THE CHARGES MADE AGAINST THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS CONSIDERED.
In 1896 we heard of a rising in the remoter parts of the
Philippines. It was represented by the Spanish authorities, who at
the time controlled the news, as of no moment,--an insurrectionary
movement that they could easily cope with. Yet it continued, and
seemed to wax strong; and, from rumors which began to circulate
about the murdering of monks and friars, we began to feel that the
insurrection was of no ordinary or commonplace nature. It seemed
to be directed against the Church, and to be animated by a deadly
spirit of hostility to the representatives of Religion. It was, of
course, impossible at the time to form an opinion as to the cause of
the insurrection, from the isolated facts which were allowed to come
under the notice of the public. Now, however, the mists have cleared
away; and we hope to be able to prove in the course of this inquiry
that the insurrection was a premeditated and deliberate attack made
upon the Church by a native secret society which was affiliated to,
and adopted the methods of, that type of Freemasonry which gave the
Carbonari to Italy and the Jacobins to France; a type whose disastrous
work has been so much in evidence in South and Central America. It
has unfortunately been busily at work for the last thirty or forty
years, indoctrinating the simple natives of the Philippines with
the modern watchwords of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,"--liberty
meaning in this case, license, anarchy, cruelty, bloodshed; equality,
the confiscation of property; and fraternity, an impious combination
against all opposed to their designs. And foremost amongst these
were undoubtedly from the very first the friars, spiritual guides of
nearly six millions of native Christians, who, in consequence of their
opposition, drew upon themselves the bitter hatred of the members of
the Craft. It thus happened that the friars found themselves denounced
and vilified in Spanish newspapers, in circular letters issued at
Madrid, in speeches at the lodges and clubs, and in the Cortes. The
grossest calumnies the foulest lies, were industriously circulated,
to lower their prestige, and bring about a downfall of that spiritual
power they had justly acquired, and were exercising for the good of
souls. Nothing was known of the struggle in these countries until the
Spanish-American war brought the Philippines into prominence before
the English-speaking world. Then the echoes of the struggle began
to reach our ears. Unfortunately for the friars, the sympathies of
the world were sought, and sought successfully, to be enlisted on the
side of the secret societies, or insurgents, who in this instance were
for the most part one and the same. The news sources were shrewdly
manipulated by astute conspirators to foster their own purposes; on
the Philippine question, world-wide circulation was given to false and
calumnious reports and interviews with leaders of the insurrection,
full of virulent ex parte statements, while no exposition of views has
been sought for from any representative of the friars. As an instance
of the unreliability of these interviews, circulated through such
justly suspected channels, we give the following. The correspondent of
the Daily Telegraph sent, a few months ago, through "Reuter's Special
Service," an interview he had with Dr. Nozaleda, the Archbishop of
Manila, who, by the way, is a Dominican. From this interview it would
appear that the Archbishop is opposed to the friars. He is made to say:
"The religious Orders must go. That is undeniable, because the whole
people are determined on their abolition, and are now able to render
their retention impossible."
His Grace is also made to blame the Orders for causing dissensions,
and thus increasing the disfavor with which they are regarded. The
correspondent adds that he heard privately from a native priest that
the reason the Archbishop hopes for the expulsion of the religious
Orders is that the friars have grown too strong for him, and that he
expects by getting rid of them to increase his own authority. Now,
apart from the fact that the Archbishop is a member of a religious
Order himself, a fact worth a dozen arguments, we may dismiss the
whole interview as unreliable, since very recently the Archbishop
delivered himself, to a representative of the Chicago Record, of
quite opposite sentiments.
Mr. Halstead made a special journey to Manila to study the
situation. He was most favorably impressed by the Archbishop, whom
he has undertaken to vindicate before the people of America. One
paragraph from his interview with the Spanish prelate is of special
interest at the present moment: "When asked what it was that caused
the insurgents to be so ferocious against the priests, and resolved on
their expulsion or destruction, he said the rebels were at once false,
unjust, and ungrateful. They had been lifted from savagery by Catholic
teachers, who had not only been educators in the schools but teachers
in the fields. The Catholic orders that were singled out for special
punishment had planted in the islands the very industries that were
the sources of prosperity; and the leaders of the insurgents had been
largely educated by the very men whom now they persecuted. Some of
the persecutors had been in Europe, and became revolutionists in the
sense of promoting disorder as anarchists. It was the antagonism of
the Church to murderous anarchy that aroused the insurgents of the
Philippines to become the deadly enemies of priests and religious
orders. It was true that in Spain, as in the Philippines, the
anarchists were particularly inflamed against the Church."
