The Inhabitants of the Philippines

by Frederic H. Sawyer

Piratical Outrage in Luzon.

At Laguimanóc, a port and village in the Province of Tayabas, there resided an Englishman, Mr. H. G. Brown, who had been many years in the Philippines. By the exercise of untiring industry, by braving the malaria of the primeval forests, and by his never-failing tact in dealing with the officials of the Woods and Forests on the one hand, and with the semi-barbarous and entirely lawless wood-cutters on the other, he had built up an extensive business in cutting timber in the state forests of Southern Luzon and the adjacent islands. He was owner of several sailing vessels, had a well-appointed saw-mill, and a comfortable residence at Languimanóc. He employed large numbers of wood-cutters; all under advances of pay, who were scattered about the Provinces of Tayabas, and Camarines Norte over a considerable area.

His business was so considerable that he paid the Government fully $30,000 per year as royalty on timber which was mostly shipped to Hong Kong and Shanghai.

In order to facilitate a business so profitable to them the Government placed a Custom House official at Atimónan, in the Bay of Lamon on the Pacific coast, to clear and despatch his timber vessels loaded at Atimónan, Gumacas, Lopez, Alabat Island, or other places. To show how little Mr. Brown spared himself, I may mention that not even the dreaded jungle-fever of Mindoro prevented him from personally superintending the loading of several vessels at different ports of that pestilential island. In persistence and pluck he was a worthy predecessor of Professor D. C. Worcester, who years afterwards showed his Anglo-Saxon determination in the same fearsome spot.

One day in December of 1884, Mr. Brown being absent in Hong Kong, and his manager, Mr. Anderson, busy on the Pacific coast, looking after the loading of a vessel, the out-door superintendent, a Swede named Alfred Olsen, was in charge of the house, office, and saw-mill at Laguimanóc, and was attending to the loading of the Tartar, one of Mr. Brown’s ships which was anchored in the bay taking in timber for China. She had a native crew who occasionally of an evening, when ashore to enjoy themselves, got up a disturbance with the villagers. On board this vessel there were, as is usual, two Carabineros or Custom House guards to prevent smuggling.

Although no one in the village suspected it, two large canoes full of armed men were lying concealed behind a point in Capuluan Cove on the opposite side of the Bay. At eight o’clock in the evening, it being quite dark, they came across, and in perfect order, according to a pre-arranged plan advanced in silence on the village. The assailants numbered twenty-eight men, and were variously armed with lances, bolos and daggers. Only the leader bore a revolver. A guard was left on the canoes, four of the gang were stationed at the door of Mr. Brown’s house, and others at strategic points, whilst the main body attacked the Tribunal close by which was also the estanco where there was some Government money, postage stamps and stamped paper. At all Tribunales there are a couple of cuadrilleros, or village constables on guard, armed usually with lance and bolo. These men did their duty and manfully resisted the pirates. In the combat which ensued, the sergeant of the Cuadrilleros was killed and some on both sides were wounded, but the pirates got the best of the fight, and plundered the estanco.

In the meantime, Olsen, having heard the uproar, may have thought that the crew of the Tartar were again making a disturbance. At all events he left the house unarmed and unsuspicious, thus walking into the trap laid for him. The Tagals have a great respect for fire-arms, more especially for the revolvers and repeating rifles of the foreigner, thus they did not venture to enter the house, but the moment Olsen stepped out into the darkness and before he could see round about him, he was attacked by two men on each side, who plunged their daggers into his body, piercing his lungs. Bleeding profusely and vomiting blood he rushed back into the house towards his bedroom to get his revolver which was under the bed. His assailants, however, followed him into the room and butchered him before he could grasp it. At least the revolver was afterwards found in its case with the perfect impress of his blood-stained hand upon the oaken lid. A native boy named Pablo, about eight years old, was in the house at the time, and in his terror squeezed himself into a narrow space behind the door and escaped discovery, although he was an eye-witness of the crime.

