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Title: The story of the Philippines: for use in the schools of the Philippine Islands
Author: Knapp, Adeline
Language: English
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PHILIPPINES ***
[Illustration: THE WORLD ON MERCATOR’S PROJECTION.]
THE STORY
OF
THE PHILIPPINES
[Illustration:
VIEW FROM THE CITY WALL, MANILA.
]
THE STORY
OF
THE PHILIPPINES
FOR USE IN THE SCHOOLS OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
BY
ADELINE KNAPP
Author of “How to Live,” etc.
WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS
[Illustration]
SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY
NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO
COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY
SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY
PREFATORY NOTE.
The history of the Philippine Islands is little known to its people
to-day, for the records are few and not easy of access. Just at the
present time this knowledge is especially necessary to the Filipino
people. A knowledge of the conditions of the past is of the greatest
importance to a people desirous of planning wisely and well for the
future.
“The Story of the Philippines” aims to teach Filipino young people the
salient facts regarding the past of their country, and, besides this, it
points out some of the things needful to the best growth and progress of
the islands. Certain chapters are devoted to matters pertaining to
geography, commerce, and government, directing attention to the main
physical features of the country and the possibilities of its successful
development, and touching upon lines of commercial and social
advancement which lie just ahead. The book shows that the Filipinos have
a past filled with the records of brave deeds and patient forbearance;
that they have a beautiful country, rich in natural resources; and that
the future development and prosperity of their islands depend largely
upon themselves.
The volume has been prepared in order to fill a definite educational
need in the schools of the Philippine Islands, and as the first secular
history of their land to be brought within reach of Filipino school
children it should be of real value. But it is not only to the teachers
and pupils in the schools that this book is useful; it should appeal to
all who live in the Philippine Islands and all others who are interested
in them.
The author has had access to the best historical material available in
the Philippines and in America. The book was written in the islands, and
as nearly as possible from the standpoint of the people. It is
impossible to name the many devoted friends of the islands—Filipinos and
Americans—who have helped to make this book possible. No mere words of
thanks can express the obligation of the author and publishers to them;
but their aid was given in a spirit of desire to help in the education
of Filipino young people. If the book does this, their reward will be
commensurate with the great service they have rendered.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER. PAGE.
I. THE DISCOVERY OF THE ISLANDS 13
II. EARLY SETTLEMENTS 27
III. THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE 42
IV. EARLY TROUBLES 52
V. BEGINNINGS OF STRIFE 61
VI. COLONIAL WARS AND DIFFICULTIES 70
VII. THE SPANISH AND THE FILIPINOS 78
VIII. A NEW BEGINNING 88
IX. TRADE IN THE PHILIPPINES 99
X. THE ISLANDS UNDER ARANDIA’S RULE 109
XI. BRITISH OCCUPATION 117
XII. TO THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 124
XIII. THE CONSTITUTION OF 1812 132
XIV. CHANGES IN THE ISLANDS 142
XV. EFFORTS TO KEEP PEACE 151
XVI. THE INSURRECTION AT CAVITE 162
XVII. THE UPRISING OF 1896 177
XVIII. THE END OF SPANISH RULE 191
XIX. THE BEGINNING OF AMERICAN OCCUPATION 203
XX. CIVIL GOVERNMENT FOR THE PHILIPPINES 212
XXI. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE ARCHIPELAGO 221
XXII. THE FUTURE 236
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
VIEW FROM THE CITY WALL, MANILA _Frontispiece_
KING CHARLES I. 15
IN THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN 19
MAP OF MAGELLAN’S ROUTE 20
THE LANDING OF MAGELLAN 22
THE TOMB OF MAGELLAN, ON THE ISLAND OF MACTAN 24
STATUE OF SEBASTIAN DEL CANO 29
ANCIENT FORT COMMANDING CEBU HARBOR 32
THE MONUMENT TO LEGASPI AT CEBU CITY 35
LEGASPI SAILING TO MANILA 38
ABORIGINES OF MINDANAO 44
A MORO OF JOLÓ, IN THE SULU ARCHIPELAGO 47
ANCIENT ALPHABETS 49
NEGRITOS IN A PRAHU 50
PLAZA DE GOITI, MANILA 55
CHINESE WAR JUNKS ATTACKING MANILA 57
KING PHILIP II. 63
THE CITY WALL AND MOAT, MANILA 66
A MEMBER OF THE GUIANGA TRIBE OF MINDANAO 72
WARRIORS OF MINDANAO 73
DUTCH SHIPS ATTACKING A CHINESE TRADING JUNK 75
FUERZA DEL PILAR, MINDANAO 81
ST. LAZARUS HOSPITAL, MANILA 83
A CHURCH AT MALATE 90
THE MANILA CATHEDRAL 93
AN OLD SPANISH FORT AT SIASSI 95
THE ARRIVAL OF A SPANISH GALLEON 101
THE SANTA LUCIA GATE, MANILA 104
TAAL VOLCANO 110
IGORROTES 113
A STREET IN JOLÓ 114
ROYAL GATE AND SALLY PORT IN THE CITY WALL, MANILA 119
THE BRITISH ASSAULT ON THE WALLS OF MANILA 121
MONUMENT TO SIMON DE ANDA ON THE MALACON, MANILA 127
A MODERN WAR SHIP 133
KING FERDINAND VII. 137
A STREET IN MANILA 139
THE MAGELLAN MONUMENT, MANILA 143
QUEEN CHRISTINA 146
MANILA BAY FROM THE CITY WALLS 148
PIRATE FLEET ATTACKING A COAST TOWN 153
THE PARIAN GATE 155
RUINS OF MANILA CATHEDRAL AFTER AN EARTHQUAKE 157
QUEEN ISABELLA II. AS A CHILD 158
THE GROUNDS OF THE CAVITE ARSENAL 165
PUMPING STATION, CARRIEDO WATERWORKS 167
THE BRIDGE OF SPAIN 171
FORT GENERAL WEYLER IN MINDANAO 178
THE BRIDGE OF SAN JUAN DEL MONTE 182
DUNGEON AT CAVITE 185
BIAC-NA-’BATO, WHERE THE TREATY WAS MADE 195
EMILIO AGUINALDO 199
ADMIRAL MONTOJO 204
GOVERNOR-GENERAL AUGUSTI 206
THE FIRST AMERICAN FLAG RAISED IN MANILA 209
GOVERNOR WILLIAM H. TAFT 215
GENERAL ADNA R. CHAFFEE 217
MAYON VOLCANO 225
WEAVING JUSI 227
THE FALLS OF BOTOCAN IN LUZON 230
A RIVER SCENE ON THE ISLAND OF LUZON 233
THE CAGAYAN DE ORO RIVER 238
MANILA SCHOOLBOYS 241
COLORED MAPS
THE WORLD _Inside Front Cover_
THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS _Inside Back Cover_
KEY TO PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES.
a as in _fat_.
ā as in _fate_.
ä as in _father_.
ȧ as in _|ask_.
e as in _pen_.
ē as in _mete_.
ė as in _her_.
i as in _pin_.
ī as in _pine_.
o as in _not_.
oi as in _oil_, _boy_.
ou as in _pound_, _proud_.
ō as in _note_.
ö as in _move_.
u as in _tub_.
̤ū as in _mute_.
̇u as in _pull_.
A double dot under a vowel in an unaccented syllable indicates that its
sound is almost that of the short _u_ in _but_, _tub_, etc.̤ū as ̤ä in
_America_, ̤e in _prudent_, ̤i in _charity_, ̤o in _actor_, ̤ē in _the
book_, ̤ū in _nature_.
[Illustration]
THE STORY OF THE PHILIPPINES.
Chapter I.
THE DISCOVERY OF THE ISLANDS.
When Christopher Columbus (kris´to fer kō-lum´bus) discovered America,
in the year 1492, he set all Europe talking about the unknown lands that
lay beyond seas.
At that time little was known of geography. Most people believed that
the world was flat, and that if a man were to reach the edge he could
jump off into space. Some people thought, too, that this great, flat
earth rested on the backs of four huge tortoises, and that the movements
of these creatures caused earthquakes.
Sailors believed that somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean Satan lived. When
a ship was wrecked they thought that Satan had reached out an awful hand
and dragged the ship down into the sea. Even learned captains believed
this, and declared that they had seen ships drawn under in this manner.
To them the great, dashing waves in a storm must have looked like huge
hands, and so they made this mistake.
The sea was full of terror to those sailors of long ago; yet they braved
it. They went forth in frail little ships, such as a modern sailor would
hardly risk a voyage in. Until a short time before Columbus’s day they
even had no compass, but were guided by the winds and the stars. They
made long voyages in their tiny ships, and little by little they began
to see that those who said that the world is round, and not flat, must
be right.
In the year 1513, a little over twenty years after Columbus’s discovery,
a Spanish captain named Balboa (bäl bō´ä) reached Central America. With
his soldiers he crossed the Isthmus of Darien (dā rē ȧn´), and
discovered the great ocean which washes the western coast of America.
This ocean he named the “Southern Sea.”
Men were in those days slowly groping their way across seas to the new
lands. Of course, as soon as they knew of this ocean, they wanted to
find a way to sail into it from the Atlantic Ocean. They knew that if
they could do this they would have a shorter route from Europe to the
famed “spice islands” which were believed to be in the South Seas.
About this time there came to Spain a great soldier and sea-captain
named Ferdinand Magellan (fêrd´ī nänd m̤a jel´̤an). He was a Portuguese
noble, a clever man of much learning. While yet a very young man he
became an officer in the Portuguese navy, and fought for his king in
many far countries.
During a war which Portugal waged in Africa, Magellan was badly wounded
in one knee, so that he was ever after lame. On his return to Portugal
from Africa, other captains of the king became jealous of his fame and
tried to belittle all that he had done.
[Illustration:
KING CHARLES I.
]
They told the king untrue tales about him, and made the sovereign
believe evil against him. Among other things, they said that he was
pretending to suffer from a malady of which he had once been a victim,
but of which he was really cured. They said that he did this because he
did not wish to serve the king any longer. So they stirred up the king’s
mind against the brave captain, and Magellan was very badly treated. At
last, deeply hurt by the king’s unfairness, he left the country. He went
to Spain, and became a subject of King Charles I.
The king of Spain gave Magellan a warm welcome. He was glad to have him
at court, and listened eagerly to what Magellan had to say about certain
rich islands that lay in the Southern Sea. Many sailors from Spain and
from Portugal had heard of these islands, and when they returned from
their voyages to the Malay Peninsula in the East, they told how they had
seen, in Malacca harbor, dusky traders from that unknown land. None of
them knew, however, just where these islands lay.
At last King Charles I. made a compact with Magellan. He made the
captain a cavalier of Spain, and fitted out a fleet for him. Magellan
pledged himself to spend ten years trying to find the southern islands
for Spain, and the king gave to him and to his heirs the governorship of
all islands that he might discover and conquer.
It was on August 10, 1519, that Magellan’s fleet, flying the royal
standard of Spain, left San Lucar de Barrameda (sän lö´cär dā bär rä
mā´thä). There were five ships, _La Trinidad_ (lä trē´nē däth), _San
Antonio_ (sän än tō´nē ō), _Victoria_ (vik tō´rē ä), _Santiago_ (sän tē
ä´gō), and _Concepcion_ (kōn thep´thē ōn). They sailed southward, from
San Lucar de Barrameda toward the Canary Islands, and on the 13th of
December reached Rio de Janeiro (rē´ō dā zhä nā´rō).
From there they went along down the eastern coast of South America,
trying every opening which they thought might be a passage into the sea
they sought. They lost a good deal of time sailing up the Rio de la
Plata (rē´ō dā lä plä´tä), and at last had to come back to the Atlantic.
By this time it was late in winter, and the weather was very cold.
By now the officers and sailors on all save Magellan’s own ship had
become rebellious. They were sure that no passage could be found into
the Southern Sea, and they wanted to go back to Spain. This rebellion
grew until Magellan had to put it down by the use of force. He was able
to win over the sailors, but the officers still made trouble, and at
last their revolt was so serious that the fleet could not go on until
this matter was ended. One captain even made an attack on _La Trinidad_,
the ship which Magellan commanded. Not until one of the rebellious
captains, with a companion, was put ashore, another killed, and a third
executed for mutiny, was order restored so that the fleet could continue
the voyage.
But the way was long and trying. The sailors began to lose courage
again, and only the bravery and strong will of Magellan kept the fleet
together. One ship, the _Santiago_, was wrecked in a great gale, and
while off the coast of New Guinea (nö gin´nē) the crew and most of the
officers of the _San Antonio_ mutinied. They put their captain in irons
and sailed back to Spain.
There they lodged a complaint against their captain and against
Magellan. They accused the latter of great cruelty, and raised much ill
feeling against him. Magellan’s wife and family were put into prison,
and if the cavalier himself had been in Spain, it would have gone hard
with him.
But Magellan was very far from Spain. With the three remaining ships he
was still sailing in search of a passage into the sea which Balboa had
discovered. On the 28th day of October, 1520, the fleet reached the
seaway now known as the Straits of Magellan, between Patagonia (pat ä
gō´nē ä) and Tierra del Fuego (tē er´rä del fwā´gō).
Hardly daring to hope that this was the passage they sought, they
entered it and sailed on. Nearly a month later, on November 26, 1520,
they passed out of the Straits and found themselves on the broad, blue
Southern Sea. This sea was so quiet, so fair and beautiful, that
Magellan at once named it the “Pacific,” or “peaceful,” Ocean.
The longed for seaway was discovered, and they were the first to sail
through it! We may be sure that the hearts of the little company were
glad. There was no more doubt; no more grumbling; no more rebellion
against their leader. They knew, at last, that he was a great captain,
and they followed him willingly across the unknown sea. They were now
full of hope for the success of their voyage. They were eager to reach
the rich spice islands which they were sure lay before them, and the
ships sailed bravely forward over the beautiful Pacific.
On March 16, 1521, they came to the Ladrone (lä drōne´) Islands. To
these Magellan gave the name Islas de las Velas (ēs läs dā läs vā´läs).
It was Miguel de Legaspi (mē gā´el dā lā gäth´pē) who, when he visited
them in 1564, called them the Ladrones. The expedition did not linger
here, however, but soon sailed away toward the southwest, where the
Spaniards hoped to find the spice islands which they sought.
They held steadily to their westward course, and in due time reached
Jomohol (hō mō hōl´), now called Malhon (mäl hōn´), in the Straits of
Suragao (sö rä gä´ō), between Samar (säm´är) and Dinegat (dē nā gät´).
Here they touched, but did not remain. They sailed on along the coast of
Mindanao (mēn dä nä´ō), instead, and early in Easter week came to the
mouth of the Butuan (bö tö än´) River.
They were nearly out of food and water by this time, so they landed to
see what supplies they could find. The chief of Butuan and his people
were at first frightened by the sight of these white strangers. The
Spaniards wore armor and carried firearms. They must have seemed strange
to those simple people, who had never before seen such men or such
weapons. The natives welcomed the strangers, and brought them fresh food
and water. They helped the Spaniards to load these on their ships, and
were in every way friendly.
[Illustration:
IN THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN.
]
Afterwards Magellan claimed the country for King Charles I. of Spain,
and raised the Spanish flag. The chief looked on during this act, and
consented to it; but it is not likely that he knew what Magellan was
doing. Then Magellan named the country the San Lazarus (sän lāth´är ůs)
Isles.
[Illustration:
MAGELLAN’S ROUTE.
The Map shows the World as known about 1500.
]
Magellan learned from the Butuan people that a rich and fertile island
called Cebu (sā´bö) lay to the north, and to this island he wished to
go. The chief of Butuan then offered to go with him and show him the
way; so, with the chief and some of his people, the fleet sailed to
Cebu. They reached harbor there April 7, 1521.
At first the Cebuans (sā´bö äns) were very unfriendly toward the
strangers, and, but for the chief of Butuan, would have driven them
away. He answered for the Spaniards, however. He told the king of Cebu
that they wished to be friends, and at last the Spaniards were allowed
to land.
Magellan must have had the good gift of making friends, for he soon won
over the king of Cebu just as he had won over the chief of Butuan. He
and the king swore friendship, and each drank blood drawn from the
breast of the other. This they did for a sign that thereafter they were
to be brothers. Magellan also made a treaty with the king in the name of
King Charles I. of Spain.
There were a number of Spanish friars with the fleet. These at once
began to teach the people, and before long the king was baptized as King
Charles I. of Cebu. Many of his people were baptized also. Magellan then
promised the Cebuans to help them in a war which they were having with
the people of Mactan (mäk´tän), an island near Cebu. To keep this
promise, Magellan crossed to Mactan with forty of his men in the evening
of April 25th. He would not let any of the Cebuans go with him, as he
wished to show them how quickly Spanish soldiers would defeat such a
foe.
[Illustration:
_From a Painting in the Municipal School, Manila._
THE LANDING OF MAGELLAN.
]
The Spanish landed at night, and as soon as it was light the people of
Mactan came down to the beach in great numbers. A fierce battle was
fought, in which the Europeans, being greatly outnumbered, were
defeated. One old Spanish account says that the Spanish soldiers sprang
into the water and swam to the ships, leaving their leader on shore.
Magellan was a skillful swordsman, and killed many of the enemy. At
last, however, a savage, who fought with a huge club, struck him a blow
that crushed both his helmet and his skull. He died, there by the sea,
on the island of Mactan, and a monument to his memory now stands on the
spot where it is supposed that he fell.
On the right bank of the River Pasig (pä´sig), in Manila, near the
bridge of Spain, is another monument in honor of this brave nobleman and
soldier. Ferdinand Magellan ranks with the great sailors of the world.
Not even Columbus was wiser or more skillful than he. The discovery of
the passage between the two great oceans, and the long, dangerous
journey across seas to these islands, are feats that make him worthy of
a high and honorable place in the world’s history.
After the death of Magellan, Captain Duarte Barbosa (dö är´tā bär
bo´thä) took command of the fleet. The king of Cebu had not sworn
friendship with him, however, and the chief of Butuan had gone back to
his home, so the Spanish had no strong friend in the island. The king
invited Barbosa and his men to a feast on the island, and at this feast
the captain and twenty-six of his men were killed. The Cebuans offered
to give up a Spanish sailor named Juan Serrano (hō än´ sā rä´nō) for two
cannons from one of the ships, but the Spanish would not come inshore to
bring the cannons and take their shipmate on board. They sailed away and
left him to his fate.
[Illustration:
THE TOMB OF MAGELLAN, ON THE ISLAND OF MACTAN.
]
In all, thirty-two Spaniards were killed at Cebu. This left them so
short of men that they could not get the three ships away. So, as the
_Concepcion_ was the poorest of the three, they sunk her in Cebu harbor.
After doing this they made haste to get away from the scene of their ill
fortune. Captain Juan Caraballo (kär ä bäl´yō) was now made commander of
the expedition, and with less than a hundred men all told, the two ships
went on to Borneo.
_Summary._—Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese noble, leaving his own
country because of ill treatment, became a subject of Spain. King
Charles I. fitted out a fleet for him, and Magellan agreed to spend
ten years seeking for islands in the Southern Sea, to conquer for
Spain. On August 10, 1519, the fleet sailed from San Lucar de
Barrameda, southward. Magellan sailed down the eastern coast of South
America, seeking a passage into the ocean which Balboa had discovered
and named the Southern Sea. They had many hardships. One ship was
wrecked and one deserted; but on October 28, 1520, they reached the
passage now known as the Straits of Magellan. This passage is between
Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. They sailed through the Straits, and
on November 26, 1520, entered the Southern Sea. Magellan named this
sea the Pacific Ocean. On March 16, 1521, the fleet reached the
Ladrone Islands. They did not remain long, but sailed toward the
southwest. They touched at Malhon, and went on along the coast of
Mindanao. They landed at the mouth of the Butuan River, and were well
received by the chief and his people. Magellan claimed the country for
Spain. The chief of Butuan went with the Spanish to Cebu. Magellan
swore friendship with the king of Cebu, and the latter was baptized.
Magellan, with forty Spaniards, offered to fight the people of Mactan,
who were at war with the Cebuans. Magellan was killed, however, and
the Spaniards were driven back. The new Spanish leader was killed,
with twenty-six of his men, at a feast given by the king of Cebu on
shore. The Spanish sunk one of their ships; and the other two, with
all the Spaniards left, sailed for Borneo.
_Questions._—What did people believe in the time of Columbus about the
shape of the earth? What did they think about the sea? What European
first saw the Pacific Ocean? How did he reach it? Who was Magellan?
How did he come to take service with the king of Spain? When did
Magellan’s fleet leave Spain? What course did it take? Tell when he
discovered the Straits. Where did Magellan go after entering the
Pacific? Give an account of his landing at Butuan. Where did he go
next? How did he die? What then became of the fleet?
[Illustration]
Chapter II.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
In the month of September, 1522, a few weeks over three years after
Magellan’s proud fleet sailed from San Lucar de Barrameda, in Spain, a
single ship put into that port. She was seaworn and battered, with torn
sails, and timbers warped and scarred by many a storm. The people hailed
her with joy, and everywhere in Spain men were glad when they heard of
her safe home-coming. This ship was the _Victoria_, commanded by Captain
Juan Sebastian del Cano (sā bäs´tē än del kä´nō), a statue of whom now
stands in the main hall of the Palacio in Manila. She was the only one
left of the five ships that had gone out with Magellan three years
before.
But battered and scarred as she was, the _Victoria_ was a ship to be
proud of. She had sailed clear around the world, and at that time no
other ship had ever done such a thing. No wonder, then, that everybody
was glad to see her, and was proud of her. The people were sorry when
they learned of the sad fate of Magellan, but there were still brave
captains and clever seamen in Spain, and these at once began making
plans to go to the new-found San Lazarus Isles.
One of the expeditions that were fitted out was lost; but in 1542 a
second company left the city of Navidad (nä vē däth´) in Mexico, or New
Spain, as that country was often called. This one was commanded by a
Spanish nobleman named Ruy Lopez de Villalobos (rē lō peth´dā vēl yä
lō’bos). After a long, hard journey the expedition reached the island
now called Samar. The Spanish did not try to settle there, but Ruy Lopez
named this island Isla Filipina, in honor of Prince Philip of Spain.
That one little fact is of interest to us, because about a year later a
certain Spanish gentleman who was writing a letter home from Mexico
spoke of the whole group of islands as Las Islas Filipinas. This name
was at once taken up in Spain. No one remembered that Magellan had named
the islands San Lazarus, but every one called them Islas Filipinas; and
so these Philippine Islands received a name which they have ever since
kept.
The Spanish gentleman who wrote that letter was Don Miguel Lopez de
Legaspi. He was a nobleman of Spain, but for many years he lived in
Mexico. He was one of the many great men who, in early times, made
Spain’s name a proud one. He was a young man when he went to New Spain
and began to practice law. He was an honest gentleman and an able
statesman, and before many years he was made mayor of the City of
Mexico. He seems to have been a truly religious man, wise and just; a
man to trust, and one well able to lead other men. For such men there
are always high places in the world. Legaspi was, moreover, a brave
soldier and a skillful sailor.
[Illustration:
STATUE OF SEBASTIAN DEL CANO.
In the Palacio, Manila.
]
It is not strange, therefore, that the king of Spain should have known
about him. The king at this time was Philip II., for whom, when he was
prince, these islands were named. He came to the throne in 1555, and
soon after was minded to send out an expedition to settle in the country
named for him. He looked about for a man to command this expedition, and
his choice fell upon Legaspi. So he made him general of the whole force.
There were four ships and a frigate in the new fleet, and all were
strongly armed and well stocked for the journey. The force of men
numbered 400 soldiers and sailors, carefully chosen, and fit for the
brave adventure before them.
With the fleet there were also six friars of the Order of St. Augustine,
and the leader of these was a man after Legaspi’s own heart. His name
was Andres de Urdaneta (än´drās dā ur´dä nā´tä). He had been at one time
a captain in King Charles’s navy, and had long wanted King Charles I. to
send him on an expedition to the Pacific. But the king was weary of wars
and longed for rest. Of his own accord he left the throne, to retire
into private life; and Urdaneta took holy orders.
When Philip II. was making ready his great expedition, he remembered his
father’s friend Urdaneta, and chose him to go with Legaspi as captain of
the spiritual forces of the fleet. These two men, Legaspi and Urdaneta,
were warm friends. It is very fitting that in the monument on the Luneta
in Manila, their figures should to-day stand side by side. When we see
this monument, we should remember the brave journey these two men made
together years ago, and the bright future which they hoped to secure for
these islands.
This new fleet sailed from Navidad, on the coast of Mexico, on the 21st
day of November, 1564. The expedition was unlike the ones that had gone
before it. It had for its aim the setting up of Spain’s rule in the
islands, whereas the others had gone out to seek new lands and to
conquer them. The men with Legaspi meant to stay in the islands and to
make their homes there.
Legaspi had been warned not to go first to Cebu. His advisers thought it
would be better to settle on one of the other islands and slowly to make
friends with the Cebuans before going to live among them. This, however,
was not Legaspi’s plan. He knew that the Cebuans were the very people
whom he must win over at first, if he hoped to have peace in his new
home. You see, the Spaniards as yet knew nothing about the great island
of Luzon. They had no knowledge of the size and nature of this new
country, but thought the best part of it lay to the south.
Legaspi sailed for Cebu, but when he began to draw near to the
archipelago he sent one of his ships ahead to learn what sort of welcome
the expedition might look for from the Cebuans. The commander of this
ship brought back a gloomy report. The Cebuans had not been at all
friendly. Instead, they had caught and killed one of the men of the
landing crew from the ship, and would have killed the others had not the
Spanish pulled off from shore and gone back to their ship.
When this report was brought to Legaspi he was very sorry. He at once,
however, made up his mind to go to Cebu and subdue the people. This he
thought was his duty toward his king; so the fleet sailed to Cebu. It
came safe into harbor, and the soldiers landed in front of the town of
Cebu on the 27th day of April, 1565. The Spanish were amazed and
delighted with the beauty and fruitfulness of the island. Weary with
their long voyage, they would gladly have made friends with the people
and been at peace in that lovely spot.
[Illustration:
ANCIENT FORT COMMANDING CEBU HARBOR.
]
The people, however, would not be friends. They had driven the Spanish
from their shore once, and did not mean that the strangers should come
back to live there. The chief, King Tupas (tö´päs), was a brave and
warlike man, and with a large army he came down to the shore to beat off
the newcomers. A fierce battle was fought there by the sea, but it did
not last long. The spears and arrows of the Cebuans were of little use
against Spanish armor, while the Spanish firearms did deadly work among
the lightly-clad Cebuan warriors. After a few hours the Cebuans were
forced back from the shore, and the Spanish held the town.
Legaspi now set to work to win the liking of the Cebuans. He believed
firmly that the king of Spain was by divine right the lawful ruler of
these islands; but for himself, he meant to govern kindly and wisely in
the name of the king. He could not do this until he had shown the people
that he and his soldiers were their friends. To this task, therefore, he
bent all his wisdom.
So earnestly did the Spanish commander work to win over the people, that
in a very few months the whole island was in a state of peace. A little
later, Padre Urdaneta went back to Spain to report all that had been
done. King Philip II. was much pleased with the friar’s report, and made
Legaspi “governor-general of all the territory in the archipelago that
he might conquer for Spain.”
Matters now went very quietly with the natives for several years; but
trouble came to the Spaniards from the outside. At this time there was
great rivalry between Spain and Portugal in the discovery and settlement
of new lands. In each of these countries there were many daring sailors
and brave soldiers who liked nothing better than to go on wild
adventures for their kings, to find and to claim new lands.
So great was the rivalry between these two countries that Pope Alexander
VI., soon after the discovery of America, made a decree dividing between
them all the lands that might be discovered. The dividing line was the
meridian of Cape Verde Island. By his decree the Pope gave all heathen
lands discovered west of that line to Spain. All the lands that should
be discovered east of the meridian he gave to Portugal. Under this
ruling, as we may see by looking at a map, the Philippine Islands would
have fallen to Portugal.
Spain, however, claimed these islands by right of discovery, and was
ready to uphold her claim by force of arms. This Legaspi had to do
before he had been long in Cebu. An expedition of Portuguese came out
against the Spanish, and, but for Legaspi’s brave defense of the island,
would have taken it from them. The Portuguese were forced to retire,
however, and though for years there was much trouble over the matter,
Portugal never made good her claim to the Philippines.
By 1570 Legaspi had made the town of Cebu a city and the seat of
government. In the spring of this year a grandson of his, a young
Spanish captain named Juan Salcedo (säl sā´dō), came from Mexico to help
him in the islands. He was a very young man, but a good soldier, and
wise beyond his years. His grandfather was glad, indeed, to have such a
helper, and sent him out at the head of a strong force to visit all the
islands.
The Spanish had learned by this time about the island of Luzon that lay
to the north, so Salcedo was ordered to go up there and see what it was
like. He sailed from Cebu early in the summer, and made his way
northward to the great bay of Manila. Here he found a town called
Maynila by the people who lived there, and here he landed with his
company of soldiers, all in full armor.
[Illustration:
THE MONUMENT TO LEGASPI AT CEBU CITY.
]
The people of Luzon had never before seen European soldiers. They
thought that these were gods, and not men, and made haste to be friends
with them. They could not understand the firearms which the soldiers
carried, and were much afraid of them. They gave up their city at once,
and brought food and fruits as offerings to the strange visitors.
Salcedo spoke kindly to them, and when he had made them understand what
he wanted, they all swore loyalty to Spain.
But Soliman (sō lē´män), chief of Maynila, soon saw that these huge
strangers were only men, after all. Then he was filled with sorrow to
think that he had given up his city to them, and made up his mind to win
it back. He gathered all his warriors and led them against the Spanish,
but it was of no use. Salcedo’s forces were too strong for his army, and
Soliman was defeated. He was driven out from his city again; but this
time, rather than let the Spanish have it, he set fire to it and burned
it down.
Juan Salcedo now showed himself to be kind as well as brave. When he had
taken Soliman prisoner, he did not punish him for breaking his oath of
fealty to Spain. He forgave him freely, and let him take the oath again.
Then he let him go on ruling his people in the name of the king of
Spain.
After this Salcedo passed on through Luzon, claiming the country for
Philip II. He visited those parts now known as Laguna (lä gö´nä),
Pangasinan (pän gäsē nän´), and the Camarines (cäm ä rē´nēs). He took
the city of Cainta (kä ēn´tä), where a Moro chief ruled, and then went
to what is now Ilocos Sur (ēl ō´cos sör). One of his captains, named
Martin de Goiti (mär´tin dā go ē´tē), he left at Maynila with a small
force to guard the camp. Goiti also conquered the people of Pampanga
(päm pän´gä). Later Salcedo sent a messenger to his grandfather,
Governor-General Legaspi, asking him to come at once to Maynila.
