PROGRESS AND REVOLUTION. 1837-1897.
Progress during the Last Half-Century of Spanish Rule.--We have
now come to the last half-century and to the last phase of Spanish
rule. In many respects this period was one of economic and social
progress, and contained more of promise than any other in the history
of the Islands. During this last half-century the Spanish rulers
had numerous plans for the development and better administration of
the Philippines, and, in spite of a somewhat wavering policy and the
continual sore of official peculation, this was a period of wonderful
advancement. Revolution and separation from Spain came at last, as
revolutions usually do, not because there was no effort nor movement
for reform, but because progress was so discouragingly slow and so
irritatingly blocked by established interests that desired no change.
Effect of Opening the Port of Manila to Foreign Trade.--Increase in
Agriculture.--The opening of the port of Manila to foreign trade, in
1837, was followed by a period of rising industry and prosperity. Up
to this time the archipelago had not been a producing and exporting
country, but the freeing of trade led to the raising of great harvests
for foreign export, which have made world-wide the fame of certain
Philippine productions. Chief among these are of course Manila hemp
and tobacco. These were followed by sugar and coffee culture, the
latter plant enriching the province of Batangas, while the planting
of new cocoanut groves yearly made of greater importance the yield
of that excellent product, copra. These rich merchandises had entered
very little into commerce during the early decades of the century.
Increase in Exports.--In 1810 the entire imports of the Philippines
amounted in value to 5,329,000 dollars, but more than half of this
consisted of silver sent from Mexico. From Europe and the United
States trade amounted to only 175,000 dollars. The exports in the
same year amounted to 4,795,000 dollars, but a million and a half of
this was Mexican silver exported on to China, and the whole amount
of exports to Europe and the United States was only 250,000 dollars.
In 1831 the exportation of hemp amounted to only 346 tons. But the
effect upon production of opening Manila to foreign trade is seen
in the export six years later of 2,585 tons. By 1858 the exportation
of hemp had risen to 412,000 piculs, or 27,500 tons. Of this amount,
nearly two thirds, or 298,000 piculs, went to the United States. At
this time the North Atlantic seaboard of America was the center of
a most active ship-building and ship-carrying trade. The American
flag was conspicuous among the vessels that frequented these Eastern
ports, and "Manila hemp" was largely sought after by American seamen
to supply the shipyards at home. Of sugar, the export in 1858 amounted
to 557,000 piculs, of which more than half went to Great Britain.
After 1814 general permission had been given to foreigners to
establish trading-houses in Manila, and by 1858 there were fifteen such
establishments, of which seven were English and three American. [86]
Other Ports Opened to Foreign Commerce.--In 1855 three other ports
were opened to foreign commerce--Sual in Pangasinan on the Gulf of
Lingayan, Iloilo, and Zamboanga. In 1863, Cebu likewise was made an
open port. The exports of Sual consisted only of rice, and in spite
of its exceptional harbor this port never flourished, and is to-day
no more than an unfrequented village.
Iloilo exported leaf tobacco, sugar, sapan or dyewood (an industry
long ago ruined), hemp, and hides. Zamboanga through the Chinese had a
small trade with Jolo and the Moro Islands, and exported the produce of
these seas--sea-slug (tripang), shark fins, mother-of-pearl, tortoise
shell, etc. For some years the customs laws in these ports were
trying and vexatious, and prevented full advantage being taken of the
privileges of export; but in 1869 this service was, by royal decree,
greatly liberalized and improved. Since that date the Philippines
have steadily continued to grow in importance in the commercial world.
The Form of Government under the Spanish.--General Improvements.--This
is perhaps a convenient place to examine for the last time the
political system which the Spaniards maintained in the country. In
1850 there were thirty-four provinces and two politico-military
commandancias. In these provinces the Spanish administration was
still vested solely in the alcalde mayor, who until after 1886 was
both governor or executive officer and the judge or court for the
trial of provincial cases and crimes.
Many of the old abuses which had characterized the government of
the alcaldes had been at least partially remedied. After 1844 they
had no longer the much-abused monopoly privilege of trade, nor had
they as free a hand in controlling the labor of the inhabitants; but
opportunities for illegal enrichment existed in the administration
of the treasury and tax system, and these opportunities were not
slighted. Up to the very end of Spanish rule the officials, high and
low, are accused of stealing public money.
The Pueblo.--The unit of administration was the pueblo, or township,
which ordinarily embraced many square miles of country and contained,
numerous villages, or "barrios." The center of the town was naturally
the site where for centuries had stood the great church and the
convent of the missionary friars. These locations had always been
admirably chosen, and about them grew up the market and trading-shops
of Chinese and the fine and durable homes of the more prosperous
Filipinos and mestizos.