By this time the alarm had spread all over the little village, and the noise was heard on board the Tartar. The two Carabineros, taking their Remingtons and cartridge boxes, had themselves paddled on shore, and marching up the stairs which led to the rocky eminence on which the village stands, bravely advanced against the pirates although out-numbered by more than ten to one. They fired their rifles, but the gang rushed upon them and in a moment they were cut down, and according to Tagal custom, their bellies were ripped open. The pirates having now overcome all opposition and having plundered the estanco, and the inevitable Chinaman’s shop, transferred their attention to Mr. Brown’s house, which they ransacked, taking the contents of the safe, a collection of gold and silver coins, seven Martini-Henry rifles with ammunition, and two revolvers, as well as any other things they deemed of value. They burst open the desks, drawers, and wardrobes, cutting and hacking the furniture with their bolos in wanton mischief. Then embarking their spoil, they sailed away with the land breeze.

Information had been sent off to the nearest post of the Guardia Civil, and on its receipt, an officer with a force of that corps instantly set off and captured one party of the pirates red-handed as they beached their canoe. Within a week twenty-six had been captured and one shot dead whilst escaping. There only remained the leader. He, as it was afterwards discovered, was concealed in a secluded wood a few miles from Sariaya, and one night he was speared by the Captain of Cuadrilleros of that town, who is said to have had valid reasons for getting him out of the way.

This band of pirates were a mixed lot; some of them were principales or members of the town council of Sariaya, a picturesque little place on the southern slope of Mount Banajao, and some from San Juan de Boc-boc; others were ordinary inhabitants, a few were outlaws from the San Juan mountains, and four or five were fishermen whom the gang had met on their passage by sea and had invited to accompany them. This custom of Convites is explained in [Chapter XXV]. Of course the fishermen, when interrogated, declared they had been pressed into the service, but in fact very few natives have the moral courage to decline so pleasing an entertainment, as it appeals to a feeling deeply seated in their hearts, the love of rapine, only to be restrained by the heavy hand of a military police “who do not hesitate to shoot.” The provincial doctor arrived next morning with the judge who was to take the depositions of the villagers and draw up the sumario. Olsen was dead, the sergeant of Cuadrilleros also and one of the Carabineros, but strange to say, in spite of a dozen ghastly wounds, the other one was still alive, though his bowels were protruding, having fallen out through the gash which it is the Tagal custom to finish off with.

When the provincial doctor saw him, he said, “Nothing can possibly be done for him,” and departed. So, abandoned to his own resources, he replaced the bowels himself, and getting one of the villagers to bind him up, he eventually recovered. He was seen by Mr. Brown a year or two later, and is probably alive now. This seems extraordinary, but a similar case occurred to a man who had worked under me. An English bricklayer named John Heath had been employed building furnaces and kilns in Manila, and having completed his work, took to farming and rented some grass meadows (sacate lands) at Mandaloyan. One night he and another Englishman staying with him were attacked in his house by a party of Tagals with drawn bolos. The visitor, although wounded, leaped from the window and escaped, but Heath was cut down, then lifted on to the window sill, hacked about, and finally, according to Tagal custom, ripped open and left for dead. Yet this man also entirely recovered, and after a year seemed as strong as ever, although he was advised not to exert his strength. This outrage was clearly agrarian, and was, I feel sure, committed by those who had previously rented these lands and had been turned out. No one was ever punished for it.

To return to the gang of pirates; two had been killed, the rest were in prison. Year after year passed, still they remained in prison; judges came, stayed their term, were promoted and went, but still these men were never sentenced.

In 1889, I visited Laguimanóc to make a plan and valuation of the property, as the business was about to be taken over by a Limited Liability Company, established in Hong Kong. This was five years after the date of the murders, some of the prisoners had died in prison, the others were awaiting their sentence. But I found that the Government had established a sergeant’s post of the Guardia Civil in the village, which effectually prevented a repetition of the outrage.

