Page:EB1911 - Volume 21.djvu/420

Rh succeeded in confining the British to Manila. At the close of the war the Philippines were returned to Spain. Manila was evacuated in March 1764.

For the first quarter of a century after the Spanish conquest the islands were allowed free trade. Then came the familiar

restrictions, limiting commerce to a fixed amount anuually, and effectively checking economic development. In 1591 direct trade between the Philippines and South America was prohibited. In 1593 trade between the Philippines and Mexico, the only route open between the colony and Spain, was limited to two ships annually, the ships not to exceed 300 tons burden. The result was that the command of the Acapulco galleon was rarely worth less than $50,000. The passenger fare from Manila to Acapulco, at the end of the 18th century, was $1000. This monopoly lasted until the Mexican War of Independence forced the Spanish government to regard the Philippines as being in the East instead of the West. Spain's colonial policy was not based on an exaltation of the commercial ideal. However much the administrators may have fallen short in actual practice, the Spanish ideal was to preserve and civilize the native races, rather than to establish lucrative trading posts where the natives might be easily exploited. In America the laws which provided elaborate safeguards for the protection of the Indians were, to a large degree, nullified by the lust for gold and silver and the consequent demand for labourers in the mines. In the Philippines the humane policy of the home government had no such powerful obstacles to contend with. Business was not developed. The natives were allowed to live the indolent life of the tropics. Compared with the results of English or Dutch colonization the conversion and civilization of the Filipinos is a most remarkable achievement. Notwithstanding the undeniable vices, follies and absurd illiberalities of the Spanish colonial régime, the Philippines were the only group in the East Indies that improved in civilization in the three centuries following their discovery. The chief defect in the Spanish Philippine policy was that while it made converts it did not make citizens. Self-reliance, free-thought and mental growth were not encouraged. Progress in scientific knowledge was effectively blocked by the friars. Their presses confined their activities to the production of catechisms, martyrologies and handbooks in the native languages after the fashion of the presses of Mexico. Five hundred such works were printed and distributed in Manila alone before 1800. To reach the masses, unfamiliar with Spanish, manuals of devotion and outlines of Christian doctrine were translated into the various native languages. Of the Bible itself, no part was translated or published. A knowledge of reading and writing was generally diffused throughout the group.

The era of discontent may be said to have begun in 1825 when the loss of her colonies on the mainland of America caused Spain

to take a more immediate interest in the Philippines, and increased emigration to the islands. Between 1840 and 1872 thirty newspapers were founded. The introduction of secular books and papers, more or less surreptitiously, helped to spread the seeds of sedition. In 1852 the Spanish Filipino Bank was established. In 1856 foreign trade, hitherto confined to Manila, was permitted to enter the port of Iloilo, and foreign traders were allowed to open branch houses outside of the capital. The change in Spain's economic policy, including an attempt to exploit the coalfields and to encourage both agriculture and commerce, helped to awaken hitherto dormant elements. In 1601 the Jesuits had opened a college in Manila for the education of Spanish youth. In 1768 they had been expelled. In 1859 they were permitted to return on the understanding that they were to devote themselves to education.

The Spanish Revolution of 1868 caused a further influx of Spaniards and also the introduction of the pernicious “spoils system.” With every change of ministry in Madrid came a new lot of hungry politicians anxious to fill even the more humble colonial offices. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, followed by the establishment of direct steam communication between Spain and the Philippines, sounded the death knell of the peaceful

missionary era and brought about the definite entry of the islands into the world of commerce and progress.

The friars, by perpetuating medieval conditions in a country that was now being opened to contact with the civilized world, increased the feeling of discontent. The natural result was a violent conflict. The more advanced Filipinos desired the fulfilment of the decrees of the Council of Trent whereby the incumbencies in Christianized towns and villages should be held by regular clergy and not by friars. Filipinos had for generations been ordained into priesthood although not received into monastic orders. This measure was really aimed at the political and economic supremacy of the Spanish-born friars, who had by this time acquired 400,000 acres of agricultural land, more than half of it in the vicinity of Manila. The agrarian question added to the growing discontent. All the revolutions began in the province of Cavite, where the friars owned 125,000 acres. In 1872 the secret agents of the friars induced the native garrison at Cavite to mutiny and thus give the friars an excuse to press for vigorous action. The mutiny was not successful, but Father Burgos, the leader of the reform party, was publicly garrotted with three other native priests; and the native clergy were declared to be incompetent to have the cure of souls. Several of the richest and best educated Filipinos were convicted of treason and banished.

With the increased facilities for European travel Filipinos began to visit Europe and return with new and broader notions

of life. The most distinguished of the travellers was José Rizal (1861-1896). Born in Calainha, in the province of Luzon, of pure Tagálog parentage, he attended the newly reopened Jesuit university in Manila. He was then sent to Europe to complete his studies, first in Madrid, where he became a doctor of medicine, and later in Germany, where he received the degree of Ph.D. He came into touch with advanced methods of scientific research, acquired great ability as a writer, keen perception of truth and an unflinching realization of the defects of his own people, and the unpleasant but essential fact that to have better government they must first deserve it. His propaganda, aimed at the small body of Filipinos who had sufficient education to appreciate political satire, was very effective. His most famous novel, Noli me tangere, was published in 1886. In this he drew a masterly picture, not only of the life and immorality of the friars but also of the insolent Filipino chiefs or caciques, subservient to the powers above, tyrannical to those below, superstitious, unprogressive and grasping. Caciquism or “bossism,” government by local aristocrats, was the prime feature of village life in the islands during the entire period of Spanish rule and existed long before their arrival.

The campaign of Rizal, Marcelo del Pilar, Graciano Lopez Jaena and Apolinario Mabini, the leaders in the “Young Filipino Party,” was a protest against both the domination

of the friars and economic and administrative caciquism. To escape the vengeance of the friars, Rizal was obliged to flee to Europe. In 1892 he returned to the islands on the assurance of the governor, Eulogio Despujols y Dusay, that he might live there in peace. His enemies, however, succeeded in having him arrested on a charge of treason. Meanwhile he had organized a reform party under the title of Liga Filipina. Its object had been to procure, by pacific means, several reforms in the government of the islands, the chief of which were the expulsion of the friars, and the withdrawal of the governor-general's arbitrary power to deport Filipinos. The friars importuned Despujols for Rizal's life but he persistently refused their demand, and met the case half-way by banishing Rizal to Mindanao. Incensed by the failure of their plot, the friars obtained the recall of Despujols.

The new governor, Ramón Blanco, was like Despujols and many of his predecessors, humane at heart, but he could do little

more than hold in check the tyrannical schemes of the clergy. The banishment of Rizal convinced the reform party that peaceful endeavour was futile. A secret organization, the Katipunan, was therefore started to secure reforms by force of arms. It was founded by Andres