About 1860 the government began to concern itself with the construction
of public buildings and improvements, and the result is seen in many
pueblos in the finely laid-out plazas and well-built municipal edifices
grouped about the square--the "tribunal," or town house, the jail,
and the small but significant schoolhouses. The government of the
town was vested in a "gobernadorcillo" and a council, each of the
"consejales" usually representing a hamlet or barrio.
But the Spanish friar, who in nearly every pueblo was the parish
curate, continued to be the paternal guardian and administrator of the
pueblo. In general, no matter was too minute for his dictation. Neither
gobernadorcillo nor councillors dared act in opposition to his wishes,
and the alcalde of the province was careful to keep on friendly terms
and leave town affairs largely to his dictation. The friar was the
local inspector of public instruction and ever vigilant to detect
and destroy radical ideas. To the humble Filipino, the friar was the
visible and only representative of Spanish authority.
The Revolt of 1841.--Repression of the People by the
Friars.--Unquestionably in the past, the work of the friars had been
of very great value; but men as well as institutions may lose their
usefulness, as conditions change, and the time was now approaching when
the autocratic and paternal regime of the friars no longer satisfied
the Filipinos. Their zeal was no longer disinterested, and their
work had become materialized by the possession of the vast estates
upon which their spiritual charges lived and labored as tenants or
dependents. The policy of the religious orders had, in fact, become
one of repression, and as the aspirations of the Filipinos increased,
the friars, filled with doubt and fear, tried to draw still tighter
the bonds of their own authority, and viewed with growing distrust
the rising ambition of the people.
Apolinario de la Cruz.--The unfortunate revolution of 1841 shows the
wayward and misdirected enthusiasm of the Filipino; and the unwisdom
of the friars. Apolinario de la Cruz, a young Filipino, a native
of Lukban, Tayabas, came up to Manila filled with the ambition to
lead a monastic life, and engaged in theological studies. By his
attendance upon lectures and sermons and by imitation of the friar
preachers of Manila, Apolinario became, himself, quite an orator,
and, as subsequent events showed, was able to arouse great numbers
of his own people by his appeals.
It was his ambition to enter one of the regular monastic orders,
but this religious privilege was never granted to Filipinos, and he
was refused. He then entered a brotherhood known as the Cofradia, or
Brotherhood of San Juan de Dios, composed entirely of Filipinos. After
some years in this brotherhood, he returned in 1840 to Tayabas and
founded the Cofradia de San Jose, his aim being to form a special
cult in honor of Saint Joseph and the Virgin. For this he requested
authorization from Manila. It was here that the lack of foresight of
the friars appeared.
The Opposition of the Friars.--Instead of sympathizing with these
religious aspirations, in which, up to this point, there seems to have
been nothing heretical, they viewed the rise of a Filipino religious
leader with alarm. Their policy never permitted to the Filipino any
position that was not wholly subordinate. They believed that the
permanence of Spanish power in these islands lay in suppressing any
latent ability for leadership in the Filipino himself. Their influence,
consequently, was thrown against Apolinario, and the granting of the
authority for his work. They secured not only a condemnation of his
plan, but an order for the arrest and imprisonment of all who should
attend upon his preaching.
Apolinario Forced to Rebel.--Apolinario thereupon took refuge
in independent action. His movement had already become a strong
one, and his followers numbered several thousand people of Laguna,
Tayabas, and Batangas. The governor of Tayabas province, Don Joaquin
Ortega, organized an expedition to destroy the schism. Accompanied
by two Franciscan friars, he attacked Apolinario in the month of
October, 1840, and was defeated and killed. One account says that
Apolinario was assisted by a band of Negritos, whose bowmanship was
destructive. There are still a very few of these little blacks in
the woods in the vicinity of Lukban.
Apolinario was now in the position of an open rebel, and he fortified
himself in the vicinity of Alitao, where he built a fort and chapel.
His religious movement became distinctly independent and heretical. A
church was formed, of which he was first elected archbishop and then
supreme pontiff. He was also charged with having assumed the title of
"King of the Tagalog."
Finally a force under the new alcalde, Vital, and General Huet early in
November attacked Apolinario's stronghold and after a fierce struggle
defeated the revolutionists. About a thousand Filipinos perished in
the final battle. Apolinario was captured and executed. He was then
twenty-seven years of age.
Organization of Municipal Governments.--In 1844 an able and liberal
governor, General Claveria, arrived, and remained until the end of the
year 1849. A better organization of the provincial governments, which
we have seen, followed Claveria's entrance into office, and in October,
1847, came the important decree, organizing the municipalities in
the form which we have already described, and which remained without
substantial modification to the end of Spanish rule, and which has
to a considerable extent been followed in the Municipal Code framed
by the American government.