During all the time that Salcedo was taking Maynila and bringing the
country under the rule of Spain, Legaspi was busy in the Visayas (vis
ä´yäs). He had been in the country five years or more, and had done much
to make peace with the people. The chief of Cebu had accepted baptism,
with many of the Cebuans, and one of his daughters was married to a
Spaniard. There was great good feeling between the two races, and the
Cebuans looked upon the Spanish as friends. Well pleased, therefore,
with the way things were going in Cebu, Legaspi went on a tour through
all the Visayan group.
Legaspi was at Iloilo on the island of Panay (pän ī´) when this
messenger found him and told him all that Salcedo had done in Luzon.
Legaspi was much pleased at the news. He saw at once that Maynila was
the place of all others on the islands in which to set up the
government, and he made ready to go to Luzon. He could do this all the
more easily because of the way he had managed things in the Visayas. All
the native chiefs were still in power, and Legaspi left them to rule as
they had always done, save that they now ruled in the name of the king
of Spain. The governor-general was able, therefore, to leave behind him
a quiet, orderly government, and to give his mind freely to the new work
before him.
The journey northward was made in safety, and early in March of the year
1571, Legaspi and his party reached Cavite (kä vē´tā). Here they were
met by the Tagal (tā´gäl) chief, Lacondola (lä con dō´lä), rajah or king
of Tondo (ton´dō), who is sometimes also spoken of as Rajah Matanda (mä
tän´dä) or the “old Rajah.”
Lacondola welcomed Legaspi as the lawful ruler, and told him that he and
his people were loyal to the king of Spain. The party then went on to
Maynila, and here also Legaspi was greeted as the king’s representative.
Soliman, the former king of Maynila, was never a really willing subject
of Spain. But he was a nephew of Lacondola, and the old Rajah’s counsel
had great weight with him; so he never rebelled against the new ruler.
[Illustration:
LEGASPI SAILING TO MANILA.
]
Legaspi now declared King Philip the overlord of that whole country, and
made Maynila the capital. He changed the spelling of the name to
_Manila_. This word is made up of two Tagal words—_may_, which means “to
have,” and _nila_, a kind of tree that once grew thickly around the
city—and _Maynila_ means that there were many nila trees there.
Lacondola and Soliman joined forces with Martin de Goiti, to help
strengthen the new rule in the islands. The country now known as
Batangas (bä tän´gäs) Province was then ruled by several chiefs who were
usually at war with the Tagals and other tribes. They and their people
had come from Borneo and had intermarried with the Negritos (nā
grē´tōs). They were great hunters and good fighters, but would not yield
to the Spaniards; so, with the aid of other tribes, the Spaniards drove
them from the country. There were other chiefs ruling in the districts
about Manila Bay; but these showed themselves friendly to Spain, and
were left in office, to govern in the name of the king.
The work of putting the country in order now went on rapidly. In June,
1571, Legaspi formed the City Council of Manila, and began to lay the
foundation for a wise and just rule in these islands. He made a plan for
Manila, and had the city laid out in squares and streets just as we see
it to-day inside the walls. He also set the people to work building
these walls for a defense against the wild tribes. The walls were
nineteen years in building, and to-day, after more than three hundred
years, they are still strong and beautiful, to show how well the Tagal
people builded. The fort at the mouth of the Pasig River was also begun
at this time.
Governor-General Legaspi was a strong, wise ruler for this country. He
was a man far ahead of his times and of his people, “a good man among
men, and a great man among statesmen.” If his plans for the Philippines
had been carried out, the history of the islands would be very different
from what it is to-day. If those who came after him had been as wise and
as kind as he, the Filipinos would have been a happy, contented people.
But dark days came all too soon to the colony. On the 20th day of
August, 1572, Legaspi died, worn out by the hard labors of his active,
useful life. He was buried in the Augustine Chapel of San Fausto, in
Manila, and another sort of rule soon began in the islands.
_Summary._—The _Victoria_, commanded by Juan Sebastian del Cano,
reached Spain in September, 1522. She was the first ship to sail
around the world. Twenty years later Ruy Lopez de Villalobos commanded
an expedition which went to Samar. He named this island “Isla
Filipina,” and later Legaspi gave the name “Islas Filipinas” to the
entire archipelago. Miguel de Legaspi commanded an expedition sent out
by King Philip II. to settle in the islands. With him came the
Augustine friar P. Urdaneta. This fleet left Navidad, Mexico, November
21, 1564. The Spanish went to Cebu, conquered the people, and then
began to make friends with them and to build up the government. Later
the Spanish had trouble with the Portuguese, who came to claim the
country, but were driven away. In 1570, Juan Salcedo came out. He went
to Luzon, took Maynila, and then sent a messenger to Legaspi to tell
him to come there. Legaspi was in the Visayas, pacifying the country,
but he at once went to Maynila. He was well received by Lacondola and
Soliman, and set up his capital in Maynila. He formed the City
Council, made a plan for the city, and had work begun on the walls. He
began a wise and humane rule in the islands, but died, in August,
1572, before he was able to carry out many of his plans.
_Questions._—When did the _Victoria_ return to Spain? What had she
done? How did the Islas Filipinas get their name? Who was Miguel de
Legaspi? Who was Urdaneta? When did Legaspi’s expedition start? Where
did it sail from? How was he received in Cebu? Who was Juan Salcedo?
Tell of his work in Luzon. When did Legaspi come to Manila? Who
received him? When was the City Council founded? What sort of man was
Legaspi? When did he die?
[Illustration]
Chapter III.
THE COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Before we go farther with this story of the Philippines, let us look,
for a little while, at the country itself, and the people who live in
it.
Men who are wise in science tell us that there must have been in the
Pacific Ocean, some thousands of years ago, a great body of land that
has now sunk out of sight. We do not know when it sank; but after it did
so there must have been, one after another, a great many volcanic
eruptions that broke up the sunken continent into smaller tracts of
land. Many of these eruptions took place under water, and with the
overflow of lava the separate tracts grew larger.
Later still this sunken land began slowly to rise from the sea. In some
places this change is still going on. New islands have come up out of
the sea within the memory of people who are still alive, and there have
been, within modern times, great changes on some of the Philippine
Islands. The whole group is of volcanic origin, but there are now very
few active volcanoes left in the country. Of these Mayon (mī ōn´), in
the southern part of Luzon, is the largest. This is said to be the most
beautiful volcano in the world. Its form is a perfect cone. Taal (tä´äl)
volcano, which is on an island in Lake Bombon (bôm´bôn), is also a
famous volcano.
There are over 1,200 islands in the archipelago, but we do not know
exactly how many there are. They have never been counted. Some of them
are hardly more than bits of rock showing above the sea, while Luzon,
the largest, is 480 miles long.
On all of the islands there are large mountains. Great peaks rise, in
some cases to a height of 7,000 or 8,000 feet, covered to the very top
with forests of mighty trees. The finest building timber in the world
will some day come from these islands. Teak, ebony, mahogany, and cedar
trees grow here, besides rubber and camphor trees, and many others for
which there is great demand in all the markets of the world. Fine fruit
trees of many sorts are also found. When there are good roads in the
islands over which to haul logs, and modern mills and machinery to make
them into lumber, the timber trade of the Philippines will be a great
industry.
There are now about eight millions of people in the Philippines. How
many were here when the Spanish came we do not know. The larger part of
the people in the islands are of the Malay (mā´lā) race. These were not
the first dwellers in the country, but came from the Malay Peninsula,
and it is likely that they had not been here more than two or three
hundred years when the Spanish came. They are the people whose lives and
acts make up most of what we call the “history” of the islands, and they
are the people usually meant by the term “Filipinos.”
[Illustration:
ABORIGINES OF MINDANAO.
]
Up in the mountains, living in nearly as wild a state as when the
Spanish came, we still find the aborigines. This is a word which means
the first dwellers in a country. It is thought that the first people who
lived in the northern islands were the Aetas, or Negritos. A race called
the Indonesians (in dō nā´sē äns) are the aborigines of the great island
of Mindanao.
The Negritos are dying out. They are a small, timid people, with thick
lips and flat noses. Their hair is like curly wool. They hunt and fight
with bows and arrows, and are very quick and active. Their chief food is
fish, and the brown mountain rice which they plant and harvest. Even if
taken when children and brought up in a city, they do not grow to like
civilized life, but run away and go back to the mountains as soon as
they have the chance.
An important tribe of wild people in these islands are the Igorrotes (ig
ō rō´tēs), of whom there are many on Luzon. The Igorrotes are the finest
and strongest of all the wild tribes in the country. They are very
brave, and are good fighters, using in warfare a short, broad knife,
which they wield with deadly skill. They never submitted to the
Spaniards, and were badly used by that people. The Spaniards always made
war upon them, and at one time tried to put an end to all of the tribe
in Luzon. They burned their villages and killed all who fell in their
power. They could not conquer them, however, and the Igorrotes have
always hated the Spanish fiercely.
The civilized Filipino people spring from none of these wild tribes. As
we have said, they are Malays, and came here from the great Malay
Peninsula. The Malays, from earliest times, were a sea-going folk,
daring sailors, and skillful in managing their boats. They went boldly
to sea in tiny crafts, with only the stars to guide them, taking risks
such as no Europeans dared to take. They overran the islands of the
South Pacific, going even as far as the island of Madagascar. They
settled in the Philippines, drove the natives back into the mountains,
and made their homes along the coasts and on the rich plains. They had a
written alphabet of their own when the Spanish came, and were far ahead,
even then, of the native races.
The Malays who settled in the island of Mindanao were converted to the
Moslem faith by some Arabian missionaries who came to that island as
early as the twelfth or thirteenth century. From Mindanao this religion
was carried to the island of Sulu (sö l´ö), and it is now the faith of
the people of the entire Sulu archipelago. The people who held to this
religion were called Moros by the Spanish, and by this name they are
still known.
There are many tribes in the islands, both of the aborigines and of the
Malay people. In early days these tribes were more separate than at
present, and had little to do with one another, save when there was war
among them. Each had its own language, and even now a great many
dialects are spoken in the islands. This fact, among others, has helped
to keep the tribes apart and to prevent them from becoming a strong,
united people.
We see, from what has been said, that the dwellers in the Philippine
Islands are not strictly a people in the sense that the Spanish or the
English are a people. Even the Malay folk in the islands have been, from
the very first, split up into many tribes, having little in common.
Under some methods of government these tribes might have been united;
but Spanish rule was not of a sort to bind them together. Rather, it set
tribes against one another, and used some to help conquer others. It did
not draw them together in a strong national life such as has made the
United States of America a great and powerful nation.
[Illustration:
A MORO OF JOLÓ, IN THE SULU ARCHIPELAGO.
]
The United States has been settled by people from many countries. These
people have gone to America from nearly every nation on earth; but the
different races have become one strong American people by reason of a
common interest in the good government of their country, and a common
desire for its welfare. Each State has its own life and government, but
all are united to form the great country of which each is a part, and to
support the Federal Government which binds the States together.
When the Filipino people have learned thus to stand together, a new day
will dawn for these islands. When the people all speak one language, and
when young and old can read and write that language, the country will be
more united, and will begin to know something of that national life
which other countries enjoy. The people will then be united; they will
know how to govern their land wisely and justly. They will understand,
as they have not done before, the relation one nation bears to others in
the world, and will be able to develop the great wealth of their
country.
The two great tribes of Malay Filipinos are the Tagals and the Visayans.
The Tagals live in southern Luzon, the Visayans in the group of islands
called the Visayas, which lie south of Luzon and north of Mindanao.
There are, besides, many lesser peoples in the islands, so that, as we
have seen, there could be no common national life.
The tribes were governed by great chiefs or kings, who ruled through
small chiefs and dattos. Each of these was at the head of about a
hundred families whom he stood for in the tribal council, and for whom
he was spokesman before the great chief. The small chief was called the
head of a hundred. It was a simple, but effective, form of government,
and suited the people. Legaspi and Salcedo made no changes in it, except
to declare the king of Spain the ruler of all the tribes. They had the
great chiefs swear loyalty to Spain, and then left them to govern for
the king.
[Illustration:
ANCIENT ALPHABETS IN USE IN THE ARCHIPELAGO WHEN THE SPANISH CAME.
Among the Moros of Mindanao and Sulu there are still in use words that
were obsolete in the Arabic in the time of Mohammed.
]
[Illustration:
NEGRITOS IN A PRAHU.
]
Later, however, when Legaspi and Salcedo were gone, many evils crept in.
The great chiefs were put out of power, and little by little
self-government was taken from the people. They came at last to have no
voice in the ordering of their own lives, and no one to speak for them
to their unknown ruler in Spain.
_Summary._—The Philippine Islands are believed to be part of a great
continent that once lay in the South Pacific Ocean. This continent
sank. Afterwards a slow upheaval brought the islands up from the sea.
The Aetas, or Negritos, were the earliest inhabitants of the country.
The Indonesians of Mindanao are also aborigines. The Igorrotes are a
wild tribe of Luzon and the Visayas, who have from the first been
enemies of Spain. The Spanish treated them cruelly and won their
hatred. The civilized Filipinos are of Malay origin, and came here
from the Malay Peninsula. Those who settled in Mindanao were converted
to the Mohammedan faith in the twelfth or thirteenth century by
Arabian missionaries; and they are called Moros. The people of the
islands are broken up into many tribes, and this has hindered their
becoming a united people. The tribal form of government was simple,
and so well suited to the country that Legaspi made little change in
it. The Spanish who came after him, however, took all self-government
from the people.
_Questions._—What are we taught of the origin of the Philippine
Islands? Who are the aborigines? What is the origin of the civilized
Filipinos? How did the Moslem faith come into the country? Describe
the early form of government.
[Illustration]
Chapter IV.
EARLY TROUBLES.
Until the beginning of the nineteenth century, when Mexico became
independent of Spain, the Philippine Islands were governed for Spain by
that country. This worked great hardship in the islands. Mexico herself
was a dependency of Spain, and so the Philippines really became a
dependency of a dependency. All laws for the country were made in
Mexico, and in this way the islanders were removed one step farther from
the foreign ruler who was their king.
The High Court of Mexico appointed the governor-general, and at the same
time that it did so named the man who should succeed him. This it did in
order that there might be no time lost in filling the office when it
became vacant. When Legaspi died, therefore, his successor was already
appointed, and at once took up the duties of his office.
The new governor-general was named Guido de Lavazares (wē´dō dā lä vä
thär´ās), and he was a very different sort of man from Legaspi. He was
more warlike and less wise, and he liked to meddle in matters which did
not concern him. During his term of office, he went to the aid of a king
of Borneo who had been dethroned by his rebellious subjects, and helped
the king to regain his throne.
He was so elated with his success in doing this that he became
ambitious. He so far forgot common sense that he wanted King Philip to
let him and his Philippine forces make war on China and conquer that
country for Spain. He could not have done this, and the king of Spain
was too sensible to let him try. Later, however, the governor-general
had all he wished of fighting the Chinese.
After Legaspi’s death his grandson, Juan Salcedo, went on with the work
of setting up Spanish rule in the islands. He passed through the
northern part of Luzon, and wherever he went told the people that Philip
II. was their king. He made it a point always to make friends with the
great chief of any tribe to which he went. This chief he would win over
to swear fealty to Spain. Then Salcedo would leave him to rule as
before, only in the name of the king.
He promised to help the chiefs against their enemies, and was ready,
with his soldiers, to fight their battles whenever they needed him. In
turn he trusted them to be loyal to the king, and to keep their people
from rebelling. He did not try to improve the country in any way, or to
teach the people anything that would help them to make it better. His
one idea was to win territory for his king. This, indeed, was all that
the king wanted him to do.
Spain wanted much territory, a wide dominion, more than she wanted loyal
subjects. It was this greed for power and for wealth that caused her
downfall, and in the end lost for her the rich country which she had
gained at great cost.
Salcedo, after all, was a far better man and kinder to the people than
were most of those who came after him. He had much of that wise
kindliness which made Legaspi a good ruler. He took the country by
force, but he was not a tyrant. He did not oppress the people, nor did
he make unwise laws to govern them.
He made his headquarters in Ilocos Sur, meaning to rule the northern
provinces from there. He had, however, hardly settled down when news
reached him of a great danger that threatened Manila. Gathering all his
forces he marched southward as fast as his army could travel, to help
Martin de Goiti, who was still in charge of Manila, to defend the city.
It was this same danger, which so alarmed Salcedo, that gave Guido de
Lavazares his wish to fight the Chinese. It was a most unexpected
danger, and came without warning upon the colony.
At about the time when Legaspi was founding his capital at Manila, a
Chinese pirate named Li-ma-hong (lē mä hong´) was sailing the waters of
the China Sea. He led a large force of men as lawless as himself, and,
as time went on, he became the terror of sea-going folk all about there.
He grew so bold, and his pirate fleet so strong, that he dared to attack
even the great war junks of China. At last the Chinese Government
declared him an outlaw, and put a price on his head. After this the
China Sea was not a safe place for him, so he made up his mind to go
somewhere else.
[Illustration:
PLAZA DE GOITI, MANILA.
]
He had captured the crew of a trading junk, and from these men he
learned about the Philippine Islands. What they told him pleased him so
much that he decided to go to Manila, take the city, and set up a
kingdom of his own on Luzon. He felt certain of success in this
undertaking; for he had a fleet of sixty-two armed junks and a force of
4,000 fighting men. In his company were many tradesmen as well as
soldiers, and many women went with the fleet. He also had plenty of
supplies, and Li-ma-hong was sure that, once he had taken the country,
he could set up a colony.
He took with him, on his own junk, the crew of the captured junk, to
pilot the way, and with his fleet sailed for Luzon. In November, 1574,
they reached the north coast of that island. Here some of the pirates,
who went ashore for supplies, sacked and burned a village and killed
many of the Filipinos. Those who escaped made their way to where Salcedo
was, and told him what had happened. Thus it came about that the Spanish
captain learned of Li-ma-hong’s scheme before the pirate reached Manila.
Leaving the northern part of Luzon, the Chinese kept on along the coast
toward Manila. Before they came to the bay, however, the fleet was
caught in a typhoon. Several of the junks and some 200 men were lost in
the storm. Still, Li-ma-hong thought he had a force strong enough to
take Manila, so they went on. The pirate commander landed an army of
1,500 men before Manila, and sent them up to take the city.
[Illustration:
CHINESE WAR JUNKS ATTACKING MANILA.
]
They were led by a Japanese named Sioco (sē ō´kō), whom Li-ma-hong had
made his lieutenant, and in a few hours a savage fight was waging
between the Spanish and the Chinese. The Spanish force was small, but
well armed, and every man knew that he was fighting for life against a
cruel foe. No mercy was to be looked for from those wild pirates, and no
quarter was asked or given. Even the aged governor-general bore arms in
the fight, for every man was needed. The first Spaniard killed was brave
Martin de Goiti, but he was not the last. The little garrison was nearly
destroyed before their fortune turned and the pirates were driven back.
The Japanese leader Sioco was killed, and after that the Chinese fell
back and reëntered their junks.
A few days later Li-ma-hong himself led a second attack. But meanwhile
native troops had been gathered, and again the pirates were beaten. This
time the fleet retired to the mouth of the Agno River, and Li-ma-hong
set up his kingdom in what is now the province of Pangasinan. Here the
Chinese built temples and began to plant crops and engage in trade. They
felt very secure, and if they had been let alone the pirates would no
doubt have been prosperous; but punishment was at hand for them.
Juan Salcedo, with his soldiers, had reached Manila, and soon afterwards
a war junk from China came into harbor, looking for Li-ma-hong. This war
junk was sent by the emperor, who had learned of the mischief the pirate
was doing in the Philippines. The captain had orders to find Li-ma-hong
and bring him to justice, and he meant to do this if he could.
The junk joined the Spanish in an expedition by water, while another
force of Spanish and Filipino soldiers went forward to engage the
pirates on land. When these attacking forces arrived, Li-ma-hong saw
that he must retreat for his life, so he played a trick upon the enemy
and upon some of his own soldiers.
He told off some of his men to go forward against the enemy, and make
the latter believe that they were the main body of the Chinese. The
trick was successful. When the Spanish and native troops made the
attack, the pirates, after a show of fighting, began to fall back toward
the mountains. The enemy gave chase and furnished Li-ma-hong the chance
for which he was watching. With all his fleet he slipped down the river,
keeping under cover of the reeds and tall grass, gained the sea and
fled, leaving his soldiers at the mercy of the foe.
The Chinese thus meanly deserted by their leader did not wait to be
killed, but retreated in earnest to the mountains. Here they took refuge
with the Igorrotes, and here they spent the rest of their lives. They
married women from among the Igorrotes, and from them are descended
those people who are to-day known as the Igorrote-Chinese.
It was some time before peace and a sense of safety were restored in
Manila. Work was pushed more rapidly on the city walls, which were still
building, and upon Fort Santiago. Other troops of Spanish were sent from
Mexico to make the defense of the city stronger, but long before they
came Salcedo went back to his work in the north. He died of fever in
Ilocos Sur a year or two later.
Captain Salcedo was still a young man, but twenty-seven years old, at
the time of his death (March 11, 1576). Had he lived longer, he would
doubtless have become a great statesman, for he showed much tact and
wisdom in his dealings with the people. He was honestly mourned by both
the Spanish and the native soldiers of his army. A few years after his
death, his bones were brought to Manila and laid to rest beside those of
his grandfather, Miguel de Legaspi.
_Summary._—Up to the beginning of the nineteenth century the
Philippine Islands were governed as a dependency of Mexico. The High
Court of Mexico named the governor-general and made laws for the
country. Legaspi was succeeded by Guido de Lavazares. After Legaspi’s
death Salcedo went to Ilocos Sur to carry on his work of subjecting
the country to Spain. In 1574 the Chinese pirate Li-ma-hong made an
attack on Manila, meaning to take the city and set up a kingdom there.
Driven back from the city, he retreated to the mouth of the Agno River
and settled there with his pirate band. A Chinese war junk came to the
help of the Spanish, and Li-ma-hong was forced to flee. He escaped,
deserting some of his own soldiers whom he had sent inland. In 1576
Juan Salcedo died in Ilocos Sur.
_Questions._—Describe the government of the archipelago previous to
the nineteenth century. Who succeeded Legaspi? What sort of man was
he? What did Salcedo do after Legaspi’s death? What was his method in
dealing with the people? Give an account of Li-ma-hong’s invasion.
When did Juan Salcedo die?
[Illustration]
Chapter V.
BEGINNINGS OF STRIFE.
For the first two hundred years, as we have said, the Spanish colony in
the Philippines was governed from Mexico. A Supreme Court, or Audencia,
like that of Mexico, was set up in Manila. This court tried cases and
settled law questions for the whole archipelago. The Mexican code of law
was in force here, and the officials in the islands tried to make the
government as much as possible like that of Mexico.
This, however, was a very different country from Mexico. The Filipinos
were a very different people from the native Mexicans. What worked well,
therefore, for one country and one people, did not suit at all for the
other. Often, in these islands, right and justice were hindered by the
very laws made to help them. The men who framed these laws did not know
the islands or the Filipinos, so they could not understand why the code
that was good for Mexico should fail here.
Soon still other troubles arose. The rulers who came after Legaspi did
away, one by one, with the native forms of government. There were no
longer any tribal councils in which the heads of groups could speak for
their people. The native kings and chiefs were set aside, and the people
then had no representatives. There was nothing to check the power of the
governor-general. He had full control over the lives and liberties of
the people, and no one could call him to account but the king of Spain.
In name the ancient office of head of a hundred still lived in the
office of “cabeza de barangay” (cäbā´thä dā bär än’gī), which the
Spanish kept up. The office itself, however, was no longer high or
honorable. The chief duty of the cabeza de barangay came to be the
raising of money among the people for the government. If the people were
poor, if times were bad, if the crops had failed, still this money must
be raised. The government looked to the barangay chief to get it, in one
way or another. Often, when the people were unable to pay, his property
was taken, and many a headman of a village was stripped of all he had by
the officers of government. In time, therefore, the office fell into
such disgrace that no self-respecting Filipino would take it. At last a
law had to be passed compelling service as cabeza de barangay.
Very early in the history of the colony there began to be strife among
the Spanish authorities. The bitter misunderstanding between Church and
State arose almost at once, and it continued through all the years of
Spanish rule in the islands. Soon after its formation, the Supreme
Court, too, became a party in the quarrels of the powers. Each of these
three parties was determined to control matters, and the result was very
bad for the colony. At times, indeed, the quarrel was so sharp that
affairs in the country were at a standstill, and ruin threatened the
colony.
[Illustration:
KING PHILIP II.
]
So matters went on until the year 1587, when they became so bad that the
Bishop of Manila sent a secret messenger to Spain to lay complaint
before the king. This messenger was a friar named Alonzo Sanchez
(älon´thō sän’cheth). He went first to Mexico and laid his case before
the viceroy, who sent him on to Spain. There he gained a hearing from
King Philip II., who promised to look into the matter.
The king then put the case in charge of one of his ministers, who
studied it with great care, and at last made a report which was the
basis of a royal decree. In this decree the king gave attention to a
good many things that were wrong in the islands, and made some definite
laws in regard to them.
The decree did away altogether with the Supreme Court, and appointed
justices of the peace in its place. It set forth plainly just what
should be the field of action of the State and what of the Church. It
gave the governor-general full power to do as he liked in matters
regarding all distant and unexplored parts of the country. In what he
did in such places he need not consult even the king’s will. If,
however, he wished to undertake a war, or any expedition that must be
paid for out of the royal treasury, he must first submit his plans to a
council made up of the Bishop of Manila and the chief military captains
in the islands.
The decree also forbade the making of any more slaves in the islands.
All slaves held by Spaniards were to be set free at once. All between
the ages of ten and twenty years, held by Filipinos, were to be freed at
the latter age, and all over twenty years old were to be set free in
five years.
Arrangement was made for a tribute to be raised from among the people.
The money so gathered was to be divided in a fixed ratio between the
Church, the State, and the army. All begging friars—and of these many
had come to the country—were ordered to leave the Philippines, and forty
Augustine friars were sent out to Manila.
A new governor-general was sent to the islands, with instructions to
carry out the decree. This official was Don Gomez Perez Desmarinas (gö
meth´ pā reth´ des mär ē´näs). He was a man of great energy and force of
character, and no doubt meant to be just and fair. He did not, however,
get along well with the Bishop of Manila, and before long the trouble
between Church and State broke out again. This time the bishop decided
to go, himself, to Spain, and see whether some understanding could not
be had by which peace could be kept.
Bishop Salazar (säl ä thär´) was then seventy-eight years old. He was an
Augustine friar, and had been parish priest of Manila. In 1581, when
Pope Gregorio XIII. founded the See of Manila, Salazar was made bishop;
but he now felt that the Church must have still greater authority in the
islands. One object of his visit to Spain was to get the consent of the
king and of the Pope that Manila should be made an archbishopric. In
this he succeeded. The Pope issued a bull dated August 14, 1595,
creating the Archbishopric of Manila, and Salazar was made the first
archbishop. He died, however, before official notice reached him of his
new dignity.
News traveled slowly in those days, but in the course of time the
emperor of Japan heard that a colony of Europeans had settled in the
Philippine Islands. He seems to have thought that Japan had some
interest in these islands; for in 1593 he sent an ambassador to Manila.
The name of this ambassador was Farranda Kieman (fä rän´dä kī ā´män).
His coming was the cause of some anxiety to the Spanish. As soon as he
landed in Manila he waited upon Governor-General Desmarinas with his
message. This was a demand upon the Spanish in the Philippines to
surrender, and to declare themselves to be vassals of Japan. If they did
not do this, Kieman told Desmarinas, the emperor would send war junks to
take the country by force.
To all this the governor-general replied with great politeness, but very
firmly. He told the ambassador that he and the other Spanish colonists
were already subjects of a great king, in whose name he ruled, and that
he could not yield the country to Japan. At the same time his king
wished to be on good terms with the emperor, whose power and greatness
were so well known, and the governor-general hoped a treaty could be
made between the two rulers. Such a treaty, he pointed out, would be a
great help to both countries.
[Illustration:
THE CITY WALL AND MOAT, MANILA.
]
Farranda Kieman thought that all this was reasonable, and soon
afterwards envoys were sent from Manila to the court of Japan. They were
well received, and a treaty was made for trade and mutual defense
between Japan and the Philippines. However, the ship on which the envoys
were returning home was wrecked, and they and the treaty were lost.
In May, 1593, another envoy, Fray Pedro Bautista (pā´drō bä ö tēs´tä),
was sent to Japan, and a new treaty was made. A copy of this was sent
back to Manila, but the friar envoy asked permission to stay in Japan.
His request was granted; he stayed in Japan, and began preaching to the
people. Some years later the fruit of this act, which at the time seemed
so slight, came back to Manila in a way most unexpected.
In the meantime Governor-General Desmarinas was busy in Manila. He was
anxious to see the city walls finished, and kept the people at work on
this great task. The fort at the mouth of the river was completed, and
the walls of the city already made a noble showing. The Cathedral of
Manila and the Santa Polenciana (sän´tä pō len´sē ä´nä) College of
Orphans were built, and many other good buildings were completed.
Desmarinas had also brought the provinces of Zambales (thäm bä´lēs) and
the Camarines under Spanish rule.
In the autumn of 1593, a native king of Fernate (fer nä´tē), one of the
Molucca Islands, came to Manila to ask for help against the Dutch
sailors who made trouble on his island. Desmarinas gathered a large
fleet, and on October 6th started with the native king for Fernate.
While on the way, the Chinese oarsmen on the governor-general’s galley
rose in revolt one night, took the galley, and killed the
governor-general. Some of the Spanish troops on board escaped by jumping
overboard. After the death of Desmarinas, the Chinese put the rest of
the Spanish ashore and went off with the galley.
This sad event broke up the expedition. The fleet returned to Manila and
Don Luis (lö´is) Perez Desmarinas, a son of the dead official, took up
the government. He ruled quietly until 1596, when his successor, Don
Francisco Tello de Guzman (frän sēs´kō tėl´lō dā gäth´män), came to
Manila.
In the year 1598, King Philip II. of Spain being dead, his son, King
Philip III., again set up the Supreme Court in Manila. This was done
with great pomp and show. There was a long procession in the streets of
Manila, and high civic and religious ceremonies. The court was given the
same powers as the court of Mexico and of Lima, in Peru, and during
Spanish rule was never again done away with.
_Summary._—The code of laws by which Mexico was ruled was made the
code of the Philippines as well. This arrangement was not a good one.
The ruler who came after Legaspi did away with the native chiefs and
kings. Only the office of head of a hundred was left, and that had so
little honor that no self-respecting Filipino cared to take it. Early
in the history of the colony began the strife between authorities
which, during the rule of Spain, caused most of the trouble in the
colony. At last Bishop Salazar of Manila sent a messenger to Spain.
The result was a royal decree defining the official field of the State
and of the Church. Gomez Perez Desmarinas was made governor-general,
and came to Manila. He did not get along well with the Bishop of
Manila, and later the bishop went, himself, to Spain. He succeeded in
getting Manila made an archbishopric, and was himself appointed
archbishop, but died before the official notice reached him. In 1593
the emperor of Japan sent an ambassador to Manila to demand tribute
from the Spanish colony. This the governor-general declined to give,
but a treaty was made with Japan. In that same year the king of
Fernate came to Manila seeking help against the Dutch.
