was a tremendous relief after sixteen months of persecution, butchery, torture, and pecuniary losses. General Primo de Rivera received the thanks of the Government, whilst the Queen-Regent bestowed on him the Grand Cross of San Fernando, with the pension of 10,000 pesetas (nominal value £400). But no one in Spain and few in Manila as yet could foresee how the fulfilment of the Agreement would be bungled. According to a letter of Pedro A. Paterno, dated March 7, 1898, published in El Liberal of Madrid on June 17, 1898, it would appear that (up to the former date) the Spanish Government had failed to make any payment to Paterno on account of the ₱900,000, balance of indemnity, for distribution according to Clause (2) of the Agreement set forth on the preceding page. The letter says:—

As a matter of justice, I ought to have received the two instalments, amounting to ₱600,000. Why is this obligation not carried out, and why has General Primo de Rivera not followed my advice by arresting Yocson and his followers from the 5th of last February? I have my conscience clear respecting the risings in Zambales and Pangasinán Provinces and those about to take place in La Laguna and Tayabas.

Whatever were the means employed, the rebellion was disorganized for a while, but the Spanish authorities had not the tact to follow up this coup by temperate and conciliatory measures towards their wavering quondam foes. Persons who had been implicated in the rebellion were re-arrested on trivial trumped-up charges and imprisoned, whilst others were openly treated as seditious suspects. The priests started a furious campaign of persecution, and sought, by all manner of intrigue, to destroy the compact, which they feared would operate against themselves. More executions took place. Instead of the expected general amnesty, only a few special pardons were granted.

There had been over two months of nominal peace; the rebels had delivered up their arms, and there was nothing to indicate an intention to violate their undertakings. Primo de Rivera, who believed the rebellion to be fast on the wane, shipped back to Spain 7,000 troops. The Madrid Government at once appointed to vacant bishoprics two friars of the Orders obnoxious to the people, and it is inconceivable that such a step would have been so speedily taken if there were any truth in the rebelsʼ pretension that the expulsion of the friars had been promised to them. Rafael Comenge, the President of the Military Club, was rewarded with the Grand Cross of Military Merit for the famous speech which he had delivered at the Club. It was generally lauded by Spaniards, whilst it filled all classes of natives with indignation. Here are some extracts from this oration:—

You arrive in time; the cannibals of the forest are still there; the wild beast hides in his lair (bravo); the hour has come to finish with the savages; wild beasts should be exterminated; weeds should be extirpated. (Great applause.) Destruction is the purport of war; its civilizing virtue acts like the hot iron on a cancer, destroying the corrupt tendons in order to arrive at perfect health. No pardon! (Very good, very good.) Destroy! Kill! Do not pardon, for this prerogative belongs to the monarch, not to the army. . . . From that historical, honoured, and old land Spain, which we all love with delirious joy, no words of peace come before this treason, but words of vigour and of justice, which, according to public opinion, is better in quality than in quantity. (Frantic applause, several times repeated, which drowned the voice of the orator.) Soldiers! you are the right arm of Spain. Execute; exterminate if it be necessary. Amputate the diseased member to save the body; cut off the dry branches which impede the circulation of the sap, in order that the tree may again bring forth leaves and flowers. (Señor Peñaranda interposed, shouting, “That is the way to speak!” Frantic applause.)

Thirty thousand pesos were subscribed at the Military Club for the benefit of General Primo de Rivera. Admiral Patricio Montojo, who had co-operated against the rebels by firing a few shots at them when they occupied the coast towns of Cavite Province and transporting troops to and from Manila, was the recipient of a sword of honour on March 17, 1898. It was presented to him, on behalf of the Military Club, by Señor Comenge (who escaped from Manila as soon as the Americans entered the port) as a “perpetual remembrance of the triumph of our ships off the coast of Cavite,” although no deed of glory on the part of the fleet, during the period of the rebellion, had come to the knowledge of the general public.

The reforms alluded to in the treaty made with the rebel chiefs were a subject of daily conversation; but when the Diario de Manila published an article on March 17, demanding autonomy for the Islands and urging the immediate application of those reforms, General Primo de Rivera suspended the publication of the newspaper. Some were inquisitive enough to ask, Has a treaty been signed or a trick been played upon the rebels? The treatment of the people was far from being in harmony with the spirit of a treaty of peace.

The expatriated ex-rebels became alarmed by the non-receipt of the indemnity instalment and the news from their homes. A committee of Filipinos, styled La Junta Patriótica, was formed in Hong-Kong. They were in frequent communication with their friends in the Islands. The seed of discontent was again germinating under the duplicity of the Spanish lay and clerical authorities. Thousands were ready to take the field again, but their chiefs were absent, their arms surrendered, and the rebellion disorganized. Here and there roving parties appeared, but having no recognized leaders, their existence did not invalidate the treaty. The Spaniards, indeed, feigned to regard them only as a remnant of the rebels who had joined the pre-existing brigand bands. The volunteers were committing outrages which might have driven the people again into open revolt, and General Primo de Rivera had, at least, the sagacity to recognize the evil which was apparent to everybody. The volunteers and guerilla battalions were consequently disbanded, not a day too soon for the tranquillity of the city. On March 25, the tragedy of the Calle de Camba took place. This street lies just off the Calle de San Fernando in Binondo, a few hundred yards from the river. In a house frequented by seafaring men a large number of Visayan sailors had assembled and were, naturally, discussing the topics of the day with the warmth of expression and phraseology peculiar to their race, when a passer-by, who overheard the talk, informed the police. The civil guard at once raided the premises, accused these sailors of conspiracy, and, without waiting for proof or refutation, shot down all who could not escape. The victims of this outrage numbered over 70. The news dismayed the native population. The fact could no longer be doubted that a reign of terrorism and revenge had been initiated with impunity, under the assumption that the rebellion was broken for many a year to come. How the particulars of this crime were related by the survivors to their fellow-islanders we cannot know, but it is a coincidental fact that only now the flame of rebellion spread to the southern Island of Cebú. For over a generation the Cebuános around Talisay, Minglanilla, and Talambau had sustained a dispute with the friars respecting land-tenure. From time to time procurators of the Law Court secretly took up the Cebuánosʼ cause, and one of them, Florencio Gonzalez, was cast into prison and slowly done to death. This event, which happened almost coincidentally with the Calle de Camba tragedy, excited the Cebuános to the utmost degree. Nine days after that unfortunate episode, on April 3, 1898, a party of about 5,000 disaffected natives made a raid on the city of Cebú. The leaders were armed with rifles, but the rank-and-file carried only bowie-knives. About 4 p.m. all the forces which could be mustered in the city went out against the rebels, who overwhelmed the loyalists, cutting some to pieces, whilst the remainder hastened back to the city in great disorder. But, instead of following up their victory, the half-resolute rioters camped near Guadalupe for the night. At 5 a.m. on April 4 they marched upon the city. Peaceful inhabitants fled before the motley, yelling crowd of men, women and children who swarmed into the streets, armed with bowie-knives and sticks, demanding food and other trifles. The terrified Spanish volunteers, after their defeat, took refuge in the Cotta de San Pedro (the Fort), where the Governor, General Montero, joined them, and ordered all foreigners to do the same. Later on the foreigners were permitted to return to their residences. Amidst the confusion which prevailed, the flight of peaceful citizens, the street-fighting, and the moans of the dying, the rebels helped themselves freely to all they wanted. The mob of both sexes told the townspeople that they (the rioters) had nothing to fear, as anting-anting wafers (q.v.) had been served out to them. The rebels had cut the Cebú-Tuburan telegraph-wires (vide p. 267), but in the meantime three small coasting steamers had been despatched to Yloilo, Ylígan, and another port to demand reinforcements. The next day, at sunrise, the rebels attempted to reach the Fort, but were fired upon from the Governorʼs house, which is situated in front of it, compelling them to withdraw along the shore road, where the gunboat Maria Cristina opened fire on them. The rebels then retreated to the Chinese quarter of Lutao, around the Cathedral and the Santo Nino Church. The Spaniards remained under cover whilst the mob held possession of the whole city except the Fort, Government House, the College, the churches, and the foreigners houses. During the whole day there was an incessant fusillade, the rebelsʼ chief stronghold being the Recoleto Convent. Groups of them were all over the place, plundering the shops and Spanish houses and offices. On April 5 a small force of Spanish regulars, volunteers, and sailors made a sortie and fired on the insurgents in Lutao from long range. They soon retired, however, as the Fort was in danger of being attacked from another side. The same afternoon the steamer sent to Ylígan for troops returned with 240 on board. During the night the Spanish troops ventured into the open and shots were exchanged. On April 6 the Venus arrived with 50 soldiers from Yloilo and was at once sent on to Bojol Island in search of rice and cattle, which were difficult to procure as that island was also in revolt. Native women were not interfered with by either party, nor were the foreigners, many of whom took refuge at the British Consulate. The rebels wished to advance from Lutao, but were kept back by the fire from the gunboat Maria Cristina. The Spanish troops did not care to venture past a block of buildings in which were the offices and stores of a British firm. On April 7 the merchant steamer Churruca arrived with troops, and in a couple of hours was followed by the cruiser Don Juan de Austria, also bringing reinforcements under the command of General Tejeiro (a former Governor of Cebú Is.). The total fresh troops amounted to about 500 men of the 73rd Native Regiment and Spanish cazadores. Whilst these troops were landing, many of the rebels hastened out of the city towards San Nicolás. General Montero and the Spanish refugees then emerged from the cotta. After General Tejeiro had strategically deployed his troops, a squad of them, crossing the General Loño Square (now called Plaza de Rizal) drove the rebels before them and dislodged them from the vicinity of the Recoleto Convent. At the same time the rebels were attacked at the mestizo quarter called the Parian and at Tiniago, whence they had to retreat, with severe loss, towards San Nicolás, which practically adjoins Cebú and is only separated therefrom by a narrow river. Simultaneously, the Don Juan de Austria threw a shell into the corner house of the (chiefly Chinese) shopping-quarter, Lutao, which killed several Chinese and set fire to the house. The flames, however, did not catch the adjoining property, so the troops burst open the doors, poured petroleum on the goods found therein, and caused the fire to extend until the whole quarter was, as I saw it, a mass of charred ruins with only the stone walls remaining. To complete the destruction of Lutao, once a busy bazaar, situated in that part of the city immediately facing the sea, another bomb was thrown into the centre. The troops then marched to San Nicolás, and a third shell fired at the retreating enemy entered and completely destroyed a large private residence. An attempt was made to procure supplies from the little Island of Magtan, which lies only half a mile off the coast of Cebú, but the expedition had to return without having been able to effect a landing at the capital town of Opon, which had risen in rebellion. On April 8 the loyal troops continued their pursuit of the rebels, who suffered severe losses at San Nicolás and Pili, on the road south of Cebú city. The corpses collected in the suburbs were carted into the city, where, together with those lying about the streets, they were piled into heaps, partly covered with petroleum-bathed logs, and ignited. The stench was very offensive for some hours, especially from a huge burning pile topped with a dead white horse in the General Loño Square. Practically the whole of the east coast of the island had risen against the Spaniards, but the rebels were careful not to interfere with foreigners when they could distinguish them as such. A large force of insurgents made another stand at Labangan, where they were almost annihilated; it is estimated they left quite a thousand dead on the field. The loyal troops followed up the insurgents towards the mountain region, whilst the Don Juan de Austria cruised down the coast with the intention of bombarding any town which might be in rebel hands. The material losses in Cebú amounted to about ₱1,725,000 in Lutao, represented by house property of Chinese and half-castes and their cash and stock-in-trade. The “Compañia General de Tabacos” lost about ₱30,000 in cash in addition to the damage done to their offices and property. Rich natives and Chinese lost large sums of money, the total of which cannot be ascertained. From the Recoleto Convent ₱19,000 in cash were stolen, and there, as well as in many of the Spanish residences, everything valuable and easily removable was carried off; but whether all this pillage was committed by the rebels alone must ever remain a mystery. The only foreigner who lost his life was my late Italian friend Signor Stancampiano, who is supposed to have died of shock, for when I last saw him he was hopelessly ill. As usual, a considerable number of well-known residents of the city were arrested and charged with being the prime movers in these doleful events.

Upon the hills on the west coast of Cebú, near Toledo town, some American friends of mine experienced a series of thrilling adventures. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, mother and son, to whom I am indebted for their generous hospitality, resided on a large sugar-estate at Calumampao, of which Mr. Wilson was part owner. They were, naturally, in ignorance of what had taken place in Cebú City. The rebellion spread to their district, and many of the natives on and about the estate were eager to join in the movement. Mr. Wilson did his utmost to point out to them the futility of the attempt, but they indulged in all sorts of superstitions about the invulnerability of their chief, Claudio, and the charm attached to a red flag he carried, and they were determined to take their chance with him. On April 19 an insurgent force came on to the plantation, compelled the labourers to join their standard, and coolly quartered themselves in the out-buildings and warehouses. They did no harm to the Wilsons, but they kidnapped a Spanish gentleman who lived close by, and shot him, in spite of Mr. Wilsonʼs entreaties to spare his life. The insurgents moved off, taking with them the estate hands, and in a couple of days a company of Spanish soldiers, under the command of Captain Suarez, arrived at the estate-house. The officer was very affable, and Mr. and Mrs. Wilson treated him as hospitably as they did all their friends and European passers-by. Naturally the conversation fell on the all-absorbing topic of the day and the object of his mission. After he and his men had been well refreshed they started down the hill to meet some cavalry reinforcements, and, as the Wilsons watched their departure, to their astonishment they saw Claudio, at the head of 200 rebels, rushing down the hill with the red flag floating in the air. Simultaneously a body of Spanish horse approached through the valley; Claudio and his followers, caught between the Spanish cavalry and infantry, retreated to a storehouse in the valley. The result was that some 40 rebels were killed, others taken prisoners, and the remainder escaped into the planted fields. Every leader was killed, and every peaceful native whom the Spaniards met on their way was unmercifully treated. Mr. Wilson was then asked to go on board a Spanish vessel, and when he complied he was charged with being in league with the rebels. He was allowed to return to shore to fetch his mother—a highly-educated, genial old lady—and when they both went on board they found there two Englishmen as prisoners. Their guest of a few days previous treated them most shamefully. When they were well on the voyage to Cebú the prisoners were allowed to be on the upper deck, and Mrs. Wilson was permitted to use an armchair. The soldiers insulted them, and, leaning their backs against Mrs. Wilsonʼs chair, some sang ribald songs, whilst others debated whether their captives would be shot on the beach or at the Cotta in Cebú. Sometimes they would draw their swords and look viciously towards them. At last, after a series of intimidations, they reached Cebú, where, after being detained on board several hours, they were all taken before the Governor and the Chief Justice, and were only saved from further miseries through the intercession of the American Vice-Consul, who, by the way, was an Englishman. War had just been declared between America and Spain (April 23, 1898), and the estate had to be left to the mercy of the rebels, whilst my friends took passage to Singapore on the Gulf of Martaban.

All immediate danger having now been dispelled, the Spaniards solaced themselves with the sweets of revenge. A Spanish functionary (who with his wife and brotherʼs family were well known to me for several years) caused the soldiers to raid private houses, and bring out native families by force into the public square, or conduct them to the cemetery on the Guadalupe road, where they were shot in batches without inquiry and cremated. The heartrending scenes and wailing of the people failed to turn their persecutor from his purpose, save in one case—that of a colleague, who, wearing his chain of office, stepped forward and successfully begged for his life. A low estimate of this officialʼs victims is 200. The motive for his awful crime was greed, for he formally confiscated his victimsʼ goods and shipped them off daily in schooners to Yloilo. His ill-gotten gains would have been greater but for the action of the Governor, who, fearing that retribution might fall on his own head as the highest authority, ordered his guilty subordinate to appear before him, and in the presence of Filipinos he reprimanded him, boxed his ears, and commanded him to quit the island within a given period under pain of death. The Governorʼs indignation was evidently feigned, for he very shortly availed himself of an altogether novel means of terrorism. Sedition was smouldering throughout the island, but after the events of April the Spaniards seemed too daunted to take the field against the Cebuános. The Christian Governor, therefore, took into his service a Mindanao Mahometan, Rajahmudah Datto Mandi, and his band of about 100 Sámal Moros to overrun the island and punish the natives. This chief, with his warriors, had been called from Zamboanga (Mindanao Is.) to Yloilo by General Rios, who immediately commissioned him to Cebú in the month of July, 1898. On his arrival there he at once started his campaign under the auspices of the Governor, who granted him full liberty to dispose of the lives and property of the Cebuános to his heartʼs content, and as proof of the accomplishment of his gory mission he brought in and presented to his patron the ears which he had cut off the Cebuános. North of Cebú City he and his retainers made a fresh start, slaying the people, burning villages, and devastating the standing crops. Having accomplished his task within three months Datto Mandi withdrew with all his men, except two who wished to settle at Pardo. He could not persuade them to leave, and after his departure they were cut to pieces by the Cebuános. Pending positive corroboration I was very sceptical about this strange narrative; but, being in Mindanao Island six years afterwards, I went to visit Datto Mandi, who most readily confirmed all the above particulars, and presented me with his portrait. Prior to the American advent, Datto Mandi, protégé as well as protector of the Spaniards, exercised a sort of feudal dominion over the services and the sundry cherished belongings of his people. Speaking of him as I myself found him, he was extremely affable and hospitable. The invitation to Datto Mandi was perhaps the most singular event of this period, and goes to show with what desperate fear the Spaniards retained their hold on the island up to the evacuation, which took place on December 26, 1898.

In the provinces north of Manila the rebellion was again in full vigour, and, all trust in Spanish good faith was irrevocably lost. The Spanish quarters at Subig (Zambales) and Apalit (Pampanga) were attacked and looted in the first week of March. The new movement bore a more serious aspect than that under Aguinaldo and his colleagues, who, at least, were men of certain intelligence, inspired by a wish to secure reforms, whereas their successors in revolt were of far less mental capacity, seeking, apparently, only retaliation for the cruelties inflicted on the people. It is possible, too, that the premium of ₱800,000 per 35 rebel chiefs inflamed the imaginations of the new leaders, who were too ignorant to appreciate the promised reforms linked with the same bargain. During the month of February the permanent-way of the Manila-Dagúpan Railway had been three times torn up to prevent the transport of loyal troops. At the same time the villages around were looted and burnt. Early in March the rebels, under the chief leadership of Yocson, of Malolos, attacked and killed the garrisons and the priests in the north of Pangasinán and Zambales, excepting six soldiers who managed to escape.[15] Some of the garrison troops were murdered after surrender. The telegraph-line between Lingayen (Pangasinán) and a place a few miles from Bolinao (Zambales) was cut down and removed. A lineman was sent out to repair it under escort of civil guards, who were forced by the rebels to retire. On March 7, about 2 a.m., the Eastern Extension Telegraph Companyʼs cable-station at Bolinao was besieged by rebels. The village was held by about 400 armed natives, who had killed one native and two European soldiers on the way. The lighthouse-keeper and the Inspector of Forests safely reached Santa Cruz, 40 miles south, in a boat. The other civilian Spaniards and priests escaped in another boat, but were pursued and captured by the insurgents, who killed two of the civilians and brought the European women and friars into the village as prisoners at 4.30 the same afternoon. Eight soldiers had taken refuge in the cable-station, and at 6 a.m. a message was sent to the British staff requiring them to turn out the soldiers or quit the premises themselves. They refused to take either course, and declared their neutrality. A similar message was sent several times, with the same result. By 4 p.m. the soldiers had fortified the station as well as they could, and the rebels attacked, but were repulsed with a few shots. Nothing happened during the night, but the next day (March 8) another message was sent to the British staff urging them to withdraw as the rebels would renew the assault at 10 a.m. The staff again refused to comply. Then it appears that the rebels delayed their attack until the arrival of their chief, hourly expected. An ultimatum was at length received at the station, to the effect that if all arms were given up they would spare the soldiersʼ lives. They also demanded the surrender of the two rebels held prisoners by these soldiers. At this stage one of the companyʼs staff, who were allowed to go and come as they pleased, volunteered to interview the rebels; but matters could not be arranged, as the Spanish corporal (a plucky youth of twenty years of age) in the station refused to surrender anything at any price. Still parleying was continued, and on March 11 one of the companyʼs staff again visited the rebel camp to state that if the regular bi-monthly steamer failed to arrive on the morrow the corporal would surrender arms. Then the rebel chief proposed that the corporal should meet him half-way between the companyʼs office and the rebel camp, the rebel pledging his word of honour that no harm should befall the corporal. The corporal, however, could not do this, as it would have been contrary to the Spanish military code to capitulate on his own authority, but he confirmed his willingness to surrender arms if no steamer arrived the next day, and the companyʼs employee returned to the camp to notify this resolution. But in a few minutes he observed a commotion among the insurgents; some one had descried a warship approaching, and the native canoes were very busy making ready for escape or attack. The British delegate, therefore, hastened back to the station, and at 3 p.m. a Spanish gunboat arrived, to their immense relief, and landed 107 marines. Heavy firing continued all that afternoon, inflicting great loss on the rebels, whilst the Spaniards lost one soldier. On March 12 a Spanish cruiser anchored off the Bay of Bolinao; also a merchant steamer put into port bringing the Companyʼs Manila Superintendent with apparatus for communicating with Hong-Kong in case the station were demolished. The next day H.M.S. Edgar entered, and Bolinao was again perfectly safe.

In consequence of this threatened attack on the cable-station the cable was detached from Bolinao and carried on to Manila in the following month (vide p. 267).

As soon as the news reached Manila that Bolinao was menaced, General Monet proceeded north with 1,000 men, whilst 3,000 more followed by railway as far as they could reach. On the way the General had five engagements with the enemy, between Lingayen (Pangasinán) and Bolinao, where he arrived on the night of March 14, having routed the insurgents everywhere with great loss to them. On the Spanish side one lieutenant and one soldier were killed. After leaving a garrison of 300 men in Bolinao, General Monet returned to Manila in the Spanish cruiser the next day.

On March 31 Father Moïses Santos, who had caused all the members of the Town Council of Malolos to be banished in 1895, was assassinated. He had been appointed Vicar of the Augustine Order and was returning to Malolos station, en route for Manila, in a buggy which stuck fast in a mud-pool (the same in which I have found myself several times), where he was stabbed to death. His body was recovered and taken by special train to Manila, where it was interred with great pomp in the Church of St. Augustine. He was 44 years of age, and had been 19 years in the Colony (vide p. 364).

In April, 1898, the Home Government recalled General Primo de Rivera, appointing in his stead General Basilio Augusti, who had never before held chief command in the Islands. Primo de Rivera was no doubt anxious to be relieved of a position which he could not well continue to hold, with dignity to himself, after the Madrid Government had shelved his recommendations for reforms. His subsequent speeches in the Senate incline one to draw this conclusion. The Colonial Minister, Segismundo Moret (who became Prime Minister in 1905), warmly supported the proposed reforms, but monastic influences were brought to bear which Práxedes Sagasta had not the moral courage to resist.

Don Pedro A. Paterno, the peacemaker, was sorely disappointed, too, that the Government had failed to remunerate him for his services. His position will be best understood from the subjoined translation of the letter which he addressed to a high authority on the subject. The original document was read in public session of Congress in Madrid on June 16, 1898, by the Deputy Señor Muro.

MANILA, 23rd of February, 1898.

MY ESTEEMED FRIEND,—

As it appears that, at last, one is thinking of giving me something for the services rendered by me, and as, according to you, the recompense is going to be a title of Castile, I wish to speak frankly, in secret, on the subject. I do not wish to fall into ridicule, because in such a material and mercantile place as Manila a title without rent-roll, or grandeur, or anything of the nature of an employment, or Cross of Maria Christina, or rewards such as have been showered broadcast by three Captain-Generals would, in Philippine circles, make me appear as the gullible boy and the laughing-stock of my fellows. To express my private opinion, I aspire, above all, to the preservation of my name and prestige, and if I were asked to renounce them for a childish prize, even though it be called a title of Castile, despised by serious statesmen in Europe, I think I should be obliged to refuse it. But I am willing to meet half-way the state of Spanish society in the Philippines, and as I belong to the family of the Maguinoó Paterno, I must express myself in another way. That title of Castile might become the cherished ideal in the Philippines if it were valued as I desire.

In the first place, it must not be less than that of Duke, because the natives have obeyed me as the Great Maguinoó, or Prince of Luzon, and the ex-revolutionists call me the arbiter of their destinies.

The reward from Spain must not be less than the Philippine public already award to me.

In the second place, the reward, to be accepted by me with dignity and preservation of prestige, must be presented to me in the sense that it is for the general welfare of the Philippines as implied in the title of Grandee of Spain of the First Class with the consequent right to a seat in the Senate to defend the interests of the Colony, seeing that we have no Members of Parliament, and parliamentary representation is anxiously desired.

I can show that I possess an income of ₱25,000 and more, if necessary.

In the third place, it must be in the nature of a gift and not a purchase, that is to say, the patent of nobility must be a free gift.

In the fourth place, it must be valued in dollars, so that the reward may not be held in contempt by the public, who know my liberality when I pay, with splendid generosity, sea voyages, river and land journeys for myself and for my emissaries, or when I distribute with abundant profusion pecuniary and material recompenses to buy over the wills of and unite all the insurgent chiefs to bring them to surrender to Spain. Up to the present, I have not received a cent from the revolutionists or from the Spanish Government to cover these expenses.

It is notorious that I have worked so grandly that no one can now ask me to sink into insignificance.

The recent concessions made by the Spanish Government have been seen by the Philippine public. The grade of Captain-General was given for subjecting a few Moslem chiefs of Mindanao; promotions and grand crosses with pensions have been awarded, and I, who have put an end to the war at a stroke, saving Spain many millions of dollars—I, who, amidst inundations and hurricanes have assaulted and conquered the barracks and military posts of the enemy, causing them to lay down their arms to Spain without bloodshed, and at my command surrender all their chiefs and revolutionary Government with their brigades and companies, I think I have good right to ask Spain, if she wishes to show herself a mother to me, to give me as much as she has given to other sons for lesser services.

To conclude, for family reasons, I want a title of Castile, that of Prince or Duke, if possible, and to be a Grandee of the first class, free of nobility patent fees and the sum of ₱—— once for all.

I think that the title of Castile, or Spainʼs reward, if it reaches me without the mentioned formalities, will be an object of ridicule, and Spain ought not to expose me to this, because I wish to serve her always, in the present and in the future.

I also recommend you very strongly to procure for my brother Maximino Molo Agustin Paterno y Debera Ignacio the title of Count or a Grand Cross free of duties, for he has not only rendered great services to the nation, but he has continually sustained the prestige of Spain with the natives.

I am, etc., etc.,

PEDRO A. PATERNO.

N.B.—1. I told you verbally that if my merits did not reach two millimetres, it is the friendʼs duty to amplify them and extend them and make others see them as if they were so many metres, especially as they have no equal.

Prince of Limasaba is the first title of Castile conceded to a native of the Philippines. He was the first king of the Island of Limasaba in the time of Maghallanes, according to Father José Fernandez Cuevas, of the Company of Jesus, in his “Spain and Catholicism in the Far East,” folio 2 (years 1519 to 1595). In Spain, in modern times, Prince of Peace, Prince of Vergara, etc.

2. and 3. Verbally I mentioned one million of dollars, and that Parliament should meet sometimes for the Philippines and for extraordinary reasons. Take note that out of the 25,000 men sent here by Spain on account of the insurrection, statistics show 6,000 struck off the effective list in the first six months and many millions of dollars expenses. The little present, or the Christmas-box (mi Aguinaldo) is of no mean worth.

Some biographical notes of Don Pedro A. Paterno, with most of which he furnished me himself, may be interesting at this stage.

His Excellency Don Pedro Alejandro Paterno belongs to the class of Filipinos—the Chinese half-caste—remarkable in this Colony for that comparative intellectual activity of which Don Pedro himself is one of the brightest living examples. In the early decades of last century a Chinaman, called Molo, carried on a prosperous trade in the Calle del Rosario, in the Manila district of Binondo. His Philippine wife, whose family name was Yamson, carried in her veins the “blue blood,” as we should say in Europe, of Luzonia. She was the direct descendant of the Great Maguinoó, or Prince of Luzon, a title hereditary, according to tradition. Three sons were the issue of this marriage, one of whom, Maximino Molo, was the father of Pedro. Averse to indolent pleasure during his fatherʼs lifetime, Maximino, with his own scant but independent resources, started active life with a canoe and a barge, conveying goods out as far as Corregidor Island to secure the first dealings with the ships entering the port. In this traffic he made money so fast that he opened an office, and subsequently a store of his own, in the Escolta. His transactions attained large proportions, and by the time this kind of trade in the bay became obsolete, he was already one of the most respected middlemen operating between the foreign houses and provincial producers. His Christian name was abbreviated to Máximo; and so proverbial were his placidity and solicitude for others that his friends affectionately nicknamed him Paterno (paternal), which henceforth became the adopted cognomen of the family. His unbounded generosity won for him the admiration of all his race, who graciously recognized him as their Maguinoó. Sympathetic in the ambitions and in the distress of his own people, he was, nevertheless, always loyal to Spanish authority; but whether his fortune awakened Spanish cupidity, or his influence with the masses excited the friarsʼ jealousy, the fact is that in 1872 he was banished to the Ladrone Islands, accused of having taken part in the rising of Cavite. Ten years afterwards he was again in Manila, where I had the pleasure of his acquaintance, and on his decease, which took place July 26, 1900, he left considerable wealth.

Born in 1857, Pedro A. Paterno, at the early age of 14 years, was sent for his education to Spain, where he resided 11 years. The preparatory period over, he entered the University of Salamanca, and later on that of Madrid, where, under the protection and tutelage of the Marquis de Heredia, he was introduced into aristocratic circles, in which he became a great favourite. Amongst his college companions was the Marquis de Mina. At one time it was proposed that he should wed the daughter of the Marchioness de Montolibar, a suggestion which he disregarded because his heart already inclined towards the Filipina who is now his wife.

His assistance to the Home Government was of no mean importance. In 1882 he supported the abolition of the Government Tobacco Monopoly. In 1893 he again rendered valuable service to the State, in consideration of which he was awarded the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic, with the distinction of “Excellency.” In 1895 the oft-discussed question of the title of nobility he was to receive was revived. After the Peace of Biac-na-bató he fully expected that the usual Spanish custom would have been followed of conceding a title to the Peacemaker. The precedents for such an act, in modern times, are the titles given to Manuel Godoy (1795) and to General Espartero[16] (1840), who became respectively Prince of Peace and Prince of Vergara for similar services rendered to the Crown. A dukedom, Paterno believes, would have been his reward if the revolution had definitely terminated with the retirement of Emilio Aguinaldo from the Islands in 1897.

A man of versatile gifts, Pedro A. Paterno has made his mark in literature with works too numerous to mention; he is a fluent orator, a talented musician, and the composer of the argument of an opera, Sangdugong Panaguinip (“The Dreamed Alliance”). As a brilliant conversationalist and well-versed political economist he has few rivals in his country. A lover of the picturesque and of a nature inclined to revel in scenes of aesthetic splendour, his dream of one day wearing a coronet was nurtured by no vulgar veneration for aristocracy, but by a desire for a recognized social position enabling him, by his prestige, to draw his fellow-men from the sordid pleasure of mere wealth-accumulation towards the sentimental, imaginative ideals of true nobility. In 1904 Pedro A. Paterno was the editor and proprietor of the newspaper La Patria, the mission of which was (1) to support the American dominion as a fait accompli, (2) to urge the fulfilment of the promise of eventual Philippine home rule, (3) to sustain a feeling of gratitude towards Spain, whence the Filipinos derived their civilization, and (4) to support Roman Catholic unity, on the ground that unity is strength.

In the second week of April, 1898, General Primo de Rivera left Manila for Spain, on the arrival of his successor in the Captain-Generalcy, General Basilio Augusti, in the s.s. Isla de Mindanao.[17] Some days before General Primo de Riveraʼs departure the American Consul at Manila had received despatches from his Government to prepare to quit the Islands, as war was imminent between Spain and the United States. He was further instructed to hand over his consulate archives to the British Consul, who would take charge of American interests. But without the concurrence of the Spanish authorities no official transfer could be made from one consulate to the other, and the General professed ignorance of the existing relations between his country and America. He cabled to Madrid for information, but managed to delay matters until his successor assumed office, when the transfer was duly made. Consul Oscar F. Williams was in no way molested. He passed to and fro in the city without the least insult being offered him by any Spaniard. The Gov.-General courteously proposed to send a large bodyguard to his consulate, but it was not necessary. Yet, as soon as Consul Williams closed his office and went on board the s.s. Esmeralda, the American Consulate escutcheon was painted out, and the notice boards outside the doors were kicked about the streets.

General Primo de Rivera was so well aware of the strained relations between Spain and America, that the s.s. Leon XIII., in which he travelled from Manila to Barcelona, was armed as a cruiser, with two 4-inch Hontoria guns mounted aft of the funnel and two Nordenfeldts in the bows. This steamer, crowded with refugee Spanish families, some of whom slept on the saloon floors, made its first stoppage at Singapore on April 17. At the next port of call General Primo de Rivera learnt that the United States of America had presented an ultimatum to his Government. Before he reached Barcelona, in the third week of May, war between the two countries had already broken out (April 23, 1898). There were riots in Madrid; martial law was proclaimed; the Parliamentary Session was suspended; a strict censorship of the press was established; the great disaster to Spanish arms in Philippine waters had taken place; the Prime Minister Sagasta had intimated his willingness to resign, and Primo de Rivera entered Madrid when it was too late to save the Philippine Islands for Spain, even had the rebel version of the implied reforms under the alleged Treaty of Biac-na-bató been fulfilled to the letter.

The leaders of the principal political parties were hastily summoned to the palace to consult separately with the Queen-Regent on the situation, and they were unanimously of opinion that the Prime Minister who had accepted war should carry them through the crisis. Spain was apparently more concerned about the salvation of the Antilles than of her Far Eastern Colony.

The friars, fully alive to their moral responsibility towards the nation for the loss of the Philippines, were, nevertheless, desirous of finding a champion of their cause in the political arena, and Deputy Uria was willing to accept this onerous task. The Bishop-elect of Porto Rico (an Austin friar) was a fellow-passenger with General Primo de Rivera. According to El Liberal of June 3, 1898, when he arrived in Madrid he went with the Procurator of his Order to interview the Colonial Minister, Señor Romero Girón, on the prospects of Deputy Uriaʼs proposed debate when Congress should meet again. The Minister pointed out to them the attendant difficulties, and referred them to the Prime Minister. They immediately went to Señor Sagastaʼs residence, where they were promptly given to understand that if any one could be found to defend them, there might well be others who would oppose them, so their champion withdrew.

When, months later, Parliament was re-opened, the Minister of War denied in Congress that the Treaty of Biac-na-bató had ever existed,[18] and in support of his contention he cited a cablegram which the Gov.-General Primo de Rivera is alleged to have sent to the Prime Minister Sagasta. It was published in the Gaceta de Madrid of December 16, 1897, and reads as follows:—

(Translation)

MANILA, 12th of December, 1897

To the President of the Council of Ministers, from the Governor-General

At the expiration of the time allowed and announced in the Gazette of November 28, after which rigorous and active war measures would be taken against the rebels, a deputation from the enemy came to me on behalf of the brothers Aguinaldo, Llaneras, and the so-called Republican Government, offering to surrender themselves, their followers, and their arms, on the sole conditions of their lives being spared and that they should receive means with which to emigrate. It appears to me, and to the general officers of this army, that this surrender is the result of the successive combats by which we have held the positions taken in Mórong, Paray, Minuyan, and Arayat, and the enthusiasm displayed by the resolute volunteers in the provinces outside Tagálog sphere. I feel sure of being able to take Biac-na-bató, as well as all the other points occupied by the rebels, but I am not so certain of being able to secure the persons of the chiefs of the rebellion with their followers. The war would then be carried on by roving parties who, from their hiding-places in the forests and mountains, might appear from time to time, and although of little importance, they would sustain the rebellion.

The generals agree with me that the peace will save the honour of Spain and the army, but in view of the importance of the event I consider it necessary to solicit the approval of the Government.

If the Government should accept the proposals, I will bring them to an issue at once, but I so far distrust them that I cannot be sure of anything until I have the men and the arms in my possession. In any case, it is now the unanimous opinion that the situation is saved.

PRIMO DE RIVERA. (Translation of reply)

MADRID, 13th of December, 1897

President of the Council of Ministers to the Governor-General,

Manila

Colonial Ministry Code. H.M. the Queen has perused with great satisfaction your Excellencyʼs telegram, and commands me to congratulate you in the name of the nation. In view of the opinion of your Excellency and the generals under your orders that the honour of the army is saved, the Government fully authorizes your Excellency to accept the surrender of the rebel chiefs and their Government on the terms specified in your telegram. Please advise the surrender as soon as possible in order to give due and solemn publicity to the event. Receive my sincere congratulations and those of the Government.

SAGASTA.

At the period of the above despatches the Peninsular and the Insular authorities were living in a foolʼs paradise with respect to Philippine affairs. Had it been officially admitted that those reforms which the clerical party so persistently opposed, but which the home legislators were willing to concede, had been granted to the rebels as a condition of peace, “the honour of the army” would have suffered in Spanish public opinion. Hence, the Spaniardsʼ conception of national dignity imposed on the Government the necessity of representing the rebel chiefs as repentant, begging for their lives, and craving the means of existence in exile as the result of Spanish military valour.

But abroad, where the ministerial denial, mentioned on p. 414, was published by the foreign press, Aguinaldo was universally spoken of as having been “bought off.”

A wiser government would have learnt a lesson from a sixteen-monthsʼ rebellion and have afterwards removed its causes, if only to ensure the mother countryʼs sovereignty. The probability of the Filipinos being able to subvert Spanish rule by their own unaided efforts was indeed remote, but a review of Spanish colonial history ought to have suggested to the legislators that that extraneous assistance to sedition which promoted emancipation in the former Spanish-American territories might one day be extended to the Filipinos.

The publication of the above documents, however, did little to calm the anger of the Madrid politicians who maintained that Spanish dominion in the Philippines could only be peacefully assured by a certain measure of reform in consonance with the nativesʼ aspirations.

Months afterwards, when Spanish sovereignty in the Archipelago was drawing to a close, the Conde de las Almenas opened a furious debate in the Senate, charging all the Colonial Govs.-General with incompetency, but its only immediate effect was to widen the breach between political parties.

[1] The Katipunan League and Freemasonry were not identical institutions. There were many Freemasons who were leaguers, but not because they were Freemasons, as also there were thousands of leaguers who knew nothing of Freemasonry. There is little doubt that Freemasonry suggested the bare idea of that other secret society called Katipunan, whose signs and symbols were of masonic design, but whose aims were totally different. It is probable, too, that the liberty which Freemasons enjoyed to meet in secret session was taken advantage of by the leaguers. There were risings in the Islands long before the introduction of Freemasonry. This secret society was introduced into the Colony a little before the year 1850. In 1893 the first lodges of the Spanish Grand Orient were opened, and there were never more than 16 lodges of this Order up to the evacuation by the Spaniards. Each lodge had about 30 members, or, say, a total of 500. The Spanish deputy, Dr. Miguel Morayta, in his speech in the Spanish Congress in April, 1904, stated that General Ramon Blancoʼs reply to Father Mariano Gil (the discoverer of the Katipunan) was that the identity of Freemasonry with Katipunan “existed only in the brains of the friars and fanatical Spaniards.”

[2] By intermarriage and blood relationship Don Pedro P. Rojas is allied with several of the best Manila families. His grandfather, Don Domingo Rojas, a prominent citizen in his time, having become a victim of intrigue, was confined in the Fortress of Santiago, under sentence of death. The day prior to that fixed for his execution, he was visited by a friend, and the next morning when the executioner entered his cell, Don Domingo was found in a dying condition, apparently from the effect of poison. Don Domingo had a son José and a daughter Marguerita. On their fatherʼs death, they and Joséʼs son, the present Don Pedro P. Rojas, went to Spain, where Doña Marguerita espoused a Spaniard, Don Antonio de Ayala, and Don José obtained from the Spanish Government a declaration stating that whereas Don Domingo had been unjustly condemned to capital punishment, the Gov.-General was ordered to refund, out of his own pocket, to the Rojas family the costs of the trial. The Rojas and Ayala families then returned to the Philippines, where Don Antonio de Ayala made a considerable fortune in business and had two daughters, one of whom, Doña Cármen, married Don Pedro P. Rojas, and the other wedded Don Jacobo Zobel, an apothecary of large means and of German descent. Don Pedro P. Rojas, who was born in 1848, has two sons and two daughters. The three families belonged to the élite of Manila society, whilst the Rojas and the Ayalas acquired a just reputation both for their enterprising spirit, which largely benefited the Colony, and for their charitable philanthropy towards all classes.

[3] Aguinaldo is the Spanish for Christmas-box.

[4] Part of a conversation which I had with Emilio Aguinaldo at his house at Cauit (Cavite Viejo) on July 26, 1904.

[5] Cauit signifies, in Tagálog, Fish-hook.

[6] Sun͠gay signifies, in Tagálog, Deer.

[7] IMUS. The history of this place is interesting. In the 18th century a banished Spaniard of distinguished family settled there and supplied water to the natives for irrigation purposes. Some years afterwards, on the death of his wife, this gentleman returned to Spain and left the place in charge of a friar, Francisco de Santiago. As the owner never claimed the property, it fell definitely into the possession of the friars. A church was erected there at the peopleʼs expense. Later on the friar in charge extorted from the natives material and labour, without payment, for the building of a manor-house, but he was poisoned soon after it was finished. His successor was still bolder, and allowed escaped criminals to take sanctuary in his church to show his superiority to the civil law. After innumerable disputes and troubles with the natives, it developed into a fine property, comprising 27,500 acres of arable land, which the Recoletos claimed as theirs and rented it out to the natives. Its possession was the cause of the important risings of Páran and Camerino (vide pp. 105, 106) and many other minor disturbances.

[8] “Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas,” por el Dr. Antonio de Morga, anotada por José Rizal. Published in Paris by Garnier frères, 1890.

[9] “El Filibusterismo (continuacion del ‘Noli me tángere’).” Published in Ghent by F. Meyer-Van Loo, 1891.

[10] Father Mariano Gil died in Spain in the spring of 1904.

[11] Rizalʼs brother and sister were keeping (in 1904) the “Dimas Alang” restaurant, 62, Calle Sacristia, Binondo (Manila). It is so named after the pseudonym under which their distinguished brother often wrote patriotic articles.

One of the ten annual official holidays, or feast days, appointed by the Civil Commission is “Rizal Day,” December 30.

The ₱2 banknote of the new Philippine currency bears a vignette of Dr. Rizal.

The Manila Province of Spanish times is now called Rizal Province and with it is incorporated what was formerly the Mórong District. Probably one-third of the towns of the colony have either a Plaza de Rizal, or a Calle de Rizal; it is about as general as the Piazza di Vittorio Emanuele throughout Italy.

A public subscription was open for about three years to defray the cost of a Rizal monument to be erected on the Luneta Esplanade (Ins. Gov. Act No. 243). By March 7, 1905, a total of ₱103,753.89 had been collected, including the sum of ₱30,000 voted by the Insular Government.

One is led to wonder what róle in Philippine affairs Rizal would have assumed had he outlived the rebellion.

[12] It is alleged that this copy was removed from the archives about April, 1898, for the defence of a certain general in Madrid.

[13] Biac-na-bató signifies, in Tagalog, Split Stone.

This was the third time, during the 19th century, that the Spanish Gov.-General had been constrained to conclude a treaty with native rebels. In 1835 a certain Feliciano Paran raised the standard of revolt against the friarsʼ claim to the Imus estate (Cavite), and after many fruitless attempts to suppress him, and much bloodshed, the Treaty of Malacañan was signed by the rebel chief and the Gov.-General. Paran was then appointed Colonel of Militia with the monthly pay of ₱50. He lived peacefully in Calle San Marcelino, Manila, until a fresh outbreak (led by another) occurred, when the Spaniards made this a pretext to seize Paran and deport him to the Ladrone Islands (vide p. 105).

In 1870, during the command of General La Torre, a certain Camerino held the Province of Cavite for a long time against the Spaniards. Camerinoʼs plan was to remain in ambush whilst the rank-and-file of the Spaniards advanced, and then pick off the officers. So many of them were killed that influence was brought to bear on the General, who consented to sign the Treaty of Navotas. Camerino was appointed Colonel of Militia and lived in Trozo (Manila) until the Cavite rising in 1872, when he and six others were executed for their past deeds (vide p. 106).

[14] The original of the above document was read in public session of Congress in Madrid, on June 16, 1898, by the Deputy Señor Muro.

[15] Vide Pedro A. Paternoʼs allusion to this at p. 399.

[16] Manuel Godoy, of obscure family, was originally a common soldier in the Guards. He became field-marshal, Duke of Alcudía, Grandee of Spain, Councillor of State, and Cavalier of the Golden Fleece. For his intervention in the Peace of Basilea he received the title of Principe de la Paz. Baldomero Espartero was a successful general, who brought the first Carlist war to a close and concluded the Treaty of Vergara (1839), for which (in 1840) he was granted the titles of Duque de la Victoria and Principe de Vergara.

[17] This steamer came into Manila flying the French ensign, and painted to resemble one of the Russian Volunteer Fleet, to avoid capture on the way.

[18] The precise terms of the treaty or agreement made between the representative of the Philippine Government and the rebel chiefs are hitherto enveloped in mystery; but even though all the personal testimony referred to in this chapter were impugned, there is convincing circumstantial evidence that Emilio Aguinaldo and his followers received a very considerable amount of money from the Philippine Treasury conditionally. In the Suit No. 6 of 1899 in the Supreme Court of Hong-Kong, T. Sandico and others versus R. Wildman (all the original filed documents of which I have examined), sworn evidence was given to show that $200,000 Mexican of the sum received by Aguinaldo was deposited in his name in the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China. It is not feasible to suppose that this sum was paid to or accepted by Aguinaldo unconditionally.

The Tagálog Rebellion of 1896–98

Second Period

American Intervention

The prelude to the American occupation of Manila was the demand made on Spain by the Government of the United States of America to evacuate the Island of Cuba.

Generations of Spanish misrule in that Island had produced a recurrence of the many attempts to throw off the sovereignty of Spain. In February, 1895, the flag of insurrection was again unfurled, and at Baira a proclamation, claiming independence, was issued at the instance of one of Cubaʼs most intelligent patriots—Marti. This civil leader, however, died a natural death a few months afterwards, but the chief command of the insurgents in the field was continued by the mulatto Antonio Maceo. The rebellion was assuming a serious aspect when General Martinez Campos, who had been instrumental in duping the Cubans in 1878 by the Treaty of Zanjón, was again sent out as Captain-General of the Island. But the Cubans refused to be caught a second time in the same trap. Martinez Camposʼ theme of “political action combined with military force” held no weight. During his mild régime the insurrection increased rapidly, and in one encounter he himself was very near falling a prisoner. In eight months he was relieved of his post, and General Weyler, Marquis de Teneriffe, who had a reputation for severity, succeeded him in command. He was a man of the Duke of Alba type—the ideal of the traditional Spanish Colonial party who recognized no colonistsʼ rights, and regarded concessions of liberty to the colonies as maternal dispensations to be hoped for only, but never demanded. Antonio Cánovas, the ultra-Conservative Prime Minister, had declared that so long as an armed rebel remained in the field he would not grant reforms, so the prospect of a settlement of the disputes between the Government and the governed was hopeless during that administration. The duration of the civil war had seriously prejudiced American trade interests; the pursuance of a conflict under the conditions imposed by General Weyler, who caused all non-combatant Islanders to be “concentrated” in places where they were left to starve, aroused the just indignation of America and Europe alike. The hand of the assassin brought the Cánovas Ministry to an end on August 8, 1897; General Weyler was recalled six weeks later, and the United States Government, which had so repeatedly protested against the indefinite and wanton waste of lives and fortune in Cuba, dictated to Spain a limit to its continuance. After a Conservative interregnum of six weeks under the leadership of General Marcelo Azárraga, Práxedes Sagasta came into power at the head of a Liberal ministry and with a Cuban autonomy bill in his portfolio. The newly-appointed Gov.-General, Ramon Blanco, Marquis de Peña Plata, ex-Gov.-General of the Philippines (vide p. 377)—a more noble and compassionate man than his predecessor—unsuccessfully essayed the policy of coercing the rebels in arms whilst cajoling peaceful autonomists and separatists with the long-talked-of self-government. Nevertheless, the separatist movement had in no way abated when the Autonomy Bill was promulgated, and an insular Cuban Government was formed on January 1, 1898. In the meantime the incident of the blowing-up of the American warship Maine, the cause of which has not yet been made clear to the satisfaction of the world, had further incensed the war party in the United States.[1] Autonomy had come too late; examined in detail it was but another form of Spanish dominion, open to almost similar abuses; it was not the will of the people, and it failed to bring peace. The thousands “concentrated” under Weylerʼs rule still formed a moribund mass of squalid misery which Spain was still unable or unwilling to relieve. Americaʼs offer to alleviate their wretchedness materially was received with suspicion, hemmed in with conditions, and not openly rejected for the want of physical power to do so. Three months of insular government and over 200,000 Spanish troops had effected practically nothing; the prospect of peace was hopeless, and the United States of America formally called upon Spain to evacuate the Island. Spain argued the point; America insisted on the course dictated, and sent an ultimatum to Madrid on April 20, 1898, to be accepted or otherwise within three days. The ministers Polo de Bernabé and General Woodford withdrew from Washington and Madrid respectively, and war broke out between the United States and Spain on Saturday, April 23, 1898.

In anticipation of hostilities an American fleet had concentrated at Hong-Kong. On April 23 Major-General Black, the officer administering the Colony, issued a proclamation of neutrality, and Commodore Dewey withdrew his fleet from British waters to Mirs Bay,[2] at that time within Chinese jurisdiction.

It was known in Manila that the hostile squadron was on the way to the Philippine capital. Submarine mines were laid, or said to have been laid, for some old cable was purchased for the purpose from the telegraph-ship Sherard Osborn when the submarine cable was removed from Bolinao and carried on to Manila. Admiral Patricio Montojo went with four ships to await the arrival of the enemy off Subig (Zambales) on the west coast of Luzon. Subig is a fine natural harbour, but with precipitous shores just as Nature has made it. For years the “project” had existed to carry a State railway there from Manila, and make Subig the principal Government Naval Station and Arsenal instead of Cavite. But personal interests and the sloth of the Government combined to frustrate the plan. Under the pressing circumstances the military authorities pretended to be doing something there, and sent up a commission. Admiral Montojo expected to find batteries of artillery mounted and 14 torpedoes in readiness, but absolutely nothing had been done, so he at once returned to Manila Bay, and prepared to meet the adversary off Cavite. In Cavite there were two batteries, with three guns between them, but at the last moment two defective guns were put ashore there from the Don Juan de Austria and two similar pieces from the Castilla.

In Hong-Kong there was great agitation among the members of the Philippine Patriotic League (Junta Patriotica) and the rebel chiefs exiled under the alleged Treaty of Biac-na-bató. The League had presented to several European Governments, through its own agents, a sort of Memorandum, to which no official recognition could be given. The leaguers were now anxious to co-operate with the Americans in compelling the Spaniards to evacuate the Archipelago. An influential American in Hong-Kong accepted the honorary post of treasurer of the Patriotic League Fund, but quarrels over the spoil resulted in General Aguinaldo being obliged by one of his ex-ministers to pay him his share, amounting to several thousands of Mexican dollars. Under these circumstances General Aguinaldo and his suite proceeded to Singapore, travelling incognito, so as to avoid any undue interference, and Aguinaldo took the opportunity to explain in certain official quarters the existing conditions in the Philippines. The rebel general opportunely arrived in Singapore at or about the time of the outbreak of American-Spanish hostilities. Certain American authorities in the Far East were desirous of utilizing Aguinaldoʼs services and prestige with the armed natives to control them and prevent reprisals when the American forces should appear before Manila. It was hoped that, in this way, the lives of many Spaniards in the Islands would be spared. Indeed, it eventually resulted so, for Aguinaldo, with admirable tact, restrained any impolitic movement on the part of his followers during the American operations against the Spaniards. Only one who had lived in the Islands could adequately appreciate the unbounded confidence some 20,000 armed natives must have had in Aguinaldo to have refrained, at his bidding, from retaliating on their old masters. According to El Liberal newspaper of Madrid, dated June 28, 1898 (which quotes from El Dia), the aspirations of the Revolutionary Party would appear to have been, at that date, as follows, viz.:—

1. Philippine Independence to be proclaimed.

2. A Federal Republic to be established by vote of the rebels; pending the taking of this vote Aguinaldo was to appoint the members of that Government.

3. The Federal Republic to recognize a temporary intervention of American and European Administrative Commissions.

4. An American Protectorate to be recognized on the same terms as those fixed for Cuba.

5. Philippine ports to be opened to all the world.

6. Precautionary measures to be adopted against the influx of Chinese.

7. The existing judicial system to be reformed.

8. Liberty of the press and right of assembly to be proclaimed.

9. Ample tolerance of all religions and sects, but abolition and expulsion of all monastic Orders.

10. Measures to be adopted for working up the natural resources of the Archipelago.

11. The wealth of the country to be developed by the construction of highroads and railways.

12. The obstacles operating against the development of enterprises and employment of foreign capital to be removed.

13. The new Government to preserve public order and check all reprisals against the Spaniards.

14. Spanish officials to be transported to another safe and healthy island until there should be an opportunity for their return to Spain.

From Singapore, General Emilio Aguinaldo returned with his suite to Hong-Kong, where instructions had been given apparently favouring his plans for co-operation in the Islands. Consequent on this, General Aguinaldo and his staff made preparations for proceeding to Manila in an American warship when it should be deemed opportune to do so. About the same time the Philippine Patriotic League issued a proclamation which is too long to reproduce here, as it covers eight folios of print. This document sets forth that whereas the Treaty of Biac-na-bató had not been fulfilled by the Spanish Government, the Revolutionists considered themselves absolved therefrom, and morally free again to take the offensive in open warfare for the security of their rights and liberty. But this document does not quote any of the text of the above alleged treaty. Proclamations and exhortations to the rebels were issued with such frequency that it would be tedious to cite them all, but the following is a fair example:—

(Translation of Full Text)

PHILIPPINE PATRIOTS:—

A nation which has nothing good can give nothing. It is evident we cannot depend on Spain to obtain the welfare we all desire. A country like Spain, where social evolution is at the mercy of monks and tyrants, can only communicate to us its own instincts of calumny, infamy, inquisitorial proceedings, avarice, secret police, false pretences, humiliation, deprivation of liberties, slavery, and moral and material decay which characterize its history. Spain will need much time to shake off the parasites which have grown upon and cling to her; she has no self-dependence so long as her nationality is composed of inquisitorial monks, ambitious soldiers, demoralized civil servants, and a populace bred to support this state of things in silence. It is therefore useless to expect anything from Spain.

During three and a half centuries Spainʼs policy has been a delusion. Is there a conflict between Spain and England or Holland? Then the friars come and relate to us preposterous absurdities of the miracles of Saint Francis and of the Image of the Virgin of the Rosary, whilst Simon de Anda calls the Pampango natives his brothers so long as they fight to save the Spanish flag falling into the hands of English or Dutch savages! Is the foreign invasion ended? Then the friars, through their salaried agents in the press, reward us with epithets such as monkey, buffalo, etc. Is there another conflict imminent between Germany and Spain? Then the friars call the natives Spaniards and the military officers own us as their sons and they dub us brave soldiers. Is the conflict finished? Then we are again overgrown boys, beings of inferior race and incapable of being civilized. Is there now to be a struggle with Americans? Then General Augusti, who is the living symbol of Spanish authority, who ought to be the most prudent of the prudent, the most cultivated of the cultivated, points at America as a nation composed of all social excrescences; the friars and their enslaved Spaniards want again to cajole and cheat us with offers of participation in public affairs, recognition of the military grades of ex-rebel chiefs, and other twaddle degrading to those who would listen to it. In fact, they have called into their councils the sons of the country, whilst they exclusively carry out their own ideas, and reserve to themselves the right to set aside all the resolutions at a stroke. They offer to enrol in their ranks the insurgents of yesterday, so that they can have them all shot on the morrow of the present difficulty. What irrision! Do you want another trick exposed? Now that Spain is in danger of losing the Philippines, the executioners of the other day—the everlasting tyrants—tell us that America will sell the Islands to England. No, America has its past and its present. America will preserve a clear intelligence; she is not dominated by friars and tyrants like Spain; she is liberal; she has liberated her slaves against the will of the Spaniards who were, for the most part, their owners. A country is known by its national character; review its past history and it is easy to understand the calumny launched against the Americans. But even though we became English, should we not gain by it? The English have conceded self-government to many of their colonies, and not of the frail delusive sort that Spain granted to Cuba. In the English colonies there are liberties which Spain never yielded to hers in America or the Philippines.

Our country is very rich, and as a last resource we can buy it from the Americans. Do not be deceived by the Spaniards! Help the Americans, who promise us our liberty. Do not fall into the error of taking Spain to be a civilized country. Europe and America consider her the most barbarous of the century. There the weakest is the most persecuted. In no country to-day but Spain is the Inquisition tolerated. It is proved by the tortures imposed on the prisoners of Montjuich, of the Philippines, and of Cuba. Spain did not fulfil the agreement entered into with Maximo Gomez at Zanjón, nor that made with Aguinaldo at Biac-na-bató. Spain is a nation always more ready to promise than to perform. But ask for friars, soldiers, and State dependents to come and devour our wealth, and instantly you will get them. Spain has nothing else to give, and God grant she will keep what she has. Spain will flatter you under the present circumstances, but do not be deceived. Submit every fawning offer to your conscience. Remember the executions of the innocents, the tortures and atrocities which have been the means of covering with decorations the breasts of those who took the blood of your fathers, brothers, relations and friends. Providence will aid the Americans in their triumph, for the war is a just one for the nation elected to lead us to the goal of our liberty. Do not rail against the designs of Providence; it would be suicidal. Aid the Americans!

(Anonymous.)

On the other side, far richer in poetic imagination and religious fervour, is the Allocution of the Archbishop of Madrid-Alcalá published in Madrid on the day hostilities commenced. The following extract will suffice to show how the religious sentiment of the people was indirectly appealed to to convince them that Spain was defending a noble cause.

VERY BELOVED SONS:—

The cursed hunger for gold and the unquenchable thirst for power have combined to tarnish that flag which the Great Queen Isabella raised, by the hand of Columbus, in the West Indies. With justice trodden under foot, the voice of the Pope unheeded, and the intervention of the nations despised with arrogance, every road to the counsels of peace has been barred and the horrors of war have become a necessity. Let Heaven be witness that we are not the authors of this disaster, and let the responsibility before God be on that vain people whose dogma seems to be that money is the God of the world.... There, ploughing the seas, go our soldiers and our sailors. Have no fear, let no one weep, unless, indeed, it be for fear of arriving too late for the fray. Go, braves, to fight with the blessing of the Fatherland. With you goes all Spain, from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, from Irun to Tarifa. With what envy do We contemplate you weighing anchor to leave our shores! Oh! why does juvenility, or decrepitude, or duty deprive us of the joy of taking part in your enterprise? But no! with you goes our Spanish heart.... May the Immaculate Virgin, whose scapulary hangs around your necks and whose blessed image floats on your flags, protect you under her mantle in the moment of danger, deliver you from all evil, and shower blessings upon you! May Saint James, patron of Spain, and the martyr Nicodemus and Saint Telmo and Saint Raymond and the King Saint Ferdinand go before you and ever march in the vanguard wherever you may go and make you invulnerable to the bullets of the enemy, so that you may return victorious to tread once more this noble soil and kiss the cheek of the weeping mother who bore you!... We, who cannot go to take part in the battles, will hold and brandish the arms of prayer, like Moses who prayed on the mountain, whilst Joshua slew his ferocious enemies in the valley.... God has triumph in His hand and will give it to whom He pleases. He gave it to Spain in Covadonga, in Las Navas, in El Salado, in the river of Seville, on the plain of Granada, and in a thousand battles which overflow the pages of history. O Lord, give it us now! Let the nations see that against the right of might there is the might of right!

To all beloved sons, from our heart We have pleasure in sending you our pastoral benediction, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Given in our palace in Madrid on the 23rd of April, 1898.

JOSÉ MA

Archbishop-bishop of Madrid-Alcalá.

This Allocution calls to mind Spainʼs last struggle with Mexico. Was it a battle of the saints? The Spaniards relied on Santa Isabel; the Mexicans appealed to Santa Guadalupe, and the latter came out victorious.

In Manila, as the critical day approached, Gov.-General Augusti issued his general order as to special military service and his proclamation to the Philippine people. The latter is couched in vituperative and erroneously prophetic language, but both can be better appreciated from the following translated texts:—

SPECIAL MILITARY SERVICE

Whereas it is necessary to adopt every possible means for the defence of this territory and to render assistance to the army and the fleet in the approaching operations against the United States of North America, I order:

1. It is hereby declared that a state of war exists.

2. All public functionaries of the State and the municipalities, not exceeding 50 years of age and not physically unfit, are obliged to take up arms in defence of the country and serve whenever they are required. They will proceed, at once, to their offices and lodge their names and serve under their present chiefs.

3. All Spaniards and sons of Spaniards (although not born in the Peninsula) above the age of 20 and not more than 50, living in the Provinces, are also hereby required to take up arms.

4. All those not comprised in the foregoing are at liberty to serve as Volunteers.

(a) All native Spaniards who are not employed in the public offices.

(b) All those who are under 20 and more than 50 years of age, and who are strong enough to endure the fatigue of a campaign.

(c) All foreigners (except North Americans) who are domiciled in Manila or in the capitals of the Provinces.

5. The General Sub-Inspector will organize these Volunteers, and distribute them as required for defensive purposes.

6. Public functionaries will receive their orders for military service from their respective administrative chiefs.

7. From this date no one capable of bearing arms is allowed to leave these Islands. This prohibition does not apply to those who are seriously ill.

PROCLAMATION

SPANIARDS:—

Between Spain and the United States of North America hostilities have broken out.

The moment has arrived to prove to the world that we possess the spirit to conquer those who, pretending to be loyal friends, take advantage of our misfortunes and abuse our hospitality, using means which civilized nations consider unworthy and disreputable.

The North American people, composed of all the social excrescences, have exhausted our patience and provoked war with their perfidious machinations, with their acts of treachery, with their outrages against the law of nations and international treaties.

The struggle will be short and decisive. The God of Victories will give us one as brilliant and complete as the righteousness and justice of our cause demand. Spain, which counts upon the sympathies of all the nations, will emerge triumphantly from this new test, humiliating and blasting the adventurers from those States that, without cohesion and without a history, offer to humanity only infamous traditions and the sorry spectacle of Chambers in which appear united insolence and defamation, cowardice and cynicism.

A squadron manned by foreigners, possessing neither instruction nor discipline, is preparing to come to this Archipelago with the blackguardly intention of robbing us of all that means life, honour, and liberty. Pretending to be inspired by a courage of which they are incapable, the North American seamen undertake as an enterprise capable of realization the substitution of Protestanism for the Catholic religion you profess, to treat you as tribes refractory to civilization, to take possession of your riches as if they were unacquainted with the rights of property, and to kidnap those persons whom they consider useful to man their ships or to be serviceable in agricultural or industrial labour.

Vain designs! Ridiculous boastings!

Your indomitable bravery will suffice to frustrate the attempt to carry out their plans. You will not allow the faith you profess to be made a mockery of, with impious hands placed on the temple of the true God, the images you adore to be thrown down by unbelief. The aggressors shall not profane the tombs of your fathers, they shall not gratify their lustful passions at the cost of your wivesʼ and daughtersʼ honour, or appropriate the property that your industry has accumulated as a provision for your old age. No, they shall not perpetrate any of the crimes inspired by their wickedness and covetousness, because your valour and your patriotism will suffice to punish and abase the people who, claiming to be civilized and polished, have exterminated the natives of North America instead of bringing to them the life of civilization and of progress.

Filipinos, prepare for the struggle, and united under the glorious Spanish banner, which is ever bedecked with laurels, let us fight with the conviction that victory will reward our efforts; against the shouts of our enemies let us resist with Christian decision and the patriotic cry of “Viva España!

MANILA, 23rd of April, 1898.

Your General,

BASILIO AUGUSTI Y DAVILA.

The volunteers and guerilla battalions which had been so recently disbanded by General Primo de Rivera, because they terrorized the peaceful inhabitants, were now publicly thanked and praised for their past services and called upon again to serve their country. The Mayor of Manila issued his own proclamation, exhorting the inhabitants to help the Spaniards against the Americans. Archbishop Nozaleda also made his appeal to the people, assuring them that four Spanish battleships were on their way out (although, as a matter of fact, only one existed, namely, the Pelayo 8,500 tons, built in 1887), and that from direct communication with the Almighty he had learnt that the most Christian Spain would be victorious in the next engagement.

There was a general stampede of those who could get away; numbers of families fled up the Pasig River towards the Lake of Bay. The approaches to Manila from the north were held by the rebels; Cavite Province threw off the cloak of pacification and sent fresh levies to invest the highroads leading from the south to the capital. General Augustiʼs wife and children, who had been conducted for safety to Macabebe (Lower Pampanga), were kidnapped by the rebels. All Americans (about 25), except one family, took refuge on board foreign ships in the bay. The one exception was a Mr. Johnson, who had been travelling through the Islands with a cinematograph show, and he refused to remove his wife, who had just given birth. The well-known s.s. Esmeralda took on board a crowd of passengers for Hong-Kong at fancy rates of passage. Refugees offered as much as four times the usual passage-money for a saloon berth, and deck-passengers were willing to pay three times the normal rate. The Chinese were leaving the Islands by hundreds by any available opportunity, for they had just as much to fear from the loyal as the rebel faction. The rich Chinese were robbed and the labouring class were pressed into service fit for beasts of burden. Despised by the Spaniards and hated by the natives, their lives were not safe anywhere. Foreign families of neutral nationality sought more tranquil asylum far beyond the suburbs or on ships lying in the harbour. Two days before the Americans arrived a native regiment was suspected of disaffection. The Spanish officers therefore picked out six corporals and shot them forthwith, threatening to do the same on the morrow if the ringleaders were not handed over. During the night the whole regiment went over to the rebels with their rifles and accoutrements. No intelligent European foreigner entertained any doubt as to the result of the coming contest, but the general fear (which happily proved to be unfounded) was that it would be followed by an indiscriminate massacre of the Spaniards.

There were warships of several nations in the bay, and the Spanish fleet was moored off Cavite awaiting the arrival of the adversaryʼs squadron. The Spanish men-of-war, which were always painted white, had their colour changed to dark grey like the American ships. All coast lights were extinguished. The Island of Corregidor and Funta Restinga were hastily supplied with a few 6-inch guns from the Castilla. Punta Gorda, Punta Larisi, the rock El Fraile, and Caballo Island had toy batteries compared with the American armament.

The American men-of-war left Mirs Bay (opposite to Hong-Kong Island) on April 27, under the command of Commodore Dewey, and on the way made a reconnaissance at Subig, but finding no opponent there, they steamed on to Manila. With all lights put out the American ships entered the bay, passing Corregidor Island at 3 a.m. on Sunday, May 1, 1898. The Olympia, with Commodore Dewey aboard, led the way. The defenders of Corregidor Island[3] were apparently slumbering, for the Olympia had already passed when a solitary cannon-shot was heard and responded to. Then a shot or two were fired from the rock El Fraile and from the battery of Punta Sangley. The American squadron kept its course in line of battle; the Spanish ships, under the command of Admiral Montojo, who was on board the Reina Cristina, cleared for action, and the opposing fleets took up positions off the north of Cavite (vide plan of Cavite).

After an intimation of “no surrender” from the Spaniards, by a cannon-shot fired from the Fort of Santiago towards the approaching United States fleet, the American ships opened fire, to which the Spanish fleet responded with a furious broadside; but being badly directed it did very little damage. The Don Antonio de Ulloa discharged a broadside at the enemyʼs ships with almost no effect, and simultaneously the drums were beaten, whilst the officers and crews shouted “Long live the King, Queen, and Spain!” Firing on both sides then became general. The well-aimed shots of the Americans were beginning to tell forcibly against the Spaniards. The Don Juan de Austria advanced towards the Olympia and was met with a shower of shot and shell, obliging her to turn back. The Reina Cristina, seeing the failure of the Don Juan de Austria, steamed full-speed towards the Olympia, intending to engage her at short range, but a perfect hurricane of projectiles from the Olympia made her retreat with her decks strewn with the dead and dying. The Baltimore had one gun put out of action by the Hontoria guns of Punta Sangley, whilst half a dozen men were slightly injured. The Boston also was slightly damaged, but further than that the American ships suffered little or nothing. By 7.30 a.m. the Spanish flagship Reina Cristina was in flames, so a boat was lowered to transfer the Admiral and his staff to the Isla de Cuba. The captain of the Reina Cristina, Don Luis Cadarso, although mortally wounded, heroically commanded his men up to the moment of death. By 8 a.m. the Spanish ships were decidedly crippled, and the American squadron withdrew to another part of the bay, where, behind a number of foreign war and merchant ships, they had left two supply transports, from which they took fresh ammunition. Meantime the little Spanish gunboats General Lezo, Marqués del Duero, Manila, Velasco, and Argos, which were quite unfit for action, ran ashore at Cavite Viejo. The three shore-batteries of Fort Santiago, the Luneta battlement, and Fort San Antonio Abad (Malate) respectively continued ineffectual firing towards the American fleet until the Commodore sent a message telling them to cease fire or he would shell the city. At 11 a.m. the Americans returned in line of battle, and opened fire on the Spanish ships which still had their flags flying, and cannonaded and silenced the forts at Punta Sangley and Cañacao. These operations lasted about one hour. Of the Spanish ships the Castillo, and Reina Cristina were burnt; the Don Juan de Austria was blown up, and the Don Antonio de Ulloa, pierced all over with shot, sank after the action, and about half of her crew which had survived the battle were drowned. Only the two cruisers Isla de Cuba and Isla de Luzon remained in fighting condition, but the position was so hopeless that Admiral Montojo ordered them to run aground in the Bay of Bacoor.

The Americans then opened fire on the Arsenal and Fort of Cavite, which had not a single gun left in place. Soon a Spanish officer, named Lostoa, signalled for a truce to save the women, children, and wounded. An American officer met him and replied that having destroyed the fleet the American mission was ended for the present, and agreed to suspend firing provided the shore-batteries at the river-mouth were silent. General Augusti was consulted as to this condition, and agreed to it. The mail-steamer Isla de Mindanao was aground off Las Piñas, and being armed as a cruiser the Americans fired on her and she was soon ablaze. There was still another parley with reference to Cavite. The Americans demanded the surrender of the Arsenal, the Admiral, and the surviving crews of the destroyed fleet. As General Peña declined to surrender Cavite, the Americans gave the Spaniards two hours to evacuate, under the threat of bombarding Manila if the demand were not complied with. Again the answer was negative, and five hours were allowed so that General Peña could consult with the Captain-General. General Augusti having authorized the evacuation, in less than two hours Cavite and the whole isthmus, including San Roque, Caridad, Estanzuela, and Dalahican, were under American control. All the Spanish families returned to Manila by land. The next day (May 2) the débriswas cleared away from Cavite and the environs, and the dwellings were cleansed and put in order for indefinite military occupation.

The evacuation of Corregidor Island was demanded by the Americans, and the 100 men composing the garrison were allowed to depart in boats for Naig on the west coast of Cavite. Their commander, however, surrendered himself prisoner, and went on board the Baltimore with his family. He was at once offered (but wisely refused) his liberty, and later on he was put ashore at Balanga (Bataan).

Maj.-General Wesley Merritt

On the Spanish side the losses in men and officers amounted to about 400 killed. It was a decisive victory for the Americans; the entire Spanish fleet in Philippine waters was destroyed, excepting a few small gunboats stationed about the southern islands.[4] After a 15 monthsʼ cruise one of these—the Callao—steamed into Manila Bay on May 12 in complete ignorance of what had happened. The Americans fired a warning shot, and ordered her to lower her flag. With little hesitation she did so, in view of the immensely superior force displayed. The vessel became a prize, and the commander a prisoner of war. But he was shortly offered his liberty on parole, which he unfortunately accepted, for the Spaniards in Manila had so lost their heads that they accused him of cowardice in not having fought the whole American squadron! He was actually court-martialled and condemned to death, but afterwards reprieved.

Admiral George Dewey

The Spaniards exhibited great bravery in the battle of Cavite, and man for man they proved themselves to be in no way inferior to their opponents. Considering the wretched condition of their old-fashioned ships and armament compared with the splendid modern equipment which the Americans brought, no other result could have been expected. The American losses were seven men wounded, none killed, and only slight damage to one vessel.

Admiral Patricio Montojo

Long before sunset Admiral Montojo and his surviving officers found their way to Manila.[5] In the evening the Admiral serenely passed the hours in his suburban villa, whilst the Americans were in possession of the Port of Manila, and the stars and stripes floated over the town and arsenal of Cavite, and the forts of Cañacao and Punta Sangley. So little did the people and the ignorant Spanish priests understand how a modern military occupation was conducted that when Commodore Dewey landed his marines a deputation of friars and nuns met him to humbly crave clemency for the vanquished. The entry of the American squadron, without opposition, into the Bay of Manila, was a great surprise to the inhabitants of the capital. Whilst the women and children were driven off to the suburbs of the city and near-lying villages, male Spaniards, from the highest to the lowest—merchants, State dependents, Spanish troops, and even those native auxiliaries who still remained loyal hastened to assure the Gov.-General that “the enemy should not land in Manila without passing over their dead bodies.” Subsequent facts, however, proved these pompous vows to be merely a figure of speech. From the city walls, the terraces of houses, the church towers, and every available height, thousands of curious sightseers witnessed the brave defence and the complete defeat of the Spaniards. As the American fleet advanced in line of battle a Spanish transport was scuttled at the mouth of the Pasig River to bar the entrance. All the small steamers and sailing-craft in the river moved up as near as possible to the Puente de España. The obsolete guns on the Luneta battlement fired a few solitary shots without the least effect; the Fort of Santiago, defending the Pasig River entrance, was almost silent, although guns, said to be over a century old, had been hastily mounted there, notwithstanding the fact that the colonel, who was instructed to have the rust chipped off these ancient pieces of artillery, committed suicide in despair. Not a single torpedo had been brought into action by the Spaniards. There were several in stock at Cavite Arsenal, but, when wanted, each had an important piece missing, so they were unserviceable. About 4.30 p.m. the American ships changed their position, and moved towards Manila City. A formal demand was made on the Gov.-General Augusti to surrender the capital. The British Consul, who had received instructions to look after American interests pending hostilities, served as the medium of communication between the representatives of the conflicting parties. The Consuls had an interview with the Captain-General, who, after a brief consultation with his colleagues, gave the customary Spanish reply to the effect that he would resist to the last drop of blood in his veins. Frequent intercourse took place between the Spanish Gov.-General and the American Commodore through the intermediary of the British Consul. The same afternoon another British, another French, and another German man-of-war entered the Bay. Rear-Admiral Dewey (for he had just been promoted in rank) declared the port blockaded.

General Basilio Augusti

On May 2 he demanded to be put in possession of the telegraph-station, and on this being refused he ordered the cable connecting Luzon with Hong-Kong to be cut. The Spanish authorities had just time before this measure was taken to report the bare facts to Madrid by cable. The news produced immense consternation in the Spanish capital. The whole city was instantly in uproar. Mobs of people filled the streets, wildly denouncing the incapability of a Government which could lead them to such disaster. The newspaper offices were thronged. Special supplements were issued as quickly as possible. The cafés, clubs, and other public meeting-places were besieged. General Borbon drove out in a carriage from which he harangued the populace, and was, in consequence, sent to a fortress for three months. There was an attempt at holding a mass meeting in the Puerta del Sol, but the surging crowd started down the Calle de Sevilla and the Carrera de San Gerónimo shouting, “Long live Weyler!” “To the house of Weyler!” They reached his residence, and after a series of frantic vivas for the army, navy, etc., they called on General Weyler to appear at the balcony. But being himself in somewhat strained relations with the existing Government, he did not think it prudent to show himself. Then some one having set up the cry of “Down with the whole Government!” which was responded to with frenzied applause, the rioters set out for Sagastaʼs house, returning by the Carrera de San Gerónimo. At that moment the mounted civil guard met and charged the crowd. Many were trodden under foot, and arrests were made. The Civil Governor, Señor Aguilera, followed up in his carriage, and when the military police had dispersed the general mass, leaving only here and there a group, the Civil Governor stepped out of his carriage and addressed them. His words were hissed from the balcony of a club, and it was already past midnight when the first outburst of public indignation and despair had exhausted itself. On May 2 the Heraldo of Madrid, calmly reviewing the naval disaster, commented as follows:—

It was no caprice of the fortune of war. From the very first cannon-shot our fragile ships were at the mercy of the formidable hostile squadron; were condemned to fall one after the other under the fire of the American batteries; they were powerless to strike, and were defended only by the valour and breasts of their sailors. What has been gained by the illusion that Manila was fortified? What has been gained by the intimation that the broad and beautiful bay on whose bosom the Spanish Fleet perished yesterday had been rendered inaccessible? What use was made of the famous Island of Corregidor? What was done with its guns? Where were the torpedoes? Where were those defensive preparations concerning which we were requested to keep silence?

Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda

Several merchant vessels were seized in and about Manila Bay, and supplies from seawards were cut off from the city, which was quite at the mercy of Admiral Dewey, who could have bombarded it and forced surrender the same day. But it was not easy to foresee what might follow. Admiral Dewey had full discretion to act as circumstances might seem to guide him, but it was evident that whatever the surrender of the Captain-General of the Archipelago might theoretically imply, a military occupation of Manila was far from being tantamount to possession of the Islands. Hemmed in everywhere on land by the insurgent forces which now occupied and collected taxes in several Luzon provinces, the Spaniards could have been shelled out of the capital and forced to capitulate, or driven to extermination by the thousands of armed natives thirsting for their blood. The Americans had, consequently, a third party to consider. The nativesʼ anxiety to oust the Spaniards was far stronger than their wish to be under American, or indeed any foreign, control. But whilst a certain section of the common people was perfectly indifferent about such matters, others, wavering at the critical moment between their opposition to the Spaniards and repulsion of the foreign invader, whoever he might be, proclaimed their intention to cast in their lot with the former. Lastly, there was Aguinaldoʼs old rebel party, which rallied to the one cry “Independence.” “Nothing succeeds like success,” and if the rebel version of the alleged Treaty of Biac-na-bató had been fulfilled in the spirit, no doubt Aguinaldo would have been unanimously revered as a great reformer. But the relinquishment of the strife by the leaders, the money transaction, and the immediate renewal of Spanish severities, together created an impression in the minds of the rebel rank-and-file that, in some way, their general welfare had been sacrificed to personal interest. It was doubtful, therefore, how Aguinaldo would be received on his return to the Islands. With the object of investigating the feelings of the old rebel party, the leader José Alejandrino and two other rebels accompanied the American expedition to Cavite, where they disembarked. Several days passed in convincing the rebels of Aguinaldoʼs good faith in all that had occurred, and in the meantime Aguinaldo himself arrived on May 19 with 12 other rebel leaders in the American despatch-boat Hugh McCulloch. It yet remained doubtful whether he still held the confidence of the rank-and-file; but when he at length landed at Cavite, his old companions-in-arms, and many more, rallied to his standard with the greatest enthusiasm. The rebels at that date were computed to number 30,000, and Aguinaldo, on taking the command, declared himself Dictator. Aguinaldo was, naturally, at that period, on the most amicable terms with Admiral Dewey, who allowed him to have two modern field-pieces, 500 rifles, and 200,000 rounds of ammunition, enjoining on him the strict observance of his engagement to repress reprisals against the Spaniards.

