Many people, in consequence, think that our very existence in the country is simply owing to pity and condescension on the part of the Government; that we are merely tolerated, and are of less value in the eyes of the civil authorities than the members of any lay profession. With a marvellous facility all the evils that affect the country are laid at our door; and every time a governor makes a gross blunder in dealing with the natives, the evil consequences which flow from it are put down to us. Now, every class of society has a right to ordinary respect and fair treatment; we receive neither one nor the other, but are treated with absolute contempt. This humiliating situation, as individuals obliged to greater perfection than other Christians, we patiently bear with; but as religious orders we cannot put up with it any longer, for we see only too well how this treatment injures our ministry, and destroys our influence with the people committed to our care.
If the Government through an error to which we cannot give unqualified respect, since it is contrary to the real interests of religion and of our country, believes that the mission of the Orders in the islands has come to an end, we nevertheless say to them: “We await your dispositions with sincerity, but do not flatter yourselves that in adopting measures against our religious professions you can burn a light both before Christ and before Belial.” If, on the contrary, we are to remain in the islands, no one can deny that it is necessary to protect our persons, our prestige, and our ministry; our country must show that she is pleased with us, and treat us as her children; we must not be abandoned to our enemies as a thing of no value, and made victims of the resentment of the Freemasons. We do not fear martyrdom, which is an honor we do not feel ourselves worthy of; on the other hand, we do not wish to die as criminals abandoned by their friends and protectors, and deprived of all honor.
It is incredible that religious men placed in our position could be the cause of the woes of the Archipelago. We prefer to resign our ministry, and see ourselves expelled, rather than continue our mission in the islands, if the situation does not better itself before long. We have done our work well in these islands, and we feel sure that we shall be able to do our duty quite as well elsewhere with the grace of God.
[1] In the Administration, of Madrid, one of the leading reviews in Spain.
Chapter IV.
The Rebels and Their Grievances.
We cannot view without grave misgivings the unexpected turn that affairs have taken since the war, and the second war which has broken out between the rebels and the Americans. It is now plain that it was entire independence from all control that the promoters of the rebellion were looking for from the very beginning; this being well known to the Friars all along, and clearly indicated in their memorial to the Spanish Government. Aguinaldo and his companions have unlimited confidence in themselves, and aspire to form a civilized republic. The character of this pure-souled patriot may be judged from a transaction he had with the Spanish Government. After the armistice of Biac-na-Bato, he was bought out by them, and took thousands of dollars as his price for leaving the country for aye, never to return. He pocketed the money, and went off to Hongkong; but when the Americans came to Manila, and destroyed the Spanish fleet, this worthy returned to the Philippines, and once more raised the standard of rebellion. As a result the Americans are apt to find themselves burdened with a war expenditure, even heavier than that borne by Spain in her effort to prevent a repetition in the Philippines of the gruesome story of San Domingo and Hayti. All colored and tropical races have a tendency to revert to their original type and the barbarous customs of their ancestors. The blacks got possession of Hayti nearly a century ago, at which time they were at least domesticated, and partially civilized, having been in contact with the white man for the two previous centuries. They have gone back, and not forward, ever since. The history of the black republic is a bloody revolution every two or three years, distinguished by acts of barbarous ferocity. Life there at the present day is a hideous caricature of civilization and Christianity. Incredible as it may seem, there has been a revival in the remote villages of the old African serpent-worship, and child sacrifices, followed by cannibalism.