Subjection of the Igorrote Tribes.--With Claveria began a decisive
policy of conquest among the Igorrote tribes of northern Luzon, and
by the end of Spanish rule these mountains were dotted with cuartels
and missions for the control of these unruly tribes. The province of
Nueva Vizcaya has been particularly subject to the raids of these
head-hunting peoples. Year after year the Christian towns of the
plains had yielded a distressing sacrifice of life to satisfy the
savage ceremonials of the Igorrotes. [87]
In 1847, Claveria nominated as governor of Nueva Vizcaya, Don Mariano
Ozcariz, whose severe and telling conquests for the first time checked
these Igorrote outrages and made possible the development of the
great valleys of northern Luzon.
Spanish Settlements on Mindanao.--Zamboanga.--With Claveria's
governorship we enter also upon the last phase of Moro piracy. In spite
of innumerable expeditions, Spain's occupation of South Mindanao and
the Sulu archipelago was limited to the presidio of Zamboanga. She had
occupied this strategic point continuously since the reestablishment
of Spanish power in 1763, The great stone fort, which still stands,
had proved impregnable to Moro attack, and had long been unmolested.
Distributed for a distance of some miles over the rich lands at this
end of the Zamboanga peninsula was a Christian population, which
had grown up largely from the descendants of rescued captives of the
Moros. Coming originally from all parts of the Bisayas, Calamianes, and
Luzon, this mixed population has grown to have a somewhat different
character from that of any other part of the Islands. A corrupt
Spanish dialect, known as the "Chabucano," has become the common
speech, the only instance in the Philippines where the native dialect
has been supplanted. This population, loyal and devotedly Catholic,
never failed to sustain the defense of this isolated Spanish outpost,
and contributed brave volunteers to every expedition against the
Moro islands.
Activity of Other Nations.--But Spain's maintenance of Zamboanga was
insufficient to sustain her claims of sovereignty over the Sulu and
Tawi-Tawi groups. Both the Dutch and English planned various moves for
their occupation and acquisition, and in 1844 a French fleet entered
the archipelago and concluded a treaty with the sultan of Sulu for
the cession of the island of Basilan for the sum of one million
dollars. Writings of the French minister and historian, M. Guizot,
show that France hoped, by the acquisition of this island, to obtain
a needed naval base in the East and found a great commercial port
within the sphere of Chinese trade. [88]
Conquest of the Gulf of Davao.--But this step roused the Spaniards
to activity and the occupation of the island. A naval vessel subdued
the towns along the north coast, and then proceeding to the mouth of
the Rio Grande, secured from the sultan of Maguindanao the cession
of the great Gulf of Davao. Spain took no immediate steps to occupy
this gulf, but in 1847 a Spaniard, Don Jose Oyanguran, proposed to
the governor, Claveria, to conquer the region at his own expense,
if he could be furnished with artillery and munitions and granted a
ten years' government of Davao, with the exclusive privilege of trade.
His offer was accepted by the governor and the Audiencia, and Oyanguran
organized a company to secure funds for the undertaking. In two
years' time he had subdued the coast regions of this gulf, expelled
the pirates who harbored there, and founded the settlement of Nueva
Vergara. He seems to have been making progress toward the conquest
and commercial exploitation of this region, when jealous attacks in
Manila induced Governor Urbistondo to cancel his privilege and to
relieve him by an officer of the government.
In subsequent years the Jesuits had a few mission stations here and
made a few converts among the Bagobos; but the region is still an
unsubdued and unutilized country, whose inhabitants are mainly pagan
tribes, and whose rich agricultural possibilities lie undeveloped
and unclaimed.
The Samal Pirates.--The Sulu.--The piratical inhabitants of the
Sulu archipelago are made of two distinct Malayan peoples--the Sulu
(or Sulug), and the Samal, who are known throughout Malaysia as the
"Bajau" or "Orang laut" (Men of the Sea). The former appear to be
the older inhabitants. They occupy the rich and populous island of
Jolo and some islands of the Siassi group, immediately south.
The Samal.--The Samal, or Bajau, are stated to have come originally
from Johore. Many of them live almost exclusively in their boats,
passing their lives from birth to death upon the sea. They are found
throughout most parts of Malaysia, the position of their little fleets
changing with the shifting of the monsoons. In the Sulu archipelago
and a few points in South Mindanao, many of these Samal have shifted
their homes from their boats to the shore. Their villages are built
on piles over the sea, and on many of the low coral reefs south of
Siassi and east of Tawi-Tawi there are great towns or settlements
which have apparently been in existence a long while.
