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Title: A History of the Philippines
Author: Barrows, David P.
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "A History of the Philippines" ***
A HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINES
By
DAVID P. BARROWS, Ph.D.
General Superintendent of Public Instruction
for the Philippine Islands
New York · Cincinnati · Chicago
American Book Company
PREFACE
This book has been prepared at the suggestion of the educational
authorities for pupils in the public high schools of the Philippines,
as an introduction to the history of their country. Its preparation
occupied about two years, while the author was busily engaged in other
duties,--much of it being written while he was traveling or exploring
in different parts of the Archipelago. No pretensions are made to an
exhaustive character for the book. For the writer, as well as for the
pupil for whom it is intended, it is an introduction into the study
of the history of Malaysia.
Considerable difficulty has been experienced in securing the necessary
historical sources, but it is believed that the principal ones have
been read. The author is greatly indebted to the Honorable Dr. Pardo
de Tavera for the use of rare volumes from his library, and he wishes
to acknowledge also the kindness of Mr. Manuel Yriarte, Chief of the
Bureau of Archives, for permission to examine public documents. The
occasional reprints of the old Philippine histories have, however,
been used more frequently than the original editions. The splendid
series of reprinted works on the Philippines, promised by Miss Blair
and Mr. Robertson, was not begun in time to be used in the preparation
of this book. The appearance of this series will make easy a path
which the present writer has found comparatively difficult, and will
open the way for an incomparably better History of the Philippines
than has ever yet been made.
The drawings of ethnographic subjects, which partly illustrate this
book, were made from objects in the Philippine Museum by Mr. Anselmo
Espiritu, a teacher in the public schools of Manila. They are very
accurate.
Above every one else, in writing this book, the author is under
obligations to his wife, without whose constant help and encouragement
it could not have been written.
David P. Barrows.
Manila, Philippine Islands,
March 1st, 1903.
CONTENTS.
Page
I. The Philippines as a Subject for Historical Study 9
II. The Peoples of the Philippines 25
III. Europe and the Far East about 1400 A.D. 42
IV. The Great Geographical Discoveries 61
V. Filipino People Before the Arrival of the Spaniards 88
VI. The Spanish Soldier and the Spanish Missionary 108
VII. Period of Conquest and Settlement, 1565-1600 125
VIII. The Philippines Three Hundred Years Ago 156
IX. The Dutch and Moro Wars, 1600-1663 187
X. A Century of Obscurity and Decline, 1633-1762 212
XI. The Philippines During the Period of European
Revolution, 1762-1837 231
XII. Progress and Revolution, 1837-1897 259
XIII. America and the Philippines 287
Appendix 321
Index 325
LIST OF MAPS.
Page
Philippine Islands 6, 7
Countries and Peoples of Malaysia 26, 27
Races and Tribes of the Philippines 30
The Spread of Mohammedanism 39
Europe about 1400 AD. 44
Routes of Trade to the Far East 50
The Countries of the Far East 58
Restoration of Toscanelli's Map 69
Early Spanish Discoveries in the Philippines 77
The New World and the Indies as divided between
Spain and Portugal 85
Conquest and Settlement by the Spaniards in the
Philippines, 1505-1590 124
Straits of Manila 133
The City of Manila 134
Luzon 158, 159
Mindanao, Visayas, and Paragua 288, 289
American Campaigns in Northern Luzon 302
HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINES.
CHAPTER I.
THE PHILIPPINES AS A SUBJECT FOR HISTORICAL STUDY.
Purpose of this Book.--This book has been written for the young
men and young women of the Philippines. It is intended to introduce
them into the history of their own island country. The subject of
Philippine history is much broader and more splendid than the size
and character of this little book reveal. Many subjects have only
been briefly touched upon, and there are many sources of information,
old histories, letters and official documents, which the writer had
not time and opportunity to study in the preparation of this work. It
is not too soon, however, to present a history of the Philippines,
even though imperfectly written, to the Philippine people themselves;
and if this book serves to direct young men and young women to a study
of the history of their own island country, it will have fulfilled
its purpose.
The Development of the Philippines and of Japan.--In many ways the
next decade of the history of the Philippine Islands may resemble
the splendid development of the neighboring country of Japan. Both
countries have in past times been isolated more or less from the
life and thought of the modern world. Both are now open to the full
current of human affairs. Both countries promise to play an important
part in the politics and commerce of the Far East. Geographically,
the Philippines occupy the more central and influential position,
and the success of the institutions of the Philippines may react upon
the countries of southeastern Asia and Malaysia, to an extent that
we cannot appreciate or foresee, Japan, by reason of her larger
population, the greater industry of her people, a more orderly
social life, and devoted public spirit, is at the present time far
in the lead.
The Philippines.--But the Philippines possess certain advantages which,
in the course of some years, may tell strongly in her favor. There are
greater natural resources, a richer soil, and more tillable ground. The
population, while not large, is increasing rapidly, more rapidly, in
fact, than the population of Japan or of Java. And in the character of
her institutions the Philippines have certain advantages. The position
of woman, while so unfortunate in Japan, as in China and nearly all
eastern countries, in the Philippines is most fortunate, and is certain
to tell effectually upon the advancement of the race in competition
with other eastern civilizations. The fact that Christianity is the
established religion of the people makes possible a sympathy and
understanding between the Philippines and western countries.
Japan.--Yet there are many lessons which Japan can teach the
Philippines, and one of these is of the advantages and rewards
of fearless and thorough study. Fifty years ago, Japan, which had
rigorously excluded all intercourse with foreign nations, was forced to
open its doors by an American fleet under Commodore Perry. At that time
the Japanese knew nothing of western history, and had no knowledge of
modern science. Their contact with the Americans and other foreigners
revealed to them the inferiority of their knowledge. The leaders of
the country awoke to the necessity of a study of western countries
and their great progress, especially in government and in the sciences.
Japan had at her service a special class of people known as the
samurai, who, in the life of Old Japan, were the free soldiers of
the feudal nobility, and who were not only the fighters of Japan,
but the students and scholars as well. The young men of this samurai
class threw themselves earnestly and devotedly into the study of the
great fields of knowledge, which had previously been unknown to the
Japanese. At great sacrifice many of them went abroad to other lands,
in order to study in foreign universities. Numbers of them went to
the United States, frequently working as servants in college towns
in order to procure the means for the pursuit of their education.
The Japanese Government in every way began to adopt measures for
the transformation of the knowledge of the people. Schools were
opened, laboratories established, and great numbers of scientific
and historical books were translated into Japanese. A public school
system was organized, and finally a university was established. The
Government sent abroad many young men to study in almost every
branch of knowledge and to return to the service of the people. The
manufacturers of Japan studied and adopted western machinery and modern
methods of production. The government itself underwent revolution
and reorganization upon lines more liberal to the people and more
favorable to the national spirit of the country. The result has been
the transformation, in less than fifty years, of what was formerly
an isolated and ignorant country.
The Lesson for the Filipinos.--This is the great lesson which Japan
teaches the Philippines. If there is to be transformation here, with
a constant growth of knowledge and advancement, and an elevation of
the character of the people as a whole, there must be a courageous
and unfaltering search for the truth: and the young men and young
women of the Philippines must seek the advantages of education, not
for themselves, but for the benefit of their people and their land;
not to gain for themselves a selfish position of social and economic
advantage over the poor and less educated Filipinos, but in order
that, having gained these advantages for themselves, they may in turn
give them to their less fortunate countrymen. The young Filipino,
man or woman, must learn the lessons of truthfulness, courage, and
unselfishness, and in all of his gaining of knowledge, and in his
use of it as well, he must practice these virtues, or his learning
will be an evil to his land and not a blessing.
The aim of this book is to help him to understand, first of all, the
place that the Philippines occupy in the modern history of nations, so
that he may understand how far and from what beginnings the Filipino
people have progressed, toward what things the world outside has
itself moved during this time, and what place and opportunities the
Filipinos, as a people, may seek for in the future.
The Meaning of History.--History, as it is written and understood,
comprises many centuries of human life and achievement, and we must
begin our study by discussing a little what history means. Men may
live for thousands of years without having a life that may be called
historical; for history is formed only where there are credible
written records of events. Until we have these records, we have no
ground for historical study, but leave the field to another study,
which we call Archeology, or Prehistoric Culture.
Historical Races.--Thus there are great races which have no history,
for they have left no records. Either the people could not write,
or their writings have been destroyed, or they told nothing about
the life of the people. The history of these races began only with
the coming of a historical, or more advanced race among them.
Thus, the history of the black, or negro, race begins only with
the exploration of Africa by the white race, and the history of the
American Indians, except perhaps of those of Peru and Mexico, begins
only with the white man's conquest of America. The white, or European,
race is, above all others, the great historical race; but the yellow
race, represented by the Chinese, has also a historical life and
development, beginning many centuries before the birth of Christ.
The European Race.--For thousands of years the white race was confined
to the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It had but little
contact with other races of men and almost no knowledge of countries
beyond the Mediterranean shores. The great continents of America and
Australia and the beautiful island-world of the Pacific and Indian
oceans were scarcely dreamed of. This was the status of the white race
in Europe a little more than five hundred years ago. How different
is the position of this race to-day! It has now explored nearly the
entire globe. The white people have crossed every continent and every
sea. On every continent they have established colonies and over many
countries their power.
During these last five centuries, besides this spread of geographical
discoveries, the mingling of all the races, and the founding of great
colonies, has come also the development of scientific knowledge--great
discoveries and inventions, such as the utilization of steam and
electricity, which give to man such tremendous power over the material
world. Very important changes have also marked the religious and
political life of the race. Within these years came the Protestant
revolt from the Roman Catholic Church, destroying in some degree the
unity of Christendom; and the great revolutions of Europe and America,
establishing democratic and representative governments.
The European Race and the Filipino People.--This expansion and progress
of the European race early brought it into contact with the Filipino
people, and the historical life of the Philippines dates from this
meeting of the two races. Thus the history of the Philippines has
become a part of the history of nations. During these centuries the
people of these islands, subjects of a European nation, have progressed
in social life and government, in education and industries, in numbers,
and in wealth. They have often been stirred by wars and revolutions,
by centuries of piratical invasion, and fear of conquest by foreign
nations. But these dangers have now passed away.
There is no longer fear of piratical ravage nor of foreign invasion,
nor is there longer great danger of internal revolt; for the
Philippines are at the present time under a government strong enough
to defend them against other powers, to put down plunder and ravage,
and one anxious and disposed to afford to the people such freedom
of opportunity, such advantages of government and life, that the
incentive to internal revolution will no longer exist. Secure from
external attack and rapidly progressing toward internal peace, the
Philippines occupy a position most fortunate among the peoples of the
Far East. They have representative government, freedom of religion,
and public education, and, what is more than all else to the aspiring
or ambitious race or individual, freedom of opportunity.
How History is Written.--One other thing should be explained
here. Every child who reads this book should understand a little how
history is written. A most natural inquiry to be made regarding any
historical statement is, "How is this known?" And this is as proper a
question for the school boy as for the statesman. The answer is, that
history rests for its facts largely upon the written records made by
people who either lived at the time these things took place, or so
near to them that, by careful inquiry, they could learn accurately
of these matters and write them down in some form, so that we to-day
can read their accounts, and at least know how these events appeared
to men of the time.
But not all that a man writes, or even puts in a book, of things
he has seen and known, is infallibly accurate and free from error,
partiality, and untruthfulness. So the task of the historian is not
merely to read and accept all the contemporary records, but he must
also compare one account with another, weighing all that he can find,
making due allowance for prejudice, and on his own part trying to
reach a conclusion that shall be true. Of course, where records are
few the task is difficult indeed, and, on the other hand, material
may be so voluminous as to occupy a writer a lifetime, and make it
impossible for any one man completely to exhaust a subject.
Historical Accounts of the Philippines.--For the Philippines we
are so fortunate as to have many adequate sources of a reliable and
attractive kind. In a few words some of these will be described. Nearly
all exist in at least a few libraries in the Philippines, where they
may sometime be consulted by the Filipino student, and many of them,
at least in later editions, may be purchased by the student for his
own possession and study.
The Voyages of Discovery.--European discovery of the Philippines began
with the great voyage of Magellan; and recounting this discovery of
the islands, there is the priceless narrative of one of Magellan's
company, Antonio Pigafetta. His book was written in Italian, but was
first published in a French translation. The original copies made
by Pigafetta have disappeared, but in 1800 a copy was discovered in
the Ambrosian Library of Milan, Italy, and published. Translations
into English and other languages exist. It may be found in several
collections of Voyages, and there is a good Spanish translation and
edition of recent date. (El Primer Viaje alrededor del Mundo, por
Antonio Pigafetta, traducido por Dr. Carlos Amoretti y anotado por
Manuel Walls y Merino, Madrid, 1899.) There are several other accounts
of Magellan's voyage; but Pigafetta's was the only one written by
an eye-witness, and his descriptions of the Bisaya Islands, Cebu,
Borneo, and the Moluccas are wonderfully interesting and accurate.
There were several voyages of discovery between Magellan's time (1521)
and Legaspi's time (1565). These include the expeditions of Loaisa,
Saavedra, and Villalobos, and accounts of them are to be found in
the great series of publications made by the Spanish Government and
called Coleccion de documentos ineditos, and, in another series,
Navarrete's Coleccion de los viajes y descubrimientos.
Spanish Occupation and Conquest.--As we come to the history of Spanish
occupation and conquest of the Philippines, we find many interesting
letters and reports sent by both soldiers and priests to the king, or
to persons in Spain. The first complete book on the Philippines was
written by a missionary about 1602, Father Predo Chirino's Relacion
de las Islas Filipinas, printed in Rome in 1604. This important and
curious narrative is exceedingly rare, but a reprint, although rude
and poor, was made in Manila in 1890, which is readily obtainable. The
Relacion de las Islas Filipinas was followed in 1609 by the work of
Judge Antonio de Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas. This very
rare work was printed in Mexico. In 1890 a new edition was brought
out by Dr. José Rizal, from the copy in the British Museum. There is
also an English translation.
These two works abound in curious and valuable information upon
the Filipino people as they were at the time of the arrival of the
Spaniards, as does also a later work, the Conquista de las Islas
Filipinas, by Friar Gaspar de San Augustin, printed in Madrid in
1698. This latter is perhaps the most interesting and most important
early work on the Philippine Islands.
As we shall see, the history of the Philippines is closely connected
with that of the East Indian Spice Islands. When the Spanish forces
took the rich island of Ternate in 1606, the triumph was commemorated
by a volume, finely written, though not free from mistakes, the
Conquista de las Islas Moluccas, by Leonardo de Argensola, Madrid,
1609. There is an old English translation, and also French and Dutch
translations.
To no other religious order do we owe so much historical information as
to the Jesuits. The scholarship and literary ability of the Company
have always been high. Chirino was a Jesuit, as was also Father
Francisco Colin, who wrote the Labor Evangelica, a narrative of
the Jesuit missions in the Philippines, China, and Japan, which was
printed in Madrid in 1663. This history was continued years later by
Father Murillo Velarde, who wrote what he called the Segunda Parte,
the Historia de la Provincia de Filipinas de la Compania de Jesus,
Manila, 1749.
There is another notable Jesuit work to which we owe much of the
early history of the great island of Mindanao: this is the Historia de
Mindanao y Jolo, by Father Francisco Combes. The year 1663 marked, as
we shall see, an epoch in the relations between the Spaniards and the
Mohammedan Malays. In that year the Spaniards abandoned the fortress
of Zamboanga, and retired from southern Mindanao. The Jesuits had
been the missionaries in those parts of the southern archipelago,
and they made vigorous protests against the abandonment of Moro
territory. One result of their efforts to secure the reoccupancy
of these fortresses was the notable work mentioned above. It is the
oldest and most important writing about the island and the inhabitants
of Mindanao. It was printed in Madrid in 1667. A beautiful and exact
edition was brought out a few years ago, by Retana.
A Dominican missionary, Father Diego Aduarte, wrote a very important
work, the Historia de la Provincia del Sancto Rosario de la Orden de
Predicadores en Filipinas, Japon y China, which was printed in Manila
at the College of Santo Tomas in 1640.
We may also mention as containing a most interesting account of
the Philippines about the middle of the seventeenth century, the
famous work on China, by the Dominican, Father Fernandez Navarrete,
Tratados historicos, politicos, ethnicos, y religiosos de la Monarchia
de China, Madrid, 1767. Navarrete arrived in these islands in 1648,
and was for a time a cura on the island of Mindoro. Later he was a
missionary in China, and then Professor of Divinity in the University
of Santo Tomas. His work is translated into English in Churchill's
Collection of Voyages and Travels, London, 1744, second volume.
The eighteenth century is rather barren of interesting historical
matter. There was considerable activity in the production of grammars
and dictionaries of the native languages, and more histories of the
religious orders were also produced. These latter, while frequently
filled with sectarian matter, should not be overlooked.
Between the years 1788 and 1792 was published the voluminous Historia
General de Filipinas, in fourteen volumes, by the Recollect friar,
Father Juan de la Concepcion. The work abounds in superfluous matter
and trivial details, yet it is a copious source of information,
a veritable mine of historical data, and is perhaps the best known
and most frequently used work upon the Philippine Islands. There
are a number of sets in the Philippines which can be consulted by
the student.
Some years after, and as a sort of protest against so extensive
a treatment of history, the sane and admirable Augustinian, Father
Joaquin Martinez de Zuñiga, wrote his Historia de las Islas Filipinas,
a volume of about seven hundred pages. It was printed in Sampaloc,
Manila, in 1803. This writer is exceptional for his fairmindedness,
his freedom from the narrow prejudices which have characterized
most of the writers on the Philippines. His language is terse and
spirited, and his volume is the most readable and, in many ways, the
most valuable attempt at a history of the Philippines. His narrative
closes with the English occupation of Manila in 1763.
Recent Histories and Other Historical Materials.--The sources for
the conditions and history of the islands during the last century
differ somewhat from the preceding. The documentary sources in the
form of public papers and reports are available, and there is a
considerable mass of pamphlets dealing with special questions in
the Philippines. The publication of the official journal of the
Government, the Gazeta de Manila, commenced in 1861. It contains
all acts of legislation, orders of the Governors, pastoral letters,
and other official matters, down to the end of Spanish rule.
A vast amount of material, for the recent civil history of the
islands exists in the Archives of the Philippines, at Manila, but
these documents have been very little examined. Notable among these
original documents is the series of Royal Cedulas, each bearing the
signature of the King of Spain, "Yo, el Rey." They run back from the
last years of sovereignty to the commencement of the seventeenth
century. The early cedulas, on the establishment of Spanish rule,
are said to have been carried away by the British army in 1763,
and to be now in the British Museum.
Of the archives of the Royal Audiencia at Manila, the series of
judgments begins with one of 1603, which is signed by Antonia
de Morga. From this date they appear to be complete. The earliest
records of the cases which came before this court that can be found,
date from the beginning of the eighteenth century.
Of modern historical writings mention must be made of the Historia
de Filipinas, three volumes, 1887, by Montero y Vidal, and the
publications of W. E. Retana. To the scholarship and enthusiasm of
this last author much is owed. His work has been the republication
of rare and important sources. His edition of Combes has already
been mentioned, and there should also be mentioned, and if possible
procured, his Archivo del Bibliofilo, four volumes, a collection of
rare papers on the islands, of different dates; and his edition, the
first ever published, of Zuñiga's Estadismo de las Islas Filipinas,
an incomparable survey of the islands made about 1800, by the priest
and historian whose history was mentioned above.
Accounts of Voyagers Who Visited the Philippines.--These references
give some idea of the historical literature of the Philippines. They
comprise those works which should be chiefly consulted. There should
not be omitted the numerous accounts of voyagers who have visited
these islands from time to time, and who frequently give us very
valuable information. The first of these are perhaps the English and
Dutch freebooters, who prowled about these waters to waylay the richly
laden galleons. One of these was Dampier, who, about 1690, visited
the Ladrones and the Philippines. His New Voyage Around the World was
published in 1697. There was also Anson, who in 1743 took the Spanish
galleon off the coast of Samar, and whose voyage is described in a
volume published in 1745. There was an Italian physician, Carreri,
who visited the islands in 1697, in the course of a voyage around the
world, and who wrote an excellent description of the Philippines, which
is printed in English translation in Churchill's Collection of Voyages.
A French expedition visited the East between 1774 and 1781, and the
Commissioner, M. Sonnerat, has left a brief account of the Spanish
settlements in the islands as they then appeared. (Voyage aux Indes
Orientales et à la Chine, Paris, 1782, Vol. 3.)
There are a number of travellers' accounts written in the last century,
of which may be mentioned Sir John Bowring's Visit to the Philippine
Islands, 1859, and Jagor's Reisen in der Philippinen, travels in the
year 1859 and 1860, which has received translation into both English
and Spanish.
Bibliographies.--For the historical student a bibliographical guide
is necessary. Such a volume was brought out in 1898, by Retana,
Catalogo abreviado de la Biblioteca Filipina. It contains a catalogue
of five thousand seven hundred and eighty works, published in or upon
the Philippines. A still more exact and useful bibliography has been
prepared by the Honorable T. H. Pardo de Tavera, Biblioteca Filipina,
and is published by the United States Government.
It is lamentable that the Philippines Government possesses no library
of works on the Archipelago. The foundation of such an institution
seems to have been quite neglected by the Spanish Government, and works
on the Philippines are scarcely to be found, except as they exist in
private collections. The largest of these is said to be that of the
Compañia General de Tabacos, at Barcelona, which has also recently
possessed itself of the splendid library of Retana. In Manila the
Honorable Dr. Pardo de Tavera possesses the only notable library in
the islands.
Since the above was written the Philippines Government has commenced
the collection of historic works in the Philippines, and a talented
young Filipino scholar, Mr. Zulueta, has gone to Spain for extensive
search, both of archives and libraries, in order to enrich the public
collection in the Philippines.
The publication of a very extensive series of sources of Philippine
history has also been begun by the Arthur H. Clark Company in
the United States, under the editorship of Miss E. H. Blair and
Mr. J. A. Robertson. The series will embrace fifty-five volumes, and
will contain in English translations all available historical material
on the Philippines, from the age of discovery to the nineteenth
century. This notable collection will place within the reach of the
student all the important sources of his country's history, and will
make possible a more extensive and accurate writing of the history
of the islands than has ever before been possible.
In addition to the published works, there repose numerous unstudied
documents of Philippine history in the Archives of the Indies at
Seville.
Historical Work for the Filipino Student.--After reading this book,
or a similar introductory history, the student should procure, one
by one, as many as he can of the volumes which have been briefly
described above, and, by careful reading and patient thought, try
to round out the story of his country and learn the lessons of the
history of his people. He will find it a study that will stimulate
his thought and strengthen his judgment; but always he must search
for the truth, even though the truth is sometimes humiliating and
sad. If there are regrettable passages in our own lives, we cannot
find either happiness or improvement in trying to deny to ourselves
that we have done wrong, and so conceal and minimize our error. So if
there are dark places in the history of our land and people, we must
not obscure the truth in the mistaken belief that we are defending
our people's honor, for, by trying to conceal the fact and excuse
the fault, we only add to the shame. It is by frank acknowledgment
and clear depiction of previous errors that the country's honor will
be protected now and in the future.
Very interesting and important historical work can be done by the
Filipino student in his own town or province. The public and parish
records have in many towns suffered neglect or destruction. In
all possible cases these documents should be gathered up and cared
for. For many things, they are worthy of study. They can show the
growth of population, the dates of erection of the public buildings,
the former system of government, and social conditions.
This is a work in which the patriotism of every young man and
woman can find an expression. Many sites throughout the islands are
notable for the historic occurrences which they witnessed. These
should be suitably marked with tablets or monuments, and the exact
facts of the events that took place should be carefully collected,
and put in writing. Towns and provinces should form public libraries
containing, among other works, books on the Philippines; and it
should be a matter of pride to the young Filipino scholar to build
up such local institutions, and to educate his townsmen in their use
and appreciation.
But throughout such studies the student should remember that his town
or locality is of less importance, from a patriotic standpoint, than
his country as a whole; that the interests of one section should never
be placed above those of the Archipelago; and that, while his first and
foremost duty is to his town and to his people, among whom he was born
and nurtured, he owes a greater obligation to his whole country and
people, embracing many different islands and different tongues, and to
the great Government which holds and protects the Philippine Islands,
and which is making possible the free development of its inhabitants.
CHAPTER II.
THE PEOPLES OF THE PHILIPPINES.
The Study of Ethnology.--The study of races and peoples forms a
separate science from history, and is known as ethnology, or the
science of races. Ethnology informs us how and where the different
races of mankind originated. It explains the relationships between
the races as well as the differences of mind, of body, and of mode
of living which different people exhibit.
All such knowledge is of great assistance to the statesman as he
deals with the affairs of his own people and of other peoples,
and it helps private individuals of different races to understand
one another and to treat each other with due respect, kindness, and
sympathy. Inasmuch, too, as the modern history which we are studying
deals with many different peoples of different origin and race, and
as much of our history turns upon these differences, we must look
for a little at the ethnology of the Philippines.
The Negritos.--Physical Characteristics.--The great majority of the
natives of our islands belong to what is usually called the Malayan
race, or the Oceanic Mongols. There is, however, one interesting
little race scattered over the Philippines, which certainly has no
relationship at all with Malayans. These little people are called by
the Tagálog, "Aeta" or "Ita." The Spaniards, when they arrived, called
them "Negritos," or "little negroes," the name by which they are best
known. Since they were without question the first inhabitants of these
islands of whom we have any knowledge, we shall speak of them at once.
They are among the very smallest peoples in the world, the average
height of the men being about 145 centimeters, or the height of
an American boy of twelve years; the women are correspondingly
smaller. They have such dark-brown skins that many people suppose
them to be quite black; their hair is very wooly or kinky, and forms
thick mats upon their heads. In spite of these peculiarities, they
are not unattractive in appearance. Their eyes are large and of a
fine brown color, their features are quite regular, and their little
bodies often beautifully shaped.
The appearance of these little savages excited the attention of the
first Spaniards, and there are many early accounts of them. Padre
Chirino, who went as a missionary in 1592 to Panay, begins the
narrative of his labors in that island as follows: "Among the Bisayas,
there are also some Negroes. They are less black and ugly than those
of Guinea, and they are much smaller and weaker, but their hair and
beard are just the same. They are much more barbarous and wild than
the Bisayas and other Filipinos, for they have neither houses nor
any fixed sites for dwelling. They neither plant nor reap, but live
like wild beasts, wandering with their wives and children through
the mountains, almost naked. They hunt the deer and wild boar,
and when they kill one they stop right there until all the flesh is
consumed. Of property they have nothing except the bow and arrow." [1]
Manners and Customs.--The Negritos still have this wild, timid
character, and few have ever been truly civilized in spite of the
efforts of some of the Spanish missionaries. They still roam through
the mountains, seldom building houses, but making simply a little
wall and roof of brush to keep off the wind and rain. They kill deer,
wild pigs, monkeys, and birds, and in hunting they are very expert;
but their principal food is wild roots and tubers, which they roast
in ashes. Frequently in traveling through the mountains, although one
may see nothing of these timid little folk, he will see many large,
freshly dug holes from each of which they have taken out a root.
The Negritos ornament their bodies by making little rows of cuts on the
breast, back, and arms, and leaving the scars in ornamental patterns;
and some of them also file their front teeth to points. In their hair
they wear bamboo combs with long plumes of hair or of the feathers
of the mountain cock. They have curious dances, and ceremonies for
marriage and for death.
Distribution.--The Negritos have retired from many places where they
lived when the Spaniards first arrived, but there are still several
thousand in Luzon, especially in the Cordillera Zambales, on the
Pacific coast, and in the Sierra Madre range; and in the interior of
Panay, Negros, Tablas, and in Surigao of Mindanao.
Relation of the Negritos to Other Dwarfs of the World.--Although the
Negritos have had very little effect on the history of the Philippines,
they are of much interest as a race to scientists, and we can not
help asking, Whence came these curious little people, and what does
their presence here signify? While science can not at present fully
answer these questions, what we do actually know about these pygmies
is full of interest.
The Aetas of the Philippines are not the only black dwarfs in the
world. A similar little people, who must belong to the same race,
live in the mountains and jungles of the Malay peninsula. On the
Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean, all the aboriginal inhabitants
are similar pygmies, called "Mincopies." Some traces of their former
existence are reported from many other places in the East Indies.
Thus it may be that there was a time when these little men and women
had much of this island-world quite to themselves, and their race
stretched unbrokenly from the Philippines across Malacca to the Indian
Ocean. As it would have been impossible for so feeble a people to force
their way from one island to another after the arrival of the stronger
races, who have now confined them to the mountainous interiors, we
are obliged to believe that the Negritos were on the ground first,
and that at one time they were more numerous. The Indian archipelago
was then a world of black pygmies. It may be that they were even more
extensive than this, for one of the most curious discoveries of modern
times has been the finding of similar little blacks in the equatorial
forests of Africa.
The Negritos must not be confused with the black or negro race of
New Guinea or Melanesia, who are commonly called Papuans; for those
Negroes are of tall stature and belong with the true Negroes of
Africa, though how the Negro race thus came to be formed of two so
widely separated branches we do not know.
The Malayan Race.--Origin of the Race.--It is thought that the Malayan
race originated in southeastern Asia. From the mainland it spread
down into the peninsula and so scattered southward and eastward over
the rich neighboring islands. Probably these early Malayans found
the little Negritos in possession and slowly drove them backward,
destroying them from many islands until they no longer exist except
in the places we have already named.
With the beginning of this migratory movement which carried them from
one island to another of the great East Indian Archipelago, these
early Malayans must have invented the boats and praos for which they
are famed, and have become skillful sailors living much upon the sea.
Effect of the Migration.--Life for many generations, upon these
islands, so warm, tropical, and fruitful, gradually modified these
emigrants from Asia, until they became in mind and body quite a
different race from the Mongol inhabitants of the mainland.
Characteristics.--The Malayan peoples are of a light-brown color,
with a light yellowish undertone on some parts of the skin, with
straight black hair, dark-brown eyes, and, though they are a small
race in stature, they are finely formed, muscular, and active. The
physical type is nearly the same throughout all Malaysia, but the
different peoples making up the race differ markedly from one another
in culture. They are divided also by differences in religion. There
are many tribes which are pagan. On Bali and Lombok, little islands
south of Java, the people are still Brahmin, like most inhabitants
of India. In other parts of Malaysia they are Mohammedans, while in
the Philippines alone they are mostly Christians.
The Wild Malayan Tribes.--Considering first the pagan or the wild
Malayan peoples, we find that in the interior of the Malay Peninsula
and of many of the islands, such as Sumatra, Borneo and the Celebes,
there are wild Malayan tribes, who have come very little in contact
with the successive civilizing changes that have passed over this
archipelago. The true Malays call these folk "Orang benua," or
"men of the country," Many are almost savages, some are cannibals,
and others are headhunters like some of the Dyaks of Borneo.
In the Philippines, too, we find what is probably this same class of
wild people living in the mountains. They are warlike, savage, and
resist approach. Sometimes they eat human flesh as a ceremonial act,
and some prize above all other trophies the heads of their enemies,
which they cut from the body and preserve in their homes. It is
probable that these tribes represent the earliest and rudest epoch
of Malayan culture, and that these were the first of this race to
arrive in the Philippines and dispute with the Negritos for the
mastery of the soil. In such wild state of life, some of them, like
the Manguianes of Mindoro, have continued to the present day.
The Tribes in Northern Luzon.--In northern Luzon, in the great
Cordillera Central, there are many of these primitive tribes. These
people are preëminently mountaineers. They prefer the high, cold,
and semi-arid crests and valleys of the loftiest ranges. Here,
with great industry, they have made gardens by the building of
stone-walled terraces on the slopes of the hills. Sometimes hundreds
of these terraces can be counted in one valley, and they rise one
above the other from the bottom of a cañon for several miles almost
to the summit of a ridge. These terraced gardens are all under
most careful irrigation. Water is carried for many miles by log
flumes and ditches, to be distributed over these little fields. The
soil is carefully fertilized with the refuse of the villages. Two
and frequently three crops are produced each year. Here we find
undoubtedly the most developed and most nearly scientific agriculture
in the Philippines. They raise rice, cotton, tobacco, the taro,
maize, and especially the camote, or sweet potato, which is their
principal food. These people live in compact, well-built villages,
frequently of several hundred houses. Some of these tribes, like
the Igorrotes of Benguet and the Tinguianes of Abra, are peaceable
as well as industrious. In Benguet there are fine herds of cattle,
much excellent coffee, and from time immemorial the Igorrotes here
have mined gold.
Besides these peaceful tribes there are in Bontoc, and in the northern
parts of the Cordillera, many large tribes, with splendid mountain
villages, who are nevertheless in a constant and dreadful state of
war. Nearly every town is in feud with its neighbors, and the practice
of taking heads leads to frequent murder and combat. A most curious
tribe of persistent head hunters are the Ibilao, or Ilongotes, who live
in the Caraballo Sur Mountains between Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya.
On other islands of the Philippines there are similar wild tribes. On
the island of Paragua there are the Tagbanúa and other savage folk.
Characteristics of the Tribes of Mindanao.--In Mindanao, there are many
more tribes. Three of these tribes, the Aetas, Mandaya, and Manobo,
are on the eastern coast and around Mount Apo. In Western Mindanao,
there is quite a large but scattered tribe called the Subanon. These
people make clearings on the hillsides and support themselves by
raising maize and mountain rice. They also raise hemp, and from the
fiber they weave truly beautiful blankets and garments, artistically
dyed in very curious patterns. These peoples are nearly all pagans,
though a few are being gradually converted to Mohammedanism, and some
to Christianity. The pagans occasionally practice the revolting rites
of human sacrifice and ceremonial cannibalism.
The Civilized Malayan Peoples.--Their Later Arrival.--At a later
date than the arrival of these primitive Malayan tribes, there came
to the Philippines others of a more developed culture and a higher
order of intelligence. These peoples rapidly mastered the low country
and the coasts of all the islands, driving into the interior the
earlier comers and the aboriginal Negritos. These later arrivals,
though all of one stock, differed considerably, and spoke different
dialects belonging to one language family. They were the ancestors
of the present civilized Filipino people.
Distribution of These Peoples.--All through the central islands,
Panay, Negros, Leyte, Samar, Marinduque, and northern Mindanao, are
the Bisaya, the largest of these peoples. At the southern extremity
of Luzon, in the provinces of Sorsogon and the Camarines, are the
Bicol. North of these, holding central Luzon, Batangas, Cavite,
Manila, Laguna, Bataan, Bulacan, and Nueva Ecija, are the Tagálog,
while the great plain of northern Luzon is occupied by the Pampango
and Pangasinan. All the northwest coast is inhabited by the Ilocano,
and the valley of the Cagayan by a people commonly called Cagayanes,
but whose dialect is Ibanag. In Nueva Vizcaya province, on the Batanes
Islands and the Calamianes, there are other distinct branches of
the Filipino people, but they are much smaller in numbers and less
important than the tribes marked above.
Importance of These Peoples.--They form politically and historically
the Filipino people. They are the Filipinos whom the Spaniards ruled
for more than three hundred years. All are converts to Christianity,
and all have attained a somewhat similar stage of civilization.
Early Contact of the Malays and Hindus.--These people at the time
of their arrival in the Philippines were probably not only of a
higher plane of intelligence than any who had preceded them in the
occupation of the islands, but they appear to have had the advantages
of contact with a highly developed culture that had appeared in the
eastern archipelago some centuries earlier.
Early Civilization in India.--More than two thousand years ago,
India produced a remarkable civilization. There were great cities of
stone, magnificent palaces, a life of splendid luxury, and a highly
organized social and political system. Writing, known as the Sanskrit,
had been developed, and a great literature of poetry and philosophy
produced. Two great religions, Brahminism and Buddhism, arose, the
latter still the dominant religion of Tibet, China, and Japan. The
people who produced this civilization are known as the Hindus. Fourteen
or fifteen hundred years ago Hinduism spread over Burma, Siam, and
Java. Great cities were erected with splendid temples and huge idols,
the ruins of which still remain, though their magnificence has gone
and they are covered to-day with the growth of the jungle.
Influence of Hindu Culture on the Malayan Peoples.--This powerful
civilization of the Hindus, established thus in Malaysia, greatly
affected the Malayan people on these islands, as well as those who
came to the Philippines. Many words in the Tagálog have been shown to
have a Sanskrit origin, and the systems of writing which the Spaniards
found in use among several of the Filipino peoples had certainly been
developed from the alphabet then in use among these Hindu peoples
of Java.
The Rise of Mohammedanism.--Mohammed.--A few hundred years later
another great change, due to religious faith, came over the Malayan
race,--a change which has had a great effect upon the history of
the Philippines, and is still destined to modify events far into the
future. This was the conversion to Mohammedanism. Of all the great
religions of the world, Mohammedanism was the last to arise, and
its career has in some ways been the most remarkable. Mohammed, its
founder, was an Arab, born about 572 A.D. At that time Christianity
was established entirely around the Mediterranean and throughout
most of Europe, but Arabia was idolatrous. Mohammed was one of those
great, prophetic souls which arise from time to time in the world's
history. All he could learn from Hebrewism and Christianity, together
with the result of his own thought and prayers, led him to the belief
in one God, the Almighty, the Compassionate, the Merciful, who as he
believed would win all men to His knowledge through the teachings of
Mohammed himself. Thus inspired, Mohammed became a teacher or prophet,
and by the end of his life he had won his people to his faith and
inaugurated one of the greatest eras of conquest the world has seen.
Spread of Mohammedanism to Africa and Europe.--The armies of Arabian
horsemen, full of fanatical enthusiasm to convert the world to their
faith, in a century's time wrested from Christendom all Judea, Syria,
and Asia Minor, the sacred land where Jesus lived and taught, and the
countries where Paul and the other apostles had first established
Christianity. Thence they swept along the north coast of Africa,
bringing to an end all that survived of Roman power and religion,
and by 720 they had crossed into Europe and were in possession of
Spain. For nearly the eight hundred years that followed, the Christian
Spaniards fought to drive Mohammedanism from the peninsula, before
they were successful.
The Conversion of the Malayans to Mohammedanism.--Not only did
Mohammedanism move westward over Africa and Europe, it was carried
eastward as well. Animated by their faith, the Arabs became the
greatest sailors, explorers, merchants, and geographers of the
age. They sailed from the Red Sea down the coast of Africa as far as
Madagascar, and eastward to India, where they had settlements on both
the Malabar and Coromandel coasts. Thence Arab missionaries brought
their faith to Malaysia.
At that time the true Malays, the tribe from which the common term
"Malayan" has been derived, were a small people of Sumatra. At least
as early as 1250 they were converted to Mohammedanism, brought to
them by these Arabian missionaries, and under the impulse of this
mighty faith they broke from their obscurity and commenced that
great conquest and expansion that has diffused their power, language,
and religion throughout the East Indies.
Mohammedan Settlement in Borneo.--A powerful Mohammedan Malay
settlement was established on the western coasts of Borneo certainly
as early as 1400. The more primitive inhabitants, like the Dyaks,
who were a tribe of the primitive Malayans, were defeated, and the
possession of the coast largely taken from them. From this coast of
Borneo came many of the adventurers who were traversing the seas of
the Philippines when the Spaniards arrived.
The Mohammedan Population of Mindanao and Jolo owes something
certainly to this same Malay migration which founded the colony
of Borneo. But the Maguindanao and Illano Moros seem to be largely
descendants of primitive tribes, such as the Manobo and Tiruray, who
were converted to Mohammedanism by Malay and Arab proselyters. The
traditions of the Maguindanao Moros ascribe their conversion to
Kabunsuan, a native of Johore, the son of an Arab father and Malay
mother. He came to Maguindanao with a band of followers, and from him
the datos of Maguindanao trace their lineage. Kabunsuan is supposed
to be descended from Mohammed through his Arab father, Ali, and so
the datos of Maguindanao to the present day proudly believe that in
their veins flows the blood of the Prophet.
The Coming of the Spaniards.--Mohammedanism was still increasing in
the Philippines when the Spaniards arrived. The Mohammedans already
had a foothold on Manila Bay, and their gradual conquest of the
archipelago was interrupted only by the coming of the Europeans. It
is a strange historical occurrence that the Spaniards, having fought
with the Mohammedans for nearly eight centuries for the possession of
Spain, should have come westward around the globe to the Philippine
Islands and there resumed the ancient conflict with them. Thus the
Spaniards were the most determined opponents of Mohammedanism on both
its western and eastern frontiers. Their ancient foes who crossed
into Spain from Morocco had been always known as "Moros" or "Moors,"
and quite naturally they gave to these new Mohammedan enemies the
same title, and Moros they are called to the present day.
Summary.--Such, then, are the elements which form the population of
these islands,--a few thousands of the little Negritos; many wild
mountain tribes of the primitive Malayans; a later immigration of
Malayans of higher cultivation and possibilities than any that preceded
them, who had been influenced by the Hinduism of Java and who have
had in recent centuries an astonishing growth both in numbers and in
culture; and last, the fierce Mohammedan sea-rovers, the true Malays.
CHAPTER III.
EUROPE AND THE FAR EAST ABOUT 1400 A.D.
The Mediæval Period in Europe.--Length of the Middle Age.--By the
Middle Ages we mean the centuries between 500 and 1300 A.D. This
period begins with the fall of the Roman Empire and the looting of
the Imperial City by the rude German tribes, and ends with the rise
of a new literature, a new way of looking at the world in general,
and a passion for discovery of every kind.
These eight hundred years had been centuries of cruel struggle,
intellectual darkness, and social depression, but also of great
religious devotion. Edward Gibbon, one of the greatest historians,
speaks of this period as "the triumph of barbarism and religion."
The population of Europe was largely changed, during the first few
centuries of the Christian Era, as the Roman Empire, that greatest
political institution of all history, slowly decayed. New peoples
of German or Teutonic origin came, fighting their way into western
Europe and settling wherever the land attracted them. Thus Spain and
Italy received the Goths; France, the Burgundians and Franks; England,
the Saxons and Angles or English.
These peoples were all fierce, warlike, free, unlettered
barbarians. Fortunately, they were all converted to Christianity by
Roman priests and missionaries. They embraced this faith with ardor,
at the same time that other peoples and lands were being lost to
Christendom. Thus it has resulted that the countries where Christianity
arose and first established itself, are now no longer Christian, and
this religion, which had an Asiatic and Semitic origin, has become the
distinguishing faith of the people of western Europe. For centuries the
countries of Europe were fiercely raided and disturbed by pillaging
and murdering hordes; by the Huns, who followed in the Germans from
the East; by the Northmen, cruel pirating seamen from Scandinavia;
and, as we have already seen, by the Mohammedans, or Saracens as they
were called, who came into central Europe by way of Spain.
Character of the Life during this Period.--Feudalism.--Life was so
beset with peril that independence or freedom became impossible,
and there was developed a society which has lasted almost down to
the present time, and which we call Feudalism. The free but weak man
gave up his freedom and his lands to some stronger man, who became
his lord. He swore obedience to this lord, while the lord engaged to
furnish him protection and gave him back his lands to hold as a "fief,"
both sharing in the product. This lord swore allegiance to some still
more powerful man, or "overlord," and became his "vassal," pledged
to follow him to war with a certain number of armed men; and this
overlord, on his part, owed allegiance to the prince, who was, perhaps,
a duke or bishop (bishops at this time were also feudal lords),
or to the king or emperor. Thus were men united into large groups
or nations for help or protection. There was little understanding
of love of country. Patriotism, as we feel it, was replaced by the
passion of fidelity or allegiance to one's feudal superior.
Disadvantages of Feudalism.--The great curse of this system was that
the feudal lords possessed the power to make war upon one another,
and so continuous were their jealousies and quarrelings that the land
was never free from armed bands, who laid waste an opponent's country,
killing the miserable serfs who tilled the soil, and destroying their
homes and cattle.
There was little joy in life and no popular learning. If a man did not
enjoy warfare, but one other life was open to him, and that was in the
Church. War and religion were the pursuits of life, and it is no wonder
that many of the noblest and best turned their backs upon a life that
promised only fighting and bloodshed and, renouncing the world, became
monks. Monasticism developed in Europe under such conditions as these,
and so strong were the religious feelings of the age that at one time
a third of the land of France was owned by the religious orders.
The Town.--The two typical institutions of the early Middle Age were
the feudal castle, with its high stone walls and gloomy towers,
with its fierce bands of warriors armed in mail and fighting on
horseback with lance and sword, and the monastery, which represented
inn, hospital, and school. Gradually, however, a third structure
appeared. This was the town. And it is to these mediæval cities, with
their busy trading life, their free citizenship, and their useful
occupations, that the modern world owes much of its liberty and its
intellectual light.
The Renaissance.--Changes in Political Affairs.--By 1400, however,
the Middle Age had nearly passed and a new life had appeared, a new
epoch was in progress, which is called the Renaissance, which means
"rebirth." In political affairs the spirit of nationality had arisen,
and feudalism was already declining. Men began to feel attachment to
country, to king, and to fellow-citizens; and the national states,
as we now know them, each with its naturally bounded territory,
its common language, and its approximately common race, were appearing.
France and England were, of these states, the two most advanced
politically just previous to the fifteenth century. At this distant
time they were still engaged in a struggle which lasted quite a
century and is known as the Hundred Years' War. In the end, England
was forced to give up all her claims to territory on the continent,
and the power of France was correspondingly increased. In France
the monarchy (king and court) was becoming the supreme power in the
land. The feudal nobles lost what power they had, while the common
people gained nothing. In England, however, the foundations for a
representative government had been laid. The powers of legislation and
government were divided between the English king and a Parliament. The
Parliament was first called in 1265 and consisted of two parts,--the
Lords, representing the nobility; and the Commons, composed of persons
chosen by the common people.
Germany was divided into a number of small principalities,--Saxony,
Bavaria, Franconia, Bohemia, Austria, the Rhine principalities, and
many others,--which united in a great assembly, or Diet, the head of
which was some prince, chosen to be emperor.
Italy was also divided. In the north, in the valley of the Po,
or Lombardy, were the duchy of Milan and the Republic of Venice;
south, on the western coast, were the Tuscan states, including the
splendid city of Florence. Thence, stretching north and south across
the peninsula, were states of the church, whose ruler was the pope,
for until less than fifty years ago the pope was not only the head
of the church but also a temporal ruler. Embracing the southern part
of the peninsula was the principality of Naples.
In the Spanish peninsula Christian states had arisen,--in the west,
Portugal, in the center and east, Castile, Aragon, and Leon, from all
of which the Mohammedans had been expelled. But they still held the
southern parts of Spain, including the beautiful plain of Andalusia
and Grenada.
The Mohammedans, in the centuries of their life in Spain, had
developed an elegant and prosperous civilization. By means of
irrigation and skillful planting, they had converted southern Spain
into a garden. They were the most skillful agriculturists and breeders
of horses and sheep in Europe, and they carried to perfection many
fine arts, while knowledge and learning were nowhere further advanced
than here. Through contact with this remarkable people the Christian
Spaniards gained much. Unfortunately, however, the spirit of religious
intolerance was so strong, and the hatred engendered by the centuries
of religious war was so violent, that in the end the Spaniard became
imbued with so fierce a fanaticism that he has ever since appeared
unable properly to appreciate or justly to treat any who differed
from him in religious belief.
The Conquests of the Mohammedans.--In the fifteenth century,
religious toleration was but little known in the world, and the
people of the great Mohammedan faith still threatened to overwhelm
Christian Europe. Since the first great conquests of Islam in the
eighth century had been repulsed from central Europe, that faith had
shown a wonderful power of winning its way. In the tenth century Asia
Minor was invaded by hordes of Seljuks, or Turks, who poured down from
central Asia in conquering bands. These tribes had overthrown the
Arab's power in Mesopotamia and Asia Minor only to become converts
to his faith. With freshened zeal they hurled themselves upon the
old Christian empire, which at Constantinople had survived the fall
of the rest of the Roman world.
The Crusades.--The Seljuk Turks had conquered most of Asia Minor,
Syria, and the Holy Land. A great fear came over the people of Europe
that the city of Constantinople would be captured and they, too, be
overwhelmed by these new Mohammedan enemies. The passionate religious
zeal of the Middle Age also roused the princes and knights of Europe
to try to wrest from the infidel the Holy Land of Palestine, where
were the birthplace of Christianity and the site of the Sepulcher of
Christ. Palestine was recovered and Christian states were established
there, which lasted for over a hundred and eighty years. Then the Arab
power revived and, operating from Egypt, finally retook Jerusalem and
expelled the Christian from the Holy Land, to which he has never yet
returned as a conqueror.
Effects of the Crusades.--These long, holy wars, or "Crusades," had a
profound effect upon Europe. The rude Christian warrior from the west
was astonished and delighted with the splendid and luxurious life which
he met at Constantinople and the Arabian East. Even though he was a
prince, his life at home was barren of comforts and beauty. Glass,
linen, rugs, tapestries, silk, cotton, spices, and sugar were some
of the things which the Franks and the Englishmen took home with
them from the Holy Land. Demand for these treasures of the East
became irresistible, and trade between western Europe and the East
grew rapidly.
The Commercial Cities of Italy.--The cities of Italy developed this
commerce. They placed fleets upon the Mediterranean. They carried the
crusaders out and brought back the wares that Europe desired. In this
way these cities grew and became very wealthy. On the west coast,
where this trade began, were Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa, and Florence, and
on the east, at the head of the Adriatic, was Venice. The rivalry
between these cities of Italy was very fierce. They fought and
plundered one another, each striving to win a monopoly for itself of
this invaluable trade.
Venice, finally, was victorious. Her location was very favorable. From
her docks the wares could be carried easily and by the shortest
routes up the Po River and thence into France or northward over the
Alps to the Danube. In Bavaria grew up in this trade the splendid
German cities of Augsburg and Nuremberg, which passed these goods on
to the cities of the Rhine, and so down this most beautiful river
to the coast. Here the towns of Flanders and of the Low Countries,
or Holland, received them and passed them on again to England and
eastward to the countries of the Baltic.
