THE FORMER PHILIPPINES THRU FOREIGN EYES
Edited by Austin Craig
Preface
Among the many wrongs done the Filipinos by Spaniards, to be charged
against their undeniably large debt to Spain, one of the greatest,
if not the most frequently mentioned, was taking from them their
good name.
Spanish writers have never been noted for modesty or historical
accuracy. Back in 1589 the printer of the English translation of Padre
Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza's "History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of
China" felt it necessary to prefix this warning: * * * the Spaniards
(following their ambitious affections) do usually in all their writings
extoll their own actions, even to the setting forth of many untruthes
and incredible things, as in their descriptions of the conquistes of
the east and west Indies, etc., doth more at large appeare.
Of early Spanish historians Doctor Antonio de Morga seems the single
exception, and perhaps even some of his credit comes by contrast,
but in later years the rule apparently has proved invariable. As
the conditions in the successive periods of Spanish influence were
recognized to be indicative of little progress, if not actually
retrogressive, the practice grew up of correspondingly lowering the
current estimates of the capacity of the Filipinos of the conquest, so
that always an apparent advance appeared. This in the closing period,
in order to fabricate a sufficient showing for over three centuries
of pretended progress, led to the practical denial of human attributes
to the Filipinos found here by Legaspi.
Against this denial to his countrymen of virtues as well as
rights, Doctor Rizal opposed two briefs whose English titles
are "The Philippines A Century Hence" and "The Indolence of the
Filipino." Almost every page therein shows the influence of the young
student's early reading of the hereinafter-printed studies by the
German scientist Jagor, friend and counsellor in his maturer years,
and the liberal Spaniard Comyn. Even his acquaintance with Morga,
which eventually led to Rizal's republication of the 1609 history
long lost to Spaniards, probably was owing to Jagor, although the
life-long resolution for that action can be traced to hearing of Sir
John Bowring's visit to his uncle's home and the proposed Hakluyt
Society English translation then mentioned.
The present value and interest of these now rare books has suggested
their republication, to make available to Filipino students a course
of study which their national hero found profitable as well as to
correct the myriad misconceptions of things Philippine in the minds
of those who have taken the accepted Spanish accounts as gospel truths.
Dr. L. V. Schweibs, of Berlin, made the hundreds of corrections,
many reversing the meanings of former readings, which almost
justify calling the revised Jagor translation a new one. Numerous
hitherto-untranslated passages likewise appear. There have been
left out the illustrations, from crude drawings obsolete since
photographic pictures have familiarized the scenes and objects,
and also the consequently superfluous references to these. No other
omission has been allowed, for if one author leaned far to one side in
certain debatable questions the other has been equally partisan for the
opposite side, except a cerement on religion in general and discussion
of the world-wide social evil were eliminated as having no particular
Philippine bearing to excuse their appearance in a popular work.
The early American quotations of course are for comparison with the
numerous American comments of today, and the two magazine extracts
give English accounts a century apart. Virchow's matured views have
been substituted for the pioneer opinions he furnished Professor Jagor
thirty years earlier, and if Rizal's patron in the scientific world
fails at times in his facts his method for research is a safe guide.
Finally, three points should constantly be borne in mind: (1) allowance
must be made for the lessening Spanish influence, surely more foreign
to this seafaring people than the present modified Anglo-Saxon
education, and so more artificial, i.e., less assimilable, as well
as for the removal of the unfavorable environment, before attempting
to from an opinion of the present-day Filipino from his prototype
pictured in those pages; (2) foreign observers are apt to emphasize
what is strange to them in describing other lands than their own and to
leave unnoted points of resemblance which may be much more numerous;
(3) Rizal's judgment that his countrymen were more like backward
Europeans than Orientals was based on scientific studies of Europe's
rural districts and Philippine provincial conditions as well as of
oriental country life, so that it is entitled to more weight than
the commoner opinion to the contrary which though more popular has
been less carefully formed.
University of the Philippines,
Manila, March 11th, 1916.
