the population of the eighteenth century. "The number of Spaniards
who are in the part of Manila not occupied by the friars is very
inconsiderable; in 1767, they did not exceed eight hundred persons. It
can be said that the friars are masters of the city, for all the
houses, except perhaps five or six, belong to them. This makes a fine
revenue for them, since the houses are very dear--from two hundred to
four hundred piasters (one thousand to two thousand livres). They are
still dearer in the suburb of Santa Cruz, where they are worth at least
five hundred piasters, for it is there that all the foreign merchants
from India or China lodge. Manila is still peopled by the Tagálogs,
who are the natives at once of this city and of its bishopric; the
Tagálogs serve the Spaniards as domestics, or live by some petty
trade or occupation." (Le Gentil, Voyage, ii, p. 104.)--Eds.
[50] "The Spanish-Filipino Bank, the oldest bank in the islands, was
founded (1852) by an order of the Spanish government uniting the obras
pías funds of the four orders of friars in the Philippines." (Census
of Philippine Islands, iv, p. 541).--Eds.
[51] In the tariff revision of 1891, Spanish goods in Spanish ships
were made free of customs duties in Philippine ports; prior to
that time they had, as a rule, paid one-half the duties assessed on
foreign goods.
[52] In 1898, for instance, when the war with the United States began,
the governor-general of the Philippines who had recently negotiated
a peace with the insurgent chiefs, had just turned over his place to
a new man, a stranger in the islands, and sailed for home. The new
Liberal administration, which came into power in Spain in October,
1897, had also sent to the Philippines a new set of provincial
governors, to take the place of men who had served, in many cases,
less than two years. Some of these new governors had not gone to
their posts when Commodore Dewey's squadron arrived, and they were
consequently blockaded in Manila.
[53] This was accomplished on December 31, 1882--(but see post,
p. 141).--Eds.
[54] F. Jagor, Reisen in den Philippinen (Berlin, 1873), p. 287.
Also of interest in this connection are Jagor's remarks in the
following two citations from the same book (pp. 288 and 289,
respectively). "Government monopolies mercilessly administered,
grievous disregard of the creoles and the rich mestizos, and the
example of the United States, these were the principal causes of the
loss of the American possessions [of Spain]; and the same causes are
menacing the Philippines also. Of the monopolies sufficient account
has been given in the text. Mestizos and creoles are not, it is true,
shut out, as formerly in America, from all offices; but they feel that
they are deeply injured and despoiled by the crowds of office seekers
whom the frequent changes of ministers at Madrid bring to Manila. Also
the influence of the American elements is at least discernible on
the horizon, and will come more to the front as the relations of
the two countries grow closer. At present these are still of little
importance; in the meantime commerce follows its old routes, which
lead to England and the Atlantic ports of the Union. Nevertheless,
he who attempts to form a judgment as to the future destiny of the
Philippines cannot fix his gaze only on their relations to Spain;
he must also consider the mighty changes which within a few decades
are being effected on that side of our planet. For the first time in
the world's history, the gigantic nations on both sides of a gigantic
ocean are beginning to come into direct intercourse: Russia, which
alone is greater than two divisions of the world together; China,
which within her narrow bounds contains a third of the human race;
America, with cultivable soil enough to support almost three times the
entire population of the earth. Russia's future rôle in the Pacific
Ocean at present baffles all calculations. The intercourse of the two
other powers will probably have all the more important consequences
when the adjustment between the immeasurable necessity for human
labor-power on the one hand, and a correspondingly great surplus
of that power on the other, shall fall on it as a problem." "But in
proportion as the commerce of the western coast of America extends
the influence of the American elements over the South Sea, the
ensnaring spell which the great republic exercises over the Spanish
colonies will not fail to assert itself in the Philippines also. The
Americans appear to be called upon to bring the germ planted by the
Spaniards to its full development. As conquerors of the New World,
representatives of the body of free citizens in contradistinction to
the nobility, they follow with the axe and plow of the pioneer where
the Spaniards had opened the way with cross and sword. A considerable
part of Spanish America already belongs to the United States, and has,
since that occurred, attained an importance which could not have been
anticipated either during Spanish rule or during the anarchy which
ensued after and from it. In the long run, the Spanish system cannot
prevail over the American. While the former exhausts the colonies
through direct appropriation of them to the privileged classes, and
the metropolis through the drain of its best forces (with, besides,
a feeble population), America draws to itself the most energetic
elements from all lands; and these on her soil, free from all
trammels, and restlessly pushing forward, are continually extending
further her power and influence. The Philippines will so much the
less escape the influence of the two great neighboring empires, since
neither the islands nor their metropolis are in a condition of stable
equilibrium. It seems desirable for the natives that the opinions
here expressed shall not too soon be realized as facts, for their
training thus far has not sufficiently prepared them for success in
the contest with those restless, active, most inconsiderate peoples;
they have dreamed away their youth." Some writers have carried the
evolution one step farther, as for instance, the following: See Count
Edward Wilczek's interesting study on "The historical importance of
the Pacific Ocean," in H. F. Helmolt's History of the World (N. Y.,
1902), i, pp. 566-599; he predicts a future contest which "will
have to decide whether, by the permanent occupation of the northern
Pacific, the white race shall accomplish its world-embracing destiny,
or whether, with the goal already in sight, and for the first time
in its history, it will have to make way for a stronger"--that is,
for the yellow race, in the form of Japan and China.--Eds.