Governor-General Desmarinas raised a fleet to go to Fernate, but while
on the way was killed by the Chinese oarsmen on board his galley. His
son Luis Perez Desmarinas succeeded him in office until 1596, when a
new governor-general came out. In 1598 the Supreme Court was again set
up by order of King Philip III. of Spain.
_Questions._—What code of laws was put in use in the Philippines? What
changes in government did Legaspi’s successors make? Why did Bishop
Salazar send a messenger to Spain? What was the result of the
messenger’s visit? When was Manila made an archbishopric? Who came to
Manila to get help from the Spanish? What did the governor-general do?
How did he die? Who reinstated the Supreme Court? When was it done?
[Illustration]
Chapter VI.
COLONIAL WARS AND DIFFICULTIES.
From now on trouble came thick and fast upon the Spanish colony in the
Philippines. Some of it was due to the wild and troubled times through
which all the civilized world was passing, but most of it was caused by
the short-sighted folly of the home government.
In 1599, when Antonio Morga (än tō´nē ō mor´gä) was governor-general,
the first real attempt was made to occupy Mindanao and the Sulu
archipelago. For this purpose an expedition started from Manila under
the leadership of Estevan Roderigues (es´tā vän rō dārēg´ēs), a
Portuguese nobleman, who had received permission from Spain to set up a
colony in Mindanao. He was to be governor of that island, and, from his
headquarters there, was to try to conquer the Moros of Sulu, who had
never submitted to Spain’s rule.
This expedition was a sad mistake, and failed from the beginning. The
Mindanao Mohammedans resisted all efforts of the Spanish to land, and
Roderigues lost his life in the very first battle. His body was taken to
Manila for burial. Several other expeditions were sent out, from time to
time, to punish the Moros and force a settlement upon the island; but
none of them succeeded.
The efforts of the Spanish only aroused the anger and hatred of these
people. For two hundred and fifty years after that Moro pirates harried
the shores of all the islands where the Spanish dwelt. They killed and
robbed both Europeans and Filipinos; they burned towns and villages, and
carried off the people to be their slaves. For fear of them the coasts
were deserted. No one dared live near the sea; fishermen dared not
follow their calling, nor farmers till their fields. Traders dared not
come to the island ports to buy or to sell, and the coastwise trade of
the country was all but ruined.
While the Spanish were busy trying to gain a foothold in the south,
there came to Manila two visitors who were the innocent cause of still
more trouble in the country. These were two high mandarins of China, who
reached the city in the year 1603. Their story was that the emperor of
China had heard that there existed, near the city of Cavite, a great
mountain of pure gold. The emperor, they said, could hardly believe this
to be true; so he had sent them to see this mountain, that they might
come back and tell him about it.
At that time Bravo de Acuña (brä´vō dā ä kön yä) was governor-general.
He received the mandarins politely, and sent them with an escort to
Cavite, to see for themselves that no such mountain was there. The
visitors were royally entertained during their stay in Manila, and at
last went home with their report to their emperor.
[Illustration:
A MEMBER OF THE GUIANGA TRIBE OF MINDANAO.
]
This visit caused a great fright in Manila, for the Spanish at once
suspected that there was a plot behind it for the Chinese to seize the
city. They believed, or pretended to believe, that the mandarins had
come merely to spy out the land and prepare the way. At once the city
was made ready against invasion. The garrisons were increased, new ones
were formed, and every Spaniard armed himself. The Filipinos were much
excited over the stories told of coming trouble; while the Chinese,
suspected and insulted by all, could not but understand that some danger
threatened them.
At last the Chinese, wild with fear, took matters into their own hands.
They began to fortify places outside the city, and one evening opened
the battle by firing upon some Filipinos inside the city walls. They
followed up this act by crossing the river and making a savage attack on
Binondo (bē nón´dō), then only a small village on the river bank. After
that they gathered their forces at Tondo, and kept up the siege of
Binondo all that night.
[Illustration:
WARRIORS OF MINDANAO.
]
Next morning a strong force of Spanish marched out against them. This
force was led by Luis Perez Desmarinas, and in it were the pick of all
the young Castilian gentlemen in the country. The best of the Spanish
soldiery were there also, as well as a body of native troops. These
troops were Pampangans, who were then the best trained of the Filipino
soldiers.
On the other hand were thousands of frightened Chinese, ready to fight
to the death, and there was awful work in the streets of Binondo that
day. Neither side gave or got any quarter, and by night, of all those
brave young Spanish gentlemen scarce one was left alive.
But at last the Chinese gave way. They had neither weapons to carry on
war, nor food to help them withstand a siege. They began, therefore, to
fall back toward the interior; but they were hotly chased, and as they
fled nearly 25,000 of them were killed. It was sad business, and all the
more sad because it is likely that neither side really knew what the
fighting was about.
Besides trouble with the Moros in the south and with the Chinese in the
north, the colony had much to bear from Spain’s old-time foe, the Dutch.
At this time there were really very few Spanish in the islands. There
had been less than a thousand when the battle with the Chinese was
fought. Many were killed on that fatal day, so that in the new trouble
the Spaniards would have fared ill, had it not been that the army of the
colony now numbered many Filipino soldiers in its ranks.
From the end of the sixteenth century down to the year 1763, there was
war between Spain and the Dutch, and this war caused much hardship in
the islands. It was Spain’s short-sighted method in dealing with her
colonies to restrict their trade whenever it was likely to interfere
with that of her home merchants. So harsh were the measures by which she
held in check the trade of her colonies that she kept all her
dependencies poor, so that in the end the mother country lost more than
she gained.
At this time the Philippine merchants were allowed to trade only with
Mexico. Once a year, usually in July, a state galleon left Manila
carrying goods to that country. The goods were sold in Mexico, and the
money and other goods were sent back by galleon to Manila.
[Illustration:
DUTCH SHIPS ATTACKING A CHINESE TRADING JUNK.
]
The galleons also carried the mail, and great sums of money which Mexico
sent over to meet the expenses of the island government. They were
always rich prizes, and Spain’s enemies knew this all too well. They
would lie in wait for them, to capture and despoil them. The Dutch
ships, in particular, often did this. From first to last they captured a
good many of the royal galleons.
Every capture meant calamity to the islands. It meant for Manila
merchants the loss of a whole year’s business. To the State and to the
Church it meant loss of income, of salaries, and of money to carry on
all public work. To the natives it meant harder and longer tasks, deeper
poverty, heavier burdens which they must endure in raising the extra
tribute, and heavier taxes by which the loss was made good.
For a hundred and fifty years there was fighting over the royal
galleons. At one time, when Spain and England were at war, there were
six years during which no galleon reached Manila. The country was in
such sore straits that even the Chinese revolted, and the Spanish were
nearly starved.
Spain, however, seemed to learn no lesson from these experiences. She
went on as of old, sending one galleon a year, richly laden, at the
mercy of the enemy, “putting all her eggs into one basket,” as the
saying is, and when the “one basket” came to mishap all was lost.
Besides keeping a lookout for the galleons, the Dutch ships were wont to
lie in wait outside Manila harbor, to catch Chinese and Japanese trading
junks coming into port. In this way they often captured rich prizes, and
made still greater drain upon the islands. It was necessary for the
colony to raise large sums of money and many bodies of fighting men to
go against these ships in order to protect the harbor from them. Many
battles were fought with the Dutch in Philippine waters, and many times
the efforts of the natives brought victory to the Spanish side.
But it was a hard and bitter experience. The colony lived in a state of
constant danger and of real want from this source. Not until the middle
of the eighteenth century, when peace was made with Holland, had the
people of these islands any security of life or commerce.
_Summary._—In 1599 the first real attempts were made to settle in
Mindanao. An expedition was sent south, but failed, and its leader was
killed. The Spanish only stirred up the Moros against themselves, so
that the pirates came north and laid waste the coast towns. In 1603
two Chinese mandarins came to Manila, looking for a mountain of gold
which they had heard was near Cavite. This visit awakened a fear that
the Chinese meant to seize Manila, and the city was made ready against
invasion. The Chinese of Manila were driven by abuse to make an attack
on some natives, and the Spanish then fell upon them, killing over
25,000. The Spanish themselves lost the pick of their soldiers and
cavaliers that day. Owing to Spain’s war with the Dutch, the islands
at this time, and for many years after, suffered great losses and
hardships. The Dutch used to lie in wait to capture the galleons that
carried merchandise and money back and forth between Manila and
Mexico. Whenever a galleon was lost, the whole country suffered; but
the weight fell heaviest upon the natives, who, by extra tribute and
taxes, had to make the loss good.
_Questions._—Tell about the first expedition to settle Mindanao. What
did the Moros do to avenge what they deemed Spanish invasion? Give an
account of the battle against the Chinese. What led up to this battle?
How was trade carried on between the islands and Mexico? What was the
result of the capture of a galleon by Spain’s enemies? Why was Spain’s
restriction of her colonies’ trade a bad thing for her?
[Illustration]
Chapter VII.
THE SPANISH AND THE FILIPINOS.
At the time when Spain took the Philippine Islands and began to rule
them, every country in Europe was busy setting up colonies in the newly
discovered parts of the world. If the king owed something to a
troublesome subject, or wished to reward or please a favorite, an easy
way to pay the debtor or help the favorite was to make him a governor or
other official in some far-off new colony. In turn the governor thought
it only fair to make his colony as profitable to the Crown as he could.
That he had no right to oppress other peoples in order to do this was a
matter about which he never thought.
It is hard for us, who live in an age when the rights of man are upheld,
to remember that there was once a time when no one in power thought very
much about these rights. Statesmen had not then learned that a mother
country owes a duty to her colonies. They thought only of the help that
a colony should give toward supporting the home government. England for
many years held this idea about America. She put great hardships upon
her colonies there. She taxed them very unjustly, and put unfair limits
to their trade. The Americans, however, knew that no government had a
right to oppress even its own colonies. When the king of England went
too far in his unjust rule, the people rebelled. They threw off the yoke
of England just as, some years later, Mexico threw off the yoke of
Spain, and became independent.
The Philippine Islands suffered beyond what was the usual fate of
colonies, even at that time. They were far out of the regular routes of
ocean travel. The people there knew nothing at all of the ideas of human
liberty that were even then setting the world thinking. Then, too, they
were ruled by a people who were behind the rest of the world in
accepting these ideas. Spain, blinded by her own pride and folly, has
been slowest of all European nations to listen to the gospel of human
rights. She ruled her colonies cruelly long after other nations came to
see that they owed a duty to their dependencies, and as a result Spain
lost her colonies at just the time when she most needed their help.
The Philippines, moreover, were not ruled from Spain direct. They were,
as has been said, a dependency of Mexico, and Mexico was in turn a
dependency of Spain. It happened, therefore, that even when the islands
had officials who might have been glad to help the people, these
officials were themselves in a hard place. They had two masters over
them. Spain looked to Mexico for the royal dues from the islands, and
Mexico, in turn, looked to the governor-general, who must see to it that
his colony was profitable to the Crown.
So, we see, there was a great burden laid upon the archipelago, and this
burden the people had to carry. For three hundred and eighty years the
Filipinos were subjects of Spain. They submitted to her rule because
there was never a time when, without outside help, they could throw off
that rule. But they never were, in their hearts, willing subjects.
During all the time the Spanish were in the islands there was never a
very long period when the people were not somewhere in revolt.
On Luzon, on Bohol (bō hōľ), on Samar, Leyte (lā´ē tā), Mindanao, and in
the Sulu Islands, there was one uprising after another during the
seventeenth century. In Cebu it was needful, always, for Spain to keep a
strong armed force, and it was often necessary to send the troops from
Cebu to put down trouble in the other islands. The love of liberty dies
hard from the human heart; and while there was at no time a general
revolt of the people, the frequent revolts of different tribes kept the
Spanish busy.
Yet at no time did the Filipinos go to war to gain national
independence. They were not united enough for that. It is a part of the
pity of it all that this should have been so. It is sad to think of all
the suffering and want the people bore, and of all the lives that were
lost in their small battles. It is sadder still to remember that the aim
of these battles was not to win independence from Spain, but to secure
only such decent treatment as is the right of every human being.
[Illustration:
FUERZA DEL PILAR, MINDANAO.
]
It will be remembered that the friar whom Governor-General Desmarinas
sent to make a treaty with Japan stayed in that country. He set up
missions there, and both he and other friars who came over from Manila
preached to the people. In time the emperor learned of this. He asked
about the new teachers, and was told that this was Spain’s way of
getting a hold on another country. Spanish friars would go into a
country to teach the people religion, and later Spain would send her
soldiers to protect the friars and their converts. After that, his
advisers told the emperor, it was only a matter of time when Spain would
come to rule the country.
The emperor was alarmed to hear all this. He ordered the friars back to
Manila, and forbade any one to teach Christianity in his country. The
missionary friars defied him, however, and later some were put to death
with their Japanese converts. But other friars came from Manila, and in
1633 the emperor became angry, and did a dreadful thing.
He gathered in his own country a band of 150 people who were lepers. He
loaded them into a ship and sent them to Manila. The commander of the
ship bore to the governor-general a message which made a sensation in
Manila. The message set forth the fact that the emperor did not allow
Christians to come to Japan. Since, however, the priests of Manila
seemed very fond of such people as these lepers, he sent this shipload
as a present to them.
We may imagine the rage of the Manila officials over this “present.”
Some of them were for taking the ship outside the harbor and sinking her
with her load. Others advised sending her back to Japan. The friars,
however, to whom the lepers had been sent, claimed them. They begged the
governor-general to have mercy on the poor creatures, and at last he
relented.
[Illustration:
ST. LAZARUS HOSPITAL, MANILA.
]
The lepers were brought ashore with much ceremony, and kept in Manila.
As soon as possible a hospital was built for them, and they were taken
to it. This hospital was named St. Lazarus Hospital. It still exists in
Manila, though the present building is not the one put up for those
first lepers.
In putting down the revolts of the people against tyranny, the Spanish
had, from time to time, lost many troops. Many were also killed in the
great battle with the Chinese, of which we have read, and in the wars
with the Moros still other Spanish lives were lost. The Moro pirates
from the south were a source of great danger, as we have already seen.
In 1635 the Spanish were forced to build a fort at Zamboanga (sämbō
än´gä) to keep these pirates in check. Garrisons were also stationed at
several places in Sulu for the same purpose. The Spanish, however, never
really controlled the Sulu archipelago. The soldiers were never safe
more than a day’s march from their forts, and they lived in constant
danger of attack from the Moros.
In one way and another the army of the colony was much weakened, and an
uprising of the Chinese, in 1634, made great trouble. This uprising took
place in Laguna Province. Enraged by official oppression 30,000 Chinese
rose in rebellion. So strong were they, that they held their own against
the Spanish for nearly a year. Indeed, they might not have been
conquered at all but for the help of the native troops, who fought with
the Spanish. Over 6,000 Chinese were killed in this revolt.
In November 1645, happened one of the worst earthquakes Manila has ever
known. Every public building in the city, save one monastery and two
churches, was destroyed. The governor-general nearly lost his life in
the wreck of his palace, and over 600 people were killed in Manila.
It became necessary to rebuild the city, and then the Spanish found that
there was a great lack, not only of soldiers, but of laborers. The need
became so great that, in 1649, Governor-General Diego Fajardo (dē ā´gō
fä häŕdō) made a bad mistake. He began to force the people into military
service, and also compelled them to work upon the arsenal at Cavite.
The people had borne much. Patient as they were, this injustice was more
than they would endure, and they became deeply angry. Rebellion spread
like wildfire through a number of the islands, and there was almost,
though not quite, a general revolt. It began on Samar, and was led by a
Filipino named Sumoroy (sö mō roy´). At the head of a large force he
attacked the Spanish and the friars. He led his army down the coast of
Samar, burning towns and churches. Many of the priests and Spanish on
the island were killed, and the rebellion grew.
Troops were at once sent out against the rebels, and the governor of
Samar sent messengers to demand Sumoroy’s head. The messengers did not
return, but the rebels sent back the head of a pig to the governor. The
revolt spread to other islands. Soon the people of Masbate (mäs bä´tē)
and Leyte, of Cebu, Caraga (cä rä´gä) and Zamboanga, were in arms. The
trouble even reached Manila, and the officials there became alarmed.
Governor-General Fajardo had not dreamed that his act of injustice would
work so much mischief. Now, greatly concerned, he sent General Lopez
Azaldegin (ä thäl´dā gin) to Samar. This officer had all the forces that
could be raised, and full authority to put down the rebels as he saw
fit.
A great many battles were fought up and down Samar, and at last Sumoroy
was driven back into the mountains. The Spanish carried on the war with
savage cruelty. They severely punished all rebels whom they caught, and
showed mercy to none. When they found that Sumoroy had escaped to the
mountains, they raided his home and tortured his mother to death.
By such outrages they hoped to frighten the people into submission. By
threats and torture they tried to make his people betray Sumoroy, and at
last they succeeded. He was captured and turned over to the enemy.
General Azaldegin had the rebel leader’s head struck off and stuck upon
a pole. It was then sent about among the islands to teach the people
what treatment rebels might expect from Spain.
Thus the rebellion was quelled for a time. The people had gained nothing
by it, but it had kindled a fire in their hearts. This fire was not
quenched; it only waited, hidden, ready to blaze up again when the right
moment should come.
_Summary._—The early idea of a colony was that it should be only a
source of income to the mother country. This idea was held by other
countries than Spain; but Spain clung to the idea long after other
nations gave it up. She did not listen to the gospel of the rights of
man, and in time she lost most of her colonies. Her policy in the
Philippines kept the natives rebellious. For three hundred and eighty
years the Filipinos were ruled by her, but in their hearts they never
consented to that rule. There was one revolt after another, the people
trying by this means to gain decent treatment. In 1633, angered by the
efforts of friars to convert his people, the emperor of Japan sent a
“present” to the priests at Manila. This “present” was a shipload of
150 lepers. After some debate the priests persuaded the
governor-general to let the lepers land, and St. Lazarus Hospital was
built for them. The colony was now much weakened by wars, and in 1634
a revolt of the Chinese in Laguna was nearly successful. It was only
put down by native help. The great earthquake of 1645 nearly destroyed
Manila, and 600 people were killed in the city. Laborers and soldiers
were now so scarce that Governor-General Fajardo tried to compel the
people to serve in the army and work on the arsenal at Cavite. This
led to a revolt which took all the forces the Spanish could muster to
put it down.
_Questions._—What was the early idea of what a colony should be? How
were the American colonies driven to revolt? How did Spain treat her
colonies? Why did not the islands throw off her yoke? Why did the
Japanese emperor send lepers to Manila? What caused the rebellion on
Samar? Who led it? How was it put down?
[Illustration]
Chapter VIII.
A NEW BEGINNING.
The story of the colony at this time is a sad one. Bad management,
dishonesty, and cruelty at last brought the country to such a pass that
both Mexico and Spain were weary. The king even thought of giving up the
colony, hopeless of ever receiving any benefit from it. The islands were
a drain upon the treasury rather than a help to it, and it looked as if
things would never be any better.
In the year 1653, however, a new beginning was planned. The country was
to be given another chance. To this end a new governor-general and a new
archbishop were sent out from Mexico. These two men, it was thought,
could work peacefully together. It was hoped that they would bring
better days to the islands. The governor-general, Sabinino Manrique de
Lara (säbē nē´nō män´rēk dā lä´rä), was an honest, pious man. The new
archbishop was wise and just, and seems to have had a sincere desire to
help the country.
The archbishop was charged by the Pope with the task of cleansing the
land from the evil acts that had made so much sorrow. When the ship
reached Manila, before any one else was allowed to land, the archbishop
went ashore. He landed alone, knelt at once, and blessed the soil. The
governor-general then landed, and prayers were offered for the good of
the country.
Some days afterwards, in the open air, outside the city walls, a solemn
service was held. Archbishop Problete (prō blā´ tā) then went through
the ceremony of purifying the land. He blessed the colony and declared
it clean of all the evil done there. From that day peace and good-will
were to be upon all the people.
After this, things went better for several years. There was peace and
good understanding between Church and State, so that both worked for the
good of the country. Governor-General Lara allowed the archbishop a
voice in matters of State, and yielded to him in many ways. He even
permitted him to veto, or forbid, orders which the governor-general
himself approved. These privileges the Churchman seems not to have
abused.
But more than mere words and public services were needed to cleanse the
land. Evil and oppression had worked wrong that was not to be undone in
any easy way. The rebellion of 1649 was not yet forgotten, nor were
there lacking people ready to make trouble to gain their own ends. Here
and there, every little while, conflict broke out anew, but always in a
small way. It was never grave enough to cause fear in Manila. It was
enough, however, to keep the people restless, and the Spanish soldiers
on the alert.
[Illustration:
A CHURCH AT MALATE.
The oldest church building in Manila.
]
The commander of the Spanish forces in the Visayas was Captain Gregorio
de Castillo. Weary of putting down the frequent small revolts, he at
last hit upon a plan to end the trouble. He issued a notice promising
that all rebels who would come into camp and lay down their arms would
be forgiven.
In spite of past lessons, many of the Filipinos trusted to this promise.
A large number of them came and gave up their weapons. When too late
they saw what a mistake they had made. They were taken to Manila as
prisoners, and were not pardoned. Instead, most of them were punished.
Some were put to death; others were sent to the galleys; only a few were
set free.
We may be sure that the memory of this false dealing rankled in the
hearts of the people. In 1660 rebellion broke out with fresh force. This
time the Pampangans were in the uprising. This people had from the first
been loyal to Spain. They were among the best of her native soldiers,
and had always helped to keep her enemies out of the country. For reward
the government set them, with many others, to cutting timber for the
arsenal. This work all were compelled to do without pay.
From Pampanga the revolt swept through other provinces of Luzon. It took
more definite shape than any other uprising had done, and gained
strength. A Filipino named Malong was at the head of the movement. He
was a real leader, and he at once began to raise an army. The Ilocans
and Cacaygans joined him, and in a little while 40,000 men had been
enrolled. They were not well armed, nor were they well supplied with
food; but they marched through the country, making war on the Spanish.
Again, however, effort failed because it was not united. The tribes
could not grasp the idea of real union. The people had no clear thought
of a national life together. So they fought among themselves as well as
against the common enemy, and their warfare came to naught. They could
not long resist the trained Spanish troops, and in time the rebellion
was put down. The army was scattered, and its leaders became outlaws in
the mountains.
While Governor-General Lara was in office another Chinese invasion
threatened. A Mongol chief named Koxinga (kox in´gä), who had been
driven from his own country by the Tartars, was the leader of it. When
the Tartars overran China, about the middle of the seventeenth century,
Koxinga and many of his followers refused to submit. They went to
Formosa, drove out the Dutch people, and settled there. Later Koxinga
laid a plan to take the Philippine Islands and set up his kingdom there.
Koxinga’s chief adviser was an Italian friar named Riccio (rē´ chē ō).
This friar he had made a high mandarin, or nobleman. He now sent him to
Manila, dressed in the garb of his office, to demand tribute from the
Philippine Government.
Naturally this demand caused amaze and alarm in Manila. The Spaniards
were aghast at the idea of a Catholic priest demanding tribute from a
Catholic country, in the name of a heathen ruler. Later the authorities
at Rome called the friar to account for his conduct. At this time,
however, the Spanish were at a loss how to act. They did not dare send
the priest-mandarin away, nor could they give him any answer. They
therefore kept him waiting in Manila while they made up their minds what
to do.
[Illustration:
THE MANILA CATHEDRAL.
]
As was usual, when trouble arose, the government thought that the
Chinese in Manila were plotting to take the city. They felt sure that
these men would be ready to help Koxinga when he came, so everything was
made ready for another attack upon the Chinese in Luzon.
All government troops, both Spanish and native, were collected at
Manila. The forts at Yligan (ē´lēgän), at Calamianes (cäl ä mē än´ēs),
and at Zamboanga, were torn down and the soldiers brought to Luzon. Only
the fort at Caraga, Mindanao, was left standing. This one they did not
dare to give up; the soldiers there were all that kept the Moros from
destroying the settlements on that coast.
When the Chinese saw the Spaniards making ready for war, they knew from
past experience that it meant trouble for them. As usual, therefore,
they began the trouble themselves. They attacked the Spanish, and the
latter at once began fighting the Chinese wherever they found them.
This time the Spanish meant to kill every Chinaman in the country. They
hunted out all who hid, and cut them down. Not one whom they caught was
spared. Not one of all in the islands would have been spared if the
country could have gotten along without them. Some one remembered,
however, before it was too late, that if all the Chinese were killed
there would be no one left to carry on the small trades of the country.
Because bootmakers and tailors and small shopkeepers were needed,
therefore about 5,000 Chinamen were spared, and these were permitted to
remain in Manila.
After peace was made, Riccio was allowed to go back to Formosa, to tell
Koxinga what had been done. He found the chieftain getting ready to come
to Manila with an army to take the country, and Riccio told him what had
happened.
Koxinga’s rage was great when he heard his mandarin’s story. He planned
to go at once to the islands to punish this wicked cruelty to his
countrymen. He fell ill, however, and died of fever before he could
start. Thus Manila escaped the fate that must almost surely have fallen
upon the city if the Chinese chief and his great army had reached the
bay.
[Illustration:
AN OLD SPANISH FORT AT SIASSI.
]
The foolish attack upon the Chinese took so many Spanish soldiers from
the southern islands that the Moros now had free swing along the coasts
of Mindanao and the Visayas. Other troubles came up in Manila, and soon
evil and sorrow were as active and as real as though the islands had
never been cleansed by book and ceremony. Not even these can stay the
results of cruelty and evil in men’s lives.
Poor Governor-General Lara, in spite of his wish to be a good leader in
the Philippines, made many enemies. These men began to accuse him of
dishonesty in office. They charged him with disloyalty to the king, and
he was put into prison. He was also made to pay a fine equal to $60,000,
Mexican money. Afterwards he was set free, but he never got over the
effects of his disgrace. Filled with sorrow and shame, he went back to
Spain and became a friar.
In 1663 Diego Salcedo became governor-general. He was no sooner in
office than the good understanding between the Church and the State came
to an end. Salcedo treated Archbishop Problete very harshly, and took
from him many of the privileges granted him by Lara. Great strife grew
out of this, and the government was soon in as bad order as it had ever
been.
At last the archbishop became ill and died. Salcedo then behaved in a
very unseemly manner. He made a great feast, and would not allow the
usual mourning services to be held for the archbishop. This conduct came
to the ears of the authorities at home, and the governor-general was
punished as he deserved. He was put into prison to await the sailing of
the galleon that should take him to Mexico for further punishment. He
was sent to Mexico later, but died at sea on his way there.
All this was a sad end to the new rule that was to have done so much
good in the country. No good, however, can grow out of injustice and
cruelty. These people may have meant well, but they did not do right.
They had not set up rules of fairness and truthful dealing in the
islands, so all their cleansing with words came to naught.
_Summary._—In 1653 a new governor-general and a new archbishop were
sent out to Manila. The land was blessed and pronounced clean of all
the evil that had been done there. There was now to be a new state of
things. For some years matters went better at Manila. There was peace
between the Church and the State. Later, however, revolt broke out
here and there in the Visayas. To quiet the natives they were promised
forgiveness if they would come in and lay down their weapons. The
Spanish general who made this promise broke his word. Those who came
and surrendered were severely punished, and only a few were pardoned.
After this the government tried to make the natives work without pay,
cutting timber for the arsenal. This made trouble, and there was a
rebellion which came near to being general, but which was finally put
down. A threatened invasion by Koxinga, a Chinese chief from Formosa,
led to a general slaughter by the Spanish of the Chinese in Manila.
Only 5,000 Chinese were left alive in the islands. Governor-General
Lara made enemies who accused him of dishonesty. He was put in prison
and fined. He was set free later, but felt the disgrace so keenly that
he went back to Spain and took holy orders. He was succeeded by Diego
Salcedo, who soon quarreled with the archbishop. When the latter died,
Salcedo behaved in a way so unseemly that he was sent out of the
country in disgrace. He died at sea, on his way to Mexico.
_Questions._—What great change was made in 1653? What did the new
officials do? How did the new government succeed? What promise did
Captain Gregorio de Castillo make to the rebels in the Visayas? How
did he keep it? What led to the revolt of 1660? Give an account of
this uprising. Who was Koxinga? What envoy did he send to Manila? How
was this envoy received? What action did the Spanish take in regard to
his demands?
[Illustration]
Chapter IX.
TRADE IN THE PHILIPPINES.
The Spanish galleons which used to sail the Pacific Ocean between Manila
and Mexico have been the subject of many a romance. The world never
tires of reading the stories written about them. They seem to belong to
the age of romance and poetry. The galleons come, however, pretty close
to modern times. The last one left Manila for Mexico in 1811, and the
last one for Manila sailed from Acapulco in 1815.
These ships were in shape something like a half-moon. They were very
high at bow and stern, short from fore to aft, and very wide. They were
of about 1,500 tons burden, with light draught. They usually had four
decks, and always carried big guns.
The galleons were the Spanish mail ships, and the only carriers for
trade between the islands and Mexico. This trade with Mexico was the
colony’s only source of income. The local government had no money of its
own. It could not act independently; all that it brought in tribute and
taxes to the royal treasury belonged to the Crown, to be disposed of at
the king’s will.
Not only were the islands governed through Mexico, but all their trade
was with that country. So severe were the laws that restricted their
trade, that the people were not allowed to go even to China and Japan to
buy goods. They might buy only such goods as Chinese and Japanese
traders brought to Manila.
Once a year, usually in July, a galleon left Manila laden with goods
from the islands. These were sold in Mexico, and the money which they
brought, or an equal value in Mexican goods, was sent back on the return
galleon. We have seen how great were the risks which these ships ran in
making their voyages. The enemies of Spain often captured them, while
some were lost at sea and never again heard from. It was not all
romance, the life of those who sailed and manned the galleons. Often
there was greed and cruelty to contend with, rather than poetry and
story to be lived. Always there was danger, and it was not the spirit of
adventure, but the desire for gain that sent these men to sea.
The many risks which the galleons ran made shipping ventures uncertain.
Nor was this the greatest ill which the Manila merchants had to bear.
The merchants of Spain were always jealous of them, for they were afraid
that the island trade with China and with Mexico would hurt their own
business. So they were always clamoring for laws that should keep Manila
merchants from dealing with those countries.
By the beginning of the eighteenth century very harsh laws had been made
governing all shipments. Goods might be shipped only in bales of a
certain size and weight, and only a limited number of bales might be
sent by each galleon. Nor did the restrictions end here. There were some
goods in which Manila merchants might not deal at all. They could ship
no woven stuffs save the finest linen. If the goods sent to Mexico by
the Philippine Government brought more than a certain amount in Mexico,
the full sum could not be sent back in money. The islands must take the
surplus in Mexican goods.
