TO THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
While the British were in Manila, and for several years after they left
the country, the islands were very unquiet. There were many small
uprisings among the people, who hoped, in this time of unrest, to gain
some of the rights which they felt were theirs.
One of these uprisings was led by a native named Silan (sē´län). This
man was not quite sane, and made many pretensions, such as that he was
the earthly representative of divine power. Many of Simon de Anda’s
followers deserted him to join Silan’s army, and for a time Silan was
very successful against the Spanish. He turned the vicar-general of
Ilocos Sur out of his house, and made the Augustine friars pay tribute
to support the rebel forces. His brain was weak, however, and success
seemed wholly to destroy his reason. He came to think that he was more
than human, and then, of course, he began to make mistakes.
At last Silan joined with the British against his own country. This
opened the eyes of the Filipinos to his real nature. They saw that he
was ready to betray them instead of leading them against their enemies,
and at once they turned from him. In May, 1763, he was killed by a
half-caste named Vicos (vē´kōs), and the rebellion which he had led died
out.
There were other revolts in Luzon, however. Everywhere the people were
ready, on any pretext, to take up arms against authority. They refused
to pay tribute, and resented all demands of Spain upon them. Small riots
kept breaking out in the provinces, and the loyal troops were constantly
marching about the island in pursuit of rebels. In all this petty
warfare the Spanish lost 70 Europeans and 140 native soldiers, and fully
10,000 natives were slain. By the year 1765, however, the Spanish had
the country again under control, and some degree of peace settled over
the land.
There was still political strife in Manila, even though the people were
no longer in revolt. This strife at last became very serious. A bitter
quarrel also existed between the Augustine friars on the one hand, and
the members of the Society of Jesus on the other.
The Augustines were the first order of friars to send priests to the
islands. From earliest times the Augustine friars had been concerned in
the welfare of the people. Like all other leaders in the islands, they
made many mistakes, but they also did many wise and good things. An
Augustine friar had first (in 1595) taught the Filipinos the art of
weaving, and as early as 1610 the Archbishop of Manila, an Augustine
friar, had founded the College of Santo Tomas.
The Jesuits also had a college in Manila, San José College, founded by
them in 1601. This Society had among its members many fine scholars. It
had done much for education in the islands, and the Jesuit priests were
nearly all men learned in law and matters of government.
Each party to this quarrel between the orders accused the other of
cruelty to the natives. Each declared that the other was hindering the
government in its rule, instead of helping to keep the peace. At last
the trouble became so serious that, in 1768, the Jesuits left the
archipelago. It was thought best for the peace of the country that they
should go, and they remained away for ninety-one years. In 1859 the
Society again came to the islands and took up its work among the people.
At the time the Jesuits left, Governor-General José Raon (hō sā´ rä ōn´)
was accused by the other Orders of favoring this Society. He was charged
with telling the Jesuits state secrets, and on this charge was disgraced
and sent home. Soon afterwards Simon de Anda, who was in Spain during
this time, was made governor-general, and came back to Manila.
Anda took up the reins of government, confident that he was just the man
to rule these islands. In this, however, he was mistaken. He was
headstrong and imprudent. He was unwilling to forgive his enemies or to
be advised by his friends. Indeed, his hasty temper and his lack of good
sense before long turned his friends from him. He quarreled with the
officers of the State, of the army, and of the Church, and his rule was
a stormy one. He soon wore himself out, and in 1776 he died in the
hospital of San Juan de Dios, at Cavite.
[Illustration:
MONUMENT TO SIMON DE ANDA ON THE MALACON, MANILA.
]
At this time new ideas of human rights and liberties were stirring the
whole world. In Europe people were growing bolder and freer in their
protests against tyranny. In America the colonies had begun the eight
years’ war that was to free them from England’s unjust rule. In Mexico
was growing the discontent that only ended when Mexico had thrown off
the yoke of Spain. Everywhere the people were demanding freedom; but in
the Philippine Islands a plan was forming to take from the natives still
more of the little liberty they had.
In the year 1778 Don José Basco y Vargas (hō sā´ bäs´ cō ē vär´ gäs)
became governor-general of the archipelago. He found business at a low
ebb, and the country very poor. The treasury was nearly empty; the
people had no money, and the industries of the country were almost at a
standstill.
Vargas was in some ways a wise man. He saw that farming, and not trade,
was the work that alone could bring prosperity to these islands.
