Early History of the Philippines.
The Abolishment of the 31st of December, 1844, in Manila--The Mystery
of the Meridian 180 Degrees West--What Is East and West?--Gaining and
Losing Days--The Tribes of Native Filipinos--They Had an Alphabet and
Songs of Their Own--The Massacre of Magellan--His Fate Like That of
Captain Cook--Stories of Long Ago Wars--An Account by a Devoted Spanish
Writer of the Beneficent Rule of Spain in the Philippines--Aguinaldo
a Man Not of a Nation, But of a Tribe--Typhoons and Earthquakes--The
Degeneracy of the Government of the Philippines After It Was Taken
from Mexico--"New Spain"--The Perquisites of Captain-Generals--The
Splendor of Manila a Century Ago.
The 31st of December was abolished in Manila in 1844. Up to that time
it had been retained as the discoverers fixed it by pure piety and
patriotism. Pope Alexander VI had issued a bull on the 4th of May,
1493, dividing the world into two hemispheres, which was quite correct,
though it did not correspond to the secular lines of more modern
days. The gracious object of His Holiness was to keep the peace of
the world by dividing the lands taken from the heathen between the
Spaniards and Portuguese. The East was to belong to Portugal. The
line was drawn to include Brazil. The west was the hunting ground
for heathen of Spain. The claim of Spain for the Philippines was that
they were west. That was the way Magellenas (Magellan), the Portuguese
navigator sailed through the straits named for him, and westward found
the alleged Oriental islands, in which we, the people of the United
States, are now so much interested. When sailing into the sunset
seas he picked up a day, and never discovered his error for he did
not get home, and the Captain who navigated his ship did not know he
was out of time with the European world until he got as far around as
the Cape Verde Islands. An added day was held in Manila, as a kind
of affirmation of clear title, or trade mark of true righteousness,
on the part of Spain. It is one of the enduring puzzles in going
around the world that a day is gained or lost, and it is not always
a sure thing whether there is a loss or gain. The perplexing problem
is increased in its persistence if one sails westward over the 180
Meridian west from Greenwich, and goes beyond that line (which is not
the one drawn by Alexander VI)--say to the Philippines, and turns back,
as is done in the voyage from San Francisco to Manila, and vice versa.
In this case, the mystery of the meridian becomes something
dreadful. One loses a day going west and gains one coming east, and it
is a difficulty for a clear mind not to become cloudy over the account
of loss and gain--or perhaps we may say profit and loss, when the
account is closed. "The historian of the Philippine Expedition" lost
a Wednesday going out, jumping from Tuesday to Thursday, and found an
extra Thursday on the return--celebrated his birthday on another day
than that on which he was born, and had to correct the ship account
of his board bill, by adding a day. The Captain's clerk had forgotten
it because it was not in the Almanac. Ship time begins a day at noon
(and ends another), so when we crossed the meridian 180 degrees west
at 2 p. m. by the sun, and the day was Thursday and to-morrow was
Thursday also, the forenoon was yesterday by the ship. Therefore,
Thursday was yesterday, to-day and to-morrow on the same day. The
forenoon was yesterday--from 12 to 2 p. m. was to-day--and from 2
p. m. to midnight was to-morrow! It is no wonder "the historian,"
whose birthday was September the 2nd, found as he was on the west
side of the meridian with the mystery that the folks at home in the
states had celebrated it for him two days ago--one day he had lost,
and the other they had gained. Jagor, the historian of the Philippines,
before the days when Admiral Dewey grasped the reins of a thousand
islands, and a thousand to spare, says in his "Philippine Islands,"
that "when the clock strikes 12 in Madrid, it is 8 hours 18 minutes and
41 seconds past 8 in the evening at Manila. The latter city lies 124
degrees 40 min. 15 sec. east of the former, 7 h. 54 min. 35 sec. from
Paris. But it depends upon whether you measure time by moving with
the sun or the other way. If westward the course of empire takes its
way, Manila is a third of a day catching up with Madrid time. If we
face the morning and go to meet it Manila is ahead. The absence of
the right day for Sunday has long been gravely considered by the
missionaries who have gone to heathen lands beyond the mysterious
meridian that spoils all the holidays. One might establish a bank on
that line and play between days, but there is only one little speck
of land on the 180 degree meridian from pole to pole.