A year later I again visited Laguimanóc, but the trial of the prisoners was no further advanced. No less than nine of them died in prison, still no sentence was pronounced. Even for a Philippine Court this was extraordinary, for the gang had committed the unpardonable crime “Resistencia a fuerza armada” (Resistance to an armed force), and could have been tried by Court-martial and summarily shot. They had also dared to lay their profane hands on the sacred money-box containing a portion of the “Real Haber” (Government money), so that it was not only a question of murder and robbery of private people. But the Civil Court, negligent, slothful, and corrupt, could not be got to convict, and a few years ago, Mr. Brown having left the islands, the surviving prisoners were pardoned by the Queen Regent on the occasion of the young King’s birthday.

The contrast between the military and civil elements in this case is very strong.

The military element performed its duties thoroughly well, under great difficulties, and promptly arrested the malefactors. In my experience this has been always the case, and I draw from it the conclusion that military Government is essential to the pacification of the Philippines and that authority must be backed up by a native force of constabulary under American officers who must be young and active.

Such offences as piracy or gang-robbery should never come before a Civil Court, but should be promptly settled by court-martial before which no technicalities or legal subtleties need be taken into account.

A firm, nay, a heavy hand over the Philippines is the most merciful in the long run.

I am sorry to have to relate that the Company which took over Mr. Brown’s business did not long prosper. Whilst he remained at the head of it, all went well, but as soon as he left to take a much-needed rest, it began to fail. The personality of the individual is everything in most Spanish countries and especially in the Philippines. No manager could be found who could keep on terms with the officials, control the wild wood-cutters or risk jungle-fever by entering the forests to personally inspect the work.

The organization decayed and the business went to pieces. Let intending investors take note.

Chapter VI.

Causes of Tagal Revolt.

Corrupt officials—“Laws of the Indies”—Philippines a dependency of Mexico up to 1800—The opening of the Suez Canal—Hordes of useless officials—The Asimilistas—Discontent, but no disturbance—Absence of crime—Natives petition for the expulsion of the Friars—Many signatories of the petition punished.

The Spanish Colonial system was based upon the simple and well-recognised principle of rewarding political services to the Government in power, by the pillage of a colony.

Sometimes special circumstances rendered it necessary for the Government to send out the man best fitted to cope with a critical situation, but in normal times the good old corrupt plan was followed.

The appointment of a Governor-General would be arranged by the Prime Minister and submitted for the approval of the monarch. The Colonial Minister, like the other subordinate ministers, counted for little in a Cabinet presided over by such commanding personalities as Cánovas, or Sagásta. They were, in fact, mere heads of departments.

In another chapter I have remarked that it was generally believed that General Weyler purchased his appointment as Governor-General of the Philippines, by a cash payment and an annual subsidy.

There were, however, certain officials whom it would be unjust to class with those who practically had to rob for their living, because they were subject to dismissal at any moment. These unfortunates knew perfectly well that integrity and ability would not ensure them a single day’s grace. Whenever the man in power wanted that place for his cousin or his uncle, out they would go. Similarly, if they had any interest, misbehaviour would not lose the appointment. Considering the system, the wonder was that some of them were honest, not that most of them were thieves.

Amongst those who had fixed appointments were the Inspector-General of Forests and his assistants. Every British and American resident in, or visitor to Manila, will remember a Catalan gentleman, Don Sebastian Vidal y Soler and his charming wife Dona Ella Paoli de Vidal, a lady from Philadelphia. Vidal was a man of great learning and equal modesty, a man of the strictest honour, kind-hearted and charitable in the extreme. He was well-known in America, in London, Paris, and Amsterdam, and wherever botanists congregate. His death in 1890 was universally regretted.

In the same branch of the service there was another gentleman whom I must name. Don José Sainz de Baranda, at one time acting Colonial Secretary, is a most courteous gentleman, whose high character and marked ability were well worthy of the confidence reposed in him by General Terrero. Any country might be proud to own Señor Sainz de Baranda. For my part I preserve the most agreeable remembrances of these two friends.

