The missionaries of the north of Mindanao were recalled by the Father Superior to Manila; but in some of the towns the native converts and Visayas have detained them by force, and keep a watch on them to prevent their escape. They treat them well, and allow them to exercise their ministry.
As there are no Moros in that part of the island, the missionaries are not in danger, for they are much beloved by their converts, whose only desire is to keep them amongst them.
The district of Davao has been, like other localities, the scene of murder and pillage since the withdrawal of the Spanish authorities. At midnight of February 6th, the bad characters and outlaws of the chief town, under the leadership of Domingo Fernandez, a native of Zamboanga, and formerly interpreter and writer in the office of the Governor of Davao, rose in arms, and attacked the house of Don Bonifacio Quidato, sub-lieutenant of the local militia. They cut his throat, and bayoneted his wife as she lay in her bed. They then attacked all the well-to-do people of the place, committing many barbarous acts, and plundering their houses.
Most of the Spanish residents escaped from the town in a lorcha, and, after a terrible voyage of sixteen days, suffering from hunger, and undergoing many severe privations, arrived in Zamboanga more dead than alive. The veteran missionary, Father Urios, and three other Spaniards, could not escape, and remained in the power of the bandits.
This is only one instance of what is going on all over the island. In the words of one who knows the country well, Mindanao has become a seething hell, and is in a condition more dreadful than ever before in historic times.
But amongst these various tribes, Christian or heathen, there is said to be one subject, and one only, upon which they all agree. They have combined to resist by force the American invasion. If it is attempted to conquer them by force of arms, it will be a difficult, a tedious, and a costly operation—a campaign far more sickly than that now proceeding in the arable lands around Manila, where the ground is hard, the country very level, and where field-guns can be taken anywhere during the dry season. It is my belief that, if skilfully handled, half the island—the eastern half—could be pacified without war, although, no doubt, gangs of bandits would have to be destroyed; but this could be done by the Visayas and the converts, organised as a militia, and paid whilst on active service.
But this pacification requires the assistance of the missionaries. They are not likely to give that assistance unless terms are made with them, and one of those terms will surely be that they shall be allowed to continue their beneficent work unhindered and unvexed.
So the United States Government is confronted with a dilemma. Either they must shoot down the new Christians, to introduce and enforce freedom of worship which the converts do not want, and cannot understand, or they must negotiate with the Jesuits for them to use their influence to pacify the island, and thus subject themselves to the abuse and the outcry such a proceeding will bring upon them from the divines and missionaries of Protestant sects, and from their political opponents.
As for the western half of the island, a part may be pacified with the help of the missionaries, but military operations on a considerable scale will be required there sooner or later against the Moros of Lake Lanao.
This would be a holy war, a war of humanity, and I would say to the Americans: Look back on the deeds of your forefathers, on the days when your infant navy covered itself with imperishable glory, when it curbed the insolence of the Bashaw of Tripoli, the Bey of Tunis, and the Dey of Algiers, teaching all Europe how to deal with Mediterranean pirates. Inspire yourselves with the Spirit of Decatur and his hero-comrades whose gallant deeds at Tripoli earned Nelson’s praise as being “the most bold and daring act of the age,” and do not hesitate to break up this last community of ex-pirates and murderous slave-hunters.