[Illustration:
THE ARRIVAL OF A SPANISH GALLEON.
]
So business suffered, and each year the country grew poorer. At the same
time the men who ruled the country grew very rich. One acting
governor-general, in less than two years of service, got together a
fortune of $250,000. There were other officials, as well, who managed to
take home with them to Spain sums nearly as large.
All this, of course, worked hardship in the islands. Money was very
scarce. Merchants became bankrupt and had to go out of business. Often
the government itself had no money with which to pay for public work.
The army, too, suffered. The soldiers had no barracks, but lived as they
could, and wherever they found shelter. Often there were long periods
when no rations were issued to them, and they begged their food from
house to house. When their demands were not granted, they would take by
force what they wished, and this led to great evil.
A large army was needed to control the people and to enforce payment of
tribute. This tribute was collected from the natives for the support of
the government. Those who had not yet been baptized were taxed only a
small sum; those who belonged to the Church paid more.
Few, however, paid in money. Nearly all paid in kind—in goods which they
made, or produce which they raised from the land. All tribute in goods
was kept in the royal storehouses until the galleon was about to sail.
Then the goods were sent to Mexico, to be sold. Sometimes, however, some
of these goods were traded for merchandise brought to the islands by
Chinese dealers.
A certain per cent. of the price which the shipments brought in Mexico
was sent back to Manila to pay government expenses. Usually, however,
this fixed percentage was not sufficient to meet these expenses. It was
needful, then, to increase it by a further sum from the royal treasury.
This additional sum was called the “Real Situado” (rā´äl sē tö´ä dō).
One galleon a year was not enough to meet the needs of merchants who
wished to ship goods to Mexico. In 1724, therefore, a royal decree was
made public that thereafter two galleons of 500 tons each would be sent.
This decree, however, limited the number of merchants who might ship
goods, and the amount which each might send. It also fixed the amount in
cash that might be taken in payment. All values over this amount must be
taken in Mexican goods.
A few years later this decree was revoked. Only one galleon a year was
to be sent, and new and more severe restrictions were put upon all
shipments. It became more and more difficult, as time went on, for the
merchants of Manila to carry on trade.
During the eighteenth century no foreign merchants were allowed to do
business in Manila. Spain, in fact, did all that she could to kill trade
and industry in the islands. At the same time she compelled those who
ruled the country to enforce payment of the last penny’s value of
tribute that could be drained from the country.
The governor-general at this time (1754–1759) was Pedro de Arandia (dā ä
rän´dē ä). He was one of the most able and enterprising officials the
islands had thus far had. He tried to make a good many reforms in the
country, and to build up its commerce. He is said to have died of worry
and regret that he could not rule the land as he thought right, and at
the same time be at peace with those about him who were also in
authority.
[Illustration:
THE SANTA LUCIA GATE, MANILA.
]
Arandia showed himself to be something of a statesman. He made reforms
in the army, and tried to bring the wild tribes to acknowledge Spain’s
rights in the islands. At the same time he did many dishonest things. He
made a great fortune for himself while in office. Perhaps he was sorry
for his dishonesty afterwards, for when he died he left his fortune to
religious institutions. In those days men saw no wrong or absurdity in
devoting ill-gotten wealth to carrying on good works.
It was Arandia who formed the first real military body in the country.
This was a regiment made up of five companies of Filipino soldiers and
four companies of Europeans. The latter Arandia had brought with him
from Mexico. He called the whole corps the “King’s Regiment,” and took
great pride in it. As troops came in from the provinces they were added
to the regiment, until at last it numbered about 2,000 soldiers in two
battalions of ten companies each. In October of 1754 the soldiers, for
the first time in the history of the islands, were quartered in
barracks. They were also, both officers and men, paid regularly every
two weeks.
In 1755 the Chinese question came up again. This time it was decided to
send home all those Chinese who would not be baptized. They were given a
few months to wind up their business, and a day was set when they should
leave the islands. All who accepted baptism were allowed to remain, and
a good many did this. Over 2,000, however, were sent out of the country
on June 30, 1755.
Need now arose for shops and for small traders to carry on business in
place of these Chinese. To supply this need a trading company of Spanish
and half-Spanish was formed in Manila. This trading company was in
existence for some years, but was never very successful. It could not
buy on as good terms as the Chinese had been able to make, nor could it
sell to such good advantage. It received a great deal of aid from the
government, but finally made a bad failure and went out of business.
The ruling which sent the Chinese out of the islands worked other harm
to the business of the country. Not only were there none to do the work
which the Chinese had done, but their going was a direct money loss to
the government. The Chinese had been heavily taxed, and when they were
sent away a shortage of $30,000 in the tax receipts followed as a direct
result. This made money so scarce in Manila that a petition was sent to
Spain asking for a reduction of the royal dues. These royal dues were
the amount which the colony had each year to raise for the king, and the
government was now scarcely able to collect it from the people.
But Spain was in great need of money. Wars with other nations had almost
emptied her treasury, and the petition for reduction was refused. A
decree was passed, however, which made things a little easier for the
merchants. The islands must pay the full amount of the royal dues, but
merchants might send by the galleon more goods and goods of a finer
quality than before. They might also bring back more Mexican goods. In
this way they could make more money, and thus the country was better
able to raise the sums demanded.
_Summary._—The only trading ships that carried shipments of goods from
Manila were the Spanish galleons. The entire trade of the islands was
with Mexico, and was restricted by very severe laws. A galleon sailed
but once a year, and the amount of goods which could be sent by her
was limited by law. The great risks which the galleons ran made
shipments uncertain of return, and business was at a disadvantage. In
1724 a decree was made public allowing two galleons a year, of 500
tons each, to be sent. The number of merchants who could ship goods
was now limited, and the amount that each could send. Later this
decree was revoked. Only one galleon could be sent, and more severe
restrictions were put upon shipments. No foreign merchants were
allowed to do business in Manila. In 1754 Pedro de Arandia became
governor-general. He made many improvements in the army, and tried to
build up trade. He formed the first real military body in the islands,
and called it the “King’s Regiment.” In 1755 a law was made that all
Chinese who refused baptism should be sent out of the country on June
30. Over 2,000 were sent away on that day. This made a dearth of
traders, and a trading company of Spanish and half-Spanish was formed.
It was never a success, however. The departure of these Chinese cost
the country a loss of $30,000 in taxes that year. This made times so
hard that the colony prayed the king for a reduction in the royal
dues. Their petition was refused, but some of the restrictions in
regard to shipments by the galleon were made lighter. Merchants could
ship more and better goods. This made matters easier, and the country
could better meet the demands of the Crown.
_Questions._—What were the Spanish galleons? How often did they sail?
When did the last one leave Manila for Mexico? Why were such severe
restrictions put upon the trade of the islands? What were some of
these restrictions? What improvements did Governor-General Arandia
make in the army? Give an account of the decree expelling the Chinese
from the islands. What effect followed the departure of the Chinese?
[Illustration]
Chapter X.
THE ISLANDS UNDER ARANDIA’S RULE.
It was while Pedro de Arandia was governor-general that the famous
overflow of Taal volcano took place. At that time the crater of Taal was
torn open so that it measured more than a mile and a half across, and
from this awful opening poured down a broad stream of melted lava,
killing and destroying everything that it touched. It rushed down the
side of the mountain and fell hot and hissing into the lake. Great
clouds of steam arose from the heated waters, and such a shower of ashes
and stones fell as made the people think the world was coming to an end.
For six months terrible storms raged in that part of Luzon. The volcano
broke out on the 15th day of May, 1754, and it was then that the boiling
lava began to flow. Huge stones shot up from the crater and fell into
the lake, or were hurled down upon the land. Darkness reigned, and the
people were filled with terror.
This state of things lasted until about the second day of June. Then,
suddenly, a mighty column of smoke arose from the mountain, thick,
black, and awful. Higher and higher it mounted, until it spread over the
sky, and the sun shone through it with a sickly yellow light.
[Illustration:
TAAL VOLCANO.
]
This smoke poured out for nearly all the time until July 10. On that day
heavy showers of mud, black as ink, began to fall. Terrible sounds were
heard, as of cannon being fired off inside the mountain. The land
trembled, and great waves from the lake dashed against the shore. Dead
fish, alligators, and snakes were cast up on shore, and the town of
Balili (bä lē´lē) was soon a swamp of black, liquid mud.
Then fire began to pour out of the crater. It lasted until September 25,
when there was another great shower of stones. The people of Taal were
driven from their homes and fled for their lives. Then, writes Fray
Francisco Venenchillo (ven en chēl´yō), who, through these dreadful
weeks of disasters, kept a daily journal of all that he observed, “a
fearful storm of thunder and lightning began, and never stopped until
December 4.”
In the meanwhile the volcano was still in eruption, and awful things
kept happening. Lake Bombon rose and swept over the town of Taal. On
November 14 inky darkness settled over the country. This lasted for two
days, during which, even as far away as Manila, candles were needed at
noonday. During these two days, fire and lava poured out steadily from
the mountain. At last, on December 2, began a two days’ hurricane. It
wiped out the town of Taal, and then all was quiet.
In all, the trouble lasted for six months and seventeen days. The towns
of Taal, Sananan (sän ä´nän), Sala (sä´lä), and Lipa (lē´pä) were wholly
ruined, and great harm was done in towns fifteen miles distant from the
volcano. It was a marvelous event, and traces of it are still to be seen
in all the country around Lake Bombon.
Never since then has there been such an overflow from Taal volcano. The
ruins of the old town of Taal may still be seen just where the Pansipit
(pän sē´pit) River enters the lake, but they are being overgrown by
grasses and flowers. In a few years they will be quite hidden. The
present town of Taal is farther up the river. It is noted for the fine
sugar produced there. This sugar is well known, and commands a good
price in foreign markets. Excellent cotton stuffs are also made there.
When Governor-General Arandia had formed his new King’s Regiment, he at
once found work for it to do. Besides the regiment he collected a body
of good native troops and began a campaign against the Igorrotes. The
Spanish had never been able to subdue these people. In Arandia’s day
they were still as wild and savage as when the Europeans first came to
the islands. Arandia set out to conquer them or to kill every one of
them that could be found.
The war was carefully planned. About 1,100 soldiers were sent against
them, and these soldiers waged a warfare as savage, as cruel, as the
wild tribes themselves could have carried on. The Igorrotes were
surprised in their villages and given no quarter. Their towns were
burned down, and women and children were killed without mercy. Growing
crops were destroyed, and the land was laid waste wherever an Igorrote
home was found.
But in spite of this cruelty the Spanish could not conquer the people.
Instead, the King’s Regiment was driven back again and again, and
whenever the Igorrotes took a Spaniard prisoner, they avenged upon him
the wrongs of their tribe. The attempt was at last given up. The
Igorrotes could not be subdued, nor could they be coaxed into swearing
loyalty to Spain.
Arandia then sought to bargain with them. In 1758 a decree was passed
that was meant not only for them, but for the other heathen tribes. The
decree read that those who would accept baptism need pay no tribute or
tax for the rest of their lives. The Igorrotes were not caught by this
offer. As a matter of fact, they gave themselves no trouble to pay
tribute or tax, anyway, so the offer had no attraction for them.
[Illustration:
IGORROTES.
]
At this same time Arandia had still another trouble on his hands, but
one for which he was not to blame. A few years before, in 1749, the
sultan of Sulu was deposed from his throne during a rebellion. Being in
name, at least, a vassal of Spain, he came to Manila to ask Spanish aid
in regaining his rights.
[Illustration:
A STREET IN JOLÓ.
]
The acting governor-general at that time was the Bishop of Nuevo Segovia
(nö ā´vō sā gō´vē ä). This worthy gave the sultan a warm welcome and
showed him high honor. The Moro ruler was urged to accept baptism, and
at last did so, with several of his suite. After that he and a large
number of followers were kept in great style in Manila. The sultan was
known as Ferdinand I., and great attention was paid him as rightful
ruler of the Sulu archipelago. But for some reason nothing was done to
help him recover his lost throne.
Finally, however, he was told that he was to be taken to Sulu. In fact,
with a large Spanish escort, the party did go as far as Zamboanga. There
the sultan and his people, with a prince of Sulu who had come to
Mindanao to greet him, were thrown into prison. To explain this, it was
charged that the sultan had written disloyal letters to friends in Sulu.
In one of these letters, it was claimed, he had said that he had not
acted of his own free will in accepting baptism. These letters had been
intercepted at Zamboanga, and were declared to be treasonable.
The sultan was taken back to Manila as a prisoner, and this act at once
drove the Moros to fresh fury. Again there was war all along the
southern coast. It was pressed with great cruelty on both sides, and
many lives were lost. The trouble lasted for some years, but the Spanish
gained neither power nor territory by all this waste of lives and money.
When Arandia came into office he wished to send the sultan back to Sulu
and restore to him his rights. In this, however, he was opposed by the
clergy. Had he persisted in trying to do this it would have made great
strife; so he yielded. Ferdinand I. stayed on in Luzon, but was not kept
in confinement. His son, his daughter, and several chiefs of his people
were with him in the city; but he was none the less a prisoner, and
remained such until the British took Manila in 1762. In 1763 the English
commander sent him to Sulu and reseated him on his throne. As for the
Moros of the Sulu archipelago, they never again trusted the Spanish.
_Summary._—In the year 1754 there was a terrible eruption of Taal
volcano. It began on May 15 and lasted for over six months. During
this time the mountain poured out fire and lava. Awful showers of mud
and stones fell, and there were terrible hurricanes. The towns of
Taal, Sananan, Sala, and Lipa were wholly ruined, and great harm was
done in places fifteen miles away. During Arandia’s term of office,
war was waged against the Igorrotes, to conquer or to kill them all.
This war was carried on with great cruelty, but the Igorrotes were not
to be subdued, and it was given up. Later they were offered freedom
from taxation if they would accept baptism, but they refused it. In
1749 the sultan of Sulu came to Manila seeking aid to put down a
rebellion of his people. He was well received, and was persuaded to
let himself be baptized. Afterwards it was claimed that he had written
treasonable letters home, and he was kept a prisoner in Manila.
Arandia tried to have him restored to his rights, but could not. The
sultan was sent back in 1763 by the British, who then held Manila.
This treatment of the sultan greatly enraged the Moros against the
Spanish.
_Questions._—When was the great overflow of Taal volcano? Give an
account of it. Who decided to conquer the Igorrotes? Describe this war
and its results. Why did the sultan of Sulu come to Manila? How was he
treated by the Spanish? Who finally reseated him on his throne?
[Illustration]
Chapter XI.
BRITISH OCCUPATION.
In the latter part of the year 1761 war was begun between Spain and
France on the one hand, and England on the other. Spain and France were
first to declare this war, but England carried on her part in it with
great vigor. The English took Havana, and an English fleet under Admiral
Cornish (k̤or´nish) was sent to the Pacific with orders to take the
Philippine Islands.
With a fleet of thirteen vessels Admiral Cornish entered Manila Bay on
the evening of September 22, 1762. The ships anchored off Cavite, and
next day Cornish sent to demand the surrender of the city. This was, of
course, refused by Archbishop Rojo (rō´hō), who was then acting
governor-general of the city.
The archbishop’s forces at that time consisted of a small part of the
King’s Regiment, not more than about 600 men and officers, and 80 pieces
of artillery. The English troops, who were landed under command of
General Draper (drā´per), numbered one regiment of British infantry, two
companies of artillery, 2,200 Sepoys from India, and 3,000 seamen—in
all, 6,380 men.
Nevertheless, in spite of the inequality of the two armies, the Spanish
Churchman defied the second demand to surrender. A part of the Spanish
force went bravely out to fight the landing English, but with what
success it is easy to guess. They were driven back into the city, and
the enemy landed in full force. The British encamped around Manila, at
Malate (mä lä´tā), Santiago, and San Juan. On the 24th of September they
began to bombard the city.
At this time one of the royal galleons was expected at Manila. This was
the _Philipina_, carrying a very rich cargo and a large sum of money for
the government. Some of the English ships went out to lie in wait for
her. They missed her; for the Spanish friars managed to reach her first,
and by their aid she gained a place of safety. The British, however,
brought in another galleon, the _Trinidad_, from which they took
$2,500,000.
A nephew of the archbishop was on board the _Trinidad_, and was captured
with the ship. When the English learned who he was, they sent him to
Manila with an escort, and turned him over to his uncle. The escort then
started back to the ship, but was attacked and killed by Filipinos. The
natives cut off the head of the English officer, and refused to give it
up.
The British were greatly angered by this outrage, and they now stormed
the city in earnest. The Spanish had by now got together a large native
force, which was sent against the enemy. They could not stand against
the British regulars, however, and were soon beaten back. The enemy’s
artillery made great breaches in the walls, and on October 5 General
Draper and his army forced a way into the city. By another day the
following terms of surrender were agreed upon:
[Illustration:
ROYAL GATE AND SALLY PORT IN THE CITY WALL, MANILA.
]
The Spanish were to have full religious freedom; private property was to
be held safe; the Supreme Court was to keep order, and free trade was to
be allowed. The Spanish were to pay the British an indemnity of
$4,000,000. These terms were signed, and the British flag floated over
Manila.
The English and Sepoy troops, turned loose in the city, did great
mischief and destroyed much public property. The archbishop then went to
General Draper and begged him to put a stop to this. The general issued
orders forbidding violence and pillage by his soldiers. He himself shot
and killed one Sepoy whom he saw attack a Filipino.
But while the British were in possession of Manila, they were not
without opposition. It was the law in the archipelago that if at any
time the country should be without a governor-general, the Supreme Court
should govern. This law one of the justices of the court now tried to
put in force. Simon de Anda y Salazar (sē´mōn dā än´dä ē säl ä thär´),
the justice in question, pretended to think that the Spanish could have
held Manila but for the weakness of the archbishop. Refusing to listen
to reason, he gathered a band of Filipinos whom he promised to lead
against the English. With a few of them he fled in a prahu to Bulacan
the night before the city surrendered. He took with him some of the
stamped paper of the government. This would, he knew, be a help to him
in a plan which he meant to carry out.
Now, ignoring the fact that Archbishop Rojo was the acting
governor-general, Simon de Anda began an absurd fight against the
English. He claimed the right, as a justice of the Supreme Court, to act
as governor-general. On the stamped paper he wrote a proclamation
ordering the British to leave Manila. He sent this proclamation to
General Draper, who ignored it and declared Anda a nuisance.
After this Anda raised a small army, and fought several battles with the
British. They only served to keep the country stirred up, so that
neither the Spanish nor the British could go about their affairs in
peace. General Draper, meanwhile, was busy restoring the sultan of Sulu
to his throne. Anda had become a hindrance to peace, while at the same
time he had no power to carry on effective warfare. Seeing this, the
Chinese of Pampanga made a plot to kill him.
[Illustration:
THE BRITISH ASSAULT ON THE WALLS OF MANILA.
]
Simon de Anda was told of this plot, and his rage was great. He
collected all his Filipinos and marched against the Chinese. He had real
war at last, and the Spanish accounts say that 8,000 Chinese were slain.
In the meantime the war in Europe was over. By the Peace of Paris, made
February 10, 1763, it was settled that Manila should be restored to
Spain. The British commander made ready to turn over the city to the
Spanish and go home, but at once a new difficulty arose.
Simon de Anda was in command of whatever Spanish army there was in the
islands at this time. Therefore, when a notice was sent to the
archbishop for the “Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish forces,” the
archbishop sent it on to Anda. This notice was to the effect that Anda
should take over the city from the English; but he refused to receive
the notice. He declared that he should have been addressed as
“Captain-General,” and would recognize no other style of address. On
this foolish plea he kept up war with the English until January, 1764,
in spite of the peace between his country and England. All that the
British wished was that Anda should let them hand the city over to him
and depart. This, however, he would not do.
On January 30, 1764, Archbishop Rojo died. There was still, however, no
one to whom to give up Manila, for several men at once claimed the right
to act as governor-general.
At last the Spanish Government sent out from Mexico a new
governor-general. As soon as he reached Manila he sent word to the
British commander that he was ready to take over the city, and he
arranged that Simon de Anda should be the one actually to receive the
city back. It was turned over to Anda for the governor-general, and the
English left the country. Only $1,000,000 was paid of the $4,000,000 war
indemnity agreed upon, but the English received a bill upon the Madrid
treasury for the remainder of that sum.
_Summary._—In the latter part of 1761 war began between France and
Spain on the one hand, and England on the other. In September, 1762, a
British fleet came to Manila and took that city. Archbishop Rojo, who
was acting governor-general, surrendered the city. Simon de Anda, a
justice of the Supreme Court, opposed the surrender of Manila. He fled
to Bulacan, gathered a native army, and issued a proclamation ordering
the British to leave the islands. This proclamation was not heeded.
Several ineffective battles were fought, and strife continued between
the English and Anda’s forces. The Chinese made a plot to kill Anda,
and he fought them with his army. When peace was declared in Europe,
it was decided that Manila should be given back to Spain. Simon de
Anda, as commander of the Spanish army in the Philippines, should have
received the city from the English. He claimed not to have been
properly addressed, and refused to accept the notice telling him of
the treaty of peace. He kept up the war against the British until
January, 1764. The archbishop died on January 30, 1764. Several men
now claimed the right to act as governor-general. At last the home
government sent out a new governor-general, who took over the city,
and the English left the islands.
_Questions._—What countries were at war against England in 1761? What
did the English do? When and how was Manila taken by the British? Who
was Simon de Anda? On what did he base his claim to a right to act for
the country? When was peace made? Why did Anda refuse to take over the
city? How long did he keep up the war? How was the matter finally
settled?
[Illustration]
Chapter XII.
TO THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
While the British were in Manila, and for several years after they left
the country, the islands were very unquiet. There were many small
uprisings among the people, who hoped, in this time of unrest, to gain
some of the rights which they felt were theirs.
One of these uprisings was led by a native named Silan (sē´län). This
man was not quite sane, and made many pretensions, such as that he was
the earthly representative of divine power. Many of Simon de Anda’s
followers deserted him to join Silan’s army, and for a time Silan was
very successful against the Spanish. He turned the vicar-general of
Ilocos Sur out of his house, and made the Augustine friars pay tribute
to support the rebel forces. His brain was weak, however, and success
seemed wholly to destroy his reason. He came to think that he was more
than human, and then, of course, he began to make mistakes.
At last Silan joined with the British against his own country. This
opened the eyes of the Filipinos to his real nature. They saw that he
was ready to betray them instead of leading them against their enemies,
and at once they turned from him. In May, 1763, he was killed by a
half-caste named Vicos (vē´kōs), and the rebellion which he had led died
out.
There were other revolts in Luzon, however. Everywhere the people were
ready, on any pretext, to take up arms against authority. They refused
to pay tribute, and resented all demands of Spain upon them. Small riots
kept breaking out in the provinces, and the loyal troops were constantly
marching about the island in pursuit of rebels. In all this petty
warfare the Spanish lost 70 Europeans and 140 native soldiers, and fully
10,000 natives were slain. By the year 1765, however, the Spanish had
the country again under control, and some degree of peace settled over
the land.
There was still political strife in Manila, even though the people were
no longer in revolt. This strife at last became very serious. A bitter
quarrel also existed between the Augustine friars on the one hand, and
the members of the Society of Jesus on the other.
The Augustines were the first order of friars to send priests to the
islands. From earliest times the Augustine friars had been concerned in
the welfare of the people. Like all other leaders in the islands, they
made many mistakes, but they also did many wise and good things. An
Augustine friar had first (in 1595) taught the Filipinos the art of
weaving, and as early as 1610 the Archbishop of Manila, an Augustine
friar, had founded the College of Santo Tomas.
The Jesuits also had a college in Manila, San José College, founded by
them in 1601. This Society had among its members many fine scholars. It
had done much for education in the islands, and the Jesuit priests were
nearly all men learned in law and matters of government.
Each party to this quarrel between the orders accused the other of
cruelty to the natives. Each declared that the other was hindering the
government in its rule, instead of helping to keep the peace. At last
the trouble became so serious that, in 1768, the Jesuits left the
archipelago. It was thought best for the peace of the country that they
should go, and they remained away for ninety-one years. In 1859 the
Society again came to the islands and took up its work among the people.
At the time the Jesuits left, Governor-General José Raon (hō sā´ rä ōn´)
was accused by the other Orders of favoring this Society. He was charged
with telling the Jesuits state secrets, and on this charge was disgraced
and sent home. Soon afterwards Simon de Anda, who was in Spain during
this time, was made governor-general, and came back to Manila.
Anda took up the reins of government, confident that he was just the man
to rule these islands. In this, however, he was mistaken. He was
headstrong and imprudent. He was unwilling to forgive his enemies or to
be advised by his friends. Indeed, his hasty temper and his lack of good
sense before long turned his friends from him. He quarreled with the
officers of the State, of the army, and of the Church, and his rule was
a stormy one. He soon wore himself out, and in 1776 he died in the
hospital of San Juan de Dios, at Cavite.
[Illustration:
MONUMENT TO SIMON DE ANDA ON THE MALACON, MANILA.
]
At this time new ideas of human rights and liberties were stirring the
whole world. In Europe people were growing bolder and freer in their
protests against tyranny. In America the colonies had begun the eight
years’ war that was to free them from England’s unjust rule. In Mexico
was growing the discontent that only ended when Mexico had thrown off
the yoke of Spain. Everywhere the people were demanding freedom; but in
the Philippine Islands a plan was forming to take from the natives still
more of the little liberty they had.
In the year 1778 Don José Basco y Vargas (hō sā´ bäs´ cō ē vär´ gäs)
became governor-general of the archipelago. He found business at a low
ebb, and the country very poor. The treasury was nearly empty; the
people had no money, and the industries of the country were almost at a
standstill.
Vargas was in some ways a wise man. He saw that farming, and not trade,
was the work that alone could bring prosperity to these islands.
Farming, however, was neglected. The country could be very rich if the
people would but give their attention to raising the crops that grow so
readily here. Rice, cocoanuts, hemp, coffee, tea, sugar—all of which are
things that the whole world uses—could be grown here, so that the
islands under cultivation would rank with the rich countries of the
earth.
All this Vargas understood. He saw that great sums of money could be
made off the land, and he resolved that it should be done. But, like
others who had been in office before him, his thought was for Spain,
instead of for the people. He cared nothing that the Filipinos, too,
should share in whatever good might come to the country.
There can, however, be no real prosperity in a country unless it is
shared by all the people in it. One class cannot always go on getting
good things while another goes without. This fact Vargas forgot. His
plan for improving things concerned itself only with the good that
should result to the royal treasury. He gave no thought to the effect
the plan might have on the people.
Tobacco had been grown in the Visayas from the beginning of Spanish
rule. The Spaniards brought the seed with them from Mexico, and the
plant was taken into China from these islands. Up to the time when
Vargas came, the crop had never been a large one here, but under the
system which he started it soon became the most important industry in
the country.
In 1781 the growing and selling of tobacco on the island of Luzon was
made a government monopoly. This meant that no man might raise or sell a
single leaf of tobacco without first having permission from the
government.
Before this, any man who wished to do so might raise as much tobacco as
he could, and might sell it when and as he pleased. All this was now
changed. The farmers on Luzon who had good tobacco land were compelled
to raise this crop, or else forfeit the use of their land and its
products for a term of years. If a man refused to plant tobacco, his
land was taken from him for three years, and another man might cultivate
it. A law was also passed compelling the tobacco planters and laborers
to work on the crop whenever labor was needed.
The way in which the plan worked was very simple. The government made a
contract with a planter for his crop. The price to be paid was based
upon an estimate of what the land was likely to yield. If at harvest
time the crop was less than this estimate, the planter had to pay a
heavy fine. If, on the other hand, it was larger than had been
estimated, he could not keep a single leaf for his own use; it must all
be turned over to the officials, and what the government did not use was
destroyed.
This was very hard, and the power given to tobacco inspectors made it
harder still. These officers had authority to look wherever they saw fit
for hidden tobacco. They might search the house of a tobacco grower, or
even the persons of himself and his family, if they suspected him of
hiding a few leaves for his own use. This worked much evil, and more
than one inspector, in the early days of the system, was killed by an
angry planter whose home and family he thus molested.
The new system of tobacco-growing worked well for the authorities. Never
before had the treasury been so well filled. The royal dues were
promptly paid, and for the first time in the history of Spain’s rule
here, the colony seemed likely to become profitable to the Crown. The
home government was delighted, and Vargas was much praised. The tobacco
monopoly, however, laid a heavy hand upon the most useful class of
Spain’s Filipino subjects. It oppressed the farmers and the land-owners.
These are the people, in every country, who are most deeply interested
in good government. They are the mainstay of national order and
prosperity. When this class in any land suffers, no other can long
remain prosperous.
It was late in the day, moreover, for such a system to be inaugurated.
It belonged to a less enlightened age in the history of mankind, and in
the end it cost Spain more than it ever profited her. The Filipino
people were coming out of the darkness in which they had so long been
kept. They were learning that mere blind revolt would help them none,
and this knowledge was in itself of great worth. It is not in human
nature to bear patiently such wrongs as they now suffered, and the wrath
of the people smoldered, ready to break out at any moment. Whenever it
did blaze up, there was trouble for Spaniards and Filipinos alike.
_Summary._—The presence of the British in the islands was a signal for
further revolts of the people. There were uprisings all over the
island of Luzon after the British left, and the Spanish forces were
kept busy marching after rebels. It is estimated that some 10,000
natives lost their lives in these uprisings. A bitter quarrel between
the Augustine friars and the Jesuits resulted in the Jesuits leaving
the country in 1768. Governor-General Raon fell into disgrace at about
the same time, and was removed from office. He was succeeded by Simon
de Anda, whose rule was not successful. In 1778 Don José Basco y
Vargas became governor-general. He made the growing of tobacco in
Luzon a government monopoly. This system brought money into the royal
treasury, but worked great hardship for the farmers.
_Questions._—Give an account of Silan’s revolt. What was the cause of
the trouble between the Augustine friars and the Jesuits? When did the
Jesuits leave the country? Who succeeded José Raon as
governor-general? What system of tobacco culture did he introduce? How
did this system affect the country?
[Illustration]
Chapter XIII.
THE CONSTITUTION OF 1812.
In the year 1800, Spain, while still a proud nation, was no longer a
powerful one. In earlier centuries she had led the world in commerce, in
the arts, and in science. She had known wise and far-sighted rulers, and
her scholars had been among the greatest in the world. Europe, when any
new enterprise was talked of, waited for Spain to take the lead in
action regarding it.
But, little by little, Spain fell behind other countries in the march of
progress. Other nations improved their navies and their merchant ships,
while Spain still clung to the old galleons of hundreds of years ago.
She made no progress in her merchant service, nor much in her naval
strength. Other nations were seeking trade and new chances for
prosperity; Spain still kept her markets closed to the outside world. In
the year 1800 she even passed a law forbidding foreigners to live in the
Philippine Islands. Such a law could not be fully enforced at that stage
of the world’s progress, but Spain did succeed in keeping the port of
Manila closed to outside commerce.
[Illustration:
A MODERN WAR SHIP.