Fifty years ago the Samal were very numerous in the many islands
between Jolo and Basilan, and this group is still known as the Islas
Samales. Like the Sulu and other Malays, the Samal are Mohammedans,
and scarcely less persistent pirates than their fellow-Malays. With the
decline of piratical power among the Sulu of Jolo, the focus of piracy
shifted to these settlements of the Samal, and in the time of Claveria
the worst centers were the islands of Balanguingui and Tonquil, lying
just north of the island of Jolo. From here pirate and slaving raids
upon the Bisayan Islands continued to be made, and nearly every year
towns were sacked and burned and several hundred unfortunate captives
carried away. The captives were destined for slavery, and regular marts
existed for this traffic at Jolo and on the Bay of Sandakan in Borneo.
Arrival of Steam Warships.--In 1848 the Philippines secured the
first steam war vessels. These were the "Magellanes," the "Elcano,"
and the "Reina de Castilla." They were destined to revolutionize
Moro relations.
The Destruction of the Samal Forts.--Hitherto it had been possible
for the great Moro war praos, manned by many oarsmen, to drop their
masts on the approach of an armed sailing-vessel, and, turning
toward the "eye of the wind," where no sailing-ship could pursue,
row calmly away from danger. Steam alone was effective in combating
these sea-wolves. Claveria took these newly arrived ships, and with
a strong force of infantry, which was increased by Zamboangueno
volunteers, he entered the Samal group in February, 1848, and landed
on the island of Balanguingui.
There were four fortresses situated in the mangrove marshes of the
island. These, in spite of a desperate resistance, were carried by
the infantry and Zamboanguenos and the pirates scattered. The conduct
of the campaign appears to have been admirable and the fighting
heroic. The Moros were completely overwhelmed; 450 dead were burned
or interred; 124 pieces of artillery--for the most part, the small
brass cannon called "lantacas"--were captured, and 150 Moro boats were
destroyed. The Spaniards cut down the cocoanut groves, and with spoil
that included such rich pirate loot as silks, silver vases, ornaments,
and weapons of war, and with over two hundred prisoners and three
hundred rescued captives, returned to Zamboanga. This was the most
signal victory ever won by Europeans in conflict with Malay piracy. The
effectiveness of this campaign is shown by the fact that while in
the preceding year 450 Filipinos had suffered capture at the hands
of Moro pirates, in 1848 and the succeeding year there was scarcely
a depredation. But in 1850 a pirate squadron from Tonquil, an island
adjacent to Balanguingui, fell upon Samar and Camaguin. Fortunately,
Governor Urbistondo, who had succeeded Claveria, vigorously continued
the policy of his predecessor, and an expedition was promptly
dispatched which destroyed the settlements and strongholds on Tonquil.
Destruction of the Moro Forts at Jolo.--A year later war broke out
again with Jolo, and after a varied interchange of negotiations and
hostilities, the Spaniards stormed and took the town in February,
1851. The question of permanent occupation of this important site was
debated by a council of war, but their forces appearing unequal to
the task, the forts of the Moros were destroyed, and the expedition
returned. Jolo is described at this time as a very strongly guarded
situation. Five forts and a double line of trenches faced the
shore. The Moro town is said to have contained about seven thousand
souls, and there was a barrio of Chinese traders, who numbered about
five hundred.
Treaty with the Sultan of Jolo.--A few months later the governor of
Zamboanga concluded a treaty with the sultan of Jolo by which the
archipelago was to be considered an incorporated part of the Spanish
possessions. The sultan bound himself to make no further treaties
with or cessions to foreign powers, to suppress piracy, and to fly the
Spanish flag. The Moros were guaranteed the practice of their religion,
the succession of the sultan and his descendants in the established
order, boats of Jolo were to enjoy the same trading privileges in
Spanish ports as other Filipino vessels, and the sultan retained
the right to all customs duties on foreign trading-vessels. Finally,
"in compensation for the damages of war," the sultan was to be paid
an annual subsidy of 1,500 pesos and 600 pesos each to three datos
and 360 pesos to a sherif. [89]
The End of Malay Piracy.--In these very years that Malay piracy was
receiving such severe blows from the recuperating power and activity
of the Spanish government on the north, it was crushed also from
the south by the merciless warfare of a great Englishman, the Raja
Charles Brooke of Sarawak. The sources of pirate depredation were
Maguindanao, the Sulu archipelago, and the north and west coasts of
the great island of Borneo. We have seen how these fleets, century
after century, swept northward and wasted with fire and murder the
fair islands of the Philippines.
But this archipelago was not alone in suffering these ravages. The
peaceful trading inhabitants of the great island groups to the south
were persistently visited and despoiled. Moreover, as the Chinese
trade by the Cape of Good Hope route became established in the first
half of the nineteenth century, these pirates became a great menace
to European shipping. They swarmed the China Sea, and luckless indeed
was the ship carried too far eastward on its course. Every American
schoolboy is familiar with the stories of fierce hand-to-hand struggles
with Malay pirates, which have come down from those years when the
American flag was seen everywhere in the ports of the Far East.