Farming, however, was neglected. The country could be very rich if the
people would but give their attention to raising the crops that grow so
readily here. Rice, cocoanuts, hemp, coffee, tea, sugar—all of which are
things that the whole world uses—could be grown here, so that the
islands under cultivation would rank with the rich countries of the
earth.
All this Vargas understood. He saw that great sums of money could be
made off the land, and he resolved that it should be done. But, like
others who had been in office before him, his thought was for Spain,
instead of for the people. He cared nothing that the Filipinos, too,
should share in whatever good might come to the country.
There can, however, be no real prosperity in a country unless it is
shared by all the people in it. One class cannot always go on getting
good things while another goes without. This fact Vargas forgot. His
plan for improving things concerned itself only with the good that
should result to the royal treasury. He gave no thought to the effect
the plan might have on the people.
Tobacco had been grown in the Visayas from the beginning of Spanish
rule. The Spaniards brought the seed with them from Mexico, and the
plant was taken into China from these islands. Up to the time when
Vargas came, the crop had never been a large one here, but under the
system which he started it soon became the most important industry in
the country.
In 1781 the growing and selling of tobacco on the island of Luzon was
made a government monopoly. This meant that no man might raise or sell a
single leaf of tobacco without first having permission from the
government.
Before this, any man who wished to do so might raise as much tobacco as
he could, and might sell it when and as he pleased. All this was now
changed. The farmers on Luzon who had good tobacco land were compelled
to raise this crop, or else forfeit the use of their land and its
products for a term of years. If a man refused to plant tobacco, his
land was taken from him for three years, and another man might cultivate
it. A law was also passed compelling the tobacco planters and laborers
to work on the crop whenever labor was needed.
The way in which the plan worked was very simple. The government made a
contract with a planter for his crop. The price to be paid was based
upon an estimate of what the land was likely to yield. If at harvest
time the crop was less than this estimate, the planter had to pay a
heavy fine. If, on the other hand, it was larger than had been
estimated, he could not keep a single leaf for his own use; it must all
be turned over to the officials, and what the government did not use was
destroyed.
This was very hard, and the power given to tobacco inspectors made it
harder still. These officers had authority to look wherever they saw fit
for hidden tobacco. They might search the house of a tobacco grower, or
even the persons of himself and his family, if they suspected him of
hiding a few leaves for his own use. This worked much evil, and more
than one inspector, in the early days of the system, was killed by an
angry planter whose home and family he thus molested.
The new system of tobacco-growing worked well for the authorities. Never
before had the treasury been so well filled. The royal dues were
promptly paid, and for the first time in the history of Spain’s rule
here, the colony seemed likely to become profitable to the Crown. The
home government was delighted, and Vargas was much praised. The tobacco
monopoly, however, laid a heavy hand upon the most useful class of
Spain’s Filipino subjects. It oppressed the farmers and the land-owners.
These are the people, in every country, who are most deeply interested
in good government. They are the mainstay of national order and
prosperity. When this class in any land suffers, no other can long
remain prosperous.
It was late in the day, moreover, for such a system to be inaugurated.
It belonged to a less enlightened age in the history of mankind, and in
the end it cost Spain more than it ever profited her. The Filipino
people were coming out of the darkness in which they had so long been
kept. They were learning that mere blind revolt would help them none,
and this knowledge was in itself of great worth. It is not in human
nature to bear patiently such wrongs as they now suffered, and the wrath
of the people smoldered, ready to break out at any moment. Whenever it
did blaze up, there was trouble for Spaniards and Filipinos alike.
_Summary._—The presence of the British in the islands was a signal for
further revolts of the people. There were uprisings all over the
island of Luzon after the British left, and the Spanish forces were
kept busy marching after rebels. It is estimated that some 10,000
natives lost their lives in these uprisings. A bitter quarrel between
the Augustine friars and the Jesuits resulted in the Jesuits leaving
the country in 1768. Governor-General Raon fell into disgrace at about
the same time, and was removed from office. He was succeeded by Simon
de Anda, whose rule was not successful. In 1778 Don José Basco y
Vargas became governor-general. He made the growing of tobacco in
Luzon a government monopoly. This system brought money into the royal
treasury, but worked great hardship for the farmers.
_Questions._—Give an account of Silan’s revolt. What was the cause of
the trouble between the Augustine friars and the Jesuits? When did the
Jesuits leave the country? Who succeeded José Raon as
governor-general? What system of tobacco culture did he introduce? How
did this system affect the country?
[Illustration]