]
Her colonies might not even trade freely with one another. Mexico might
not send to the Philippines for goods, lest the Mexicans should buy less
from Spain. Merchants in the Peninsula looked with great jealousy upon
the growing trade between the Philippines and America. Foreign merchants
could not do business in Manila, and every effort was made to limit the
nature of the trade in that port. Cuba, Porto Rico, and other Spanish
colonies suffered, as well, from the harsh restrictions which the mother
country put upon their trade.
The government of the Philippine Islands had grown to be of the very
worst sort. Many of the high officials were mere adventurers from Spain.
They had no higher idea of right than their own wills; they neither
loved nor understood the people, and they could not command the good
will or the respect of the Filipinos. Many of the latter were superior
in character and in education to the men who ruled the country, and the
people were held in check by fear rather than by loyalty.
The government system of tobacco-growing early became a great source of
trouble. Constant watching, heavy fines, imprisonment, even whipping,
came to be necessary in order to hold the people to work on the tobacco
crop, and much evil and injustice were done against the people by the
officials who enforced these measures.
As was to be expected, the people often rebelled. Serious riots happened
among the tobacco growers in northern Luzon in 1807, and again in 1814.
In these there was great loss of life among both Spanish and Filipinos.
Moreover, to add to the evil of forcing the people to grow tobacco, the
government was very slow in paying the planters. Year after year these
men were compelled either to raise tobacco or to give up their land,
while they could get scarcely any return for their work. When at last
the government made payment, it paid in treasury notes. These the people
were forced by necessity to sell for almost nothing, to speculators who
went about buying them up.
The islands suffered much from all these bad conditions, and the people
became impatient and rebellious over the injustice heaped upon them. The
American Revolution had had a marked effect upon all Europe. It had
awakened ideas of liberty in the common people everywhere, and had set
the whole world thinking about the rights of man. The freedom of this
one country helped to insure the liberties of all other lands. Even in
the far-off Philippines the echo was heard of the demand for that
justice and decent treatment which is every man’s right.
In England, in France, and in Germany, men were asking for a voice in
their own government, and their demand was winning a hearing. Besides
this, the people of Mexico had now begun the struggle which ended at
last in their throwing off Spain’s yoke.
By the year 1810 it was plain that it would no longer be possible to
carry on the colony’s trade by means of the galleons to Mexico. The
Spanish Cortes (cor´tās), therefore, passed a decree discontinuing these
ships, and Manila merchants were given permission to fit out private
ships, under the Spanish flag, for trade with America. The last state
galleon left Manila for Acapulco in 1811. That same year saw the start
of the first newspaper in the Philippines, and the beginning of an
effort by the young men of Manila to bring about a better understanding
between the colony and the mother country.
About this time the cause of political liberty began to win a hearing in
Spain. The Liberal Party was in power there, and a strong feeling for
popular government was winning its way in the country. In 1809 the
Supreme Council in Spain convened the famous Cortes de Cadiz, in which
were assembled delegates from all Spain’s colonies—Cuba, Venezuela, the
Philippines, etc. The Cortes some time later passed what is known in
history as the Act of Constitution of 1812. It gave to each of the
colonies the right to send one or more representatives to the Cortes.
The Filipino delegate who signed this Act of Constitution was Ventura de
Los Reyes (ven tö´rä dā los rī’es). The Act was sworn to by the proper
officials in Manila in 1813, but soon afterwards was suspended. It came
into force again, however, a few years later, and in 1820 the Cortes
again admitted representatives from the Philippines. There were
seventeen of these representatives, and they took part in the
parliamentary debates of 1822–1823.
A short time afterwards the Constitution was again suspended by act of
Ferdinand VII. A little later King Ferdinand died, and again two
Filipino deputies sat in the Cortes. Filipino members also sat in the
Cortes during the reign of Isabella II., but upon the opening of
Parliament in 1837 it was voted to exclude them. Thus the dream of the
Filipinos, of representation in the government, came to naught.
All this gave the people a taste of political freedom. The men who
represented the islands in the Spanish Cortes came back to Manila full
of the idea of equal rights for all. They preached this doctrine to the
people, and their words found ready hearers. Soon, on Luzon, a group of
young Filipinos and Mestizos gathered. Their aim was to bring about real
reforms in the government, and to secure greater peace, prosperity, and
liberty to the people. The discontent of the Filipinos began to be of a
more intelligent sort, and to have a definite purpose. The people were
coming to a clearer idea of what they wanted, and of the nature of the
reforms needed in the country.
[Illustration:
KING FERDINAND VII.
]
At this time, too, foreigners began to do business in Manila. England,
by force of arms, had gained the right to trade with this port, and “the
shut door” was no longer possible. Mexico had obtained her freedom from
Spain, and the islands were now governed direct from the Peninsula. The
independence of Mexico had a marked influence on the Filipinos in Luzon.
They began to feel that they too might strike for their rights. They had
no idea of winning independence, but they felt that they must have
greater liberty. To meet this growing discontent more troops were asked
for, and were sent from Spain. The King’s Regiment was reorganized from
these, and a force of 10,000 men was kept in and about Manila.
In the Visayas matters were different. The people there were farther
from the capital. They knew little or nothing of the changes and the
differences brought about by the Constitution of 1812. They had no idea
of the meaning of the word “equality” as between themselves and their
rulers. Most of them had never heard of the Constitution of 1812. They
did not dream that political equality had ever been thought of for them.
The colony was at this time troubled outwardly as well as within. Spain
and England were at war, and the English were a source of danger and
anxiety to the archipelago. Several expeditions had to be raised to
fight off the British from various places on the islands, where they had
set up headquarters. The Moros and the wild tribes of Mindanao were also
giving trouble. They even came as far north as Manila, and carried off
men and women into captivity in the south.
Nevertheless, during all these troubled years, a number of useful works
were undertaken and carried out by the government. In 1817 a royal
decree was issued commanding that schools for Filipino boys and girls
should be opened in all the convents. In 1820 the duties were taken off,
for ten years, from the natural and manufactured products of the islands
sent to Spain, and an effort was made to revive the dying commerce of
the country.
[Illustration:
A STREET IN MANILA.
]
In this same year there was a great cholera epidemic in Manila. Many
natives, some 30,000, the accounts say, died of it; but only one
foreigner, an Englishman. The people got the idea that the foreigners
had caused this epidemic by poisoning the water of the wells. They rose
against the foreign residents, and killed all the English and French
before the authorities could control them. There was a feeling among the
Spanish in Manila that Governor-General Folgueras (fol gö ër´äs) had not
been as prompt as he might have been in quelling this uprising. It was
openly stated that he had made no effort to subdue the mob until the
English and the French residents were killed.
To defend himself against this accusation the governor-general made
certain criticisms of the Spanish-American forces in the islands. He
charged them with disloyalty, recommending that they be withdrawn, and
replaced by a larger force to be sent from Spain. He represented to the
home government that this was necessary, because the Spanish-American
troops could not be depended upon.
In 1822 a new governor-general, Señor Juan Antonio Martinez (än tō´nē ō
mär tē´neth), was sent out. With him came many officers and soldiers
from the Peninsula. Following the advice of Folgueras, Martinez sent a
number of persons to Spain, on the pretext that they had conspired
against the government.
All this provoked a revolt of a part of the King’s Regiment, led by
Captain Novales (nō väl´ēs), a Spanish-American. A fierce battle was
fought in the streets of Manila on the night of June 1, 1823, and
Folgueras was slain. However, order was finally restored in the
regiment. The leaders of the revolt were executed, and, as usual, the
authorities seemed to think that the matter needed no further attention.
_Summary._—At the beginning of the nineteenth century Spain was no
longer a great world power. The government of the Philippines was full
of evil, and the people had but little justice. The tobacco monopoly
had become a source of much trouble, and the people were often in
rebellion because of it. Ideas of liberty were growing among other
nations, and the Filipinos, too, were becoming restless under
oppression. In 1811 the last state galleon for Acapulco left Manila.
The first newspaper in the Philippines was started in 1811. In 1812
the Spanish Cortes passed the Constitution of 1812, giving Spanish
colonies representation in the Cortes. The Constitution was sworn to
in Manila in 1813. It was afterwards suspended, but came again into
force a few years later, and in 1820 the Cortes again admitted
Filipino representatives. In 1837, however, these islands were finally
denied representation. The enemies of Spain gave the islands much
trouble during these early years of the century, and the Moros and
wild tribes of Mindanao were also in arms. In 1817 schools for
Filipino boys and girls were ordered to be opened in all the convents.
In 1820 duties were taken off, for ten years, from natural and
manufactured products of the islands sent to Spain. In that year a
great cholera epidemic raged in Manila. In 1823 occurred the revolt of
a part of the King’s Regiment in Manila.
_Questions._—What were some of the reasons why Spain fell from her
early position as a great world power? What effect had the government
monopoly of tobacco-growing upon the country? How did the freedom of
America affect other peoples in the world? Why were the state galleons
to Mexico discontinued? When did the last galleon leave Manila? What
was the Constitution of 1812? Give an account of its history in the
islands. What led up to the revolt headed by Captain Novales in 1823?
[Illustration]
Chapter XIV.
CHANGES IN THE ISLANDS.
Don Juan Antonio Martinez was governor-general of the Philippines from
1822 to 1825. During his term of office he had much to contend with,
both from the foes of the people and from the foes of Spain. It was
during his rule that the Constitution of 1812 was done away with. The
revolt headed by Captain Novales was no sooner quelled than danger again
threatened from the pirates of Sulu. These came against Manila, and so
daring had they grown that they even captured and carried away the
Padre-Provincial of the Recoletos and a number of other members of that
order of friars. The captives were taken to Joló, where they were held
in ransom for the sum of $10,000. This money was raised in Manila, and
the friars were released.
After this outrage, Martinez sent Captain Alonzo Morgado (ä lon´thō mor
gä´dō), with the sea forces of the Philippines, to carry on warfare
against the southern pirates. Morgado succeeded in driving them back
from Manila, and really punished them very severely. It was not,
however, until the year 1862, when the Spanish brought steam gunboats
into use against them, that these pirates ceased to be a menace to the
people of Luzon and the Visayas.
[Illustration:
THE MAGELLAN MONUMENT, MANILA.
]
Still the desire for greater political freedom grew among the young
Filipino men. New teachers arose among them from time to time, and the
spirit of discontent spread farther and farther. In the year 1828
another revolt took place. It was headed by two brothers,
Spanish-Americans, both officers in the Spanish force in the
Philippines.
This revolt was put down, as all others had been; but it now became
clear that, if peace was to be kept, the Spanish-American soldiers must
go. Most of them had come from Mexico, which country was now independent
of Spain, and they held ideas of liberty that were dangerous to Spanish
rule in the Philippines. A large body of troops was now brought from
Spain, and Spanish soldiers always after, while Spain ruled, made up the
foreign force in the islands.
In this same year, 1828, a royal order was issued commanding the
cultivation and protection of cotton in the islands. The seeds of this
plant had years before been brought over from Mexico, and the friars had
tried to persuade the people to grow cotton; but they had not been very
successful. The people did not yet know how useful cotton could be to
them, or how great an industry cotton-growing in the islands might
become. Now, however, the matter was given careful attention. Machinery
was brought over for making thread and cloth from the cotton fiber, and
every effort was made to protect and encourage the new venture.
Don Mariano Ricafort (mä rē ä´nō rē´kä fort), the governor-general at
that time, made a law forbidding foreigners to go into the provinces to
buy goods or land. As early as 1809 an English firm had been allowed to
do business in Manila, and a number of foreigners were at this time in
the city. The government tried to keep them as much as possible within
the city, and to prevent them from mingling with the people in the
provinces.
Ricafort also tried to make the Filipinos understand that the Spanish
were their friends, and that the government made laws for their help and
protection. But the people had become very distrustful. Even the Church
seemed no longer able to reassure them, or to keep peace as it had done
in the past. There were small revolts, here and there in the islands,
which the government was forced to put down. A rebellion in Bohol was
only quelled after serious trouble, and at last more troops were sent
out from Spain.
It had become necessary for Spain to yield to the demands of other
countries, and open the port of Manila to foreign vessels. These could
now enter the harbor, but they were compelled to pay double the regular
port duties. It was growing harder and harder, in fact, for Spain to
rule the islands in the old despotic fashion.
Moreover, in the mother country itself a party had risen that was
honestly anxious to give the archipelago a good government. The leaders
of this party listened gladly to the reports of educated Filipinos, and
tried to learn the true state of affairs. These leaders, however, were
almost powerless to bring about reforms, because of dissensions arising
among the Filipinos themselves.
Few of the natives could read or speak the Spanish language. This fact
alone made it hard to help them; for still fewer Spanish ever took the
trouble to learn the native tongues. The people, therefore, were for the
most part ignorant even of those laws which gave them rights and
privileges. There were always those in power whose interests were best
served by this ignorance, and they took no pains to teach the people
what the laws were.
[Illustration:
QUEEN CHRISTINA.
]
The country was now sunk in deep poverty, and the condition of the
Filipinos was sad indeed. In 1836 the greed and bad government of Queen
Christina (kristē´na) of Spain had emptied the royal treasury, and she
greatly needed money. She tried to have her officers wring more from the
Philippines and her other colonies, but this they could not do. The
colonies, richly as nature had gifted them, were almost drained of their
wealth.
The queen, therefore, agreed with Louis Philippe (lö´ē fil ēp´) of
France to hand over Cuba to France for the sum of 30,000,000 reals. In
the agreement to this effect there was also a clause offering to sell
Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands to France for 10,000,000 reals
more. If this agreement had gone through, it might have made a great
change in the history of these islands; but it came to naught.
The queen sent her minister, Comparvano (kom pärvä´nō), to France, to
confer with the French king and his advisers, and there the Spaniard
learned for the first time of the clause about the Philippine Islands.
The French king wanted to bargain over this clause. He said that in view
of all the trouble in the archipelago, and for various other reasons,
the price named was too high. In fact, he refused to pay more than
7,000,000 reals, and declared that 10,000,000 reals was an outrageous
price. Rather than pay it he would put the contract in the fire.
The Spanish minister asked to see the contract. After looking at it, he
said quietly, “Your Majesty is right; it is outrageous.” And taking the
king at his word, he laid the paper on the fire. He meant that the price
was outrageously small—not large, as the king had declared. He did a
daring thing, but his courage saved Spain from the disgrace of such a
poor bargain as the queen would have made.
The following year trouble broke out anew in the Philippines. For the
first time in the history of the Church in the islands the people
demanded that the Spanish friars should be replaced by native priests.
They were loyal to the Church; but they were determined to have men of
their own blood to minister its offices to them. This trouble had been
growing for years, and now that it was given open expression it became
serious indeed.
In 1841 a very grave insurrection broke out in Tayabas (tē ä´bäs). It
was headed by a native named Apolinario de la Cruz (ä pöl ē när´ē ō dā
lä kröth), who styled himself “king of the Tagals.” He claimed
supernatural powers, and by false representations succeeded in raising a
following of some 3,000 Filipinos. With these he went to war against the
friars. He murdered the alcalde of Tayabas Province, and made the people
believe that when they attacked the Spanish, the earth would open and
swallow up the foe.
[Illustration:
MANILA BAY FROM THE CITY WALLS.
]
The Spaniards could muster but about 400 soldiers, and as many more
coast guards and irregular forces. They marched out against Apolinario
and his followers, however, and defeated them, although there was great
loss of life on both sides. In Manila at this time was a regiment of
Tagal soldiers from Tayabas. These soldiers mutinied, and would have
joined Apolinario, but were shot down by the Spanish troops before they
could leave the garrison.
Apolinario himself was of unsound mind, and when his followers began to
see this, they fell away from him. If the revolted Tagal regiment had
succeeded in joining him, his defeat might have been delayed; but in the
end he must have been overcome. In all such encounters with the
Filipinos, the Spaniards had the advantage of better organization. The
troops were well drilled and trained to obey, and their leaders were
skilled in warfare. With no army organization and no outside aid the
Filipino people were helpless to maintain their rights. Nevertheless, it
is not in the nature of brave men to submit tamely to injustice or
oppression, and it is no matter for surprise that though each new revolt
was promptly put down, the spirit of liberty constantly urged the people
on to new attempts to gain some measure of freedom. From now on, these
attempts became more frequent and more desperate.
_Summary._—Trouble continued to increase in the islands. There was
great danger from the southern pirates, and it had become clear that
Spanish-American soldiers could no longer be used in the army. These
soldiers sided with the people against the government. Large bodies of
troops were brought from Spain, and the army was put upon a new
footing. In 1828 a royal order was issued, commanding the growing and
protection of cotton. Foreigners were forbidden to go into the
provinces to buy land or to trade with the people. The government now
tried to make the people understand that it was their friend, but the
Filipinos had grown very distrustful. In 1836 Queen Christina offered
to sell the Philippine Islands to France; but her ambassador,
Comparvano, whom she sent to arrange the matter, burned the contract
when he learned its contents. In 1837 the Filipinos demanded that
native priests should replace the Spanish friars. In 1841 an
insurrection headed by Apolinario de la Cruz, who called himself “king
of the Tagals,” broke out. This was put down with great loss of life
on both sides.
_Questions._—Why were Spanish-American soldiers no longer useful in
the army in the Philippines? Whom did the southern pirates capture and
carry away from Manila? In what year was the growing of cotton
commanded? To whom did Queen Christina offer to sell the islands? Who
was the “king of the Tagals”? Give an account of the revolt which he
headed.
[Illustration]
Chapter XV.
EFFORTS TO KEEP PEACE.
The situation in the archipelago was now very grave indeed, and the
authorities in Manila began to see that something must be done to meet
the ever-growing discontent of the people. A little more liberty given
at this time might have changed that discontent to gratitude. If the
people could have believed that the Spaniards desired their good, they
might have worked with the Europeans for the benefit of the whole
country.
But there was lack of trust and understanding on both sides, and because
of this still harsher laws were made by the Spanish in their efforts to
put down rebellion. One of these laws provided for a rigid examination
of all books printed in the native tongues. Such books as did not please
the authorities were condemned and burned. With regard to all books
printed in the Tagal language, this censorship was kept up until the end
of Spanish rule.
Efforts were also made to keep the islands from closer communication
with the outside world. In 1849 a royal order again forbade foreigners
to go into the provinces. In this year the governor-general, Narciso de
Claveria (när sē´sō dā clä vā´rē ä), organized a police force for Manila
and the provinces. This force was called “The Order of Safety for
Manila.” During Claveria’s term of office a very good reform was made in
trading privileges. The alcalde of a province had before that had the
sole right to trade with the people of his province. Under the new law,
however, any Spaniard or Filipino who wished to do so might trade freely
in the provinces.
The people in the islands still had serious trouble with the pirates
from Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago. These pirates had regular
fleets, and a military force as strong as that of the Spaniards
themselves, and they had become a source of constant danger to commerce
and to the liberty of the people. So great damage did they do, that for
four years the government was obliged to remit all tribute in the island
of Negros, one of the richest of the agricultural islands. The ravages
of these pirates had made the people so poor that they were scarcely
able to procure the necessaries of life.
The danger from this source at last became so great that trade between
the islands was at a standstill. The merchants of Manila therefore took
action in self-defense, and brought steamboats over from Europe. These
were safe, as the pirates, in their slower-going ships, could not
overtake them; but the towns lying along the coast were still subject to
raids. In 1848 Governor-General Claveria sent out an expedition to the
islands of Balanguengui, a group in the Sulu archipelago, where most of
the pirates had their homes. This expedition destroyed the towns of the
pirates, burned their ships, and took many captives.
[Illustration:
PIRATE FLEET ATTACKING A COAST TOWN.
]
Two or three years later Governor-General Urbiztondo (ur bēth ton´dō)
went with an expedition against the pirates, and made a strong attack on
the city of Joló. This expedition consisted of four regiments of
artillery and a native battalion drawn from among the people of Cebu.
This island had suffered greatly from piratic raids, and it is said that
the wives of these Cebuans declared that they would not receive their
husbands back again if they ran away from the foe. This threat may have
had some effect, for the men fought with great bravery and gave the
pirates such a severe punishment that there were no further attacks for
several years.
Some years later, in 1860, when Don Fernando de Norzagaray (nor thä
gä´iī) was governor-general, eighteen steam gunboats were sent out from
Spain. With these the Spanish forces in the archipelago were able
completely to defeat the pirates and to put an end to the outrages that
had cost the islands so much in property and in lives.
In 1854 there was an uprising in Nueva Ecija (nö ā´vä ā thē’hä). This
uprising was headed by a Spanish-Mestizo named Cuesta (kö ēs´tä), a
young man of great ability and promise. He had been educated in Spain,
and while there had been received at court, and had even been shown
great favor by Queen Isabella. He had been much with members of the
Liberal Party, then gaining strength in Spain, and had caught the new
ideas of political freedom and human rights.
Cuesta came home with an earnest desire to help his people. He was made
commandante of carabineros in Nueva Ecija, but before he had been long
in command he incited his troops to rebellion. They attacked the Spanish
officials in the province, and made war upon the friars. The revolt was
put down, however, and Cuesta, with several others, was executed. Still
others, who had been concerned in the uprising, were banished from the
country.
All these things increased the anxiety of the Spanish over the situation
in the Philippines. Young Filipino men were discouraged from going to
Spain; students in the seminarios who desired to leave these schools and
finish their education in Spain were refused permission to do so. The
country was poor and was overrun with bandits. Natives guilty of minor
offenses against the law were treated so severely that they took to the
jungle, becoming outlaws. Everywhere oppression and tyranny ruled, with
all the evils that these bring in their train.
[Illustration:
THE PARIAN GATE.
]
The tobacco monopoly was killing all other agricultural enterprise, and
the Chinese control of the trades and small business industries was
keeping the people from earning money at these. The Filipinos had for
some years realized the evil of allowing the Chinese thus to monopolize
the trades and minor occupations, but they were powerless at that time
to prevent such monopoly. They could not conduct this business for
themselves; the Spanish had never been a trading people, and the
islanders had had no chance to learn business methods from them.
The Spanish government in the islands had always been military, but in
1860 a civil government was formed for the province of Manila. Civil
government is government by laws upheld by civil, or citizen, officials,
instead of by military force. It punishes offenders through the courts,
instead of by armed power.
In this same year, by command of the governor-general, the Parian, the
great building where nearly all the Chinese in Manila were quartered,
was destroyed. This act of the government was bitterly opposed by the
Chinese and by some others; but it was carried out, in spite of great
difficulties. The only reminder of the Parian now left is the Parian
Gate, which gives entrance to the walled city near the point where the
building once stood.
These years were marked, as well, by numerous severe earthquakes and
volcanic eruptions. One or two new volcanoes were formed, and there were
great disturbances in Luzon and the islands near by. In 1863 came the
great earthquake of Manila—the severest that the country has ever known.
Thousands of people were killed in the city and the surrounding country.
The cathedral was destroyed, and the city was reduced to a mere mountain
of ruins. Only the great wall, St. Augustine Church, and a few other
structures withstood the shock.
After this, trouble deepened for the country. The treasury was drained
to rebuild the city; the land was pinched to the last possible limit to
raise tribute for the Crown; and the people were nearly desperate. The
government could not meet its payments, but insisted upon the tobacco
crop being cultivated each year; and great quantities of tobacco had to
be sold to raise money for the needs of the moment. In 1864 lightning
set fire to the general storehouse of tobacco and caused a loss of
$2,000,000 to the colonial treasury.
[Illustration:
RUINS OF MANILA CATHEDRAL AFTER AN EARTHQUAKE.
]
In 1867 the “Guardia Civil” was formed, for the purpose of capturing the
bandits who overran the country. These bandits had come to be as great a
source of danger as the pirates had been, and in 1869 the peril of the
situation was increased by a proclamation made by Governor-General
Torre. This proclamation offered free pardon to all bandits who should
present themselves to the government within three months. This was a
great opportunity for the ill-disposed people of the provinces. Hundreds
of them became bandits and entered upon a three months’ term of robbery
and outrage, sure of pardon at any time they might present themselves
before the governor. It became necessary to organize a special guard,
which was called “Torre’s Guard,” to go against this great mob of
outlaws.
[Illustration:
QUEEN ISABELLA II. AS A CHILD.
]
But in spite of murmurings, discontent, and suffering among the people,
the work of building up the city, and of making improvements in and
about Manila, went steadily on. The palace was rebuilt, work was begun
upon the cathedral, and many public works were undertaken. In 1865 a
municipal school, in charge of the Sisters of Charity, was founded, and
a normal school for teachers was opened in Manila under the charge of
the Jesuits, who had returned to the country in 1859, after an absence
of nearly one hundred years. The civil government, which had recently
been formed in Manila Province, supported this school.
In 1868 Queen Isabella II. of Spain was deposed, and the government that
followed her was of a revolutionary nature, founded on republican
principles. While this government prevailed, an Assembly of Filipinos
and Mestizos was formed in Manila. Its members, who were persons born in
the islands, hoped to bring about certain reforms in the local
government. They had the power of voting reforms for the colony, subject
to the will of the home government. They outlined many reforms which
were needed in the islands, and tried to gain for them the attention of
the home government. But the influence of the conservative party, both
at home and in the colony, prevailed. It was not long before the
monarchy was again in power, and then this Philippine Assembly died.
The Filipinos had had a taste of self-government, and it was hard for
them to go back into bondage. It was not possible that they should again
submit patiently to the oppression which they had borne for so many
years. The spark which Spain herself had kindled no power on earth could
extinguish, and the little fire of liberty burned on, waiting for the
moment when it should burst into a great flame.
_Summary._—The situation in the Philippines was becoming desperate.
There was lack of trust between the Spanish and the Filipinos, and
this kept them from understanding or helping one another. More and
more severe measures were taken by the rulers to keep down revolt. By
the middle of the century the ravages of pirates along the coast had
nearly killed all trade. The merchants of Manila now brought steam
trading ships from Spain, and these, being swifter than the craft of
the pirates, escaped capture; but towns along the coast were still
subject to raids. In 1848 an expedition went against the pirates and
punished them severely. Other expeditions followed up the work of that
one, and at last, in 1860, eighteen steam gunboats were sent from
Spain. With the aid of these the Spanish forces were able to put an
end to piracy in those seas.
In 1854 there was a serious uprising, headed by a young Spanish
Mestizo named Cuesta. This was put down, and a number of Filipinos who
had taken part in it were executed. This uprising greatly increased
the anxiety of the government in the islands. In 1860 a civil
government was founded for Manila Province. In this same year the
Parian, the building where the Chinese lived within the walled city,
was destroyed. In 1863 a great earthquake in Manila killed thousands
of people and reduced the city to ruins. In 1867 the Guardia Civil was
formed, and efforts were made to capture and punish the bandits who
overran the country. Much work was done during this and succeeding
years toward rebuilding the city. In 1865 a normal school for teachers
was opened in Manila. In 1868 Queen Isabella II. was deposed, and for
a time the government in Spain was revolutionary in character. While
this government was in power, the more enlightened Filipinos and
Mestizos in Manila tried hard to bring about reforms at home; but the
new order was short-lived, and the monarchy was soon restored to power
in Spain.
_Questions._—Why were the merchants of Manila forced to bring
steamships from Spain? Give an account of the different expeditions
against the pirates. Who was Cuesta? What was the result of the revolt
which he headed? When was the Parian destroyed? When was the great
earthquake of Manila? For what purpose was the Guardia Civil formed?
When was Queen Isabella II. deposed? What was the character of the
government that succeeded her? What effect had this government on the
Filipino people?
[Illustration]
Chapter XVI.
THE INSURRECTION AT CAVITE.
In 1872 took place what is now known as the Cavite insurrection. This
uprising had in itself no real importance; it only gained importance
because of the attention which was paid to it. The cause of the revolt
was the desire of the people for native priests. There was a party among
the native clergy whose leaders were demanding that the friars should be
forbidden to act as parish priests, and should be made to give up
certain benefits to which they were not entitled.
The native party had some right on its side in these demands. A treaty
had been made at Trent, some years before, defining the positions and
rights of the clergy in the islands. Under this treaty the friars were
not entitled to act as parish priests. They asked this privilege from
the Pope, however, and it was granted them. As a result the Filipino
clergy could act only in inferior positions, as assistants and lay
readers. They enjoyed but few of the rights and dignities of their
calling.
The leader of the clergy who were demanding their rights was a priest
named José Burgos (hō sā´ bur´gōs). He was native born, and a man of
great strength and dignity of character. It is not believed that he, or
the priests who were among his followers, really incited the revolt at
Cavite. He had, however, many enemies, and these succeeded in making him
appear to be guilty.
But whatever the origin of the uprising, it went wrong through a mistake
about signals. A number of the native soldiery were concerned in the
affair, and were to have aided the plotters in Manila. It was agreed
that certain men in Manila should get everything ready, and send up a
rocket, by which signal those at Cavite would know that the time had
come to act. It happened, however, that one night in the latter part of
January a _fiesta_ was held in one of the suburbs of Manila. Fireworks
were set off, and these the soldiers at Cavite mistook for the signal of
attack. They therefore seized the arsenal at Cavite, and attacked the
Europeans living in and about the town.
When it was too late to undo their action, they discovered the mistake.
Their friends at Manila had no idea what was taking place. They did not
come to the aid of the revolters at Cavite, and when they learned the
news, there was no time to gather their forces. The loyal troops were
called out, and the trouble was put down in two days.
All might even yet have gone well with the country if this matter could
have been allowed to rest right there. The government, however, saw fit
to regard this uprising as of grave importance. All who were suspected
of a part in it were severely punished; many were shot, and three of the
native priests were garrotted. These priests were Dr. Burgos, Dr.
Mariano Gomez (mä rē ä´nō gō´meth), and Dr. Jacinto Zamora (hä sēn´tō
thä mō´rä). As to their guilt, there will always be a doubt, and to this
day the native clergy declare that these men were innocent of planning
the revolt.
These executions made the people desperate. The secret societies which
had been forming all over Luzon had up to this time been merely local
lodges of the great society of Freemasons. Now they were turned into
political societies, with a definite aim, and that aim was to win
greater liberty for the Filipinos. These societies afterwards played a
very important part in the history of the islands.
Shortly after the uprising at Cavite, another revolt occurred in
Zamboanga; but this was put down with the help of the Moros. After the
Cavite insurrection, the native regiment of artillery was disbanded, and
a regiment of artillery from the Peninsula was brought to the islands.
In spite of all these disturbances, considerable public work was done
during the next few years. The ports of Legaspi, Tacloban, and Leyte
were opened to foreign commerce in 1873–1874, and in 1875 the famous
Bridge of Spain across the Pasig River, in Manila, was built and thrown
open for public use. The opening of the Suez Canal was a helpful thing
to the commerce of the Philippines, and under wise and just government
there might have been a time of prosperity for the country.
[Illustration:
THE GROUNDS OF THE CAVITE ARSENAL.