Development of Modern Language.--Thus commerce and trade grew up
in Europe, and, with trade and city life, greater intelligence,
learning, and independence. Education became more common, and the
universities of Europe were thronged. Latin in the Middle Age had
been the only language that was written by the learned class. Now
the modern languages of Europe took their form and began to be used
for literary purposes. Italian was the first to be so used by the
great Dante, and in the same half-century the English poet Chaucer
sang in the homely English tongue, and soon in France, Germany, and
Spain national literatures appeared. With this went greater freedom
of expression. Authority began to have less weight.
Men began to inquire into causes and effects, to doubt certain things,
to seek themselves for the truth, and so the Renaissance came. With
it came a greater love for the beautiful, a greater joy in life, a
fresh zest for the good of this world, a new passion for discovery,
a thirst for adventure, and, it must also be confessed a new laxity of
living and a new greed for gold. Christian Europe was about to burst
its narrow bounds. It could not be repressed nor confined to its old
limitations. It could never turn backward. Of all the great changes
which have come over life and thought, probably none are greater than
those which saw the transition from the mediæval to the modern world.
Trade with the East.--Articles of Trade.--Now we must go back for
a moment and pursue an old inquiry further. Whence came all these
beautiful and inviting wares that had produced new tastes and passions
in Europe? The Italian traders drew them from the Levant, but the
Levant had not produced them. Neither pepper, spices, sugarcane, costly
gems, nor rich silks, were produced on the shores of the Mediterranean.
Only the rich tropical countries of the East were capable of growing
these rare plants, and up to that time of delivering to the delver
many precious stones. India, the rich Malaysian archipelago, the
kingdom of China,--these are the lands and islands which from time
immemorial have given up their treasures to be forwarded far and wide
to amaze and delight the native of colder and less productive lands.
Routes of Trade to the Far East.--Three old sailing and caravan routes
connect the Mediterranean with the Far East. They are so old that we
can not guess when men first used them. They were old in the days of
Solomon and indeed very ancient when Alexander the Great conquered the
East. One of these routes passed through the Black Sea, and across
the Caspian Sea to Turkestan to those strange and romantic ancient
cities, Bokhara and Samarkand. Thence it ran northeasterly across Asia,
entering China from the north. Another crossed Syria and went down
through Mesopotamia to the Indian Ocean, A third began in Egypt and
went through the Red Sea, passing along the coast of Arabia to India.
All of these had been in use for centuries, but by the year 1400 two
had been closed. A fresh immigration of Turks, the Ottomans, in the
fourteenth century came down upon the scourged country of the Euphrates
and Syria, and although these Turks also embraced Mohammedanism,
their hostility closed the first two routes and commerce over them
has never since been resumed.
Venetian Monopoly of Trade.--Thus all interest centered upon the
southern route. By treaty with the sultan or ruler of Egypt, Venice
secured a monopoly of the products which came over this route. Goods
from the East now came in fleets up the Red Sea, went through the
hands of the sultan of Egypt, who collected a duty for them, and
then were passed on to the ships of the wealthy Venetian merchant
princes, who carried them throughout Europe. Although the object of
intense jealousy, it seemed impossible to wrest this monopoly from
Venice. Her fleet was the strongest on the Mediterranean, and her
rule extended along the Adriatic to the Grecian islands. All eager
minds were bent upon the trade with the East, but no way was known,
save that which now Venice had gained.
Extent of Geographical Knowledge.--The Maps of this Period.--To
realize how the problem looked to the sailor of Genoa or the merchant
of Flanders at that time, we must understand how scanty and erroneous
was the geographical knowledge of even the fifteenth century. It
was believed that Jerusalem was the center of the world, a belief
founded upon a biblical passage. The maps of this and earlier dates
represent the earth in this way: In the center, Palestine, and beneath
it the Mediterranean Sea, the only body of water which was well known;
on the left side is Europe; on the right, Africa; and at the top,
Asia--the last two continents very indefinitely mapped. Around the
whole was supposed to flow an ocean, beyond the first few miles of
which it was perilous to proceed lest the ship be carried over the
edge of the earth or encounter other perils.
Ideas about the Earth.--The Greek philosophers before the time of
Christ had discovered that the world is a globe, or ball, and had
even computed rudely its circumference. But in the Middle Ages this
knowledge had been disputed and contradicted by a geographer named
Cosmas, who held that the world was a vast plane, twice as long as
it was broad and surrounded by an ocean. This belief was generally
adopted by churchmen, who were the only scholars of the Middle Ages,
and came to be the universal belief of Christian Europe.
The Renaissance revived the knowledge of the writings of the old Greek
geographers who had demonstrated the earth's shape to be round and had
roughly calculated its size; but these writings did not have sufficient
circulation in Europe to gain much acceptance among the Christian
cosmographers. The Arabs, however, after conquering Egypt, Syria and
northern Africa, translated into their own tongue the wisdom of the
Greeks and became the best informed and most scientific geographers
of the Middle Age, so that intercourse with the Arabs which began with
the Crusades helped to acquaint Europe somewhat with India and China.
The Far East.--The Tartar Mongols.--Then in the thirteenth century
all northern Asia and China fell under the power of the Tartar
Mongols. Russia was overrun by them and western Europe threatened. At
the Danube, however, this tide of Asiatic conquest stopped, and then a
long period when Europe came into diplomatic and commercial relations
with these Mongols and through them learned something of China.
Marco Polo Visits the Great Kaan.--Several Europeans visited the
court of the Great Kaan, or Mongol king, and of one of them, Marco
Polo, we must speak in particular. He was a Venetian, and when a
young man started in 1271 with his father and uncle on a visit to
the Great Kaan. They passed from Italy to Syria, across to Bagdad,
and so up to Turkestan, where they saw the wonderful cities of this
strange oasis, thence across the Pamirs and the Desert of Gobi to
Lake Baikal, where the Kaan had his court. Here in the service of
this prince Marco Polo spent over seventeen years. So valuable indeed
were his services that the Kaan would not permit him to return. Year
after year he remained in the East. He traversed most of China, and
was for a time "taotai," or magistrate, of the city of Yang Chan near
the Yangtze River. He saw the amazing wonders of the East. He heard of
"Zipangu," or Japan. He probably heard of the Philippines.
Finally the opportunity came for the three Venetians to return. The
Great Kaan had a relative who was a ruler of Persia, and ambassadors
came from this ruler to secure a Mongol princess for him to marry. The
dangers and hardships of the travel overland were considered too
difficult for the delicate princess, and it was decided to send her
by water. Marco Polo and his father and uncle were commissioned to
accompany the expedition to Persia.
History of Marco Polo's Travels.--They sailed from the port of Chin
Cheu, probably near Amoy, [2] in the year 1292. They skirted the
coasts of Cambodia and Siam and reached the eastern coasts of Sumatra,
where they waited five months for the changing of the monsoon. Of
the Malay people of Sumatra, as well as of these islands, their
animals and productions, Marco Polo has left us most interesting and
quite accurate accounts. The Malays on Sumatra were beginning to be
converted to Mohammedanism, for Marco Polo says that many of them were
"Saracens." He gained a good knowledge of the rich and mysterious
Indian Isles, where the spices and flavorings grew. It was two years
before the party, having crossed the Indian Ocean, reached Persia
and the court of the Persian king. When they arrived they found that
while they were making this long voyage the Persian king had died;
but they married the Mongol princess to his son, the young prince,
who had succeeded him, and that did just as well.
From Persia the Venetians crossed to Syria and thence sailed to
Italy, and at last reached home after an absence of twenty-six
years. But Marco Polo's adventures did not end with his return to
Venice. In a fierce sea fight between the Venetians and Genoese,
he was made a prisoner and confined in Genoa. Here a fellow captive
wrote down from Marco's own words the story of his eastern adventures,
and this book we have to-day. It is a record of adventure, travel,
and description, so wonderful that for years it was doubted and
its accuracy disbelieved. But since, in our own time, men have been
able to traverse again the routes over which Marco Polo passed, fact
after fact has been established, quite as he truthfully stated them
centuries ago. To have been the first European to make this mighty
circuit of travel is certainly a strong title to enduring fame.
Countries of the Far East.--India.--Let us now briefly look at the
countries of the Far East, which by the year 1400 had come to exercise
over the mind of the European so irresistible a fascination. First
of all, India, as we have seen, had for centuries been the principal
source of the western commerce. But long before the date we are
considering, the scepter of India had fallen from the hand of the
Hindu. From the seventh century, India was a prey to Mohammedan
conquerors, who entered from the northwest into the valley of the
Indus. At first these were Saracens or Arabs; later they were the
same Mongol converts to Mohammedanism, whose attacks upon Europe we
have already noticed.
In 1398 came the furious and bloody warrior, the greatest of all
Mongols,--Timour, or Tamerlane. He founded, with capital at Delhi,
the empire of the Great Mogul, whose rule over India was only broken
by the white man. Eastward across the Ganges and in the Dekkan,
or southern part of India, were states ruled over by Indian princes.
China.--We have seen how, at the time of Marco Polo, China also was
ruled by the Tartar Mongols. The Chinese have ever been subject to
attack from the wandering horse-riding tribes of Siberia. Two hundred
years before Christ one of the Chinese kings built the Great Wall that
stretches across the northern frontier for one thousand three hundred
miles, for a defense against northern foes. Through much of her history
the Chinese have been ruled by aliens, as they are to-day. About 1368,
however, the Chinese overthrew the Mongol rulers and established the
Ming dynasty, the last Chinese house of emperors, who ruled China until
1644, when the Manchus, the present rulers, conquered the country.
China was great and prosperous under the Mings. Commerce flourished
and the fleets of Chinese junks sailed to India, the Malay Islands,
and to the Philippines for trade. The Grand Canal, which connects
Peking with the Yangtze River basin and Hangchau, was completed. It
was an age of fine productions of literature.
The Chinese seem to have been much less exclusive then than they
are at the present time; much less a peculiar, isolated people than
now. They did not then shave their heads nor wear a queue. These
customs, as well as that hostility to foreign intercourse which they
have to-day, has been forced upon China by the Manchus. China appeared
at that time ready to assume a position of enormous influence among
the peoples of the earth,--a position for which she was well fitted
by the great industry of all classes and the high intellectual power
of her learned men.
Japan.--Compared with China or India, or even some minor states,
the development of Japan at this time was very backward. Her people
were divided and there was constant civil war. The Japanese borrowed
their civilization from the Chinese. From them they learned writing
and literature, and the Buddhist religion, which was introduced
about 550 A.D. But in temperament they are a very different people,
being spirited, warlike, and, until recent years, despising trading
and commerce.
Since the beginning of her history, Japan has been an empire. The
ruler, the Mikado, is believed to be of heavenly descent; but in the
centuries we are discussing the government was controlled by powerful
nobles, known as the Shogun, who kept the emperors in retirement in
the palaces of Kyoto, and themselves directed the State. The greatest
of these shoguns was Iyeyásu, who ruled Japan about 1600, soon after
Manila was founded. They developed in Japan a species of feudalism,
the great lords, or "daimios," owning allegiance to the shoguns, and
about the daimios, as feudal retainers, bodies of samurai, who formed
a partly noble class of their own. The samurai carried arms, fought
at their lords' command, were students and literati, and among them
developed that proud, loyal, and elevated code of morality known as
"Búshido," which has done so much for the Japanese people. It is this
samurai class who in modern times have effected the immense revolution
in the condition and power of Japan.
The Malay Archipelago.--If now we look at the Malay Islands, we find,
as we have already seen, that changes had been effected there. Hinduism
had first elevated and civilized at least a portion of the race, and
Mohammedanism and the daring seamanship of the Malay had united these
islands under a common language and religion. There was, however,
no political union. The Malay peninsula was divided. Java formed a
central Malay power. Eastward among the beautiful Celebes and Moluccas,
the true Spice Islands, were a multitude of small native rulers, rajas
or datos, who surrounded themselves with retainers, kept rude courts,
and gathered wealthy tributes of cinnamon, pepper, and cloves. The
sultans of Ternate, Tidor, and Amboina were especially powerful,
and the islands they ruled the most rich and productive.
Between all these islands there was a busy commerce. The Malay is
an intrepid sailor, and an eager trader. Fleets of praos, laden with
goods, passed with the changing monsoons from part to part, risking the
perils of piracy, which have always troubled this archipelago. Borneo,
while the largest of all these islands, was the least developed, and
down to the present day has been hardly explored. The Philippines
were also outside of most of this busy intercourse and had at that
date few products to offer for trade. Their only connection with the
rest of the Malay race was through the Mohammedan Malays of Jolo
and Borneo. The fame of the Spice Islands had long filled Europe,
but the existence of the Philippines was unknown.
Summary.--We have now reviewed the condition of Europe and of
farther Asia as they were before the period of modern discovery
and colonization opened. The East had reached a condition of quiet
stability. Mohammedanism, though still spreading, did not promise to
effect great social changes. The institutions of the East had become
fixed in custom and her peoples neither made changes nor desired
them. On the other hand western Europe had become aroused to an excess
of ambition. New ideas, new discoveries and inventions were moving
the nations to activity and change. That era of modern discovery and
progress, of which we cannot yet perceive the end, had begun.
CHAPTER IV.
THE GREAT GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES.
An Eastern Passage to India.--The Portuguese.--We have seen in the
last chapter how Venice held a monopoly of the only trading-route
with the Far East. Some new way of reaching India must be sought,
that would permit the traders of other Christian powers to reach the
marts of the Orient without passing through Mohammedan lands. This
surpassing achievement was accomplished by the Portuguese. So low at
the present day has the power of Portugal fallen that few realize the
daring and courage once displayed by her seamen and soldiers and the
enormous colonial empire that she established.
Portugal freed her territory of the Mohammedan Moors nearly a century
earlier than Spain; and the vigor and intelligence of a great king,
John I., brought Portugal, about the year 1400, to an important place
among the states of Europe. This king captured from the Moors the city
of Ceuta, in Morocco; and this was the beginning of modern European
colonial possessions, and the first bit of land outside of Europe to
be held by a European power since the times of the Crusades. King
John's youngest son was Prince Henry, famous in history under the
title of "the Navigator." This young prince, with something of the
same adventurous spirit that filled the Crusaders, was ardent to
extend the power of his father's kingdom and to widen the sway of the
religion which he devotedly professed. The power of the Mohammedans in
the Mediterranean was too great for him hopefully to oppose and so he
planned the conquest of the west coast of Africa, and its conversion
to Christianity. With these ends in view, he established at Point
Sagres, on the southwestern coast of Portugal, a naval academy and
observatory. Here he brought together skilled navigators, charts,
and geographies, and all scientific knowledge that would assist in
his undertaking. [3]
He began to construct ships larger and better than any in use. To
us they would doubtless seem very clumsy and small, but this was the
beginning of ocean ship-building. The compass and the astrolabe, or
sextant, the little instrument with which, by calculating the height
of the sun above the horizon, we can tell distance from the equator,
were just coming into use. These, as well as every other practicable
device for navigation known at that time, were supplied to these ships.
Exploration of the African Coast.--Thus equipped and ably manned, the
little fleets began the exploration of the African coast, cautiously
feeling their way southward and ever returning with reports of progress
made. Year after year this work went on. In 1419 the Madeira Islands
were rediscovered and colonized by Portuguese settlers. The growing of
sugarcane was begun, and vines were brought from Burgundy and planted
there. The wine of the Madeiras has been famous to this day. Then
were discovered the Canaries and in 1444 the Azores. The southward
exploration of the coast of the mainland steadily continued until
in 1445 the Portuguese reached the mouth of the Senegal River. Up to
this point the African shore had not yielded much of interest to the
Portuguese explorer or trader. Below Morocco the great Sahara Desert
reaches to the sea and renders barren the coast for hundreds of miles.
South of the mouth of the Senegal and comprising the whole Guinea
coast, Africa is tropical, well watered, and populous. This is the home
of the true African Negro. Here, for almost the first time, since the
beginning of the Middle Ages, Christian Europe came in contact with
a race of ruder culture and different color than its own. This coast
was found to be worth exploiting; for it yielded, besides various
desirable resinous gums, three articles which have distinguished the
exploitation of Africa, namely, gold, ivory, and slaves.
Beginning of Negro Slavery in Europe.--At this point begins the
horrible and revolting story of European Negro slavery. The ancient
world had practiced this ownership of human chattels, and the Roman
Empire had declined under a burden of half the population sunk
in bondage. To the enormous detriment and suffering of mankind,
Mohammed had tolerated the institution, and slavery is permitted
by the Koran. But it is the glory of the mediæval church that it
abolished human slavery from Christian Europe. However dreary and
unjust feudalism may have been, it knew nothing of that institution
which degrades men and women to the level of cattle and remorselessly
sells the husband from his family, the mother from her child.
Slaves in Portugal.--The arrival of the Portuguese upon the coast of
Guinea now revived not the bondage of one white man to another, but
that of the black to the white. The first slaves carried to Portugal
were regarded simply as objects of peculiar interest, captives to
represent to the court the population of those shores which had been
added to the Portuguese dominion. But southern Portugal, from which
the Moors had been expelled, had suffered from a lack of laborers,
and it was found profitable to introduce Negroes to work these fields.
Arguments to Justify Slavery.--So arose the institution of Negro
slavery, which a century later upon the shores of the New World was
to develop into so tremendous and terrible a thing. Curiously enough,
religion was evoked to justify this enslavement of the Africans. The
Church taught that these people, being heathen, were fortunate to
be captured by Christians, that they might thereby be brought to
baptism and conversion; for it is better for the body to perish than
for the soul to be cast into hell. At a later age, when the falsity
of this teaching had been realized, men still sought to justify the
institution by arguing that the Almighty had created the African of
a lower state especially that he might serve the superior race.
The coast of Guinea continued to be the resort of slavers down to the
middle of the last century, and such scenes of cruelty, wickedness,
and debauchery have occurred along its shores as can scarcely be
paralleled in brutality in the history of any people.
The Portuguese can hardly be said to have colonized the coast in the
sense of raising up there a Portuguese population. As he approached
the equator the white man found that, in spite of his superior
strength, he could not permanently people the tropics. Diseases new
to his experience attacked him. His energy declined. If he brought
his family with him, his children were few or feeble and shortly his
race had died out.
The settlements of the Portuguese were largely for the purposes of
trade. At Sierra Leone, Kamerun, or Loango, they built forts and
established garrisons, mounting pieces of artillery that gave them
advantage over the attacks of the natives, and erecting warehouses
and the loathsome "barracoon," where the slaves were confined to
await shipment. Such decadent little settlements still linger along
the African coast, although the slave-trade happily has ended.
The Successful Voyage of Vasco da Gama.--Throughout the century Prince
Henry's policy of exploration was continued. Slowly the middle coast
of Africa became known. At last in 1486, Bartholomew Diaz rounded
the extremity of the continent. He named it the Cape of Storms; but
the Portuguese king, with more prophetic sight, renamed it the Cape
of Good Hope. It was ten years, however, before the Portuguese could
send another expedition. Then Vasco da Gama rounded the cape again,
followed up the eastern coast until the Arab trading-stations were
reached. Then he struck across the sea, landed at the Malabar coast
of India, and in 1498 arrived at Calcutta. The end dreamed of by
all of Europe had been achieved. A sea-route to the Far East had
been discovered.
Results of Da Gama's Voyage.--The importance of this performance
was instantly recognized in Europe. Venice was ruined. "It was a
terrible day," said a contemporary writer, "when the word reached
Venice. Bells were rung, men wept in the streets, and even the bravest
were silent." The Arabs and the native rulers made a desperate effort
to expel the Portuguese from the Indian Ocean, but their opponents were
too powerful. In the course of twenty years Portugal had founded an
empire that had its forts and trading-marts from the coast of Arabia
to Malaysia. Zanzibar, Aden, Oman, Goa, Calicut, and Madras were all
Portuguese stations, fortified and secured. In the Malay peninsula was
founded the colony of Malacca. It retained its importance and power
until in the last century, when it dwindled before the competition
of Singapore.
The work of building up this great domain was largely that of one man,
the intrepid Albuquerque. Think what his task was! He was thousands of
miles from home and supplies, he had only such forces and munitions as
he could bring with him in his little ships, and opposed to him were
millions of inhabitants and a multitude of Mohammedan princes. Yet this
great captain built up an Indian empire. Portugal at one bound became
the greatest trading and colonizing power in the world. Her sources
of wealth appeared fabulous, and, like Venice, she made every effort
to secure her monopoly. The fleets of other nations were warned that
they could not make use of the Cape of Good Hope route, on penalty
of being captured or destroyed.
Reaching India by Sailing West.--The Earth as a Sphere.--Meanwhile,
just as Portugal was carrying to completion her project of reaching
India by sailing east, Europe was electrified by the supposed
successful attempt of reaching India by sailing directly west,
across the Atlantic. This was the plan daringly attempted in 1492 by
Christopher Columbus. Columbus was an Italian sailor and cosmographer
of Genoa. The idea of sailing west to India did not originate with
him, but his is the immortal glory of having persistently sought the
means and put the idea into execution.
The Portuguese discoveries along the African coast gradually
revealed the extension of this continent and the presence of people
beyond the equator, and the possibility of passing safely through
the tropics. This knowledge was a great stimulus to the peoples
of Europe. The geographical theory of the Greeks, that the world
is round, was revived. The geographers, however, in making their
calculations of the earth's circumference, had fallen into an error
of some thousands of miles; that is, instead of finding that it is
fully twelve thousand miles from Europe around to the East Indies,
they had supposed it about four thousand, or even less. Marco Polo
too had exaggerated the distance he had traveled and from his accounts
men had been led to believe that China, Japan, and the Spice Islands
lie much further to the east than they actually do.
By sailing west across one wide ocean, with no intervening lands, it
was thought that one could arrive at the island-world off the continent
of Asia. This was the theory that was revived in Italy and which clung
in men's minds for years and years, even after America was discovered.
An Italian, named Toscanelli, drew a map showing how this voyage could
be made, and sent Columbus a copy. By sailing first to the Azores, a
considerable portion of the journey would be passed, with a convenient
resting-stage. Then about thirty-five days' favorable sailing would
bring one to the islands of "Cipango," or Japan, which Marco Polo
had said lay off the continent of Asia. From here the passage could
readily be pursued to Cathay and India.
The Voyage of Christopher Columbus.--The romantic and inspiring story
of Columbus is told in many books,--his poverty, his genius, his
long and discouraging pursuit of the means to carry out his plan. He
first applied to Portugal; but, as we have seen, this country had been
pursuing another plan steadily for a century, and, now that success
appeared almost at hand, naturally the Portuguese king would not turn
aside to favor Columbus's plan.
For years Columbus labored to interest the Spanish court. A great event
had happened in Spanish history. Ferdinand, king of Aragon, had wedded
Isabella of Castile, and this marriage united these two kingdoms into
the modern country of Spain. Soon the smaller states except Portugal
were added, and the war for the expulsion of the Moors was prosecuted
with new vigor. In 1492, Grenada, the last splendid stronghold of
the Mohammedans in the peninsula, surrendered, and in the same year
Isabella furnished Columbus with the ships for his voyage of discovery.
Columbus sailed from Palos, August 3, 1492, reached the Canaries
August 24, and sailed westward on September 6. Day after day, pushed
by the strong winds, called the "trades," they went forward. Many
doubts and fears beset the crews, but Columbus was stout-hearted. At
the end of thirty-four days from the Canaries, on October 12, they
sighted land. It was one of the groups of beautiful islands lying
between the two continents of America. But Columbus thought that he
had reached the East Indies that really lay many thousands of miles
farther west. Columbus sailed among the islands of the archipelago,
discovered Cuba and Hispaniola (Haiti), and then returned to convulse
Europe with excitement over the new-found way to the East. He had
not found the rich Spice Islands, the peninsula of India, Cathay or
Japan, but every one believed that these must be close to the islands
on which Columbus had landed.
The tall, straight-haired, copper-colored natives, whom Columbus met on
the islands, he naturally called "Indians"; and this name they still
bear. Afterwards the islands were called the "West Indies." Columbus
made three more voyages for Spain. On the fourth, in 1498, he touched
on the coast of South America. Here he discovered the great Orinoco
River. Because of its large size, he must have realized that a large
body of land opposed the passage to the Orient. He died in 1506,
disappointed at his failure to find India, but never knowing what he
had found, nor that the history of a new hemisphere had begun with him.
The Voyage of the Cabots.--In the same year that Columbus discovered
the Orinoco, Sebastian Cabot, of Italian parentage, like Columbus,
secured ships from the king of England, hoping to reach China and
Japan by sailing west on a northern route. What he did discover was
a rugged and uninviting coast, with stormy headlands, cold climate,
and gloomy forests of pine reaching down to the sandy shores. For nine
hundred miles he sailed southward, but everywhere this unprofitable
coast closed the passage to China. It was the coast of Labrador and
the United States. Yet for years and years it was not known that a
continent three thousand miles wide and the greatest of all oceans
lay between Cathay and the shore visited by Cabot's ships. This land
was thought to be a long peninsula, an island, or series of islands,
belonging to Asia. No one supposed or could suppose that there was
a continent here.
Naming the New World.--But in a few years Europe did realize that a
new continent had been discovered in South America. If you will look
at your maps, you will see that South America lies far to the eastward
of North America and in Brazil approaches very close to Africa. This
Brazilian coast was visited by a Portuguese fleet on the African route
in 1499, and two years later an Italian fleet traversed the coast from
the Orinoco to the harbor of Rio Janeiro. Their voyage was a veritable
revelation. They entered the mighty current of the Amazon, the greatest
river of the earth. They saw the wondrous tropical forests, full of
monkeys, great snakes, and stranger animals. They dealt and fought
with the wild and ferocious inhabitants, whose ways startled and
appalled the European. All that they saw filled them with greatest
wonder. This evidently was not Asia, nor was it the Indies. Here,
in fact, was a new continent, a veritable "Mundus Novus."
The pilot of this expedition was an Italian, named Amerigo Vespucci. On
the return this man wrote a very interesting letter or little pamphlet,
describing this new world, which was widely read, and brought the
writer fame. A few years later a German cosmographer, in preparing
a new edition of Ptolemy's geography, proposed to give to this new
continent the name of the man who had made known its wonders in Europe,
So it was called "America." Long after, when the northern shores were
also proved to be those of a continent, this great land was named
"North America." No injustice was intended to Columbus when America
was so named. It was not then supposed that Columbus had discovered
a continent. The people then believed that Columbus had found a new
route to India and had discovered some new islands that lay off the
coast of Asia.
Spain Takes Possession of the New Lands.--Of these newly found islands
and whatever wealth they might be found to contain, Spain claimed
the possession by right of discovery. And of the European nations,
it was Spain which first began the exploration and colonization of
America. Spain was now free from her long Mohammedan wars, and the
nation was being united under Ferdinand and Isabella. The Spaniards
were brave, adventurous, and too proud to engage in commerce or
agriculture, but ready enough to risk life and treasure in quest of
riches abroad. The Spaniards were devotedly religious, and the Church
encouraged conquest, that missionary work might be extended. So Spain
began her career that was soon to make her the foremost power of Europe
and one of the greatest colonial empires the world has seen. It is
amazing what the Spaniards accomplished in the fifty years following
Columbus's first voyage.
Hispaniola was made the center from which the Spaniards extended
their explorations to the continents of both North and South
America. On these islands of the West Indies they found a great tribe
of Indians,--the Caribs. They were fierce and cruel. The Spaniards
waged a warfare of extermination against them, killing many, and
enslaving others for work in the mines. The Indian proved unable to
exist as a slave. And his sufferings drew the attention of a Spanish
priest, Las Casas, who by vigorous efforts at the court succeeded in
having Indian slavery abolished and African slavery introduced to
take its place. This remedy was in the end worse than the disease,
for it gave an immense impetus to the African slave-trade and peopled
America with a race of Africans in bondage.
Other Spanish Explorations and Discoveries.--Meanwhile, the Spanish
soldier, with incredible energy, courage, and daring, pushed his
conquests. In 1513, Florida was discovered, and in the same year,
Balboa crossed the narrow isthmus of Panama and saw the Pacific
Ocean. Contrary to what is often supposed, he did not dream of its vast
extent, but supposed it to be a narrow body of water lying between
Panama, and the Asian islands. He named it the "South Sea," a name
that survived after its true character was revealed by Magellan. Then
followed the two most romantic and surprising conquests of colonial
history,--that of Mexico by Cortes in 1521, and of Peru by Pizarro
in 1533-34. These great countries were inhabited by Indians, the
most advanced and cultured on the American continents. And here the
Spaniards found enormous treasures of gold and silver. Then, the
discovery of the mines of Bogota opened the greatest source of the
precious metal that Europe had ever known. Spaniards flocked to the
New World, and in New Spain, as Mexico was called, was established a
great vice-royalty. Year after year enormous wealth was poured into
Spain from these American possessions.
Emperor Charles V.--Meanwhile great political power had been added
to Spain in Europe. In 1520 the throne of Spain fell to a young man,
Charles, the grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella. His mother was Juana,
the Spanish princess, and his father was Philip the Handsome, of
Burgundy. Philip the Handsome was the son of Maximilian, the Archduke
of Austria. Now it curiously happened that the thrones of each of these
three countries was left without other heirs than Charles, and in 1520
he was King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, and Duke of Burgundy and
the Low Countries, including the rich commercial cities of Holland
and Belgium. In addition to all this, the German princes elected him
German emperor, and although he was King Charles the First of Spain,
he is better known in history as Emperor Charles the Fifth. [4]
He was then an untried boy of twenty years, and no one expected to
find in him a man of resolute energy, cold persistence, and great
executive ability. But so it proved, and this was the man that
made of Spain the greatest power of the time. He was in constant
warfare. He fought four wars with King Francis I. of France, five
wars with the Turks, both in the Danube valley and in Africa, and
an unending succession of contests with the Protestant princes of
Germany. For Charles, besides many other important changes, saw the
rise of Protestantism, and the revolt of Germany, Switzerland, and
England from Catholicism. The first event in his emperorship was the
assembling of the famous German Diet at Worms, where was tried and
condemned the real founder of the Protestant religion, Martin Luther.
The Voyage of Hernando Magellan.--In the mean time a way had at last
been found to reach the Orient from Europe by sailing west. This
discovery, the greatest voyage ever made by man, was accomplished, in
1521, by the fleet of Hernando Magellan. Magellan was a Portuguese, who
had been in the East with Albuquerque. He had fought with the Malays
in Malacca, and had helped to establish the Portuguese power in India.
On his return to Portugal, the injustice of the court drove him from
his native country, and he entered the service of Spain. Charles the
Fifth commissioned him to attempt a voyage of discovery down the
coast of South America, with the hope of finding a passage to the
East. This was Magellan's great hope and faith,--that south of the
new continent of America must lie a passage westward, by which ships
could sail to China. As long as Portugal was able to keep closed the
African route to all other ships than her own, the discovery of some
other way was imperative.
On the 20th of September, 1519, Magellan's fleet of five ships set
sail from Seville, which was the great Spanish shipping-port for the
dispatch of the colonial fleets. On December 13 they reached the coast
of Brazil and then coasted southward. They traded with the natives,
and at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata stayed some days to fish.
The weather grew rapidly colder and more stormy as they went farther
south, and Magellan decided to stop and winter in the Bay of San
Julian. Here the cold of the winter, the storms, and the lack of
food caused a conspiracy among his captains to mutiny and return to
Spain. Magellan acted with swift and terrible energy. He went himself
on board one of the mutinous vessels, killed the chief conspirator with
his own hand, executed another, and then "marooned," or left to their
fate on the shore, a friar and one other, who were leaders in the plot.
The Straits of Magellan.--The fleet sailed southward again in August
but it was not until November 1, 1520, that Magellan entered the
long and stormy straits that bear his name and which connect the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans. South of them were great bleak islands,
cold and desolate. They were inhabited by Indians, who are probably
the lowest and most wretched savages on the earth. They live on fish
and mussels. As they go at all times naked, they carry with them in
their boats brands and coals of fire. Seeing the numerous lights on
the shore, Magellan named these islands Tierra del Fuego (the Land
of Fire). For twenty days the ships struggled with the contrary and
shifting winds that prevail in this channel, during which time one
ship deserted and returned to Spain. Then the remaining four ships
passed out onto the boundless waters of the Pacific.
Westward on the Pacific Ocean.--But we must not make the mistake
of supposing that Magellan and his followers imagined that a great
ocean confronted them. They expected that simply sailing northward to
the latitude of the Spice Islands would bring them to these desired
places. This they did, and then turned westward, expecting each day
to find the Indies; but no land appeared. The days lengthened into
weeks, the weeks into months, and still they went forward, carried
by the trade winds over a sea so smooth and free from tempests that
Magellan named it the "Pacific."
But they suffered horribly from lack of food, even eating in their
starvation the leather slings on the masts. It was a terrible trial
of their courage. Twenty of their number died. The South Pacific
is studded with islands, but curiously their route lay just too far
north to behold them. From November 28, when they emerged from the
Straits of Magellan, until March 7, when they reached the Ladrones,
they encountered only two islands, and these were small uninhabited
rocks, without water or food, which in their bitter disappointment
they named las Desventuradas (the Unfortunate Islands).
The Ladrone Islands.--Their relief must have been inexpressible when,
on coming up to land on March the 7th, they found inhabitants and
food, yams, cocoanuts, and rice. At these islands the Spaniards
first saw the prao, with its light outrigger, and pointed sail. So
numerous were these craft that they named the group las Islas de las
Velas (the Islands of Sails); but the loss of a ship's boat and other
annoying thefts led the sailors to designate the islands Los Ladrones
(the Thieves), a name which they still retain.
The Philippine Islands.--Samar.--Leaving the Ladrones Magellan
sailed on westward looking for the Moluccas, and the first land
that he sighted was the eastern coast of Samar. Pigafetta says:
"Saturday, the 16th of March, we sighted an island which has very
lofty mountains. Soon after we learned that it was Zamal, distant
three hundred leagues from the islands of the Ladrones." [5]
Homonhón.--On the following day the sea-worn expedition, landed on
a little uninhabited island south of Samar which Pigafetta called
Humunu, and which is still known as Homonhón or Jomonjól.
It was while staying at this little island that the Spaniards first
saw the people of the Philippines. A prao which contained nine men
approached their ship. They saw other boats fishing near and learned
that all of these people came from the island of Suluan, which lies
off to the eastward from Jomonjól about twenty kilometres. In their
life and appearance these fishing people were much like the present
Samal laut of southern Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago.
Limasaua.--Pigafetta says that they stayed on the island of Jomonjól
eight days but had great difficulty in securing food. The natives
brought them a few cocoanuts and oranges, palm wine, and a chicken
or two, but this was all that could be spared, so, on the 25th,
the Spaniards sailed again, and near the south end of Leyte landed
on the little island of Limasaua. Here there was a village, where
they met two chieftains, whom Pigafetta calls "kings," and whose
names were Raja Calambú and Raja Ciagu. These two chieftains were
visiting Limasaua and had their residences one at Butúan and one
at Cagayan on the island of Mindanao. Some histories have stated
that the Spaniards accompanied one of these chieftains to Butúan,
but this does not appear to have been the case.
On the island of Limasaua the natives had dogs, cats, hogs, goats,
and fowls. They were cultivating rice, maize, breadfruit, and had
also cocoanuts, oranges, bananas, citron, and ginger. Pigafetta tells
how he visited one of the chieftains at his home on the shore. The
house was built as Filipino houses are today, raised on posts and
thatched. Pigafetta thought it looked "like a haystack."
It had been the day of San Lazarus when the Spaniards first reached
these islands, so that Magellan gave to the group the name of the
Archipelago of Saint Lazarus, the name under which the Philippines were
frequently described in the early writings, although another title,
Islas del Poniente or Islands of the West, was more common up to the
time when the title Filipinas became fixed.
Cebu.--Magellan's people were now getting desperately in need of
food, and the population on Limasaua had very inadequate supplies;
consequently the natives directed him to the island of Cebu, and
provided him with guides.
Leaving Limasaua the fleet sailed for Cebu, passing several large
islands, among them Bohol, and reaching Cebu harbor on Sunday, the
7th of April. A junk from Siam was anchored at Cebu when Magellan's
ships arrived there; and this, together with the knowledge that the
Filipinos showed of the surrounding countries, including China on
the one side and the Moluccas on the other, is additional evidence
of the extensive trade relations at the time of the discovery.
Cebu seems to have been a large town and it is reported that more
than two thousand warriors with their lances appeared to resist the
landing of the Spaniards, but assurances of friendliness finally won
the Filipinos, and Magellan formed a compact with the dato of Cebu,
whose name was Hamalbar.
The Blood Compact.--The dato invited Magellan to seal this compact in
accordance with a curious custom of the Filipinos. Each chief wounded
himself in the breast and from the wound each sucked and drank the
other's blood. It is not certain whether Magellan participated in this
"blood compact," as it has been called; but later it was observed many
times in the Spanish settlement of the islands, especially by Legaspi.
The natives were much struck by the service of the mass, which the
Spaniards celebrated on their landing, and after some encouragement
desired to be admitted to the Spaniards' religion. More than eight
hundred were baptized, including Hamalbar. The Spaniards established
a kind of "factory" or trading-post on Cebu, and for some time a
profitable trade was engaged in. The Filipinos well understood trading,
had scales, weights, and measures, and were fair dealers.
Death of Magellan.--And now follows the great tragedy of
the expedition. The dato of Cebu, or the "Christian king," as
Pigafetta called their new ally, was at war with the islanders of
Mactán. Magellan, eager to assist one who had adopted the Christian
faith, landed on Mactán with fifty men and in the battle that ensued
was killed by an arrow through the leg and spear-thrust through the
breast. So died the one who was unquestionably the greatest explorer
and most daring adventurer of all time. "Thus," says Pigafetta,
"perished our guide, our light, and our support." It was the crowning
disaster of the expedition.
The Fleet Visits Other Islands.--After Magellan's death, the natives of
Cebu rose and killed the newly elected leader, Serrano, and the fleet
in fear lifted its anchors and sailed southward from the Bisayas. They
had lost thirty-five men and their numbers were reduced to one hundred
and fifteen. One of the ships was burned, there being too few men
surviving to handle three vessels. After touching at western Mindanao,
they sailed westward, and saw the small group of Cagayan Sulu. The few
inhabitants they learned were Moros, exiled from Borneo. They landed
on Paragua, called Puluan (hence Palawan), where they observed the
sport of cock-fighting, indulged in by the natives.
From here, still searching for the Moluccas, they were guided to
Borneo, the present city of Brunei. Here was the powerful Mohammedan
colony, whose adventurers were already in communication with Luzon and
had established a colony on the site of Manila. The city was divided
into two sections, that of the Mohammedan Malays, the conquerors, and
that of the Dyaks, the primitive population of the island. Pigafetta
exclaims over the riches and power of this Mohammedan city. It
contained twenty-five thousand families, the houses built for most
part on piles over the water. The king's house was of stone, and
beside it was a great brick fort, with over sixty brass and iron
cannon. Here the Spaniards saw elephants and camels, and there was
a rich trade in ginger, camphor, gums, and in pearls from Sulu.
Hostilities cut short their stay here and they sailed eastward
along the north coast of Borneo through the Sulu Archipelago,
where their cupidity was excited by the pearl fisheries, and on
to Maguindanao. Here they took some prisoners, who piloted them
south to the Moluccas, and finally, on November 8, they anchored
at Tidor. These Molucca islands, at this time, were at the height
of the Malayan power. The ruler, or raja of Tidor was Almanzar,
of Ternate Corala; the "king" of Gilolo was Yusef. With all these
rulers the Spaniards exchanged presents, and the rajas are said by
the Spaniards to have sworn perpetual amnesty to the Spaniards and
acknowledged themselves vassals of the king. In exchange for cloths,
the Spaniards laid in a rich cargo of cloves, sandalwood, ginger,
cinnamon, and gold. They established here a trading-post and hoped
to hold these islands against the Portuguese.
The Return to Spain.--It was decided to send one ship, the "Victoria,"
to Spain by way of the Portuguese route and the Cape of Good Hope,
while the other would return to America. Accordingly the "Victoria,"
with a little crew of sixty men, thirteen of them natives, under
the command of Juan Sebastian del Cano, set sail. The passage was
unknown to the Spaniards and full of perils. They sailed to Timor
and thence out into the Indian Ocean. They rounded Africa, sailing
as far south as 42 degrees. Then they went northward, in constant
peril of capture by some Portuguese fleet, encountering storms and
with scarcity of food. Their distress must have been extreme, for on
this final passage twenty-one of their small number died.
At Cape Verdi they entered the Portuguese port for supplies,
trusting that at so northern a point their real voyage would
not be suspected. But some one of the party, who went ashore for
food, in an hour of intoxication boasted of the wonderful journey
they had performed and showed some of the products of the Spice
Islands. Immediately the Portuguese governor gave orders for the
seizure of the Spanish vessel and El Cano, learning of his danger, left
his men, who had gone on shore, raised sail, and put out for Spain.
On the 6th of September, 1522, they arrived at San Lucar, at the mouth
of the Guadalquivir River, on which is situated Seville, one ship
out of the five, and eighteen men out of the company of 234, who had
set sail almost three full years before. Spain welcomed her worn and
tired seamen with splendid acclaim. To El Cano was given a title of
nobility and the famous coat-of-arms, showing the sprays of clove,
cinnamon, and nutmeg, and the effigy of the globe with the motto,
the proudest and worthiest ever displayed on any adventurer's shield,
"Hic primus circumdedisti me."
The First Circumnavigation of the Earth.--Thus with enormous suffering
and loss of life was accomplished the first circumnavigation of the
earth. It proved that Asia could be reached, although by a long and
circuitous route, by sailing westward from Europe. It made known to
Europe that the greatest of all oceans lies between the New World and
Asia, and it showed that the earth is incomparably larger than had been
believed and supposed. It was the greatest voyage of discovery that has
ever been accomplished, and greater than can ever be performed again.
New Lands Divided between Spain and Portugal.--By this discovery of the
Philippines and a new way to the Spice Islands, Spain became engaged
in a long dispute with Portugal. At the beginning of the modern age,
there was in Europe no system of rules by which to regulate conduct
between states. That system of regulations and customs which we
call International Law, and by which states at the present time are
guided in their dealings, had not arisen. During the middle age,
disputes between sovereigns were frequently settled by reference to
the emperor or to the pope, and the latter had frequently asserted
his right to determine all such questions as might arise. The pope
had also claimed to have the right of disposing of all heathen and
newly discovered lands and peoples.
So, after the discovery of the East Indies by Portugal and of the West
Indies by Spain, Pope Alexander VI., divided the new lands between
them. He declared that all newly discovered countries halfway around
the earth to the east of a meridian 100 leagues west of the Azores
should be Portuguese, and all to the west Spanish. Subsequently he
shifted this line to 270 leagues west of the Azores. This division,
it was supposed, would give India and the Malay islands to Portugal,
and to Spain the Indies that Columbus had discovered, and the New
World, except Brazil.
As a matter of fact, 180 degrees west of the meridian last set by
the pope extended to the western part of New Guinea, and not quite
to the Moluccas; but in the absence of exact geographical knowledge
both parties claimed the Spice Islands. Portugal denied to Spain all
right to the Philippines as well, and, as we shall see, a conflict in
the Far East began, which lasted nearly through the century. Portugal
captured the traders, whom El Cano had left at Tidor, and broke up the
Spanish station in the Spice Islands. The "Trinidad," the other ship,
which was intended to return to America, was unable to sail against
the strong winds, and had to put back to Tidor, after cruising through
the waters about New Guinea.
Effect of the Century of Discoveries.--This circumnavigation of the
globe completed a period of discovery which had begun a hundred years
before with the timid, slow attempts of the Portuguese along the coast
of Africa. In these years a new era had opened. At its beginning the
European knew little of any peoples outside of his own countries,
and he held not one mile of land outside the continent of Europe. At
the end of a hundred years the earth had become fairly well known,
the African race, the Malay peoples, the American Indians, and the
Pacific islanders had all been seen and described, and from now on the
history of the white race was to be connected with that of these other
races. The age of colonization, of world-wide trade and intercourse,
had begun. The white man, who had heretofore been narrowly pressed
in upon Europe, threatened again and again with conquest by the
Mohammedan, was now to cover the seas with his fleets and all lands
with his power.
CHAPTER V.
THE FILIPINO PEOPLE BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF THE SPANIARDS.
Position of Tribes.--On the arrival of the Spaniards, the population
of the Philippines seems to have been distributed by tribes in much
the same manner as at present. Then, as now, the Bisaya occupied the
central islands of the archipelago and some of the northern coast of
Mindanao. The Bicol, Tagálog, and Pampango were in the same parts of
Luzon as we find them to-day. The Ilocano occupied the coastal plain
facing the China Sea, but since the arrival of the Spaniards they
have expanded considerably and their settlements are now numerous in
Pangasinan, Nueva Vizcaya, and the valley of the Cagayan.
The Number of People.--These tribes which to-day number nearly
7,000,000 souls, at the time of Magellan's discovery were, probably,
not more than 500,000. The first enumeration of the population made
by the Spaniards in 1591, and which included practically all of these
tribes, gives a population of less than 700,000. (See Chapter VIII.,
The Philippines Three Hundred Years Ago.)
There are other facts too that show us how sparse the population must
have been. The Spanish expeditions found many coasts and islands in
the Bisayan group without inhabitants. Occasionally a sail or a canoe
would be seen, and then these would disappear in some small "estero"
or mangrove swamp and the land seem as unpopulated as before. At
certain points, like Limasaua, Butúan, and Bohol, the natives were
more numerous, and Cebu was a large and thriving community; but the
Spaniards had nearly everywhere to search for settled places and
cultivated lands.
The sparsity of population is also well indicated by the great scarcity
of food. The Spaniards had much difficulty in securing sufficient
provisions. A small amount of rice, a pig and a few chickens,
were obtainable here and there, but the Filipinos had no large
supplies. After the settlement of Manila was made, a large part of
the food of the city was drawn from China. The very ease with which
the Spaniards marched where they willed and reduced the Filipinos
to obedience shows that the latter were weak in numbers. Laguna and
the Camarines seem to have been the most populous portions of the
archipelago. All of these things and others show that the Filipinos
were but a small fraction of their present number.
On the other hand, the Negritos seem to have been more numerous,
or at least more in evidence. They were immediately noticed on the
island of Negros, where at the present they are few and confined to
the interior; and in the vicinity of Manila and in Batangas, where they
are no longer found, they were mingling with the Tagálog population.
Conditions of Culture.--The culture of the various tribes, which
is now quite the same throughout the archipelago, presented some
differences. In the southern Bisayas, where the Spaniards first entered
the archipelago, there seem to have been two kinds of natives: the
hill dwellers, who lived in the interior of the islands in small
numbers, who wore garments of tree bark and who sometimes built
their houses in the trees; and the sea dwellers, who were very much
like the present day Moro tribes south of Mindanao, who are known as
the Sámal, and who built their villages over the sea or on the shore
and lived much in boats. These were probably later arrivals than the
forest people. From both of these elements the Bisaya Filipinos are
descended, but while the coast people have been entirely absorbed,
some of the hill-folk are still pagan and uncivilized, and must be
very much as they were when the Spaniards first came.
The highest grade of culture was in the settlements where there was
regular trade with Borneo, Siam, and China, and especially about
Manila, where many Mohammedan Malays had colonies.
Languages of the Malayan Peoples.--With the exception of the Negrito,
all the languages of the Philippines belong to one great family,
which has been called the "Malayo-Polynesian." All are believed to
be derived from one very ancient mother-tongue. It is astonishing how
widely this Malayo-Polynesian speech has spread. Farthest east in the
Pacific there is the Polynesian, then in the groups of small islands,
known as Micronesian; then Melanesian or Papuan; the Malayan throughout
the East Indian archipelago, and to the north the languages of the
Philippines. But this is not all; for far westward on the coast of
Africa is the island of Madagascar, many of whose languages have no
connection with African but belong to the Malayo-Polynesian family. [6]
The Tagálog Language.--It should be a matter of great interest to
Filipinos that the great scientist, Baron William von Humboldt,
considered the Tagálog to be the richest and most perfect of all
the languages of the Malayo-Polynesian family, and perhaps the type
of them all. "It possesses," he said, "all the forms collectively
of which particular ones are found singly in other dialects; and it
has preserved them all with very trifling exceptions unbroken, and in
entire harmony and symmetry." The Spanish friars, on their arrival in
the Philippines, devoted themselves at once to learning the native
dialects and to the preparation of prayers and catechisms in these
native tongues. They were very successful in their studies. Father
Chirino tells us of one Jesuit who learned sufficient Tagálog in
seventy days to preach and hear confession. In this way the Bisayan,
the Tagálog, and the Ilocano were soon mastered.
In the light of the opinion of Von Humboldt, it is interesting to
find these early Spaniards pronouncing the Tagálog the most difficult
and the most admirable. "Of all of them," says Padre Chirino, "the
one which most pleased me and filled me with admiration was the
Tagálog. Because, as I said to the first archbishop, and afterwards
to other serious persons, both there and here, I found in it four
qualities of the four best languages of the world: Hebrew, Greek,
Latin, and Spanish; of the Hebrew, the mysteries and obscurities; of
the Greek, the articles and the precision not only of the appellative
but also of the proper nouns; of the Latin, the wealth and elegance;
and of the Spanish, the good breeding, politeness, and courtesy." [7]
An Early Connection with the Hindus.--The Malayan languages contain
also a considerable proportion of words borrowed from the Sanskrit,
and in this the Tagálog, Bisayan, and Ilocano are included. Whether
these words were passed along from one Malayan group to another,
or whether they were introduced by the actual presence and power of
the Hindu in this archipelago, may be fair ground for debate; but the
case for the latter position has been so well and brilliantly put by
Dr. Pardo de Tavera that his conclusions are here given in his own
words. "The words which Tagálog borrowed," he says, "are those which
signify intellectual acts, moral conceptions, emotions, superstitions,
names of deities, of planets, of numerals of high number, of botany,
of war and its results and consequences, and finally of titles and
dignities, some animals, instruments of industry, and the names
of money."