To prepare the natives for the arrival of the Americans, Emilio Aguinaldo sent over in advance of the American Fleet the following exhortation:—

COMPATRIOTS:—

Divine Providence is about to place independence within our reach, in a manner most acceptable to a free and independent people.

The Americans, not for mercenary motives but for the sake of humanity, in response to the woes of the persecuted, have thought fit to extend their protecting arm to our beloved country, now that they have been obliged to sever their relations with Spain on account of the tyranny practised in Cuba, to the great prejudice of the large commercial interests which the Americans have there. An American squadron is at this moment preparing to sail for the Philippines. We, your brothers, fear you may be induced to fire on the Americans. No, brothers, never make this mistake. Rather blow out your own brains than treat with enmity those who are your liberators.

Your natural enemies, your executioners, the authors of your misery and your woe, are the Spaniards who rule you. Raise against these your weapons and your hatred. Understand well, against the Spaniards; never against the Americans. Do not heed the Governor-Generalʼs decree, calling you to arms, even though it cost you your lives. Die rather than be ungrateful to our American liberators. The Governor-General calls you to arms. Why? To defend your Spanish tyrants? To defend those who have despised you and in public speeches called for your extermination—those who have treated you little better than savages? No! no! a thousand times, no!

Glance at history and you will see that in all Spainʼs wars undertaken in the Far East, Philippine blood has been sacrificed; we were sent to fight for the French in Cochin China over a matter which in no way concerned us; we were forced by Simon de Anda to spill our blood against the English, who, in any case, would have been better rulers than the Spaniards; every year our sons are taken away to be sacrificed in Mindanao and Sulu against those who, we are led to believe, are our enemies when, in reality, they are our brothers, fighting, like us, for their liberty. After such a sacrifice of blood against the English, the Annamites, the Mindanaos, etc., what reward or thanks have we received from the Spanish Government? Obscurity, poverty, the slaughter of our dear ones. Enough, brothers, of this Spanish tutelage!

Note that the Americans will attack by sea and prevent any reinforcements coming from Spain, therefore the insurgents must attack by land.

You will, probably, have more than sufficient arms, because the Americans, having arms, will find means to help us. Wherever you see the American flag, there flock in numbers. They are our redeemers.

Our unworthy names are nothing, but we all invoke the name of the greatest patriot our country has seen, certain in the hope that his spirit will be with us and guide us to victory, our immortal JOSÉ RIZAL.

Cavite being occupied by the American forces, foreign Manila residents were permitted to take refuge there, for no one could tell when the Spaniards would be forced to capitulate, or what might happen if they did. Meantime the rebels had cut off, to a considerable extent, but not entirely, supplies of food to the capital, which was, however, well stored; and at no time during the three and a half monthsʼ siege was there a danger of famine among the civilian population, although prices of commodities gradually advanced to about double the normal rates. Even the hotels in the city only charged double prices. The Spanish troops fared far worse; their condition became more and more deplorable. All were badly and insufficiently fed, as much from disorganized commissariat arrangements as from actual want of supplies. The latest arrivals of youthful raw recruits particularly felt the pangs of hunger, and as the swarming rebels took one outpost after another from its emaciated defenders and raided the adjacent provinces, the Spanish prisoners in their hands (soldiers, friars, and civil servants) reached the figure of thousands. Among them was Brig.-General Garcia Peña (lately in command of Cavite), a colonel, several other officers, a civil governor, etc., and some hundreds of volunteers.

Of the neutral warships in the bay, Germany had sent the largest number, and the actions of their commanders caused much anxiety to the blockading forces. In the city the German Consul made little secret of his sympathies for Spain, and was in frequent consultation with the Captain-General. German and Spanish officers fraternized freely in the streets and cafés. On May 18 a German steamer, with cargo and provisions, was reported outside Manila Bay, but her entry into the port was forbidden by the Americans. Later on the commander of a German man-of-war and his staff were received and fêted by the Captain-General. These German officers were invited to a picnic at San Juan del Monte accompanied by several general and other high Spanish military officers. The German commanderʼs post-prandial oration at the feast was much commented upon, for he is said to have declared (presumably on his own responsibility) that so long as William II was Emperor of Germany the Philippines should never come under American sway. The party then rode back to Manila, watched by the rebels, who were too wise to intercept them and so jeopardize their own cause by creating international complications. There is little doubt that the attitude taken up by the Germans nurtured the hope entertained by Spaniards all over the world, that at the last hour some political entanglement between the other Powers might operate beneficially for Spainʼs interests.

The city and commercial suburb of Binondo wore their usual aspect, although trade was almost at a standstill. The undisguised sympathies of Great Britain for America revived the long dormant feeling of distrust and ill-will towards the British residents, which now became so marked that the Captain-General issued a proclamation commanding due respect to be paid to neutral foreigners. Even this did not prevent a Spanish officer spitting in the face of an Englishman. Indeed, at any time, there was far more danger to all civilian classes from the Spanish soldiery than from the rebels, who were strictly enjoined by Admiral Dewey not to attempt to enter the city. Had they done so, certainly their choicest prize would have been the Archbishop Nozaleda, who, well aware of this, escaped, long before the capitulation of the city, to Shanghai on board the German warship Darmstadt.

The volunteers, too, were constantly giving trouble to the Spanish authorities, from whom they demanded their pay, and once when this was refused they threatened to seize the stores.

Although trade in and with Manila had been more or less suspended, and at intervals absolutely so, since the great naval engagement, just a few profited by the circumstances of war. One British firm there, figuratively speaking, “coined” money. They were able frequently to run a steamer, well known in Chinese waters (in which I have travelled myself), between Manila and Hong-Kong carrying refugees, who were willing to pay abnormally high rates of passage. In ordinary times fares ranged from ₱50 saloon accommodation to ₱8 a deck passage. On one trip, for instance, this steamer, with the cabins filled at ₱125 each, carried 1,200 deck passengers (no food) at ₱20, and 30 deck passengers (with food) at ₱30. Their unsold cargoes on the way in steamers when Manila was blockaded came in for enormously advanced prices. Shiploads of produce which planters and native middlemen were glad to convert into pesos at panic rates were picked up “dirt cheap,” leaving rich profits to the buyers. When steamers could not leave Manila, a Britisher, Mr. B——, walked for several days under the tropical sun to embark for Yloilo with trade news, and steamers were run at high war rates in and out of Borneo, Hong-Kong, and the Philippine southern ports. One British firm obtained a special licence to run a steamer between Hong-Kong and the port of Dagúpan, hitherto closed to foreign traffic. These were, naturally, the exceptions, for, upon the whole, the dislocation and stoppage of trade entailed very serious losses to the general body of merchants. A few days after the bombardment of Cavite the natives refused to accept the notes of the Banco Español Filipino (the Spanish bank), and a run was made on the bank to convert them into silver. However, the managers of the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, and the Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China, came to the rescue of the Banco Español-Filipino and agreed to honour the paper issue in order to check the scare. The three banks thereupon opened their doors and satisfied the note-holders, ordinary business being, meanwhile, suspended.

Aguinaldo had not only been busy organizing his forces, but had, in several engagements with the Spaniards, driven them back with loss, made prisoners, and replenished his own armouries. He then assumed the Dictatorship and issued the following proclamation:—

FILIPINOS:—

The Great North American nation, example of true liberty, and, as such, the friend of freedom for our country oppressed and subjugated by the tyranny and despotism of its rulers, has come to offer its inhabitants protection as decisive as it is disinterested, regarding our unfortunate country as gifted with sufficient civilization and aptitude for self-government. In order to justify this high conception formed of us by the great American nation, we ought to abstain from all acts which would destroy that opinion, such as pillage, robbery and every kind of outrage against persons or property. So as to avoid international conflicts during the period of our campaign I order as follows:—

Article 1.—The lives and properties of all foreigners shall be respected, including in this denomination the Chinese and all Spaniards who have not directly or indirectly contributed to the bearing of arms against us.

Article 2.—Those of the enemy who shall surrender their arms shall be, in like manner, respected.

Article 3.—Medical establishments and ambulances shall also be respected as well as the persons and effects connected therewith, provided they show no hostility.

Article 4.—Persons disobeying the above three articles shall be summarily tried and executed if their disobedience should lead to assassination, incendiarism, robbery or rape.

Given at Cavite, May 24, 1898.

EMILIO AGUINALDO.

On June 8, at 5 p.m., a Philippine deputation, headed by Dr. Santos, waited on the American Consul-General in Singapore and delivered to him a congratulatory address on the American successes in the war with Spain. In reply to this address, the Consul-General made some pleasing remarks which were received with vociferous cheers by the Filipinos for the President of the United States and all sympathizers with their welfare. At the close of the reception a band of Philippine musicians played a selection of graceful airs of their native isles.

With his despatch No. 229, dated Singapore, June 9, the Consul-General sent press reports of these proceedings to the Secretary of State in Washington, who replied as follows[6]:—

No. 87.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, July 20, 1898.

SIR,—

Your No. 229 of the 9th ultimo, inclosing printed copies of a report from the Straits Times of the same day ... with a view to its communication to the Press, has been received and considered. By Departmentʼs telegram of the 17th of June you were instructed to avoid unauthorized negotiations with the Philippine insurgents. The reasons for this instruction were conveyed to you in my No. 78 of the 16th of June, by which the Presidentʼs views on the subject of your relations with General Aguinaldo were fully expressed. The extract now communicated by you from the Straits Times of the 9th of June, has occasioned a feeling of disquietude and a doubt as to whether some of your acts may not have borne a significance and produced an impression which this Government would be compelled to regret. The address presented to you by the 25 or 30 Filipinos who gathered about the consulate discloses an understanding on their part that the object of Admiral Dewey was to support the cause of General Aguinaldo, and that the ultimate object of our action is to secure the independence of the Philippines “under the protection of the United States.” Your address does not repel this implication, and it moreover represents that General Aguinaldo was “sought out by you,” whereas it had been the understanding of the Department that you received him only upon the request of a British subject ... who formerly lived in the Philippines. Your further reference to General Aguinaldo as “the man for the occasion” and to your “bringing about” the “arrangement” between “General Aguinaldo and Admiral Dewey which has resulted so happily” also represents the matter in a light which causes apprehension lest your action may have laid the ground of future misunderstandings and complications. For these reasons the Department has not caused the article to be given to the Press, lest it might seem thereby to lend a sanction to views, the expression of which it had not authorized.

Respectfully yours,

WILLIAM R. DAY.

During the first few weeks following the Cavite naval battle nothing remarkable occurred between the belligerents. The British Consul and Vice-Consul were indefatigable in the services they rendered as intermediaries between Admiral Dewey and General Augusti. The American fleet was well supplied with coal from British vessels. The Manila-Dagúpan Railway was in working order, and bringing supplies into the city. The Spanish authorities issued a decree regulating the price of meat and other commodities. American vessels made occasional trips outside the Bay, and brought in captive sailing-vessels. Neutral passenger-steamers were allowed to take away refugees other than Spanish subjects. The rebels outside Manila were very active in the work of burning and pillaging churches and other property. Streams of smoke were daily seen rising from the valleys. In the outskirts of the city, skirmishes between Spanish troops and rebels were of frequent occurrence. The Spaniards still managed to preserve routes of communication with the country districts, although, little by little, the rebels were closing in upon them. Aguinaldo and his subordinate leaders were making strenuous efforts effectually to cut off all supplies to the city, with the view of co-operating with the Americans to starve the Spaniards into capitulation. The hospitals in the capital were crowded with wounded soldiers, brought in at great risk from the rural districts. Spanish soldiers sauntered about the city and Binondo—sad spectacles of emaciation in which body and soul were only kept together by small doles of rice and dried fish. The volunteers who had enlisted on the conditions of pay, food, and clothing, raised an unheeded cry of protest, and threatened revolt, whilst the officers whiled away the time in the cafés with resigned indifference. The Archbishop issued his Pastoral Letter, in which he told the natives that if the foreigners obtained possession of the Islands there would be an end to all they most dearly cherished. Their altars would be desecrated; the churches would become temples of heresy; Christian morality would be banished, and vice would become rampant. He reminded them (with the proviso “circumstances permitting”) that he had appointed June 17 as the day on which the consecration of these Islands to the “Heart of Jesus” would be solemnly confirmed.

To draw the remnant of loyalty to his side, the Gov.-General instituted a reformed “Consulting Assembly” composed of 15 half-castes and natives, under the nominal presidency of Pedro A. Paterno, the mediator in the Biac-na-bató negotiations. Señor Paterno, whose sympathy for Spain was still unalienated, issued a Manifiesto of which the following is a translation (published in El Comercio of Manila on June 2, 1898):—

FILIPINOS: BELOVED BRETHREN.

I love our country as none other does. I want it to be great, free, and happy, and to shape its own destinies according to its desires and aspirations. Therefore, I respect all the vital forces in it at the cost of my life and my fortune. A long time ago I risked my existence for the rights and liberties of the Philippine people, who were sorely agitated, by bringing the majority together, and directing the salvation of their interests based on liberty and justice. My ideas are neither strange nor new; they are the result of study and political experience, and not recently conceived under the existing circumstances. I desire, with all the vehemence of my soul, to see my country strong and great—its honour and dignity respected and in the enjoyment of the greatest happiness. But however great our efforts may be we need an ally. Let us imitate the example of the Great Powers; they cannot exist alone, however strong and great they may be. They need help, and the union of strength increases their power. Russia seeks France; Germany seeks Italy and Austria. Unhappy is the Power that isolates itself! And what better ally can we have than Spain, a nation with which we are united for nearly four centuries in religion, laws, morals, and customs, understanding full well her virtues and her defects? The evil days of Spanish colonization are over, and by dint of experience and the sacrifice of blood Spain has understood that we are already of age, and require reforms in our territory such as the formation of Philippine Militia, which gives us the force of arms, and the Consulting Assembly, which gives us the power of speech, participation in the higher public employments, and the ability to control the peaceful development and progress of society. Spain is at war with the United States; we neither know that nation nor its language. The Americans will endeavour by all imaginable means to induce us to help them against Spain. And then, alas! they, the all-powerful, will absorb us and reward our treachery to Spain by betraying us, making us slaves and imposing upon us all the evils of a new colonization. On the other hand, by helping Spain, if we die, we do so in the fulfilment of our duty; if we live, we shall obtain the triumph of our aspirations without the dangers and risks of a civil war. We shall not die! No! Under the flag which shields us and our garrisons, fighting with faith, decision, and ardour, as a country does which yearns to be free and great, the enemy will disappear like the wave which washes the seashore. Let us hope to obtain from Spain all the good that the American stranger can offer to us. Let us help our old ally, our old friend Spain, and realize, with her, more quickly our aspirations. These are they:—With the greatest decentralization possible consistent with national unity, the organization and attributions of public powers must be based on three principles:—(1) Spanish sovereignty. (2) Local representation. (3) Colonial Government responsibility. Three institutions correspond to these three principles, viz.: (1) The institution of the General Government of the Philippines. (2) The Insular Deputation or Philippine Assembly. (3) The Governative Council. In this way the rights of the Government and those of the Colony are harmonized. Let us shun the policy of suspicion and doubt. With these firm and solid guarantees let us establish civil and political liberty. The Assembly, representing the will of the people, deliberates and resolves as one would treat oneʼs own affairs in private life, and thus constitutes the legislative power of the Archipelago. Its resolution will be put into practice with all fidelity by the executive power in its character of responsible government. There are only Spaniards in the Archipelago; we are all Filipinos and all European Spaniards. Such is the programme of the party who want home rule for the Philippines—ever Spanish! Thus shall we see the destinies of this country guided under the orange and red flag. Thus will my beloved country be governed, without detriment to the integrity of Spain. Finally, under Spain our future is clear, and with all certainty we shall be free and rule. Under the Americans our future is cloudy; we shall certainly be sold and lose our unity; some provinces will become English, others German, others French, others Russian or Chinese. Let us struggle, therefore, side by side with Spain, we who love the Philippines united and free. Long live Spain!

PEDRO ALEJANDRO PATERNO.

MANILA, 31st of May, 1898.

This Manifiesto was replied to a week later by the rebel party, who published a Refutation, of which the following is a translation:—

REFUTATION of the Manifiesto of Señor Paterno.

“Actions speak louder than words.”

A better phrase, or idea, could not be found with which to reply to the Manifiesto of Don Pedro A. Paterno, published in El Comercio of the 2nd instant, than the epigraph which heads these lines.

Señor Paterno begins by saying that he loves his country as none other does; he wants it to be great, free, and happy, and to shape its own destinies according to its own desires and aspirations. Would to God such beautiful language represented the truth, for it is just what we wish and what we have, long ago, been aiming at, at the risk of our lives and property, as proved by our actions and our arguments, especially since the middle of the glorious year of 1896, the period in which we commenced the conquest, by force of arms, of our most cherished liberties. May Señor Paterno forgive us if we cite a little of the history of this movement, so that he may see that neither are we ungrateful, nor are we acting with precipitation, but as a logical and undeniable consequence of the vile conduct and bad faith of the Spanish Government.

For over 300 years the country slumbered in ignorance of all that referred to its rights and political liberties. It was resigned to the Spanish governmental system of spoliation, and no one thought of reforms. But when the Revolution of September, 1868, broke out in Spain and overthrew the throne of Isabella II., the first revolutionary leaders, inspired by ideas of humanity and justice, caused an Assembly of Reformists to be established here, one of the members of which, if we remember rightly, was Don Máximo Molo Paterno, father of Don Pedro. The Assembly agreed to and proposed good and appropriate reforms, amongst which was that relating to the incumbencies which were monopolized by the friars. What did the Spanish Government do with these reforms? What did the friars do? Ah! though it may appear cruel to Señor Paterno, historical facts oblige us to remind him that the Government, in agreement with the friars, engineered the military rising of the City of Cavite in January, 1872, and at the instigation of its authors and accomplices, sentenced the secular priests Father José Burgos, Father Jacinto Zamora, Father Mariano Gomez, parish priests of Manila, Santa Cruz (suburb), and Bacoor (Cavite) respectively, to be garotted. Moreover, another secular priest, Father Agustin, the Philippine lawyers and landed proprietors, Don Joaquin Pardo de Tavera, Don Antonio Regidor, Don Pedro Carrillo, Don José Basa, and others, amongst whom was Don Maximo Molo Paterno, the father of Don Pedro, were banished to the Ladrone Islands. This virtuous grand old man (Don Máximo Paterno) did indeed (and we proclaim it with pride) make sacrifices of health and fortune for the advancement of the liberties of his native country. From the year 1872 the Spanish Government carried on a persistent persecution of all the Philippine reformers by unjust imprisonment and banishment. In 1888 the authorities went so far as to prosecute 700 representative men of the suburbs of Manila, simply for having presented a petition of rights and aspirations to the Gov.-General Don Emilio Terrero. There is not a single insalubrious island or gloomy corner in the country which has not been the forced home of some banished Filipino. No one was sure of his personal liberty; none were safe in their homes, and if three or four Filipinos met together for an innocent purpose, they were spied, arrested, and banished. Calumny has brought about enough banishments to Fernando Po, Chafarinas Islands, Ceuta, and other African and Spanish places to demonstrate the bad faith, cruelty, and injustice of the Spanish Government with respect to the Philippine people. This virile, intelligent people received the supreme decree of reforms with joy and enthusiasm, sharing the feelings of those who felt in their souls the flame of liberty. This people worked, through legitimate channels, to advance its ideal, inspired by the purest loyalty to Spain. How did the Spanish Government fulfil, on its part, the decree spontaneously issued in 1868? By prosecuting and banishing the reformists, and employing a system of terror to damp the courage of the Filipinos. Vain, ridiculous fallacy!—for it ought to have known better after three centuries of rule of that country of intelligence, birthplace of Rizal, Luna, Rosario and other living examples of Philippine energy. The Filipinos, lovers of their liberty and independence, had no other recourse open to them than an appeal to arms, to bring force against force, terror against terror, death for death, resolute and sworn to practise the system of fire and blood, until they should attain for the whole Philippine Archipelago absolute freedom from the ignominious sovereignty of Spain. Now let us continue our comments on the Manifiesto.

Señor Paterno says that a long time ago he risked his existence for the rights and liberties of the Philippine people, even at the cost of his health and his fortune. We, however, do not see how he put into practice such magnificent ideas, for what we do know is that Señor Paterno passed his younger days in Madrid, where, by dint of lavish expenditure, he was very well treated by the foremost men in Spanish politics, without gaining from Spain anything whereby the Philippine people were made free and happy during that long period of his brilliant existence. On the contrary, the very epoch of the persecutions narrated above coincided with the period of Don Pedro A. Paternoʼs brilliant position and easy life in Madrid, where, because he published a collection of poems under the title of “Sampaguitas,” he became distinguished by the nickname of Sampaguitero. We know, also, that Señor Paterno came back to this, his native soil, appointed director of a Philippine Library and Museum not yet established, without salary, but with the decoration of the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic. This was no gain to us, no distinction to him, seeing that the same decoration was given to the Chinaman Palanca and two others, without their leaving their homes to obtain them.

How are we then to understand those generous sacrifices of health and fortune for the cause of Philippine liberty? Perhaps he refers to the recently created Philippine Militia and Consulting Assembly. Well, admitting for argument sake, that with such Militia and Consulting Assembly the liberty and happiness of the Philippines were assured (a doubtful hypothesis, Señor Paterno), this happiness is not due to Señor Paternoʼs efforts, but simply to the circumstances. Spain is at war with North America, and now offers us this sugar-plum to draw us to her side to defend her against invasion.

We ask you again, Señor Paterno, where are those sacrifices?

We do not see them, although we seek them with the light of impartiality, for, as the splendour of justice shines on our flag, we should not fail to do this even for our greatest enemies, amongst whom we do not count you.

Do you allude to the Peace of Biac-na-bató? If so, we ask, what have you done with that peace to which we subscribed in good faith, and which you and General Primo de Rivera together have stupidly and scandalously torn into shreds? You have, indeed, bungled the amnesty when many of the banished are, up to now, suffering the miseries of their sad and unjust fate.

You have put off the promised reforms which, even yet, have not come.

You have delayed the payment of the ₱400,000 for the second and third instalments of the agreed sum.

You have not delivered into the hands of our chief, Don Emilio Aguinaldo, the money as agreed upon.

Ah! You thought that when we had surrendered to you our arms and our garrisoned strongholds—when our forces were dispersed and we were absent—you could turn back to the Government of iniquity without reflecting that Divine Providence could permit, in the hour of great injustice, her emissary Don Emilio Aguinaldo to return resolved to chastise energetically the immoral and impotent Spanish Government.

Then comes Señor Paterno, telling us that however great our efforts may be in the cause of liberty, we cannot live without an ally, and that we can find no better alliance than the sovereignty of Spain. Frankly, we must say that this is inconceivably incompatible with Señor Paternoʼs clear intelligence. How do you understand an alliance with sovereignty? How can you imagine a people great, free and happy under the sovereignty of Spain? Señor Paterno cites, as examples, the alliances between Russia and France, Germany and Italy and Austria, but, so far, we do not know that Russia is the sovereign power of the French, nor the Germans that of the Italians and Austrians. Señor Paterno further says that by helping Spain in the war with the United States, if we die, we do so in the fulfilment of our duty; if we live, we shall obtain the triumph of our aspirations without the dangers and risks of a civil war. Know, Señor Paterno, and let all know, that in less than six daysʼ operations in several provinces we have already taken 1,500 prisoners, amongst whom is the Brigadier-General Garcia Peña, one Colonel, several Lieutenant-Colonels, Majors and officers, besides the Governor of the Province of Bulacan, his wife and all the civil service staff of that province. We also have about 500 Philippine volunteers as prisoners, of whom 10 have died and 40 are wounded, whilst among the European prisoners there is only one wounded. This goes to prove that the Europeans were too cowardly to defend the sovereignty of Spain in these Islands, therefore we do not understand the appeal you make to the Filipinos to defend Spain as a duty, when the Spaniards themselves are heedless of that which ought to be a more rigorous and strict obligation with them, seeing that they defend their own possession which brings them so much lucre and profit. This does not say much for the duty when the favoured ones themselves forget it and trample upon it. To die to-day for cowardly Spain! This implies not only want of dignity and delicate feeling, but also gross stupidity in weaving a sovereignty of frightened Spaniards over the heads of brave Filipinos. It is astonishing that in the face of such an eloquent example of impotence there should still be a Filipino who defends the sovereignty of Spain.

Remember, Señor Paterno, that we make war without the help of any one, not even the North Americans; but no! we have the help of God, who is the eternal ally of the great and just causes such as that which we defend against Spain—our own beloved independence!!!

Señor Paterno concludes by explaining his political and administrative principles on the basis of Spanish sovereignty, but, as we have charged that sovereignty with cowardice and immorality, we dismiss this detail.

To conclude, we will draw the attention of Señor Paterno to two things, viz.:

1. That he commits an injustice in imputing to the North Americans the intention of taking possession of these Islands as soon as we have conquered the Spaniards, for, besides having no grounds on which to make such an allegation against a nation distinguished for its humanity like the Federal Republic, there is the fact that its own constitution prohibits the absorption of territory outside America, in accordance with that principle laid down by the immortal Monroe, of America for the Americans. There is, moreover, the historical antecedent that the independence of South America, once under Spanish dominion, is largely due to the protection of the United States; and

2. That Señor Paterno should reflect on the fact that the Spaniards would never have allowed him to publish his Manifiesto had it not been for the existence and attitude of our Dictator, Don Emilio Aguinaldo. This ought to serve Señor Paterno as further proof of the cowardice of the Spaniards, who, notwithstanding all that has been shown, insist on creating discord by provoking civil war: on their heads will fall the responsibilities of the moment and of the historical past.

CAVITE, 9th of June, 1898.

THE REVOLUTIONISTS.

The feeling against Don Pedro A. Paterno in the rebel camp was very strong for the time being, because of his supposed complicity in the alleged Biac-na-bató fraud.

The rebels stopped all the traffic on the Tondo-Malabon steam tramway line, and shortly afterwards the Manila-Dagúpan railway trains had temporarily to cease running.

On June 10, 1898, General Monet received, through a Chinaman, a message from the Gov.-General to hasten to Manila with all the force he could bring. Monet had been so long in the northern provinces unsuccessfully trying to hold them against the rebels that his fate was, for a time, despaired of in the capital. Hemmed in on all sides by the enemy, concentration of all his detachments for general retreat was impossible. The forces spread over Tárlac, North Pangasinán and Nueva Ecija had to be left to their fate; their junction was quite impracticable, for, surrounded everywhere by the enemy, each group was then only just able to defend itself, and subsequently most of them fell prisoners. With only 600 fighting men, escorting 80 wounded, General Monet set out on his terrible southward march amidst recurring scenes of woe and despair. At every few miles between San Fernando and Macabebe his progress was hampered by an ever-increasing terror-stricken, weeping crowd of European women and children who besought him not to let them fall into the hands of a revengeful enemy. In the course of his march at most another hundred fighting men, a few of whom were natives, were able to join the retreating column. Their ammunition was scarce; they had no artillery waggons; every carromata (gig) of the districts traversed had been seized by the enemy. Near San Fernando his passage was disputed, but he entered the town, nevertheless, and evacuated it immediately after, having secured only 12 carts for the transport of the sick and the wounded and what little remained of the war-material. The greatest difficulty was how to feed the swelling mob of refugees. At 6 a.m. on June 14 a start was made for Santo Tomás, but they were so fiercely attacked on the road that, for the moment, annihilation seemed inevitable. Concentrated between Apálit, Santo Tomás, Bacolor, and Mexico the rebel forces were estimated at 9,000 well-armed men, between whom Monetʼs column had to pass or die. The sobs of the children, the lamentations of the women, the invocation of the saints by the helpless were drowned in the united yelling of half-starved troopers in their almost superhuman struggle for existence. Fortunately the best order possible, under such distressing circumstances, was maintained by the splendid officers supporting Monet. They were men personally known to many of us years before. Lieut.-Colonel Dujiols commanded the vanguard; the rearguard was under Major Roberto White; the refugee families were in charge of Lieut.-Colonel Oyarzábal, all under the superior orders of Colonel Perez Escotado. At length they cut their way through to Apálit, where the railway station served them as a stronghold, which they were able to defend whilst food was served out and some attention could be bestowed on the sick and wounded. On leaving Apálit a group of rebels approached the column with a white flag saying they were friendly Macabebes, but when they were close enough they opened fire. Nearly the whole town turned out against the fugitives, and Monet had to hasten the march by deploying his troops to keep the road clear. Understanding well that Monet was acting only on the defensive to cover his retreat, the rebels sent him an audacious message offering to spare the lives of his people if he would surrender their arms. The generalʼs reply was in the negative, adding that if he once reached Santo Tomás not a stick or stone of it would he leave to mark its site. This defiant answer nonplussed the rebels, who had private interests to consider. To save their property they sent another message to General Monet, assuring him that he would not be further molested; and to guarantee their promise they sent him the son of a headman as hostage, whose life they said he could take if they broke their word. That night was, therefore, passed, without attack, at Mandaling, around which outposts were established and trenches occupied. The following day the retreating column and the refugees reached Macabebe safely,[7] but what became of their leader at this crisis we must leave to future historians to explain. Some nine months afterwards the acts of two generals were inquired into by a court of honour in Spain; one of them was disgraced,[8] and the other, who was accused of having abandoned his whole party to escape alone in disguise, was acquitted.

General Augustiʼs wife and family were chivalrously escorted from Macabebe, where they were quite safe, by a loyal Philippine volunteer named Blanco (the son of a planter in Pampanga), who was afterwards promoted to effective rank of colonel in Spain. They were conducted from the Hagonoy marshes to the Bay of Manila and found generous protection from the Americans, who allowed them to quit the Islands. The Spanish garrisons in the whole of La Laguna and Pampanga had surrendered to the rebels, who were in practical possession of two-thirds of Luzon Island. General Augusti was personally inclined to capitulate, but was dissuaded from doing so by his officers.

Several American generals arrived with reinforcements, more were en route, and about the middle of July the Commander-in-Chief, Maj.-General Wesley Merritt, reached the Islands and remained there until the end of the following month, that is to say, for about 10 or 12 days after the Spanish surrender and the American military occupation of Manila were accomplished facts. On the way out from San Francisco to Manila some American ships called at the Ladrone Islands and brought the Spanish garrison of about 40 men prisoners. The surrender of the capital had been again demanded and refused, for the Spaniards were far from being starved out, and the American commander had strictly forbidden Aguinaldo to make an attack on the city. Aguinaldo, however, had been wonderfully active elsewhere. In several engagements the Spaniards were completely routed, and in one encounter the rebel party took over 350 prisoners, including 28 officers; in another, 250 prisoners and four guns; and 150 Spaniards who fled to Cavite Viejo church were quietly starved into surrender. Amongst the prisoners were several provincial governors, one of whom attempted to commit suicide. At Bacoor a hotly-contested battle was fought which lasted about nine hours. The Spaniards were surprised very early one morning, and by the afternoon they were forced to retreat along the Cavite-Manila road to Las Piñas. The Spanish loss amounted approximately to 250 troops wounded, 300 dead, and 35 officers wounded or dead. The rebels are said to have lost more than double this number, but whatever may have been the sacrifice, the victory was theirs. The Spaniards would probably have come better out of this combat but for the fact that a native regiment, hitherto loyal, suddenly murdered their officers and went over to the rebels. The Spaniards undoubtedly suffered much from unexpected mutinies of native auxiliaries and volunteers at critical moments, whilst in no case did rebels pass over to the Spanish side.[9] They were not long left in possession of Las Piñas, where a subsequent attack in overwhelming numbers drove the survivors still nearer to the capital.

Long before the capitulation of Manila the rebels were as well armed as they could wish from three sources,—that is to say, the Americans, the Spanish arms seized in warfare, and consignments from China. They also made good use of their field-pieces, and ever and anon the booming of cannon was heard in the streets of Manila. The Spaniards, hard pressed on all sides, seemed determined to make their last stand in the old citadel. The British banks shipped away their specie to China, and the British community, whose members were never united as to the course they should adopt for general safety, was much relieved when several steamers were allowed, by the mutual consent of Admiral Dewey and General Augusti, to lie in the bay to take foreigners on board in case of bombardment. Emilio Aguinaldo, on his return to the Islands, had declared himself Dictator. The Dictatorial Government administered the provinces as they were conquered from the Spaniards, collected taxes, and enacted laws. In a monthʼs time the management of these rural districts had so far assumed shape that Aguinaldo convened deputies therefrom and summoned a Congress on June 18. He changed the name of Dictatorial to Revolutionary Government, and on June 23 proclaimed the Constitution of that provisional government, of which the statutes are as follows:—

(Translation)

DON EMILIO AGUINALDO Y FAMY,

President of the Philippine Revolutionary Government and Commander-in-Chief of its army

This Government, desirous of demonstrating to the Philippine people that one of its objects is to abolish with a firm hand the inveterate vices of Spanish administration, substituting a more simple and expeditious system of public administration for that superfluity of civil service and ponderous, tardy and ostentatious official routine, I hereby declare as follows, viz:—

Chapter I

Of the Revolutionary Government

Article 1.—The Dictatorial Government shall be henceforth called the Revolutionary Government, whose object is to struggle for the independence of the Philippines, until all nations, including Spain, shall expressly recognize it, and to prepare the country for the establishment of a real Republic. The Dictator shall be henceforth styled the President of the Revolutionary Government.

Article 2.—Four Government Secretaryships are created: (1) of Foreign Affairs, Navy and Trade; (2) of War and Public Works; (3) of Police, Public Order, Justice, Public Education and Health; (4) of Finance, Agriculture, and Manufactures. The Government has power to increase the number of secretaryships when experience has shown that the above distribution of public offices is insufficient to meet public requirements.

Article 3.—Each Secretary shall assist the President in the administration of affairs concerning his particular branch. The Secretary at the head of each respective department shall not be responsible for the Presidential Decrees, but shall sign the same to give them authenticity. But if it should appear that the decree has been issued on the proposal of the Secretary of the corresponding branch, then the Secretary shall be jointly responsible with the President.

Article 4.—The Secretaryship of Foreign Affairs shall be divided into three centres, one of Diplomacy, one of Navy, and another of Trade. The first centre shall study and execute all affairs which concern the direction of diplomatic negotiations with other Powers and the correspondence of this Government connected therewith. The second shall study all that relates to the formation and organization of our Navy, and the fitting out of whatever expeditions the circumstances of the Revolution may require; and the third shall attend to all matters concerning home and foreign trade and the preliminary work in connection with the Treaties of Commerce to be made with other nations.

Article 5.—The Secretaryship of War shall be divided into two centres, the one exclusively of War and the other exclusively of Public Works. The first centre shall be divided into four sections, one of Campaign, one of Military Justice, one of Military Administration, and the other of Military Health.

The Campaign section shall draw up and attend to all matters concerning the service and enlistment of the Revolutionary Militia, the direction of campaigns, the making of plans, fortifications, and the editing of the announcements of battles, the study of military tactics for the Army, and organization of the respective staffs, artillery, and cavalry corps, and all other matters concerning campaigns and military operations.

The section of Military Justice shall attend to all matters concerning courts-martial and military sentences, the appointment of judges and assistant judges in all military-judicial affairs. The military administrator shall take charge of the commissariat department and all Army equipment, and the Military Health department shall take charge of matters concerning the health and salubrity of the Militia.

Article 6.—The other secretaryships shall be divided into so many centres corresponding to their functions, and each centre shall be sub-divided into sections as the nature and importance of the work requires.

Article 7.—The Secretary of each department shall inspect and watch over the work therein and be responsible to the President of the Government. At the head of each section there shall be a director, and in each section there shall be an official in charge assisted by the necessary staff.

Article 8.—The President shall have the sole right to appoint the secretaries, and in agreement with them he shall appoint all the staff subordinate to the respective departments. Nevertheless, in the election of individuals favouritism must be avoided on the understanding that the good name of the Fatherland and the triumph of the Revolution need the services of the most really capable persons.

Article 9.—The secretaries can take part in the sessions of the Revolutionary Congress, whenever they have a motion to present in the name of the President, or on the interpellation of any deputy, but when the question under debate, or the motion on which they have been summoned is put to the vote, they shall retire and not take part in that voting.

Article 10.—The President of the Government is the personification of the Philippine people, and as such he cannot be held responsible for any act whilst he holds that position. His position is irrevocable until the Revolution shall triumph, unless extraordinary circumstances should compel him to tender his resignation to Congress, in which case only Congress shall elect whomsoever is esteemed most fit.

Chapter II

Of the Revolutionary Congress

Article 11.—The Revolutionary Congress is the assembly of those deputies from the Philippine provinces, elected in due form, as prescribed in the Decree of the 18th inst. Nevertheless, if any province could not elect deputies because the majority of its towns had not yet been able to free themselves from Spanish dominion, the Government can nominate provisional deputies chosen from the persons of highest consideration by reason of their education and social position up to the number fixed by the said Decree, always provided that such persons shall have been born or have resided for a long time in the provinces to be represented.

Article 12.—When the deputies shall have met in the town and in the building to be provided by the Revolutionary Government the preliminary act shall be the election by majority of votes of a commission of five persons who shall examine the documents accrediting the personality of each person, and another commission of three persons who shall examine the documents exhibited by the first commission of five.

Article 13.—The next day the said deputies shall again meet and the two commissions shall read their respective reports on the validity of the said documents, all doubts on the same to be resolved by an absolute majority of votes. They shall then at once proceed to the election, by absolute majority, of a president, a vice-president, and two secretaries, to be chosen from among the same deputies, after which the Congress shall be held to be constituted, and notice of the same shall be given to the Government.

Article 14.—The meeting-place of Congress is sacred and inviolable, and no armed force can enter therein except on the summons of the President of the Congress for the purpose of restoring order, should the same have been disturbed by those who know not how to honour themselves and their solemn functions.

Article 15.—The powers of Congress are:—To look after the general interests of the Philippine people and the fulfilment of the revolutionary laws; to discuss and vote laws; to discuss and approve, before ratification, all treaties and loans to examine and approve the accounts of the general expenses which shall be presented annually by the Finance Secretary and to fix the extraordinary taxes, and others which, in future, may be imposed.

Article 16.—The voice of Congress shall also be heard in all matters of grave importance the resolution of which will admit of delay, but the President of the Government can resolve questions of an urgent character, rendering an account of his acts to Congress by means of a message.

Article 17.—Any Deputy can present a bill in Congress, and any Secretary can do so by order of the President of the Government.

Article 18.—The sessions of Congress shall be public, and only in cases where reserve is necessary shall secret sessions be held.

Article 19.—The order of debate and parliamentary usages shall be determined by instructions to be formulated by Congress. The President shall lead the debate, but shall not vote, unless there fail to be a majority, in which case he shall give his casting vote.

Article 20.—The President of the Government cannot, in any manner, impede the meeting of Congress, nor interfere with the sessions of the same.

Article 21.—Congress shall appoint a permanent judicial commission, to be presided over by the Vice-President, assisted by one of the Secretaries and composed of these persons and seven assessors, elected by majority of votes, from among the deputies. This commission shall revise the sentences given in criminal cases by the provincial councils, and shall judge and sentence, without right of further appeal, cases brought against the Government Secretaries, Provincial Chiefs and Provincial Councillors.

Article 22.—In the office of the Secretary to Congress there shall be a Book of Honour, in which shall be noted the great services rendered to the Fatherland and esteemed as such by Congress. Any Filipino, military or civil, can solicit of Congress inscription in the said book on producing the documents which prove the praiseworthy acts performed by him for the good of the Fatherland since the present Revolution began. For extraordinary services which may, in future, be rendered, the Government will propose the inscription, the proposal being accompanied by the necessary justification.

Article 23.—Congress shall determine, on the proposal of the Government, the money rewards to be paid, once for all, to the families of those who were victims to duty and patriotism in the execution of heroic acts.

Article 24.—The resolutions of Congress shall not be binding until they have received the sanction of the President of the Government. When the said President shall consider any resolution undesirable, or impracticable, or pernicious, he shall state his reasons to Congress for opposing its execution, and if Congress still insist on the resolution the said President can outvote it on his own responsibility.

Chapter III

Of Military Justice

Article 25.—When any commandant of a detachment shall receive notice of an individual in the service having committed a fault or having performed any act reputed to be a military misdemeanour, he shall inform the Commandant of the District of the same, and this officer shall appoint a judge and secretary to constitute a Court of Inquiry in the form prescribed in the instructions dated 20th instant. If the accused held the rank of lieutenant, or a higher one, the same Commandant shall be the judge, and if the Commandant himself were the accused the Superior Commandant of the Province shall appoint as judge an officer of a higher rank, and if there were none such the same Commandant of the Province shall open the inquiry. The judge shall always hold the rank of chief.

Article 26.—When the Court of Inquiry has finished its labours, the Superior Commandant shall appoint three assistant judges of equal or superior rank to the judge, and a Court-Martial shall be composed of the three assistant judges, the judge, the assessor, and the president. The Commandant of the District shall be the judge if the accused held the rank of sergeant, or a lower one, and the Superior Commandant shall be judge if the accused held the rank of lieutenant, or a higher one. This court shall pass sentence in the same form as the Provincial Courts, but the sentence can be appealed against before the Superior Council of War.

Article 27.—The Superior Council of War shall be composed of six assistant judges, who shall hold the minimum rank of Brigadier-General, and the War Office adviser. If the number of generals residing in the capital of the Revolutionary Government be insufficient, the number shall be made up by deputies to be appointed on commission by Congress. The President of this Council shall be the general of the highest rank amongst them, and if there were more than one of the same rank, one shall be elected by themselves by majority of votes.

Article 28.—The Superior Council shall judge and sentence, without right of further appeal, Superior Commandants, Commandants of Districts, and all officers who hold rank of Commandant, or a higher one.

Article 29.—Military misdemeanours are the following:—

(1) Violation of the immunity due to foreigners, both as to their persons and their goods, and violation of the privileges appertaining to sanitary establishments and ambulances, as well as the persons and effects in, or belonging to, one or the other, and persons employed in the service of the same so long as they commit no hostile act. (2) Want of respect for the lives, money, and jewellery of the enemy who surrenders his arms, and for prisoners of war. (3) The entry of Filipinos into the service of the enemy as spies, or to discover war secrets, make plans of the revolutionistsʼ positions and fortifications, or present themselves to parley without proving their mission or their individuality. (4) Violation of the immunity due to those who come with this mission, duly accredited, in the form prescribed by international law.

The following persons also commit military misdemeanours:—

(1) Those who endeavour to break up the union of the revolutionists, fomenting rivalry between the chiefs, and forming divisions and armed bands. (2) Those who collect taxes without being duly authorized by Government, or misappropriate public funds. (3) Those who, being armed, surrender to the enemy or commit any act of cowardice before the same; and (4) Those who sequester any person who has done no harm to the Revolution, or violate women, or assassinate, or seriously wound any undefended persons, or commit robbery or arson.

Article 30.—Those who commit any of the above-named misdemeanours shall be considered declared enemies of the Revolution and shall be punished on the highest scale of punishment provided for in the Spanish Penal Code. If the misdemeanour be not provided for in the said code, the culprit shall be confined until the Revolution has triumphed, unless his crime shall have caused an irreparable injury which, in the opinion of the court, would justify the imposition of capital punishment.

Additional Clauses

Article 31.—The Government shall establish abroad a Revolutionary Committee, composed of an indefinite number of the most competent persons in the Philippine Archipelago. This Committee shall be divided into three sections, viz.:—Of diplomacy; of the navy; and of the army. The diplomatic section shall negotiate with the foreign cabinets the recognition of belligerency and Philippine independence. The naval section shall be intrusted with the study and organization of a Philippine navy and prepare the expeditions which the circumstances of the Revolution may require. The army section shall study military tactics and the best form of organizing staff, artillery and engineer corps, and all that is necessary to put the Philippine army on a footing of modern advancement.

Article 32.—The Government shall dictate the necessary instructions for the execution of the present decree.

Article 33.—All decrees of the Dictatorial Government which may be in opposition to the present one are hereby rescinded.

Given at Cavite, June 23, 1898.

EMILIO AGUINALDO.

The Promulgation of the Constitution of the Revolutionary Government was accompanied by a Message from Emilio Aguinaldo, of which the following is a translation:—

MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION

It is an established fact that a political Revolution, judiciously carried out, is the violent means employed by nations to recover the sovereignty which naturally belongs to them, when the same has been usurped and trodden under foot by tyrannical and arbitrary government. Therefore, the Philippine Revolution cannot be more justifiable than it is, because the country has only resorted to it after having exhausted all peaceful means which reason and experience dictated.

The old Kings of Castile were obliged to regard the Philippines as a sister nation united to Spain by a perfect similarity of aims and interests, so much so that in the Constitution of 1812, promulgated at Cádiz, as a consequence of the Spanish War of Independence, these Islands were represented in the Spanish Parliament. But the monastic communities, always unconditionally propped up by the Spanish Government, stepped in to oppose the sacred obligation, and the Philippine Islands were excluded from the Spanish Constitution, and the country placed at the mercy of the discretional or arbitrary powers of the Gov.-General.

Under these circumstances the country clamoured for justice, and demanded of the Peninsular Government the recognition and restitution of its secular rights, through reforms which should gradually assimilate it to Spain. But its voice was soon stifled, and its children were rewarded for their abnegation by punishment, martyrdom and death. The religious corporations, whose interests were always at variance with those of the Filipinos and identified with the Spanish Government, ridiculed these pretensions, calmly and persistently replying that liberty in Spain had only been gained by the sacrifice of blood.

What other channel, then, was open to the country through which to insist upon the recovery of its lawful rights? No other remedy remained but the application of force, and convinced of this, it had recourse to revolution.

Now its demands are no longer limited to assimilation with the Spanish Constitution. It asks for a definite separation therefrom; it struggles for its independence, with the certainty that the time has arrived when it is able and ought to rule itself.

Hence, it has constituted a Revolutionary Government, based on wise and just laws, suited to the abnormal circumstances it is passing through, preparatory to the founding of a real Republic. Accepting Right as the only standard of its acts, Justice as its sole aim, and honourable Labour as its sole means, it calls upon all Filipinos, without distinction of birth, and invites them to unite firmly with the object of forming a noble society, not by bloodshed, nor by pompous titles, but by labour and the personal merit of each one; a free society where no egoism shall exist—where no personal politics shall overflow and crush, nor envy nor partiality debase, nor vain boasting nor charlatanry throw it into ridicule.

Nothing else could be expected from a country which has proved by its long suffering and courage in tribulation and danger, and industry and studiousness in peace, that it is not made for slavery. That country is destined to become great; to become one of the most solid instruments of Providence for ruling the destinies of humanity. That country has resources and energy sufficient to free itself from the ruin and abasement into which the Spanish Government has drawn it, and to claim a modest, though worthy, place in the concert of free nations.

Given at Cavite, June 23, 1898.

EMILIO AGUINALDO.

These public documents were supplemented by the issue, on June 27, of “Instructions,” signed by Emilio Aguinaldo, which, as they relate solely to working details of the Revolutionary Government offices, are of minor interest to the general reader.

Since June 30 the rebels were in possession of Coloocan (the first, station—beyond Manila—on the Manila-Dagúpan Railway) and the Manila suburbs of Santa Cruz and Tondo. The rebels purchased four vessels in Singapore and armed them, but, later on, Admiral Dewey forbade them to fly their flag pending the ultimate settlement of the whole Philippine problem. They also took possession of the waterworks of Santólan (near San Juan del Monte), but did not cut off the water-supply to the capital. Dissensions arose in the rebel camp between Emilio Aguinaldo and the leaders Yocson and Sandico. Yocson was the chief who carried on the war in the northern provinces during the absence of Aguinaldo and his companions (vide pp. 399, 407). The Americans had no less difficulty in dealing with the natives than with the Spaniards. There were frequent altercations between individual rebels and American soldiers which, in one case at least, near Cavite, resulted very seriously. The rebels were irritated because they considered themselves slighted, and that their importance as a factor in the hostilities was not duly recognized; in reality, there was nothing for them to do in co-operation with the Americans, who at any time could have brought matters to a crisis without them (by shelling the city) but for considerations of humanity. Aguinaldoʼs enemies were naturally the Spaniards, and he kept his forces actively employed in harassing them in the outlying districts; his troops had just gained a great victory in Dagúpan (Pangasinán), where, on July 22, the whole Spanish garrison and a number of civilian Spaniards had to capitulate in due written form. But experience had taught him that any day an attempt might be made to create a rival faction. Such a contingency had been actually provided for in Article 29 of the Statutes of the Revolutionary Government already cited. Presumably with a view to maintaining his prestige and keeping his individuality well before the people, he was constantly issuing edicts and proclamations. He was wise enough to understand the proverbs, “Lʼunion fait la force,” and “A house divided against itself shall surely fall.” Not the least of his talents was that of being able to keep united a force of 30,000 to 40,000 Filipinos for any object. His proclamation of the Constitution of the Revolutionary Government on June 23 implied a declaration of independence. He really sought to draw the American authorities into a recognition of it; but he did not seem to see, what others saw, the inopportunity of their doing so at that stage of Americaʼs relations with Spain. The generals were not the arbiters of the political situation. Then Aguinaldo adopted a course quite independently of the Great Power which had undertaken the solution of the Philippine question, and addressed a Memorandum to the foreign Governments, with a copy of an Act of Independence. The result was altogether negative; not a single Power chose to embarrass America, at that critical period, by a recognition of Aguinaldoʼs party. The Memorandum read as follows:—

(Translation)

TO THE POWERS:—

The Revolutionary Government of the Philippines, on being constituted, explained, by means of a message of the 23rd June last, the real causes of the Philippine Revolution, and went on to show that this popular movement is the result of those laws which regulate the life of a nation ardently desiring progress, and the attainment of perfection by the only possible road of liberty.

The Revolution, at the present moment, is predominant in the provinces of Cavite, Batangas, Mindoro, Tayabas, La Laguna, Mórong, Bulacan, Bataán, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tárlac, Pangasinán, La Union, La Infanta, and Zambales, and is besieging the capital, Manila. In these provinces the most perfect order and tranquillity reign; they are administered by the authorities elected by themselves in conformity with the decrees of the 18th and 23rd of June last.

Moreover, the Revolution has about 9,000 prisoners of war, who are treated with the same consideration observed by cultured nations, agreeably with the sentiments of humanity, and a regular organized army of more than 30,000 men fully equipped on a war footing.

Under these circumstances the representatives of the townships comprised within the provinces above mentioned, interpreting the popular will of those who have elected them, have proclaimed the Independence of the Philippines, and requested the Revolutionary Government to petition and solicit of the foreign Powers an acknowledgment of their belligerency and independence, under the conviction that the Philippine nation has arrived at that state in which it can and ought to govern itself. As a consequence, the annexed document has been signed by the said representatives. Wherefore the undersigned, using the faculties reserved to him as President of the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines, and in the name and representation of the Philippine nation, implores the protection of all the Powers of the civilized world, and beseeches them formally to recognize the belligerency, the Revolutionary Government, and the Independence of the Philippines, because these Powers are the bulwarks designated by Providence to maintain the equilibrium amongst nations by sustaining the weak and restraining the ambitions of the more powerful, in order that the most faultless justice may illuminate and render effective indefinitely the progress of humanity.

Given under my hand and seal in Bacoor, in the Province of Cavite, this 6th day of August 1898.

EMILIO AGUINALDO,

The President of the Revolutionary Government.

The accompanying Act of Independence, dated August 1, 1898, and couched in the flowery language of the preceding edicts and proclamations, was signed by those Filipinos who had been appointed local presidents of the townships in the provinces referred to. The allusion to “the ambitions of the more powerful” could well be understood to signify an invitation to intervene in and counteract Americaʼs projects, which might, hereafter, clash with the Aguinaldo partyʼs aspirations. At the same time a group of agitators, financed by the priests in and out of the Islands, was straining every nerve to disseminate false reports and create discord between the rebels and the Americans, in the hope of frustrating their coalition. But, even then, with a hostile host before Manila, and the city inevitably doomed to fall, the fate of Spanish sovereignty depended more on politicians than on warriors.

In the absence of a Spanish Ambassador at Washington the French and Austro-Hungarian Governments had accepted, conjointly, the protection of Spanish subjects and interests in the United States on terms set forth in the French Ambassadorʼs letter to the Secretary of State in Washington, dated April 22, 1898. In August the city of Santiago de Cuba was beleaguered by the Americans under General Shafter; the forts had been destroyed by Admirals Schley and Sampson; General Linares, in command there, had been wounded and placed hors de combat; the large force of Spanish troops within the walls was well armed and munitioned, but being half-starved, the morale of the rank-and-file was at a low ebb, and General Toral, who succeeded General Linares, capitulated. The final blow to Spanish power and hopes in Cuba was the destruction of Admiral Cerveraʼs fleet outside the port of Santiago de Cuba. Cuba was lost to Spain. No material advantage could then possibly accrue to any of the parties by a prolongation of hostilities, and on July 22 the Spanish Government addressed a Message to the President of the United States (Mr. William McKinley) to inquire on what terms peace might be re-established between the two countries. In reply to this inquiry the U.S. Secretary of State sent a despatch, dated July 30, conveying an outline of the terms to be stipulated. The French Ambassador at Washington, M. Jules Cambon, having been specially appointed “plenipotentiary to negotiate and sign,” by decree of the Queen-Regent of Spain, dated August 11, 1898, peace negotiations were entered into, and a Protocol was signed by him and the U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. William R. Day, for their respective Governments at 4.25 p.m. on August 12, 1898. It is interesting to note the exact hour and date, in view of subsequent events.

Protocol of Peace

The English Text[10]

Article 1.—Spain will relinquish all claim of sovereignty over and title to Cuba.

Article 2.—Spain will cede to the United States the Island of Porto Rico and other islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies, and also an island in the Ladrones to be selected by the United States.

Article 3.—The United States will occupy and hold the city, bay, and harbour of Manila, pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace which shall determine the control, disposition, and government of the Philippines.

Article 4.—Spain will immediately evacuate Cuba, Porto Rico, and other islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies; and to this end each Government will, within ten days after the signing of this protocol, appoint Commissioners, and the Commissioners so appointed shall, within 30 days after the signing of this protocol, meet at Havana for the purpose of arranging and carrying out the details of the aforesaid evacuation of Cuba and the adjacent Spanish islands; and each Government will, within ten days after the signing of this protocol, also appoint other Commissioners, who shall, within 30 days after the signing of this protocol, meet at San Juan, in Porto Rico, for the purpose of arranging and carrying out the details of the aforesaid evacuation of Porto Rico and other islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies.

Article 5.—The United States and Spain will each appoint not more than five Commissioners to treat of peace, and the Commissioners so appointed shall meet at Paris not later than October 1, 1898, and proceed to the negotiation and conclusion of a treaty of peace, which treaty shall be subject to ratification according to the respective constitutional forms of the two countries.

Article 6.—Upon the conclusion and signing of this protocol, hostilities between the two countries shall be suspended, and notice to that effect shall be given as soon as possible by each Government to the commanders of its military and naval forces.

Done at Washington in duplicate, in English and in French, by the undersigned, who have hereunto set their hands and seals, the 12th day of August, 1898.

WILLIAM R. DAY.

JULES CAMBON.

For a month before the Protocol was signed the relations between Spaniards and Americans were verging towards a crisis. The respective land forces were ever on the point of precipitating the end. General F. V. Greene had his brigade encamped along the Cavite-Manila road, about 2½ miles from the Spanish fort at Malate, with outposts thrown forward to protect the camp. The rebel lines were situated nearer to Manila, between the Americans and Spaniards. On July 28 General Greene took possession of a line, from the road already occupied by his forces, in front of the rebelsʼ advanced position, to be ready to start operations for the reduction of Manila. The American soldiers worked for three days at making trenches, almost unmolested by the Spaniards, who had a strong line of breastworks not more than 1,000 yards in front. No Americans were killed or wounded whilst so working.

On July 31, at 11 p.m., the Spaniards opened a furious infantry and artillery fire upon the American lines and kept it up for two hours. Fort San Antonio Abad (Malate) with five guns, Blockhouse No. 14 with two guns, and connecting infantry trenches, concentrated fire upon the American breastworks, which caused considerable annoyance to the Americans. The night was pitch-dark, it rained in torrents, there was mud and water everywhere, and the ground was too flat to drain. The 10th Pennsylvania Regiment and four guns of the Utah Batteries occupied the American line, with two batteries of the 3rd Foot Artillery in reserve. The last was brought up under a heavy fire, and taking up a position on the right, silenced the Spaniards, who were pouring in a flanking fire. The whole camp was under arms, and ammunition and reinforcements were sent. The regiments were standing expectantly in the rain. The 1st California was ordered forward, the bugle sounded the advance, the whole camp cheered, and the men were delighted at the idea of meeting the enemy. Over a flat ground the American troops advanced under a heavy Spanish fire of shell and Maüser rifles, but they were steady and checked the Spaniardsʼ attack.

General Greene went forward to the trenches, firing was exchanged, and the wounded were being brought back from the front in carromatas. The contending parties were separated by bamboo thickets and swamp. The Americans lost that night 10 killed and 30 wounded. The Spanish loss was much heavier. Most of the Americans killed were shot in the head. The Maüser bullet has great penetrating power, but does not kill well; in fact it often makes a small wound which hardly bleeds. As pointed out at p. 369, four Maüser bullets passed right through Sancho Valenzuela at his execution and left him still alive. Captain Hobbs, of the 3rd Artillery, was shot through the thigh at night, and only the next morning saw the nature of the wound.

During the following week the Spaniards made three more night-attacks, the total killed and wounded Americans amounting to 10 men. The American soldiers were not allowed to return the fire, unless the Spaniards were evidently about to rush the breastworks. There was some grumbling in the camp. The Spaniards, however, got tired of firing to so little purpose, and after the third night there was silence. Meanwhile, in the daytime the Americans went on strengthening their line without being molested.

On August 7 Admiral Dewey and General Merritt sent a joint note to the Captain-General in Manila, giving him 48 hours to remove women and children, as, at any time after that, the city might be bombarded. The Captain-General replied thanking the Admiral and General for their kind consideration, but pointed out that he had no ships, and to send the women and children inland would be to place them at the mercy of the rebels. On the expiration of the 48 hoursʼ notice, i.e., at noon on August 9, another joint note was addressed to General Augusti, pointing out the hopelessness of his holding out and formally demanding the surrender of the city, so that life and property of defenceless persons might be spared. The Captain-General replied requesting the American commanders to apply to Madrid; but this proposal being rejected, the correspondence ceased.

On August 11 a Council of War was held between Generals Merritt, Anderson, McArthur, and Greene, and the plan of combined attack arranged between General Merritt and Admiral Dewey was explained. For some hours a storm prevented the landing of more American troops with supplies, but these were later on landed at Parañaque when the weather cleared up, and were hurriedly sent on to the camp, where preparations were being made for the assault on the city.

Whilst the Protocol was being signed in Washington the American troops were entrenched about 350 yards from the Spaniards, who were prepared to make their last stand at the Fort San Antonio Abad (Malate). From the morning of that day there were apparent signs of an intended sortie by the Spaniards, and, in view of this, the rebels marched towards the American lines, but were requested to withdraw. Indeed, the native forces were only too anxious to co-operate with the American troops, or at least, to have the semblance of doing so, in order to justify their claim to enter the beleaguered city as allies of the invaders. General Merritt, however, discouraged any such alliance, and issued precise orders to his subordinate officers to avoid, as much as possible, all negotiation with the Aguinaldo party.

Why the Spaniards were still holding the city of Manila at this date is perhaps best understood by the Americans. To the casual observer it would have appeared expedient to have made the possession of Manila a fait accompli before the Protocol of Peace was signed. The Americans had a large and powerful fleet in Manila Bay; they were in possession of Cavite, the arsenal and forts, and they had a large army under Maj.-General Merritt and his staff. General Augusti was, for weeks previous, personally disposed to surrender, and only refused to do so as a matter of form, hence the same means as were finally employed could apparently have brought about the same result at an earlier date.[11] The only hope the Spaniards could entertain was a possible benefit to be derived from international complication. From the tone of several of the Captain-Generalʼs despatches, published in Madrid, one may deduce that capitulation to a recognized Power would have relieved him of the tremendous anxiety as to what would befall the city if the rebels did enter. It is known that, before the bombardment, Admiral Dewey and his colleagues had given the humane and considerate assurance that the city should not be left to the mercy of the revolutionary forces.

The next day, Saturday, August 13, the Americans again demanded the surrender of the city within an hour, which was refused, according to Spanish custom. Without the slenderest hope of holding the city against the invaders, the Spaniards preconcerted a human sacrifice,[12] under the fallacious impression that the salvation of their honour demanded it, and operations commenced at 9.45 a.m. The ships present at the attack were the Olympia (flagship), Monterey, Raleigh, McCulloch, Petrel, Charleston, Baltimore, Boston, and Concord, with the little gunboat Rápido, and the captured (Spanish) gunboat Callao, and the armed steam-launch Barceló. The Concord watched the Fort Santiago at the Pasig River entrance. The American commanders confined the bombardment to the forts and trenches situated to the south of the city. The whole of the walled city and the trading quarter of Binondo were undamaged. The fighting-line was led by the Olympia, which sent 4-inch shells in the direction of the fort at Malate (San Antonio de Abad). A heavy shower of rain made it difficult to get the range, and every shell fell short. The Petrel then took up position and shelled the fort with varying result, followed by the Raleigh. The Rápido and the Callao, being of light draught, were able to lie close in shore and pour in a raking fire from their small-calibre guns with considerable effect. The distance between the ships and the fort was about 3,500 yards, and, as soon as this was correctly ascertained, the projectiles had a telling effect on the enemyʼs battery and earthworks. The Olympia hurled about 70 5-inch shells and 16 8-inch shells, and the Petrel and the Raleigh about the same number each. There was rather a heavy wash in the bay for the little Callao and the Barceló, but they were all the time capering about, pouring a hail of small shell whenever they had a chance. The Spaniards at Malate returned the fire and struck the Callao without doing any damage. The transport Zafiro lay between the fighting-line and the shore, having on board General Merritt, his staff, and a volunteer regiment. The transport Kwonghoi was also in readiness with a landing-party of troops on board. In another steamer were the correspondents of the London Times and New York Herald, and the special artists of the Century Magazine and the Herald. The field artillery took no part in the operations. The shelling of the Fort San Antonio Abad from the ships lasted until about 11 a.m., when the general signal was given to cease firing. One shell, from Malate, reached the American camp. The firing from the ships had caused the Spaniards to fall back. General Greene then ordered the 1st Colorado to advance. Two companies deployed over a swamp and went along the beach under cover of the Utah Battery. Two other companies advanced in column towards the Spanish entrenchments with colours flying and bands of music playing lively tunes. The first and second companies fired volleys to cover the advance of the other columns. They crossed the little creek, near Malate, in front of the fort; then, by rushes, they reached the fort, which they entered, followed by the other troops, only to find it deserted. The Spaniards had retreated to a breastwork at the rear of the fort, where they kept up a desultory fire at the Colorado troops, killing one man and wounding several. Fort San Antonio Abad was now in possession of the 1st Colorado under Lieut.-Colonel McCoy, who climbed up the flagstaff, hauled down the Spanish flag, and hoisted the Stars and Stripes amidst cheers from the army and fleet.

Four companies of the 1st Colorado advanced across the fields, entered the Spanish trenches, crossed the bridge, and moved up the road, the Spaniards still keeping up an ineffective fire from long range.

The 3rd Colorado came up with a band of music, and then the whole regiment deployed in skirmishing order and maintained a continual rifle fire until they halted on the Luneta Esplanade. The band took up a position in an old Spanish trench and played as the troops filed past along the beach. The Spaniards were gradually falling back on the city, and the rebels who were located near the Spanish lines continued the attack; but the Americans gave them the order to cease firing, which they would not heed. The Americans thereupon turned their guns upon the rebels, who showed an inclination to fight. Neither, however, cared to fire the first shot; so the rebels, taking another road, drove the Spaniards, in confusion, as far as Ermita, when Emilio Aguinaldo ordered his men to cease firing as they were just outside the city walls. The rebel commander had received strict orders not to let his forces enter Manila. The American troops then developed the attack, the Spaniards making, at first, a stubborn resistance, apparently for appearanceʼ sake, for the fight soon ended when the Spaniards in the city hoisted the white flag on a bastion of the old walls. Orders were then given to cease firing, and by one oʼclock the terms of capitulation were being negotiated. General F. V. Greene then sent an order to the troops for the rear regiments to muster on the Luneta Esplanade, and there half the American army waited in silent expectation. The Spanish entrenchments extended out from the city walls in different directions as far as three miles. The defenders were about 2,500 in number, composed of Spanish regular troops, volunteers, and native auxiliaries; about the same number of troops being in the hospitals inside the city. The opponent force amounted to about 15,000 rebels and 10,000 Americans ashore and afloat. The attacking guns threw heavier shot and had a longer range than the Spanish artillery. The Americans were also better marksmen than the Spaniards. They were, moreover, better fed and in a superior condition generally. The Americans were buoyed up with the moral certainty of gaining an easy victory, whereas the wearied Spaniards had long ago despaired of reinforcements coming to their aid; hence their defence in this hopeless struggle was merely nominal for “the honour of the country.”

For some time after the white flag was hoisted there was street-fighting between the rebels and the loyals. The rattle of musketry was heard all round the outskirts. The rebels had taken 300 to 400 Spanish prisoners and seized a large quantity of stores. General Basilio Augusti, who was personally averse to useless bloodshed, relinquished his command of the Colony about a week prior to the capitulation. Just before the attack on the city he went on board a German steam-launch which was waiting for him and was conveyed to the German cruiser Kaiserin Augusta, which at once steamed out of the bay northwards. General Fermin Jaúdenes remained as acting-Captain-General.[13] Brig.-General of Volunteers and Insp.-General Charles A. Whittier and Lieutenant Brumby then went ashore in the Belgian Consulʼs launch, and on landing they were met by an interpreter, Cárlos Casademunt, and two officers, who accompanied them to the house of the acting-Captain-General, with whom the draft terms of capitulation were agreed upon. In his evidence before the Peace Commission at Paris, General Whittier said: “I think the Captain-General was much frightened. He reported in great trepidation that the insurgents were coming into the city, and I said that I knew that that was impossible because such precautions had been taken as rendered it so. “His fear and solicitude about the natives entering the city when I received the surrender of Manila were almost painful to witness.” Lieutenant Brumby returned to Admiral Dewey to report, and again went ashore with General Merritt. In the meantime General Jaúdenes had taken refuge in the sacristy of a church which was filled with women and children, presumably with the wise object of keeping clear of the unrestrained mobs fighting in the suburbs. For some time the Spanish officers refused to reveal his whereabouts, but eventually he and General Merritt met, and on August 14 the terms of the Capitulation were signed between General Nicolás de la Peña y Cuellas and Colonels Jose Maria Olaguer Tellin and Cárlos Rey y Rich, as Commissioners for Spain, and Generals F. V. Greene and Charles A. Whittier, Colonel Crowder, and Captain Lamberton, U.S.N., as Commissioners for the United States. The most important conditions embodied in the Capitulation are as follows, viz.:

1. The surrender of the Philippine Archipelago.

2. Officers to be allowed to retain their swords and personal effects, but not their horses.

3. Officers to be prisoners of war on parole.

4. The troops to be prisoners of war and to deposit their arms at a place to be appointed by General Merritt.

5. All necessary supplies for their maintenance to be provided from the public Treasury funds, and after they are exhausted, by the United States.

6. All public property to be surrendered.

7. The disposal of the troops to be negotiated, later on, by the United States and Spanish Governments.

8. Arms to be returned to the troops at General Merrittʼs discretion.

The Capitulation having been signed, Lieutenant Brumby immediately went to Fort Santiago with two signalmen from the Olympia and lowered the Spanish flag, which had been flying there all day. Many Spanish officers and a general crowd from the streets stood around, and as he drew near to the flagstaff he was hissed by the onlookers. When the orange-and-red banner was actually replaced by the Stars and Stripes, many in the crowd shed tears. The symbol of Spanish sovereignty had disappeared for ever. The attitude of the mob was not reassuring, so Lieutenant Brumby asked an infantry officer who was present to bring his detachment as a guard. A company of infantry happened to be coming along, and presented arms, whilst the band, playing “The Star-spangled Banner,” enlivened this dramatic ceremony. Whilst this was going on the Spaniards hoisted the Spanish flag on the transport Cebú and brought it down to the mouth of the Pasig River, where they set fire to it. A party of American marines boarded her, hauled down the Spanish flag, and tried to save the hull, but it was too far consumed. The Spaniards also destroyed barges and other Government property lying in the river.

In the official reports furnished by Generals T. M. Anderson and A. McArthur and published in America, the total casualties on the American side are stated to be as follows, viz.:—On August 13, five killed and 43 wounded. Previous to this in the trenches there were 14 killed and 60 wounded, making a total of 122.

The approximate number of European Spanish troops in the Archipelago during the year 1898 would stand thus:—

Total of troops under Gen. Primo de Rivera in January, 1898, say

25,000

Shipped back to Spain by Gen. Primo de Rivera after Aguinaldoʼs withdrawal to Hong-Kong (vide p. 400)

7,000

At the date of the Capitulation of Manila

Prisoners (regular troops) in hands of the rebels

8,000

Detachments in the Luzon Provinces (subsequently surrendered to, or killed by, the rebels)

1,000

Killed or mortally wounded in general combat

1,000

Wounded and diseased in Manila hospitals

2,600

Approximate total in Visayas and Mindanao Island (General Riosʼ jurisdiction)

3,000

Approximate total of able-bodied troops in Manila, prisoners of war (to America), up to December 10, 1898

2,400

25,000

General F. V. Greene marched his troops down the Calzada and entered the walled city, where he massed his forces. Sentinels were placed at all the city gates; some rebels got inside the city, but were disarmed and sent out again. At 7 p.m. the American troops took up their quarters in public buildings, porches, and even on the streets, for they were tired out. One might have imagined it to be a great British festival, for the streets were bedecked everywhere with the British colours displayed by the Chinese who were under British protection. That night General Merritt, General Greene and the staff officers were served at dinner by the late Captain-Generalʼs servants in the Town Hall (Plaza de la Catedral), the splendid marble entrance of which became temporarily a dépôt for captured arms, ammunition, and accoutrements of war.

No hostile feeling was shown by Spaniards of any class. The inhabitants of the city looked remarkably well after the 105 daysʼ siege. Trade was absolutely at a standstill, and American troops were drafted out of the walled city to occupy the commercial quarter of Binondo on the opposite side of the river. The government of the city was at once taken over by Maj.-General Wesley Merritt, appointments being made by him to the principal departments as follows, viz.:—

By General Order dated August 15, Brig.-General T. M. Anderson became Commandant of the Cavite district, the garrison of which would be increased on the arrival of the transports on the way. Brig.-General Arthur McArthur became Military Commandant of the walled city of Manila and Provost-Marshal of the city of Manila, including all the suburbs, his barracks and staff-quarters to be within the walled city. The Commandant was to take over the offices, staff, and functions of the late Civil Governor. Colonel Ovenshine became Deputy Provost-Marshal of the walled city south of the river; Colonel James S. Smith was appointed Deputy Provost-Marshal of Binondo and all districts situated north of the river.

By General Order dated August 16, Brig.-General F. V. Greene became Treasurer-General; Brig.-General of Volunteers C. A. Whittier was nominated Commissioner of Customs.

By General Order dated August 15, it was provided that within 10 days a complete list should be sent to Washington of all public establishments and properties of every description, including horses; that all private property, including horses, would be respected, and that lodging for the prisoners of war would be provided by the Military Commandant of the city in the public buildings and barracks not required for the American troops. Colonel C. M. C. Reeve was appointed Chief of Police, with the 13th Regiment of Volunteer Minnesota Infantry for this service.

On August 16 a notice was placarded outside the General Post Office to the effect that, as all the Spanish staff had refused to work for the Americans, the local and provincial correspondence could not be attended to. This was, however, soon remedied.

In an order issued on August 22 it was enacted that all natives and all Spanish soldiers were to be disarmed before they were admitted into the walled city. The insurgent troops were included in the above category, but their arms were restored to them on their leaving the city. An exception was made in favour of the insurgent officers, from the grade of lieutenant upwards, who were permitted to enter and leave Manila with their swords and revolvers.

On August 25 a provisional agreement was entered into between the American authorities and Emilio Aguinaldo, to remain in force pending the result of the Paris Peace Commission, whereby their respective spheres were defined. The Americans retained jurisdiction over Manila City, Binondo, the right bank of the Pasig River up to the Calzada de Iris and thence to Malacañan, which was included. The remaining districts were necessarily in the hands of the rebels, there being no recognized independent government in Luzon other than the American military occupation of the capital and environs.

Towards the end of August, the American Commander-in-Chief, Maj.-General Wesley Merritt, quitted the Islands in order to give evidence before the Peace Commission at Paris, after having appointed General E. S. Otis to be the first Military Governor of Manila.

The British Consul, Mr. E. A. Rawson Walker, who had rendered such excellent service to both the contending parties, died of dysentery in the month of August, and was buried at Paco cemetery.

Philippine refugees returned to the Islands in large numbers, but the American authorities notified the Consul in Hong-Kong that only those Chinese who could prove to his satisfaction previous residence in Manila would be allowed to return there.

Trading operations were resumed immediately after the capitulation, and the first shipment of cigars made after that date was a parcel of 140,000 exported to Singapore in the first week of September and consigned to the Tabaqueria Universal. Business in Manila, little by little, resumed its usual aspect. The old Spanish newspapers continued to be published, and some of them, especially El Comercio, were enterprising enough to print alternate columns of English and Spanish, and, occasionally, a few advertisements in very amusing broken English. Two rebel organs, La Independencia and La República Filipina, soon appeared. They were shortly followed by a number of periodicals of minor importance, such as El Soldado Español, La Restauracion (a Carlist organ), Thé Kon Leche, El Cometa and El Motin (satirical papers) and two American papers, viz., The Manila American and The Manila Times. Liberty of the press was such a novelty in Manila that La Voz Española over-stepped the bounds of prudence and started a press campaign against the Americans. Delgado, the editor, after repeated warnings from the Provost-Marshal, was at length arrested. The paper was suppressed for abusing the Americans from the President downwards, and publishing matter calculated to incite the Spanish inhabitants to riot. The capital was seething with opposition to the new conditions; many were arrested, but few lamented the incarceration, for the prison was the porch which led to fame, and through it all who were ambitious to rise from obscurity had to pass. Moreover, imprisonment (for mere trifles) was such a commonplace event in Spanish times that no native lost caste by the experience of it, unless it were for a heinous crime which shocked his fellows. Meanwhile, in the public ways and the cafés and saloons, altercations between the three parties, Spanish, native, and American, were of frequent occurrence.

For some weeks before the capitulation there had been a certain amount of friction between the American soldiery and the rebels, who resented being held in check by the American authorities. Emilio Aguinaldo had his headquarters at Bacoor, on the Cavite coast, situated between two divisions of the American army, one at Cavite and the other at Manila, and within easy shelling distance from the American fleet. For obvious reasons he decided to remove his centre of operations, for it was becoming doubtful how long peace between the two parties would continue. The rebels had been sorely disappointed that they were not allowed to enter Manila with the Americans, or even before, for since the first few months of the rebellion they had pictured to themselves the delights of a free raid on the city. Aguinaldo therefore removed his headquarters to a place three miles north of Manila, but General Otis requested him to go farther away from the capital. As he hesitated to do so the General sent him an ultimatum on September 13 ordering him to evacuate that place by the afternoon of the 15th, so during the night of the 14th Aguinaldo moved on with his troops to Malolos. From this town, situate about 20 miles from Manila, he could better unite and control the rebel factions here and there over the northern provinces; he could, moreover, either make use of the line of railway or cut off the connection with Manila, or he could divert supplies from the rich rice districts and Pangasinán ports, whilst the almost impregnable mountains were of easy access in case of need.

Aguinaldo declared Malolos to be the provisional capital of his Revolutionary Government, and convened a Congress to meet there on September 15 in the church of Barasoain.[14] Fifty-four deputies responded to the summons, and in conformity with Aguinaldoʼs proclamation of June 23 they proceeded to elect a President of Congress, Vice-President, Secretaries, etc. The result of the voting was a remarkable event of the revolution. Don Pedro A. Paterno was elected President of Congress! The man whom the revolutionists had, less than four months before, so satirically admonished for his leaning towards Spanish sovereignty, was chosen to guide the political destinies of this budding democracy and preside over their republican legislative body! Deputies Benito Legarda and Ocampo were chosen to be Vice-President and Secretary respectively. Congress voted for Aguinaldo a salary of ₱50,000 and ₱25,000 for representation expenses. These figures were afterwards reversed, i.e., ₱25,000 salary, and ₱50,000 for expenses; but Aguinaldo, who never showed any desire for personal gain, was quite willing to set aside the vote. A decree in Congress, dated September 21, imposed compulsory military service on every able-bodied Philippine male over 18 years of age, except those holding office under the Revolutionary Government. At an early session of Congress Deputy Tomas del Rosario made a long speech advocating Church Disestablishment.[15]

The night before Congress met to announce the election of President, etc., an attempt was made to poison Emilio Aguinaldo. Dinner was about to be served to him; the soup was in the tureen, when one of the three Spanish prisoners who were allowed to be about the kitchen tasted the soup in a manner to arouse suspicion. The steward at once took a spoonful of it and fell dead on the spot. The three prisoners in question, as well as 11 Franciscan friars, were consequently placed in close confinement. At the next sitting of Congress the incident was mentioned and it was resolved to go en masse to congratulate Aguinaldo on his lucky escape. At 5 p.m. the same day a Te Deum was sung in Malolos Church anent this occurrence.

On October 1 the Ratification of Philippine Independence was proclaimed at Malolos with imposing ceremony. From 6 a.m. the Manila (Tondo) railway-station was besieged by the crowd of sightseers on their way to the insurgent capital (Malolos), which was en fête and gaily decorated with flags for the triumphal entry of General Emilio Aguinaldo, who walked to the Congress House attired in a dress suit, with Don Pedro A. Paterno on his right and Don Benito Legarda on his left, followed by other representative men of the Revolutionary Party, amidst the vociferous acclamations of the people and the strains of music. After the formal proclamation was issued the function terminated with a banquet given to 200 insurgent notabilities. This day was declared by the Malolos Congress to be a public holiday in perpetuity.

