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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

London: T. Fisher Unwin 1, Adelphi Terrace. MCMVI

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

Preface to the First Edition

I do not pretend, therefore, to improve upon the able productions of such eminent writers as Juan de le Concepcion, Martinez Z??iga, Tom?s de Comyn and others, nor do I aspire, through this brief composition, to detract from the merit of Jagor's 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.

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.

Table of Contents

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

Hernando de Maghallanes. Treaty of Tordesillas. 24 Discovery of Magellan Straits and the Ladrone Islands. 27 Death of Maghallanes. Elcano's voyage round the world. 28 The Loaisa expedition. The Villalobos expedition. Andr?s de Urdaneta. 31 Miguel de Legaspi; his expedition; he reaches Ceb?; dethrones King Tupas. 33 Manila is proclaimed the capital of the Archipelago. 36 Martin de Goiti. Juan Salcedo. Native Local Government initiated. 37

The Ladrone, Caroline, and Pelew Islands. 39 First mission to the Ladrone Islands. Pelew Islanders. Caroline Islanders. 40 Spain's possession of the Caroline Islands disputed by Germany. 44 Posadillo, Governor of the Caroline Islands, is murdered. 45 The Ladrone, Caroline, and Pelew Islands sold to Germany. 46

The Emperor of Japan demands the surrender of the Islands. 63 Fray Pedro Bautista's mission; he and 25 others are crucified. 65 Jesuit and Franciscan jealousy. The martyrs' 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

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

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. World's 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

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

Ponies. Horses. Buffaloes . 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

The Spaniards evacuate Yloilo . 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 . 518 Yloilo town. Native Government in Negros Island. Peaceful settlement. 519 An armed rabble overruns Negros Island. 521 Native Government in Ceb? Island. American occupation of Ceb? City. 522 Cebu?no insurgents on the warpath. Peace signed with Cebu?nos. 524 Reformed government in Ceb? Island. Ceb? City. 526 American occupation of Bojol Island. Insurgent rising quelled. 528 Native Government in Cottabato. Slaughter of the Christians. 529 The Spaniards' critical position in Zamboanga . 531 Rival factions and anarchy in Zamboanga. Opportune American advent. 532 The Rajahmudah Datto Maudi. Zamboanga town. 534 S?mar and Marinduque Islands under native leaders. 535 Slaughter of American officers and troops at Balangiga . 536

The approximate number of Spanish prisoners and their treatment. 537 The Spanish Government's dilemma in the matter of the prisoners. 538 Why the prisoners were detained. Baron Du Marais' ill-fated mission. 539 Further efforts to obtain their release. The captors state their terms. 541 Discussions between Generals E. S. Otis and Nicol?s Jaramillo. 542 The Spanish commissioners' ruse to obtain the prisoners' release fails. 543 The end of the Spaniards' captivity. 544

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

Free cult. Causes of the anti-friar feeling. 594 Attitude of the Philippine clergy. Monsignor Chapelle. 596 The question of the friars' lands. American view. 597 The American Government negotiates with the Holy See. 599 The Pope's contrary view of the friars' case. 600 The friars'-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

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. Planters' 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 . 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

Introduction

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 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.

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. 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.

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 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 Spain's 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 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.

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 Spain's 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 "man's 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.

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