Prominence was given last year, in some of the English newspapers,
to statements made by a certain Senor S. C. Valdes, a Filipino, who
managed to have an interview sent to the papers, through "Reuter's
Special Foreign Agency," that unfortunately met with a degree of
credence on the part of uninformed persons. It is instructive to
analyze some of the statements of this gentleman, and compare them
with statements made for a similar purpose by other correspondents.
Desiring to prove that the inhabitants of the Philippines are not
naked savages, he says: "The inhabitants of the groups of Luzon,
the Viscayas, and the coast of Mindanao are very advanced in their
education. Seventy-five per cent of them can read and write. There are
many native lawyers, doctors, chemists, members of the military and
scientific corps, naval and land architects, merchants, naval officers,
engineers, and also clever and competent secular priests." We believe
Senor Valdes. In spite of what he says a little further on about
numbers of them going abroad for their education, we will refer our
readers to the last chapter, in which we showed that it is owing to
the friars, who have all the primary, secondary, and higher education
in their hands, that the people are so advanced in education; and
as regards the native lawyers and other professional men, we refer
them to the official reports we have given of Manila University,
with its two thousand students, carried on by the Dominicans. As
to Mindanao, what the Jesuits have done there can also be referred
to. Valdes speaks of "clever and competent secular priests," having
no word of praise for the religious; and yet the higher education of
the secular clergy is entirely in their hands.
After this eulogium of his own people by Senor Valdes, is it not
curious to find quite an opposite statement, made for party purposes,
by the Manila correspondent of the Daily Telegraph? Wishing to show
the incompetence of the friars, he says: "The education of the people
is entirely in their hands; it is enough to say that practically
it does not exist." And this of a country in which seventy-five per
cent of the people, according to Senor Valdes, can read and write, a
percentage that would put more than one European country to the blush.
Senor Valdes asserts that the friars exercise a tyrannical power
in the islands. He says that they generally consider it an act of
disrespect for the natives to visit them except with bare feet. It
is curious that Wingfield in his travels never noticed this, and
he had an eagle eye for such deficiencies. Valdes is not afraid to
make the incredible statements that "the friars and the military
said that before the reforms should be granted they would first
drown the insurgents in their own blood," and that General Weyler,
when he was captain of the islands, ordered the town of Calumba to be
destroyed, and set fire to, simply to please the Dominicans, who were
anxious to show their power and influence. Proofs, and strong ones,
not mere assertions, are needed when religious men, voluntary exiles
from country and friends for the sake of civilizing rude peoples
and bringing them under the sweet yoke of Christ, are accused of
atrocious cold-bloodedness--wantonly slaughtering innocent men, women,
and children for the sake of satisfying a sense of vanity!
The truth of the matter is that the rebellion in the Philippines
against Spanish rule was not the uprising of a whole people. Of what
account, except for brute force, are some thousands of armed men
out of a peaceful population of eight millions. The insurrectionary
movement was planned, and directed almost exclusively, by the mestizos,
or half-breeds,--the offspring of the union between native women and
the Chinese, who form a large proportion of the town population, and
do most of the retail trade. We must bear in mind that the leaders
had at their command all the refractory elements of the native
population,--the banditti, who always existed in large numbers, and
were to be found in force not many miles from Manila, and the common
criminals whom, at the first opportunity, they let loose from the
jails to scour the country. Can we form a judgment of the sentiments of
the Philippine people from the conduct of men who have treated their
prisoners inhumanly, who have burned churches, looted schools and
hospitals, treated ordinary ecclesiastical students with brutality,
and subjected nuns in convents to shameful treatment? We have plenty
of evidence that the natives on the whole are very much attached to
the friars, whom they rescued, when they were able, from the hands
of the rebels, and visited constantly while in captivity, doing their
best to alleviate their sufferings. That they were peaceably disposed,
and loyal to Spain even during the progress of the rebellion, we may
assume from Blumentritt, who said, as late as 1897, when recounting
his experiences as a scientific explorer in these islands, "There are
not many colonies where less blood has been shed, and also not many
where the conquered people have so little hatred of, or dislike to,
their conquerors. Already so richly endowed with the climate and the
beauty of their native land, as well as with the fertility of the soil,
the natives of the Philippines are neither despised nor downtrodden
by their rulers, whom they, in their turn, do not dislike. One must,
therefore, reckon them among the happiest in the world." His words,
of course, do not apply to the noisy demagogues, to the Freemasons,
to the insurgents, at least to that part of them who have not been
forced into revolt by threats and terrorism, but they describe the
state of the millions as yet untouched by the rebellion. Senor Valdes
and other men of his stamp are fond of declaring the resolve of the
inhabitants of the Philippines "to be free and civilized," and "not
to be subjected to the domination of friars or monkish orders." They
speak the sentiments of a small, but very active and noisy, portion
of the population; the overwhelming majority are happy, peaceful,
and contented.