About 1839 a young English officer, [90] who had been in the Indian
service, Charles Brooke, having armed and equipped a yacht of about
140 tons, set sail for the coast of Borneo, with the avowed intent of
destroying Malay piracy and founding an independent state. In all the
romantic stories of the East there is no career of greater daring than
that of this man. In 1841, having engaged in several bloody exploits,
Brooke forced from the sultan of Borneo the cession of Sarawak,
with the government vested in himself as an independent raja.
Brooke now devoted himself with merciless severity to the destruction
of the pirates in the deep bays and swampy rivers, whence they had
so long made their excursions. Later he was assisted by the presence
of the English man-of-war "Dido," and in 1847 the sultan of Brunei
ceded to Great Britain the island of Labuan. In 1849, Brooke visited
Zamboanga in the English man-of-war "Moeander," and concluded a treaty
with the sultan of Sulu, which greatly alarmed the Spaniards.
Brooke's private correspondence shows that he was ambitious and hopeful
of acquiring for England parts of the Dutch possessions in the south
and the Spanish Philippines in the north; but his plans were never
followed up by England, although in 1887 North Borneo was ceded to
an English company, and all the northern and eastern portions of this
great island are now under English protection. [91]
Liberal Ideas among the Filipinos.--The release from Moro
piracy, the opening of foreign commerce, and the development of
agricultural production were rapidly bringing about a great change
in the aspirations of the Filipino people themselves. Nearly up to
the middle of the nineteenth century the Filipinos had felt the
full effect of isolation from the life and thought of the modern
world. But the revolutionary changes in Europe and the struggles
for constitutional government in Spain had their influence, even
in these far-away Spanish possessions. Spaniards of liberal ideas,
some of them in official positions, found their way to the Islands,
and an agitation began, originating among Spaniards themselves,
against the paternal powers of the friars.
Influence of the Press.--The growth of periodic literature accelerated
this liberalizing movement. The press, though suffering a severe
censorship, has played a large part in shaping recent thought in
these islands and in communicating to the Filipino people those
ideas and purposes which ever inspire and elevate men. [92] The first
newspaper to make its appearance in the Philippines was in 1822--"El
Philantropo"; but journalism assumed no real importance until the
forties, when there were founded "Semanario Filipino" (1843), and
almost immediately after several others--"El Amigo de Pais" (1845),
"La Estrella" (1846), and "La Esperanza" (1847), the first daily. These
were followed by "Diario de Manila" (1848); in 1858 "El Comercio"
appeared, the oldest of the papers still in existence. [93]
Papers conducted by Filipinos and in the Filipino tongues are of more
recent origin, but these early Spanish periodicals had a real effect
upon the Filipinos themselves, training up a class familiar with the
conduct of journalism and preparing a way for the very influential
work of the Filipino press in recent years.
Establishment of an Educational System.--Return of the Jesuits.--But
more important than all other influences was the opening of education
to Filipinos. In 1852 a royal decree authorized the Jesuits to return
to the Philippines. The conditions under which they came back were
that they should devote themselves solely to missions in the unoccupied
fields of Mindanao, and to the higher education of the Filipinos.
The Public Schools.--In 1860, O'Donnell, the Spanish minister of
war and colonies (Ultramar), founded the system of public primary
instruction. A primary school for boys and one for girls was to
be established in each pueblo of the Islands. In these schools,
instruction was to be given in the Spanish language. A superior
commission of education was formed, which consisted of the governor,
the archbishop, and seven other members added by the governor himself.
The system was not secular, for it primarily was devoted to the
teaching of religious doctrine. The Spanish friar, the pueblo curate,
was the local inspector of schools and practically directed their
conduct. It was not wholly a free system, because tuition was required
of all but the poorest children; nor was it an adequate system,
because, even when most complete, it reached only a small proportion
of the children of a parish, and these very largely were of the
well-to-do families. And yet this system, for what it accomplished,
is deserving of great credit.
Besides the church, the convent, and the tribunal, nearly every town
in the Philippines, toward the close of Spanish rule, had also, in the
public plaza, its public school buildings for boys and for girls. In
these towns a number of Filipinos were taught to converse in the
Spanish language and at least the rudiments of Spanish education. But
this system did not give opportunity for education to the little
child of the humble fisherman and the husbandman.