By virtue of Article 3 of the Protocol of Peace the Americans were in possession of the city, bay, and harbour of Manila pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace. The terms of peace were referred to a Spanish-American Commission, which met in Paris on October 1, five commissioners and a secretary being appointed by each of the High Contracting Parties. The representatives of the United States were the Hon. William R. Day, of Ohio, ex-Secretary of State, President of the American Commission; Senator Cushman K. Davis, of Minnesota; Senator William P. Frye, of Maine; Senator George Gray, of Delaware; and the Hon. Whitelaw Reid, of New York, ex-Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States in France, assisted by the Secretary and Counsel to their Commission, Mr. John Bassett Moore, an eminent professor of international law. The Spanish Commissioners were Don Eugenio Montero Rios, Knight of the Golden Fleece, President of the Senate, ex-Cabinet Minister, etc., President of the Spanish Commission; Senator Don Buenaventura Abarzuza, ex-Ambassador, ex-Minister, etc.; Don José de Garnica y Diaz, a lawyer; Don Wenceslao Ramirez de Villa-Urrutia, Knight of the Orders of Isabella the Catholic and of Charles III., etc., Minister Plenipotentiary to the Belgian Court; and General Don Rafael Cerero y Saenz, assisted by the Secretary to their Commission, Don Emilio de Ojeda, Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Morocco. The conferences were held in a suite of apartments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, placed at their disposal by M. Delcassé. Among other questions to be agreed upon and embodied in the treaty was the future of the Philippines. For Washington officials these Islands really constituted a terra incognita. Maj.-General Merritt and a number of other officials went to Paris to give evidence before the Commission. At their request, conveyed to me through the American Embassy, I also proceeded to Paris in October and expressed my views before the Commissioners, who examined me on the whole question. The Cuban debts and the future of the Philippines were really the knotty points in the entire debate. The Spanish Commissioners argued (1) that the single article in the Protocol relating to the Philippines did not imply a relinquishment of Spanish sovereignty over those Islands, but only a temporary occupation of the city, bay, and harbour of Manila by the Americans pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace. (2) That the attack on Manila, its capitulation, and all acts of force consequent thereon, committed after the Protocol was signed, were unlawful because the Protocol stipulated an immediate cessation of hostilities; therefore the Commissioners claimed indemnity for those acts, a restoration to the status quo ante, and “the immediate delivery of the place (Manila) to the Spanish Government” (vide Annex to Protocol No. 12 of the Paris Peace Commission conference of November 3).

The American Commissioners replied: (1) “It is the contention on the part of the United States that this article leaves to the determination of the treaty of peace the entire subject of the future government and sovereignty of the Philippines necessarily embodied in the terms used in the Protocol.” (2) It is erroneous to suggest “that the ultimate demands of the United States in respect of the Philippines were embodied in the Protocol.” (3) That there was no cable communication with Manila, hence the American commanders could not possibly have been informed of the terms of the Protocol on the day of its signature. The Spanish Commissioners, nevertheless, tenaciously persisting in their contention, brought matters to the verge of a resumption of hostilities when the American Commissioners presented what was practically an ultimatum, in which they claimed an absolute cession of the Islands, offering, however, to pay to Spain $20,000,000 gold, to agree, for a term of years, to admit Spanish ships and merchandise into the Islands on the same terms as American ships and merchandise, and to mutually waive all claims for indemnity—(vide Annex to Protocol No. 15 of the Paris Peace Commission conference of November 21).

For a few days the Spaniards still held out, and to appease public feeling in the Peninsula a fleet under Admiral Cámara was despatched, ostensibly to the Philippines. It was probably never intended that the fleet should go beyond Port Said, for on its arrival there it was ordered to return, the official explanation to the indignant Spanish public being that America was preparing to seize the Archipelago by force, if necessary, and send a fleet to Spanish waters under the command of Admiral Watson. Sagastaʼs Government had not the least intention of letting matters go so far as that, but it suited the Spanish Cabinet, already extremely unpopular, to make an appearance of resistance. Moreover, Señor Sagasta had personal motives for wishing to protract the negotiations, the examination of which would lead one too far away from the present subject into Spanish politics.

At the next conference of the Commission the demands of the Americans were reluctantly conceded, and the form in which the treaty was to be drafted was finally settled. The sitting of the Commission was terminated by the reading of a strongly-worded protest by Señor Montero Rios in which the Spanish Commissioner declared that they had been compelled to yield to brute force and abuse of international law against which they vehemently protested. The secretaries of the respective Commissions were then instructed to draw up the document of the Treaty of Peace, which was signed at 9 p.m. on Saturday, December 10, 1898, in the Grand Gallery of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris. The expenses of the Spanish Commission amounted to £8,400. A delay of six months was agreed upon for the ratification by the two Governments of the treaty, the text of which is given at the end of this chapter. America undertook to establish equal duties on Spanish and American goods for a period of ten years; but it subsequently transpired that this was no special boon to Spain, seeing that America declared shortly after the signing of the treaty that there would be no preferential tariff, and that merchandise of all nations could enter the Islands at the same rate of duty and on equal terms with America. The clauses of the treaty relating to the Philippines met with determined opposition in the United States, where politicians were divided into three parties advocating respectively annexation, protection, and abandonment of the Islands to the natives.

At the closing conferences of the Commission several additional clauses to the treaty were proposed by the one party and the other and rejected. Among the most singular are the following:—The Spaniards proposed that America should pay annually to the descendants of Christopher Columbus $7,400 to be charged to the treasuries of Porto Rico and Manila. The Americans proposed that Spain should concede to them the right to land telegraph-cables in the Canary Islands, or on any territory owned by Spain on the coast of Africa, or in the Peninsula, in consideration of a cash payment of one million gold dollars.

We must now go back to September to follow the thread of events which intervened from that period and during the 71 daysʼ sitting of the Peace Commission in Paris. My old acquaintance Felipe Agoncillo was sent to Washington in September by Emilio Aguinaldo to solicit permission from the American Government to represent the rebelsʼ cause on the Paris Commission, or, failing this, to be allowed to state their case. The Government, however, refused to recognize him officially, so he proceeded to Paris. Having unsuccessfully endeavoured to be heard before the Commission, he drew up a protest in duplicate, handing a copy to the Spanish and another to the American Commissioners. The purport of this document was that whereas the Americans had supplied the Filipinos with war-material and arms to gain their independence and not to fight against Spain in the interests of America, and whereas America now insisted on claiming possession of the Archipelago, he protested, in the name of Emilio Aguinaldo, against what he considered a defraudment of his just rights. His mission led to nothing, so he returned to Washington to watch events for Aguinaldo. After the treaty was signed in Paris he was received at the White House, where an opportunity was afforded him of stating the Filipinosʼ views; but he did not take full advantage of it, and returned to Paris, where I met him in July, 1900, holding the position of “High Commissioner for the Philippine Republic.” His policy was, then, “absolute independence, free of all foreign control.” In 1904 we met again in Hong-Kong, where he was established as a lawyer.

In this interval, too, matters in Manila remained in statu quo so far as the American occupation was concerned. General E. S. Otis was still in supreme command in succession to General Merritt, and reinforcements were arriving from America to strengthen the position. General Otisʼs able administration wrought a wonderful change in the city. The weary, forlorn look of those who had great interests at stake gradually wore off; business was as brisk as in the old times, and the Custom-house was being worked with a promptitude hitherto unknown in the Islands. There were no more sleepless nights, fearing an attack from the dreaded rebel or the volunteer. The large majority of foreign (including Spanish) and half-caste Manila merchants showed a higher appreciation of American protection than of the prospect of sovereign independence under a Philippine Republic. On the other hand, the drunken brawls of the American soldiers in the cafes, drinking-shops, and the open streets constituted a novelty in the Colony. Drinking “saloons” and bars monopolized quite a fifth of the stores in the principal shopping street, La Escolta, where such unruliness obtained, to the detriment of American prestige, that happily the Government decided to exclude those establishments altogether from that important thoroughfare, which has since entirely regained its respectable reputation. The innovation was all the more unfortunate because of the extremely bad impression it made on the natives and Spaniards, who are remarkably abstemious. It must also have been the cause of a large percentage of the sickness of the American troops (wrongly attributed to climate), for it is well known that inebriety in the Philippines is the road to death. With three distinct classes of soldiers in Manila—the Americans, the rebels, and the Spanish prisoners—each living in suspense, awaiting events with divergent interests, there were naturally frequent disputes and collisions, sometimes of a serious nature, which needed great vigilance to suppress.

The German trading community observed that, due to the strange conduct of the commanders of the German fleet, who showed such partiality towards the Spaniards up to the capitulation of Manila, the natives treated them with marked reticence. The Germans therefore addressed a more than ample letter of apology on the subject to the newspaper La Independencia (October 17).

As revolutionary steamers were again cruising in Philippine waters, all vessels formerly flying the Spanish flag were hastily placed on the American register to secure the protection of the Stars and Stripes, and ex-Consul Oscar F. Williams was deputed to attend to these and other matters connected with the shipping trade of the port.

It was yet theoretically possible that the Archipelago might revert to Spain; hence pending the deliberations of the Peace Commission, no movement was made on the part of the Americans to overthrow the de facto Spanish Government still subsisting in the southern islands. General Fermin Jáudenes, the vanquished Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish forces in Manila (Sub-Inspector until General Augusti left), was liberated on parole in the capital until the first week of October, when the American Government allowed him to return to Spain. He left in the s.s. Esmeralda for Hong-Kong on October 15. Meanwhile, a month before, the Spanish Government appointed General Diego de los Rios Gov.-General of the Philippines, with residence at Yloilo. Spaniards of all classes were at least personally safe in Manila under American protection. All who could reach the capital did so, for Spanish sway in the provinces was practically at an end. Aguinaldo therefore directed his attention both to matters of government in Luzon and to the control of the southern islands.

Neither the Filipinos nor the Spaniards could foresee that the evacuation by the Spaniards of all the Islands would be insisted upon by the American Commissioners in Paris. Moreover, it was no easy task for Aguinaldo to maintain his own personal prestige (an indispensable condition in all revolutions), carry out his own plans of government, and keep together, in inactivity, a large half-disciplined fighting force. Three weeks after the capitulation of Manila, Aguinaldo sent several small vessels to the Island of Panay, carrying Luzon rebels to effect a landing and stir up rebellion in Visayas. He was anxious to secure all the territory he could before the conditions of peace should be settled in Paris, in the hope that actual possession would influence the final issue. General Rios was therefore compelled to enter on a new campaign, assisted by the small gunboats which had remained south since hostilities commenced north in May. Spanish troops were sent to Singapore en routefor Yloilo, and then a question arose between Madrid and Washington as to whether they could be allowed to proceed to their destination under the peace Protocol. The Tagálog rebels landed in the province of Antique (Panay Is.), and a few natives of the locality joined them. They were shortly met by the Spanish troops, and severe fighting took place in the neighbourhood of Bugáson, where the rebels were ultimately routed with great loss of men and impedimenta.

The survivors fled to their vessels and landed elsewhere on the same coast. In several places on the Island the flag of rebellion had been unfurled, and General Riosʼ troops showed them no quarter. At the end of six weeks the rebels had been beaten in numerous encounters, without the least apparent chance of gaining their objective point—the seizure of Yloilo. In the Concepcion district (East Panay) the rebel chief Perfecto Poblado took the command, but gained no victory with his following of 4,000 men. So far, what was happening in the Islands, other than Luzon, did not officially concern the Americans.

About this time, in Manila, there was by no means that entente cordiale which should have existed between the rebels and the Americans, supposing them to be real allies. In reality, it was only in the minds of the insurgents that there existed an alliance, which the Americans could not, with good grace, have frankly repudiated, seeing that General T. M. Anderson was frequently soliciting Aguinaldoʼs assistance and co-operation.[16] Aguinaldo was naturally uneasy about the possible prospect of a protracted struggle with the Spaniards, if the Islands should revert to them; he was none the less irritated because his repeated edicts and proclamations of independence received no recognition from the Americans. General Anderson had already stated, in his reply (July 22) to a letter from Aguinaldo, that he had no authority to recognize Aguinaldoʼs assumption of dictatorship. The native swaggering soldiery, with the air of conquerors, were ever ready to rush to arms on the most trivial pretext, and became a growing menace to the peaceful inhabitants. Therefore, on October 25, Aguinaldo was again ordered to withdraw his troops still farther, to distances varying from five to eight miles off Manila, and he reluctantly complied. When this order was sent to him his forces in the neighbourhood of Manila were estimated to be as follows:—At Coloocan, 3,000 men, with two guns trained on Binondo; Santa Mesa, 380; Pasig, 400; Paco, Santa Ana, Pandácan, and Pasay, 400 to 500 each; south of Malate, 1,200, and at Santólan waterworks (on which the supply of potable water to the capital depended), 380.

In Panay Island General Rios published an edict offering considerable reforms, but the flame of rebellion was too widespread for it to have any effect. The Island of Cebú also was in revolt; the harsh measures of General Montero effected nothing to Spainʼs advantage, whilst that miserable system of treating suspects as proved culprits created rebels. Neither did the Moro raid on the Cebuános, referred to at p. 406, serve to break their spirit; more than half the villages defied Spanish authority, refused to pay taxes, and forced the friars to take refuge in Cebú City, which was, so far, safe. Those who were able took passage to ports outside the Archipelago. In Leyte Island there were risings of minor importance, instigated by Tagálogs, and chiefly directed against the friars, who were everywhere obnoxious to the people. At Catbalogan (Sámar Is.) an armed mob attacked the Spaniards, who fled to the house of an American. General Rios had not sufficient troops to dominate several islands covering such a large area. He was so hard pressed in Panay alone that, even if he had had ample means of transport, he could neither divide his forces nor afford to spend time in carrying them from one island to another. Towards the end of October he ran short of ammunition, but, opportunely, the Spanish mail-steamer Buenos Aires brought him a supply with which he could continue the struggle. Fresh Tagálog expeditions were meanwhile sent south, and coerced or persuaded the Panay people to rise in greater force than ever, until, finally, General Rios had to fall back on Yloilo. By the middle of November practically the whole island, except the towns of Yloilo, Molo, Jaro and La Paz, was under rebel dominion. In December General Rios held only the town and port of Yloilo. He had ordered the bridge of Manduriao to be destroyed, so as to establish a dividing line between him and the rebels who were entrenched on the opposite bank of the river, neither party being willing to make a bold onslaught on the other, although frequent skirmishing took place. On receipt of the news of the conclusion of the Treaty of Paris, General Rios proposed to the rebels a mutual cessation of hostilities, on the ground that no advantage could accrue to either party by a further sacrifice of blood and munitions of war, seeing that within a few days he was going to evacuate the town and embark his troops, and that, so far as he was concerned, they could then take his place without opposition. But the rebels, presumably interpreting his humane suggestion as a sign of weakness, continued to fire on the Spanish troops.

The small detachments and garrisons in Negros Island had been unable to resist the tide of revolt; the west coast of that island was over-run by the rebels under the leadership of Aniceto Lacson and Juan Araneta (a much respected planter of Bago, personally known to me), and the local Spanish Governor, Don Isidro Castro, was forced to capitulate, in due written form, at Bacólod, on November 6, with his troops and all the Spanish civil and military employees. By December 1 it was evident that, although Spanish empire in Visayas had been definitely broken, there was absolute discord among the (southern) rebels themselves. They split up into rival factions, each one wanting to set up a government of its own. The American Peace Commissioners had made their formal demand for the cession of all the Islands, and it was clear to the Spanish Government that General Rios would sooner or later have to evacuate under the treaty. It was useless, therefore, to continue to shed European blood and waste treasure in those regions. In the first week of December the Madrid Government ordered General Rios to suspend hostilities and retire to Mindanao Island with his troops, pending arrangements for their return to the Peninsula. General Rios replied to this order, saying that he would make the necessary preparations. Meanwhile, on December 11, the rebels approached the fortifications around Yloilo town, and the Spaniards kept up an almost continuous fusillade. Before daybreak on December 14 the rebels, armed with bowie-knives, attacked the Spanish entrenchments in great force and drove the Spaniards back from their first to their second redoubt. The Spaniards rallied, turned their four field-pieces on the enemy, and opened a raking artillery and rifle fire which mowed down the rebels, who retired in great disorder, leaving about 500 dead and wounded. The Spaniards, who were well protected behind their stockades, had 6 dead and 17 wounded. Notwithstanding their severe repulse, the rebels again fired on the Spaniards until some female relations of their General Araneta and others went out to the rebel lines and harangued and expostulated with the leaders, and so put them to shame with their tongues that thenceforth the rebels ceased to molest the Spaniards. General Rios then took measures for evacution. On December 23, 1898, he formally handed over Yloilo to the mayor of the town in the presence of his staff, the naval commanders, and the foreign consuls, and requested the German Vice-Consul to look after Spanish interests. On the following day the Spanish troops, numbering between five and six hundred, and several civilians were embarked in perfect order, without any unfortunate incident occurring, on board the s.s. Isla de Luzon, which sailed for Zamboanga, the rallying-place of the Spaniards, whilst some small steamers went to other places to bring the officials to the same centre.

Before leaving Yloilo, after many tedious delays respecting the conditions, an exchange of prisoners was effected with the rebels, who at the outset were inclined to be unduly exacting.

The rebels at once took possession of Yloilo, but a controlling American force arrived in the roadstead on December 27, under the command of General Miller, and was afterwards reinforced up to a total strength of about 3,000 troops.

The Caroline Islands (which were not ceded under the Treaty of Paris) were provisioned for three months, and the Spanish troops in Cebú Island and Ylígan (Mindanao Is.) had been already ordered to concentrate and prepare for embarkation on the same day for Zamboanga (Mindanao Is.), where the bulk of them remained until they could be brought back to Spain on the terms of the treaty of peace. In a few days General Rios left Zamboanga in the s.s. Leon XIII. for Manila, and remained there until June 3, 1899, to endeavour to negotiate the liberation of the Spanish prisoners detained by Aguinaldo. They were kept under guard in the mountain districts, far away from the capital, in groups miles distant from each other. No one outside the rebel camp could ever ascertain the exact number of prisoners, which was kept secret. The strenuous efforts made by the Spaniards to secure their release are fully referred to in Chap. xxvi.

During this period of evacuation the natives in Balábac Island assassinated all the male Europeans resident there, the Spanish Governor, a lieutenant, and a doctor being among the victims. The European women were held in captivity for awhile, notwithstanding the peaceful endeavours to obtain their release, supported by the Datto Harun Narrasid, Sultan of Paragua and ex-Sultan of Sulu (vide p. 142). The place was then attacked by an armed force, without result, but eventually the natives allowed the women to be taken away.

Some of the Spanish soldiers and the civil servants concentrated in Zamboanga were carried direct to the Peninsula, viá the Straits of Balábac, in the steamers Buenos Aires, Isla de Luzon, and Cachemir, and from Manila many of them returned to their country in the s.s. Leon XIII. In conformity with the Treaty of Paris (Art. 5), little by little all the Spanish troops, temporarily prisoners of the United States in Manila, were repatriated.

The Philippine Republican Congress at Malolos had now (December 26, 1898) adjourned in great confusion. The deputies could not agree upon the terms of a Republican Constitution. They were already divided into two distinct parties, the Pacificos and the Irreconcilables. The latter were headed by a certain Apolinario Mabini (vide p. 546), a lawyer hitherto unknown, and a notorious opponent of Aguinaldo until he decided to take the field against the Americans. The Cabinet having resigned, Aguinaldo prudently left Malolos on a visit to Pedro A. Paterno, at Santa Ana, on the Pasig River.

At the end of the year 1898, after 327 years of sovereignty, all that remained to Spain of her once splendid Far Eastern colonial possessions were the Caroline, the Pelew, and the Ladrone Islands (vide p. 39), minus the Island of Guam. Under the treaty of peace, signed in Paris, the Americans became nominal owners of the evacuated territories, but they were only in real possession, by force of arms, of Cavite and Manila. The rest of the Archipelago, excepting Mindanao and the Sulu Sultanate, was virtually and forcibly held by the natives in revolt. At the close of 1898 the Americans and the rebels had become rival parties, and the differences between them foreboded either frightful bloodshed or the humiliation of the one or the other.

Treaty of Peace

concluded between the United States of America and Spain, signed in Paris on December 10, 1898, and ratified in Washington on February 6, 1899. The original documents (in duplicate) are drawn up in Spanish and in English respectively.

The English Text}[17]

Article 1.—Spain relinquishes all claim of sovereignty over and title to Cuba. And as the Island is, upon its evacuation by Spain, to be occupied by the United States, the United States will, so long as such occupation shall last, assume and discharge the obligations that may under international law result from the fact of its occupation, for the protection of life and property.

Article 2.—Spain cedes to the United States the Island of Porto Rico and other islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies, and the Island of Guam in the Marianas or Ladrones.

Article 3.—Spain cedes to the United States the archipelago known as the Philippine Islands, and comprehending the islands lying within the following line: A line running from W. to E. along or near the 20th parallel of N. latitude, and through the middle of the navigable channel of Bachi, from the 118th to the 127th degree meridian of longitude E. of Greenwich, thence along the 127th degree meridian of longitude E. of Greenwich to the parallel of 4° 45′ N. latitude, thence along the parallel of 4° 45′ N. latitude to its intersection with the meridian of longitude 119° 35′ E. of Greenwich, thence along the meridian of longitude 119° 35′ E. of Greenwich to the parallel of latitude 7° 40′ N., thence along the parallel of latitude of 7° 40′ N. to its intersection with the 116th degree meridian of longitude E. of Greenwich, thence by a direct line to the intersection of the 10th degree parallel of N. latitude with the 118th degree meridian of longitude E. of Greenwich, and thence along the 118th degree meridian of longitude E. of Greenwich to the point of beginning.

The United States will pay to Spain the sum of $.20,000,000 within three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty.

Article 4.—The United States will, for the term of 10 years from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty, admit Spanish ships and merchandise to the ports of the Philippine Islands on the same terms as ships and merchandise of the United States.

Article 5.—The United States will, upon the signature of the present treaty, send back to Spain, at its own cost, the Spanish soldiers taken as prisoners of war on the capture of Manila by the American forces. The arms of the soldiers in question shall be restored to them.

Spain will, upon the exchange of the ratification of the present treaty, proceed to evacuate the Philippines, as well as the Island of Guam, on terms similiar to those agreed upon by the Commissioners appointed to arrange for the evacuation of Porto Rico and other islands in the West Indies, under the Protocol of August 12, 1898, which is to continue in force till its provisions are completely executed.

The time within which the evacuation of the Philippine Islands and Guam shall be completed shall be fixed by the two Governments. Stands of colours, uncaptured war-vessels, small arms, guns of all calibres, with their carriages and accessories, powder, ammunition, live-stock, and materials and supplies of all kinds, belonging to the land and naval forces of Spain in the Philippines and Guam, remain the property of Spain. Pieces of heavy ordnance, exclusive of field artillery, in the fortifications and coast defences, shall remain in their emplacements for the term of six months, to be reckoned from the exchange of ratifications of the treaty; and the United States may, in the meantime, purchase such material from Spain, if a satisfactory agreement between the two Governments on the subject shall be reached.

Article 6.—Spain will, upon the signature of the present treaty, release all prisoners of war, and all persons detained or imprisoned for political offences in connection with the insurrections in Cuba and the Philippines and the war with the United States.

Reciprocally, the United States will release all persons made prisoners of war by the American forces, and will undertake to obtain the release of all Spanish prisoners in the hands of the insurgents in Cuba and the Philippines.

The Government of the United States will at its own cost return to Spain and the Government of Spain will at its own cost return to the United States, Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines, according to the situation of their respective homes, prisoners released or caused to be released by them, respectively, under this article.

Article 7.—The United States and Spain mutually relinquish all claims for indemnity, national and individual, of every kind, of either Government, or of its citizens or subjects, against the other Government, that may have arisen since the beginning of the late insurrection in Cuba and prior to the exchange of ratifications of the present treaty, including all claims for indemnity for the cost of the war.

The United States will adjudicate and settle the claims of its citizens against Spain relinquished in this article.

Article 8.—In conformity with the provisions of Articles 1, 2 and 3 of this treaty, Spain relinquishes in Cuba, and cedes in Porto Rico and other islands in the West Indies, in the Island of Guam, and in the Philippine Archipelago, all the buildings, wharves, barracks, forts, structures, public highways and other immovable property which, in conformity with law, belong to the public domain, and as such belong to the Crown of Spain.

And it is hereby declared that the relinquishment or cession, as the case may be, to which the preceding paragraph refers, cannot in any respect impair the property or rights which by law belong to the peaceful possession of property of all kinds, of provinces, municipalities, public or private establishments, ecclesiastical or civic bodies, or any other associations having legal capacity to acquire and possess property in the aforesaid territories renounced or ceded, or of private individuals, of whatsoever nationality such individuals may be.

The aforesaid relinquishment or cession, as the case may be, includes all documents exclusively referring to the sovereignty relinquished or ceded that may exist in the archives of the Peninsula. Where any document in such archives only in part relates to said sovereignty, a copy of such part will be furnished whenever it shall be requested. Like rules shall be reciprocally observed in favour of Spain in respect of documents in the archives of the islands above referred to.

In the aforesaid relinquishment or cession, as the case may be, are also included such rights as the Crown of Spain and its authorities possess in respect of the official archives and records, executive as well as judicial, in the islands above referred to, which relate to the said islands or the rights and property of their inhabitants. Such archives and records shall be carefully preserved, and private persons shall without distinction have the right to require, in accordance with law, authenticated copies of the contracts, wills and other instruments forming part of notarial protocols or files, or which may be contained in the executive or judicial archives, be the latter in Spain or in the islands aforesaid.

Article 9.—Spanish subjects, natives of the Peninsula, residing in the territory over which Spain by the present treaty relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty, may remain in such territory, or may remove therefrom, retaining in either event all their rights of property, including the right to sell or dispose of such property or of its proceeds; and they shall also have the right to carry on their industry, commerce and professions, being subject in respect thereof to such laws as are applicable to other foreigners. In case they remain in the territory they may preserve their allegiance to the Crown of Spain by making before a court of record, within a year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty, a declaration of their decision to preserve such allegiance; in default of which declaration they shall be held to have renounced it and to have adopted the nationality of the territory in which they may reside.

The civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded to the United States shall be determined by the Congress.

Article 10.—The inhabitants of the territories over which Spain relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty shall be secured in the free exercise of their religion.

Article 11.—The Spaniards residing in the territories over which Spain by this treaty cedes or relinquishes her sovereignty shall be subject in matters civil as well as criminal to the jurisdiction of the courts of the country wherein they reside, pursuant to the ordinary laws governing the same; and they shall have the right to appear before such courts, and to pursue the same course as citizens of the country to which the courts belong.

Article 12.—Judicial proceedings pending at the time of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty in the territories over which Spain relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty shall be determined according to the following rules: (1) Judgements rendered either in civil suits between private individuals, or in criminal matters, before the date mentioned, and with respect to which there is no recourse, or right of review under the Spanish law, shall be deemed to be final, and shall be executed in due form by competent authority in the territory within which such judgements shall be carried out: (2) Civil suits between private individuals which may on the date mentioned be undetermined shall be prosecuted to judgement before the court in which they may then be pending or in the court that may be substituted therefor: (3) Criminal actions pending on the date mentioned before the Supreme Court of Spain, against citizens of the territory which by this treaty ceases to be Spanish, shall continue under its jurisdiction until final judgement; but, such judgement having been rendered, the execution thereof shall be committed to the competent authority of the place in which the case arose.

Article 13.—The rights of property secured by copyrights and patents acquired by Spaniards in the Island of Cuba and in Porto Rico, the Philippines and other ceded territories, at the time of the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, shall continue to be respected. Spanish scientific, literary and artistic works, not subversive of public order in the territories in question, shall continue to be admitted free of duty into such territories, for the period of ten years, to be reckoned from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty.

Article 14.—Spain will have the power to establish Consular officers in the ports and places of the territories, the sovereignty over which has been either relinquished or ceded by the present treaty.

Article 15.—The Government of each country will, for the term of ten years, accord to the merchant vessels of the other country the same treatment in respect of all port charges, including entrance and clearance dues, light dues, and tonnage duties, as it accords to its own merchant vessels, not engaged in the coastwise trade. This article may at any time be terminated on six monthsʼ notice given by either Government to the other.

Article 16.—It is understood that any obligations assumed in this treaty by the United States with respect to Cuba are limited to the time of its occupancy thereof; but it will, upon the termination of such occupancy, advise any Government established in the Island to assume the same obligations.

Article 17.—The present treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by Her Majesty the Queen-Regent of Spain; and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington within six months from the date hereof, or earlier if possible.

In faith whereof, we, the respective Plenipotentiaries, have signed this treaty and have hereunto affixed our seals.

Done in duplicate at Paris, the 10th day of December, in the year of our Lord 1898.

WILLIAM R. DAY.

CUSHMAN K. DAVIS.

WILLIAM P. FRYE.

GEO. GRAY.

WHITELAW REID.

EUGENIO MONTERO RIOS.

B. DE ABARZUZA.

J. DE GARNICA.

W. R. DE VILLA-URRUTIA.

RAFAEL CERERO.

Two years afterwards a supplementary treaty was made between the United States and Spain, whereby the Islands of Cagayán de Joló, Sibutu, and other islets not comprised in the demarcation set forth in the Treaty of Paris, were ceded to the United States for the sum of $100,000 gold. These small islands had, apparently, been overlooked when the Treaty of Paris was concluded.

[1] On February 15, 1898, the U.S. man-of-war Maine, whilst lying in the harbour of Havana, was, accidentally or intentionally, blown up, causing the death of 266 of her crew. Public opinion in America attributed the disaster to Spanish malice. The Spaniards indignantly repudiated this charge and invited an official inquest. Again, at the Conference of December 6, 1898, the Spanish Commissioners of the Peace Commission at Paris proposed an additional article to the treaty “to appoint an International Commission to be entrusted with investigating the causes of, and responsibility for, the Maine catastrophe,” but the proposal was rejected by the American Commissioners.

[2] Mirs Bay has since become British, being included in the extended Kowloon Concession on the mainland of China opposite Hong-Kong.

[3] The distance from Corregidor Island to Manila City is 27 miles.

[4] In July, 1904, I saw five rusty hulls—remnant of the Spanish fleet—afloat in Cavite harbour.

[5] Admiral Patricio Montojo, born in 1831, entered the navy at the age of 14. After the Battle of Cavite he left for Europe in October, 1898, and was committed to prison, March 3, 1899, pending the trial by court-martial which condemned him to compulsory retirement from the service. He died in 1902, aged 71 years.

[6] Vide Senate Document No. 62, Part II., 55th Congress, 3rd Session, pp. 350–6. Published by the Government Printing Office, Washington, 1899.

[7] The Macabebes who came so conspicuously into prominence during the Rebellion of 1896 are the inhabitants of the town of Macabebe and its dependent wards, situated in Lower Pampanga, near the Hagonoy River. They are the only Filipinos who have persistently and systematically opposed the revolutionary faction of their own free will, without bribe or extraneous influence. No one seems to be able to explain exactly why they should have adopted this course. They aided the Spaniards against the rebels, and also the Americans against the insurgents. All I have been able to learn of them in the locality is that they keep exclusively to themselves, and have little sympathy for, and no cordial intercourse with, the natives of other towns, either in their own province or elsewhere. A generation ago the Macabebes had a bad reputation for their petty piratical depredations around the north shore of Manila Bay and the several mouths of the Hagonoy River, and it is possible that their exclusiveness results from their consciousness of having been shunned by the more reputable inhabitants. The total population of Macabebe is about 14,000.

[8] The finding of the court says: “Pasará á la seccion de reserva del Estado Mayor General del Ejército con incapacidad para obtener destinos y sin figurar en la escala de los de dicha categoria.” Signed by Canuto Garcia de Polavieja, dated April 28, 1899, and published in the Gaceta de Madrid.

[9] It seems almost incredible that, even at this crisis, the Spaniards still counted on native auxiliaries to fight against their own kith and kin.

[10] Vide Senate Document No. 62, Part II., 55th Congress, 3rd Session, p. 282. Published by the Government Printing Office, Washington, 1899.

[11] Captain T. Bentley Mott, A.D.C to General Merritt, writing in Scribnerʼs Magazine (December, 1898) says: “Neither the fleet nor the army was, at this time, ready for a general engagement. The army did not have, all told, enough ammunition for more than one day of hard fighting, and only a part of this was in the camp.” Admiral Dewey had then been in possession of Manila bay and port three months and 12 days.

[12] Vide Senate Document No. 62, Part II., 55th Congress, 3rd Session, p. 491.

[13] “The Spanish Commander-in-Chief fled from the city shortly before it was attacked.” Senate Document 62, Part II., 55th Congress, 3rd Session, p. 146.

[14] Barasoain is another parish, but it is only separated from Malolos by a bridged river. It is only five minutesʼ walk from Malolos Church to Barasoain Church. Since the American advent the two parishes have been united.

[15] For want of space I am obliged to omit the summary of all the debates in the Revolutionary Congress of 1898, printed reports of which I have before me.

[16] Vide Senate Document No. 62, Part II., 55th Congress, 3rd Session, p. 371. Published by the Government Printing Office, Washington, 1899.

[17] Vide Senate Document No. 62, Part I. of the 55th Congress, 3rd Session. Published by the Government Printing Office, Washington, 1899.

An Outline of the War of Independence, Period 1899–1901

“I speak not of forcible annexation because that is not to be thought of, and under our code of morality that would be criminal aggression.”—President McKinleyʼs Message to Congress; December, 1897.

“The Philippines are ours as much as Louisiana by purchase, or Texas or Alaska.”—President McKinleyʼs Speech to the 10th Pennsylvania Regiment; August 28, 1899.

IGNORANCE of the worldʼs ways, beyond the Philippine shores, was the cause of the Aguinaldo partyʼs first disappointment. A score of pamphlets has been published to show how thoroughly the Filipinos believed Americaʼs mission to these Islands to be solely prompted by a compassionate desire to aid them in their struggle for immediate sovereign independence. Laudatory and congratulatory speeches, uttered in British colonies, in the presence of American officials, and hope-inspiring expressions which fell from their lips before Aguinaldoʼs return to Cavite from exile, strengthened that conviction. Sympathetic avowals and grandiloquent phrases, such as “for the sake of humanity,” and “the cause of civilization,” which were so freely bandied about at the time by unauthorized Americans, drew Aguinaldo into the error of believing that some sort of bond really existed between the United States and the Philippine Revolutionary Party. In truth, there was no agreement between America and the Filipinos. There was no American plenipotentiary empowered to make any political compact with the Islanders. At that date there was neither a Philippine policy nor any fixed programme regarding the future disposal of the Islands, and whatever naval, military, or other officers might have said to Aguinaldo was said on their own private responsibility, and could in no way affect the action of the American Government. Without any training in or natural bent for diplomacy, Aguinaldo had not the faintest idea of what foreign “protection” signified. He thought that after the capture of Manila the Americans would sail away and leave the Filipinos to themselves, and only reappear if any other Power interfered with their native government.

Bowie-knives and Weapons of the Christian Natives.

Central figure—“Talibon.” The others—Bowie-knives (Sp. Bolo, Tag. Guloc).

Admiral Dewey had a double task to perform. He had to destroy the Spanish fleet, and to co-operate in the taking of Manila. In the destruction of the fleet the attitude of the natives was of little concern to him. In the taking of the capital it was important to know what part the natives would play. It was certain they would not be placid spectators of the struggle, wherever Aguinaldo might be. If they must enter into it, it was desirable to have them led by one who could control them and repress excesses. It would have been better for the Americans if, pending the issue with the Spaniards, no third party had existed; but, as it did exist, both contending nations were anxious for its goodwill or its control. Therefore Admiral Deweyʼs recognition of Aguinaldo as a factor in the hostilities was nothing more nor less than a legitimate stratagem to facilitate his operations against the Spaniards. Dewey simply neutralized a possible adverse force by admissible military artifice, and Aguinaldo was too ingenuous to see that he was being outwitted. The fighting section of the Filipinos was intensely irritated at not having been allowed to enter and sack the capital. They had looked forward to it as the crowning act of victory. The general mass of the christianized Islanders hoped that Philippine independence would immediately follow the capitulation of Manila, although, in the capital itself, natives of position and property evinced little enthusiasm for the insurgentsʼ triumph, whilst some inwardly doubted it. In September a native lawyer, Felipe Agoncillo, was sent to Washington to lay the Filipinosʼ case before the President in the hope of gaining his personal support of their claims (vide p. 472). The first fear was that the Colony might revert to Spain, but that idea was soon dispelled by the news of the stipulations of the Treaty of Paris. Simultaneously Aguinaldoʼs revolutionary army was being pushed farther and farther away from the capital, and it was evident, from the mood of his fighting-men, that if the Americans remained in possession of the Colony, hostilities, sooner or later, must break out. The Americans officially ignored the Aguinaldo party as a factor in public affairs, but they were not unaware of the warlike preparations being made. Secret anti-American meetings were held at places called clubs, where it was agreed to attack simultaneously the Americans inside and outside the capital. General Pio del Pilar slept in the city every night, ready to give the rocket-signal for revolt. Natives between 18 and 40 years of age were being recruited for military service, according to a Malolos Government decree dated September 21, 1898. In every smithy and factory bowie-knives were being forged with all speed, and 10,000 men were already armed with them. General E. S. Otis was willing to confer with Aguinaldo, and six sessions were held, the last taking place on January 29, six days before the outbreak. Nothing resulted from these conferences, the Americans alleging that Aguinaldo would make no definite statement of his peopleʼs aims, whilst the Filipinos declare that their intentions were so well understood by the American general that he would listen to nothing short of unconditional submission.

The following manifesto, dated January 5, signed by Emilio Aguinaldo, clearly shows the attitude of the Revolutionary Party at this period:—

TO MY BRETHREN THE FILIPINOS, AND TO ALL THE RESPECTED CONSULS AND OTHER FOREIGNERS:—

General Otis styles himself Military Governor of these Islands, and I protest one and a thousand times and with all the energy of my soul against such authority. I proclaim solemnly that I have not recognized either in Singapore or in Hong-Kong or in the Philippines, by word or in writing, the sovereignty of America over this beloved soil. On the contrary, I say that I returned to these Islands on an American warship on the 19th of May last for the express purpose of making war on the Spaniards to regain our liberty and independence. I stated this in my proclamation of the 24th of May last, and I published it in my Manifesto addressed to the Philippine people on the 12th of June. Lastly, all this was confirmed by the American General Merritt himself, predecessor of General Otis, in his Manifesto to the Philippine people some days before he demanded the surrender of Manila from the Spanish General Jaúdenes. In that Manifesto it is distinctly stated that the naval and field forces of the United States had come to give us our liberty, by subverting the bad Spanish Government. And I hereby protest against this unexpected act of the United States claiming sovereignty over these Islands. My relations with the American authorities prove undeniably that the United States did not bring me over here from Hong-Kong to make war on the Spaniards for their benefit, but for the purpose of our own liberty and independence. . . .

EMILIO AGUINALDO.

Aguinaldo having been successively Dictator and President of the Revolutionary Government (vide p. 448), now assumed the new title of President of the Philippine Republic, the Articles of Constitution of which (drawn up by his Prime Minister Apolinario Mabini) were dated January 21, 1899, and promulgated by him on the following day. In due course the news came that the date of voting in the Senate for or against the retention of the Islands was fixed. The Americans already in the Colony were practically unanimous in their desire for its retention, and every effort was made by them to that end. The question of the treaty ratification was warmly discussed in Washington. A week before the vote was taken it was doubtful whether the necessary two-thirds majority could be obtained. It was a remarkable coincidence that just when the Republican Party was straining every nerve to secure the two or three wavering votes, the first shots were exchanged between a native and an American outpost in the suburbs of the capital. Each side accuses the other of having precipitated hostilities. However that may be, this event took place precisely at a date when the news of it in Washington served to secure the votes of the hesitating senators in favour of retention.[1] The provocative demeanour of the insurgents at the outposts was such that a rupture was inevitable sooner or later, and if a Senate vote of abandonment had come simultaneously with insurrection, the situation would have been extremely complicated; it would have been difficult for the Oriental not to have believed that the invader was nervously beating a retreat. The Nebraska Regiment was at Santa Mesa, guarding its front. Americans were frequently insulted, called cowards, and openly menaced by the insurgents. In the evening of Saturday, February 4, 1899, an insurgent officer came with a detail of men and attempted to force his way past the sentinel on the San Juan bridge. About nine oʼclock a large body of rebels advanced on the South Dakota Regimentʼs outposts, and to avoid the necessity of firing, for obvious reasons, the picquets fell back. For several nights a certain insurgent lieutenant had tried to pass the Nebraska lines. At length he approached a sentinel, who called “halt” three times without response, and then shot the lieutenant dead. Several insurgents then fired and retreated; rockets were at once sent up by the Filipinos, and firing started all along the line, from Caloocan to Santa Mesa. By ten oʼclock the Filipinos concentrated at Caloocan, Santa Mesa, and Gagalan͠ging, whence they opened a simultaneous, but ineffectual, fusillade, supplemented by two siege guns at Balichalic and a skirmishing attack from Pandacan and Paco. Desperate fighting continued throughout the night; the Filipinos, driven back from every post with heavy loss, rallied the next morning at Paco, where they occupied the parish church, to which many non-combatant refugees had fled. The American warships, co-operating with their batteries, poured a terrific fire on the church, and kept up a continuous attack on the insurgent position at Caloocan, where General Aguinaldo was in command. At daylight the Americans made a general advance towards Paco and Santa Ana. At the former place the Filipinos resisted desperately; the church, sheltering refugees and insurgents, was completely demolished;[2] the Filipinosʼ loss amounted to about 4,000 killed and wounded, whilst the Americans lost about 175 killed and wounded. It is estimated that the approximate number of troops engaged in this encounter was 13,000 Americans and 20,000 Filipinos. The insurgents at Santa Ana, the survivors of the Paco defeat, and the force which had to abandon the Santólan water-works, where they left behind them a howitzer, all concentrated at Caloocan. The insurgent and American lines formed a semicircle some 15 miles in extent, making it impossible to give a comprehensive description of the numerous small engagements.

Immediately the news of the rupture reached Washington the Philippine Envoy, Felipe Agoncillo, fled to Montreal, Canada, in a great hurry, leaving his luggage behind. No one was troubling him, and there was not the least need for such a precipitate flight from a country where civilized international usages obtain. On February 5 an engagement took place at Gagalan͠ging, where the natives collected in the hundreds of bungalows around that village awaiting the advance of the Oregon Regiment. Amongst the spectators was the German Prince Ludwig von Löwenstein. The Americans continued advancing and firing, when suddenly the prince ran across an open space and took shelter in a hut which he must have known would be attacked by the Oregons. The order was given to fire into the native dwellings giving cover to the insurgents, and the princeʼs dead body was subsequently found perforated by a bullet. In his pocket he carried a pass issued by Aguinaldo conceding to the bearer permission to go anywhere within the insurgent lines, and stating that he was a sympathizer with their cause. It was noticed that the prince several times deliberately threw himself into danger. No one could ascertain exactly in what capacity he found himself near the fighting-line. Less than two years previously he had married the daughter of an English earl, and the popular belief was that, for private reasons, he intentionally courted death.

The rebels were repulsed at every point with great loss. Lines of smoke from the burning villages marked the direction taken by the Americans advancing under the leadership of Generals Otis, Wheaton, Hale, and Hall. An immense amount of impedimenta in the shape of pontoons, telegraph posts and wires, ammunition, and provisions followed the infantry in perfect order. On the line taken by the troops many native householders hoisted white flags to indicate their peaceful intentions. Ambulances were frequently seen coming in with the wounded Americans and Filipinos, and among them was brought the chief of an Igorrote tribe with a broken thigh. His tribe, who had been persuaded by Aguinaldo to bring their bows and arrows to co-operate with him, were placed in the front and suffered great slaughter. In hospital the Igorrote chief spoke with much bitterness of how he had been deceived, and vowed vengeance against the Tagálogs. The next day at Caloocan the rebels made a determined stand, but were driven out of the place by 10-inch shells fired from the Monadnock over the American lines. General Hall occupied Santólan and the pumping-station there and repelled the repeated attacks made on his column. General McArthur with a flying column cleared the surrounding district of the enemy, but owing to the roughness of the country he was unable to pursue them. Aguinaldo was therefore able to escape north with his army, reinforced by native troops who had been trained in Spanish service. There was also a concentration of about 2,500 natives from the southern Luzon provinces. The insurgents had cut trenches at almost every mile along the route north. In the several skirmishes which took place on March 25 the Americans lost one captain and 25 men killed and eight officers and 142 men wounded. The next day there was some hard fighting around Polo and Novaliches, where the insurgents held out for six hours against General McArthurʼs three brigades of cavalry and artillery. After the defeat at Paco, Aguinaldo moved on to the town of Malabon, which was shelled; the enemy therefore immediately evacuated that place in great confusion, after setting fire to the buildings. Over 1,000 men, women, and children hastened across the low, swampy lands carrying their household goods and their fighting-cocks; it was indeed a curious spectacle. General Wheatonʼs brigade captured Malinta, and the insurgents fled panic-stricken after having suffered severely. The American loss was small in numbers, but Colonel Egbert, of the 22nd Infantry, was mortally wounded whilst leading a charge. As he lay on the litter in the midst of the fight General Wheaton cheered him with the words, “Nobly done, Egbert!” to which the dying colonel replied, “Good-bye, General; Iʼm done; Iʼm too old,” and at once expired.

In March the natives tried to burn down one of the busiest Manila suburbs. At 8 oʼclock one evening they set fire to the Chinese quarters in Santa Cruz, and the breeze rapidly wafted the flames. The conflagration lasted four hours. The English Fire-Brigade turned out to quench it. Hundreds of Chinese laden with chattels hurried to and fro about the streets; natives rushed hither and thither frantically trying to keep the fire going whilst the whites were endeavouring to extinguish it; and with the confusion of European and Oriental tongues the place was a perfect pandemonium. General Hughes was at the head of the police, but the surging mob pressed forward and cut the hose five times. With fixed bayonets the troops partially succeeded in holding back the swelling crowd. The electric wires got out of working order, and the city was lighted only by the glare of the flaming buildings. Bullets were flying in all directions about Tondo and Binondo. The intense excitement was intentionally sustained by batches of natives who rushed hither and thither with hideous yells to inspire a feeling of terror. Many families, fearing that the insurgents had broken through the American lines and entered the city en masse, frantically fled from the hotels and houses. Incessant bugle-calls from the natives added to the commotion, and thousands of Chinese crowded into the Chinese Consulate. Finally the rioters were driven back, and a cordon of troops assured the safety of the capital. Sharp engagements simultaneously took place at the Chinese cemetery and at San Pedro Macatí. Bands of insurgents were arrested in Tondo. A group of 60 was captured escorting two cartloads of arms and ammunition to a house. Business was almost entirely suspended, and a general order was issued by the Military Governor commanding all civilians to remain in their houses after 7 p.m. This hour was gradually extended to 8 oʼclock, then 9 oʼclock, and finally to midnight, as circumstances permitted. An edict was posted up fixing the penalties for incendiarism. During two days smoke hovered around the neighbourhood, and the appearance of Manila from the bay was that of a smouldering city.

In the fighting up country, one of the greatest difficulties for the Americans was that the insurgents would not concentrate and have a decisive contest. They would fire a few volleys from cover and retreat to other cover, repeating these harassing, but inconclusive, tactics over many miles of ground. On their march the Americans had to fight a hidden foe who slipped from trench to trench, or found safety in the woods. Sometimes a trenchful of the enemy would fire a volley and half of them disappear through gullies leading to other cover. The next point of importance to be reached was Malalos, and on the way some thirty villages had to be passed. Besides the volleys delivered by hidden insurgents all along the line, a hard-fought battle took place on March 28 under the personal direction of General Aguinaldo, who concentrated about 5,000 men near Marilao. Aguinaldo directed the movements without appearing on the field; indeed it is doubtful whether, during this war, he ever led his troops into action. General McArthurʼs division had halted at Meycauayan the previous night, and in the morning advanced north in conjunction with General Haleʼs brigade, which took the right, whilst General Otis led his troops to the left of the railroad, General Wheatonʼs brigade being held in reserve. After a three-mile march these forces fell in with the enemy, who opened fire from trenches and thickets; but General Otisʼs troops charged them gallantly and drove them back across the river. There the insurgents rallied, relying upon the splendid trenches which they had dug. The battle raged for three hours, the combatants being finally within fifty yards of each other. Eventually the American artillery came into play, when the advanced works of the insurgent defences were literally pulverized and the general rout of the enemy began. They retreated to their second stronghold of bamboo thickets, pursued by the 1st South Dakota Infantry, which made a brilliant charge in the open, under a galling fire, with a loss of three lieutenants and seven men killed on the field and about a score wounded. The insurgents, however, were completely defeated and scattered, leaving 85 dead counted in the trenches and thickets, and a hundred prisoners in the hands of the Americans. Before abandoning Marílao the insurgents burnt the town to the ground and continued their hurried flight to Malolos. They had plenty of time to rally, for the Americans found great difficulty in bringing their artillery across the river at Guiguinto. It had to be drawn over the railway bridge by hand whilst the mules swam across to the northern bank, all being, at the same time, under a desultory fire from the enemy. The resistance of the Filipinos to the passage of the river at Guiguinto was so stubborn that the Americans lost about 70 killed and wounded. At 6 a.m. the Americans started the advance towards Malolos in the same order taken for the march to Marilao, General Haleʼs brigade taking the right and General Otisʼs the left of the railroad. Several skirmishes took place on the way and General Wheaton brought his reserves forward into the general advance. At Bocaue the river presented the same difficulties for artillery transport as were experienced at Guiguinto, except that the enemy was nowhere to be seen. Bigaá was reached and not an armed native was in sight, all having apparently concentrated in the insurgent capital, Malolos. The American casualties that day, due solely to the morning skirmishes, amounted to four killed and thirty wounded.

It is apparent, from the official despatches, that at this time the American generals seriously believed the Aguinaldo party would acknowledge its defeat and make peace if Malolos, the revolutionary seat of government, fell. All that was going on in Manila was well known to the insurgents in the field, as the news was brought to them daily by runners who were able to enter the city during daylight without interference. On March 30 General McArthurʼs division resumed the advance and brought up the baggage trains, after having repaired the several bridges damaged by the enemy. The environs of Malolos were reconnoitred up to within a mile of the town, and the dead bodies of insurgent soldiers were seen scattered here and there. Groups of hundreds of non-combatants were hurrying off from the beleaguered insurgent capital. General Otisʼs brigade pushed forward without any encounter with the enemy, but General Haleʼs column, which continued to take the right side of the railway, was fired upon from the woods, the total casualties that day being five killed and 43 wounded. At 7 a.m. (March 31) the Americans opened the combined attack on Malolos. General McArthur directed the operations from the railway embankment, and half an hourʼs artillery fire dislodged the enemy from their cover. The columns advanced cautiously towards the town in anticipation of a fierce resistance and, it was hoped, a fight to the finish. General Otis marched on direct: General Hale executed a flanking movement to the east; General Wheatonʼs brigades were held in reserve, and a halt of half an hour was made preparatory to the final assault. The scouts then returned and reported that the insurgents had abandoned their capital! It was a disappointment to the Americans who had looked forward to inflicting a decisive and crushing defeat on the enemy. The first troops to enter the town were the 20th Kansas Regiment, under Colonel Funston. The natives, in the wildest confusion, scampered off, after firing a few parting shots at the approaching forces, and the Americans, with a total loss of 15 killed and wounded, were in undisputed possession of the insurgent capital. Aguinaldo had prudently evacuated it two days before with his main army, going in the direction of Calumpit. Only one battalion had been left behind to burn the town on the approach of the Americans. Aguinaldoʼs headquarters, the parish church, and a few hundred yards of railway were already destroyed when the Americans occupied the place, still partly in flames. Some few hundreds of Chinese were the only inhabitants remaining in Malolos. The value of the food-stuffs captured in this place was estimated at ₱1,500,000. Simultaneously, General Hallʼs brigade operated five to seven miles north of Manila and drove the insurgents out of Mariquina, San Mateo, and the environs of the Montalbán River with a loss of 20 men wounded and Lieutenant Gregg killed. It was now evident that Aguinaldo had no intention to come to close quarters and bring matters to a crisis by pitched battles. His policy was apparently to harry the Americans by keeping them constantly on the move against guerilla parties, in the hope that a long and wearisome campaign would end in the Americans abandoning the Islands in disgust, leaving the Filipinos to their own desired independence. Aguinaldo had moved on to Calumpit with his main army with the intention of establishing his Government there. On the American side, active preparations were made to dislodge him. Small gunboats were fitted out for operating on the Rio Grande de Pampanga, and an armoured train was prepared for use farther north. From Parañaque, on the bay shore south of Manila, the insurgents fired on the monitor Monadnock, but a few shots from this vessel silenced the shore battery. In several places, within 10 to 15 miles of the capital, armed groups of insurgents concentrated, but Aguinaldo moved on towards Baliuag, in the province of Bulacan, so as to be within easy reach of the hill district of Angat in case of defeat.

A few days after the capture of Malolos, General Otis issued a proclamation to the Filipinos, in the hope that by drawing off public sympathy from the insurgent cause it would dwindle away. The terms of this document were as follows, viz.:—

(1) The supremacy of the United States must and will be enforced throughout every part of the Archipelago. Those who resist can accomplish nothing except their own ruin.

(2) The most ample liberty of self-government will be granted which is reconcilable with the maintenance of a wise, just, stable, effective, and economical administration, and compatible with the sovereign and international rights and obligations of the United States.

(3) The civil rights of the Filipinos will be guaranteed and protected, religious freedom will be assured, and all will have equal standing before the law.

(4) Honour, justice, and friendship forbid the exploitation of the people of the Islands. The purpose of the American Government is the welfare and advancement of the Filipino people.

(5) The American Government guarantees an honest and effective civil service, in which, to the fullest extent practicable, natives shall be employed.

(6) The collection and application of taxes and revenues will be put on a sound and honest economical basis. Public funds will be raised justly and collected honestly, and will be applied only in defraying the proper expenses of the establishment and maintenance of the Philippine Government, and such general improvements as public interests demand. Local funds collected for local purposes shall not be diverted to other ends. With such a prudent and honest fiscal administration it is believed that the needs of the Government will, in a short time, become compatible with a considerable reduction of taxation.

(7) The pure, speedy, and effective administration of justice, whereby the evils of delay, corruption, and exploitation will be effectually eradicated.

(8) The construction of roads, railways, and other means of communication and transportation, and other public works of manifest advantage to the people will be promoted.

(9) Domestic and foreign trade, commerce, agriculture, and other industrial pursuits, and the general development of the country and interest of the inhabitants will be the constant objects of the solicitude and fostering care of the Government.

(10) Effective provision will be made for the establishment of elementary schools, in which the children of the people shall be educated, and appropriate facilities will also be provided for their higher education.

(11) Reforms in all departments of the Government, all branches of the public service, and all corporations closely touching the common life of the people must be undertaken without delay, and effected conformably with right and justice in such a way as to satisfy the well-founded demands and the highest sentiments and aspirations of the Philippine people.

The above proclamation, no doubt, embodies the programme of what the American Government desired to carry out at the time of its publication.

The Americans resumed the aggressive against the insurgents, and an expedition of 1,509 men and two mountain-guns was fitted out under the command of General Lawton to proceed up the Pasig River into the Lake of Bay in order to capture Santa Cruz at the eastern extremity. The expedition presented a curious sight; it comprised 15 native barges or “cascoes” towed by seven tugs. Some of the craft ran aground at Napíndan, the entrance to the lake, and delayed the little flotilla until daylight. The barges ahead had to wait for the vessels lagging behind. Then a mist came over the shore, and there was another halt. A couple of miles off an insurgent steamer was sighted, but it passed on. Finally Santa Cruz was reached; 200 sharpshooters were landed under cover of the launch guns, and fighting continued all the afternoon until nightfall. Early in the morning the town was attacked, the church situated in the centre was captured, and the American loss was only six men wounded; the insurgents were driven far away, leaving 68 dead on the field, and a large number of wounded, whilst hundreds were taken prisoners.

On April 12, at the request of the Spanish General Rios,[3] the gunboat Yorktown was despatched to Baler, on the east coast of Luzon, to endeavour to rescue a party of 80 Spanish soldiers, three officers, and two priests who were holding out against 400 insurgents. These natives, who were all armed with Maüser rifles, laid in ambush, and surprised the landing-party under Lieutenant Gilmore. The whole party was captured by the insurgents, who were afterwards ordered to release them all. General Aguinaldo was always as humanely disposed as the circumstances of war would permit, and, at the request of the commissioners for the liberation of the Spanish prisoners, he gave this little band of 83 heroes and two priests their liberty under a decree so characteristic of Philippine imitative genius in its pompous allusion to the Spanish glorious past that it is well worth recording.[4]

General Lawton asserted that 100,000 men would be required to conquer the Philippines, but they were never sent, because there was always an influential group of optimists who expected an early collapse of the insurgent movement. General Otis sent frequent cablegrams to Washington expressing his belief that the war would soon come to an end. However, in April, 1899, 14,000 regular troops were despatched to the Islands to reinforce the Volunteer regiments. It was a wise measure taken not too soon, for it was clear that a certain amount of discontent had manifested itself among the Volunteers. Moreover, the whole management of the Philippine problem was much hampered by an anti-annexation movement in America which did not fail to have its influence on the Volunteers, many of whom were anxious to return home if they could. Senator Hoar and his partisans persistently opposed the retention of the Islands, claiming that it was contrary to the spirit of the American Constitution to impose a government upon a people against its will. American sentiment was indeed becoming more and more opposed to expansion of territorial possession beyond the continent, in view of the unsatisfactory operations in the Philippines—a feeling which was, however, greatly counterbalanced by a recognition of the political necessity of finishing an unpleasant task already begun, for the sake of national dignity.

About this time the Philippine envoy, Felipe Agoncillo, was in Paris as president of a junta of his compatriots. Some of the members were of opinion that they ought to negotiate for peace directly with the American Secretary of State, but Agoncillo so tenaciously opposed anything short of sovereign Philippine independence that some of the members withdrew and returned to the Islands. A year later I found Agoncillo of exactly the same intransigent persuasion.

At the end of April the Americans suffered a severe reverse at Guingua (Bulacan), where Major Bell, with 40 cavalrymen, came across a strong outpost from which the enemy fired, killing one and wounding five men. With great difficulty the dead and wounded were carried back under fire, and it was found that the enemy occupied a big trench encircling three sides of a paddy-field bordering on a wood. As the Americans retreated, the insurgents crept up, aided by a mist, to within short range and fired another volley. Major Bell sent for reinforcements, and a battalion of infantry was soon on the scene, but their advance was checked by the continuous firing from the trenches. Artillery was on the way, but the insurgents were not disposed to charge the Americans, who lay for two hours under cover of a rice-field embankment in a broiling hot sun. One man died of sunstroke. Finally a second battalion of infantry arrived under the command of Colonel Stotsenberg, who was very popular with his men. He was received with cheers, and immediately ordered a charge against the enemy in the trenches; but whilst leading the attack he was shot in the breast, and died immediately. Within short range of the trenches Lieutenant Sisson fell, shot through the heart. By this time the artillery had arrived, and shelled the trenches. The insurgents, however, held their position well for a time, until the infantry was close up to them, when, following their usual tactics, they ran off to another trench a mile or so away. The total American losses that day were two officers and four privates killed, and three officers and 40 men wounded.

Spanish prisoners released by the Filipinos declared that the insurgents had 50,000 rifles and 200 pieces of artillery captured from the Spaniards, ample ammunition manufactured at two large factories up country, and occasional fresh supplies of war-material shipped from China by Chinese, European, and American merchants. The preparations made to dislodge Aguinaldo and his main army, entrenched and sheltered by fortifications at Calumpit, were now completed, and General McArthurʼs division steadily advanced. The flower of the insurgent army was there, well armed and supplied with artillery and shrapnel shell. Commanded by General Antonio Luna, they were evidently prepared to make at Calumpit the bold stand which was expected of them at Malolos. The transport difficulties were very great, and as General McArthur approached, every foot of ground was disputed by the enemy. Bridges had been broken down, and the guns had to be hauled through jungle and woods under a scorching sun. Many buffaloes succumbed to the fatigue, and hundreds of Chinamen were employed to do their work. The Bagbag River was reached, but it had to be crossed, and the passage cost the Americans six men killed and 28 wounded. The Bagbag River was well fortified, and the Americans had to attack its defenders from an open space. There were trenches at every approach; enormous pieces of rock had been dislodged and hauled down towards the breastworks of the trenches to form cover. The armoured train, pushed along the railway by Chinamen, then came into action, and its quick-firing guns opened the assault on the enemyʼs position. Six-pounders were also brought into play; the insurgents were gradually receding; artillery was wheeled up to the river bank and a regular bombardment of the bridge ensued. The trenches were shelled, and the insurgents were firing their guns in the direction of the armoured train, but they failed to get the range. Meantime, a company of the Kansas Regiment made a bold charge across a paddy-field and found shelter in a ditch, whence they kept up a constant fire to divert the enemyʼs attention whilst Colonel Eunston, the commander of the regiment, with a lieutenant and four men, crept along the girders of the bridge. The enemy, however, got the range and bullets were flying all around them, so they slid down the bridge-supports, dropped into the river, and swam to the opposite shore. Scrambling up the bank, revolvers in hand, they reached the trenches just as the insurgents were hurriedly evacuating them. Indeed, the Filipinosʼ defence of their trenches was extremely feeble during the whole battle. On the other hand, for the first time, the insurgents ventured out into the open against the Americans. General Antonio Luna, the Commander-in-Chief, could be seen galloping furiously along the lines exhorting his men to hold their ground, and he succeeded in deploying them into an extended line of battle to receive the enemyʼs onslaught. The insurgents kept up a desultory fire whilst the troops forded the river, and then they were pursued and driven off to the outskirts of the town. The flames rising from several buildings appeared to indicate an intention on the part of the insurgents to abandon their stronghold. Simultaneously, Generals Hale and Wheaton were coming forward with their columns, each having had some hard fighting on the way. The junction of forces was effected; a fierce fire was poured into the trenches; General Hale and his men made a dash across a stream, up to their waists in water; the Utah men followed with their batteries, cheering and dragging their field-pieces with desperate energy to the opposite bank; the enemy gave way, and the armoured train crossed the bridge. The total American loss that day did not exceed nine in killed and wounded, whilst the insurgent losses were at least 70. During the night the engineers repaired the Bagbag bridge for the rest of the troops to pass, and fighting was resumed at six oʼclock in the morning. The deserted trenches were occupied by the Americans to pick off any insurgents who might venture out into the open. A general assault by the combined columns was then made on the town, which was captured, whilst the bulk of the insurgents fled in great confusion towards the hills. The few who lingered in the trenches in the northern suburbs of the town were shelled out of them by the American artillery placed near the church, and the survivors decamped, hotly pursued for some distance by cavalry. So great was the slaughter that the insurgentsʼ total losses are unknown. The trenches were choked with dead bodies, and piles of them were found in many places. When nightfall came and the Americans were resting in Calumpit after their two daysʼ hard fighting, the whole district was illuminated for miles around by the flames from the burning villages and groups of huts, whilst the snapping of the burning bamboos echoed through the stillness like volleys of rifle-shots.

Aguinaldo and his Government had hastened north towards Tárlac, and on April 28 he instructed General Antonio Luna to discuss terms of peace. Ostensibly with this object the general sent Colonel Manuel Argüelles with his aide-de-camp and an orderly to the American camp at Apálit (Pampanga). These men were seen coming down the railway-track carrying a white flag. An officer was sent out to meet them, and after handing their credentials to him they were forthwith conducted to General Wheatonʼs headquarters. General Wheaton sent them on to General McArthur, the chief commander of the Northern Division, and General McArthur commissioned Major Mallory to escort them to General Otis in Manila. They explained that they were empowered to ask for an armistice for a few days as it was proposed to summon their Congress for May 1 to discuss the question of peace or war. General Otis replied that he did not recognize the Philippine Republic, and that there would be no cessation of hostilities until his only terms were complied with, namely, unconditional surrender. The negotiations were resumed the next day, and Argüelles seemed personally inclined to meet the American view of the situation; but as his powers were limited to asking for an armistice, he and his companions returned to the insurgent camp with General Otisʼs negative answer. On his return to the camp Colonel Argüelles was accused of being an “Americanista” in favour of surrender, for which offence a court-martial passed sentence upon him of expulsion from the insurgent army and 12 yearsʼ imprisonment. Whatever Argüellesʼ personal conviction may have been matters little, but in the light of subsequent events and considering the impetuous, intransigent character of General Antonio Luna, it is probable that Argüelles was really only sent as a spy.

On May 5 General McArthurʼs division advanced to Pampanga Province, and Santo Tomás and San Fernando were taken without loss. A portion of the latter place had been burnt by the retreating insurgents, and the townspeople fled leaving their household goods behind them. Generals Hale and Lawton were following up, and on the way Baliuag (Bulacan) was occupied and immense stores of foodstuffs were seized from the insurgents and private owners. The booty consisted of about 150,000 bushels of rice and over 250 tons of sugar. In other places on the way large deposits of food fell into American hands. The men of the Nebraska Regiment considered they had had sufficient hard work for the present in long marching, continual fighting, and outpost duty. They therefore petitioned General McArthur to relieve them temporarily from duty to recuperate their strength. There was no doubting their bravery, of which they had given ample proof; they had simply reached the limit of physical endurance. The hospitals were already full of soldiers suffering as much from sunstroke as from wounds received in battle. Consequently some of the regular regiments who had been doing guard duty in the capital were despatched to the front. In the following July the Nebraska Volunteer Regiment was one of those sent back to the United States.

On May 19 another party of insurgent officers presented themselves to the military authorities alleging that they had fuller powers than Argüelles possessed and were prepared to make peace proposals. Everything was discussed over again; but as General Otisʼs unalterable demand for unconditional surrender was already well known, one can only conclude that the insurgent commissioners were also spies sent to gauge the power and feeling of the Americans, for they promised to return within three weeks and then disappeared indefinitely.

On May 22 more peace commissioners were sent by Aguinaldo. They were received by the Schurman Commission of Inquest, who communicated to them a scheme of government which they had had under consideration in agreement with President McKinley. The proposed plan embodied the appointment of a Gov.-General, who would nominate a Cabinet to act with him. The President of the United States was to appoint the judges. The Cabinet members and the judges might be all Americans, or all Filipinos, or both. Moreover, there was to be an Advisory Council elected by popular vote. This liberal scheme was, however, abandoned, as its proposal seemed to have no effect in bringing the war to an end, and the negotiations terminated with the Commissioners and the insurgent delegates lunching together on board the U.S. battleship Oregon, whilst the blood of both parties continued to flow on the battlefield.

General Lawtonʼs brigade was still operating in the Provinces of Bulacan and north of Manila (now called Rizal). The fighting was so severe and the exposure to sun so disastrous that about the beginning of June he had to send back to Manila 500 wounded and heat-stricken men. It was found impossible to follow up the ever-retreating insurgents, who again escaped still farther north. Along the Manila Bay shore detachments of insurgents passed from time to time, driving women and children before them, so that the Americans would not care to fire on them. Some, however, were picked off from the warships when the insurgents omitted their precautionary measure. It was impossible to “round up” the enemy and bring him into a combat to the finish. His movements were so alert that he would fight, vanish in a trice, conceal his arms and uniform, and mingle with the Americans with an air of perfect innocence. With wonderful dexterity he would change from soldier to civilian, lounging one day in the market-place and the next day fall into the insurgent ranks. These tactics, which led to nothing whatever in a purely military sense, were evidently adopted in the vain hope of wearying the Americans into an abandonment of their enterprise.

In the middle of June General Lawtonʼs brigade operated to the south of Manila and in the Cavite province, where the natives gave battle at the Zapote River, famous for a great Spanish defeat during the rebellion. The insurgents were under cover the whole time, and their assembled thousands could hardly be seen by the attacking columns. They were also in great force and strongly entrenched near Las Piñas and at Bacoor.[5] From the former place they worked one large and two small guns with much effect, firing canister loaded with nails. One canister shattered the legs of a private. American infantry, skirmishing along the beach, came across a posse of insurgents who at once retreated, pursued by the Americans until the latter found themselves surrounded on three sides by hidden sharpshooters, who poured in a raking fire upon them. The skirmishers withdrew, but were rallied by General Lawton and other officers, who themselves picked off some of the enemy with rifle-shots. Encouraged by this example, the skirmishers, with one cry, suddenly rushed towards the insurgents, scattering them in all directions, and safely reached the main body of the brigade with their wounded comrades.

The only bridge across the Zapote River was strongly defended by the insurgents, who had trenches forming two sides of an angle. By noon their battery was silenced, and the Americans then attempted to ford the river, whilst others went knee-deep in mire across the paddy-mud flats. Then a deep stream was the only boundary between the contending parties. The Filipinos were hardly visible, being under shelter of thickets, whilst the Americans were wading through mud under a broiling sun for over two hours to reach them, keeping up a constant fusillade. The whole time there was an incessant din from a thousand rifles and the roar of cannon from the gunboats which bombarded the enemyʼs position near Las Piñas and Bacoor. The strain on the Americans was tremendous when the insurgents made a flanking movement and fired upon them as they were floundering in the mud. The 14th Infantry eventually swam across the Zapote River, and under cover of artillery charged the insurgents, who retreated into the woods. The Filipinos displayed a rare intelligence in the construction of their defences near the Zapote River and its neighbourhood, and but for the employment of artillery their dislodgement therefrom would have been extremely difficult. After the battle was over General Lawton declared that it was the toughest contest they had yet undertaken in this war.

At Perez Dasmariñas, in the east of Cavite Province, a battalion of infantry narrowly escaped annihilation. News had been brought to the American camp that the insurgents had evacuated that town, and that the native mayor was disposed to make a formal surrender of it to the Americans. The battalion forthwith went there to take possession, but before reaching the place the enemy closed in on all sides, and a heavy fire was mutually sustained for four hours. The Americans had only just saved themselves from destruction by a desperate bayonet-charge when they were rescued by General Wheaton, who arrived with reinforcements.

Three months of warfare had wrought dissension in the insurgent camp. Organization was Aguinaldoʼs peculiar talent, without the exercise of which the movement would have failed at the outset. But the value of this gift was not fully appreciated by his people. A certain section of the fighting masses had far greater admiration for Antonio Lunaʼs visible prowess than for the unseen astuteness of Aguinaldoʼs manoeuvres. It was characteristic of the Filipinos to split into factions, but the encouragement given to General Antonio Lunaʼs aspiration to supersede his supreme chief was unfortunate, for Aguinaldo was not the man to tolerate a rival. He had rid himself of Andrés Bonifacio (vide p. 371) in 1896, and now another disturber of that unity which is strength had to be disposed of. The point of dispute between these two men was of public knowledge. It has already been shown how fully cognizant Antonio Luna was of the proposals made to the Americans for an armistice, for the express purpose of taking the vote of the Revolutionary Congress, for peace or war, on May 1. Aguinaldo was no longer a military dictator, but President of the so-called Philippine Republic (vide p. 486), by whose will he was disposed loyally to abide. Antonio Lunaʼs elastic conscience urged him to duplicity; he pretended to submit to the will of the majority, expressed through the Congress, with the reserved intention of carrying on the war at all hazards, as military dictator, if the vote were for peace. Congress met, and during the debate on the momentous question—peace or war—the hitherto compact group of intransigents weakened. No agreement could be arrived at in the first session. There was, however, a strong tendency to accept American sovereignty. Luna feared that Aguinaldoʼs acceptance of the vote of the majority (if a division were taken) might deprive him of the opportunity of rising to supreme eminence. Lunaʼs violence at this time was intolerable, up to the point of smacking deputy F.B. in the face. His attempted coercion of the will of others brought about his own downfall. His impetuosity called forth the expression, “He is a fanatic who will lead us to a precipice.” In his imagination, all who did not conform to his dominant will were conspirators against him. Hence, at Cavite (Aguinaldoʼs native province), he disarmed all the troops of that locality, and substituted Ilocanos of his own province, whilst he vented his ferocity in numerous executions of Tagálogs. Had he lived he would probably have created a tribal feud between Ilocanos and Tagálogs.

On June 3, 1899, accompanied by his aide-de-camp, Captain Roman, and an escort, Luna entered the official residence of President Aguinaldo at Cabanatúan (Nueva Ecija). The guard, composed of a company of Cavite men from Canit (Aguinaldoʼs native town), under the command of Captain Pedro Janolino, saluted him on his entry. As Luna and Roman ascended the staircase to seek Aguinaldo a revolver-shot was heard. Luna rushed down the stairs in a furious rage and insulted Captain Janolino in the presence of his troops. This was too much for Janolino, who drew a dagger and thrust it violently into Lunaʼs head. In the scuffle Luna was knocked down and shot several times. He was able to reach the roadway, and, after shouting “Cowards!” fell down dead. In the meantime, whilst Captain Roman was running towards a house he was shot dead by a bullet in his breast. The Insurgent Government passed a vote of regret at the occurrence, and the two officers were buried with military honours. As subsequent events proved, Aguinaldo had no personal wish to give up the struggle, or to influence a peace vote, but to execute the will of the people, as expressed through the revolutionary congressmen.

The situation was becoming so serious for the Americans that a call for 25,000 more volunteers was earnestly discussed at Washington. It was thought that the levy should be made at once, believing that General Otis really required them, but that he was reluctant to admit an under-estimate of the enemyʼs strength. The insurgents, finding they were not followed up (the rainy season was commencing), were beginning to take the offensive with greater boldness, attacking the Americans in the rear. The War Department, however, hesitated to make the levy owing to the friction which existed between the volunteers and the regulars, but the case was so urgent that at the end of June it was decided to raise the total forces in the Philippines to 40,000 men.

On June 12, the anniversary of the proclamation at Cavite of Philippine Independence, Aguinaldo, from his northern retreat, issued a Manifiesto to his countrymen reminding them of the importance of that event. This document, abundant in grandiloquent phrases, is too lengthy for full citation here, but the following paragraph in it is interesting as a recognition that, after all, there was a bright side to Spanish dominion:—

Filipinas! Beloved daughter of the ardent sun of the tropics, commended by Providence to the care of noble Spain, be thou not ungrateful; acknowledge her, salute her who warmed thee with the breath of her own culture and civility. Thou hast longed for independence, and thine emancipation from Spain has come; but preserve in thine heart the remembrance of the more than three centuries which thou hast lived with her usages, her language, and her customs. It is true she sought to crush thine aspiration for independence, just as a loving mother resists the lifelong separation from the daughter of her bosom; it only proved the excess of affection, the love Spain feels for thee. But thou, Filipinas, flower of the ocean, delicate flower of the East, still weak, scarce eight months weaned from thy motherʼs breast, hast dared to brave a great and powerful nation such as is the United States, with thy little army barely disciplined and shaped. Ah, beloved brethren, all this is true; and still we say we will be slaves to none, nor let ourselves be duped by gentle words.

Certainly Aguinaldo could not have been the author of the above composition published in his name.

By the middle of July the censorship of Press cablegrams from Manila had become so rigid that the public in America and Europe could get very little reliable telegraphic news of what was going on in the Islands. The American newspaper correspondents therefore signed a “round robin” setting forth their complaints to General Otis, who took little heed of it. It was well known that the hospitals were crowded with American soldiers, a great many of whom were suffering solely from their persistence in habits contracted at home which were incompatible with good health in a tropical climate. Many volunteers, wearied of the war, were urging to be sent back to the States, and there was a marked lack of cordiality between the volunteer and the regular regiments. In the field the former might well compare with the smartest and the bravest men who ever carried arms; off active service there was a difference between them and the disciplined regulars perceptible to any civilian. The natives particularly resented the volunteersʼ habit of entering their dwellings and tampering, in a free and easy manner, with their goods and the modesty of their women. They were specially disgusted with the coloured regiments, whose conduct was such that the authorities saw the desirability of shipping them all back to the United States as soon as other troops were available to replace them, for their lawlessness was bringing discredit on the nation.

In July an expedition was sent up the Laguna de Bay, and the towns on the south shore were successively captured as far as Calamba, which was occupied on the 26th of the month. Early in the same month the inter-island merchant steamer Saturnus, on its regular voyage to the north-west coast of Luzon ports, put in at San Fernando de la Union to discharge cargo for that place, which was held by the insurgents. The vessel was flying the American flag. Part of the cargo had been discharged and preparations were being made to receive freight on board, when the insurgents seized the vessel, carried off the thousands of pesos and other property on board, poured petroleum on the woodwork, and hauled down the American flag. The American gunboat Pampanga, patrolling this coast, seeing there was something irregular, hove to and endeavoured to get a tow-line over the Saturnus, but was beaten off by the insurgentsʼ fire from shore. The insurgents then brought field-pieces into action and shelled the Saturnus, setting her on fire. The vessel became a wreck and sank near the beach. Subsequently a gunboat was sent to San Fernando de la Union to shell the town.

When the wet season had fully set in, operations of importance were necessarily suspended. Skirmishes and small encounters occurred in many places where the contending parties chanced to meet, but no further remarkable military event happened in this year of 1899 until the north-east monsoon brought a cessation of the deluging rains.

Notwithstanding General Otisʼs oft-repeated intimation of “unconditional surrender” as the sole terms of peace, in October General Aguinaldo sent General Alejandrino from his new seat of government in Tárlac to General Otis with fresh proposals, but the letter was returned unopened. At that time Aguinaldoʼs army was estimated at 12,000 men. The insurgents had taken many American prisoners, some of whom were released a few days afterwards, and, in October, Aguinaldo issued a decree voluntarily granting liberty to all Americans held captive by his people. This resolution, proclaimed as an act of grace, was really owing to the scarcity of food, and for the same reason Aguinaldo simultaneously disbanded a portion of his army.

In the month of December General Lawton led his brigade to the district of Montalbán and San Mateo, a few miles north of Manila, to attack the insurgents. The agreed plan was to make a flanking movement against the enemy on the San Mateo River and a frontal attack immediately the enemy was engaged. The frontal attack was being personally directed by the general, who stood on the high bank of the river. Captain Breckinridge, the generalʼs aide-de-camp, had just been hit in the groin, and General Lawton went to speak to him before he was carried away on a litter. Whilst so engaged, the general threw up his hands and fell without uttering a word. He had been shot through the heart, and died instantly. His body was carried to Manila for public burial, and the insurgents were as jubilant as the Americans were grieved over this sad occurrence. The date was fixed for the interment with military pomp, and immense crowds came out to witness the imposing procession. Some Filipinos, expecting the cortege would pass through a certain street, deposited a bomb in the house of an old woman, unknown to her, but fortunately for her and all concerned, it was not on the route taken. In memory of the late lamented general the present five-peso bank notes bear his vignette.