Contents
Jagor's Travels in the Philippines 1
(The out-of-print 1875 English translation corrected from the original
German text)
State of the Philippines in 1810. By Tomas de Comyn 357
(William Walton's 1821 translation modernized)
Manila and Sulu in 1842. By Com. Chas. Wilkes, U.S.N. 459
(Narrative of U. S. Exploring Expedition 1838-42, Vol. 5)
Manila in 1819. By Lieut. John White, U.S.N. 530
(From the "History of a Voyage to the China Sea")
The Peopling of the Philippines. By Doctor Rudolf Virchow 536
(O. T. Mason's translation; Smithsonian Institution 1899 Report)
People and Prospects of the Philippines. By An English Merchant,
1778, and A Consul, 1878 550
(From Blackwood's and the Cornhill Magazine)
Filipino Merchants of the Early 1890s. By F. Karuth, F.R.G.S. 552
The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes
PART I
Jagor's Travels in the Philippines
CHAPTER I
[Difference from European time.] When the clock strikes twelve in
Madrid, [1] it is 8 hours, 18 minutes, and 41 seconds past eight
in the evening at Manila; that is to say, the latter city lies 124°
40' 15'' to the east of the former (7 hours, 54 minutes, 35 seconds
from Paris). Some time ago, however, while the new year was being
celebrated in Madrid, it was only New Year's eve at Manila.
[Magellan's mistake in reckoning.] As Magellan, who discovered the
Philippines in his memorable first circumnavigation of the globe,
was following the sun in its apparent daily path around the world,
every successive degree he compassed on his eastern course added
four minutes to the length of his day; and, when he reached the
Philippines, the difference amounted to sixteen hours. This, however,
apparently escaped his notice, for Elcano, the captain of the only
remaining vessel, was quite unaware, on his return to the longitude
of his departure, why according to his ship's log-book, he was a day
behind the time of the port which he had reached again by continuously
sailing westward. [2] [3]
[Change to the Asian day.] The error remained also unheeded in the
Philippines. It was still, over there the last day of the old year,
while the rest of the world was commencing the new one; and this state
of things continued till the close of 1844, when it was resolved,
with the approval of the archbishop, to pass over New Year's eve for
once altogether. [4] Since that time the Philippines are considered
to lie no longer in the distant west, but in the far east, and are
about eight hours in advance of their mother country. The proper field
for their commerce, however, is what is to Europeans the far west;
they were colonized thence, and for centuries, till 1811, they had
almost no other communication with Europe but the indirect one by
the annual voyage of the galleon between Manila and Acapulco. Now,
however, when the eastern shores of the Pacific are at last beginning
to teem with life, and, with unexampled speed, are pressing forward to
grasp their stupendous future, the Philippines will no longer be able
to remain in their past seclusion. No tropical Asiatic colony is so
favorably situated for communication with the west coast of America,
and it is only in a few matters that the Dutch Indies can compete with
them for the favors of the Australian market. But, [Future in American
and Australian trade.] on the other hand, they will have to abandon
their traffic with China, whose principal emporium Manila originally
was, as well as that with those westward-looking countries of Asia,
Europe's far east, which lie nearest to the Atlantic ports. [5] [6]
[Commercially in the New World.] When the circumstances mentioned
come to be realized, the Philippines, or, at any rate, the principal
market for their commerce, will finally fall within the limits of
the western hemisphere, to which indeed they were relegated by the
illustrious Spanish geographers at Badajoz.
[The Pope's world-partitive.] The Bull issued by Alexander VI, [7]
on May 4, 1493, which divided the earth into two hemispheres, decreed
that all heathen lands discovered in the eastern half should belong
to the Portuguese; in the western half to the Spaniards. According to
this arrangement, the latter could only claim the Philippines under
the pretext that they were situated in the western hemisphere. The
demarcation line was to run from the north to the south, a hundred
leagues to the south-west of all the so-called Azores and Cape
de Verde Islands. In accordance with the treaty of Tordesillas,
negotiated between Spain and Portugal on June 7, 1494, and approved
by Julius II, in 1506, this line was drawn three hundred and seventy
leagues west of the Cape de Verde Islands.
[Faulty Spanish and Portuguese geography.] At that time Spanish and
Portuguese geographers reckoned seventeen and one-half leagues to a
degree on the equator. In the latitude of the Cape de Verde Islands,
three hundred and seventy leagues made 21° 55'. If to this we add
the longitudinal difference between the westernmost point of the
group and Cadiz, a difference of 18° 48', we get 40° 43' west, and
139° 17' east from Cadiz (in round numbers 47° west and 133° east),
as the limits of the Spanish hemisphere. At that time, however,
the existing means for such calculations were entirely insufficient.