It may be very well worth considering whether the United States
should not reestablish the 31st of December in Manila, and assert
that we hold title to the Philippines not only by the victories
of the fleet and armies of the United States, but by the favor of
Alexander VI, whose bull the Spaniards disregarded after it had grown
venerable with three centuries of usage. We quote a Spanish historian
who colors his chapters to make a favorable show for his country
on this subject, as follows: "From the Spaniards having traveled
westwards to the Philippines, there was an error of a day in their
dates and almanacs. This was corrected in 1844, when, by order of
the Captain-General and the Archbishop, the 31st of December, 1844,
was suppressed, and the dates of Manila made to agree with those
of the rest of the world. A similar correction was made at the same
time at Macao, where the Portuguese who had traveled eastward had an
error of a day in an opposite direction." It will be noticed that
the authority of the Archbishop was carefully obtained and quoted,
but it was beyond his prerogative.
The early history of the Philippines bears few traces of the traditions
and romances of the natives, but they were in possession of an alphabet
when "discovered," and were then, as now, fond of music, singing their
own melodies. The Hawaiians were enabled to get their old stories into
print because they suddenly fell into the hands of masterful men who
had a written language. The Icelanders were too literary for their
own good, for they spoiled their history by writing it in poetry and
mixing it with fiction, losing in that way the credit that belongs
to them of being the true discoverers of America. The Filipinos were
spared this shape of misfortune, not that they lacked imagination
within a narrow range of vision, but they were wanting in expression,
save in unwritten music. Their lyrical poetry was not materialized. The
study of the natives must be studied as geology is. Geology and native
history have been neglected in the Tagala country. The rocks of the
Philippines have not been opened to be read like books. More is known
of the botany of the islands than of the formation of the mountains
and their foundations. The original inhabitants were Negritos--a
dwarfish race, very dark and tameless, still in existence, but driven
to the parts of the country most inaccessible. They are of the class
of dark savages, who smoke cigars holding the fiery ends between
their teeth! The islands were invaded and extensively harassed by
Malay tribes--the most numerous and active being the Tagala. Of this
tribe is General Aguinaldo, and it is as a man with a tribe not a
nation that he has become conspicuous. The other tribes of Malays
will not sustain him if he should be wild enough to want to make war
upon the United States. The Tagalas are cock fighters and live on the
lowlands. They eat rice chiefly, but are fond of ducks and chickens,
and they have an incredibly acute sense of smell, not a bad taste in
food, and do not hanker to get drunk.
The Visayas are also a tribe. The Igolatas are next to the Tagala
in numbers and energy. They show traces of Chinese and Japanese
blood. There are no Africans in the Philippines, no sign of their
blood. This may be attributed to Phillip's prohibition of negro
slavery. General Greene, of New York, took with him to Manila a
full-blooded black manservant, and he was a great curiosity to the
Filipinos. When the English conquered Manila in 1762 they had Sepoy
regiments, and held the city eighteen months. A good deal of Sepoy
blood is still in evidence. The Chinese have been growing in importance
in the Philippines. Their men marry the women of the islands and have
large families, the boys of this class being wonderfully thrifty. The
children of Englishmen by the native women are often handsome, and
of strong organization. The females are especially comely.
