Adeline Knapp

“ The people in that part of the country were in a position even more hopeless than were those in Luzon. They knew little or nothing of what was going on in the northern islands. They had no leaders of their own, but were dominated by different parties among their rulers. These parties were constantly quarreling among themselves and with the government at home. Between these factions the people lay like corn between the millstones, crushed almost beyond hope of ever attaining the smallest human rights. ”

“ Once a year, usually in July, a galleon left Manila laden with goods from the islands. These were sold in Mexico, and the money which they brought, or an equal value in Mexican goods, was sent back on the return galleon. We have seen how great were the risks which these ships ran in making their voyages. The enemies of Spain often captured them, while some were lost at sea and never again heard from. It was not all romance, the life of those who sailed and manned the galleons. Often there was greed and cruelty to contend with, rather than poetry and story to be lived. ”

“ The people remembered with bitterness those noble words of the Cortes which declared, in the Constitution of 1812: “The countries and provinces of America and Asia are and ought always to have been an integral part of the Spanish monarchy. Their natives and free inhabitants are equal in rights and privileges to those of the Peninsula.” What the reformers sought was not separation from the mother country. They desired only that Filipinos should be recognized as among her citizens, and entitled to the rights which this declaration of the Cortes said were theirs. ”

“ Now there was war in earnest between the Spanish and the Filipinos. The rebellion was growing daily, and the cream of Manila society was in the jails. Governor-General Blanco was still inclined to look upon the uprising as merely local, and not to regard it seriously; but he was constantly urged to severe measures by certain of his advisers. They desired that all rebels caught should be put to death at once, and there seemed no length to which their vindictive spirit was not willing to go. ”

“ The central government at Manila was what is called a military government—that is, the commander of the army in the islands was governor-general of the country. He was the executive, or officer whose business it is to execute, or carry out, the laws of a land. As we have seen, the government in Spanish times was almost wholly a military government. It was a different sort of military government, however, from that in which Americans believe. Americans believe that even armed force is only for upholding the law. It can never, justly, be law in itself. ”

“ All this gave the people a taste of political freedom. The men who represented the islands in the Spanish Cortes came back to Manila full of the idea of equal rights for all. They preached this doctrine to the people, and their words found ready hearers. Soon, on Luzon, a group of young Filipinos and Mestizos gathered. Their aim was to bring about real reforms in the government, and to secure greater peace, prosperity, and liberty to the people. The discontent of the Filipinos began to be of a more intelligent sort, and to have a definite purpose. ”

“ It is hard to make a people uphold such laws. The government that tries to do this will always, in the end, have to call in force to its aid. A government cannot long rule, however, by force alone. Even a military government, to be successful, must be based upon just laws. It must recognize and uphold what is just and right.
At the beginning of American rule in these islands, a good many reforms had to be made at once. It was necessary to set the country in order, so that business might go on, justice might be done, and safety insured to the people. ”

“ But before a people can take any real part in the government of a civilized land, they must understand something of the principles on which good government is based. They must know something of the world’s history and of the government of other countries. They must have a common language, and must be a united people, all ready to work for the common good. ”

“ In time, when there are enough trained Filipino teachers to carry on the work, this country will have a school system as good as any in the world. The American Government has pledged itself to bring education to these islands, and to see that the people have justice and fair treatment in all that touches their lives. It will not cease its efforts until the Filipinos are as able to maintain themselves securely in their rights and liberties as are the Americans. ”

“ The new system of tobacco-growing worked well for the authorities. Never before had the treasury been so well filled. The royal dues were promptly paid, and for the first time in the history of Spain’s rule here, the colony seemed likely to become profitable to the Crown. The home government was delighted, and Vargas was much praised. The tobacco monopoly, however, laid a heavy hand upon the most useful class of Spain’s Filipino subjects. It oppressed the farmers and the land-owners. These are the people, in every country, who are most deeply interested in good government. ”

“ Rizal would have been glad to see this new day. He would have been glad to see schoolhouses opening everywhere in the country, for he knew that knowledge is power. The seeds which he helped to sow are those of liberty, justice, and peace. The Filipino people must be wise enough to cherish these seeds into strong, healthy growth. ”

“ Legaspi was much pleased at the news. He saw at once that Maynila was the place of all others on the islands in which to set up the government, and he made ready to go to Luzon. He could do this all the more easily because of the way he had managed things in the Visayas. All the native chiefs were still in power, and Legaspi left them to rule as they had always done, save that they now ruled in the name of the king of Spain. The governor-general was able, therefore, to leave behind him a quiet, orderly government, and to give his mind freely to the new work before him. ”

“ He saw that farming, and not trade, was the work that alone could bring prosperity to these islands. Farming, however, was neglected. The country could be very rich if the people would but give their attention to raising the crops that grow so readily here. Rice, cocoanuts, hemp, coffee, tea, sugar—all of which are things that the whole world uses—could be grown here, so that the islands under cultivation would rank with the rich countries of the earth. ”

“ There were other revolts in Luzon, however. Everywhere the people were ready, on any pretext, to take up arms against authority. They refused to pay tribute, and resented all demands of Spain upon them. Small riots kept breaking out in the provinces, and the loyal troops were constantly marching about the island in pursuit of rebels. In all this petty warfare the Spanish lost 70 Europeans and 140 native soldiers, and fully 10,000 natives were slain. By the year 1765, however, the Spanish had the country again under control, and some degree of peace settled over the land. ”