From the evidence of these works, Dr. Pardo argues for a period
in the early history of the Filipinos, not merely of commercial
intercourse, like that of the Chinese, but of Hindu political and
social domination. "I do not believe," he says, "and I base my opinion
on the same words that I have brought together in this vocabulary,
that the Hindus were here simply as merchants, but that they dominated
different parts of the archipelago, where to-day are spoken the
most cultured languages,--the Tagálo, the Visayan, the Pampanga,
and the Ilocano; and that the higher culture of these languages comes
precisely from the influence of the Hindu race over the Filipino."
The Hindus in the Philippines.--"It is impossible to believe that the
Hindus, if they came only as merchants, however great their number,
would have impressed themselves in such a way as to give to these
islanders the number and the kind of words which they did give. These
names of dignitaries, of caciques, of high functionaries of the court,
of noble ladies, indicate that all of these high positions with
names of Sanskrit origin were occupied at one time by men who spoke
that language. The words of a similar origin for objects of war,
fortresses, and battle-songs, for designating objects of religious
belief, for superstitions, emotions, feelings, industrial and farming
activities, show us clearly that the warfare, religion, literature,
industry, and agriculture were at one time in the hands of the Hindus,
and that this race was effectively dominant in the Philippines." [8]
Systems of Writing among the Filipinos.--When the Spaniards arrived in
the Philippines, the Filipinos were using systems of writing borrowed
from Hindu or Javanese sources. This matter is so interesting that
one can not do better than to quote in full Padre Chirino's account,
as he is the first of the Spanish writers to mention it and as his
notice is quite complete.
"So given are these islanders to reading and writing that there is
hardly a man, and much less a woman, that does not read and write in
letters peculiar to the island of Manila, very different from those
of China, Japan, and of India, as will be seen from the following
alphabet.
"The vowels are three; but they serve for five, and are,
a e, i o, u
The consonants are no more than twelve, and they serve to write both
consonant and vowel, in this form. The letter alone, without any
point either above or below, sounds with a.
Ba ca da ga ha la
ma na pa sa ta ya
Placing the point above, each one sounds with e or with i.
Bi qui di gui hi li
be que de gue he le
mi ni pi si ti yi
me ne pe se te ye
Placing the point below, it sounds with o or with u.
bo co do go ho lo
bu cu du gu hu lu
mo no po so to yo
mu nu pu su tu yu
For instance, in order to say 'cama,' the two letters alone suffice.
ca ma
If to the ka there is placed a point above, it will say
que ma
If it is given to both below, it will say
co mo
The final consonants are supplied or understood in all cases, and so
to say 'cantar,' they write
ca ta
barba,
ba ba
But with all, and that without many evasions, they make themselves
understood, and they themselves understand marvellously. And the
reader supplies, with much skill and ease, the consonants that are
lacking. They have learned from us to write running the lines from
the left hand to the right, but formerly they only wrote from above
downwards, placing the first line (if I remember rightly) at the left
hand, and continuing with the others to the right, the opposite of
the Chinese and Japanese.... They write upon canes or on leaves of a
palm, using for a pen a point of iron. Nowadays in writing not only
their own but also our letters, they use a feather very well cut,
and paper like ourselves.
They have learned our language and pronunciation, and write as well
as we do, and even better; for they are so bright that they learn
everything with the greatest ease. I have brought with me handwriting
with very good and correct lettering. In Tigbauan, I had in school a
very small child, who in three months' time learned, by copying from
well-written letters that I set him, to write enough better than I,
and transcribed for me writings of importance very faithfully, and
without errors or mistakes. But enough of languages and letters;
now let us return to our occupation with human souls." [9]
Sanskrit Source of the Filipino Alphabet.--Besides the Tagálog,
the Bisaya, Pampango, Pangasinan, and Ilocano had alphabets, or
more properly syllabaries similar to this one. Dr. Pardo de Tavera
has gathered many data concerning them, and shows that they were
undoubtedly received by the Filipinos from a Sanskrit source.
Early Filipino Writings.--The Filipinos used this writing for setting
down their poems and songs, which were their only literature. None
of this, however, has come down to us, and the Filipinos soon adopted
the Spanish alphabet, forming the syllables necessary to write their
language from these letters. As all these have phonetic values,
it is still very easy for a Filipino to learn to pronounce and so
read his own tongue. These old characters lingered for a couple of
centuries, in certain places. Padre Totanes [10] tells us that it was
rare in 1705 to find a person who could use them; but the Tagbanua,
a pagan people on the island of Paragua, use a similar syllabary
to this day. Besides poems, they had songs which they sang as they
rowed their canoes, as they pounded the rice from its husk, and as
they gathered for feast or entertainment; and especially there were
songs for the dead. In these songs, says Chirino, they recounted the
deeds of their ancestors or of their deities.
Chinese in the Philippines.--Early Trade.--Very different from the
Hindu was the early influence of the Chinese. There is no evidence
that, previous to the Spanish conquest, the Chinese settled or
colonized in these islands at all; and yet three hundred years
before the arrival of Magellan their trading-fleets were coming here
regularly and several of the islands were well known to them. One
evidence of this prehistoric trade is in the ancient Chinese jars and
pottery which have been exhumed in the vicinity of Manila, but the
Chinese writings themselves furnish us even better proof. About the
beginning of the thirteenth century, though not earlier than 1205,
a Chinese author named Chao Ju-kua wrote a work upon the maritime
commerce of the Chinese people. One chapter of his work is devoted to
the Philippines, which he calls the country of Mayi. [11] According
to this record it is indicated that the Chinese were familiar with
the islands of the archipelago seven hundred years ago. [12]
Chinese, Description of the People.--"The country of Mayi," says this
interesting classic, "is situated to the north of Poni (Burney, or
Borneo). About a thousand families inhabit the banks of a very winding
stream. The natives clothe themselves in sheets of cloth resembling
bed sheets, or cover their bodies with sarongs. (The sarong is the
gay colored, typical garment of the Malay.) Scattered through the
extensive forests are copper Buddha images, but no one knows how they
got there. [13]
"When the merchant (Chinese) ships arrive at this port they anchor
in front of an open place ... which serves as a market, where they
trade in the produce of the country. When a ship enters this port,
the captain makes presents of white umbrellas (to the mandarins). The
merchants are obliged to pay this tribute in order to obtain the
good will of these lords." The products of the country are stated to
be yellow wax, cotton, pearls, shells, betel nuts, and yuta cloth,
which was perhaps one of the several cloths still woven of abacá,
or piña. The articles imported by the Chinese were "porcelain, trade
gold, objects of lead, glass beads of all colors, iron cooking-pans,
and iron needles."
The Negritos.--Very curious is the accurate mention in this Chinese
writing, of the Negritos, the first of all accounts to be made of
the little blacks. "In the interior of the valleys lives a race
called Hai-tan (Acta). They are, of low stature, have round eyes of
a yellow color, curly hair, and their teeth are easily seen between
their lips. (That is, probably, not darkened by betel-chewing or
artificial stains.) They build their nests in the treetops and in
each nest lives a family, which only consists of from three to five
persons. They travel about in the densest thickets of the forests, and,
without being seen themselves, shoot their arrows at the passers-by;
for this reason they are much feared. If the trader (Chinese) throws
them a small porcelain bowl, they will stoop down to catch it and
then run away with it, shouting joyfully."
Increase in Chinese Trade.--These junks also visited the more central
islands, but here traffic was conducted on the ships, the Chinese
on arrival announcing themselves by beating gongs and the Filipinos
coming out to them in their light boats. Among other things here
offered by the natives for trade are mentioned "strange cloth,"
perhaps cinamay or jusi, and fine mats.
This Chinese trade continued probably quite steadily until the arrival
of the Spaniards. Then it received an enormous increase through the
demand for Chinese food-products and wares made by the Spaniards,
and because of the value of the Mexican silver which the Spaniards
offered in exchange.
Trade with the Moro Malays of the South.--The spread of Mohammedanism
and especially the foundation of the colony of Borneo brought the
Philippines into important commercial relations with the Malays of the
south. Previous to the arrival of the Spaniards these relations seem
to have been friendly and peaceful. The Mohammedan Malays sent their
praos northward for purposes of trade, and they were also settling
in the north Philippines as they had in Mindanao.
When Legaspi's fleet, soon after its arrival, lay near the island
of Bohol, the "Maestro de Campo" had a hard fight with a Moro vessel
which had come up for trade, and took six prisoners. One of them, whom
they call the "pilot," was closely interrogated by the Adelantado
and some interesting information obtained, which is recorded by
Padre San Augustin. [14] Legaspi had a Malay slave interpreter with
him and San Augustin says that Padre Urdaneta "knew well the Malayan
language." The pilot said that "those of Borneo brought for trade with
the Filipinos, copper and tin, which was brought to Borneo from China,
porcelain, dishes, and bells made in their fashion, very different from
those that the Christians use, and benzoin, and colored blankets from
India, and cooking-pans made in China, and that they also brought iron
lances very well tempered, and knives and other articles of barter,
and that in exchange for them they took away from the islands gold,
slaves, wax, and a kind of small seashell which they call 'sijueyes,'
and which passes for money in the kingdom of Siam and other places;
and also they carry off some white cloths, of which there is a great
quantity in the islands."
Butúan, on the north coast of Mindanao, seems to have been quite a
trading-place resorted to by vessels from all quarters. This country,
like many other parts of the Philippines, has produced from time
immemorial small quantities of gold, and all the early voyagers
speak of the gold earrings and ornaments of the natives. Butúan
also produced sugarcane and was a trading-port for slaves. This
unfortunate traffic in human life seems to have been not unusual,
and was doubtless stimulated by the commerce with Borneo. Junks from
Siam trading with Cebu were also encountered by the Spaniards.
Result of this Intercourse and Commerce.--This intercourse and
traffic had acquainted the Filipinos with many of the accessories
of civilized life long before the arrival of the Spaniards. Their
chiefs and datos dressed in silks, and maintained some splendor of
surroundings; nearly the whole population of the tribes of the coast
wrote and communicated by means of a syllabary; vessels from Luzon
traded as far south as Mindanao and Borneo, although the products of
Asia proper came through the fleets of foreigners; and perhaps what
indicates more clearly than anything else the advance the Filipinos
were making through their communication with outside people is their
use of firearms. Of this point there is no question. Everywhere in
the vicinity of Manila, on Lubang, in Pampanga, at Cainta and Laguna
de Bay, the Spaniards encountered forts mounting small cannon, or
"lantakas." [15] The Filipinos seem to have understood, moreover,
the arts of casting cannon and of making powder. The first gun-factory
established by the Spaniards was in charge of a Filipino from Pampanga.
Early Political and Social Life.--The Barangay.--The weakest side
of the culture of the early Filipinos was their political and social
organization, and they were weak here in precisely the same way that
the now uncivilized peoples of northern Luzon are still weak. Their
state did not embrace the whole tribe or nation; it included simply
the community. Outside of the settlers in one immediate vicinity,
all others were enemies or at most foreigners. There were in the
Philippines no large states, nor even great rajas and sultans such
as were found in the Malay Archipelago, but instead on every island
were a multitude of small communities, each independent of the other
and frequently waging war.
The unit of their political order was a little cluster of houses from
thirty to one hundred families, called a "barangay," and which still
exists in the Philippines as the "barrio." At the head of each barangay
was a chief known as the "dato," a word no longer used in the northern
Philippines, though it persists among the Moros of Mindanao. The
powers of these datos within their small areas appear to have been
great, and they were treated with utmost respect by the people.
The barangays were grouped together in tiny federations including
about as much territory as the present towns, whose affairs were
conducted by the chiefs or datos, although sometimes they seem to have
all been in obedience to a single chief, known in some places as the
"hari," at other times by the Hindu word "raja," or the Mohammedan
term "sultan." Sometimes the power of one of these rajas seems to
have extended over the whole of a small island, but usually their
"kingdoms" embraced only a few miles.
Changes Made by the Spaniards.--The Spaniards, in enforcing their
authority through the islands, took away the real power from the
datos, grouping the barangays into towns, or "pueblos," but making
the datos "cabezas de barrio," or "gobernadorcillos." Something of
the old distinction between the dato, or "principal," and the common
man may be still represented in the "gente illustrada," or the more
wealthy, educated, and influential class found in each town, and the
"gente baja," or the poor and uneducated.
Classes of Filipinos under the Datos.--Beneath the datos, according
to Chirino and Morga, there were three classes of Filipinos; the
free persons, or "maharlica," who paid no tribute to the dato,
but who accompanied him to war, rowed his boat when he went on a
journey, and attended him in his house. This class is called by Morga
"timauas." [16]
Then there was a very large class, who appear to have been freedmen or
liberated slaves, who had acquired their own homes and lived with their
families, but who owed to dato or maharlica heavy debts of service;
to sow and harvest in his ricefields, to tend his fish-traps, to
row his canoe, to build his house, to attend him when he had guests,
and to perform any other duties that the chief might command. These
semi-free were called "aliping namamahay," and their condition of
bondage descended to their children.
Beneath these existed a class of slaves. These were the
"siguiguiliris," and they were numerous. Their slavery arose in several
ways. Some were those who as children had been captured in war and
their lives spared. Some became slaves by selling their freedom in
times of hunger. But most of them became slaves through debt, which
descended from father to son. The sum of five or six pesos was enough
in some cases to deprive a man of his freedom.
These slaves were absolutely owned by their lord, who could
theoretically sell them like cattle; but, in spite of its bad
possibilities, this Filipino slavery was ordinarily not of a cruel
or distressing nature. The slaves frequently associated on kindly
relations with their masters and were not overworked. This form of
slavery still persists in the Philippines among the Moros of Mindanao
and Jolo. Children of slaves inherited their parents' slavery. If
one parent was free and the other slave, the first, third, and fifth
children were free and the second, fourth, and sixth slaves. This
whole matter of inheritance of slavery was curiously worked out in
minute details.
Life in the Barangay.--Community feeling was very strong within the
barangay. A man could not leave his own barangay for life in another
without the consent of the community and the payment of money. If a man
of one barrio married a woman of another, their children were divided
between the two barangays. The barangay was responsible for the good
conduct of its members, and if one of them suffered an injury from
a man outside, the whole barangay had to be appeased. Disputes and
wrongs between members of the same barangay were referred to a number
of old men, who decided the matter in accordance with the customs of
the tribe, which were handed down by tradition. [17]
The Religion of the Filipinos.--The Filipinos on the arrival of
the Spaniards were fetish-worshipers, but they had one spirit whom
they believed was the greatest of all and the creator or maker of
things. The Tagálog called this deity Bathala, [18] the Bisaya,
Laon, and the Ilocano, Kabunian. They also worshiped the spirits
of their ancestors, which were represented by small images called
"anitos." Fetishes, which are any objects believed to possess
miraculous power, were common among the people, and idols or images
were worshiped. Pigafetta describes some idols which he saw in Cebu,
and Chirino tells us that, within the memory of Filipinos whom he knew,
they had idols of stone, wood, bone, or the tooth of a crocodile,
and that there were some of gold.
They also reverenced animals and birds, especially the crocodile,
the raven, and a mythical bird of blue or yellow color, which was
called by the name of their deity Bathala. [19] They had no temples
or public places of worship, but each one had his anitos in his own
house and performed his sacrifices and acts of worship there. As
sacrifices they killed pigs or chickens, and made such occasions
times of feasting, song, and drunkenness. The life of the Filipino
was undoubtedly filled with superstitious fears and imaginings.
The Mohammedan Malays.--The Mohammedans outside of southern Mindanao
and Jolo, had settled in the vicinity of Manila Bay and on Mindoro,
Lubang, and adjacent coasts of Luzon. The spread of Mohammedanism
was stopped by the Spaniards, although it is narrated that for a
long time many of those living on the shores of Manila Bay refused to
eat pork, which is forbidden by the Koran, and practiced the rite of
circumcision. As late as 1583, Bishop Salazar, in writing to the king
of affairs in the Philippines, says the Moros had preached the law
of Mohammed to great numbers in these islands and by this preaching
many of the Gentiles had become Mohammedans; and further he adds,
"Those who have received this foul law guard it with much persistence
and there is great difficulty in making them abandon it; and with
cause too, for the reasons they give, to our shame and confusion,
are that they were better treated by the preachers of Mohammed than
they have been by the preachers of Christ." [20]
Material Progress of the Filipinos.--The material surroundings of
the Filipino before the arrival of the Spaniards were in nearly every
way quite as they are to-day. The "center of population" of each town
to-day, with its great church, tribunal, stores and houses of stone
and wood, is certainly in marked contrast; but the appearance of a
barrio a little distance from the center is to-day probably much as it
was then. Then, as now, the bulk of the people lived in humble houses
of bamboo and nipa raised on piles above the dampness of the soil;
then, as now, the food was largely rice and the excellent fish which
abound in river and sea. There were on the water the same familiar
bancas and fish corrals, and on land the rice fields and cocoanut
groves. The Filipinos had then most of the present domesticated
animals,--dogs, cats, goats, chickens, and pigs,--and perhaps in Luzon
the domesticated buffalo, although this animal was widely introduced
into the Philippines from China after the Spanish conquest. Horses came
with the Spaniards and their numbers were increased by the bringing
in of Chinese mares, whose importation is frequently mentioned.
The Spaniards introduced also the cultivation of tobacco, coffee,
and cacao, and perhaps also the native corn of America, the maize,
although Pigafetta says they found it already growing in the Bisayas.
The Filipino has been affected by these centuries of Spanish
sovereignty far less on his material side than he has on his spiritual,
and it is mainly in the deepening and elevating of his emotional and
mental life and not in the bettering of his material condition that
advance has been made.
CHAPTER VI.
THE SPANISH SOLDIER AND THE SPANISH MISSIONARY.
History of the Philippines as a Part of the History of the Spanish
Colonies.--We have already seen how the Philippines were discovered by
Magellan in his search for the Spice Islands. Brilliant and romantic
as is the story of that voyage, it brought no immediate reward to
Spain. Portugal remained in her enjoyment of the Eastern trade and
nearly half a century elapsed before Spain obtained a settlement
in these islands. But if for a time he neglected the Far East, the
Spaniard from the Peninsula threw himself with almost incredible
energy and devotion into the material and spiritual conquest of
America. All the greatest achievements of the Spanish soldier and
the Spanish missionary had been secured within fifty years from the
day when Columbus sighted the West Indies.
In order to understand the history of the Philippines, we must not
forget that these islands formed a part of this great colonial empire
and were under the same administration; that for over two centuries
the Philippines were reached through Mexico and to a certain extent
governed by Mexico; that the same governors, judges, and soldiers held
office in both hemispheres, passing from America to the Philippines
and being promoted from the Islands to the higher official positions of
Mexico and Peru. So to understand the rule of Spain in the Philippines,
we must study the great administrative machinery and the great body
of laws which she developed for the government of the Indies. [21]
Character of the Spanish Explorers.--The conquests themselves
were largely effected through the enterprise and wealth of private
individuals; but these men held commissions from the Spanish crown,
their actions were subject to strict royal control, and a large
proportion of the profits and plunder of their expeditions were
paid to the royal treasury. Upon some of these conquerors the crown
bestowed the proud title of "adelantado." The Spanish nobility threw
themselves into these hazardous undertakings with the courage and
fixed determination born of their long struggle with the Moors. Out
of the soul-trying circumstances of Western conquest many obscure men
rose, through their brilliant qualities of spirit, to positions of
eminence and power; but the exalted offices of viceroy and governor
were reserved for the titled favorites of the king.
The Royal Audiencia.--Very early the Spanish court, in order
to protect its own authority, found it necessary to succeed the
ambitious and adventurous conqueror by a ruler in close relationship
with and absolute dependence on the royal will. Thus in Mexico,
Cortes the conqueror was removed and replaced by the viceroy Mendoza,
who established upon the conquests of the former the great Spanish
colony of New Spain, to this day the most successful of all the states
planted by Spain in America.
To limit the power of the governor or viceroy, as well as to act as
a supreme court for the settlement of actions and legal questions,
Spain created the "Royal Audiencia." This was a body of men of noble
rank and learned in the law, sent out from Spain to form in each
country a colonial court; but their powers were not alone judicial;
they were also administrative. In the absence of the governor they
assumed his duties.
Treatment of the Natives by the Spanish.--In his treatment of
the natives, whose lands he captured, the Spanish king attempted
three things,--first, to secure to the colonist and to the crown
the advantages of his labor, second, to convert the Indians to the
Christian religion as maintained by the Roman Catholic Church, and
third, to protect them from cruelty and inhumanity. Edict after
edict, law after law, issued from the Spanish throne with these
ends in view. As they stand upon the greatest of colonial law-books,
the Recopilacion de Leyes de las Indias, they display an admirable
sensitiveness to the needs of the Indian and an appreciation of the
dangers to which he was subjected; but in the actual practice these
beneficent provisions were largely useless.
The first and third of Spain's purposes in her treatment of the native
proved incompatible. History has shown that liberty and enlightenment
can not be taken from a race with one hand and protection given it
with the other. All classes of Spain's colonial government were
frankly in pursuit of wealth. Greed filled them all, and was the
mainspring of every discovery and every settlement. The king wanted
revenue for his treasury; the noble and the soldier, booty for their
private purse; the friar, wealth for his order; the bishop, power
for his church. All this wealth had to come out of the native toiler
on the lands which the Spanish conqueror had seized; and while noble
motives were probably never absent and at certain times prevailed,
yet in the main the native of America and of the Philippines was a
sufferer under the hand and power of the Spaniard.
"The Encomenderos."--Spain's system of controlling the lives and
the labor of the Indians was based to a certain extent on the feudal
system, still surviving in the Peninsula at the time of her colonial
conquests. The captains and soldiers and priests of her successful
conquests had assigned to them great estates or fruitful lands with
their native inhabitants, which they managed and ruled for their own
profit. Such estates were called first "repartimientos." But very
soon it became the practice, in America, to grant large numbers of
Indians to the service of a Spaniard, who had over them the power
of a master and who enjoyed the profits of their labor. In return
he was supposed to provide for the conversion of the Indians and
their religious instruction. Such a grant of Indians was called an
"encomienda." The "encomendero" was not absolute lord of the lives
and properties of the Indians, for elaborate laws were framed for the
latter's protection. Yet the granting of subjects without the land
on which they lived made possible their transfer and sale from one
encomendero to another, and in this way thousands of Indians of America
were made practically slaves, and were forced into labor in the mines.
As we have already seen, the whole system was attacked by the Dominican
priest, Las Casas, a truly noble character in the history of American
colonization, and various efforts were made in America to limit the
encomiendas and to prevent their introduction into Mexico and Peru;
but the great power of the encomendero in America, together with
the influence of the Church, which held extensive encomiendas, had
been sufficient to extend the institution, even against Las Casas'
impassioned remonstrances. Its abolition in Mexico was decreed in
1544, but "commissioners representing the municipality of Mexico and
the religious orders were sent to Spain to ask the king to revoke at
least those parts of the 'New Laws' which threatened the interests
of the settlers. By a royal decree of October 20, 1545, the desired
revocation was granted. This action filled the Spanish settlers with
joy and the enslaved Indians with despair." [22]
Thus was the institution early established as a part of the colonial
system and came with the conquerors to the Philippines.
Restrictions on Colonization and Commerce.--For the management of all
colonial affairs the king created a great board, or bureau, known as
the "Council of the Indies," which sat in Madrid and whose members
were among the highest officials of Spain. The Spanish government
exercised the closest supervision over all colonial matters, and
colonization was never free. All persons, wares, and ships, passing
from Spain to any of her colonial possessions, were obliged to pass
through Seville, and this one port alone.
This wealthy ancient city, situated on the river Guadalquivir in
southwestern Spain, was the gateway to the Spanish Empire. From this
port went forth the mailed soldier, the robed friar, the adventurous
noble, and the brave and highborn Spanish ladies, who accompanied their
husbands to such great distances over the sea. And back to this port
were brought the gold of Peru, the silver of Mexico, and the silks
and embroideries of China, dispatched through the Philippines.
It must be observed that all intercourse between Spain and her colonies
was rigidly controlled by the government. Spain sought to create and
maintain an exclusive monopoly of her colonial trade. To enforce and
direct this monopoly, there was at Seville the Commercial House, or
"Casa de Contratacion." No one could sail from Spain to a colonial
possession without a permit and after government registration. No one
could send out goods or import them except through the Commercial House
and upon the payment of extraordinary imposts. Trade was absolutely
forbidden to any except Spaniards. And by her forts and fleets Spain
strove to isolate her colonies from the approach of Portuguese, Dutch,
or English, whose ships, no less daringly manned than those of Spain
herself, were beginning to traverse the seas in search of the plunder
and spoils of foreign conquest and trade.
Summary of the Colonial Policy of Spain.--Spain sought foreign
colonies, first, for the spoils of accumulated wealth that could be
seized and carried away at once, and, secondly, for the income that
could be procured through the labor of the inhabitants of the lands she
gained. In framing her government and administration of her colonies,
she sought primarily the political enlightenment and welfare neither
of the Spanish colonist nor the native race, but the glory, power,
and patronage of the crown. The commercial and trade regulations were
devised, not to develop the resources and increase the prosperity of
the colonies, but to add wealth to the Peninsula. Yet the purposes of
Spain were far from being wholly selfish. With zeal and success she
sought the conversion of the heathen natives, whom she subjected,
and in this showed a humanitarian interest in advance of the Dutch
and English, who rivaled her in colonial empire.
The colonial ideals under which the policy of Spain was framed were
those of the times. In the centuries that have succeeded, public wisdom
and conscience on these matters have immeasurably improved. Nations no
longer make conquests frankly to exploit them, but the public opinion
of the world demands that the welfare of the colonial subject be
sought and that he be protected from official greed. There is great
advance still to be made. It can hardly be said that the world yet
recognizes that a stronger people should assist a weaker without
assurance of material reward, but this is the direction in which
the most enlightened feeling is advancing. Every undertaking of the
white race, which has such aims in view, is an experiment worthy of
the most profound interest and most solicitous sympathy.
Result of the Voyage of Magellan and El Cano.--The mind of the
Spanish adventurer was greatly excited by the results of Sebastian
del Cano's voyage. Here was the opportunity for rich trade and great
profit. Numerous plans were laid before the king, one of them for
the building of an Indian trading-fleet and an annual voyage to the
Moluccas to gather a great harvest of spices.
Portugal protested against this move until the question of her
claim to the Moluccas, under the division of Pope Alexander, could be
settled. The exact longitude of Ternate west from the line 370 leagues
beyond the Verde Islands was not well known. Spaniards argued that
it was less than 180 degrees, and, therefore, in spite of Portugal's
earlier discovery, belonged to them. The pilot, Medina, for example,
explained to Charles V. that from the meridian 370 leagues west of
San Anton (the most westerly island of the Verde group) to the city
of Mexico was 59 degrees, from Mexico to Navidad, 9 degrees, and from
this port to Cebu, 100 degrees, a total of only 168 degrees, leaving
a margin of 12 degrees; therefore by the pope's decision the Indies,
Moluccas, Borneo, Gilolo, and the Philippines were Spain's. [23]
A great council of embassadors and cosmographers was held at Badajoz
in 1524, but reached no agreement. Spain announced her resolution to
occupy the Moluccas, and Portugal threatened with death the Spanish
adventurers who should be found there.
The First Expedition to the Philippines.--Spain acted immediately
upon her determination, and in 1525 dispatched an expedition under
Jofre de Loaisa to reap the fruits of Magellan's discoveries. [24]
The captain of one vessel was Sebastian del Cano, who completed the
voyage of Magellan. On his ship sailed Andres de Urdaneta, who later
became an Augustinian friar and accompanied the expedition of Legaspi
that finally effected the settlement of the Philippines. Not without
great hardship and losses did the fleet pass the Straits of Magellan
and enter the Pacific Ocean. In mid-ocean Loaisa died, and four days
later the heroic Sebastian del Cano. Following a route somewhat similar
to that of Magellan, the fleet reached first the Ladrone Islands and
later the coast of Mindanao. From here they attempted to sail to Cebu,
but the strong northeast monsoon drove them southward to the Moluccas,
and they landed on Tidor the last day of the year 1526.
The Failure of the Expedition.--The Portuguese were at this
moment fighting to reduce the native rajas of these islands to
subjection. They regarded the Spaniards as enemies, and each party of
Europeans was shortly engaged in fighting and in inciting the natives
against the other. The condition of the Spaniards became desperate
in the extreme, and indicates at what cost of life the conquests of
the sixteenth century were made. Their ships had become so battered
by storm as to be no longer sea-worthy. The two officers, who had
successively followed Loaisa and El Cano in command, had likewise
perished. Of the 450 men who had sailed from Spain, but 120 now
survived. These, under the leadership of Hernando de la Torre, threw
up a fort on the island of Tidor, unable to go farther or to retire,
and awaited hoped-for succor from Spain.
Relief came, not from the Peninsula, but from Mexico. Under
the instructions of the Spanish king, in October, 1527, Cortes
dispatched from Mexico a small expedition in charge of D. Alvaro de
Saavedra. Swept rapidly by the equatorial trades, in a few months
Saavedra had traversed the Carolines, reprovisioned on Mindanao,
and reached the survivors on Tidor. Twice they attempted to return
to New Spain, but strong trade winds blow without cessation north and
south on either side of the equator for the space of more than twelve
hundred miles, and the northern latitude of calms and prevailing
westerly winds were not yet known.
Twice Saavedra beat his way eastward among the strange islands of
Papua and Melanesia, only to be at last driven back upon Tidor and
there to die. The survivors were forced to abandon the Moluccas. By
surrendering to the Portuguese they were assisted to return to Europe
by way of Malacca, Ceylon, and Africa, and they arrived at Lisbon
in 1536, the survivors of Loaisa's expedition, having been gone from
Spain eleven years.
The efforts of the Spanish crown to obtain possession of the Spice
Islands, the Celebes and Moluccas, with their coveted products of
nutmeg, cinnamon, and pepper, were for the time being ended. By the
Treaty of Zaragoza (1529) the Emperor, Charles V., for the sum of
three hundred and fifty thousand gold ducats, renounced all claim
to the Moluccas. For thirteen years the provisions of this treaty
were respected by the Spaniards, and then another attempt was made
to obtain a foothold in the East Indies.
The Second Expedition to the Philippines.--The facts that disaster
had overwhelmed so many, that two oceans must be crossed, and that
no sailing-route from Asia back to America was known, did not deter
the Spaniards from their perilous conquests; and in 1542 another
expedition sailed from Mexico, under command of Lopez de Villalobos,
to explore the Philippines and if possible to reach China.
Across the Pacific they made a safe and pleasant voyage. In the
warm waters of the Pacific they sailed among those wonderful coral
atolls, rings of low shore, decked with palms, grouped in beautiful
archipelagoes, whose appearance has never failed to delight the
navigator, and whose composition is one of the most interesting
subjects known to students of the earth's structure and history. Some
of these coral islands Villalobos took possession of in the name of
Spain. These were perhaps the Pelew Islands or the Carolines.
At last Villalobos reached the east coast of Mindanao, but after
some deaths and sickness they sailed again and were carried south by
the monsoon to the little island of Sarangani, south of the southern
peninsula of Mindanao. The natives were hostile, but the Spaniards
drove them from their stronghold and made some captures of musk,
amber, oil, and gold-dust. In need of provisions, they planted the
maize, or Indian corn, the wonderful cereal of America, which yields
so bounteously, and so soon after planting. Food was greatly needed
by the Spaniards and was very difficult to obtain.
The Naming of the Islands.--Villalobos equipped a small vessel and
sent it northward to try to reach Cebu. This vessel reached the
coast of Samar. Villalobos gave to the island the name of Filipina,
in honor of the Spanish Infante, or heir apparent, Philip, who was
soon to succeed his father Charles V. as King Philip the Second of
Spain. Later in his correspondence with the Portuguese Villalobos
speaks of the archipelago as Las Filipinas. Although for many years
the title of the Islas del Poniente continued in use, Villalobos'
name of Filipinas gradually gained place and has lived.
The End of the Expedition.--While on Sarangani demands were made by
the Portuguese, who claimed that Mindanao belonged with the Celebes,
that the Spaniards should leave. Driven from Mindanao by lack of
food and hostility of the natives, Villalobos was blown southward
by storms to Gilolo. Here, after long negotiations, the Portuguese
compelled him to surrender. The survivors of the expedition dispersed,
some remaining in the Indies, and some eventually reaching Spain;
but Villalobos, overwhelmed by discouragement, died on the island of
Amboyna. The priest who ministered to him in his last hours was the
famous Jesuit missionary to the Indies, Saint Francis Xavier.
Twenty-three years were to elapse after the sailing of Villalobos'
fleet before another Spanish expedition should reach the
Philippines. The year 1565 dates the permanent occupation of the
archipelago by the Spanish.
Increase in Political Power of the Church.--Under Philip the Second,
the champion of ecclesiasticism, the Spanish crown cemented the
union of the monarchy with the church and devoted the resources of
the empire, not only to colonial acquisition, but to combating the
Protestant revolution on the one hand and heathenism on the other. The
Spanish king effected so close a union of the church and state in
Spain, that from this time on churchmen rose higher and higher in the
Spanish councils, and profoundly influenced the policy and fate of
the nation. The policy of Philip the Second, however, brought upon
Spain the revolt of the Dutch Lowlands and the wars with England,
and her struggle with these two nations drained her resources both on
land and sea, and occasioned a physical and moral decline. But while
Spain was constantly losing power and prestige in Europe, the king
was extending his colonial domain, lending royal aid to the ambitious
adventurer and to the ardent missionary friar. Spain's object being
to christianize as well as to conquer, the missionary became a very
important figure in the history of every colonial enterprise, and
these great orders to whom missions were intrusted thus became the
central institutions in the history of the Philippines.
The Rise of Monasticism.--Monasticism was introduced into Europe from
the East at the very commencement of the Middle Ages. The fundamental
idea of the old monasticism was retirement from human society in the
belief that the world was bad and could not be bettered, and that men
could lead holier lives and better please God by forsaking secular
employments and family relations, and devoting all their attention
to purifying their characters. The first monastic order in Europe
were the Benedictines, organized in the seventh century, whose rule
and organization were the pattern for those that followed.
The clergy of the church were divided thus into two groups,--first,
the parish priests, or ministers, who lived among the people over
whom they exercised the care of souls, and who, because they were of
the people themselves and lived their lives in association with the
community, were known as the "secular clergy," and second, the monks,
or "regular clergy," were so called because they lived under the
"rule" of their order.
In the early part of the thirteenth century monasticism, which had
waned somewhat during the preceding two centuries, received a new
impetus and inspiration from the organization of new orders known
as brethren or "Friars." The idea underlying their organization was
noble, and above that of the old monasticism; for it was the idea of
service, of ministry both to the hearts and bodies of depressed and
suffering men.
The Dominicans.--The Order of Dominicans was organized by Saint
Dominic, an Italian, about 1215. The primary object of its members
was to defend the doctrines of the Church and, by teaching and
preaching, destroy the doubts and protests which in the thirteenth
century were beginning to disturb the claims of the Catholic Church
and the Papacy. The Dominican friars did not live in communities, but
traveled about, humbly clad, preaching in the villages and towns, and
seeking to expose and punish the heretic. The mediæval universities,
through their study of philosophy and the Roman law, were producing
a class of men disposed to hold opinions contrary to the teachings
of the Church. The Dominicans realized the importance of these great
centers of instruction and entered them as teachers and masters, and
by the beginning of the fifteenth century had made them strongholds
of conservatism and orthodoxy.
The Franciscans.--A few years after this organization, the Order of
Franciscans was founded by Saint Francis of Assisi, of Spain. The aims
of this order were not only to preach and administer the sacraments,
but to nurse the sick, provide for the destitute, and alleviate the
dreadful misery which affected whole classes in the Middle Ages. They
took vows of absolute poverty, and so humble was the garb prescribed
by their rule that they went barefooted from place to place.
The Augustinian Order was founded by Pope Alexander IV., in 1265,
and still other orders came later.
The Degeneration of the Orders.--Without doubt the early ministrations
of these friars were productive of great good both on the religious
and humanitarian sides. But, as the orders became wealthy, the friars
lost their spirituality and their lives grew vicious. By the beginning
of the sixteenth century the administration of the Church throughout
Europe had become so corrupt, the economic burden of the religious
orders so great, and religious teaching and belief so material, that
the best and noblest minds in all countries were agitating for reform.
The Reformation.--In addition to changes in church administration,
many Christians were demanding a greater freedom of religious thinking
and radical changes in the Church doctrine which had taken form in
the Middle Ages. Thus, while all the best minds in the Church were
united in seeking a reformation of character and of administration,
great differences arose between them as to the possibility of change
in Church doctrines. These differences accordingly separated them
into two parties, the Papacy adhering strongly to the doctrine as
it was then accepted, while various leaders in the north of Europe,
including Martin Luther in Germany, Swingli in Switzerland, and John
Calvin in France and Geneva, broke with the authority of the Pope
and declared for a liberation of the individual conscience.
Upon the side of the Papacy, the Emperor Charles the Fifth threw the
weight of the Spanish monarchy, and to enforce the Papal authority
he attacked the German princes by force of arms. The result was
a great revolt from the Roman Catholic Church, which spread all
over northern Germany, a large portion of Switzerland, the lowlands
of the Rhine, and England, and which included a numerous and very
influential element among the French people. These countries, with
the exception of France, have remained Protestant to the present day;
and the great expansion of the English people in America and the East
has established Protestantism in all parts of the world.
Effects of the Reformation in the Roman Catholic Church.--The reform
movement, which lasted through the century, brought about a great
improvement in the Roman Catholic Church. Many, who remained devoted
to Roman Catholic orthodoxy, were zealous for administrative reform. A
great assembly of Churchmen, the Council of Trent, for years devoted
itself to legislation to correct abuses. The Inquisition was revived
and put into force against Protestants, especially in the dominions
of Spain, and the religious orders were reformed and stimulated to
new sacrifices and great undertakings.
But greater, perhaps, than any of these agencies in re-establishing
the power of the Pope and reviving the life of the Roman Catholic
Church was the organization of a new order, the "Society of Jesus." The
founder was a Spaniard, Ignatius Loyola, The Jesuits devoted themselves
especially to education and missionary activity. Their schools soon
covered Europe, while their mission stations were to be found in both
North and South America, India, the East Indies, China, and Japan.
The Spanish Missionary.--The Roman Catholic Church, having lost a large
part of Europe, thus strove to make up the loss by gaining converts
in heathen lands. Spain, being the power most rapidly advancing her
conquests abroad, was the source of the most tireless missionary
effort. From the time of Columbus, every fleet that sailed to gain
plunder and lands for the Spanish kingdom carried bands of friars
and churchmen to convert to Christianity the heathen peoples whom
the sword of the soldier should reduce to obedience.
"The Laws of the Indies" gave special power and prominence to the
priest. In these early days of Spain's colonial empire many priests
were men of piety, learning, and unselfish devotion. Their efforts
softened somewhat the violence and brutality that often marred the
Spanish treatment of the native, and they became the civilizing agents
among the peoples whom the Spanish soldiers had conquered.
In Paraguay, California, and the Philippines the power and importance
of the Spanish missionary outweighed that of the soldier or governor
in the settlement of those countries and the control of the native
inhabitants. Churchmen, full of the missionary spirit, pressed upon
the king the duties of the crown in advancing the cross, and more than
one country was opened to Spanish settlement through the enthusiasm
of the priest.
CHAPTER VII.
PERIOD OF CONQUEST AND SETTLEMENT, 1565-1600.
Cause of Settlement and Conquest of the Philippines.--The previous
Spanish expeditions whose misfortunes have been narrated, seemed
to have proved to the Court of Spain that they could not drive the
Portuguese from the Moluccas. But to the east of the Moluccas lay
great unexplored archipelagoes, which might lie within the Spanish
demarcation and which might yield spices and other valuable articles
of trade; and as the Portuguese had made no effective occupation of
the Philippines, the minds of Spanish conquerors turned to this group
also as a coveted field of conquest, even though it was pretty well
understood that they lay in the latitude of the Moluccas, and so were
denied by treaty to Spain.
In 1559 the Spanish king, Felipe II., commanded the viceroy of Mexico
to undertake again the discovery of the islands lying "toward the
Moluccas," but the rights of Portugal to islands within her demarcation
were to be respected. Five years passed before ships and equipments
could be prepared, and during these years the objects of the expedition
received considerable discussion and underwent some change.
The king invited Andres de Urdaneta, who years before had been a
captain in the expedition of Loaisa, to accompany the expedition as
a guide and director. Urdaneta, after his return from the previous
expedition, had renounced military life and had become an Augustinian
friar. He was known to be a man of wise judgment, with good knowledge
of cosmography, and as a missionary he was able to give to the
expedition that religious strength which characterized all Spanish
undertakings.
It was Urdaneta's plan to colonize, not the Philippines, but New
Guinea; but the Audiencia of Mexico, which had charge of fitting
out the expedition, charged it in minute instructions to reach
and if possible colonize the Philippines, to trade for spices
and to discover the return sailing route back across the Pacific
to New Spain. The natives of the islands were to be converted to
Christianity, and missionaries were to accompany the expedition. In
the quaint language of Fray Gaspar de San Augustin, there were sent
"holy guides to unfurl and wave the banners of Christ, even to the
remotest portions of the islands, and to drive the devil from the
tyrannical possession, which he had held for so many ages, usurping
to himself the adoration of those peoples." [25]
The Third Expedition to the Philippines.--The expedition sailed from
the port of Natividad, Mexico, November 21, 1564, under the command
of Miguel Lopez de Legaspi. The ships followed for a part of the
way a course further south than was necessary, and touched at some
inhabited islands of Micronesia. About the 22d of January they reached
the Ladrones and had some trouble with the natives. They reached the
southern end of Samar about February the 13th. Possession of Samar
was taken by Legaspi in the name of the king, and small parties were
sent both north and south to look for villages of the Filipinos.
A few days later they rounded the southern part of Samar, crossed the
strait to the coast of southern Leyte, and the field-marshal, Goyti,
discovered the town of Cabalian, and on the 5th of March the fleet
sailed to this town. Provisions were scarce on the Spanish vessels,
and great difficulty was experienced in getting food from the few
natives met in boats or in the small settlements discovered.
Legaspi at Bohol.--About the middle of March the fleet arrived at
Bohol, doubtless the southern or eastern shore. While near here Goyti
in a small boat captured a Moro prao from Borneo and after a hard
fight brought back the Moros as prisoners to Legaspi. There proved
to be quite a trade existing between the Moros from Borneo and the
natives of Bohol and Mindanao.
Here on Bohol they were able to make friendly terms with the natives,
and with Sicatuna, the dato of Bohol, Legaspi performed the ceremony
of blood covenant. The Spanish leader and the Filipino chief each
made a small cut in his own arm or breast and drank the blood of the
other. According to Gaspar de San Augustin, the blood was mixed with
a little wine or water and drunk from a goblet. [26] This custom was
the most sacred bond of friendship among the Filipinos, and friendship
so pledged was usually kept with great fidelity.
Legaspi in Cebu.--On the 27th of April, 1565, Legaspi's fleet reached
Cebu. Here, in this beautiful strait and fine anchoring-ground,
Magellan's ships had lingered until the death of their leader
forty-four years before. A splendid native settlement lined the
shore, so Father Chirino tells us, for a distance of more than a
league. The natives of Cebu were fearful and greatly agitated, and
seemed determined to resist the landing of the Spaniards. But at the
first discharge of the guns of the ships, the natives abandoned the
shore, and, setting fire to the town, retreated into the jungles and
hills. Without loss of life the Spaniards landed, and occupied the
harbor and town.
Finding of "the Holy Child of Cebu."--The Spanish soldiers found in
one of the houses of the natives a small wooden image of the Child
Jesus. A similar image, Pigafetta tells us, he had himself given to
a native while in the island with Magellan. It had been preserved by
the natives and was regarded by them as an object of veneration. To
the pious Spaniards the discovery of this sacred object was hailed
as an event of great good fortune. It was taken by the monks, and
carried to a shrine especially erected for it. It still rests in the
church of the Augustinians, an object of great devotion.
Settlement Made at Cebu.--In honor of this image this first settlement
of the Spaniards in the Philippines received the name of "City of
the Most Holy Name of Jesus." Here Legaspi established himself, and,
by great tact and skill, gradually won the confidence and friendship
of the inhabitants. A formal peace was at last concluded in which the
dato, Tupas, recognized the sovereignty of Spain; and the people of
Cebu and the Spaniards bound themselves to assist each other against
the enemies of either.
They had some difficulty in understanding one another, but the
Spaniards had with them a Mohammedan Malay of Borneo, called Cid-Hamal,
who had been taken from the East Indies to the Peninsula and thence
to Mexico and Legaspi's expedition. The languages of Malaysia and
the Philippines are so closely related that this man was able to
interpret. Almost immediately, however, the missionaries began the
study of the native dialect, and Padre Chirino tells us that Friar
Martin Herrada made here the first Filipino vocabulary, and was soon
preaching the Gospel to the natives in their own language.
The great difficulty experienced by Legaspi was to procure sufficient
food for his expedition. At different times he sent a ship to the
nearest islands, and twice his ship went south to Mindanao to procure
a cargo of cinnamon to be sent back to New Spain.
Thus month by month the Spaniards gained acquaintance with the
beautiful island sea of the archipelago, with its green islands
and brilliant sheets of water, its safe harbors and picturesque
settlements.
The Bisayans.--In 1569, Legaspi discovered the great island of
Panay. Here they were fortunate in securing a great abundance
of supplies and the friendship of the natives, who received them
well. These beautiful central islands of the Philippines are inhabited
by Bisaya. The Spaniards found this tribe tattooing their bodies
with ornamental designs, a practice widespread throughout Oceanica,
and which still is common among the tribes of northern Luzon. This
practice caused the Spaniards to give to the Bisayas the title of
"Islas de los Pintados" (the Islands of the Painted).
Discovery of the Northern Return Route across the Pacific.--Before
the arrival of the expedition in the Philippines, the captain of one
of Legaspi's ships, inspired by ungenerous ambition and the hopes
of getting a reward, outsailed the rest of the fleet. Having arrived
first in the islands, he started at once upon the return voyage. Unlike
preceding captains who had tried to return to New Spain by sailing
eastward from the islands against both wind and ocean current, this
captain sailed northward beyond the trades into the more favorable
westerly winds, and found his way back to America and New Spain.
Soon after arriving in the Philippines, Legaspi's instructions
required him to dispatch at least one vessel on the return voyage to
New Spain. Accordingly on June 1st the San Pablo set sail, carrying
about two hundred men, including Urdenata and another friar. This
vessel also followed the northern route across the Pacific, and
after a voyage of great hardship, occupying three and a half months,
it reached the coast of North America at California and followed it
southward to Acapulco.
The discovery made by these captains of a favorable route for vessels
returning from the islands to New Spain safe from capture by the
Portuguese, completed the plans of the Spanish for the occupation
of the Philippines. In 1567 another vessel was dispatched by Legaspi
and made this voyage successfully.
The sailing of these vessels left Legaspi in Cebu with a colony
of only one hundred and fifty Spaniards, poorly provided with
resources, to commence the conquest of the Philippines. But he won the
friendship and respect of the inhabitants, and in 1568 two galleons
with reinforcements arrived from Acapulco. From this time on nearly
yearly communication was maintained, fresh troops with munitions and
supplies arriving with each expedition.
The First Expedition against the Moro Pirates.--Pirates of
Mindoro.--The Spaniards found the Straits of San Bernardino and the
Mindoro Sea swarming with the fleets of Mohammedan Malays from Borneo
and the Jolo Archipelago. To a race living so continuously upon the
water, piracy has always possessed irresistible attractions. In the
days of Legaspi, the island of Mindoro had been partially settled by
Malays from the south, and many of these settlements were devoted
to piracy, preying especially upon the towns on the north coast of
Panay. In January, 1570, Legaspi dispatched his grandson, Juan de
Salcedo, to punish these marauders. [27]
Capture of Pirate Strongholds.--Salcedo had a force of forty Spaniards
and a large number of Bisaya. He landed on the western coast of
Mindoro and took the pirate town of Mamburao. The main stronghold of
the Moros he found to be on the small island of Lubang, northwest of
Mindanao. Here they had three strong forts with high walls, on which
were mounted small brass cannon, or "lantakas." Two of these forts
were surrounded by moats. There were several days of fighting before
Lubang was conquered. The possession of Lubang brought the Spaniards
almost to the entrance of Manila Bay, Meanwhile, a captain, Enriquez
de Guzman, had discovered Masbate, Burias, and Ticao, and had landed
on Luzon in the neighborhood of Albay, called then, "Italon."
Conquest of the Moro City of Manila.--Expedition from Panay.--Reports
had come to Legaspi of an important Mohammedan settlement named
"May-nila," on the shore of a great bay, and a Mohammedan chieftain,
called Maomat, was procured to guide the Spaniards on their conquest
of this region. [28] For this purpose Legaspi sent his field-marshal,
Martin de Goiti, with Salcedo, one hundred and twenty Spanish soldiers,
and fourteen or fifteen boats filled with Bisayan allies. They left
Panay early in May, and, after stopping at Mindoro, came to anchor
in Manila Bay, off the mouth of the Pasig River.
The Mohammedan City.--On the south bank of the river was the fortified
town of the Mohammedan chieftain, Raja Soliman; on the north bank was
the town of Tondo, under the Raja Alcandora, or Lacandola. Morga [29]
tells us that these Mohammedan settlers from the island of Borneo had
commenced to arrive on the island only a few years before the coming
of the Spaniards. They had settled and married among the Filipino
population already occupying Manila Bay, and had introduced some of the
forms and practices of the Mohammedan religion. The city of Manila was
defended by a fort, apparently on the exact sight of the present fort
of Santiago. It was built of the trunks of palms, and had embrasures
where were mounted a considerable number of cannon, or lantakas.