In the Department of Public Works there were men of considerable attainments as engineers—Don Eduardo Lopez Navarro, author of the project for the new harbour; Don Genaro Palacios, who designed and carried out the waterworks and designed the Church of Saint Sebastian, in both of which works I took part; and Señor Brockman, who constructed several lighthouses in different parts of the Archipelago. I feel bound to say that so far as my knowledge went, there was no corruption or underhand work in either the Inspection of Forests or the Public Works.

As to the patronage of other civil offices I have had the procedure explained to me by a Spaniard well up in the subject, and I give an imaginary instance to illustrate the system.

When a political party came into power and the question of forming the Cabinet was being debated, Señor M——, a leader of a group of deputies, might say, “I renounce the honour of entering the Cabinet, and instead will take the Presidency of the Chamber and the right to appoint the Collector of Customs at Havana, the Intendant General of Hacienda at Manila, and the Governor of Batangas, with a dozen second and third class governorships or judgeships.”

If this was agreed to, perhaps, after some haggling, Señor M—— distributed the nominations to the lower appointments amongst his supporters, who disposed of them for their own advantage.

The nominations to the higher offices remained the absolute private property of Señor M——, and he proceeded to pick out men up to the job, to undertake the appointments. Some of them paid him large sums in cash, and others entered into contracts binding themselves to remit him monthly a large proportion of their emoluments and pickings. In some cases it was stipulated that if a single payment was in default, the unfortunate employé would be instantly dismissed. I have personally known of this condition. Those he nominated referred to him as their padrino or godfather.

The actual holders of the offices referred to would then be summarily dismissed, however well they might have behaved whilst serving, and the new horde would be installed in their places and would use every means to fill their pockets and to pay their padrino.

Complaints against them were not likely to lead to their removal, for they were protected in Madrid by the powerful political interest of their padrino. If they kept within the criminal law, they had little to fear, however greedy they might be.

Some of the governors and other officials had the talent of filling their pockets without making enemies. I have already referred to a Governor of Batangas, as eminent in this line. It must not be supposed that the illicit gains of the officials were extorted from the individual native. They were principally drawn from the fallos, or local tax in redemption of polos or personal service. This money ought to have been employed in repairing roads, bridges, and public buildings. But as nearly the whole was diverted into the pockets of the officials and their padrinos, the roads became impassable in the wet season, the bridges, if of wood, rotted, if of stone, were thrown down by the earthquakes or carried away by floods, whilst the tribunales (town halls), fell into decay. I have known cases where a planter has been unable for months to send his sugar down to the port for shipment, as it was absolutely impossible for carts to pass along the road in the wet season. In a wealthy and populous province like Batangas, the fallos were sufficient to have paved all the main roads in the province with granite and to have bridged every stream.

I may mention here a characteristic trait of Spanish administration. When a river-bridge fell down, they not only did not repair or renew it, but they put up to auction the monopoly of ferrying vehicles and passengers across the stream. The purchaser of the right fastened a rattan across the river and provided a couple of canoes with a platform of cane laid over them, which served to ferry vehicles across by means of the rope; one or two at a time at a rather heavy charge. This truly Spanish method provided a revenue for the Administration, or pickings for an official, instead of requiring an outlay for a new bridge.

Still, the natives, never having known anything better, supported these drawbacks with remarkable equanimity. They were left very much to themselves, and were not interfered with nor worried. The army was small and the conscription did not press heavily upon them.

They lived under the “Leyes de Indias” (may their makers have found favour with God), a code of laws deserving of the greatest praise for wisdom and humanity. They protected the native against extortion, constituting him a perpetual minor as against the usurer. He could not be sued for more than five dollars. Compare this wise disposition with what has been going on in India ever since the British Government has administered it, where the principal occupation of the lower courts is to decree the foreclosure of mortgages on the ryot’s patches of land at the suit of the village usurer. The result has been that in some provinces the small landowner class who furnished fighting men for the Indian Army has almost disappeared. It is only now in 1900 that something is proposed to be done to remedy this evil, and knowing my countrymen, I quite expect some weak-kneed compromise will be arrived at.