[55] See the most important of these decrees in our educational
appendix, VOL. XLVI.--Eds.
[56] In 1899 and 1900, the American government continued the
subsidies to the Jesuits to sustain the normal school and Manila
Ateneo. With the establishment, however, of an educational system
under the Taft Commission, the subsidy to the Ateneo was withdrawn
and a Manila public high school established. The normal school was
established in the old buildings of the exposition of 1887, and was
the first special school organized under Dr. Atkinson. The vacation
normal school is due to Dr. Barrows, who established it in the spring
vacation of 1901, in order that the teachers from the provinces might
be gathered together for brief instruction in new methods, exchange
of ideas, and general inspiration. The regular normal school has
been a very notable feature since 1901, and in some ways the most
striking thing in the new school system. Its woman's dormitory has
been a center of Filipino gatherings and a constant theme of praise
by the Filipino press. (From a previous communication to the Editors
by J. A. LeRoy.) See VOL. XLVI, p. 95, note.--Eds.
[57] This exchange of Mindanao missions by the Recollects for parishes
in and around Manila and in Mindoro was closely connected with the
pro-seculars' campaign made in Manila and Madrid at that time--Father
Burgos of the Cathedral standing out preëminently on behalf of
his fellows the native priests, a direct step in the way toward
his execution in connection with the Cavite mutiny of 1872. (James
A. LeRoy, in a personal letter dated January 6, 1906.) See XXVIII,
pp. 342, 343.--Eds.
[58] See post, pp. 170, 171, note 119. With the three priests was also
executed one Francisco Saldúa. Máximo Inocencio, Enrique Paraíso, and
Crisanto de los Reyes were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. Others
were also condemned to death, some of whose sentences were commuted to
life imprisonment. The following persons were deported to Marianas:
Antonio María Regidor, 8 years; Máximo Paterno; Agustín Mendoza,
parish priest of the district of Santa Cruz de Manila; Joaquín Pardo
de Tavera, a regidor of Manila and university professor, 6 years. Some
of the latter and others lost their qualification as advocates of
the Audiencia.--Eds.
[59] In a pamphlet by Manrique A. Lallave (Madrid, 1872), an
ex-Dominican missionary from Filipinas, he declares that "the friars
at that time possessed property to the value of eleven millions of
pesos fuertes." (Vindel, Catálogo biblioteca filipina, no. 1846.)--Eds.
[60] See post, p. 182.--Eds.
[61] Bibliography of the Philippine Islands (Bureau of Insular Affairs,
Washington, 1903), comprising under one cover these two volumes which
were also published separately by the Library of Congress: A List of
Books (with references to periodicals) on the Philippine Islands in the
Library of Congress, compiled by A. P. C. Griffin; and the Biblioteca
Filipina of Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera. For information regarding
general bibliographies and bibliographical lists of Philippina,
see VOL. LIII of this series.