We now come to the painful task of noticing some reckless charges made
by Senor Valdes against the honor of the missionaries, a painful, yet
necessary task, as the accusations were laid before the public some
months ago without comment or contradiction of any kind. Senor Valdes
may think he has scored a point in making such outrageous statements;
but he falls into error if he imagines that what might be readily
swallowed by those who hate religion in Spain and Portugal would
be as readily accepted in England, Ireland, and America. Apostate
priests and nuns, lecturing under the auspices of Mr. Kensit and the
Protestant Alliance, have long since made England familiar with this
gross kind of calumny, directed against our own priests and nuns,
repeated, too, year after year, without proof or shadow of foundation,
so recklessly and shamelessly, indeed, that the lecturers only excite
the disgust of the sensible portion of the Protestant body. Senor
Valdes, with unscrupulous audacity, tries to beslime the character
of some of the missionaries, by falsely laying to their charge the
foulest and most unnatural crimes, which for decency's sake we refrain
from detailing. According to this vile traducer the priests are devoid
of all honor and all the moral virtues.
Now, if this were the first time that these atrocious charges were
made, we might say with horror, "Can such things be?" but we learn
from the memorial presented last April by the heads of the various
religious orders in the Philippines to the Spanish government,
that charges of a similar nature were constantly repeated in Spain
during the previous eighteen months, both in public and in private;
made the subject of speeches in clubs, published in anti-clerical
newspapers--all part of the campaign against the friars, all done
to lower their prestige in the eyes of the people, and to obtain
their expulsion from the islands. If there were any truth in the
charges, they would have been brought home to the friars long since;
names, dates, and documentary proofs would have been given. A list
of well-proven cases, say twenty or thirty, would have been made up,
and submitted to the Government, to whom the Freemasons were clamoring
for their expulsion. But, like the stuff the anti-clerical lectures
nearer home are made of, the charges were always vague, general,
and indefinite. The religious, like men of honor, took no notice
of these calumnies for a long time, hoping that gradually the storm
would blow over; but seeing that it increased day by day, and that
they were being constantly insulted by petty government officials
in the Philippines, they at last took notice of them, amongst other
charges, in their memorial to the Government last April. They asked,
as a matter of right and justice, that names and dates would be given,
that documentary proofs would be produced. They affirmed that the
charges were not made by those who had access to them, and saw them
day by day; that their convents were open to inspection; that the
lives of those living in the country parts were well known to their
parishioners; that in those places they could not act in disguise,
as their Spanish nationality made them conspicuous objects to all
eyes. They asked, in case their innocence were doubted, that proper
judicial proceedings would be instituted.
It has been reserved to an American general to put the last finishing
touch to the lurid picture drawn of the lives of the friars in the
Philippines, by giving wide circulation in the columns of the New York
Herald to a calumny which simply outstrips the imagination. [2] The
general guards himself by professing to know nothing about the matter
except from "common report," freely circulated in the Philippines. Now
the general, as a man of honor, might well have allowed these reports
to come in by one ear, and go out by the other; or even if he had
kept his mind in suspense, as is evidently the case, he might have
refrained in the meantime from publishing the "common report" to
the world, knowing how prone human nature is to fasten on the bad,
and to believe in evil report, though unproven. "Every student of
Blackstone," says the general, "knows very well what was considered
in the olden time to be the feudal right of the lord over the female
vassal who married on his estate. It may be surprising to many to learn
that the Filipinos allege vehemently that the monastic Orders claim
and exact this feudal right on the marriage of the young Philippine
girls." Common report then, according to the general, charges the
friars with exacting and claiming a right opposed to the fundamental
laws of Christian morality; a right which, if it ever existed in fact,
is at any rate lost in the dim distance of time, and is utterly unknown
to the world at the present day. It is a pity that the ordinary laws
of evidence which are used in dealing with laymen are thrust aside
when dealing with priests, and that fanaticism in the latter case is
allowed full play for its imagination. Last April (1898) the heads
of the religious Orders in the Philippines, in their memorial to the
Spanish Government, which by being published both in Spanish and in
French, and circulated widely, was intended as a challenge to the
civilized world, demanded that all gross charges of a like nature
should be investigated by legal means, and that evil-doers should be
punished according to law, if they existed in fact. The challenge as
yet remains unanswered; yet what would have been more easy to prove in
the meantime than such an open and flagrant violation of justice and
morality? If proofs could have been had they would have been gladly
brought forward by the leaders of the rebels, who have been clamoring
for the expulsion of the religious Orders for the last three or four
years, and who are by no means simple and unsophisticated savages,
but men educated enough to be able to conduct newspapers of their own.