The Manila Normal School.--To prepare Filipino teachers to do this
work of primary instruction, a decree of 1863 established the Manila
Normal School. In charge of the Jesuits, this school was inaugurated
in January, 1865. And about the same date the government decreed the
foundation of the Jesuit "Ateneo Municipal" for higher instruction
in the classics and sciences that should conduct the student to the
degree of bachelor of arts. The influence of these institutions upon
the development of the Filipino has been remarkable. In one or the
other of them have been trained nearly all of those young men who in
recent years have stirred the Filipino people to wide ambitions and
demands. At the same time the excellent Jesuit observatory, which has
done such important work in meteorology, was established in charge
of Padre Faura.
Increase in Spanish Population.--The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869
brought immense changes to the Islands. Previous to this date Spanish
residents had been few. Almost the only class deeply interested in the
Islands and permanently established here had been the friars. But with
communication by steamer in thirty days from Barcelona to Manila,
a new interest was felt by Spaniards in the Philippines, though
unfortunately this interest was greatest among the politicians. Some
of the projects planned and decreed can only be regarded as visionary
and beyond the point of serviceability, and others, more unfortunately
still, had for their purpose the creation of offices and emoluments
for Peninsula politicians; but they all contributed to bring to an
end the paternal government under which there was no prospect of
further enlightenment or progress for the Filipino.
Increase in the Number of Wealthy, Educated Filipinos.--The
Filipino had now become embarked upon a new current of intellectual
experience--a course of enlightenment which has been so full of
unexpected development, and which has already carried him so far from
his ancestor of one hundred years ago, that we can not say what advance
another generation or two may bring. Throughout all the towns of the
Islands a class was rapidly growing up to which the new industries
had brought wealth. Their means enabled them to build spacious and
splendid homes of the fine, hard woods of the Philippines, and to
surround themselves with such luxuries as the life of the Islands
permitted. This class was rapidly gaining education. It acquired a
knowledge of the Spanish language, and easily assumed that graceful
courtesy which distinguishes the Spaniard.
The only misfortune, as regards this class, was that it was very
small. It could embrace but a few families in each populous town. Some
of these had Chinese and Spanish blood in their veins, but other
notable families were pure Filipinos.
Attitude of the Spanish and the Friars toward Filipino Education.--The
great mistake committed by the Spaniard was that he rarely welcomed
the further progress of the native population, and the center of
this opposition to the general enlightenment of the race was the
friars. Thus those who had been the early protectors and educators,
little by little, because of their extreme conservatism and their
fear of loosening the ties that bound the Filipino to the church and
to Spain, changed into opponents of his progress and enemies of his
enlightenment; but the education which the church itself had given to
the Filipino, and which had been fostered by the state and especially
in recent times by the Jesuits, had made the Filipino passionately
ambitious for more enlightenment and freedom.
The Rule of Governor Torre.--Liberal Reforms.--In 1868, Queen
Isabella II. of Spain was deposed, and a little later a revolutionary
government, the "Republic of Spain," was founded. It was the brief
triumph of that reforming and liberal spirit which for so many years
had been struggling to free Spain from the burdens of aristocracy
and ecclesiasticism.
The natural consequence was the sending of a liberal governor
to the Philippines and the publication of liberal principles and
reforms. This governor was General de la Torre. He was a brave and
experienced soldier and a thorough democrat at heart. He dispensed
with the formality and petty pomp with which the governors of Manila
had surrounded themselves; he dismissed the escort of halberdiers,
with their mediaeval uniforms and weapons, which had surrounded the
governor-generals since 1581, and rode out in civilian's clothes and
without ostentation. His efforts were directed to encouraging the
Filipinos and to attaching them to Spain. In the eyes of the Spanish
law, for a brief period, Spaniard and colonists had become equal,
and La Torre tried to enforce this principle and make no distinction
of race or birth. While Filipinos were encouraged and delighted,
it is impossible to describe the disgust of the Spanish population
and the opposition of the friars. La Torre was attacked and opposed,
and the entire course of his governorship was filled with trouble,
in which, naturally, liberal ideas gained wider and wider currency
among the Filipinos.
Effect of the Opposition of the Friars.--The friars, being the most
influential opponents of the Filipino, naturally came to be regarded
by the Filipinos as their greatest enemies, and the anti-friar spirit
daily spread and intensified. A party was formed which demanded that
the friars vacate the parishes, and that their places be filled by
secular priests, in accordance with the statutes of the Council of
Trent. This party was headed by a native priest, Dr. Jose Burgos.
A Filipino Movement for Reform.--After the fall of the republic in
Spain and the restoration of the monarchy, the administration in the
Philippines attempted to extirpate the rising tide of liberal thought;
but these ideas had taken root and could not be suppressed. The
Filipino party, if so we may call it, continued to plan and work
for reform. It numbered not only those of Filipino blood, but many
of Spanish descent, born in the Philippines. There is no certain
evidence that they were at this time plotting for independence, or
that their actions were treasonable; but the fear and hatred felt
by the Spaniards resulted frequently in the exile and punishment of
known advocates of reform.