Capture of the City.--The natives received the foreigners at first
with a show of friendliness, but after they had landed on the banks of
the Pasig, Soliman, with a large force, assaulted them. The impetuous
Spaniards charged, and carried the fortifications, and the natives
fled, setting fire to their settlement. When the fight was over the
Spaniards found among the dead the body of a Portuguese artillerist,
who had directed the defense. Doubtless he was one who had deserted
from the Portuguese garrison far south in the Indian archipelago
to cast in his fortunes with the Malays. It being the commencement
of the season of rains and typhoons, the Spaniards decided to defer
the occupation of Manila, and, after exploring Cavite harbor, they
returned to Panay.
A year was spent in strengthening their hold on the Bisayas and in
arranging for their conquest of Luzon. On Masbate was placed a friar
and six soldiers, so small was the number that could be spared.
Founding of the Spanish City of Manila.--With a force of 280 men
Legaspi returned in the spring of 1571 to the conquest of Luzon. It was
a bloodless victory. The Filipino rajas declared themselves vassals
of the Spanish king, and in the months of May and June the Spaniards
established themselves in the present site of the city.
At once Legaspi gave orders for the reconstruction of the fort, the
building of a palace, a convent for the Augustinian monks, a church,
and 150 houses. The boundaries of this city followed closely the
outlines of the Tagálog city "Maynila," and it seems probable that the
location of buildings then established have been adhered to until the
present time. This settlement appeared so desirable to Legaspi that
he at once designated it as the capital of the archipelago. Almost
immediately he organized its governing assembly, or ayuntamiento.
The First Battle on Manila Bay.--In spite of their ready submission,
the rajas, Soliman and Lacandola, did not yield their sovereignty
without a struggle. They were able to secure assistance in the Tagálog
and Pampanga settlements of Macabebe and Hagonoy. A great fleet of
forty war-praos gathered in palm-lined estuaries on the north shore
of Manila Bay, and came sweeping down the shallow coast to drive the
Spaniards from the island. Against them were sent Goiti and fifty
men. The protective mail armor, the heavy swords and lances, the
horrible firearms, coupled with the persistent courage and fierce
resolution of the Spanish soldier of the sixteenth century, swept
back this native armament. The chieftain Soliman was killed.
The Conquest of Central Luzon.--Goiti continued his marching and
conquering northward until nearly the whole great plain of central
Luzon, that stretches from Manila Bay to the Gulf of Lingayen,
lay submissive before him. A little later the raja Lacandola died,
having accepted Christian baptism, and the only powerful resistance
on the island of Luzon was ended.
Goiti was sent back to the Bisayas, and the command of the army of
Luzon fell to Salcedo, the brilliant and daring grandson of Legaspi,
at this time only twenty-two years of age. This young knight led
his command up the Pasig River. Cainta and Taytay, at that time
important Tagálog towns, were conquered, and then the country south
of Laguna de Bay. The town of Cainta was fortified and defended by
small cannon, and although Salcedo spent three days in negotiations,
it was only taken by storm, in which four hundred Filipino men and
women perished. [30] From here Salcedo marched over the mountains to
the Pacific coast and south into the Camarines, where he discovered
the gold mines of Paracale and Mamburao.
At about this time the Spaniards conquered the Cuyos and Calamianes
islands and the northern part of Paragua.
Exploration of the Coast of Northern Luzon.--In 1572, Salcedo, with a
force of only forty-five men, sailed northward from Manila, landed in
Zambales and Pangasinan, and on the long and rich Ilocos coast effected
a permanent submission of the inhabitants. He also visited the coast
farther north, where the great and fertile valley of the Cagayan,
the largest river of the archipelago, reaches to the sea. From here he
continued his adventurous journey down the Pacific coast of Luzon to
the island of Polillo, and returned by way of Laguna de Bay to Manila.
Death of Legaspi.--He arrived in September, 1572, to find that his
grandfather and commander, Legaspi, had died a month before (August 20,
1572). After seven years of labor the conqueror of difficulties was
dead, but almost the entire archipelago had been added to the crown
of Spain. Three hundred years of Spanish dominion secured little
more territory than that traversed and pacified by the conquerors
of those early years. In spite of their slender forces, the daring
of the Spaniards induced them to follow a policy of widely extending
their power, effecting settlements, and enforcing submission wherever
rich coasts and the gathering of population attracted them.
Within a single year's time most of the coast country of Luzon had
been traversed, important positions seized, and the inhabitants
portioned out in encomiendas. On the death of Legaspi, the command
fell to Guido de Lavezares.
Reasons for this Easy Conquest of the Philippines.--The explanation of
how so small a number of Europeans could so rapidly and successfully
reduce to subjection the inhabitants of a territory like the
Philippines, separated into so many different islands, is to be found
in several things.
First.--The expedition had a great leader, one of those knights
combining sagacity with resolution, who glorify the brief period when
Spanish prestige was highest. No policy could ever be successful in the
Philippines which did not depend for its strength upon giving a measure
of satisfaction to the Filipino people. Legaspi did this. He appears
to have won the native datos, treating them with consideration, and
holding out to them the expectations of a better and more prosperous
era, which the sovereignty of the Spaniard would bring. Almost from
the beginning, the natives of an island already reduced flocked to
his standard to assist in the conquest of another. The small forces
of the Spanish soldiers were augmented by hundreds of Filipino allies.
Second.--Another reason is found in the wonderful courage and great
fighting power of the Spanish soldier. Each man, splendidly armored
and weaponed, deadly with either sword or spear, carrying in addition
the arquebus, the most efficient firearm of the time, was equal in
combat to many natives who might press upon him with their naked
bodies and inferior weapons.
Third.--Legaspi was extremely fortunate in his captains, who included
such old campaigners as the field-marshal Martin de Goiti, who had
been to the Philippines before with Villalobos, and such gallant
youths as Salcedo, one of the most attractive military figures in
all Spanish history.
Fourth.--In considering this Spanish conquest, we must understand
that the islands were far more sparsely inhabited than they are
to-day. The Bisayan islands, the rich Camarines, the island of Luzon,
had, in Legaspi's time, only a small fraction of their present great
populations. This population was not only small, but it was also
extremely disunited. Not only were the great tribes separated by
the differences of language, but, as we have already seen, each tiny
community was practically independent, and the power of a dato very
limited. There were no great princes, with large forces of fighting
retainers whom they could call to arms, such as the Portuguese had
encountered among the Malays south in the Moluccas.
Fifth.--But certainly one of the greatest factors in the yielding
of the Filipino to the Spaniard was the preaching of the missionary
friars. No man is so strong with an unenlightened and barbarous race as
he who claims power from God. And the preaching of the Catholic faith,
with its impressive and dramatic services, its holy sacraments, its
power to arrest the attention and to admit at once the rude mind into
the circle of its ministry, won the heart of the Filipino. Without
doubt he was ready and eager for a loftier and truer religious belief
and ceremonial. There was no powerful native priesthood to oppose
the introduction of Christianity. The preaching of the faith and the
baptism of converts proceeded almost as rapidly as the marching of
Salcedo's soldiers.
The Dangers of the Spanish Occupation.--Such conditions assured the
success of the Spanish occupation, provided the small colony could
be protected from outside attacks. But even from the beginning the
position of this little band of conquerors was perilous. Their numbers
were small and of necessity much scattered, and their only source
of succor lay thousands of miles away, across the greatest body of
water on the earth, in a land itself a colony newly wrested from
the hand of the Indian. Across the narrow waters of the China Sea,
only a few days' distant, even in the slow-sailing junks, lay the
teeming shores of the most populous country in the world, in those
days not averse to foreign conquest.
Attempt of the Chinese under Limahong to Capture Manila.--Activity of
the Southern Chinese.--It was from the Chinese that the first heavy
blow fell. The southeastern coast of China, comprising the provinces of
Kwangtung and Fukien, has always exhibited a restlessness and passion
for emigration not displayed by other parts of the country. From these
two provinces, through the ports of Amoy and Canton, have gone those
Chinese traders and coolies to be found in every part of the East
and many other countries of the world. Two hundred years before the
arrival of the Spaniards, Chinese junks traversed the straits and
seas and visited regularly the coast of Mindanao.
Limahong's Expedition to the Philippines.--This coast of China has
always been notorious for its piracy. The distance of the capital at
Peking and the weakness of the provincial viceroys have made impossible
its suppression. It was one of these bold filibusters of the China Sea,
called Limahong, who two years after the death of Legaspi attempted
the conquest of the Philippines. The stronghold of this corsair was the
island of Pehon, where he fortified himself and developed his power.
Here, reports of the prosperous condition of Manila reached him,
and he prepared a fleet of sixty-two war-junks, with four thousand
soldiers and sailors. The accounts even state that a large number of
women and artisans were taken on board to form the nucleus of the
settlement, as soon as the Spaniards should be destroyed. In the
latter part of November, 1574, this powerful fleet came sweeping
down the western coast of Luzon and on the 29th gathered in the
little harbor of Mariveles, at the entrance to Manila Bay. Eight
miles south of Manila is the town of Parañaque, on an estuary which
affords a good landing-place for boats entering from the bay. Here
on the night following, Limahong put ashore six hundred men, under
one of his generals, Sioco, who was a Japanese.
The Attack upon Manila.--From here they marched rapidly up the beach
and fell furiously upon the city. Almost their first victim was the
field-marshal Goiti. The fort of Manila was at this date a weak affair,
without ditches or escarpment, and it was here that the struggle took
place. The Spaniards, although greatly outnumbered, were able to
drive back the Chinese; but they themselves lost heavily. Limahong
now sent ashore heavy reinforcements, and prepared to overwhelm the
garrison. The Spaniards were saved from defeat by the timely arrival
of Salcedo with fifty musketeers. From his station at Vigan he had
seen the sails of Limahong's fleet, cruising southward along the Luzon
coast, and, suspecting that so great an expedition could have no other
purpose than the capture of Manila, he embarked in seven small boats,
and reached the city in six days, just in time to participate in the
furious battle between the Spaniards and the entire forces of the
Chinese pirate. The result was the complete defeat of the Chinese,
who were driven back upon their boats at Parañaque.
The Result of Limahong's Expedition.--Although defeated in his attack
on Manila, Limahong was yet determined on a settlement in Luzon, and,
sailing northward, he landed in Pangasinan and began constructing
fortifications at the mouth of the river Lingayen. The Spaniards
did not wait for him to strengthen himself and to dispute with them
afresh for the possession of the island, but organized in March an
expedition of two hundred and fifty Spaniards and fifteen hundred
Filipinos under Salcedo. They landed suddenly in the Gulf of Lingayen,
burned the entire fleet of the Chinese, and scattered a part of the
forces in the surrounding mountains. The rest, though hemmed in by
the Spaniards, were able to construct small boats, in which they
escaped from the islands.
Thus ended this formidable attack, which threatened for a time to
overthrow the power of Spain in the East. It was the beginning,
however, of important relations with China. Before Limahong's escape
a junk arrived from the viceroy of Fukien, petitioning for the
delivery of the Chinese pirate. Two Augustinian friars accompanied
his junk back to China, eager for such great fields of missionary
conquest. They carried letters from Lavezares inviting Chinese
friendship and intercourse.
Beginning of a New Period of Conquest.--In the spring of 1576, Salcedo
died at Vigan, at the age of twenty-seven. With his death may be said
to close the first period of the history in the Philippines,--that of
the Conquest, extending from 1565 to 1576. For the next twenty-five
years the ambitions of the Spaniards were not content with the
exploration of this archipelago, but there were greater and more
striking conquests, to which the minds of both soldier and priest
aspired.
Despite the settlement with Portugal, the rich Spice Islands to the
south still attracted them, and there were soon revealed the fertile
coasts of Siam and Cambodia, the great empire of China, the beautiful
island of Formosa, and the Japanese archipelago. These, with their
great populations and wealth, were more alluring fields than the poor
and sparsely populated coasts of the Philippines. So, for the next
quarter of a century, the policy of the Spaniards in the Philippines
was not so much to develop these islands themselves, as to make them
a center for the commercial and spiritual conquest of the Orient. [31]
A Treaty with the Chinese.--The new governor arrived in the Islands
in August, 1575. He was Dr. Francisco La-Sande. In October there
returned the ambassadors who had been sent to China by Lavezares. The
viceroy of Fukien had received them with much ceremony. He had not
permitted the friars to remain, but had forwarded the governor's
letter to the Chinese emperor. In February following came a Chinese
embassy, granting a port of the empire with which the Spaniards could
trade. This port, probably, was Amoy, which continued to be the chief
port of communication with China to the present day.
It was undoubtedly commerce and not the missionaries that the Chinese
desired. Two Augustinians attempted to return with this embassy to
China, but the Chinese on leaving the harbor of Manila landed on
the coast of Zambales, where they whipped the missionaries, killed
their servants and interpreter, and left the friars bound to trees,
whence they were rescued by a small party of Spaniards who happened
to pass that way.
Sir Francis Drake's Noted Voyage.--The year 1577 is notable for the
appearance in the East of the great English sea-captain, freebooter,
and naval hero, Francis Drake. England and Spain, at this moment, while
not actually at war, were rapidly approaching the conflict which made
them for centuries traditional enemies. Spain was the champion of Roman
ecclesiasticism. Her king, Philip the Second, was not only a cruel
bigot, but a politician of sweeping ambition. His schemes included the
conquest of France and England, the extermination of Protestantism,
and the subjection of Europe to his own and the Roman authority.
The English people scented the danger from afar, and while the two
courts nominally maintained peace, the daring seamen of British Devon
were quietly putting to sea in their swift and terrible vessels,
for the crippling of the Spanish power. The history of naval warfare
records no more reckless adventures than those of the English mariners
during this period. Audacity could not rise higher.
Drake's is the most famous and romantic figure of them all. In the
year 1577, he sailed from England with the avowed purpose of sweeping
the Spanish Main. He passed the Straits of Magellan, and came up the
western coast of South America, despoiling the Spanish shipping from
Valparaiso to Panama. Thence he came on across the Pacific, touched
the coast of Mindanao, and turned south to the Moluccas.
The Portuguese had nominally annexed the Moluccas in 1522, but at
the time of Drake's visit they had been driven from Ternate, though
still holding Tidor. Drake entered into friendly relations with the
sultan of Ternate, and secured a cargo of cloves. From here he sailed
boldly homeward, daring the Portuguese fleets, as he had defied the
Spanish, and by way of Good Hope returned to England, his fleet the
first after Magellan's to circumnavigate the globe.
A Spanish Expedition to Borneo.--The appearance of Drake in the
Moluccas roused La-Sande to ambitious action. The attraction of
the southern archipelagoes was overpowering, and at this moment the
opportunity seemed to open to the governor to force southward his
power. One of the Malay kings of Borneo, Sirela, arrived in Manila,
petitioning aid against his brother, and promising to acknowledge the
sovereignty of the king of Spain over the island of Borneo. La-Sande
went in person to restore this chieftain to power. He had a fleet of
galleys and frigates, and, according to Padre Gaspar de San Augustin,
more than fifteen hundred Filipino bowmen from Pangasinan, Cagayan,
and the Bisayas accompanied the expedition. He landed on the coast
of Borneo, destroyed the fleet of praos and the city of the usurper,
and endeavored to secure Sirela in his principality. Sickness among
his fleet and the lack of provisions forced him to return to Manila.
The First Attack upon the Moros of Jolo.--On his return he sent an
officer against the island of Jolo. This officer forced the Joloanos
to recognize his power, and from there he passed to the island of
Mindanao, where he further enforced obedience upon the natives. This
was the beginning of the Spanish expeditions against the Moros, which
had the effect of arousing in these Mohammedan pirates such terrible
retaliatory vengeance. Under La-Sande the conquest of the Camarines was
completed by Captain Juan Chavés and the city of Nueva Caceres founded.
The Appointment of Governor Ronquillo.--It was the uniform policy of
the Spanish government to limit the term of office of the governor
to a short period of years. This was one of the futile provisions by
which Spain attempted to control both the ambition and the avarice
of her colonial captains. But Don Gonzalo Ronquillo had granted to
him the governorship of the Philippines for life, on the condition of
his raising and equipping a force of six hundred in Spain, largely at
his own expense, for the better protection and pacification of the
archipelago. This Ronquillo did, bringing his expedition by way of
Panama. He arrived in April, 1580, and although he died at the end
of three years, his rule came at an important time.
The Spanish and the Portuguese Colonies Combined.--In 1580, Philip
II, conquered and annexed to Spain the kingdom of Portugal, and with
Portugal came necessarily to the Spanish crown those rich eastern
colonies which the valor of Da Gama and Albuquerque had won. Portugal
rewon her independence in 1640, but for years Manila was the capital
of a colonial empire, extending from Goa in India to Formosa.
Events of Ronquillo's Rule.--Ronquillo, under orders from the crown,
entered into correspondence with the captain of the Portuguese
fortress on the island of Tidor, and the captain of Tidor petitioned
Ronquillo for assistance in reconquering the tempting island of
Ternate. Ronquillo sent south a considerable expedition, but after
arriving in the Moluccas the disease of beri-beri in the Spanish
camp defeated the undertaking. Ronquillo also sent a small armada to
the coasts of Borneo and Malacca, where a limited amount of pepper
was obtained.
The few years of Ronquillo's reign were in other ways important. A
colony of Spaniards was established at Oton, on the island of Panay,
which was given the name of Arévalo (Iloilo). And under Ronquillo
was pacified for the first time the great valley of the Cagayan. At
the mouth of the river a Japanese adventurer, Tayfusa, or Tayzufu,
had established himself and was attempting the subjugation of this
important part of northern Luzon. Ronquillo sent against him Captain
Carreon, who expelled the intruder and established on the present
site of Lao-lo the city of Nueva Segovia. Two friars accompanied
this expedition and the occupation of this valley by the Spaniards
was made permanent.
The First Conflicts between the Church and the State.--In March, 1581,
there arrived the first Bishop of Manila, Domingo de Salazar. Almost
immediately began those conflicts between the spiritual and civil
authorities, and between bishop and the regular orders, which have
filled to such an extent the history of the islands. The bishop
was one of those authoritative, ambitious, and arrogant characters,
so typical in the history of the Church. It was largely due to his
protests against the autocratic power of the governor that the king
was induced to appoint the first Audiencia. The character and power
of these courts have already been explained. The president and judges
arrived the year following the death of Ronquillo, and the president,
Dr. Santiago de Vera, became acting governor during the succeeding
five years.
In 1587, the first Dominicans, fifteen in number, arrived, and founded
their celebrated mission, La Provincia del Santisimo Rosario.
Increasing Strength of the Malays.--De Vera continued the policy of
his predecessors and another fruitless attack was made on Ternate
in 1585. The power of the Malay people was increasing, while that of
the Europeans was decreasing. The sultans had expelled their foreign
masters, and neither Spaniard nor Portuguese were able to effect
the conquest of the Moluccas. There were uprisings of the natives in
Manila and in Cagayan and Ilocos.
The Decree of 1589.--Affairs in the Islands did not yet, however,
suit Bishop Salazar, and as the representative of both governor and
bishop, the Jesuit, Alonso Sanchez, was dispatched in 1586 to lay the
needs of the colony before the king. Philip was apparently impressed
with the necessity of putting the government of the Islands upon a
better administrative basis. To this end he published the important
decree of 1589.
The governor now became a paid officer of the crown, at a salary of
ten thousand ducats. For the proper protection of the colony and the
conquest of the Moluccas, a regular force of four hundred soldiers
accompanied the governor. His powers were extended to those of an
actual viceregent of the king, and the Audiencia was abolished. The man
selected to occupy this important post was Don Gomez Perez Dasmariñas,
who arrived with the new constitution in May, 1590. So great was
the chagrin of the bishop at the abolition of the Audiencia and the
increase of the governor's power, that he himself set out for Spain
to lay his wishes before the court.
The Missionary Efforts of the Friars.--Twenty-four Franciscans came
with Dasmariñas and the presence of the three orders necessitated the
partition of the Islands among them. The keenest rivalry and jealousy
existed among them over the prosecution of missions in still more
foreign lands. To the missionaries of this age it seemed a possible
thing to convert the great and conservative nations of China and
Japan to the Western religion.
In the month of Dasmariñas' arrival, a company of Dominicans attempted
to found a mission in China, and, an embassy coming from Japan to
demand vassalage from the Philippines, four of the newly arrived
Franciscans accompanied the Japanese on their return.
A year later, in 1592, another embassy from the king of Cambodia
arrived, bringing gifts that included two elephants, and petitioning
for succor against the king of Siam. This was the beginning of an
alliance between Cambodia and the Philippines which lasted for many
years, and which occasioned frequent military aid and many efforts
to convert that country.
Death of Dasmariñas.--But the center of Dasmariñas' ambitions was the
effective conquest of the East Indies and the extension of Spanish
power and his own rule through the Moluccas. With this end in view,
for three years he made preparations. For months the shores were lined
with the yards of the shipbuilders, and the great forests of Bulacan
fell before the axes of the Indians. More than two hundred vessels,
"galeras," "galeotas," and "virrayes," were built, and assembled
at Cavite.
In the fall of 1593, the expedition, consisting of over nine
hundred Spaniards, Filipino bowmen and rowers, was ready. Many of the
Filipinos, procured to row these boats, were said to have been slaves,
purchased through the Indian chiefs by the Spanish encomenderos. The
governor sent forward this great fleet under the command of his son,
Don Luis, and in the month of October he himself set sail in a galley
with Chinese rowers. But on the night of the second day, while off the
island of Maricaban, the Chinese oarsmen rose against the Spaniards,
of whom there were about forty on the ship, and killed almost the
entire number, including the governor. They then escaped in the boat
to the Ilocos coast and thence to China.
The murder of this active and illustrious general was a determining
blow to the ambitious projects for the conquest of the East
Indies. Among other papers which Dasmariñas brought from Spain was a
royal cedula giving him power to nominate his successor, who proved to
be his son, Don Luis, who after some difficulty succeeded temporarily
to his father's position.
Arrival of the Jesuits.--In June, 1595, there arrived Don Antonio de
Morga, who had been appointed assessor and lieutenant-governor of
the Islands, to succeed Don Luis. With Morga came the first Jesuit
missionaries. He was also the bearer of an order granting to the
Jesuits the exclusive privilege of conducting missions in China and
Japan. The other orders were forbidden to pass outside the Islands.
An attempt to Colonize Mindanao.--In the year 1596, the Captain
Rodriguez de Figueroa received the title of governor of Mindanao,
with exclusive right to colonize the island for "the space of
two lives." He left Iloilo in April with 214 Spaniards, two Jesuit
priests, and many natives. They landed in the Rio Grande of Mindanao,
where the defiant dato, Silonga, fortified himself and resisted
them. Almost immediately Figueroa rashly ventured on shore and was
killed by Moros. Reinforcements were sent under Don Juan Ronquillo,
who, after nearly bringing the datos to submission, abandoned all he
had gained. The Spaniards burned their forts on the Rio Grande and
retired to Caldera, near Zamboanga, where they built a presidio.
Death of Franciscans in Japan.--The new governor, Don Francisco
Tello de Guzman, arrived on June 1, 1596. He had previously been
treasurer of the Casa de Contratacion in Seville. Soon after his
arrival an important and serious tragedy occurred in Japan. The ship
for Acapulco went ashore on the Japanese coast and its rich cargo was
seized by the feudal prince where the vessel sought assistance. The
Franciscans had already missions in these islands, and a quarrel
existed between them and the Portuguese Jesuits over this missionary
field. The latter succeeded in prejudicing the Japanese court against
the Franciscans, and when they injudiciously pressed for the return
of the property of the wrecked galleon, "San Felipe," the emperor,
greedy for the rich plunder, and exasperated by their preaching,
met their petitions with the sentence of death. They were horribly
crucified at the port of Nagasaki, February 5, 1597. This emperor was
the proud and cruel ruler, Taycosama. He was planning the conquest
of the Philippines themselves, when death ended his plans.
The First Archbishop in the Philippines.--Meanwhile the efforts of
Salazar at the Spanish court had effected further important changes
for the Islands. The reëstablishment of the Royal Audiencia was
ordered, and his own position was elevated to that of archbishop,
with the three episcopal sees of Ilocos, Cebu, and the Camarines. He
did not live to assume this office, and the first archbishop of the
Philippines was Ignacio Santibañez, who also died three months after
his arrival, on May 28, 1598.
Reëstablishment of the Audiencia.--The Audiencia was reëstablished with
great pomp and ceremony. The royal seal was borne on a magnificently
caparisoned horse to the cathedral, where a Te Deum was chanted,
and then to the Casas Reales, where was inaugurated the famous court
that continued without interruption down to the end of Spanish
rule. Dr. Morga was one of the first oidores, and the earliest
judicial record which can now be found in the archives of this court
is a sentence bearing his signature.
The Rise of Moro Piracy.--The last years of De Guzman's governorship
were filled with troubles ominous for the future of the Islands. The
presidio of Caldera was destroyed by the Moros. Following this
victory, in the year 1599, the Moros of Jolo and Maguindanao equipped
a piratical fleet of fifty caracoas, and swept the coasts of the
Bisayas. Cebu, Negros, and Panay were ravaged, their towns burned,
and their inhabitants carried off as slaves.
The following year saw the return of a larger and still more dreadful
expedition. The people of Panay abandoned their towns and fled into
the mountains, under the belief that these terrible attacks had been
inspired by the Spaniards. To check these pirates, Juan Gallinato,
with a force of two hundred Spaniards, was sent against Jolo,
but, like so many expeditions that followed his, he accomplished
nothing. The inability of the Spaniards was now revealed and the
era of Moro piracy had begun. "From this time until the present day"
(about the year 1800), wrote Zuñiga, "these Moros have not ceased to
infest our colonies; innumerable are the Indians they have captured,
the towns they have looted, the rancherias they have destroyed, the
vessels they have taken. It seems as if God has preserved them for
vengeance on the Spaniards that they have not been able to subject
them in two hundred years, in spite of the expeditions sent against
them, the armaments sent almost very year to pursue them. In a very
little while we conquered all the islands of the Philippines; but the
little island of Jolo, a part of Mindanao, and other islands near by
we have not been able to subjugate to this day." [32]
Battle at Mariveles with the Dutch.--In October, 1600, two Dutch
vessels appeared in the Islands; it was the famous expedition of
the Dutch admiral, Van Noort. They had come through the Straits of
Magellan, on a voyage around the world. The Dutch were in great need of
provisions. As they were in their great enemy's colony, they captured
and sunk several boats, Spanish and Chinese, bound for Manila with
rice, poultry, palm-wine, and other stores of food. At Mariveles,
a Japanese vessel from Japan was overhauled. Meanwhile in Manila
great excitement and activity prevailed. The Spaniards fitted up two
galleons and the "Oidor" Morga himself took command with a large crew
of fighting men.
On November 14, they attacked the Dutch, whose crews were greatly
reduced to only eighty men on both ships. The vessel commanded by
Morga ran down the flagship of Van Noort, and for hours the ships lay
side by side while a hand-to-hand fight raged on the deck and in the
hold. The ships taking fire, Morga disengaged his ship, which was so
badly shattered that it sank, with great loss of life; but Morga and
some others reached the little island of Fortuna. Van Noort was able
to extinguish the fire on his vessel, and escape from the Islands. He
eventually reached Holland. His smaller vessel was captured with its
crew of twenty-five men, who were all hung at Cavite. [33]
Other Troubles of the Spanish.--In the year 1600, two ships sailed
for Acapulco, but one went down off the Catanduanes and the other was
shipwrecked on the Ladrones. "On top of all other misfortunes, Manila
suffered, in the last months of this government, a terrible earthquake,
which destroyed many houses and the church of the Jesuits." [34]
The Moros, the Dutch, anxieties and losses by sea, the visitations
of God,--how much of the history of the seventeenth century in the
Philippines is filled with these four things!
CHAPTER VIII.
THE PHILIPPINES THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
Condition of the Archipelago at the Beginning of the Seventeenth
Century.--The Spanish Rule Completely Established.--At the close
of the sixteenth century the Spaniards had been in possession of
the Philippines for a generation. In these thirty-five years the
most striking of all the results of the long period of Spanish
occupation were accomplished. The work of these first soldiers and
missionaries established the limits and character of Spanish rule as
it was to remain for 250 years. Into this first third of a century
the Spaniard crowded all his heroic feats of arms, exploration,
and conversion. Thereafter, down to 1850, new fields were explored,
and only a few new tribes Christianized.
The survey of the archipelago given by Morga soon after 1600 reads
like a narrative of approximately modern conditions. It reveals to
us how great had been the activities of the early Spaniard and how
small the achievements of his countrymen after the seventeenth century
began. All of the large islands, except Paragua and the Moro country,
were, in that day, under encomiendas, their inhabitants paying tributes
and for the most part professing the Catholic faith.
The smaller groups and islets were almost as thoroughly exploited. Even
of the little Catanduanes, lying off the Pacific coast of Luzon,
Morga could say, "They are well populated with natives,--a good
race, all encomended to Spaniards, with doctrine and churches, and
an alcalde-mayor, who does justice among them."
He says of the Babuyanes at the extreme north of the archipelago,
"They are not encomended, nor is tribute collected among them, nor
are there Spaniards among them, because they are of little reason and
politeness, and there have neither been Christians made among them,
nor have they justices." They continued in this condition until a few
years before the end of Spanish rule. In 1591, however, the Babuyanes
had been given in encomienda to Esteban de la Serna and Francisco
Castillo. They are put as having two thousand inhabitants and five
hundred "tributantes," but all unsubdued ("todos alçados").
On some islands the hold of the Spaniards was more extensive in Morga's
day than at a later time. Then the island of Mindoro was regarded as
important, and in the early years and decades of Spanish power appears
to have been populous along the coasts. Later it was desolated by the
Moro pirates and long remained wild and almost uninhabited except by
a shifting population from the mainland of Luzon.
The Encomiendas.--The first vessels that followed the expedition of
Legaspi had brought orders from the king that the Islands should be
settled, and divided in encomiendas to those who had conquered and
won them. [35] On this instruction, Legaspi had given the Filipinos
in encomienda to his captains and soldiers as fast as the conquest
proceeded.
We are fortunate to have a review of these encomiendas, made in 1591,
about twenty-five years after the system was introduced into the
Islands. [36] There were then 267 encomiendas in the Philippines,
of which thirty-one were of the king, and the remainder of private
persons.
Population under the Encomiendas.--From the enumeration of these
encomiendas, we learn that the most populous parts of the archipelago
were La Laguna, with 24,000 tributantes and 97,000 inhabitants, and the
Camarines, which included all the Bicol territory, and the Catanduanes,
where there were 21,670 tributantes and a population of over 86,000, In
the vicinity of Manila and Tondo, which included Cavite and Marigondon,
the south shore of the bay, and Pasig and Taguig, there were collected
9,410 tributes, and the population was estimated at about 30,000. In
Ilocos were reported 17,130 tributes and 78,520 souls.
The entire valley of the Cagayan had been divided among the soldiers
of the command which had effected the conquest. In the list of
encomiendas a few can be recognized, such as Yguig and Tuguegarao,
but most of the names are not to be found on maps of to-day. Most of
the inhabitants were reported to be "rebellious" (alçados), and some
were apparently the same wild tribes which still occupy all of this
water-shed, except the very banks of the river; but none the less
had the Spaniards divided them off into "repartimientos." One soldier
had even taken as an encomienda the inhabitants of the upper waters
of the river, a region which is called in the Relacion "Pugao," with
little doubt the habitat of the same Igorrote tribe as the Ipugao,
who still dwell in these mountains. The upper valley of the Magat,
or Nueva Vizcaya, does not appear to have been occupied and probably
was not until the missions of the eighteenth century.
The population among the Bisayan islands was quite surprisingly
small, considering its present proportions. Masbate, for example,
had but 1,600 souls; Burias, a like number; the whole central group,
leaving out Panay, only 15,833 tributes, or about 35,000 souls. There
was a single encomienda in Butúan, Mindanao, and another on the Caraga
coast. There were a thousand tributes collected in the encomienda of
Cuyo, and fifteen hundred in Calamianes, which, says the Relacion,
included "los negrillos," probably the mixed Negrito population of
northern Palawan.
The entire population under encomiendas is set down as 166,903
tributes, or 667,612 souls. This is, so far as known, the earliest
enumeration of the population of the Philippines. Barring the Igorrotes
of northern Luzon and the Moros and other tribes of Mindanao, it is
a fair estimate of the number of the Filipino people three hundred
years ago.
It will be noticed that the numbers assigned to single encomenderos
in the Philippines were large. In America the number was limited. As
early as 1512, King Ferdinand had forbidden any single person, of
whatever rank or grade, to hold more than three hundred Indians on
one island. [37] But in the Philippines, a thousand or twelve hundred
"tributantes" were frequently held by a single Spaniard.
Condition of the Filipinos under the Encomiendas.--Frequent
Revolts.--That the Filipinos on many of these islands bitterly
resented their condition is evidenced by the frequent uprisings
and rebellions. The encomenderos were often extortionate and cruel,
and absolutely heedless of the restrictions and obligations imposed
upon them by the Laws of the Indies. Occasionally a new governor,
under the first impulse of instructions from Mexico or Spain, did
something to correct abuses. Revolts were almost continuous during
the year 1583, and the condition of the natives very bad, many
encomenderos regarding them and treating them almost as slaves, and
keeping them at labor to the destruction of their own crops and the
misery of their families. Gov. Santiago de Vera reached the Islands
the following year and made a characteristic attempt to improve the
system, which is thus related by Zuñiga:--
"As soon as he had taken possession of the government, he studied to
put into effect the orders which he brought from the king, to punish
certain encomenderos, who had abused the favor they had received in
being given encomiendas, whereby he deposed Bartolomé de Ledesma,
encomendero of Abuyo (Leyte), and others of those most culpable,
and punished the others in proportion to the offenses which they had
committed, and which had been proven.
"In the following year of 1585, he sent Juan de Morones and Pablo de
Lima, with a well equipped squadron, to the Moluccas, which adventure
was as unfortunate as those that had preceded it, and they returned to
Manila without having been able to take the fortress of Ternate. The
governor felt it very deeply that the expedition had failed, and wished
to send another armada in accordance with the orders which the king
had given him; but he could not execute this because the troops from
New Spain did not arrive, and because of the Indians, who lost no
occasion which presented itself to shake off the yoke of the Spaniards.
"The Pampangos and many inhabitants of Manila confederated with the
Moros of Borneo, who had come for trade, and plotted to enter the city
by night, set it on fire, and, in the confusion of the conflagration,
slay all the Spaniards. This conspiracy was discovered through an
Indian woman, who was married to a Spanish soldier, and measures to
meet the conspiracy were taken, before the mine exploded, many being
seized and suffering exemplary punishment.
"The islands of Samar, Ybabao, and Leyte were also in disturbance,
and the encomendero of Dagami, pueblo of Leyte, was in peril of losing
his life, because the Indians were incensed by his thievings in the
collection of tribute, which was paid in wax, and which he compelled
them to have weighed with a steelyard which he had made double the
legal amount, and wanted to kill him. They would have done so if he
had not escaped into the mountains and afterwards passed by a banca
to the island of Cebu. The governor sent Captain Lorenzo de la Mota
to pacify these disturbances; he made some punishments, and with
these everything quieted down." [38]
Three years later, however, the natives of Leyte were again in
revolt. In 1589 Cagayan rose and killed many Spaniards. The revolt
seems to have spread from here to the town of Dingras, Ilocos, where
the natives rose against the collectors of tribute, and slew six
Spaniards of the pueblo of Fernandina. (Zuñiga, Historia de Filipinas,
p. 165.) [39]
Effects of the Spanish Government.--The Spanish occupation had brought
ruin and misery to some parts of the country. Salazar describes with
bitterness the evil condition of the Filipinos. In the rich fields
of Bulacan and Pampanga, great gangs of laborers had been impressed,
felling the forests for the construction of the Spanish fleets and
manning these fleets at the oars, on voyages which took them for
four and six months from their homes. The governor, Don Gonzalez de
Ronquillo, had forced many Indians of Pampanga into the mines of
Ilocos, taking them from the sowing of their rice. Many had died
in the mines and the rest returned so enfeebled that they could
not plant. Hunger and famine had descended upon Pampanga, and on
the encomienda of Guido de Lavazares over a thousand had died from
starvation. [40]
The Taxes.--The taxes were another source of abuse. Theoretically,
the tax upon Indians was limited to the "tributo," the sum of eight
reales (about one dollar) yearly from the heads of all families,
payable either in gold or in produce of the district. But in fixing the
prices of these commodities there was much extortion, the encomenderos
delaying the collection of the tribute until the season of scarcity,
when prices were high, but insisting then on the same amount as
at harvest-time.
The principal, who occupied the place of the former dato,
or "maharlica," like the gobernadorcillo of recent times, was
responsible for the collecting of the tribute, and his lot seems
to have been a hard one. "If they do not give as much as they ask,
or do not pay for as many Indians as they say there are, they abuse
the poor principal, or throw him into the pillory (cepo de cabeza),
because all the encomenderos, when they go to make collections, take
their pillories with them, and there they keep him and torment him,
until forced to give all they ask. They are even said to take the wife
and daughter of the principal, when he can not be found. "Many are the
principales who have died under these torments, according to reports."
Salazar further states that he has known natives to be sold into
slavery, in default of tribute. Neither did they impose upon adults
alone, but "they collect tribute from infants, the aged and the slaves,
and many do not marry because of the tribute, and others slay their
children." [41]
Scarcity of Food.--Salazar further charges that the alcaldes mayores
(the alcaldes of provinces), sixteen in number, were all corrupt,
and, though their salaries were small, they accumulated fortunes. For
further enumeration of economic ills, Salazar details how prices had
evilly increased. In the first years of Spanish occupation, food was
abundant. There was no lack of rice, beans, chickens, pigs, venison,
buffalo, fish, cocoanuts, bananas, and other fruits, wine and honey;
and a little money bought much. A hundred gantas (about three hundred
pints) of rice could then be bought for a toston (a Portuguese coin,
worth about a half-peso), eight to sixteen fowls for a like amount, a
fat pig for from four to six reales. In the year of his writing (about
1583), products were scarce and prices exorbitant. Rice had doubled,
chickens were worth a real, a good pig six to eight pesos. Population
had decreased, and whole towns were deserted, their inhabitants having
fled into the hills.
General Improvement under Spanish Rule.--This is one side of the
picture. It probably is overdrawn by the bishop, who was jealous of the
civil authority and who began the first of those continuous clashes
between the church and political power in the Philippines. Doubtless
if we could see the whole character of Spanish rule in these decades,
we should see that the actual condition of the Filipino had improved
and his grade of culture had arisen. No one can estimate the actual
good that comes to a people in being brought under the power of a
government able to maintain peace and dispense justice. Taxation is
sometimes grievous, corruption without excuse; but almost anything
is better than anarchy.
Before the coming of the Spaniards, it seems unquestionable that
the Filipinos suffered greatly under two terrible grievances that
inflict barbarous society,--in the first place, warfare, with its
murder, pillage, and destruction, not merely between tribe and tribe,
but between town and town, such as even now prevails in the wild
mountains of northern Luzon, among the primitive Malayan tribes;
and in the second place, the weak and poor man was at the mercy of
the strong and rich.
The establishment of Spanish sovereignty had certainly mitigated, if
it did not wholly remedy, these conditions. "All of these provinces,"
Morga could write, "are pacified and are governed from Manila,
having alcaldes mayores, corregidors, and lieutenants, each one of
whom governs in his district or province and dispenses justice. The
chieftains (principales), who formerly held the other natives in
subjection, no longer have power over them in the manner which they
tyrannically employed, which is not the least benefit these natives
have received in escaping from such slavery." [42]
Old Social Order of the Filipinos but Little Disturbed.--Some governors
seem to have done their utmost to improve the condition of the people
and to govern them well. Santiago de Vera, as we have seen, even went
so far as to commission the worthy priest, Padre Juan de Plasencia,
to investigate the customs and social organization of the Filipinos,
and to prepare an account of their laws, that they might be more
suitably governed. This brief code--for so it is--was distributed
to alcaldes, judges, and encomenderos, with orders to pattern their
decisions in accordance with Filipino custom. [43]
In ordering local affairs, the Spaniards to some extent left the
old social order of the Filipinos undisturbed. The several social
classes were gradually suppressed, and at the head of each barrio,
or small settlement, was appointed a head, or cabeza de barangay. As
these barangays were grouped into pueblos, or towns, the former datos
were appointed captains and gobernadorcillos.
The Payment of Tribute.--The tribute was introduced in 1570. [44]
It was supposed to be eight reales or a peso of silver for each
family. Children under sixteen and those over sixty were exempt. In
1590 the amount was raised to ten reales. To this was added a real
for the church, known as "sanctorum," and, on the organization of the
towns, a real for the caja de communidad or municipal treasury. Under
the encomiendas the tribute was paid to the encomenderos, except
on the royal encomiendas; but after two or three generations, as
the encomiendas were suppressed, these collections went directly
to the insular treasury. There was, in addition to the tribute,
a compulsory service of labor on roads, bridges, and public works,
known as the "corvee," a feudal term, or perhaps more generally as the
"polos y servicios." Those discharging this enforced labor were called
"polistas."
Conversion of the Filipinos to Christianity.--The population had
been very rapidly Christianized. All accounts agree that almost
no difficulty was encountered in baptizing the more advanced
tribes. "There is not in these islands a province," says Morga,
"which resists conversion and does not desire it." [45] Indeed,
the Islands seem to have been ripe for the preaching of a higher
faith, either Christian or Mohammedan. For a time these two great
religions struggled together in the vicinity of Manila, [46] but
at the end of three decades Spanish power and religion were alike
established. Conversion was delayed ordinarily only by the lack of
sufficient numbers of priests. We have seen that this conversion of
the people was the work of the missionary friars. In 1591 there were
140 in the Islands, but the Relacion de Encomiendas calls for 160
more to properly supply the peoples which had been laid under tribute.
Coming of the Friars.--The Augustinians had been the first to come,
accompanying Legaspi. Then came the barefooted friars of the Order of
Saint Francis. The first Jesuits, padres Antonio Sedeño and Alonzo
Sanchez, came with the first bishop of the Islands, Domingo de
Salazar, in 1580. They came apparently without resources. Even their
garments brought from Mexico had rotted on the voyage. They found
a little, poor, narrow house in a suburb of Manila, called Laguio
(probably Concepcion). "So poorly furnished was it," says Chirino,
"that the same chest which held their books was the table on which
they ate. Their food for many days was rice, cooked in water, without
salt or oil or fish or meat or even an egg, or anything else except
that sometimes as a regalo they enjoyed some salt sardines." [47]
After the Jesuits, came, as we have seen, the friars of the Dominican
order, and lastly the Recollects, or unshod Augustinians.
Division of the Archipelago among the Religious Orders.--The
archipelago was districted among these missionary bands. The
Augustinians had many parishes in the Bisayas, on the Ilocano coast,
some in Pangasinan, and all of those in Pampanga. The Dominicans
had parts of Pangasinan and all of the valley of Cagayan. The
Franciscans controlled the Camarines and nearly all of southern Luzon,
and the region of Laguna de Bay. All of these orders had convents
and monasteries both in the city of Manila and in the country round
about. The imposing churches of brick and stone, which now characterize
nearly every pueblo, had not in those early decades been erected;
but Morga tells us that "the churches and monasteries were of wood,
and well built, with furniture and beautiful ornaments, complete
service, crosses, candlesticks, and chalices of silver and gold." [48]
The First Schools.--Even in these early years there seem to have
been some attempts at the education of the natives. The friars had
schools in reading and writing for boys, who were also taught to
serve in the church, to sing, to play the organ, the harp, guitar,
and other instruments. We must remember, however, that the Filipino
before the arrival of the Spaniard had a written language, and even
in pre-Spanish times there must have been instruction given to the
child. The type of humble school, that is found to-day in remote
barrios, conducted by an old man or woman, on the floor or in the
yard of a home, where the ordinary family occupations are proceeding,
probably does not owe its origin to the Spaniards, but dates from
a period before their arrival. The higher education established by
the Spaniards appears to have been exclusively for the children of
Spaniards. In 1601 the Jesuits, pioneers of the Roman Catholic orders
in education, established the College of San José.
Establishment of Hospitals.--The city early had notable foundations
of charity. The high mortality which visited the Spaniards in
these islands and the frequency of diseases early called for the
establishment of institutions for the orphan and the invalid. In
Morga's time there were the orphanages of San Andres and Santa
Potenciana. There was the Royal Hospital, in charge of three
Franciscans, which burned in the conflagration of 1603, but was
reconstructed. There was also a Hospital of Mercy, in charge of
Sisters of Charity from Lisbon and the Portuguese possessions of India.
Close by the Monastery of Saint Francis stood then, where it stands
to-day, the hospital for natives, San Juan de Dios. It was of
royal patronage, but founded by a friar of the Franciscan order,
Juan Clemente. "Here," says Morga, "are cured a great number of
natives of all kinds of sicknesses, with much charity and care. It
has a good house and offices of stone, and is administered by the
barefooted religious of Saint Francis. Three priests are there and
four lay-brethren of exemplary life, who, with the doctors, surgeons,
and apothecaries, are so dexterous and skilled that they work with
their hands marvelous cures, both in medicine and surgery." [49]
Mortality among the Spaniards.--Mortality in the Philippines in
these years of conquest was frightfully high. The waste of life in
her colonial adventures, indeed, drained Spain of her best and most
vigorous manhood. In the famous old English collection of voyages,
published by Hakluyt in 1598, there is printed a captured Spanish
letter of the famous sea-captain, Sebastian Biscaino, on the Philippine
trade. Biscaino grieves over the loss of life which had accompanied
the conquest of the Philippines, and the treacherous climate of the
tropics. "The country is very unwholesome for us Spaniards. For within
these 20 years, of 14,000 which have gone to the Philippines, there
are 13,000 of them dead, and not past 1,000 of them left alive." [50]
The Spanish Population.--The Spanish population of the Islands
was always small,--at the beginning of the seventeenth century
certainly not more than two thousand, and probably less later in
the century. Morga divides them into five classes: the prelates and
ecclesiastics; the encomenderos, colonizers, and conquerors; soldiers
and officers of war and marine; merchants and men of business; and
the officers of his Majesty's government. "Very few are living now,"
he says, "of those first conquistadores who won the land and effected
the conquest with the Adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legaspi." [51]
The Largest Cities.--Most of this Spanish population dwelt in Manila
or in the five other cities which the Spaniards had founded in the
first three decades of their occupation. Those were as follows:--
The City of Nueva Segovia, at the mouth of the Cagayan, was founded
in the governorship of Ronquillo, when the valley of the Cagayan was
first occupied and the Japanese colonists, who had settled there,
were expelled. It had at the beginning of the seventeenth century two
hundred Spaniards, living in houses of wood. There was a fort of stone,
where some artillery was mounted. Besides the two hundred Spanish
inhabitants there were one hundred regular Spanish soldiers, with
their officers and the alcalde mayor of the province. Nueva Segovia
was also the seat of a bishopric which included all northern Luzon. The
importance of the then promising city has long ago disappeared, and the
pueblo of Lallo, which marks its site, is an insignificant native town.
The City of Nueva Caceres, in the Camarines, was founded by Governor
La-Sande. It, too, was the seat of a bishopric, and had one hundred
Spanish inhabitants.
The Cities of Cebu and Iloilo.--In the Bisayas were the Cities of
the Holy Name of God (Cebu), and on the island of Panay, Arévalo (or
Iloilo). The first maintained something of the importance attaching
to the first Spanish settlement. It had its stone fort and was also
the seat of a bishopric. It was visited by trading-vessels from the
Moluccas, and by permit of the king enjoyed for a time the unusual
privilege of sending annually a ship loaded with merchandise to New
Spain. Arévalo had about eighty Spanish inhabitants, and a monastery
of the Augustinians.
The City of Fernandina, or Vigan, which Salcedo had founded, was nearly
without Spanish inhabitants. Still, it was the political center of the
great Ilocano coast, and it has held this position to the present day.
Manila.--But all of these cities were far surpassed in importance
by the capital on the banks of the Pasig. The wisdom of Legaspi's
choice had been more than justified. Manila, at the beginning of the
seventeenth century, was unquestionably the most important European
city of the East. As we have already seen, in 1580 Portugal had been
annexed by Spain and with her had come all the Portuguese possessions
in India, China, and Malaysia. After 1610, the Dutch were almost
annually warring for this colonial empire, and Portugal regained her
independence in 1640. But for the first few years of the seventeenth
century, Manila was the political mistress of an empire that stretched
from Goa to Formosa and embraced all those coveted lands which for
a century and a half had been the desire of European states.
The governor of the Philippines was almost an independent
king. Nominally, he was subordinate to the viceroy of Mexico, but
practically he waged wars, concluded peaces, and received and sent
embassies at his own discretion. The kingdom of Cambodia was his ally,
and the states of China and Japan were his friends.
The Commercial Importance of Manila.--Manila was also the commercial
center of the Far East, and the entrepôt through which the kingdoms
of eastern Asia exchanged their wares. Here came great fleets of
junks from China laden with stores. Morga fills nearly two pages
with an enumeration of their merchandise, which included all manner
of silks, brocades, furniture, pearls and gems, fruits, nuts, tame
buffalo, geese, horses and mules, all kinds of animals, "even to
birds in cages, some of which talk and others sing, and which they
make perform a thousand tricks; there are innumerable other gew-gaws
and knickknacks, which among Spaniards are in much esteem." [52]
Each year a fleet of thirty to forty vessels sailed with the new moon
in March. The voyage across the China Sea, rough with the monsoons,
occupied fifteen or twenty days, and the fleet returned at the end of
May or the beginning of June. Between October and March there came,
each year, Japanese ships from Nagasaki which brought wheat, silks,
objects of art, and weapons, and took away from Manila the raw silk
of China, gold, deer horns, woods, honey, wax, palm-wine, and wine
of Castile.