With common sense for their guide, let Protestants reflect for a moment
that the Philippines form an integral part of the Catholic Church,
that the religious Orders that are governed by generals in Rome,
that systematic visitations are made, and that the conduct of every
individual is subjected to strict ecclesiastical scrutiny from time
to time. Accordingly, unless they hold that the authorities in Rome
are willing to allow an appalling evil of the kind to go on without
protest, how can they believe that it exists at all?
"In any case, I can assert without a shadow of doubt," adds the
general, "what the Herald's readers have been previously told
by its correspondents--that the people are very bitter towards
the monks." Whom does he mean by people? Had the general and the
newspaper correspondents come in contact, during their brief stay in
the Philippines, with the six millions of people till lately under the
care of the religious Orders? It is true that those who have fomented
the rebellion, and the thousands who have joined the insurgent ranks,
are bitter towards the monks, or rather friars. But it is by this
time a well-known fact that numbers have been drawn in through sheer
terrorism, and that numbers of others have been tortured and killed
owing to their refusal to join. Mr. Wilson's late experience on
his sugar plantation bears ample witness to this. It is easy enough
for a few thousand desperate and armed men to cow fifty times their
number of peaceful and unarmed tillers of the soil. The millions,
dumb so far, will be found, on closer investigation, to represent
far different feelings towards the friars than the noisy rebels
who, coming in contact with the American troops and correspondents,
profess to represent the feelings of the great body of the nation.
In direct contradiction to the "common report," circulated by General
Meritt, is a testimony to the virtue of the Spanish friars in the
Philippines, published some years ago before the present troubles
began, by the United States Government in a consular report. In this
report Mr. Frank Karuth, F.R.G.S., who in his capacity as president
of the Philippines' Mineral Syndicate had wide experience with the
natives, and came into intimate relations with the friars in remote
provincial stations, writes of the latter as follows: "In these
communes or parishes the priest, especially if he be a Spaniard,
as is generally the case, exercises supreme power. He is the father
and counsellor of his people, and helps them not only with spiritual
advice, but also furthers their material interests. The Spanish
priests, friars of strict orders, come to the islands for aye and
good, and with scarcely any exception do their duties faithfully and
devotedly." Is not this testimony, given without any ulterior party
motives, of more value than the evil reports poured into the ears of
newspaper correspondents by the interested leaders of the Philippine
rebels? (See Appendix II.)
A few quotations from Protestant travellers who visited the
Philippines before the insurrection had biassed men's minds, and
distorted plain facts, will go a long way in the refutation of these
flippantly uttered and unspeakably gross calumnies. "It is said,"
observes the wife of the American navigator, Captain Morrell, "that
in Manila there are more convents (both of men and of women) than
in any other city in the world of its size; and the general voice
of natives and foreigners declares that they are under excellent
regulations." And then she describes their inmates. "They all seemed
full of occupation. There is no idleness in the convents, as is
generally supposed;" and this her own account of the various works
accomplished in them sufficiently proves. Moreover, "their devotions
begin at the dawn of the day, and are often repeated during the
whole of it, or until late in the evening, in some form or other. I
was born a Protestant, and trust that I shall die a Protestant;
but hereafter I shall have more charity for all who profess to love
religion, whatever may be their creed." Sir John Bowring, in 1859,
speaks of their influence, an influence generally acquired only by
men of holy lives. He says: "They exercise an influence which would
seem magical, were it not by their devotees deemed divine." Dr. Ball,
an American Protestant traveller, speaks highly of the character of
the Spanish friars in the Philippines. Of one whom he met at Manila,
he says: "He has a fund of knowledge on almost every subject, speaks
six or seven languages, and has declined an offer of the presidency
of the seminary here, preferring to remain always in the capacity
of missionary." Mr. MacMacking, another Protestant, who spent some
years in the islands, says, in 1861: "Most of the priests I came in
contact with appeared to be thoroughly convinced of, and faithful to,
their religion in its purity."