The “Leyes de Indias” conferred upon the native the perpetual usufruct of any land that he kept under cultivation; and this right descended from father to son.

As a result of these laws, most of the arable land in Luzon, Cebú, and some other islands belongs to the natives to this day, although many of them have no other title than possession. The natives also had the privilege of cutting timber in the forests for house-building or repairing, or for making a canoe free of dues. They could also cut bamboos for their fences or roofs and collect firewood.

These privileges were restricted to natives, and were not extended to Spaniards or Chinese. The taxes paid by the natives were light and they could live and thrive.

Had these wise and admirable laws been carried out in the spirit in which they were made, the Philippines might have been Spanish to this day and the natives would have had little to complain of.

The Philippines were for nearly three centuries after their discovery by the Spaniards a mere dependency of Mexico, communication being kept up by an annual galleon or sometimes two sailing between Acapulco and Manila through the Strait of San Bernardino. The long and tedious voyage deterred all but priests and officials from proceeding to the Philippines.

When this route was given up, which happened some ten years before the Independence of Mexico, which was proclaimed in 1820, communication with the Peninsula was by sailing vessels via the Cape of Good Hope. That was a voyage that would not be lightly undertaken either going or returning. Spaniards who then came to the Archipelago often stayed there for the rest of their lives.

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the establishment of a line of steamers bringing Manila within thirty days of Barcelona was the most important event in the history of the Philippines since the conquest, and it had the gravest consequences. It greatly stimulated the trade of the Philippines, but it enormously increased the number of Spaniards in the Islands. Hordes of hungry-looking Iberians arrived by every steamer with nominations to posts for which most of them possessed no qualification. It seemed as if all the loafers of the Puerta del Sol and the Calle de Alcalá were to be dumped in the Philippines and fed by the Treasury.

Vicols Preparing Hemp.—Drawing Out the Fibre.

See p. [286].

Reduced Fac-simile of the Document of Identity of the Author, Showing the Amount Paid Annually as Poll-tax, $22.50.

To face p. 53.

Places had to be found for them, and a bureaucratic administration partly copied from French practice, was rapidly substituted for the old paternal régime. New departments were organised or the old ones greatly extended. Far more money was spent on the salaries of engineers and assistant-engineers than on public works. The salaries of the officials of the Woods and Forests exceeded the revenue derived from dues on timber cut in the Crown forests, and their regulations seriously interfered with the privileges of the natives previously mentioned, and caused great discontent. The salaries of the Inspectors of Mines were almost a useless expense, for there was no revenue derived from mines, in fact there were no mines, only placers and washings. A medical service was organised at great cost and to little advantage. Doctors were appointed to reside at the hot springs, and one could not take a bath there without paying a fee. Model farms and Schools of Agriculture were started, to find places for more Spaniards, for the officials received their salaries, but no funds were forthcoming for material or establishment.

In 1886 there took place the separation of the executive and the judicial functions, and eighteen civil governors were appointed to the principal provinces. Later on, eighteen judges of first instance were nominated to these same provinces. After centuries of rule, the Alcaldes Mayores were abolished.

Then came a period when certain bureaucrats in Madrid conceived what they thought a vast and patriotic idea. They founded a school of politicians who called themselves Asimilistas. Their grand idea was to assimilate the administration of the Philippines to that of the Mother Country. They thought it wise to assimilate the institutions of a tropical dependency with eight millions of native inhabitants, of whom one-sixth part were independent heathen or Mahometans, to the gradually evolved institutions of Old Spain.

By way of a commencement they began to speak and write of the Philippines as “that beautiful province of Spain.” The Philippine army had always been distinct from the Peninsular army, but now by a paper reform it was embodied in it, and the regiments were re-numbered, the 1st Visayas Regiment becoming the 74th, etc. This was considered to be a strong link to bind together the Mother Country and the Colony.