From Malacca and India came fleets of the Portuguese subjects of Spain,
with spices, slaves, Negroes and Kafirs, and the rich productions of
Bengal, India, Persia, and Turkey. From Borneo, too, came the smaller
craft of the Malays, who from their boats sold the fine palm mats,
the best of which still come from Cagayan de Sulu and Borneo, slaves,
sago, water-pots and glazed earthenware, black and fine. From Siam
and Cambodia also, but less often, there came trading-ships. Manila
was thus a great emporium for all the countries of the East, the
trade of which seems to have been conducted largely by and through
the merchants of Manila.
Trade with Mexico and Spain Restricted.--The commerce between the
Philippines, and Mexico and Spain, though it was of vast importance,
was limited by action of the crown. It was a commerce which apparently
admitted of infinite expansion, but the shortsighted merchants and
manufacturers of the Peninsula clamored against its development,
and it was subjected to the severest limitations. Four galleons
were at first maintained for this trade, which were dispatched two
at a time in successive years from Manila to the port of Acapulco,
Mexico. The letter on the Philippine trade, already quoted, states that
these galleons were great ships of six hundred and eight hundred tons
apiece. [53] They went "very strong with soldiers," and they carried
the annual mail, reinforcements, and supplies of Mexican silver for
trade with China, which has remained the commercial currency of the
East to the present day. Later the number of galleons was reduced
to one.
The Rich Cargoes of the Galleons.--The track of the Philippine galleon
lay from Luzon northeastward to about the forty-second degree of
latitude, where the westerly winds prevail, thence nearly straight
across the ocean to Cape Mendocino in northern California, which
was discovered and mapped by Biscaino in 1602. Thence the course lay
down the western coast of North America nearly three thousand miles
to the port of Acapulco.
We can imagine how carefully selected and rich in quality were the
merchandises with which these solitary galleons were freighted,
the pick of all the rich stores which came to Manila. The profits
were enormous,--six and eight hundred per cent. Biscaino wrote that
with two hundred ducats invested in Spanish wares and some Flemish
commodities, he made fourteen hundred ducats; but, he added, in 1588
he lost a ship,--robbed and burned by Englishmen. On the safe arrival
of these ships depended how much of the fortunes of the colony!
Capture of the Galleons.--For generations these galleons were probably
the most tempting and romantic prize that ever aroused the cupidity of
privateer. The first to profit by this rich booty was Thomas Cavendish,
who in 1584 came through the Straits of Magellan with a fleet of five
vessels. Like Drake before him, he ravaged the coast of South America
and then steered straight away across the sea to the Moluccas. Here
he acquired information about the rich commerce of the Philippines
and of the yearly voyage of the galleon. Back across the Pacific went
the fleet of Cavendish for the coast of California.
In his own narrative he tells how he beat up and down between Capes
San Lucas and Mendocino until the galleon, heavy with her riches,
appeared. She fell into his hands almost without a fray. She carried
one hundred and twenty-two thousand pesos of gold and a great and
rich store of satins, damask, and musk. Cavendish landed the Spanish
on the California coast, burned the "Santa Anna," and then returned
to the Philippines and made an attack upon the shipyard of Iloilo,
but was repulsed. He sent a letter to the governor at Manila, boasting
of his capture, and then sailed for the Cape of Good Hope and home.
There is an old story that tells how his sea-worn ships came up
the Thames, their masts hung with silk and damask sails. From this
time on the venture was less safe. In 1588 there came to Spain the
overwhelming disaster of her history,--the destruction of the Great
Armada. From this date her power was gone, and her name was no longer
a terror on the seas. English freebooters controlled the oceans,
and in 1610 the Dutch appeared in the East, never to withdraw.
The City of Manila Three Hundred Years Ago.--We can hardly close this
chapter without some further reference to the city of Manila as it
appeared three hundred years ago. Morga has fortunately left us a
detailed description from which the following points in the main are
drawn. As we have already seen, Legaspi had laid out the city on the
blackened site of the town and fortress of the Mohammedan prince,
which had been destroyed in the struggle for occupation. He gave it
the same extent and dimensions that it possesses to this day.
Like other colonial capitals in the Far East, it was primarily a
citadel and refuge from attack. On the point between the sea and
the river Legaspi had built the famous and permanent fortress of
Santiago. In the time of the great Adelantado it was probably only a
wooden stockade, but under the governor Santiago de Vera it was built
up of stone. Cavendish (1587) describes Manila as "an unwalled town and
of no great strength," but under the improvements and completions made
by Dasmariñas about 1590 it assumed much of its present appearance. Its
guns thoroughly commanded the entrance to the river Pasig and made
the approach of hostile boats from the harbor side impossible.
It is noteworthy, then, that all the assaults that have been made
upon the city, from that of Limahong, to those of the British in 1763,
and of the Americans in 1898, have been directed against the southern
wall by an advance from Parañaque. Dasmariñas also inclosed the city
with a stone wall, the base from which the present noble rampart has
arisen. It had originally a width of from seven and a half to nine
feet. Of its height no figure is given, Morga says simply that with
its buttresses and turrets it was sufficiently high for the purposes
of defense.
The Old Fort.--There was a stone fort on the south side facing Ermita,
known as the Fortress of Our Lady of Guidance; and there were two
or more bastions, each with six pieces of artillery,--St. Andrew's,
now a powder magazine at the southeast corner, and St. Gabriel's,
over-looking the Parian district, where the Chinese were settled.
The three principal gates to the city, with the smaller wickets and
posterns, which opened on the river and sea, were regularly closed
at night by the guard which made the rounds. At each gate and wicket
was a permanent post of soldiers and artillerists.
The Plaza de Armas adjacent to the fort had its arsenal, stores,
powder-works, and a foundry for the casting of guns and artillery. The
foundry, when established by Ronquillo, was in charge of a Pampangan
Indian called Pandapira.
The Spanish Buildings of the City.--The buildings of the city,
especially the Casas Reales and the churches and monasteries, had been
durably erected of stone. Chirino claims that the hewing of stone, the
burning of lime, and the training of native and Chinese artisans for
this building, were the work of the Jesuit father, Sedeño. He himself
fashioned the first clay tiles and built the first stone house, and so
urged and encouraged others, himself directing, the building of public
works, that the city, which a little before had been solely of timber
and cane, had become one of the best constructed and most beautiful
in the Indies. [54] He it was also who sought out Chinese painters
and decorators and ornamented the churches with images and paintings.
Within the walls, there were some six hundred houses of a private
nature, most of them built of stone and tile, and an equal number
outside in the suburbs, or "arrabales," all occupied by Spaniards
("todos son vivienda y poblacion de los Españoles"). [55]
This gives some twelve hundred Spanish families or establishments,
exclusive of the religious, who in Manila numbered at least one
hundred and fifty, [56] the garrison, at certain times, about four
hundred trained Spanish soldiers who had seen service in Holland and
the Low Countries, and the official classes.
The Malecon and the Luneta.--It is interesting at this early date to
find mention of the famous recreation drive, the Paseo de Bagumbayan,
now commonly known as the Malecon and Luneta. "Manila," says our
historian, "has two places of recreation on land; the one, which is
clean and wide, extends from the point called Our Lady of Guidance
for about a league along the sea, and through the street and village
of natives, called Bagumbayan, to a very devout hermitage (Ermita),
called the Hermitage of Our Lady of Guidance, and from there a good
distance to a monastery and mission (doctrina) of the Augustinians,
called Mahalat (Malate)." [57] The other drive lay out through the
present suburb of Concepcion, then called Laguio, to Paco, where was
a monastery of the Franciscans.
The Chinese in Manila.--Early Chinese Commerce.--We have seen that
even as long ago as three hundred years Manila was a metropolis of
the Eastern world. Vessels from many lands dropped anchor at the
mouth of the Pasig, and their merchants set up their booths within
her markets. Slaves from far-distant India and Africa were sold under
her walls. Surely it was a cosmopolitan population that the shifting
monsoons carried to and from her gates.
But of all these Eastern races only one has been a constant and
important factor in the life of the Islands. This is the Chinese. It
does not appear that they settled in the country or materially affected
the life of the Filipinos until the establishment of Manila by the
Spaniards. The Spaniards were early desirous of cultivating friendly
relations with the Empire of China. Salcedo, on his first punitive
expedition to Mindoro, had found a Chinese junk, which had gone
ashore on the western coast. He was careful to rescue these voyagers
and return them to their own land, with a friendly message inviting
trading relations. Commerce and immigration followed immediately the
founding of the city.
The Chinese are without question the most remarkable colonizers in the
world. They seem able to thrive in any climate. They readily marry with
every race. The children that follow such unions are not only numerous
but healthy and intelligent. The coasts of China teem with overcrowding
populations. Emigration to almost any land means improvement of the
Chinese of poor birth. These qualities and conditions, with their
keen sense for trade and their indifference to physical hardship and
danger, make the Chinese almost a dominant factor wherever political
barriers have not been raised against their entrance.
The Chinese had early gained an important place in the commercial and
industrial life of Manila. A letter to the king from Bishop Salazar
shows that he befriended them and was warm in their praise. [58]
This was in 1590, and there were then in Manila and Tondo about
seven thousand resident Chinese, and they were indispensable to the
prosperity of the city.
Importance of Chinese Labor and Trade.--In the early decades
of Spanish rule, the Philippines were poor in resources and the
population was sparse, quite insufficient for the purposes of the
Spanish colonizers. Thus the early development of the colony was
based upon Chinese labor and Chinese trade. As the early writers are
fond of emphasizing, from China came not only the finished silks and
costly wares, which in large part were destined for the trade to New
Spain and Europe, but also cattle, horses and mares, foodstuffs,
metals, fruits, and even ink and paper. "And what is more," says
Chirino, "from China come those who supply every sort of service,
all dexterous, prompt, and cheap, from physicians and barbers to
burden-bearers and porters. They are the tailors and shoemakers,
metal-workers, silversmiths, sculptors, locksmiths, painters, masons,
weavers, and finally every kind of servitors in the commonwealth." [59]
Distrust of the Chinese.--In those days, not only were the
Chinese artisans and traders, but they were also farmers and
fishermen,--occupations in which they are now not often seen. But in
spite of their economic necessity, the Chinese were always looked
upon with disfavor and their presence with dread. Plots of murder
and insurrection were supposedly rife among them. Writers object that
their numbers were so great that there was no security in the land;
their life was bad and vicious; through intercourse with them the
natives advanced but little in Christianity and customs; they were
such terrible eaters that they made foods scarce and prices high.
If permitted, they went everywhere through the Islands and committed
a thousand abuses and offenses. They explored every spot, river,
estero, and harbor, and knew the country better even than the Spaniard
himself, so that if any enemy should come they would be able to cause
infinite mischief. [60] When we find so just and high-minded a man as
the president of the Audiencia, Morga, giving voice to such charges,
we may be sure that the feeling was deep and terrible, and practically
universal among all Spanish inhabitants.
The First Massacre of the Chinese.--Each race feared and suspected the
other, and from this mutual cowardice came in 1603 a cruel outbreak
and massacre. Three Chinese mandarins arrived in that year, stating
that they had been sent by the emperor to investigate a report that
there was a mountain in Cavite of solid precious metal. This myth was
no more absurd than many pursued by the Spaniards themselves in their
early conquests, and it doubtless arose from the fact that Chinese
wares were largely purchased by Mexican bullion; but the Spaniards
were at once filled with suspicion of an invasion, and their distrust
turned against the Chinese in the Islands.
How far these latter were actually plotting sedition and how far they
were driven into attack by their fears at the conduct of the Spaniards
can hardly be decided. But the fact is, that on the evening of Saint
Francis day the Chinese of the Parian rose. The dragon banners were
raised, war-gongs were beaten, and that night the pueblos of Quiapo
and Tondo were burned and many Filipinos murdered.
In the morning a force of 130 Spaniards, under Don Luis Dasmariñas and
Don Tomas Bravo, were sent across the river, and in the fight nearly
every Spaniard was slain. The Chinese then assaulted the city, but,
according to the tradition of the priests, they were driven back in
terror by the apparition on the walls of Saint Francis. They threw up
forts on the site of the Parian and in Dilao, but the power of their
wild fury was gone and the Spaniards were able to dislodge and drive
them into the country about San Pablo de Monte. From here they were
dispersed with great slaughter. Twenty-three thousand Chinese are
reported by Zuñiga to have perished in this sedition. If his report
is true, the number of Chinese in the Islands must have increased
very rapidly between 1590 and 1603.
Restriction of Chinese Immigration and Travel.--Commerce and
immigration began again almost immediately. The number of Chinese,
however, allowed to remain was reduced. The Chinese ships that came
annually to trade were obliged to take back with them the crews and
passengers which they brought. Only a limited number of merchants and
artisans were permitted to live in the Islands. They were confined
to three districts in the city of Manila, and to the great market,
the Alcayceria or Parian.
The word "Parian" seems to have been also used for the Chinese quarter
in and adjoining the walled city, but here is meant the district in
Binondo about the present Calle San Fernando. A block of stores with
small habitations above them had been built as early as the time of
Gonsalez. It was in the form of a square, and here were the largest
numbers of shops and stores.
They could not travel about the Islands, nor go two leagues from the
city without a written license, nor remain over night within the city
after the gates were closed, on penalty of their lives. They had their
own alcalde and judge, a tribunal and jail; and on the north side of
the river Dominican friars, who had learned the Chinese language,
had erected a mission and hospital. There was a separate barrio
for the baptized Chinese and their families, to the number of about
five hundred.
The Chinese in the Philippines from the earliest time to the present
have been known by the name of "Sangleyes." The derivation of this
curious word is uncertain; but Navarrete, who must have understood
Chinese well, says that the word arose from a misapprehension of
the words spoken by the Chinese who first presented themselves at
Manila. "Being asked what they came for, they answered, 'Xang Lei,'
that is, 'We come to trade.' The Spaniards, who understood not their
language, conceiving it to be the name of a country, and putting the
two words together, made one of them, by which they still distinguish
the Chinese, calling them Sangleyes."
The Japanese Colony.--There was also in those early years quite a
colony of Japanese. Their community lay between the Parian and the
barrio of Laguio. There were about five hundred, and among them the
Franciscans claimed a goodly number of converts.
The Filipino District of Tondo.--We have described at some length
the city south of the river and the surrounding suburbs, most of them
known by the names they hold to-day. North of the Pasig was the great
district of Tondo, the center of that strong, independent Filipino
feeling which at an early date was colored with Mohammedanism and to
this day is strong in local feeling. This region has thriven and built
up until it has long been by far the most important and populous part
of the metropolis, but not until very recent times was it regarded as
a part of the city of Manila, which name was reserved for the walled
citadel alone.
A bridge across the Pasig, on the site of the present Puente de España,
connected the two districts at a date later than Morga's time. It was
one of the first things noticed by Navarrete, who, without describing
it well, says it was very fine. It was built during the governorship
of Niño de Tabora, who died in 1632. [61] Montero states that it was
of stone, and that this same bridge stood for more than two centuries,
resisting the incessant traffic and the strength of floods. [62]
The Decline of Manila during the Next Century.--Such was Manila
thirty-five and forty years after its foundation. It was at the zenith
of its importance, the capital of the eastern colonies, the mart of
Asia, more splendid than Goa, more powerful than Malacca or Macao, more
populous and far more securely held than Ternate and Tidor. "Truly,"
exclaimed Chirino, "it is another Tyre, so magnified by Ezekiel." It
owed its great place to the genius and daring of the men who founded
it, to the freedom of action which it had up to this point enjoyed,
and to its superlative situation.
In the years that followed we have to recount for the most part only
the process of decline. Spain herself was fast on the wane. A few
years later and the English had almost driven her navies from the
seas, the Portuguese had regained their independence and lost empire,
the Dutch were in the East, harrying Portuguese and Spaniard alike
and fast monopolizing the rich trade. The commerce and friendly
relations with the Chinese, on which so much depended, were broken
by massacre and reprisal; and, most terrible and piteous of all, the
awful wrath and lust of the Malay pirate, for decade after decade,
was to be visited upon the archipelago.
The colonial policy of the mother-land, selfish, shortsighted, and
criminal, was soon to make its paralyzing influence felt upon trade
and administration alike. These things were growing and taking place
in the next period which we have to consider,--the years from 1600
to 1663. They left the Philippines despoiled and insignificant for a
whole succeeding century, a decadent colony and an exploited treasure.
CHAPTER IX.
THE DUTCH AND MORO WARS. 1600-1663.
Loss of the Naval Power of Spain and Portugal.--The seizure of
Portugal by Philip II. in 1580 was disastrous in its consequences to
both Portugal and Spain. For Portugal it was humiliation and loss
of colonial power. Spain was unequal to the task of defending the
Portuguese possessions, and her jealousy of their prosperity seems to
have caused her deliberately to neglect their interests and permit
their decline. In one day Portugal lost possession of that splendid
and daring navy which had first found a way to the Indies. Several
hundred Portuguese ships, thousands of guns, and large sums of money
were appropriated by Spain upon the annexation of Portugal. [63]
Most of these ill-fated ships went down in the English Channel with
the Great Armada.
When the terrible news of the destruction of this powerful armament,
on which rested Spanish hopes for the conquest and humiliation of
England, was brought to the Escorial, the magnificent palace where
the years of the king were passed, Philip II., that strange man,
whose countenance never changed at tidings of either defeat or
victory, is reported to have simply said, "I thank God that I have
the power to replace the loss." He was fatuously mistaken. The loss
could never be made good. The navies of Spain and Portugal were never
fully rebuilt. In that year (1588), preëminence on the sea passed to
the English and the Dutch.
The Netherlands Become an Independent Country.--Who were these Dutch,
or Hollanders? How came they to wrest from Spain and Portugal a
colonial empire, which they hold to-day without loss of prosperity or
evidence of decline? In the north of Europe, facing the North Sea,
is a low, rich land, intersected by rivers and washed far into its
interior by the tides, known as Holland, the Low Countries, or the
Netherlands. Its people have ever been famed for their industry and
hardihood. In manufacture and trade in the latter Middle Age, they
stood far in the lead in northern Europe, Their towns and cities were
the thriftiest, most prosperous, and most cleanly.
We have already explained the curious facts of succession by which
these countries became a possession of the Spanish king, Emperor
Charles the Fifth. The Low Countries were always greatly prized by
Charles, and in spite of the severities of his rule he held their
affection and loyalty until his death. It was in the city of Antwerp
that he formally abdicated in favor of his son, Philip II., and,
as described by contemporary historians, this solemn and imposing
ceremony was witnessed with every mark of loyalty by the assembly.
The Rebellion.--But the oppressions and persecutions of Philip's
reign drove the people to rebellion. The Netherlands had embraced the
Protestant religion, and when, in addition to plunder, intimidation,
the quartering of Spanish soldiery, and the violation of sovereign
promises, Philip imposed that terrible and merciless institution,
the Spanish Inquisition, the Low Countries faced the tyrant in a
passion of rebellion.
War, begun in 1556, dragged on for years. There was pitiless cruelty,
and the sacking of cities was accompanied by fearful butchery. In
1575 the seven Dutch counties declared their independence, and formed
the republic of the Netherlands. Although the efforts of Spain to
reconquer the territory continued until the end of the century,
practical independence was gained some years before.
Trade between Portugal and the Netherlands Forbidden.--A large portion
of the commerce of the Low Countries had been with Lisbon. The
Portuguese did not distribute to Europe the products which their
navies brought from the Indies. Foreign merchants purchased in Lisbon
and carried these wares to other lands, and to a very large degree
this service had been performed by the Dutch. But on the annexation
of Portugal, Philip forbade all commerce and trade between the two
countries. By this act the Dutch, deprived of their Lisbon trade,
had to face the alternative of commercial ruin or the gaining of those
Eastern products for themselves. They chose the latter course with all
its risks. It was soon made possible by the destruction of the Armada.
The Dutch Expeditions to the Indies.--In 1595 their first expedition,
led by one Cornelius Houtman, who had sailed in Portuguese galleons,
rounded the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Indian domain. The
objective point was Java, where an alliance was formed with the
native princes and a cargo of pepper secured. Two things were shown
by the safe return of this fleet,--the great wealth and profit of
the Indian trade, and the inability of Spain and Portugal to maintain
their monopoly.
In 1598 the merchants of Amsterdam defeated a combined Spanish and
Portuguese fleet in the East, and trading settlements were secured
in Java and Johore. In 1605 they carried their factories to Amboina
and Tidor.
Effect of the Success of the Dutch.--The exclusive monopoly over the
waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, which Portugal and Spain
had maintained for a century, was broken. With the concurrence of
the Roman See, they had tried to divide the New World and the Orient
between them. That effort was now passed. They had claimed the right
to exclude from the vast oceans they had discovered the vessels of
every other nation but their own.
This doctrine in the History of International Law is known as that
of mare clausum, or "closed sea." The death-blow to this domination
was given by the entrance of the Dutch into the Indies, and it is
not a mere coincidence that we find the doctrine of closed sea itself
scientifically assailed, a few years later, by the great Dutch jurist,
Grotius, the founder of the system of international law in his work,
De Libero Mare.
The Trading Methods of the Dutch.--The Dutch made no attempts in the
Indies to found great colonies for political domination and religious
conversion. Commerce was their sole object. Their policy was to form
alliances with native rulers, promising to assist them against the
rule of the Portuguese or Spaniard in return for exclusive privileges
of trade. In this they were more than successful.
In 1602 they obtained permission to establish a factory at
Bantam, on the island of Java. This was even then a considerable
trading-point. "Chinese, Arabs, Persians, Moors, Turks, Malabars,
Peguans, and merchants from all nations were established there,"
the principal object of trade being pepper. [64]
The character of the treaty made by the Dutch with the king of Bantam
is stated by Raffles. "The Dutch stipulated to assist him against
foreign invaders, particularly Spaniards and Portuguese; and the king,
on his side, agreed to make over to the Dutch a good and strong fort,
a free trade, and security for "their persons and property without
payment of any duties or taxes, and to allow no other European nation
to trade or reside in his territories."
Spanish Expedition against the Dutch in the Moluccas.--The Spaniards,
however, did not relinquish the field to these new foes without
a struggle, and the conflict fills the history of the eighteenth
century. When the Dutch expelled the Portuguese from Amboina and Tidor
in February, 1605, many of the Portuguese came to the Philippines
and enlisted in the Spanish forces. The governor, Don Pedro Bravo de
Acuña, filled with wrath at the loss of these important possessions,
with great activity organized an expedition for their conquest.
In the previous year there had arrived from Spain eight hundred
troops, two hundred of them being native Mexicans. Thus Acuña was
able to organize a powerful fleet that mounted seventy-five pieces
of artillery and carried over fourteen hundred Spaniards and sixteen
hundred Indians. [65] The fleet sailed in January, 1606. Tidor was
taken without resistance and the Dutch factory seized, with a great
store of money, goods, and weapons. The Spaniards then assailed
Ternate; the fort and plaza were bombarded, and then the town was
carried by storm.
Thus, at last was accomplished the adventure which for nearly a
century had inspired the ambitions of the Spaniards, which had drawn
the fleet of Magellan, which had wrecked the expeditions of Loyasa and
Villalobos, for which the Spaniards in the Philippines had prepared
expedition after expedition, and for which Governor Dasmariñas had
sacrificed his life. At last the Moluccas had been taken by the forces
of Spain.
Capture of a Dutch Fleet at Mariveles.--So far from disposing of
their enemies, however, this action simply brought the Dutch into
the Philippines. In 1609, Juan de Silva became governor of the
Islands and in the same year arrived the Dutch admiral, Wittert,
with a squadron. After an unsuccessful attack on Iloilo, the Dutch
fleet anchored off Mariveles, to capture vessels arriving for the
Manila trade.
At this place, on the 25th of April, 1610, the Spanish fleet, which had
been hastily fitted at Cavite, attacked the Dutch, killing the admiral
and taking all the ships but one, two hundred and fifty prisoners, and
a large amount of silver and merchandise. These prisoners seem to have
been treated with more mercy than the captives of Van Noort's fleet,
who were hung at Cavite. The wounded are said to have been cared for,
and the friars from all the religious orders vied with one another
to convert these "Protestant pirates" from their heresy.
An Expedition against the Dutch in Java.--Spain made a truce of her
European wars with Holland in 1609, but this cessation of hostilities
was never recognized in the East. The Dutch and Spanish colonists
continued to war upon and pillage each other until late in the
century. Encouraged by his victory over Wittert, Silva negotiated with
the Portuguese allies in Goa, India, to drive the Dutch from Java. A
powerful squadron sailed from Cavite in 1616 for this purpose. It
was the largest fleet which up to that date had ever been assembled
in the Philippines. The expedition, however, failed to unite with
their Portuguese allies, and in April, Silva died at Malacca of
malignant fever.
The Dutch Fleets.--Battles near Corregidor.--The fleet returned
to Cavite to find that the city, while stripped of soldiers and
artillery, had been in a fever of anxiety and apprehension over the
proximity of Dutch vessels. They were those of Admiral Spilbergen,
who had arrived by way of the Straits of Magellan and the Pacific. He
has left us a chart of the San Bernadino Straits, which is reproduced
here. Spilbergen bombarded Ilolio and then sailed for the Moluccas.
A year later he returned, met a Spanish fleet of seven galleons and
two galleras near Manila and suffered a severe defeat. [66] The battle
began with cannonading on Friday, April 13, and continued throughout
the day. On the following day the vessels came to close quarters,
the Spaniards boarded the Dutch vessels, and the battle was fought
out with the sword.
The Dutch were overwhelmed. Probably their numbers were few. The
Relacion states they had fourteen galleons, but other accounts put
the number at ten, three vessels of which were destroyed or taken by
the Spaniards. One of them, the beautiful ship, "The Sun of Holland,"
was burned. This combat is known as the battle of Playa Honda. Another
engagement took place in the same waters of Corregidor, late in 1624,
when a Dutch fleet was driven away without serious loss to either side.
The Dutch Capture Chinese Junks, and Galleons.--But through
the intervening years, fleets of the Hollanders were continually
arriving, both by the way of the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits
of Magellan. Those that came across the Pacific almost invariably
cruised up the Strait of San Bernadino, securing the fresh provisions
so desirable to them after their long voyage.
The prizes which they made of Chinese vessels, passing Corregidor
for Manila, give us an idea of how considerably the Spaniards in the
Philippines relied upon China for their food. Junks, or "champans,"
were continually passing Corregidor, laden with chickens, hogs, rice,
sugar, and other comestibles. [67]
The Mexican galleons were frequently destroyed or captured by these
lurking fleets of the Dutch, and for a time the route through the
Straits of San Bernadino had to be abandoned, the galleons reaching
Manila by way of Cape Engano, or sometimes landing in Cagayan,
and more than once going ashore on the Pacific side of the island,
at Binangonan de Lampon.
The Dutch in Formosa.--The Dutch also made repeated efforts to wrest
from Portugal her settlement and trade in China. As early as 1557
the Portuguese had established a settlement on the island of Macao,
one of these numerous islets that fill the estuary of the river of
Canton. This is the oldest European settlement in China and has been
held continuously by the Portuguese until the present day, when it
remains almost the last vestige of the once mighty Portuguese empire
of the East. It was much coveted by the Dutch because of its importance
in the trade with Canton and Fukien.
In 1622 a fleet from Java brought siege to Macao, and, being
repulsed, sailed to the Pescadores Islands, where they built a
fort and established a post, which threatened both the Portuguese
trade with Japan and the Manila trade with Amoy. Two years later, on
the solicitation of the Chinese government, the Dutch removed their
settlement to Formosa, where they broke up the Spanish mission stations
and held the island for the succeeding thirty-five years. Thus,
throughout the century, these European powers harassed and raided
one another, but no one of them was sufficiently strong to expel the
others from the East.
The Portuguese Colonies.--In 1640 the kingdom of Portugal freed
itself from the domination of Spain. With the same blow Spain lost
the great colonial possessions that came to her with the attachment of
the Portuguese. "All the places," says Zuñiga, "which the Portuguese
had in the Indies, separated themselves from the crown of Castile and
recognized as king, Don Juan of Portugal." "This same year," he adds,
"the Dutch took Malacca." [68]
The Moros.--Increase of Moro Piracy.--During all these years the raids
of the Moros of Maguindanao and Jolo had never ceased. Their piracies
were almost continuous. There was no security; churches were looted,
priests killed, people borne away for ransom or for slavery. Obviously,
this piracy could only be met by destroying it at its source. Defensive
fortifications and protective fleets were of no consequence, when
compared with the necessity of subduing the Moro in his own lairs. In
1628 and 1630 punitive expeditions were sent against Jolo, Basilan, and
Mindanao, which drove the Moros from their forts, burned their towns,
and cut down their groves of cocoanut trees. But such expeditions
served only to inflame the more the wrathful vengeance of the Moro,
and in 1635 the government resolved upon a change of policy and the
establishment of a presidio at Zamboanga.
Founding of a Spanish Post at Zamboanga.--This brings us to a new
phase in the Moro wars. The governor, Juan Cerezo de Salamanca,
was determined upon the conquest and the occupation of Mindanao and
Jolo. In taking this step, Salamanca, like Corcuera, who succeeded him,
acted under the influence of the Jesuits. Their missions in Bohol and
northern Mindanao made them ambitious to reserve for the ministrations
of their society all lands that were conquered and occupied, south
of the Bisayas.
The Jesuits were the missionaries on Ternate and Siao and wherever in
the Moluccas and Celebes the Spanish and Portuguese had established
their power. The Jesuits had accompanied the expedition of Rodriguez
de Figueroa in 1595, and from that date they never ceased petitioning
the government for a military occupation of these islands and for
their own return, as the missionaries of these regions. The Jesuits
were brilliant and able administrators. For men of their ambition,
Mindanao, with its rich soil, attractive productions, and comparatively
numerous populations, was a most enticing field for the establishment
of such a theocratic commonwealth as the Jesuits had created and
administered in America. [69]
On the other hand, the occupation of Zamboanga was strenuously
opposed by the other religious orders; but the Jesuits, ever
remarkable for their ascendancy in affairs of state, were able to
effect the establishment of Zamboanga, though they could not prevent
its abandonment a quarter of a century later.
Erection of the Forts.--The presidio was founded in 1635, by a force
under Don Juan de Chaves. His army consisted of three hundred Spaniards
and one thousand Bisaya, The end of the peninsula was swept of Moro
inhabitants and their towns destroyed by fire. In June the foundations
of the stone fort were laid under the direction of the Jesuit, Father
Vera, who is described as being experienced in military engineering
and architecture.
To supply the new site with water, a ditch was built from the river
Tumaga, a distance of six or seven miles, which brought a copious
stream to the very walls of the fort. The advantage or failure of
this expensive fortress is very hard to determine. Its planting was
a partisan measure, and it was always subject to partisan praise
and partisan blame. Sometimes it seemed to have checked the Moros
and sometimes seemed only to be stirring them to fresh anger and
aggression.
The same year that saw the establishment of Zamboanga, Hortado de
Corcuera became governor of the Philippines. He was much under the
influence of the Jesuits and confirmed their policy of conquest.
Defeat of the Moro Pirate Tagal.--A few months later a notable fleet
of pirates, recruited from Mindanao, Jolo, and Borneo, and headed by
a chieftain named Tagal, a brother of the notorious Correlat, sultan
of Maguindanao, went defiantly past the new presidio and northward
through the Mindoro Sea. For more than seven months they cruised the
Bisayas. The islands of the Camarines especially felt their ravages. In
Cuyo they captured the corregidor and three friars. Finally, with
650 captives and rich booty, including the ornaments and services of
churches, Tagal turned southward on his return.
The presidio of Zamboanga had prepared to intercept him and a fierce
battle took place off the Punta de Flechas, thirty leagues to the
northeast of Zamboanga. According to the Spanish writers, this point
was one held sacred by Moro superstitions. A deity inhabited these
waters, whom the Moros were accustomed to propitiate on the departure
and arrival of their expeditions, by throwing into the sea lances and
arrows. The victory was a notable one for the Spanish arms. Tagal
and more than 300 Moros were killed, and 120 Christian captives
were released.
Corcuera's Expedition against the Moros at Lamítan.--Corcuera had
meanwhile been preparing an expedition, which had taken on the
character of a holy war. Jesuit and soldier mingled in its company
and united in its direction. The Jesuit saint, Francis Xavier, was
proclaimed patron of the expedition, and mass was celebrated daily
on the ships. Corcuera himself accompanied the expedition, and at
Zamboanga, where they arrived February 22, 1637, he united a force
of 760 Spaniards and many Bisayans and Pampangas.
From Zamboanga the force started for Lamítan, the stronghold of
Correlat, and the center of the power of the Maguindanao. It seems
to have been situated on the coast, south of the region of Lake
Lanao. The fleet encountered rough weather and contrary winds off Punta
de Flechas, which they attributed to the influence of the Moro demon.
To rid the locality of this unholy influence, Padre Marcello, the
Jesuit superior, occupied himself for two days. Padre Combés has left
us an account of the ceremony. [70] The demon was dispossessed by
exorcism. Mass was celebrated. Various articles, representing Moro
infidelity, including arrows, were destroyed and burnt. Holy relics
were thrown into the waters, and the place was finally sanctified by
baptism in the name of Saint Sebastian.
On the 14th of March the expedition reached Lamítan, fortified and
defended by two thousand Moro warriors. The Spanish force, however,
was overwhelming, and the city was taken by storm. Here were captured
eight bronze cannon, twenty-seven "versos" (a kind of small howitzer),
and over a hundred muskets and arquebuses and a great store of Moro
weapons. Over one hundred vessels were destroyed, including a fleet
of Malay merchant praos from Java. Sixteen villages were burned, and
seventy-two Moros were hung. Correlat, though pursued and wounded,
was not captured. [71]
The Conquest of Jolo.--Corcuera returned to Zamboanga and organized an
expedition for the conquest of Jolo. Although defended by four thousand
Moro warriors and by allies from Basílan and the Celebes, Corcuera took
Jolo after some months of siege. The sultan saved himself by flight,
but the sultana was taken prisoner. Corcuera reconstructed the fort,
established a garrison of two hundred Spaniards and an equal number
of Pampangas, left some Jesuit fathers, and, having nominated Major
Almonte chief of all the forces in the south, returned in May, 1638,
to Manila, with all the triumph of a conqueror.
Almonte continued the work of subjugation. In 1639 he conquered the
Moro dato of Buhayen, in the valley of the Rio Grande, where a small
presidio was founded. And in the same year the Jesuits prevailed upon
him to invade the territory of the Malanao, now known as the Laguna
de Lanao. This expedition was made from the north through Iligan,
and for a time brought even this warlike and difficult territory
under the authority of the governor and the spiritual administration
of the Jesuits.
Loss of the Spanish Settlement on Formosa.--The full military success
of Corcuera's governorship was marred by the loss of Macao and the
capture of the Spanish settlement on the island of Formosa by the
Dutch. In the attempt to hold Macao, Corcuera sent over the encomendero
of Pasig, Don Juan Claudio. The populace of Macao, however, rose in
tumult, assassinated the governor, Sebastian Lobo, and pronounced in
favor of Portugal. Later, by decree of the Portuguese governor of Goa,
all the Spanish residents and missionaries were expelled. The Dutch
seizure of Formosa, a year later, has already been described.
The Archipelago and the Religious Orders.--During these decades,
conflict was almost incessant between the archbishop of Manila and
the regular orders. In the Philippines the regulars were the parish
curates, and the archbishop desired that all matters of their curacy,
touching the administration of the sacraments and other parish duties,
should be subject to the direction of the bishops. This question of
the "diocesan visit" was fought over for nearly two hundred years.
The Governor and the Archbishop.--Even more serious to the colony
were the conflicts that raged between the governor-general and the
archbishop. All the points of dissension between Church and State,
which vexed the Middle Ages, broke out afresh in the Philippines. The
appointment of religious officers; the distribution of revenue; the
treatment of the natives; the claim of the church to offer asylum to
those fleeing the arm of the law; its claims of jurisdiction, in its
ecclesiastical courts, over a large class of civil offenses--these
disputes and many others, occasioned almost incessant discord between
the heads of civil and ecclesiastical authority.
The "Residencia."--We have seen that the power of the governor was
in fact very large. Theoretically, the Audiencia was a limit upon
his authority; but in fact the governor was usually the president of
this body, and the oidores were frequently his abettors and rarely
his opponents. At the end of each governor's rule there took place a
characteristic Spanish institution, called the "Residencia." This was
a court held by the newly elected governor, for an examination into
the conduct of his predecessor. Complaints of every description were
received, and often, in the history of the Philippines, one who had
ruled the archipelago almost as an independent monarch found himself,
at the end of his office, ruined, and in chains.
It was upon the occasion of the Residencia that the ecclesiastical
powers, after a governorship stormy with disputes, exercised their
power for revenge. Unquestionably many a governor, despite his actual
power, facing, as he did, the Residencia at the termination of his
rule, made peace with his enemies and yielded to their demands.
Corcuera had continuous troubles with the archbishop and with the
religious orders other than the Jesuits. In 1644, when his successor,
Fajardo, relieved him, the Franciscans, Augustinians, and Recollects
procured his imprisonment and the confiscation of his property. For
five years, the conqueror of the Moros lay a prisoner in the fortresses
of Santiago and Cavite, when he was pardoned by the Council of the
Indies, and appointed governor of the Canaries by the king.
Weakening of the Governor's Power.--This power of private and
religious classes to intimidate and overawe the responsible head of the
Philippine government was an abuse which continued to the very close
of the Spanish rule. This, together with the relatively short term of
the governor's office, his natural desire to avoid trouble, his all
too frequent purpose of amassing a fortune rather than maintaining the
dignity of his position and advancing the interests of the Islands,
combined decade after decade to make the spiritual authority more
powerful. In the end the religious orders, with their great body of
members, their hold upon the Filipinos, their high influence at the
court, and finally their great landed wealth, governed the Islands.
The Educational Work of the Religious Orders.--In any criticism of
the evils connected with their administration of the Philippines,
one must not fail to recognize the many achievements of the missionary
friars that were worthy. To the Dominicans and the Jesuits is due the
establishment of institutions of learning. The Jesuits in 1601 had
planted their College of San José. The Dominicans, here as in Europe,
the champions of orthodox learning, had their own institution, the
College of Santo Tomas, inaugurated in 1619, and were the rivals of
the Jesuits for the privilege of giving higher instruction.
In 1645 the pope granted to the Dominicans the right to bestow higher
degrees, and their college became the "Royal and Pontifical University
of Saint Thomas Aquinas." This splendid name breathes that very spirit
of the Middle Ages which the Dominican order strove to perpetuate in
the Philippines down to modern days. [72] Dominicans also founded
the College of San Juan de Letran, as a preparatory school to the
University.
We should not pass over the educational work of the religious
orders without mention of the early printing-plants and their
publications. The missionary friars were famous printers, and in the
Philippines, as well as in America, some noble volumes were produced
by their handicraft.
Founding of Hospitals by the Franciscans.--Nor had the Franciscans
in the Philippines neglected the fundamental purpose of their
foundation,--that of ministration to the sick and unprotected. A
narrative of their order, written in 1649, gives a long list of their
beneficent foundations. [73] Besides the hospital of Manila, they
had an infirmary at Cavite for the native mariners and shipbuilders,
a hospital at Los Baños, another in the city of Nueva Caceras. Lay
brethren were attached to many of the convents as nurses.
In 1633 a curious occurrence led to the founding of the leper hospital
of San Lazaro. The emperor of Japan, in a probably ironical mood,
sent to Manila a shipload of Japanese afflicted with this unfortunate
disease. These people were mercifully received by the Franciscans, and
cared for in a home, which became the San Lazaro hospital for lepers.
Life and Progress of the Filipinos.--Few sources exist that can
show us the life and progress of the Filipino people during these
decades. Christianity, as introduced by the missionary friars,
was wonderfully successful, and yet there were relapses into
heathenism. Old religious leaders and priestesses roused up from
time to time, and incited the natives to rebellion against their new
spiritual masters. The payment of tribute and the labor required for
the building of churches often drove the people into the mountains.
Religious Revolt at Bohol and Leyte.--In 1621 a somewhat serious
revolt took place on Bohol. The Jesuits who administered the island
were absent in Cebu, attending the fiestas on the canonization
of Saint Francis Xavier. The whisper was raised that the old
heathen deity, Diwata, was at hand to assist in the expulsion of
the Spaniards. The island rose in revolt, except the two towns of
Loboc and Baclayan. Four towns were burned, the churches sacked, and
the sacred images speared. The revolt spread to Leyte, where it was
headed by the old dato, Bancao of Limasaua, who had sworn friendship
with Legaspi. This insurrection was put down by the alcalde mayor of
Cebu and the Filipino leaders were hung. On Leyte, Bancao was speared
in battle, and one of the heathen priests suffered the penalty,
prescribed by the Inquisition for heresy--death by burning.
Revolt of the Pampangas.--The heavy drafting of natives to fell trees
and build the ships for the Spanish naval expeditions and the Acapulco
trade was also a cause for insurrection. In 1660 a thousand Pampangas
were kept cutting in the forests of that province alone. Sullen at
their heavy labor and at the harshness of their overseers, these
natives rose in revolt. The sedition spread to Pangasinan, Zambales,
and Ilocos, and it required the utmost efforts of the Spanish forces
on land and water to suppress the rebellion.
Uprising of the Chinese.--In spite of the terrible massacre, that had
been visited upon the Chinese at the beginning of the century, they
had almost immediately commenced returning not only as merchants, but
as colonists. The early restrictions upon their life must have been
relaxed, for in 1639 there were more than thirty thousand living in
the Islands, many of them cultivating lands at Calamba and at other
points on the Laguna de Bay.
In that year a rebellion broke out, in which the Chinese in Manila
participated. They seized the church of San Pedro Mecati, on the Pasig,
and fortified themselves. From there they were routed by a combined
Filipino and Spanish force. The Chinese then broke up into small
bands, which scattered through the country, looting and murdering,
but being pursued and cut to pieces by the Filipinos. For five months
this pillage and massacre went on, until seven thousand Chinese were
destroyed. By the loss of these agriculturists and laborers Manila
was reduced to great distress.
Activity of the Moro Pirates.--The task of the Spaniards in controlling
the Moro datos continued to be immensely difficult. During the years
following the successes of Corcuera and Almonte, the Moros were
continually plotting. Aid was furnished from Borneo and the Celebes,
and they were further incited by the Dutch. In spite of the vigilance
of Zamboanga, small piratical excursions continually harassed the
Bisayas and the Camarines.
Continued Conflicts with the Dutch.--The Dutch, too, from time to time
showed themselves in Manila. In 1646 a squadron attacked Zamboanga,
and then came north to Luzon. The Spanish naval strength was quite
unprepared; but two galleons, lately arrived from Acapulco, were
fitted with heavy guns, Dominican friars took their places among
the gunners, and, under the protection of the Virgin of the Rosary,
successfully encountered the enemy.
A year later a fleet of twelve vessels entered Manila Bay, and nearly
succeeded in taking Cavite. Failing in this, they landed in Bataan
province, and for some time held the coast of Manila Bay in the
vicinity of Abucay. The narrative of Franciscan missions in 1649,
above cited, gives town after town in southern Luzon, where church
and convent had been burned by the Moros or the Dutch.
The Abandonment of Zamboanga and the Moluccas.--The threat of the Dutch
made the maintenance of the presidio of Zamboanga very burdensome. In
1656 the administration of the Moluccas was united with that of
Mindanao, and the governor of the former, Don Francisco de Esteybar,
was transferred from Ternate to Zamboanga and made lieutenant-governor
and captain-general of all the provinces of the south.
Six years later, the Moluccas, so long coveted by the Spaniards, and so
slowly won by them, together with Zamboanga, were wholly abandoned, and
to the Spice Islands the Spaniards were never to return. This sudden
retirement from their southern possessions was not, however, occasioned
by the incessant restlessness of the Moros nor by the plottings of
the Dutch. It was due to a threat of danger from the north.
Koxinga the Chinese Adventurer.--In 1644, China was conquered by the
Manchus. Pekin capitulated at once and the Ming dynasty was overthrown,
but it was only by many years of fighting that the Manchus overcame
the Chinese of the central and southern provinces. These were years
of turbulence, revolt, and piracy.
More than one Chinese adventurer rose to a romantic position during
this disturbed time. One of these adventurers, named It Coan, had been
a poor fisherman of Chio. He had lived in Macao, where he had been
converted to Christianity, and had been a cargador, or cargo-bearer,
in Manila. He afterwards went to Japan, and engaged in trade. From
these humble and laborious beginnings, like many another of his
persistent countrymen, he gained great wealth, which on the conquest
of the Manchus he devoted to piracy.
His son was the notorious Kue-Sing, or Koxinga, who for years resisted
the armies of the Manchus, and maintained an independent power over
the coasts of Fukien and Chekiang. About 1660 the forces of the Manchus
became too formidable for him to longer resist them upon the mainland,
and Koxinga determined upon the capture of Formosa and the transference
of his kingdom to that island.
For thirty-eight years this island had been dominated by the Dutch,
whose fortresses commanded the channel of the Pescadores. The colony
was regarded as an important one by the Dutch colonial government at
Batavia. The city of Tai-wan, on the west coast, was a considerable
center of trade. It was strongly protected by the fortress of Zealand,
and had a garrison of twenty-two hundred Dutch soldiers. After months
of fighting, Koxinga, with an overpowering force of Chinese, compelled
the surrender of the Hollanders and the beautiful island passed into
his power.
A Threatened Invasion of the Philippines.--Exalted by his success
against European arms, Koxinga resolved upon the conquest of
the Philippines. He summoned to his service the Italian Dominican
missionary, Ricci, who had been living in the province of Fukien, and
in the spring of 1662 dispatched him as an ambassador to the governor
of the Philippines to demand the submission of the archipelago.
Manila was thrown into a terrible panic by this demand, and indeed
no such danger had threatened the Spanish in the Philippines since
the invasion of Limahong. The Chinese conqueror had an innumerable
army, and his armament, stores, and navy had been greatly augmented
by the surrender of the Dutch. The Spaniards, however, were united
on resistance. The governor, Don Sabiano Manrique de Lara, returned a
defiant answer to Koxinga, and the most radical measures were adopted
to place the colony in a state of defense.
All Chinese were ordered immediately to leave the Islands. Fearful
of massacre, these wretched people again broke out in rebellion,
and assaulted the city. Many were slain, and other bands wandered
off into the mountains, where they perished at the hands of the
natives. Others, escaping by frail boats, joined the Chinese colonists
on Formosa. Churches and convents in the suburbs of Manila, which might
afford shelter to the assailant, were razed to the ground. More than
all this, the Moluccas were forsaken, never again to be recovered by
Spaniards; and the presidios of Zamboanga and Cuyo, which served as a
kind of bridle on the Moros of Jolo and Mindanao, were abandoned. All
Spanish troops were concentrated in Manila, fortifications were
rebuilt, and the population waited anxiously for the attack. But the
blow never fell. Before Ricci arrived at Tai-wan, Koxinga was dead,
and the peril of Chinese invasion had passed.
Effects of These Events.--But the Philippines had suffered
irretrievable loss. Spanish prestige was gone. Manila was no longer,
as she had been at the commencement of the century, the capital of
the East. Spanish sovereignty was again confined to Luzon and the
Bisayas. The Chinese trade, on which rested the economic prosperity
of Manila, had once again been ruined. For a hundred years the history
of the Philippines is a dull monotony, quite unrelieved by any heroic
activity or the presence of noble character. [74]
CHAPTER X.
A CENTURY OF OBSCURITY AND DECLINE. 1663-1762.
Political Decline of the Philippines.--For the hundred years succeeding
the abandonment of the Moluccas, the Philippines lost all political
significance as a colony. From almost every standpoint they were
profitless to Spain. There were continued deficits, which had to be
made good from the Mexican treasury. The part of Spain in the conquest
of the East was over, and the Philippines became little more than a
great missionary establishment, presided over by the religious orders.
Death of Governor Salcedo by the Inquisition.--In 1663, Lara was
succeeded by Don Diego de Salcedo. On his arrival, Manila had high
hopes of him, which were speedily disappointed. He loaded the Acapulco
galleon with his own private merchandise, and then dispatched it
earlier than was usual, before the cargoes of the merchants were
ready. He engaged in a wearisome strife with the archbishop, and
seems to have worried the ecclesiastic, who was aged and feeble,
into his grave. At the end of a few years he was hated by every one,
and a conspiracy against him was formed which embraced the religious,
the army, the civil officials, and the merchants. Beyond the reach of
the power of ordinary plotters, he fell a victim to the commissioner
of the Inquisition.
The Spanish Inquisition, which wrought such cruelty and misery in the
Peninsula, was carried also to the Spanish colonies. As we have seen,
it was primarily the function of the Dominican order to administer
the institution. The powers exercised by an inquisitor can scarcely
be understood at the present day. His methods were secret, the
charges were not made public, the whole proceedings were closeted,
and yet so great were the powers of this court that none could
resist its authority, or inquire into its actions. Spain forbade
any heretics, Jews, or Moors going to the colonies, and did the
utmost to prevent heresy abroad. She also established in America the
Inquisition itself. Fortunately, it never attained the importance in
the Philippines that it had in Spain. In the Philippines there was no
"Tribunal," the institution being represented solely by a commissioner.
Death of the Governor.--In 1667, when the unpopularity of Governor
Salcedo was at its height, this commissioner professed to discover in
him grounds of heresy from the fact that he had been born in Flanders,
and decided to avenge the Church by encompassing his ruin. By secret
arrangement, the master of the camp withdrew the guard from the palace,
and the commissioner, with several confederates, gained admission. The
door of the governor's room was opened by an old woman, who had been
terrified into complicity, and the governor was seized sleeping,
with his arms lying at the head of his bed.
The commissioner informed the governor that he was a prisoner of the
Holy Office. He was taken to the convent of the Augustinians. Here he
was kept in chains until he could be sent to Mexico, to appear before
the Tribunal there. The government in Mexico annulled the arrest of
the commissioner, but Salcedo died at sea on the return of the vessel
to the Philippines in 1669.
