CAUSE OF THE REBELLION.
The utter want of religion to be found among a great number of the Spanish residents, the facility with which the ancient laws of the Archipelago were changed, the instability of the public functionaries, a fruitful source of abuses, contributed for several years to discredit the Spanish name. But Freemasonry, as the world knows, has been the principal cause of the social disorganization of the Philippines. The Hispano-Philippine Association of Madrid was Masonic; the Masons were almost alone in the work of urging on the natives to make war on the clergy and the Spanish residents; they authorized the founding of lodges in the Archipelago. It was the Masons, too, who formed the “Katipunan” society, so essentially Masonic that in the terrible “compact of blood” they make, they are actually imitating the Carbonari of Italy.
In consequence of the teaching of the Freemasons, the voice of the parish priest has no longer any effect on numbers of the natives, especially at Manila and in the neighboring provinces, where they are accustomed to give themselves airs of importance and independence; and the prestige of the Spanish name has grown considerably less, and disappeared entirely in many places. What wonder, then, if the powerful instincts of race awoke, and that, pondering on the fact that they had a language and climate and territory of their own, the rebels should try to build a wall of separation between the Spaniards and the Malays? Is it not natural that having been brought to believe that the friar is neither their father nor the pastor of their souls, nor their friend and enthusiastic defender, but, on the contrary, a spoiler, and that the Spanish resident is only a money-grubber, having more or less power and authority, they should have desired to free themselves from the Spanish authority?
Six months ago the “Katipunan” society was limited to the mountains of Langua and Bulacan, where the rebel chiefs had taken refuge, and also counted some adherents among certain tribes in touch with the insurgents. But now the plague is widespread; the insurgents violating the promise made to the gallant Marquis of Estella, and at the call of a secret signal, have scattered themselves over the central provinces, and by means of cruelty and terrorism have succeeded in enrolling in their ranks a great number of natives who after the submission at Biac-na-Bato gave pledges of fidelity to Spain. They have also succeeded in intrenching themselves at Capiz and in other parts of the Viscayas. The rising in Zambaies, Pagasinan, Iloco, and Cebu are all of recent origin; and the same may be said of the “Katipunans” discovered at Manila.
However, the greater part of the country is not yet perverted; a wave of hallucination and fanaticism has passed over it, but the heart of the people is still sound, and with careful management they will return to their usual habits of peace and submission. The move wealthy classes are also sound, and are against the rebellion.
We frankly tell the Government that if it does not aid the Church, the revolutionary movement will increase every day, and it will be morally impossible for the religious to remain here any longer. What good is it for us to do our duty to the people when others are allowed to undo our work at the same time? Of what use is it for us to teach the people to be docile and submissive when their worst passions are excited by others, who tell them to make nothing of our teaching? What professor could teach successfully if his pupils were met outside the classroom by respectable persons who told them to despise his lessons? The civil authority, according to the teaching of the Church, ought as far as possible to be a bulwark to religion and morality. If the Government, therefore, does not protect us from the avalanche of insults hurled against us; if it does not root out the secret societies; if it allows our sacerdotal character to be trodden under foot while our enemies destroy the fruit of our labors,—we regret to say that we cannot continue our ministry in the islands.
Spain has bound herself very stringently to obligations of this nature. One of the laws of the Code of the Indies says expressly on this point: “We command the Viceroys, the Presidents, the Auditors, the Governors, and the other functionaries of the Indies, to favor, and aid, and encourage the religions orders who are occupying themselves in the conversion of the natives to our entire satisfaction.”
The spirit that moved Philip II. was seen in the answer he made to those who advised him to abandon the Archipelago, in view of the little revenue they brought to the Crown. He said: “For the conversion of only one of the souls that are there I would willingly give all the treasures of the Indies, and if they were not enough I would add those of Spain. Nothing in the world would make me consent to cease sending preachers and ministers of the Gospel to all the provinces that have been discovered, even if they are barren and sterile, for the Holy Apostolic See has given to us and our heirs the apostolic commission of publishing and preaching the Gospel. The Gospel can be spread through these islands, and the natives can be drawn from the worship of the demon by making known to them the true God, in a spirit alien to that of temporal greed.”
UNJUST CONTEMPT SHOWN TOWARDS THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS IN THE PHILIPPINES.
An idea has spread since the Revolution in Spain of 1868 that the Philippine Friars are a necessary evil, an out-of-date institution which has to be kept up for reasons of state. This unworthy idea, manifested sometimes with frankness, sometimes with a certain reticence, and which wounds us to the quick, has been constantly brought forward by our enemies. The natives who have been to Spain are fully aware of it; without leaving the Philippines, a great number of natives have observed it, and are at present trying to propagate it in the Archipelago. Very numerous, too are the Spanish residents who are hostile to us, owing to an anti-clerical spirit or to jealousy; in fact, we have enemies in all classes of society.