The extra expense of these crowds of employés and of some expeditions to Mindanao and Joló was very heavy, accordingly every year saw some new and oppressive tax. In 1883 the “Tributo,” or tribute that had been paid by the natives since the conquest, was replaced by a tax on the Cédula Personal, or document of identity, and this was paid by all adults of both sexes, whether Spaniards, foreigners, or half-castes. In the Appendix will be found a facsimile of my cédula.

The Customs duties were several times raised, sometimes without much notice. A tax on all trades and professions, on horses and carriages, a heavy port tax, a vexatious tax on all animals slaughtered, even down to a sucking pig, taxes on the hand-looms used by the women in their spare time, taxes on sugar-mills, rice-mills, on boats and lighters, and on houses; all these and many more were collected.

There were also serious agrarian disputes between the Dominicans, the Augustinians, and the tenants on their estates, owing to excessive rents demanded by the friars. All these circumstances brought about a great change in the relations between the Spaniards and the natives. Whereas formerly the wealthy native kept open house on feast days, and received with pleasure the visits of Spaniards, generally elderly men used to the country and speaking the language of the people, he now found his house invaded by a crowd of young officials new to the country and its ways, who fell on the eatables like a swarm of famishing locusts, and soon devoured the turkeys and hams and other good things he had provided to entertain his friends. Besides, his women-folk would probably not be treated by the new-comers with the courtesy and consideration they had been used to.

An estrangement gradually made itself felt, and increased year by year, in direct proportion to the influx of Spaniards. Not one in a hundred of these did any useful work or added in any way to the wealth of the community. They were the drones of the hive, and were in fact directly harmful, for they had to be supported from the Treasury, and they irritated the natives by their illegal exactions and overbearing conduct whenever they came in contact with them.

Still year after year passed without disturbances. From 1877 to 1892, whilst I was in the country, I can testify that almost perfect order reigned. The fighting in Mindanao and Joló went on as a matter of course like the Acheen war in Sumatra, and an expedition was sent against the Igorrotes. But in the civilised districts of Luzon and Visayas good order was kept. The only outbreak I remember was the religious excitement in Samar, which closed when the false gods were shot down.

Crime was infrequent, and in those fourteen years I do not think half-a-dozen executions took place. There was less risk of burglary in Manila than in a London suburb. Whatever their faults I must give the Spanish Administration credit for the perfect order they kept. Manila, in this respect, compared favourably with Hong Kong, and still better with Singapore, where the authorities, perhaps remembering the fate of Governor Eyre of Jamaica, and in terror of Exeter Hall, tolerated the incredible insolence of the Chinese secret societies. These villainous organisations, which in Singapore successfully defied the law, never raised their heads in Manila, and Rajah Brooke showed how to treat them in Sarawak.

In pursuance of the Asimilista policy, in July 1887, the Penal Code was put in force in the Philippines by peremptory order from the Government at Madrid, and much against the opinion of experienced officials. In December of the same year the Civil Code was promulgated.

It cannot be said that these reforms, however well-intended, produced any beneficial effect on the natives. Combined with the great increase in taxation, they intensified the discontent that was always smouldering, more especially in the hearts of the native priests. Their grievances against the religious orders, and more particularly against the Recollets, who had been compensated for the handing over of their benefices in Mindanao to the Jesuits, at the expense of the secular clergy, were the cause of their bitter hatred of the Spanish friars.

In 1883 Field-Marshal Jovellar had thought it necessary to strengthen the small garrison by bringing out two battalions of Marine Infantry. However it was not till March 1st, 1888, that some natives and mestizos, emboldened by the fact that an anti-clerical, D. Jose Centeno, a mining engineer, was Acting Civil Governor of Manila, walked in procession to his official residence and presented a petition addressed to the Governor-General, demanding the immediate expulsion of the friars of the religious orders, and of the Archbishop, whom they declared unworthy to occupy the Primacy of the Islands. They further demanded the secularisation of the benefices and the confiscation of the estates of the Augustinians and the Dominicans.

To this petition there were 810 signatures, but when the signatories were summoned and examined, most of them (as is their custom) declared they did not know what they had signed, and denied that they wished the friars to be expelled.