The Cavite Revolt.--In 1872 there occurred an important outbreak
known as the Cavite Revolt. Two hundred native soldiers at the
Cavite arsenal rose, killed their officers, and shouted "Death to
Spain!" They had fellow-conspirators among the troops in Manila,
but owing to mistakes in their plans these failed to rise with them
and the revolt was easily suppressed.
It was immediately followed by the arrest of a large number of
Filipinos who had been conspicuous in La Torre's time and who were
advocates of reform. This number included the three priests, Fathers
Burgos, Zamora, and Gomez, besides Don Antonio Regidor, Don Joaquin
Pardo de Tavera, Don Pedro Carillo, and others. A council of war
condemned to death forty-one of the participants in the Cavite riot,
and these were shot on the morning of the 27th of January, 1872,
on the Field of Bagumbayan. On the 6th of February a council of war
condemned to death eleven more soldiers of the regiment of artillery,
but this sentence was commuted by the governor to life imprisonment. On
the 15th of February the same council of war sentenced to death upon
the garrote, the priests Burgos, Zamora, Gomez, and a countryman,
Saldua; and this sentence was executed on the morning of the 17th.
The Spread of Secret Organizations.--Masonry.--New ground for fear
was now found in the spread of secret organizations, which were
denounced as Free Masonry. This is a very ancient institution which,
in Protestant countries like England and America, has a very large
membership, and in these countries its aims are wholly respectable. It
has never in any way been connected with sedition or other unworthy
movements. Its services are, in fact, largely of a religious character
and it possesses a beautiful and elaborate Christian ritual; but in
Latin countries Masonry has been charged with political intrigue and
the encouragement of infidelity, and this has resulted in clerical
opposition to the order wherever found. The first Masonic lodge in the
Philippines was established about 1861 and was composed entirely of
Spaniards. It was succeeded by others with Filipino membership, and
in one way or another seems to have inspired many secret organizations.
The "Liga Filipina," and Dr. Rizal.--Large numbers of Filipinos were
now working, if not for independence, at least for the expulsion of the
friars; and while this feeling should have been met by a statesmanlike
and liberal policy of reform, the government constantly resorted to
measures of repression, which little by little changed the movement
for reformation into revolution.
In 1887 the "Liga Filipina," was formed by a number of the
younger Filipino patriots, chief among whom was Dr. Jose Rizal y
Mercado. Rizal, by his gifts, his noble character, and his sad fate,
has gained a supreme place in the hearts of Filipinos and in the
history of the Islands. He was born in 1861 at Calamba, on Laguna de
Bay, and even as a child he was affected with sadness at the memory of
the events of 1872 and with the backward and unhappy condition of his
countrymen. He was educated by the Jesuits at the Ateneo Municipal in
Manila, and his family having means, he was enabled to study in Spain,
where he took a degree in medicine, and later to travel and study in
France, England, and Germany.
It was in this latter country that he produced his first novel,
Noli Me Tangere. He had been a contributor to the Filipino paper
published in Spain, "La Solidaridad," and, to further bring the
conditions and needs of his country to more public notice, he wrote
this novel dealing with Tagalog life as represented at his old home on
Laguna de Bay and in the city of Manila. Later he published a sequel,
El Filibusterismo, in which even more courageously and significantly
are set forth his ideas for reform.
His work made him many enemies, and on his return to Manila he found
himself in danger and was obliged to leave. He returned again in 1893,
and was immediately arrested and sentenced to deportation to Dapitan,
Mindanao. Here he remained quietly in the practice of his profession
for some years.
The Katipunan.--Meanwhile the ideas which had been agitated by the
wealthy and educated Filipinos had worked their way down to the
poor and humble classes. They were now shared by the peasant and
the fisherman. Especially in those provinces where the religious
orders owned estates and took as rental a portion of the tenants'
crop, there was growing hatred and hostility to the friars. The
"Liga Filipina" had been composed of cultivated and moderate men,
who while pressing for reform were not inclined to radical extremes,
nor to obtain their ends by violent means.
But there now grew up and gradually spread, until it had its
branches and members in all the provinces surrounding Manila, a
secret association composed largely of the uneducated classes, whose
object was independence of Spain, and whose members, having little to
lose, were willing to risk all. This was the society which has since
become famous under the name of "Katipunan." This secret association
was organized in Cavite about 1892. Its president and founder was
Andres Bonifacio. Its objects were frankly to expel the friars, and,
if possible, to destroy the Spanish government.