The early history of the islands consists of accounts of contests
with frontier rebels, attacks by pirates, and reprisals by the
Spaniards, great storms and destructive earthquakes. It is remarkable
that Magellan was, like Captain Cook, a victim of savages, whose
existence he made known to civilized people, falling in a sea-side
contest. Magellan had converted a captive chief to Christianity and
baptised him as King Charles. More than two thousand of his subjects
were converted in a day, and the great navigator set forth to conquer
islands for the dominion of the Christian King, who lived on the
isle of Zebu. The Christian monarch was entertained and received many
presents, making return in bags of gold dust, fruit, oil and wine. His
Queen was presented with a looking glass, and then she insisted upon
baptism, and so great was the revival that Magellan set out to capture
more people for the newly made Christian couple--invaded the island
of Matau, and with forty-two men landed where the water was shallow,
his allies remaining afloat by invitation of Magellan, to see how the
Spaniards disposed of enemies. The Spanish landed at night, and on the
morning found a great multitude of savages opposed to them, and fought
for life, but were overwhelmed by thousands of warriors. The Admiral
was in white armor, and fighting desperately, was at last wounded in
his sword arm, and then in the face, and leg. He was deserted by his
men, who sought to save themselves in the water, and killed many of his
enemies, but his helmet and skull were crushed at one blow by a frantic
savage with a huge club. There were thirty-two Spaniards killed,
and one of the squadron of three ships was burned as there were not
men enough to sail all the vessels. There is in Manila, in the walled
city, where it is seen every day by thousands of American soldiers, a
stately monument to the navigator who found the Philippines, and whose
adventurous discoveries insured him immortality. His first landing on
the Philippines was March 12th, 1521, less than thirty years after
Columbus appeared in the West Indies, believing that he was in the
midst of the ancient East Indies, and judging from the latitude in
the neighborhood of the island empire of the Great Kahn. [9]
"After the death of Magellan, Duarte Barbosa took the command and he
and twenty of his men were treacherously killed by the Christian King,
with whom they had allied themselves, one Juan Serrano was left alive
amongst the natives. Magellan's 'Victory' was the first ship that
circumnavigated the globe.
"Magellanes passed over to the service of the King of Castile,
from causes which moved him thereto; and he set forth to the Emperor
Charles V., our sovereign, that the Islands of Maluco fell within the
demarcation of his crown of Castile, and that the conquest of them
pertained to him conformably to the concession of Pope Alexander;
he also offered to make an expedition and a voyage to them in the
emperor's name, laying his course through that part of the delimitation
which belonged to Castile, and availing himself of a famous astrologer
and cosmographer named Ruyfarelo, whom he kept in his service.
"The Emperor (from the importance of the business) confided this
voyage and discovery of Magellanes, with the ships and provisions
which were requisite for it, with which he set sail and discovered
the straits to which he gave his name. Through these he passed to the
South Sea, and navigated to the islands of Tendaya and Sebu, where he
was killed by the natives of Matan, which is one of them. His ships
went on to Maluco, where their crews had disputes and differences with
the Portuguese who were in the island of Terrenate; and at last, not
being able to maintain themselves there, they left Maluco in a ship
named the Victory, which had remained to the Castilians out of their
fleet, and they took as Chief and Captain Juan Sebastian del Cano, who
performed the voyage to Castile, by the way of India, where he arrived
with very few of his men, and he gave an account to His Majesty of the
discovery of the islands of the great archipelago, and of his voyage."
The work of De Morga has value as a novelty, as it is more than a
defense--a laudation of the Spanish rule in the Philippines in the
sixteenth century. The title page is a fair promise of a remarkable
performance, and it is here presented:
The
Philippine Islands,
Moluccas, Siam, Cambodia,
Japan and China,
at the close of the Sixteenth Century
By _Antonio de Morga_.
Translated from the Spanish, with Notes and a Preface, and a
Letter from Luis Vaez De Torres, Describing His Voyage Through
the Torres Straits, by the
_Hon. Henry E. J. Stanley_.
The original work of De Morga was printed in Mexico in 1609, and has
become extremely rare; there is no copy of it in the Bibliotheque
Imperiale of Paris. This translation is from a transcription made
for the Hakluyt Society from the copy in the Grenville Library of the
British Museum; the catalogue of which states that "this book, printed
at Mexico, is for that reason probably unknown to Bibliographers,
though a book of great rarity."