In 1900 the war of independence began to wane. In January, General Joseph Wheeler left Manila to assume command of the late General Lawtonʼs brigade, and overran the Laguna de Bay south shore towns. Viñan was taken on January 1, but as no garrison was left there, the insurgents re-entered the town when the Americans passed on. The armed natives were, in reality, playing a game of hide-and-seek, with no tangible result to themselves further than feeding at the expense of the townspeople. Aguinaldo was still roaming about central Luzon, but, one by one, his generals either surrendered or were captured. Among these was General Rizal, captured in January. In this month a plot to blow up the foreign consuls was opportunely frustrated. The Chinese General Paua, Aguinaldoʼs brother-in-law, surrendered in March and found shopkeeping in Binondo a less risky business than generalship. In the same month the Manila-Dagúpan Railway was handed over to the companyʼs management, after having been used for war purposes. General Montenegro surrendered in April, and a fortnight afterwards Don Pedro A. Paterno, late President of the Insurgent Congress, was captured at Antomoc (Beuguet district); Generals Garcia and Dumangtay were captured; five officers and two companies of insurgents surrendered in May; and in the same month one Gabriel Cayaban, of Pangasinán Province, was sentenced to five yearsʼ hard labour and a fine of 2,000 pesos for conspiring with guerillas to raise riot. It cannot be said that the insurgents in the field had advanced one step towards the attainment of their object. Manila was simultaneously full of conspirators cogitating over murderous plots against the Americans, and a band of them was arrested in the month of May. The insurgent movement was so far disorganized that it was deemed opportune to entrust natives with police duties, and in June a Philippine cavalry corps was created. Captain Lara, of the native police, took Generals Pio del Pilar and Salvador Estrella prisoners, but was himself assassinated on August 4. General Maximino Hizon[6] was captured at Mexico (Pampanga), and on June 21 the Military Governor published an amnesty proclamation, granting pardon and liberty to all who should declare their allegiance to the United States within ninety days. All who had surrendered and some who were captured took the required oath, and others were coming in. Pio del Pilar was among those who accepted the amnesty a week after its promulgation, but he was again arrested, September 6, for conspiracy. The Amnesty Proclamation was met by a counter-proclamation issued by Aguinaldo, dated August 3, 1900, in which he urged a continuance of the war, and offered rewards for arms. He promised to liberate all prisoners of war who might fall into insurgent hands, on surrender of their arms and ammunition. He would give them money to return to their lines and for petty expenses en route. He would pay 80 pesos for every American rifle brought in by a prisoner, and 20 pesos for any rifle voluntarily brought to a Philippine officer, but the deserter would not be allowed to enter the insurgent ranks.

On June 28 there was an attempted rising in Manila, and Don Pedro A. Paterno was placed under closer guard. In July the insurgents were active in the neighbourhood of Vigan (Ilocos). About 40 volunteer infantry and 60 cavalry went out from Narvican to attack them, and came across a strongly-entrenched position held by about 300 riflemen and 1,000 men armed with bowie-knives. A sharp fight ensued, but the Americans, overwhelmed by the mass, had to retreat to Narvican. The insurgents lost about a hundred men, whilst the American loss was one lieutenant and four men killed, nine wounded and four missing. About the same time, the insurgents driven back from the Laguna de Bay shore occupied Taal (Batangas), where, under the leadership of Miguel Malvar, a small battle was fought in the streets on July 12 and the town was burnt; a troop of cavalry was added to the police force this month, and there was no lack of Filipinos willing to co-operate with Americans for a salary. The backbone of insurgency having been broken, the dollar proved to be a mightier factor than the sword in the process of pacification. Compared with former times, the ex-insurgents found in the lucrative employments offered to them by the Americans a veritable El Dorado, for never before had they seen such a flow of cash. The country had been ravaged; the immense stores collected by the revolutionists had been seized; non-combatant partisans of the insurgent cause were wearied of paying heavy taxes for so little result; treasure was hidden; fields lay fallow, and for want of food Aguinaldo had had partially to disband his army. He told me himself that on one occasion they were so hard pressed for food that they had to live for three days on whatever they could find in the mountains. There were but two courses open to the majority of the ex-soldiers—brigandage or service under their new masters. Some chose the former, with results which will be hereafter referred to; others, more disposed towards civil life, were allured by the abundance of silver pesos, which made a final conquest where shot and shell had failed. Still, there were thousands incognizant of the olive-branch extended to them, and military operations had to be continued even within a dayʼs journey from the capital. A request had to be made for more cavalry to be sent to the Islands, and the proportion of this branch of the service to infantry was gradually increased, for “rounding up” insurgents who refused to give battle was exhausting work for white foot-soldiers in the tropics. In the course of four months nearly all the infantry in the small towns was replaced by cavalry. In this same month (July) American cavalry successfully secured the Laguna de Bay south shore towns which the insurgents had re-taken on the departure of the infantry sent there in January. Many well-to-do proprietors in these towns (some known to me for 20 years), especially in Viñan, complained to me of what they considered an injustice inflicted on them. The American troops came and drove out the insurgents, or caused them to decamp on their approach; but, as they left no garrisons, the insurgents re-entered and the townspeople had to feed them under duress. Then, when the American forces returned six months afterwards, to the great relief of the inhabitants, and left garrisons, many of these townspeople, on a charge of having given succour to the insurgents, were imprisoned with the only consolation that, after all, a couple of monthsʼ incarceration by the Americans was preferable to the death which awaited them at the hands of the insurgents if they had refused them food. The same thing occurred in other islands, notably in Sámar and in Cebú, where the people were persecuted for giving aid to the armed natives on whose mercy their lives depended. This measure was an unfortunate mistake, because it alienated the good feeling of those who simply desired peace with the ruling power, whether it were American or native. There were thousands of persons—as there would be anywhere in the world—quite incapable of taking up arms in defence of an absent party which gave them no protection, yet naturally anxious to save their lives by payment if need be.[7]

On July 19 a proclamation was issued forbidding the possession of firearms without licence. On August 7 the curfew ordinance was extended to 11 p.m., and again, in the following month, to midnight. In September there was another serious outbreak up the Laguna de Bay, where two or three hundred insurgents, led by a French half-caste, General Cailles,[8] attacked Los Baños, and about the same time the insurgents north of Manila cut the railroad between Malolos and Guiguinto. Cailles was driven out of Los Baños, but hundreds more insurgents joined him, and a furious battle was fought at Siniloan, on September 17, between 800 insurgents and a company of the 15th Infantry, who drove the enemy into the mountains.

In November Aguinaldo, who was camping in the province of Nueva Ecija, issued another of his numerous exhortations, in consequence of which there was renewed activity amongst the roaming bands of adventurers all over the provinces north of the capital. The insurgent chief advocated an aggressive war, and in the same month it was decided to send more American troops to Manila.

Many of the riff-raff had been inadvertently enrolled in the native police force, and received heavy sentences for theft, blackmail, and violent abuse of their functions. Indeed it took nearly a couple of years to weed out the disreputable members of this body. The total army forces in the Islands amounted to about 70,000 men, and at the end of 1900 it was decided to send back the volunteer corps to America early in the following year, for, at this period, General Aguinaldo had become a wanderer with a following which could no longer be called an army, and an early collapse of the revolutionary party in the field was an anticipated event.

From September 1, 1900, the legislative power of the military government was transferred to a civil government, Governor W. H. Taft being the President of the Philippine Commission, whilst Maj.-General McArthur continued in his capacity of Commander-in-Chief to carry on the war against the insurgents, which culminated in the capture of General Emilio Aguinaldo on March 23, 1901. This important event accelerated the close of the War of Independence. On January 14 General Emilio Aguinaldo had his headquarters at Palánan (Isabela), on the bank of a river which empties itself into Palánan Bay, situated about six miles distant from the town, on the east coast of Luzon. Being in want of reinforcements, he sent a member of his staff with messages to that effect to several of his subordinate generals. The fellow turned traitor, and carried the despatches to an American lieutenant, who sent him on to Colonel Frederick Funston at San Isidro (Nueva Ecija). The despatches disclosed the fact that General Emilio Aguinaldo requested his cousin, General Baldomero Aguinaldo, to send him, as soon as possible, 400 armed men. With General McArthurʼs approval, Colonel Funston proceeded to carry out a plan which he had conceived for the capture of General Emilio Aguinaldo. An expedition was made up of four Tagálog deserters from Aguinaldoʼs army, 78 Macabebe scouts (vide p. 446, footnote), and four American officers, besides Colonel Funston himself. Twenty of the scouts were dressed in insurgent uniforms, and the remaining natives in common working-clothes. Ten of them carried Spanish rifles, ten others had Krag-Jörgensen rifles, which they were to feign to have captured from American troops, and the five Americans were disguised as private soldiers. The party was then carried round the north and east coasts of Luzon, and put ashore in the neighbourhood of Baler by the gunboat Vicksburg, which approached the coast without lights, and then waited off Palánan Bay. The expedition was nominally commanded by an insurgent deserter, Hilario Placido,[9] whilst three other deserters posed as officers, the Americans playing the role of prisoners captured by the party. Before setting out for Casigúran, some 20 miles away, a messenger was sent on to the native headman of that town to tell him that reinforcements for Aguinaldo were on their way, and would require food and lodging, which were forthwith furnished by the headman to these 87 individuals. Some months previously some papers had been captured bearing the signature and seal of the insurgent general Lacuna, and this enabled the party to send on a letter in advance to Emilio Aguinaldo, ostensibly in the name of Lacuna, announcing the arrival of the reinforcements furnished in response to his request of January 14. This letter was accompanied by another one from the pseudo-chief of the expedition, stating that on the way they had captured five American soldiers and ten Krag rifles. A request was also made for food, which he explained had run short. Emilio Aguinaldo, therefore, sent Negritos to meet them on the way with a supply of rice. In the morning of March 23 they were near Palánan. The Macabebe scouts were sent in advance of the soi-disant five American prisoners, and when they entered the town Aguinaldoʼs bodyguard of 50 men was drawn up in parade to receive them. The native pseudo-officers marched into the camp, and were welcomed by Aguinaldo; but they shortly afterwards took temporary leave of him, and coming outside ordered their Macabebe troops to form up. Just at the moment the five supposed prisoners were conducted towards the camp the Macabebes poured three murderous volleys into Aguinaldoʼs troops, two of whom were killed and 18 wounded. On the other side only one Macabebe was slightly wounded. The Americans witnessed the effect of the first volley, and, together with the natives posing as officers, rushed into Aguinaldoʼs headquarters. Aguinaldo, Colonel Villa, and one civilian were taken prisoners, whilst other insurgent officers jumped from the window into the river and escaped. The expedition, after resting a day and a half at the camp, escorted their prisoners to Palánan Bay, where they were all taken on board the gunboat Vicksburg, which reached Manila on March 27.

The closing scene in Emilio Aguinaldoʼs military career was a remarkable performance of consummate skill, but unworthy of record in the annals of military glory.

The War of Independence, which lasted until the next year, was a triumph of science over personal valour about equally balanced. It was a necessary sacrifice of the few for the good of the many. No permanent peace could have been ever hoped for so long as the Islanders entertained the belief that they could any day eject the invaders by force.

The American citizens naturally rejoiced over the bare fact, briefly cabled without ghastly details, that the Philippine generalissimo had fallen prisoner, because it portended the peace which all desired. In deference to public opinion, the President promoted Colonel Funston of the volunteers to the rank of Brig.-General in the regular army.

Emilio Aguinaldo was first taken before General McArthur and then escorted to prison in Calle de Anda, in the walled city. On April 1, 1901, he took the oath of allegiance in the following form, viz.:—

I, Emilio Aguinaldo, hereby renounce all allegiance to any and all so-called revolutionary governments in the Philippine Islands and recognize and accept the supreme authority of the United States of America therein; I do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to that Government; that I will at all times conduct myself as a faithful and law-abiding citizen of the said Islands, and will not, either directly or indirectly, hold correspondence with or give intelligence to an enemy of the United States, nor will I abet, harbour or protect such enemy; that I impose upon myself these voluntary obligations without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion, so help me God.

After signing this declaration he was a free man. For a while he resided at Malacañan, on the north bank of the Pasig River, where one night a pirogue full of assassins came to seek the life of the man who had failed. But his lucky star followed him, and he removed to Paco and again to Ermita (suburbs of Manila) and finally to his native town of Cauit (Cavite), where I was his guest. He was living there in modest retirement with his mother and his two good-looking young nieces, who served us at table. The house is large and comparatively imposing as a provincial residence, being formed of two good substantial houses connected by a bridge-passage. The whole is enclosed by a low brick wall, topped by iron railings painted flaming red. In front there is a garden and a spacious compound at the back. In the large drawing-room there is a ceiling fresco representing a Filipina descending a flight of steps from a column to which the chains, now severed, held her captive. On the steps lies the Spanish flag with a broken staff, and in her hand she holds on high the Philippine flag of freedom.

In conversation with him he stated that he and his companions returned to the Islands in May, 1898, with many assurances that America was simply going to aid them to gain their independence. He added that when he landed at Cavite he had no arms, and the Americans allowed him to take them from the Spanish arsenal. Then they turned him out, and he moved his headquarters to Bacoor, where his troops numbered between 30,000 and 35,000 men. He said he could easily have taken Manila then, but that he was begged not to do so as the Americans were waiting for more troops and they wished to make the victory a joint one. He confessed he had bought experience very dearly. But he profited by that experience when, at Cavite, the Belgian Consul and Prince Löwenstein came four times to make proposals to him in favour of Germany. The first time, he said, he received them and demanded their credentials as authorized agents for Germany, but, as they could not produce any, he declined to have any further intercourse with them. Referring to the first period of the rebellion, Aguinaldo admitted that the prospect of ejecting the Spaniards from the Islands was very doubtful.

Immediately Aguinaldo had fallen captive, all kinds of extravagant and erroneous versions were current as to how it had happened. Thousands insisted that he must have voluntarily surrendered, for how could he have been caught when he had the anting-anting? (vide p. 237). As the ball of conjecture went on rolling, some added to this that his voluntary surrender must have been for a money consideration, and there were still others who furnished a further inducement—his fear of revenge from the late Antonio Lunaʼs party!

Although Aguinaldo gave no proof of being a brilliant warrior, as an organizer he had no rival capable of keeping 30,000 or more Filipinos united by sentiment for any one purpose. He trusted no comrade implicitly, and for a long time his officers had to leave their side-arms in an antechamber before entering his apartment. He had, moreover, the adroitness to extirpate that rivalry which alone destroys all united effort. But the world makes no allowance for the general who fails. To-day he is left entirely alone, pitied by some, shunned by a few, and almost forgotten by the large majority. He is indeed worthy of respect for his humanity in the conduct of the war, and of some pity in his present peculiar position. Many of his late subordinates now occupy good and high-salaried posts. Members of the Government of which he was President have espoused American doctrine and enjoy high social positions and fat emoluments. Aguinaldoʼs scholarship is too meagre for an elevated position, and his dignity and self-respect too great for an inferior one.

[1] The Treaty was ratified by the Senate by 57 votes to 27 on February 6, 1899.

[2] The Paco church was an ancient, imposing building; to-day there is not a stone left to show that it ever existed, and the plot is perfectly bare.

[3] General Diego de los Rios was remaining in Manila to negotiate with the insurgents the liberation of the Spanish prisoners (vide p. 477).

[4] The decree says:—“Seeing that the Spanish garrison in Baler, consisting of a handful of men, isolated, without hope of succour, is, by its valour and constant heroism worthy of universal admiration, and in view of its defence, comparable only with the legendary valour of the sons of the Cid and of Pelayo, I render homage to military virtues, and, interpreting the sentiments of the Philippine Republic, on the proposal of my Secretary of War, and in agreement with my Council of State, I hereby decree as follows, viz.:—That the said forces shall no longer be considered our prisoners, but our friends, and consequently the necessary passes shall be furnished them enabling them to return to their country. Given in Tárlac on the 30th of June, 1899. The President of the Republic,—EMILIO AGUINALDO.”

[5] After the war I visited this former insurgent stronghold. Of the ancient church three walls and a quarter of the roof were left standing. There was nothing inside but shrubs, which had grown up to 3 feet high. In front of the church ruins stood an ironical emblem of the insurgentsʼ power in the shape of an antiquated Spanish cannon on carriage, with the nozzle broken off. Judging from the numerous newly-erected dwellings in this little town, I surmise that three-fourths of it must have been destroyed during the war.

[6] A Chinese half-caste Pampango. I knew him intimately as a planter. He was deported to and died a prisoner in the Island of Guam in 1901.

[7] In 1905 one of the wealthiest men in the Colony was arrested and brought to trial on the charge of having paid, or caused to be paid, the sum of ₱ 20 to an outlaw in Batangas Province. After putting the accused to a deal of expense and annoyance, the Government suddenly withdrew from the case, leaving the public in doubt as to the justice or injustice of the arraignment.

[8] A very intelligent man who was appointed Civil Governor of La Laguna Province when the war terminated.

[9] Early in 1905 the Court of Nueva Ecija passed sentence of imprisonment for life on this man for murder.

The Philippine Republic in the Central and Southern Islands

So interwoven were the circumstances of General Aguinaldoʼs Government in Luzon Island with the events of the period between the naval battle of Cavite and the ratification of the Treaty of Paris, that they form an integral and inseparable whole in historical continuity. In the other Islands, however, which followed the revolutionary movement, with more or less adherence to the supreme leadership of Aguinaldo, the local incidents severally constitute little histories in themselves, each such island having practically set up its own government with only the barest thread of administrative intercommunication.

The smaller islands, adjacent to Luzon, cannot be justly included in this category, because their local rule, which naturally succeeded the withdrawal of Spanish administration, was nothing more than a divided domination of self-constituted chiefs whose freebooting exploits, in one instance, had to be suppressed at the sacrifice of bloodshed, and, in another, to succumb to the apathy of the people.

In YLOILO, on December 23, 1898, General Diego de los Rios, in the presence of his staff, the naval commanders and the foreign consuls, formally surrendered the town to the native mayor, prior to his evacuation of Panay Island on the following day. On December 27 an American military force (finally about 3,000 strong) arrived in the roadstead in transports under the command of General Miller in co-operation with two American warships, afterwards supplemented by two others. The Spanish troops having departed, the Filipinos who had assumed control of public affairs made their formal entry into Yloilo to the strains of music and the waving of banners and constituted a government whose effective jurisdiction does not appear to have extended beyond the town and a dayʼs march therefrom. On January 17 an election was held, Raymundo Melliza,[1] an excellent man, being chosen president for the term of two years. Business was resumed; sugar was being brought from Negros Island, and ships were laden with produce. During the civil administration, which lasted for seven weeks, the absorbing topic was the demand made by General Miller for the surrender of the town. General Millerʼs force had been despatched to Yloilo waters, after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, simply to make a demonstration in view of possible anarchy resulting from the Spanish evacuation. The ratification of that Treaty by a two-thirds Senate majority was not an accomplished fact until February 6 following. There was no certainty that the Senate would confirm the acquisition of the Islands, and in the interval it was not politic to pass from a formal demand for the surrender of Yloilo to open hostilities for its possession. These matters of political exigency were undoubtedly beyond the comprehension of the Ylongos. They attributed to fear the fact that a large fighting-force remained inactive within sight of the town, whereas General Miller was merely awaiting instructions from the capital which the Manila authorities, in turn, were delaying, pending the decision in Washington. Intervening circumstances, however, precipitated military action. On the night of February 4 hostilities had broken out between Aguinaldoʼs troops and the American forces. Insurgent emissaries had brought Aguinaldoʼs messages to the Ylongos to hold the town against the invaders, and on February 7 General Miller received orders from Maj.-General Otis to take Yloilo by force if necessary. General Miller thereupon renewed his demand for the surrender of the place, coupled this time with a declaration that he would bombard it if his demand were refused. Later on he notified the consular body that the bombardment would commence on the 12th of the month. During the seven weeks of native government, petty thefts were frequent; an armed insurgent would enter a store and carry off the article selected by him without paying for it; but there was no riotous open violence committed against the townspeople or foreign traders. The squabbles between the armed natives and their leaders, however, were several times on the point of producing bloodshed.

According to ex-insurgent General Pablo Araneta, the insurgent army, at the time, in Panay Island was as follows, viz.[2]:—

Under the leadership of

Stationed at

Tagálogs

Visayos

Fulion

Yloilo

250

150

Ananias Diócno

Yloilo

400

—

Pablo Araneta

Yloilo

250

—

Martin Delgado

Yloilo

—

150

Pablo Araneta

Molo

—

100

Silvestre Silvio

Antique

150

—

Detachment of Diócnoʼs forces

Cápiz

200

—

Total all armed with guns

1,250

400

The commander-in-chief of the whole army of 1,650 men was Martin Delgado. The Tagálog contingent was under the leadership of Ananias Diócno, a native of Taal, whose severity in his Cápiz and Yloilo campaigns has left a lasting remembrance. The headquarters of the Visayos was in the parish-house (convento), whilst the Tagálogs were located in the Fine Arts Institute. Their stipulated remuneration was 4 pesos a month and food, but as they had received only 1 peso per month on account, and moreover claimed a rise in pay to 5 pesos, the Visayos, on February 3, assembled on the central plaza of the town and menaced their general officers, who were quartered together in a corner house over a barberʼs shop. They yelled out to their leaders that if they did not give them their pay they would kill them all, sack the town, and then burn it. Thereupon the generals hastened round the town to procure funds, and appeased the Visayos with a distribution of 1,800 pesos. The Tagálogs then broke out in much the same way, and were likewise restrained by a payment on account of arrears due. But thenceforth the insurgent troops became quite uncontrollable and insolent to their officers. The fact that white officers should have solicited their permission to come ashore unarmed could only be interpreted by the Oriental, soldier or civilian, in a way highly detrimental to the white manʼs prestige. The Americansʼ good and honest intentions were only equalled by their nescience of the Malay character. The officers came ashore; the townsfolk marvelled, and the fighting-men, convinced of their own invincibility, disdainfully left them unmolested. After the insurgent generals had doled out their pay, the men went round to the shops and braggingly avowed that it was lucky for the shopkeepers that they had got money, otherwise they would have looted their goods. The Chinese shut up their shops from the beginning of the troubles, leaving only a hole in the closed door to do a little business, as they were in constant fear for the safety of their lives and their stocks. A great many families packed up their belongings and went over to Negros Island in small schooners. The little passenger-steamers plying between Yloilo and Negros were running as usual, crowded to the brim, and flying the Philippine flag without interruption from the Americans. Amongst the better classes opinions on the situation were much divided. The best Philippine and Spanish families expressed their astonishment that the Americans made no attempt to take the town immediately after the Spanish evacuation. There were foreign merchants anxious to delay the American investment because, meanwhile, they were doing a brisk trade, and there were others longing to see the town in the hands of any civilized and responsible Power. Delegates from one party or the other, including the native civil government, went off in boats almost daily to parley with General Miller in the roadstead, each with a different line of real or sophistic argument. The best native families, the foreigners of all classes—those who desired a speedy entry of the Americans and those who sought to delay it—were agreed as to the needlessness and the mistaken policy of announcing a bombardment. Yloilo is a straggling, open town. The well-to-do people asked, “Why bombard?” There were no fortifications or anything to destroy but their house property. Plans were voluntarily offered showing how and at which points a midnight landing of 400 or 500 troops could be secretly effected for a sunrise surprise which would have cleared the town in an hour of every armed insurgent. The officers ashore declared they were ready; and as to the men, they were simply longing for the fray, but the word of command rested with General Miller.

In the evening of February 10 the native civil government held an extraordinary session in the Town Hall to discuss the course to be adopted in view of the announced bombardment. The public, Filipinos and foreigners, were invited to this meeting to take part in the debate if they wished, Raymundo Melliza, Victorino Mapa, Martin Delgado, and Pablo Araneta, being amongst those who were present. It was proposed to burn the town. Melliza vehemently protested against such a barbarous act, and asked why they should destroy their own property? What could they gain by pillage and flames?[3] But a certain V—— and his party clamoured for the destruction of the place, and being supported by an influential lawyer (native of another province) and by one of the insurgent generals, Melliza exclaimed, “If you insist on plunder and devastation, I shall retire altogether,” whereupon a tremendous hubbub ensued, in the midst of which Melliza withdrew and went over to Guimarás Island. But there were touches of humour in the speeches, especially when a fire-eating demagogue gravely proposed to surround an American warship with canoes and seize her; and again when Quintin Salas declared that the Americans would have to pass over his corpse before the town surrendered! Incendiaries and thieves were in overwhelming majority at the meeting; naturally (to the common people in these Islands) an invitation to despoil, lay waste and slay, bolstered up by apparent authority, found a ready response, especially among the Tagálog mercenaries who had no local attachment here. The instigators of this barbarity sought no share of the spoils; they had no property interests in Yloilo, but they were jealous of those who had. The animosity of Jaro and Molo against Yloilo had existed for years, the formersʼ townspeople being envious of the prosperous development of Yloilo (once a mere fishing-village), which obscured the significance of the episcopal city of Jaro and detracted from the social importance of the rich Chinese half-caste residential town of Molo.[4] Chiefly from these towns came the advocates of anarchy, whose hearts swelled with fiendish delight at the prospect of witnessing the utter ruin and humiliation of their rivals in municipal prestige. Yloilo, from that moment, was abandoned to the armed rabble, who raided the small shops for petroleum to throw on to the woodwork of the houses prior to the coming onslaught. The bombardment having been announced for the 12th, they reckoned on a full day for burning and sacking the town. But early in the morning of the 11th the steam-launch Pitt, whilst reconnoitring the harbour, was fired upon; the launch replied and withdrew. Natives were observed to be busy digging a trench and hastening to and from the cotta at the harbour entrance; there was every indication of their warlike intentions. Therefore suddenly, at 9 oʼclock that morning, without further notification, the Americans opened fire. The natives in the cotta fled along the quayway towards the centre of the town under a shower of bullets hurled from the quick-firing guns. The attack on Yloilo was hardly a bombardment proper; shells were intentionally thrown over the houses as a warning and burst in suburban open spaces, but comparatively few buildings were damaged by the missiles. In the meantime, from early morn, the native soldiery, followed by a riff-raff mob, rushed hither and thither, throwing firebrands on to the petroleum-washed houses, looting stores, and cutting down whomsoever checked them in their wild career. The Chinese barricaded themselves, but the flames devoured their well-stocked bazaars; panic-stricken townsfolk ran helter-skelter, escaping from the yelling bands of bloodthirsty looters. Europeans, revolver in hand, guarded their properties against the murderous rabble; an acquaintance of mine was hastening to the bank to deposit ₱3,000 when he was met by the leader S——, who demanded his money or his life; one foreign business house was defended by 15 armed Europeans, whilst others threw out handfuls of pesos to stay the work of the pétroleur. The German Vice-Consul, an old friend of mine, went mad at the sight of his total loss; a Swiss merchant, my friend for over 20 years, had his fine corner premises burnt down to the stone walls, and is now in comparative poverty. Even Spanish half-castes were menaced and contemptuously called Cachilas[5]; and the women escaped for their lives on board the schooners in the harbour. Half the town was blazing, and the despairing cries of some, the yells of exultant joy of others, mingled with the booming of the invadersʼ cannon.

Two British warships lying in the roadstead sent boats ashore to receive British subjects, and landed a party of marines, who made gallant efforts to save foreign property. A few British subjects were, however, unable to get away from the town on account of the premature attack of the Americans, which took place on the 11th instead of February 12, as previously announced.

The American assault on the town, which lasted until 1 oʼclock in the afternoon, was immediately followed up by the landing of about 1,000 volunteers, and General Miller found that the prognostications of the townspeople were perfectly just, for the insurgents fled in all directions. There was not a fighting-man left in the town. Some of them continued their hurried flight as far as Santa Barbara and Janiuay. It was evident that a sudden night-landing, without a word about bombardment, would have been just as effective, and would have prevented much misery and loss of life and property. Indeed, the arrival of the American volunteers under these distressing circumstances produced a fresh commotion in Yloilo. Without any warrant private premises were entered, and property saved from the nativesʼ grasp vanished before the eyes of the owners. Finally order was restored through the energetic intervention of American officials, who stationed sentinels here and there to protect what still remained of the townspeopleʼs goods. In due course indemnity claims were forwarded to the military authorities, who rejected them all.

The insurgents still lingered outside the town on the road to Jaro, and General Miller marched his troops, in battle array, against them. A couple of miles out of the town, in the neighbourhood of La Paz, the entrenched enemy was routed after a slight skirmish. The booming of cannon was heard in Yloilo for some hours as the American troops continued their march to Jaro, only molested by a few occasional shots from the enemy in ambush. The rebel chief Fulion and another, Quintin Salas, held out for a short while, gradually beating a retreat before the advancing column. The Tagálogs, once under the command of the semi-civilized Diócno, disappeared in all directions, and finally escaped from the province in small parties in canoes or as best they could. The handful of braves who still thought fit to resist decided to make a stand at Santa Bárbara, but on the arrival of the American troops they dispersed like chaff before the wind. General Miller then relinquished the pursuit and returned to Yloilo to await reinforcements for a campaign through the Island. In the meantime military government was established in Yloilo, the town was policed, trade resumed its normal aspect, the insurgents in the Island gradually increased, but the Philippine Republic in Panay was no more. It was clear to all the most sober-minded and best-educated Ylongos that Aguinaldoʼs government was a failure in Panay at least. The hope of agreement on any policy was remote from its very initiation. Visayos of position, with property and interests at stake, were convinced that absolute independence without any control or protection from some established Power was premature and doomed to disaster. Visayan jealousy of Tagálog predominance had also its influence, but the ruling factor was the Tagálog troopsʼ dictatorial air and brutal conduct, which destroyed the theory of fraternal unity. Self-government at this stage would have certainly led to civil war.

Reinforcements arrived from Manila and the Americans entered upon the pacification of the Island, which needed two years for its accomplishment. The full record of the Panay campaign would be a monotonous recital of scores of petty encounters of analogous character. Pablo Araneta, in co-operation with a Spanish deserter named Mariano Perez, met the Americans several times, and gave better proof of his generalship in retreat than in advance. He operated only in the province of Yloilo, and at Sambang, near Pavía, his party was severely defeated and the “general” fled. Quintin Salas, over whose dead body, he himself declared, the Americans would have to pass before Yloilo surrendered, appeared and disappeared, from time to time, around Dumangas. There was an encounter at Potian with Jolandoni which ended badly for his party. The native priests not only sympathized with the insurgents, but took an active part in their operations. Father Santiago Pamplona, afterwards ecclesiastical-governor of the Visayas (Aglipayan), held a command under Martin Delgado. Father Agustin Piña, the parish priest of Molo and the active adviser in the operations around Pavía—Jaro district, was caught by the Americans and died of “water-cure.”[6] The firebrand Pascual Macbanua was killed at Pototan; and finally came the most decisive engagement at Monte Sin͠git, between Janiuay and Lambunao. The insurgent generalissimo, Martin Delgado, took the field in person; but after a bold stand, with a slight loss on the American side, the insurgents were completely routed and their leader fled. Pablo Araneta, tired of generalship without glory, surrendered to the Americans on December 31, 1899. The war still continued for another year, Martin Delgado being one of the last to declare his defeat. Early in December, 1900, overtures for peace were made to General Miller, the delegates on the insurgent side being Pablo Araneta, Jovito Yusay, and Father Silvestre Apura, whilst Captain Noble represented the Americans. Martin Delgado and his co-leaders soon surrendered. There was no question of conditions but that of convincing the natives of the futility of further resistance and the benefits to them of peace under American rule. With this end in view, delegates went in commission to the several districts. Pablo Araneta, Father Silvestre Apura, Father Práxedes Magálon and Nicolás Roses visited the district of Concepcion (East Panay) in January 1901 and obtained the submission of the people there. Peace was at length agreed upon; but the Filipinos were not disposed silently to draw the veil over the past without glamour and pomp, even in the hour of defeat. Therefore, on February 2, 1901, in agreement between the parties, the remnant of the little Panay army made a formal surrender, marching under triumphal arches into the episcopal city of Jaro to stack their arms, between lines of American troops drawn up on either side of their passage, to the strains of peaceful melody, whilst the banners of the Stars and Stripes floated victoriously in the sultry air. Jaro was crowded with visitors to witness this interesting ceremonial. The booths did a bustling trade; the whole city was en féte, and the vanquished heroes, far from evincing humiliation, mingled with the mob and seemed as merry as though the occasion were the marriage-feast of the headmanʼs daughter.

But to complete the picture of peace some finishing-strokes were yet needful. Antique Province was still in arms, and a native commission composed of Pablo Araneta, Father Silvestre Apura, Father Práxedes Magálon, Victorino Mapa, Cornelio Melliza, and Martin Delgado proceeded there, and succeeded in concluding peace for the Americans at the end of February, 1901.

The Visayan chief who defied the American invader was no stout patriot who leaves his plough to fight for cherished liberty, and cheerfully returns to it when the struggle ends. The leaders of the little Panay army and their civilian colleagues had to be compensated for their acceptance of American rule. Aguinaldo was captured during the month following the Peace of Panay; the war was coming to an end, and Governor W. H. Taft made his provincial tour to inaugurate civil government in the pacified Islands. Martin T. Delgado, the very man who had inflicted such calamities upon the Yloilo people, was appointed, on April 11, to be their first provincial Civil Governor at a salary of $3,000 gold per annum, and held that office until March, 1904. Jovito Yusay was given the provincial government secretaryship with a yearly stipend of $1,800 gold; Pablo Araneta was rewarded with the post of President of the Board of Health at an annual salary of $1,500 gold, and Victorino Mapa was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court with an annual emolument of $7,000 gold. In March, 1904, Raymundo Melliza, ex-president of the native civil government, already referred to as the advocate of social order, succeeded Delgado in the civil government of the Yloilo province by popular vote.

Yloilo, formerly the second port of the Philippines, is situated on the right bank of the creek. From the creek point to the square are sheds used for sugar-storing, with, here and there, a commercial or government office between. The most modern thoroughfares are traced with regularity, and there are many good houses. In the square is the church, which at a distance might be mistaken for a sugar-store, the ruins of the Town Hall, the convent, and a few small, fairly well-built houses of stone and wood, whilst all one side was once covered by a fine new block of buildings of brick, stone and wood, with iron roofs.

The Calle Real or High Street is a winding road, which leads through the town into the country. The houses are indescribable—they are of all styles. Without any pretence at architectural adornment, some are high, others low; some stand back with several feet of pavement before them, others come forward and oblige one to walk in the road. Here and there is a gap, then a row of dingy hovels. This is the retail trading-quarter and the centre for the Chinese. Going from the square the creek runs along at the back of the right-hand-side houses; turning off by the left-hand-side thoroughfares, which cannot be called streets, there is a number of roughly-built houses and a few good ones dispersed in all directions, with vacant, neglected plots between. At the extreme end of the Calle Real is the Government House, built of wood and stone, of good style and in a fair condition, with quite the appearance of an official residence. Before it is a semicircular garden, and in front of this there is a round fenced-in plot, in the middle of which stands a flag-staff. Just past the Government House there is a bridge crossing the Jaro River, which empties itself into the creek of Yloilo, and this creek is connected with that of Otong.[7]

Yloilo lies low, and is always hot. Quite one-third of the shipping and wholesale business quarter stands on land reclaimed from the swamp by filling up with earth and rubble. The opposite side of the creek, facing the shipping-quarter, is a low marshy waste, occasionally converted into a swamp at certain tides. The creek forms the harbour of Yloilo, which is just as Nature made it, except that there is a roughly-constructed quayway on the left-hand shore on entering. Only vessels of light draft can enter; large vessels anchor in the roadstead, which is the channel between Yloilo harbour and Guimarás Island.

The general aspect of Yloilo and its environs is most depressing. In Spanish times no public conveyances were to be seen plying for hire in the streets, and there is still no public place of amusement. The Municipality was first established by Royal Order dated June 7, 1889.

Evidences of the havoc of 1899 are still visible at every turn in Yloilo in the shape of old stone walls, charred remains, battered houses, vacant spaces, etc. On the other hand, there are many innovations since American administration superseded the native civil government. The plaza, till then a dreary open space, is now a pleasant shady promenade; electric lighting, an ice-factory, four hotels, one American, one English, and three Philippine clubs, large public schools, an improved quayway, a commodious Custom-house, a great increase of harbour traffic, a superabundance of lawyersʼ and pawnbrokersʼ sign-boards, and public vehicles plying for hire are among the novelties which strike one who knew Yloilo in days gone by. The Press is poorly represented by three daily and one weekly newspapers. Taken as a whole Yloilo still remains one of the most charmless spots in the Archipelago.

The people of NEGROS ISLAND were in the free enjoyment of local independence since November 6, 1898, the day on which the Spanish Governor, D. Isidro Castro y Cinceros, together with all his official colleagues, capitulated to the revolutionists under the leadership of Aniceto Lacson, Leandro Lacson, Juan Araneta, Nicolás Gales, Simon Lizares, Julio Diaz, and José Montilla. Simultaneously with the prosecution of the Panay Island campaign General Miller opened negotiations for the submission of Negros Island to American sovereignty. At that time the government of the Island was being peacefully administered to the satisfaction of the Negros revolutionists, at least, under the constitution proclaimed by them, and presided over by their ex-commander-in-chief, Aniceto Lacson.[8] General Miller therefore commissioned two Filipinos, Esteban de la Rama and Pedro Regalado,[9] to proceed to Negros and negotiate terms of surrender to the Americans. For the moment nothing further was demanded than a recognition of American supremacy, and it was not proposed to subvert their local organization or depose their president. Aniceto Lacson accepted these terms, and General Miller formally appointed him Governor of the Island in March, 1899. It is evident, therefore, that no union existed between the local government of Negros and Aguinaldoʼs Republic in Luzon. In fact, when the Tagálog fighting-men, who were everywhere defeated in Panay, made their escape to Negros and raised the cry of insurrection against the Americans, Lacson was constrained to appeal to General Miller to send over troops to quell the movement. Thereupon Colonel Smith was deputed to take troops over to Negros to pursue the common enemy, whilst, in perfect accord with the native governor Lacson, he acted as military governor of the Island. The great cordillera which runs through the centre of the Island from north to south forms a sort of natural barrier between the people of Occidental and Oriental Negros. There are trails, but there are no transversal highroads from one coast to the other, and the inhabitants on each side live as separated in their interests, and, to a certain degree, in their habits, as though they were living in different islands. The people on the eastern side have always strongly opposed anything approaching governmental cohesion with the other side. Moreover, for many years past, the south-eastern district of Negros Island has been affected by sporadic apparitions of riotous religious monomaniacs called Santones (vide p. 189). These conditions, therefore, favoured the nefarious work of the cunning Tagálog and Panay refugees, who found plenty of plastic material in the Negros inhabitants for the fruitful dissemination of the wildest and most fantastic notions anent the horrors awaiting them in the new Anglo-Saxon domination. They found no sympathy with the native government of Occidental Negros, which was as much their enemy as the American troops sent to pursue them, but they entertained the hope that by raising riot in Negros they would draw off troops from Panay, and so favour the movement in that Island. Armed groups rose everywhere against the Americans and the established government. In the south-east the notorious Papa Isio appeared as a Santon, preached idolatry, and drew to his standard a large band of ruffians as skilled as himself in villainous devices. Insurgency, in the true sense of the word, did not exist in Negros; opposition to the American domination was merely a pretext to harass, plunder, and extort funds from the planters and property-owners. The disaffected people increased so largely in numbers that Colonel Smith was obliged to call for reinforcements, and the disturbances only came to an end when it was known that the Panay people had formally laid down their arms in February, 1901. Shortly afterwards Governor W. H. Taft visited Negros Island; the quasi-autonomous government of that region was modified in conformity with the general plan of provincial civil governments, and on August 9, 1901, Leandro Locsin (Ylongo by birth) succeeded to the civil governorship, with a salary of $2,500 gold, by popular vote.

Notwithstanding the severities imposed on the Cebuános during the last eight months of Spanish rule, the Spaniards were able to evacuate CEBÚ ISLAND without menace or untoward event. For several months the Governor, General Montero, had held in prison, between life and death, a number of Filipinos of the best families, amongst whom was Julio Llorente, who afterwards became President of Cebú and subsequently a magistrate of the Supreme Court of Manila. General Montero made a compact with a young Philippine lawyer, Sergio Osmeña (afterwards acting-Governor of Cebú) that in exchange for two Spaniards held as hostages in the interior he would release Llorente. Osmeña procured the liberty of the Spaniards, but it was only on the eve of his departure that Montero permitted the prison doors to be opened.

On December 26, 1898, a chartered merchant steamer called at Cebú to transport the retiring Spaniards to Zamboanga, the place of concentration designated by General Rios. The farewell was sadly brief, and almost in silence the Governor handed over the government property to a most worthy and loyal Cebúano, Pablo Mejía, who was my esteemed friend for many years. The Governor even offered Mejía about 40 rifles; but Mejía, a lover of order, wrongly believing that a long period of tranquillity was about to set in, declined to accept them. And without any manifestation of regret on the part of the governed, the last vestige of Spanish authority vanished from the city which, 333 years before, was the capital of the Philippine Islands.

On the day following the departure of the Spaniards the Cebuános established a provincial government in agreement with the Katipunan party of Luzon, General Aguinaldoʼs direct representative being Luis Flores, the chief leader of the armed Cebuános, to whom Pablo Mejía handed over all that he had received from the ex-governor Montero. From its establishment up to the last day of its existence, this government used the seal and stamps of the Philippine Republic, and was constituted as follows, viz.:—

Provincial Council

President and Commander-in-Chief

Luis Flores.

Vice-President

Julio Llorente.

Commissioner of Police

Gen. Arcadio Maxílom.

Treasurer-General

Pablo Mejía.

Minister of Justice

Miguel Logarta.

Secretary to the Council

Leoncio Alburo.

Military Department

Chief-of-Staff

Gen. Juan Clímaco.

Military Administrator

Arsenio Clímaco. (Half-caste Chinese and cousins.)

Municipal Council (Junta Popular)

Mayor

Julio Llorente.

Councillors

Several citizens elected by popular vote.

The above constitution was in conformity with a decree of General Aguinaldo dated June 18, 1898, and countersigned by Apolinario Mabini. Local representatives of the provincial government were appointed throughout the Island for the collection of taxes and the maintenance of order, and the system worked fairly smoothly until the arrival of the Americans in Cebú City, February 21, 1899. On that date the American gunboat Petrel and a large steam-launch suddenly appeared in Cebú harbour. The United States Vice-Consul seems to have been the only person who had received prior advice of their intended arrival. The commander of the Petrel sent a message ashore saying that he desired an interview with the government representatives and that he demanded the surrender of the city, and gave 14 hours to the people to consider his demands; but, as a matter of fact, the negotiations lasted about 24 hours, during which time a council of Filipinos was hurriedly called to decide upon the course the provincial government should adopt. Very divergent and extreme views were expressed; Pablo Mejía, supported by Julio Llorente and Father Julià, advocated an acceptance of the inevitable under protest, whilst General Gabino Sepúlveda declared that he would spill his last drop of blood before the Americans should take possession of the city. But, in the end, Sepúlveda reserved his blood for a better occasion, and eventually accepted employment under the Americans as prosecuting attorney in Bojol Island. Pablo Mejíaʼs advice was acted upon, and in the name of the Cebuános, Luis Flores, the President of the Council, signed a protest[10] which was handed to the commander of the Petrel by Pablo Mejía and Julio Llorente in the presence of the United States Vice-Consul. The commander of the Petrel forthwith landed 40 marines, who marched to the Cotta de San Pedro (the fortress) and hoisted the American flag there in the presence of armed Filipinos who looked on in silence. The marines then returned to their vessel, which remained inactive anchored off the cotta, pending the arrival of reinforcements which were sent to Cebú under the command of Colonel Hamer. The provincial government was permitted to continue its functions and use its official seal, and during five months there was no manifest anti-American movement. During this period the American commander of the troops adopted tactics similar to those employed by General E. S. Otis in Manila against Aguinaldo prior to the outbreak in February, 1899. Little by little the Americans required the armed Filipinos to retire farther and farther away from the capital. This practical isolation disgusted the several chiefs, who therefore agreed to open the campaign against the invaders. Every act of the provincial councillors was closely watched and discussed by the Cebuános, amongst whom an intransigent faction secretly charged Mejía and Llorente with being lukewarm in their protection of Philippine interests and unduly favourable to American dominion. Their death was decreed, and Mejía was assassinated as he was passing to his house from that of a neighbour a few yards off. Luis Flores had already resigned public office, and Llorente was, at this time, his successor in the presidency of the Council. Fortunately for him, whilst the murderers were plotting against his life he was called to Manila by General E. S. Otis, two weeks after Mejíaʼs death, to become a magistrate in the Supreme Court. Segundo Singson (afterwards chief judge of the Court of First Instance) then assumed the presidency of the provincial council.

On July 24, 1899, Juan Clímaco and Arcadio Maxílom, chafing at the diminution of their influence in public affairs, suddenly disappeared into the interior and met at Pardo, where the military revolutionary centre was established. Aguinaldoʼs emissary, Pantaleon E. del Rosario, Melquiades Lasala, a Cebuáno of Bogó (known as Dading), Andrés Jayme, Lorega, and an Ilocano named Mateo Luga who had served in the Spanish army, led contingents under the supreme command of the insurgent General Arcadio Maxilom. In the interior they established a fairly well-organized military government. The Island was divided into districts; there was little interference with personal liberty; taxes for the maintenance of the struggle were collected in the form of contribution according to the means of the donor; agriculture was not altogether abandoned, and for over two years the insurgents held out against American rule. The brain of the movement was centred in Juan Clímaco, whilst Mateo Luga exhibited the best fighting qualities. In the meantime American troops were drafted to the coast towns of Tubúran, Bogó, Cármen, etc. There were several severe engagements with slaughter on both sides, notably at Monte Súdlon and Compostela. Five white men joined the insurgent leader Luga, one being an English mercenary trooper, two sailors, and two soldiers; the last two were given up at the close of hostilities; one of them was pardoned, and the other was executed in the cotta for rape committed at Mandaue.

The co-existence of an American military administration in Cebú City conducting a war throughout the Island, and a Philippine provincial government with nominal administrative powers over the same region, but in strong sympathy with the insurgent cause, was no longer compatible. Moreover, outside the city the provincial government was unable to enforce its decrees amongst the people, who recognized solely the martial-law of the insurgents to whom they had to pay taxes. The Americans therefore abolished the provincial council, which was not grieved at its dissolution, because it was already accused by the people of being pro-American. Philippine views of the situation were expressed in a newspaper, El Nuevo Dia, founded by a lawyer, Rafael Palma, and edited conjointly by Jayme Veyra (afterwards a candidate for the Leyte Island governorship) and an intelligent young lawyer, Sergio Osmeña, already mentioned at p. 521. This organ, the type and style of which favourably compared with any journal ever produced in these Islands, passed through many vicissitudes; it was alternately suppressed and revived, whilst its editors were threatened with imprisonment in the cotta and deportation to Guam. Meanwhile the Americans made strenuous efforts to secure the co-operation of the Filipinos in municipal administration, but the people refused to vote. Leading citizens, cited to appear before the American authorities, persistently declined to take any part in a dual régime. The electors were then ordered, under penalties, to attend the polling, but out of the hundreds who responded to the call only about 60 could be coerced into voting. Finally a packed municipal council was formed, but one of its members, a man hitherto highly respected by all, was assassinated, and his colleagues went in fear of their lives.

The war in Panay Island having terminated on February 2, 1901, by the general surrender at Jaro (vide p. 518), General Hughes went to Sámar Island, where he failed to restore peace, and thence he proceeded to Cebú in the month of August at the head of 2,000 troops. A vigorous policy of devastation was adopted. Towns, villages and crops were laid waste; Pardo, the insurgent military centre, was totally destroyed; peaceful natives who had compulsorily paid tribute to the insurgents at whose mercy they were obliged to live, were treated as enemies; their homes and means of livelihood were demolished, and little distinction was made between the warrior and the victim of the war. Desolation stared the people in the face, and within a few weeks the native provincial governor proposed that terms of peace should be discussed. The insurgent chief Lorega surrendered on October 22; Mateo Luga and Arcadio Maxílom submitted five days afterwards and at the end of the month a general cessation of hostilities followed. A neutral zone was agreed upon, extending from Mandaue to Sógod, and there the three peace commissioners on behalf of the Americans, namely Miguel Logarta, Pedro Rodriguez, and Arsenio Clímaco met the insurgent chiefs Juan Clímaco and Arcadio Maxilom. As a result, peace was signed, and the document includes the following significant words, viz.: “putting the Philippine people in a condition to prove their aptitude for self-government as the basis of a future independent life.” The signatories of this document on the part of the Filipinos were Pantaleon E. del Rosario, Melquiades Lasala and Andrés Jayme. After the peace, Mateo Luga and P. E. del Rosario accepted employment under the Americans, the former as Inspector of Constabulary and the latter as Sheriff of Cebú. A few months later, the Americans, acting on information received, proceeded to Tubúran on the government launch Philadelphia, arrested Arcadio Maxílom and his two brothers, and seized the arms which they had secreted on their property. On the launch, one of the Maxíloms unsuccessfully attempted to murder the Americans and was immediately executed, whilst Arcadio and his other brother jumped overboard; but Arcadio being unable to swim, was picked up, brought to trial at Cebú, and acquitted. Thus ended the career of General Arcadio Maxílom, whom in 1904 I found living in retirement, almost a hermitʼs life, broken in spirit and body and worried by numerous lawsuits pending against him.

On April 17,1901, Governor W. H. Taft went to Cebú accompanied by a Filipino, H. Pardo de Tavera, whose views were diametrically opposed to those of the Cebuáno majority. Governor Taft established civil government there, although the law of habeas corpus had to be suspended because the war was still raging throughout the Island outside the capital. The provincial government as established by Governor Taft comprises a provincial board composed of three members, namely the Philippine Provincial Governor, the American Supervisor, and the American Treasurer: hence the Americans are in permanent majority and practically rule the Island. The executive of this body is the provincial governor and his staff. The first provincial governor appointed by Governor Taft was Julio Llorente, who resigned the magistracy in Manila and returned to Cebú to take up his new office until the elections took place in January, 1902, when, by popular vote, Juan Clímaco, the ex-insurgent chief, became provincial governor, and on the expiration of his term in January, 1904, he was re-elected for another two years.

There is no noteworthy change in the aspect of Cebú since the American occupation. It is a regularly-built city, with hundreds of good houses, many relatively imposing public buildings, monuments, churches, and interesting edifices. It is a cathedral city and bishopʼs see, full of historical remininscences, and has still a very pleasant appearance, notwithstanding its partial destruction and the many remaining ruins caused by the bombardment by the Spanish warship Don Juan de Austria in April 1838, (vide p. 403). Of special interest are the Cathedral, the Church of Santo Nino, or the “Holy Child of Cebú” (vide p. 183), the Chapels of the Paul Fathers and of the Jesuits, and the Cotta de San Pedro (fortress). Also, just outside the city proper is the Church of San Nicolás. Up to about the year 1876 the Jesuits had a fine church of their own, but the friars, jealous of its having become the most popular place of worship, caused it to be destroyed. Until a few years ago the quarter known as the, Parian was the flourishing centre of the half-caste traders. There was also a busy street of Chinese general shops and native ready-made clothiers in the Lutao district, a thoroughfare which ran along the seashore from the south of the city proper towards San Nicolás; it was completely destroyed by the bombardment of 1898, and many of the shopkeepers have erected new premises in the principal shopping street, called Calle de la Infanta. Again, in 1905, a disastrous fire in the business quarter of the city caused damage to the estimated extent of $500,000 gold.

There is a little colony of foreign merchants in Cebú, which formerly ranked as the third port of the Archipelago, but now stands second in importance to Manila (vide Trade Statistics, Chap. xxxi.). Several vice-consulates are established here, and in Spanish times it was the residence of the military governor of Visayas as well as of the governor of the Island and his staff of officials. In 1886 a Supreme Court was inaugurated in Cebú. This city, which was the capital of the Colony from 1565 to 1571, had a municipality up to the time of Gov.-General Pedro de Arándia (1754–59). It was then abolished because there was only one Spaniard capable of being a city councillor. One alderman who had served—Juan Sebastian de Espina—could neither read nor write, and the mayor himself had been deprived of office for having tried to extort money from a Chinaman by putting his head in the stocks. By Royal Order dated June 7, 1889, and put into force by the Gov.-Generalʼs Decree of January 31, 1890, the municipality was re-established. The president was the governor of the Island, supported by an Alcalde and 13 officials. For the government of the Island under the Spanish regime, vide Chap. xiii.

The municipality at present existing is that established by the Taft Commission. The Press, in the days of the Spaniards, was poorly represented by a little news-sheet, styled the Boletin de Cebú. There are now two periodicals of little or no interest.

There are two large cemeteries at Guadalupe and Mabolo. In 1887 a shooting-butts was established at the end of the Guadalupe road, and the annual pony-races take place in January. On the Mabolo road there is a Leper Hospital, and the ruins of a partly well-built jail which was never completed.

Cebú is a port of entry open to foreign trade, with a Custom-house established since the year 1863. The channel for vessels is marked by buoys, and there are two lighthouses at the north and two at the south entrance to the port. The environs are pretty, with Magtan Island (on which Maghallanes was killed) in front and a range of hills in the background. There are excellent roads for riding and driving a few miles out of the city. The climate is very healthy for Europeans; the low ranges of mountains running north to south of the Island are sparsely wooded, some being quite bare of trees, and the atmosphere is comparatively dry. The cactus is very common all over the Island, and miles of it are seen growing in the hedges. About an hour and a halfʼs drive from Cebú City there is the little town of Naga, the environs of which are extremely pretty. From the top of Makdoc Mountain, at the back of the town, there is a splendid view of the Pandan Valley.

The Cebuános are the most sociable of the Visaya population, whilst the women are the best-looking of all the Filipinas of pure Oriental descent.

Of all places in the Philippines Cebú will please the conchologist. An old native named Legaspi once had a splendid shell collection, which he freely exhibited to foreigners. At one time he had a Gloria Maris, which he sold for $150, and some Russian naval officers are said to have offered him $5,000 for a part of his collection. At certain seasons of the year the Euplectella speciosa, Gray, or Venus baskets, locally known as Regaderas, can be obtained in quantities; they are found in the Cebú waters. The Eup. spec, is the skeleton secretion of an insect of the Porifera division. The basket is a series of graceful fretted spirals. Also fine Piña stuffs can be purchased here.

The population of Cebú City was 9,629 in 1888; 10,972 in 1896; and 18,330 in 1903. The inhabitants of the whole Island numbered 417,543 in 1876; 518,032 in 1888; 595,726 in 1896; and 653,727 in 1903.

In March, 1899, an American armed force was detailed from Cebú City to BOJOL ISLAND to demand the surrender of the native provincial government established there since the Spanish evacuation. Interpreters from Cebú were sent ashore, and after hearing their explanation of the Americans demands the native president in council resolved to yield peacefully. A volunteer regiment was then sent ashore, positions were occupied, and all went smoothly on the surface until the Islandersʼ powers of endurance were exhausted after 22 months of alleged harsh treatment imposed upon them by the troops. In January, 1901, the cry of rebellion was raised by one Pedro Sanson, whose band of Bojolanos, augmented by levies from Leyte, Sámar, and Panay Islands numbered about 2,000. Expeditions were sent out against them, and the lukewarm sympathy of the Islanders was turned to general indignation against the Americans by the alleged wanton destruction of a whole town by fire, by order of a captain of volunteers. Practically the whole Island became covertly anti-American. Having finished his campaign in Cebú Island in October, 1901, General Hughes carried his troops over to Bojol Island, where measures of repression were adopted similar to those which had been so effective in reducing the Cebuános to submission. A large number of small towns and villages within the range of military operations were entirely destroyed. The once pretty little town of Lauang was left a complete ruin, and many landmarks of a former progressive civilization have disappeared for ever. Nevertheless, the insurgents refused to yield until a decree was issued to the effect that if the leaders did not surrender by December 27 the invaders would burn down the town of Tagbiláran. In this town, formerly the seat of the native provincial government, Pedro Sanson and most of his officers had all their property and worldly possessions; and in view of the beggary which awaited them if they held out any longer, they accepted terms of peace from Pantaleon E. del Rosario, who went up to the mountains and acted as negotiator between General Hughes and the insurgent chiefs who finally surrendered. The Filipino, Aniceto Clarin, appointed provincial governor on April 20, 1901, continued in office; Pedro Sanson quietly resumed his occupation of dealer in hemp, etc., and thenceforth peace and poverty reigned in the Island.

In COTTABATO (Mindanao Is.), the attempt to establish a local native government ended in tragic failure. In January, 1899, a Spanish gunboat silently entered the port without the customary whistling and firing of salute. It brought a despatch to the Governor from the nominal acting-Gov.-General Rios, who, coming from Yloilo, called at Zamboanga before proceeding to Manila, to receive on board a number of Spanish refugees. One of the crew of the gunboat also brought a private communication from the Jesuit Superior in Zamboanga to the Jesuit missionary Father Suarez. The official despatch notified the Governor that the Treaty of Paris had been signed, and consequently he was to evacuate Cottabato immediately. The private communication told the same tale to the missionary, with an inquiry from the Jesuit Superior as to whether he could continue his mission after the withdrawal of the Spanish Governor, and whether it would be of any advantage to do so. The Governor informed the missionary of his intended departure, and the missionary replied negatively to his superior in Zamboanga. The Governor then called Roman Vilo, his confidential christian native assistant, and told him that he and all who had been loyal to the Spanish Government and faithful in their service could take passage to Zamboanga. Vilo, however, for himself and his family, declined the offer on the ground that all his interests were in and about Cottabato, where he possessed real estate. The Governor then had the Moro-Chinese half-caste Datto Piang called, and in the presence of Vilo the former was appointed chief of the Moro people and the latter governor of the christian population. After making a short speech, exhorting the two chiefs, in benevolent phrases, to live in peace and act mutually for the common good, the Governor, accompanied by the Jesuit missionaries and others who were desirous of leaving the place, went to Zamboanga on the gunboat.

When, after the lapse of some weeks, Datto Piang felt sure that the Spaniards would never be again in authority at Cottabato, he begged Vilo to let him have twenty rifles to defend himself against a rival. The christian governor agreed to this, and week by week Datto Piangʼs demands grew until, at length, all the rifles in the possession of the Christians passed to the Moros. But there still remained some cannons, and Datto Piang, having represented the necessity of making war on another chief up the Cottabato River, Vilo was persuaded to lend them to him. Piang had them placed in vintas (war-junks) and Vilo, with several friends, went down to the river-side to witness the departure of the supposed armed expedition. Suddenly Piang, his son-in-law Datto Ali and this manʼs brother, Datto Djimbangan, at the head of a large party of armed Moros, fell upon and slaughtered the Christians. Viloʼs head was cut off and the savage Mahometans made a raid on the town, looting all but the shops of the Chinese who were in league, or accord, with their half-countryman Piang. The Christians who were unable to escape were either massacred or carried off as slaves into the interior, with the loot. Datto Djimbangan caused the Christian women to be stripped naked and marched through the streets, whilst he and his companions made their selections for themselves, leaving the remainder for their followers. Amongst the captives were a father and two sons. In October, 1899, the Americans sent a gunboat to Cottabato, and the wife of this captive, mother of his two boys, represented her plight to the commander, who forthwith sent for Piang and ordered him immediately to send a message to the individual holding the captives to release them and hand them over to the messenger, who would conduct them back to Cottabato. Piang, without a momentʼs hesitation, offered to comply, and sent a vinta up the river with the required order, but at the same time he secretly sent another emissary overland with contrary instructions. The land messenger, as was expected, arrived first, and when the vinta party reached the place of captivity, Piangʼs people expressed their regret that they could not oblige the party because they had just cut off the captivesʼ heads. In 1904 a member of the victimsʼ family was a teacher in the Jesuitsʼ Catholic School in Zamboanga. Datto Piang, who owes his position and influence over the Moros to the protection of the late great Datto Utto (vide p. 143) is the father-in-law of the terrible Datto Ali whose continual depredations and defiance made Cottabato the centre of that unabated conflict for the Americans described in Chapter xxix.

In the belief that the Zamboangueños were loyally disposed towards Spain, the Spaniards, after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, chose ZAMBOANGA (Mindanao Is.) as their point of concentration of all the Spanish troops and civil servants in the southern islands. At that time General Jaramillo was Gov.-General of Mindanao Island and commander of the forces in Zamboanga; but on the arrival there, December 27, 1898, of the ex-governor of Cebu, General Montero, with his co-refugees, General Jaramillo transferred his command to him and left for Manila with General Rios, who had come from Yloilo to Zamboanga to receive refugee passengers for the capital. Before his departure Jaramillo had led the Zamboangueño Christians to believe that the war with America was, at every turn, a triumphant success for Spanish arms; fictitious printed telegrams were circulated announcing Spanish victories everywhere, and one of the most extravagant reported that General Weyler had landed on American soil at Key West with an army of 80,000 Spanish troops. The motive of this harmless ruse was to bolster up Spanish prestige and thereby avoid bloodshed. During several months no trading or mail-steamer came, and the Zamboangueños were practically cut off from the rest of the world. Military preparations were made for the feigned purpose of resisting a possible attack on the place by the Americans, who were described to the people as cannibals and ferocious monsters more terrible than the dreaded Moros. Naturally the real object of the military preparations was the Spaniardsʼ justifiable endeavour to be ready to defend themselves against open rebellion when the true situation should ooze out. Nor was their misrepresentation of the Americans mere spiteful calumny; the Spaniards were in great jeopardy, and they instinctively wished to destroy any feeling of welcome which the natives might have for the new-comers for fear it might operate against themselves at the supreme moment of danger. Indeed, each party—native and Spanish—was seeking to outwit the other; hence, when the Zamboangueños were promised a supply of arms for the ostensible purpose of resisting invasion, they pretended to co-operate heartily with the Spaniardsʼ defensive measures, with the secret design of dispossessing the Spaniards of their arms in order to use them against them. The Zamboangueños therefore became so persistent in their demand upon Montero to fulfil his predecessorʼs promise that at last he had frankly to confess that peace had been signed between Spain and America, whereby the Islands were surrendered to the United States, and that very shortly the Spaniards would evacuate the Archipelago. But the conflicting versions of the situation, published severally by Jaramillo and Montero, sorely puzzled the natives. The Spaniards were still in undisturbed possession of Zamboanga for over four months after Monteroʼs arrival, notwithstanding the fact that the American warship Boston called at the port and left the same day and that an officer came ashore without the least objection or consternation on the part of the Spaniards. The orange-and-red flag still floated over the Fortress del Pilar, and, so far as the Zamboangueños could ascertain, it looked as if the Spaniards were going to remain. They therefore clamoured more loudly than ever for the distribution of arms, which this time Montero positively refused, for the Spaniards had never for a moment been deceived as to the real intentions of the Zamboangueños. On the other hand, by this time, their inoffensive delusion of the people had lost its virtue, and natives and Spaniards thenceforth became open enemies. After the visit of the Boston the fighting population, no longer able to conceal their disappointment, threw off the mask, quitted the town, cut off the water-supply which came from the mountains, in collusion with the mutinied crews seized the firearms on board the Spanish gunboats lying in the harbour, and prepared for war against their old masters. The Spaniards immediately compelled the non-combatant townspeople and the Chinese to throw up earthworks for mounting artillery and dig trenches for defence against the rebels. The gunboat Alava co-operated by firing shells into the rebel camp situated just outside the town. The rebels made two unsuccessful assaults, and in the second attack General Montero was mortally wounded by a rifle-shot. On May 23 the S.S. Leon XIII. arrived; the Spaniards silently embarked for Manila with their dying general, who succumbed during the voyage, and Zamboanga, one-fourth of which the defenders had destroyed by fire, was occupied by the rebels. During the siege the Filipinos, true to their instincts, had split up into two rival factions headed by Vicente Alvarez and Isidoro Midel respectively, and in the interval between the first and second assault on the town these party chiefs had fought out their own quarrel, Midel claiming to have been the victor. Nevertheless, the popular favourite was Vicente Alvarez, known as the Tamagun Datto (high chief), who became the chosen president of the Zamboanga revolutionary government established immediately after the Spanish evacuation. Party spirit ran high; life was held in little esteem; a lifeless body found on the highway startled no one; assassination was an occurrence of small moment; cattle-shooting was practised for amusement, and the five-and-a-half monthsʼ essay of christian Philippine autonomy was so signalized by jealous self-interest, bitter rivalry, rapacity, and bloodshed as to make one doubt whether the christian Zamboangueño is one whit superior to his Mahometan neighbour in moral character.

The arrival of an American expedition in the waters of Zamboanga on November 15, 1899, produced a sanguinary crisis in these faction feuds. Vicente Alvarez at once took measures to oppose the invadersʼ landing, whilst his rival, Isidoro Midel, resolved to side with the Americans. Divide et impera. The want of unity amongst the natives themselves was a great help to the Americansʼ plans. By this time there appeared a third aspirant to local fame in the person of Melanio Sanson, a native marine engineer, until recently in the Spanish service, who pretended to co-operate with Alvarez, styling himself colonel of artillery in charge of the guns abandoned by his former masters. Each of these three individuals sought to rid himself of his two rivals. On the night of November 15 Isidoro Midel ended Melanio Sansonʼs rivalry for ever, and the Americans took peaceful possession of the town the next day. Subsequently Midel arranged a transfer to the Americans of the artillery which had, during the conflict, been under Sansonʼs control. Vicente Alvarez immediately fled to Mercedes, and thence to Basilan Island, where, aided by Datto Pedro Cuevas, he organized a brigand band, crossed over to Mindanao Island again, and made a raid on Oriquieta. Chased from place to place by American troops, he was finally captured and sent to Bilibid prison in Manila, but was subsequently pardoned on his taking the oath of allegiance, and sent back to Zamboanga, where he earns his living peacefully. Meanwhile, Isidoro Midel had been further rewarded for his services to the Americans with the office of municipal president, which he held for about 16 months in defiance of public opinion. The feeling which prompted public opposition to Midelʼs appointment was at least as much anti-American as it was dislike for the nominee. In March, 1901, municipal elections were held, and Mariano Arquiza succeeded, by popular vote, to the presidency, which he held for two years. Some weeks before Arquiza vacated office two American miners were murdered by the natives a few miles up the province. The murderers, when caught, sought to justify their deed by alleging that a municipal councillor named Eduardo Alvarez (no relation to the Vicente Alvarez already mentioned) had persuaded them that the miners were secretly engaged in poisoning the local wells. The whole municipal council was therefore cited to appear before the American Governor, who severely reprimanded Alvarez, whereupon this man withdrew from the audience-chamber, and his fellow-councillors volunteered such information against him that the Governor instantly issued a warrant for his apprehension. But the native police who went to his house to execute the warrant let him escape on horseback to the mountains, where he organized a band of outlaws and lived for about four months by robbery and violence. Under these circumstances the American Governor summarily dismissed Mariano Arquiza from the municipal presidency in the spring of 1903, and, much to the public chagrin, re-appointed Midel to the vacancy. The offer of $1,000 for the capture of Eduardo Alvarez spurred Midel into further activity, and under his direction the bandit was discovered hiding in a canoe in a swamp. On the approach of his pursuers the outlaw threw up his hands in sign of surrender, which was responded to by a volley of gunshots, for it was Alvarezʼs corpse which was wanted in Zamboanga. Isidoro Midel is an interesting character, apparently about forty-eight years of age. Brought up as a Roman Catholic, he assured me that he was a Protestant, with the strongest sympathy, however, for the Aglipayan movement (vide Chap. xxx.).

Another interesting man, closely associated with recent events in Zamboanga, is the Mahometan Spanish-Moro half-caste Datto Mandi, the Rajahmudah or heir-apparent to the Manguiguin or Sultan of Mindanao (vide p. 131). Born about the year 1860, he and his tribe of Sámals lived on friendly terms with the Spaniards, who in 1887 sent him and a number of his people to the Philippine Exhibition held in Madrid in that year. His exploits in aid of the Spaniards in Cebú are recorded at page 406. He speaks Spanish fluently, and can just write his name. He is very affable and hospitable to visitors. The whole family professes the Mahometan religion. He has a beautiful daughter Gafas (which in Moro language signifies “cotton,” and in Spanish “spectacles”), who attended the American School. His young son Facundo also goes to the American School, and his other son Pelayo went to the Catholic School in Zamboanga before he was sent to Manila. I was much struck with the intelligence of this handsome boy Pelayo. In the stirring events which immediately followed the Spanish evacuation, Datto Mandi remained neutral, his old antagonism to Alvarez being counterpoised by the conviction that a Zamboanga republic must end in a fiasco. He at once accepted the new situation under American dominion, and is headman of the Sámal tribal ward of Magay, a suburb of Zamboanga. He told me in 1904 that he held under his control 9,600 persons, from 1,700 of whom he collected capitation tax for the American authorities. At the instance of the Americans, Datto Mandi issued a proclamation to his tribe, dated April 19, 1900, abolishing their traditional custom of slavery. His position is not at all an easy one, and it needs much tact to maintain an even balance of goodwill between his Sámal subordinates and his American superiors. But Datto Mandi had a grievance which rankled in his breast. In the year 1868 the Spanish Government conceded to a christian native family named Fuentebella some 600 acres of land at Buluan, about 40 miles up the Zamboanga coast, which in time they converted into a prosperous plantation well stocked with cattle. During the anarchy which succeeded the Spanish evacuation, a band of about 600 Moros raided the property, murdered seven of the christian residents, and stole all they could possibly carry away from the plantation and well-furnished estate-house. When Datto Mandi heard of it he went there in person and rescued the women held in captivity and brought them to Zamboanga, where they lived in perfect security under his protection until the American advent. Then, in return for his kindness, these women accused the Datto of having been the instigator of the crime, or, at least, a participator in the proceeds thereof, in the hope that, through the Americans, they would be able to exact an indemnity. The Datto was mulcted in the sum of 5,000 pesos, although he declared to me that neither before nor after the crime was he in any way concerned in it; and this was the honest belief of many American officials in Zamboanga.

An Arabian Hadji

Missionary and Expounder of the Koran.

In January, 1905, Datto Mandiʼs daughter was married at a little town a few miles from Yligan (north Mindanao). Several American officers were present on the occasion, accompanied by a Spanish half-caste who acted as their interpreter. The assembled guests were having a merry time when suddenly the festivities were interrupted by the intrusion of a juramentado Moro fanatic, who sprang forward with his campilán and at one blow almost severed the interpreterʼs head from his body. Then he turned his attention to the other natives, mortally wounded two, and cut gashes in several others before he fell dead from the revolver-shots fired by the American officers. After the dead and wounded were carried away and the pools of blood were mopped up, the wedding ceremony was proceeded with and the hymeneal festival was resumed without further untoward incident.

Rajahmudah Datto Mandi and Wife

(From a portrait presented by him to the Author.)

Zamboanga is a clean, pleasant town, and what was left of it after the Spanish evacution is well built, with many substantial houses and public offices, a church administered by the Jesuits, one large and one small jetty, a pretty esplanade facing the sea, and other open spaces. A canal running through the town adds to its picturesqueness. At the eastern extremity is the old fortress, called the Fuerza del Pilar, a fine historical monument reminding one of the Spaniardsʼ many vicissitudes in this region, alluded to in the preceding pages. Many of the natives concerned, or alleged to have been concerned, in the Cavite Rising of 1872 (vide p. 106) were confined in this fortress. They overcame their jailors and obtained possession of the guns and ammunition. The Spaniards were consequently in great straits, for possibly their existence depended on which side the townspeople took. The Zamboangueños, however, helped the Spaniards against the revolted convicts, who were finally subdued; and as a reward for this proof of loyalty Zamboanga received the title of Muy leal y valiente Villa (very loyal and heroic town). Many years ago a Moro attack was made on Zamboanga, and the Christian natives joined with the Spaniards in repelling it. It would have gone rather badly with them if they had not done so, for a Philippine Christian was just as good fish for the Moro net as a Spaniard. However, their co-operation was gratefully acknowledged by declaring the Zamboangueños to be Spaniards of the first class.

I have never been able to discern clearly what material advantage this brought them, although I have discussed the question on the spot. The disadvantage of this pompous distinction to the town arose from the ridiculous popular notion that whereas Spaniards in Spain are all cavaliers, they too, as Spaniards of the first water, ought to regard work as a degradation. Hence they are a remarkably indolent and effete community, and on landing from a ship there is seldom a porter to be seen to carry oneʼs luggage. Their speech is a dialect called Chabucano—a mixture of very corrupt Spanish and native tongues.

The environment of Zamboanga is very beautiful, with islands to the south and mountain scenery on the land sides. The climate is healthy, and with the frequent delightful breezes wafted across the Celebes Sea is not at all oppressive for a tropical region, and is cooler than Manila, which is 425 miles north.

The people of SÁMAR ISLAND for a long time tenaciously opposed the American occupation, under several leaders, notably Vicente Lucban and his right-hand man, Guevara; but neither here, nor in MARINDUQUE ISLAND can it be said that native civil government was established. In the latter Island the insurgent chief was the titular Colonel Abad, who overran the villages with about 150 followers armed with rifles. In 1901 Abad surrendered, and hostilities, with real political aim, definitely ended in these Islands thirteen months after the capture of Aguinaldo in Luzon. Although in Sámar Island the war was, as elsewhere, a succession of petty encounters, there were incidents in its prosecution which attracted much public attention from time to time. At the town of Balangiga, on September 28, 1901, the local headman and the native parish priest conspired with about 450 armed natives to attack the American camp. The garrison stationed there was Company “C,” 9th Infantry. The headman had represented to the Americans that he was busy with an important capture of about 90 brigands, and on this pretext some 45 cut-throats were brought into the town and lodged in the church. Three officers of the garrison were quartered in the parish-house, and whilst the rank-and-file were at breakfast in a bamboo building, some distance away from their quarters where they had left their weapons, another 45 supposed brigands were led through the town to the church, but naturally the soldiers took little notice of this expected event. The town is surrounded on one side by the open valley and on three sides by almost perpendicular mountains, with defiles between them leading to the interior of the Island. As soon as the last batch of supposed brigands was brought in, the church bells were rung as a signal for a mob of natives, armed with bowie-knives, to creep silently through the defiles on two sides. The troopers were just then suddenly alarmed by the noise of a conflict in the parish-house. The 90 so-called brigands having been passed through from the church into this house, fired at the three officers and then killed them with their bowie-knives. Simultaneously the soldiersʼ quarters were attacked. Whilst the troops made a rush forward to secure their weapons they were intercepted by an armed crowd, through which a small party of Americans finally cut their way and beat off the howling mob, which had already slaughtered many soldiers, set fire to the quarters, and possessed themselves of over 50 rifles and several thousand rounds of ammunition. A large number of hostile natives, including the headman, were killed; 28 Americans effected their escape, but the loss amounted to three officers and about 70 men killed and several more men wounded. General Hughes, in command of the Visayas District, was operating in Cebú Island at the time of this disaster. Public excitement was intense when the news of this serious reverse was published. The general who was sent to Sámar to pursue the insurgents, or bandits, is alleged to have issued, in a moment of uncontrollable wrath, an order to “slay all over ten years and make Sámar a howling wilderness.” Consequently a great cry of public protest was raised, and the general and his executive officer in the affair were cited before a court-martial in April, 1902; but the court having found that the general was justified in the measures he took, both officers were acquitted. Since the capture of Lucban (April 27, 1902), lawless agitation has been persistently rife all over the Island of Sámar; but this is the work of brigands (vide p. 551) and has no political signification.

[1] Raymundo Melliza, a Visayan lawyer, who afterwards became Provincial Governor of Yloilo, is the son of Cornelio Melliza, of Molo, a man much respected both by natives and foreigners.

[2] A verbal statement made to me by ex-insurgent General Pablo Araneta, which I took down in writing at the time of the interview.

[3] When I asked ex-General Pablo Araneta the same question he naïvely explained to me that it was thought if the Americans came ashore and found the town in ruins they would relinquish their undertaking!

[4] The See of Jaro was created in 1867. The town was already rich with its trade in piña and jusi (vide p. 283, footnote). Up to 1876 Yloilo town was merely a group of houses built for commercial convenience.

[5] Vide p. 169. Castila in the North; Cachila in the South; signifying European, and said to be derived from the Spaniardsʼ war-cry of Viva Castilla!

[6] “Water-cure” was a method adopted by the Americans. Water was poured down the throat of the victim until the stomach was distended to the full; then it was pressed out again and the operation repeated. The pretext for this mode of torture was to extort confession; but it was quite inefficacious; because the victim was usually disposed to say anything, true or false, for his own salvation. The “water-cure” operation, in vogue for awhile all over the Islands, proved fatal in many cases. It is now a penal offence (Phil. Com. Act 619, Sec. 2).

[7] Otong in olden times was a place of importance when the galleons put in there on their way to and from Mexico, taking the longer route in order to avoid the strong currents of the San Bernardino Straits.

Under the old territorial division, the Jurisdiction of Otong comprised all Panay Island (except a strip of land all along the north coast—formerly Panay Province, now called Cápis) and a point here and there on the almost unexplored Negros coast. Galleons were sometimes built at Otong, which was on several occasions attacked by the Dutch. Yloilo at that time was an insignificant fishing-village.

[8] A half-caste Chinese family of large means and local influence.

[9] Esteban de la Rama is of the family of the late Isidro de la Rama, a well-known prosperous and enterprising Yloilo merchant. Pedro Regalado, personally known to me, is the son of my late friend José Regalado, at one time a wealthy middleman, who, however, lost his fortune in adverse speculations. Pedro Regalado and I were, at one time, together in Hong-Kong, where he learnt English. On the entry of the American troops into Yloilo he was imprisoned on a charge of disaffection, but shortly released and appointed a government interpreter.

[10] The protest contained the following significant clauses, viz: (1) “Ceder á tal exigencia en vista de la superioridad de las armas Americanas. (2) No tener poder, ni la provincia ni todos los habitantes juntos, de ejecutar actas como esta, prohibidas por el Presidente de la República, Señor Emilio Aguinaldo.”—Extracts taken by myself from the official copy of the protest.

The Spanish Prisoners

Extreme interest was naturally taken by all Europeans in the miserable fate of the thousands of Spanish soldiers and civilians who had fallen into the rebels hands up to the capitulation of Manila.[1] Held captive in groups at different places in the Island of Luzon, many of them passed a wretched existence, with bad food, scant clothing, and deprived of every pleasure in life beyond the hope of one day seeing their native land. Many of them died, either from natural causes or the effect of their privations (some of starvation in Tayabas), or as a result of brutal treatment. A minority of them received as good treatment as possible under the circumstances. The fate of the majority depended chiefly upon the temperament of the native commander of the district. There were semi-savage native chiefs, and there were others, like Aguinaldo himself, with humane instincts. Amongst the former, for instance, there was Major Francisco Braganza, who, on February 28, 1900, in Camarines Sur, ordered one hundred and three Spanish soldiers to be tied up to trees and cut and stabbed to death with bowie-knifes and their bodies stripped and left without burial. He was tried by court-martial and sentenced to be hanged, September 26, 1901, and the sentence was carried out at Nueva Cáceres (Camarines Sur) on November 15 following. Many prisoners managed to escape, no doubt with the aid or connivance of natives, until Aguinaldo issued a decree, dated Malolos, November 5, 1898, imposing a penalty of twenty yearsʼ imprisonment on whomsoever should give such aid. Aguinaldo told me he was personally inclined to liberate these prisoners, or, at least, those civilians accustomed to an easy office life who, if they went free, would have had no inclination whatever to fight, but would have done their best to embark for Spain. The few who might have broken their parole would have been easily caught again “for the last time in their lives,” and the women and children were an obstacle to military operations. Indeed, from time to time, Aguinaldo did liberate small groups of civilians, amongst whom were some of my old friends whom I afterwards met in Spain. Aguinaldoʼs Prime Minister, Apolinario Mabini (vide p. 546), was, however, strongly in favour of retaining the Spaniards as hostages until the Spanish Government should officially recognize the Philippine Republic. It will be clearly seen from the negotiations entered into between the respective parties that this recognition was the condition which the rebels most pertinaciously insisted upon, whilst the Spaniardsʼ offers of millions of dollars were always met by much larger demands, which practically implied a refusal to treat on a money basis. The facts in the negotiations certainly support Aguinaldoʼs statement to me that the rebels never sought money, but political advantage, by the retention of the prisoners.

