But they know that our banner is none other than the Syllabus of the great pontiff, Pius IX,[12] which has been so often confirmed by Leo XIII, in which all rebellion against legitimate authorities is so vigorously condemned. They know that, as lovers of the only true liberty—Christian liberty—we would rather die than consent, in whatever pertains to us, to the least lack of the purity of the infallible Catholic teachings, of the holiness of Christian customs, and of the most complete loyalty due the Spanish nation. Consequently, they hate us; consequently, veiled under divers names and with divers pretexts, they are making so cruel war upon us, that one would believe that the masons and filibusters have no other enemies in Filipinas than the religious corporations. In such wise does that honor us that we can very well say with the prince of the apostles: “If you be reproached for the name of Christ, you shall be blessed: for that which is of the honor, glory, and power of God, and that which is his spirit resteth upon you ([1 Peter iv, 14).”][13]
And for their patriotic significance. Apart from their essentially religious character, the regulars of the archipelago have another significance that makes them odious to the separatists. They are the only permanent and deeply-rooted Spanish institution in the islands, with a suitable and rigorous organization, perfectly adapted to these regions. While the other Peninsulars live here in the fulfilment of their duty more or less time, as is convenient to their private interests, and with no other bond that follows them to Filipinas than their own convenience, being ignorant of the language of the country and having no other relations with the natives than those of a superficial intercourse, we religious come here to sacrifice our whole life. We form as it were a net of soldiers of religion and of the fatherland in the archipelago, scattered even to the remotest villages of the islands. Here we have our history, our glories, the ancestral house, so to speak, of our family. Bidding an eternal farewell to our native soil, we condemn ourselves voluntarily, by virtue of our vows, to live forever consecrated to the moral, religious, and political education of these natives, for whose defense we have in all ages waged campaigns, which, without the pious boastings [crudezas] and exaggerations of Las Casas,[14] have constantly reproduced in Filipinas the figure of the immortal defender of the American natives.
Craftiness of the insurgent leaders of filibusterism. In this point it must be confessed that the insurgent leaders of filibusterism are logical. “Do the regulars,” they have asked themselves, “who are the Spaniards most deeply-rooted and most influential in the country, and the most beloved and respected by the people, agree to, or will they ever agree to our projects? Then let us petition their expulsion, and their disappearance in one way or another. If we do not succeed in it, let us destroy them. Since there are many peninsulars, who, influenced by modern errors or carried away by ignorance or evil passion, lend ear to those who inveigh against the religious, let us inveigh loudly. Let us form a powerful cry against them. Let us conspire in lodges and political clubs. Let us petition at any risk measures looking to the lowering and destruction of the regular clergy. Those peninsulars will listen to us without us having any fear that they will hold us as filibusters. It will be said of us that we are liberals, that we are reformers, that we are democrats, that we are even masons and free-thinkers: but that does not matter. Many peninsulars are the same. They also inveigh against the religious. They also petition freedom of thought, freedom of the press, freedom of association, secularization of education, ecclesiastical disamortization, suppression of the privileges of the clergy. They also inveigh against the terrible theocracy, and do not cease to defame the religious and to impute to them all sorts of crimes.”
That, your Excellency, is the watchword that has been given to all the filibusters, and to all who will procure the emancipation of the country in one way or another, for their separatist ends, and especially since the treaty of Biac-na-bató. “There is nothing against España, nothing against the king, nothing against the army, nothing against the Spanish administration: say if you have seized arms that it has been exclusively because of the abuses of the clergy, that you were not attempting separation from the mother-country; that you wished only modern liberties and the disappearance of the orders. And even though all the documents, judicial and extrajudicial, in which appear the plans of the conspirators, and all the acts of the canton of Cavite, during its ephemeral emancipation, demonstrates the contrary, let us exert ourselves to say that that was not the intention of the rebels, that that was an affair of some enthusiasts or madmen, but that the great mass of the insurgents seized arms only through coveting those liberties. The multitude of lay Spaniards of every class and profession sacrificed; the countless natives killed or harassed in innumerable ways, because of their unswerving loyalty to the fatherland; the cries of ‘Death to the Castilas!’ and ‘Long live the Tagálogs!’ the stamps of a Tagálog republic, a Filipino republic,[15] an army of freedom; the speeches and circulars of the assembly or supreme council; the fiery Katipunan constitution written in characters of a mysterious key, and that written at Biac-na-bató; and in their style, an infinite number of deeds and documents, many of them very recent, which even to satiety evidently demonstrate the anti-Spanish and separatist character of the insurrection: all that we shall now conceal by crying ‘Down with the friars!’ ‘Long live democratic liberties!’ ‘Long live España!’ and with those cries are we certain of being heard, and in that way shall we be able to more easily attain the final goal of our desires.”