[62] Reference has already been made in another footnote to the
German original; English and Spanish translations of this work, both
defective, were also published. It has not been deemed necessary in
this brief sketch to append the bibliographical details, except when
they may not be found in Bibliography of the Philippine Islands,
under the names of the authors herein cited.
[63] Particularly his Las colonias españolas de Asia. Islas Filipinas
(Madrid, 1880).
[64] It is closely related also with the political questions of this
period, with the friar controversy, and with matters of administration
as such.
[65] El Diario de Manila was established in 1848, a name which was
changed to El Boletin oficial de Filipinas in 1852, and again to the
former name in 1860; papers called El Comercio were founded in 1858
(probably), and in 1869; La Oceanía Española, in 1877 (which succeeded
El Porvenir Filipino); La Voz Española was founded in 1888 under the
name of La Voz de España, the issue of March 5, 1892, marking the
change of name. See Retana's El periodismo.--Eds.
[66] See also Griffin's List for a list of periodical articles
(mainly from American magazines, although some foreign titles are
also noted.)--Eds.
[67] Retana reproduced this Reglamento de Asuntos de Imprenta of 1857
in volume i of the Archivo. Retana, who was for a time a newspaper man
in Manila, says it was not known by the newspaper editors or by the
political censor; in other words, the censor did about as he pleased.
[68] The Filipino press of propaganda, published abroad, will merit
attention further on, when "Reform and Revolution" are discussed.
[69] Census of the Philippine Islands, 4 vols. (Washington, 1903). In
vol. ii, pp. 17-22, are tables comparing Spanish estimates and
censuses, with references to such.
[70] Archipiélagos filipinos en la Oceanía, Censo de población
veríficado el 31 de Diciembre de 1887 ... (Manila, 1889).
[71] For population alone, there may also be mentioned the table of
various civil and ecclesiastical estimates, based mainly on the returns
of the tributes, in Sancianco y Goson's El progreso de Filipinas
(Madrid, 1881), pp. 175-186; and the summaries of five Spanish censuses
and tables of the 1896 census in Report of the Philippine Commission,
1901, ii, appendices HH and II.
[72] If possible, Pardo de Tavera's bibliographical comments should
be checked up by those made by Retana to some of these works in his
various bibliographies.--Eds.
[73] See Library of Congress List, etc., pp. 9-11.
[74] Cited in Pardo de Tavera's Biblioteca as nos. 269 and 2,003. The
American consular reports are given in a separate table in the Library
of Congress List, pp. 178-180. Only those of Consul Webb, 1888-90,
need be mentioned as containing some data of interest.
[75] Both the papers cited have subsequently been reproduced in
several other government bulletins, which will be cited in their
places. E. W. Hardin's Report on the Financial and Industrial
Condition of the Philippines (Senate Document no. 169, 55th Congress,
3rd session) was similarly reproduced. All three of these documents,
which were useful to American inquirers immediately following the
events of 1898, may be disregarded by the student who resorts to the
Spanish and other sources herein given.
[76] A 36-page pamphlet, Commercial Progress in the Philippine Islands
(London, 1905), by A. M. Regidor y Jurado and J. W. T. Mason, is quite
inaccurate and in part gossipy, but may be noted as containing some
nineteenth-century data on foreign traders and bankers not elsewhere
in print.
[77] Spanish Public Land Laws in the Philippine Islands and their
History to August 13, 1898 (Washington, Bureau of Insular Affairs,
1901). These laws and conditions of land tenure under Spanish rule
are also succinctly summarized by D. R. Williams in Official Handbook
of the Philippines (Manila, 1903); in other respects the Handbook,
a Washington library compilation prepared for the St. Louis Exposition
of 1904, has no independent value and is often inaccurate.
[78] According to Retana, who cites this Informe emitido ... sobre
bancos hipotecarios (Madrid, 1889) in the Estadismo, ii, p. 151*. Pardo
de Tavera (Biblioteca, p. 76) says that this report led to the official
decision that, in view of the general lack of titles, the establishment
of land banks would be premature.