The petition was said to have been written by Doroteo Cortes, a mestizo lawyer, but I am told he did not sign it.

This manifestation, sixteen years after the mutiny at Cavite, seems to have had some relation to that event, for the petition accused the friars of compassing the death of Father Burgos, by subornation of justice.

The result of this appeal of the natives was that the principal persons who took part in it were banished, or sent to reside at undesirable spots within the Archipelago.

There were some agrarian disturbances at Calamba and Santa Rosa, one of the estates of the Dominicans, in 1890.

I may say that only the Augustinians, the Dominicans, and the Recollets possess landed estates, and that I have had the opportunity of examining several of them. They are all situated in Tagal territory, and as they are the pick of the lands, their possession by the friars has caused great heart-burnings amongst the Tagals—there has been a smouldering agrarian discontent for years.

Chapter VII.

The Religious Orders.

The Augustinians—Their glorious founder—Austin Friars in England—Scotland—Mexico—They sail with Villalobos for the Islands of the Setting Sun—Their disastrous voyage—Fray Andres Urdaneta and his companions—Foundation of Cebú and Manila with two hundred and forty other towns—Missions to Japan and China—The Flora Filipina—The Franciscans—The Jesuits—The Dominicans—The Recollets—Statistics of the religious orders in the islands—Turbulence of the friars—Always ready to fight for their country—Furnish a war ship and command it—Refuse to exhibit the titles of their estates in 1689—The Augustinians take up arms against the British—Ten of them fall on the field of battle—Their rectories sacked and burnt—Bravery of the archbishop and friars in 1820—Father Ibañez raises a battalion—Leads it to the assault of a Moro Cotta—Execution of native priests in 1872—Small garrison in the islands—Influence of the friars—Their behaviour—Herr Jagor—Foreman—Worcester—Younghusband—Opinion of Pope Clement X.—Tennie C. Claflin—Equality of opportunity—Statuesque figures of the girls—The author’s experience of the Friars—The Philippine clergy—Who shall cast the first stone?—Constitution of the orders—Life of a friar—May become an archbishop—The chapter—The estates—The Peace Commission—Pacification retarded—Who will collect the rents?

Before referring further to these estates it may be as well to give a brief sketch of the religious orders, whose existence is bound up with the history of the Philippines, to the conversion and civilisation of which they have so largely contributed. They won the islands for Spain, they held them for centuries, and now, having served their purpose, they have lost them, doubtless for ever.

The Augustinians were the pioneers in converting the inhabitants of the Philippines, and they have maintained their predominance ever since.

I therefore begin my description with this venerable order, and it will be proper to say something about its glorious founder.

The following data are taken from the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica’ and other sources.

Augustine (Aurelius Augustinus) one of the four great fathers of the Latin Church, and admittedly the greatest of the four, was born at Tagaste (Tajelt), a town of Numidia, North Africa, A.D. 354. His father, Patricius, was a burgess of this town, and was still a pagan at the time of his son’s birth.

His mother, Mónica, was not only a Christian, but a woman of the most elevated, tender, and devoted piety, whose affectionate and beautiful enthusiasm have passed into a touching type of womanly saintliness for all ages.

Augustine studied rhetoric at Madaura and Carthage, and visited Rome and Milan.

He passed many years in unrest of mind and doubt, but ultimately a passage from Romans xii. 13, 14 seemed to pour the light of peace into his heart. He became a Christian and was baptised in his thirty-third year. Patricius was also converted and baptised, and Monica found the desire of her life fulfilled and her dear ones united to her in faith.

After some years of retirement, Augustine made a journey to Hippo Regius, a Roman colony on the River Rubricatus in North Africa, and became a presbyter.

His principal writings are ‘The City of God,’ ‘Confessions,’ and ‘The Trinity.’

He died during the siege of Hippo by the Vandals at the age of 75.

The theological position and influence of Augustine may be said to be unrivalled. No single name has ever exercised such power over the Christian Church, and no one mind has ever made such an impression upon Christian thought.

