THE SPANISH AND THE FILIPINOS.
At the time when Spain took the Philippine Islands and began to rule
them, every country in Europe was busy setting up colonies in the newly
discovered parts of the world. If the king owed something to a
troublesome subject, or wished to reward or please a favorite, an easy
way to pay the debtor or help the favorite was to make him a governor or
other official in some far-off new colony. In turn the governor thought
it only fair to make his colony as profitable to the Crown as he could.
That he had no right to oppress other peoples in order to do this was a
matter about which he never thought.
It is hard for us, who live in an age when the rights of man are upheld,
to remember that there was once a time when no one in power thought very
much about these rights. Statesmen had not then learned that a mother
country owes a duty to her colonies. They thought only of the help that
a colony should give toward supporting the home government. England for
many years held this idea about America. She put great hardships upon
her colonies there. She taxed them very unjustly, and put unfair limits
to their trade. The Americans, however, knew that no government had a
right to oppress even its own colonies. When the king of England went
too far in his unjust rule, the people rebelled. They threw off the yoke
of England just as, some years later, Mexico threw off the yoke of
Spain, and became independent.
The Philippine Islands suffered beyond what was the usual fate of
colonies, even at that time. They were far out of the regular routes of
ocean travel. The people there knew nothing at all of the ideas of human
liberty that were even then setting the world thinking. Then, too, they
were ruled by a people who were behind the rest of the world in
accepting these ideas. Spain, blinded by her own pride and folly, has
been slowest of all European nations to listen to the gospel of human
rights. She ruled her colonies cruelly long after other nations came to
see that they owed a duty to their dependencies, and as a result Spain
lost her colonies at just the time when she most needed their help.
The Philippines, moreover, were not ruled from Spain direct. They were,
as has been said, a dependency of Mexico, and Mexico was in turn a
dependency of Spain. It happened, therefore, that even when the islands
had officials who might have been glad to help the people, these
officials were themselves in a hard place. They had two masters over
them. Spain looked to Mexico for the royal dues from the islands, and
Mexico, in turn, looked to the governor-general, who must see to it that
his colony was profitable to the Crown.
So, we see, there was a great burden laid upon the archipelago, and this
burden the people had to carry. For three hundred and eighty years the
Filipinos were subjects of Spain. They submitted to her rule because
there was never a time when, without outside help, they could throw off
that rule. But they never were, in their hearts, willing subjects.
During all the time the Spanish were in the islands there was never a
very long period when the people were not somewhere in revolt.
On Luzon, on Bohol (bō hōľ), on Samar, Leyte (lā´ē tā), Mindanao, and in
the Sulu Islands, there was one uprising after another during the
seventeenth century. In Cebu it was needful, always, for Spain to keep a
strong armed force, and it was often necessary to send the troops from
Cebu to put down trouble in the other islands. The love of liberty dies
hard from the human heart; and while there was at no time a general
revolt of the people, the frequent revolts of different tribes kept the
Spanish busy.
Yet at no time did the Filipinos go to war to gain national
independence. They were not united enough for that. It is a part of the
pity of it all that this should have been so. It is sad to think of all
the suffering and want the people bore, and of all the lives that were
lost in their small battles. It is sadder still to remember that the aim
of these battles was not to win independence from Spain, but to secure
only such decent treatment as is the right of every human being.
[Illustration:
FUERZA DEL PILAR, MINDANAO.
]
It will be remembered that the friar whom Governor-General Desmarinas
sent to make a treaty with Japan stayed in that country. He set up
missions there, and both he and other friars who came over from Manila
preached to the people. In time the emperor learned of this. He asked
about the new teachers, and was told that this was Spain’s way of
getting a hold on another country. Spanish friars would go into a
country to teach the people religion, and later Spain would send her
soldiers to protect the friars and their converts. After that, his
advisers told the emperor, it was only a matter of time when Spain would
come to rule the country.
The emperor was alarmed to hear all this. He ordered the friars back to
Manila, and forbade any one to teach Christianity in his country. The
missionary friars defied him, however, and later some were put to death
with their Japanese converts. But other friars came from Manila, and in
1633 the emperor became angry, and did a dreadful thing.
He gathered in his own country a band of 150 people who were lepers. He
loaded them into a ship and sent them to Manila. The commander of the
ship bore to the governor-general a message which made a sensation in
Manila. The message set forth the fact that the emperor did not allow
Christians to come to Japan. Since, however, the priests of Manila
seemed very fond of such people as these lepers, he sent this shipload
as a present to them.
We may imagine the rage of the Manila officials over this “present.”
Some of them were for taking the ship outside the harbor and sinking her
with her load. Others advised sending her back to Japan. The friars,
however, to whom the lepers had been sent, claimed them. They begged the
governor-general to have mercy on the poor creatures, and at last he
relented.
[Illustration:
ST. LAZARUS HOSPITAL, MANILA.
]
The lepers were brought ashore with much ceremony, and kept in Manila.
As soon as possible a hospital was built for them, and they were taken
to it. This hospital was named St. Lazarus Hospital. It still exists in
Manila, though the present building is not the one put up for those
first lepers.