The translator gives a new view to Americans of the part that Spaniards
have played in the Philippines. He plunges deep into his subject,
saying:
"The great point in which Manila has been a success, is the fact that
the original inhabitants have not disappeared before the Europeans,
and that they have been civilized, and brought into a closer union
with the dominant race than is to be found elsewhere in similar
circumstances. The inhabitants of the Philippines previous to
the Spanish settlement were not like the inhabitants of the great
Indian peninsula, people with a civilization as old as that of their
conquerors. Excepting that they possessed the art of writing, and an
alphabet of their own, they do not appear to have differed in any way
from the Dayaks of Borneo as described by Mr. Boyle in his recent
book of adventures amongst that people. Indeed, there is almost
a coincidence of verbal expressions in the descriptions he and De
Morga give of the social customs, habits, and superstitions of the
two peoples they are describing; though many of these coincidences
are such as are incidental to life in similar circumstances, they are
enough to lead one to suppose a community of origin of the inhabitants
of Borneo and Luzon." Mr. Consul Farren, Manila, March 13th, 1845,
wrote and is quoted in support of this view as follows:
"The most efficient agents of public order throughout the islands
are the local clergy, many of whom are also of the country. There are
considerable parts of these possessions in which the original races,
as at Ceylon, retain their independence, and are neither taxed nor
interfered with; and throughout the islands the power of the government
is founded much more on moral than on physical influence. The laws are
mild, and peculiarly favorable to the natives. The people are indolent,
temperate and superstitious. The government is conciliatory and
respectable in its character and appearance, and prudent, but decisive
in the exercise of its powers over the people; and united with the
clergy, who are shrewd, and tolerant, and sincere, and respectable in
general conduct, studiously observant of their ecclesiastical duties,
and managing with great tact the native character."
March 29, 1851, Mr. Consul Farren wrote: "Without any governing
power whatever, the greatest moral influence in these possessions
is that which the priests possess, and divide among the monastic
orders of Augustines, Recoletos, Dominicans, and Franciscans (who
are all Spaniards), and the assistant native clergy. A population
exceeding 3,800,000 souls is ranged into 677 pueblos or parishes,
without reckoning the unsubdued tribes. In 577 of those pueblos
there are churches, with convents or clerical residences attached,
and about 500 of them are in the personal incumbency of those Spanish
monks. The whole ecclesiastical subdivisions being embraced in the
archbishopric of Manila and three bishoprics."
"The Philippines were converted to Christianity and maintained in it by
the monastic orders, energetically protected by them (and at no very
past period) against the oppressions of the provincial authorities,
and are still a check on them in the interests of the people. The
clergy are receivers in their districts of the capitation tax paid
by the natives, and impose it; they are the most economical agency
of the government."
The Archbishop of Manila is substantially of this judgment. De Morga
opens his address to the reader:
"The monarchy of Kings of Spain has been aggrandized by the zeal
and care with which they have defended within their own hereditary
kingdoms, the Holy Catholic Faith, which the Roman Church teaches,
against whatsoever adversaries oppose it, or seek to obscure the truth
by various errors, which faith they have disseminated throughout
the world. Thus by the mercy of God they preserve their realms and
subjects in the purity of the Christian religion, deserving thereby
the glorious title and renown which they possess of Defenders of
the Faith. Moreover, by the valor of their indomitable hearts, and
at the expense of their revenues and property, with Spanish fleets
and men, they have furrowed the seas, and discovered and conquered
vast kingdoms in the most remote and unknown parts of the world,
leading their inhabitants to a knowledge of the true God, and to
the fold of the Christian Church, in which they now live, governed
in civil and political matters with peace and justice, under the
shelter and protection of the royal arm and power which was wanting
to them. This boast is true of Manila, and of Manila alone amongst
all the colonies of Spain or the other European states. If the natives
of Manila have been more fortunate than those of Cuba, Peru, Jamaica,
and Mexico, it has been owing to the absence of gold, which in other
places attracted adventurers so lawless that neither the Church nor
Courts of justice could restrain them."