[79] Following are special citations from his El progreso de Filipinas:
Land tax, and arguments therefor, pp. 9, 10, 28-34, 48-53, 56, 65-80;
tax on real estate in towns, pp. 81-89; deficiency of provisions for
obtaining title to unoccupied lands, pp. 48-53, 54-56, 57-66, 222-223;
data (mostly from Jordana y Morera) regarding development of forest
and agricultural resources and amount of cultivated land, province by
province, to 1873-74, pp. 187-204; value assigned to land, province by
province, result of official inquiry of 1862, pp. 212-223; Filipino
laborer and his share in development of agricultural resources,
pp. 223-237; rates of interest on real-estate loans, pp. 253-254;
land measures in use, pp. 257-258.
[80] The intemperate and fantastic writings of "Quioquiap" (Pablo
Feced) in El Diario de Manila and La Política de España en Filipinas
are in point.
[81] See also ibid., i, pp. 150-159.
[82] These tables entirely supersede those presented, earlier in the
period of American occupation, in the Monthly Summary of Commerce
and Finance of the United States for November, 1899, and July, 1901
(which also reproduced the memoranda of Greene, Tornow, and others,
already cited). Some of the tables presented in Bulletin No. 14,
Section of Foreign Markets, Department of Agriculture (Washington,
1898) give in convenient form Philippine trade statistics by countries,
both for imports and exports.
[83] El progreso de Filipinas, pp. 238-244, foreign commerce, entry
of Spanish and foreign vessels, etc., for 1868; p. 244, table of
exports for 1871, in quantities (66 per cent of the hemp and over
50 per cent of the sugar going to the United States in that year);
pp. 245-249, internal trade and inter-island shipping; pp. 253-255,
rates of interest and kinds of money in circulation; pp. 255-258,
weights and measures in use (about 1880).
[84] Questions of customs administration belong with the subject of
Spanish administration, further on.
[85] It is another instance of the old tendency to emphasize
political evils and remedies, and neglect economic considerations,
in the Philippines. The labor monograph of V. S. Clark, above cited,
brings out the fact that higher wages for Filipinos since 1898 are
in part only a compensation for the previous penalization of the
Filipino laborer through a declining medium of exchange.
[86] In Report of Philippine Commission, 1904, iii, pp. 487-503;
and ibid., 1905, iv, pp. 71-87.
[87] See M. Sastrón, La insurrección en Filipinas (Madrid, 1897 and
1901), chap. i, for a summary of the reforms of the '80's and 1893.
[88] It is thus that, from their point of view, the Philippine friars
and their Spanish clerical-conservative defenders have branded the
Filipino campaign, eventually for separation, as entirely produced
and fostered by Spanish Liberalism.
[89] List of Books (with references to periodicals) relating to the
theory of colonization, government of dependencies, protectorates,
and related topics, by A. P. C. Griffin (Washington, 1900). It is
inserted also in O. P. Austin's Colonial administration, 1800-1900
(from Summary of Commerce and Finance of the United States for March,
1903).
[90] The Statesman's Yearbook and such general works of reference
will merit consultation; but it should be remarked that, prior to
1898, encyclopedias, annuals, etc., commonly treated the Philippines
rather cursorily and not always accurately, while, generally speaking,
the Spanish colonies have had very inadequate consideration at the
hands of English and American authors and editors. For the special
subjects of military and naval organization, see Salinas y Angulo's
Legislación militar (Manila, 1879), and Rodriguez Trujillo's Memoria
sobre la Marina (Manila, 1887), both cited in the Bibliography.
[91] Published in La España Oriental, Manila, 1893, and La Política
de España en Filipinas, 1893-94. See Pardo de Tavera's Biblioteca,
no. 1496; note also his no. 2702, under Tiscar.
[92] It is to be emphasized, however, that this abstract shows only
the framework of that government, and that just as it stood (on paper)
at the beginning of 1898, its author not having traced the development
of that organism even for a few years back nor learned that some of
the provisions he outlined were not really in practice.
[93] Grifol y Aliaga (vol. XLVI, p. 109, note 48) is very naïve,
seeking to waive away the effect of the Maura law's plain provisions
in the same way as did some friar and other writers. In his decree
providing regulations for carrying out the law, Blanco explained that
the parish priests were to retain their inspection of the schools as
regards the teaching of religion and morals. The municipal tribunals
were expressly created as schoolboards--an institution of which Zamora
(Las corporaciones religiosas) bitterly complains. In reality, however,
this reform remained a dead letter in most villages, except in the
provinces most advanced in the propaganda, where the Filipino local
officials asserted their power of regulation (Bulakan, Batangas,
Manila, etc.). (From a previous communication from Mr. LeRoy.)--Eds.