[Extravagant Spanish claims thru ignorance.] The latitude was measured
with imperfect astrolabes, or wooden quadrants, and calculated from
very deficient tables; the variation of the compass, moreover, was
almost unknown, as well as the use of the log. [8] Both method and
instruments were wanting for useful longitudinal calculations. It was
under these circumstances that the Spaniards attempted, at Badajoz,
to prove to the protesting Portuguese that the eastern boundary line
intersected the mouths of the Ganges, and proceeded to lay claim to
the possession of the Spice Islands.
[Spain's error in calculation.] The eastern boundary should, in
reality, have been drawn 46 1/2° further to the east, that is to
say, as much further as it is from Berlin to the coast of Labrador,
or to the lesser Altai; for, in the latitude of Calcutta 46 1/2°
are equivalent to two thousand five hundred and seventy-five nautical
miles. Albo's log-book gives the difference in longitude between the
most eastern islands of the Archipelago and Cape Fermoso (Magellan's
Straits), as 106° 30', while in reality it amounts to 159° 85'.
[Moluccan rights sold to Portugal.] The disputes between the Spaniards
and the Portuguese, occasioned by the uncertainty of the eastern
boundary--Portugal had already founded a settlement in the Spice
Islands--were set at rest by an agreement made in 1529, in which
Charles V. abandoned his pretended rights to the Moluccas in favor
of Portugal, for the sum of 350,000 ducats. The Philippines, at that
time, were of no value.
* * * * *
[Foreign mail facilities.] The distance from Manila to Hongkong is
six hundred fifty nautical miles, and the course is almost exactly
south-east. The mail steamer running between the two ports makes the
trip in from three to four days. This allows of a fortnightly postal
communication between the colony and the rest of the world. [9]
[Slight share in world commerce.] This small steamer is the only thing
to remind an observer at Hongkong, a port thronged with the ships of
all nations, that an island so specially favored in conditions and
fertility lies in such close proximity.
[Little commerce with Spain.] Although the Philippines belong to Spain,
there is but little commerce between the two countries. Once the
tie which bound them was so close that Manila was wont to celebrate
the arrival of the Spanish mail with Te Deums and bell-ringing, in
honor of the successful achievement of so stupendous a journey. Until
Portugal fell to Spain, the road round Africa to the Philippines was
not open to Spanish vessels. The condition of the overland route
is sufficiently shown by the fact that two Augustinian monks who,
in 1603, were entrusted with an important message for the king,
and who chose the direct line through Goa, Turkey, and Italy, needed
three years for reaching Madrid. [10]
[Former Spanish ships mainly carried foreign goods.] The trade by
Spanish ships, which the merchants were compelled to patronize in
order to avoid paying an additional customs tax, in spite of the
protective duties for Spanish products, was almost exclusively
in foreign goods to the colony and returning the products of the
latter for foreign ports. The traffic with Spain was limited to the
conveyance of officials, priests, and their usual necessaries, such as
provisions, wine and other liquors; and, except a few French novels,
some atrociously dull books, histories of saints, and similar works.
[Manila's fine bay.] The Bay of Manila is large enough to contain the
united fleets of Europe; it has the reputation of being one of the
finest in the world. The aspect of the coast, however, to a stranger
arriving, as did the author, at the close of the dry season, falls
short of the lively descriptions of some travellers. The circular bay,
one hundred twenty nautical miles in circumference, the waters of
which wash the shores of five different provinces, is fringed in the
neighborhood of Manila by a level coast, behind which rises an equally
flat table land. The scanty vegetation in the foreground, consisting
chiefly of bamboos and areca palms, was dried up by the sun; while in
the far distance the dull uniformity of the landscape was broken by
the blue hills of San Mateo. In the rainy season the numerous unwalled
canals overflow their banks and form a series of connected lakes,
which soon, however, change into luxuriant and verdant rice-fields.
[City's appearance mediaeval European.] Manila is situated on both
sides of the river Pasig. The town itself, surrounded with walls and
ramparts, with its low tiled roofs and a few towers, had, in 1859,
the appearance of some ancient European fortress. Four years later
the greater part of it was destroyed by an earthquake.