It is against the orders named as worthy exalted praise that the
insurgents are most inflamed, and whose expulsion from the islands is
certain in case of Philippine jurisdiction. The truth appears to be
that the Spanish Colonial system was slower in the East Indies than
in the West Indies and South America in producing the revolutionary
rebellion that was its logical consequence, and the friars more
and more became responsible for official oppression and gradually
became odious.
It was New Spain--Mexico--that ruled the Philippines, until Mexican
independence restricted her sovereignty. When a Commander-in-Chief
died in the Philippines, it was sufficient to find amongst his
papers a sealed dispatch, as Morga records, "From the high court
of Mexico, which carried on the government when the fleet left New
Spain, naming (in case the Commander-in-Chief died) a successor to
the governorship." It was in virtue of such an appointment that
Guido de Labazarris, a royal officer, entered upon those duties,
and was obeyed. He, with much prudence, valor, and tact, continued
the conversion and pacification of the islands, and governed them,
and Morga states that in his time there came the corsair Limahon
from China, with seventy large ships and many men-at-arms, against
Manila. He entered the city, and having killed the master of the
camp Martin de Goiti, in his house, along with other Spaniards who
were in it, he went against the fortress in which the Spaniards,
who were few in number, had taken refuge, with the object of taking
the country and making himself master of it. The Spaniards, with
the succor which Captain Joan de Salzado brought them from Vigan, of
the men whom he had with him (for he had seen this corsair pass by
the coast, and had followed him to Manila), defended themselves so
valiantly, that after killing many of the people they forced him to
re-embark, and to leave the bay in flight, and take shelter in the
river of Pangasinam, whither the Spaniards followed him. There they
burned his fleet, and for many days surrounded this corsair on land,
who in secret made some small boats with which he fled and put to sea,
and abandoned the islands.
The change of the name of the islands from Lazarus, which Magellan
called them, to the Philippines and the capture of the native town
of Manila and its conversion into a Spanish city is related by Morga
in these words:
"One of the ships which sailed from the port of Navidad in company
with the fleet, under the command of Don Alonso de Arellano, carried as
pilot one Lope Martin, a mulatto and a good sailor, although a restless
man; when this ship came near the islands it left the fleet and went
forward amongst the islands, and, having procured some provisions,
without waiting for the chief of the expedition, turned back to New
Spain by a northerly course; either from the little inclination which
he had for making the voyage to the isles, or to gain the reward for
having discovered the course for returning. He arrived speedily, and
gave news of having seen the islands, and discovered the return voyage,
and said a few things with respect to his coming, without any message
from the chief, nor any advices as to what happened to him. Don Alonzo
de Arellano was well received by the High Court of Justice, which
governed at that time, and was taking into consideration the granting
of a reward to him and to his pilot; and this would have been done, had
not the flagship of the Commander-in-Chief arrived during this time,
after performing the same voyage, and bringing a true narrative of
events, and of the actual condition of affairs, and of the settlement
of Sebu; also giving an account of how Don Alonzo de Arellano with
his ship, without receiving orders and without any necessity for it,
had gone on before the fleet on entering among the isles, and had
never appeared since. It was also stated that, besides these islands,
which had peacefully submitted to His Majesty, there were many others,
large and rich, well provided with inhabitants, victuals and gold,
which they hoped to reduce to subjection and peace with the assistance
which was requested; and that the Commander-in-Chief had given to all
these isles the name of Philippines, in memory of His Majesty. The
succor was sent to him immediately, and has been continually sent every
year conformably to the necessities which have presented themselves;
so that the land was won and maintained.