The intense excitement in Spain over the prisonersʼ doom called into existence meetings, liberation societies, frequent discussions in and out of Parliament, and continual protests against the apparent Ministerial lethargy. In reality, the Spanish Government, fearful of a rupture with America, could take no official action in the matter, further than appeal, indirectly, to the generosity of the captors, and remind America of her undertaking under Article 6 of the treaty. In January, 1899, the Colonial Minister cabled to several people in Manila, begging them to use their influence—but they themselves were already in the rebel camp. No form of compensation in money or armament for the captivesʼ liberty could be officially made without involving Spain in a casus belli with America. Recognition of a Philippine Republic would have been in direct opposition to the spirit of the treaty of peace. In September, 1898, the Superiors of the regular clergy in Manila appealed to Rome; the Vatican communicated with President McKinley, and the President sent an inquiry to Maj.-General E. S. Otis concerning the captive friars. General Otis, after investigation, reported that these prisoners were fairly well treated. In the following month, whilst the Treaty of Paris was under discussion, the Spanish Government appealed to the United States Government to aid them in the rescue of the prisoners, and orders to do so were transmitted to General Otis. The Filipinos and the Americans were ostensibly on good terms at that period, and General Otis suggested to Aguinaldo that the friars and civilian Spaniards should be set free. On the subject of this request, Aguinaldo replied to General Otis by letter dated Malolos, November 3, 1898, as follows, viz:—“The Philippine people wish to retain the Spanish civil functionaries in order to obtain the liberty of the Filipinos who are banished and under arrest, and the friars in order to obtain from the Vatican a recognition of the rights of the Philippine secular clergy.... It is not hatred or vengeance which inspires the Filipinos to retain the Spanish civil and religious functionaries, but political expediency, and the tranquillity of the Philippine people demands this measure.”

At this date there were hundreds of Philippine prisoners held by the Spanish Government in different places, some of them under worse conditions than the Spanish prisoners. For instance, 218 were deported to the fever-stricken colony of Fernando Po, and only 94 of them came out alive. The treaty of peace was still being discussed, and on its conclusion, Article 6 stipulated a release of “all persons detained or imprisoned for political offences in connection with the insurrections in Cuba and the Philippines,” and that the United States would “undertake to obtain the release of all Spanish prisoners in the hands of the insurgents”; but there was no proviso that the release of the Philippine prisoners should depend on that of the Spanish prisoners, and after the treaty was signed, Spain showed no particular haste immediately to carry out her undertaking to return the Philippine prisoners to their islands.

When General Diego de los Rios evacuated the Visayas Islands and brought his Spanish troops to Manila, en route for Spain, January, 1899, he himself remained in Manila as a Spanish Government Agent to obtain the release of the prisoners. For the special purpose, by courtesy of the American authorities, he held a kind of semi-official position; but he did not care to risk his person within the rebel lines. A Spanish merchant, Don Antonio Fuset, president of the Spanish Club, undertook the negotiations, and succeeded in inducing Apolinario Mabini to issue a decree signed by Aguinaldo and himself, dated January 22, 1899, giving liberty to all invalid civilians and soldiers. Simultaneously the Spanish Press in Manila was abusing Aguinaldo and his officers, calling them monkeys and using epithets which brought down their vengeance on the captives themselves.

The outbreak of the War of Independence (February 4, 1899) precluded direct American intervention in favour of the Spanish prisoners. General Rios, whose importance was being overshadowed by Señor Fusetʼs productive activity, cabled to Madrid that he would attend to the matter himself. But the didactic tone of his letters to Aguinaldo was not conducive to a happy result, and having frankly confessed his failure, the general made an appeal to the consuls and foreign merchants to exercise conjointly their influence. A letter of appeal from them was therefore drawn up and confided for delivery in the insurgent camp to my late friend Baron Du Marais.[2] This chivalrous gentleman, well known as the personification of integrity and honour, had resided many years in the Islands and spoke Tagálog fluently. On reaching the insurgent camp he was imprisoned on the charge of being a spy, but was shortly afterwards released, and on his way back to the capital he was waylaid by the natives, who foully murdered him. Señor Fuset then resumed his labours, and, as a result of his appeal to the generosity of his countrymen, he was able to set out for Boac and Batangas in the little steamer Castellano to carry supplies to the prisoners detained in those localities. On his journey he distributed to them 500 cotton suits, 290 pairs of shoes, 100 pairs of alpargatas (a sort of hempen shoe or sandal made in Spain), 14,375 packets of cigarettes, and ₱1,287. Several subsequent expeditions carried supplies to the prisoners, the total amount of material aid furnished to them, in goods and money, being estimated at ₱60,000.

After five months of fruitless effort General Diego de los Rios left Manila for Spain on June 3, 1899, and was succeeded by General Nicolás Jaramillo as the negotiator representing Spain. Moreover, it was desirable to recall General Rios, whose cablegrams commenting on the Americansʼ military operations were making him a persona non grata in official circles.

With the requisite passes procured from Aguinaldo, two Spanish envoys, Señores Toral and Rio, and the Filipino Enrique Marcaida set out for the insurgent seat of government, which was then at Tárlac. On their arrival there (June 23) Aguinaldo appointed three commissioners to meet them. At the first meeting the Filipinos agreed to liberate all except the friars, because these might raise trouble. At the next meeting they offered liberty to all on the following terms, impossible of acceptance by the Spanish commissioners, viz.:—

(1) Spain is to recognize the Independence of the Philippines and repudiate the cession of the Islands to America.

(2) After the recognition and repudiation stipulated in Clause 1, the Philippine Republic will liberate all the prisoners, without exception, and will pay their expenses back to Spain. If Spain cannot possibly accede to the conditions of Clause 1, the Philippine Republic will accept, in lieu thereof, arms, munitions and provisions, or their money equivalent.

(3) The Spanish Government is to exchange the receipts given for money subscribed to the Philippine loan for the certificates of that loan.[3]

The Filipinos declined to say what sum they would consider an equivalent, as per Clause 2, and invited the Spaniards to make an offer. The Spaniards then proposed ₱1,000,000.

On June 29, at the third conference, the Filipinos refused to accept less than ₱6,000,000. This demand stupefied the Spaniards, who said they would return to consult General Jaramillo; but they were reluctant to leave the matter unsettled, and a last conference was held the next day, when the Spaniards raised their offer to ₱2,000,000. The Filipinos then reduced their demand to ₱3,000,000, which the Spaniards objected to; but they were successful in obtaining the liberty of the Baler garrison and 22 invalids, with all of whom they returned to Manila (vide Baler garrison, p. 494).

On July 5 a decree was issued from Tárlac, signed by Emilio Aguinaldo and countersigned by his minister, Pedro A. Paterno, to the effect that all invalid prisoners would be at liberty to embark at certain ports designated, if vessels were sent for them flying only the Spanish flag and a white one bearing the Red Cross. Difficulties, however, arose with the American authorities which impeded the execution of this plan. General Jaramillo was preparing to send his commissioners again to Tárlac when he received a cablegram from Madrid telling him to suspend further overtures to the insurgents because international complications were threatened. It appears that America objected to the proposal to pay to the insurgents a large sum of money.

On August 9 General Jaramillo wished to send the Spanish warship General Alava, or a Spanish merchant vessel with the Red Cross flag, to San Fernando de la Union with provisions for the prisoners, but General E. S. Otis objected to the proposed proceeding on the ground that it would compromise the dignity of America. But General Jaramillo still persisted in his project, and after a lapse of three days he again addressed a note on the subject to General E. S. Otis, from whom he received another negative reply. On September 5 General Jaramillo informed General Otis that the prisoners were concentrated in the ports named in the insurgentsʼ decree, and solicited permission to send a vessel flying the Red Cross flag to receive them. Three days afterwards General Otis replied that a recognition of Aguinaldoʼs pretension to designate certain ports for the Spaniardsʼ embarkation would be not only humiliating but ridiculous. Furthermore, he was expecting reinforcements shortly, with which peace would be assured and all the ports re-opened, and then America would co-operate for the liberty of the prisoners. General Jaramillo replied to this communication by addressing to General Otis a lengthy philosophical epistle on the principles involved in the question, but as General Otis did not care to continue the correspondence, General Jaramillo sought to bring pressure on him by notifying him that the s.s. P. de Satrústegui would be detained 48 hours in order to learn his decision as to whether that vessel could call for the prisoners. As General Otis did not reply within the prescribed period General Jaramillo went to see him personally and ineffectually opened his heart to him in very energetic terms, which General Otis complacently tolerated but persisted in his negative resolution, and the interview ended with the suggestion that General Jaramillo should obtain Aguinaldoʼs consent for a vessel carrying the American flag to enter the ports and bring away the prisoners.

About this time an incident occurred which, but for the graciousness of General Otis, might have operated very adversely to the interests of those concerned. In September, 1899, a Spanish lady arrived in Manila saying that she was the representative of a Society of Barcelona Ladies formed to negotiate the liberation of the prisoners. She brought with her a petition addressed to Aguinaldo, said to bear about 3,000 signatures. But unfortunately the document contained so many offensive allusions to the Americans that General Jaramillo declined to be associated with it in any way. No obstacle was placed in the way of the lady if she wished to present her petition privately to Aguinaldo; but, apparently out of spite, she had a large number of copies printed and published broadcast in Manila. General Jaramillo felt it his duty to apologize to General Otis and repudiate all connexion with this offensive proceeding, which General Otis very affably excused as an eccentricity not worthy of serious notice.

On September 29 the Spanish commissioners, Toral and Rio, again started for the insurgent capital, Tárlac. The proposal for vessels to enter the ports under the American flag was rejected by Aguinaldoʼs advisers, Pedro A. Paterno and Felipe Buencamino, and negotiations were resumed on the money indemnity basis. The Aguinaldo party had already had sore experience of the worth of an agreement made with Spanish officials, and during the discussion they raised the question of the validity of their powers and the guarantee for their proposed undertakings. The real difficulty was that America might object to Spain officially making any compact whatsoever which must necessarily involve a recognition of the Philippine Republic; and even as it was, the renewed suggestion of a payment of millions of dollars was a secret negotiation. The Spanish commissioners started by proposing that Aguinaldo should give up 80 per cent. of the prisoners on certain conditions to be agreed upon thereafter, and retain the 20 per cent. as guarantee for the fulfilment of these hypothetical terms; moreover, even the 20 per cent. were to be concentrated at a place to be mutually agreed upon, etc. The artfulness of the commissionersʼ scheme was too apparent for Paterno and Buencamino to accept it. The commissioners then presented the Insurgent Government with a voluminous philosophical dissertation on the subject, whilst the Filipinos sought brief facts and tangible conditions. The Filipinos then offered to address a note to the Spanish Consul in Manila to the effect that the prisoners who were infirm would be delivered at certain ports as already stated, and that he could send ships for them on certain terms. Still the commissioners lingered in Tárlac, and on October 23 the Filipinos made the following proposals, which were practically an intimation to close the debate.

1. Recognition of the Philippine Republic as soon as the difficulties with America should be overcome.

2. The payment of seven millions of pesos.

These conditions having been rejected by the commissioners, Aguinaldoʼs advisers drew up a document stating the reasons why the negotiations had fallen through, with special reference to the insufficiency of the commissionersʼ powers and the inadmissibility of their attitude in desiring to treat with Aguinaldo individually instead of with his Government, for which reasons the Philippine Republic formally declared its resolution definitely to cease all negotiations with the Spanish commissioners, preferring to deal directly with the Spanish Government. Not satisfied with this formal intimation the commissioners asked that the conditions of the liberation already granted since January to the invalid prisoners should be modified, and that they should be handed over to them—the very persons already declared to be insufficiently authorized. In response to this importunity the requisite passports were immediately sent to the commissioners to enable them to quit the Philippine Republicʼs seat of government and territory forthwith.

Apart from the moral aspect of the case, and regarded only in the light of a business transaction, it does not appear that the Filipinos were ever offered a solid guarantee for the fulfilment of any of the proposed conditions. But the insuperable difficulty was Spainʼs inability to comply with the Filipinosʼ essential condition of recognition of the Philippine Republic.

Finally, in the prosecution of the War of Independence, the American troops drove the insurgents so hard, capturing town after town, that they were constrained to abandon the custody of the Spanish survivors, who flocked in groups to the American posts, and eventually embarked for their native land. On May 20, 1900, the Spanish Commission received a letter from the insurgent General Trias stating that orders had been issued to liberate all the prisoners.

In due course the Spanish warships sunk at the Battle of Cavite were raised by the Americans, and the dead bodies of Spainʼs defenders on that memorable day were handed over to a Spanish Commission. The same organization also took charge of the bodies recovered from Baler (east coast of Luzon), and after a Requiem mass was said at the Cathedral these mortal remains were conducted with appropriate solemnity on board the s.s. Isla de Panay, which left Manila for Barcelona on February 14, 1904.

[1] The approximate number of prisoners was as follows, viz:—

Military Officers (including Gen. Leopoldo Garcia Peña)

200

Military Regular troops

8,000

Civil Servants and private Civilians and families

560

Ecclesiastics and Nuns (including Bishop Hévia Campomanes, of the diocese of Nueva Segovia

400

Total in long captivity, about

9,160

Taken prisoners and released voluntarily, or through personal influences, or escaped from the camps--about

1,840

Approximate Grand Total

11,000

[2] Baron Honoré Fréderic Adhemar Bourgeois du Marais, a Frenchman of noble birth and noble sentiments, was the son of Viscount Bourgeois du Marais. Born at Bourg Port, in the Algerian province of Constantina, in 1882 he left Europe with a party of gentlemen colonists in the s.s. Nouvelle Bretagne, intending to settle in Port Breton, in Australasia. The vessel having put into Manila, she was detained for debt, but escaped from port in the teeth of a hurricane. A Spanish gunboat went in pursuit and brought her back, and Baron Du Marais decided to remain in the Philippines. For several years he was associated with his countryman M. Daillard in the development of the Jalajala Estate (vide p. 360). On M. Daillardʼs decease he became the representative of the “Compañia Tabacalera” at their vast estate of Santa Lucia (Tárlac), which prospered under his able management. His wonderful tact in the handling of natives secured their attachment to him. After fifteen yearsʼ absence from home he went to Europe to recruit his health, returning to the Islands in November, 1898. After the ill-fated mission of humanity referred to above, his body lay hidden in the jungle for nearly two years, until November, 1900, when it was discovered and brought to Manila for interment at the Paco cemetery. The funeral, which took place on November 25, was one of the most imposing ceremonies of the kind ever witnessed in Manila. Monsignor Chapelle officiated at the Requiem mass celebrated at the Cathedral in the presence of the chief American authorities, the French and Spanish Consuls-General and representatives of the foreign residents, Chambers of Commerce, the Army and Navy, the Clubs, the Press, and every important collectivity. The cortége was, moreover, escorted by a large body of troops to the last resting-place of this gallant hero.

[3] By Royal Decree of June, 1897, a Philippine Loan was authorized, secured on Custom-house revenue and general guarantee of Spain. The Loan was for 200 millions of pesetas in hypothecary bonds of the Philippine Treasury, bearing 6 per cent, interest, redeemable at par in 40 years.

Series A.

250,000 Bonds of 500 pts.

= 125 millions

Series B.

750,000 Bonds of 100 pts.

= 75 millions

First issue of 100 millions A at 92 per cent. was made on July 15, 1897.

End of the War of Independence and After

In the month of May, 1901, the prisons were overflowing with captured insurgents, and the military authorities found an ostensible reason for liberating a number of them. A General Order was issued that to “signalize the recent surrender of General Manuel Tinio[1] and other prominent leaders,” one thousand prisoners of war would be released on taking the oath of allegiance. The flame of organized insurrection was almost extinguished, but there still remained some dangerous embers. Bands of armed natives wandered through the provinces under the name of insurgents, and on July 31, 1901, one of Aguinaldoʼs subordinate generals, named Miguel Malvar, a native of Santo Tomás (Batangas) issued a manifesto from the “Slopes of the Maquiling” (Laguna Province), announcing that he had assumed the position of Supreme Chief. Before the war he had little to lose, but fishing in troubled waters and gulling the people with anting-anting and the “signs in the clouds” proved to be a profitable occupation to many. An expedition was sent against him, and he was utterly routed in an engagement which took place near his native town. After Miguel Malvar surrendered (April 16, 1902) and Vicente Lucban was captured in Sámar (April 27, 1902), the war (officially termed “insurrection”) actually terminated, and was formally declared ended on the publication of President Rooseveltʼs Peace Proclamation and Amnesty grant, dated July 4, 1902. A sedition law was passed under which every disturber of the public peace would be thenceforth arraigned, and all acts of violence, pillage, etc., would come under the common laws affecting those crimes. In short, insurgency ceased to be a valid plea; if it existed in fact, officially it had become a dead letter. Those who still lingered in the penumbra between belligerence and brigandage were thenceforth treated as common outlaws whose acts bore no political significance whatever. The notorious “General” San Miguel, for a long time the terror of Rizal Province, was given no quarter, but shot on the field at Corral-na-bató in March, 1903. One of the famous bandits, claiming to be an insurgent, was Faustino Guillermo, who made laws, levied tribute, issued army commissions, divided the country up into military departments, and defied the Government until his stratagem to induce the constabulary to desert brought about his own capture in the Bosoboso Mountain (Mórong) in June, 1903. A mass of papers seized revealed his pretension to be a patriotic saviour of his people, but it is difficult indeed to follow the reasoning of a man who starts on that line by sacking his own countrymenʼs villages. Another interesting individual was Artemio Ricarte, formerly a primary schoolmaster. In 1899 he led a column under Aguinaldo, and was subsequently his general specially commissioned to raise revolt inside the capital; but the attempt failed, and many arrests followed. During the war he was captured by the Americans, to whom he refused to take the oath of allegiance and was deported to Guam. In Washington it was decided to release the political prisoners on that island, and Ricarte and Mabini were brought back to Manila. As Ricarte still refused to take the oath, he was banished, and went to Hong-Kong in February, 1903. In the following December he returned to Manila disguised as a seaman, and stole ashore in the crowd of stevedore labourers. Assuming the ludicrous title of the “Viper,” he established what he called the “triumvirate” government in the provinces, and declared war on the Americans. His operations in this direction were mostly limited to sending crackbrained letters to the Civil Governor in Manila from his “camp in the sky,” but his perturbation of the rural districts had to be suppressed. At length, after a long search, he was taken prisoner at the cockpit in Marivéles in May, 1904. He and his confederates were brought to trial on the two counts of carrying arms without licence and sedition, the revelations of the “triumvirate,” which were comical in the extreme, affording much amusement to the reading public. The judgement of the court on Ricarte was six yearsʼ imprisonment and a fine of $6,000.

Apolinario Mabini, Ricarteʼs companion in exile, was one of the most conspicuous figures in the War of Independence. Of poor parentage, he was born at Tanaúan (Batangas) in May, 1864, and having finished his studies in Manila he took up the law as a profession, living in obscurity until the Rebellion, during which he became the recognized leader of the Irreconcilables and Prime Minister in the Malolos Government. In the political sphere he was the soul of the insurgent movement, the ruling power behind the presidency of Aguinaldo. It was he who drafted the Constitution of the Philippine Republic, dated January 21, 1899 (vide p. 486). Taken prisoner by the Americans in December, 1899, he was imprisoned on his refusal to subscribe to the oath of allegiance. On August 1, 1900, he was granted leave to appear before the Philippine Commission, presided over by Mr. W. H. Taft. He desired to show that, according to his lights, he was not stubbornly holding out against reason. As Mabini was not permitted to discuss abstract matters, and Mr. Taft reiterated the intention to establish American sovereignty in the Islands, their views were at variance, and Mabini was deported to Guam, but allowed the privilege of taking his son there as his companion in exile. On his return to Manila in February, 1903, he reluctantly took the required oath and was permitted to remain in the capital. Suffering from paralysis for years previous, his mental energy, as a chronic invalid, was amazing. Three months after his return to the metropolis he was seized with cholera, to which he succumbed on May 13, 1903, at the early age of thirty-nine, to the great regret of his countrymen and of his many European admirers.

The Irreconcilables, even at the present day, persist in qualifying as legitimate warfare that condition of provincial perturbation which the Americans and the Federal Party hold to be outlawry and brigandage. Hence the most desperate leaders and their bands of cut-throats are, in the Irreconcilablesʼ phraseology, merely insurgents still protesting against American dominion. As late as February, 1902, an attempt was made to revive the war in Leyte Island. At that date a certain Florentino Peñaranda, styling himself the Insurrectionary Political-Military Chief, issued a proclamation in his island addressed “in particular to those who are serving under the Americans.” This document, the preamble of which is indited in lofty language, carrying the reader mentally all round North and South America, Abyssinia and Europe, terminates with a concession of pardon to all who repent their delinquency in serving the Americans, and an invitation to Filipinos and foreigners to join his standard. It had little immediate effect, but it may have given an impulse to the brigandage which was subsequently carried on so ferociously under a notorious, wary ruffian named Tumayo. Thousands, too long accustomed to a lawless, emotional existence to settle down to prosaic civil life, went to swell the ranks of brigands, but it would exceed the limits of this work to refer to the over 15,000 expeditions made to suppress them. Brigandage (vide p. 235) has been rife in the Islands for a century and a half, and will probably continue to exist until a network of railways in each large island makes it almost impossible. But brigandage in Spanish times was very mild compared with what it is now. Such a thing as a common highwayman was almost unknown. The brigands of that period—the Tulisánes of the north and the Pulajánes of the south—went in parties who took days to concoct a plan for attacking a country residence, or a homestead, for robbery and murder. The assault was almost invariably made at night, and the marauders lived in the mountains, avoiding the highroads and the well-known tracks. The traveller might then go about the Islands for years without ever seeing a brigand; now that they have increased so enormously since the war, there is not business enough for them in the old way, and they infest the highways and villages. One effect of the revolution has been to diminish greatly the awe with which the native regarded the European before they had crossed swords in regular warfare. Again, since 1898, the fact that here and there a white man made common cause with outlaws has had a detrimental effect on the white manʼs prestige, and the new caste of bandits which has come into existence is far more audacious than its predecessor. Formerly the outlaws had only bowie-knives and a few fowling-pieces; now they have an ample supply of rifles. Hence, since the American advent, the single traveller and his servant journey at great risk in the so-called civilized provinces, especially if the traveller has Anglo-Saxon features. Parties of three or four, well armed, are fairly safe. Fierce fights with outlaws are of common occurrence; a full record of brigand depredations would fill a volume, and one can only here refer to a few remarkable cases.

Early in 1904 a Spanish planter of many yearsʼ standing, named Amechazurra, and his brother-in-law, Joaquin Guaso, were kidnapped and held for ransom. When the sum was carried to the brigandsʼ haunt, Guaso was found with his wrists broken and severely tortured with bowie-knife cuts and lance-thrusts. Having no power to use his hands, his black beard was full of white maggots. In this state he was delivered to his rescuers and died the next day. Since the close of the war up to the present day the provinces of Batangas and Cavite, less than a dayʼs journey from the capital, have not ceased to be in a deplorable condition of lawlessness. The principal leaders, Montalón and Felizardo,[2] were formerly officers under the command of the insurgent General Manuel Trias, who surrendered to the Americans and afterwards accepted office as Civil Governor of the Province of Cavite. In this capacity he made many unsuccessful attempts to capture his former colleagues, but owing to his failure to restore tranquillity to the province he resigned his governorship in 1903. The Montalón and Felizardo bands, well armed, constantly overran the two adjoining provinces to murder the people, pillage their homes, and set fire to the villages. They bore an inveterate hatred towards all who accepted American dominion, and specially detested their former chief Trias, who, since his return from the St. Louis Exhibition, has shown a very pro-American tendency. The history of their crimes covers a period of five years. Felizardo was remarkable for his audacity, his fine horsemanship, and his expert marksmanship. During an attack on Parañaque, mounted on a beautiful pony stolen from the race-track of Pasay, he rode swiftly past a constabulary sentinel, who shot at him and missed him, whilst Felizardo, from his seat in the saddle, shot the sentinel dead. The evening before the day Governor Taft intended to sail for the United States, on his retirement from the governorship, Montalón hanged two constabulary men at a place within sight of Manila. In December, 1904, all this district was so infested with cut-throats that Manuel Trias, although no longer an official, offered to organize and lead a party of 300 volunteers against them. On January 24, 1905, the same bandits, Felizardo and Montalón, at the head of about 300 of their class, including two American negroes, raided Triasʼs native town of San Francisco de Malabón, murdered an American surgeon and one constabulary private, and seriously wounded three more. They looted the municipal treasury of 2,000 pesos and 25 carbines, and carried off Triasʼs wife and two children, presumably to hold them for ransom. The chief object of the attack was to murder Trias, their arch-enemy, but he was away from home at the time. On his return he set out in pursuit of the band at the head of the native constabulary. The outlaws had about 160 small firearms, and during the chase several fierce fights took place. Being hunted from place to place incessantly, they eventually released Triasʼs wife and children so as to facilitate their own escape. Constabulary was insufficient to cope with the marauders, and regular troops had to be sent to these provinces. In February, 1905, a posse of 25 Moro fighting-men was brought up from Siassi (Tápul group) to hunt down the brigands. Launches patrolled the Bay of Manila with constabulary on board to intercept the passage of brigands from one province to another, for lawlessness was, more or less, constantly rife in several of the Luzon provinces and half a dozen other islands for years after the end of the war. From 1902 onwards, half the provinces of Albay, Bulacan, Bataán, Cavite, Ilocos Sur, and the islands of Camaguín, Sámar, Leyte, Negros, Cebú, etc., have been infested, at different times, with brigands, or latter-day insurgents, as the different parties choose to call them. The regular troops, the constabulary, and other armed forces combined were unable to exterminate brigandage. The system of “concentration” circuits, which had given such adverse results during the Rebellion (vide p. 392), was revived in the provinces of Batangas and Cavite, obliging the waverers between submission and recalcitration to accept a defined legal or illegal status. Consequently many of the common people went to swell the roving bands of outlaws, whilst those who had a greater love for home, or property at stake, remained within the prescribed limits, in discontented, sullen compliance with the inevitable. The system interrupted the peopleʼs usual occupations, retarded agriculture, and produced general dissatisfaction. The Insular Government then had recourse to an extreme measure which practically implied the imposition of compulsory military service on every male American, foreign, or native inhabitant between the ages of eighteen to fifty years, with the exception of certain professions specified in the Philippine Commission Act No. 1309, dated March 22, 1905. Under this law the native mayor of a town can compel any able-bodied American (not exempted under the Act) to give five days a month service in hunting down brigands, under a maximum penalty of ₱100 fine and three monthsʼ imprisonment. And, subject to the same penalty for refusal, any proprietor or tenant (white, coloured, or native) residing in any municipality, or ward, must report, within 24 hours, to the municipal authority, the name, residence, and description of any person (not being a resident) to whom he gave assistance or lodging. In no colony where the value of the white manʼs prestige is appreciated would such a law have been promulgated.

The proceedings of the constabulary in the disturbed provinces having been publicly impugned in a long series of articles and reports published in the Manila newspaper El Renacimiento, the editors of that public organ were brought to trial on a charge of libel in July, 1905. The substance of the published allegations was that peaceable citizens were molested in their homes and were coerced into performing constabulary and military duties by becoming unwilling brigand-hunters. Among other witnesses who appeared at the trial was Emilio Aguinaldo, who testified that he had been forced to leave his home and present himself to a constabulary officer, who, he affirmed, bullied and insulted him because he refused to leave his daily occupations and risk his life in brigand-hunting. In view of the peculiar position of Aguinaldo as a fallen foe, perhaps it would have been better not to have disturbed him in his peaceful life as a law-abiding citizen, lest the world should misconstrue the intention.

Confined to Pangasinán and La Union provinces, there is an organization known as the “Guards of Honour.” Its recruits are very numerous, their chief vocation being cattle-stealing and filching other peopleʼs goods without unnecessary violence. It is feared they may extend their operations to other branches of perversity. The society is said to be a continuation of the Guardia de Honor created by the Spaniards and stimulated by the friars in Pangasinán as a check on the rebels during the events of 1896–98. At the American advent they continued to operate independently against the insurgents, whom they harassed very considerably during the flight northwards from Tárlac. It was to escape the vengeance of this party that Aguinaldoʼs Secretary of State (according to his verbal statement to me) allowed himself to fall prisoner to the Americans.

The Pulajanes of Sámar seem to be as much in possession of that Island as the Americans themselves, and its history, from the revolution up to date, is a lugubrious repetition of bloodshed, pillage, and incendiarism. The deeds of the notorious Vicente Lucban were condoned under the Amnesty of 1902, but the marauding organization is maintained and revived by brigands of the first water. Every move of the government troops is known to the pulajanes. The spy, stationed at a pass, after shouting the news of the enemyʼs approach to the next spy, darts into the jungle, and so on all along the line, in most orderly fashion, until the main column is advised. In July, 1904, they slaughtered half the inhabitants of the little coast village of Taviran, mutilated their corpses, and then set out for the town of Santa Elena, which was burnt to the ground. In December of that year over a thousand pulajanes besieged the town of Taft (formerly Tubig), held by a detachment of native scouts, whilst another party, hidden in the mountains, fell like an avalanche upon a squad of 43 scouts, led by an American lieutenant, on their way to the town of Dolores, and in ten minutes killed the officer and 37 of his men. After this mournful victory the brigands went to reinforce their comrades at Taft, swelling their forces en route, so that the besiegers of Taft amounted to a total of about 2,000 men. About the same time some 400 pulajanes were met by a few hundred so-called native volunteers, who, instead of fighting, joined forces and attacked a scout detachment whilst crossing a river. Twenty of the scouts were cut to pieces and mutilated, whilst thirteen more died of their wounds.

Communication in the Island is extremely difficult; the maintenance of telegraph-lines is impossible through a hostile country, and messages sent by natives are often intercepted, or, as sometimes happens, the messengers, to save their lives, naturally make common cause with the bandits whom they meet on the way. The hemp-growers and coast-trading population, who have no sympathy with the brigands, are indeed obliged, for their own security, to give them passive support. Hundreds in the coast villages who are too poor to give, have to flee into hiding and live like animals in dread of constabulary and pulajanes alike. Between “insurgency” and “brigandage,” in this Island, there was never a very wide difference, and when General Allen, the Chief of the Constabulary, took the field in person in December, 1904, he had reason to believe that the notorious ex-insurgent Colonel Guevara was the moving spirit in the lawlessness. Guevara, who had been disappointed at not securing the civil governorship of the Island, was suddenly seized and confined at Catbalogan jail to await his trial. The Sámar pulajanes are organized like regular troops, with their generals and officers, but they are deluded by a sort of mystic religious teaching under the guidance of a native pope. In January, 1905, the town of Balangiga (vide p. 536), so sadly famous in the history of Sámar on account of the massacre of American troops during the war, became a pulaján recruiting station. A raid upon the place resulted in the capture of twenty chiefs, gorgeously uniformed, with gaudy anting-anting amulets on their breasts to protect them from American bullets. At this time the regimental Camp Connell, at Calbáyoc, was so depleted of troops that less than a hundred men were left to defend it. Situated on a pretty site, the camp consists of two lines of wooden buildings running along the shore for about a mile. At one extremity is the hospital and at the other the quartermasterʼs dépôt. It has no defences whatever, and as I rode along the central avenue of beautiful palms, after meeting the ladies at a ball, I pictured to myself the chapter of horror which a determined attack might one day add to the doleful annals of dark Sámar.

Matters became so serious that in March, 1905, the divisional commander, General Corbin, joined General Allen in the operations in this Island. Full of tragedy is the record of this region, and amongst its numerous heroes was a Captain Hendryx. In 1902, whilst out with a detachment of constabulary, he was attacked, defeated, and reported killed. He was seen to drop and roll into a gully. But four days later there wandered back to the camp a man half dead with hunger and covered with festering wounds, some so infected that, but for the application of tobacco, gangrene would have set in. It was Captain Hendryx. Delirious for a while, he finally recovered and resumed his duties. A couple of years afterwards he was shipwrecked going round the coast on the Masbate. For days he and the ship-master alone battled with the stormy waves, a howling wind ahead, and a murderous rabble on the coast waiting for their blood. On the verge of death they reached a desolate spot whence the poor captain saved his body from destruction, but with prostrate nerves, rendering him quite unfit for further service. And the carnage in the Sámar jungles, which has caused many a sorrow in the homeland, continues to the present day with unabated ferocity. By nature a lovely island, picturesque in the extreme, there is a gloom in its loveliness. The friendly native has fled for his life; the patches of lowland once planted with sweet potatoes or rows of hemp-trees, are merging into jungle for want of the tillerʼs hand. The voice of an unseen man gives one a shudder, lest it be that of a fanatic lurking in the cogon grass to seek his fellowʼs blood. Near the coast, half-burnt bamboos show where villages once stood; bleached human bones mark the sites of human conflict, whilst decay and mournful silence impress one with the desolation of this fertile land. The narrow navigable channel separating Sámar from Leyte Island is one of the most delightful bits of tropical scenery.

The Constabulary Service Reports for 1903 and 1904 show that in the former period there were 357 engagements between brigand bands and the constabulary (exclusive of the army operations), and in the latter period 235 similar engagements. More than 5,000 expeditions were undertaken against the outlaws in each year; 1,185 outlaws were killed in 1903, and 431 in 1904, 2,722 were wounded or captured in 1903, and 1,503 in 1904; 3,446 arms of all sorts were seized in 1903, and 994 in 1904. The constabulary losses in killed, wounded, died of wounds and disease, and deserted were 223 in 1904. In Cavite Province alone, with a population of 134,779, there were, in 1903, over 400 expeditions, resulting in 20 brigands killed, 23 wounded, and 253 captured. At this date brigandage is one of the greatest deterrents to the prosperous development of the Islands.

The Adjutant-Generalʼs Report issued in Washington in December, 1901, gives some interesting figures relating to the Army, for the War of Independence period, i.e., from February 4, 1899, to June 30, 1901. The total number of troops sent to the Islands was as follows, viz.:—

Officers.

Men.

Regular Army

1,342

60,933

Volunteers

2,135

47,867

3,477

108,800

Some were returning from, whilst others were going to the Islands; the largest number in the Islands at any one time (year 1900) was about 70,000 men.

The total casualties in the above period were as follows, viz.:—

Officers.

Men.

Total.

Dead (all causes)

115

3,384

3,499

Wounded

170

2,609

2,779

285

5,993

6,278

In the same period the following arms were taken from the insurgents (captured and surrendered):—

Revolvers

868

Rifles

15,693

Cannon

122

Bowie-knives

3,516

The Insurgent Navy, consisting of four small steamers purchased in Singapore and a few steam-launches, dwindled away to nothing. The “Admiral,” who lived on shore at Gagalan͠gin (near Manila), escaped to Hong-Kong, but returned to Manila, surrendered, and took the oath of allegiance on March 3, 1905.

SEDITION, in its more virulent and active forms, having been frustrated by the authorities since the conclusion of the war, the Irreconcilables conceived the idea of inflaming the passions of the people through the medium of the native drama. How the seditious dramatists could have ever hoped to succeed in the capital itself, in public theatres, before the eyes of the Americans, is one of those mysteries which the closest student of native philosophy must fail to solve.

The most notable of these plays were Hindi aco patay (“I am not dead”), Ualang sugat (“There is no wound”), Dabas n͠g pilac (“Power of Silver”), and Cahapon, Ngayon at Bucas (“Yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow”). In each case there was an extra last scene not on the programme. Secret police and American spectators besieged the stage, and after a free fight, a cracking of heads, and a riotous scuffle the curtain dropped (if there were anything left of it) on a general panic of the innocent and the arrest of the guilty. The latter were brought to trial, and their careers cut short by process of law.

The simple plot of Hindi aco patay is as follows, viz.:—Maímbot (personifying America) is establishing dominion over the Islands, assisted by his son Macamcám (American Government), and Katuíran (Reason, Right, and Justice) is called upon to condemn the conduct of a renegade Filipino who has accepted Americaʼs dominion, and thereby become an outcast among his own people and even his own family. There is to be a wedding, but, before it takes place, a funeral cortége passes the house of Karangalan (the bride) with the body of Tangulan (the fighting patriot). Maímbot (America) exclaims, “Go, bury that man, that Karangalan and her mother may see him no more.” Tangulan, however, rising from his coffin, tells them, “They must not be married, for I am not dead.” And as he cries Hindi aco patay, “I am not dead,” a radiant sun appears, rising above the mountain peaks, simultaneously with the red flag of Philippine liberty. Then Katuíran (Reason, Right, and Justice) declares that “Independence has returned,” and goes on to explain that the new insurrection having discouraged America in her attempt to enslave the people, she will await a better opportunity. The flag of Philippine Independence is then waved to salute the sun which has shone upon the Filipinos to regenerate them and cast away their bondage.

The theme of Cahapon, n͠gayon at Bucas is somewhat similar—a protest against American rule, a threat to rise and expel it, a call to arms, and a final triumph of the Revolution. About the same time (May, 1903) a seditious play entitled Cadena de Oro (“The golden chain”) was produced in Batangas, and its author was prosecuted. It must, however, be pointed out that there are also many excellent plays written in Tagalog, with liberty to produce them, one of the best native dramatists being Don Pedro A. Paterno.

There will probably be for a long time to come a certain amount of disaffection and a class of wire-pullers, men of property, chiefly half-castes, constantly in the background, urging the masses forward to their own destruction. Lucrative employments have satisfied the ambition of so many educated Filipinos who must find a living, that the same principle—a creation of material interest—might perhaps be advantageously extended to the uneducated classes. All the malcontents cannot become State dependents, but they might easily be helped to acquire an interest in the soil. The native who has his patch of settled land with unassailable title would be loth to risk his all for the chimerical advantages of insurrection. The native boor who has worked land for years on sufferance, without title, exposed to eviction by a more cunning individual clever enough to follow the tortuous path which leads to land settlement with absolute title, falls an easy prey to the instigator of rebellion. These illiterate people need more than a liberal land law—they need to be taken in hand like children and placed upon the parcelled-out State lands with indisputable titles thereto. And if American enterprise were fostered and encouraged in the neighbourhood of their holdings, good example might root them to the soil and convert the boloman into the industrious husbandman.

The poorest native who cannot sow for himself must necessarily feed on what his neighbour reaps, and hunger compels him to become a wandering criminal. It is not difficult partially to account for the greater number in this condition to-day as compared with Spanish times. In those days there was what the natives termed cayinin. It was a temporary clearance of a patch of State land on which the native would raise a crop one, two, or more seasons. Having no legal right to the soil he tilled, and consequently no attachment to it, he would move on to other virgin land and repeat the operation. In making the clearance the squatter had no respect for State property, and the damage which he did in indiscriminate destruction of valuable timber by fire was not inconsiderable. The law did not countenance the cayinin, but serious measures were seldom taken to prevent it. The local or municipal headmen refrained from interference because, having no interest whatever in public lands, they did not care, as landowners, to go out of their way to create a bad feeling against themselves which might one day have fatal consequences. Although no one would for a moment suggest a revival of the system, there is the undeniable fact that in Spanish times thousands of natives lived for years in this way, and if they had been summarily evicted, or prosecuted by a forest bureau, necessity would have driven them into brigandage. High wages, government service, and public works are no remedy; on the contrary, if the people are thereby attracted to the towns, what will become of the true source of Philippine wealth, which is agriculture? Even in industrial England the cry of “Back to the soil” has been lately raised by an eminent Englishman known by name to every educated American.

[1] Born at Aliaga (Nueva Ecija) June 17, 1877, he raised a troop of rebels in his native town and joined General Llaneras. Appointed colonel in June, 1897, he was one of the chiefs who retired to Hong-Kong after the alleged Treaty of Biac-na-bató. He returned to the Islands with Aguinaldo, and became a general officer at the age of twenty-three years.

[2] At one time Cornelio Felizardo had an American in his gang. This degenerate, Luis A. Unselt, was fortunately captured and sentenced, on April 6, 1904, to twenty-five yearsʼ imprisonment as a deserter from the constabulary and bandit.

Previous to this event, the piracy of Johnston and Hermann in the southern islands caused much sensation at the time.

In September, 1905, it was rumoured that, in order to escape capture, Cornelio Felizardo had committed suicide.

One can judge of the ferocity of these men by Clause 3 of what Julian Montalón calls his Law No. 9. Dated April 10, 1904, it says:—

“The Filipino who serves the American Government as scout, constabulary or secret-service man, who does not sympathize with his native country, shall, if caught, immediately suffer the penalty of having the tendons of his feet cut, and the fingers of both hands crushed.”

There were many cases of cutting off the lips; two victims of this atrocity were brought to Manila in 1905, during El Renacimiento trial (vide p. 550).

Modern Manila

Commanding the entrance to Manila Bay there is the Island of Corregidor, situated 27 miles south-west of the city, towards which the traveller glances in vain, expecting to descry something of a modern fortress, bristling with artillery of the latest type which, if there, might hold the only channels leading to the capital against a hostile fleet. The anchorage for steamers is still half a mile to a mile and a half away from the Pasig River, but the new artificial port, commenced by the Spaniards, is being actively brought to completion by the Americans, so that the day may come when the ocean traveller will be able to walk from the steamer down a gangway to a quay and land on the south, or Walled City, side of the capital.

In the city and beautiful suburbs of Manila many changes and some improvements have been effected since 1898. After cleansing the city to a certain extent, embellishment was commenced, and lastly, works of general public utility were undertaken. Public spaces were laid out as lawns with walks around them; the old botanical-gardens enclosure was removed and the site converted into a delightful promenade; the Luneta Esplanade,—the joy of the Manila élite who seek the sea-breezes on foot or driving—was reformed, the field of Bagumbayan, which recalls so many sad historical reminiscences since 1872, was drained; breaches were made in the city walls to facilitate the entry of American vehicles; new thoroughfares were opened; an iron bridge, commenced by the Spaniards, was completed; a new Town Hall, a splendidly-equipped Government Laboratory, a Government Civil Hospital, and a Government Printing Office were built; an immense ice-factory was erected on the south side of the river to meet the American demand for that luxury[1]; also a large refrigerated-meat store, chiefly for army supply, was constructed, meat, poultry, vegetables, and other foodstuffs having to be imported on account of the dearth of beef and tilth cattle due to rinderpest. Fresh meat for private consumption (i.e., exclusive of army and navy) is imported into Manila to the value of about $700,000 gold per annum. Reforms of more urgent public necessity were then introduced. Existing market-places were improved, new ones were opened in Tondo and the Walled City; an excellent slaughter-house was established; the Bridge of Spain was widened; a splendidly-equipped fire-engine and brigade service, with 150 fire-alarm boxes about the city and suburbs, was organized and is doing admirable work; roads in the distant suburbs were put in good condition, and the reform which all Manila was looking forward to, namely, the repair of the roads and pavements in the Escolta, the Rosario, and other principal thoroughfares in the heart of the business quarter of Binondo, was postponed for six years. Up to the middle of 1904 they were in a deplorable condition. The sensation, whilst in a gig, of rattling over the uneven stone blocks was as if the whole vehicle might at any moment be shattered into a hundred fragments. The improvement has come at last, and these streets are now almost of a billiard-table smoothness. The General Post Office has been removed from the congested thoroughfare of the Escolta to a more commodious site. Electric tramcars, in supersession of horse-traction, run through the city and suburbs since April 10, 1905. Electric lighting, initiated in Spanish times, is now in general use, and electric fans—a poor substitute for the punkah—work horizontally from the ceilings of many shops, offices, hotels, and private houses. In the residential environs of the city many acres of ground have been covered with new houses; the once respectable quarter of Sampaloc[2] has lost its good name since it became the favourite haunt of Asiatic and white prostitutes who were not tolerated in Spanish times. On the other hand, the suburbs of Ermita and Malate, which are practically a continuation of Manila along the seashore from the Luneta Esplanade, are becoming more and more the fashionable residential centre. About Sampaloc there is a little colony of Japanese shopkeepers, and another group of Japanese fishermen inhabits Tondo. The Japanese have their Consulate in Manila since the American advent, their suburban Buddhist temple was inaugurated in San Roque on April 22, 1905, and in the same year there was a small Japanese banking-house in the suburb of Santa Cruz.

The Bilíbid Jail has been reformed almost beyond recognition as the old Spanish prison. A great wall runs through the centre, dividing the long-term from the short-term prisoners. In the centre is the sentry-box, and from this and all along the top of the wall every movement of the prisoners can be watched by the soldier on guard. Nevertheless, a batch of convicts occasionally breaks jail, and those who are not shot down escape. Gangs of them are drafted off for road-making in the provinces, where, on rare occasions, a few have been able to escape and rejoin the brigands. In March, 1905, a squad of 42 convicts working in Albay Province made a dash for freedom, and 40 of them got away.

With the liberty accorded them under the new dominion the Filipinos have their freemason lodges and numerous casinos.[3] There are American clubs for all classes of society—the “Army and Navy,” the “University,” the “United States,” a dozen other smaller social meeting-houses, and societies with quaint denominations such as “Knights of Pythias,” “Haymakers,” “Red Cloud Tribe,” “Knights of the Golden Eagle,” etc. Other nationalities have their clubs too; the Cercle Français is now located in Calle Alcalá; the English Club, which was formerly at Nagtájan on the river-bank, has been removed to Ermita on the seashore, and under the new régime the Chinese have their club-house, opened in 1904, in Calle Dasmariñas, where a reception was given to the Gov.-General and the élite of Manila society. The entertainment was very sumptuous, the chief attractions being the fantastic decorations, the gorgeous “joss house” to a dead hero, and the chapel in honour of the Virgin del Pilar.

Several new theatres have been opened, the leading one being the National, now called the “Grand Opera House”; comedy is played at the Paz; the Zorrilla (of former times) is fairly well-built, but its acoustic properties are extremely defective, and the other playhouses are, more properly speaking, large booths, such as the Libertad, the Taft, the Variedades, and the Rizal. In the last two very amusing Tagálog plays are performed in dialect. There is one large music-hall, and a number of cinematograph shows combined with variety entertainments.

There are numerous second- and third-rate hotels in the city and suburbs. The old “Fonda Lala,” which existed for many years in the Plaza del Conde, Binondo, as the leading hotel in Spanish days, is now converted into a large bazaar, called the “Siglo XX.,” and its successor, the “Hotel de Oriente,” was purchased by the Insular Government for use as public offices. The old days of comfortable hackney-carriages in hundreds about the Manila streets, at 50 cents Mex. an hour, are gone for ever. One may now search hours for one, and, if found, have to pay four or five times the old tariff. Besides the fact that everything costs more, the scarcity is due to Surra (vide p. 336), which has enormously reduced the pony stock. There are occasionally sales of American horses, and it is now one of the novelties to see them driven in carriages, and American ladies riding straddle-legged on tall hacks. In Spanish days no European gentleman or lady could be seen in a carromata[4] (gig) about Manila; now this vehicle is in general use for both sexes of all classes. Bicycles were known in the Islands ten years ago, but soon fell into disuse on account of the bad roads; however, this means of locomotion is fast reviving.

A Manila Suburban Parish Church—Santa Cruz.

The Press is represented by a large number of American, Spanish and dialect newspapers. These last were not permitted in Spanish times.

Innumerable laundries, barbersʼ shops, Indian and Japanese bazaars, shoe-black stalls, tailorsʼ shops, book-shops, restaurants, small hotels, sweetmeat stalls, newspaper kiosks, American drinking-bars, etc., have much altered the appearance of the city. The Filipino, who formerly drank nothing but water, now quaffs his iced keg-beer or cocktail with great gusto, but civilization has not yet made him a drunkard. American drinking-shops, or “saloons,” as they call them, are all over the place, except in certain streets in Binondo, where they have been prohibited, as a public nuisance, since April 1, 1901. It was ascertained at the time of the American occupation that there were 2,206 native shops in Manila where drinks were sold, yet no native was ever seen drunk. This number was compulsorily reduced to 400 for a native population of about 190,000, whilst the number of “saloons” on February 1, 1900, was 224 for about 5,000 Americans (exclusive of soldiers, who presumably would not be about the drinking-bars whilst the war was on). But “saloon” licences are a large source of revenue to the municipality, the cost being from $1,200 gold downwards per annum. A “saloon,” however, cannot now be established in defiance of the general wishes of the neighbours. There is a law (similar in spirit to the proposed Option Law in England) compelling the intending “saloon” keeper to advertise in several papers for several days his intention to open such a place, so that the public may have an opportunity of opposing that intention if they desire to do so.

The American advent has abolished the peaceful solitude of the Walled City where, in Spanish days, dwelt the friar in secluded sanctity—where dignitaries and officials were separated by a river from the bubbling world of money-makers. An avalanche of drinking-bars, toilet-saloons, restaurants, livery stables, and other catering concerns has invaded the ancient abodes of men who made Philippine history. The very names of the city streets remind one of so many episodes in the Islandsʼ progress towards civilization that to-day one is led to pause in pensive silence before the escutcheon above the door of what was once a noble residence, to read below a wall-placard, “Horses and buggies for hire. The best turn-out in the city. Telephone No. ——.” This levelling spirit is gradually converting the historic Walled City into a busy retail trading-centre. For a long time the question of demolishing the city walls has been debated. Surely those who advocate the destruction of this fine historical monument cannot be of that class of Americans whose delight is to travel thousands of miles, at great expense, only to glance at antiquities not more interesting, in the possession of others, and who would fain transport Shakespeareʼs house bodily to American soil. The moat surrounding the Walled City is already being filled up, but posterity will be grateful for the preservation of those ancient bulwarks—landmarks of a decadent but once glorious civilization. Most of the Spanish feast-days have been abolished, including the St. Andrewʼs day (vide Li-ma-hong, p. 50), and the following have been officially substituted, viz.:—

New Yearʼs Day

January 1

Washingtonʼs birthday

February 22

Holy Thursday

— —

Good Friday

— —

Decoration Day

May 31

Independence Day

July 4

Occupation Day

August 13

Thanksgiving Day

November 24

Christmas Day

December 25

Rizal Day

December 30

Manila was formerly the capital of the province of that name, as well as the Philippine metropolis. Since the American occupation the city and suburbs form a kind of federal zone; what was once Manila Province is now known as Rizal Province, and with it is incorporated that territory formerly designated Mórong District, the capital town of this newly-created province being Pasig.

The Municipal Board of Manila is composed of five persons, namely a Philippine mayor and one Philippine and three American members, who are practically all nominees of the Insular Government. The emolument of the mayor and of each member is $4,500. The Board, assisted by a staff of 20 persons, native and American, has the control of the ten following departments, viz.:—Police, Fire, Law, Police Courts, Justice of the Peace Courts, Public Works, Assessments and Collections, Deeds Register, City Schools, and Sheriffʼs Office connected with the government of the federal zone of Manila.

Manila is the seat of the Insular Government, which comprises (1) the Philippine Commission (Legislative), composed of eight members, of whom five (including the president) are Americans and three are Filipinos; (2) the Civil Commission (Executive), the president of which holds the dual office of President of the Philippine Commission and Gov.-General, whilst the four secretaries of Interior, Finance and Justice, Public Instruction, and Commerce and Police are those same Americans who hold office as members of the Philippine Commission. The Philippine Commission is empowered to pass statutes, subject to ratification by Congress, the enacting clause being, By authority of the United States, be it enacted by the Philippine Commission. The Insular Government communicates with the Washington Government through the Department of the Secretary of State for War.

Up to the end of 1904 the chief authority in these Islands was styled the “Civil Governor.” Thenceforth, by special Act of Congress, the title was changed to that of “Governor-General.”

The Emoluments of the Members of the Insular Government, the Chiefs of Departments, and the principal officers are as follows, viz.[5]:—

$ gold

President of the Philippine and Civil Commissions

20,000

Four American Members of the Philippine Commission, ex-officio Members of the Civil Commission

each 15,500

Three Philippine Members of the Philippine Commission

each 5,000

Departments

Architecture Bureau

Chief

4,000

Archives, Patents, Copyright and Trade Marks

Chief

3,000

Agriculture Bureau

Chief

4,000

Audit Office

Auditor

7,000

Bilibid Prison

Warden

3,000

[6]Civil Service Board

Chief Examiner

4,000

Court of First Instance, Manila

each Judge

5,500

Court of First Instance, provincial

Judge

$4,500 to 5,000

Court of Land Registration

Judge

5,000

Court of Customs Appeal

Judge

4,500

Civil Hospital

Chief Physician

3,000

Civil Sanatorium (Benguet)

Chief Physician

2,400

Constabulary

Executive Officer

5,500

Coast Guard and Transport Office

Chief (Navy pay)

—

Cold Storage and Ice-Plant

Superintendent

3,600

Customs and Immigration

Collector of Customs

7,000

Engineering Department

Consulting Engineer

5,000

Ethnological Survey

Chief

3,500

Education Department

Gen. Superintendent

6,000

Forestry Bureau

Chief

3,000

Laboratories (Gov.)

Superintendent

6,000

[6]Manila Port Works

Chief (Army pay)

—

Mining Bureau

Chief

3,000

Non-Christian Tribes Bureau

—

—

Official Gazette, The

Editor

1,800

[6]Purchasing Agent

—

4,500

Public Lands Office

Chief

3,200

Public Health

Commissioner

3,500

Public Printing Office

Public Printer

4,000

Post Office

Director

6,000

Public Lands

Chief

3,200

Supreme Court

Chief Justice[7]

7,500

Supreme Court

each associate Judge[7]

7,000

Treasury Office

Treasurer

7,000

Weather Bureau

Director

2,500

The total cost of the Civil Service for the year 1903 amounted to 8,014,098.77 pesos (vide “Official Gazette,” Vol. II., No. 8, dated February 4, 1904), equal to $4,007,049.38 gold.

At the time of the American occupation (1898) the Government was necessarily military, the first governor being Maj.-General Elwell S. Otis up to May 5, 1900, when he returned to America and was immediately succeeded by Maj.-General Arthur McArthur. On January 20, 1899, during General Otisʼs governorship, a Commission of Inquest was appointed under the presidency of Dr. Jacob Gould Schurman known as the Schurman Commission, which arrived in Manila on May 2 to investigate the state of affairs in the Islands. The Commission was instructed to “endeavour, without interference with the military authorities of the United States now in control in the Philippines, to ascertain what amelioration in the condition of the inhabitants and what improvements in public order may be practicable.” The other members of the Commission were Rear-Admiral George Dewey, Charles Denby, Maj.-General Elwell S. Otis, and Dean C. Worcester. Admiral Dewey, however, was soon relieved of his obligation to remain on the Commission, and sailed from Manila on May 19 on the Olympia for New York, via Europe. The commissionersʼ inquiries into everything concerning the Islands, during their few monthsʼ sojourn, are embodied in a published report, dated December 20, 1900.[8] The War of Independence was being waged during the whole time, and military government, with full administrative powers, continued, as heretofore, until September 1, 1900. In the meantime the Washington Government resolved that military rule in the Islands should be superseded by civil government. The pacified provinces, and those in conditions considered fit for civil administration, were to be so established, and pending the conclusion of the war and the subsidence of brigandage, the remainder of the Archipelago was to be administered as military districts. With this end in view, on March 16, 1900, Judge William H. Taft[9] was commissioned to the Islands and sailed from San Francisco (Cal.) with his four colleagues, on April 15, for Manila, where he arrived on June 3. In the three monthsʼ interval, pending the assumption of legislative power, the Taft Commission was solely occupied in investigating conditions. To each commissioner certain subjects were assigned; for example, Mr. Taft took up the Civil Service, Public Lands, and the Friar questions. Each commissioner held a kind of Court of Inquiry, before which voluntary evidence was taken. This testimony, later on, appeared in print, and its perusal shows how difficult indeed it must have been for the Commission to have distinguished the true from the false, the valuable from the trivial. It was the beginning of the end of military rule in the Islands. “The days of the Empire,” as the military still designate that period, were numbered, and yet not without regret by several native communities, as evidenced by the fact that they sent petitions to the authorities in Manila against the change to civil government. Many law-abiding natives explained to me that the feature in military rule which particularly pleased them was its prompt action—such a contrast to the only civil government of which they had had any experience. About two years later, in 1903, Lieut.-Gen. Miles, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army, made a tour in the Islands and drew up a report on the conduct of military operations, charging military officers with the grossest cruelty to the natives. A Senate Commission of Inquest was appointed, but it was quite impossible to prove anything conclusively on unimpeachable evidence; the general retired from his command without the blessing of his comrades, and the matter was abated.

The Philippine Commission commenced its functions as the legislative body, with limitary executive powers in addition, on September 1, 1900, the military governor continuing as the Chief Executive until July 4, 1901. Up to that date the civil executive authority in the organized provinces was vested in the military governor. From that date Maj.-General Adna R. Chaffee relieved Maj.-General McArthur in the sole capacity of commander-in-chief of the military division, the full executive civil power having been transferred to the Civil Commission, and thenceforth the Insular Government became constituted as it is at present. Governor Taft pursued his investigations until February, 1901, when he started on a provincial tour, heard opinions, and tendered the hand of peace. Municipalities united at certain centres to meet him; the rich vied with each other to regale him royally; the crowd flocked in from all parts to greet him; the women smiled in their gala dresses; the men were obsequiousness itself; delicate viands were placed before him, and, like every other intelligent traveller in these Islands, he was charmed by that distinguishing trait of the Luzon Islanders—that hospitality which has no parity elsewhere, and for which words cannot be found adequately to describe it to the reader. As Governor Taft himself said truly, “When a Filipino who has a house says it is yours, he turns out his family and puts you in.”[10] Governor Taftʼs reception was only that which had been accorded to many a personage before his day, travelling in a style befitting his rank. He returned to Manila, captivated by the fascinating side of Philippine character: the reverse side he could never know by personal experience, and the natives secured in him a champion of their cause—“Philippines for the Filipinos.” The main object of his official progress was to collect information for new legislation anent the municipalities. Civil government was rapidly established in all the provinces which were peaceful and otherwise suitable for it. The War of Independence was drawing to a close (April, 1902), and meanwhile Governor Taft made tours to Negros, Cebú, and other islands to explain and inaugurate the new régime based on President McKinleyʼs Instructions to the Taft Commission, dated April 7, 1900. Governor Taftʼs administration was signalized by his complacency towards the natives, his frequent utterances favourable to their aspirations, and his discouragement of those Americans who sought to make quick fortunes and be gone. But there were other Americans than these, and his favourite theme, “Philippines for the Filipinos,” aroused unconcealed dissatisfaction among the many immigrants, especially the ex-volunteers, who not unnaturally considered they had won a right to exploit, within reasonable bounds, the “new possession” gained by conquest. Adverse critics contended that he unduly protected the Filipino to the prejudice of the white manʼs interest. Frank and unfettered encouragement of American enterprise would surely have helped the professed policy of the State, which was to lead the Filipinos to habits of industry; and how could this have been more easily accomplished than by individual example? On the other hand, the Filipinos, in conformity, regarded him as their patron: many were unconsciously drawn to submission by the suavity of his rule, whilst his courtesy towards the vanquished served as the keynote to his countrymen to moderate their antipathy for the native and remove the social barriers to a better understanding. And, in effect, his example did serve to promote a rapprochement between the conquerors and the conquered.

Appointed to the Secretaryship of War, ex-Governor Taft left the Philippines in January, 1904, to take up his new office, and was succeeded in the presidency of the Philippine and Civil Commissions by Mr. Luke E. Wright.[11] On his way back to the United States ex-Governor Taft was entertained by the Emperor of Japan, and on his arrival in his native city of Cincinnati (Ohio) he made a remarkable speech on the subject of the Philippines, the published reports of which contain the following significant passage:—“The Filipinos elected the provincial governor and we appointed the treasurer. We went there to teach the Filipinos honesty, and we appointed American treasurers on the theory that the Americans could not steal. Never, never have I suffered the humiliation that came to me when seventeen of our disbursing officers, treasurers, were found defaulters! They are now in Bilíbid prison serving out their twenty-five years.”

Since then the Manila Press has recorded many cases of breach of public trust by those who were sent to teach the Islanders how to rule themselves (vide p. 493). The financial loss arising from malfeasance on the part of any civil servant is made good to the Treasury by a Guarantee Society, which gives a bond in each case, whilst it takes years to recover the consequent loss of prestige to the State. The obvious remedy for this state of things would be the establishment in America of a Colonial Civil Service into which only youths would be admitted for training in the several departments. Progressive emolument, with the prospect of a long, permanent career and a pension at the end of it would be inducements to efficiency and moral stability.

The Philippine Civil Service is open to all United States citizens and Filipinos between the ages of 18 and 40 years in accordance with Philippine Commission Act No. 5, known as the “Civil Service Act,” passed September 19, 1900. The service is divided into “classified” and “unclassified.” The former division is strictly subject to the provisions of the above Act; the latter indicates the positions which may be filled by appointment without subjection to the provisions of the said Act. The Act declares its purpose to be “the establishment and maintenance of an efficient and honest civil service in the Philippine Islands.” American soldiers who have less than six months to serve can apply for permission to be examined for the civil service. The Act does not include examination for civil positions in the Military Division of the Islands, but the Civil Service Board is empowered to hold such examinations to fill vacancies as they may occur in the nine military departments which employ civilians. General examinations, some in English only, others in Spanish only, or both, are held every Monday, and special examinations which include those for scientific, professional, and technical positions are taken on specified dates. The commencing salaries of the positions offered range from $1,200 downwards. Medical attendance is furnished gratis, and the minimum working time is six and a half hours per day, except from April 1 until June 15—the hottest weather—when the minimum working day is five hours. American women are employed in the Post Office.

The Civil Commission is located in the Walled City in the building which was formerly the Town Hall, a new Town Hall having been built outside the walls. Occasionally, when public interest is much aroused on the subject of a proposed measure, the Commission announces that a public conference will be held for the expression of opinion thereon. A few persons state their views before the Commissioners, who rebut them séance tenante, and the measure, as proposed, usually becomes law, unless outside agitation and popular clamour induce the Commissioners to modify it. At times the proceedings have been enlivened by sparkling humour. A worthy and patriotic Filipino once gravely prefaced his speech thus:—“I rise to speak, inspired by Divine Right”—but he had to wait until the roars of laughter had subsided. When the “Sedition Act” was being discussed, a less worthy auditor declared assassination of the Chief of a State to be merely a political offence. He expected to go to prison and pose as a martyr-patriot, but the Commission very rightly damped his ambition by declaring him to be a fool irresponsible for his acts.

Philippine Commission Acts are passed with great rapidity, amended and re-amended, sometimes several times, to the bewilderment of the public. Out of 862 Acts passed up to the end of 1903, 686 of them were amended (some five times) and on 782 no public discussion was allowed. The “Internal Revenue Law of 1904” had not been in force nine months when it was amended (March, 1905) by another law. By Philippine Commission Acts Nos. 127 and 128 the limits of the Surigao and Misámis provinces were defined and afterwards upset by Act No. 787. The policy of the Americans anent the Philippines was continually shifting during the first five years of their occupation, and only since ex-Governor Taft became Secretary of War does it seem to have assumed a somewhat more stable character.

The Archipelago is divided into 41 provinces (exclusive of the Moro Province, vide p. 577), all under civil rule, in accordance with Congress Act of July 1, 1902, and War Office Order of July 4, 1902, whereby the remainder of military government ceased. In June, 1904, nearly all the above 41 provinces had native governors with salaries ranging from $3,000 gold downwards. In most of these provinces the native governor and two American officials of about equal rank, such as the Treasurer and the Supervisor, form a Provincial Council, but the member who disagrees with the vote of the other two can appeal to the Gov.-General. After the War of Independence several insurgent chiefs were appointed to provincial governments; for instance, Cailles in La Laguna, Trias in Cavite, Clímaco in Cebú, etc. For obvious reasons the system is advantageous. Juan Cailles, Governor of La Laguna, is the son of a Frenchman who married a native in one of the French colonies and then settled in these Islands. For some time Juan Cailles was registered at the French Consulate as a French citizen. As commander of the insurgents of La Laguna and Tayabas during the War of Independence, he maintained strict discipline in his troops, and energetically drew the line between legitimate warfare and common freebooting.

The provincial governor may be either elected or appointed by the Civil Commission. If he be a Filipino, he is usually elected by vote of the vice-presidents (ex-mayors) and municipal councillors of the province. The mayor of a municipality is styled “Presidente.” Every male over twenty-three years of age who pays taxes amounting to 30 pesos, or who possesses 500 pesosʼ value of goods is eligible for election by vote of the townspeople. He holds office for two years, but can be re-elected for a consecutive term. The municipalities are of four classes according to their importance, the mayorʼs salary being as follows, viz.: First class, 1,200 pesos; second class, 1,000 pesos; third class, 800 pesos; and fourth class, 600 pesos. Provincial justices of the peace are paid by litigantsʼ fees only. For municipal improvements, or other urgent necessity, the Insular Government, from time to time, grants loans to municipalities, repayable with interest. In some cases two or more towns have been wisely merged into one municipality: for instance, Cauit, Salinas, and Novaleta (Cavite) go together; Baliuag, Bustos, and San Rafael (Bulacan) form one; Barasoain and Malolos (Bulacan) are united; as are also Taal and Lemery (Batangas). By Philippine Commission Act No. 719 the 51 municipalities of Yloilo Province were reduced to 17.

Malolos is the new capital of Bulacan Province, and the two former provinces of Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur are now one, under the name of Ambos Camarines. In the dependent wards of towns (barrios) the municipal police are practically the only official representatives; the post of lieutenant (teniente de barrio) is gratis and onerous, and few care to take it.

The Guardia Civil or Rural Guard of Spanish times has been superseded by the Philippine Constabulary under the supreme and independent command of a cavalry captain (U.S.A.) holding local rank of Brig.-General. In the private opinion of many regular army officers, this force ought to be under the control of the Division Commander. The officers are American, European, and Philippine. The privates are Filipinos, and the whole force is about 7,000 strong. The function of this body is to maintain order in rural districts. For some time there were cases of batches of the rank-and-file passing over to the brigands whom they were sent to disperse or capture. However, this disturbing element has been gradually eliminated, and the Philippine Constabulary has since performed very useful service. Nevertheless, many educated natives desire its improvement or suppression, on account of the alleged abuse of functions to the prejudice of peaceful inhabitants (vide p. 550).

Co-operating with municipal police and the Philippine Constabulary there is an organized Secret Police Service. It is a heterogeneous band of many nationalities, including Asiatics, which, as an executive force to investigate crimes known to have been committed, renders good service; as an initiative force, with power, with or without authority, to molest peaceful citizens in quest of imaginary misdemeanours, in order to justify the necessity of its employment, it is an unwelcome institution to all, especially the lower-middle and common classes, amongst whom it can operate with greater impunity.

Not unfrequently when a European nation acquires a new tropical possession, the imaginative mind discovers therein unbounded wealth which the eye cannot see, hidden stores of gold procurable only by manual labour, and fortune-making possibilities awaiting whosoever has the courage to reveal them. The propagation of these fallacious notions always allures to the new territory a crowd of neʼer-do-wells, amongst the bonâ fide workers, who ultimately become loafers preying upon the generosity of the toilers. This class was not wanting in the Philippines; some had followed the army; others who had finished their term of voluntary military service elected to remain in the visionary El Dorado. Some surreptitiously opened drinking-shanties; others exploited feminine frailty or eked out an existence by beggarly imposition, and it was stated by a provincial governor that, to his knowledge, at one time, there were 80 of this class in his province.[12] The number of undesirables was so great that it became necessary for the Insular Government to pass a Vagrant Act, under which the loafer could be arrested and disposed of. The Act declares vagrancy to be a misdemeanour, and provides penalties therefor; but it has always been interpreted in a generous spirit of pity for the delinquent, to whom the option of a free passage home or imprisonment was given, generally resulting in his quitting the Islands. This measure, which brought honour to its devisers and relief to society, was, in a few instances, abused by those who feigned to be vagrants in order to secure the passage home, but these were judiciously dealt with by a regulation imposing upon them a short period of previous training in stone-breaking to fit them for active life in the homeland.

The following General Order was issued by the Division Commander in January, 1905, viz.:—

It is reported by the Civil Governor that in several places in Luzon there have gathered numbers of dishonourably discharged men from the army who are a hindrance to progress and good order. The Division Commander desires that in future no dishonourably discharged soldiers be allowed to remain in the Islands, where their presence is very undesirable. It is therefore directed that, in acting on cases where the sentence is dishonourable discharge without confinement, the dishonourable discharge be made to take effect after arrival in San Francisco, where the men so discharged should be sent by first transport.

The Philippine Archipelago is a military division under the supreme command of a Maj.-General. The commanders, since the taking of Manila (1898), have been successively Maj.-Generals Merritt, Otis, McArthur, Chaffee, Davis, Wade, Corbin, and Wood.

The Division is administratively subdivided into three departments, namely Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the two former being commanded by Brig.-Generals and the last by a Maj.-General.

The Department of Luzon, headquarters at Manila, includes the following principal islands, viz. Luzon, Catanduanes, Romblon, Masbate, Marinduque, Mindoro, Sibuyán, Polillo, Ticao, Tablas, Lúcbang, and Búrias.

The Department of Visayas, headquarters at Yloilo, embraces the islands of Cebú, Negros, Panay, Leyte, Sámar, and Bojol.

The Department of Mindanao, headquarters at Zamboanga, includes all the remaining islands of the Philippine Archipelago.

STATEMENT OF ARMY STRENGTH IN THE PHILIPPINES ON JUNE 30, 1904[13]

Present

Absent

Present and Absent

Officers.

Troops.

Officers.

Troops.

Officers.

Troops.

General Officers

5

0

0

0

5

0

Gen. Staff Officers

45

0

4

0

49

0

Non-Com Officers at posts

0

109

0

0

0

109

Medical Department

93

919

10

0

103

919

[14]Contract Surgeons

63

0

22

0

85

0

[14]Contract Dental Surgeons

17

0

0

0

17

0

Engineers

25

395

1

7

26

402

Signal Corps

7

353

2

1

9

354

Ordnance Corps

2

49

0

2

2

51

Officers temporarily in the Division

33

0

0

0

33

0

Total Cavalry

172

2,903

27

32

199

2,935

Total Artillery

9

293

3

0

12

293

Total Infantry

356

7,020

78

70

434

7,090

Total American Forces

827

12,041

147

112

974

12,153

Philippine Scouts

77

4,565

23

413

100

4,978

Total Strength

904

16,606

170

525

1,074

17,131

Besides the American troops, there is a voluntary enlistment of Filipinos, forming the Philippine Scout Corps, a body of rural police supplementary to the constabulary, commanded by a major and 100 American first and second lieutenants. Until recently the troops were stationed over the Islands in 98 camps and garrison towns, as follows, viz.:—In the Department of Luzon 76, Visayas 8, and Mindanao 14; but this number is now considered unnecessarily large and is being reduced to effect economy.

The Army, Navy, and Philippine Scouts expenses are entirely defrayed by the United States Treasury. A military prison is established in the little Island of Malahi, in the Laguna de Bay, whence the escape of a prisoner is signalled by three shots from a cannon, and whoever captures him receives a $30-reward. As the original notice to this effect required the recovery of the prisoner “alive or dead,” two armed natives went in pursuit of an American soldier. To be quite sure of their prey they adopted the safe course of killing him first. Such an unexpected interpretation of the notice as the grim spectacle of an Americanʼs head was naturally repugnant to the authorities, and the “alive or dead” condition was thenceforth expunged.

[1] This establishment was put up for sale by tender in 1904. The prospectus stated as follows:—

Revenue for one year

gold $332,194.17

Disbursements for one year

198,338.93

Profit $133,855.24

Reserve price one million dollars gold. Conditions of payment one-third cash, and two-thirds in three annual payments with six per cent. interest per annum guaranteed by mortgage on the building and plant or other acceptable security. It was not stated whether the sale included a monopoly of army supply.

[2] Sampaloc signifies Tamarind in Tagálog.

[3] The first Philippine club was opened on November 6, 1898.

[4] The carromata is a two-wheeled spring vehicle with a light roof to keep off the sun and rain. In Spanish times it was commonly used by the natives in Manila and by all classes in the provinces, being a light, strong, and useful conveyance.

[5] Vide “Official Roster of the Officers and Employees in the Civil Service in the Philippine Islands.” Manila, Bureau of Public Printing, 1904.

[6] Independent Offices, i.e., not under control of a Civil Commission Secretary.

[7] Under the “Cooper Bill,” which came into operation on March 20, 1905, the Insular Government was authorized to increase the salaries of the Chief Justice and the associated judges to $10,500 and $10,000 gold respectively. Under the same Act, judges of First Instance can be called upon to serve in the Supreme Court when needed to form a quorum, for which service they are allowed ten pesos per day besides their travelling expenses from and to the place of their permanent appointments. By Philippine Commission Act No. 1,314, the salaries of the Chief Justice and associate judges were fixed at $10,000 each.

[8] “Report of the Philippine Commission, 1900.” Published by the Government Printing Office, Washington, 1901.

[9] Mr. William H. Taft, the first Civil Governor of the Philippines, was born at Cincinnati (Ohio) on September 15, 1857. His father was a jurist of repute, diplomat, and member of the Cabinet. After his preparatory schooling in his native town, W. H. Taft graduated at Yale University in 1878, studied law at Cincinnati and was called to the bar in 1880. Since then he held several legal appointments up to the year 1900, when he became a district judge, which post he resigned on being commissioned to the Philippine Islands.

[10] Vide Senate Document No. 331, Part I., 57th Congress, 1st Session.

[11] Mr. Luke E. Wright, the second Civil Governor and first Gov.-General of the Philippines, was born in Tennessee in 1847, the son of Judge Archibald Wright. At the age of sixteen he took arms in the Confederate interest in the War of Secession. Called to the bar in 1868, he became a partner in his fatherʼs firm and held several important legal appointments. At the age of twenty-four he became Attorney-General, and held this post for eight years. A Democrat in politics, he is a strong character, as generous and courteous as he is personally courageous.

[12] “Should we wish the Filipino people to judge of Americans by the drunken, truculent American loafers who infest the small towns of the Islands, living on the fruits of the labour of Filipino women, and who give us more trouble than any other element in the Islands? Should we wish the Filipino people to judge of American standards of honesty by reading the humiliating list of American official and unofficial defaulters in these Islands?”—Extract from Governor W. H. Taftʼs speech at the Union Reading College, Manila, in 1903, quoted in “Population of the Philippines,” Bulletin I, p. 9. Published by the Bureau of the Census, 1904.

[13] From a statement kindly furnished to me by the Adjutant-General, Colonel W. A. Simpson (Manila).

[14] A “contract” Surgeon or Dental Surgeon is a civilian who comes to the Islands on a three-yearsʼ contract. He is only temporarily an Army officer.

General Officersʼ pay is as follows; viz.:—

Lieut.-General, Active Service

$11,000; retired

$8,250 gold.

Maj.-General, Active Service

$7,500; retired

$5,625 gold.

Brig.-General, Active Service

$5,500; retired

$4,125 gold.

The monthly pay of a private serving in the Islands is $15.60 gold.

The Land of the Moros

“Allah Akbar!”

The Military Department of Mindanao comprises the large island of that name and the adjacent insular territories inhabited chiefly by Mahometans, called by the Christians Moros (vide p. 129, et seq.).

The natural features of these southern islands are, in general, similar to those of the other large islands of the Archipelago, but being peopled by races (exclusive of the settlers) of different habits, customs, religions, and languages, some aggressively savage and warlike, others more or less tractable, but all semi-civilized, the social aspect is so distinct from that of the islands inhabited by the Christian Filipinos as almost to appear like another quarter of the tropical globe.

Early in the year 1899 General John C. Bates was appointed to the command of the Mahometan islands. In Mindanao Island there was no supreme chieftain with whom to treat for the gradual introduction of civilization and American methods, the whole territory being parcelled out and ruled by petty Sultans, Dattos or chiefs, in separate independence. In the Lake Lanao district, for instance, there is at least one Datto for every 50 men. The only individual who had any pretence to general control of the Mahometan population was Hadji[1] Mohammad Jamalul Kiram, the Sultan of Sulu[2] (vide p. 141). Therefore, in August, 1899, General Bates and this petty prince made an agreement which was ratified by Congress on February 1 following, on the recommendation of the Schurman Commission (vide p. 562), and thenceforth came into force. The principal conditions of this convention were: (1) The Sultanʼs dignity and certain monopoly rights were recognized under American suzerainty. (2) An annual pension of 3,000 pesos was secured to him, and annual salaries ranging from 180 to 900 pesos were to be paid to eight of his Dattos and one priest. (3) A Moro accused of crime was to be tried by a Moro judge, the maximum penalty for murder being fixed at 105 pesos (equal to about ten guineas), which was a fair price in this region, from the Moro point of view, for life here is held very cheap. (4) Absconding Americans or Sulus were to be mutually surrendered. (5) The Americans were (a) to protect the Sultan against encroachments by foreigners or European nations; (b) not to take arms against the Sulus without consulting the Sultan; (c) not to transfer their dominion over Joló to others except in agreement with the Sultan; (d) to be at liberty to occupy any place in the Sultanʼs domains without trespassing on lands about the royal residence, except as a military necessity of war with a foreign Power; (e) not to interfere with the Mahometan religion, or its rites, or its customs; (f) not to travel about Sulu Island without the permission of the Sultan, who would provide an escort. (6) The American flag was to be used on land and at sea. (7) The Sulus were to be free to carry their native arms. (8) The Sultan was at liberty to collect tribute everywhere in his domains, and to have the right of direct intercourse with the American Gov.-General.

In consideration of the above, the Sultan undertook to maintain order between his Dattos, to repress internecine warfare, and gradually to abolish slavery throughout his jurisdiction.

Apparently the Sultan entered into the agreement much in the spirit of Mr. Micawber, who signed the I.O.U.ʼs and thanked God his debts were paid. The ruler of Sulu was not over-willing and far less able to give effect to its conditions, his power being more nominal than real in his own possessions, and in Mindanao almost nil. Nevertheless, it was a politic measure on the Americansʼ part, because its non-fulfilment opened the way for the adoption, with every appearance of justification, of more direct and coercive intervention in the affairs of this region. General Bates was succeeded by other generals in the command of this district, without any very visible progress towards definite pacification and subjection to civilization. The military posts on the coasts, evacuated by the Spaniards, were occupied by American troops and new ones were created, but every attempt to establish law and order beyond their limits, on the white manʼs system, was wasted effort. When the Spanish-American War broke out, the Spanish military authorities were on the point of maturing a plan for the final conquest of Mindanao. Due to the persistent activity of my old friend General González Parrado, they had already achieved much in the Lake Lanao district, through the Marahui campaign. On the evacuation of the Spaniards the unrestrained petty chiefs were like lions released from captivity. Blood-shed, oppression, extortion, and all the instinctive habits of the shrewd savage were again rife. A preconcerted plan of campaign brings little definite result; it never culminates in the attainment of any final issue, for, on the native side, there is neither union of tribes nor any combined organized attempt at even guerilla warfare, hence the destruction of a cotta or the decimation of a clan has no immediate and lasting moral effect on the neighbouring warlike tribe. Life is cheap among them; a Moro thinks no more about lopping off anotherʼs head than he does about pulling a cocoanut from the palm-tree. The chief abhors the white man because he interferes with the chiefʼs living by the labour of his tribe, and the tribesman himself is too ignorant even to contemplate emancipation. Subservience to the bidding of the wily Datto, poverty, squalidity, and tribal warfare for bravado or interest seem as natural to the Moro as the sight of the rising sun. Hence, when the Americans resolved to change all this and marched into the tribal territories for the purpose, the war-gongs rallied the fighting-men to resist the dreaded foe, unconscious of his mission of liberty under the star-spangled banner. The sorrows or the joys of one tribe are no concern of the other; thus there was seldom, if ever, any large combination of forces, and the Americans might be fighting hard in the Taraca country, or around the Lanao Lake, whilst the neighbouring clan silently and doggedly awaited its turn for hostilities. The signal for the fray would be the defiant reply of a chief to the Americansʼ message demanding submission, or a voluntary throwing down of the gauntlet to the invader, for the Moro is valiant, and knows no cringing cowardice before the enemy. Troops would be despatched to the cotta, or fortress, of the recalcitrant ruler, whence the lantaca cannon would come into action, whilst the surging mob of warriors would open fire in squads, or rush forward in a body, bárong or kris in hand, only to be mown down, or put to flight and the cotta razed to the ground. A detailed account of the military operations in these islands would be but a tedious recital of continuous struggles with the irresistible white man. In Mindanao, the Malanao tribes, occupying the northern regions around the Lake Lanao districts, seem to have offered the most tenacious resistance. On April 5, 1902, a fierce encounter with the Bacólod tribes ended with their fort being destroyed, 120 Moros killed, and 11 Americans wounded. In the following month the bloody battle of Bayan brought such disastrous results to the natives that they willingly accepted peace for the time being. In the Taraca River engagement, 10 cottas were destroyed, 250 Moros were killed, 52 were taken prisoners, and the booty amounted to 36 cannon and 60 rifles. The Moros possessed a large number of Remington rifles, looted from the Spaniards, on whom they had often made surprise raids. The Bacólod and the Taraca tribes, although frequently defeated, gave much trouble long after the other districts had been forced into submission.