]
In 1877 Don Domingo Moriones y Morillo (dō min´gō mō rē ō´nās ē mō
rēl´yō) became governor-general. When he arrived in Manila, the King’s
Regiment, the mainstay of the Spanish forces in the islands, was in
revolt. This revolt had been kept a secret by the retiring
governor-general, for fear of the result if the natives should learn the
truth. The new governor-general caused the regiment to be drawn up in
line and numbered. When this had been done, every tenth man was told off
to be shot next morning. Moriones was afterwards persuaded to spare many
of these men, but the ringleaders were all shot; some others were put
into prison for long terms, and about fifty of them were sent back to
Spain in disgrace.
The term of office upon which he entered with such vigor was marked by a
number of very good acts on the part of the governor-general. His name
should be remembered with gratitude in Manila, for it was he who caused
the public waterworks to be built. Over a hundred years before, a
patriotic governor-general, Don Fernando Carriedo (fer nän´dō cä rē
ā´dō), had left a fund to provide the city with a suitable water supply.
This money was to be kept at interest until the fund grew large enough
for the purpose, and it had increased so much that work should have been
begun a good many years before. But those having the money in charge
were not willing to give it up, and it was only after a bitter struggle
that Governor-General Moriones was able to get Carriedo’s wishes carried
out. This enterprise was a great blessing to the city of Manila, as the
value of a pure water supply cannot be over-estimated.
Moriones also did what he could to get appropriations from the treasury
to pay off the tobacco growers, whose condition was at this time pitiful
indeed. They had not been paid for some years, while at the same time
they were not allowed to grow any other crop by which they might
maintain themselves. In 1881 this tobacco monopoly, which had worked
such wrong to the people, was ended by royal decree of King Alfonso XII.
[Illustration:
PUMPING STATION, CARRIEDO WATERWORKS.
]
In 1880 there was a violent earthquake in Manila. The disturbances
lasted from the 14th of July to the 25th of the same month, and did a
great deal of damage in the city, causing loss of property and life. The
people were reduced to such a state of terror that they dared not live
in the better class of houses in Manila, but took to the nipa huts in
the suburbs. These houses were less dangerous because of their light
structure.
This same year cable communication was set up between Spain and Manila.
In 1881 Governor-General Primo de Rivera (prē´mō dā rē vā´rä) came to
office. One of the first things he did was to organize an expedition
against the Igorrotes of northern Luzon; but, like all other attempts to
subdue these people, this expedition was a failure. The Spanish soldiers
who took part in it left behind them among the Igorrotes such a record
for cruelty and violence that to this day most of these people hate the
sight of a white man.
There was trouble enough for the people during Rivera’s rule. In 1882 a
cholera epidemic broke out in Manila, and in less than three months
30,000 people died in the city and its suburbs and throughout the
province. There were also several typhoons of unusual violence, and a
terrifying eruption of Mayon volcano, which lasted for many months.
In 1883 Joaquin Jovellar y Soler (hō ä kēn´ hō vāl´här ē sō´lėr), who
had won a name for himself as the “peacemaker” in Cuba, became
governor-general of the Philippines. He was well received by the
Spanish, and made some attempt to bring about reforms in the country.
The old-time tribute, the cause of so many revolts among the people, was
replaced by the “cedula personal,” or paper of identity, which every
inhabitant above eighteen years of age was compelled to have. During his
time, there were small outbreaks among the people, and threats of a
general insurrection, which led to more troops being sent out from the
Peninsula. It became necessary now to have Spanish troops almost
altogether, as the native soldiers could not be depended upon to fire on
their own people.
By now there was coming to the front in the islands a considerable body
of thoughtful young men. These were beginning to demand greater liberty
for the Filipinos. In the Visayas, Graciano Lopez Jaena (grä seä´no
lō´peth hä ā nä) had become a teacher of the people. This man has been
called the “John the Baptist of the Visayas.”
The people in that part of the country were in a position even more
hopeless than were those in Luzon. They knew little or nothing of what
was going on in the northern islands. They had no leaders of their own,
but were dominated by different parties among their rulers. These
parties were constantly quarreling among themselves and with the
government at home. Between these factions the people lay like corn
between the millstones, crushed almost beyond hope of ever attaining the
smallest human rights.
Jaena was born in Jaro, near Iloilo, and was a student in the seminario
there. Like many young men of his time, he had the desire to go to Spain
and finish his studies. The friars had taken alarm at the number of
young Filipino men who were doing this, and they refused Jaena
permission to leave his studies at the seminario. They claimed that, as
he was one of their students, they had a right to dictate how he should
dispose of his life, and where he should pursue his studies. An action
so arbitrary and unjust as this was not to be borne by a young man of
any spirit. Jaena left the seminario without the permission of his
teachers, went to Manila, and from there to Spain.
In Madrid he made the acquaintance of a number of members of the Liberal
Party, who listened willingly to what the young man had to say, and made
great efforts to get him an audience with the Ministers of State. For a
time he was well received in Spain, but the Liberal Party fell into
discredit at court, and Jaena was unable to gain a hearing for any of
the reforms that were so dear to his heart. He lived in great poverty in
Madrid, forced to do menial work to maintain himself. He was never able
to get back to his own country, for which he suffered so much, but died
in Madrid while still a comparatively young man. He left a great many
writings which are well known throughout the Visayas. His name is as
much honored in that part of the country as is the name of Rizal
everywhere in the Philippines.
Dr. José Rizal y Mercado (rē thäl´ ē mer kä´dō) will never be forgotten
while there are patriotic Filipinos left to keep his memory alive. He
was a native of Calamba (kä läm´bä), in Laguna Province, and was born in
the early sixties. He was graduated from the Jesuit College in Manila,
and from there he went to Europe, where he studied medicine. He was
graduated from Madrid University as Doctor of Medicine and Philosophy.
Afterwards he went to Paris and to several German universities, from one
of which he took another degree. In Germany he became greatly interested
in the socialistic movement of the day. He mingled freely with the
German students, among whom he was very popular, and shared in their
ideas of human rights and political liberty. He was a true Catholic, but
he longed to see his country freed from the narrow rule which had made
civil government in the Philippines a farce.
[Illustration:
THE BRIDGE OF SPAIN.
]
The influence of the Orders in the islands had become known even in
Spain as a hurtful thing for the country. As far back as the year 1870
the Spanish Minister of State, in a formal report, had recommended that
the friars be removed from charge of the schools in the islands. Now the
demand was becoming general that their places should be taken by secular
priests who were natives of the country.
Rizal believed that it would be necessary to send the Orders out of the
Philippines before the country could ever be prosperous. While abroad he
wrote a novel entitled “Nolle me Tangere,” in which he showed plainly
the attitude of the friars and the people toward one another. This novel
was written in the Spanish language, but was published in Germany. While
Rizal was living as a student in France, he wrote another political
novel, “El Filibustero.”
Later he returned to the islands, and there did notable work in his
profession of medicine. He became actively interested in the condition
of the country, as well. In his own town he led a party which demanded
of the Dominican Order that it show title deeds to a large tract of
agricultural land of which it had possession. This brought down upon him
the opposition of the friars, and he found it wise to return to Europe.
In his absence his relatives and many of the chief families with whom he
had been friendly in his town were persecuted, and driven from the lands
which they had rented from the religious Orders. Their holdings were
given to Spaniards, and they received no compensation for their losses.
In 1893 Rizal went to Hong-Kong, meaning to settle there and practise
his profession. A little later he was given to understand that it would
be safe for him to come back to Manila, and he came. When he reached the
customs house at Manila, his baggage was rigidly searched, and it was
claimed that among his effects were found a number of disloyal
pamphlets. Among these were some proclamations which it was claimed he
had written for the purpose of starting a revolt among the natives.
It is not common sense to believe that Rizal had any of these things in
his trunk, and it is now generally understood that they were placed
there by those who did the searching. His enemies demanded that he
should be executed as a traitor, but the governor-general would not give
him up to them. Instead he was banished to northern Mindanao, where for
four years he lived very quietly. He practised medicine there among the
people, and many foreigners came from over the sea to consult him. He
performed several remarkable operations upon the eyes during these
years.
Then the Cuban troubles broke out, and, to prove his loyalty to Spain,
Dr. Rizal asked permission to go to Cuba as an army doctor in the
Spanish forces. This favor was granted him July 28, 1896. He went up to
Manila by way of Cebu, just at the time of the outbreak of 1896. He was
the idol of the people; everywhere his countrymen were talking about
him, and looking to him as a leader; his name brought them hope and
strengthened their courage. By them he was regarded as the future
liberator of the race, and to them he represented the promise of
liberty.
All this so alarmed his enemies that they declared it dangerous to have
him in Manila. He was at once put on board the Spanish cruiser
_Castilla_, and from there transferred to the mail steamer _Isla de
Panay_, bound for Barcelona. He carried letters of recommendation to the
Ministers of War and of the Colonies, which were sent to him by General
Blanco with a personal letter.
His enemies were determined to have his life, and he was cabled at
Barcelona to return at once to the islands. Certain accusations were
made against him, and he was thrown into prison at the Fortress of
Montjierat (mont-hē ā´rät) in Spain, until a steamer should return to
the islands. Then he was sent back to Manila, a state prisoner, isolated
from all but his jailers.
He was brought to trial for sedition and rebellion before a
court-martial of eight captains, with a lieutenant-colonel presiding;
but there was no testimony against him. How could there be? The facts
show that it was quite impossible for Rizal to have had anything to do
with the revolution of 1896. He had been a prisoner of state, in
seclusion, for years. He had had no communication with the people of
Luzon, and there was nothing to show that he had taken any part in the
revolt. But he had been condemned beforehand, and of all the cruel acts
of Governor-General Polavieja (pō lä vē ā´hä), the cruelest was his
decree for the execution of this man.
There were but a few days between Rizal’s sentence and his death. He was
engaged to marry Miss Josephine Taufer, the adopted daughter of an
American gentleman who had been a patient of Rizal’s in Hong-Kong, and
to her he was married on the day of his execution. He was shot at six
o’clock in the morning of December 30, 1896, and an immense crowd
gathered on the Luneta to witness that terrible sacrifice.
His widow joined the insurgents. She was present at the battle of Silang
(sē läng´), and fled with the rest before the Spanish, tramping through
twenty-three villages on her way to the northern provinces. She was at
last banished from the country by Governor-General Polavieja. During the
American occupation she returned for a time to the islands whose welfare
was so dear to her martyred husband. Later she went to Hong-Kong, where
she died, in March, 1902.
The name of José Rizal is now hailed with honor. The government has made
the anniversary of his birth a public holiday, and it is observed yearly
in the public schools of the archipelago. Thus is his memory kept alive.
His unselfish love for his native country should be remembered and
shared by the Filipino boys and girls now growing up to work for the
good of the land for which he hoped and dared so much.
_Summary._—The Cavite insurrection, which took place in 1872, while
not in itself of great importance, was the real beginning of the
rebellion of 1896. It failed through a mistake in regard to signals.
The Spanish authorities overrated the importance of this uprising, and
those whom they accused of being concerned in it were punished with
great severity. This course drove the people to desperation. Other
uprisings took place, and there was great disturbance in the country.
Many good public works went on, however. The Carriedo waterworks were
built and put in operation, and an effort was made to raise money to
pay off the tobacco growers. In 1881 the tobacco monopoly was done
away with by royal decree of Alfonso XII.
In 1882 came the great cholera epidemic in Manila. During the time it
raged, 30,000 people died in the city and province. During these
years, teachers of the people began to rise in the Visayas, as well as
in Luzon. Jaena, the Visayan patriot, was in Spain, trying to obtain
justice for his people. Later, Dr. José Rizal began writing of the
wrongs of his country. He came back to Manila, after an absence of
some years, but was banished to Mindanao. When the trouble in Cuba
began, he volunteered to go there as a surgeon in the Spanish army. He
sailed from Manila to Barcelona, expecting to go from there to Cuba.
At Barcelona, on the strength of despatches from Manila, he was thrown
into prison, and later was sent back to Manila. His enemies there
secured his trial on a false charge of sedition, and he was sentenced
to death and executed.
_Questions._—What was the main cause of the Cavite insurrection of
1872? Who was Don Fernando Carriedo? When were the Manila waterworks
completed? When was the tobacco monopoly ended? Who was Jaena? Give an
account of Dr. Rizal and his work.
[Illustration]
Chapter XVII.
THE UPRISING OF 1896.
When the Jesuits left Manila in 1768, the missions which they had
founded were given to the Recoletos. In 1859 the Jesuits came back to
the islands. These missions, for which the Society had worked so hard in
years gone by, were returned to it, and other places were made for the
Recoletos. This was done at the expense of the native priests, and the
people resented it. The feeling was growing among them that the native
clergy were not fairly treated, and the installing of friars in their
places increased that feeling.
It would be unjust to the Spanish Orders to overlook the good they did
in early years in this country. They helped the people in many ways. To
them is due the credit of introducing chocolate, coffee, cotton, and
tobacco into the islands. They taught the people to weave, and to make
many things of use. But too great power fell into their hands, and they
did not keep pace with the times. Besides this, the people had now come
to believe that their spiritual leaders should be men of their own race.
[Illustration:
FORT GENERAL WEYLER IN MINDANAO.
]
Moreover, a feeling of national life, such as they had never before
known, was awakening among the Filipinos. The many languages spoken
among them, and the tribal differences which existed in the country, did
more than anything else to keep the Filipino people in subjection. Not
until they are a united people, with one language, and with a common
desire for the welfare of their country, can they take the place which
they should hold among the peoples of the world. This the more
enlightened among them were coming to see, and were making a steady
effort to unite the tribes in a demand for reform.
In this effort the secret societies, of which mention has been made,
played a large part. These societies were in the beginning Masonic
lodges. The first of them in the Philippines was founded at Cavite in
1860. Only Spaniards were members at the outset, but in time Filipinos
and Mestizos were admitted. Later the members began to take an interest
in politics, and little by little the Masonic lodges came to be the
gathering places of thinkers and reformers. None of these societies had
as yet any idea of revolt against the mother country; but the people
were bent upon securing reforms in the government of the islands.
It was impossible to get justice in any court in the archipelago. Every
public officer knew that good service and an honorable record would not
serve to keep him in office if anyone who had more influence than he
wished his position. Corruption, bribery, and dishonesty were the order
in the government. All classes were taxed to the utmost limit, and the
country was in a state of wretchedness through misrule. The Filipinos
themselves had no rights which anyone seemed bound to respect.
The people remembered with bitterness those noble words of the Cortes
which declared, in the Constitution of 1812: “The countries and
provinces of America and Asia are and ought always to have been an
integral part of the Spanish monarchy. Their natives and free
inhabitants are equal in rights and privileges to those of the
Peninsula.” What the reformers sought was not separation from the mother
country. They desired only that Filipinos should be recognized as among
her citizens, and entitled to the rights which this declaration of the
Cortes said were theirs.
After the revolt at Cavite, a new secret society was formed, known as
the Katipunan (kä tē pö´nän) or Association of the Sons of the Country.
One of the passwords of this society was “Gom-bur-za.” This word is made
up of a part of the name of each one of the native padres executed
because of that trouble at Cavite—Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora. The
Katipunan was composed of the common people. It numbered many thousands
of members, who stood ready to give their lives for the good of the
Philippines, and it was probably more responsible than any other one
thing for the great uprising of 1896.
In 1895 trouble broke out among the Moros in the south, and in that year
the Spanish began what is known as the Marauit (mär ä wēt´) campaign in
Mindanao. This was an expedition against the Moros, under the command of
Governor-General Blanco himself. This campaign proved a great surprise
to the Moros, who were finally overpowered by a division of the Spanish
troops commanded by Brigadier-General Gonzales Parrado (pä rä´dō). The
campaign lasted for three months, and was a complete success.
After this, in order that the government might keep order there, it was
decided to settle the country in the Marauit district with families from
Luzon and the other northern islands. This decision hastened the
downfall of the Spanish in the Philippines. At first the Filipino people
were invited to go and live in this conquered territory, but no one
accepted the invitation. It sounded smooth and fair; but it meant
leaving friends and home and security for peril, hardship, and doubtful
adventure. So, as the unwillingness of the people was seen, the
invitation was made more urgent, and took the form of an order. This
order, however, was only sent to provinces where the secret societies
were supposed to be strongest. It caused great dissatisfaction among the
Filipinos, who quickly understood its meaning. Many left their homes and
went to live in the mountains to avoid trouble.
The government now made still greater effort, and in 1895 and 1896 there
was a systematic persecution of the people to get them to go south. This
persecution proved too much for even Filipino patience, and in the
spring of 1896 the Katipunan sent a petition to Japan, asking the Mikado
to annex the Philippine Islands to Japan. It is said that 5,000
Filipinos signed this petition. The emperor of Japan sent the petition
to Spain, and in this way the names of all these petitioners became
known to the government. The powers at Manila, however, did not dare to
act at once, but waited their time; and the punishment, when it came,
was all the more severe for the delay.
[Illustration:
THE BRIDGE OF SAN JUAN DEL MONTE.
]
At this time all the Spaniards in Manila knew that some great uprising
was planned among the people. The government, however, realized the
mistake that had been made in paying too much attention to the revolt at
Cavite, and it now made the greater mistake of not paying enough
attention to this trouble.
On July 5, 1896, an officer of the Guardia Civil reported that over
14,000 men in the valley of Pasig were pledged to revolt. Still nothing
was done about this by the Spanish until a month later, when a large
number of revolutionary flags and ammunition were found at Taal.
Governor-General Blanco then ordered some arrests to be made.
By this time the Katipunan had its plans nearly completed. There was to
have been an uprising on the 20th of August; but, on the night before,
the plot was discovered by Father Mariano Gil (mä rē ä´nō zhēl), an
Augustine friar, the parish priest at Tondo. The authorities then
realized for the first time that the Katipunan was a political society,
and Governor-General Blanco cabled the fact to Madrid.
The garrison at Manila numbered only 1,500 men, many of whom were
natives and not to be depended upon for help; so that General Blanco did
not dare to take the field against the rebels. Nevertheless, arrests
were made daily, and the prisons were full to overflowing. Among the
prisoners were some of the leading Filipinos of Luzon, many of whom were
merely suspected of disloyalty to the government.
Much time was lost by the Spanish because General Blanco was unwilling
to use force until every honorable means of bringing about peace had
been exhausted. He felt, moreover, that his army was too small to
justify an advance against the rebels, and so he cabled to Madrid for
help. In return he got word that 2,000 men, two gunboats, and large
stores of arms and ammunition were to be sent at once.
By August 30 the uprising was in full force. The rebels were gathered at
San Juan del Monte, a suburb of Manila, where the first battle was
fought. This took place between the Filipinos under command of Sancho
Valenzuela (sän´kō väl ān thu ā´lä) and three others, and some native
cavalry and members of the Guardia Civil. The Filipinos were driven
back, and on that day martial law was proclaimed in Manila and in the
provinces about the bay. Later the rebel leaders at San Juan were shot
on the Luneta. This was the first of many executions which took place
from week to week afterwards, until the green lawn of the Luneta was
saturated with patriot blood.
Now there was war in earnest between the Spanish and the Filipinos. The
rebellion was growing daily, and the cream of Manila society was in the
jails. Governor-General Blanco was still inclined to look upon the
uprising as merely local, and not to regard it seriously; but he was
constantly urged to severe measures by certain of his advisers. They
desired that all rebels caught should be put to death at once, and there
seemed no length to which their vindictive spirit was not willing to go.
The newspapers of Manila were forbidden to speak of the uprising, or to
use the words “rebellion” or “rebel.” The matter was treated as of
slight importance, and the natives engaged in the insurrection were
spoken of as bandits. This was also the tone which Governor-General
Blanco adopted in all the despatches which he sent to the home
government.
Province after province declared with the rebels, until all southern
Luzon was in revolt. Cavite Province had become the center of the
uprising, and Emilio Aguinaldo (ä mēl´ē ō äg wē näl´dō), formerly a
schoolmaster at Cavite, came to the front as a leader. He was a native
of the city of Cavite, born March 22, 1869, and at this time was about
twenty-seven years old.
[Illustration:
DUNGEON AT CAVITE.
]
By the middle of September, troops to the number of 6,000 had been sent
up from Zamboanga and southern stations to aid the government at Manila.
Nearly two-thirds of these were natives, however, and the Spaniards felt
that they had good reason to distrust their loyalty. The rebels were in
great force about Silang, Imus (ē´ mus), and Novaleta (nō vä lā´tä), and
there were uprisings in Tarlac (tär´läk), Pangasinan, Laguna, Morong,
and Tayabas.
On October 1 a steamer arrived from Spain with a battalion of marines,
which was warmly welcomed by the Spaniards. The next day came another
steamer with more troops, and after that a large number of men came,
until, before the trouble was over, there were 28,000 Spanish soldiers
in the islands. These, however, were raw drafts. The trouble in Cuba had
taken all of Spain’s fighting men, and she had nothing to send to the
Philippines but boys. These young soldiers were undrilled, without
uniforms, and but poorly armed.
The Filipinos were no better off than the Spanish troops. They were
hardier, but they were even more poorly armed. They had some rifles, but
most of their guns were made of gas or water pipe wrapped with telegraph
wire. They had cannon made from boiler tubes and from old bells and
other metal. But they were determined and courageous, and were fighting
for what was dearer to them than life—the decent treatment to which
every free man is entitled at the hands of his government.
The Spanish treated all Filipinos captured with great cruelty. From time
to time suspects were sent in from the provinces, bound hand and foot;
they were hauled up from the holds of vessels with chain and hook, and
discharged as cargo, like bales of hemp.
The rainy season set in, and General Blanco had not the force at his
command which his successor had afterwards. The native troops were not
to be depended upon, and it was almost impossible for the few Spanish
soldiers to get about the country. He contented himself, therefore, with
keeping the rebels out of Manila.
In December, 1896, the governor-general went back to Spain. At that time
the total European force in the islands was 10,000 men. They held the
arsenals at Cavite, and the city of Manila; but the rebels were strongly
entrenched throughout the peninsula of Cavite and in Laguna Province.
“At that time,” says Forman, the historian, “I was informed by the
secretary of the military court that there were 4,700 individuals
awaiting trial by court-martial.”
General Camilo Polavieja was sent out to the Philippines as
governor-general in Blanco’s stead. He arrived in June, 1896, and at
once set to work to put down the rebellion. He was an energetic military
leader, a man who had himself risen from the ranks. He had been in Cuba,
and his experience there enabled him to see at once how serious was the
state of things in the Philippines. On the ship with him came 500
troops, under command of General Lachambre (lä chäm´brā), and on another
ship 1,500 more. Others quickly followed, so that in a short time, as we
have stated before, there were 28,000 fighting Europeans in the islands.
It was now the dry season, and General Lachambre at once took the field
against the rebels in Cavite Province. The Filipinos at this time
expressly declared that they were fighting, not Spain, but the dominion
of the Spanish friars. Their battle cry was, “Long live Spain! Down with
the priests!” The campaign was conducted very well on the part of the
Spanish. Their troops were better armed than the Filipinos, and were
well commanded, while the rebels had no trained military officers to
plan their battles. The Filipinos were driven from Imus, and later from
Silang; and although the Spanish met with great losses, in time the
rebels, unable to hold any one place, were driven up to Laguna Province.
By the middle of March every rebel band of importance had been
scattered.
Polavieja cabled for more troops to be sent from Spain. He wanted these
to garrison the districts which he had taken from the rebels, as his
army corps was needed in the northern provinces, to which the Filipinos
had been driven back. But there were already 200,000 Spanish soldiers in
Cuba, and more were needed there. The Spanish government, therefore,
refused to send any more troops to the Philippines.
The newspapers at Madrid made light of the trouble in the islands, and
criticised the governor-general’s rule. Polavieja then cabled that he
was broken down in health and should be obliged to resign. Through much
of the campaign he was so ill that he could not sit his horse, and was
obliged to direct the campaign from Parañaque (pä rän yä´kē), where he
remained until after the capture of San Francisco and the driving back
of the rebels into the mountains.
In April, 1897, he went back to Spain. General Lachambre followed, to
receive great praise for the good work he had done in the Philippines.
Polavieja himself arrived in Spain blind, physically disabled, and
really ill; but he had accomplished a great deal in the islands, and had
gotten the rebellion well in hand.
The next governor-general was Primo de Rivera, who had held that office
before, from the years 1880 to 1883. He reached Manila on the 23d of
April, and went to the front on the 29th day of that month.
_Summary._—The growth of secret societies in the islands, and the
rebellious attitude of many of the people, led Spain to adopt a new
measure. It was decided to settle the Marauit district, in Mindanao,
with Filipinos from Luzon. Invitations, amounting really to orders, to
go and live in this district were sent out among the people living in
provinces where the secret societies were supposed to be strongest.
Because of these invitations many Filipinos left their homes and went
to live in the mountains, to avoid trouble. The government then began
trying to force people to go south to live. In 1896 the Katipunan sent
a petition to the emperor of Japan, asking him to annex the islands to
Japan. The emperor sent this petition to Spain. The government now
awoke to a knowledge of how serious was the revolt in the islands.
Many arrests were made, and soon the jails in Manila were filled with
prisoners.
By August 30 the uprising was in full force, and the first battle was
fought at San Juan del Monte, on that day. Troops were now sent from
Spain, while from all over the islands fighting men gathered to the
aid of the Filipino leaders. By December, 1896, there were 10,000
European troops in the islands. They held the arsenal at Cavite, and
the city of Manila; but the Filipinos held strong positions in the
Cavite peninsula and in Laguna Province. Governor-General Blanco went
back to Spain, and General Camilo Polavieja was sent out in his stead.
The new governor-general carried on the war with great vigor. He sent
for more troops, until there were 28,000 Spanish soldiers in the
country. The Spanish succeeded in driving the Filipinos back from
their strong places, but were too few to do more than hold them in
check. The home government refused to send more troops to the
Philippines, as all Spain’s armed force was needed in Cuba.
Governor-General Polavieja was taken very ill, and went back to Spain.
General Lachambre followed, soon after. The next governor-general was
Primo de Rivera, who reached Manila April 23, 1897.
_Questions._—What were the secret societies that now grew up in the
islands? What plan did the government make for settling the Marauit
district? Give an account of the petition sent by the Katipunan to
Japan. When was the first battle fought in the uprising of 1896?
Outline the progress of this uprising.
[Illustration]
Chapter XVIII.
THE END OF SPANISH RULE.
One of the first things that General Primo de Rivera did after his
arrival, for the second time, in the islands, was to issue a
proclamation offering amnesty to all who would lay down their arms. Many
of the Filipinos who were in revolt accepted the offer, and pledged
allegiance to Spain.
They were driven to this step by their fears. The Filipino forces were
weakened and discouraged. General Polavieja had carried on the campaign
against them with such savage cruelty that the people were filled with
terror. No quarter had been given by the Spanish, and in Cavite Province
alone over 30,000 Filipinos had lost their lives. Aguinaldo had left
Cavite, which province was now cleared of the Filipino forces, and had
joined General Llaneras (lyän ār´äs), who was leading the Filipinos in
the north, beyond Pampanga.
The state of the country at this time was pitiful. No crops had been
planted; there was no food for the people; their young carabaos had been
killed; the rice and camotes were all gone. War had reduced the country
to a wilderness. Everywhere the authorities were seeking to put down the
rebellion, but their cruel measures actually made rebels of the people.
The Filipino priests and curates were put in chains, were flogged and
tortured, to make them tell what they might have learned, through the
confessional, of the secret societies and the movements of the people.
The Spanish campaign in Manila was being conducted by General Monet
(Mō´nāt), and there, too, no mercy was shown to natives so unfortunate
as to be captured. In Pangasinan General Nuñez (nön´yeth) was fighting
the rebels. The war was waged with bitterness; no quarter was given on
either side, and the natives lost no opportunity to avenge the
punishment which the Spaniards visited upon them.
By this time the rainy weather was telling severely on the unseasoned
Spanish soldiers. There was much sickness among them, so that the
military hospitals were full. The soldiers had not been paid for several
months, and they were bitterly discontented.
The Filipinos, too, were suffering severely. They were poorly fed and
poorly armed; but they kept up a constant petty warfare that was very
trying to the Spanish, although it was useless, so far as gaining any
real end was concerned. They now held two places, Angat (än´gät) and San
Mateo, in Bulacan Province. These had been fortified securely, and they
were by nature such fortresses that it would have been almost impossible
for the Spanish to dislodge any force from them. The Filipinos were not,
however, strong enough to make any effective warfare against the enemy,
but had to content themselves with holding these two places and
harassing the Spanish as much as they could.
On the 2d of July, 1897, the governor-general issued an edict commanding
all who were concerned in the rebellion to report themselves to the
Spanish authorities by July 10. The edict also ordered all officers,
military and civil, to prevent the people from leaving the towns or
villages, except to till the fields, to look after their farm
properties, or do their daily work. All who were allowed to go out on
such business must be provided with passes stating where they were
going, by what road they should travel, when they should return, and
what was their errand. Any Filipino staying out over time, or found on
any road or in any place not mentioned in the pass, was to be treated as
a rebel. The edict also declared that after July 10 all persons would be
obliged to prove their identity by “cedula personal,” together with the
pass. Anyone who failed to observe these orders, it was declared, would
be tried by court-martial.
This measure was so outrageous and so unnecessary that it had an effect
on the people exactly opposite to what the governor-general hoped for.
Those Filipinos who had been neutral were made angry by it. It enraged
the rebels and drove many others into the insurgent camp.
The rebels themselves responded by a document calling upon all Filipinos
to rise in defense of the country. This document demanded that the
friars should be expelled, and that land seized by them should be
returned to the towns to which it belonged; that all livings and
parishes should be divided equally between the Spanish and the native
priests. It asked for representation by Filipinos in Parliament; for
freedom of the press; for religious toleration; and for more just laws
in the islands. It demanded that there should be equal terms and pay for
Spanish and native civil servants; that no citizen should be banished
from the Philippines; and that there should be equal punishment for
Spaniards and Filipinos who should offend against the laws of the land.
It declared that the war would be prolonged until Spain was compelled to
grant the demands of the people. To these demands Aguinaldo added an
appeal to the people to join the rebellion. Many Filipinos responded,
and the force of the rebels was greatly increased.
General Primo de Rivera now began to urge the home government to grant
some of the demands made by the Filipinos. The authorities at Madrid
were coming to see that something must be done. The war in Cuba had so
drained the resources of Spain that she had neither men nor money to
expend in punishing the rebel Filipinos, and it was therefore decided to
make some concessions to their demands.
In August, 1897, Señor Pedro Alisandro Paterno (äl ē sän´drō pä ter´nō),
a Filipino, educated in Europe, a man of means and position in Manila,
was made the agent of Spain to try to arrange terms of peace with the
rebel leaders. He visited Aguinaldo in the mountains of Bulacan
Province. There he talked with the Filipino leader, and was given power
to act in his name. Aguinaldo stated to Señor Paterno the terms on which
peace could be made. It must always be a matter of regret that these
terms were never made public, either by the Filipinos or by the
Spaniards. In the disputes that afterwards arose, the Spanish government
denied the claims made by the Filipinos, and declared that the terms of
peace had included nothing of what the Filipinos stated had been agreed
upon. It will, therefore, never be certainly known what these terms
were.