"The Commander-in-Chief having heard of other islands around Sebu
with abundance of provisions, he sent thither a few Spaniards to bring
some of the natives over in a friendly manner, and rice for the camp,
with which he maintained himself as well as he could, until, having
passed over to the island of Panay, he sent thence Martin de Goiti,
his master of the camp, and other captains, with the men that seemed
to him sufficient, to the side of Luzon, to endeavor to pacify it and
bring it under submission to His Majesty; a native of that island,
of importance, named Maomat was to guide them.
"Having arrived at the Bay of Manila, they found its town on the sea
beach close to a large river, in the possession of, and fortified by
a chief whom they called Rajamora; and in front across the river,
there was another large town named Tondo; this was also held by
another chief, named Rajamatanda. These places were fortified with
palms, and thick arigues filled in with earth, and a great quantity
of bronze cannon, and other large pieces with chambers. Martin de
Goiti having began to treat with the chiefs and their people of the
peace and submission which he claimed for them, it became necessary
for him to break with them; and the Spaniards entered the town by
force of arms, and took it, with the forts and artillery, on the
day of Sta. Potenciana, the 19th of May, the year 1571; upon which
the natives and their chiefs gave in, and made submission, and many
others of the same island of Luzon did the same.
"When the Commander-in-chief, Legazpi, received news in Panay of the
taking of Manila, and the establishment of the Spaniards there he left
the affairs of Sebu, and of the other islands which had been subdued,
set in order; and he entrusted the natives to the most trustworthy
soldiers, and gave such orders as seemed fitting for the government
of those provinces, which are commonly called the Visayas de los
Pintados, because the natives there have their whole bodies marked
with fire. He then came to Manila with the remainder of his people,
and was very well received there; and established afresh with the
natives and their chiefs the peace, friendship and submission to His
Majesty which they had already offered. The Commander-in-Chief founded
and established a town on the very site of Manila (of which Rajamora
made a donation to the Spaniards for that purpose), on account of its
being strong and in a well provisioned district, and in the midst of
all the isles (leaving it its name of Manila, which it held from the
natives). He took what land was sufficient for the city, in which the
governor established his seat and residence; he fortified it with care,
holding this object more especially in view, in order to make it the
seat of government of this new settlement, rather than considering
the temperature or width of the site, which is hot and narrow, from
having the river on one side of the city, and the bay on the other,
and at the back large swamps and marshes, which make it very strong.
"From this post he pursued the work of pacification of the other
provinces of this great island of Luzon and of the surrounding
districts; some submitting themselves willingly, others being conquered
by force of arms, or by the industry of the monks who sowed the Holy
Gospel, in which each and all labored valiantly, both in the time
and governorship of the adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, and in
that of other governors who succeeded him. The land was entrusted
to those who had pacified it and settled in it, and heads named, on
behalf of the crown, of the provinces, ports, towns, and cities, which
were founded, together with other special commissions for necessities
which might arise, and for the expenses of the royal exchequer. The
affairs of the government, and conversion of the natives, were treated
as was fit and necessary. Ships were provided each year to make the
voyage to New Sapin, and to return with the usual supplies; so that
the condition of the Philippine Islands, in spiritual and temporal
matters, flourishes at the present day, as all know.
"The Commander-in-Chief, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, as has been said,
discovered the islands, and made a settlement in them, and gave a good
beginning to their subjection and pacification. He founded the city of
the Most Holy Name of Jesus in the provinces of the Pintados, and after
that the city of Manila in the island of Luzon. He conquered there the
province of Ylocos; and in its town and port, called Vigan, he founded
a Spanish town, to which he gave the name of Villa Fernandina. So also
he pacified the province of Pangasinan and the island of Mindoro. He
fixed the rate of tribute which the natives had to pay in all the
islands, and ordered many other matters relating to their government
and conversion, until he died, in the year of 1574, at Manila, where
his body lies buried in the monastery of St. Augustine.