After reading these testimonies, we may well open our eyes in
astonishment and wonder at the audacity of those who disseminate
these flagrant lies about a body of men distinguished by learning and
holiness. And yet no one, however holy and devoted his life may be,
is safe from the tongue of the calumniator. Robert Louis Stevenson
had to take up his pen in defence of the heroic martyr of the leper,
Father Damien, vilified by a Protestant minister. Father Damien
lived for years in that place of horrors, Molokai, among the lepers,
and died a martyr of charity; and, while no Protestant minister was
to be found heroic enough to follow his example, one of them, housed
in his comfortable bungalow, and jealous of his fame, made unfounded
charges against him. So is it ever with the world. And above all,
nothing need surprise us in the words and acts of the Philippine
insurgents and their abettors. As an instance of their power of
concocting a story to bring the friars into disrepute, we give the
following account of an attempted poisoning of Aguinaldo by a Spanish
prisoner and eleven Franciscans, taken from the Republica Filipina,
one of their journals--telegraphed at great expense to Europe by
"Reuter's Special," and inserted in English papers. The story goes
to show that his steward saw a Spanish prisoner, who was allowed a
certain amount of freedom, tampering with a bowl of soup intended
for Aguinaldo. The steward tasted a spoonful of the soup, and fell
dead on the spot. On learning of the affair, the populace attempted
to lynch all the Spanish prisoners, amongst whom were forty Spanish
priests, detained as hostages; but through Aguinaldo's intervention,
they were protected from violence. The next day at the sitting of the
new National Assembly, Aguinaldo's representative told the story of
his narrow escape, and the members unanimously adopted the chairman's
suggestion that they should go in a body to the president's house
and express their sympathy and congratulations. To crown this farce,
a special thanksgiving service was held in the church at Malolos that
evening. The really silly part of the story is that eleven Franciscan
priests, confined as prisoners, were alleged to have been involved
in the conspiracy against Aguinaldo's life, and it was evidently
on this supposition that all the priests were on the point of being
massacred. A few days afterwards the story was contradicted. After all
the fuss and all the expense of the telegrams, it turned out that the
steward did not fall dead, and that no priests were concerned in the
supposed plot. Still the lie did its work, both in the Philippines
and nearer home; for many heard it, and read about it, who did not
see the contradiction.
We are not at present in a position to follow Senor Valdes in his
statements regarding the dissensions between the native and European
friars, the rigorous exactions and tithes, "the friars calling
themselves owners of the land cultivated by the natives, claiming
rents and tithes which the real owners refused to pay," but we believe
them to be as baseless as his other accusations. Before he made them,
the friars had already, in their memorial to the Spanish Government,
taken notice of similar accusations, and asked for dates, names, and
proofs. It is curious that no English travellers to these regions
have taken notice of these supposed oppressions on the part of the
friars. They are concocted with the design of expelling the friars
from the islands, and confiscating their property, which they have
lawfully acquired, and added to, by three centuries of industry. It
is true they are rich in landed property, but their riches do not
enable them to live individually in luxury. They are used by the
Orders for the purposes of the Orders, in furthering education,
maintaining hospitals, orphanages, and industrial schools, and in
extending their missions not only in the Philippines, but also in
China, Tonkin, Japan, and Formosa. Is it not better, in the interests
of the people, that they should continue in their possessions than
that they should be robbed of them, turned adrift, and their property
divided among needy adventurers? It is a significant fact that one
of the first acts of the National Assembly of the insurgents was to
vote a pension of seventeen thousand dollars to Aguinaldo, enough
to keep several religious communities in existence. These political
heroes are anxious to enrich themselves at the expense of others,
and to spend in luxury what has been gathered together through three
centuries of frugal living.
A sample calumny of the kind, to which unbounded circulation has been
given, and its sufficient refutation from an authoritative source, to
which no such reproduction has been extended, may not be out of place
by way of conclusion to our present remarks. Let the candid reader
judge whose words--the Rev. Mr. Parkhurst's or Father McKinnon's--bear
the ear-marks of personal investigation and conscientious endeavor
after the truth--"the whole truth and nothing but the truth."
These statements of Mr. Parkhurst were clipped from an article in The
Cleveland Plain Dealer (Cleveland, O.); and the clipping was forwarded
to Father McKinnon, who is at present in Manila, and has been appointed
superintentent of all the schools in that city by General Otis,
the commander-in-chief of the American army of occupation. Father
McKinnon was requested to comment upon the extract. The clipping and
the reply are herewith presented.