“ The people in the islands still had serious trouble with the pirates from Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago. These pirates had regular fleets, and a military force as strong as that of the Spaniards themselves, and they had become a source of constant danger to commerce and to the liberty of the people. So great damage did they do, that for four years the government was obliged to remit all tribute in the island of Negros, one of the richest of the agricultural islands. The ravages of these pirates had made the people so poor that they were scarcely able to procure the necessaries of life. ”

“ That country can never prosper which is divided by a feeling of race difference, or by jealousies that make hard feeling among its people.
It is because the United States has learned these things by experience that it has opened public schools in the Philippine Islands. It seeks to have all the people learn English, because only by means of a common language can the Americans and the Filipinos come to understand one another; only by means of such a language can the different peoples among the Philippines come into real harmony. ”

“ There must be merchants in the Philippine Islands. There must be tradesmen, artisans, mechanics, workers in wood, iron, and leather, and followers of the arts and crafts known to civilization. If the Filipino people do not take up these lines of work, and carry them out well and wisely, outsiders will come in and monopolize them. They have already come to the archipelago. Moreover, they will continue to come, from China and Japan, from India and Ceylon, and from all the countries of Europe, if the people of the country do not themselves learn to take their places. ”

“ When the Filipino people have learned thus to stand together, a new day will dawn for these islands. When the people all speak one language, and when young and old can read and write that language, the country will be more united, and will begin to know something of that national life which other countries enjoy. ”

“ When all the good land is brought under cultivation, the crops raised in the islands ought to increase tenfold over what are now grown.
Before much can be accomplished, however, a great deal of government work must be carried out. This the Americans have in view; already some millions of dollars have been set aside by the civil government to make roads, harbors, and bridges, and for public works of many sorts in the archipelago. A day of hope seems opening, not merely for the Americans to whom the task has fallen of carrying on the work, but for the whole Filipino people. ”

“ Then, too, they were ruled by a people who were behind the rest of the world in accepting these ideas. Spain, blinded by her own pride and folly, has been slowest of all European nations to listen to the gospel of human rights. She ruled her colonies cruelly long after other nations came to see that they owed a duty to their dependencies, and as a result Spain lost her colonies at just the time when she most needed their help. ”

“ Ferdinand Magellan ranks with the great sailors of the world. Not even Columbus was wiser or more skillful than he. The discovery of the passage between the two great oceans, and the long, dangerous journey across seas to these islands, are feats that make him worthy of a high and honorable place in the world’s history.
After the death of Magellan, Captain Duarte Barbosa (dö är ́tā bär bo ́thä) took command of the fleet. The king of Cebu had not sworn friendship with him, however, and the chief of Butuan had gone back to his home, so the Spanish had no strong friend in the island. ”

“ The situation in the archipelago was now very grave indeed, and the authorities in Manila began to see that something must be done to meet the ever-growing discontent of the people. A little more liberty given at this time might have changed that discontent to gratitude. If the people could have believed that the Spaniards desired their good, they might have worked with the Europeans for the benefit of the whole country. ”

“ On Luzon, on Bohol (bō hōľ) , on Samar, Leyte (lā ́ē tā) , Mindanao, and in the Sulu Islands, there was one uprising after another during the seventeenth century. In Cebu it was needful, always, for Spain to keep a strong armed force, and it was often necessary to send the troops from Cebu to put down trouble in the other islands. The love of liberty dies hard from the human heart; and while there was at no time a general revolt of the people, the frequent revolts of different tribes kept the Spanish busy. ”

“ It gave the governor-general full power to do as he liked in matters regarding all distant and unexplored parts of the country. In what he did in such places he need not consult even the king’s will. If, however, he wished to undertake a war, or any expedition that must be paid for out of the royal treasury, he must first submit his plans to a council made up of the Bishop of Manila and the chief military captains in the islands.
The decree also forbade the making of any more slaves in the islands. All slaves held by Spaniards were to be set free at once. ”

“ CHINESE WAR JUNKS ATTACKING MANILA.
They were led by a Japanese named Sioco (sē ō ́kō) , whom Li-ma-hong had made his lieutenant, and in a few hours a savage fight was waging between the Spanish and the Chinese. The Spanish force was small, but well armed, and every man knew that he was fighting for life against a cruel foe. No mercy was to be looked for from those wild pirates, and no quarter was asked or given. Even the aged governor-general bore arms in the fight, for every man was needed. ”

“ For the Philippine Islands a very bright future may be hoped. How soon prosperity and happiness will come to the country depends, however, more largely upon its own people than upon any outside influence. The Americans in the Philippines can only advise and teach; the actual work of building up the country, and of making it a power in the Orient, must be done by the Filipinos. ”

“ So a people must honor and uphold the laws of the state, if the state is to be strong enough to protect their liberties. We can easily see that if there were no laws, and each man were free to do as he pleased, no man’s life or property would be safe. Every man would have to take care of himself, and the land where such a condition existed would cease to be a civilized country. Laws are made for the protection of a people, and without them there would be an end to liberty and progress.
For a great many years the government in the Philippine 213Islands was by force of arms. ”

“ MONUMENT TO SIMON DE ANDA ON THE MALACON, MANILA.
At this time new ideas of human rights and liberties were stirring the whole world. In Europe people were growing bolder and freer in their protests against tyranny. In America the colonies had begun the 128eight years’ war that was to free them from England’s unjust rule. In Mexico was growing the discontent that only ended when Mexico had thrown off the yoke of Spain. Everywhere the people were demanding freedom; but in the Philippine Islands a plan was forming to take from the natives still more of the little liberty they had. ”