[The 1863 earthquake.] On June 3, 1863, at thirty-one minutes past
seven in the evening, after a day of tremendous heat while all Manila
was busy in its preparations for the festival of Corpus Christi,
the ground suddenly rocked to and fro with great violence. The
firmest buildings reeled visibly, walls crumbled, and beams snapped
in two. The dreadful shock lasted half a minute; but this little
interval was enough to change the whole town into a mass of ruins,
and to bury alive hundreds of its inhabitants. [11] A letter of
the governor-general, which I have seen, states that the cathedral,
the goverment-house, the barracks, and all the public buildings of
Manila were entirely destroyed, and that the few private houses which
remained standing threatened to fall in. Later accounts speak of
four hundred killed and two thousand injured, and estimate the loss
at eight millions of dollars. Forty-six public and five hundred and
seventy private buildings were thrown down; twenty-eight public and
five hundred twenty-eight private buildings were nearly destroyed,
and all the houses left standing were more or less injured.
[Damage in Cavite.] At the same time, an earthquake of forty seconds'
duration occurred at Cavite, the naval port of the Philippines,
and destroyed many buildings.
[Destruction in walled city.] Three years afterwards, the Duc
d'Alencon (Lucon et Mindanao; Paris, 1870, S. 38) found the traces
of the catastrophe everywhere. Three sides of the principal square
of the city, in which formerly stood the government, or governor's,
palace, the cathedral, and the townhouse, were lying like dust heaps
overgrown with weeds. All the large public edifices were "temporarily"
constructed of wood; but nobody then seemed to plan anything permanent.
[Former heavy shocks.] Manila is very often subject to earthquakes;
the most fatal occurred in 1601; in 1610 (Nov. 30); in 1645 (Nov. 30);
in 1658 (Aug. 20); in 1675; in 1699; in 1796; in 1824; in 1852; and
in 1863. In 1645, six hundred [12], or, according to some accounts,
three thousand [13] persons perished, buried under the ruins of their
houses. Their monastery, the church of the Augustinians, and that of
the Jesuits, were the only public buildings which remained standing.
[Frequent minor disturbances.] Smaller shocks, which suddenly set
the hanging lamps swinging, occur very often and generally remain
unnoticed. The houses are on this account generally of but one story,
and the loose volcanic soil on which they are built may lessen the
violence of the shock. Their heavy tiled roofs, however, appear
very inappropriate under such circumstances. Earthquakes are also
of frequent occurrence in the provinces, but they, as a rule, cause
so little damage, owing to the houses being constructed of timber or
bamboo, that they are never mentioned.
[Scanty data available.] M. Alexis Perrey (Mém. de l'Académie de
Dijon, 1860) has published a list, collected with much diligence from
every accessible source, of the earthquakes which have visited the
Philippines, and particularly Manila. But the accounts, even of the
most important, are very scanty, and the dates of their occurrence very
unreliable. Of the minor shocks, only a few are mentioned, those which
were noticed by scientific observers accidentally present at the time.
[The 1610 catastrophe.] Aduarte (I. 141) mentions a tremendous
earthquake which occurred in 1610. I briefly quote his version of
the details of the catastrophe, as I find them mentioned nowhere else.
"Towards the close of November, 1610, on St. Andrew's Day, a more
violent earthquake than had ever before been witnessed, visited
these Islands; its effects extended from Manila to the extreme end
of the province of Nueva Segovia (the whole northern part of Luzon),
a distance of 200 leagues. It caused great destruction over the entire
area; in the province of Ilocos it buried palm trees, so that only the
tops of their branches were left above the earth's surface; through
the power of the earthquake mountains were pushed against each other;
it threw down many buildings, and killed a great number of people. Its
fury was greatest in Nueva Segovia, where it opened the mountains, and
created new lake basins. The earth threw up immense fountains of sand,
and vibrated so terribly that the people, unable to stand upon it,
laid down and fastened themselves to the ground, as if they had been
on a ship in a stormy sea. In the range inhabited by the Mendayas a
mountain fell in, crushing a village and killing its inhabitants. An
immense portion of the cliff sank into the river; and now, where the
stream was formerly bordered by a range of hills of considerable
altitude, its banks are nearly level with the watercourse. The
commotion was so great in the bed of the river that waves arose like
those of the ocean, or as if the water had been lashed by a furious
wind. Those edifices which were of stone suffered the most damage,
our church and the convent fell in, etc., etc."