Colonization of the Ladrone Islands.--In 1668 a Jesuit mission under
Padre Diego Luis de Sanvítores was established on the Ladrones, the
first of the many mission stations, both Roman Catholic and Protestant,
in the South Pacific. The islands at that time were well populated
and fertile, and had drawn the enthusiasm of Padre Sanvítores in 1662
when he first sailed to the Philippines.
The hostility of the Manchus in China, the Japanese persecutions,
and the abandonment of Mindanao had closed many mission fields,
and explains the eagerness with which the Jesuits sought the royal
permission to Christianize these islands, which had been so constantly
visited by Spanish ships but never before colonized. With Padre
Sanvítores and his five Jesuit associates were a number of Christian
Filipino catechists.
Settlement of Guam.--The mission landed at Guam, and was favorably
received. Society among these islanders was divided into castes. The
chiefs were known as chamorri, which has led to the natives of the
Ladrones being called "Chamorros." A piece of ground was given the
Jesuits for a church at the principal town called Agadna (Agaña), and
here also a seminary was built for the instruction of young men. The
queen regent of Spain, Maria of Austria, gave an annual sum to this
school, and in her honor the Jesuits changed the name of the islands
to the Marianas. The Jesuits preached on eleven inhabited islands
of the group, and in a year's time had baptized thirteen thousand
islanders and given instruction to twenty thousand.
Troubles with the Natives at Guam.--This first year was the most
successful in the history of the mission. Almost immediately after,
the Jesuits angered the islanders by compulsory conversions. There were
quarrels in several places, and priests, trying to baptize children
against the wishes of their parents, were killed. In 1670 the Spaniards
were attacked, and obliged to fortify themselves at Agaña.
The Jesuits had a guard of a Spanish captain and about thirty Spanish
and Filipino soldiers, who, after some slaughter of the natives,
compelled them to sue for peace. The conditions imposed by the Jesuits
were that the natives should attend mass and festivals, have their
children baptized, and send them to be catechised. The hatred of the
natives was unabated, however, and in 1672 Sanvítores was killed by
them. His biographer claims that at his death he had baptized nearly
fifty thousand of these islanders. [75]
Depopulation of the Ladrone Islands.--About 1680 a governor was
sent to the islands, and they were organized as a dependency of
Spain. The policy of the governors and the Jesuits was conversion by
the sword. The natives were persecuted from island to island, and in
the history of European settlements there is hardly one that had more
miserable consequences to the inhabitants. Disease was introduced and
swept off large numbers. Others fell resisting the Spaniards, and an
entire island was frequently depopulated by order of the governor, or
the desire of the Jesuits to have the natives brought to Guam. Many,
with little doubt, fled to other archipelagoes.
If we can trust the Jesuit accounts, there were in the whole group one
hundred thousand inhabitants when the Spaniards arrived. A generation
saw them almost extinct. Dampier, who touched at Guam in 1686, says
then that on the island, where the Spaniards had found thirty thousand
people, there were not above one hundred natives. In 1716 and 1721
other voyagers announced the number of inhabitants on Guam at two
thousand, but only one other island of the group was populated. When
Anson in 1742 visited Guam, the number had risen to four thousand,
and there were a few hundred inhabitants on Rota; but these seem
to have been the whole population. The original native population
certainly very nearly touched extinction. The islands were from time
to time colonized from the Philippines, and the present population
is very largely of Filipino blood.
Conflicts between Governor and Archbishop.--Meanwhile, in the
Philippines the conflict of the governor with the archbishop and
the friars continued. The conduct of both sides was selfish and
outrageous. In 1683 the actions of Archbishop Pardo became so violent
and seditious that the Audiencia decreed his banishment to Pangasinan
or Cagayan. He was taken by force to Lingayan, where he was well
accommodated but kept under surveillance. The Dominicans retaliated by
excommunication, and the Audiencia thereupon banished the provincial of
the order from the Islands, and sent several other friars to Mariveles.
But the year following, Governor Vargas was relieved by the arrival
of his successor, who was favorable to the ecclesiastical side of
the controversy. The archbishop returned and assumed a high hand. He
suspended and excommunicated on all sides. The oidores were banished
from the city, and all died in exile in remote portions of the
archipelago. The ex-governor-general, Vargas, being placed under
the spiritual ban, sued for pardon and begged that his repentance
be recognized.
The archbishop sentenced him to stand daily for the space of four
months at the entrances to the churches of the city and of the Parian,
and in the thronged quarter of Binondo, attired in the habit of a
penitent, with a rope about his neck and carrying a lighted candle
in his hand. He was, however, able to secure a mitigation of this
sentence, but was required to live absolutely alone in a hut on an
island in the Pasig River. He was sent a prisoner to Mexico in 1689,
but died upon the voyage.
The various deans and canons who had concurred in the archbishop's
banishment, as well as other religious with whom the prelate had had
dissensions, were imprisoned or exiled. The bodies of two oidores
were, on their death and after their burial, disinterred and their
bones profaned.
Degeneration of the Colony under Church Rule.--Archbishop Pardo
died in 1689, but the strife and confusion which had been engendered
continued. There were quarrels between the archbishop and the friars,
between the prelate and the governor. All classes seem to have shared
the bitterness and the hatred of these unhappy dissensions.
The moral tone of the whole colony during the latter part of the
seventeenth century was lowered. Corruption flourished everywhere,
and the vigor of the administration decayed. Violence went unrebuked,
and the way was open for the deplorable tragedy in which this strife of
parties culminated. Certainly no governor could have been more supine,
and shown greater incapacity and weakness of character, than the one
who ruled in the time of Archbishop Pardo and those that succeeded him.
Improvements Made by Governor Bustamante.--Enrichment of the
Treasury.--In the year 1717, however, came a governor of a different
type, Fernando Manuel de Bustamante. He was an old soldier, stern of
character and severe in his measures. He found the treasury robbed
and exhausted. Nearly the whole population of Manila were in debt
to the public funds. Bustamante ordered these amounts paid, and to
compel their collection he attached the cargo of silver arriving
by the galleon from Acapulco. This cargo was owned by the religious
companies, officials, and merchants, all of whom were indebted to the
government. In one year of his vigorous administration he raised the
sum of three hundred thousand pesos for the treasury.
With sums of money again at the disposal of the state, Bustamante
attempted to revive the decayed prestige and commerce of the Islands.
Refounding of Zamboanga.--In 1718 he refounded and rebuilt the
presidio of Zamboanga. Not a year had passed, since its abandonment
years before, that the pirates from Borneo and Mindanao had failed
to ravage the Bisayas. The Jesuits had petitioned regularly for its
reëstablishment, and in 1712 the king had decreed its reoccupation. The
citadel was rebuilt on an elaborate plan under the direction of the
engineer, Don Juan Sicarra. Besides the usual barracks, storehouses,
and arsenals, there were, within the walls, a church, hospital, and
cuartel for the Pampangan soldiers. Sixty-one cannon were mounted upon
the defenses. Upon the petition of the Recollects, Bustamante also
established a presidio at Labo, at the southern point of the island of
Paragua, whose coasts were attacked by the Moros from Sulu and Borneo.
Treaty with Siam.--In the same year he sent an embassy to Siam,
with the idea of stimulating the commerce which had flourished a
century before. The reception of this embassy was most flattering;
a treaty of peace, friendship, and commerce was made, and on ground
ceded to the Spaniards was begun the erection of a factory.
Improvements in the City of Manila.--How far this brave and
determined man might have revived the colony it is impossible to
say. The population of Manila, both ecclesiastical and civil, was at
this time so sunk in corruption and so degenerate as to make almost
impossible any recuperation except under the rule of a man equally
determined as Bustamante, but ruling for a long period of time. He
had not hesitated to order investigations into the finances of the
Islands, which disclosed defalcations amounting to seven hundred
thousand pesos. He fearlessly arrested the defaulters, no matter what
their station. The whole city was concerned in these peculations,
consequently the utmost fear and apprehension existed on all sides;
and Bustamante, hated as well as dreaded, was compelled to enforce
his reforms single-handed.
His Murder.--He was opposed by the friars and defied by the archbishop,
but, notwithstanding ecclesiastical condemnation, he went to the point
of ordering the arrest of the prelate. The city rose in sedition,
and a mob, headed by friars, proceeded to the palace of the governor,
broke in upon him, and, as he faced them alone and without support,
killed him in cold blood (October 11, 1719).
The archbishop proclaimed himself governor and president of the
Audiencia. The oidores and officials who had been placed under
arrest by Bustamante were released, and his work overthrown. The new
government had neither the courage nor the inclination to continue
Bustamante's policy, and in 1720 the archbishop called a council of
war, which decreed the abandonment of the fort at Labo.
When the news of this murder reached Spain, the king ordered an
investigation and the punishment of the guilty, and in 1721 Governor
Torre Campo arrived to put these mandates into execution. The culprits,
however, were so high and so influential that the governor did not
dare proceed against them; and although the commands of the king were
reiterated in 1724, the assassins of Bustamante were never brought
to justice.
Treaty with the Sultan of Jolo.--In spite of the cowardly policy
of the successors of Bustamante, the presidio of Zamboanga was not
abandoned. So poorly was it administered, however, that it was not
effective to prevent Moro piracy, and the attacks upon the Bisaya and
Calamianes continued. In 1721 a treaty was formed with the sultan of
Jolo providing for trade between Manila and Jolo, the return or ransom
of captives, and the restitution to Spain of the island of Basílan.
The Moro Pirates of Tawi Tawi.--To some extent this treaty seems to
have prevented assaults from Jolo, but in 1730 the Moros of Tawi Tawi
fell upon Paragua and the Calamianes, and in 1731 another expedition
from the south spent nearly a whole year cruising and destroying
among the Bisayas.
Deplorable State of Spanish Defenses.--The defenses of the Spaniards
during these many decades were continually in a deplorable state, their
arms were wretched, and, except in moments of great apprehension,
no attention was given to fortifications, to the preservation of
artillery, nor to the supply of ammunition. Sudden attacks ever
found the Spaniards unprepared. Military unreadiness was the normal
condition of this archipelago from these early centuries down to the
destruction of the Spanish armament by the American fleet.
The Economic Policy of Spain.--Restrictions of Trade.--During the
closing years of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the
eighteenth, commerce seemed to have been actually paralyzed. That
brilliant trade which is described by Morga, and which was at its
height about 1605, was a few years later defeated by the miserable
economic policy of Spain, pandering to the demands of the merchants
of Cadiz and Seville.
Spain's economic policy had only in view benefits to the
Peninsula. "The Laws of the Indies" abound with edicts for the purpose
of limiting and crippling colonial commerce and industry, wherever it
was imagined that it might be prejudicial to the protected industries
of Spain. The manufacturers of Seville wished to preserve the colonies,
both of America and of the Indies, as markets for their monopoly wares;
and in this policy, for two centuries, they had the support of the
crown. The growing trade between Mexico and the Philippines had early
been regarded with suspicion, and legislation was framed to reduce
it to the lowest point compatible with the existence of the colony.
None of the colonies of America could conduct commerce with the
Philippines except Mexico, and here all communication must pass
through the port of Acapulco. This trade was limited to the passage
of a single vessel a year. In 1605 two galleons were permitted, but
their size was reduced to three hundred tons. They were allowed to
carry out 500,000 pesos of silver, but no more than 250,000 pesos'
worth of Chinese products could be returned. Neither the Spaniards
of Mexico nor any part of America could traffic directly with China,
nor could Spanish vessels pass from Manila to the ports of Asia. Only
those goods could be bought which Chinese merchants themselves brought
to the Philippines.
Selfishness of Merchants in Spain.--Even these restrictions did
not satisfy the jealousy of the merchants of Spain. They complained
that the royal orders limiting the traffic were not regarded, and
they insisted upon so vexatious a supervision of this commerce,
and surrounded infractions of the law with such terrible penalties,
that the trade was not maintained even to the amount permitted by
law. Spanish merchants even went to the point of petitioning for the
abandonment of the Philippines, on the ground that the importations
from China were prejudicial to the industry of the Peninsula.
The colonists upon the Pacific coast of America suffered from the
lack of those commodities demanded by civilized life, which could
only reach them as they came from Spain through the port of Porto
Bello and the Isthmus of Panama. Without question, an enormous and
beneficial commerce could have been conducted by the Philippines with
the provinces of western America. [76]
Trade Between South America and the Philippines Forbidden.--But this
traffic was absolutely forbidden, and to prevent Chinese and Philippine
goods from entering South America, the trade between Mexico and Peru
was in 1636 wholly suppressed by a decree. This decree, as it stands
upon the pages of the great Recopilacion, is an epitome of the insane
economic policy of the Spaniard. It cites that whereas "it had been
permitted that from Peru to New Spain there should go each year two
vessels for commerce and traffic to the amount of two hundred thousand
ducats [which later had been reduced to one hundred thousand ducats],
and because there had increased in Peru to an excessive amount the
commerce in the fabrics of China, in spite of the many prohibitions
that had been imposed, and in order absolutely to remove the occasion
for the future, we order and command the officers of Peru and New
Spain that they invariably prohibit and suppress this commerce and
traffic between the two kingdoms by all the channels through which
it is conducted, maintaining this prohibition firmly and continually
for the future." [77]
In 1718 the merchants of Seville and Cadiz still complained that their
profits were being injured by even the limited importation of Chinese
silks into Mexico. Thereupon absolute prohibition of import of Chinese
silks, either woven or in thread, was decreed. Only linens, spices,
and supplies of such things as were not produced in Spain could be
brought into Mexico. This order was reaffirmed in 1720, with the
provision that six months would be allowed the people of Mexico to
consume the Chinese silks which they had in their possession, and
thereafter all such goods must be destroyed.
Ineffectiveness of These Restrictions.--These measures, while ruining
the commerce of the Philippines, were as a matter of fact ineffective
to accomplish the result desired. Contraband trade between China
and America sprang up in violation of the law. Silks to the value
of four million pesos were annually smuggled into America. [78] In
1734 the folly and uselessness of such laws was somewhat recognized
by the Council of the Indies, and a cedula was issued restoring the
permission to trade in Chinese silks and raising the value of cargoes
destined for Acapulco to five hundred thousand pesos, and the quantity
of silver for return to one million pesos. The celebrated traffic of
the galleon was resumed and continued until the year 1815.
An Attempt to Colonize the Carolines.--Southeastward of the
Philippines, in that part of the Pacific which is known as Micronesia,
there is an archipelago of small islands called the Carolines. The
westernmost portion of the group also bear the name of the Pelews,
or Palaos. Inasmuch as these islands were eventually acquired by
Spain and remained in her possession down to the year 1898, it may
be well to state something at this time of the attempt made by the
Jesuits in 1731 to colonize them.
Certain of these little islands were seen several times by expeditions
crossing the Pacific as early as the latter part of the sixteenth
century, but after the trade between Mexico and the Philippines had
been definitely settled upon, a fixed course was followed westward
from Acapulco to Guam, from which there was little variation, and
during the seventeenth century these islands passed quite out of mind;
but in the year 1696 a party of natives, twenty men and ten women,
were driven by storms far from their home in the Carolines upon the
eastern coast of Samar. It seems that similar parties of castaways
from the Pelew and Caroline Islands had been known to reach Mindanao
and other parts of the Philippines at an even earlier date. These
last came under the observation of the Jesuit priests on Samar, who
baptized them, and, learning from them of the archipelago from which
they had been carried, were filled with missionary ambition to visit
and Christianize these Pacific islanders.
This idea was agitated by the Jesuits, until about 1730 royal
permission was granted to the enterprise. A company of Jesuits in
the following year sailed for the Ladrones and thence south until
the Carolines were discovered. They landed on a small island not
far from Yap. Here they succeeded in baptizing numerous natives and
in establishing a mission. Fourteen of their number, headed by the
priest, Padre Cantava, remained on the island while the expedition
returned to secure reënforcements and supplies. Unfortunately, this
succor was delayed for more than a year, and when Spanish vessels
with missionary reënforcements on board again reached the Carolines
in 1733, the mission had been entirely destroyed and the Spaniards,
with Padre Cantava, had been killed. These islands have been frequently
called the "New Philippines."
Conditions of the Filipinos during the Eighteenth Century.--During the
most of the eighteenth century, data are few upon the condition of the
Filipino people. There seems to have been little progress. Conditions
certainly were against the social or intellectual advance of the
native race. Perhaps, however, their material well-being was quite
as great during these years, when little was attempted, as during
the governorships of the more ambitious and enterprising Spaniards
who had characterized the earlier period of Philippine history.
Provincial Governments.--Provincial administration seems to have
fallen almost wholly into the hands of the missionaries. The priests
made themselves the local rulers throughout the Christianized portion
of the archipelago.
Insurrection in Bohol.--Insurrection seems especially to have
troubled the island of Bohol during most of the eighteenth century,
and in 1750 an insurrection broke out which practically established
the independence of a large portion of the island, and which was not
suppressed for thirty-five years. The trouble arose in the town of
Inabanga, where the Jesuit priest Morales had greatly antagonized and
imbittered the natives by his severity. Some apostasized, and went to
the hills. One of these men was killed by the orders of the priest and
his body refused Christian burial, and left uncared for and exposed.
A brother of this man, named Dagóhoy, infuriated by this indignity,
headed a sedition which shortly included three thousand natives. The
priest was killed, and his own body left by the road unburied. In
spite of the efforts of the alcalde of Cebu, Dagóhoy was able to
maintain himself, and practically established a small native state,
which remained until the occupation of the island by the Recollects,
after the Jesuits had been expelled from the Spanish dominions.
Activity of the Jesuits.--During the eighteenth century the Jesuits
alone of the religious orders seemed to have been active in prosecuting
their efforts and seeking new fields for conversion. The sloth and
inactivity which overcame the other orders place in greater contrast
the ambition and the activities, both secular and spiritual, of
the Jesuits.
Conversion of the Sultan Alim ud Din.--In 1747 they established
a mission even on Jolo. They were unable to overcome the intense
antagonism of the Moro panditas and datos, but they apparently won the
young sultan, Alim ud Din, whose strange story and shifting fortunes
have been variously told. One of the Jesuits, Padre Villelmi, was
skilled in the Arabic language, and this familiarity with the language
and literature of Mohammedanism doubtless explains his ascendency
over the mind of the sultan. Alim ud Din was not a strong man. His
power over the subordinate datos was small, and in 1748 his brother,
Bantilan, usurped his place and was proclaimed sultan of Jolo.
Alim ud Din, with his family and numerous escort, came to Zamboanga,
seeking the aid of the Spanish against his brother. From Zamboanga he
was sent to Manila. On his arrival, January 3, 1749, he was received
with all the pomp and honor due to a prince of high rank. A house for
his entertainment and his retinue of seventy persons was prepared in
Binondo. A public entrance was arranged, which took place some fifteen
days after his reaching the city. Triumphal arches were erected
across the streets, which were lined with more than two thousand
native militia under arms. The sultan was publicly received in the
hall of the Audiencia, where the governor promised to lay his case
before the king of Spain. The sultan was showered with presents, which
included chains of gold, fine garments, precious gems, and gold canes,
while the government sustained the expense of his household. [79]
Following this reception, steps were taken for his conversion. His
spiritual advisers cited to him the example of the Emperor Constantine
whose conversion enabled him to effect triumphant conquests over
his enemies. Under these representations Alim ud Din expressed his
desire for baptism. The governor-general, who at this time was a
priest, the bishop of Nueva Segovia, was very anxious that the rite
should take place; but this was opposed by his spiritual superior,
the archbishop of Manila, who, with some others, entertained doubts
as to the sincerity of the sultan's profession.
In order to accomplish his baptism, the governor sent him to his own
diocese, where at Paniqui, on the 29th of April, 1750, the ceremony
took place with great solemnity. On the return of the party to Manila,
the sultan was received with great pomp, and in his honor were held
games, theatrical representations, fire-works, and bull-fights. This
was the high-water mark of the sultan's popularity.
Failure to Reinstate Alim ud Din.--Meanwhile the usurper, Bantilan,
was giving abundant evidence of his hostility. The Spaniards were
driven from Jolo, and the fleets of the Moros again ravaged the
Bisayas. In July arrived the new governor, the Marquis of Obando,
who determined to restore Alim ud Din and suppress the Moro piracy.
An expedition set sail, with the sultan on board, and went as far as
Zamboanga, but accomplished nothing. Here the conduct of the sultan
served to confirm the doubts of the Spaniards as to the sincerity of
his friendship. He was arrested, and returned to Manila, and imprisoned
in the fortress of Santiago. With varying treatment he remained in
the hands of the Spaniards until 1763, when he was returned to Jolo
by the English.
Great Increase in Moro Piracy.--The year 1754 is stated to have been
the bloodiest in the history of Moro piracy. No part of the Bisayas
escaped ravaging in this year, while the Camarines, Batangas, and Albay
suffered equally with the rest. The conduct of the pirates was more
than ordinarily cruel. Priests were slain, towns wholly destroyed,
and thousands of captives were carried south into Moro slavery. The
condition of the Islands at the end of this year was probably the
most deplorable in their history.
Reforms under General Arandía.--The demoralization and misery with
which Obando's rule closed were relieved somewhat by the capable
government of Arandía, who succeeded him. Arandía was one of the few
men of talent, energy, and integrity who stood at the head of affairs
in these islands during two centuries.
He reformed the greatly disorganized military force, establishing
what was known as the "Regiment of the King," made up very largely
of Mexican soldiers. He also formed a corps of artillerists composed
of Filipinos. These were regular troops, who received from Arandía
sufficient pay to enable them to live decently and like an army.
He reformed the arsenal at Cavite, and, in spite of opposition on
all sides, did something to infuse efficiency and honesty into the
government. At the head of the armament which had been sent against
the Moros he placed a Jesuit priest, Father Ducos. A capable officer
was also sent to command the presidio at Zamboanga, and while Moro
piracy was not stopped, heavy retaliation was visited upon the pirates.
Arandía's most popular act of government was the expulsion of the
Chinese from the provinces, and in large part from the city. They
seem to have had in their hands then, perhaps even more than now, the
commerce or small trade between Manila and provincial towns. To take
over this trade, Arandía founded a commercial company of Spaniards
and mestizos, which lasted only for a year. The Christianized Chinese
were allowed to remain under license, and for those having shops in
Manila Arandía founded the Alcayceria of San Fernando. It consisted
of a great square of shops built about an open interior. It stood
in Binondo, on the present Calle de San Fernando, in what is still
a populous Chinese quarter.
Death of Arandía and Decline of the Colony.--Arandía died in May, 1759,
and the government was assumed by the bishop of Cebu, who in turn was
forced from his position by the arrival of the archbishop of Manila,
Don Manuel Rojo. The archbishop revoked the celebrated orders of good
government which Arandía had put into force, and the colony promised
to relapse once more into its customary dormant condition. This was,
however, prevented by an event which brought to an end the long period
of obscurity and inertia under which the colony had been gradually
decaying, and introduced, in a way, a new period of its history. This
was the capture of the Philippine Islands by the British in 1762.
CHAPTER XI.
THE PHILIPPINES DURING THE PERIOD OF EUROPEAN REVOLUTION. 1762-1837.
The New Philosophy of the Eighteenth Century.--The middle of the
eighteenth century in Europe was a time when ideas were greatly
liberalized. A philosophy became current which professed to
look for its authority not to churches or hereditary custom and
privilege, but to the laws of God as they are revealed in the natural
world. Men taught that if we could only follow nature we could not do
wrong. "Natural law" became the basis for a great amount of political
and social discussion and the theoretical foundation of many social
rights. The savage, ungoverned man was by many European philosophers
and writers supposed to live a freer, more wholesome and more natural
life than the man who is bound by the conventions of society and the
laws of state.
Most of this reasoning we now know to be scientifically untrue. The
savage and the hermit are not, in actual fact, types of human
happiness and freedom. Ideal life for man is found only in governed
society, where there is order and protection, and where also should be
freedom of opportunity. But to the people of the eighteenth century,
and especially to the scholars of France, where the government was
monarchical and oppressive, and where the people were terribly burdened
by the aristocracy, this teaching was welcomed as a new gospel. Nor
was it devoid of grand and noble ideas--ideas which, carried out in
a conservative way, might have bettered society.
It is from this philosophy and the revolution which succeeded it that
the world received the modern ideas of liberty, equality, fraternity,
and democracy. These ideas, having done their work in America and
Europe, are here at work in the Philippines today. It remains to
be seen whether a society can be rebuilt here on these principles,
and whether Asia too will be reformed under their influence.
Colonial Conflicts between the Great European Countries.--During
the latter half of the eighteenth century there culminated the long
struggle for colonial empire between European states which we have
been following. We have seen how colonial conquest was commenced
by the Portuguese, who were very shortly followed by the Spaniards,
and how these two great Latin powers attempted to exclude the other
European peoples from the rich Far East and the great New World which
they had discovered.
We have seen how this attempt failed, how the Dutch and the English
broke in upon this gigantic reserve, drove the Spanish fleets from
the seas, and despoiled and took of this great empire almost whatever
they would. The Dutch and English then fought between themselves. The
English excluded the Dutch from North America, capturing their famous
colony of New Amsterdam, now New York, and incorporating it (1674)
with their other American colonies, which later became the United
States of America. But in the East Indies the Dutch maintained their
trade and power, gradually extending from island to island, until
they gained--what they still possess--an almost complete monopoly of
spice production.
War between England and France.--In India, England in the eighteenth
century won great possessions and laid the foundation for what has
been an almost complete subjugation of this Eastern empire. Here,
however, and even more so than in America, England encountered a
royal and brilliant antagonist in the monarch of France.
French exploration in North America had given France claims to the
two great river systems of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi,
the latter by far the greatest and richest region of the temperate
zone. So, during much of this eighteenth century, England and France
were involved in wars that had for their prizes the possession of
the continent of North America and the great peninsula of India.
This conflict reached its climax between 1756 and 1763. Both states
put forth all their strength. France called to her support those
countries whose reigning families were allied to her by blood,
and in this way Spain was drawn into the struggle. The monarchs of
both France and Spain belonged to the great house of Bourbon. War was
declared between England and Spain in 1761. Spain was totally unfitted
for the combat. She could inflict no injury upon England and simply
lay impotent and helpless to retaliate, while English fleets in the
same year took Havana in the west and Manila in the east.
English Victory over French in India and America.--English power in
India was represented during these years by the greatest and most
striking figure in England's colonial history--Lord Clive. To him is
due the defeat of France in India, the capture of her possessions, and
the founding of the Indian Empire, which is still regarded as England's
greatest possession. The French were expelled from India in the same
year that the great citadel of New France in America--Quebec--was
taken by the English under General Wolfe.
The Philippines under the English.--Expedition from India to the
Philippines.--Lord Clive was now free to strike a blow at France's
ally, Spain; and in Madras an expedition was prepared to destroy
Spanish power in the Philippines. Notice of the preparation of this
expedition reached Manila from several sources in the spring and summer
of 1762; but with that fatality which pursued the Spaniard to the end
of his history in the Philippines, no preparations were made by him,
until on the 22d of September a squadron of thirteen vessels anchored
in Manila Bay.
Through the mist, the stupid and negligent authorities of Manila
mistook them for Chinese trading-junks; but it was the fleet of
the English Admiral Cornish, with a force of five thousand British
and Indian soldiers under the command of General Draper. For her
defense Manila had only 550 men of the "Regiment of the King" and
eighty Filipino artillerists. Yet the Spaniards determined to make
resistance from behind the walls of the city.
Surrender of Manila to the English.--The English disembarked and
occupied Malate. From the churches of Malate, Ermita, and Santiago
the British bombarded Manila, and the Spaniards replied from the
batteries of San Andres and San Diego, the firing not being very
effective on either side.
On the 25th, Draper summoned the city to surrender; but a council of
war, held by the archbishop, who was also governor, decided to fight
on. Thirty-six hundred Filipino militia from Pampanga, Bulacan,
and Laguna marched to the defense of the city, and on the 3rd of
October two thousand of these Filipinos made a sally from the walls
and recklessly assaulted the English lines, but were driven back with
slaughter. On the night of the 4th of October a breach in the walls
was made by the artillery, and early in the morning of the 5th four
hundred English soldiers entered almost without resistance. A company
of militia on guard at the Puerto Real was bayoneted and the English
then occupied the Plaza, and here received the surrender of the fort
of Santiago.
The English agreed not to interfere with religious liberty, and honors
of war were granted to the Spanish soldiers. Guards were placed
upon the convent of the nuns of Santa Clara and the beaterios, and
the city was given over to pillage, which lasted for forty hours,
and in which many of the Chinese assisted.
Independent Spanish Capital under Anda at Bulacan.--The English were
thus masters of the city, but during their period of occupation
they never extended their power far beyond the present limits of
Manila. Previous to the final assault and occupation of Manila, the
authorities had nominated the oidor, Don Simon de Anda y Salazar,
lieutenant-governor and captain-general of the Islands, with
instructions to maintain the country in its obedience to the king of
Spain. Anda left the capital on the night of October 4, passing in a
little banca through the nipa swamps and esteros on the north shore
of Manila Bay to the provincial capital of Bulacan.
Here he called together the provincial of the Augustinian monks,
the alcalde mayor of the province, and some other Spaniards. They
resolved to form an independent government representing Spain, and
to continue the resistance. This they were able to do as long as
the British remained in the Islands. The English made a few short
expeditions into Bulacan and up the Pasig River, but there was no
hard fighting and no real effort made to pursue Anda's force. The
Chinese welcomed the English and gave them some assistance, and for
this Anda slew and hung great numbers of them.
The Philippines Returned to Spain.--By the Treaty of Paris in 1763,
peace was made, by which France surrendered practically all her
colonial possessions to England; but England returned to Spain her
captures in Cuba and the Philippines. In March, 1764, there arrived
the Spanish frigate "Santa Rosa," bringing the first "Lieutenant of
the King for the Islands," Don Francisco de la Torre, who brought
with him news of the Treaty of Paris and the orders to the English
to abandon the Islands.
Resistance of the English by the Friars.--In resistance to the English
and in the efforts to maintain Spanish authority, a leading part had
been taken by the friars. "The sacred orders," says Martinez de Zuñiga,
[80] "had much to do with the success of Señor Anda. They maintained
the Indians of their respective administrations loyal to the orders;
they inspired the natives with horror against the English as enemies of
the king and of religion, inciting them to die fighting to resist them;
they contributed their estates and their property; and they exposed
their own persons to great dangers." The friars were certainly most
interested in retaining possession of the Islands and had most to
lose by their falling into English hands.
Increase of the Jesuits in Wealth and Power.--In this zealous movement
for defense, however, the Jesuits bore no part; and there were charges
made against them of treasonable intercourse with the English, which
may have had foundation, and which are of significance in the light
of what subsequently occurred.
At the close of the eighteenth century, all the governments of
Catholic Europe were aroused with jealousy and suspicious hatred
against the Jesuits. The society, organized primarily for missionary
labor, had gradually taken on much of a secular character. The society
was distinguished, as we have seen in its history in the Philippines,
by men with great capacity and liking for what we may call practical
affairs as distinguished from purely religious or devotional life. The
Jesuits were not alone missionaries and orthodox educators, but they
were scientists, geographers, financiers, and powerful and almost
independent administrators among heathen peoples. They had engaged
so extensively and shrewdly in trade that their estates, warehouses,
and exchanges bound together the fruitful fields of colonial provinces
with the busy marts and money-centers of Europe. Their wealth was
believed to be enormous. Properly invested and carefully guarded,
it was rapidly increasing.
What, however, made the order exasperating alike to rulers and
peoples were the powerful political intrigues in which members of
the order engaged. Strong and masterful men themselves, the field of
state affairs was irresistibly attractive. Their enemies charged that
they were unscrupulous in the means which they employed to accomplish
political ends. It is quite certain that the Jesuits were not patriotic
in their purposes or plans. They were an international corporation;
their members belonged to no one nation; to them the Society was
greater and more worthy of devotion than any state, in which they
themselves lived and worked.
Dissolution of the Society of Jesus.--Europe had, however, reached
the belief, to which it adheres today, that a man must be true to
the country in which he lives and finds shelter and protection and
in which he ranks as a political member, or else incur odium and
punishment. Thus it was their indifference to national feeling that
brought about the ruin of the Jesuits. It is significant that the
rulers, the most devoted to Catholicism, followed one another in
decreeing their expulsion from their dominions. In 1759 they were
expelled from Portugal, in 1764 from France, and April 2, 1767,
the decree of confiscation and banishment from Spain and all Spanish
possessions was issued by King Carlos III. Within a year thereafter,
the two most powerful princes of Italy, the king of Naples and the
Duke of Parma, followed, and then the Grand Master of the Knights of
Malta expelled them from that island. The friends of the order were
powerless to withstand this united front of Catholic monarchs, and in
July, 1773, Pope Clement XIV. suppressed and dissolved the society,
which was not restored until 1814.
The Jesuits Expelled from the Philippines.--The order expelling the
Jesuits from the Philippines was put into effect in the year 1767. The
instructions authorized the governor in case of resistance to use
force of arms as against a rebellion. [81] Besides their colleges in
Manila, Tondo, Cavite, Leyte, Samar, Bohol, and Negros, the Jesuits
administered curacies in the vicinity of Manila, in Cavite province,
in Mindoro and Marinduque, while the islands of Bohol, Samar, and
Leyte were completely under their spiritual jurisdiction. In Mindanao
their missions, a dozen or more in number, were found on both the
northern and southern coasts. Outside of the Philippines proper they
were the missionaries on the Ladrones, or Marianas. Their property in
the Philippines, which was confiscated by the government, amounted to
1,320,000 pesos, although a great deal of their wealth was secreted
and escaped seizure through the connivance of the governor, Raon.
Governor Anda's Charges against the Religious Orders.--Don Simon
de Anda had been received in Spain with great honor for the defense
which he had made in the Islands, and in 1770 returned as governor
of the Philippines. His appointment was bitterly resented by the
friars. In 1768, Anda had addressed to the king a memorial upon the
disorders in the Philippines, in which he openly charged the friars
with commercialism, neglect of their spiritual duties, oppression
of the natives, opposition to the teaching of the Spanish language,
and scandalous interference with civil officials and affairs. Anda's
remedy for these abuses was the rigorous enforcement of the laws
actually existing for the punishment of such conduct and the return
to Spain of friars who refused to respect the law.
He was, however, only partially successful in his policy. During the
six years of his rule, he labored unremittingly to restore the Spanish
government and to lift it from the decadence and corruption that had so
long characterized it. There were strong traits of the modern man in
this independent and incorruptible official. If he made many enemies,
it is, perhaps, no less to the credit of his character; and if in the
few years of his official life he was unable to restore the colony,
it must be remembered that he had few assistants upon whom to rely
and was without adequate means.
The Moro Pirates.--The Moros were again upon their forays, and in
1771 even attacked Aparri, on the extreme northern coast of Luzon,
and captured a Spanish missionary. Anda reorganized the Armada de
Pintados, and toward the end of his life created also the Marina Sutil,
a fleet of light gunboats for the defense of the coasts against the
attacks of pirates.
Failure of an English Settlement.--The hostility of the Moro rulers
was complicated by the interference of the English, who, after the
evacuation of Manila, continued to haunt the Sulu archipelago with
the apparent object of effecting a settlement. By treaty with the
Moro datos, they secured the cession of the island of Balanbangan,
off the north coast of Borneo. This island was fortified and a factory
was established, but in 1775 the Moros attacked the English with great
fury and destroyed the entire garrison, except the governor and five
others, who escaped on board a vessel, leaving a great quantity of
arms and wealth to the spoils of the Moros. The English factors, who
had taken up business on the island of Jolo, fled in a Chinese junk;
and these events, so unfortunate to the English, ended their attempts
to gain a position in the Jolo archipelago until many years later.
Increase in Agriculture.--Anda died in October, 1776, and his
successor, Don José Basco de Vargas, was not appointed until July,
1778. With Basco's governorship we see the beginning of those numerous
projects for the encouragement of agriculture and industry which
characterized the last century of Spanish rule. His "Plan general
economico" contemplated the encouragement of cotton-planting, the
propagation of mulberry-trees and silk-worms, and the cultivation of
spices and sugar. Premiums were offered for success in the introduction
of these new products and for the encouragement of manufacturing
industries suitable to the country and its people.
Out of these plans grew the admirable Sociedad Economica de Amigos del
Pais, which was founded by Basco in 1780. The idea was an excellent
one, and the society, although suffering long periods of inactivity,
lasted for fully a century, and from time to time was useful in the
improvement and development of the country, and stimulated agricultural
experiments through its premiums and awards.
Establishment of the Tobacco Industry.--Up to this time the Philippine
revenues had been so unproductive that the government was largely
supported by a subsidy of $250,000 a year paid by Mexico. Basco was
the first to put the revenues of the Islands upon a lucrative basis. To
him was due the establishment, in 1782, of the famous tobacco monopoly
(estanco de tabacos) which became of great importance many years
later, as new and rich tobacco lands like the Cagayan were brought
under cultivation.
Favorable Commercial Legislation.--The change in economic ideas,
which had come over Europe through the liberalizing thought of the
eighteenth century, is shown also by a most radical step to direct into
new channels the commerce of the Philippines. This was the creation
in 1785 of a great trading corporation with special privileges and
crown protection, "The Royal Company of the Philippines."
The company was given a complete monopoly of all the commerce between
Spain and the Philippines, except the long-established direct traffic
between Manila and Acapulco. All the old laws, designed to prevent
the importation into the Peninsula of wares of the Orient, were swept
away. Philippine products were exempted from all customs duty, either
on leaving Manila or entering Spain. The vessels of the company were
permitted to visit the ports of China, and the ancient and absurd
prohibition, which prevented the merchants of Manila from trading
with India, and China, was removed.
Though still closing the Philippines against foreign trade, this
step was a veritable revolution in the commercial legislation of the
Philippines. Had the project been ably and heartily supported, it might
have produced a development that would have advanced prosperity half
a century; but the people of Manila did not welcome the opening of
this new line of communication. The ancient commerce with Acapulco
was a valuable monopoly to those who had the right to participate
in it, and their attitude toward the new company was one either of
indifference or hostility.
In 1789 the port of Manila was opened and made free to the vessels of
all foreign nations for the space of three years, for the importation
and sale exclusively of the wares of Asia; but the products of Europe,
with the exception of Spain, were forbidden.
The Royal Company was rechartered in 1805, and enjoyed its monopoly
until 1830, when its privileges lapsed and Manila was finally opened
to the ships of foreign nations.
Conquest of the Igorrote Provinces of Luzon.--Basco was a zealous
governor and organized a number of military expeditions to occupy
the Igorrote country in the north. In 1785 the heathen Igorrotes of
the missions of Ituy and Paniqui in Nueva Vizcaya revolted and had
to be reconquered by a force of musketeers from Cagayan.
Conquest of the Batanes Islands.--Basco also effected the conquest of
the Batanes Islands to the north of Luzon, establishing garrisons and
definitely annexing them to the colony. The Dominican missionaries
long before this time had attempted to convert these islands to
Christianity; but the poverty of the people and the fierceness of the
typhoons which sweep these little islands prevented the cultivation of
anything more than camotes and taro, and had made them unprofitable
to hold. Basco was honored, however, for his reoccupation of these
islands, and on his return to Spain, at the expiration of his
governorship, received the title of "Count of the Conquest of the
Batanes." [82]
A Scientific Survey of the Coast of the Islands.--About 1790 the
Philippines were visited by two Spanish frigates, the "Descubierta" and
the "Atrevida," under the command of Captain Malaspina. These vessels
formed an exploring expedition sent out by the Spanish government to
make a hydrographic and astronomic survey of the coasts of Spanish
America, the Ladrones, and the Philippines. It was one of those
creditable enterprises for the widening of scientific knowledge which
modern governments have successively and with great honor conducted.
The expedition charted the Strait of San Bernardino, the coasts of
several of the Bisayan Islands, and Mindanao. One of the scientists
of the party was the young botanist, Don Antonio Pineda, who died
in Ilocos in 1792, but whose studies in the flora of the Philippines
thoroughly established his reputation. A monument to his memory was
erected near the church in Malate, but it has since suffered from
neglect and is now falling in ruins.
Establishment of a Permanent Navy in the Philippines.--The intentions
of England in this archipelago were still regarded with suspicion by
the Spanish government, and in 1795 and 1796 a strong Spanish fleet,
sent secretly by way of the coast of South America, was concentrated in
the waters of the Philippines under the command of Admiral Alava. Its
object was the defense of the Islands in case of a new war with
Great Britain. News of the declaration of war between these two
countries reached Manila in March, 1797, but though for many months
there was anxiety, England made no attempt at reoccupation. These
events led, however, to the formation of a permanent naval squadron,
with head-quarters and naval station at Cavite. [83]
The Climax of Moro Piracy.--The continued presence of the Moros in
Mindoro, where they haunted the bays and rivers of both east and west
coasts for months at a time, stealing out from this island for attack
in every direction, was specially noted by Padre Zuñiga, and indicated
how feebly the Spaniards repulsed these pirates a hundred years ago.
It was the last severe phase of Malay piracy, when even the strong
merchant ships of England and America dreaded the straits of Borneo and
passed with caution through the China Sea. Northern Borneo, the Sulu
archipelago, and the southern coasts of Mindanao were the centers from
which came these fierce sea-wolves, whose cruel exploits have left
their many traditions in the American and British merchant navies,
just as they periodically appear in the chronicles of the Philippines.
Five hundred captives annually seem to have been the spoils taken
by these Moros in the Philippines Islands, and as far south as
Batavia and Macassar captive Filipinos were sold in the slave marts
of the Malays. The aged and infirm were inhumanly bartered to the
savage tribes of Borneo, who offered them up in their ceremonial
sacrifices. The measures of the Spanish government, though constant
and expensive, were ineffective. Between 1778 and 1793, a million and
a half of pesos were expended on the fleets and expeditions to drive
back or punish the Moros, but at the end of the century a veritable
climax of piracy was attained.
Pirates swarmed continually about the coasts of Mindoro, Burias,
and Masbate, and even frequented the esteros of Manila Bay. Some
sort of peace seems to have been established with Jolo and a friendly
commerce was engaged in toward the end of the century, but the Moros
of Mindanao and Borneo were increasing enemies. In 1798 a fleet of
twenty-five Moro bancas passed up the Pacific coast of Luzon and fell
upon the isolated towns of Paler, Casiguran, and Palanan, destroying
the pueblos and taking 450 captives. The cura of Casiguran was ransomed
in Binangonan for the sum of twenty-five hundred pesos. For four years
this pirate fleet had its rendezvous on Burias, whence it raided the
adjacent coasts and the Catanduanes.
The Great Wars in America and Europe.--The English reoccupied
Balanbangan in 1803, but held the island for only three years, when
it was definitely abandoned. For some years, however, the coasts of
the Philippines were threatened by English vessels, and there was
reflected here in the Far East the tremendous conflicts which were
convulsing Europe at this time. The wars which changed Europe at the
close of the eighteenth century, following the French Revolution,
form one of the most important and interesting periods of European
history, but it is also one of the most difficult periods to judge and
describe. We will say of it here only so much as will be sufficient
to show the effect upon Spain and so upon the Philippines.
The Revolution of the English Colonies in America.--In 1776 the
thirteen English colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America
declared their independence of Great Britain. In the unfair treatment
of the British king and Parliament they had, they believed, just
grounds for revolution. For nearly eight years a war continued by which
England strove to reduce them again to obedience. But at the end of
that time England, having successively lost two armies of invasion
by defeat and capture, made peace with the American colonists and
recognized their independence. In 1789 the Americans framed their
present constitution and established the United States of America.
The French Revolution.--Condition of the People in France.--In their
struggle for independence the Americans had been aided by France,
who hoped through this opportunity to cripple her great colonial
rival, England. Between America and France there was close sympathy
of political ideas and theories, although in their actual social
conditions the two countries were as widely separated as could
be. In America the society and government were democratic. All
classes were experienced in politics and government. They had behind
them the priceless heritage of England's long struggle for free and
representative government. There was an abundance of the necessaries
of life and nearly complete freedom of opportunity.
France, like nearly every other country of continental Europe, was
suffering from the obsolete burden of feudalism. The ownership of the
land was divided between the aristocracy and the church. The great
bulk of the population were serfs bound to the estates, miserably
oppressed, and suffering from lack of food, and despoiled of almost
every blessing which can brighten and dignify human life. The life
of the court and of the nobility grew more luxurious, extravagant,
and selfish as the economic conditions in France became worse. The
king was nearly an absolute monarch. His will was law and the earlier
representative institutions, which in England had developed into the
splendid system of parliamentary government, had in France fallen
into decay.
In the other countries of Europe--the German States, Austria, Italy,
and Spain--the condition of the people was quite as bad, probably in
some places even worse than it was in France. But it was in France
that the revolt broke forth, and it was France which led Europe in
a movement for a better and more democratic order. Frenchmen had
fought in the armies of America; they had experienced the benefits of
a freer society, and it is significant that in the same year (1789)
that saw the founding of the American state the Revolution in France
began. It started in a sincere and conservative attempt to remedy
the evils under which France was suffering, but the accumulation of
injustice and misery was too great to be settled by slow and hesitating
measures. The masses, ignorant, and bitter with their wrongs, broke
from the control of statesman and reformer, threw themselves upon the
established state and church, both equally detestable to them, and tore
them to pieces. Both king and queen died by beheading. The nobility
were either murdered or expelled. The revolutionary government, if
such it could be called, fell into the hands of wicked and terrible
leaders, who maintained themselves by murder and terrorism.
Effects of the Revolution.--These are the outward and terrible
expressions of the Revolution which were Seized upon by European
statesmen and which have been most dwelt upon by historical
writers. But, apart from the bloody acts of the years from 1793
to 1795, the Revolution modernized France and brought incalculable
gains to the French people. By the seizure of the great estates and
their division among the peasantry, the agricultural products of the
country were doubled in a single year, and that terrible condition
of semi-starvation which had prevailed for centuries was ended.
The other monarchies of Europe regarded the events in France with
horror and alarm. Monarchs felt their own thrones threatened, and a
coalition of European monarchies was formed to destroy the republic
and to restore the French monarchy and old régime. France found herself
invaded by armies upon every frontier. It was then that the remarkable
effects produced by the Revolution upon the people of France appeared.
With a passionate enthusiasm which was irresistible, the people
responded to the call for war; great armies were enlisted, which by
an almost uninterrupted series of victories threw back the forces of
the allies. Men rose from obscurity to the command of armies, and
there was developed that famous group of commanders, the marshals
of France. Out of this terrible period of warfare there arose,
too, another, who was perhaps, if we except the Macedonian king,
Alexander, the greatest man ever permitted to lead armies and to rule
men--Bonaparte, later the emperor, Napoleon the First.
The New Republic under Napoleon the First.--From 1795, when Bonaparte
was given command of the invasion of Italy, until 1815, when he was
finally defeated at Waterloo in Belgium, Europe experienced almost
continuous war. The genius of Napoleon reduced to the position of
vassal states Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Germany, and
Austria. In all these countries the ancient thrones were humbled,
feudalism was swept away, and the power of a corrupt church and
aristocracy was broken. In spite of the humiliation of national
pride, these great benefits to Europe of Napoleon's conquests can
not be overestimated. Wherever Napoleon's power extended there
followed the results of the Revolution--a better system of law,
the introduction of the liberal "Code Napoleon," the liberation of
the people from the crushing toils of mediævalism, and the founding
of a better society. These are the debts which Europe owes to the
French Revolution.
The Decline of Spain.--Lack of Progress.--In this advance and progress
Spain did not share. The empire of Napoleon was never established
in the Peninsula. In 1811 the Spaniards, with, the assistance of the
English under the great general, Wellington, repulsed the armies of
the French. This victory, so gratifying to national pride, was perhaps
a real loss to Spain, for the reforms which prevailed in other parts
of Europe were never carried out in Spain, and she remains even yet
unliberated from aristocratic and clerical power.
A liberal constitutional government was, however, set up in Spain in
1812 by the Cortes; but in 1814 King Ferdinand, aided by the Spanish
aristocracy and clergy, was able to overthrow this representative
government and with tyrannical power to cast reforms aside. Fifty
thousand people were imprisoned for their liberal opinions,
the Inquisition was restored, the Cortes abolished, and its acts
nullified. The effect of these acts upon the Philippines will be
noticed presently.
Separation of the Philippines from Mexico.--The events of these years
served to separate the Philippines from their long dependency on
Mexico. In 1813 the Cortes decreed the suppression of the subsidized
Acapulco galleon. The Mexican trade had long been waning and voyages
had become less profitable. The last of the galleons left Manila in
1811 and returned from Acapulco in 1815, never again to attempt this
classical voyage.
The cessation of these voyages only briefly preceded the complete
separation from America. From the first period of settlement,
the Philippines had in many respects been a sub-dependency of New
Spain. Mexico had until late afforded the only means of communication
with the mother-country, the only land of foreign trade. Mexican
officials frequently administered the government of the Islands,
and Mexican Indians formed the larger part of the small standing
army of the Philippines, including the "Regiment of the King." As we
have seen, a large subsidy, the situado, was annually drawn from the
Mexican treasury to support the deficient revenues of the Philippines.
Rebellion of the South American Countries.--But the grievances of
the Spanish American colonists were very great and very real. The
revolution which had successively stirred North America and Europe
now passed back again to the Spanish countries of the New World,
and between 1810 and 1825 they fought themselves free of Spain. The
last of the colonies from which the Spaniards were forced to retire
was Peru. Mexico achieved her separation in 1820. Spain lost every
possession upon the mainland of both Americas, and the only vestiges
of her once vast American empire were the rich islands of the Greater
Antilles--Cuba and Porto Rico.
Limited Trade with the Philippines.--The Philippines were now forced to
communicate by ship directly with Spain. The route for the next fifty
years lay by sailing-vessels around the Cape of Good Hope. It occupied
from four to six months, but this route had now become practically a
neutral passage, its winds and currents were well understood, and it
was annually followed by great numbers of vessels of Europe, England,
and the United States.
Trade was still limited to the ships of the Royal Philippine Company,
and this shipping monopoly lasted until 1835, when a new era in the
commercial and industrial life of the Philippines opened. An English
commercial house was established in Manila as early as 1809.