One of the most exciting expeditions was that of Lieutenant Forsyth, who went out reconnoitring with 15 men, marching from Párang-Párang Camp northwards. Moros came to meet him on the way to warn him not to advance, but Forsyth bravely pushed on until his party, surrounded by hundreds of hostile natives, was almost all destroyed. Forsyth and his fellow-survivors fled into an unknown region, where they lost themselves, and all would have perished had they not been befriended by a Datto who enabled them to get back. Then Colonel (now Brig.-General) F. D. Baldwin set out from Malábang Camp in May, attacked and captured the cottas of the Datto of Binadáyan and the Sultan of Bayan on Lake Lanao, and gained a signal victory over them with a loss of seven killed and 44 wounded. Lieutenant Forsythʼs horses and rifles were recovered, and the Moros suffered so severely in this engagement that it was hardly thought they would rise again. In consequence of this humiliation of the great Sultan of Bayan, many minor Lake Dattos voluntarily cultivated friendly relations with the Americans. Even among the recalcitrant chiefs there was a lull in their previous activity until they suddenly swept down on the American troops twelve times in succession, killing four and wounding 12 of them. The whole Lanao Lake district was in a ferment when, on September 28, 1902, Captain John J. Pershing was detached from Baldwinʼs force to lead another expedition against them “composed of a battalion of the 7th Infantry, a troop of the 15th Cavalry, and two platoons of the 25th Field Artillery.”[3] Pershing inflicted such a crushing defeat on the Macui Moros, destroying many of their strongholds, one Sultan and a large number of his warriors, that he was hailed with delight as the pacifier of Mindanao. The expedition returned with a total loss of only two Americans wounded, and after Pershingʼs heroic exploit, not only was it in the mouth of every one, “there is peace in Mindanao,” but in the Report of the Secretary of War for 1902, p. 19, there is a paragraph beginning thus:—“Now that the insurrection has been disposed of we shall be able to turn our attention, not merely to the slave trade, but to the already existing slavery among the Moros.” But peace was by no means assured, and again Captain J. J. Pershing distinguished himself as the successful leader of an expedition in the Marahui district. Starting from Camp Vicars[4] on April 5, 1903, with 150 men, Maxim guns, mortars, and artillery, his instructions were to “explore” the north and west coast of Lake Lanao, but to overcome any opposition offered. It was quite expected that his progress would be challenged, hence the warlike preparations. Arrived at Súgud, the Moros kept up a constant fire from the hills on the American front. On the high ridge running down to the lake the Bacólod fort was clearly seen flying the battle flags of defiance. On the battlements there was a yelling crowd of Moros beating their gongs, rushing to and fro, flourishing their weapons, and firing their lantaca cannon towards the Americans; but the range was too great to have any effect. The artillery was brought into action, forcing many of the Moros to try their fortunes in the open; but again and again they were repulsed, and by nightfall the Bacólod ridge was occupied by the troops. The next morning the mortars were brought into play, and shells were dropped into the fort during all that day and night. On the third day Captain Pershing decided to storm the fort; bridges were constructed across the ravines, Maxim guns poured shot through the loopholes, and finally an assault party of 10 men rushed across the bridge and climbed the parapet, where they were met by the Moros, with whom they had a desperate hand-to-hand fight. It was a fine display of American pluck. The attacking party was quickly supported by more troops, who either killed or captured the defenders. Finally all the combustible portion of the fort was burnt to the ground, 12 cannon were captured, and about 60 Moros were slain. The demolition of Bacólod fort was a great surprise to the Moros, who had considered it impregnable, whilst the defeat of the savage Sultan (the Panandungan) destroyed for ever his former unlimited prestige among the tribe. The force was then divided, and before the troops reached camp again there were several smaller fights, including the bombardment of Calahui cotta. The distance traversed by this expedition was about 80 miles, the American losses being one man killed and two officers and 14 men wounded. For this signal victory the War Department cabled its thanks to Captain J. J. Pershing on May 11.

As to the management of the Moros, Captain J. J. Pershing expresses the following just opinion, viz.:—“As far as is consistent with advancement, a government by a Sultan, or a Datto, as the case may be, should be disturbed as little as possible; that is, the people should be managed through the Dattos themselves,” etc.[5]

The last general in command of the District of Mindanao, prior to the present constitution of the Moro Province, was Brig.-General Samuel Sumner, who, just before his departure therefrom, wrote as follows, viz.:—“Murder and robbery will take place as long as we are in the country, at least for years to come. The Moro is a savage, and has no idea of law and order as we understand it. Anarchy practically prevails throughout the region. To take power and control away from the Sultans and Dattos until we can inaugurate and put in force a better government would add to the confusion already existing.”[6]

The instructions of the President of the United States to the Philippine Commission, dated April 7, 1900, direct as follows, viz.:—“In dealing with the uncivilized tribes of the Islands the Commission shall adopt the same course followed by Congress in permitting the tribes of our North American Indians to maintain their tribal organizations and government, and under which many of those tribes are now living in peace and contentment, surrounded by a civilization to which they are unable or unwilling to conform.”

From the American point of view, but not from the Moro way of looking at things, an apparent state of anarchy prevailed everywhere; but the Sultans and the Dattos took very good care not to tolerate what, in Europe, one would term anarchy, tending to subvert the local rule. There is no written code of Moro justice. If a Moro stole a buffalo from another, and the case were brought before the judge, this functionary and the local chief would, by custom, expect to make some profit for themselves out of the dispute. The thief would have to pay a fine to the headman or go into slavery, but having no money he would have to steal it to purchase his freedom. The buffalo being the object of dispute would be confiscated, and to be even with the defendant for the loss of the buffalo, the plantiff would lop off the defendantʼs head if he were a man of means and could afford to pay 105 pesos fine for his revenge.

The real difficulty was, and still is, that there is no Sultan, or Datto, of very extended authority to lay hold of and subdue, and whose defeat or surrender would entail the submission of a whole district or tribe. The work of subjection has to be performed piecemeal among the hundreds of Dattos, each of whom, by established custom, can only act for himself and his own retainers, for every Datto would resent, at the risk of his life, any dictation from another. All this is extremely irritating to the white commander, who would prefer to bring matters to a definite crisis by one or more decisive contests, impossible of realization, however, in Mindanao or Sulu Islands.

Such was the condition of affairs in the southern extremity of the Archipelago when it was decided to appoint a Maj.-General to command it and create a semi-independent government for its local administration. Maj.-General Leonard Wood[7] was happily chosen for this arduous and delicate task, and on July 25, 1903, he took up his appointment, holding it for about two years, when he was transferred to Manila to command the Division in succession to Maj.-General Henry C. Corbin.

This region, now called the Moro Province, was established under Philippine Commission Act No. 787 of June 1, 1903 (which came into effect on July 15 following), and includes all Mindanao[8] except the larger portion of Misámis Province and all Surigao Province (N. and E.), which are under civil government,[9] the Joló (Sulu) Archipelago, the Tawi Tawi group, and all the islands south of Lat. 8° N., excepting therefrom Palaúan (Parágua) and Balábac Islands and the islands immediately adjacent thereto, but including the Island of Cagayán de Joló. The seat of government is at Zamboanga, the headquarters of the military district, whose commander (Maj.-General Wood) acted in the dual capacity (but not ex-officio) of military commander and President of the Legislative Council of the Moro Province, which was organized September 2, 1903, and is composed as follows, viz.:—

Legislative Council

Emolument

President, the Provincial Governor

$6,000 gold (if he be a civilian).[10]

Provincial Secretary

Not exceeding $4,000 gold

Provincial Treasurer

Provincial Attorney

Provincial Superintendent of Schools

Provincial Engineer

The Council has power to enact laws “by authority of and subject to annulment or amendment by the Philippine Commission,” and four members of the six constitute a quorum for legislative action. The Provincial Governor is responsible, and must report from time to time to the Gov.-General of the Philippines. The province is sub-divided into five governmental districts, and one sub-district under governors and lieut.-governor respectively.[11]

Districts

Emolument of Governor

Zamboanga (including Basilan Is.)

Not exceeding $3,500 gold if he be a civilian.

Joló (sulu) (including Tawi Tawi group)

Lanao (including Ylígan and Lake Lanao)

Cottabato (including Polloc)

Davao (including Cátil)

Dapítan (a sub-district of Zamboanga)

Not exceeding $2,000 gold, if he be a civilian.

Each district is controlled by a District Council composed of the governor, the secretary, and the treasurer. At present all the district governors are army officers.

Section 15 of the above Act No. 787 provides that governors and secretaries of districts must learn and pass an examination in the dialects of their localities within 18 months after taking office, or be subject to dismissal.

Under Philippine Commission Act No. 82, entitled “The Municipal Code,” amended in its application to the Moro Province by the Legislative Council of the Moro Province Act No. 35, of January 27, 1904, the Moro districts and sub-districts are furthermore sub-divided in the following manner, viz.:—

Municipalities are established in the district or sub-district capital towns, and wherever there is a population sufficiently large and enlightened to be entitled to municipal rights.[12] A president (mayor), vice-president, or councillor must be between twenty-six and sixty-five years of age, and must intelligently speak, read, and write Spanish, English, or the principal local dialect. Ecclesiastics, soldiers in active service, and persons receiving emolument from public funds are debarred from these offices. Every municipal officer must give a bond with two or more sureties equal to at least half of the amount of annual funds which will probably pass through his hands. The maximum salary of a president (mayor) is ₱1,200, and that of municipal secretary ₱600. Certain other officers are also paid, but the vice-presidency and councillorships are honorary posts. A person elected to office by the people is not permitted to decline it, except for certain reasons defined in the code, subject to a maximum penalty of six monthsʼ imprisonment. The mayorʼs symbol of office is a cane with a silver knob, plated ferrule, and black cord and tassels.

Natives whose habits and social condition will not yet permit their inclusion in a municipality are segregated into Tribal Wards[13] (Legislative Council Act No. 39, of February 19, 1904). The headman is generally the chief recognized by his race or people as such, and is immediately responsible to the district governor by whom he is appointed. His annual salary ranges from ₱240 to ₱1,800, and his badge of office is a baldric of red leather with a metal disc, bearing an impression of the Moro Province seal. He and his advisory council perform the usual municipal functions on a minor scale, and are permitted to “conform to the local customs of the inhabitants, unless such customs are contrary to law or repugnant to the usages or moral sense of civilized peoples.”

A Tribal Ward is furthermore divided into Tribal Ward Districts. The district headman is the deputy of the tribal ward headman to whom he is immediately responsible. His annual salary ranges from ₱96 to ₱600, and his badge of office is a baldric of yellow canvas with a metal disc as mentioned above. The tribal ward headmanʼs district deputies together constitute the police force of the whole ward. Tribal ward headmen and their district deputies are not required to give bond. At any time, on certain conditions, a member of a tribal ward can apply for full citizenship in a municipality. In short, the governmental system adopted is intended to raise the native progressively from savagery to municipal life.

The sources of Revenue are briefly as follows, viz:—

Provincial.—Property tax (⅞ per cent. of assessed value), industrial, cédula (poll tax of 1 peso for each male over 18 years), stamps, court fees, fines, sales of supplies to municipalities, and forestry collection.

Municipal.—Ownership and transfer of cattle, rents and profits, licences, fines and carts.

Customs Revenues in the five ports of entry, viz.:—Joló, Zamboanga, Cottabato, Siassi, and Bongao.

The Summary of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1904, stands thus:—

Revenue

Provincial Taxes and Forestry payments

₱114,713.66

Customs Revenue

222,664.39

₱337,378.05

Expenditure

Provincial

₱174,361.70

Appropriated for Public Works

26,181.76

Customs Expenses

53,170.62

Balance available

83,663.97

₱337,378.05

The maintenance of the Constabulary Force, Post Office Department, and Courts of First Instance in this Province is an Insular Government charge.

The revenue collected within the province (including the customs receipts) is spent therein. No remittance of funds is made to the Insular Treasury, but provincial accounts are subject to Insular Government audit, and have to be rendered to Manila.

The troops assigned to this command are as follows, viz.[14]:—

Armed Forces in the Moro Province.

Present and Absent.

Officers.

Troops.

Regular troops[15]

236

3,766

Contract and Dental Surgeons and attached Staff

25

—

Total American forces

261

3,766

Native troops

11

543

Total Strength, Military District

272

4,309

Philippine Constabulary (Moro and Christian mixed) under Civil Government orders

22

530

294

4,839

On General Woodʼs recommendation, the Bates Agreement (vide p. 571) was rescinded on the ground that it was an obstacle to good government. In truth, the Sultan of Sulu was probably quite as unable as he was unwilling to carry out its provisions. However, under Philippine Commission Act No. 1259 (amended by Act No. 1320 of April 12, 1905), certain small annual money allowances are made to the present Sultan of Sulu and his principal advisers.

In Mindanao, trouble again arose on the east shore of Lake Lanao, and an expedition was organized to march against the Taracas, who were, however, only temporarily subdued. Defiant messages were sent by the Dattos, and General Wood decided to conduct operations in person. According to private information given to me by officers in Mindanao some months after the battle, immense slaughter was inflicted on this tribe, whose cottas were annihilated, and they were utterly crushed for the time being. About the beginning of 1904 the depredations of the Moros in the upper valley of the Cottabato River were revolting beyond all toleration. Cottabato town was pillaged under the leadership of Datto Ali and of his brother, Datto Djimbangan. In March an expedition invested the Serenaya territory in the Cottabato district and operated from the 4th to the 14th of that month without any American casualties. Datto Aliʼs fort at Kudaran͠gan was taken and destroyed.[16] This formidable stronghold is described by General Wood thus:—“It was larger than twenty of the largest cottas of the Lake region or Sulu, and would have easily held a garrison of four or five thousand men. It was well located, well built, well armed, and amply supplied with ammunition. There were embrasures for 120 pieces of artillery. Eighty-five pieces were captured, among them many large cannon of from 3 inches to 5 ½ inches calibre. The other pieces in the work, small lantacas, were carried off or thrown into the river” (vide First Annual Report of the Moro Province).

Datto Ali thenceforth became a fugitive with some 60 armed followers and about a hundred others whom he pressed into his service as carriers. After the battle, Datto Djimbangan, Aliʼs brother, was taken unawares at his ranche by a detachment of American troops. He was conducted as a prisoner to Cottabato, and in February, 1905, he was transferred to the Zamboanga jail to await his trial for sedition and rebellion. Again the Taracas ventured on a series of attacks on the American military posts in the locality. A body of troops was despatched there in March, and after ten daysʼ operations this tribe was routed and dispersed, the American casualties being two men killed, one drowned, 10 wounded, and one officer slightly wounded. On May 8 a party of 39 men and two officers, reconnoitring about Simbalan, up the Cottabato Valley, was attacked, 13 men being killed, two taken prisoners, six wounded, and the two officers killed. It would appear that the guides were conducting the party safely, when a lieutenant insisted on taking another route and landed his troops in a plateau covered with cogon (pampas-grass) about eight feet high. On emerging from this they all got into a stream, where the Moros suddenly fell upon them. The punitive Simpetan Expedition immediately set out for that district and successfully operated from the 13th to the 28th of May without any American casualties. Datto Ali, who was again on the warpath, is the son-in-law of old Datto Piang, the terror of the neighbourhood in his younger days and also just after the evacuation by the Spaniards. Ali declared that he would not yield to the Americans one iota of his independence, or liberate his slaves, and swore vengeance on all who went in his pursuit. Being the hereditary Datto, the inhabitants of the valley generally sympathized with him, at least passively. In the latter half of 1904, constant endeavour was made to effect the capture of this chieftain, whilst old Datto Piang, the son of a Chinaman with a keen eye to business, supplied the Americans with baggage-carriers at a peso a day per man for the troops sent to hunt down his refractory son-in-law. Active operations were sustained against him, and from the military posts of Malábang (formerly a Moro slave-market) and Párang-Párang on the Illana Bay coast there were continually small punitive parties scouring the district here and there. At the former camp I was the guest of the genial Colonel Philip Reade, in command of the 23rd Infantry, when Lieutenant C. R. Lewis was brought in wounded from a Cottabato River sortie. Colonel Reade, whose regiment had had about the roughest work of any in the Island, had certainly inspired his men with the never-know-when-you-are-beaten spirit, for the report of a reverse set them all longing to be the chosen ones for the next party. But up to July, 1905, Datto Ali had been able to elude capture, although General Wood personally conducted operations against him a year before, establishing his headquarters at Cabacsalan, near the Lake Ligusan.

The most ferocious and arrogant Mindanao tribes occupy regions within easy access of the coast. Perhaps their character is due to their having led more adventurous lives by land and sea for generations, plundering the tribes of the interior and making slave raids in their vintas on the northern islands and christian native coast settlements. In the centre of the Island and around the mountainous region of the Apo the tribes are more peaceful and submissive, without desire or means for warfare. Many of the Bagobo tribe (which I have twice visited), in the neighbourhood of Davao, have come down to settle in villages under American protection, paying only an occasional visit to their tribal territory to make a human sacrifice.

In Basílan Island, a dependency of Zamboanga, about 13 miles distant, Datto Pedro Cuevas accepted the new situation, and under his influence peace was assured among the large Moro population of that island. The history of this manʼs career bristles with stirring episodes. Born in 1845, of Tagálog parentage, he started life as a Cavite highwayman, but was captured and deported to the agricultural colony of San Ramón, near Zamboanga, where he, with other convicts, attacked and killed three of the European overseers, and Cuevas escaped to Basílan Island. After innumerable difficulties, involving the conquest of a score of villages, he gained the control of a large number of Yacan Moros and became a sort of chief. Some years afterwards the Moros organized an attack on the Christians at Zamboanga and Isabela de Basílan, and Cuevas offered to save the Spaniards on condition of receiving a full pardon. Two Spaniards were accordingly sent as hostages to Cuevasʼ camp, and after Isabela was freed of the enemy he came to see the Spanish governor. There were several Spaniards present at the interview, and it is related that one of them let slip a phrase implying doubt as to Cuevasʼ worthiness for pardon, whereupon the undaunted chief remarked, “Sir, I thought I had won my liberty, seeing that, but for me, you would not be alive to accord it.” Thenceforth he was always a reliable ally of the Spaniards against Moro incursions. In 1882 Cuevas was opposed by an arrogant Sulu chief, Datto Calun, who challenged him to single combat, and Cuevas having slain his adversary, the tribe of the vanquished warrior, admiring the conquerorʼs valour, proclaimed him their Datto, which title was acknowledged by Datto Aliudi, the claimant to the Sulu Sultanate. On July 6, 1904, his graceful daughter Urang was married, with Mahometan rites, to a twenty-one-year-old Spanish half-caste, Ramón Laracoechea, who was introduced to me by his father, a very pleasant Vizcayan, resident in the Island since 1876. Educated in Manila, the son speaks English, Spanish, Yacano and Joloáno. The festivities lasted for several days, some Americans being among the invited guests. Shortly after this event the Datto, at the age of fifty-nine years, ended his adventurous career in this world, regretted by all. In expectation of the demise of Datto Cuevas, which was anticipated months before, there were three aspirants to the coming vacant dattoship in the persons of the son-in-law, Ramón, Cuevasʼ nephew, and an American of humble origin and scant education who had married a Zamboangueña woman.

In Sulu Island social conditions were most deplorable. Under the Bates Agreement the Moros became turbulent, and even attempted to take Joló town by assault. In August, 1903, General Wood went there, and the Dattos having been invited to meet him, quite a crowd of them came, accompanied by about 600 fighting-men in a splendid fleet of armed vintas (war-canoes). Precautions had to be taken against possible treachery, and a company of troops was brought into the town in readiness for any event. The object of the meeting was to discuss the respective limits of the Dattosʼ spheres, but owing to the haughty, insolent tone of the chiefs, nothing definite was arrived at. When they were invited to state their claims, they arrogantly replied, “We have no information to give. You say you are going to define our limits—well, what have you to tell us? We come to listen, not to talk.” Some chiefs, however, feigned to offer their submission, and all was apparently quiet for a time.

Major Hugh L. Scott (14th Cavalry) was then appointed (in September) to the government of that district. The Sultan being too weak to control his subordinates, many of them rallied their men and independently defied all interference with their old mode of living and rule. The Sultan, not unnaturally, was averse to ceding his sovereign rights to any one, and he and his Dattos obstructed, as far as they could, the Americansʼ endeavours to better the conditions of the people. Every few days a juramentado (vide pp. 146, 150) would enter the town and attack a white man with his bárong in broad daylight. There was nothing furtive in his movements, no hiding under cover to take his victim unawares, but a straight, bold frontal attack. Bárong in hand, a Moro once chased a soldier though the street, upstairs into a billiard-room, and down the other steps, where he was shot dead by a sentinel. At another time a juramentado obtained access into the town by crawling through a drain-pipe, and chased two soldiers until he was killed. Many Americans were wounded in the streets of Joló, but the aggressors were always pursued to death. Petty hostilities, attacks and counter-attacks, the sallies of punitive parties to avenge some violence committed, and the necessity for every individual in the town, civil or military, being armed and always alert, made life there one of continual excitement and emotion.

Panglima Hassan of Sulu (Central figure).

In November, 1903, the attitude of the Dattos became very menacing. Datto Andong actually cut a trench just outside the walled town of Joló as a base of operations against the Americans. It was evident that an important rising of chiefs was contemplated. Major Scott having called upon the biggest chief, Panglima[17] Hassan, to present himself and account for the murder of an American survey party, he came with a large force, estimated at about 4,000, well armed, as far as the town walls. He said he wanted to enter the town with a suite of only 700 armed men, including his subordinate Dattos. Finally Major Scott agreed to his entry with 70 warriors, but still the position was threatening with Hassanʼs army in the vicinity. During the interview Panglima Hassan appeared quite friendly; indeed, whilst he and the major were riding together, the chief, perceiving that his host was unarmed, gallantly remarked, “As you are without arms I will relinquish mine also,” and at once took off his bárong and handed it to his attendant. In the meantime Major Scott had sent a request to General Wood for more troops, but the general, who had only just finished his Taraca operations, replied that he would come to Joló himself. Almost simultaneously with his arrival in Zamboanga the general had the satisfaction to receive a message from the Taraca Datto offering his submission, and asking to be judged according to the Koran. On General Woodʼs arrival with troops in Joló a demand was made on Panglima Hassan to surrender. After protracted negotiations and many insolent messages from Hassan, the general led his troops down to Lake Seite, where an engagement took place, leaving 60 dead Moros on the field. Panglima Hassan, pursued from place to place, lost many warriors at every halt, the total being estimated at 400 to 500. Cottas were razed to the ground, and the notorious Panglima Hassan himself was captured on November 14, with a loss, so far, of one soldier killed and five wounded on the American side. Panglima Hassan was being escorted into Joló town by Major Scott and other officers when suddenly the chief, pointing towards a native-built house, begged the major to save his family. Moved by compassion and influenced by Hassanʼs previous friendly attitude, the major generously consented, and as they all approached the entrance, in an instant out rushed the “family”—a mob of armed Moros, who attacked the officers whilst the Panglima made his escape. Poor Major Scott was so badly cut about on his hands that he had to go into hospital for four months, and I noticed that he had had one left-hand finger and two right-hand half-fingers amputated. Unable to handle any kind of weapon, in March, 1904, he led his troops against the cunning Datto, who sent out a large body of fighting-men to meet him. After several attacks were repelled, Panglima Hassan took to flight, his followers all the time decreasing in numbers until, with only 80 men, the chief sought refuge in his cotta at Pang-Pang, the strongest fortress in the Island. Breaches were made in it, and Hassan fled for his life on a swift pony, with only two retainers, to the crater of an extinct volcano, which was quickly surrounded by the Americans. Each time a head appeared above the crater edge a volley was fired, but the wounded chief still bravely held out and hit some soldiers before he died, riddled by bullets, on March 4.

A Mindanao Datto and Suite

Again, in May, 1905, Datto Pala, of Sulu Island, with a large following, threatened Joló town, and General Wood personally led the expedition against this chief. Eight miles from Maybun the Moros had dug pits and placed wires to impede the Americansʼ advance, but, notwithstanding these obstacles, the enemy was vigorously attacked and surrounded near the Maybun Lake, three miles from the town. After several daysʼ desperate fighting the cotta of Lumbo was captured, and the Datto and his men were vanquished, the losses being about seven Americans killed, about 20 wounded, and over 250 Moros killed.

In June, 1904, Datto Ambutong had a dispute with another about the possession of some property, and on Major Scott being appealed to in the matter, he ordered Ambutong to appear before him in Joló for a bichâra (judicial inquiry). The Datto, in a sulky mood, at first refused to come, but on further pressure he changed his mind. Early in the morning of the appointed day a friendly chief, Datto Timbang, came into town with four retainers, all armed, to see the Governor. Major Scott, whose guest I was, kindly invited me to the interview, during which it transpired that Datto Timbang had heard Ambutong declare he would come to the bichâra, but he would not leave it without taking heads. Datto Timbang added that he too desired to attend the bichâra with his bodyguard, resolved to slay Ambutong if he observed any threatening move on his part. The major made no objection, and at the appointed hour four of us—my gallant host, Major Barbour, Captain Charles and myself—went to the bichâra at the Governorʼs office in town. The Governor (i.e., the major) sat at his desk, and we other three took seats just behind him. Before us were the Datto Ambutong, his opponent in the question at issue, and, a yard off him, the friendly Datto Timbang and his followers, each with his hand on his bárong, ready to cut down Ambutong at a stroke if need be. Whilst the case was being heard, Hadji Butu, the Sultanʼs Prime Minister, and Sultan Tattarassa, of Parágua Island, the latter afflicted with locomotor ataxy, came in, saluted us all, and took seats. The business ended, Datto Ambutong rose from his stool, gave his hand to the major, and then walked to the back of him to salute us. I thought I should like to handle the beautiful bárong which was to have served him in taking heads. The Datto complaisantly allowed me to draw it from the sheath and pass it round to my friends. Sharp as a razor, it was the finest weapon of the class I had ever touched. The handle was of carved ivory and Camagon wood (vide p. 314), the whole instrument being valued at quite $100. Datto Timbang was watching, and the occasion was not a propitious one for taking christian blood.

The following translation of a letter which Major Hugh L. Scott courteously gave me will serve to illustrate how lightly human life is appreciated by the Moro.

This letter from your son, His Highness Datto Mohammed Dahiatul Kalbi, to my father, the Governor of Sulu, Major Scott, and to my younger brother, Sali.

I want to inform you that at 7 oʼclock in the morning of Saturday, we had a fight with Tallu. I have taken his head, but if you will allow it, I will bury it, if my father will let me do that, because he is an Islam and I would commit an offence. It scared my wife very much when she looked at the head in my house. Those that are dead were Sadalani, Namla, Muhamad, and Salui. Beyond that I have not investigated.

With greetings to my father and to my younger brother, I beg you, my younger brother, to let me bury the head, if my father does not feel bad about it. If our father should not believe that the head is there, come to our house and see yourself, so to be sure. I would not soil the faith my father has in me. To close I herewith send the kris of Orang Kaya Tallu. The end of the pen. Sunday, February 23, 1904.

Whilst I was in Zamboanga in June, 1904, Datto Pedro Cuevas, of Basílan Island, sent a message over to say that there would be no more trouble with certain pirates who had been caught, as he had cut off their heads.

It would fill a volume to recount the legends of the sharks near Cagayán de Joló which wreck ships; the Moro who heard the voice of Allah rising from a floating cocoanut to urge him to denounce the Sultanʼs evil ways; the new prophet who could point at any object and make it disappear, and a hundred other superstitious extravagances.

Joló (vide p. 149), one of the prettiest places on earth, has been improved since the American occupation. Apart from the many new buildings erected for military convenience, there is now a fine jetty with a tramway, a landing-stage for small vessels, a boysʼ and a girlsʼ school, some new residences, etc. The municipality is under the presidency of a military officer, and the clean, orderly aspect of the town is evidence of Anglo-Saxon energy in its administration. In 1904 there was only one drinking-saloon, kept by a Bohemian-born American, who paid $6,000 a year for his monopoly licence. Much to the disgust of the military, a society of well-intentioned temperance ladies in America procured the prohibition of alcohol-selling in military canteens and Post Exchanges. The eastern extremity of Joló is appropriated for military purposes, and on the rising ground is situated the stabling for the cavalry horses. There is a large military hospital, well appointed, and a club-house for whites, overlooking the picturesque harbour. Outside the town walls towards the west the dwellings of natives, chiefly from other islands in their origin, extend about a mile as far as Tulay, where the Sultan has a residence. On the way one passes through the little square, in the centre of which stands a monument erected to commemorate the landing here of Gov.-General Corcuera, April 17, 1638. During my last visit to Joló I called upon His Highness the Sultan at Tulay, accompanied by the civil interpreter, Mr. J. Schück, whose late father I had known many years before.[18] Tulay signifies bridge in Tagálog, and probably this place derives its name from the bridge spanning the rivulet, which forms a natural division between this village and the Joló ex-mural western suburb. Just across the bridge, in most unattractive surroundings, stands a roofed rough pile of wooden planks—the residence of the Sultan. At a few paces to the left of it one sees another gloomy structure, smaller and more cheerless than the royal abode—it is the domicile of Hadji Butu, the Sultanʼs Prime Minister.

Passing through the ground-floor, which serves as a vestibule and storehouse for nondescript rubbish, I was met by several armed Moros who conducted me up a dark staircase, the lid of which, at the top, was raised to admit me to the royal presence. His Highness, the Majasari Hadji Mohammad Jamalul Kiram, reclining on a cane-bottomed sofa, graciously smiled, and extending his hand towards me, motioned to me to take the chair in front of him, whilst Mr. Schück sat on the sofa beside the Sultan. His Highness is about thirty-six years of age, short, thick set, wearing a slight moustache and his hair cropped very close. With a cotton sárong around his loins, the nakedness of his body down to the waist was only covered by jábul (vide p. 146) thrown loosely over him. Having explained that I was desirous of paying my respects to the son of the great Sultan whose hospitality I had enjoyed years ago at Maybun, I was offered a cigar and the conversation commenced. Just at that moment came the Prime Minister, who spoke a little English, and at the back of me, facing the Sultan, stood his trusted warriors in semi-circle, attired in fantastic garments and armed to the teeth. From time to time a dependent would come, bend the knee on the royal footstool and present the buyo box, or a message, or whatever His Highness called for. The footstool attracted my curiosity, and my eye was fixed on it for a while until I could decipher the lettering, which was upside down. At last I made it out—“Van Houtenʼs Cocoa.” The audience-chamber needs no minute description; it can be all summed up in bare boards, boxes, bundles, weapons, dirt, a dilapidated writing-desk, a couple of old chairs, and the Sultanʼs sofa-seat. Of course the Sultan had a grievance. The Americans, he said, had appropriated his pearl-fisheries, his tribute-money, and other sources of valuable income; they were diverting the taxes payable to him into their own coffers, with detriment to his estate and his dignity as a ruler.[19] The questions in dispute and his position generally were, he added, to be discussed between him and the Insular Government in Manila in the following month. Naturally, the study of the man and his surroundings interested me far more than conversation on a subject which was not my business. Speaking with warmth, at every gesture the jábul would slide down to his waist, exposing his bare breast, so that perhaps I saw more of the Majasari than is the privilege of most European visitors. On leave-taking His Highness graciously presented me with a handsome Moro dress-sword and a betel-cutter set in a solid silver handle, and, in return, I sent him my portrait from Manila.

Exactly a month after my visit, the Sultan, accompanied by Major Scott, the Governor and Commander of Joló, came and made a short stay in Manila, where he was conducted around town and to the presence of the authorities. Many valuable presents were officially made to him, together with ₱5,000 pocket-money to console him for the postponement sine die of the “settlement” question. Driving round in wagonettes, his retinue saw the sights of the capital and made their purchases, but the Sultan himself was strictly guarded from pressmen and others who might give local publicity to his claims.

Americaʼs policy with regard to the Sultan of Sulu and all other Sultans and Dattos, as expounded to me by the best American authorities, is as clear as crystal. They wish all these petty potentates were elsewhere; but as that cannot be, they must be shorn of all power, princely dignity being out of harmony with American institutions. Nevertheless, they can call themselves what they like among their own people, provided that in their relations with the Government of the Islands they are to be simple citizens with dominion over their own personal property, but not over that of others. There is to be no sovereign power, great or small, other than American, and tribal wards are to supersede dattoships. The Dattos are more numerous than Continental barons, and of varying grades, from the Panglima Hassan type, possessor of fortresses, commander of 5,000 men, down to the titular lord of four score acres who lounges in the village, in filthy raiment, closely followed by two juveniles, the one carrying his bright metal buyo box, in case he needs a quid, and the other the bearer of the bárong, lest he must assert his dignity by force. America has decreed that from these and all their compeers the Philippines are to be preserved.

In November, 1903, the District Governor of Zamboanga summoned the Manguiguin, or Sultan of Mindanao (vide p. 131), and all the Dattos in his district to attend a durbar. The aged Sultan very reluctantly responded to the call, and, accompanied by his Prime Minister, Datto Ducalat, and a large retinue, the royal party came in about 250 armed vintas. When they were within a few miles of the port they sent a message to ask if they would be allowed to salute with their lantacas, and the reply being in the affirmative, they entered the harbour with great éclat, amidst the booming of a hundred cannon. Interpreters put off to meet them and escorted them to the landing-stage, where the District Governor waited to receive them. The Sultan wore a gorgeous turban, a royal sárong worked in thread of gold, and shoes with similar adornments. On landing, the old prince, trembling from top to toe, with despairing glance clutched the arm of the Governor for protection. Never before had he seen the great city of Zamboanga; he was overcome and terrified by its comparative grandeur, and possibly by the imposing figure of the six-foot Governor himself. The police had to be called out to restrain the mobs who watched his arrival. On the other hand, as the Sultans, the Dattos and their suites together numbered about 600, and from other places by land about 400 more had come, all armed, many of the townspeople, with traditional dread, shut themselves up in their houses, believing that such a vast assemblage of Moros might, at any moment, commence a general massacre. It is well known that the question of public security did engage the attention of the American authorities, for the gathering was indeed a formidable one, and at the moment General Wood was in Sulu Island, leading his troops against Panglima Hassan. All the available forces were therefore held in readiness to meet any emergency. With faltering footsteps and shaking like an aspen leaf, the Manguiguin, followed by his Dattos, approached the double lines of soldiers with fixed bayonets stationed on the quay. There was a pause; the Sultan, who in his youthful days had known no fear, now realized the folly of walking into the jaws of death. But the Governor assured him, through the interpreters, that he was doing him the greatest honour that could be rendered to any prince or to the great president of the greatest republic. Only half convinced and full of suspicion, the Sultan walked on in a daze, as though he were going to his last doom. Having emerged safely from this peril, the great durbar was held, and lasted some hours. This was followed by a reception at the Army and Navy Club, where a throne was erected under a canopy for the Sultan, with seats of honour around it for the chief Dattos. The reception over, the royal party was conducted to where waggons and teams awaited them to take them to a suburb at the foothills of the great sierra. The Governor purposely had the biggest American horses and the largest vehicles brought out to make an impression. The Sultan point blank refused to enter the waggon. He had run the gauntlet through rows of pointed steel, and now new horrors awaited him. Perfectly bewildered at the sight of such enormous animals, he turned piteously to his Prime Minister and invited him to lead the way. “I will follow your Highness,” the minister discreetly replied, but the muscular Governor, Captain John P. Finley, ended the palaver by gently lifting the Sultan into the vehicle, whilst he himself immediately entered it, and the timorous Prime Minister and suite summoned up courage to follow. During the drive the Governor gave the word to the teamsters to detach the forecarriages on reaching the foothills and let the teams go. To the great amazement of the Moro chiefs, the waggons suddenly became stationary, whilst the released horses galloped on ahead! The Sultan and his suite glanced at each other speechless with fright. Surely now their last day had come! So this was the trick treacherously prepared for them to segregate them from their fighting-men! But the teams were caught again, and the waggons brought them safely back to the sight of the port and the vintas. Allah had turned the hearts of the great white men and rescued his chosen people in the hour of imminent danger. The durbar was continued day by day until every point had been discussed. Meanwhile the Sultan and suite daily returned to their vintas afloat to eat, drink, and sleep, whilst in the town of Zamboanga the christian natives quaked, and crowds of Moros perambulated the streets in rich and picturesque costumes, varying in design according to the usage of their tribes. Before the departure of the royal visitor the troops were formed up, military evolutions were performed with clockwork precision, and volley after volley was fired in the air. The Sultan declared he could never receive the Governor with such splendour, but he wanted him to promise to return his visit. It was not politic, however, to agree to do so. And the Sultan and his people left, passing once more through lines of troops with bayonets fixed, this time with a firmer step than when they landed, thanking the Great Prophet for their happy deliverance from what had appeared to them a dreamland of dreadful novelty.

The Manguiguin of Mindanao was indeed “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” for in the days of his decrepitude he was jilted by the widow of Utto (vide p. 143), the once celebrated Cottabato Datto, the idol of the Christian-haters.

Education is one of the chief concerns of the Moro Province Government. The efforts of the School Department, up to June 30, 1904, will be understood from the following official statistics, viz.[20]:—

Teachers employed—15 Americans, 50 Christian Filipinos, and nine Mahometan Filipinos.

41 Schools were established.

2,114 Children were on the school rolls.

1,342 Christian children attended on average.

240 Moro children attended on average.

₱46,898.17 were expended in the School Department, of which ₱28,355.09 were disbursed in Zamboanga District.

Besides the public schools, the Jesuits are permitted to continue their excellent work of civilization and education in their own schools wherever they have a mission established.

According to Moro custom the fruit of a manʼs labour belongs to the Datto who gives the man a subsistence. The Americans are teaching the man that the fruit of his labour is his own, and, for that purpose, market-places are established at many centres on the coast with the hope of inculcating free-labour notions, so that the seller can get cash for his goods and keep it. I visited three of these markets on the south coast of Mindanao, and also the one in course of construction at Zamboanga (ward of Magay), where Governor John P. Finley was putting his heart and soul into his scheme for creating an important Moro Exchange. By Legislative Council Act No. 55, the sum of ₱1,850 was appropriated for its construction, and the Governor had succeeded in persuading the Moros themselves to contribute ₱1,300 towards its completion. The Moros are urged to come in their produce-laden vintas and occupy the stalls erected for them in the large commodious market-shed, which has accommodation for carts and cattle if need be. Boats of less than 15 tons gross are free of tax, licence, or documents (Phil. Com. Act No. 1354, of June 15, 1905). Whenever any trouble arises up the coast the Governorʼs official vinta is despatched, manned by Moros, under the command of the Governorʼs messenger, Hadji Nuño, a parvenu Datto whose name reveals his Spanish origin.

Everything within the powers of the Legislative Council of the Moro Province seems to have been done to introduce law, order, and administrative uniformity, constrain violence, propagate knowledge and set the inhabitants on the path of morality and prosperity. The result of a centuryʼs labour, at the present rate of development, might, however, be achieved in a decade if the Insular Government had authority from Washington to relax the rigidity of the “Philippines for the Filipinos” doctrine in the special case of the Moro Province. It is true the Moros are as much Filipinos as the rest of the Philippine inhabitants, but it will be generations before they can know how to enjoy their birthright without the example of energetic white men who are, naturally, unwilling to come and philanthropically devote their lives to “pulling the chestnuts out of the fire” for the Moro. They want to reap some material advantage for themselves. Gen. Leonard Wood, in his First Annual Report of the Moro Province, remarks:—“What is needed to develop this portion of the world is a suitable class of settlers, bringing with them knowledge of modern agricultural methods, enterprise and some capital.... If he (the Moro) could see the results ... it is believed that his ambition would be stimulated and that his development would be comparatively rapid. In short, a scattering of good agriculturists throughout the province would be of inestimable value to the people. At the present time such a class of settlers is not coming, and it is not believed they will come until much more liberal inducements are offered them, especially in the way of obtaining land by settlement. Our standing among the people of these Islands has been much injured by the presence of a large and tough class of so-called Americans whose energies have been principally extended in the construction, maintenance and patronage of rum shops, which outnumber other American business establishments.”

The American who would go to Mindanao to settle on 40 acres of land could not be of the class desired.[21] A maximum of 1,000 acres to an individual settler and 10,000 acres to a company of not less than five persons, would produce a rapid and beneficial development of Mindanao and push on its civilization by giant strides. There would be little fear of the nativesʼ rights being unduly encroached upon by whites if, in addition to the Homestead Law conditions, the period of application for land were limited to two or three years from the promulgation of the law, with solid guarantees to prevent a flood of bogus applications from land-grabbers. The Treasurer, in his First Annual Report of the Moro Province, says:—“It is not reasonable to expect, under present conditions, any systematic effort on their (the Morosʼ) part to cultivate the soil, as they know, as well as the powers that be, that they have no assurance that the land they will improve to-day will be theirs to-morrow. They have title to not one foot of land, and no guarantee from the Government that present improvements will be theirs when they are finally settled by the former. A liberal land law will also bring an influx of settlers and capital.... It will not only make this province the richest part of the Philippine Islands and the State the beneficiary, but it will remove the necessity for the soldier in the field. No other legislation is going to improve financial conditions here to any extent. There is no doubt the Government land unsettled and untouched in this province amounts to 90 per cent. of all the tillable land, and equals in area and excels in richness that of all the tillable land of Luzon.”

The District of Davao is far more developed agriculturally than the other four. Planters whom I know personally are opening up land and producing large quantities of hemp, giving employment to Bagobos and others, but without any certainty about the possession of the land. Inexhaustible forests of fine timber remain undisturbed, and are left to decay in the ordinary course of nature, whilst shiploads of Oregon pine arrive for public works. My attendance at the public conferences on the timber-felling question, before the Philippine Commission in Manila, did not help me to appreciate the policy underlying the Insular Governmentʼs apparent reluctance to stimulate the development of the timber industry; indeed, it is not easy to follow the working of the “Philippines for the Filipinos” policy in several details.

In 1904 General Wood recommended to the Philippine Commission the incorporation of the present provinces of Misámis and Surigao in the Moro Province, seeing that the people of those provinces and the Moro Province belong to the same races and have identical interests. As it is, the hill tribes of Misámis find themselves between two jurisdictions, and have to pass nearly a hundred miles through the Moro Province to reach the sea coast—an anomaly which will no doubt be rectified by including the whole Island of Mindanao in the Moro Province.

The American Governmentʼs abstinence from proselytism in dealing with the Moros is more likely to succeed than Spainʼs well-meant “policy of attraction” adopted in the last years of her rule, for whatever progress this system made was counterbalanced by the futile endeavour to induce the Mahometans to change their religion. Under the wise administration set in progress by General Leonard Wood there is a hopeful future for Moroland.

[1] Hadji signifies Knight, a title which any Mahometan can assume after having made the pilgrimage to Mecca.

[2] The Americans occupied and the Spaniards evacuated Joló on May 20, 1899.

[3] Vide Report of the Secretary of War for 1902, p. 18.

[4] Camp Vicars is said to have an elevation of 2,000 feet above the sea. Lake Lanao is reputed to be 1,500 feet above sea-level.

[5] Vide Captain J. J. Pershingʼs Report to the Adjutant-General in Manila, dated Camp Vicars, Mindanao, May 15, 1903.

[6] Vide Brig.-General Sumnerʼs Report to the Adjutant-General in Manila, dated Zamboanga, Mindanao, June 13, 1903.

[7] Maj.-General Leonard Wood, born October 9, 1860, was a doctor of medicine by profession. On the outbreak of war with Spain he was appointed Colonel of the First Volunteer Cavalry in Cuba, with Mr. Roosevelt (now the United States President) as Lieut.-Colonel. At the close of the war he was promoted to Brig.-General, and on December 13, 1899, received the appointment of Military Governor of Cuba, which he held until the government of that island was transferred to Señor Palma Estrada, the first President of the Cuban Republic. To his brilliant reputation for statesmanship gained in the Antilles, General Wood has now added the fame of a successful organizer of the Southern Philippines. Beloved by his subordinates, his large-hearted geniality wins him the admiration of all who know him, and even the respect of the savage whom he had to coerce.

[8] Mindanao, the name of this southern island, signifies “Man of the Lake.”

[9] The limits and area of that portion of the Island under civil government are defined in Philippine Commission Acts Nos. 127 and 128, amended by Act No. 787. It is approximately all that land north of 8° N. lat. and east of 123° 34′ E. long.

[10] Under the above-cited Act No. 787, any military officer, from the commander of the district downwards, holding concurrent civil office in the province receives his army pay, plus 20 per cent, of the same as remuneration for his civil service. The combined emolument of a major-general as military commander and provincial governor would, therefore, be $9,000 gold.

[11] Under Spanish rule the Moro country was divided thus:—Seven districts, namely, Zamboanga, Misámis, Surigao, Davao, Cottabato, Basílan, and Lanao, all under the Gov.-General of Mindanao. Joló was ruled independently of Mindanao under another governor.

[12] Up to June 30, 1904, there was a total of 12 municipalities organized.

[13] Philippine Commission Act No. 787, Section 13, Clause II, provides that the Moro Government is to “vest in their local or tribe rulers as nearly as possible the same authority over the people as they now exercise.” Clause L: “To enact laws for the abolition of slavery, and the suppression of all slave-hunting and slave trade.”

[14] From a statement kindly furnished to me by the Military and Provincial Governor, Maj.-General Leonard Wood, June, 1904.

[15] At Malábang about 500, at Párang-Párang 205, and at Joló 744.

[16] Kudaran͠gan Cotta was situated on the north bank of the Rio Grande. Datto Piangʼs fort stands at the junction of this river and the Bacat River. Fort Reina Regente, established in this neighbourhood, was the most inland Spanish stronghold in Mindanao, and was at one period in Spanish times garrisoned by 800 to 1,000 convict troops (disciplinarios).

[17] Panglima signifies General, or Chief of Warriors.

[18] The father of Mr. J. Schück was a German sea captain, who got into trouble with the Spaniards because he traded directly with the Sultan of Sulu. His ship and all he possessed were seized, and Captain Schück decided to settle in the Island under the protection of the Sultan. He took a Mora wife, became a very prosperous planter, and the Spaniards were eventually only too glad to cultivate his friendship. He died in 1887, leaving three sons; one is the gentleman mentioned above, another is the military interpreter, and the third manages the fine property and trading interests of the family. Mr. J. Schückʼs two sisters-in-law are Moras.

[19] Vide Legislative Council Act No. 51, relative to the Pearl Fisheries, in which the Sultan claims hereditary right. Also “Annual Report of Maj.-General George W. Davis, 1903,” containing Colonel W. M. Wallaceʼs report to the Adjutant-General to the effect that at Cagayán de Joló, on May 21, 1903, he gave instructions that the Sultanʼs emissaries were not to be allowed to collect the customary ₱5 per capita of tribute.

[20] Vide Report of the Moro Province for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1904.

[21] Under the Homestead Law, 39.54 acres of Government land may be acquired by any citizen of the Philippine Islands or of the United States, and 2,530 acres by a corporation. The grant or sale of such land is subject to occupancy and cultivation of the acreage for a period of not less than five years, and during that period the purchaser or grantee cannot alienate or encumber the land or the title thereto. Six consecutive monthsʼ absence from the land, during the above period of five years, cancels the grant. The land granted under this Act cannot be seized for debt contracted prior to the grant. Many applications have already been made for land under this Act.

The Spanish Friars, After 1898

The Aglipayan Schism. Education. Politics. Population.

With the American dominion came free cult. No public money is disbursed for the support of any religious creed. No restraint is placed upon the practice of any religion exercised with due regard to morality. Proselytism in public schools is declared illegal.[1] The prolonged discussion of the friarsʼ position and claims encouraged them to hope that out of the labyrinthine negotiations might emerge their restoration to the Philippine parishes. For a while, therefore, hundreds of them remained in Manila, others anxiously watched the course of events from their refuges in the neighbouring British and Portuguese colonies, and the unpopular Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda only formally resigned the archbishopric of Manila years after he had left it. Having prudently retired from the Colony during the Rebellion, he returned to it on the American occupation, and resumed his archiepiscopal functions until the end of 1899. Preliminary negotiations in Church matters were facilitated by the fact of the Military Governor of the Islands at the time being a Roman Catholic, an American army chaplain acting as chief intermediary between the lay and ecclesiastical authorities. The common people were quite unable, at the outset, to comprehend that under American law a friar could be in their midst without a shred of civil power or jurisdiction. There were Filipinos of all classes, some in sympathy with the American cause, who were as loud in their denunciation of the proposed return of the friars as the most intransigent insurgents. They thought of them most in their lay capacity of de facto Government agents all over the Islands. It cannot be said that the parish priests originally sought to discharge civil functions; they did so, at first, only by order of their superiors, who were the de facto rulers in the capital, and afterwards by direct initiative of the lay authorities, because the Spanish Government was too poor to employ civil officials. What their functions were is explained in Chapter xii. The complaints of the people against the friars constituted the leading theme of Dr. Rizalʼs writings, notably his “Noli me tángere,” and the expulsion of the four obnoxious Religious Orders is claimed to have been one of the most important reforms verbally promised in connexion with the alleged Treaty of Biac-na-bató. The allegation of the prelates and other members of the regular clergy who gave evidence before the American Civil Commission in 1900, to the effect that the Katipunan Society members invaded the parishes only to murder the friars and rob the churches, should be weighed against the fact that two hundred thousand Filipinos were ready to leave glowing life for grim death to rid the country of monastic rule. The townspeople, apparently apathetic, were afraid to express their opinion of the friars until they were backed up by the physical force of the Katipunan legions. It was the conflict of material interests and the friarsʼ censorship which created the breach between the vicar and the people. The immorality of the friars was not general and by no means the chief ground, if any, for hostility against them; the frailties of the few simply weakened the prestige of all and broke the pedestal of their moral superiority. My own investigations convinced me that the friarsʼ incontinence was generally regarded with indifference by the people; concubinage being so common among the Filipinos themselves it did not shock them in the pastorʼs case. Moreover, women were proud of the paternity of their children begotten in their relationship to the friars.

When, on the American occupation, the friar question could be freely discussed, hot disputes at once ensued between the friar party and the Philippine clergy, supported by the people. In the meantime, an Apostolic Delegate, Monsignor P. L. Chapelle,[2] was appointed by the Pope, in agreement with the American Government, to endeavour to adjust the friar problem. The details to be considered were manifold, but the questions which most interested the public were the return of the friars to the parishes and the settlement of their property claims. Monsignor Chapelle so vigorously espoused the cause of the friars that he appeared to be more their advocate than an independent judge in the controversy. Many friars, anxious to quit the Islands, were dissuaded from doing so by this prelate.[3] He arrived in Manila on January 2, 1900, and, without having made any personal investigations in the provinces, by the 16th of April he deemed himself competent to declare that “the accusations adduced against them (the Religious Orders) are the merest pretexts of shrewd and anti-American Filipino politicians.”[4] As a matter of fact, nothing anti-American, or American, had any connexion with the subject. The struggle to expel the friars from these Islands was initiated years before the Americans contemplated intervention in Philippine affairs. Open rebellion was started against the friars twenty months before the Battle of Cavite. Nozaleda and Chapelle wished to appoint friars to the provincial benefices, whilst protests against this proposal were coming from nearly every Christian quarter of the Colony. The Filipinos desired to have the whole administration of the Church in their own hands and, if possible, to see every friar leave the Archipelago. The representative Philippine clergy were Dr. Mariano Sevilla, Father Rojas, Father Changco, and Father Singson. The great champions of the national cause were the first two, who stoutly opposed Nozaledaʼs schemes. Fierce discussions arose between the parties; Father Sevilla and party defied Nozaleda to make the appointments he desired, and then sent a cablegram to the Pope to the following effect:—“Archbishop and Apostolic Delegate want to appoint friars to the Philippine benefices. The Philippine people strongly oppose. Schism imminent.” Father Sevilla could not be wheedled into agreeing to Nozaledaʼs and Chapelleʼs plans, so he was sent to prison for two months in the Calle de Anda, Manila, and deportation to the Island of Guam was menacingly hinted at. When the reply came from Rome, disapproving of the action of the two prelates, Father Sevilla was released from prison. Nevertheless, Nozaledaʼs wrath was unappeased. He then proposed that the benefices should be shared between Filipinos and friars, whilst Father Sevilla insisted on the absolute deposition of the friars. At this time there were 472 members of the four confraternities in the Islands, mostly in Manila.[5] At a meeting of the Philippine clergy the expulsion of the friars was proposed and supported by a majority; but Father Sevilla vetoed the resolution, and his ruling was obeyed. Moreover, he agreed that the friars should hold some benefices in and near Manila and the ecclesiastical-educational employments in the colleges. “We,” said Father Sevilla, “are for the Church; let them continue their work of education; it is not our function.” Nozaleda then made advances towards Father Sevilla, and endeavoured to cajole him by the offer of an appointment, which he repeatedly refused. Rome, for the time being, had overruled the question of the benefices contrary to Nozaledaʼs wish. For the moment there was nothing further for the Philippine clergy to defend, but in their general interests Father Sevilla, their spokesman, elected to remain in an independent position until after the retirement of Monsignor Chapelle, when Father Sevilla became parish priest of Hagonoy (Bulacan).

The outcome of the controversy respecting the benefices was that the friars could be sent to those parishes where the people were willing to receive them, without danger of giving rise to public disorder. This was in accordance with President McKinleyʼs Instructions to the Taft Commission dated April 7, 1900,[6] which says: “No form of religion and no minister of religion shall be forced upon any community or upon any citizen of the Islands.”

Archbishop Nozaleda left for Spain, but did not relinquish his archbishopric until June, 1903.[7] In his absence his office was administered by Father Martin Garcia Alcocér, the Spanish bishop of Cebú, whilst the bishopric of Cebú was left in charge of a popular Chinese half-caste secular priest, Father Singson,[8] who subsequently became vicar of Cebú on the appointment of an American prelate, Father Hendrichs, to the bishopric.

In the matter of the Friarsʼ lands, it was apparently impossible to arrive at any settlement with the friars themselves. The purchase of their estates was recommended by the Insular Government, and the Congress at Washington favourably entertained that proposal. In many places the tenants refused to pay rent to the friars, who then put forward the extraordinary suggestion that the Government should send an armed force to coerce the tenants. The Government at once refused to do this, pointing out that the ordinary courts were open to them the same as to all citizens. Truly the friars found themselves in a dilemma. By the rules of their Order they could not sue in a court of law; but under the Spanish Government, which was always subservient to their will, they had been able to obtain redress by force. Under the American Government these immunities and privileges ceased.

In 1902 the Civil Governor of the Philippines, Mr. W. H. Taft, visited the United States, and on May 9 in that year he was commissioned by his Government to visit Rome on his way back to the Islands in order to negotiate the question of the friarsʼ lands with the Holy See. The instructions issued to him by the Secretary of War contain the following paragraphs, namely[9]:—

One of the controlling principles of our Government is the complete separation of Church and State, with the entire freedom of each from any control or interference by the other. This principle is imperative wherever American jurisdiction extends, and no modification or shading thereof can be a subject of discussion. . . . By reason of the separation, the Religious Orders can no longer perform, in behalf of the State, the duties in relation to public instruction and public charities formerly resting upon them. . . . They find themselves the object of such hostility on the part of their tenantry against them as landlords, and on the part of the people of the parishes against them as representatives of the former Government, that they are no longer capable of serving any useful purpose for the Church. No rents can be collected from the populous communities occupying their lands, unless it be by the intervention of the civil government with armed force. Speaking generally, for several years past the friars, formerly installed over the parishes, have been unable to remain at their posts, and are collected in Manila with the vain hope of returning. They will not be voluntarily accepted again by the people, and cannot be restored to their positions except by forcible intervention on the part of the civil government, which the principles of our Government forbid....It is for the interest of the Church, as well as for the State, that the landed proprietorship of the Religious Orders in the Philippine Islands should cease, and that if the Church wishes...to continue its ministration among the people of the Islands...it should seek other agents therefor. It is the wish of our Government, in case Congress shall grant authority, that the titles of the Religious Orders to the large tracts of agricultural lands which they now hold shall be extinguished, but that full and fair compensation shall be made therefor. It is not, however, deemed to be for the interests of the people of the Philippine Islands that...a fund should thereby be created to be used for the attempted restoration of the friars to the parishes from which they are now separated, with the consequent disturbance of law and order. Your errand will not be, in any sense or degree, diplomatic in its nature; but will be purely a business matter of negotiation by you, as Governor of the Philippines, for the purchase of property from the owners thereof, and the settlement of land titles.”

Governor Taft arrived in Rome in June, 1902, in the pontificate of His Holiness Leo XIII., whose Secretary of State was Cardinal M. Rampolla. In Governor Taftʼs address to His Holiness, the following interesting passage occurs: “On behalf of the Philippine Government, it is proposed to buy the lands of the Religious Orders with the hope that the funds thus furnished may lead to their withdrawal from the Islands, and, if necessary, a substitution therefor, as parish priests, of other priests whose presence would not be dangerous to public order.”

In the document dated June 22, in reply to Governor Taftʼs address to His Holiness, Cardinal Rampolla says: “As to the Spanish religious in particular belonging to the Orders mentioned in the instructions, not even they should be denied to return to those parishes where the people are disposed to receive them without disturbance of public order . . . The Holy See will not neglect to promote, at the same time, the better ecclesiastical education and training of the native clergy, in order to put them in the way, according to their fitness, of taking gradually the place of the Religious Orders in the discharge of the pastoral functions. The Holy See likewise recognizes that in order to reconcile more fully the feelings of the Filipinos to the religious possessing landed estates, the sale of the same is conducive thereto. The Holy See declares it is disposed to furnish the new Apostolic Delegate, who is to be sent to the Philippine Islands, with necessary and opportune instructions in order to treat amicably this affair in understanding with the American Government and the parties interested.”

In the same document the Holy See asked for indemnity for “the acts of vandalism perpetrated by the insurgents in the destruction of churches and the appropriation of sacred vestments,” and also for the damage caused by the occupation by the American Government of “episcopal palaces, seminaries, convents, rectories, and other buildings intended for worship.” The Holy See further claimed “the right and the liberty of administering the pious trusts of ecclesiastical origin, or of Catholic foundation, which do not owe their existence to the civil power exclusively”; also “suitable provisions for religious teaching in the public schools, especially the primary.”

Governor Taft, in his reply to the Holy See, dated July 3, expressed regret at the suggested appointment of a new Apostolic Delegate, and sought to bring the Holy See to a definite contract. For the settlement of the friarsʼ land question he proposed “a tribunal of arbitration to be composed of five members—two to be appointed by His Holiness, two to be appointed by the Philippine Government, and one, the fifth, to be selected by an indifferent person, like the Governor-General of India”; the expenses to be defrayed wholly by the Philippine Government, and the tribunal to meet in the City of Manila not later than January 1, 1903. He further proposed that the lands should be valued in Mexican dollars, and be paid for in three cash instalments of three, six, and nine months after the report of the award and the delivery of the deeds. Furthermore, that “the payments ought to be made to the person designated by the Holy See to receive the same,” on the condition that “no money shall be paid for the lands to be purchased until proper conveyances for the land shall have been made to the Philippine Government.” Another condition was “that all the members of the four Religious Orders of Dominicans, Agustinians, Recoletos, and Franciscans now in the Islands shall withdraw therefrom after two years from the date of the first payment. An exception is made in favour of any member of those Orders who has been able to avoid hostility of the people and to carry on his duties as parish priest, in his parish outside Manila, from August, 1898, to date of this agreement,” because “it is certain that such a priest is popular with the people.” Governor Taft adds: “Nothing will calm the fears of the people.... except the definite knowledge ... that the Spanish friars of the four Orders are to leave the Islands at a definite time, and are not to return to the parishes.”

Cardinal Rampolla replied on July 9 to Governor Taftʼs communication of July 3, which covered his proposed contract and enclosed a counter project of convention, explaining as follows:—“The Holy See cannot accept the proposition of the Philippine Government to recall from the Archipelago in a fixed time all the religious of Spanish nationality ... and to prevent their return in the future. In effect, such a measure ... would be contrary to the positive rights guaranteed by the Treaty of Paris, and would put, consequently, the Holy See in conflict with Spain ... Such a measure would be, in the eyes of the Filipinos and of the entire Catholic world, the explicit confirmation of all the accusations brought against the said religious by their enemies, accusations of which ... the evident exaggeration cannot be disputed. If the American Government, respecting, as it does, individual rights, does not dare to interdict the Philippine soil to the Spanish religious ... how could the Pope do it? The Holy See, in accord with the diocesan authorities, will not permit the return of the Spanish religious ... in the parishes where their presence would provoke troubles.”

The Holy Seeʼs counter-proposal was cabled to the Secretary of War, who, in his reply dated July 14, which was tantamount to a rejection of it, remarked: “The lay Catholic population and the parish priests of native and non-Spanish blood are practically a unit in desiring both to expel the friars and to confiscate their lands ... This proposed confiscation, without compensation for the Church lands, was one of the fundamental policies of the Insurgent Government under Aguinaldo.” As an alternative, the Secretary of War accepted the proposal of the Holy See to send a new Apostolic Delegate, with necessary instructions to negotiate the affair amicably. Therefore, in transmitting this reply to Cardinal Rampolla on July 15, Gov. Taft closed the negotiations by stating: “I have the honour to request ... that the negotiations concerning the various subjects touched upon in the proposals and counter-proposals be continued in Manila between the Apostolic Delegate and myself, on the broad lines indicated in this correspondence.... I much regret that we cannot now reach a more precise agreement....”

The receipt of this last communication was courteously acknowledged by Cardinal M. Rampolla on July 18, 1902, and Gov. Taft then continued his journey to the Philippines.[10]

Monsignor Chapelleʼs mission had entirely failed to achieve its purpose, and he retired from the Islands on the appointment of the new Apostolic Delegate, Monsignor Giovanni Battista Guidi. Bora on April 27, 1852, this prelate was a man of great culture and a distinguished linguist, who had travelled considerably. From Rome he proceeded to Washington, and, with the United States exequatur, he entered Manila on November 18, 1902, and died there on June 26, 1904. During his mission the conditions of the friarsʼ land settlement were embodied in a contract dated December 28, 1903, whereby the United States undertook to pay, within six months from date, the sum of $7,227,000 gold in exchange for the title-deeds and conveyances of all the rural lands belonging to the three corporations possessing such—namely, the Dominicans, Agustinians, and Recoletos.[11] To cover this purchase, bonds were issued in America for $7,000,000 bearing 4 per cent, interest per annum; but, as the bonds obtained a premium on the money market, the total amount realized on the issue was $7,530,370. It remained, therefore, with the corporations themselves to deliver the title-deeds, but on personal inquiry of the Gov.-General in the month of July following I learnt that up to that date they had only partially fulfilled this condition. This, however, concerns them more than it does the American Government, which is ready to pay for value received. The approximate extent of the friarsʼ lands is as follows[12]:—

Province.

Acres.

Cavite.

121,747

Some held for centuries. None less than one generation.

La Laguna

62,172

Rizal

50,145

Bulacan

39,441

Rizal (Mórong)

4,940

Bataán

1,000

Cebú

16,413

Cagayán

49,400

Govʼt. grant to Austin friars, Sept. 25, 1880.

Mindoro

58,455

Govʼt. grant to Recoleto friars in 1894.

Total

403,713

The purchase negotiations became all the more complicated because, from 1893 onwards, the Religious Orders had sold some of their lands to speculators who undertook to form companies to work them; however, the friars were the largest stockholders in these concerns.

As the lands become State property they will be offered to the tenants at the time being at cost price, payable in long terms with moderate interest. The annual compounded sum will be only a trifle more than the rent hitherto paid.[13]

As Governor Taft stated before the United States Senate, it would be impolitic to allow the tenants to possess the lands without payment, because such a plan would be promotive of socialistic ideas. The friarsʼ land referred to does not include their urban property in and around Manila, which, with the buildings thereon, they are allowed to retain for the maintenance of those members of their Orders who still hope to remain in the Islands. In July, 1904, there were about 350 friars in the Islands, including the Recoletos in Cavite and the few who were amicably received by the people in provincial parishes, exclusively in their sacerdotal capacity. At this period, at least, the Filipinos were not unanimous in rejecting friars as parish priests. Bishop Hendrichs, of Cebú, told me that he had received a deputation of natives from Bojol Island, begging him to appoint friars to their parishes. In May, 1903, the Centro Católico, a body of lay Filipinos, well enough educated to understand the new position of the clergy, addressed a memorial to the Papal delegate, Monsignor Guidi, expressing their earnest desire for the retention of the friars. In the localities where their presence is desired their influence over the people is great. Their return to such parishes is well worth considering. Their ability to restrain the natives extravagances is superior to that of any lay authority, and it is obvious that, under the new conditions of government, they could never again produce a conflict like that of the past.

The administrator of the archbishopric of Manila, Father Martin Garcia Alcocér, retired to Spain (October 25, 1903) on the appointment of the present American Archbishop, Monsignor Jeremiah J. Harty, who arrived in the capital in January, 1904. He is a man of pleasing countenance, commanding presence, and an impressive orator. Since 1898 churches and chapels of many denominations and creeds have been opened in the Islands. Natives join them from various motives, for it would be venturesome to assert that they are all moved by religious conviction. In Zamboanga I had the pleasure of meeting an enthusiastic propagandist, who assured me with pride that he had drawn quite a number of christian natives from their old belief. His sincerity of purpose enlisted my admiration, but his explanation of the advantages accruing to his neophytes was too recondite for my understanding.

The limpid purity of purpose in the lofty ideal of uplifting all humanity, so characteristic of the Roman Catholic Church in Europe, was unfortunately obscured in the latter days of Spanish dominion in these Islands by the multifarious devices to convert the Church into a money-making channel. If the true religious spirit ever pervaded the provincial Filipinoʼs mind, it was quickly impaired in his struggle to resist the pastorʼs greed, unless he yielded to it and developed into a fanatic or a monomaniac.[14]

Astute Filipinos, of quicker discernment than their fellows, did not fail to perceive the material advantages to be reaped from a religious system, quite apart from the religion itself, in the power of union and its pecuniary potentiality. As a result thereof there came into existence, at the close of Spanish rule, the Philippine Independent Church, more popularly known as the Aglipayan Church. Some eight or nine years before the Philippine Rebellion a young Filipino went to Spain, where he imbibed the socialistic, almost anarchical, views of such political extremists as Lerroux and Blasco-Ybañez. By nature of a revolutionary spirit, the doctrines of these politicians fascinated him so far as to convert him into an intransigent opponent of Spanish rule in his native country. In 1891 he went to London, where the circumstance of the visit of the two priests alluded to at p. 383 was related to him. He saw in their suggestion a powerful factor for undermining the supremacy of the friars. The young Filipino pondered seriously over it, and when the events of 1898 created the opportunity, he returned to the Islands impressed with the belief that independence could only be gained by union, and that a pseudo-religious organization was a good medium for that union.

The antecedents and the subsequent career of the initiator of the Philippine Independent Church would not lead one to suppose that there was more religion in him than there was in the scheme itself. The principle involved was purely that of independence; the incidence of its development being in this case pseudo-religious, with the view of substituting the Filipino for the alien in his possession of sway over the Filipinosʼ minds, for a purpose. The initiator of the scheme, not being himself a gownsman, was naturally constrained to delegate its execution to a priest, whilst he organized another union, under a different title, which finally brought incarceration to himself and disaster to his successor.

The Rt. Rev. Bishop Gregorio Aglípay

High Bishop of the Philippine Independent Church.

Gregorio Aglípay, the head of the Philippine Independent, or Aglipayan, Church, was born at Bátac, in the province of Ilocos Norte, on May 7, 1860, of poor parents, who owned a patch of tobacco land on which young Gregorio worked. Together with his father, he was led to prison at the age of sixteen for not having planted the obligatory minimum of 4,000 plants (vide p. 294). On his release he left field-work and went to Manila, where he took his first lessons at the house of a Philippine lawyer, Julian Cárpio. Two years afterwards, whilst working in a menial capacity, he attended the school of San Juan de Letran. Through a poor relation he was recommended to the notice of the Dominican friars, under whose patronage he entered Saint Thomasʼs University, where he graduated in philosophy and arts. Then he returned to his province, entered the seminary, and became a sub-deacon of the diocese of Nueva Segovia. In 1889 he was ordained a priest in Manila, Canon Sanchez Luna being his sponsor, and he said his first mass in the church of Santa Cruz. Although the friars had frequently admonished him for his liberal tendencies, he was appointed coadjutor curate of several provincial parishes, and was acting in that capacity at Victoria (Tárlac) when the rebellion of 1896 broke out. About that time he received a warning from a native priest in another parish that the Spaniards would certainly arrest him on suspicion of being in sympathy with the rebels. In fear of his life he escaped to Manila, where he found a staunch friend in Canon Sanchez Luna, who allowed him to stay at his house on the pretext of illness. Canon Luna, who was a Spaniard, obtained from Gov.-General Blanco papers in favour of Aglípay to ensure his safety back to Victoria. Aglípay then left the capital, making use of the safe-conduct pass to go straight to the rebel camp, where, with the title of chaplain to General Tinioʼs forces, he was present at several engagements and enjoyed the friendship of General Emilio Aguinaldo. The Malolos Government appointed him Vicar-General, and after the War of Independence broke out he assumed command of a large body of insurgents in the mountain region of his native province. In 1899 he proclaimed himself chief of the Philippine Independent Church, whereupon the Archbishop publicly excommunicated him. Later on he voluntarily presented himself to the military authorities, and obtained pardon under the amnesty proclamation.

Dr. Mariano Sevilla and several other most enlightened Philippine priests were in friendly relation with Aglípay for some time, but eventually various circumstances contributed to alienate them from his cause. In his overtures towards those whose co-operation he sought there was a notable want of frankness and a disposition to treat them with that diplomatic reserve compatible only with negotiations between two adverse parties. His association with the lay initiator of the scheme, unrevealed at the outset, incidentally came to their knowledge with surprise and disapproval. Judging, too, from the well-known tenets of the initiatorʼs associates, there was a suspicion lest the proposed Philippine Independent Church were really only a detail in a more comprehensive plan involving absolute separation from foreign control in any shape. Again, he hesitated openly to declare his views with respect to the relations with Rome. Conscience here seemed to play a lesser part than expediency. The millions in the world who conscientiously disclaim the supremacy of the Pope, at least openly avow it. In the present case the question of submission to, or rebellion against, the Apostolic successor was quite subordinate to the material success of the plans for independence. It is difficult to see in all this the evidence of religious conviction.

Dr. Sevilla had been requested to proceed to Rome to submit to the Holy Father the aspirations of the Philippine people with respect to Church matters, and he consented to do so, provided the movement did not in any way affect their absolute submission to the Holy See, and that the Philippine Church should remain a Catholic Apostolic Church, with the sole difference that its administration should be confided to the Filipinos instead of to foreigners, if that reform met with the approval of his Holiness.[15]

Only at this stage did Aglípay admit that he sought independence of Rome; thereupon the Philippine clergy of distinction abandoned all thought of participation in the new movement, or of any action which implied dictation to the Holy See. Nevertheless, two native priests were commissioned to go to Rome to seek the Popeʼs sanction for the establishment of an exclusively Philippine hierarchy under the supreme authority of the Pope. But His Holiness immediately dismissed the delegates with a non possumus. The petition to His Holiness was apparently only the prelude to the ultimate design to repudiate the white manʼs control in matters ecclesiastical, and possibly more beyond.

Gregorio Aglípay then openly threw off allegiance to the Pope, went to Manila, and in the suburb of Tondo proclaimed himself Obispo Máximo (Pontifex Maximus) of his new Church.

His sect at once found many followers in the provinces of Rizal, Bulacan and Ilocos, and eventually spread more or less over the other christian provinces. The movement is strongest in Ilocos, where several parishes, indeed, have no other priest than an Aglipayan. This district is part of the bishopric of Nueva Segovia, now administered by the American Bishop Dougherty. As to the number of Aglipayan adherents, no reliable figures are procurable from any source, but it is certain they amount to thousands. I found Aglipayans as far south as Zamboanga. Just a few priests ordained in the Roman Catholic Church have joined the schismatic cause. One of these repented and offered his submission to the administrator of the archbishopric (Father Martin Alcocér), who pardoned his frailty and received him again into the Church. No period of preparation was necessary, at least in the beginning, for the ordination of an Aglipayan priest. He might have been a domestic servant, an artisan, or a loafer shortly before; hence many would-be converts refused to join when they saw their own or their friendsʼ retainers suddenly elevated to the priesthood. At Ylígan (Mindanao Is.) an American official arrested a man, tonsured and robed as a priest in an Aglipayan procession, on a charge of homicide. In 1904 they had not half a dozen well-built churches of their own, but mat-sheds for their meetings were to be seen in many towns. In the year 1903 these sectarians made repeated raids on Roman Catholic property, and attempted to gain possession of the churches by force. Riots ensued, religion seemed to be forgotten by both parties in the mélée, and several were given time for reflection in prison. In April, 1904, at Talisay and Minglanilla (Cebú Is.), they succeeded in occupying the churches and property claimed by the friars, and refused to vacate them. In the following month an Aglipayan priest, Bonifacio Purganan, was fined $25 for having taken forcible possession of the Chapel of Peñafrancia (Paco suburb of Manila). In the province of Yloilo the Aglipayans were forcibly ejected from the church of La Paz. In 1904 they entered a claim on the novel plea that, as many churches had been subscribed to or partially erected at their expense before they seceded from the Catholic Church, they were entitled to a restitution of their donations. The Catholics were anxious to have the contention decided in a formal and definite manner, and the case was heard at the Court of Guagua (Pampanga). The decision was against the sectarians, on the ground that what had been once given for a specific purpose could not be restored to the donor, or its application diverted from the original channel, notwithstanding any subsequent change in the views of the donor. It was probably in consequence of these disputes that in January, 1905, the Secretary of War approved of a proposed Act of the Insular Government conferring authority upon the Supreme Court of these Islands to hear cases relating to Church property claims and pronounce a final decision thereon.

Up to the middle of 1904 the particular doctrines of the Philippine Independent Church were not yet defined, and the Aglipayans professed to follow the Roman ritual. It was intended, however, to introduce reforms of fundamental importance. For two days and a half I travelled in company with the titular Aglipayan ecclesiastical governor of the Visayas, from whom I learnt much concerning the opinions of his sect. It appears that many are opposed to celibacy of the clergy and auricular confession. My companion himself rejected the biblical account of the Creation, the doctrine of original sin, hereditary responsibility, the deity of Christ, and the need for the Atonement. His conception of the relations between God and mankind was a curious admixture of Darwinism and Rationalism; everything beyond the scope of human reasoning had but a slender hold on his mind.

It is most probable that the majority of Aglipayans have given no thought as to the possible application of the power of union in this particular form, and that their adhesion to the movement is merely a natural reaction following the suppression of sacerdotal tyranny—an extravagant sense of untrammelled thought which time may modify by sober reflection when it is generally seen that the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church henceforth strictly limit themselves to the exercise of their proper functions. With the hope of re-establishing peace and conformity in the Church, His Holiness Pope Pius X. sent to the Islands his new Apostolic Delegate, Monsignor Ambrose Agius, who reached Manila on February 6, 1905.[16]

It is doubtful whether the native parish priest, bereft of the white manʼs control, would have sufficient firmness of character to overcome his own frailties and lead his flock in the true path. Under a Philippine hierarchy there would be a danger of the natives reverting to paganism and fetichism. There have been many indications of that tendency from years back up to the present. Only a minority of native Christians seem to have grasped the true spirit of Christianity. All that appeals to the eye in the rites and ceremonies impresses them—the glamour and pomp of the procession attract them; they are very fervent in outward observances, but ever prone to stray towards the idolatrous. A pretended apparition of the Blessed Virgin is an old profitable trick of the natives, practised as recently as December, 1904, in the village of Namacpacan (Ilocos), where a woman, who declared the Virgin had appeared to her in the form of the Immaculate Conception and cured her bad leg, made a small fortune in conjunction with a native priest. In May, 1904, a small party of fanatics was seen on the Manila seashore going through some pseudo-religious antics, the chief feature of which was a sea-bath. Profiting by the liberty of cult now existing, it is alleged that the spirits of the departed have made known their presence to certain Filipinos. A native medium has been found, and the pranks which the spirits are said to play on those who believe in them have been practised, with all their orthodox frolic, on certain converts to the system. Tables dance jigs, mysterious messages are received, and the conjuring celestials manifest their power by displacing household articles. The Coloram sect of the southern Luzon provinces has, it is estimated, over 50,000 adherents whose worship is a jumble of perverted Christian mysticism and idolatry. The Baibailanes of Negros are not entirely pagans; there is just a glimmer of Christian precept mingled in their belief, whilst the scores of religious monomaniacs and saint-hawkers who appear from time to time present only a burlesque imitation of christian doctrine.

Great progress has been made in the direction of EDUCATION.[17] Schools of different grades have been established throughout the Archipelago, and the well-intentioned efforts of the Government have been responded to by the natives with an astonishing alacrity. Since September 3, 1900, night-schools have also been opened for students to attend after their dayʼs work. The natives exhibit great readiness to learn, many of them having already attained a very high standard—a fact which I had the opportunity of verifying through the courtesy of Dr. David P. Barrows, the able General Superintendent of Education, and his efficient staff. Both the higher schools and the night-schools are well attended. A special eagerness to learn English is very apparent, and they acquire the language quickly up to a certain point. In September, 1903,[18] out of the 934 towns in the Islands, 338 were supplied with American teachers, the total number of teachers in the Archipelago being 691 Americans and 2,496 Filipinos. The night-schools were attended by 8,595 scholars. The percentage of school-children who frequented the day-schools was as follows: In Manila, 10 per cent.; in Nueva Vizcaya Province, 77 per cent. (the highest); and in Parágua Island, 5 per cent. (the lowest). The average attendance throughout the provinces was 13 per cent. of the total population of school-children.

Education has received the greatest solicitude of the Insular Government; and Dr. Barrows informed me that at the end of June, 1904, there were 865 American teachers in the Islands (including about 200 female teachers), 4,000 Philippine teachers of both sexes, and a school attendance throughout the Colony of 227,600 children. For the youngest children there are now seven kindergarten schools in Manila, and more applications for admission than can be satisfied.