[94] Pedro A. Paterno's Regimen municipal de las islas Filipinas
(Madrid, 1893), reproducing Minister Maura's decree in its original
form, with notes, was therefore premature. Except in some of its
comments, however, this work is at least not merely ridiculous, as
are this author's writings on an imaginary primitive religion and
civilization of the Filipinos. Don Pedro has a lively imagination,
too lively for politics and history, but capable of providing good
entertainment when he exercises it as a dramatist. One finds him much
more pleasing in this rôle than as a Filipino reform propagandist,
though in the latter capacity he seems to have been taken very
seriously by Doctor Schurman and Mr. Foreman, and by various Spanish
officials before them, including, for a time, Governor-Generals Primo
de Rivera and Augustín.
[95] Once more, the Manila press since 1898 merits attention here. The
Filipino press has not been always fair in treating of the old régime,
but both in the Filipino and the Spanish press of Manila since 1898
some things have been brought to light which were either suppressed
for private gossip or not frankly discussed at the time of their
conference.
[96] Notes from his Progreso de Filipinas: Lack of public improvements
and defects of public services, especially education, pp. 26-34;
defects in administration of justice and its expensiveness,
pp. 134-136; lack of development of material resources, pp. 205-211,
253-254; restriction of opportunities for Filipino laborers, and the
evils of caciquism, pp. 212-237. A study of caciquism (subjection
of the masses) and its deep roots in Philippine social, economic,
and political conditions may be found in J. A. LeRoy's Philippine
Life in Town and Country (New York, 1905), chap. vi; also the same
in part by the same author in the Atlantic Monthly for March, 1905.
[97] Though unsupported evidence here given, particularly when
obviously gossip or when coming from partisan witnesses, is to
be accepted with caution. F. H. Sawyer's reminiscences of the
administrations of various governor-generals are subject to the same
caution, except where the author plainly speaks from a personal
knowledge of the facts; nevertheless, that such opinions on the
highest officials of the islands could pass current even as gossip
among Spaniards and foreigners in Manila is in itself alone very
significant of the tone of public life in the islands. Note Sawyer
also on the administration of justice, and Foreman on the "pickings"
of officials in the provinces.
[98] Note especially Military Governor of the Philippine Islands on
Civil Affairs (Report War Dept., 1900, i, part 10), pp. 8-13, 79 et
seq. See also, for defects and corruption in the customs administration
up to 1881, Sancianco y Goson, pp. 36-37, 125-131.
[99] Part of this money was spent in campaigns against the Moros,
and perhaps for other purposes not covered by the budget of ordinary
expenses. See La Política de España en Filipinas, v, no. 116,
for an account of progress in this work up to 1895. The press of
Manila has published during the past few years various articles on
the funds collected by subscription in Spain and the Philippines
for the relief of the sufferers from the earthquake in Manila in
1863. See particularly El Renacimiento, Manila, September 18, 1906,
for a report on the subject by Attorney-General Araneta. It would
there appear that nearly $450,000 were collected; by 1870, only some
$30,000 had been distributed to the sufferers themselves; whether they
received further shares at a later date does not appear, but $80,000
were loaned from this fund to the obras pías in 1880, and about
$15,000 were used for cholera relief in 1888-89. Governor-General
Ide instructed the attorney-general to demand the return of the
$80,000 from the obras pías, and recommended that, when $50,000 of
this fund had been recovered, distribution of it among those who
suffered losses in 1863 should begin--almost a half-century later,
and under another government!
[100] The new industrial (or income) taxes had, however,
been inaugurated before he wrote. See his Progreso de Filipinas,
pp. vii, 81-87, 93-94, on this subject; pp. 5-15, for extracts from
a project of economic reforms in 1870 (which see, in the Biblioteca,
no. 2041); pp. 9, 10, 28-34, 48-53, 56, 65-80, 81-89, arguments
for a real-property tax; pp. 6-10, 100-124, 142-143, the tribute;
pp. 133-143, miscellaneous taxes; pp. 142-143, local taxes proper.