Volcanic Eruptions.--The terrible eruptions of Mount Taal, the last
of which occurred in 1754, were followed in the next century by the
destructive activity of Mount Mayon. In 1814 an indescribable eruption
of ashes and lava occurred, and the rich hemp towns around the base
of this mountain were destroyed. Father Francisco Aragoneses, cura of
Cagsaua, an eye-witness, states that twelve thousand people perished;
in the church of Budiao alone two hundred lay dead. [84]
Rebellions in the Philippines.--The Liberal Spanish Cortes.--Two
revolts in the Philippines that occurred at this period are of much
importance and show the effect in the Philippines of the political
changes in Spain. In 1810 the liberal Spanish Cortes had declared that
"the kingdoms and provinces of America and Asia are, and ought to
have been always, reputed an integral part of the Spanish monarchy,
and for that same, their natives and free inhabitants are equal in
rights and privileges to those of the Peninsula."
This important declaration, which if carried out would have
completely revolutionized Spain's colonial policy, was published in
the Philippines, and with that remarkable and interesting facility by
which such news is spread, even among the least educated classes of
Filipinos, this proclamation had been widely disseminated and discussed
throughout the Islands. It was welcomed by the Filipino with great
satisfaction, because he believed it exempted him from the enforced
labor of the polos and servicios. These were the unremunerated tasks
required of Filipinos for the construction of public works, bridges,
roads, churches, and convents.
Effect of the Repeal of the Declaration of the Cortes.--King Ferdinand
VII. in May, 1814, on his return to power, as we have seen, published
the famous decree abolishing constitutional government in Spain and
annulling all the acts of the Cortes, including those which aimed
to liberalize the government of the colonies. These decrees, when
published in the Philippines, appeared to the Filipinos to return
them to slavery, and in many places their disaffection turned to
rebellion. In Ilocos twelve hundred men banded together, sacked
convents and churches, and destroyed the books and documents of
the municipal archives. Their fury seems to have been particularly
directed against the petty tyrants of their own race, the caciques
or principales.
The result of Spanish civilization in the Philippines had been to
educate, and, to a certain degree, enrich a small class of Filipinos,
usually known as principales or the gente ilustrada. It is this class
which has absorbed the direction of municipal and local affairs,
and which almost alone of the Filipino population has shared in those
benefits and opportunities which civilized life should bring.
The vast majority of the population have, unfortunately, fallen or
remained in a dependent and almost semi-servile position beneath
the principales. In Ilocos this subordinate class, or dependientes,
is known as kailian, and it was these kailian who now fell upon
their more wealthy masters, burning their houses and destroying
their property, and in some instances killing them. The assignment of
compulsory labor had been left to the principales in their positions
as gobernadorcillos and cabezas de barangay, and these officials had
unquestionably abused their power and had drawn down upon themselves
the vengeance of the kailian. [85]
This revolt, it will be noticed, was primarily directed neither
against friars nor Spanish authorities, but against the unfortunate
social order which the rule of Spain maintained.
A Revolt Lead by Spaniards.--A plot, with far more serious motives,
took place in 1823. The official positions in the regiments and
provinces had previously been held almost entirely by Spaniards born
in America or the Philippines. The government now attempted to fill
these positions with Spaniards from Manila. The officials, deprived of
their positions, incited the native troops which they had commanded,
into a revolt, which began in the walled city in Manila. About eight
hundred soldiers followed them, and they gained possession of the
Cuartel of the King, of the Royal Palace, and of the Cabildo, but
they failed to seize the fortress of Santiago. It was not properly a
revolt of Filipinos, as the people were not involved and did not rise,
but it had its influence in inciting later insurrection.
Insurrection on Bohol.--Since the insurrection on Bohol in 1744, when
the natives had killed the Jesuit missionaries, a large part of the
island had been practically independent under the leader Dagóhoy. After
the expulsion of the Jesuits, Recollects were placed in special
charge of those towns along the seacoast, which had remained loyal to
Spain. An effort was made to secure the submission of the rebels by
the proclamation of a pardon, but the power of the revolt grew rather
than declined, until in 1827 it was determined to reduce the rebellion
by force. An expedition of thirty-two hundred men was formed in Cebu,
and in April, 1828, the campaign took place, which resulted in the
defeat of the rebels and their settlement in the Christian towns.
The New Provinces of Benguet and Abra.--It is proper to notice
also the slow advances of Spanish authority, which began to be made
about this time among the heathen tribes of northern Luzon. These
fierce and powerful tribes occupy the entire range of the Cordillera
Central. Missionary effort in the latter half of the eighteenth
century had succeeded in partly Christianizing the tribes along the
river Magat in Neuva Vizcaya, but the fierce, head-hunting hillmen
remained unsubdued and unchristianized.
Between 1823 and 1829 the mission of Pidigan, under an Augustinian
friar, Christianized some thousands of the Tinguianes of the river
Abra. In 1829 an expedition of about sixty soldiers, under Don
Guillermo Galvey, penetrated into the cool, elevated plateau of
Benguet. The diary of the leader recounts the difficult march up the
river Cagaling from Aringay and their delight upon emerging from the
jungle and cogon upon the grassy, pine-timbered slopes of the plateau.
They saw little cultivated valleys and small clusters of houses and
splendid herds of cattle, carabaos, and horses, which to this day have
continued to enrich the people of these mountains. At times they were
surrounded by the yelling bands of Igorrotes, and several times they
had to repulse attacks, but they nevertheless succeeded in reaching the
beautiful circular depression now known as the valley of La Trinidad.
The Spaniards saw with enthusiasm the carefully separated and walled
fields, growing camotes, taro, and sugarcane. The village of about
five hundred houses was partly burned by the Spaniards, as the
Igorrotes continued hostile. The expedition returned to the coast,
having suffered only a few wounds. The commandancia of Benguet was
not created until 1846, in which year also Abra was organized as
a province.
CHAPTER XII.
PROGRESS AND REVOLUTION. 1837-1897.
Progress during the Last Half-Century of Spanish Rule.--We have
now come to the last half-century and to the last phase of Spanish
rule. In many respects this period was one of economic and social
progress, and contained more of promise than any other in the history
of the Islands. During this last half-century the Spanish rulers
had numerous plans for the development and better administration of
the Philippines, and, in spite of a somewhat wavering policy and the
continual sore of official peculation, this was a period of wonderful
advancement. Revolution and separation from Spain came at last, as
revolutions usually do, not because there was no effort nor movement
for reform, but because progress was so discouragingly slow and so
irritatingly blocked by established interests that desired no change.
Effect of Opening the Port of Manila to Foreign Trade.--Increase in
Agriculture.--The opening of the port of Manila to foreign trade, in
1837, was followed by a period of rising industry and prosperity. Up
to this time the archipelago had not been a producing and exporting
country, but the freeing of trade led to the raising of great harvests
for foreign export, which have made world-wide the fame of certain
Philippine productions. Chief among these are of course Manila hemp
and tobacco. These were followed by sugar and coffee culture, the
latter plant enriching the province of Batangas, while the planting
of new cocoanut groves yearly made of greater importance the yield
of that excellent product, copra. These rich merchandises had entered
very little into commerce during the early decades of the century.
Increase in Exports.--In 1810 the entire imports of the Philippines
amounted in value to 5,329,000 dollars, but more than half of this
consisted of silver sent from Mexico. From Europe and the United
States trade amounted to only 175,000 dollars. The exports in the
same year amounted to 4,795,000 dollars, but a million and a half of
this was Mexican silver exported on to China, and the whole amount
of exports to Europe and the United States was only 250,000 dollars.
In 1831 the exportation of hemp amounted to only 346 tons. But the
effect upon production of opening Manila to foreign trade is seen
in the export six years later of 2,585 tons. By 1858 the exportation
of hemp had risen to 412,000 piculs, or 27,500 tons. Of this amount,
nearly two thirds, or 298,000 piculs, went to the United States. At
this time the North Atlantic seaboard of America was the center of
a most active ship-building and ship-carrying trade. The American
flag was conspicuous among the vessels that frequented these Eastern
ports, and "Manila hemp" was largely sought after by American seamen
to supply the shipyards at home. Of sugar, the export in 1858 amounted
to 557,000 piculs, of which more than half went to Great Britain.
After 1814 general permission had been given to foreigners to
establish trading-houses in Manila, and by 1858 there were fifteen such
establishments, of which seven were English and three American. [86]
Other Ports Opened to Foreign Commerce.--In 1855 three other ports
were opened to foreign commerce--Sual in Pangasinan on the Gulf of
Lingayan, Iloilo, and Zamboanga. In 1863, Cebu likewise was made an
open port. The exports of Sual consisted only of rice, and in spite
of its exceptional harbor this port never flourished, and is to-day
no more than an unfrequented village.
Iloilo exported leaf tobacco, sugar, sapan or dyewood (an industry
long ago ruined), hemp, and hides. Zamboanga through the Chinese had a
small trade with Jolo and the Moro Islands, and exported the produce of
these seas--sea-slug (tripang), shark fins, mother-of-pearl, tortoise
shell, etc. For some years the customs laws in these ports were
trying and vexatious, and prevented full advantage being taken of the
privileges of export; but in 1869 this service was, by royal decree,
greatly liberalized and improved. Since that date the Philippines
have steadily continued to grow in importance in the commercial world.
The Form of Government under the Spanish.--General Improvements.--This
is perhaps a convenient place to examine for the last time the
political system which the Spaniards maintained in the country. In
1850 there were thirty-four provinces and two politico-military
commandancias. In these provinces the Spanish administration was
still vested solely in the alcalde mayor, who until after 1886 was
both governor or executive officer and the judge or court for the
trial of provincial cases and crimes.
Many of the old abuses which had characterized the government of
the alcaldes had been at least partially remedied. After 1844 they
had no longer the much-abused monopoly privilege of trade, nor had
they as free a hand in controlling the labor of the inhabitants; but
opportunities for illegal enrichment existed in the administration
of the treasury and tax system, and these opportunities were not
slighted. Up to the very end of Spanish rule the officials, high and
low, are accused of stealing public money.
The Pueblo.--The unit of administration was the pueblo, or township,
which ordinarily embraced many square miles of country and contained,
numerous villages, or "barrios." The center of the town was naturally
the site where for centuries had stood the great church and the
convent of the missionary friars. These locations had always been
admirably chosen, and about them grew up the market and trading-shops
of Chinese and the fine and durable homes of the more prosperous
Filipinos and mestizos.
About 1860 the government began to concern itself with the construction
of public buildings and improvements, and the result is seen in many
pueblos in the finely laid-out plazas and well-built municipal edifices
grouped about the square--the "tribunal," or town house, the jail,
and the small but significant schoolhouses. The government of the
town was vested in a "gobernadorcillo" and a council, each of the
"consejales" usually representing a hamlet or barrio.
But the Spanish friar, who in nearly every pueblo was the parish
curate, continued to be the paternal guardian and administrator of the
pueblo. In general, no matter was too minute for his dictation. Neither
gobernadorcillo nor councillors dared act in opposition to his wishes,
and the alcalde of the province was careful to keep on friendly terms
and leave town affairs largely to his dictation. The friar was the
local inspector of public instruction and ever vigilant to detect
and destroy radical ideas. To the humble Filipino, the friar was the
visible and only representative of Spanish authority.
The Revolt of 1841.--Repression of the People by the
Friars.--Unquestionably in the past, the work of the friars had been
of very great value; but men as well as institutions may lose their
usefulness, as conditions change, and the time was now approaching when
the autocratic and paternal régime of the friars no longer satisfied
the Filipinos. Their zeal was no longer disinterested, and their
work had become materialized by the possession of the vast estates
upon which their spiritual charges lived and labored as tenants or
dependents. The policy of the religious orders had, in fact, become
one of repression, and as the aspirations of the Filipinos increased,
the friars, filled with doubt and fear, tried to draw still tighter
the bonds of their own authority, and viewed with growing distrust
the rising ambition of the people.
Apolinario de la Cruz.--The unfortunate revolution of 1841 shows the
wayward and misdirected enthusiasm of the Filipino; and the unwisdom
of the friars. Apolinario de la Cruz, a young Filipino, a native
of Lukban, Tayabas, came up to Manila filled with the ambition to
lead a monastic life, and engaged in theological studies. By his
attendance upon lectures and sermons and by imitation of the friar
preachers of Manila, Apolinario became, himself, quite an orator,
and, as subsequent events showed, was able to arouse great numbers
of his own people by his appeals.
It was his ambition to enter one of the regular monastic orders,
but this religious privilege was never granted to Filipinos, and he
was refused. He then entered a brotherhood known as the Cofradia, or
Brotherhood of San Juan de Dios, composed entirely of Filipinos. After
some years in this brotherhood, he returned in 1840 to Tayabas and
founded the Cofradia de San José, his aim being to form a special
cult in honor of Saint Joseph and the Virgin. For this he requested
authorization from Manila. It was here that the lack of foresight of
the friars appeared.
The Opposition of the Friars.--Instead of sympathizing with these
religious aspirations, in which, up to this point, there seems to have
been nothing heretical, they viewed the rise of a Filipino religious
leader with alarm. Their policy never permitted to the Filipino any
position that was not wholly subordinate. They believed that the
permanence of Spanish power in these islands lay in suppressing any
latent ability for leadership in the Filipino himself. Their influence,
consequently, was thrown against Apolinario, and the granting of the
authority for his work. They secured not only a condemnation of his
plan, but an order for the arrest and imprisonment of all who should
attend upon his preaching.
Apolinario Forced to Rebel.--Apolinario thereupon took refuge
in independent action. His movement had already become a strong
one, and his followers numbered several thousand people of Laguna,
Tayabas, and Batangas. The governor of Tayabas province, Don Joaquin
Ortega, organized an expedition to destroy the schism. Accompanied
by two Franciscan friars, he attacked Apolinario in the month of
October, 1840, and was defeated and killed. One account says that
Apolinario was assisted by a band of Negritos, whose bowmanship was
destructive. There are still a very few of these little blacks in
the woods in the vicinity of Lukban.
Apolinario was now in the position of an open rebel, and he fortified
himself in the vicinity of Alitao, where he built a fort and chapel.
His religious movement became distinctly independent and heretical. A
church was formed, of which he was first elected archbishop and then
supreme pontiff. He was also charged with having assumed the title of
"King of the Tagálog."
Finally a force under the new alcalde, Vital, and General Huet early in
November attacked Apolinario's stronghold and after a fierce struggle
defeated the revolutionists. About a thousand Filipinos perished in
the final battle. Apolinario was captured and executed. He was then
twenty-seven years of age.
Organization of Municipal Governments.--In 1844 an able and liberal
governor, General Claveria, arrived, and remained until the end of the
year 1849. A better organization of the provincial governments, which
we have seen, followed Claveria's entrance into office, and in October,
1847, came the important decree, organizing the municipalities in
the form which we have already described, and which remained without
substantial modification to the end of Spanish rule, and which has
to a considerable extent been followed in the Municipal Code framed
by the American government.
Subjection of the Igorrote Tribes.--With Claveria began a decisive
policy of conquest among the Igorrote tribes of northern Luzon, and
by the end of Spanish rule these mountains were dotted with cuartels
and missions for the control of these unruly tribes. The province of
Nueva Vizcaya has been particularly subject to the raids of these
head-hunting peoples. Year after year the Christian towns of the
plains had yielded a distressing sacrifice of life to satisfy the
savage ceremonials of the Igorrotes. [87]
In 1847, Claveria nominated as governor of Nueva Vizcaya, Don Mariano
Ozcariz, whose severe and telling conquests for the first time checked
these Igorrote outrages and made possible the development of the
great valleys of northern Luzon.
Spanish Settlements on Mindanao.--Zamboanga.--With Claveria's
governorship we enter also upon the last phase of Moro piracy. In spite
of innumerable expeditions, Spain's occupation of South Mindanao and
the Sulu archipelago was limited to the presidio of Zamboanga. She had
occupied this strategic point continuously since the reëstablishment
of Spanish power in 1763, The great stone fort, which still stands,
had proved impregnable to Moro attack, and had long been unmolested.
Distributed for a distance of some miles over the rich lands at this
end of the Zamboanga peninsula was a Christian population, which
had grown up largely from the descendants of rescued captives of the
Moros. Coming originally from all parts of the Bisayas, Calamianes, and
Luzon, this mixed population has grown to have a somewhat different
character from that of any other part of the Islands. A corrupt
Spanish dialect, known as the "Chabucano," has become the common
speech, the only instance in the Philippines where the native dialect
has been supplanted. This population, loyal and devotedly Catholic,
never failed to sustain the defense of this isolated Spanish outpost,
and contributed brave volunteers to every expedition against the
Moro islands.
Activity of Other Nations.--But Spain's maintenance of Zamboanga was
insufficient to sustain her claims of sovereignty over the Sulu and
Tawi-Tawi groups. Both the Dutch and English planned various moves for
their occupation and acquisition, and in 1844 a French fleet entered
the archipelago and concluded a treaty with the sultan of Sulu for
the cession of the island of Basilan for the sum of one million
dollars. Writings of the French minister and historian, M. Guizot,
show that France hoped, by the acquisition of this island, to obtain
a needed naval base in the East and found a great commercial port
within the sphere of Chinese trade. [88]
Conquest of the Gulf of Davao.--But this step roused the Spaniards
to activity and the occupation of the island. A naval vessel subdued
the towns along the north coast, and then proceeding to the mouth of
the Rio Grande, secured from the sultan of Maguindanao the cession
of the great Gulf of Davao. Spain took no immediate steps to occupy
this gulf, but in 1847 a Spaniard, Don José Oyanguran, proposed to
the governor, Claveria, to conquer the region at his own expense,
if he could be furnished with artillery and munitions and granted a
ten years' government of Davao, with the exclusive privilege of trade.
His offer was accepted by the governor and the Audiencia, and Oyanguran
organized a company to secure funds for the undertaking. In two
years' time he had subdued the coast regions of this gulf, expelled
the pirates who harbored there, and founded the settlement of Nueva
Vergara. He seems to have been making progress toward the conquest
and commercial exploitation of this region, when jealous attacks in
Manila induced Governor Urbistondo to cancel his privilege and to
relieve him by an officer of the government.
In subsequent years the Jesuits had a few mission stations here and
made a few converts among the Bagobos; but the region is still an
unsubdued and unutilized country, whose inhabitants are mainly pagan
tribes, and whose rich agricultural possibilities lie undeveloped
and unclaimed.
The Samal Pirates.--The Sulu.--The piratical inhabitants of the
Sulu archipelago are made of two distinct Malayan peoples--the Sulu
(or Sulug), and the Samal, who are known throughout Malaysia as the
"Bajau" or "Orang laut" (Men of the Sea). The former appear to be
the older inhabitants. They occupy the rich and populous island of
Jolo and some islands of the Siassi group, immediately south.
The Samal.--The Samal, or Bajau, are stated to have come originally
from Johore. Many of them live almost exclusively in their boats,
passing their lives from birth to death upon the sea. They are found
throughout most parts of Malaysia, the position of their little fleets
changing with the shifting of the monsoons. In the Sulu archipelago
and a few points in South Mindanao, many of these Samal have shifted
their homes from their boats to the shore. Their villages are built
on piles over the sea, and on many of the low coral reefs south of
Siassi and east of Tawi-Tawi there are great towns or settlements
which have apparently been in existence a long while.
Fifty years ago the Samal were very numerous in the many islands
between Jolo and Basilan, and this group is still known as the Islas
Samales. Like the Sulu and other Malays, the Samal are Mohammedans,
and scarcely less persistent pirates than their fellow-Malays. With the
decline of piratical power among the Sulu of Jolo, the focus of piracy
shifted to these settlements of the Samal, and in the time of Claveria
the worst centers were the islands of Balanguingui and Tonquil, lying
just north of the island of Jolo. From here pirate and slaving raids
upon the Bisayan Islands continued to be made, and nearly every year
towns were sacked and burned and several hundred unfortunate captives
carried away. The captives were destined for slavery, and regular marts
existed for this traffic at Jolo and on the Bay of Sandakan in Borneo.
Arrival of Steam Warships.--In 1848 the Philippines secured the
first steam war vessels. These were the "Magellanes," the "Elcano,"
and the "Reina de Castilla." They were destined to revolutionize
Moro relations.
The Destruction of the Samal Forts.--Hitherto it had been possible
for the great Moro war praos, manned by many oarsmen, to drop their
masts on the approach of an armed sailing-vessel, and, turning
toward the "eye of the wind," where no sailing-ship could pursue,
row calmly away from danger. Steam alone was effective in combating
these sea-wolves. Claveria took these newly arrived ships, and with
a strong force of infantry, which was increased by Zamboangueño
volunteers, he entered the Samal group in February, 1848, and landed
on the island of Balanguingui.
There were four fortresses situated in the mangrove marshes of the
island. These, in spite of a desperate resistance, were carried by
the infantry and Zamboangueños and the pirates scattered. The conduct
of the campaign appears to have been admirable and the fighting
heroic. The Moros were completely overwhelmed; 450 dead were burned
or interred; 124 pieces of artillery--for the most part, the small
brass cannon called "lantacas"--were captured, and 150 Moro boats were
destroyed. The Spaniards cut down the cocoanut groves, and with spoil
that included such rich pirate loot as silks, silver vases, ornaments,
and weapons of war, and with over two hundred prisoners and three
hundred rescued captives, returned to Zamboanga. This was the most
signal victory ever won by Europeans in conflict with Malay piracy. The
effectiveness of this campaign is shown by the fact that while in
the preceding year 450 Filipinos had suffered capture at the hands
of Moro pirates, in 1848 and the succeeding year there was scarcely
a depredation. But in 1850 a pirate squadron from Tonquil, an island
adjacent to Balanguingui, fell upon Samar and Camaguin. Fortunately,
Governor Urbistondo, who had succeeded Claveria, vigorously continued
the policy of his predecessor, and an expedition was promptly
dispatched which destroyed the settlements and strongholds on Tonquil.
Destruction of the Moro Forts at Jolo.--A year later war broke out
again with Jolo, and after a varied interchange of negotiations and
hostilities, the Spaniards stormed and took the town in February,
1851. The question of permanent occupation of this important site was
debated by a council of war, but their forces appearing unequal to
the task, the forts of the Moros were destroyed, and the expedition
returned. Jolo is described at this time as a very strongly guarded
situation. Five forts and a double line of trenches faced the
shore. The Moro town is said to have contained about seven thousand
souls, and there was a barrio of Chinese traders, who numbered about
five hundred.
Treaty with the Sultan of Jolo.--A few months later the governor of
Zamboanga concluded a treaty with the sultan of Jolo by which the
archipelago was to be considered an incorporated part of the Spanish
possessions. The sultan bound himself to make no further treaties
with or cessions to foreign powers, to suppress piracy, and to fly the
Spanish flag. The Moros were guaranteed the practice of their religion,
the succession of the sultan and his descendants in the established
order, boats of Jolo were to enjoy the same trading privileges in
Spanish ports as other Filipino vessels, and the sultan retained
the right to all customs duties on foreign trading-vessels. Finally,
"in compensation for the damages of war," the sultan was to be paid
an annual subsidy of 1,500 pesos and 600 pesos each to three datos
and 360 pesos to a sherif. [89]
The End of Malay Piracy.--In these very years that Malay piracy was
receiving such severe blows from the recuperating power and activity
of the Spanish government on the north, it was crushed also from
the south by the merciless warfare of a great Englishman, the Raja
Charles Brooke of Sarawak. The sources of pirate depredation were
Maguindanao, the Sulu archipelago, and the north and west coasts of
the great island of Borneo. We have seen how these fleets, century
after century, swept northward and wasted with fire and murder the
fair islands of the Philippines.
But this archipelago was not alone in suffering these ravages. The
peaceful trading inhabitants of the great island groups to the south
were persistently visited and despoiled. Moreover, as the Chinese
trade by the Cape of Good Hope route became established in the first
half of the nineteenth century, these pirates became a great menace
to European shipping. They swarmed the China Sea, and luckless indeed
was the ship carried too far eastward on its course. Every American
schoolboy is familiar with the stories of fierce hand-to-hand struggles
with Malay pirates, which have come down from those years when the
American flag was seen everywhere in the ports of the Far East.
About 1839 a young English officer, [90] who had been in the Indian
service, Charles Brooke, having armed and equipped a yacht of about
140 tons, set sail for the coast of Borneo, with the avowed intent of
destroying Malay piracy and founding an independent state. In all the
romantic stories of the East there is no career of greater daring than
that of this man. In 1841, having engaged in several bloody exploits,
Brooke forced from the sultan of Borneo the cession of Sarawak,
with the government vested in himself as an independent raja.
Brooke now devoted himself with merciless severity to the destruction
of the pirates in the deep bays and swampy rivers, whence they had
so long made their excursions. Later he was assisted by the presence
of the English man-of-war "Dido," and in 1847 the sultan of Brunei
ceded to Great Britain the island of Labuan. In 1849, Brooke visited
Zamboanga in the English man-of-war "Moeander," and concluded a treaty
with the sultan of Sulu, which greatly alarmed the Spaniards.
Brooke's private correspondence shows that he was ambitious and hopeful
of acquiring for England parts of the Dutch possessions in the south
and the Spanish Philippines in the north; but his plans were never
followed up by England, although in 1887 North Borneo was ceded to
an English company, and all the northern and eastern portions of this
great island are now under English protection. [91]
Liberal Ideas among the Filipinos.--The release from Moro
piracy, the opening of foreign commerce, and the development of
agricultural production were rapidly bringing about a great change
in the aspirations of the Filipino people themselves. Nearly up to
the middle of the nineteenth century the Filipinos had felt the
full effect of isolation from the life and thought of the modern
world. But the revolutionary changes in Europe and the struggles
for constitutional government in Spain had their influence, even
in these far-away Spanish possessions. Spaniards of liberal ideas,
some of them in official positions, found their way to the Islands,
and an agitation began, originating among Spaniards themselves,
against the paternal powers of the friars.
Influence of the Press.--The growth of periodic literature accelerated
this liberalizing movement. The press, though suffering a severe
censorship, has played a large part in shaping recent thought in
these islands and in communicating to the Filipino people those
ideas and purposes which ever inspire and elevate men. [92] The first
newspaper to make its appearance in the Philippines was in 1822--"El
Philantropo"; but journalism assumed no real importance until the
forties, when there were founded "Semanario Filipino" (1843), and
almost immediately after several others--"El Amigo de Pais" (1845),
"La Estrella" (1846), and "La Esperanza" (1847), the first daily. These
were followed by "Diario de Manila" (1848); in 1858 "El Comercio"
appeared, the oldest of the papers still in existence. [93]
Papers conducted by Filipinos and in the Filipino tongues are of more
recent origin, but these early Spanish periodicals had a real effect
upon the Filipinos themselves, training up a class familiar with the
conduct of journalism and preparing a way for the very influential
work of the Filipino press in recent years.
Establishment of an Educational System.--Return of the Jesuits.--But
more important than all other influences was the opening of education
to Filipinos. In 1852 a royal decree authorized the Jesuits to return
to the Philippines. The conditions under which they came back were
that they should devote themselves solely to missions in the unoccupied
fields of Mindanao, and to the higher education of the Filipinos.
The Public Schools.--In 1860, O'Donnell, the Spanish minister of
war and colonies (Ultramar), founded the system of public primary
instruction. A primary school for boys and one for girls was to
be established in each pueblo of the Islands. In these schools,
instruction was to be given in the Spanish language. A superior
commission of education was formed, which consisted of the governor,
the archbishop, and seven other members added by the governor himself.
The system was not secular, for it primarily was devoted to the
teaching of religious doctrine. The Spanish friar, the pueblo curate,
was the local inspector of schools and practically directed their
conduct. It was not wholly a free system, because tuition was required
of all but the poorest children; nor was it an adequate system,
because, even when most complete, it reached only a small proportion
of the children of a parish, and these very largely were of the
well-to-do families. And yet this system, for what it accomplished,
is deserving of great credit.
Besides the church, the convent, and the tribunal, nearly every town
in the Philippines, toward the close of Spanish rule, had also, in the
public plaza, its public school buildings for boys and for girls. In
these towns a number of Filipinos were taught to converse in the
Spanish language and at least the rudiments of Spanish education. But
this system did not give opportunity for education to the little
child of the humble fisherman and the husbandman.
The Manila Normal School.--To prepare Filipino teachers to do this
work of primary instruction, a decree of 1863 established the Manila
Normal School. In charge of the Jesuits, this school was inaugurated
in January, 1865. And about the same date the government decreed the
foundation of the Jesuit "Ateneo Municipal" for higher instruction
in the classics and sciences that should conduct the student to the
degree of bachelor of arts. The influence of these institutions upon
the development of the Filipino has been remarkable. In one or the
other of them have been trained nearly all of those young men who in
recent years have stirred the Filipino people to wide ambitions and
demands. At the same time the excellent Jesuit observatory, which has
done such important work in meteorology, was established in charge
of Padre Faura.
Increase in Spanish Population.--The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869
brought immense changes to the Islands. Previous to this date Spanish
residents had been few. Almost the only class deeply interested in the
Islands and permanently established here had been the friars. But with
communication by steamer in thirty days from Barcelona to Manila,
a new interest was felt by Spaniards in the Philippines, though
unfortunately this interest was greatest among the politicians. Some
of the projects planned and decreed can only be regarded as visionary
and beyond the point of serviceability, and others, more unfortunately
still, had for their purpose the creation of offices and emoluments
for Peninsula politicians; but they all contributed to bring to an
end the paternal government under which there was no prospect of
further enlightenment or progress for the Filipino.
Increase in the Number of Wealthy, Educated Filipinos.--The
Filipino had now become embarked upon a new current of intellectual
experience--a course of enlightenment which has been so full of
unexpected development, and which has already carried him so far from
his ancestor of one hundred years ago, that we can not say what advance
another generation or two may bring. Throughout all the towns of the
Islands a class was rapidly growing up to which the new industries
had brought wealth. Their means enabled them to build spacious and
splendid homes of the fine, hard woods of the Philippines, and to
surround themselves with such luxuries as the life of the Islands
permitted. This class was rapidly gaining education. It acquired a
knowledge of the Spanish language, and easily assumed that graceful
courtesy which distinguishes the Spaniard.
The only misfortune, as regards this class, was that it was very
small. It could embrace but a few families in each populous town. Some
of these had Chinese and Spanish blood in their veins, but other
notable families were pure Filipinos.
Attitude of the Spanish and the Friars toward Filipino Education.--The
great mistake committed by the Spaniard was that he rarely welcomed
the further progress of the native population, and the center of
this opposition to the general enlightenment of the race was the
friars. Thus those who had been the early protectors and educators,
little by little, because of their extreme conservatism and their
fear of loosening the ties that bound the Filipino to the church and
to Spain, changed into opponents of his progress and enemies of his
enlightenment; but the education which the church itself had given to
the Filipino, and which had been fostered by the state and especially
in recent times by the Jesuits, had made the Filipino passionately
ambitious for more enlightenment and freedom.
The Rule of Governor Torre.--Liberal Reforms.--In 1868, Queen
Isabella II. of Spain was deposed, and a little later a revolutionary
government, the "Republic of Spain," was founded. It was the brief
triumph of that reforming and liberal spirit which for so many years
had been struggling to free Spain from the burdens of aristocracy
and ecclesiasticism.
The natural consequence was the sending of a liberal governor
to the Philippines and the publication of liberal principles and
reforms. This governor was General de la Torre. He was a brave and
experienced soldier and a thorough democrat at heart. He dispensed
with the formality and petty pomp with which the governors of Manila
had surrounded themselves; he dismissed the escort of halberdiers,
with their mediæval uniforms and weapons, which had surrounded the
governor-generals since 1581, and rode out in civilian's clothes and
without ostentation. His efforts were directed to encouraging the
Filipinos and to attaching them to Spain. In the eyes of the Spanish
law, for a brief period, Spaniard and colonists had become equal,
and La Torre tried to enforce this principle and make no distinction
of race or birth. While Filipinos were encouraged and delighted,
it is impossible to describe the disgust of the Spanish population
and the opposition of the friars. La Torre was attacked and opposed,
and the entire course of his governorship was filled with trouble,
in which, naturally, liberal ideas gained wider and wider currency
among the Filipinos.
Effect of the Opposition of the Friars.--The friars, being the most
influential opponents of the Filipino, naturally came to be regarded
by the Filipinos as their greatest enemies, and the anti-friar spirit
daily spread and intensified. A party was formed which demanded that
the friars vacate the parishes, and that their places be filled by
secular priests, in accordance with the statutes of the Council of
Trent. This party was headed by a native priest, Dr. José Burgos.
A Filipino Movement for Reform.--After the fall of the republic in
Spain and the restoration of the monarchy, the administration in the
Philippines attempted to extirpate the rising tide of liberal thought;
but these ideas had taken root and could not be suppressed. The
Filipino party, if so we may call it, continued to plan and work
for reform. It numbered not only those of Filipino blood, but many
of Spanish descent, born in the Philippines. There is no certain
evidence that they were at this time plotting for independence, or
that their actions were treasonable; but the fear and hatred felt
by the Spaniards resulted frequently in the exile and punishment of
known advocates of reform.
The Cavite Revolt.--In 1872 there occurred an important outbreak
known as the Cavite Revolt. Two hundred native soldiers at the
Cavite arsenal rose, killed their officers, and shouted "Death to
Spain!" They had fellow-conspirators among the troops in Manila,
but owing to mistakes in their plans these failed to rise with them
and the revolt was easily suppressed.
It was immediately followed by the arrest of a large number of
Filipinos who had been conspicuous in La Torre's time and who were
advocates of reform. This number included the three priests, Fathers
Burgos, Zamora, and Gomez, besides Don Antonio Regidor, Don Joaquin
Pardo de Tavera, Don Pedro Carillo, and others. A council of war
condemned to death forty-one of the participants in the Cavite riot,
and these were shot on the morning of the 27th of January, 1872,
on the Field of Bagumbayan. On the 6th of February a council of war
condemned to death eleven more soldiers of the regiment of artillery,
but this sentence was commuted by the governor to life imprisonment. On
the 15th of February the same council of war sentenced to death upon
the garrote, the priests Burgos, Zamora, Gomez, and a countryman,
Saldua; and this sentence was executed on the morning of the 17th.
The Spread of Secret Organizations.--Masonry.--New ground for fear
was now found in the spread of secret organizations, which were
denounced as Free Masonry. This is a very ancient institution which,
in Protestant countries like England and America, has a very large
membership, and in these countries its aims are wholly respectable. It
has never in any way been connected with sedition or other unworthy
movements. Its services are, in fact, largely of a religious character
and it possesses a beautiful and elaborate Christian ritual; but in
Latin countries Masonry has been charged with political intrigue and
the encouragement of infidelity, and this has resulted in clerical
opposition to the order wherever found. The first Masonic lodge in the
Philippines was established about 1861 and was composed entirely of
Spaniards. It was succeeded by others with Filipino membership, and
in one way or another seems to have inspired many secret organizations.
The "Liga Filipina," and Dr. Rizal.--Large numbers of Filipinos were
now working, if not for independence, at least for the expulsion of the
friars; and while this feeling should have been met by a statesmanlike
and liberal policy of reform, the government constantly resorted to
measures of repression, which little by little changed the movement
for reformation into revolution.
In 1887 the "Liga Filipina," was formed by a number of the
younger Filipino patriots, chief among whom was Dr. José Rizal y
Mercado. Rizal, by his gifts, his noble character, and his sad fate,
has gained a supreme place in the hearts of Filipinos and in the
history of the Islands. He was born in 1861 at Calamba, on Laguna de
Bay, and even as a child he was affected with sadness at the memory of
the events of 1872 and with the backward and unhappy condition of his
countrymen. He was educated by the Jesuits at the Ateneo Municipal in
Manila, and his family having means, he was enabled to study in Spain,
where he took a degree in medicine, and later to travel and study in
France, England, and Germany.
It was in this latter country that he produced his first novel,
Noli Me Tangere. He had been a contributor to the Filipino paper
published in Spain, "La Solidaridad," and, to further bring the
conditions and needs of his country to more public notice, he wrote
this novel dealing with Tagálog life as represented at his old home on
Laguna de Bay and in the city of Manila. Later he published a sequel,
El Filibusterismo, in which even more courageously and significantly
are set forth his ideas for reform.
His work made him many enemies, and on his return to Manila he found
himself in danger and was obliged to leave. He returned again in 1893,
and was immediately arrested and sentenced to deportation to Dapitan,
Mindanao. Here he remained quietly in the practice of his profession
for some years.
The Katipunan.--Meanwhile the ideas which had been agitated by the
wealthy and educated Filipinos had worked their way down to the
poor and humble classes. They were now shared by the peasant and
the fisherman. Especially in those provinces where the religious
orders owned estates and took as rental a portion of the tenants'
crop, there was growing hatred and hostility to the friars. The
"Liga Filipina" had been composed of cultivated and moderate men,
who while pressing for reform were not inclined to radical extremes,
nor to obtain their ends by violent means.
But there now grew up and gradually spread, until it had its
branches and members in all the provinces surrounding Manila, a
secret association composed largely of the uneducated classes, whose
object was independence of Spain, and whose members, having little to
lose, were willing to risk all. This was the society which has since
become famous under the name of "Katipunan." This secret association
was organized in Cavite about 1892. Its president and founder was
Andres Bonifacio. Its objects were frankly to expel the friars, and,
if possible, to destroy the Spanish government.
Rebellion of 1896.--A general attack and slaughter of the Spaniards
was planned for the 20th of August, 1896. The plot was discovered
by the priest of Binondo, Padre Gil, who learned of the movement
through the wife of one of the conspirators, and within a few hours
the government had seized several hundred persons who were supposed to
be implicated. The arrests included many rich and prominent Filipinos,
and at the end of some weeks the Spanish prisons contained over five
thousand suspects. Over one thousand of these were almost immediately
exiled to far-distant Spanish prisons--Fernando Po, on the west coast
of Africa, and the fortress of Ceuta, on the Mediterranean.
Meanwhile the Katipunan was organizing its forces for struggle. On
the 26th of August, one thousand insurgents attacked Caloocan,
and four days later a pitched battle was fought at San Juan del
Monte. In this last fight the insurgents suffered great loss,
their leader, Valenzuela, was captured and, with three companions,
shot on the Campo de Bagumbayan. The rising continued, however,
and the provinces of Pampanga, Bulacan, and Nueva Ecija were soon in
full rebellion. The center of revolt, however, proved to be Cavite,
This province was almost immediately cleared of Spaniards, except the
long neck of land containing the town of Cavite and protected by the
fleet. Here the insurgents received some organization under a young
man, who had been prominent in the Katipunan--Emilio Aguinaldo.
The governor-general, Blanco, a humane man, who afterwards for a short
time commanded in Cuba, was recalled, and General Polavieja replaced
him. The Spanish army at the beginning of the revolt had consisted
of but fifteen hundred troops, but so serious was the revolt regarded
that Spain, although straining every energy at the moment to end the
rebellion in Cuba, strengthened the forces in the Philippines, until
Polavieja had an army of twenty-eight thousand Spaniards assisted by
several loyal Filipino regiments. With this army a fierce campaign
in Cavite province was conducted, which after fifty-two days' hard
fighting ended in the defeat of the insurgents and the scattering of
their forces.
Death of Dr. Rizal.--For the moment it looked as though the rebellion
might pass. Then the Spanish government of Polavieja disgraced itself
by an act as wanton and cruel as it was inhuman and impolitic.
Four years Dr. Rizal had spent in exile at Dapitan. He had lived
quietly and under surveillance, and it was impossible that he could
have had any share in this rebellion of 1898. Wearied, however, with
his inactivity, he solicited permission to go as an army doctor to the
dreadful Spanish hospitals in Cuba. This request was granted in July,
and Rizal had the misfortune to arrive in Manila at the very moment
of discovery of the rebellion in August. Governor Blanco hastened to
send him to Spain with a most kindly letter to the minister of war,
in which he vouched for his independence of the events which were
taking place in Manila.
His enemies, however, could not see him escape. Their persecution
followed him to the Peninsula, and, upon his arrival in Spain, Rizal
was at once arrested and sent back to Manila a prisoner. His friend
Blanco had gone. Polavieja, the friend and tool of the reactionary
party, was busy punishing by imprisonment, banishment or death all
Filipinos who could be shown to have the slightest part or association
in the movement for reform. And by this clique Dr. Rizal was sentenced
to execution. He was shot early on the morning of December 30,
1896. [94] At his death the insurrection flamed out afresh. It now
spread to Pangasinan, Zambales, and Ilocos.
End of the Revolt by Promises of Reform.--Polavieja returned to Spain,
and was succeeded by Gen. Primo de Rivera, who arrived in the spring
of 1897. The Spanish troops had suffered several recent reverses and
the country swarmed with insurgents. The policy of Primo de Rivera
was to gain by diplomacy where the energy of his predecessor had
failed. In July, 1897, an amnesty proclamation was issued, and in
August the governor-general opened negotiations with Aguinaldo, whose
headquarters were now in the mountains of Angat in Bulacan. Primo
de Rivera urged the home government to make some reforms, which
would greatly lessen the political importance of the friars. He
was vehemently opposed by the latter, but it was probably upon the
promise of reform that Aguinaldo and his fellow-insurgents agreed,
for the payment of 1,700,000 pesos, to surrender their arms, dismiss
the insurgent forces, and themselves retire from the Islands. This
agreement was made, and on December 27, 1897, Aguinaldo left the port
of Sual for Hongkong.
The Spanish Misrule Ended.--Conditions in the provinces still continued
very unsatisfactory, and in its very last hours the Spanish government
lost the remnant of its prestige with the people by a massacre in
Calle Camba, Binondo, of a company of Bisayan sailors. Ten days after
this occurrence a revolt blazed out on the island of Cebu. Had events
taken their course, what would have been the final conclusion of the
struggle between Spaniards and Filipinos it is impossible to say. On
the 25th day of April the United States declared war upon Spain,
and the first day of May an American fleet reached Manila harbor,
and in the naval fight off Cavite, Spanish dominion, which had lasted
with only one brief interruption for 332 years, was broken.
CHAPTER XIII.
AMERICA AND THE PHILIPPINES.
Beginning of a New Era.--With the passing of the Spanish sovereignty
to the Americans, a new era began in the Philippines. Already the
old Spanish rule seems so far removed that we can begin to think of
it without feeling and study it without prejudice.
Development of the United States of America.--The American nation is
the type of the New World. Beginning in a group of colonies, planted
half a century later than the settlement of the Philippines, it has
had a development unparalleled in the history of states. Although
peopled by emigrants from Europe, who rigidly preserved both their
purity of race and pride of ancestry, the American colonists, at the
end of a century, were far separated in spirit and institutions from
the Old World.
Struggle with the wilderness and with the savage produced among them
a society more democratic and more independent than Europe had ever
known; while their profound religious convictions saved the colonists
from barbarism and intellectual decline. It can truthfully be held,
that in 1775, at the outbreak of the American Revolution, the colonists
had abler men and greater political ability than the mother-country of
England. It was these men who, at the close of the Revolution, framed
the American Constitution, the greatest achievement in the history of
public law. This nation, endowed at its commencement with so precious
an inheritance of political genius, felt its civil superiority to the
illiberal or ineffective governments of Europe, and this feeling has
produced in Americans a supreme and traditional confidence in their own
forms of government and democratic standards of life. Certainly their
history contains much to justify the choice of their institutions.
A hundred and twenty-five years ago, these colonies were a small nation
of 2,500,000 people, occupying no more than the Atlantic coast of
the continent. Great mountain chains divided them from the interior,
which was overrun by the fiercest and most warlike type of man that
the races have produced--the American Indian. With an energy which
has shown no diminishing from generation to generation, the American
broke through these mountain chains, subdued the wilderness, conquered
the Indian tribes, and in the space of three generations was master
of the continent of North America.
Even while engaged in the War for Independence, the American
frontiersman crossed the Appalachians and secured Kentucky and the
Northwest Territory, and with them the richest and most productive
regions of the Temperate Zone,--the Mississippi Valley. In 1803, the
great empire of Louisiana, falling from the hand of France, was added
to the American nation. In 1818, Florida was ceded by Spain, and in
1857, as a result of war with Mexico, came the Greater West and the
Pacific seaboard. This vast dominion, nearly three thousand miles in
width from east to west, has been peopled by natural increase and by
immigration from Europe, until, at the end of the nineteenth century,
the American nation numbered seventy-four million souls.
This development has taken place without fundamental change in the
constitution or form of government, without loss of individual liberty,
and constantly increasing national prosperity. Moreover, the States
have survived the Civil War, the most bloody and persistently fought
war of all modern centuries--a war in which a million soldiers fell,
and to sustain which three and a half billion dollars in gold were
expended out of the national treasury. This war accomplished the
abolition of negro slavery, the greatest economic revolution ever
effected by a single blow.
Such in brief is the history of the American nation, so gifted with
political intelligence, so driven by sleepless energy, so proud of
its achievements, and inwardly so contemptuous of the more polished
but less liberal life of the Old World. Europe has never understood
this nation, and not until a few years ago did Europeans dream of
its progress and its power.
Relation of the United States to South American Republics.--Toward
the republics of Spanish America the United States has always stood
in a peculiar relation. These countries achieved their independence of
Spain under the inspiration of the success of the United States. Their
governments were framed in imitation of the American, and in spite of
the turbulence and disorder of their political life, the United States
has always felt and manifested a strong sympathy for these states as
fellow-republics. She has moreover pledged herself to the maintenance
of their integrity against the attacks of European powers. This
position of the United States in threatening with resistance the
attempt of any European power to seize American territory is known
as the Monroe Doctrine, because it was first declared by President
Monroe in 1823.
Sympathy of American People for the Oppressed Cubans.--The fact that
the American nation attained its own independence by revolution has
made the American people give ready sympathy to the cause of the
revolutionist. The people of Cuba, who made repeated ineffective
struggles against Spanish sovereignty, always had the good wishes
of the American people. By international usage, however, one nation
may not recognize or assist revolutionists against a friendly power
until their independence is practically effected.
Thus, when rebellion broke out afresh in Cuba in 1894, the United
States government actively suppressed the lending of assistance to
the Cubans, as was its duty, although the American people themselves
heartily wished Cuba free. The war in Cuba dragged along for years and
became more and more merciless. The passions of Cubans and Spaniards
were so inflamed that quarter was seldom given, and prisoners were
not spared. Spain poured her troops into the island until there were
120,000 on Cuban soil, but the rebellion continued.
The Spanish have always been merciless in dealing with
revolutionists. Americans, on the other hand, have always conceded
the moral right of a people to resist oppressive government, and in
the entire history of the United States there has scarcely been a
single punishment for political crime. Although probably the fiercest
war in history was the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865, there
was not a single execution for treason. Thus the stories of the
constant executions of political prisoners, on an island in sight
of its own shores, greatly exasperated America, as did the policy of
Governor-general Weyler, which was excessive in its severity.
War with Spain.--Destruction of the "Maine."--As the contest proceeded
without sign of termination, the patience of the American people grew
less. Then, February 15, 1898, occurred one of the most deplorable
events of recent times. The American battleship "Maine," lying in the
harbor of Havana, was, in the night, blown to destruction by mine or
torpedo, killing 266 American officers and sailors. It is impossible
to believe that so dastardly an act was done with the knowledge of
the higher Spanish officials; but the American people rightly demanded
that a government such as Spain maintained in Cuba, unable to prevent
such an outrage upon the vessel of a friendly power, and that could
neither suppress its rebellion nor wage war humanely, should cease.
Declaration of War.--On April 19th the American Congress demanded
that Spain withdraw from the island and recognize the independence of
Cuba. This was practically a declaration of war. Spain indignantly
refused, and resolved upon resistance. Unfortunately, the ignorant
European press claimed for Spain military and naval superiority.
The war was brief, and was an overwhelming disaster to Spain. Every
vessel of her proud navy that came under the fire of American guns
was destroyed.
For a few months battle raged along the coasts of Cuba, and then
Spain sued for peace.
Dewey's Victory in Manila Bay.--But meanwhile the war, begun without
the slightest reference to the Philippine Islands, had brought about
surprising consequences here.
At the opening of the war, both Spain and the United States had
squadrons in Asiatic waters. The Spanish fleet lay at Cavite, the
American ships gathered at Hongkong. Immediately on the declaration of
war, the American naval commander, Dewey, was ordered to destroy the
Spanish fleet, which was feared on the Pacific coast of America. Dewey
entered the Bay of Manila in darkness on the morning of May 1st,
and made direct for the Spanish vessels at Cavite. His fleet was the
more powerful and immeasurably the more efficient. In a few hours
the Spanish navy was utterly destroyed and Manila lay at the mercy
of his guns.
A New Insurrection, under Aguinaldo.--At this signal catastrophe
to Spain, the smoldering insurrection in the Islands broke out
afresh. The Spanish troops not in Manila were driven in upon their
posts, and placed in a position of siege. The friars, so hated by the
revolutionists, were captured in large numbers and were in some cases
killed. With the permission and assistance of the American authorities,
Aguinaldo returned from Singapore, and landed at Cavite. Here he
immediately headed anew the Philippine insurrection.
Capture of Manila.--Troops were dispatched from San Francisco for the
capture of Manila. By the end of July, 8,500 men lay in the transports
off Cavite. They were landed at the little estuary of Parañaque,
and advanced northwards upon Fort San Antonio and the defenses of
Malate. The Spaniards behind the city's defenses, although outnumbering
the Americans, were sick and dispirited. One attempt was made to drive
back the invading army, but on the following day the Americans swept
through the defenses and line of blockhouses, and Manila capitulated
(August 13, 1898).
The Filipinos had scarcely participated in the attack on the city, and
they were excluded from occupying it after its surrender. This act was
justified, because the Filipino forces had been very recently raised,
the soldiers were undisciplined, and had they entered the city, with
passions as they were inflamed, it was feared by the Americans that
their officers might not be able to keep them from looting and crime.
Misunderstanding between Americans and Filipinos.--Up to this point,
the relations between the American and Filipino armies had been
friendly. But here began that misunderstanding and distrust which
for so many months were to alienate these two peoples and imbitter
their intercourse.
