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.
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.