"During the government of this Guido de Labazarris, trade and commerce
were established between great China and Manila, ships coming each
year with merchandise, and the governor giving them a good reception;
so that every year the trade has gone on increasing."
The Encyclopaedia Britannica says that the Island Samai was called
Filipina by Vellalohos, who sailed from Mexico in February, 1543. The
capital was fixed at Manila in 1571, a distinction enjoyed three
hundred and twenty-seven years. It was in a letter of Lagozpis in
1567 that the name Ilas Filipinos appeared for the first time.
The Dutch became very enterprising and venturesome in the Asiatic
archipelagoes and gave the Philippines much attention, having many
fights with the Spaniards. The Ladrones became well known as a resting
place between the islands of Philip and New Spain--Mexico. The Chinese
Pirates were troublesome, and the Spaniards, between the natives,
the pirates and the Dutchmen, kept busy, and had a great deal of
naval and military instruction. There were other varieties of life
of an exciting character, in terrible storms and earthquakes. The
storm season is the same in the Philippines as in the West Indies,
and the tempests have like features. October is the cyclone and
monsoon month. The most destructive storm in the island of Luzon
of record was October 31st, 1876. Floods rolled from the mountains,
and there was a general destruction of roads and bridges, and it is
reported six thousand persons were killed.
So extensive and exposed is the Bay of Manila, it is one hundred and
twenty knots in circumference--that it is not properly a harbor, but
a stormy sheet of water. Admiral Dewey's fleet has had low steam in
the boilers all the while to quickly apply the power of the engines
for safety in case of a visitation from the dreaded typhoon, which
comes on suddenly as a squall and rages with tornado intensity.
There are many volcanoes in the islands, and they exist from the
North of Luzon to the Sulus in the extreme South, a distance as great
as from Scotland to Sicily. There is one on Luzon that bears a close
resemblance both in appearance and phenomena to Vesuvius. The likeness
in eruptions is startling. The city of Manila has repeatedly suffered
from destroying shocks, and slight agitations are frequent. Within
historic times a mountain in Luzon collapsed, and a river was filled
up while the earth played fountains of sand. The great volcano
Taal, 45 miles south of Manila, is only 850 feet high, and on a
small island in a lake believed to be a volcanic abyss, having an
area of 100 square miles. Monte Cagua, 2,910 feet high, discharges
smoke continually. In 1814 12,000 persons lost their lives on Luzon,
the earth being disordered and rent in an appalling way. There were
awful eruptions July 20 and October 24, 1867, forests of great trees
buried in discharges of volcanoes. June 3, 1863, at 31 minutes after
7 in the evening, after a day of excessive heat, there was a shock
at Manila lasting 30 seconds, in which 400 people were killed, 2,000
wounded, and 26 public and 570 private houses seriously damaged. The
greater structures made heaps of fragments. That these calamities have
taught the people lessons in building is apparent in every house, but
one wonders that they have not taken even greater precautions. The
forgetfulness of earthquake experiences in countries where they are
familiar, always amazes those unaccustomed to the awful agitations
and troubled with the anticipations of imagination. However, there
never has been in the Philippines structural changes of the earth
as great as in the center of the United States in the huge fissures
opened and remaining lakes in the New Madrid convulsions.
In a surprising extent the Spanish government in the Philippines
has been in the hands of the priests, especially the orders of the
church. In the early centuries there was less cruel oppression than
in Mexico and Peru. And yet there is in the old records a free-handed
way of referring to killing people that shows a somewhat sanguinary
state of society even including good citizens.