[Illustration:
BIAC-NA-’BATO, WHERE THE TREATY WAS MADE.
]
Certain reforms in the government were demanded. These reforms were
opposed by the friars, whose power was lessened by them. The friars
endeavored to prevent the government from yielding the terms, whatever
they may have been, and succeeded in prolonging the trouble for several
months.
At last, however, Señor Paterno was given authority to act for the
captain-general of the forces in the islands, representing the Spanish
government. On September 19 he had a meeting with Aguinaldo and his
generals, and an agreement was entered into. This conference took place
at Biac-na-’bato (bē äk´nä´bä tō), a mountain fastness not far from the
famous sulphur springs, near Angat, in the province of Bulacan.
Here was made what is now known to history as the treaty of
Biac-na-’bato. It was made between Aguinaldo and the other Filipino
generals on the one hand, and Señor Paterno, acting for the Spanish
government, on the other. By its terms the Filipinos agreed to deliver
up their arms, all ammunition, etc., to the Spaniards. They were to give
up all places held by them, and to cease, for three years, all plotting
against the Spanish authority. These three years the government should
have for bringing about the reforms demanded and promised. Aguinaldo and
thirty-four others of the insurgent leaders promised to leave the
country, not to return until they were given permission by the Spanish
government.
The government, on its side, agreed to pay the rebels $1,000,000,
Mexican, as indemnity, and to reimburse the Filipinos not in arms, but
who had suffered by the war, in the sum of $700,000, Mexican. This
latter sum was to be paid in three equal installments, the last one to
be paid in six months after the _Te Deum_ should be sung in token that
peace was secured.
After this treaty had been signed, Aguinaldo and his thirty-four
companions were taken to Sual (sö´äl), on the coast, under an escort of
Spanish officers. Here they and their escort had a feast, and great good
feeling towards Spain was expressed by the Filipino military leaders.
Then the exiles were taken on board the steamship _Uranus_ (ö rä´nus),
for Hong-Kong. They sailed on December 27, 1897, with an escort of
Spaniards of high rank. When they reached port, they were handed a draft
on the Bank of Hong-Kong for $400,000, Mexican, the first installment on
the sum agreed to be paid them.
In the meantime there was rejoicing in Manila and in Madrid. General
Primo de Rivera received great commendation, and was publicly thanked by
the government. On every side were words of praise for his success as a
peacemaker. The Queen Regent presented him with the Grand Cross of San
Fernando and a pension of 10,000 pesetas a year.
The people now looked to see the promised reforms carried out; but,
instead, the government seemed to forget that any promises had been
made. The Filipinos had laid down their arms, and there were about two
months of quiet. Seven thousand of the troops were sent back to Spain,
and General Primo de Rivera evidently thought that he had broken the
back of the revolt. Business was resumed in Manila. The Spaniards went
on with their pleasures, and matters in Luzon seemed, on the surface, to
be as usual; but trouble was still in store for the islands.
Persons who had taken part in the rebellion were arrested, on slight
charges, from time to time, and put into prison; others were openly
insulted and regarded with suspicion, as rebels against the country.
There were many executions, and instead of the general pardon which was
taken for granted as a part of the treaty of peace, only a few pardons
were bestowed. Time went on. No steps were taken toward making the
reforms, and the Filipinos began to see that the government had once
more deceived them.
At this time the Seventy-fourth Regiment of native infantry was in
garrison at Cavite. This was a very old regiment in the Philippines. For
many years it had been known as the First Regiment of the Visayas. In
1886 it was thought that by making the native regiments a part of the
Spanish army another tie would be formed between the islands and Spain.
So these were all numbered in line with the Spanish regiments, and the
First Visayas became the Seventy-fourth Regiment of infantry.
Early in 1898, companies of armed men, whom the government called
ladrones, were infesting the province. The country was in an unsettled
state, and some of these companies—really insurgents who had taken up
arms again—came into Cavite Province. On March 24, the Seventy-fourth
Regiment was ordered out against them; but, to the surprise of
everybody, it refused to go. The soldiers declared that they were ready
to fight the enemies of Spain or of the islands, but that they would not
march against their own people. Eight corporals were called out of the
regiment, and the men were again ordered to advance, on penalty of death
to all. All refused, and the entire regiment was sent to the barracks to
await sentence. By morning it had deserted in a body. On the following
day another regiment joined them.
On March 25 occurred in Manila one of the most senseless of the many
tragedies which marked Spanish rule in the islands. This is known as the
massacre of Calle de Camba (käl´yā dā käm´bä). A number of Visayan
soldiers, in a public house on this street, fell into a discussion of
matters of no especial importance; but they got to talking loudly, and
became excited over their talk. Some one overheard them and reported to
the police.
[Illustration:
EMILIO AGUINALDO.
]
Without stopping to ask any questions, a band of the Guardia Civil came
and raided the place. They shot down a large number of the people, and
made between sixty and seventy of them prisoners. Some of these latter
were men who had not been in the building at all, but were merely
passing in the street and were taken along with the rest. Next morning
the whole company of sixty-two were taken out to the cemetery and shot.
The rebellion now flamed up again, and among the insurgents were two
battalions of well-trained veteran soldiers.
On the 3d of April, 1898, a party of 5,000 natives made a raid on the
city of Cebu. The leaders were armed with rifles, but the rank and file
had only bolos. The Spanish fled before them, and the natives cut the
cable to Manila, so that the refugees could not communicate with the
garrison there. A gunboat came in from Mindanao that afternoon, however,
and two small boats were sent to Iligan (ē lē gän´) and Iloilo for
troops. These arrived two or three days later, and were followed by
reënforcements from Manila. The rebels were forced out of the city on
the 8th of April, and sustained a crushing defeat. After that the
Spanish chased them back into the mountains, where they took refuge.
This new movement was more serious than any that had gone before. All
trust in Spain was swept away. The earlier leaders had desired reform,
but the Filipinos now in the field sought first of all vengeance for the
wrongs which had been heaped upon them.
It had been understood in connection with the treaty of Biac-na-’bato
that General Primo de Rivera would stay in the islands and see that the
reforms were carried out. Instead of his doing this, however, the home
government recalled him early in 1898, and appointed in his place
General Basilio Augusti (bä sē´li ō au gus´tē), a stranger to the
Philippines. He arrived in the islands early in April, and in the second
week of that month Primo de Rivera left Manila for Spain. Before he
reached Madrid, Spain’s disaster in Manila had taken place, and the
islands were fated never again to come under Spain’s rule.
_Summary._—One of Primo de Rivera’s first acts was to offer amnesty to
all Filipinos who would lay down their arms and pledge their
allegiance to Spain. This was a good move, and many accepted the
offer. Later, however, another edict was issued, which forbade people
to leave their towns or villages without passes stating their
business, the roads they might travel, and the time when they should
return. All persons were also required to prove identity by “cedula
personal.” This measure was so unreasonable and so severe that it
enraged the people, and the rebellion blazed up anew. The rebels
issued a proclamation calling upon the people to join them, and
stating their grievances and demands. The governor-general advised the
authorities in Spain to grant some of these demands. In August, 1897,
Pedro A. Paterno, a Filipino, was sent in behalf of Spain to confer
with the Filipino leaders. He met them at Biac-na-’bato, and there a
treaty was arranged. War was to cease; and the rebel leaders would
leave the country and give up all plotting against Spanish authority.
The government agreed to pay certain sums to the revolutionists; to
reimburse Filipinos not in rebellion, who had suffered from the war;
and to grant the reforms demanded by the rebels.
When this treaty had been signed, the thirty-five rebel leaders were
escorted to Sual, whence they sailed for Hong-Kong, on December 27,
1897, with an escort of Spaniards of high rank. At Hong-Kong they were
handed a draft for $400,000, Mexican, the first installment of a sum
agreed to be paid them. Business now went on in Manila. Many of the
Spanish troops were sent home; but no steps were taken toward the
promised reforms, and the people began to see that they had again been
deceived. On March 24, 1898, the Seventy-fourth Regiment of native
infantry revolted when ordered to go against certain Filipinos who had
taken up arms in Cavite Province. Next day this regiment deserted in a
body, and on the following day another regiment joined them. On March
25 occurred the massacre of Calle de Camba. All trust in Spain was now
at an end, and the people again began arming themselves. Contrary to
the understanding claimed under the treaty of Biac-na-’bato, a new
governor-general, Basilio Augusti, was sent out, and Primo de Rivera
left Manila in April, 1898.
_Questions._—What was the edict that caused the rebellion to break out
afresh? What proclamation did the patriot leaders issue? What did
Rivera advise the government to do? What was the treaty of
Biac-na-’bato? How was this treaty kept on the part of Spain?
[Illustration]
Chapter XIX.
THE BEGINNING OF AMERICAN OCCUPATION.
In the month of April, 1898, war was declared between the United States
and Spain. The cause of this war was the feeling of the people of the
United States in regard to the way in which Spain was treating the
people of Cuba and Porto Rico. These were the only colonies left of the
many Spain had once possessed in the New World.
For years Spain had oppressed and ill-treated the Cubans until human
nature could no longer bear such bitter injustice, and the people rose
against it. Spain poured her armies into the island, and the means which
she used to put down the rebellion were contrary to humane ideas among
civilized people. The United States more than once protested against
them. Spain, however, paid no attention to these protests. She did not
show in any way what the American Declaration of Independence calls “a
decent respect for the opinions of mankind.” Instead, she continued her
barbarous course in Cuba until other nations began to feel that the
United States, as the nearest neighbor of that unhappy country, should
interfere.
[Illustration:
ADMIRAL MONTOJO.
]
At last, during the night of February 15, 1898, the United States
battle-ship _Maine_, while lying in Havana harbor, was blown up. A mine
had been placed in the harbor exactly where the battle-ship was allowed
to anchor. This mine had exploded, and, as a result, 266 lives were lost
of the 353 officers and men who were on the ship.
A court was held to inquire into this awful event, but it was not
possible to say where the blame for the catastrophe belonged. It was
evident, however, that the state of affairs in Cuba was becoming
dangerous to other nations, and was no longer to be borne. The President
of the United States, in a special message to Congress, stated plainly
that the war in Cuba must end. Congress then passed a resolution to
declare war against Spain if that nation did not at once take her army
out of Cuba and restore peace there. As Spain refused to do this, war
was declared, first by the United States, and then by Spain.
At this time Commodore George Dewey was in command of the South Pacific
squadron of the United States. This fleet, which numbered ten ships, was
lying in the harbor of Hong-Kong. As that harbor is under English
control, and as Great Britain was friendly to both Spain and the United
States, she was compelled to treat both nations fairly. To allow the
fleet of one of these nations to remain in the harbor would have been
unfair to the other one; so Commodore Dewey was notified that his ships
must leave Hong-Kong. At the same time he received orders from his own
government to go in search of the Spanish fleet and to capture or
destroy it.
This fleet, as Dewey knew, was in Manila harbor; and, obeying orders, he
at once set out for Manila. The Spanish ships, seven in number, with ten
small gunboats, were anchored off Cavite. Commodore Dewey entered Manila
harbor under cover of the night, and when day broke on Sunday, May 1,
1898, his ships lay at anchor in front of Manila.
At six o’clock that morning began the famous battle of Manila Bay. By
half-past seven the Spanish flagship was in flames, and the commander of
the fleet, Admiral Montojo (mon tō´hō) was forced to take refuge on
another ship of the fleet, the _Isla de Cuba_. By noon of that day the
Spanish fleet was wholly destroyed, and the admiral and all survivors
had fled into Manila. The Americans had sustained no loss of life, and
only a slight injury to one of the ships, the _Boston_.
They next opened fire on the arsenal and fort at Cavite, and kept this
up until a flag of truce was shown. By sunset Cavite was under control
of the United States, and the Stars and Stripes floated over the town
and the forts at Cañcao (kän kä´ō), Punta (pön´tä), and Sangley
(säng´li).
[Illustration:
GOVERNOR-GENERAL AUGUSTI.
]
Commodore Dewey now demanded the surrender of Manila, which was refused
by Governor-General Augusti. Dewey refrained from taking the city by
force, but declared the port blockaded. On the following day he demanded
control of the telegraph station, and on this being refused he ordered
the cable cut. The officials in Manila had just time to send the dire
news to Spain before this order was carried out.
Admiral Dewey—for his government at once rewarded him by promoting him
to the rank of admiral—now held the key to the situation in the
Philippines. He was in possession of the island of Corregidor (kōr-räg´ē
dör), of the arsenal at Cavite, the city of Cavite, and the surrounding
country. His fleet lay in the harbor, ready at any moment to force the
surrender of Manila; but he was awaiting instructions from home and the
arrival of land forces, for which he had asked, before completing his
victory.
The Filipinos in arms had taken fresh courage on the approach of the
Americans, and had closed in about Manila, so that the Spaniards were
literally prisoners within the city limits. Outside, in Manila Bay, the
American fleet lay, cutting off all chance of escape by sea.
In the meantime the Filipino leader, Emilio Aguinaldo, had come to
Cavite from Hong-Kong, with a number of his companions in exile. They
had been given arms from the arsenal by Admiral Dewey, and Aguinaldo had
the admiral’s permission to organize his countrymen into an army. It was
intended that this army should act with the American forces, when the
latter should be ready to take the city and occupy the islands.
Aguinaldo, however, took advantage of this opportunity to attempt to
organize a dictatorial government, with himself at the head. Out of his
misguided ambition to rule, great trouble grew, for Filipinos and
Americans alike. The country, already suffering from a long period of
misrule and warfare, was plunged into still deeper misery. The Americans
were seriously hampered in their efforts to restore order, and the
establishment of peace was hindered.
The first reënforcements sent out to Admiral Dewey from America reached
Manila Bay in June, 1898, and were landed on the 30th day of that month.
Others followed very soon, and on the 25th of July General Wesley
Merritt (wes´li mer´it), the first American governor-general of Manila,
joined Admiral Dewey. On August 7 these two officers together demanded
the surrender of the city, and again on August 9; but the Spaniards
refused both demands.
On the 13th of August the Americans made a final demand, and on
receiving a third refusal they sent their land forces against Manila. At
the same time the fleet began the bombardment of the forts and trenches
south of the city. The walled city and the business district of Binondo
were purposely spared, as it was not the wish of the Americans to do any
more damage than was necessary. The battle was very short, lasting
hardly more than an hour. At the end of that time the Spaniards yielded
to superior force, and a white flag was hoisted in token of their
capitulation.
A few hours later the Spanish and the American commanders met, terms
were arranged, and Manila and the Philippine archipelago were
surrendered to the United States. The Spanish flag, which floated over
Fort Santiago, was hauled down, and the Stars and Stripes took its
place.
In the meantime, on the day before, August 12, 1898, a protocol of peace
had been signed between Spain and the United States. Such a protocol is
an agreement between two nations who are at war with each other to cease
fighting until terms of permanent peace can be arranged. By the terms of
the protocol it was agreed, among other things, that the United States
government was to occupy and hold Manila Bay and the city and harbor of
Manila until a treaty of peace should be made between that government
and Spain. It was also agreed that Spain and the United States should
each appoint not more than five commissioners, to meet in Paris at a
date not later than October 1. These commissioners were to arrange terms
of peace, and in the meantime all fighting between the two nations
should be suspended.
The commissioners were chosen by the two countries, and met in Paris as
had been agreed. It was not until the 10th of December, however, that
they succeeded in arranging terms. A treaty of peace was completed and
signed in Paris on that date. It was ratified in Washington on the 10th
of February, 1899, by the President of the United States and a
representative of the Queen Regent of Spain.
[Illustration:
THE FIRST AMERICAN FLAG RAISED IN MANILA.
]
Under this treaty of peace Spain, as had been planned in the protocol,
gave up all claim to Cuba; she ceded to the United States Porto Rico and
all of her other islands in the West Indies, and also the island of
Guam, one of the Ladrone group in the Pacific. Besides this, she ceded
“the archipelago known by the name of the Philippine Islands,” which for
over three hundred years had been one of her richest colonies. The
United States was to pay Spain the sum of $20,000,000, gold, within
three months after this ratified treaty was exchanged between the two
nations.
Other matters were dealt with in the treaty, but this transfer of the
Philippine archipelago is the point which vitally interests us now. It
is because of the facts which have been set forth in these chapters that
the United States is now in possession of the Philippines, and that this
history of the country is written in the English language.
But the real history of the Philippine Islands has only begun. The
events that make up the past record of this beautiful land have been but
a sad preface to the future which we hope may be hers. The Filipino
people have had much to bear. They have been shut away from the rest of
the world, and from a knowledge of the world’s progress. They have been
governed by unjust laws until the great mass of the people, left to
themselves, would scarcely know how to go about to rule their own lives.
But they have a history; they have a country; they have a future. It is
not the policy of the United States either to forget these things or to
let the people themselves forget them. As the late President McKinley
expressed it—the United States desires not conquest, but a benevolent
assimilation of these islands, that they may become one country and one
united, prosperous, and happy people.
_Summary._—In April, 1898, war was declared between the United States
and Spain. Commodore George Dewey, in command of the American squadron
in the Pacific, being ordered to go in search of the Spanish fleet in
the Pacific, and capture or destroy it, sailed for the Philippine
Islands, where he knew the fleet to be. He entered Manila Bay under
cover of night, April 30, and at daybreak on May 1 his ships lay at
anchor off Cavite. At six o’clock that same morning the battle of
Manila Bay was begun. By noon the Spanish fleet was destroyed, and the
admiral and all survivors had fled into the city. By sunset Cavite was
taken. Two months later, American troops arrived in Manila Bay, and on
August 13 the city of Manila surrendered to the Americans. On February
10, 1899, a treaty of peace was signed between the United States and
Spain. Under this treaty, Spain ceded the Philippine Islands to the
United States.
_Questions._—When was war declared between the United States and
Spain? What causes led up to this war? Why did Dewey have to leave
Hong-Kong harbor? What were his orders? How did he carry them out?
When did Manila surrender to the Americans? When did the first body of
American troops arrive? When was the treaty of peace signed? What were
the terms of that treaty relating to the Philippine Islands?
[Illustration]
Chapter XX.
CIVIL GOVERNMENT FOR THE PHILIPPINES.
The United States is often spoken of as a free country. Its people are
free because they have a voice in the making and upholding of their
government. There are strong laws in the land to protect their freedom.
No man and no state can be really free without such laws. If a man would
enjoy liberty, and freedom from the power of evil, he must obey the laws
of goodness. So a people must honor and uphold the laws of the state, if
the state is to be strong enough to protect their liberties. We can
easily see that if there were no laws, and each man were free to do as
he pleased, no man’s life or property would be safe. Every man would
have to take care of himself, and the land where such a condition
existed would cease to be a civilized country. Laws are made for the
protection of a people, and without them there would be an end to
liberty and progress.
For a great many years the government in the Philippine Islands was by
force of arms. It was not a government in which the people had any
voice. They were ruled by laws made by a power outside of themselves,
and often these laws were against their interests and welfare. It is
hard to make a people uphold such laws. The government that tries to do
this will always, in the end, have to call in force to its aid. A
government cannot long rule, however, by force alone. Even a military
government, to be successful, must be based upon just laws. It must
recognize and uphold what is just and right.
At the beginning of American rule in these islands, a good many reforms
had to be made at once. It was necessary to set the country in order, so
that business might go on, justice might be done, and safety insured to
the people. Life and property were in danger, and even among themselves
the people hardly knew who were their friends and who were their foes.
The country needed wise, just laws, strongly upheld, to bring about
peace, order, and safety. At that time a military rule was the best form
of government to meet this need, and military rule was therefore set up
in the islands.
This government made many changes in the country. Courts were
established, and every effort was made to carry out the laws with
justice to all. Many prisoners who had been for years wrongfully
imprisoned were released from jail. Steps were taken at once to open
schools where the children might be taught; and many other reforms were
made that, in time, will show good results in the country. They are of a
sort that will make this a much richer and happier land. This is what
the United States wishes to do. It is a great and powerful nation, and
other nations expect it to build up a good government in these islands.
The government at Washington has declared that the aim of American rule
in the Philippines is to prepare the people for self-government and to
teach them what true liberty really is.
In January, 1899, the President of the United States appointed a body of
men wise in government to come to the Philippine Islands from America.
These men were to learn all that they could about the country and its
people, in order that they might recommend a just form of government for
the country. They had to find out what were the ideas of the Filipino
people in regard to government, and to study the needs of the country,
before they could make any recommendations.
The commissioners came to Manila early in April, 1899, and began work at
once. They traveled about the country to see what it was like. They held
meetings in Manila and elsewhere, and invited leading Filipinos to come
and meet with them. They did this in order to ask them about matters of
interest to the country and its people. They promised the people that
just laws should be established in the country, and the government is
keeping that promise.
The members of the commission saw that good schools are a great need in
the country. An attempt was made to provide these at once, and the
commander of the army established a great many schools, with soldiers as
teachers. It was seen, however, that to make the schools what the people
needed would require experienced teachers. These could not be provided
immediately; but a couple of years later hundreds of trained American
teachers were brought to the islands. In time, when there are enough
trained Filipino teachers to carry on the work, this country will have a
school system as good as any in the world. The American Government has
pledged itself to bring education to these islands, and to see that the
people have justice and fair treatment in all that touches their lives.
It will not cease its efforts until the Filipinos are as able to
maintain themselves securely in their rights and liberties as are the
Americans.
[Illustration:
GOVERNOR WILLIAM H. TAFT.
]
The president of the first Philippine commission was the Hon. Jacob
Schurman, and this commission is known as the Schurman Commission. The
members did the work which they were sent here to do, and made a full
report to Congress. This report sets forth all that the commission had
learned about the country. The views of the Filipinos who appeared
before the commission are given in their own words, which were written
down at the time. The report was printed, in order that both Filipinos
and Americans might know all that had been said and done.
In April, 1900, a new commission was appointed to come to the islands
and do further work. This commission was known as the Taft Commission,
its president being the Hon. William H. Taft. To its members was given
the task of forming a government for the country.
A central government was set up in Manila in September, 1900. Central
government means the government for the whole country. The government of
provinces, towns, and barrios is called local government. The local
government is carried on by the provincial governors, by presidentes,
alcaldes, and lesser officers. These have authority in their own
districts, subject to that of the central government.
The central government at Manila was what is called a military
government—that is, the commander of the army in the islands was
governor-general of the country. He was the executive, or officer whose
business it is to execute, or carry out, the laws of a land. As we have
seen, the government in Spanish times was almost wholly a military
government. It was a different sort of military government, however,
from that in which Americans believe. Americans believe that even armed
force is only for upholding the law. It can never, justly, be law in
itself.
The executive of a country is, as we have said, the official who
executes the laws. In the United States the President is the executive.
The laws are framed by men whom the people elect to do the work. The men
thus elected become what is called a legislative, or law-making, body.
The chief legislative body in the United States is Congress. When the
central government was set up here in the Philippines, in September,
1900, the executive, or governor, was Major-General MacArthur, commander
of the army. The Taft Commission acted as the legislative body, and had,
as well, some executive powers.
[Illustration:
GENERAL ADNA R. CHAFFEE.
]
This government remained in force until July 4, 1901. At that time
Major-General Adna R. Chaffee succeeded Major-General MacArthur as
commander of the army, and Judge Taft, president of the commission, was
made governor of the islands. All the authority formerly held by the
military governor and the commission now passed to Governor Taft.
The new government was not military, but civil. Under a civil government
the law is maintained through the courts and police powers. Only when
the country, or a section of it, is in a state of rebellion is the
military power called upon to act. Even then it does not act for itself,
but as an arm of the civil government, to carry out the laws. The civil
government in the Philippines was set up July 4, 1901, the anniversary
of American independence. On that day Governor Taft was formally
inaugurated, or established, in office.
September 1, 1901, three Filipino members were added to the commission.
They were Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera and Señor Benito Legardo, of Manila,
and Señor José Luzuriaga, of Negros. The American members, besides
President (now Governor) Taft, were Hon. Luke E. Wright, Hon. Henry C.
Ide, Hon. Bernard Moses, and Hon. Dean Worcester. Besides carrying on
the present government, the commissioners were charged with the task of
planning a permanent government for the islands. To do this it was
necessary to have the aid of Filipino members, and the gentlemen thus
added to the commission were a great help to the Americans in drawing up
a form of government suitable to the country.
The plan which has been made and submitted to Congress is somewhat as
follows:
There should be a governor and four heads of departments. These should
be appointed by the President of the United States. There should also be
a body to be called the Executive Council. This council would be made up
of the governor, the four heads of departments, and four other members,
to be appointed by the President. Members of the council should be both
Filipinos and Americans. Besides the council there should be an
assembly, of not more than thirty representatives, all to be elected by
the Filipino people. The members of this assembly should serve for two
years. Under such a government the Executive Council and the Assembly
would have the power to elect two delegates to represent the interests
of the islands and of the Filipino people before Congress. These
delegates would be residents of the islands.
Such a system would give the Filipino people what is called a
representative government—that is, they would have a voice in making
their own laws. In time they would have just as much self-government as
they could fit themselves for. The report of the commission to Congress
recommends that such a government be begun here January 1, 1904. If this
is done, the success of the government must depend to a great extent
upon the efforts and faithfulness of the Filipino people themselves.
_Summary._—At the beginning of American rule in the Philippines, the
government was military. The commander of the army in the islands was
also governor-general. In January, 1899, the President of the United
States appointed a commission to come to the archipelago and study the
country. This commission is known as the Schurman Commission. The
commissioners came to Manila early in April, 1899. They held meetings
in Manila and elsewhere, and invited leading Filipinos to come and
talk with them on matters of government and the needs of the country.
They spent the year in learning all that they could about the islands,
and then made a report to Congress. During this year, schools were
opened in many parts of the archipelago, and certain needed reforms
were made in the courts. In April, 1900, a new commission, known as
the Taft Commission, was appointed. It was charged with the task of
forming a government for the country. The government continued for
another year to be military, but on July 4, 1901, civil government was
set up, and Hon. William H. Taft, president of the commission, became
the first civil governor. Three Filipino members were added to the
commission the following September. The civil government proceeded to
draw up plans for a permanent government in the islands, and submitted
them to the President and Congress.
_Questions._—Why is the United States often called a free country? Why
can there be no real liberty where there is no law? What are some of
the changes Americans have made in this country? When was the first
Philippine commission appointed? What did it do? What was the second
commission called? What sort of government was established here in
September, 1900? When was the civil government begun? Who was made
first civil governor? When were the first Filipino commissioners
appointed? How does the form of government recommended by the
commission give the Filipinos a voice in making their own laws?
[Illustration]
Chapter XXI.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE ARCHIPELAGO.
One of the things which history should teach us is how to make the
future better than the past has been. History teaches people about the
brave deeds done by their ancestors, and about what has been suffered
for the good of the land by those who have passed away. It is well for a
people to consider from time to time what manner of country theirs has
been. Only by doing this can they know how to serve its interests, and
to secure for it the best future that is possible.
For the Philippine Islands a very bright future may be hoped. How soon
prosperity and happiness will come to the country depends, however, more
largely upon its own people than upon any outside influence. The
Americans in the Philippines can only advise and teach; the actual work
of building up the country, and of making it a power in the Orient, must
be done by the Filipinos.
Let us take a look at the country as it is to-day, and learn something
of its nature and of its resources. Of all the islands, Luzon is the
largest, and, at the present time, the most important. It is a
delightful place, with lofty mountains, fertile plains, and beautiful
rivers. But beautiful as it is to-day, it possesses possibilities which,
if developed, will make it indeed what the Spanish were wont so proudly
to call it, “the Pearl of the Orient.”
On the west coast of Luzon are two important bays, Lingayen (lin gī ān´)
and Manila, with several smaller ones, as Subig (sö´big), Balayan (bä
lī´än), Batangas, and Tyabas, on the west and south. On the northern
side most of the great mountain ranges sweep down to the sea, sending
out spurs of land that form little coves or harbors; while on the south
coast lies the safely sheltered harbor of Sorsogon (sȯr sō gōn´).
The mountains in the western part of the island are broken up into
practically three ranges, none more than thirty or forty miles long, and
all known by one name, Sierra de Ilocos (sē e´rä dā ē lō´cos). Short
spurs of hills run out from all these, so that there is very little
level land in this section. A plain of small extent lies about Vigan (vē
gän´), and there is also the valley of the Abra (ä´brä), which is long
and narrow. East of the central cordillera and stretching out toward the
Sierra Madres (mä´drās) hills, is a beautiful valley over a hundred
miles long, and in some parts very wide. Through it runs the Rio Grande
de Cagayan (kä gī än´), with several smaller streams emptying into it.
Here is some of the best tobacco land in the country, and tobacco is
about the only crop raised. It was made the main crop during the years
of government monopoly, so that the cultivation of rice, of cocoa, and
of all the native products was driven out. This has been a great
misfortune to the country. The land is adapted to a variety of crops. It
is rich and fertile, and could be made to raise nearly all the food
crops needed by its inhabitants. The people have come, however, to
depend entirely upon one crop, and in years when the tobacco crop fails
there is great need in the country.
Another great valley, the finest and richest in Luzon, stretches from
the bay of Lingayen to Manila Bay. It has some 3,000 square miles of
fine farming land. The provinces of Pangasinan, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija,
Pampanga, and Manila lie in this valley. It is a well watered region.
The Rio Grande, the Chico, the Agno, and the Dagupan rivers flow through
it, besides numerous smaller streams.
In the central part of the plain rises Mount Arayat (ä rī ät´), a
volcanic mountain which in a clear day can be seen from Manila. It is
claimed that this mountain rose suddenly from the plain in a single
night, during some earthquake disturbance in the year 1700. We find this
statement made in apparent good faith by some scientific authorities. We
know that the mountain is of volcanic origin, and that it was formed
only a few hundred years ago; but there is no reliable record of when it
made its appearance, or of how long it was in forming.
Southward, in Batangas Province, is Lake Bombon. In the middle of this
lake is Taal volcano, whose many eruptions have in times past worked
destruction in that neighborhood. The lake, also, is of volcanic origin.
There must once have been a great mountain here, which sank during some
upheaval, forming the lake and the present volcano of Taal.
The country all about the lake is very fertile, and under good
cultivation. The principal crop there is coffee, of which an excellent
quality is grown; and formerly it was produced in very great quantities.
Rice, Indian corn, cotton, and all kinds of vegetables common to the
tropics, grow there in great abundance. These can be made a source of
profit in supplying the markets of Manila. There is a great deal of alum
about Taal volcano, and it is said that a good quality of iron is found
in the mountains of this province.
In Laguna Province is Bay (bī) Lake, or Laguna de Bay. This is a body of
fresh water, with an outlet by the Pasig River, which flows down to
Manila Bay. Light draft steamers run up the Pasig and through the lake,
and on this beautiful waterway is a constant throng of craft, going up
and down with produce for the different ports.