Rebellion of 1896.--A general attack and slaughter of the Spaniards
was planned for the 20th of August, 1896. The plot was discovered
by the priest of Binondo, Padre Gil, who learned of the movement
through the wife of one of the conspirators, and within a few hours
the government had seized several hundred persons who were supposed to
be implicated. The arrests included many rich and prominent Filipinos,
and at the end of some weeks the Spanish prisons contained over five
thousand suspects. Over one thousand of these were almost immediately
exiled to far-distant Spanish prisons--Fernando Po, on the west coast
of Africa, and the fortress of Ceuta, on the Mediterranean.
Meanwhile the Katipunan was organizing its forces for struggle. On
the 26th of August, one thousand insurgents attacked Caloocan,
and four days later a pitched battle was fought at San Juan del
Monte. In this last fight the insurgents suffered great loss,
their leader, Valenzuela, was captured and, with three companions,
shot on the Campo de Bagumbayan. The rising continued, however,
and the provinces of Pampanga, Bulacan, and Nueva Ecija were soon in
full rebellion. The center of revolt, however, proved to be Cavite,
This province was almost immediately cleared of Spaniards, except the
long neck of land containing the town of Cavite and protected by the
fleet. Here the insurgents received some organization under a young
man, who had been prominent in the Katipunan--Emilio Aguinaldo.
The governor-general, Blanco, a humane man, who afterwards for a short
time commanded in Cuba, was recalled, and General Polavieja replaced
him. The Spanish army at the beginning of the revolt had consisted
of but fifteen hundred troops, but so serious was the revolt regarded
that Spain, although straining every energy at the moment to end the
rebellion in Cuba, strengthened the forces in the Philippines, until
Polavieja had an army of twenty-eight thousand Spaniards assisted by
several loyal Filipino regiments. With this army a fierce campaign
in Cavite province was conducted, which after fifty-two days' hard
fighting ended in the defeat of the insurgents and the scattering of
their forces.
Death of Dr. Rizal.--For the moment it looked as though the rebellion
might pass. Then the Spanish government of Polavieja disgraced itself
by an act as wanton and cruel as it was inhuman and impolitic.
Four years Dr. Rizal had spent in exile at Dapitan. He had lived
quietly and under surveillance, and it was impossible that he could
have had any share in this rebellion of 1898. Wearied, however, with
his inactivity, he solicited permission to go as an army doctor to the
dreadful Spanish hospitals in Cuba. This request was granted in July,
and Rizal had the misfortune to arrive in Manila at the very moment
of discovery of the rebellion in August. Governor Blanco hastened to
send him to Spain with a most kindly letter to the minister of war,
in which he vouched for his independence of the events which were
taking place in Manila.
His enemies, however, could not see him escape. Their persecution
followed him to the Peninsula, and, upon his arrival in Spain, Rizal
was at once arrested and sent back to Manila a prisoner. His friend
Blanco had gone. Polavieja, the friend and tool of the reactionary
party, was busy punishing by imprisonment, banishment or death all
Filipinos who could be shown to have the slightest part or association
in the movement for reform. And by this clique Dr. Rizal was sentenced
to execution. He was shot early on the morning of December 30,
1896. [94] At his death the insurrection flamed out afresh. It now
spread to Pangasinan, Zambales, and Ilocos.
End of the Revolt by Promises of Reform.--Polavieja returned to Spain,
and was succeeded by Gen. Primo de Rivera, who arrived in the spring
of 1897. The Spanish troops had suffered several recent reverses and
the country swarmed with insurgents. The policy of Primo de Rivera
was to gain by diplomacy where the energy of his predecessor had
failed. In July, 1897, an amnesty proclamation was issued, and in
August the governor-general opened negotiations with Aguinaldo, whose
headquarters were now in the mountains of Angat in Bulacan. Primo
de Rivera urged the home government to make some reforms, which
would greatly lessen the political importance of the friars. He
was vehemently opposed by the latter, but it was probably upon the
promise of reform that Aguinaldo and his fellow-insurgents agreed,
for the payment of 1,700,000 pesos, to surrender their arms, dismiss
the insurgent forces, and themselves retire from the Islands. This
agreement was made, and on December 27, 1897, Aguinaldo left the port
of Sual for Hongkong.
The Spanish Misrule Ended.--Conditions in the provinces still continued
very unsatisfactory, and in its very last hours the Spanish government
lost the remnant of its prestige with the people by a massacre in
Calle Camba, Binondo, of a company of Bisayan sailors. Ten days after
this occurrence a revolt blazed out on the island of Cebu. Had events
taken their course, what would have been the final conclusion of the
struggle between Spaniards and Filipinos it is impossible to say. On
the 25th day of April the United States declared war upon Spain,
and the first day of May an American fleet reached Manila harbor,
and in the naval fight off Cavite, Spanish dominion, which had lasted
with only one brief interruption for 332 years, was broken.