The thought of what may happen to this beautiful country at any moment terrifies us, for we do not know to what point sectarian fanaticism may go, exploiting the suggestibility of this race and their weak brain by the deeds that they are heralding, brought to a head by them, in regard to the army, whose increase in the proportion that would be necessary to establish a complete military situation, they know to be impossible; by the published exemption from the cédula[28] and other tributes; by the supposed immunity of amulets, called anting-anting; by the illusion that none but Indians will hold office, and that the alcaldes and generals will be from their ranks; by the remembrance that money and confidence were given to the rebels of Cavité, Bulacan, and other points; by the news that their partisans were sending them from Madrid and Hong-kong; by the example of goodly numbers of peninsulars, who are not on their guard against showing their hostility to the religious, in order by that manner to procure the latter’s disregard by their parishioners, who even dare to lay hands on them; and by innumerable other methods, too many, in short, to enumerate, but terribly destructive, and of maddening and vigorous influence in these Malayan villages.
The thought of what consist the secrets of the revolution, which the learned gentleman, appointed as arbitrator[29] by the so-called government of the insurgents to arrange with the superior authority of the islands as to the conditions of submission and the surrender of arms, swore to keep secret, as appears from the justificative document of his authorization, is also terrifying. We are ignorant of what those secrets may be, which apparently are not the politico-ecclesiastical reforms which are now demanded in Madrid, since those matters are mentioned openly in the abovesaid document signed by Aguinaldo in the name of the rebel assembly; and the most courageous heart is terrified at the fancy that there might be an organization more powerful, more far-reaching, more general and active of revolution, somewhat like the Katipunan, which we now see to be rapidly spreading, and which at a moment’s notice, would effect a general rising, whose most saddening results one can easily foresee, and avoid with the greatest difficulty, unless every labor association be effectually prosecuted and extirpated in time.
Remedy for that situation. Laying aside for the meanwhile those dangers, which are daily obscuring the Filipino horizon more deeply, and supposing, as we desire, that peace may be obtained throughout the islands, the situation of the archipelago has a remedy, and one, as is clear, that consists in removing all the causes that have produced so deep a confusion and in prudently and with justice adopting the measures that, assuring peace, will protect and encourage the legitimate interests of these inhabitants. The great mass of the country is not corrupted. It suffers from an access of hallucination and fanaticism produced by sectarian preachings and practices, but its heart and head are not perverted. If it be attended with care, it will return to its former pacific habits and submission. The wealthy and intelligent classes, still healthy, protest against all those movements, and since they are loyal and friendly to us, desire the normal mean to be reestablished as soon as possible, and will contribute, together with the institutions of the mother-country, to the most glorious undertaking of restoring order and the pacific and progressive trend of the archipelago.
It pertains to the government to direct and manage those forces in order to obtain so satisfactory an end, by reestablishing the mainsprings of government, now so nearly disappeared or very much weakened; by giving prestige to all the conservative elements; and with an administration, grave, intelligent, active, stable, moral, acquainted with, and fond of the country, and one dissociated with every political doctrine, to continue and perfect the just and benevolent, and Catholic and Spanish regimen: whereby the mother-country would gain the sympathies of these inhabitants and establish its dominion securely.
This is strange material for the peculiar objects and character of this exposition, which has no other purpose than to defend the honor of the religious institutes and demonstrate the necessity of supporting and invigorating their ministry, if they are to continue their noble and patriotic mission in the archipelago. We do not intend to mix in politics, however much we may have as much or more right than any society or individual to speak of these things. But indeed we must be the defenders of the rights of the Church, and of the regular clergy. We are indeed under obligations to watch over Spanish interests, which are not at variance with, but perfectly amalgamated with religious interests.
What the orders need and claim. As religious then, and as Spaniards, we address the government, and without circumlocutions or subterfuge (for these are not the times for paraphrases and euphemisms which cloak the truth), we believe that we can tell the government that if the interests of Spanish domination in the archipelago have incurred and are incurring so serious danger of shipwreck, it is because they have rather been, and are, profoundly combative of the interests of religion; and that if the revolutionists have succeeded in making themselves heard by a multitude of natives, it is because they have been taught, before and during the ingrate rebellion, to despise and even to persecute the religious who taught them a doctrine of peace and obedience. He who does not see this, suffers great blindness, or it is an obvious sign that he is infected with the terrible evil that has brought so dire consequences to Filipinas. He who closes his ears to the lessons of Providence—sorrowful, but indeed healthful lessons—and believes that it is possible to restore order here and establish a prosperous and tranquil progress without strengthening religious influences, is not far from the separatist camp, or shows that he is unable to learn from great social catastrophes.
It is not sufficient for that purpose to recognize the need of morality and of religion. One must recognize them in all their integrity and purity, such as our holy Mother, the Church, makes them known. It is not sufficient to talk to the people of the great doctrines of the Crucified, and instruct them not to attempt to attack the legitimate interests of Catholicism—vagaries that so very often cover mischievous and pharisaical intentions, in order afterward, under pretext of abuses, to tell them by word and deed, not to listen to the priests who preach those doctrines to them and inculcate in them respect for those interests. If one would attempt to effectively establish the peace of the archipelago upon a firm base, he must support in toto and in solido the mission of the religious corporations, so that they may be fruitful in the proportion that these inhabitants demand, who are still affectionate to the faith and to civilization, and so that the natives may be strengthened in the solid conviction that they are obliged to obey and respect España, their true fatherland in the social and civic order, by bonds of conscience and not by human considerations which are always unstable and shifting.
Consequently, we regulars who have more than sufficient reasons to recognize to their full extent the evils that affect the archipelago, so beloved by us, and who have been for some time experiencing the fact that, far from religious action being strengthened, it is restricted and opposed in various ways, do not waver in telling the government with blunt frankness that, if it do not consent to give that support, daily more necessary, to the Church, the social disturbance of the country will continue to increase daily, and that by not applying any remedy to that evil, the stay here of the religious is becoming morally impossible.
Of what use is it for us to force ourselves to fulfil our religio-patriotic duties, if others take it upon themselves to destroy that labor on the instant; if they, by methods that flatter evil passions so greatly, gain the favor of the same people whom we have taught to be docile and submissive, by saying to them continually that they should pay no attention to us? Would it suffice, peradventure, to preach respect to property, if, at the same time, there were no laws that protected it and public force that effectively restrained those covetous of another? Would any professor be assured of the effects of his teaching, whose pupils were to be told by respectable persons or through vexatious methods, as they left the lecture room, to forget or despise the lessons of their masters? Then in like case do we find ourselves in Filipinas.
We do not want, your Excellency, temporal honors or dignities, which we have renounced by choosing for our profession a life hidden in Jesus Christ. We do not belong to those who, in whatever they do, think immediately, even when deserving them, of recompenses and decorations. We do not desire, as our enemies believe (who judge us, perhaps, from themselves), to preponderate in the civil government and administration of the villages, nor even at least to continue our slight official intervention assigned to us in certain secular matters by law and tradition. If one desires to strip the parish priest or the missionary of all administrative, gubernatorial, and economic functions, in which, without us ever claiming it, yea, ever, the secular authority has come to solicit our modest cooperation, let it be done at a seasonable time. Those who adopt such an inclination will see what is most advisable for the exalted interests of the fatherland; but from them and not from us, who have ever (even enduring because of that intervention, annoyances, censures, and persecutions, and considering it a true burden) been docile auxiliaries of the civil authority, will be demanded the responsibility of the consequences that may be occasioned by so far-reaching a measure.