Provisional Government of the Filipinos.--In the interval between
the destruction of the Spanish fleet and the capture of Manila,
the Filipinos in Cavite had organized a provisional government and
proclaimed the independence of the archipelago.
American Ideas in Regard to the Philippines.--The idea of returning
these islands to the Spanish power was exceedingly repugnant to
American sentiment. Spain's attitude toward revolutionists was well
understood in America, and the Filipinos had acted as America's friends
and allies. On the other hand, the American government was unwilling
to turn over to the newly organized Filipino republic the government
of the archipelago. It was felt in America, and with reason, that
this Filipino government was not truly representative of all the
people in the Philippines, that the Filipino leaders were untried
men, and that the people themselves had not had political training and
experience. The United States, having overthrown the Spanish government
here, was under obligation to see that the government established in
its place would represent all and do injustice to none. The Filipinos
were very slightly known to Americans, but their educated class was
believed to be small and their political ability unproven. Thus, no
assurances were given to the Filipino leaders that their government
would be recognized, or that their wishes would be consulted in the
future of the Islands. In fact, these matters could be settled only
by action of the American Congress, which was late in assembling and
slow to act.
The Terms of Peace.--Spain and America were now negotiating terms of
peace. These negotiations were conducted at Paris, and dragged on
during many critical weeks. The Filipinos were naturally very much
concerned over the outcome.
Finally, the American government demanded of Spain that she cede the
Islands to the United States and accept the sum of $20,000,000 gold,
for public works and improvements which she had made.
Suspicions of the Filipino Leaders.--These terms became known in
December, 1898. They served to awaken the worst suspicions of the
Filipino leaders. Many believed that they were about to exchange
the oppressive domination of Spain for the selfish and equally
oppressive domination of America. There is reason to believe that some
leaders counseled patience, and during the succeeding months made a
constant effort to maintain the peace, but the radical party among
the Filipinos was led by a man of real gifts and fiery disposition,
Antonio Luna. He had received an education in Europe, had had some
instruction in military affairs, and when in September the Filipino
government was transferred to Malolos, Luna became the general in
chief of the military forces. He was also editor of the most radical
Filipino newspaper, "La Independencia."
New Filipino Government.--On January 4, 1899, President McKinley
issued a special message to General Otis, commanding the armies of the
United States in the Philippines, declaring that American sovereignty
must be recognized without conditions. It was thought in the United
States that a firm declaration of this kind would be accepted by
the Filipinos and that they would not dare to make resistance. The
intentions of the American president and nation, as subsequent events
have proven, were to deal with the Filipinos with great liberality;
but the president's professions were not trusted by the Filipinos,
and the result of Mr. McKinley's message was to move them at once to
frame an independent government and to decide on war.
This new government was framed at Malolos, Bulacan, by a congress
with representatives from most of the provinces of central Luzon. The
"Malolos Constitution" was proclaimed January 23, 1899, and Don Emilio
Aguinaldo was elected president. The cabinet, or ministry, included
Don Apolinario Mabini, secretary of state; Don Teodoro Sandico,
secretary of interior; General Baldomero Aguinaldo, secretary of war;
General Mariano Trias, secretary of treasury; Don Engracio Gonzaga,
secretary of public instruction and agriculture.
War with the Americans.--Battle of Manila.--The Filipino forces were
impatient for fighting, and attack on the American lines surrounding
Manila began on the night of February 4th. It is certain that battle
had been decided upon and in preparation for some time, and that
fighting would have been begun in any case, before the arrival
of reënforcements from America; but the attack was precipitated a
little early by the killing at San Juan Bridge of a Filipino officer
who refused to halt when challenged by an American sentry. On that
memorable and dreadful night, the battle raged with great fury along
the entire circle of defenses surrounding the city, from Tondo
on the north to Fort San Antonio de Abad, south of the suburb of
Malate. Along three main avenues from the north, east, and south
the Filipinos attempted to storm and enter the capital, but although
they charged with reckless bravery, and for hours sustained a bloody
combat, they had fatally underestimated the fighting qualities of
the American soldier.
The volunteer regiments of the American army came almost entirely from
the western United States, where young men are naturally trained to
the use of arms, and are imbued by inheritance with the powerful and
aggressive qualities of the American frontier. When morning broke,
the Filipino line of attack had, at every point, been shattered and
thrown back, and the Americans had advanced their positions on the
north to Caloocan, on the east to the Water Works and the Mariquina
Valley, and on the south to Pasay.
Declaration of War.--Unfortunately, during the night attack and before
the disaster to Filipino arms was apparent, Aguinaldo had launched
against the United States a declaration of war. This declaration
prevented the Americans from trusting the Filipino overtures which
followed this battle, and peace was not made.
The Malolos Campaign.--On March 25th began the American advance upon
the Filipino capital of Malolos. This Malolos campaign, as it is
usually called, occupied six days, and ended in the driving of the
Filipino army and government from their capital. Hard fighting took
place in the first days of this advance, and two extremely worthy
American officers were killed, Colonels Egbert and Stotsenberg.
The Filipino army was pursued in its retreat as far as Calumpit, where
on the southern bank of the Rio Grande de Pampanga the American line
rested during the height of the rainy season. During this interval
the volunteer regiments, whose terms of service had long expired,
were returned to the States, and their places taken by regiments of
the regular army.
The American Army.--The American army at that time, besides the
artillery, consisted of twenty-five regiments of infantry and ten of
cavalry. Congress now authorized the organization of twenty-four new
regiments of infantry, to be known as the 26th to the 49th Regiments
of U. S. Volunteers, and one volunteer regiment of cavalry, the 11th,
for a service of two years. These regiments were largely officered
by men from civil life, familiar with a great variety of callings and
professions,--men for the most part of fine character, whose services
in the months that followed were very great not only in the field, but
in gaining the friendship of the Filipino people and in representing
the character and intentions of the American government.
Anti-War Agitators in America.--Through the summer of 1899 the war was
not pressed by the American general, nor were the negotiations with
the Filipino leaders conducted with success. The Filipinos were by no
means dismayed. In spite of their reverses, they believed the conquest
of the Islands impossible to foreign troops. Furthermore, the war had
met with tremendous opposition in America. Many Americans believed that
the war was against the fundamental rights of the Filipino people. They
attacked the administration with unspeakable bitterness. They openly
expressed sympathy for the Filipino revolutionary cause, and for the
space of two years their encouragement was an important factor in
sustaining the rebellion.
Spread of the Insurrection.--In these same summer months the
revolutionary leaders spread their cause among the surrounding
provinces and islands. The spirit of resistance was prominent at first
only among the Tagálog, but gradually nearly all the Christianized
population was united in resistance to the American occupation.
Occupation of Negros.--The Americans had meanwhile occupied
Iloilo and the Bisayas, and shortly afterwards the presidios in
Mindanao surrendered by the Spaniards. In Negros, also, exceptional
circumstances had transpired. The people in this island invited
American sovereignty; and Gen. James Smith, sent to the island in March
as governor, assisted the people in forming a liberal government,
through which insurrection and disorder in that island were largely
avoided.
Death of General Luna.--With the cessation of heavy rains, the
fighting was begun again in northern Luzon. The Filipino army had
its headquarters in Tarlac, and its lines occupied the towns of the
provinces of Pangasinan and Nueva Ecija, stretching in a long line of
posts from the Zambales Mountains almost to the upper waters of the
Rio Pampanga. It was still well armed, provisioned, and resolute; but
the brilliant, though wayward, organizer of this army was dead. The
Nationalist junta, which had directed the Philippine government and
army, had not been able to reconcile its differences. It is reported
that Luna aspired to a dictatorship. He was killed by soldiers of
Aguinaldo at Cabanatuan.
The Campaign in Northern Luzon.--The American generals now determined
upon a strategic campaign. General MacArthur was to command an
advance up the railroad from Calumpit upon Tarlac; General Lawton,
with a flying column of swift infantry and cavalry, was to make a
flanking movement eastward through Nueva Ecija and hem the Filipino
forces in upon the east. Meanwhile, General Wheaton was to convey a
force by transport to the Gulf of Lingayen, to throw a cordon across
the Ilocano coast that should cut off the retreat of the Filipino army
northward. As a strategic movement, this campaign was only partially
successful. MacArthur swept northward, crushing the Filipino line on
his front, his advance being led by the active regiment of General
J. Franklin Bell. Lawton's column scoured the country eastward,
marching with great rapidity and tremendous exertions. Swollen
rivers were crossed with great loss of life, and the column,
cutting loose from its supplies, was frequently in need of food. It
was in this column that the Filipino first saw with amazement the
great American cavalry horse, so large beside the small pony of
the Philippines. Lawton's descent was so swift that the Philippine
government and staff narrowly escaped capture.
On the night of November 11th, the Filipino generals held their
last council of war at Bayambang on the Rio Agno, and resolved upon
dispersal. Meanwhile, Wheaton had landed at San Fabian, upon the
southern Ilocano coast, but his force was insufficient to establish
an effective cordon, and on the night of November 15th Aguinaldo,
with a small party of ministers and officers, closely pursued by the
cavalry of Lawton under the command of General Young, slipped past,
through the mountains of Pozorubio and Rosario, and escaped up the
Ilocano coast.
Then began one of the most exciting pursuits in recent wars. The chase
never slackened, except in those repeated instances when for the moment
the trail of the Filipino general was lost. From Candon, Aguinaldo
turned eastward through the comandancias of Lepanto and Bontoc, into
the wild Igorrote country of the Cordillera Central. The trail into
Lepanto leads over the lofty mountains through the precipitous Tila
Pass. On the summit, in what was regarded as an impregnable position,
Gregorio del Pilar, little more than a boy, but a brigadier-general,
with a small force of soldiers, the remnant of his command, attempted
to cover the retreat of his president. But a battalion of the
33d Infantry, under Major March, carried the pass, with the total
destruction of Pilar's command, he himself falling amid the slain.
Capture of Aguinaldo.--Major March then pursued Aguinaldo into
Bontoc and thence southward into the wild and mountainous territory
of Quiangan. On Christmas night, 1899, the American soldiers camped
on the crest of the Cordillera, within a few miles of the Igorrote
village where the Filipino force was sleeping. Both parties were
broken down and in dire distress through the fierceness of the flight
and pursuit, but for several weeks longer Aguinaldo's party was able
to remain in these mountains and elude its pursuers. A month later,
his trail was finally lost in the valley of the Cagayan. He and his
small party had passed over the exceedingly difficult trail through
the Sierra Madre Mountains, to the little Tagálog town of Palanan
near the Pacific coast. Here, almost entirely cut off from active
participation in the insurrection, Aguinaldo remained until June of
1901, when he was captured by the party of General Funston.
For some weeks following the disintegration of the Filipino army, the
country appeared to be pacified and the insurrection over. The new
regiments arriving from the United States, an expedition was formed
under General Schwan, which in December and January marched southward
through Cavite and Laguna provinces and occupied Batangas, Tayabas, and
the Camarines. Other regiments were sent to the Bisayas and to northern
Luzon, until every portion of the archipelago, except the islands of
Mindoro and Palawan, contained large forces of American troops.
Reorganization of the Filipino Army.--The Filipinos had, by no means,
however, abandoned the contest, and this period of quiet was simply
a calm while the insurgent forces were perfecting their organization
and preparing for a renewal of the conflict under a different form. It
being found impossible for a Filipino army to keep the field, there
was effected a secret organization for the purpose of maintaining
irregular warfare through every portion of the archipelago. The Islands
were partitioned into a great number of districts or "zones." At
the head of each was a zone commander, usually with the rank of
general. The operations of these men were, to a certain extent, guided
by the counsel or directions of the secret revolutionary juntas in
Manila or Hongkong, but, in fact, they were practically absolute and
independent, and they exercised extraordinary powers. They recruited
their own forces and commissioned subordinate commanders. They levied
"contributions" upon towns, owners of haciendas, and individuals of
every class, and there was a secret civil or municipal organization
for collecting these revenues. The zone commanders, moreover, exercised
the terrible power of execution by administrative order.
Assassination of Filipinos.--Many of the Filipino leaders were
necessarily not well instructed in those rules for the conduct of
warfare which civilized peoples have agreed upon as being humane
and honorable. Many of them tried, especially in the latter months
of the war, when understanding was more widely diffused, to make
their conduct conform to international usage; but the revolutionary
junta had committed the great crime of ordering the punishment by
assassination of all Filipinos who failed to support the insurgent
cause. No possible justification, in the light of modern morality,
can be found for such a step as this. The very worst passions were
let loose in carrying out this policy. Scores of unfortunate men were
assassinated, many of them as the results of private enmity. Endless
blackmail was extorted and communities were terrorized from one end
of the archipelago to the other.
Irregular Warfare of the Filipinos.--Through the surrender of
Spanish forces, the capture of the arsenals of Cavite and Olongapo,
and by purchase through Hongkong, the revolutionary government
possessed between thirty thousand and forty thousand rifles. These
arms were distributed to the different military zones, and the
secret organization which existed in each municipality received its
proportion. These guns were secreted by the different members of the
command, except when occasion arose for effecting a surprise or making
an attack. There were no general engagements, but in some towns there
was almost nightly shooting. Pickets and small detachments were cut
off, and roads became so unsafe throughout most of the archipelago
that there was no travel by Americans except under heavy escort. For a
long time, also, the orders of the commanding general were so lenient
that it was impossible to punish properly this conduct when it was
discovered.
Death of General Lawton.--The American army, in its attempt to garrison
every important town in the Islands, was cut up into as many as 550
small detachments of post garrisons. Thus, while there were eventually
sixty thousand American soldiers in the Islands, it was rare for as
many as five hundred to take the field, and most of the engagements
of the year 1900 were by small detachments of fifty to one hundred men.
It was in one of these small expeditions that the American army
suffered the greatest single loss of the war. A few miles east of
Manila is the beautiful Mariquina Valley, from which is derived the
city's supply of water, and the headwaters of this pretty stream lie in
the wild and picturesque fastness of San Mateo and Montalban. Although
scarce a dozen miles from the capital and the headquarters of a
Filipino brigade, San Mateo was not permanently occupied by the
Americans until after the 18th of December, 1899, when a force under
General Lawton was led around through the hills to surprise the town.
Early in the morning the American force came pouring down over the
hills that lie across the river from the village. They were met by
a brisk fire from the insurgent command scattered along the banks of
the river and in a sugar hacienda close to the stream. Here Lawton,
conspicuous in white uniform and helmet, accompanying, as was his
custom, the front line of skirmishers, was struck by a bullet and
instantly killed.
Filipino Leaders Sent to Guam.--In November, 1900, after the reëlection
in the United States of President McKinley, a much more vigorous policy
of war was inaugurated. In this month General MacArthur, commanding
the division, issued a notable general order, defining and explaining
the laws of war which were being violated, and threatening punishment
by imprisonment of those guilty of such conduct. Some thousands of
Filipinos under this order were arrested and imprisoned. Thirty-nine
leaders, among them the high-minded but irreconcilable Mabini, were
in December, 1900, sent to a military prison on the island of Guam.
Campaigning was much more vigorously prosecuted in all military
districts. By this time all the American officers had become familiar
with the insurgent leaders, and these were now obliged to leave the
towns and establish cuartels in remote barrios and in the mountains.
These measures, pursued through the winter of 1900-01, broke the
power of the revolution.
The Philippine Civil Commission.--Another very influential factor in
producing peace resulted from the presence and labors of the Civil
Philippine Commission. These gentlemen, Judge William H. Taft, Judge
Luke E. Wright, Judge Henry C. Ide, Professor Dean C. Worcester,
and Professor Bernard Moses, were appointed by the president in the
spring of 1900 to legislate for the Islands and to prepare the way
for the establishment of civil government. President McKinley's letter
of instructions to this commission will probably be ranked as one of
the ablest and most notable public papers in American history.
The commission reached the Islands in June and began their legislative
work on September 1st. This body of men, remarkable for their high
character, was able at last to bring about an understanding with the
Filipino leaders and to assure them of the unselfish and honorable
purposes of the American government. Thus, by the early winter
of 1900-01 many Filipino gentlemen became convinced that the best
interests of the Islands lay in accepting American sovereignty, and
that they could honorably advocate the surrender of the insurgent
forces. These men represented the highest attainments and most
influential positions in the Islands. In December they formed an
association known as the Federal Party, for the purpose of inducing the
surrender of military leaders, obedience to the American government,
and the acceptance of peace.
End of the Insurrection.--Under these influences, the insurrection,
in the spring of 1901, went rapidly to pieces. Leader after leader
surrendered his forces and arms, and took the oath of allegiance and
quietly returned home. By the end of June there were but two zone
commanders who had not surrendered,--General Malvar in Batangas,
and General Lukban in Samar.
The First Civil Governor.--Peaceful conditions and security almost
immediately followed these surrenders and determined the president to
establish at once civil government. On July 4, 1901, this important
step was taken, Judge Taft, the president of the Philippine Commission,
taking office on that date as the first American civil governor of the
Philippines. On September 1st, the Philippine Commission was increased
by the appointment of three Filipino members,--the Hon. T. H. Pardo
de Tavera, M. D., the Hon. Benito Legarda, and the Hon. José Luzuriaga
of Negros.
The Philippine Commission has achieved a remarkable amount of
legislation of a very high order. From September, 1900, to the end
of December, 1902, the commission passed no less than 571 acts of
legislation. Some of these were of very great importance and involved
long preparation and labor. Few administrative bodies have ever worked
harder and with greater results than the Philippine Commission during
the first two years of its activity. The frame of government in all
its branches had to be organized and set in motion, the civil and
criminal law liberalized, revenue provided, and public instruction
remodeled on a very extensive scale.
The New Government.--The government is a very liberal one, and
one which gives an increasing opportunity for participation to the
Filipinos. It includes what is called local self-government. There
are in the Islands about 1,132 municipalities. In these the residents
practically manage their own affairs. There are thirty-eight organized
provinces in the archipelago, in which the administration rests
with the Provincial Board composed of the governor, treasurer,
and supervisor or engineer. The governor is elected for the
term of one year by the councilors of all the towns united in
assembly. The treasurer and supervisor are appointed by the governor
of the Philippine archipelago under the rules of the Civil Service
Board. The civil service is a subject which has commanded the special
consideration of the Commission. It gives equal opportunity to the
Filipino and to the American to enter the public service and to gain
public promotion; and the Filipino is by law even given the preference
where possessed of the requisite ability.
The Insular Government.--For the purposes of administration, the
insular, or central government of the Islands is divided into four
branches, called departments, each directed by a secretary who is
also a member of the Philippine Commission. These departments are,
interior, Secretary Worcester; finance and justice, Secretary Ide;
commerce and police, Secretary Wright; and public instruction,
Secretary Moses, until January 1, 1903, and since that date Secretary
Smith. Under each of these departments are a large number of bureaus,
by which the many important activities of the government are performed.
We have only to examine a list of these bureaus to see how many-sided
is the work which the government is performing. It is a veritable
commonwealth, complete in all the branches which demand the
attention of modern governments. Thus, under the Department of the
Interior, there is the Bureau of Public Health, with its extremely
important duties of combating epidemic diseases and improving public
sanitation, with its public hospitals, sanitariums, and charities;
the Bureau of Government Laboratories for making bacteriological and
chemical investigations; a Bureau of Forestry; a Bureau of Mining;
the Philippine Weather Bureau; a Bureau of Agriculture; a Bureau of
Non-Christian Tribes for conducting the government work in ethnology
and for framing legislation for pagan and Mohammedan tribes; and a
Bureau of Public Lands.
Under the department of Commerce and Police are the Bureau of Posts;
Signal Service; the Philippines Constabulary, really an insular army,
with its force of some sixty-five hundred officers and men; Prisons;
the Coast Guard and Transportation Service, with a fleet of about
twenty beautiful little steamers, nearly all of them newly built for
this service and named for islands of the archipelago; the Coast and
Geodetic Survey, doing the much-needed work of charting the dangerous
coasts and treacherous waters of the archipelago; and the Bureau of
Engineering, which has under its charge great public works, many of
which are already under way.
Under the Department of Finance and Justice are the Insular Treasurer;
the Insular Auditor; the Bureau of Customs and Immigration; the
Bureau of Internal Revenue; the Insular Cold Storage and Ice Plant;
and the great Bureau of Justice.
Under the Department of Public Instruction there is the Bureau of
Education in charge of the system of public schools; a Bureau of
Printing and Engraving, with a new and fully equipped plant; a Bureau
of Architecture; a Bureau of Archives; a Bureau of Statistics; and
the Philippine Museum.
Revenues and Expenditures.--The maintenance of these numerous
activities calls for an expenditure of large sums of money, but the
insular government and the Filipino people are fortunate in having
had their finances managed with exceptional ability. The revenues
of the Islands for the past fiscal year have amounted to about
$10,638,000, gold. Public expenditures, including the purchase
of equipment such as the coast-guard fleet and the forwarding of
great public works such as the improving of the harbor of Manila,
amounted during fiscal year of 1903 to about $9,150,000, gold. The
government has at all times preserved a good balance in its treasury;
but the past year has seen some diminution in the amount of revenues,
owing to the great depreciation of silver money, the falling off of
imports, the wide prevalence of cholera, and the poverty of many parts
of the country as a result of war and the loss of livestock through
pest. To assist the government of the Philippines, the Congress of
the United States in February, 1903, with great and characteristic
generosity appropriated the sum of $3,000,000, gold, as a free gift
to the people and government of the Philippines.
The Judicial System.--Especially fortunate, also, have been the labors
of the commission in establishing a judicial system and revising the
Spanish law. The legal ability of the commission is unusually high. As
at present constituted, the judicial system consists of a Supreme
Court composed of seven justices, three of whom at the present time
are Filipinos, which, besides trying cases over which it has original
jurisdiction, hears cases brought on appeal from the Courts of First
Instance, fifteen in number, which sit in different parts of the
Islands. Each town, moreover, has its justices of the peace for the
trial of small cases and for holding preliminary examinations in cases
of crimes. By the new Code of Civil Procedure, the administration of
justice has been so simplified that there are probably no courts in
the world where justice can be more quickly secured than here.
System of Public Schools.--Probably no feature of the American
government in the Islands has attracted more attention than the
system of public schools. Popular education, while by no means wholly
neglected under the Spanish government, was inadequate, and was
continually opposed by the clerical and conservative Spanish forces,
who feared that the liberalizing of the Filipino people would be the
loosening of the control of both Spanish state and church. On the
contrary, the success of the American government, as of any government
in which the people participate, depends upon the intelligence and
education of the people. Thus, the American government is as anxious to
destroy ignorance and poverty as the Spanish government and the Spanish
church were desirous of preserving these deeply unfortunate conditions.
Americans believe that if knowledge is generally spread among the
Filipino people, if there can be a real understanding of the genius
and purpose of our American institutions, there will come increasing
content and satisfaction to dwell under American law. Thus, education
was early encouraged by the American army, and it received the first
attention of the commission. The widespread system of public schools
which now exists in these islands was organized by the first General
Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Fred W. Atkinson, and by
Professor Bernard Moses of the Philippine Commission.
Instruction in the English Language.--The basis of this public
instruction is the English language. This was early decided upon in
view of the great number of Filipino dialects, the absence of a common
native language or literature, and the very moderate acquaintance
with Spanish by any except the educated class.
It is fortunate for the Filipino people that English has been
introduced here and that its knowledge is rapidly spreading. Knowledge
of language is power, and the more widely spoken the tongue, the
greater the possession of the individual who acquires it. Of all the
languages of the world, English is to-day the most widely spoken and is
most rapidly spreading. Moreover, English is preëminently the language
of the Far East. From Yokohama to Australia, and from Manila to the
Isthmus of Suez, English is the common medium of communication. It is
the language alike of business and of diplomacy. The Filipino people,
so eager to participate in all the busy life of eastern Asia, so
ambitious to make their influence felt and their counsels regarded,
will be debarred from all this unless they master this mighty English
tongue.
The Filipino Assembly.--Thus, after four and a half years of
American occupation, the sovereignty of the United States has been
established in the archipelago, and a form of government, unique
in the history of colonial administration, inaugurated. One other
step in the contemplation of Congress, which will still further make
the government a government of the Filipino people, remains to be
taken. This is the formation of a Filipino assembly of delegates or
representatives, chosen by popular vote from all the Christianized
provinces of the archipelago. The recent census of the Philippines
will form the basis for the apportionment of this representation. This
assembly will share the legislative power on all matters pertaining
to the Christian people of the Philippines and those parts of the
Islands inhabited by them. When this step shall have been taken,
the government of the Philippine Islands will be like the typical
and peculiarly American form of government known as territorial.
Territorial Form of Government in the United States.--The American
Union is composed of a number of states or commonwealths which,
while differing vastly in wealth and population, are on absolutely
equal footing in the Union. The inhabitants of these states form
politically the American sovereignty. They elect the president and
Congress, and through their state legislatures may change or amend
the form of the American state itself.
Besides these states, there have always been large possessions
of the nation called territories. These territories are extensive
countries, too sparsely inhabited or too undeveloped politically to
be admitted, in the judgment of the American Congress, to statehood
in the Union. Their inhabitants do not have the right to vote for
the president; neither have they representation in the American
Congress. These territories are governed by Congress, through
territorial governments, and over them Congress has full sovereign
powers. That is, as the Supreme Court of the United States has decided
and explained, while Congress when legislating for the states in the
Union has only those powers of legislation which have been specifically
granted by the Constitution, in legislating for the territories it has
all the powers which the Constitution has not specifically denied. The
only limitations on Congress are those which, under the American
system of public law, guarantee the liberty of the individual,--his
freedom of religious belief and worship; his right to just, open,
and speedy trial; his right to the possession of his property; and
other precious privileges, the result of centuries of development
in the English-speaking race, which make up civil liberty. These
priceless securities, which no power of the government can take away,
abridge, or infringe, are as much the possession of the inhabitants
of a territory as of a state. [95]
The government of these territories has varied greatly in form and
may be changed at any time by Congress, but it usually consists of a
governor and supreme court, appointed by the president of the United
States, and a legislature elected by the people. Since 1783 there
has always been territory so held and governed by the United States,
and if we may judge from the remarkable history of these regions, this
form of government of dependent possessions is the most successful and
most advantageous to the territory itself that has ever been devised.
At the present time, the territories of the United States are Oklahoma,
the Indian Territory, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, the Hawaiian
Islands, Porto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam.
The territorial form of government has frequently been regarded
by American statesmen as a temporary condition to be followed
at a comparatively early date by statehood. But after more than a
century of development, territorial government, as shaped by Congress
and as defined by the Supreme Court, shows itself so flexible and
advantageous that there is no reason why it should not be regarded
as a permanent and final form. Whether it will long prevail in the
Philippines, depends very largely upon the political development and
ultimate desires of the Filipino people themselves. For the present,
it is the only suitable form of government and the only form which
it is statesmanlike to contemplate.
Filipino Independence.--The events of the last few years
seem to indicate that the American nation will not intrust the
Philippines with independence until they have immeasurably gained
in political experience and social self-control. The question is
too great to be discussed here, but this much may be said: The
rapid march of international politics in this coming century will
not be favorable to the independence of the small and imperfectly
developed state. Independence, while it may fascinate the popular
leader, may not be most advantageous for this people. Independence,
under present tendencies of international trade, means economic
isolation. Independence, in the present age, compels preparedness
for war; preparedness for war necessitates the maintenance of
strong armies, the building of great navies, and the great economic
burdens required to sustain these armaments. Especially would this
be true of an archipelago so exposed to attack, so surrounded by
ambitious powers, and so near the center of coming struggle, as
are the Philippines. Japan, with a population of forty-two million,
wonderful for their industry and economy, and passionately devoted to
their emperor, is independent, but at great cost. The burden of her
splendid army and her modern navy weighs heavily upon her people,
consumes a large proportion of their earnings, and sometimes seems
to be threatening to strain the resources of the nation almost to
the point of breaking.
Advantages of American Control.--Surely, a people is economically far
more privileged if, like the Philippines under the American government,
or Australia under the British, they are compelled to sustain no
portion of the burden of exterior defense. The navies of the United
States to-day protect the integrity of the Philippine archipelago. The
power of a nation so strong and so terrible, when once aroused, that
no country on the globe would think for a minute of wantonly molesting
its territory, shields the Filipino from all outside interference
and permits him to expend all his energy in the development of those
abilities to which his temperament and endowment inspire him.
American government means freedom of opportunity. There is no
honorable pursuit, calling, or walk of life under heaven in which the
Filipino may not now engage and in which he will not find his endeavors
encouraged and his success met with generous appreciation. In politics,
his progress may be slow, because progress here is not the development
of the individual nor of the few, but of the whole. But in the no
less noble pursuits of science, literature, and art, we may in this
very generation see Filipinos achieving more than notable success
and distinction, not only for themselves but for their land.
Patriotic Duty.--Patriotic duty, as regards the Philippines, means
for the American a wholesome belief in the uprightness of the national
purposes; a loyal appreciation of the men who have here worked wisely
and without selfishness, and have borne the brunt of the toil; a
loyalty to the government of the Philippines and of the United States,
so long as these governments live honestly, rule justly, and increase
liberty; and a frank and hearty recognition of every advance made by
the Filipino people themselves. And for the Filipinos, patriotic duty
means a full acceptance of government as it has now been established,
as better than what has preceded, and perhaps superior to what he
himself would have chosen and could have devised; a loyalty to his own
people and to their interests and to the public interests, that shall,
overcome the personal selfishness that has set its cruel mark on every
native institution in this land; and a resolution to obey the laws,
preserve the peace, and use faithfully every opportunity for the
development of his own character and the betterment of the race.
APPENDIX.
SPANISH GOVERNORS OF THE PHILIPPINES.
(1571-1898.)
1571-1572 Don Miguel Lopez de Legaspi.
1572-1575 (Tesorero) Guido do Labezares.
1575-1580 Don Francisco La-Sande.
1580-1583 Don Gonzalo Ronquillo.
1583-1584 Don Diego Ronquillo.
1584-1590 Dr. Don Santiago de Vera.
1590-1593 Don Gomez Perez de Dasmariñas.
1593-1595 Luis Perez Dasmariñas.
1595-1596 Don Antonio de Morga.
1596-1602 Don Francisco Tello de Guzman.
1602-1606 Don Pedro Bravo de Acuña.
1606-1608 Royal Audiencia.
1608-1609 Don Rodrigo Vivero.
1609-1616 Don Juan de Silva.
1616-1618 Don Andres Alcazar.
1618-1624 Don Alonso Faxardo y Tenza.
1624-1625 Royal Audiencia.
1625-1626 Don Fernando de Silva.
1626-1632 Don Juan Niño de Tabora.
1632-1633 Royal Audiencia.
1633-1635 Don Juan Zerezo de Salamanca.
1635-1644 Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera.
1644-1653 Don Diego Faxardo y Chacon.
1653-1663 Sabiano Manrique de Lara.
1663-1668 Don Diego Salcedo.
1668-1669 Señor Peña Bonifaz.
1669-1677 Don Manuel de Leon.
1677-1678 Royal Audiencia.
1678-1684 Don Juan de Vargas.
1684-1689 Don Gabriel de Curuzalequi.
1689-1690 Don Alonso de Avila Fuertes.
1690-1701 Don Fausto Cruzat y Gongora.
1701-1709 Don Domingo Zabalburu.
1709-1715 Conde de Lizarraga.
1715-1717 Royal Audiencia.
1717-1719 Don Fernando Manuel de Bustamante.
1719-1721 Archbishop Cuesta.
1721-1729 Don Toribio José de Cosio y Campo (Marqués de Torre Campo).
1729-1739 Don Fernando Valdes y Tamon.
1739-1745 Don Gaspar de la Torre.
1745-1750 Bishop Father Juan de Arrechedra.
1750-1754 Don Francisco José de Obando y Solis.
1754-1759 Don Pedro Manuel de Arandía y Santisteban.
1759-1761 Don Miguel Lino de Ezpeleta (Bishop of Zebu).
1761-1764 Archbishop Don Manuel Antonio Rojo del Rio y Vieyra.
1764-1764 Dr. Don Simon de Anda y Salazar.
1764-1765 Don Francisco de la Torre.
1765-1770 Don José Raon.
1770-1778 Dr. Don Simon de Anda y Salazar.
1778-1787 Don José Basco y Vargas.
1787-1788 Don Pedro Sarrio.
1788-1793 Don Felix Berenguer de Marquina.
1793-1806 Don Rafael Maria de Aguilar y Ponce de Leon.
1806-1810 Don Mariano Fernandez de Folgueras.
1810-1813 Don Manuel Gonzalez Aguilar.
1813-1816 Don José de Gardoqui Jaraveitia.
1816-1822 Don Mariano Fernandez de Folgueras.
1822-1825 Don Juan Antonio Martinez.
1825-1830 Don Mariano Ricafort Palacio y Abarca.
1830-1835 Don Pascual Enrile y Alcedo.
1835-1836 Don Gabriel de Torres.
1836-1838 Don Andres Garcia Camba.
1838-1841 Don Luis Lardizabal y Montojo.
1841-1843 Don Marcelino de Oraa Lecumberri.
1843-1844 Don Francisco de Paula Alcalá de la Torre.
1844-1850 Don Narciso Clavería y Zaldua.
1850-1850 Don Antonio Maria Blanco.
1850-1853 D. Antonio de Urbistondo, Marqués de la Solana y Teniente
General.
1853-1854 El Mariscal de Campo de Ramon Montero, General Segundo Cabo
(acting).
1854-1854 El Teniente General Marqués de Novaliches.
1854-1854 El Mariscal de Campo de Ramon Montero (acting).
1854-1856 El Teniente General de Manuel Crespo.
1856-1857 El Mariscal de Campo de Ramon Montero (acting).
1857-1860 El Teniente General de Fernando de Norzagaray.
1860-1860 El Mariscal de Campo de Ramon Solano y Llánderal (acting).
1860-1861 El Brigadier de Artilleria de Juan Herrera Dávila (acting).
1861-1862 El Teniente General de José Lemery.
1862-1865 El Teniente General de Rafael Echagüe.
1865-1865 El Mariscal de Campo de Joaquin Solano (acting).
1865-1866 El Teniente General de Juan de Lara é Irigoyen.
1866-1866 El Mariscal de Campo de Juan Laureano Sanz (acting).
1866-1866 El Comandante General de Marina de Antonio Ossorio (acting).
1866-1866 El Mariscal de Campo de Joaquin Solano (acting).
1866-1866 El Teniente General de José de la Gándara.
1866-1869 El Mariscal de Campo de Manuel Maldonado (acting).
1869-1871 El Teniente General de Carlos de la Torre.
1871-1873 El Teniente General de Rafael Izquierdo.
1873-1873 El Comandante General de Marina de Manuel MacCrohon (acting).
1873-1874 El Teniente General de Juan Alaminos y Vivar.
1874-1874 El Mariscal de Campo de Manuel Blanco Valderrama (acting).
1874-1877 El Contra Almirante de la Armada de José Malcampo y Monje.
1877-1880 El Teniente General de Domingo Moriones y Murillo.
1880-1880 El Comandante General de Marina de Rafael Rodriguez Arias
(acting).
1880-1883 El Teniente General de Fernando Primo de Rivera, Marqués
de Estella.
1883-1883 El Mariscal de Campo de Emilio de Molins, General Segundo
Cabo (acting).
1883-1885 El Capitan General del Ejercito de Joaquin Jovellar y Soler.
1885-1885 El Mariscal de Campo de Emilio de Molins (acting).
1885-1888 El Teniente General de Emilio Terrero.
1888-1888 El Mariscal de Campo de Antonio Molto (acting).
1888-1888 El Cotra Almirante de la Armada de Federico Lobatón (acting).
1888-1891 El Teniente General de Valeriano Weyler.
1891-1893 El Teniente General de Eulogio Despojol, Conde de Caspe.
1893-1893 El General de Division de Federico Ochando, General Segundo
Cabo (acting).
1893-1896 El Teniente General de Ramon Blanco y Erenas, Marqués
de Peña-Plata.
1896-1897 El Teniente General de Camilo G. de Polavieja, Marqués
de Polavieja.
1897-1897 de José de Lacharmbre y Dominguez, Teniente General (acting).
1897-1898 de Fernando Primo de Rivera, Capitan General, Marqués
de Estella.
1898-1898 de Basilio Augustin Teniente General del Ejercito.
1898-1898 El General Segundo Cabo de Fermin Jaudenes y Alvarez.
NOTES
[1] Relacion de las Islas Filipinas, 2d ed., p. 38.
[2] See Yule's Marco Polo for a discussion of this point and for the
entire history of this great explorer, as well as a translation of
his narrative. This book of Ser Marco Polo has been most critically
edited with introduction and voluminous notes by the English scholar,
Sir Henry Yule. In this edition the accounts of Marco Polo, covering
so many countries and peoples of the Far East, can be studied.
[3] See the noted work The Life of Prince Henry of Portugal, surnamed
the Navigator, and its Results, by Richard Henry Major, London,
1868. Many of the views of Mr. Major upon the importance of Prince
Henry's work and especially its early aims, have been contradicted
in more recent writings. The importance of the Sagres Observatory
is belittled. Doubts are expressed as to the farsightedness of
Prince Henry's plans, and the best opinion of to-day holds that he
did not hope to discover a new route to India by way of Africa, but
sought simply the conquest of the "Guinea," which was known to the
Europeans through the Arab Geographers, who called it "Bilad Ghana"
or "Land of Wealth." The students, if possible, should read the essay
of Mr. E. J. Payne, The Age of Discovery, in the Cambridge Modern
History, Vol I.
[4] The classical work on this famous ruler is Robertson's Life of
Charles the Fifth, but the student should consult if possible more
recent works.
[5] Primer Viaje alrededor del Mundo, Spanish translation by Amoretti,
Madrid, 1899, page 27.
[6] The discovery of this famous relationship is attributed to
the Spanish Jesuit Abbé, Lorenzo Hervas, whose notable Catalogo
de las Lenguas de las Naciones conocidas was published in 1800-05;
but the similarity of Malay and Polynesian had been earlier shown by
naturalists who accompanied the second voyage of the famous Englishman,
Captain Cook (1772-75). The full proof, and the relation also of
Malagasy, the language of Madagascar, was given in 1838 by the work
of the great German philologist, Baron William von Humboldt.
[7] Relacion de las Islas Filipinas, 2d ed., p. 52.
[8] Another possible explanation of the many Sanskrit terms which
are found in the Philippine languages, is that the period of contact
between Filipinos and Hindus occurred not in the Philippines but in
Java and Sumatra, whence the ancestors of the Filipinos came.
[9] Relacion de las Islas Filipinas, 2d ed., pp. 58, 59, chap. XVII.
[10] Arte de la Lengua Tagala.
[11] This name is derived, in the opinion of Professor Blumentritt,
from Bayi, or Bay, meaning Laguna de Bay. Professor Meyer, in his
Distribution of the Negritos, suggests an identification from this
Chinese record, of the islands of Mindanao, Palawan (called Pa-lao-yu)
and Panay, Negros, Cebu, Leyte, Samar, Bohol, and Luzon.
[12] Through the courtesy of Professor Zulueta, of the Manila Liceo,
permission was given to use from Chao Ju-kua's work these quotations,
translated from the Chinese manuscript by Professor Blumentritt. The
English translation is by Mr. P. L. Stangl.
[13] "This would confirm," says Professor Blumentritt, "Dr. Pardo de
Tavera's view that in ancient times the Philippines were under the
influence of Buddhism from India."
[14] Conquista de las Islas Filipinas, p. 95.
[15] Relacion de la Conquista de la Isla de Luzón, 1572; in Retana,
Archivo del Bibliófilo Filipino, vol. I.
[16] Sucesos de las Filipinas, p. 297.
[17] These data are largely taken from the account of the customs
of the Tagálog prepared by Friar Juan de Plasencia, in 1589, at
the request of Dr. Santiago de Vera, the governor and president
of the Audiencia. Although there are references to it by the early
historians of the Philippines, this little code did not see the light
until a few years ago, when a manuscript copy was discovered in the
convent of the Franciscans at Manila, by Dr. Pardo de Tavera, and was
by him published. It treats of slave-holding, penalties for crime,
inheritances, adoption, dowry, and marriage. (Las Costumbres de los
Tagálog en Filipinas, segun el Padre Plasencia, by T. H. Pardo de
Tavera. Madrid, 1892.)
[18] See on this matter Diccionario Mitologico de Filipinas, by
Blumentritt; Retana, Archivo del Bibliófilo Filipino, vol. II.
[19] This word is of Sanskrit origin and is common throughout Malaysia.
[20] Relacion de las Cosas de las Filipinas hecha por Sr. Domingo
de Salazar, Primer obispo de dichas islas, 1583; in Retana, Archivo,
vol. III.
[21] The foundation and character of this great colonial administration
have been admirably described by the Honorable Bernard Moses, United
States Philippine Commissioner and the first Secretary of Public
Instruction, in his work, The Establishment of Spanish Rule in America.
[22] Moses: Establishment of Spanish Rule in America, p. 12.
[23] Demarcación del Maluco, hecha por el maestro Medina, in Documentos
inéditos, vol. V., p. 552.
[24] This and subsequent voyages are given in the Documentos inéditos,
vol. V., and a graphic account is in Argensola's Conquista de las
Islas Molucas. They are also well narrated in English by Burney,
Discoveries in the South Sea, vol. I., chapters V., XII., and XIV.
[25] Fray Gaspar de San Agustin: Conquista de las Islas Filipinas,
lib. I., c. 13.
[26] One of the best paintings of the Filipino artist Juan Luna,
which hangs in the Ayuntamiento in Manila, represents Legaspi in the
act of the "Pacto de Sangre" with this Filipino chieftain.
[27] There is an old account of this interesting expedition by one
who participated. (Relacion de la Conquista de la Isla de Luzon,
Manila, 1572; Retana, Archivo del Bibliofilo Filipino, vol. IV.)
[28] Morga: Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, 2d ed., p. 10.
[29] Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas. P. 316.
[30] Conquista de la Isla de Luzon, p. 24.
[31] See the letter of Bishop Salazar to the king, explaining his
motives, in coming to the Philippines. Retana, Biblioteca Filipina,
vol, I.; Relacion, 1583, p. 4.
[32] Zuñiga: Historia de Filipinas, pp. 195, 196.
[33] Both Van Noort and Morga have left us accounts of this sea-fight,
the former in his journal, Description of the Failsome Voyage Made
Round the World, and the latter in his famous, Sucesos de las Islas
Filipinas.
[34] Montero y Vidal: Historia de Filipinas, vol. I., p. 199.
[35] Relacion de la Conquista de Luzon, 1572, p. 15.
[36] Relacion de las Encomiendas, existentes en Filipinas, Retana,
Archivo del Bibliófilo Filipino, vol. IV.
[37] Ordenanzas ... para la Reparticion de los Indios de la Isla
Española, in Documentos Ineditas, vol. I., p. 236.
[38] Historia de Filipinos, p. 157, et sq.
[39] Among other documents, which throw a most unfavorable light upon
the condition of the Filipinos under the encomiendas, is the letter to
the king from Domingo de Salazar, the first bishop of the Philippines,
which describes the conditions about 1583.
[40] Domingo de Salazar, Relacion de las Cosas de las Filipinas,
1583, p. 5, in Retana Archives, vol. 3.
[41] Relacion, pp. 13, 14.
[42] Sucesos de las Filipinas, p. 334.
[43] Las Costumbres de los Tagalos en Filipinas segun el Padre
Plasencia. Madrid, 1892.
[44] Blumentritt: Organization Communale des Indigines des Philippines,
traduis de l'Allemand, par A. Hugot. 1881.
[45] Sucesos de las Filipinas, p. 332.
[46] See Salazar's relation on this point.
[47] Chirino: Relacion, pp. 19, 20.
[48] Morga, p. 329.
[49] Sucesos de las Filipinas, p. 323.
[50] The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoveries
of the English Nation, ... by Richard Hakluyt, Master of Artes and
sometime Student of Christ Church in Oxford. Imprinted at London,
1598. Vol. I., p. 560.
[51] Sucesos de las Filipinas, p. 347.
[52] Sucesos de las Filipinas, p. 352.]
[53] Laws of the Indies, VIII., 45, 46.
[54] Relacion de las Islas Filipinas, chap. V., p. 23, and
chap. XIII. p. 47.
[55] Ibid., p. 323.
[56] Ibid., p. 321.
[57] Morga: Sucesos, p. 324.
[58] Carta Relacion de las Cosas de la China y de los Chinos del
Parian de Manila, 1590; in Retana, Archivo, vol. III.
[59] Relacion de las Islas Filipinas, p. 18. See also Salazar,
Carta Relacion.
[60] Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, p. 364.
[61] Zuñiga: Historia de las Filipinas, p. 252.
[62] Historia General de Filipinas, vol. I., p. 187.
[63] Morris: The History of Colonization, vol. I., p. 215 sq.
[64] Raffles: History of Java, vol. II., p. 116.
[65] On the history of this notable expedition see Argensola, Conquista
de las Islas Molucas. Madrid, 1609.
[66] An account of this victory, written the following year, Relacion
Verdadera de la gran vitoria, que el Armada Española de la China
tuuo contra los Olandeses Pirates, has been reprinted by Retana,
Archivo Bibliofilo Filipino, vol. II.
[67] "Just before the naval engagement of Playa Honda, the Dutch
intercepted junks on the way to Manila, bringing, amongst their
cargoes of food, as many as twelve thousand capons."--Foreman: The
Philippine Islands, p. 104.
[68] Historia de Filipinas, p. 282.
[69] How attractive the island appeared and how well they knew its
peoples is revealed by the accurate descriptions in the first book
of Combés' Historia de Mindanao y Jolo.
[70] Historia de Mindanao y Jolo, lib. IV., chap. 7.
[71] This important victory was commemorated in a number of writings,
some of which have been reprinted by Retana. See Sucesos Felices, que
por Mar y Tierra ha dado N. S. a las armas Españolas, 1637. Another
is published in the Appendix to Barrantes', Historia de Guerras
Piraticas. The subject is also fully treated by Combés.
[72] The king did not confer the title of "Royal" until 1735, although
the University was taken under his protection in 1680.
[73] Entrada de la Seraphica Religion, de Nuestro P. S. Francisco en
las Islas Filipinas. Retana, vol, I.
[74] The Jesuits, on retiring with the Spanish forces from the
Moluccas, brought from Ternate a colony of their converts. These
people were settled at Marigondon, on the south shore of Manila Bay,
where their descendants can still be distinguished from the surrounding
Tagálog population.
[75] See the account of the "Settlement of the Ladrones by the
Spaniards," in Burney's Voyages in the Pacific, vol. III.
[76] Some of the benefits of such a trade are set forth by the Jesuit,
Alonzo de Ovalle, in his Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Chili,
printed in Rome, 1649. In Churchill's Collection of Voyages and
Travels, vol. III.
[77] Recopilacion de Leyes de las Indias, lib. VIII., titulo 45,
ley 78.
[78] Montero y Vidal: Historia de Filipinas, vol. I., p. 460.
[79] Relacion de la Entrada del Sultan Rey de Jolo, in Archivo del
Bibliófilo Filipino, vol. I.
[80] Historia de Filipinas, p. 682.
[81] These orders and other documents dealing with the Jesuit
expulsion are printed in Montero y Vidal, Historia de Filipinas,
vol. II. p. 180 sq.
[82] But the conquest was almost valueless, and a few years later the
inhabitants had to be transported to Cagayan because of the scarcity
of food.
[83] Alava made a series of journeys through the different provinces
of the Philippines, and on these trips he was accompanied by Friar
Martinez de Zuñiga, whose narrative of these expeditions forms a most
interesting and valuable survey of the conditions of the Islands and
the people at the beginning of the nineteenth century. "Estadismo
de las Islas Filipinas, 6 mis viajes por este pais, por el Padre
Fr. Joaquin Martinez de Zuñiga. Publica esta obra por primera vez
extensamente anotada W. E. Retana." 2 vols. Madrid, 1893.
[84] Jagor: Viajes por Filipinas, p. 81. Translated from the
German. Madrid, 1895.
[85] See Estado de las Islas Filipinas en 1847, by D. Sinibaldo de Mas.
[86] Bowring: A Visit to the Philippine Islands, p. 387.
[87] The reports of the Dominican missionaries of Nueva Vizcaya
and Isabela show the extent and persistence of these raids. (See the
files of the missionary publication, El Correo Sino-Annamita, and also
the work by Padre Buenaventura Campa, Los Maybyaos y la Raza Ifugao,
Madrid, 1895.
[88] Montero y Vidal: Historia de Filipinas, vol. III, p. 99.
[89] Montero y Vidal: Historia de Filipinas, vol. III., p. 209. The
document is given in Appendix 4 of the same volume.
[90] See Rajah Brooke, by Sir Spencer St. John, London, 1899.
[91] Keppel: Expedition to Borneo of H. M. S. Dido for the Suppression
of Piracy, with extracts from the Journal of James Brooke, Esq. 2
vols. London, 1846. Keppel: A Visit to the Indian Archipelago in
H. M. S. Moeandar. 2 vols. London, 1853.
[92] Spain established a permanent commission of censorship in
1856. It was composed of eight persons, one half nominated by the
governor and one half by the archbishop.
[93] El Periodismo Filipino, por W. E. Retana. Madrid, 1895.
[94] An account of Rizal's trial and execution, together with many
papers on the revolution, is printed by Retana. See Archivo, Tomo
IV. Documentos politicos de Actualidad.
[95] See the decisions of the Supreme Court in the cases of American
Insurance Co. v. Canter (1 Peters, 511), decided in 1828; National
Bank v. County of Yankton (101 U. S. Reports, 129), decided in 1879;
The Mormon Church v. United States (136 U. S. Reports, 1), decided May,
1890. On the domain of personal liberty possessed by the inhabitants
of a territory, in addition to above cases, see also the cases of
Reynolds v. United States (98 U. S. Reports, 154), 1878; and Murphy
v. Ramsey (114 U. S. Reports, 15), 1884.
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