The Normal School, situated in the Manila suburb of Ermita, is a splendidly-equipped establishment, organized in the year 1901 with a branch for training Filipinos to become teachers in the public schools. The buildings are four of those (including the main structure) which served for the Philippine Exhibition some years ago. They contain an assembly hall, fourteen class-rooms, two laboratories, store-rooms, and the principalʼs office. In the same suburb, close to the school, there is a dormitory for the accommodation of forty girl boarders coming from the provinces. The school is open to both sexes on equal terms, subject to the presentation of a certificate of character and a preliminary examination to ascertain if they can understand written and spoken English and intelligibly express their thoughts in that language. The training covers four years, with the following syllabus, viz.:—

- Algebra.

- Arithmetic.

- Botany.

- Drawing.

- English.

- General History.

- Geography.

- Music.

- Nature-study.

- Philippine History.

- Physics.

- Physiology and Hygiene.

- Professional Training.

- United States History.

- Zoology.

The training-class for children ranging from five to eleven years serves a double purpose by enabling student-teachers to put into practice the theory of professional training under supervision. For the training of youths who intend to follow a trade, there is a branch School of Arts and Trades equipped with class-rooms, workshops, mechanical and architectural drawing-rooms, and the allied branches of industry. The subjects taught are:—

- Architectural Drawing.

- Blacksmithing.

- Cabinet-making.

- Carpentry.

- Cooking.

- Machine-shop Practice.

- Mathematics.

- Mechanical Drawing.

- Plumbing.

- Steam Engineering.

- Stenography.

- Telegraphy.

- Tinsmithing.

- Typewriting.

- Wood-carving.

There is also a night-class for those working in the daytime who desire to extend their theoretical knowledge.

The Nautical School (vide p. 195), established in Spanish times, is continued with certain reforms, additions having been made to the equipment. American naval officers have undertaken its superintendence from time to time, and it is now under the direction of a civilian graduate of the United States Naval Academy. The instruction ranges from history and geography to practical seamanship, with all the intermediate scientific subjects. Graduates of this school obtain third-mateʼs certificates, and many of them are actually navigating in the waters of the Archipelago.

A course of study in Vocal Music is also offered to Normal School students, and this may possibly lead to the first discovery of a fine Philippine musical voice.

There is also a Public School for Chinese situated in the Calle de la Asuncion, in the business quarter of Binondo (Manila).

In the Saint Thomasʼs University (vide p. 194) there are few changes. The diplomas now issued to students in Law and Medicine are only honorific. With or without this diploma a student must pass an examination at the centres established by the Americans for the faculties of Law and Medicine before he can practise, and the same obligation applies to Americans who may arrive, otherwise qualified, in the Islands. Practical instruction in the healing art, or “walking the hospitals,” as it is called in England, is given at the San Juan de Dios Hospital as heretofore. The theoretical tuition in these faculties is furnished at the College of San José. Besides the Government schools, there are many others continuing the Spanish system, such as the Colegio de San Juan de Dios, where, besides the usual subjects taught, the syllabus is as follows:—

- Commerce.

- Drawing.

- Japanese Language.

- Modelling in Plaster.

- Piano, Violin.

- Sketching from Nature.

- Stenography.

- Typewriting.

- Watercolouring.

- And preparation for the B.A. examination.

The Seminario Central de San Javier, under Jesuit superintendence, is really intended for students proposing to enter the Church. Many, however, follow the course of study and enter civil life. In the large provincial towns there are Spanish schools, and at Dagúpan the Colegio Instituto follows the same curriculum as that established in the Manila College of San Juan de Letran. In Spanish times Jaro was the educational centre of the Visayas Islands. Since the American advent Yloilo has superseded Jaro in that respect, and a large school is about to be erected on 75 acres of land given by several generous donors for the purpose. The system of education is uniform throughout the Islands, where schools of all grades are established, and others are in course of foundation in every municipality. Including about ₱1,000,000 disbursed annually for the schools by the municipalities, the cost of Education is about 20 per cent, of the total revenue—a sum out of all proportion to the taxpayersʼ ability to contribute.

According to the Philippine Commission Act No. 1123, of April, 1904, the official language will be English from January 1, 1906. It will be used in court proceedings, and no person will be eligible for Government service who does not know that language.

In general the popular desire for education is very pronounced. American opinion as to the capability of the Filipinos to attain a high degree of learning and maintain it seems much divided, for many return to America and publicly express pessimistic views on this point. In daily conversation with young middle-class Filipinos one can readily see that the ambition of the majority is limited to the acquisition of sufficient English to qualify them for Government employment or commercial occupations. The industries of the Islands are relatively insignificant. The true source of their wealth is agriculture. In most, not to say all, tropical countries, the educated native shuns manual labour, and with this tendency dominant in the Filipino, it is difficult to foresee what may happen as education advances. The history of the world shows that national prosperity has first come from industrial development, with the desire and the need for education following as a natural sequence. To have free intercourse with the outside world it is necessary to know a European language. This is recognized even in Japan, where, notwithstanding its independent nationality, half the best-educated classes speak some European tongue. If the majority of the Filipinos had understood Spanish at the period of the American advent, it might be a matter of regret that this language was not officially preserved on account of the superior beauty of all Latin languages; but such was not the case. Millions still only speak the many dialects; and to carry out the present system of education a common speech-medium becomes a necessity. However, generations will pass away before native idiom will cease to be the vulgar tongue, and the engrafted speech anything more than the official and polite language of the better classes. The old belief of colonizing nations that European language and European dress alone impart civilization to the Oriental is an exploded theory. The Asiatic can be more easily moulded and subjected to the ways and the will of the white man by treating with him in his native language. It is difficult to gain his entire confidence through the medium of a foreign tongue. The Spanish friars understood this thoroughly. It is a deplorable fact that the common people of Asia generally acquire only the bad qualities of the European concurrently with his language, lose many of their own natural characteristics, which are often charmingly simple, and become morally perverted.

The best native servants are those who can only speak their mother-tongue. In times past the rustic who came to speak Spanish was loth to follow the plough. If an English farm labourer should learn Spanish, perhaps he would be equally loth. One may therefore assume that if the common people should come to acquire the English language, agricultural coolie labour would become a necessity. In 1903 one hundred Philippine youths were sent, at Government expense, to various schools in America for a four-yearsʼ course of tuition. It is to be hoped that they will return to their homes impressed with the dignity of labour and be more anxious to develop the natural resources of the country than to live at the expense of the taxpayers.

Since the Rebellion, and especially since the American advent, a great number of Filipinos have migrated to the adjacent British colonies, China, Japan, America, and Europe. There is a small colony of rich Filipinos in Paris, and about 50 or 60 (principally students) in England. They have no nationality, and are officially described as “Filipinos under the protection of the United States.” When the Treaty of Paris was being negotiated, the Spanish Commissioners wished to have the option of nationality conceded to all persons hitherto under the dominion of Spain in the ceded colonies; but the American Commissioners rejected the proposal, which might have placed their country in the peculiar position of administering a colony of foreigners.

In 1904 the Government sent selected groups of the different Philippine wild and semi-civilized races to the St. Louis Exhibition, where they were on view for several months; also a Philippine Commission, composed of educated Filipinos, was sent, at public expense, to St. Louis and several cities in America, including Washington, where the President received and entertained its members. Many of the members of this Commission were chosen from what is called the Federal Party. In the old days politics played no part in Philippine life. The people were either anti-friar or conformists to the status quo. The Revolution, however, brought into existence several distinct parties, and developed the natural disintegrating tendency of the Filipinos to split up into factions on any matter of common concern. The Spanish reform party, led by Pedro A. Paterno, collapsed when all hope was irretrievably lost, and its leader passed over to Aguinaldoʼs party of sovereign independence. To-day there is practically only one organized party—the Federal—because there is no legislative assembly or authorized channel for the legitimate expression of opposite views. The Federal Party, which is almost entirely anti-clerical, comprises all those who unreservedly endorse and accept American dominion and legislation. They are colloquially alluded to as “Americanistas.” Through the tempting offers of civil service positions with emoluments large as compared with times gone by, many leading men have been attracted to this party, the smarter half-caste predominating over the pure Oriental in the higher employments. There are other groups, however, which may be called parties in embryo, awaiting the opportunity for free discussion in the coining Philippine Assembly.[19] Present indications point to the Nationalists as the largest of these coming opposition parties, its present programme being autonomy under American protection. The majority of those who clamour for “independence” [I am not referring to the masses, but to those who have thought the matter out in their own fashion] do not really understand what they are asking for, for it generally results from a close discussion of the subject that they are, in fact, seeking autonomy dependent on American protection, with little idea of what the Powers understand by Protection. In a conversation which I had with the leader of the Nationalists, I inquired, “What do you understand by independence?” His reply was, “Just a thread of connexion with the United States to keep us from being the prey of other nations!” Other parties will, no doubt, be formed; and there will probably be, for some time yet, a small group of Irreconcilables affiliated with those abroad who cannot return home whilst they refuse to take the oath of allegiance prescribed in the United States Presidentʼs peace and amnesty proclamation, dated July 4, 1902. The Irreconcilables claim real sovereign independence for the Filipinos; they would wish the Americans to abandon the Islands as completely as if they had never occupied them at all. It is doubtful whether entire severance from American or European control would last a year, because some other Power, Asiatic or European, would seize the Colony. Sovereign independence would be but a fleeting vision without a navy superior in all respects to that of any second-rate naval Power, for if all the fighting-men of the Islands were armed to the teeth they could not effectively resist a simultaneous bombardment of their ports; nor could they, as inhabitants of an archipelago, become united in action or opinion, because their inter-communication would be cut off. When this is explained to them, there are those who admit the insuperable difficulty, and suggest, as a compromise, that Americaʼs position towards them should be merely that of the policeman, standing by ready to interfere if danger threatens them! This is the naïve definition of the relation which they (the Irreconcilables) term “Protection.”

However, the cry for “independence” has considerably abated since the Secretary of War, Mr. W. H. Taft, visited Manila in August, 1905, and publicly announced that America intended to retain the Islands for an indefinitely long period. Before America relinquishes her hold on the Colony (if ever) generations may pass away, and naturally the Irreconcilable, will disappear with the present one.

That the Filipinos would, if ever they obtain their independence, even though it were a century hence, manage their country on the pattern set them by their tutors of to-day, is beyond all imagination. “We want them to learn to think as we do,” an American minister is reported to have said at a public meeting held in Washington in May, 1905. The laudable aim of America to convert the Filipino into an American in action and sentiment will probably never be realized.

Why the Philippines should continue to be governed by a Commission is not clear to the foreign investigator. Collective government is inconsonant with the traditions and instincts of these Asiatic people, who would intuitively fear and obey the arbitrary mandate of a paramount chief, whether he be called Nawab, Sultan, or Governor. Even as it is, the people have, in fact, looked more to the one man, the Mr. Taft or the Mr. Wright as the case may be, than they have to the Commission for the attainment of their hopes, and were there an uncontrolled native government, it would undoubtedly end in becoming a one-man rule, whatever its title might be. The difficulty in making the change does not lie in the choice of the man, because one most eminently fitted for personal rule in the name of the United States of America (assisted by a Council) is in the Islands just now.

The Philippine Assembly, which is, conditionally, to be conceded to the Islanders in 1907, will be a Congress of deputies elected by popular vote; the Philippine Commission, more or less as at present constituted, will be practically the Senate or controlling Upper House. The Filipinos will have no power to make laws, but simply to propose them, because any bill emanating from the popular assembly can be rejected by the Upper House with an American majority. The Philippine Assembly will be, in reality, a School of Legislature to train politicians for the possible future concession of complete self-government. In connexion with the public schools a course of instruction in political economy prepares youths for the proper exercise of the right of suffrage on their attaining twenty-three years of age. The studies include the Congress Law of July 1, 1902; President McKinleyʼs Instruction to the Civil Commission of April 7, 1900; Government of the United States, Colonial Government in European States, and Parliamentary Law.

The question of the Filipinosʼ capacity for self-government has been frequently debated since the Rebellion of 1896. A quarter of a century ago the necessary 500 or 600 Filipinos, half-caste in the majority, could have been found with all the requisite qualifications for the formation of an intelligent oligarchy. The Constitution drawn up by Apolinario Mabini, and proclaimed by the Malolos Insurgent Government (January 22, 1899), was a fair proof of intellectual achievement. But that is not sufficient; the working of it would probably have been as successful as the Government of Hayti, because the Philippine character is deficient in disinterested thought for the common good. There is no lack of able Filipinos quite competent to enact laws and dictate to the people what they are to do; but if things are to be reversed and the elected assembly is to be composed of deputies holding the peopleʼs mandates, there will be plenty to do between now and March, 1907, in educating the electors to the point of intelligently using the franchise, uninfluenced by the caciques, who have hitherto dominated all public acts. According to the census of 1903, there were 1,137,776 illiterate males of the voting age. In any case, independently of its legislative function, the Philippine Assembly will be a useful channel for free speech. It will lead to the open discussion of the general policy, the rural police, the trade regulations, the taxes, the desirability of maintaining superfluous expensive bureaux, the lavish (Manila) municipal non-productive outlay, and ruinous projects of no public utility, such as the construction of the Benguet road,[20] etc.

The Act providing for a Philippine Assembly stipulates that the elected deputies shall not be less than 50 and not more than 100 to represent the civilized portion of the following population, viz.[21]:—Civilized, 6,987,686; wild, 647,740; total, 7,635,426. The most numerous civilized races are the Visayos (about 2,602,000) and the Tagálogs (about 1,664,000).

POPULATION OF MANILA (APPROXIMATE SUB-DIVISIONS)[22]

Race.

Pop.

Race.

Pop.

Race.

Pop.

Filipinos

189,915

Americans

3,700

Other Europeans

1,000

Chinese

21,500

Spaniards

2,500

Other Nationalities

1,313

Total in the Census of 1903 ... 219,928

(Exclusive of the Army and Navy.)

The divisions of the Municipality of Manila stand in the following order of proportion of population, viz.:—

- 1. Tondo (most).

- 2. Santa Cruz.

- 3. San Nicolás.

- 4. Sampaloc.

- 5. Binondo.

- 6. Ermita.

- 7. Intramuros (i.e., Walled City).

- 8. Quiapo.

- 9. Malate.

- 10. San Miguel.

- 11. Paco.

- 12. Santa Ana.

- 13. Pandácan (least).

The total number of towns in the Archipelago is 934.

POPULATIONS OF 40 PROVINCIAL TOWNS OF THE 934 EXISTING IN THE ISLANDS

(EXCLUSIVE OF THEIR DEPENDENT SUBURBS, DISTRICTS, AND WARDS)[23]

Town.

Civilized Pop.

Bacólod

5,678

Dagupan

3,327

San José de Buenavista

3,636

Batangas

1,610

Ilagán

1,904

Balanga

4,403

Ilígan (or Ylígan)

2,872

San Fernando (La Union)

1,142

Balinag

1,278

Imus

1,930

Báguio

270

Jaro

7,169

San Fernando (Pampanga)

1,950

Biñan (or Viñan)

1,173

Joló (Walled City)

541

Cabanatúan

1,894

S. Isidro

3,814

Cápiz

7,186

Lipa

4,078

Tabaco

4,456

Calamba

2,597

Lingayen

2,838

Taal

2,658

Calbayoc

4,430

Olongapó

1,121

Taclóban

4,899

Cebú

18,330

Majayjay

1,680

Tárlac

3,491

Cottabato

931

Molo

8,551

Tuguegarao

3,421

Daet

2,569

Puerta Princesa

382

Vigan

5,749

Davao

1,010

Santa Cruz (Laguna)

4,009

Yloilo

19,054

Dapítan

1,768

Zamboanga

3,281

CIVILIZED POPULATION, CLASSIFIED BY BIRTH

According to the Census of 1903

Born in the Philippine Islands

6,931,548

Born in China

41,035

Born in United States

8,135

Born in Spain

3,888

Born in Japan

921

Born in Great Britain

667

Born in Germany

368

Born in East Indies

241

Born in France

121

Born in Other countries of Europe

487

Born in All other countries

275

6,987,686

The regulations affecting Chinese immigration are explained at p. 633. Other foreigners are permitted to enter the Philippines (conditionally), but all are required to pay an entrance fee (I had to pay $5.30 Mex.) before embarking (abroad) for a Philippine port, and make a declaration of 19 items,[24] of which the following are the most interesting to the traveller:—(1) Sex; (2) whether married or single; (3) who paid the passage-money; (4) whether in possession of $30 upward or less; (5) whether ever in prison; (6) whether a polygamist. The master or an officer of the vessel carrying the passenger is required to make oath before the United States Consul at the port of embarkation that he has made a “personal examination” of his passenger, and does not believe him (or her) to be either an idiot, or insane person, or a pauper, or suffering from a loathsome disease, or an ex-convict, or guilty of infamous crime involving moral turpitude, or a polygamist, etc. The shipʼs doctor has to state on oath that he has also made a “personal examination” of the passenger. If the vessel safely arrives in port, say Manila, she will be boarded by a numerous staff of Customsʼ officials. In the meantime the passenger will have been supplied with declaration-forms and a printed notice, stating that an “Act provides a fine of not exceeding $2,000 or imprisonment at hard labour, for not more than five years, or both, for offering a gratuity to an officer of the Customs in consideration of any illegal act in connexion with the examination of baggage.” The baggage-declaration must be ready for the officers, and, at intervals during an hour and a half, he (or she) has to sign six different declarations as to whether he (or she) brings fire-arms. The baggage is then taken to the Custom-house in a steam-launch for examination, which is not unduly rigid. Under a Philippine Commission Act, dated October 15, 1901, the Collector of Customs, or his deputy, may, at his will, also require the passenger to take an oath of allegiance in such terms that, in the event of war between the passengerʼs country and America, he who takes the oath would necessarily have to forfeit his claim for protection from his own country, unless he violated that oath. No foreigner is permitted to land if he comes “under a contract expressed, or implied, to perform labour in the Philippine Islands.” In 1903 this prohibition to foreigners was disputed by a British bank-clerk who arrived in Manila for a foreign bank. The case was carried to court, with the result that the prohibition was maintained in principle, although the foreigner in question was permitted to remain in the Islands as an act of grace. But in February, 1905, a singular case occurred, exactly the reverse of the one just mentioned. A young Englishman who had been brought out to Manila on a four yearsʼ agreement, after four or five months of irregular conduct towards the firm employing him, presented himself to the Collector of Customs (as Immigration Agent), informed against himself, and begged to be deported from the Colony. The incentive for this strange proceeding was to secure the informerʼs reward of $1,000. It was probably the first case in Philippine history of a person voluntarily seeking compulsory expulsion from the Islands. The Government, acting on the information, shipped him off to Hong-Kong, the nearest British port, in the following month, with a through passage to Europe.

Since the American advent the Administration of Justice has been greatly accelerated, and Municipal Court cases, which in Spanish times would have caused more worry to the parties than they were worth, or, for the same reason, would have been settled out of court violently, are now despatched at the same speed as in the London Police Courts. On the other hand, quick despatch rather feeds the nativeʼs innate love for litigation, so that an agglomeration of lawsuits is still one of the Governmentʼs undesirable but inevitable burdens. There is a complaint that the fines imposed in petty cases are excessive, and attention was drawn to this by the Municipality of Manila.[25] After stating that the fines imposed on 2,185 persons averaged $5 per capita, and that they had to go to prison for non-payment, the Municipality adds: “It shows an excessive rigour on the part of the judges in the imposition of fines, a rigour which ought to be modified, inasmuch as the majority of the persons accused before the Court are extremely poor and ignorant of the ordinances and the laws for the violation of which they are so severely punished.” Sentences of imprisonment and fines for high crimes are justly severe. During the governorship of Mr. W. H. Taft, 17 American provincial treasurers were each condemned to 25 yearsʼ imprisonment for embezzlement of public funds. In February, 1905, an army major, found guilty of misappropriation of public moneys, had his sentence computed at 60 years, which term the court reduced to 40 yearsʼ hard labour. The penalties imposed on some rioters at Vigan in April, 1904, were death for two, 40 yearsʼ imprisonment and $10,000 fine each for twelve, 30 yearsʼ imprisonment for thirty-one, and 10 yearsʼ imprisonment for twenty-five.

The American law commonly spoken of in the Philippines as the “Law of Divorce” is nothing more than judicial separation in its local application, as it does not annul the marriage and the parties cannot marry again as a consequence of the action. The same could be obtained under the Spanish law called the Siete Partídas, with the only difference that before the decree nisi was made absolute the parties might have had to wait for years, and even appeal to Home.

On May 26,1900, the Military Governor authorized the solemnization of marriages by any judge of a court inferior to the Supreme Court, a justice of the peace, or a minister of any denomination. For the first time in the history of the Islands, habeas corpus proceedings were heard before the Supreme Court on May 19, 1900. Besides the lower courts established in many provincial centres, sessions are held in circuit, each usually comprising two or three provinces. The provinces are grouped into 16 judicial districts, in each of which there is a Court of First Instance; and there is, moreover, one additional “Court of First Instance at large.” The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, some of his assistant judges, several provincial judges, the Attorney-General, and many other high legal functionaries, are Filipinos. The provincial justices of the peace are also natives, and necessarily so because their office requires an intimate knowledge of native character and dialect. Their reward is the local prestige which they enjoy and the litigantsʼ fees, and happily their services are not in daily request. At times the findings of these local luminaries are somewhat quaint, and have to be overruled by the more enlightened judicial authorities in the superior courts. Manila and all the judicial centres are amply supplied with American lawyers who have come to establish themselves in the Islands, where the custom obtains for professional men to advertise in the daily newspapers. So far there has been only one American lady lawyer, who, in 1904, held the position of Assistant-Attorney in the Attorney-Generalʼs office.

[1] “No teacher or other person shall teach or criticize the doctrine of any Church, religious sect, or denomination, or shall attempt to influence the pupils for or against any Church or religious sect in any public school established under this Act. If any teacher shall intentionally violate this section, he or she shall, after due hearing, be dismissed from the public service. Provided, however, that it shall be lawful for the priest, or minister of any church established in the town where a public school is situated ... to teach religion for one half an hour three times a week in the school building to those public school pupils whose parents or guardians desire it,” etc.—Section 16 of the Public School Act, No. 74.

[2] Placido Louis Chapelle, Archbishop of New Orleans, was born in France in 1842, and, at the age of seventeen years, emigrated to America, where he entered the priesthood. In 1894 he received the mitre of Santa Fé, and in 1897 that of New Orleans. In 1898 he was appointed Apostolic Delegate to Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands. His mission ended, he returned to New Orleans, where he died of yellow fever in August, 1905.

[3] Vide Senate Document No. 190, p. 62, 56th Congress, 2nd Session.

[4] Ibid., p. 221.

[5] At the outbreak of the Rebellion (1896) the total number of friars of the four Orders of Dominicans, Agustinians, Recoletos, and Franciscans in these Islands was 1,105, of whom about 40 were killed by the rebels. There were, moreover, 86 Jesuit priests, 81 Jesuit lay brothers and teachers, 10 Benedictines, and 49 Paulists; but all these were outside the “friar question.”

[6] Vide Senate Document No. 190, p. 2, 56th Congress, 2nd Session.

[7] Bernardino Nozaleda, a native of Asturias, Spain, of rustic parentage, was originally a professor in Manila, where he became Archbishop in 1889. In 1903 he was nominated for the archbishopric of Valencia, Spain, but the citizens absolutely refused to receive him, because of evil report concerning him.

[8] In May, 1904, Father Singson was appointed by His Holiness Domestic Prelate of the Pope, with the title of Monsignore.

[9] Report of the Secretary of War for 1902, p. 234. Published in Washington.

[10] I was in Italy during the whole of the negotiations. The Italian clerical press alluded to the outcome as a diplomatic victory for the Vatican.

[11] The Franciscan Order is not allowed by its rules to possess any property. It therefore had no agricultural lands, and no other property than dwelling-houses for members, two convents, and two infirmaries.

[12] Vide Senate Document No. 112, p. 27, 56th Congress, 2nd Session; and Senate Document No. 331, p. 180 of Part I., 57th Congress, 1st Session. Published by the Government Printing Office, Washington.

[13] Vide speech of Gov.-General (then styled Civil Governor) Luke E. Wright on assuming office on February 1, 1904. Reported in the Manila Official Gazette, Vol. II., No. 5, dated February 3, 1904.

[14] This condition was termed “frailuno.” In its application to the European it simply denoted “partisan of the regular clergy.” Its popular signification when applied to the native was a total relinquishment of, or incapacity for, independent appreciation of the friarsʼ dicta in mundane matters.

[15] Since the Treaty of Paris (1898) the Spanish friars are foreigners in these Islands. The Philippine clergy oppose a foreign monopoly of their Church. They declare themselves competent to undertake the cure of souls, and claim the fulfilment of the Council of Trent decrees which prohibit the regular clergy to hold benefices, except on two conditions, viz.:—(1) as missionaries to non-Christians, (2) as temporary parish priests in christian communities where qualified secular clergy cannot be found to take their places. The crux of the whole question is the competency or incompetency of the Philippine clergy. The Aglipayans allege that Pope Leo XIII., in the last years of his pontificate, issued a bull declaring the Filipinos to be incompetent for the cure of souls. They strongly resent this. Whether the bull exists or not, the unfitness of the Philippine clergy to take the place of the regular clergy was suggested by the Holy See in 1902 (vide p. 599).

The Council of Trent was the 18th oecumenical council of the Church, assembled at Trent, a town in the Austrian Tyrol, and sat, with certain interruptions, from December 13, 1545, until December 4, 1563. Nearly every point of doubt or dispute within the Catholic Church was discussed at this Council. Its decrees were confirmed and published by Pope Pius IV. in 1564 by papal decree, being a brief summary of the doctrines known as the Profession of the Tridentine Faith, commonly called also the Creed of Pius IV.

[16] Monsignor Ambrogio Agius, born on September 17, 1856, of a distinguished Maltese family, entered on his novitiate at the Benedictine Monastery of Ramsgate, England, on September 8, 1871. Having finished his studies of philosophy and theology in Rome, he was ordained as priest on October 16, 1881, in the Cathedral of Santo Scolastico at Subiaco. He then returned to England, but in 1895 he was called to Rome, where for nine years he held several ecclesiastical offices. His ability was observed by Pope Leo XIII., and by his successor Pius X., who raised Ambrogio Agius to the dignity of titular Archbishop of Palmyra and appointed him Apostolic Delegate to the Philippine Islands in the year 1904, in succession to the late Monsignor Giovanni Guidi.

[17] The Census Report of 1903 shows the Civilized male population twenty-one years of age and over to be as follows: of Superior Education 50,140, Literate 489,609, and Illiterate 1,137,776.

[18] Vide Official Gazette, Vol. II., No. 4, dated January 27, 1904.

[19] Under the Act of Congress which authorized the taking of the census, dated July 1, 1902. it is provided (Section (6) that a Philippine Assembly shall be created two years after the publication of the Census Report. This publication, complete in four volumes, having been issued on March 27, 1905, the following day the Gov.-General at Manila notified by proclamation that “in case a condition of general and complete peace, with recognition of the authority of the United States, shall have continued in the territory of these Islands, not inhabited by Moros or non-christian tribes, and such facts shall have been certified to the President by the Philippine Commission, the President, upon being satisfied thereof, shall direct the Philippine Commission to call, and the Commission shall call, a general election for the choice of delegates to a popular assembly of the people of the said territory in the Philippine Islands, which shall be known as the Philippine Assembly, and which provides also that after the said Assembly shall have been convened and organized, all the legislative power heretofore conferred on the Philippine Commission in that part of these Islands not inhabited by Moros or other non-christian tribes shall be vested in a Legislature consisting of two Houses—the Philippine Commission and the Philippine Assembly. In witness whereof (etc., etc.) this 28th day of March, 1905.”

[20] At Báguio, in the mountain region of the Benguet district, at an altitude of about 5,000 feet, the Insular Government has established a health-resort for the recreation of the members of the Civil Commission. The air is pure, and the temperature so low (max. 78°, min. 46° Fahr.) that pine-forests exist in the neighbourhood, and potatoes (which are well known all over the Islands for many years past) are cultivated there. The distance from Manila to Báguio, in a straight line, would be about 130 miles. By this route—that is to say, by railway to Dagúpan, 120 miles, and then by the 55-mile road (opened in the spring of 1905)—the travelling distance is 175 miles. The new road runs through a country half uninhabited, and leads to (commercially) nowhere. The amount originally appropriated for the making of this 55-mile road was $75,000 gold (Philippine Commission Act No. 61). Up to January, 1905, $2,400,000 gold had been expended on its construction. It is curious to note that this sum includes $366,260 gold taken from the Congressional Relief Fund (vide p. 621). A further appropriation of $17,500 gold has been made for its improvement, with the prospect of large sums being yet needed for this undertaking, which is of no benefit whatever to the Filipinos. They need no sanatorium, and Europeans have lived in the Islands, up to 30 years, without one. The word Báguio in Tagálog signifies Hurricane.

[21] Vide “Population of the Philippines,” Bulletin 1, published by the Department of Commerce and Labour. Bureau of the Census, 1904, Washington. Census taken in 1903 under the direction of General J. P. Sanger, U.S. Army.

[22] There are four separate official returns, each showing different figures.

[23] Vide “Population of the Philippines,” Bulletin 1, published by the Department of Commerce and Labour. Bureau of the Census, 1904, Washington.

[24] Under the provisions of Articles XII., XIII. and XIV., Immigration Regulations for the Philippine Islands of June 7, 1899.

[25] Vide, Report of the Municipal Board of Manila for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1904, p. 32.

Trade and Agriculture Since the American Advent

During the year 1898 there were those who enriched themselves enormously as a consequence of the American advent, but the staple trade of the Colony was generally disrupted by the abnormal circumstances of the period; therefore it would serve no practical purpose to present the figures for that year for comparison with the results obtained in the years following that of the Treaty of Paris.

The tables at the end of this chapter show the increase or decrease in the various branches of export and import trade. Regarded as a whole, the volume of business has increased since the American occupation—to what extent will be apparent on reference to the table of “Total Import and Export Values” at p. 639. When the American army of occupation entered the Islands, and was subsequently increased to about 70,000 troops, occupying some 600 posts about the Archipelago, there came in their wake a number of enterprising business men, who established what were termed trading companies. Their transactions hardly affected the prosperity of the Colony one way or the other. For this class of trader times were brisk; their dealings almost exclusively related to the supply of commodities to the temporary floating population of Americans, with such profitable results that, although many of them withdrew little by little when, at the close of the War of Independence, the troops were gradually reduced to some 16,000 men, occupying about 100 posts, others had accumulated sufficient capital to continue business in the more normal time which followed. Those were halcyon days for the old-established retailers as well as the new-comers; but, as Governor W. H. Taft pointed out in his report to the Civil Commission dated December 23, 1903,[1] “The natural hostility of the American business men, growing out of the war, was not neutralized by a desire and an effort to win the patronage and goodwill of the Filipinos. The American business men controlled much of the advertising in the American papers, and the newspapers naturally reflected the opinion of their advertisers and subscribers in the advocacy of most unconciliatory measures for the native Filipino, and in decrying all efforts of the Government to teach Filipinos how to govern by associating the more intelligent of them in the Government.... The American business man in the Islands has really, up to this time, done very little to make or influence trade. He has kept close to the American patronage, and has not extended his efforts to an expansion of trade among the Filipinos.... There are a few Americans who have pursued a different policy with respect to the Filipinos to their profit.”

Governor Taftʼs comments were only intended to impress upon the permanent American traders, for their own good, the necessity of creating a new clientèle which they had neglected. The war finished, the wave of temporarily abnormal prosperity gradually receded with the withdrawal of the troops in excess of requirements; the palmy days of the retailer had vanished, and all Manila began to complain of “depression” in trade. The true condition of the Colony became more apparent to them in their own slack time, and for want of reflection some began to attribute it to a want of foresight in the Insular Government. Industry is in its infancy in the Philippines, which is essentially an agricultural colony. The product of the soil is the backbone of its wealth. The true causes of the depression were not within the control of the Insular Government or of any ruling factor. Five years of warfare and its sequence—the bandit community—had devastated the provinces. The peaceful pursuits of the husbandman had been nearly everywhere interrupted thereby; his herds of buffaloes had been decimated in some places, in others annihilated; his apparatus or machinery and farm buildings were destroyed, now by the common exigencies of war, now by the wantonness of the armed factions. The remnant of the buffaloes was attacked by rinderpest, or epizootia, as the Filipino calls this disease, and in some provinces up to 90 per cent. were lost. Some of my old friends assured me that, due to these two causes, they had lost every head of cattle they once possessed. Laudable effort was immediately made by the Insular Government to remedy the evil, for so great was the mortality that many agricultural districts were poverty-stricken, thousands of acres lying fallow for want of beasts for tillage and transport. Washington responded to the appeal for help, and a measure was passed establishing the Congressional Relief Fund, under which the sum of $3,000,000 was authorized to be expended to ameliorate the situation. By Philippine Commission Act No. 738, $100,000 of this fund were appropriated for preliminary expenses in the purchase of buffaloes. Under the supervision of the Insular Purchasing-Agent a contract was entered into with a Shanghai firm for the supply of 10,000 head of inoculated buffaloes to be delivered in Manila, at the rate of 500 per month, at the price of ₱85 per head. An agent was sent to Shanghai with powers to reject unsuitable beasts before inoculation, and the Government undertook to remunerate the contractors at the rate of ₱40 for every animal which succumbed to the operation. The loss on this process was so great that a new contract was entered into with the same firm to deliver in Manila temporarily immunized buffaloes at the rate of ₱79 per head. On their arrival the animals were inspected, and those apparently fit were herded on the Island of Masbate for further observation before disposing of them to the planters. The attempt was a failure. Rinderpest, or some other incomprehensible disease, affected and decimated the imported herds. From beginning to end the inevitable wastage was so considerable that up to November 20, 1903, only 1,805 buffaloes (costing ₱118,805) were purchased, out of which 1,370 were delivered alive, and of this number 429 died whilst under observation; therefore, whereas the price of the 1,805 averaged ₱65 per head, the cost exceeded ₱126 per head when distributed over the surviving 941, which were sold at less than cost price, although in private dealings buffaloes were fetching ₱125 to ₱250 per head (vide Buffaloes p. 337, et seq.). Veterinary surgeons and inoculators were commissioned to visit the buffaloes privately owned in the planting-districts, the Government undertaking to indemnify the owners for loss arising from the compulsory inoculation; but this has not sufficed to stamp out the disease, which is still prevalent.

Another calamity, common in British India, but unknown in these Islands before the American advent, is Surra, a glandular disease affecting horses and ponies, which has made fatal ravages in the pony stock—to the extent, it is estimated, of 60 per cent. The pony which fully recovers from this disease is an exceptional animal. Again, the mortality among the field hands, as a consequence of the war, was supplemented by an outbreak of Cholera morbus (vide p. 197), a disease which recurs periodically in these Islands, and which was, on the occasion following the war, of unusually long duration. Together with these misfortunes, a visitation of myriads of locusts (vide p. 341) and drought completed the devastation.

Consequent on the total loss of capital invested in live-stock, and the fear of rinderpest felt by the minority who have the wherewithal to replace their lost herds, there is an inclination among the agriculturists to raise those crops which need little or no animal labour. Hence sugar-cane and rice-paddy are being partially abandoned, whilst all who possess hemp or cocoanut plantations are directing their special attention to these branches of land-produce. Due to these circumstances, the increased cost of labour and living in the Islands since the American advent, the want of a duty-free entry for Philippine sugar into the United States, the prospective loss of the Japanese market,[2] the ever-accumulating capital indebtedness, and the need of costly machinery, it is possible to believe that sugar will, in time, cease to be one of the leading staple products of the Islands.

With regard to the duty levied in the United States on Philippine sugar imports, shippers in these Islands point out how little it would affect either the United Statesʼ revenue or the sugar trade if the duty were remitted in view of the extremely small proportion of Philippine sugar to the total consumption in America. For instance, taking the average of the five years 1899–1903, the proportion was .313 per cent., so that if in consequence of the remission of duty this Philippine industry were stimulated to the extent of being able to ship to America threefold, it would not amount to 1 per cent, of the total consumption in that country.

At the close of the 1903 sugar season the planters were more deeply in debt than at any previous period in their history. In 1904 the manager of an Yloilo firm (whom I have known from his boyhood) showed me statistics proving the deplorable financial position of the sugar-growers, and informed me that his firm had stopped further advances and closed down on twelve of the largest estates working on borrowed capital, because of the hopelessness of eventual liquidation in full. For the same reasons other financiers have closed their coffers to the sugar-planters.

Another object of the grant called the Congressional Relief Fund was to alleviate the distress prevailing in several Luzon provinces, particularly Batangas, on account of the scarcity of rice, due, in a great measure, to the causes already explained. Prices of the imported article had already reached double the normal value in former times, and the Government most opportunely intervened to check the operations of a syndicate which sought to take undue advantage of the prevailing misery. Under Philippine Commission Acts Nos. 495, 786 and 797, appropriations were made for the purchase of rice for distribution in those provinces where the speculatorʼs ambition had run up the selling-price to an excessive rate. Hitherto the chief supplying-market had been the French East Indies, but the syndicate referred to contrived to close that source to the Government, which, however, succeeded in procuring deliveries from other places. The total amount distributed was 11,164 tons, costing ₱1,081,722. About 22 tons of this amount was given to the indigent class, the rest being delivered at cost price, either in cash or in payment for the extermination of locusts, or for labour in road-making and other public works. The merchant class contended that this act of the Government, which deprived them of anticipated large profits, was an interference in private enterprise—a point on which the impartial reader must form his own conclusions. To obviate a recurrence of the necessity for State aid, the Insular Government passed an Act urging the people to hasten the paddy-planting. The proclamation embodying this Act permitted the temporary use of municipal lands, the seed supplied to be repaid after the crop. It is said that some of the local native councils, misunderstanding the spirit of the proclamation, made its non-observance a criminal offence, and incarcerated many of the supposed offenders; but they were promptly released by the American authorities.

Under the circumstances set forth, the cultivation of rice in the Islands has fallen off considerably, to what extent may be partially gathered from a glance at the enormous imports of this cereal, which in the year 1901~ were 167,951 tons; in 1902, 285,473 tons; in 1903, 329,055 tons (one-third of the value of the total imports in that year); and in 1904, 261,553 tons. The large increase of wages and taxes and the high cost of living since the American advent (rice in 1904 cost about double the old price) have reduced the former margins of profit on sugar and rice almost to the vanishing-point.

If all the land in use now, or until recently, for paddy-raising were suitable for the cultivation of such crops as hemp, tobacco, cocoanuts, etc., for which there is a steady demand abroad, the abandonment of rice for another produce which would yield enough to enable one to purchase rice, and even leave a margin of profit, would be rather an advantage than otherwise. But this is not the case, and naturally a native holds on to the land he possesses in the neighbourhood, where he was perhaps born, rather than go on a peregrination in search of new lands, with the risk of semi-starvation during the dilatory process of procuring title-deeds for them when found.

Fortunately for the Filipinos, “Manila hemp” being a speciality of this region as a fibre of unrivalled quality and utility, there cannot be foreseen any difficulty in obtaining a price for it which will compensate the producer to-day as well as it did in former times. Seeing that buffaloes can be dispensed with in the cultivation of hemp and coprah, which, moreover, are products requiring no expensive and complicated machinery and are free of duty into the United States, they are becoming the favourite crops of the future.

In 1905 there was considerable agitation in favour of establishing a Government Agricultural Bank, which would lend money to the planters, taking a first mortgage on the borrowerʼs lands as guarantee. In connexion with this scheme, the question was raised whether the Government could, in justice, collect revenue from the people who had no voice at all in the Government, and then lend it out to support private enterprise. Moreover, without a law against usury (so common in the Islands) there would be little to prevent a man borrowing from the bank at, say, 6 per cent.—up to the mortgage value of his estate—to lend it out to others at 60 per cent. A few millions of dollars, subscribed by private capitalists and loaned out to the planters, would enormously benefit the agricultural development of the Colony; and if native wealthy men would demonstrate their confidence in the result by subscribing one-tenth of the necessary amount, perhaps Americans would be induced to complete the scheme. The foreign banks established in the Islands are not agricultural, but exchange banks, and any American-Philippine Agricultural Bank which may be established need have little reason to fear competition with foreign firms who remember the house of Russell & Sturgis (vide p. 255) and also have their own more recent experiences. Philippine rural land is a doubtful security for loans, there being no free market in it.

Between the years 1902 and 1904 the Insular Government confiscated the arable lands of many planters throughout the Islands for delinquency in taxes. The properties were put up to auction; some of them found purchasers, but the bulk of them remained in the ownership of the Government, which could neither sell them nor make any use of them. Therefore an Act was passed in February, 1905, restoring to their original owners those lands not already sold, on condition of the overdue taxes being paid within the year. In one province of Luzon the confiscated lots amounted to about one-half of all the cultivated land and one-third of the rural land-assessment in that province. The $2,400,000 gold spent on the Benguet road (vide p. 615) would have been better employed in promoting agriculture.

Up to 1898 Spain was the most important market for Philippine tobacco, but since that country lost her colonies she has no longer any patriotic interest in dealing with any particular tobacco-producing country. The entry of Philippine tobacco into the United States is checked by a Customs duty, respecting which there is, at present, a very lively contest between the tobacco-shippers in the Islands and the Tobacco Trust in America, the former clamouring for, and the latter against, the reduction or abolition of the tariff. It is simply a clash of trade interests; but, with regard to the broad principles involved, it would appear that, so long as America holds these Islands without the consent of its inhabitants, it is only just that she should do all in her power to create a free outlet for the Islandsʼ produce. If this Archipelago should eventually acquire sovereign independence, Americaʼs moral obligations towards it would cease, and the mutual relations would then be only those ordinarily subsisting between two nations.

By Philippine Commission Act dated April 30, 1902, a Bureau of Agriculture was organized. The chief of this department is assisted by experts in soil, farm-management, plant-culture, breeding, animal industry, seed and fibres, an assistant agrostologist, and a tropical agriculturist. Shortly after its organization, 18,250 packages of field and garden seeds were sent to 730 individuals for experiment in different parts of the Colony, with very encouraging results. The work of this department is experimental and investigative, with a view to the improvement of agriculture in all its branches.

In Spanish times agricultural land was free of taxation. Now it pays a tax not exceeding .87 per cent. of the assessed value. The rate varies in different districts, according to local circumstances. For instance, in 1904 it was .87 per cent. in Baliuag (Bulacan) and in Viñan (La Laguna), and .68 per cent. in San Miguel de Mayumo (Bulacan). This tax is subdivided in its application to provincial and municipal general expenses and educational disbursements. The people make no demur at paying a tax on land-produce; but they complain of the system of taxation of capital generally, and particularly of its application to lands lying fallow for the causes already explained. The approximate yield of the land-tax in the fiscal year of 1905 was ₱2,000,000; it was then proposed to suspend the levy of this tax for three years in view of the agricultural depression.

The Manila Port Works (vide p. 344), commenced in Spanish times, are now being carried on more vigorously under contract with the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific Company. Within the breakwater a thirty-foot deep harbour, measuring about 400 acres, is being dredged, the mud raised therefrom being thrown on to 168 acres of reclaimed land which is to form the new frontage. Also a new channel entrance to the Pasig River is to be maintained at a depth of 18 feet. The Americans maintain that there will be no finer harbour in the Far East when the work is completed. The reclaimed acreage will be covered with warehouses and wharves, enabling vessels to load and discharge at all seasons instead of lying idle for weeks in the typhoon season and bad weather, as they often do now. With these enlarged shipping facilities, freights to and from Manila must become lower, to the advantage of all concerned in import and export trade. The cost of these improvements up to completion is estimated at about one million sterling.

The port of Siassi (Tapul group), which was opened in recent years by the Spaniards, was discontinued (June 1, 1902) by the Americans, who opened the new coastwise ports of Cape Melville, Puerta Princesa, and Bongao (October 15, 1903) in order to assist the scheme for preventing smuggling between these extreme southern islands and Borneo. Hitherto there had been some excuse for this surreptitious trade, because inter-island vessels, trading from the other entry-ports, seldom, if ever, visited these out-of-the-way regions. In February, 1903, appropriations of $350,000 and $150,000 were made for harbour works in Cebú and Yloilo respectively, although in the latter port no increased facility for the entry of vessels into the harbour was apparent up to June, 1904. Zamboanga, the trade of which was almost nominal up to the year 1898, is now an active shipping centre of growing importance, where efforts are being made to foster direct trade with foreign eastern ports. An imposing Custom-house is to be erected on the new spacious jetty already built under American auspices. Arrangements have also been made for the Hong-Kong-Australia Steamship Company to make Zamboanga a port of call. Here, as in all the chief ports of the Archipelago, greater advantages for trade have been afforded by the administration, and one is struck with the appearance of activity and briskness as compared with former times. These changes are largely owing to the national character of the new rulers, for one can enter any official department, in any branch of public service, from that of the Gov.-General downwards, to procure information or clear up a little question “while you wait,” and, if necessary, interview the chief of the department. The tedious, dilatory time and money-wasting “come later on” procedure of times gone by no longer obtains.

A Roadside Scene in Bulacan Province

What is still most needed to give a stimulus to agriculture and the general material development of the Islands is the conversion of hundreds of miles of existing highways and mud-tracks into good hard roads, so as to facilitate communication between the planting-districts and the ports. The corallaceous stone abounding in the Islands is worthless for road-making, because it pulverizes in the course of one wet season, and, unfortunately, what little hard stone exists lies chiefly in inaccessible places—hence its extraction and transport would be more costly than the supply of an equal quantity of broken granite brought over in sailing-ships from the Chinese coast, where it is procurable at little over the quarrymanʼs labour. From the days of the Romans the most successful colonizing nations have regarded road-making as a work of primary importance and a civilizing factor.

Among the many existing projects, there is one for the construction of railroads (1) from Manila (or some point on the existing railway) northward through the rich tobacco-growing valleys of Isabela and Cagayán, as far as the port of Aparri, at the mouth of the Cagayán River—distance, 260 miles; (2) from Dagúpan (Pangasinán) to Laoag (Ilocos Norte), through 168 miles of comparatively well-populated country; (3) from San Fabian (Pangasinán) to Báguio (Benguet), 55 miles; and three other lines in Luzon Island and one in each of the islands of Negros, Panay, Cebú, Leyte, and Sámar. A railway line from Manila to Batangas, via Calamba (a distance of about 70 miles), and thence on to Albay Province, was under consideration for many years prior to the American advent; but the poor financial result of the only (120 miles) line in the Colony has not served to stimulate further enterprise in this direction, except an endeavour of that same company to recuperate by feeder branches, two of which are built, and another (narrow gauge) is in course of construction from Manila to Antipolo, via Pasig and Mariquina (vide Railways, p. 265).

Since February, 1905, a Congress Act, known as the “Cooper Bill,” offers certain inducements to railway companies. It authorizes the Insular Government to guarantee 4 per cent, annual interest on railway undertakings, provided that the total of such contingent liability shall not exceed $1,200,000—that is to say, 4 per cent, could be guaranteed on a maximum capital of $30,000,000. The Insular Government is further empowered under this Act to admit, at its discretion, the entry of railway material free of duty. As yet, no railway construction has been started by American capitalists. Projects ad infinitum might be suggested for the development of trade and traffic—for instance, a ship-canal connecting the Laguna de Bay with the Pacific Ocean; another from Laguimanoc to Atimonan (Tayabas); an artificial entry-port in Negros Island, connected by railway with two-thirds of the coast, etc.

Up to the present the bulk of the export and import trade is handled by Europeans, who, together with native capitalists, own the most considerable commercial and industrial productive “going concerns” in the Islands. In 1904 there were one important and several smaller American trading-firms (exclusive of shopkeepers) in the capital, and a few American planters and successful prospectors in the provinces. There are hundreds of Americans about the Islands, searching for minerals and other natural products with more hopeful prospects than tangible results. It is perhaps due to the disturbed condition of the Islands and the “Philippines for the Filipinos” policy that the anticipated flow of private American capital has not yet been seen, although there is evidently a desire in this direction. There is, at least, no lack of the American enterprising spirit, and, since the close of the War of Independence, several joint-stock companies have started with considerable cash capital, principally for the exploitation of the agricultural, forestal, and mineral wealth of the Islands. Whatever the return on capital may be, concerns of this kind, which operate at the natural productive sources, are obviously as beneficial to the Colony as trading can be in Manila—the emporium of wealth produced elsewhere.

There are, besides, many minor concerns with American capital, established only for the purpose of selling to the inhabitants goods which are not an essential need, and therefore not contributing to the development of the Colony.

The tonnage entered in Philippine ports shows a rapid annual increase in five years. Many new lines of steamers make Manila a port of call, exclusive of the army transports, carrying Government supplies, and in 1905 there was a regular goods and passenger traffic between Hong-Kong and Zamboanga. Still, the greater part of the freight between the Philippines and the Atlantic ports is carried in foreign bottoms. The shipping-returns for the year 1903 would appear to show that over 85 per cent, of the exports from the Islands to America, and about the same proportion of the imports from that country (exclusive of Government stores brought in army transports) were borne in foreign vessels. The carrying-trade figures for 1904 were 78.41 per cent, in British bottoms; 6.69 per cent, in Spanish, and 6.65 per cent, in American vessels. The desire to dispossess the foreigners of the carrying monopoly is not surprising, but it is thought that immediately-operative legislation to that end would be impracticable. The latest legislation on the subject confines the carrying-trade between the Islands and the United States to American bottoms from July 1, 1906. It is alleged that the success of the new regulations which may (or may not, for want of American vessels) come into force on that date will depend on the freights charged; it is believed that exorbitant outward rates would divert the hemp cargoes into other channels, and a large rise in inward freights would facilitate European competition in manufactured goods. Any considerable rise in freights to America would tend to counterbalance the benefits which the Filipinos hope to derive from the free entry of sugar and tobacco into American ports. The text of the Shipping Law, dated April 15, 1904, reads thus; “On and after July 1, 1906, no merchandise shall be transported by sea, under penalty of forfeiture thereof, between ports of the United States and ports or places of the Philippine Archipelago, directly, or via a foreign port, or for any part of the voyage in any other than a vessel of the United States. No foreign vessel shall transport passengers between ports of the United States and ports or places in the Philippine Archipelago, either directly, or via a foreign port, under a penalty of $200 for each passenger so transported and landed.”

The expenses of the Civil Government are met through the insular revenues (the Congressional Relief Fund being an extraordinary exception). The largest income is derived from the Customsʼ receipts, which in 1904 amounted to about $8,750,000, equal to about two-thirds of the insular treasury revenue (as distinguished from the municipal). The total Revenue and Expenditure in the fiscal year 1903 (from all sources, including municipal taxes expended in the respective localities, but exclusive of the Congressional Relief Fund) stood thus:—

Total Revenue

$14,640,988

Total Expenditure

$15,105,374

Excess of Expenditure over Revenue

464,386

15,105,374

15,105,374

In 1903, therefore, Government cost the inhabitants the equivalent of about 46 per cent, of the exportsʼ value, against 45 per cent, in Spanish times, taking the relative averages of 1890–94. The present abnormal pecuniary embarrassment of the people is chiefly due to the causes already explained, and perhaps partly so to the fact that the ₱30,000,000 to ₱40,000,000 formerly in circulation had two to three times the local purchasing value that pesos have to-day.

The “Cooper Bill,” already referred to, authorizes the Insular Government to issue bonds for General Public Works up to a total of $5,000,000, for a term of 30 years, at 4½ per cent, interest per annum; and the municipalities to raise loans for municipal improvements up to a sum not exceeding 5 per cent. of the valuation of the real estate of the municipalities, at 5 per cent. interest per annum. For the purchase of the friarsʼ lands a loan of $7,000,000 exists, bearing interest at 4 per cent. per annum, the possible interest liability on the total of these items amounting to about $2,000,000 per annum.

On November 15, 1901, the high Customs tariff then in force was reduced by about 25 per cent. on the total average, bringing the average duties to about 17 per cent. ad valorem, but this was again amended by the new tariff laws of May 3, 1905. Opium is still one of the imports, but under a recent law its introduction is to be gradually restricted by tariff until March 1, 1908, from which date it will be unlawful to import this drug, except by the Government for medicinal purposes only.

On August 1, 1904, a new scheme of additional taxation came into force under the “Internal Revenue Law of 1904.” This tax having been only partially imposed during the first six months, the full yield cannot yet be ascertained, but at the present rate(₱5,280,970.96, partial yield for the fiscal year 1905) it will probably produce at the annual rate of $4,250,000 gold, which, however, is not entirely extra taxation, taking into account the old taxes repealed under Art. XVII., sec. 244. The theory of the new scheme was that it might permit of a lower Customs tariff schedule. The new taxes are imposed on distilled spirits, fermented liquors, manufactured tobacco, matches, banks and bankers, insurance companies, forestry products, valid mining concessions granted prior to April 11, 1899, business, manufactures, occupations, licences, and stamps on specified objects (Art. II., sec. 25). Of the taxes accruing to the Insular Treasury under the above law, 10 per cent. is set apart for the benefit of the several provincial governments, apportioned pro rata to their respective populations as shown by the census of 1903; 15 per cent. for the several municipal governments, provided that of this sum one-third shall be utilized solely for the maintenance of free public primary schools and expenditure appertaining thereto. In the aforesaid distribution Manila City ranks as a municipality and a province, and receives apportionment under this law on the basis of 25 per cent. (Art. XVII., sec. 150).

From the first announcement of the projected law up to its promulgation the public clamoured loudly against it. For months the public organs, issued in Spanish and dialect, persistently denounced it as a harbinger of ruin to the Colony. Chambers of Commerce, corporations and private firms, foreign and native, at meetings specially convened to discuss the new law, predicted a collapse of Philippine industry and commerce. At a public conference, held before the Civil Commission on June 24, 1904, it was stated that one distillery alone would have to pay a yearly tax of ₱744,000, and that a certain cigar-factory would be required to pay annually ₱557,425. Petitions against the coming law were sent by all the representative trading-bodies to the Insular Government praying for its withdrawal. When the Commissioners retired to their hill-station at Báguio (Benguet) they were followed up by protests against the measure, but it became law under Philippine Commission Act No. 1189. Since the imposition of this tax there has been a general complaint throughout the civilized provinces of depression in the internal trade, but to what extent it is justified there is no available precise data on which to form an estimate.

As already stated, the American occupation brought about a rapid rise in the price of everything, not of necessity or in obedience to the law of supply and demand, but because it was the pleasure of the Americans voluntarily to enhance established values. To the surprise of the Filipinos, the new-comers preferred to pay wages at hitherto unheard-of rates, whilst the soldiers lavishly paid in gold for silver-peso value (say, at least, double), of their own volition—an innovation in which the obliging native complacently acquiesced, until it dawned upon him that he might demand anything he chose. The soldiers so frequently threw away copper coin given them in change as valueless, that many natives discontinued to offer it. It followed that everybody was reluctantly compelled to pay the higher price which the American spontaneously elected to give. Labour, food, house-rent, and all the necessaries of life rose enormously.[3] The Colony soon became converted from a cheap into an expensive place of residence. Living there to-day costs at least three times what it did in Spanish times. Urban property and lands were assessed at values far beyond those at which the owners truly estimated them. Up to 1904 it was not at all uncommon to find the rent of a house raised to five times that of 1898. Retailers had to raise their prices; trading-firms were obliged to increase their clerksʼ emoluments, and in every direction revenue and expenditure thenceforth ranged on an enhanced scale. It is remarkable that, whilst pains were taken by the new-comers to force up prices, many of them were simultaneously complaining of expensive living! Governor W. H. Taft, with an annual emolument of $20,000 gold, declared before the United States Senate that the Gov.-Generalʼs palace at Malacañan was too expensive a place for him to reside in. The lighting of the establishment cost him $125 gold a month, and his servantsʼ wages amounted to $250 monthly. He added that he would rather pay his own rent than meet the expenses of the Malacañan residence.[4]

Two and a half years later General Leonard Wood reported:

“There has been a great increase in the cost of living and in wages in this (Moro) as in other provinces—an increase which has not been accompanied either by improved methods or increased production. The cause of the increase can be traced, in most cases, to the foolishly high prices paid by army officials for labour.”[5]

Wages steadily advanced as a natural consequence of the higher cost of living, and, under the guidance of a native demagogue, the working classes, for the first time in Philippine history, collectively began to grumble at the idea of labour-pay having a limit. It was one of the abuses of that liberty of speech suddenly acquired under the new dominion. On February 2, 1902, this person organized the malcontents under the title of a “Labour Union,” of which he became the first president. The subscription was 20 cents of a peso per week. The legality of peacefully relinquishing work when the worker felt so inclined was not impugned; but when the strikers sought to coerce violently their fellow-men, the law justly interfered and imprisoned their leader. The presidency of the so-called “Labour Union” was thenceforth (September following) carried on by a half-caste, gifted with great power of organization and fluent oratory. He prepared the by-laws of the association, and fixed the monthly subscription at one peso per man and one peseta (one-fifth of a peso) per woman. About 100,000 members were enrolled in the union, the ostensible aim of which was the defence of the working manʼs interests. It is difficult to discern what those interests were which needed protection; the position of the labouring class was the very reverse of that existing in Europe; the demand for labourers, at any reasonable wage, exceeded the supply. The idea of a Filipino philanthropically devoting his life to the welfare of the masses was beyond the conception of all who understood the Philippine character. At the end of about eight months, notwithstanding the enormous assets from subscriptions, the “Labour Union” became insolvent, with a deficit of 1,000 or more pesos. Where the assets had gone needed investigation. In the meantime the leader, posing as mediator between the Insular Government and certain notorious outlaws, had endeavoured to negotiate with Governor W. H. Taft for their surrender, on the condition of full pardon. The Government, at length, becoming suspicious of his intentions and the full measure of his sympathy for these individuals, caused the leader to be arrested on May 29, 1903, on the allegations of “founding, directing, and presiding over an illegal association known as ‘The Democratic Labour Union,’” irregularities connected with the foundation and administration of the same, sedition, confederacy with brigands, and other minor counts.

It was clear to every thinking man, American or European, that the control of such a formidable body was a menace to peace. The accused was brought to trial on the chief allegations, and in September, 1903, he was sentenced to four years and two monthsʼ imprisonment, but appealed against the sentence to the Supreme Court. Later on he was tried on the other counts, and, although the public prosecution failed, it served the useful purpose of dissolving a league the scope of which was shrouded in obscurity, at a period when the political atmosphere was still clouded by aspirations of impossible and undesirable realization. I followed the course of the trial daily, and I interviewed the accused at his house a week before it ended. Three hundred documents were read at the trial, and 160 witnesses were brought against him. To endeavour to establish a case of conspiracy against him, another individual was produced as his colleague. The first accused was defended by an American advocate with such fervid eloquence, apparently inspired by earnest conviction of his clientʼs innocence, that those who had to decide his fate acquitted him of the charge of conspiracy on May 11, 1904. The defendantʼs verbal explanation to me of the “Labour Union” led me to the conclusion that its abolition would benefit the community.

The abnormal rise in wages had the bad effect of inducing the natives to leave their pastoral pursuits to flock into the towns. The labour question is still a difficult problem, for it is the habit of the Filipino to discontinue work when he has a surplus in his pocket. Private employers complain of scarcity and the unreliability of the unskilled labourer. Undoubtedly the majority of them would welcome the return of Chinese coolies, whose entry into the Islands is prohibited by the Insular Government, in agreement with the desire of the Filipinos, who know full well that the industrious Chinaman would lower wages and force the Filipinos into activity for an existence.

Consul-General Wildman, of Hong-Kong, in his report for 1900 to the State Department, Washington, said: “There has been, during the past year, quite an investment of Hong-Kong capital in Manila; but it is the general opinion that no investment in mines or agriculture in the Islands will be of any great value until the introduction of Chinese labour is not only permitted but encouraged.”

Section IV. of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1902 provides that every Chinese labourer rightfully in any insular territory of the United States (Hawaii excepted), at the time of the passage of this Act, shall obtain, within one year thereafter, a certificate of residence, and upon failure to obtain such certificate he shall be deported; and the Philippine Commission is authorized and required to make all regulations necessary for the enforcement of this section in the Philippine Islands. No restriction is placed upon their movement from one island to another of the Philippines, but they cannot go from the Philippines to America.

The regulations established by the Insular Government (Act of March 27, 1903) in conformity with the above-cited Act are as follows: The Chinese can leave the Islands and return thereto within a year. They must obtain a certificate of departure and be photographed. To re-enter the Islands they must procure a certificate of departure at the place of embarkation (usually China) for the Philippines. Thus, during the year ending June 30, 1902, 10,158 Chinese entered Manila, and 11,432 left it with return certificates. Chinese resident in the Islands must be registered. The first banishment for contravention of this regulation took place on January 6, 1905.

For a long time there was a big contraband business done in Chinese. A coolie would pay as much as 400 pesos premium to find himself where he could earn up to 100 pesos per month. The contraband agent in China was an ex-Custom-house officer. The Manila agent was in the Customs service, and the colleagues on the China side were high officials. When the conspiracy was discovered the agent in China came to Manila to answer the charge, and was at once arrested. A prosecution was entered upon; but after a protracted trial, the proceedings were quashed, for reasons which need not be discussed. The Exclusion Act is so rigidly upheld that in the case of a Chinese merchant who died in the Islands leaving a fortune of about 200,000 pesos, his (Chinese) executor was refused permission to reside temporarily in the Colony for the sole purpose of winding up the deceasedʼs affairs.

The social position of the Chinese permitted to remain in the Islands has changed since the American advent. In former times, when the highest authorities frowned upon the Chinese community, it was necessary to propitiate them with bags of silver pesos. There was no Chinese consul in those days; but Chino Cárlos Palanca was practically the protector and dictator of his countrymen during the last decade of Spanish rule, and, if a cloud descended upon them from high quarters, he used to pass the word round for a dollar levy to dissipate it. In February, 1900, Chino Palanca was made a mandarin of the first class, and when his spirit passed away to the abode of his ancestors his body was followed to interment by an immense sympathetic crowd of Celestials. This pompous funeral was one of the great social events of the year. Now there is a Chinese consul in Manila whose relations to his people are very different from those between Europeans and their consuls. The Chinese consul paternally tells his countrymen what they are to do, and they do it with filial submission. He has given them to understand that they occupy a higher position than that formerly accorded to the Chinese in this Colony (vide Chinese, Chapter viii).

On my first visit to Manila alter the American occupation I was struck to see Chinese in the streets wearing the pigtail down their backs, and dressed in nicely-cut semi-European patrol-jacket costumes of cloth or washing-stuffs, with straw or felt “trilby” hats. Now, too, they mix freely among the whites in public places with an air of social equality, and occupy stall seats in the theatre, which they would not have dared to enter in pre-American times. The Chinese Chamber of Commerce is also of recent foundation, and its status is so far recognized by the Americans that it was invited to express an opinion on the Internal Revenue Bill, already referred to, before it became law. The number of Chinese in the whole Archipelago is estimated at about 41,000. When an enterprising American introduced a large number of jinrikishas, intending to establish that well-known system of locomotion here, the Chinese Consulate very shortly put its veto on the employment of Chinese runners. The few natives who ran them became objects of ridicule. The first person who used a jinrikisha in Manila, with Chinese in livery, was a European consul. Other whites, unaccustomed to these vehicles, took to beating the runners—a thing never seen or heard of in Japan or in colonies where they are used in thousands. The natural result was that the ʼrikisha man bolted and the ʼrikisha tilted backwards, to the discomfort of the fool riding in it. The attempted innovation failed, and the vehicles were sent out of the Colony.

Apart from the labour question, if the Chinese were allowed a free entry they would perpetuate the smartest pure Oriental mixed class in the Islands. On the other hand, if their exclusion should remain in force beyond the present generation it will have a marked adverse effect on the activity of the people (vide pp. 182, 411).

At the period of the American occupation the Currency of the Islands was the Mexican and Spanish-Philippine peso, of a value constantly fluctuating between 49 and 37 cents. gold (vide table at p. 647). The shifty character of the silver basis created such an uncertainty in trade and investment transactions that the Government resolved to place the currency on a gold standard. Between January 1 and October 5, 1902, the Insular Treasury lost $956,750.37½ from the fall of silver. A difficulty to be confronted was the impossibility of ascertaining even the approximate total amount of silver current in the Islands. Opinions varied from ₱30,000,000 upwards.[6] Pending the solution of the money problem, ineffectual attempts were made to fix the relative values by the publication of an official ratio between gold dollar and silver peso once a quarter; but as it never agreed with the commercial quotation many days running, the announcement of the official ratio was altered to once in ten days. Seeing that ten days or more elapsed before the current ratio could be communicated to certain remote points, the complications in the official accounts were most embarrassing. Congress Act of July 1, 1902, authorized the coinage of subsidiary silver, but did not determine the unit of value or provide for the issue of either coin or paper money to take the place of the Mexican and Spanish-Philippine pesos in circulation, so that it was quite inoperative. Finally, Congress Act of March 2, 1903, provided that the new standard should be a peso equal in value to half a United States gold dollar. The maximum amount authorized to be coined was 75,000,000 silver pesos, each containing 416 grains of silver, nine-tenths fine. The peso was to be legal tender for all debts, public and private, in the Islands, and was to be issued when the Insular Government should have 500,000 pesos ready for circulation. The peso is officially alluded to as “Philippine currency,” whilst the popular term, “Conant,” derives its name from a gentleman, Mr. Charles Conant, in whose report, dated November 25, 1901, this coin was suggested. He visited the Islands, immortalized his name, and modestly retired.

The “Philippine currency,” or “peso Conant,” is guaranteed by the United States Treasury to be equal to 50 cents of a gold dollar. The six subsidiary coins are 50, 20, and 10 cents silver, 5 cents nickel, and 1 and ½ cent bronze, equivalent to a sterling value of one shilling to one farthing. This new coinage, designed by a Filipino, was issued to the public at the end of July, 1903. The inaugurating issue consisted of 17,881,650 silver pesos, in pesos and subsidiary coins, to be supplemented thereafter by the re-coinage of the Mexican and Philippine pesos as they found their way into the Treasury. For public convenience, silver certificates, or Treasury Notes, were issued, exchangeable for “Conant” silver pesos, to the extent of 6,000,000 pesosʼ worth in 10-peso notes; another 6,000,000 pesos in 5-peso notes, and 3,000,000 pesos in 2-peso notes, these last bearing a vignette of the Philippine patriot, the late Dr. José Rizal. On December 23, 1903, the Governor reported that “not till January 1, 1904, can the Mexican coin be demonetized and denied as legal tender value.” A proclamation, dated January 28, 1904, was issued by the Insular Treasury in Spanish and Tagalog to the effect (1) that after October 1, 1904, the Government would only accept Mexican or Philippine pesos at the value of their silver contents, and (2) that after December 31, 1904, a tax would be levied on all deposits made at the banks of the above-mentioned coinage. Notwithstanding the publication of numerous official circulars urging the use of the new peso, the Mexican and Spanish-Philippine dollars remained in free circulation during the first six months of 1904, although rent and certain other payments were reckoned in “Conant” and current accounts at banks were kept in the new currency, unless otherwise agreed. Naturally, as long as the seller was willing to accept Mexican for his goods, the buyer was only too pleased to pay in that medium, because if, for instance, he had to pay 10 Mexican dollars, and only had “Conant” in his pocket, he could call at any of the hundred exchange shops about town, change his 10 “Conant” into Mexican at a 5 to 20 per cent. premium, settle his bill, and reserve the premium. Almost any Far Eastern fractional coins served as subsidiary coins to the Mexican or Spanish-Philippine peso, and during nine or ten months there were no less than three currencies in use—namely, United States, Mexican (with Spanish-Philippine), and “Conant.” It was not practicable to deny a legal-tender value to so much Mexican, and Spanish-Philippine coin in circulation. The retailer was required to exhibit in his shop a card, supplied by the municipality, indicating the exchange-rate of the day, and declaring in Spanish, English, and Tagálog as follows: “Our prices are in American currency. We accept Philippine currency at the rate of...”; but the reckoning in small-value transactions was so bewildering that, in practice, he would accept any coinage the purchaser chose to give him at face value. From August 1, 1904, when the “Internal Revenue Law” (vide p. 630) came into operation, merchantsʼ and bankersʼ accounts and all large transactions were settled on the new-currency basis. Many retailers followed the lead, and the acceptance of the new medium thenceforth greatly increased. Still, for several months, provincial natives were loth to part with their old coin at a discount, or, as they plainly put it, lose 10 to 20 per cent. of their cash capital at a stroke. The Insular Treasurer therefore issued another circular in December, 1904, stating that whosoever engaged in business should make use of the old coinage in trade transactions after December 31, 1904, without special licence, would be condemned to pay not only that licence, but a heavy fine, or be sent to prison; and that all written agreements made after October, 1904, involving a payment in old currency, would pay a tax of 1 per cent. per month from the said date of December, 1904. Nevertheless, further pressure had to be exercised by the Civil Governor, who, in a circular dated January 7, 1905, stated that “it is hereby ordered that the Insular Treasurer and all provincial treasurers in the Philippine Islands shall, on and after this date and until February 1, 1905, purchase Spanish-Filipino currency, Mexican currency, Chinese subsidiary silver coins, and all foreign copper coins now circulating in the Philippine Islands at one peso, Philippine currency, for one peso and twenty centavos, local currency.”

As late as March, 1905, there was still a considerable amount of old coinage in private hands, but practically the new medium was definitely established. The total number of “Conant” pesos in circulation in the Islands, in the middle of May, 1905, was 29,715,720 (all minted in America), and “Conant” paper, ₱10,150,000.

From the time of the American occupation up to May, 1902, the two foreign banks—the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and the Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China (vide Banks, p. 258)—were the only depositaries for the Insular Treasury, outside the Treasury itself. In the meantime, two important American banks established themselves in the Islands—namely, the “Guaranty Trust Company,” and the “International Banking Corporation.” On May 15, 1902, the “Guaranty Trust Company” was appointed a depositary for Philippine funds both in Manila and in the United States; and on June 21 following the “International Banking Corporation” was likewise appointed a depositary for the Insular Treasury, each being under a bond of $2,000,000. These two banks also act as fiscal agents to the United States in the Philippines.[7]

In 1904 the position of the “Banco Español-Filipino” (vide p. 258) was officially discussed. This bank, the oldest established in Manila, holds a charter from the Spanish Government, the validity of which was recognized. The Insular Government sought to reduce the amount of its paper currency, which was alleged to be three times the amount of its cash capital. Meanwhile, the notes in circulation, representing the old Philippine medium, ceased to be legal tender, and were exchanged for “Conant” peso-value notes at the current rate of exchange.

For a short period there existed an establishment entitled the “American Bank,” which did not prosper and was placed in liquidation on May 18, 1905, by order of the Gov.-General, pursuant to Philippine Commission Act No. 52 as amended by Act No. 556.

In February, 1909, the terms of Article 4 of the Treaty of Paris (vide p. 479) will lapse, leaving America a freer hand to determine the commercial future of the Philippines. It remains to be seen whether the “Philippines for the Filipinos” policy, promoted by the first Civil Governor, or the “Equal opportunities for all” doctrine, propounded by the first Gov.-General, will be the one then adopted by America. Present indications point to the former merging into the latter, almost of necessity, if it is desired to encourage American capitalists to invest in the Islands. The advocate of the former policy is the present responsible minister for Philippine affairs, whilst, on this work going to press, the propounder of the latter doctrine has been justly rewarded, for his honest efforts to govern well, with the appointment of first American Ambassador to Japan.

[1] Report on the Commerce of the Philippine Islands, prepared in the Bureau of Insular Affairs, War Department, Washington, 1903.

[2] The Japanese Government is making an effort to produce cane sugar in Formosa sufficient for Japanʼs consumption.

[3] “Ever since the occupation of these Islands by the American army, four years ago, the price of labour has steadily increased.... It is needless to say that every industry will be profoundly affected by this.” Vide Notes in “Monthly Summary of Commerce of the Philippine Islands,” May, 1903. Prepared in the Bureau of Insular Affairs, War Department, Washington.

[4] Vide statement of Governor W. H. Taft before the U.S. Senate, January 31, 1902, in Senate Document No. 331, Part I., 57th Congress, 1st Session, p. 258.

[5] Vide Report of the Moro Province for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1904, p. 27.

[6] In the years 1888–97 the circulation of Mexican and Spanish-Philippine dollars (pesos) was computed at about 36,000,000.

[7] The “International Banking Corporation”: Capital paid up, £820,000; reserve fund, £820,000. The “Guaranty Trust Company”: Capital, reserves, and undivided profits, about $7,500,000 gold.

Trade Statistics

TOTAL IMPORT AND EXPORT VALUES (exclusive of Silver and Gold)

Period.

Imports.

Exports.

Total Import and Export Trade.

Excess of Imports.

Excess of Exports.

Annual Average.

Gold $.

Gold $.

Gold $.

Gold $.

Gold $.

1880–84

19,500,274

20,838,325

40,338,599

—

1,338,051

1885–89

15,789,165

20,991,265

36,780,430

—

5,202,100

1890–94

15,827,694

19,751,293

35,578,987

—

3,923,599

Year.

1899

13,113,010

12,306,912

25,479,922

746,098

—

1900

20,601,436

19,751,068

40,352,504

850,368

—

1901

30,279,406

23,214,948

53,494,354

7,064,458

—

1902

32,141,842

23,927,679

56,069,521

8,214,163

—

1903

32,971,882

33,121,780

66,093,662

—

149,898

Great Britain and the United States are the most important foreign markets for Philippine hemp, the distribution of shipments in 1850 and in five recent years having been as follows:—

HEMP SHIPMENTS TO UNITED STATES, UNITED KINGDOM, AND OTHER COUNTRIES

Year.

To United States.

To Great Britain.

To Other Countries.

Total.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

1850

7,387

1,092

323

8,802

1899

26,713

21,511

26,808

75,092

1900

20,304

46,419

22,715

89,438

1901

30,336

82,190

11,731

124,257

1902

60,384

44,813

6,303

111,500

1903

69,912

59,189

8,651

137,752

HEMP SHIPMENTS

Year.

Total.

Tons.

1850

8,802

1855

14,936

1860

24,812

1865

24,862

1870

30,535

1875

32,864

1880

49,934

1885

52,141

1890

63,269

1895

104,040

1896

95,736

1897

112,755

1898

99,076

1899

75,092

1900

89,438

1901

124,257

1902

111,500

1903

137,752

TOTAL CHIEF EXPORTS FROM THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

1885.

1886.

1887.

1888.

1889.

1890.

1891.

1892.

1893.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

SUGAR

Manila

65,678

84,204

83,469

91,628

92,856

48,071

73,296

67,996

107,003

Cebú

28,195

18,140

17,815

16,694

11,862

3,455

8,762

18,388

16,962

Yloilo

109,609

83,456

77,847

76,997

114,207

96,000

85,104

165,407

137,716

Total

203,482

185,800

179,131

185,319

218,925

147,526

167,162

251,791

261,681

HEMP

Manila

43,927

39,268

56,709

71,881

59,455

56,201

68,256

87,778

70,174

Cebú

8,214

7,192

7,663

11,298

11,616

7,068

11,087

11,035

10,010

Total

52,141

46,460

64,372

82,679

71,071

63,269

79,343

98,813

80,184

SAPAN-WOOD

Manila

2,911

1,885

962

750

574

1,385

880

1,574

3,332

Yloilo and Cebú

1,100

2,943

4,260

5,853

4,018

1,415

3,317

2,207

1,586

Total

4,011

4,828

5,222

6,603

4,592

2,800

4,197

8,841

4,918

COPRAH

tons

—

—

—

—

—

4,653

17,875

22,439

11,519

Shipped from Manila only.

1885.

1886.

1887.

1888.

1889.

1890.

1891.

1892.

1893.

Coffee

tons

5,209

7,337

4,998

6,702

5,841

4,796

2,869

1,326

307

Cigars

thousands

114,821

102,717

99,562

109,109

121,674

109,636

97,740

137,059

137,458

Tobacco-Leaf

tons

6,799

6,039

4,841

10,229

10,161

8,952

9,803

12,714

11,534

Buffalo-Hides

tons

632

666

566

1,888

755

394

272

327

—

Indigo

tons

84

64

111

232

221

19

89

278

—

Gum Mastic

tons

195

205

404

330

490

188

303

136

—

Cordage

tons

265

187

175

124

94

196

149

100

—

M.O.P. Shell

tons

10

8

13

12

23

31

18

10

—

TOTAL CHIEF EXPORTS FROM THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS—continued

1894.

1895.

1896.

1897.

1899.

1900.

1901.

1902.

1903.

1858.

UNDER AMERICAN OCCUPATION.

According to Sir John Bowring.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

SUGAR

Manila

94,656

107,221

97,705

57,382

5,041

27,473

5,567

421

368

Cebú

10,198

13,335

7,701

15,257

12,363

3,731

8,283

4,595

6,202

Yloilo

88,533

110,527

124,648

130,542

71,982

36,312

45,070

97,129

81,308

Total

193,387

231,083

230,054

203,181

89,386

67,536

58,920

102,145

88,378

34,821

HEMP

Manila

82,693

93,595

83,172

102,721

—

—

—

—

—

Cebú

16,804

10,445

12,564

10,034

—

—

—

—

—

Total

99,497

104,040

95,736

112,755

75,092

89,438

124,257

111,500

137,752

25,781

SAPANWOOD

Manila

1,292

1,619

898

1,022

No quantities stated in the Office Returns since 1898.

Yloilo & Cebú

1,633

694

2,743

3,165

Total

2,925

2,313

3,551

4,187

Included in Table of Total Export Values, p. 639.

4,201

COPRAH

tons

33,265

37,104

37,970

50,714

15,906

65,355

32,655

59,287

83,411

Shipped from Manila only.

Coffee

tons

309

194

89

136

34

13

30

7

4

1,560

Cigars

thousands

137,877

164,430

183,667

156,916

No quantities officially stated.

85,142

Tobacco-Leaf

tons

9,545

10,368

10,986

15,836

6,272

9,834

7,764

9,016

8,593

4,106

Buffalo-Hides

tons

398

467

397

728

—

—

—

—

—

402

Indigo

tons

72

27

23

33

114

5

8

247

40

36

Gum Mastic

tons

189

275

172

223

No quantities officially stated.

Cordage

tons

170

198

194

239

M.O.P. Shell

tons

54

79

13

42

TOTAL EXPORT OF SUGAR FROM THE PHILLIPINE ISLANDS DURING 18 YEARS

1885.

1886.

1887.

1888.

1889.

1890.

1891.

1892.

1893.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

MANILA

Dry

47,542

62,594

62,167

63,890

—

33,233

50,342

51,718

72,007

Wet

18,136

21,610

21,302

27,738

—

14,838

22,954

16,278

34,996

Total

65,678

84,204

83,469

91,628

92,856

48,071

73,296

67,996

107,003

CEBÚ

Dry

23,676

15,190

12,765

13,094

—

3,145

7,562

17,488

16,712

Wet

4,519

2,950

5,050

3,600

—

310

1,200

900

250

Total

23,195

18,140

17,815

16,694

11,862

3,455

8,762

18,388

16,962

YLIOLO

Dry

102,369

81,201

71,722

72,882

—

87,966

82,515

160,050

135,191

Wet

7,240

2,255

6,125

4,115

—

8,034

2,589

5,357

2,525

Total

109,609

83,456

77,847

76,997

114,207

96,000

85,104

165,407

137,716

Grand Total

203,482

185,800

179,131

185,319

213,925

147,526

167,162

251,791

261,631

TOTAL EXPORT OF SUGAR FROM THE PHILLIPINE ISLANDS DURING 18 YEARS—continued

1894.