There is very fine timber in the island of Luzon, particularly in
Tayabas, Camarines Norte, and Ilocos Norte. Some gold has been found in
the mountains about these provinces, and specimens of many other
minerals have been brought to Manila.
In Camarines Sur lies the valley of the Vigan, in which are several
small lakes. There are large rice fields here, and the quality of the
rice is very fine. Large quantities of it are sent to Manila.
One of the richest and most fertile parts of the whole island is Albay
(äl bī´) Province, in the southeastern corner. This is a particularly
beautiful part of the island. Here is Mayon volcano, which is called by
scientists the most beautiful volcano in the world. It is the most
perfectly formed and symmetrical, but it is no more desirable a neighbor
than are volcanoes anywhere. In past years it has wrought great
destruction in the country, but of late has been quiet, and seems to be
on its good behavior.
[Illustration:
MAYON VOLCANO.
]
The rich volcanic soil of this district will produce almost anything
that can be made to grow in a tropical country. Very fine hemp grows
here, probably the best that the islands produce. Cocoa, coffee, sugar,
and rice all do well. Cocoanuts, bananas, all the fruits and vegetables
of the islands, grow in Albay, with scarcely any cultivation. The
climate is mild, and very healthful, and near Tibi are hot sulphur
springs which are said to cure rheumatism and numerous other ills.
The most important of the smaller islands lying out from Luzon are
Mindoro (mēn dō´rō) and Masbate (mäs bä´tā). These are small and very
mountainous. Mindoro is deeply wooded, but only a little is known of the
interior of the island.
The great bay of Manila is twenty miles long and thirty-two miles wide.
It has a depth in some places of seventy feet. It is entered by two
channels, one on either side of Corregidor Island. The main one is
called the Boca Grande (bō´kä grän´dā); the other, which is smaller, the
Boca Chica (bō´kä chē´kä). The bay is so large that it is more like an
inland sea than a bay; in fact, it is too large to afford secure
anchorage for vessels during great storms.
The Visayas form the second large division of the Philippine
archipelago. This is a group of islands, six in number, which lie
between Luzon and Mindanao. They are very thickly populated. The Visayan
people seem almost a distinct race—different from those of Luzon, and
from their neighbors of Mindanao. They speak a language of their own,
and are inclined to regard themselves as a separate people. Now that new
conditions prevail in the islands, and there is better communication
between the Visayas and Luzon, much of this feeling of separation among
the people will probably soon be overcome. It is to be hoped that it
will be. The people of the Philippines must come to feel that they are
one people, with common interests, and that all must work together to
develop the whole country.
Iloilo, the principal city of the Visayas, is on the island of Panay. It
is an open seaport, and will in time become a very important city. It
was destroyed during the insurrection, but is now rapidly building up
again. Under good management it will some day be one of the main
shipping centers of the archipelago.
[Illustration:
WEAVING JUSI.
]
Iloilo Province is a great sugar and rice growing district. It is,
besides, noted for the fine fabrics which its people make. This is the
center for the manufacture of the cloth known as jusi. The women
manufacture also most exquisite piña cloth. Some of this is of so fine a
quality that it has to be woven in closed rooms, for the slightest
breeze would serve to break the delicate threads of which it is made.
Very beautiful silk and cotton goods are also made in this province.
Since the American occupation there has come to be a large demand in
America for these goods, so that the people engaged in the industry are
kept very busy.
The island of Negros, which lies to the southeast of Panay, is an
important agricultural island. A great deal of sugar is grown here, and
there is much wealth in the island. Many of the large sugar estates are
owned by Filipinos. Considerable modern machinery has been introduced
into the island. Steel plows are in use, and in many places sugar is
manufactured by improved modern methods. All of these things have helped
to make Negros very prosperous. If the planters here would combine and
introduce machinery for refining their own sugar they would come in time
to an even greater measure of prosperity and independence than they now
enjoy. Rice, hemp, and some tobacco are raised in Negros, and fine
cocoanuts and bananas grow wild.
The island of Cebu is little more than the top of a mountain rising from
the sea. A good deal of historic interest centers here, however. The
city of Cebu was the first seat of Spanish government, and remained the
capital of the archipelago until Legaspi went to Luzon and set up his
government in Manila. Cebu was made an open seaport by the Spanish, and
although its exports are not large now, when the resources of this
island are developed the city will become an important shipping center.
There is a large Malay population in the island. There are no rivers or
valleys; the land is broken up into small farms, and hemp is the
principal crop. The island produces also a good deal of copra and raw
sugar, and the people raise most of their own foodstuffs.
Bohol, Leyte, and Samar are all volcanic islands. They are mountainous,
and subject to frequent earthquakes and similar disturbances. There is
not much agricultural land in Bohol, and the soil is poor and thin; but
a good deal of hemp is raised, and some cocoa. The people are fishermen
and sailors, and earn their living from the sea. Although Bohol is much
smaller than Cebu, it has a larger population.
Leyte ships more hemp than does any other of the Visayan islands. There
are several good harbors on this island, but Tacloban is the chief
shipping point. Very little is known of the interior of Leyte, for the
country has not been developed.
Samar is the largest of the Visayan islands, but has the smallest
population. It is a very mountainous country, wind-swept and beaten upon
by the sea. It lies directly in the track of the northeast monsoons,
which visit it with great fury. Its chief port, Catbalogan, is well
sheltered and a safe harbor.
Between the north of Samar and the southern end of Luzon lies the famous
Strait of San Bernardino. This is one of the principal entrances into
the archipelago from the Pacific Ocean. It has been the scene of many a
famous sea battle, for here the Dutch and the English ships used to lie
in wait for the galleons of Spain which brought treasure from Mexico to
the Philippines and carried out rich freights for Acapulco.
Next in size to Luzon is the island of Mindanao. It was on the north
coast of this island that Magellan made his first landing in the
Philippines. There are four great mountain ranges in Mindanao, with many
high peaks. The island is rich in vast forests, and some day the world
will draw its main supply of fine building lumber from them.
[Illustration:
THE FALLS OF BOTOCAN IN LUZON.
]
Although Mindanao is of volcanic formation, and has even within historic
times undergone great changes, there is only one active volcano in the
island. This is Mount Apo (ä´pō), a few miles from the coast of Davao
(dä vä´ō) Gulf. The mountain has three peaks. The top is covered with
sulphur, which sometimes gleams white as snow in the sunshine and at
other times makes Apo look like a mountain of gold.
There are a number of fine rivers and lakes on Mindanao. The best port
in the island is Balanag (bä lä-näg´), in the Gulf of Davao. The harbor
of Zamboanga is very good, and there is a still better harbor at
Lindangan (lēn dän´gän). Nowhere on the island, however, are there such
sheltered harbors as are found on the southern coast of Luzon.
Very few storms visit this part of the archipelago. The typhoons only
touch one corner of it in the far northeast. The climate of Mindanao is
more healthful than it has in the past been supposed to be. The soil is
very rich and fertile, and almost any tropical crop can be readily grown
there. Hemp, sugar-cane, tobacco, coffee, cocoa, rice, Indian corn, and
many other things are raised, and all do well; but the island is
backward as regards development. No serious attempt has ever been made
to build up its agriculture or its commerce. There are many tribes
living among its mountains whose names, even, are not known to the
civilized people of the archipelago. There are few Malays in Mindanao,
and their manufactures and industries have never been encouraged. Some
gold has been found in the hills, and silver is plentiful. Coal has also
been discovered in the mountains.
It is likely, however, that when Mindanao is opened up and its resources
are better known, it will be found that its wealth consists less in
minerals than in vegetable growths. We already know that the vegetation
of the island, little as it has been developed, surpasses that of Luzon
and the Visayas. The soil is of excellent quality, and the rains are so
abundant and the climate is so favorable that the entire island is
covered with vegetation. In the forests are found India rubber vines,
mahogany, ironwood, teak, ebony, and other trees of great value. There
are immense tangles of bamboo and rattan; hemp and banana trees grow
well, and cloves, nutmegs, and cinnamon.
This great island is divided into seven districts—Zamboanga, Misamis,
Suragao (sö rä gä´ō), Davao, Cottabato (kot tä bä´tō), Basilan (bäs ē
län´), and Lanay (län ī´). Although the population is small in
comparison with the great extent of the island, seventeen different
dialects are spoken among its people. Zamboanga is the capital town of
Mindanao. It has a good port, although somewhat open to the sea, and in
the river Masdong, three miles to the southeast, is safe anchorage,
protected from all winds.
South of Mindanao lies the Sulu archipelago. It is made up of four
groups. The population of this archipelago is estimated at between
20,000 and 30,000; but so very little is known about it that this
estimate is not likely to be correct. Joló, the capital city, on the
island of Sulu, is the residence of the sultans. It is a beautiful town,
clean and well-kept. It has a good port, and a line of steamers runs
direct from Joló to Singapore, and another to Manila. The vegetation of
this archipelago is very like that of Mindanao. There is abundance of
teak, mahogany, cedar, and other highly prized woods. Horses, cattle,
buffaloes, and goats are plentiful. The people of Joló manufacture fine
knives and chisels. The pearl fisheries of the archipelago are also very
important.
[Illustration:
A RIVER SCENE ON THE ISLAND OF LUZON.
]
Lying far off to the west, with the Sulu Sea on one side and the China
Sea on the other, with Borneo on the south and the island of Mindoco to
the north, is the long, narrow island of Palaúan (päl ä-wän´). The
Spanish called it Paragua (pär´a gwā). This island is inhabited chiefly
by the wild tribes. There are some 10,000 or more of the native
Christian population, and perhaps 10,000 Moros.
Palaúan, on account of its geographical position, is very important to
the archipelago. It will become important also from a commercial point
of view, as it forms, with the island Balabac (bäl´ä bäk), the Strait of
Balabac. At certain times of the year sailing vessels are compelled to
pass through this strait to enter the archipelago.
The rattan grown in this island is very fine. It is the best that comes
to Manila, and the trade in it is enormous. The tree from which gum
mastic is obtained grows there in great abundance, as well as other
trees producing resin. The island has fine pasture lands, with large
numbers of cattle, carabao, goats, and wild hogs; and there are found
the famous edible birds’ nests so much prized by the Chinese that they
sometimes pay for them twice their weight in silver. The island has not
been very well explored, but it is said to be rich in minerals.
South of Palaúan lies the little island of Balabac. It is only
thirty-six miles long and eight or ten wide, with a population of 3,000
or 4,000. Its only town is Balabac. Its forest growths are like those of
Palaúan, and there is said to be an abundant deposit of coal there.
_Questions._—Name some of the principal rivers of Luzon. Where is the
best tobacco land in this island? Where does the finest hemp grow?
What minerals are found on Luzon? Where is Laguna de Bay? What is its
outlet? Where on Luzon is the best timber found? How large is Manila
Bay?
What are the Visayas? What is the principal city of this group? Where
is it? What are its manufactures? What are the principal products of
Negros? Why is Cebu of interest historically? What is the principal
crop on this island? What sort of soil has Bohol? How do the people
live there? What is the principal crop on Leyte? What is its chief
city? Which is the largest of the Visayan islands? How does its
population compare with that of the other islands of the group? What
sort of country is it? Where is the Strait of San Bernardino? Why is
it famous?
Where is Mindanao? Where, on Mindanao, did Magellan first land? Are
there any active volcanos on the island? What sort of climate has
Mindanao? Is it a well watered country? What are its products? What is
its capital city? Has it any good harbors? Where is the Sulu
archipelago? What is its capital city? What sort of town is it? What
do the people manufacture? Where is Palaúan? Where is the Strait of
Balabac? Why is this strait important? Where is the island of Balabac?
[Illustration]
Chapter XXII.
THE FUTURE.
We have now learned something of the different islands of the Philippine
archipelago and of the possibilities that lie in them. Much has been
done in the past to make this country a source of income to the Spanish
crown; much, however, remains to be done, to make of the islands a
country whose prosperity shall help the people themselves.
The wealth of a country is not to be estimated by the amount of its
exports, or by the number of its great buildings, fine harbors, or
splendid cities. A nation may have all of these while the people
themselves are poor. The United States is a great and rich nation, not
because of the value of its national possessions, but because the great
mass of the people are fairly well off. There can be no real prosperity
in a country unless the people themselves share it; there can be no just
government if that government is considered as something apart from the
people. The people must have a part in it before it can be a good
government.
But before a people can take any real part in the government of a
civilized land, they must understand something of the principles on
which good government is based. They must know something of the world’s
history and of the government of other countries. They must have a
common language, and must be a united people, all ready to work for the
common good. That country can never prosper which is divided by a
feeling of race difference, or by jealousies that make hard feeling
among its people.
It is because the United States has learned these things by experience
that it has opened public schools in the Philippine Islands. It seeks to
have all the people learn English, because only by means of a common
language can the Americans and the Filipinos come to understand one
another; only by means of such a language can the different peoples
among the Philippines come into real harmony.
The time is coming, too, when English will be the language of the whole
commercial world. Already the people of other great countries know that
they must learn to speak it for business uses, and it is taught as a
matter of course in most of the schools of Europe.
[Illustration:
THE CAGAYAN DE ORO RIVER.
]
A people must have even more than a common language, common interests,
and modern education, to become a prosperous people. Not only must men
be wise enough to take part in their own government, but they must have
control of the trades and industries and commercial ventures of their
own land. So long as the commercial business of a country is almost
wholly carried on by foreigners, that country will never become rich. It
is not meant by this that foreigners should not be allowed to do
business in the country; that is an idea which belongs to dark ages of
the world’s history. But there should be no need for them in the
country. The people should have such patriotic pride in the welfare of
their own land as to conduct its business themselves.
Nevertheless, wherever there is a demand for anything in the commercial
world, there will surely, in time, be a supply. There must be merchants
in the Philippine Islands. There must be tradesmen, artisans, mechanics,
workers in wood, iron, and leather, and followers of the arts and crafts
known to civilization. If the Filipino people do not take up these lines
of work, and carry them out well and wisely, outsiders will come in and
monopolize them. They have already come to the archipelago. Moreover,
they will continue to come, from China and Japan, from India and Ceylon,
and from all the countries of Europe, if the people of the country do
not themselves learn to take their places. So long as the foreigners are
here, there will be nothing for the native people to do but to work as
laborers, or as clerks and servants.
The great resource of the Philippine Islands must always be agriculture.
When modern methods of farming are adopted here, and modern machinery
has taken the place of the wooden implements and the out-of-date tools
now in use; when we have large sugar mills and refineries in place of
the small and primitive ones now here, we shall see great progress made.
With peace in the country, and good government making every man secure
in his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, farm work
will be very different here. Nearly the entire population of the
archipelago ought then to draw a good living from the land. When all the
good land is brought under cultivation, the crops raised in the islands
ought to increase tenfold over what are now grown.
Before much can be accomplished, however, a great deal of government
work must be carried out. This the Americans have in view; already some
millions of dollars have been set aside by the civil government to make
roads, harbors, and bridges, and for public works of many sorts in the
archipelago. A day of hope seems opening, not merely for the Americans
to whom the task has fallen of carrying on the work, but for the whole
Filipino people. They and the Americans must work together to bring the
promises of this day into full fruitage.
No word about the islands can be complete unless it touches upon the
wonderful beauty of this country. This is a great part of the good
inheritance of the people. It ought to quicken the pleasure and pride of
every Filipino in his beautiful land. Its lofty mountains, its lovely
plains and noble rivers, the rich verdure that clothes the country, all
go to make up beautiful pictures everywhere. There is much that can and
must be done to make the cities and towns more fit and beautiful places
for people to live in; but for the outside country nature has done great
things.
The banana plants and the nipa and cocoanut palms are beautiful as well
as useful. So are the great mango trees and the fields of growing rice.
In all nature there is nothing more graceful than the giant bamboos that
grow by every stream. Their beauty is of a very perfect sort. This plant
does more than delight the eye; of all tropical growths it is the most
useful to man. In a little composition which was written by a Chinese
schoolboy in his own country, a fine account is given of the many uses
to which the bamboo can be put. He says:
[Illustration:
MANILA SCHOOLBOYS.
]
“We have a bamboo hedge in our grounds, and nothing could be better. I
am writing with a bamboo-handled pencil; I have seen bamboo masts on
vessels. On the whole, the bamboo is one of the most precious
possessions of China. Its tapering stalks supply joists for houses, ribs
for sails, shafts for spars, tubes and buckets for water, fishing-rods,
and the handles and ribs of our fans. The great bamboo, split, makes an
excellent roof. Rafts are made of the bamboo; baskets are woven of it.
The Chinaman sits in a bamboo chair at a bamboo table; and he may rest
himself, in the heat of the day, beneath the bamboo tree, with a bamboo
hat upon his head. When I have been all about the edges of the world,
and have seen all kinds of strange people, I ask nothing better than to
come back home and sit under the shade of a bamboo veranda, and when my
life is finished, to go to heaven from a bamboo bed.”
To how many other uses than even these do the Filipino people put
bamboo! They make the sails of ships from it; they build bridges of it;
boats, rafts, water-pipes, scaffolds for building houses, and all kinds
of baskets and furniture. Indeed this plant, with the India rubber plant
and the bijuca, would enable almost any Filipino to build and furnish a
house that would answer all the needs of the climate.
* * * * *
We have now studied the main facts in the history of these islands. The
Story of the Philippines has many sad chapters, but there need be no
more such. The Filipino people have been patient under trial. They have
been forbearing through much injustice and misrule. They have been brave
and patriotic always. Now we may hope that a new day has dawned upon the
land. What this day will bring forth depends, to a great extent, upon
the Filipino boys and girls who are now growing up. They must learn to
be good citizens. They must be able, when they are men and women, to
take a wise part in governing the country.
The night before José Rizal was shot, he said to a friend: “What is
death to me? I have sown; others are left to reap.”
Rizal would have been glad to see this new day. He would have been glad
to see schoolhouses opening everywhere in the country, for he knew that
knowledge is power. The seeds which he helped to sow are those of
liberty, justice, and peace. The Filipino people must be wise enough to
cherish these seeds into strong, healthy growth. If they do this the
country will surely reap the harvest which he foresaw, of peaceful days,
full of hope and happiness.
INDEX.
Acuña, Bravo de, 71.
Aetas, 44.
Agriculture, 239.
Aguinaldo, Emilio, 184, 194, 196, 207.
Albay Province, 224.
Alexander VI., Pope, 33.
Alfonso XII. of Spain, 167.
Alum, 224.
American, fleet, 204;
occupation, 203;
Revolution, 135;
teachers, 214, 215.
Anda, Simon de, 120–122, 126.
Apo, Mount, 231.
Arandia, Pedro de, 103, 105, 109, 112, 113.
Arayat, Mount, 223.
Archbishopric of Manila created, 65.
Arsenal, Cavite, 165, 205, 206.
Artillery regiment, Spanish, 164.
Assembly, Filipino, recommended, 218, 219.
Augusti, Governor-General, 201, 206.
Augustines, 30, 64, 125.
Azaldegin, General Lopez, 85, 86.
Balabac, 234.
Balanguengui Islands, 152.
Balboa, 14, 17.
Bamboo, 232, 241, 242.
Bandits, 157, 158.
Barbosa, Captain Duarte, 23.
Barcelona, 173.
Bautista, Fray Pedro, 67.
Biac-na-’bato, 195;
treaty of, 196, 200.
Birds’ nests, edible, 234.
Bishop of Manila, 63–65.
Blanco, Governor-General, 173, 181, 183, 184, 186.
Bohol, 229.
Bombon, Lake, 111, 223.
_Boston_, U. S. cruiser, 205.
Bridge of Spain, 23, 164, 171.
British in Manila, 117–122.
Burgos, Dr. José, 163, 164, 180.
Butuan, chief of, 19, 21, 23.
Cabeza de barangay, 62.
Cable cut, 206.
Calle de Camba, massacre of, 199.
Canary Islands, 16.
Cañcao, 205.
Caraballo, Juan, 25.
Carabaos, 192, 234.
Castillo, Captain Gregorio, 91.
Cathedral, Manila, 67, 93, 156, 157, 159.
Cavite Arsenal, 165, 205, 206.
Cavite, insurrection of, 162, 182.
Cebu, 228;
King Charles I. of, 21;
King Tupas of, 32, 37;
raid on, 200;
women of, 153.
“Cedula personal,” 168, 193.
Censorship of native books, 151.
Chaffee, Major-General, 217.
Charles I., King, 15, 16, 19, 21.
China, emperor of, 71.
Chinese in Manila, 56–59, 72, 105, 106, 155.
Cholera in Manila, 138, 168.
Christina, Queen, 146.
Church and State, relations between, 62–65, 89.
Civil government, American, 217;
Spanish, 156.
Claveria, Governor-General, 152.
Coffee, 224, 225.
Columbus, 13, 14.
Commission, Schurman, 214, 215;
Taft, 216, 217.
Commissioners, Filipino, 218.
Comparvano, Spanish Minister, 147.
_Concepcion_, the, 16, 25.
Congress, 217, 218.
Constitution of 1812, 136, 138, 180.
Corregidor Island, 206, 226.
Cortes, de Cadiz, 135, 180;
Spanish, 135, 136.
Cotton, 144.
Cuba ceded to United States, 209.
Cuesta, Filipino leader, 154.
Dattos, 48.
Davao Gulf, 231.
Del Cano, Juan Sebastian, 27, 29.
Delegates to Congress, Filipino, 219.
Desmarinas, Gomez Perez, 64, 65, 67;
Luis Perez, 68, 73.
Dewey, Admiral George, 204–207.
Draper, British general, 117, 119, 121.
Dutch, the, 74, 75, 76, 229.
Earthquakes, 84, 156, 167.
Education, 138, 214, 237.
“El Filibustero,” 172.
English language, 237.
Executive, 216;
Council, 218.
Fajardo, Governor-General, 84, 85.
Ferdinand VII., 136.
Fernate, king of, 67.
Filipino, Assembly, 159;
clergy, 162;
commissioners, 218;
people, 44, 45, 48, 214.
Folgueras, Governor-General, 140.
Foreigners in trade, 103, 137, 145, 239.
Forests, 232, 233.
Forman, John, historian, 187.
Freemasons, 164.
Friars, 64, 82, 125, 147, 162, 169, 171, 177, 187.
Galleons, 75, 76, 99–103, 135.
Gil, Padre Mariano, 183.
Goiti, Martin de, 36, 39, 54, 57, 70.
Gold, 224, 231.
Gomez, Dr. Mariano, 164.
Government, central, 216;
civil, 156, 217;
form of, recommended, 218.
Guam, 209.
Guardia Civil, 157, 182, 184, 199.
Guzman, Don Francisco Tello de, 68.
Head of a hundred, 48, 62.
Hemp, 225, 228, 229, 231, 232.
History of Philippines, 210, 221.
Holland, peace with, 77.
Hot Springs, 226.
Ide, Hon. Henry C., 218.
Igorrote-Chinese, 59.
Igorrotes, 45, 112, 113, 168.
Iloilo, 227.
Insurrection of Cavite, 162, 182.
_See_ Revolts.
Iron, 224.
Isabella II., 158, 159.
_Isla de Cuba_, 205.
_Isla de Panay_, 173.
Islas Filipinas, named, 28.
Jaena, Graciano Lopez, 169, 170.
Japan, emperor of, 65, 82, 181.
Jesuits, 126, 159, 177.
Joló, 114, 153, 232;
a Moro of, 47.
Jomohol, 18.
Jusi weaving, 227.
Katipunan, 180, 181, 183.
Kieman, Farranda, 65, 66.
King of the Tagals, the, 148, 149.
King’s Regiment, the, 105, 137, 140, 166.
Koxinga, 92–94.
Lachambre, General, 187.
Lacondola, 37–39.
Ladrone Islands, 18, 209.
Ladrones, bands of, 198.
Laguna de Bay, 224.
Lara, Governor-General, 88, 90.
_La Trinidad_, 16, 17.
Lavazares, Governor-General, 52, 57.
Laws, object of, 212.
Legardo, Sr. Benito, 218.
Legaspi, Miguel Lopez de, 18, 28–40, 52.
Legaspi, port of, 164.
Legislative bodies, 217.
Leyte, port of, 164, 229.
Liberal Party, 135, 170.
Li-ma-hong, 54, 56–59.
Lingayen, bay of, 222.
Llaneras, General, 191.
Louis Philippe, 146, 147.
Luneta, the, 30, 184.
Luzon, 34, 37, 136, 222.
MacArthur, Major-General, 217.
Machinery, improved, 228.
Mactan, island of, 21.
Magellan, Ferdinand, 14–24, 229;
Straits of, 17, 19.
_Maine_, the, 204.
Malhon, 18.
Malong’s revolt, 91.
Mandarins in Manila, 71.
Mango trees, 240.
Manila, 137, 145, 207, 208;
archbishopric of, 65;
cathedral, 67, 93, 156, 157, 159.
Manila Bay, 207, 222, 226;
battle of, 205.
Marauit campaign, 180.
Martinez, Governor-General, 140, 142.
Masbate, 226.
Matanda, Rajah, 37.
Maynila, 34, 38.
Mayon volcano, 168, 225.
McKinley, President, 210.
Merritt, Gen. Wesley, 207.
Mexico, 79, 128, 137;
High Court of, 52.
Military government, 213.
Mindanao, 18, 70, 229–232.
Mindoro, 226.
Monet, General, 192.
Montjierat, fortress of, 174.
Montojo, Admiral, 204, 205.
Morga, Governor-General, 70.
Morgado, Capt. Alonzo, 142.
Moriones, Governor-General, 164, 166.
Moro pirates, 71, 94, 138, 142, 152.
Moros, 46, 47, 70, 180.
Moses, Hon. Bernard, 218.
Municipal school, 159.
Native clergy, 147, 162, 177, 192.
Navidad, 28, 30.
Negritos, 44, 50.
Negros, 152, 228.
“Nolle me Tangere,” 172.
Normal school, 159.
Norzagaray, Governor-General, 154.
Novales, Captain, 140.
Nuevo Segovia, Bishop of, 113.
Nuñez, General, 192.
Order of Safety, the, 152.
Outlaws, 155.
Palaúan, 234.
Pampangans, revolt of, 91.
Parado, General Gonzales, 181.
Parian, the, 156;
gate, 155, 156.
Paris, peace of, 121.
Paterno, Sr. Pedro A., 194–196.
Peace, Commission, 208;
of Paris, 121;
treaty of, 208–210.
Pearl fisheries, 234.
Philip II., King, 28, 29, 30, 63, 68.
Philip III., King, 68.
Piña cloth, 227.
Pirates, Chinese, 54–59; _see_ Moro.
Polavieja, Governor-General, 174, 187, 191.
Pope Alexander VI., 33.
Porto Rico, 203, 209.
President of U. S., 204, 209, 214, 216, 218.
Prisoners released by U. S., 213.
Problete, Archbishop, 89, 96.
Protocol of peace, 208.
Punta, 205.
Raon, Governor-General, 126.
“Real Situado,” 103.
Recoletos, 177.
Reformers in Spain, 145.
Report of Schurman Commission, 215.
Representative government, 219.
Revolts—
Sumoroy’s, 85, 86.
Malong’s, 91.
Silan’s, 124.
Luzon, 136.
Novales’, 140.
Bohol, 145.
Tayabas, 148.
Tagal regiment, 148.
Cuesta’s, 154.
Cavite, 162.
Zamboanga, 164.
Seventy-fourth Regiment, 198.
Reyes, Ventura de Los, 136.
Ricafort, Governor-General, 144, 145.
Riccio, friar-mandarin, 92–94.
Rio de Janeiro, 16.
Rivera, Governor-General, 168, 189, 191, 194, 197, 201.
Rizal, Dr. José, 170–175, 243;
his widow, 174.
Roderigues, Estevan, 70.
Rojo, Archbishop, 117, 120, 122.
Royal dues, 106.
St. Lazarus Hospital, 83.
Salazar, Archbishop, 65.
Salazar, Simon de Anda y, 117, 120–122, 126.
Salcedo, Governor-General, 96.
Salcedo, Juan, 34–37, 51, 53, 54, 58, 59, 61.
_San Antonio_, 16, 17.
San Bernardino Strait, 229.
Sanchez, Alonzo, 63.
Sangley, 205.
San Fausto Chapel, 40.
San José College, 126.
San Juan del Monte, 182, 183.
San Lazarus Islands, 19.
San Lucar Barrameda, 16, 27.
_Santiago_, 16, 17.
Santo Tomos, 125.
Schools in the Philippines, 138, 213, 214, 237.
Schurman, Hon. Jacob, 215;
Commission, 214.
Secret societies, 164, 179.
Self-government, 159, 213, 214.
Sepoy troops, 118, 120.
Serrano, Juan, 23.
Seventy-fourth Regiment, revolt of the, 198.
Silan, revolt of, 124, 125.
Silang, battle of, 174.
Sioco, Japanese pirate, 57.
Soldiers as teachers, 214.
Soler, Governor-General, 168.
Soliman, chief of Maynila, 36, 38, 39.
South Pacific squadron, 204.
Spanish-Americans, 144.
Spanish Cortes, 135, 136.
Spanish, fleet, 205;
friars, 162, 169, 171, 177, 187;
troops, 186, 188.
Steam gunboats, 152.
Steel plows, 228.
Strait, of Balabac, 234;
of San Bernardino, 229.
Students, Filipino, 154, 169, 241.
Study of English, 237.
Sual, 196.
Suez canal, 164.
Sultan of Sulu, 113, 115.
Sulu archipelago, 232.
Sumoroy’s revolt, 85, 86.
Supreme Court, 61, 62, 68, 119, 120.
Suragao, 18;
district, 232.
Taal, town of, destroyed, 111;
volcano, 109, 223.
Tacloban, 164, 229.
Tagals, 48;
king of the, 148, 149.
Taufer, Miss Josephine, 174.
Tavera, Dr. Pardo de, 218.
_Te Deum_ sung in Manila, 196.
Tibi, 226.
Tobacco, inspectors, 130;
land, 222, 228;
monopoly, 129, 130, 134, 155, 167.
Torre, Governor-General, 158.
Torre’s guard, 158.
Trade, 99–107;
control of, 135;
restrictions on, 74, 100, 101.
Treaty of Paris, 121;
of Peace, 208;
of Trent, 162.
Trent, treaty of, 162.
_Trinidad, La_, 16.
_Trinidad_, galleon captured by British, 118.
Typhoons, 231.
United States, 203–210, 212, 214, 216, 236.
_Uranus_, island steamer, 197.
Urbiztondo, Governor-General, 153.
Urdaneta, Padre Andres de, 30, 33, 42.
Valenzuela, Sancho, 183.
Vargas, Don José, Basco y, 128, 130.
Venenchillo, Fray Francisco, 111.
Vicos, 125.
_Victoria_, 16, 17.
Vigan, 222, 224.
Villalobos, Ruy Lopez de, 28.
Visayans, 48.
Visayas, the, 226.
War, declaration of, 203.
Worcester, Hon. Dean, 218.
Wright, Hon. Luke E., 218.
Zamboanga, 231.
Zamora, Dr. Jacinto, 164.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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