That is the logic and the tactics of the filibusters, and it must be confessed that in it they show themselves to possess practical talent, and to be thoroughly acquainted with the society that surrounds them. Had they said that the insurrection had been provoked by the excesses of the government employes, of the military, of the governors, of the directors of the treasury; had they placed in relief the multitude of abuses that have been committed against the native in one form or another (although never by the nation, or by the majority of its sons); had they attributed the armed insurrection to that: they would now be opposed by all the peninsular element, and their voice would have had not the slightest echo, as it would have been stifled by the more powerful voice of others who would have cried out in defense of the Spanish name, and who would have locked on them the door to all the means of propaganda and agitation which they are now exploiting. But when they declaimed against the clergy, when they demanded the liberties that the clergy cannot in conscience approve, they had at least assured their campaign, and in part, perhaps, the success of the same.
Their real purposes. Does not this show, your Excellency, that, in talking of the supposed or enormously exaggerated abuses of the clergy, they are not moved by love of justice and morality, and much less by love for España? What then, do they not recognize that for one religious who has committed abuses, it is to be surmised, from their employment, that there have been many more laymen in proportion (and let it be clear that we accuse no one, and least of all the worthy official corporations) who have converted their office, totally or partially, into a means for illegal advancement? Have the insurgents not cried out at other times, and during the preparatory period of the insurrection, against the meritorious civil guard, against judges and alcaldes, against the army, against the peninsular resident in the island, against the administration in general, and even against the superior authorities of the archipelago? Is not this proved by the books of the unfortunate Rizal, by the Solidaridad,[16] and other documents and pamphlets of the laborers, although one must not forget that their favorite watchword was always to cruelly attack the religious? Undoubtedly so, but it was not now advisable for them to declare it. Now was come the opportunity to show themselves very Spanish, very loyal to the king (they who were affiliating themselves to the extent of their ability with the most radical parties), very fond of the army, and to attack only the religious!
Accusations against the orders. They work deceitfully, we shall say with the Psalmist ([Psalm 35]),[17] they talk of peace and of love outwardly, but evil and hate are hid in their hearts; supervacue exprobaverunt animam meam. Most vainly do they wrong us, we shall add, in respect to the accusations that they direct against us. “Unjust witnesses rising up have asked me things I knew not. They repaid me evil for good: and have sworn my destruction. But thou, O Lord, wilt destroy their plans, and wilt save my existence.” ([Psalm 35].)[18]
Yea, your Excellency, unjust witnesses, for where are those abuses, those excesses, those vices, those outrages, of which their mouths are so full, and which furnish them matter for their speeches of a demagogical club of the rabble? What do the religious corporations maintain, when viewed with a deep synthetical standard, which is not in accordance with the canons of the Church and the rules of their institute; which is not fitting to the holy ministry that they profess; which is not greatly beneficial to the supreme interests of the fatherland? We turn our eyes in all directions, and however quick-sighted may be our eyes, unless one views the orders through the pharisaical or separatist prism, they discover nothing that does not merit the heartiest applause. “Laudet te alienus,” says the sacred book of Proverbs, “et non os tuum.”[19] But it is not our intention to praise ourselves here. It is our intention to vindicate ourselves; to defend our honor unjustly impeached; to demonstrate our eminently Spanish mission; and to maintain our good name, which is our treasure, which is the great title of nobility that we can never abdicate nor allow to be vilified. “By your good works stop the mouth of the ignorance of foolish and senseless men,” says St. Peter to us. ([1 Peter ii, 15].)[20]
“We walk not in craftiness, nor by adulterating the word of God; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience, in the sight of God; that is our glory, the testimony of our conscience,” is also taught us by St. Paul. ([2 Cor. iv, 2].)[21] From our dishonor follows the dishonor of the holy and Spanish mission that we exercise; and God has told us that we should be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and that we should shine in such manner that men may see our good works, and glorify our father who is in heaven.[22]
How they have fulfilled their duties. Our good works are in the gaze of all men, and our good works, thanks to God, are the brightest gem of the corporations. Not only do we preach the gospel here; not only do we carry the Christian and civilized life to the barbarous and fetish-encumbered inhabitants of these islands; not only did we obtain the incorporation of the archipelago into the Spanish crown, working in harmony with the other official entities, and preserved it, as is well known, in a peaceful and happy condition for the space of three centuries; but also, in all time, even now when we are wronged so deeply by some ingrate Filipinos, whom we pity, have we been the constant defenders of the Indians, enduring for that reason innumerable loathings, and all kinds of persecution on the part of many peninsulars, who did not understand the devotion and patriotism of our conduct. In all time have we been zealous for the purity of the faith and for the conservation of good morals; and illegal exactions, bribery, extortions, outrages, ease, immoral gambling, and a licentious or little restrained life, have always had in us a severe judge and the most inexorable censor.