"The Rev. M. M. Parkhurst, who has lived in the Philippines for
many years, says that when a couple wish to get married in the
Philippines, they must first pay a fee of L6. or $30, to the
priest, who otherwise will not marry them. As a native rarely
earns more than $5 a month, he seldom has the necessary marriage
fee, so that common law marriages are the frequent result. The
baptismal fee, he says, is $25, and the death fee is $60 for an
adult, and $10 for an infant. A poll-tax of $25 for each man, and
$15 for each woman, is collected; and when a man builds a house,
he must pay $10 for having a chimney blessed."
To this Father McKinnon replies:--
"Responding to your favor with regard to quotation from
the Rev. M. M. Parkhurst, I may say it is a lie from top
to finish. I have been here now nearly six months, and have
studied the religious question very carefully, and, I think,
without prejudice. To do this I had every opportunity, not only
here in Manila, but also in the outlying provinces, as I have
been sent frequently into the interior of the island to treat
with the insurgent leaders. I have conversed with all classes
of people, and I think I know pretty well just how matters
stand. This statement of Mr. Parkhurst is in keeping with all
the other statements made by irresponsible preachers concerning
the condition of the Church here.
"Marriage here is like marriage any place else. If the parties are
able to do so, they are supposed to pay something. If not able to
pay, the priests here marry them gratis, just as you or I or any
other minister of the Gospel would do in America. For rich or poor
there is no fixed fee; that is left entirely to the contracting
parties. For baptisms and deaths the rule is the same. Indeed,
for baptisms, the priest rarely receives more than one dollar,
and more often he receives nothing at all. For deaths they
go even further than we do in America, as every parish church
keeps a supply of coffins on hand to give gratis to those who
are too poor to employ an undertaker. For the grandest funeral
here no more than $25 is paid, which would be equal to $12 of
our money. Even the fee of $2.50, charged for marriage license
reverts not to the Church or Government, but to the orphan asylums.
"Speaking of orphan asylums, the Girls' Asylum here gives a dowry
of $500 to every inmate upon her marriage. This is but a sample
of what is done in the way of charity here. We hear great tales
of the wealth of the monks, and inquire about the property, and
find it is a large estate, the income of which is used to support
some hospital, or other charitable institution under the care of
said monks. Nowhere in the world is charity in greater evidence
than here. The magnificent hospitals and orphanages, schools
of industry, etc., would be a credit to any nation. The amount
expended thus every year is enormous. The monks individually are as
poor as the proverbial church mouse. The islands have a population
of over 8,000,000 Catholics. The priests number about 1,500; and
considering the weakness of human nature, and the fact that many
of them live alone out in the wilds far away from brother priests,
it is not surprising that an occasional one falls. Even among the
saintly (?) Parkhurst's brethren, I have heard of an occasional
fall in civilized America. But here these are the exceptions. The
main body of the clergy are good, holy men. The Archbishop is a man
who would be an honor to any church in any country. He is a man of
eminent learning and great sanctity. He is one of the kindest and
most charitable men I ever met. Go to his house at whatever hour
you will, and you will find it crowded with poor. For each he has
a kind word and some substantial aid. Every cent he receives is
given away in this manner. His personal magnetism is such that to
meet him is to admire him. If I wished to use names I could give
you many striking examples of this. In our army and navy we had
some Parkhursts who were ready to believe or say anything about
his Grace.
"For those whom I thought worth convincing that they were wrong,
I arranged that at different times they should meet him. The
result was the same in every case. Each would come away feeling
that his Grace was a much maligned man. To-day, among the American
officials in both army and navy, no man is more respected than
the Archbishop of Manila. In my estimation, there are two reasons
for the impression which has gone abroad concerning the Church
here. Aguinaldo, knowing in his cunning that there were many
Parkhursts in America, thought lying about the Church would be
an excellent way to gain the sympathy of Americans. I have been
all over the country, and find no poverty anywhere. For Indians
I find them remarkably well instructed. The one who cannot read
and write is an exception. There are public schools supported by
the Government all over the country. Had Mr. Parkhurst desired to
learn the truth, he could have done so from his brother ministers,
who are chaplains here. I think they would have told him the
truth, as I have found them to be a nice gentlemanly lot of men,
ever ready to do me a kindness. Some of them I admire very much
for their devotion to the sick and those in need."