The Augustinians look upon this great Christian moralist as their founder, and reverence his memory and that of his saintly mother.

Whether he personally drew up the rules they observe or not, they were his disciples, following in his foot-steps, and finding their inspiration in his writings and example.

Great indeed must have been the magnetic force of that vehement nature that it could give an impetus to his followers that carried them all over Europe, that made them the companions of the discoverers and conquerors of the New World, and that filled their hearts with zeal and courage to face the dangers of the great lone ocean in company with Villalobos and Legáspi.

The Order traces its inception to the town of Hippo, and fixes the date at A.D. 395. Many, doubtless, were its vicissitudes, but in the year 1061, and again in 1214, we find the Order remodelled and extended. The Augustinians were very numerous in England and Scotland. In 1105 they had settled at Colchester and at Nostell, near Pontefract. Later they had abbeys at Bristol, Llantony, Christchurch, Twynham, Bolton and London, where part of their church (Austin Friars) is still standing. Altogether they had 170 houses in England. Their first house in Scotland was at Scone in 1114, and they soon had 25 houses, including churches or abbeys at Inchcolm in the Firth of Forth, St Andrew’s, Holyrood, Cambuskenneth and Inchaffray.

The Austin Friars or Black Canons were then described as an order of regular clergy holding a middle position between monks and secular canons, almost resembling a community of parish priests living under rule, and they have retained these characteristics to the present day.

They were numerous in Spain, and some of the other Orders, such as the Dominicans or Preaching Friars, the Franciscans, and the Recollets, may almost be looked upon as offshoots of this venerable order, for they conformed to its general rule, with certain additions. Thus the Dominicans, founded by Saint Dominic de Guzman, were incorporated in 1216 by a Bull of Pope Honorius III. and adopted a rule of absolute poverty or mendicancy in addition to the usual vows of chastity and obedience.

This Order held its first chapter in 1220 at Bologna, under the presidency of its founder.

The vows of poverty of this powerful Order have not prevented it from holding large estates in the Philippines, from owning blocks of buildings in Manila and Hong Kong, and from having a huge sum invested in British and American securities. These however belong to the Corporation and not to the individual members.

From Spain the Augustinians spread to Mexico and assisted the Franciscans, who were the pioneers there under Father Bartolomé de Olmédo and Father Martin de Valencia, to gather in the abundant harvest. Father Toribio de Benavénte was one of twelve Franciscans sent out in 1523, and he has left records of the success of these missionaries. They opened schools and founded colleges, and in twenty years nine millions of converts had been admitted into the Christian fold.

By this time Magellan had passed the narrow straits, and sailing across the vast solitudes of the Pacific had reached the Visayas Islands to meet his fate, and Sebastian de Elcano had completed the circumnavigation of the globe and had arrived in Spain with accounts of the new lands which the expedition had discovered.

When, in 1542, Captain Ruy Lopez de Villalobos sailed from Natividad (Mexico) for the Islands of the Setting Sun, only to die of grief at Amboyna, there accompanied him a group of Augustinian Friars. After the loss of his vessels the survivors took ship for Goa and from thence returned to Europe, arriving at Lisbon in August 1549, seven years after leaving the port of Natividad.

The Order has carefully preserved the names of these early missionaries; they are, Frs. Jeronimo de San Esteban, Sebastian de Trasierra, Nicolas de Perea, Alonso Alvarado.

In the expedition under General Don Miguel Lopez de Legáspi, which sailed in 1564, Fray Andres Urdanéta, an Augustinian, went as chief navigator and cartographer, and the following friars accompanied him: Frs. Andres de Aiguirre, Martin de Rada, Diego Herrero, Pedro Gamboa.

Since founding the city of Cebú in 1570, and the city of Manila the following year, the Augustinians have continued to found town after town, and down to 1892 had founded no less than two hundred and forty-two, administered by two hundred and forty-seven priests of the Order as by the following table:—

Year 1892.