1895.

1896.

1897.

1898.

1899.

1900.

1902.

1903.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Under American Occupation

MANILA

Dry

65,189

81,502

77,676

46,345

Wet

18,136

21,610

21,302

27,738

5,041

27,473

5,567

421

868

Total

94,656

107,221

97,703

57,382

5,041

27,473

5,567

421

868

CEBÚ

Dry

10,198

13,085

7,484

15,137

Wet

—

250

217

120

12,363

3,751

8,283

4,595

6,202

Total

10,198

13,335

7,701

15,257

12,363

3,751

8,283

4,595

6,202

YLIOLO

Dry

—

—

123,720

129,174

Wet

—

—

928

1,368

71,982

36,312

45,070

97,129

81,308

Total

88,533

110,527

124,648

130,542

71,982

36,312

45,070

97,129

81,308

Grand Total

193,387

231,083

230,054

203,181

89,386

67,536

58,920

102,145

88,378

N.B.—The total export of sugar in the year 1861 was 53,114 tons. Trade Statistics

TOBACCO AND CIGAR SHIPMENTS BEFORE AMERICAN OCCUPATION

Year.

Cigars.

Leaf.

Year.

Cigars.

Leaf.

Thousands.

Tons.

Thousands.

Tons.

Under Monopoly

1880

82,783

8,657

1889

121,674

10,161

1881

89,502

7,027

1890

109,636

8,952

1882

103,597

6,195

1891

97,740

9,803

1883

190,079

7,267

1892

137,059

12,714

1884

125,091

7,181

1893

137,458

11,534

1885

114,821

6,799

1894

137,877

9,545

1886

102,717

6,039

1895

164,430

10,368

1887

99,562

4,841

1896

183,667

10,986

1888

109,109

10,229

1897

156,916

15,836

TOBACCO-LEAF SHIPMENTS SINCE AMERICAN OCCUPATION

1899.

1900.

1901.

1902.

1903.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

6,272

9,834

7,764

9,016

8,593

CIGAR SHIPMENTS SINCE AMERICAN OCCUPATION

The official returns do not state the quantities shipped

Year.

United States.

British Empire.[1]

Other Countries.

Total Value.

Value.

Value.

Value.

Gold $.

Gold $.

Gold $.

Gold $.

1899

3,405

430,013

512,281

945,699

1900

5,662

937,872

214,883

1,158,417

1901

908

1,604,470

227,071

1,832,449

1902

11,006

813,083

164,429

988,518

1903

1,900

757,783

201,672

961,355

COPRAH SHIPMENTS

Year.

Manila.

Cebú.

Total.

Tons.

Tons.

Tons.

1890

4,653

—

4,653

1891

—

—

17,875

1892

—

—

22,439

1893

11,519

—

11,519

1894

32,045

1,220

33,265

1895

34,332

2,772

37,104

1896

34,895

3,075

37,970

1897

47,814

2,900

50,714

1899

13,356

2,378

15,906

1900

62,469

2,886

65,355

1901

30,347

2,308

32,655

1902

41,816

17,471

59,287

1903

69,189

14,222

83,411

COPRAH SHIPMENT VALUES

Year.

United States.

British Empire.

Other Countries.

Total Value

Gold $.

Gold $.

Gold $.

Gold $.

1899

—

72,095

654,558

726,653

1900

4,450

246,243

2,931,788

3,182,481

1901

—

91,793

1,520,045

1,611,838

1902

9,057

531,421

2,161,247

2,701,725

1903

9,354

311,606

3,498,833

3,819,793

COCOANUT-OIL SHIPMENT VALUES

1893

1894

1899

1900

1901

1902

1903

Value

Value

Value

Value

Value

Value

Value

Gold $.

Gold $.

Gold $.

Gold $.

Gold $.

Gold $.

Gold $.

10,336

33,333

None

105

20

346

81

It will be observed that with the increase of coprah shipment, the export of cocoanut-oil has decreased.

SAPAN-WOOD SHIPMENTS BEFORE AMERICAN OCCUPATION

Year.

Tons.

1880

5,527

1881

4,253

1882

5,003

1883

2,924

1884

2,868

1885

4,011

1886

4,828

1887

5,222

1888

6,603

1889

4,592

1890

2,800

1891

4,197

1892

3,841

1893

4,918

1894

2,925

1895

2,313

1896

3,551

1897

4,187

The official returns, since 1898, do not state the quantities of sapan-wood shipments.

GUM-MASTIC SHIPMENTS

Year.

Tons.

1880

431

1881

440

1882

339

1883

235

1884

245

1885

195

1886

205

1887

404

1888

330

1889

490

1890

188

1891

303

1892

136

1894

189

1895

275

1896

172

1897

223

The official figures of quantity are not procurable since 1897. The values of the shipments are as follows:—In 1901, $154,801; in 1902, $189,193; in 1903, $143,093.

COFFEE SHIPMENTS

Year.

Tons.

1856

437

1858

1,560

1865

2,350

1871

3,335

1880

5,059

1881

5,383

1882

5,052

1883

7,451

1884

7,252

1885

5,209

1886

7,337

1887

4,998

1888

6,702

1889

5,841

1890

4,796

1891

2,869

1892

1,326

1893

307

1894

309

1895

194

1896

89

1897

136

1899

34

1900

13

1901

30

1902

7

1903

4

GOLD AND SILVER IMPORTS AND EXPORTS SINCE AMERICAN OCCUPATION

YEAR

IMPORTS

EXPORTS

Gold.

Silver.

Gold.

Silver.

Gold $.

Gold $.

Gold $.

Gold $.

1899

109,965

1,141,392

3,487,050

939,756

1900

71,058

2,830,263

593,143

3,147,946

1901

751,909

6,269,613

857,563

637,844

1902

3,110

4,226,924

314,295

4,173,776

1903

50,730

1,403,475

63,540

7,494,347

TONNAGE ENTERED IN PHILIPPINE PORTS SINCE AMERICAN OCCUPATION

Year.

Steamers.

Net Tonnage.

Sailing-ships

Net Tonnage.

1899

1,562

767,605

313

58,980

1900

2,969

1,278,740

3,252

147,153

1901

3,649

1,630,176

6,333

208,092

1902

3,744

1,819,547

7,222

242,669

1903

4,679

2,343,904

6,111

251,116

EXCHANGE FLUCTUATIONS (OF THE PESO OR MEXICAN DOLLAR).

SIGHT ON LONDON.

YEAR.

HIGHEST.

LOWEST.

1869

4/5¼

4/1¾

1879

3/11

3/9

1880

3/11¾

3/9¾

1881

4/1½

3/11

1882

4/1

3/11½

1883

4/0¼

3/9½

1884

3/9¼

3/7¾

1885

3/10¼

3/8½

1886

3/9¾

3/7½

1887

3/8½

3/3

1888

3/6¾

3/2¾

1889

3/6¼

3/3

1890

3/10½

3/2¼

1892

3/3¾

3/–

1897

2/2

1/2¾

1898

2/0⅝

1/9½

1899

2/0 5⁄16

1/11⅜

1900

2/0⅞

1/11⅞

1901

2/0½

1/10 5⁄16

1902

1/10 13⁄16

1/6¼

1903

1/11 5⁄16

1/6 11⁄16

1904

Local Currency

1/11 9⁄16

1/9 11⁄16

“Conant” Peso

2/0 13⁄16

2/0 3⁄16

PROPORTIONATE TABLE OF EXPORTS (EXCLUSIVE OF GOLD AND SILVER) YEARS 1899–1903

YEAR 1899

United States

==================

British Empire

===================

Spain

======

Other Countries

==========================

YEAR 1900

United States

====================

British Empire

=======================================

Spain

========

Other Countries

=======================================

YEAR 1901

United States

======================

British Empire

====================================================

Spain

=======

Other Countries

===============================

YEAR 1902

United States

===================================================

British Empire

=======================================

Spain

=====

Other Countries

==================================

YEAR 1903

United States

=========================================================

British Empire

=============================================

Spain

======

Other Countries

=====================================

PROPORTIONATE TABLE OF IMPORTS (EXCLUSIVE OF GOLD, SILVER, AND U.S. GOVT. SUPPLIES) YEARS 1899–1903

YEAR 1899

United States

=======

British Empire

==================

Spain

============

Other Countries

==================================================

YEAR 1900

United States

===========

British Empire

==================================

Spain

==========

Other Countries

============================================================

YEAR 1901

United States

=================

British Empire

========================================

Spain

=========

Other Countries

====================================================================

YEAR 1902

United States

===================

British Empire

================================

Spain

==============

Other Countries

====================================================================

YEAR 1903

United States

=================

British Empire

================================

Spain

==========

Other Countries

====================================================================

PROPORTIONATE TABLE OF HEMP, COPRAH, AND SUGAR EXPORTS, AND RICE IMPORTS IN THE YEARS 1899–1903

HEMP.

1899

===================

1900

======================

1901

===============================

1902

===========================

1903

===================================

COPRAH.

1899

=========

1900

========================================

1901

====================

1902

==================================

1903

==============================================

SUGAR.

1899

==========================================

1900

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1901

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1902

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1903

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RICE (Import).

1899

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1900

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1901

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1902

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1903

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[1] Shipments to Hong-Kong are often goods in transit for United States.

Chronological Table of Leading Events

1494

Treaty of Tordesillas (June 7).

1519

Maghallanesʼ expedition sailed, resulting in discovery of the Philippines.

1521

Death of Hernando Maghallanes (April 27).

1522

Elcano completed his voyage round the world (Sept. 6).

1542

The Villalobos expedition sailed from Mexico (Nov. 1).

1545–63

Council of Trent (Dec, 1545, to Dec, 1563). Decrees published in 1564.

1564

The Legaspi expedition sailed from Mexico (Nov. 21).

1565

Miguel de Legaspi landed in Cebú.

——

Austin friarsʼ first arrival.

——

The image of “The Holy Child” was found on Cebú shore.

——

Cebú became the capital of the Philippines.

1571

Manila became the capital of the Philippines.

1572

Death of Miguel de Legaspi (Aug. 20).

1574

Li-ma-hong, the Chinese corsair, attacked Manila (Nov.).

1576

Death of Juan Salcedo, Legaspiʼs grandson (March 11).

1577

Franciscan friarsʼ first arrival.

1578

Parish church at Manila was raised to the dignity of a cathedral.

1580

The Alcayceria (for Chinese) was established in Binondo (Manila).

1581

Dominican friarsʼ first arrival.

——

Domingo Salazár, first Bishop of Manila, took possession.

1587

Alonso Sanchezʼs mission to King Philip II. Consequent reforms.

1590

The walls of Manila City were built about this year.

1593

Japanese Emperor demanded the surrender of the Islands.

——

First mission of friars from Manila to Japan.

1596

First expedition went to subdue the Mindanao natives.

1598

Ignacio de Santibañez, first Archbishop of Manila, took possession.

1603

Chinese mandarins came to see the “Mount of Gold” in Cavite.

——

Massacre of Chinese; about 24,000 slain or captured.

1604

Los Baños hospital, church, and convent were established.

1606

Recoleto friarsʼ first arrival.

1613

The Spanish victory (over the Dutch) of Playa Honda.

1616

Earliest recorded eruption of the Mayon Volcano.

1622

Rebellion in Bojol Island led by Dagóhoy.

1626

The image of “The Virgin of Antipolo” was first brought to Manila.

——

A Spanish colony was founded in Formosa Island.

1638

Corcueraʼs expedition against the Moros landed in Sulu Island.

1640

Foundation of the sultanate of Mindanao.

——

Separation of Spain and Portugal.

1640

Spain made an unsuccessful attempt to capture Macao.

1641

Earliest recorded eruption of the Taal Volcano.

1642

Attempts to proselytize Japan ceased.

1645

Saint Thomasʼ College was raised to the status of a university.

1649

Rebellion of “King” Málong and “Count” Gumapos.

1660

Massacre of Chinese.

1662

Koxinga, a Chinese adventurer, threatened invasion.

——

Great Massacre of Chinese in Manila.

1669

The “Letter of Anathema” was publicly read for the first time.

1684

Spanish Prime Minister Valenzuela was banished to Cavite.

1700

First admission of natives into the Religious Orders.

1718

The “Letter of Anathema” was publicly read for the last time.

1719

Friars in open riot incited the populace to rebellion.

1751

Sultan Muhamad Alimudin was imprisoned in Manila.

1754

Taal Volcano eruption destroyed Taal, Tanañan, Sala, Lipa, etc.

——

First regular military organization.

——

Treaty with Sultan Muhamad Alimudin (March 3).

1755

Banishment of 2,070 Chinese from Manila.

1762–63

British occupation of Manila.

1762

Rebellion in Ilocos Province led by Diego de Silan.

1763

Sultan Muhamad Alimudin was restored to his throne by the British.

1768

Expulsion of the Jesuits ordered (R. Decree, 1768; Papal Brief, 1769).

1770

Expulsion of the Jesuits was effectuated.

——

Simon de Anda y Salazár became Gov.-General by appointment.

1776

Death of Simon de Anda y Salazár (Oct. 30).

1781

Government Tobacco Monopoly was established.

1785

The Real Compañia de Filipinas was founded (March 10).

1810

Philippine deputies were first admitted to the Spanish Parliament.

1811

The last State galleon left Manila for Mexico.

1815

The last State galleon left Acapulco (Mexico) for Manila.

1819

Secession of Mexico from the Spanish Crown.

1820

Massacre of foreigners in Manila and Cavite (Oct. 9).

1822

First Manila news-sheet (El Filántropo) was published.

1823

Rebellion of Andrés Novales (June).

1830

The first Philippine bank was opened about this year.

1831

Zamboanga port was opened to foreign trade.

1834

Manila port was unrestrictedly opened to foreign trade.

1835

Rebellion in Cavite led by Feliciano Páran.

1837

Philippine deputies were excluded from the Spanish Parliament.

1841

Apolinario de la Cruz declared himself “King of the Tagálogs.”

1843

Chinese shops were first allowed to trade on equal terms.

1844

Claveriaʼs expedition against the Moros.

——

Foreigners were excluded from the interior of the Islands.

——

The office of Trading-Governor was abolished.

1851

Urbiztondoʼs expedition against the Moros.

1852

Manila City thenceforth remained open day and night.

——

The Banco Español-Filipino was instituted.

1854

Rebellion of Cuesta.

1855

Yloilo port was opened to foreign trade.

1857

The Manila mint was established.

1859

Return of the Jesuits to the Philippines.

1801

Dr. José Rizal, the Philippine patriot, was born (June 19).

1863

Manila City and Cathedral damaged by earthquake; 2,000 victims.

——

Cebú port was opened to foreign trade.

1868–70

The Assembly of Reformists in Manila.

1869

General Emilio Aguinaldo was born (March 22).

1870

Rebellion in Cavite led by Camerino.

1872

The Cavite Conspiracy (Jan.).

1875

Failure of Russell & Sturgis.

1876

Malcampoʼs expedition against the Moros. Joló annexed.

1877

England and Germany recognized Spainʼs rights in Sulu.

1880

The last destructive earthquake affecting Manila.

——

The Hong-Kong-Manila submarine cable was laid (via Bolinao).

1883

Tobacco free planting was thenceforth permitted (Jan. 1).

——

Tobacco free export was thenceforth permitted (July 1).

1884

The “Carriedo” endowment water-supply for Manila was established.

——

Tribute and Poll Tax were abolished and Cédula personal introduced.

1886

Petition to the Crown asking for the expulsion of the Chinese.

——

The office of Judge-Governor was abolished.

——

Investiture in Manila of Sultan Harun Narrasid (Sept. 24).

——

Capuchin friarsʼ first arrival.

1887

Terreroʼs expedition against the Moro Datto Utto.

——

Colonel Juan Arolasʼ victory in Sulu Island. Capture of Maybun (April 16).

——

Philippine Exhibition was held in Madrid.

1890

Municipalities in the christian provinces were created.

1891

The first Philippine railway was opened to traffic.

1895

The Marahui campaign against the Moros of Mindanao Island.

——

Benedictine friarsʼ first arrival.

1896

The Tagálog Rebellion opened (August 20).

——

First battle of the Rebellion (San Juan del Monte, Aug. 30).

——

Gov.-General Ramon Blanco was recalled to Spain (Dec).

——

Gov.-General Polavieja arrived in Manila (Dec).

——

Dr. José Rizal, the Philippine patriot, was executed (Dec. 30).

1897

Gov.-General Polavieja left Manila for Spain (April 15).

——

Gov.-General Primo de Rivera returned to Manila (April).

——

First issue of the first Philippine Loan (July 15).

——

Treaty of Biac-na-bató is alleged to have been signed (Dec. 14).

——

General Emilio Aguinaldo went into exile under treaty (Dec. 27).

——

Tremendous tidal wave on Leyte Island. Life and property destroyed.

1898

Tragedy of the Calle de Camba, Manila (March 23).

——

Rebel rising in Cebú Island (April 3).

——

Gov.-General Primo de Rivera left Manila for Spain (April).

——

Gov.-General Basilio Augusti arrived in Manila (April).

——

The Spanish-American War began (April 23).

——

Battle of Cavite. The Spanish fleet destroyed (May 1).

——

General Emilio Aguinaldo returned from exile to Cavite (May 19).

——

General Emilio Aguinaldo assumed the Dictature (May 24).

——

Constitution of the Revolutionary Government promulgated (June 23).

——

Revolutionistsʼ appeal to the Powers for recognition (Aug. 6).

——

Spanish-American Protocol of Peace signed in Washington (Aug. 12).

——

American occupation of Manila (Aug. 13).

——

Capitulation of Manila to the Americans (Aug. 14).

——

Malolos (Bulacan) became the Revolutionary capital (Sept. 15).

——

American and Spanish peace commissioners met in Paris (Oct. 1).

1898

Capitulation of the Spaniards in Negros island to the rebels (Nov. 6).

——

Treaty of Peace between America and Spain (Paris, Dec. 10).

——

Evacuation of Panay Island by the Spaniards (Dec. 24).

——

Evacuation of Cebú Island by the Spaniards (Dec. 26).

1899

Evacuation of Cottabato by the Spaniards (Jan).

——

Constitution of the Philippine Republic was promulgated (Jan. 22).

——

The War of Independence began (Feb. 4).

——

Bombardment of Yloilo (Feb. 11).

——

American occupation of Cebú City (Feb. 22).

——

American occupation of Bojol Island (March).

——

Malolos, the revolutionary capital, was captured (March 31).

——

The Schurman Commission appointed (Jan. 20); in Manila (May 2).

——

Evacuation of Zamboanga by the Spaniards (May 23).

——

Violent death of General Antonio Luna (June 3).

——

The Ladrone, Caroline, and Pelew Is. (minus Guam) sold to Germany (June).

——

The Aglipayan schism began.

——

The Bates agreement with the Sultan of Sulu (Aug.).

——

American occupation of Zamboanga (Nov. 16).

——

Death of General Lawton (Dec).

1900

Monsignor P. L. Chapelle, papal delegate, arrived in Manila (Jan. 2).

——

The Taft Commission appointed (Mar. 16); in Manila (June 3).

——

The Philippine Commission became the legislative body (Sept. 1).

1901

General surrender of the Panay insurgent army (Feb. 2).

——

Capture of General Emilio Aguinaldo (Mar. 23).

——

General Emilio Aguinaldo swore allegiance to America (April 1).

——

The Philippine Commission assumed full (civil) executive power (July 4).

——

General surrender of Cebuáno chiefs (Oct.).

——

General surrender of Bojoláno chiefs (Dec).

1902

Capture of V. Lucban, the last recognized insurgent chief (April 27).

——

Mr. W. H. Taft in Rome to negotiate purchase of friarsʼ lands (June).

——

Civil rule throughout the Islands decreed (Congress Act, July 1).

——

War of Independence ended (actually, April 27; officially, July 4).

——

President Rooseveltʼs peace proclamation and amnesty grant (July 4).

——

Military rule (remainder of) declared ended (War Office Order, July 4).

——

Monsignor G. B. Guidi, papal delegate, arrived in Manila (Nov. 18).

1903

Apolinario Mabini died in Manila (May 13).

——

“The Democratic Labour Union” prosecution (May).

——

Moro Province constituted (Phil. Com. Act No. 787, June 1).

——

Archbishop Nozaleda relinquished the archbishopric of Manila (June).

——

The Philippine peso (“Conant”) issued to the public (July).

——

Moro Province Legislative Council organized (Sept. 2).

1904

Monsignor J. J. Harty, Archbishop of Manila, arrived (Jan.).

——

Mr. W. H. Taft, appointed Secretary of War, left Manila (Jan.).

——

Mr. Luke E. Wright succeeded Mr. Taft as Civil Governor (Jan.).

——

Greatest inundation of Manila suburbs within living memory (July 11).

——

The “Internal Revenue Law of 1904” in operation (Aug. 1).

1905

Monsignor Ambrogio Agius, papal delegate, arrived in Manila (Feb. 6).

——

The Philippine Assembly to be convened in 1907 proclaimed (March 28).

——

El Renacimiento prosecution for alleged libel (July).

1906

English became the official language (Jan. 1; Phil. Com. Act No. 1123).

Index

Acle (wood), 313

Acuña, Gov.-General Bravo de, 74

Adasaolan, the Moro chief, 129

Aetas tribe, the, 37, 120, 145, 163

Agaña (Guam Is.), 41

Agius, Monsignor Ambrogio, papal legate, 607

Aglípay, Gregorio, career of, 603; heads the Independent Church, 604; throws off allegiance to Rome, 605

Agno River, 14

Agoncillo, Felipe, 472, 485, 495

Agriculture, 269; proposed Bank of, 624; the Bureau of, 625

Aguinaldo, Emilio, 370; claims independence, 394; goes into exile, 399; goes to Singapore, 419; returns to Hong-Kong, 421; becomes Dictator, 436; becomes President of The Revolutionary Government, 469; triumphal entry into Malolos of, 470; capture of, 507; swears allegiance to America, 509; home of, 510; as witness in El Renacimiento prosecution, 550. Vide War of Independence

Agusan River, 14

Albinos, 128

Alcayceria, the, 110

Alcocér, Father Martin Garcia, 597, 602

Alférez Real, 50

Alva, Francisco, 31

Alcalde-Governors, 212

Alcalde Mayor, 213

Alguacil, 226

Ali, Datto, 529, 580–2

Allocution of the Archbishop of Madrid, 423

Alvarez, Vicente, the Tamagun Datto, 532

Ambutong, Datto, 585

Amor seco, 324

Anagap (wood), 313

Anathema, the Letter of, 82

Anda y Salazár, Simon de, usurps gov.-generalship, 91; offers rewards for British heads, 95; rewards to, 99; character of, 99; becomes Gov.-General, 99; death of, 100

Andrew, Saint, patron of Manila, 50, 560

Animals, 336 et seq.

Anobing (wood), 313

Anson, Admiral, 246

Anting-anting, the, 237

Antipolo, Virgin of, 184

Antipolo (wood), 313

Antwerp, the Treaty of, 72

Aparcero (labour) system, 274

Apiton (wood), 313

Araudia, Gov.-General Pedro de, 61, 80, 138

Araneta, General Pablo, 514, 517

Araneta, Juan, 520

Aranga (wood), 313

Archbishopric created, 56

Areca-nut, 303

Army, the (under Spain) 53, 77; pay of, 53, 230; statistics of, 229–30; the first barracks, 231; Halberdier Guard, 232; strength of, at the outbreak of the Rebellion, 364; in 1898, 466; (under America) strength of, during War of Independence, 553; arms captured by, 553; strength of, in 1904, 569; general officersʼ pay, 569; privatesʼ pay, 569; the three departments of, 569; scout corps; military prison, 570

Arolas, Colonel Juan, captures Maybun, 144; death of, 144 (footnote)

Artists, native, 196

Asiento Contract, the, 257

Assembly of Reformists, the, 362

Asuan (evil spirit), 181

Athenæum, the, 194

Augusti, General Basilio, succeeds Gen. Primo de Rivera, 413; issues a call to arms, 424; issues a proclamation against Americans, 425; quits Manila before the American occupation, 464

Austin friars, 55

Axa, 274

Ayala, Antonio de, 367 (footnote)

Azcárraga, General Marcelo, 105 (footnote)

Bacoor town, rebel headquarters, 499

Badiao destroyed, 16

Bagobos, the Moro tribe of, 145

Bagsacay weapon, 147

Baibailanes, sect of the, 608

Balábac Island, 160; slaughter of Spaniards in, 478

Balambangan, slaughter of British at, 139

Balangiga, slaughter of Americans at, 536

Balanguigui Island, Corcueraʼs victory in, 139

Balate (trepang), 312

Baler garrison captives, 494

Balugas tribe, the, 163

Bamboos, 308

Banaba (wood), 313

Banana fruit, 317

Bancal (wood), 314

Banco Español-Filipino, the, 258; run on the, 435, 638

Bandits, notorious, 238–9, 546–9, 582, Vide Brigands

Banks, foreign and Philippine, 258, 638; American, 637

Bansalague (wood), 314

Barangay chiefs, 189, 222–3, 225 (footnote)

Barasoain town, 469 (footnote), 567

Barbosa, Duarte de, 28

Barong weapon, 147

Barracks, the first, 231

Basa, José M., 106; biographical note of, 108 (footnote)

Basan tribe, the, 128

Batac tribe, the, 158 (footnote;

Bates Agreement, the, 571

Batitínan (wood), 313

Bató Lake, 15

Bats, 340

Battle— of Playa Honda, 75; of Saint Juan del Monte, 368; of Binacayan, 373; of Cavite, 427; of Paco, 487; of Marilao, 490

Bautista, Ambrosio Rianzares, 106

Bautista, Fray Pedro, martyr-saint, 64

Bay Lake, 15

Bayabos, the Moro tribe of, 145

Bejuco (rattan), 310

Benguet Road, the, 615 (footnote)

Berenguer y Marquina, Gov-General, 80

Beri-beri disease, 197

Betel, 303

Betis (wood), 313

Biac-na-bató, the alleged Treaty of, 396, 414 (footnote)

Bicol River, 14, 37

Bigaycaya, the, 178

Bilibíd jail, 557

Binacayan, Battle of, 373

Birds, 341

Birdsʼ-nests, edible, 311

Bishop of Manila, the first, 51, 56

Blanco, Gov.-General Ramon, 377

Blood Compact, the, 28, 369

Boar, 340

Boayan Lake, 15

Bocayo, 305

Bojo, 310

Bojol Island, rebellion in, 101; American occupation of, 528; Pedro Sanson, the insurgent leader in, 528

Boleta shipping-warrant, the, 244

Bombon Lake, 15

Bongso, Rajah, 130

Bonifacio, Andrés, 370

Borneo Island, Spanish relations with, 29, 165

Botanical specimens, 321

Braganza, Duke of, 81

Braganza, Major, execution of the rebel, 537

Brewery, the first Philippine, 264

Bridge of Spain, 349

Brigands— the tulisán; the pulaján, 235, 547 et seq.; haunts of, 238; the remontado, 205; “Guards of Honour,” 550. Vide Bandits

British North Borneo Co., 141

British— corsairs, 54; occupation of Manila by, 87

Bronchial affections, 197

Brunei, Sultanate of, 29, 141, 157, 165

Budgets, 227 et seq.; of 1757, 251, 629

Buffaloes, 337; rinderpest epidemic, 338, 621; efforts of Government to replace the stocks of, 622

Buffalo hides, shipments of, 640

Buhi Lake, 15

Bull-ring, 350

Buluan Lake, 15

Bureaux of the Insular Government, 561

Burgos, Dr. Jose, 106; executed, 107

Buri palm, 308

Bush-rope, 310

Bustamente Bustillo, Gov.-General, murder of, 60

Bustos, 92–4

Butler, John B., 257

Butterflies, 340

Butuan River, 14

Buyo, 303

Cabeza de barangay, 189, 222–3

Cable service, 267–8

Cacao, 301; cultivation of, 302

Cachil Corralat, King, 133

Cachila or Castila, 169, 515 (footnote)

Cagayán, river of, 14; lake of, 15

Cagaaua destroyed, 16

Cagsaysay, Our Lady of, 18, 19, 184

“Cahapon, n͠gayon at Bucas,” the seditious play of, 554

Caida, 353

Caidas, 224

Cailles, General Juan, 507; as provincial governor, 507

Caja de comunidad, 217

Calderon, Rita, 139

Calinga tribe, the, 125

Calle de Camba tragedy, the, 401

Camagón (wood), 314

Camaguin Volcano, 16

Camerino, the rebel, 106, 397 (footnote)

Camote, 303

Campilán weapon, 147

Campo de Bagumbayan, 369

Canga-Argüelles, Felipe, 143, 158, 161

Canlaúan Volcano, 16

Cánovas Ministry, 378, 384, 417

Capers, 321

Capitán municipal, 225

Capsicums, 321

Captives, the Spanish, 537; why detained, 539; Baron Du Marais murdered, 540; the captorsʼ terms of release, 541

Capture of Manila— attempted by Li-ma-hong, 47; threatened by Japanese Emperor, 64; threatened by the Dutch, 75; threatened by Koxinga, 76; by the British, 87; by the Americans, 464

Caraballo, Juan, 29

Carabaos (buffaloes), 337

Caroline Islands, the discovery of, 41, 43; seized by Germany, 44; governor of, murdered, 45; sold to Germany, 46

Carrillo Theatre, the, 349

Carromata, 559 (footnote)

Carrying-trade, the inter-island, 262; regulated by the Shipping Law of 1904, 628–9, 647

Cartagena, Juan de, 26

Casa Misericordia loan office, 247

Cassava, 321

Castila or Cachila, 169, 515 (footnote)

Castor-oil, 302

Catapúsan, the, 179 (footnote)

Cathedral of Manila, the, 55

Catipad, 177

Cauit, 371 (footnote)

Cavite the conspiracy of 1872, 106, 363; fort of, 233–4; executions in 1896, 374

Cayinin, the, 555

Cebú, discovery of, 27; Legaspi in, 34; the “Holy Child” of, 183; the patron saint of, 183; the port of, 261; rising in, 402 et seq.; executions of rebels in, 405; native government in the Island of, 521; American occupation of the City of, 523; General Hughesʼ expedition to, 525; the City of, 526

Cedar (wood), 314

Cédula personal, the, 224

Census, the, 355, 615–6

Centro Catálico, El, 602

Chabucano dialect, the, 535

Chaffee, Maj.-General A. R., 563

Chambers of Commerce, 261

Chamorro dialect, the, 40

Champaca, 325

Chapdiki, 351 (footnote)

Chapelle, Monsignor P. L., papal legate, 595 and footnote

Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, the, 258, 435, 637

Chillies, 321

Chinese, the, 54, 109; slaughter of the Moluccas expedition leader by, 73; revolt of, 77; banishment of, 111; restrictions on, 111; as immigrants, 112; taxes first levied on, 112; social position of, under Spanish rule, 113; riots of, 114; mandarins come to seek the “Mount of Gold” in Cavite, 114; Saint Francisʼ victory over, 115; massacre by, 115; massacre of, 77, 93, 115; as traders, 117, 263; Guilds of, 117; patron saint of, 118; population of, 118; Macao, 118; Sangley, 118; Suya, 118; secret societies, 119; Exclusion Act, 119, 633; before the Spanish advent, 166; Club, 558; social position of, under American rule, 634; future probable effect of the exclusion of, 635

Chocolate, 301

Cholera epidemic, 116, 197

Church— relations of, to the State, 50; Dominican friars, 51 (footnote); first bishop of Manila, 51, 56; tithes to, 55; Austin friars, 55; Mendicant friars, 55; friarsʼ term of residence, 55; Manila Cathedral, 55; the Inquisition, 55, 59, 82; archbishopric created, 56; indulgences granted, 56; relics in cathedral, 57; excommunications, 58, 67, 604; archbishop banished, 58; quarrels with the State authorities, 57–8, 99, 209–10; Chap. vii; the martyrs of Japan, 66–9; the High Host is stolen, 82; Letter of Anathema, 82; the Hierarchy, 206; revenue and expenditure of the, 207, 209; position of the regular clergy after 1898, 594; Archbishop Nozaleda, 594, 597; Father Martín Garcia Alcocér, 597, 602; attitude of the native clergy towards the, after 1898, 596; Monsignor P. L. Chapelle, 595; Monsignor G. B. Guidi, 601; Monsignor A. Agius, 607; the friarsʼ-7lands question, 597–601; the Aglipayan Schism, 604. Vide Friars; Religious Orders

Church, the Philippine Independent. Vide Independent

Cigars, 299; shipments of, 644

Cinnamon, 311

Civil—governor, duties of the Spanish, 215; his position, 216; guard (constabulary), the, 231; the title of Civil Governor, 561; Service, the, 565; Commission, the, 560, 565; rule established, 566

Claudio, Juan, 81

Claveria, expedition against the Moros by, 139

Clergy, the native, capacity of, 607. Vide Church; Friars

Clímaco, Arsenio, 522, 525

Clímaco, General Juan, 522

Climate, 22; of the south, 157

Clubs, 558

Coal, 326, comparative analyses, 328

Cock-fighting, 351

Cocoanuts, 304

Cocoanut-oil, 305; export values of, 645

Coffee, 289; caracolillo, 289; where grown, 289; dealing, 290; cultivation, 291; statistics, 291; shipments of, 646

Cogon-grass, 307

Coir, 305

Colerin disease, 197

Coloram, sect of the, 608

Comenge, Rafael, inflammatory speech of, 400

Compañia General de Tabacos, 299

Compañia Guipuzcoana de Caracas, 252

Conant peso, the, 635–7

Concentration circuits, 391, 549

Congressional Relief Fund, the, 621, 623

Consulado trading-ring, the, 244

Constabulary statistics (Spanish), 231; (American), 550, 553, 567

Contentions, State and Church, 58

Convent of Santa Clara, 81

Convicts, corps of, 231; in Bilibid jail, 557

Cooper Bill, the, 627, 629

Copper, 334

Coprah, 305; shipments of, 645

Corcuera, Gov.-General Hurtado de, 58, 79, 81; in Sulu, 131

Cordage, shipments of, 640

Cornish, Admiral, 87

Corregidor Island, 345 (footnote), 556

Corsairs, British, 54

Cotta de San Pedro (Cebú), 402

Cottabato, meaning of, 142 (footnote); Spanish evacuation of, 529; native rule in, 529; slaughter of Christians in, 530; American intervention at, 530

Cotton-tree, 307

Council of Trent, the, 605 (footnote)

Count—of Albay, 105; of La Union, 124; of Manila, 139; of Lizárraga, 210

Courts of Justice, cost of the Spanish, 234; American, 618

Criminal law procedure, Spanish-Philippine, 241

Cruz, Apolinario de la, “King of the Tagálogs,” 105

Cuadrillero guard, the, 224

Cuba, America liberates, 417

Cubang-aso, 166 (footnote)

Cueva del Inglés, the, 21

Cuevas, Datto Pedro, career of, 582; his death, 583; his justice, 586

Currency, the, under Spain, 244, 259; under America, 635–7

Custom-houses, 261, 467, 626

Customs duty, the first levied, 53; under America, 629–30

“Dabas n͠g pilac,” the seditious play of, 554

Dagóhoyʼs rebellion, 101

Dalahican camp, 374

Danao River, 15

Dancing, the balítao, the comítan, 180

Dasmariñas, Gov.-General Perez, 56, 78

Datto. Vide Moros

Dayfusama, Emperor of Japan, 69

Death-rate, 198

Deer, 340

Delgado, General Martin, 513–14, 517–18

Demarcation of Spanish and Portuguese spheres by papal bull, 25

Democratic Labour Union, the, 632

Departments of the Insular Government, 561

Descent of Filipinos, theory of the, 120

Despujols, Gov.-General, 383

Dewey, Admiral George, 419, 427, 430, 432

Diario de Manila, El, founded 352, suspended, 401

Diaz, Julio, 520

Diezmos prediales, 55

Dilao village, 63

Dimas alang, 389

Dimasangcay, King of Mindanao, 129

Dinagat Island, 27

Dinglas (wood), 314

Diócno, Ananias, 513, 516

Directorcillo, 222

Disciplinary (convict) corps, 231

Discovery of the Philippines, 24 et seq.

Diseases, the prevalent, 197

Dità (quinine), 308

Divisions of the Colony under Spain, 213

Djimbangan, Datto, 530, 580

Dollars, Mexican, first introduced, 244

Doll-saints, 188

Dominican friars, 51 (footnote)

Donkeys, 388

Dowries for native women, 53

Draper, Brig.-General, 87–91

Duarte de Barbosa, 28

Du Marais, Baron, 540 (footnote)

Dúngon (wood), 314

Dutch, naval battles with the, 72 et seq.

Dwelling-houses, 353

Dye saps, 312

Earthquakes, 23, 356

Ebony (wood), 314

Eco de Filipinas, the seditious organ, 106

Education, under Spain, school-teachers, 192; State aid for, 193; the Athenæum syllabus, 194; the Santa Isabel College curriculum, 194; girlsʼ schools, 194; St. Thomasʼ University, 194; the Nautical School, 195; the provincial student, 195; in agriculture, 228; under America, 608; the Normal School syllabus, 609; the Nautical School, 609; the School for Chinese, 610; University and remaining Spanish schools, 610; the English language for Orientals, 611; in agriculture, 625

Egbert, Colonel, death of, 489

Elcano, Juan Sebastian, 29; voyage round the world of, 30; reward to, 31; death of, 31

“El Filibusterismo,” 383

El Nuevo Dia newspaper, 524

Emoluments of Spanish officials, 214; of American officials, 561

Encomiendas, 211

Espinosa, Gonzalo Gomez de, 29, 31

Exchange fluctuations, 647

Exclusion, of foreigners in general, 258; of Chinese in particular, 111, 119, 633–5

Excommunications, 58, 67, 604

Executions of monks in Japan, 66, 69

Exhortations and proclamations, rebel and insurgent, definition of demands, 392; claim of independence, 394, 421, 433, 436, 454, 486, 502

Expenditure and revenue, under Spain, 227 et seq., 251; curious items of, 229; under America, 629

Exports, duty first levied on, 53; table of values of, 639; of produce, 639–46

Fajardo de Tua, Gov.-General, 70, 75; kills his wife, 80

Fallas tax, 224

“Family Compact,” the, 72, 87

Family names, 179

Farranda Kiemon, the Japanese Ambassador, 64–5

Federal party, the, 547

Felizardo, Cornelio, the famous bandit, 548 (footnote), 549

Field of Bagumbayan, 369

”Filibusterismo, El,” 383

Filipino, the, meaning of the term, 120 (footnote), 165; theory of the descent of, 163 et seq.; meaning of the term “Tagálog,” 164; at the St. Louis Exhibition, 165; character of, 167; characteristics of, 168–71; notion of sleep of, 169; “Castila!” 169; hospitality of, 172, 563; good qualities of, 173–4, 176; female activity, 173; aversion to discipline, 175; bravery of, 175; troops in Tonquin, 175; physiognomy of, 177; marriages of, 177–9; minorsʼ rights, 178; widows of, 178; family names of, 179; mixed marriages of, 181; belief in evil spirits, 181; conception of religion of, 189, 607–8; penance, 188; talent of, 196; as artists, 196; as politicians, 547; the “Irreconcilables,” 547, 553, 613; capacity for self-government of, 614

Firewoods, 324

Fish, 339

Flowers, 321

Flores, Luis, 522–3

Fondos locales, 217. Vide Government.

Forests, inspection of, 228; produce of, 307 et seq.

Formosa Island, Spanish colony in, 76

Fort of Ylígan, 77, 231; of Zamboanga, 77, 133 (footnote), 233; of Sampanilla (Mindanao Is.), 131; of Joló, 150; of Labo and Taytay (Palaúan Is.), 231; of Cavite, 233–4; of Cebú, 402; of Santiago (Manila), 427, 430; of San Antonio Abad (Malate), 463

Fortification of Manila, 54, 231, 343 (footnote)

Fowls, 341

“Frailuno,” the term, 603 (footnote)

Francis of Tears, Saint, 183

Free trade penalties, Spanish, 250

Freemasonry, 363, 365 (footnote)

Friars, the Spanish, the Mendicant Order of, 55; term of residence of, 55; in open riot, 61; attitude of, during the British occupation (1762–3), 91–3, 96; fighting, 116, 133; as parish priests, 202; the several Orders of, 207; as traders, 250; position of, after 1898, 594; causes of the anti-friar feeling, 595; attitude of the native clergy towards, 596; number of, at the time of the rebellion (1896), 596; position of, after 1898, determined, 597; the question of the real estate of, 597, et seq.; Americaʼs negotiations with Rome, 598–600; acreage of real estate of, 601; the term “frailuno,” 603 (footnote). Vide Church; Religious Orders

Fruits, 317 et seq.

Fuerza del Pilar, 133 (footnote)

Funcion votiva de San Andrés, 50

Funston, Colonel, 491, 496; captures Aguinaldo, 507; reward to, 509

Fuset, Antonio, 539

Gabi, 303

Gaddanes tribe, the, 122

Gales, Nicolas, 520

Galleons, to and from Mexico, 243; officersʼ pay, 243; royal dues, 249

Gigantes, Paseo de los, 134 (footnote)

Gilolo Island, 32

Ginger, 321

Gobernadorcillo, 221

Gogo, 302

Goiti, Martin de, 35, 37

Gold, mining, 328 et seq.; coin, 259; imports and exports of, after 1898, 647

Gomez, Father Mariano, executed, 107

González Parrado, General, 145, 150, 572

Government, under Spain, 211 et seq.; cost of, 214, et seq., 629; of towns, 221 et seq.; under America, 560 et seq., 576; cost of, 629; provincial, 566–7, 578–9

Governor-General, the, Legaspi, Miguel de, 33–4, 36; Lavezares, Guido de, 35 (footnote), 47; Zabálburu, Domingo, 42; powers of, 54; Perez Dasmariñas, 56, 73; Corcuera, Hurtado de, 58, 79, 131; quarrels of, with the clergy, 58; Lara, Manrique de, 59; Salcedo, Diego, 59; Leon, Manuel de, 60; Nargas, Juan de, 60; Bustamente Bustillo murdered, 60; Torralba, José, 60, 79, 80; Arandia, Pedro de, 61, 80; Moriones, Domingo, 62; Raon, José, 62, 99; Fajardo de Tua, 70, 75, 80; Bravo de Acuña, 74; Silva, Juan de, 74; Silva, Fernando de, 76; Vargas, Juan, 79; peculations of, 79, 80, 212, 220–1; Berenguer y Marquina, 80; La Torre, Francisco, 97; Obando, José de, 134; Jovellar, Joaquin, 211; Despujols, 383; Primo de Rivera, Fernando, 124, 211, 389, 391, 399, 408; Blanco, Ramon, 377; Polavieja, Camilo, 378–9; Augusti, Basilio, 413, 424–5, 464; Weyler 417–8, 431

Grants of land, 54, 211, 592

Grapes, 320

Guadalupe church, legend of, 361

Guaranty Trust Company, 637

“Guards of Honour,” the, 550

Guava fruit, 320

Guidi, Monsignor G. B., papal legate, 601

Guijo (wood), 314

Guillermo, Faustino, the bandit, 546

Gum mastic, 311; shipments of, 646

Gumapos, “Count,” 103

Gutta-percha, 311

Gypsum, 334

Hadji, title of, 571 (footnote).

Halberdiers (Bodyguard), 232

Hale, General, 488, 490–1, 497–8

Hall, General, 488, 492

Hamabar, King, 28

Harbour-masters, Spanish, 234

Hardwoods, 312; relative strengths of, 317

Harun Narrasid, Sultan, 141, 142 (footnote)

Harty, Monsignor, J. J., 602

Headhunters, the, 124–5

Hemp, 281; various uses of, 282; extraction of, 282; experiments in British India, 283; statistics of, 284; cultivation of, 285; qualities of, 285; labour difficulties, 286; shipments of, 639

Hendryx, Captain, the sad fate of, 552

Heredia, Pedro de, 74

Hierarchy, the, 206

High Host stolen, the, 82

Hindi aco patay, the seditious play of, 554

Hindoos, the, 128

“Historical Manifest,” the, 136

Histrionic art, 349

“Holy Child” of Cebú, the, 183

Homestead Law, the, 592 (footnote)

Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp., the 240, 258, 435, 637

Horses, 336

Hospitals, 54

Hughes, General, 489, 525, 528

Hurricanes, 355

Husi, 282

Ibanac tribe, the, 123

Identity document, the, 224

Igorrote tribe, the, 123

Igorrote-Chinese tribe, the, 126

Illiterates, 192, 615

Ilocos rebellion, 100

Imbog, the Moro, 129

Imports, table of values of, 639; proportionate table of Rice, 650

Imus, 372 (footnote)

Indemnity to British for Manila, 89

Independent Church, the Philippine, initiation of, 603; severance from Rome of, 605; conflicts between Catholics and Schismatics of, 606; doctrine of, 607

Indigo, shipments of, 640–1

Indulgences granted, 56

Industries, native, 264, 347

Inquisition, the, 55, 59, 82

Insanity, 198

Insects, 339; edible, 342

Insular Government. Vide Government

Intellectuals, 192

International Banking Corp., 637

Ipil (wood), 314

Iron, 332

Irreconcilables, the, 547, 553; demands of, 613

Islas, del Poniente, 28; del Oriente, 28; Philipina, 32; de los Pintados, 34 (footnote)

Islands, the chief, 13; ancient names of, 13

Itavis tribe, the, 123

Jábul dress, 147

Jalajala, 360

Japan—the Ambassador Farranda Kiemon, 64–5; Taycosama, Emperor of, 65; Catholic missions to, 64–70, 164 (footnote); the martyrs of, 66, 69, 71; Dayfusama, Emperor of, 69; Xogusama, Emperor of, 69; To-Kogunsama, Emperor of, 70

Japanese, the, 63, 164; pre-Spanish immigration of, 166; industry of, 166; in Vigan, Malalos, Taal and Pagsanján, 166; expulsion of the, 164 (footnote); under American rule, 557

Jaramillo, General Nicolás, during the Rebellion, 374; in Zamboanga, 530; as agent for the liberation of Spanish prisoners, 540

Jaro, the See of, 515 (footnote)

Jesuits, rivalry with friars, 58; in Nagasaki, 65–7; expulsion of, 99, 206; number of, in the Islands in 1896, 206 (footnote)

Jinrikisha, the, 635

Joló, capture of, 139; annexation of, 140; town of, 149, 587; port of, 262; American occupation of, 571

Jomonjol Island, 27

Journalism, 106, 352, 363, 382, 412, 468, 524, 550

Jovellar, Gov.—General Joaquin, 211

Judicial statistics, Spanish, 234; American, 561, 618–19

Judicial Governors, 212

Junta pátriotica, the, 419

Jurado v. the Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp., 240

Juramentado, the, 146, 148, 150, 583; runs ámok, 152

Justice, of the peace, first appointed, 56; in municipalities, 225, 619; administration of, 618; provincial courts of, 619

Kalbi, Datto, 586

Katipunan League, the, 364, 365 (footnote), 595; demands of the, 393

Kiemon Farranda, 64–5

“King of the Tagálogs,” 105

Koxinga, threatened invasion by, 76

Kudaran͠gan, Sultan of, 143; vanquished by General Wood, 581; cotta of, 580 (footnote), 581

Labo fort, 231

Labour, problem, 225, 286, 332–3, 611, 631; on sugar estates, 274; “The Democratic Labour Union,” 632; Consul-General Wildman quoted, 633

Lacandola, Rajah, 35–7, 51; descendants of, 35 (footnote)

Lachambre, General, 379

Lacson, Aniceto, 520

Ladrone Islands, discovery of, 27; sighted, 34; visited, 40

Laguna de Bay, 15

Lakes, 15

Lamurrec Island, King of, 42

Lanao Lake, 15

Land, grants of, 54; tenure of, 270; measure of, 271; the Homestead Law, 592 (footnote); problem, 555, 592–3, 624–5

Lanete (wood), 314

La Patria newspaper, 412

Lara, Gov.-General Manrique de, 59

Latitude of the Islands, 13

La Torre, Gov.-General, 97

Laúan (wood), 314

Lavezares, Guido de, 35 (footnote), 47

Law Spanish lawsuits, 56, 239; Spanish criminal law procedure, 241–2; under American rule, 618–9

Lawton, General, 493, 498–500; death of, 504

Leeches, 340

Legaspi, the expedition of, 33; in Cebú, 34; death of, 36

Leon, Gov.-General Manuel de, 60

Lepers, 70, 197, 351

Letter of Anathema, 82

Leyes de Indias, 51

Leyte Is., rebellion in, 102; insurgency in, 547

Ligusan Lake, 15

Li-ma-hong, the Chinese corsair, 47

Limasaba, Prince of, 410

Lipa destroyed, 18

Lizares, Simon, 520

Llaneras, General, 374

Llorente, Julio, 521–2, 524

Loaisa expedition, the, 31

Loan, the first Philippine, 541 (footnote)

Local funds, 217

Locust bean, 324

Locusts, 341

Logarta, Miguel, 522, 525

Loney, Nicholas, 255

Longitude of the Islands, 13

Los Baños, 359

Losa, Diego de, 67

Löwenstein, Prince Ludwig von, 488, 510

Lucban, Vicente, 535; capture of, 545

Luga, Mateo, 525

Luna, General Antonio, 496–8; on the battlefield, 496; death of, 501

Luneta Esplanade, the, 353

Lung diseases, 197

Lúpis, 282

Lutao (Cebú) destroyed, 403

Mabini, Apolinario, 478, 486, 546

Mabolo fruit, 320

Macabebe, the, 446 (footnote)

Macao (Chinese), 118

Macacus radiata, 177

Macao, the colony of, 81 (footnote); Spanish attempt to capture, 81

Macasin (wood), 316

Maceo, Antonio, 417

Macui, the Moro tribe of, 145

Madrecacao tree, 291

Maestre del Campo, 48 (footnote)

Magellan Straits discovered, 27

Maghallanes, Hernando de, 24; discovers the Straits of Magellan and Ladrone Islands, 27; reaches Cebú Island, 27; death of, 28; monuments to, 28

Maghayin, Bartolomé, 37

Magtan Island, 28, 403

Maguindanao Lake, 15

Maguinoó, the, 409, 411

Mahamad Alimudin, Sultan, 92, 98; vicissitudes of, 134–9

Mahometans, chap. x. Vide Moros

Mail service, 262

Maine, American warship, 418 (footnote)

Maize, 300

Malábang fort, 131

Malahi military prison, 570

Malanao Moros, 145

Malatana tribe, the, 46

Malatapay (wood), 316

Malhou Island, 27

Malinao destroyed, 16

Malolos, Father Moïses Santos murdered at, 408; becomes the insurgent capital, 469; Revolutionary congress convened at, 469; becomes the new capital of Bulacan Province, 567

Malongʼs rebellion, “King,” 103

Malvar, General Miguel, in Taal, 505; defeat and surrender of, 545

Mancono (wood), 316

Mandi, Rajahmudah Datto, in Cebú, 407; at home, 533; his daughterʼs marriage, 534

Mangachapuy (wood), 316

Mango fruit, 317

Manguiancs tribe, the, 128

Manguiguin, the, 131; visits Zamboanga, 589

Mani, 303

Manila Province, 212 (footnote), 560

Manila, proclaimed capital, 36; City Council of, 36; the city walls and fosse of, 54, 231, 343 (footnote); opened to foreigners, 256; public buildings, 344; port works, 344; the Bay of, 345; the public lighting of, 346; the business quarter of, 347; La Escolta, 347, 557; Easter week in, 348; vehicle traffic in, 348; theatres, 349, 558; bull-ring, 350; hotels, 352, 558; the Press, 352, 468, 559; botanical gardens, 353; Luneta Esplanade, 353; dwelling-houses, 353; society in, 354; population of, 355, 615–6; climate of, 354; earthquakes affecting, 356; dress in, 357; after 1898, 556; refrigerated meat-stores, 556; innovations in, 557; Bilíbid jail, 557; clubs, theatres, hotels, 558; drinking “Saloons,” 559; new feast-days, 560; the municipality of, 560; as seat of Insular Government, 560; the Federal zone of, 560

Manobos, the Moro tribe of, 145

Marahui campaign, the, 144

Marble, 334

Marivéles, 345 (footnote)

Marriages, 177–81, 618

Marti, the Cuban patriot, 417

Martin, Gerónimo, 51

Martyrs, the, of Japan, 66–71; Philippine, 107

Massacre of Chinese, 93, 115–6; of other foreigners, 116

Matamis na macapano, 305

Matienza, Dr. Sancho, 26

Maxilom, General Arcadio, 524–6

Mayon Volcano, 16; eruption of in 1897, 17

McArthur, Maj.-General A., in the War of Independence, 489–91, 496–8; 563

Medicinal herbs, 324

Mejia, Pablo, 522; assassinated, 523

Melliza, Raymundo, 511, 514

Mendicant friars, 55

Mendoza, Father Agustin, 106

Mendoza, Luis de, 26

Merritt, General Wesley, 463, 466, 467

Mestizo, the, 176; character of, 182

Middlemen, 263

Midel, Isidoro, 532

Military departments, the, 569. Vide Army

Military service, Spanish, 231. Vide Army

Miller, General, 511 et seq.

Mineral oil, 335

Mineral products, 326 et seq.

Miraculous saints, 187

Mirs Bay, 419 (footnote), 427

Mixed races, 176, marriages of, 181

Mohammad Jamalul Kiram, Sultan, 141, 587–8

Molasses, 273

Molave (wood) 315

Moluccas Islands, tragic end of the Philippine expedition to, 73; abandonment of the, 77

Money, under Spain, 244, 259; lending, 255–6, 269; 246 (footnote) 624; under America, 635–7.

Monks, the. Vide Religious Orders; Friars

Monsoon region, 23

Montalón, Julian, the famous bandit, 549

Montera, General, in Cebú, 402, 521; in Zamboanga, 530 et seq.

Montilla, José, 520

Montojo, Admiral Patricio, sword of honour presented to, 400; 419, 428, 429 (footnote)

Montoya, Gabriel, 37

Moraga, Fray Hernando de, 78

Moriones, Gov.-General Domingo, 62

Moro Moro, 349

Moro Province, the, 576 et seq.; constitution of, 577; sub-division of, under Spanish rule, 577 (footnote); municipalities, tribal wards and districts of, 578–9; finances of, 579; armed forces in, 580; Americaʼs policy in, 588, 591, 593; education in, 591

Moros, the, Brunei Sultanate, 29, 141, 157, 165; Dimasangeay, King of Mindanao, 129; Adasaolan, the chief, 129; Bongso, Rajah, 130; Rodriguezʼs expedition against, 130; the Manguiguin of Mindanao, 131, 589; Corcueraʼs expedition against, 131; Cachil Corralat, King, 133; friars take the field against, 133; Gastambideʼs expedition against, 137; Claveriaʼs and Urbiztondoʼs expeditions against, 139; slaughter of British at Balambangan by, 139; Corcueraʼs victory over, in Balanguigui Island, 139; population of, 140; Malcampoʼs expedition against, 140; agreement with the British North Borneo Co., 141; Harun Narrasid, Sultan, 141–2; Mohammad Jamalul Kiram, Sultan, 141, 587–8; Terreroʼs expedition against, 143; Arolasʼ expedition against, 144; Blancoʼs expedition against; Marahui campaign, 144; Spanish occupation of Lake Lanao, 145; Builleʼs (the last Spanish punitive) expedition against, 145; the chief tribes of, 145; dress of, 146–7, 154; physique of, 146; character, arts, weapons, trade of, 147; the pandita, the datto, customs of, 148, 155–6; slavery among the, 151; pensions to the, 139, 140, 151, 571, 580; the juramentado, 146, 148, 150, 152, 583; as divers, 155; Ali, Datto, 529, 580–2; Djimbangan, Datto, 530, 580; the Tamagun Datto, 532; American occupation of Joló, 571; Batesʼ agreement with the Sultan of Sulu, 571; engagements with warlike dattos, 573–4, 581, 584–5; Lieut. Forsythʼs expedition, 573; Gen. Baldwinʼs and Capt. Pershingʼs expeditions against, 574; Gen. Woodʼs expeditions against, 580–1, 584; Gen. Woodʼs victory at Kudarangan, 581; Major Hugh L. Scottʼs expedition, 584–5; capture of Panglima Hassan, 584; Hassan escapes and Major Scott vanquishes him, 585; a bichâra with Datto Ambutong, 585. Vide Sulu

Morong district, 212 (footnote), 560

Mother-of-pearl shell, shipments of, 640

Moths, 340

“Mount of Gold,” the, in Cavite, 114

Mountains, heights of, 13

Mules, 338

Municipal government, under Spain, 225; under America, 567. Vide Government

Music, nativesʼ passion for, 190

Nagasaki, the Jesuits in, 65–7

Names, of islands, the ancient, 13; of places, obsolete, 13, 129, 131, 560, 567; of families, 179

Nao de Acapulco, the, 243, 249

Nargas, Gov.-General Juan de, 60

Narra (wood), 316

Natives, the civilized. Vide Filipino

Naujan Lake, 15

Navarrete, Luis de, 67

Navy, statistics of the Spanish, 233–4; the insurgent, 553

Negrito tribe, the, 120, 163

Negros Island, the development of, 255; Spaniards capitulate to the rebels in, 520; native government in, 520

Newspapers, 106, 352, 363, 382, 412, 468, 524, 550

Nipa palm, 307

Noli me tóngere, 382

Notariesʼ offices, 54

Novales, Andrés, rebellion of, 104

Nozaleda, Archbishop, 594, 597 (footnote)

Nuevo Dia, El, newspaper, 524

Obando, Gov.-General José de, 134

Obras Pias, the, 245, 252

Occupation of Manila, by the British, 87; agreed indemnity to British in, 89; by the Americans, 464

Officersʼ pay, Spanish, 280. Vide Army

Oil, mineral, 335

Onayans, the Moro tribe of, 145

Opium, restrictions on the use of, 630

Orchids, 323

Oriente, Islas del, 28

Origin of Filipinos, 120. Vide Filipino

Osmeña, Sergio, 521, 524

Otis, General E. S., in the War of Independence, 488, 490–4, 497, 502–3; 563

Otong, 519 (footnote)

Our Lady of Cagsaysay, 18, 19

Outlaws, 236 et seq., 517

Pacto de sangre, the, 28, 369

Pagbuaya, Prince, 34

Paguian Goan, the Princess, 129

Paguian Tindig, the Moro, 129

Palásan, 310

Palaúan Island, Spanish colonization of, 157; across the, 158, 160; produce of, 160; concession to Canga-Argüelles in, 161 (footnote)

Palma brava, 308

Palma, Rafael, 524

Palmero family, the, 105

Palo Maria de playa (wood), 316

Paloma de puñalada, 341

Panay Island, the war in, 511–18; Araneta, General Pablo, 514, 517; peace concluded, 518

Pandita, 148, 155–6

Pansipit River, 15, 37

Pangasinán, revolt in, 103

Panguingui, 351 (footnote)

Papal legate, Maillard de Touruon, 84–5; Chapelle, P. L., 595; Guidi, G. B., 601; Agius, Ambrogio, 607

Papaw fruit, 318

Páran, Feliciano, revolt of, 105

Parágua Island, 157. Vide Palaúan

Parian, the, 110

Paris Peace Commission. Vide Peace of Paris

Parrado, General González, 145, 150, 572

Paseo de los gigantes, 134 (footnote)

Paseo del Real Pendon, 50

Pasig River, 15

Paterno, Maximo, 106; biographical note of, 411

Paterno, Pedro A., 106, 394; negotiates peace, 395; claims a title, 409; biographical note of, 411; pro-Spanish manifesto of, 489; becomes President of the Revolutionary Congress, 469; capture of, 504; in prison, 505; intervenes in the Spanish captives negotiations, 542; as playwright, 554

Patria, La, newspaper, 412

Patriarch Maillard de Tournon, 84–5

Peace of Paris, of 1763, 96; of 1898, 470 et seq.; concluded, 472; text of the treaty, 478; ratified, 487 (footnote)

Peculations, of governors, 79–80, 212, 220–21; of other officials, 564

Pelew Islands, 41; the people of, 42

Peñaranda, Florentino, 547

Penitentiaries, 54; statistics of Spanish, 285; of San Ramon, 238

Perez Dasmariñas, Gov.-General, 56, 73

Perfumes, 325

Peso, the first introduced, 244; the Spanish-Philippine, 259; the “Conant,” 635–7

Petty-governors, 221

Philippine Assembly, the, 612, 614–5

Philippine Commission, the, 560; as legislative body, 563

Philippine Islands named, 32

“Philippines for the Filipinos,” doctrine of the, 564

Piang, Datto, 529, 581

Piernavieja, Father, 203

Pilar, General Pio del, 485; capture of, 305

Piña (stuff), 282

Pindan, Bernabé, 37

Pineapple, 320

Pintados, Islas de los, 34 (footnote)

Piracy, Moro, 132

Playa Honda, Battle of, 75

Poblete, Archbishop, 59

Polavieja, Gov.-General Camilo, 378–9

Poll-tax, 224

Poniente, Islas del, 28

Ponies, 336; the surra epidemic, 622

Pontoon bridge, the, 349

Population, of Chinese, 118; of Moros, 140, 355, 615–6; of Visayos, of Tagalogs, in Manila, 615; of 40 provincial towns, 616; classified by birth, 616

Portugal and Spain, united, 72; separated, 81

Posadillo, Governor of the Carolines, murdered, 45

Potatoes, 303

Press, the, 106, 352, 363, 382, 412, 468, 524, 550, 559

Principalia, 222–3

Prisoners, the Spanish, 537; why detained, 539; Baron du Marais murdered, 540; the captorsʼ terms of release, 541

Prohibition on trade, Spainʼs, 248–50

Protocol of Peace, with rebels, 396; between America and Spain, 459

Provincial Government, under Spain, 213, 225; under America, 567. Vide Government.

Public Works, under Spain, 218

Pudtli, Ranee, 143

Puente de Barcas, 98

Puerta Princesa, 157–8

Pulajan, the, 235, 547, 551

Quesada, Gaspar de, 26–7

Quiapo, 324

Quinine, 308

Rada, Martin, 51

Railway, the first, 265; in project, 627

Rain, 22

Rajah Lacandola, 35–7, 51

Rajah Soliman, 35, 51

Rajahmudah, the, 131

Rama, Esteban de la, 520

Raon, Gov.-General José, 62, 99

Rattan-cane, 310

Real Compañia de Filipinas, the 252

Real quinto, the, 53

Real situado, the, 244

Rebellion of 1896, the Tagalog—362; acts conducive to, 364; the Katipanan League, 364–5; arrests of citizens, 366; Pedro P. Rojasʼ case, 366; F. L. Rojas executed, 367; first overt act of, 367; Battle of San Juan del Monte, 368; first executions of rebels in Manila, 369; in Cavite, 374; Bonifacio Andrés and Emilio Aguinaldo, 370; rebels capture Imus, 372; Spanish defeat at Binacayan, 373; Spaniards at Dalahican, 374; rebel General Llaneras, 374; Gov.-General Ramon Blanco, 377; definition of demands, 392; claim of independence, 394; treaty of Biac-na-bató, 396, 414 (footnote); Rafael Comengeʼs inflammatory speech, 400; the Calle de Camba tragedy, 401; rising in Cebú, 402, et seq.; execution of rebels in Cebú, 405; American intervention, 417; the rebelsʼ aspirations, 420; rebels attack the Spaniards in Panay Island, 475; Spanish Governor of Negros Island capitulates, 476

Rebellion, of Diego de Silan, in llocos, 100; of Dagóhoy, in Bojol Island, 101; in Leyte Island, Sámar Island, and Surigao, 102; of “King” Málong and of Sumoroy, 103; of Andrés Novales, 104; of Apolinario de la Cruz, 105; of Feliciano Páran, 105, 396 (footnote); in Tayabas, 105; of Camerino, 106, 397 (footnote); of Cuesta, 106; in Negros Island, 106

Regalado, Pedro, 520

Regidor, Dr. Antonio M., biographical note of, 108 (footnote)

Regium exequatur, the, 85

Relics in cathedral, 57

Religion, fanaticism in, 187–9, 521, 602; shrines, 187; coercion in, 189 (footnote); freedom in, 594 and footnote; infidel tendency in, 607–8

Religious Orders, the, 199; power and influence of, 200; opinions for and against, 201; function of the regium morum, 201; social origin of, 201; as parish priests, 202; frailties of, 203; persecution by, 205; the hierarchy, 206; outcry against, 207; dates of foundation and arrival of, 207; revenues of, 207, 209; emoluments of, 207; training-colleges in Spain for, 209; jealousy and rivalry between, 209. Vide Friars; Church

Remontado, the, 174, 205

Renacimiento, El, prosecution of, 550

Reptiles, 339

Revenue and expenditure, under Spain, 227 et seq., 251; curious items of, 229; under America, 629.

Revolts in provinces. Vide Rebellion

Revolutionary Government, the, 448; statutes of, 448–54; Presidentʼs message to, 454; appeal to the Powers by, 457; Malolos becomes the capital of, 469; first Congress of, convened at Malolos, 469; ratification of Philippine independence by, 470

Ricarte, Artemio, 546

Riccio, Vittorio, 76

Rice, measures of, 276; machinery for husking of, 277; tiki-tiki, 277; Macan and Paga, yield of, 278; planting of, 279; trade in, 281

Rio de la Plata, 26

Rio Grande, de la Pampanga, 14; de Mindanao, 15

Rios, General Diego de los, 374, 474 et seq., 494 (footnote); evacuates Panay, 477, 511; as agent for the liberation of Spanish prisoners, 539

Rivalry of Church and State, 57–8. Vide Church.

Rivera, General Primo de, attempts to subdue the Igorrotes, 124; reappointed Gov.-General to suppress the Rebellion of 1896, 211, 389; edict of concentration by, 391; reward to, for closing first period of the Rebellion, 399; recalled to Spain, 408

Rivers, 14, 23

Rizal, Dr. Jose, 366, 381 et .seq.; “My last Thought,” poem by, 386; the widow of, 386; public subscription to monument of, 389 (footnote); “Dimas alang,” 389 (footnote)

Rizal Province, 212 (footnote), 560

Roads, under Spain, 218; under America, 627

Rodas, Miguel de, 31

Rodriguez, Estevan, 131

Rojas, Pedro P., biographical note of, 366 (footnote)

Rojo, Archbishop-Governor, 62, 88, 97

Rosario, Pantaleon E. del, 524–5, 528

Russell & Sturgis, 255, 257

Sabas, Colonel, 107

Sago, 321

Sala destroyed, 18

Salas, Quintin, 516–7

Salaries, of Spanish officials, 214; of municipal officers, 560; of American officials, 561; of mayors, 567

Salazar, Domingo, Bishop of Manila, 51, 56

Salcedo, Gov.-General Diego, 59

Salcedo, Juan, 35, 51, 212 (footnote)

Samales, the Moro tribe of, 145

Samar Island, rebellion in, 102; insurgency in, 535; slaughter of Americans in, 536; pulajanes in, 551

Sampaguita, 323

San Juan del Monte, Battle of, 368

San Miguel, the bandit, 546

Sanchez, Alonso, 52

Sanctorum tax, 53

Sangdugong Panaguinip, 412

Sangley (Chinese), 118

Sanitation, 198

Sanson, Melanio, 582

Sanson, Pedro, 528

Santa Clara Convent, 81

San Victores, Fray Diego de, 39

Santo Officio, 59

Santones, 189, 521

Santos, Father Moïses, murdered, 408

Sapan-wood, 312; shipments of, 646

Saps of trees, 312

Schools. Vide Education.

Schück, Captain, 587 (footnote)

Schurman Commission, the, 498, 562

Scott, Major Hugh L., 583–6, 588

Scout corps, 570

Sculpture, 196

Seasons, 22

Secret Police Service, 567

Sedition, 553; seditious plays, 554; law passed, 545

Separation of Spain and Portugal, 81

Serrano, Juan R., 26, 28

Sevilla, Dr. Mariano, 596–7, 604–5

Sheep, 338

Shipping Law of 1904, the, 620

Shrines, 187

Siao (Moluccas), King of, 73–4

Sibucao, 312

Sibuguey, the Prince of, 131

Siguey shells, 243

Silan, Diego de, rebellion of, 100

Silva, Geromino de, 76

Silva, Gov.-General Fernando de, 76

Silva, Gov.-General Juan de, 74

Silver, imports and exports of, 647

Simbilin weapon, 147

Sinamnay stuff, 282

Singson, Father, 597

Sioco, 48

Situado, the real, 244

Slavery, 54, 55 (footnote), 191; among Moros, 151

Small-pox, 197

Smugglers, in Mexico, 247, 260, 262, 626

Snakes, 339

Soldiers in olden times, 231

Solidaridud, La, the seditionary organ, 363, 382

Soliman, Rajah, 35, 51

Solis River, 26

Soman͠galit, Cristóbal, 37

Spiritualists, 608

Saint Lazarus, Archipelago of, 28

State and Church feuds, 58

Statistics of trade, 639–50

Steamships introduced, 132

Stone, 334

Stotsenberg, Colonel, death of, 495

Sual port, 261

Subsidy, the Mexican, 244

Subuános, the Moro tribe of, 145–6, 155

Sugar-cane, yield of, 271; cultivation of, 272; sugar-extraction from, 278; molasses yield, 273; sugar-blends, 275; worldʼs production of sugar, 275

Sugar, the duty on, in America, 623; shipments of, 642–3

Sulphur, 21, 334

Sultan Mahamad Alimudin, 134; treaty with, 138

Sulu, the Sultan of, 140; the present Sultan, 141, 587–8; visits Manila, 588; pension to him and chiefs, 151, 571, 580; titles of, 151; dress of, 153; across Sulu to Maybun, 153; produce of Sulu, 153; official reception by, 154; the Sultanas of, 154. Vide Moros

Sumoroyʼs rebellion, 103

Supa (wood), 316

Supreme Court, abolished, 56; re-established, 57; of Cebú, 57

Surigao, revolt in, 102

Surra, the disease, 622

Suya(Chinese), 118

Taal, volcano of, 17; town of, destroyed, 18–20, 166

Taft Commission, the, 562–3

Taft, William II., biographical note of, 562 (footnote); his policy in the Islands, 564; appointed Secretary of War, 564; 613

Tagalog, meaning of the term, 164; character of, 171; hospitality of, 172

Tagalog rebellion, the, 362 et seq. Vide Rebellion of 1896

Tagbanúas tribe, the, 158; dress, customs, country of, 159

Taguban tribe, the, 146

Taguima, 129 (footnote)

Tamarind, 320

Tanaúan destroyed, 18

Tancad, the bandit, 239

Tan͠ga (edible insect), 342

Tattarassa, Sultan, 142 (footnote), 585

Taxation, of land, 625, 629; the Internal Revenue Law of 1904, 630

Taxes under Spain, 217, 224, 228

Tayabas rebellion, 105

Taycosama, Emperor of Japan, 65

Taytay fort, 231

Telegraph service, 267

Temperature, 22; of Illana Hay coast (Mindanao Is.), 157; of Zamboanga, 535

Teng-teng, Datto, 139

Theatres, 349, 558

Tiangui, 304 (footnote)

Tidal wave, 23

Tiki-tiki, 277

Timbang, Datto, 585

Timber, 312; relative strengths of, 317

Tinaja, 273 (footnote)

Tindalo (wood), 316

Tindig, Paguian, the Moro, 129

Tinguian tribe, the, 126

Tinio, General Manuel, 545 (footnote)

Tiruraya tribe, the, 146

Tithes to the Church, 55

Tobacco, 292; under monopoly, 293; free trade in, 296; risks of trade in, 298; qualities and districts, 298; cigar values, 299; Compañia General de Tabacos, 299; the duty on, in America, 625; shipments of, 644

To-Kogunsama, Emperor of Japan, 70

Tonnage, 628, 647

Tordesillas, Treaty of, 25 (footnote)

Torralba, acting Gov.-General, 60; impeachment of, 79; dies a beggar, 80

Torres, Fray Juan de, 116

Tournon, Mons. Maillard de, 84

Town Hall, 217, 226

Trade (under Spain), the early history of, 243 et seq.; the Mexican subsidy, 244; the Consulado trading-ring, 244; the boleta shipping-warrant, 244; the galleons, 245; the Obras Pias, 245; losses of treasure, 246; prohibitions on, 248; penalties on free-traders, 250; the budget in 1757, 251; Spanish company failures, 252; the Real Compañia de Filipinas, 252; the Compañia Guipuzcoana de Caracas, 252; foreign traders admitted, 255; Russell & Sturgis, 255; Nicholas Loney, 255; Manila port opened to foreign trade, 256; first foreign traders, 257; Banks, 258; the Compañia General de Tabacos, 299 (under America), 620; effect of the war on, 621; the carrying-trade, 628; American traders, 628; proportion of tonnage, 628; total tonnage, 647; the new currency, 635–7; Banks, 637–8; statistical tables, 639–50; produce shipments, 639–46; gold and silver exports and imports, 647; exchange fluctuations, 647; proportionate table of imports and exports, 648–50

Trading Governors, 212

Tragedy of the Calle de Camba, 401

Travellers, regulations affecting alien, 617

Treaties made with rebels, 396 (footnote)

Treaty of Paris (1898), text of the, 478 et seq.

Treaty, of Tordesillas, 25 (footnote), 253; of Antwerp, 72, 253; of the “Family Compact,” 72, 87; of Paris (1703), 96; with Sultan Mahamad Alimudin, 138; of Utrecht and the Asiento Contract, 257; of Malacañan, 396 (footnote); of Biac-na-bató, 396, 414 (footnote); of Navotas, 397 (footnote); of Paris (1898), 472, 478

Tree-saps, 312

Trent, Council of, the, 605 (footnote)

Trepang (balate), 312

Trias, General Manuel, 544, 548–9

Tribunal, 217, 226

Tribute, 53, 224

Tuba (beverage), 304

Talisan, the, 235, 547; outrages by, 236, 239, 548–9

Tupas, King of Cebú, 35

Typhoons, 355

“Ualang sugat,” the seditious play of, 554

Union of Spain and Portugal, 72

Urbiztondo, expedition against Moros by, 139

Urdaneta, Andrés de, 31, 33, 35

Utrecht, the Peace of, 257

Utto, Datto, 142

Vagrant Act, the, 568

Valenzuela, Prime Minister, banished, 83

Valenzuela, Sancho, 368; execution of, 369

Vanilla, 321

Vargas, Gov.-General Juan, impeachment of, 79

Vegetable produce, 321

Veteran civil guard, 231

Vicars, Camp, 574 (footnote)

Villa Corta, 94, 96, 98

Villalobos expedition, the, 32

Villa Fernandina, 48

Vilo, Roman, 529

Virgin of Antipolo, 267

Visayo, characteristics of the, 172

Volcano, Mayou, 16; Taal, 17

Volcano Island discovered, 32

War, the Spanish-American, 117; allocution of the Archbishop of Madrid, 423; General Augustiʼs call to arms, 424; General Augustiʼs proclamation, 425; volunteers reorganized, 426; the Battle of Cavite, 427; Cavite occupied, 429; Spain makes peace overtures, 458; text of the Protocol of Peace, 459; Americans attack Manila, 462; surrender of the city, 464; capitulation signed, 465

War of Independence, the, 484; the Philippine Republic, 486; opening shot and Battle of Paco, 487; fight at Coloocan, 487; fight at Gagalanging, 488; the Igorrote contingent, 488; Malabon and Malinta captured, 489; death of Col. Egbert, 489; Santa Cruz (Manila) in flames, 489; Battle of Marilao, 490; Malolos captured, 491; insurgent retreat to Calumpit, 492; American proclamation of intentions, 492; Santa Cruz (La Laguna) captured, 494; Lieut. Gilmoreʼs expedition to Baler captured, 494; American reverse at Gingua, 495; crossing the Bagbag River, 496; Calumpit captured, 496; burning of S.S. Saturnus, 503; death of Gen. Lawton, 504; fight at Narvican, 505; capture of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, 507; American occupation of Yloilo, 511–6 —of Cebú, 523—of Bojol Island, 528—of Zamboanga, 532; capture of Vicente Lucban, 545

Water-cure, 517 (footnote)

Wax, 311

Weyler, General, 417–8, 431

Wheaton, General, 488–91, 497

White ants, 340

Wild boar, 340

Wild tribes, the, percentage of in the population, 120

Wood, General Leonard, biographical note of, 576 (footnote); victory of, at Kudarangan, 581; captures Panglima Hassan, 584

Woods, 312; relative strengths of, 317

Wright, Governor Luke E., biographical note of, 564

Xogusama, Emperor of Japan, 69

Yacal (wood), 316

Ylang-Ylang, 325

Ylígan fort, 77, 231

Yloilo, the port of, 261; native government in, 511; Gen. Millerʼs expedition to, 511; the Panay insurgent army, 512; panic in, 513; incendiarism and looting in, 515; bombardment of, 516; surrenders of insurgent leaders, 517; general surrender at Jaro, 518; the town of, 518

Zabálburu, Gov.-General Domingo, 42

Zaguan, 353

Zamboanga, the fort of, 77, 133, 233; the port of, 261–2; critical position of the Spaniards at, 531; anarchy in, 532; American occupation of, 532; the town of, 535

Zamora, Father Jacinto, executed, 107

Zobel, Jacobo, 367 (footnote)

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Table of Contents

The Philippine Islands

A Political, Geographical, Ethnographical, Social and Commercial History of the Philippine Archipelago

Embracing the Whole Period of Spanish Rule

With an Account of the Succeeding American Insular Government

Table of Contents

Preface to the First Edition

Preface to the Third Edition

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Introduction

General Description of the Archipelago

Discovery of the Archipelago

Philippine Dependencies, Up To 1898 The Ladrones, Carolines and Pelew Islands

Attempted Conquest by Chinese

Early Relations With Japan

Conflicts with the Dutch

British Occupation of Manila

The Chinese

Wild Tribes and Pagans

Mahometans and Southern Tribes

Domesticated Natives—Origin—Character

The Religious Orders

Spanish Insular Government

Spanish-Philippine Finances

Trade of the Islands Its Early History

Agriculture

Manila Hemp—Coffee—Tobacco

Sundry Forest and Farm Produce Maize—Cacao—Coprah, Etc.

Mineral Products Coal—Gold—Iron—Copper—Sulphur, Etc.

Domestic Live-stock—Ponies, Buffaloes, Etc.

Manila Under Spanish Rule

The Tagálog Rebellion of 1896–98 First Period

Edict

Order and Command

To the Brave Sons of the Philippines

The Tagálog Rebellion of 1896–98 Second Period American Intervention

Chapter I Of the Revolutionary Government

Chapter II Of the Revolutionary Congress

Chapter III Of Military Justice

Additional Clauses

Protocol of Peace

Treaty of Peace

An Outline of the War of Independence, Period 1899–1901

The Philippine Republic in the Central and Southern Islands

The Spanish Prisoners

End of the War of Independence and After

Modern Manila

The Land of the Moros “Allah Akbar!”

The Spanish Friars, After 1898

Trade and Agriculture Since the American Advent

Trade Statistics

Chronological Table of Leading Events

Index

Colophon

Availability

Encoding

Revision History

Corrections

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