In putting down the revolts of the people against tyranny, the Spanish
had, from time to time, lost many troops. Many were also killed in the
great battle with the Chinese, of which we have read, and in the wars
with the Moros still other Spanish lives were lost. The Moro pirates
from the south were a source of great danger, as we have already seen.
In 1635 the Spanish were forced to build a fort at Zamboanga (sämbō
än´gä) to keep these pirates in check. Garrisons were also stationed at
several places in Sulu for the same purpose. The Spanish, however, never
really controlled the Sulu archipelago. The soldiers were never safe
more than a day’s march from their forts, and they lived in constant
danger of attack from the Moros.
In one way and another the army of the colony was much weakened, and an
uprising of the Chinese, in 1634, made great trouble. This uprising took
place in Laguna Province. Enraged by official oppression 30,000 Chinese
rose in rebellion. So strong were they, that they held their own against
the Spanish for nearly a year. Indeed, they might not have been
conquered at all but for the help of the native troops, who fought with
the Spanish. Over 6,000 Chinese were killed in this revolt.
In November 1645, happened one of the worst earthquakes Manila has ever
known. Every public building in the city, save one monastery and two
churches, was destroyed. The governor-general nearly lost his life in
the wreck of his palace, and over 600 people were killed in Manila.
It became necessary to rebuild the city, and then the Spanish found that
there was a great lack, not only of soldiers, but of laborers. The need
became so great that, in 1649, Governor-General Diego Fajardo (dē ā´gō
fä häŕdō) made a bad mistake. He began to force the people into military
service, and also compelled them to work upon the arsenal at Cavite.
The people had borne much. Patient as they were, this injustice was more
than they would endure, and they became deeply angry. Rebellion spread
like wildfire through a number of the islands, and there was almost,
though not quite, a general revolt. It began on Samar, and was led by a
Filipino named Sumoroy (sö mō roy´). At the head of a large force he
attacked the Spanish and the friars. He led his army down the coast of
Samar, burning towns and churches. Many of the priests and Spanish on
the island were killed, and the rebellion grew.
Troops were at once sent out against the rebels, and the governor of
Samar sent messengers to demand Sumoroy’s head. The messengers did not
return, but the rebels sent back the head of a pig to the governor. The
revolt spread to other islands. Soon the people of Masbate (mäs bä´tē)
and Leyte, of Cebu, Caraga (cä rä´gä) and Zamboanga, were in arms. The
trouble even reached Manila, and the officials there became alarmed.
Governor-General Fajardo had not dreamed that his act of injustice would
work so much mischief. Now, greatly concerned, he sent General Lopez
Azaldegin (ä thäl´dā gin) to Samar. This officer had all the forces that
could be raised, and full authority to put down the rebels as he saw
fit.
A great many battles were fought up and down Samar, and at last Sumoroy
was driven back into the mountains. The Spanish carried on the war with
savage cruelty. They severely punished all rebels whom they caught, and
showed mercy to none. When they found that Sumoroy had escaped to the
mountains, they raided his home and tortured his mother to death.
By such outrages they hoped to frighten the people into submission. By
threats and torture they tried to make his people betray Sumoroy, and at
last they succeeded. He was captured and turned over to the enemy.
General Azaldegin had the rebel leader’s head struck off and stuck upon
a pole. It was then sent about among the islands to teach the people
what treatment rebels might expect from Spain.
Thus the rebellion was quelled for a time. The people had gained nothing
by it, but it had kindled a fire in their hearts. This fire was not
quenched; it only waited, hidden, ready to blaze up again when the right
moment should come.
_Summary._—The early idea of a colony was that it should be only a
source of income to the mother country. This idea was held by other
countries than Spain; but Spain clung to the idea long after other
nations gave it up. She did not listen to the gospel of the rights of
man, and in time she lost most of her colonies. Her policy in the
Philippines kept the natives rebellious. For three hundred and eighty
years the Filipinos were ruled by her, but in their hearts they never
consented to that rule. There was one revolt after another, the people
trying by this means to gain decent treatment. In 1633, angered by the
efforts of friars to convert his people, the emperor of Japan sent a
“present” to the priests at Manila. This “present” was a shipload of
150 lepers. After some debate the priests persuaded the
governor-general to let the lepers land, and St. Lazarus Hospital was
built for them. The colony was now much weakened by wars, and in 1634
a revolt of the Chinese in Laguna was nearly successful. It was only
put down by native help. The great earthquake of 1645 nearly destroyed
Manila, and 600 people were killed in the city. Laborers and soldiers
were now so scarce that Governor-General Fajardo tried to compel the
people to serve in the army and work on the arsenal at Cavite. This
led to a revolt which took all the forces the Spanish could muster to
put it down.
_Questions._—What was the early idea of what a colony should be? How
were the American colonies driven to revolt? How did Spain treat her
colonies? Why did not the islands throw off her yoke? Why did the
Japanese emperor send lepers to Manila? What caused the rebellion on
Samar? Who led it? How was it put down?
[Illustration]