Blas Ruys de Herman Gonzales wrote to Dr. Morga from one of his
expeditions, addressing his friend:
"To Dr. Antonio de Morga, Lieutenant of the Governor of the
Filipine isles of Luzon, in the city of Manila, whom may our Lord
preserve. From Camboia." This was in Cochin China, one of the Kings
being in trouble, called upon Gonzales, who sympathized with him and
wrote of the ceremony in which he assisted: "I came at his bidding,
and he related to me how those people wished to kill him and deprive
him of the kingdom, that I might give him a remedy. The Mambaray was
the person who governed the kingdom, and as the king was a youth and
yielded to wine, he made little account of him and thought to be king
himself. At last I and the Spaniards killed him, and after that they
caught his sons and killed them. After that the capture of the Malay
Cancona was undertaken, and he was killed, and there was security
from this danger by means of the Spaniards. We then returned to the
war, and I learned that another grandee, who was head of a province,
wished to rise up, and go over to the side of Chupinanon; I seized
him and killed him; putting him on his trial. With all this the
King and kingdom loved us very much, and that province was pacified,
and returned to the King. At this time a vessel arrived from Siam,
which was going with an embassy to Manila, and put in here. There
came in it Padre Fray Pedro Custodio. The King was much delighted at
the arrival of the priest, and wished to set up a church for him."
Unquestionably there was degeneracy that began to have mastery in high
places, and this can be distinctly made out early in this century,
becoming more obvious in depravity, when Spain fell into disorder
during the later years of the Napoleonic disturbances, and the
authority and influence of Mexico were eliminated from Spain. I may
offer the suggestion and allow it to vindicate its own importance,
that if we have any Philippine Islands to spare, we should turn them
over to the Republic of Mexico, taking in exchange Lower California
and Sonora, and presenting those provinces to California to be
incorporated in that State as counties. It was under Mexican rule
that the Philippines were most peaceable and flourishing.
The late Government of the islands as revealed to the American officers
who came into possession of Manila, was fearfully corrupt. It was
proven by documents and personal testimony not impeachable, that a
Captain-General's launch had been used to smuggle Mexican dollars,
that the annual military expedition to the southern islands was a
stated speculation of the Captain-General amounting to $200,000,
in one case raised to $400,000, that the same high official made an
excursion to all the custom houses on the islands ordered the money
and books aboard his ship and never returned either, that one way
of bribery was for presents to be made to the wives of officials of
great power and distinction; one lady is named to whom business men
when presenting a splendid bracelet, waited on her with two that she
might choose the one most pleasing, and as she had two white arms,
she kept both.
The frequent changes in Spanish rulers of the islands are accounted
for by the demand for lucrative places, from the many favorites to
whom it was agreeable and exemplary to offer opportunities to make
fortunes. It goes hard with the deposed Spaniards that they had no
chance to harvest perquisites, and must go home poor. This is as a
fountain of little tears.
The city of Manila is not lofty in buildings, because it has been twice
damaged to the verge of ruin by earthquakes and many times searched
and shaken by tremendous gales, and is situated on the lands so low
that it is not uplifted to the gaze of mankind--is not a city upon
a hill, and yet it is "no mean city." Antonio de Morga says:
"The entrance of the Spaniards into the Philippines since the year
1564, and the subjection and conversion which has been effected in
them, and their mode of government, and that which during these years
His Majesty has provided and ordered for their good, has been the
cause of innovation in many things, such as are usual to kingdoms and
provinces which charge their faith and sovereign. The first has been
that, besides the name of Philippines, which they took and received
from the beginning of their conquest, all the islands are now a new
kingdom and sovereignty, to which His Majesty Philip the Second,
our sovereign, gave the name of New Kingdom of Castile, of which by
his royal privilege, he made the city of Manila the capital, giving
to it, as a special favor among others, a coat of arms with a crown,
chosen and appointed by his royal person, which is a scutcheon divided
across, and in the upper part a castle on the red field, and in the
lower part a lion of gold, crowned and rampant, with a naked sword
in the dexter hand, and half the body in the shape of a dolphin upon
the waters of the sea, signifying that the Spaniards passed over them
with arms to conquer this kingdom for the crown of Castile.
"The Commander-in-Chief, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, first governor of
the Philippines, founded the city of Manila, in the isle of Luzon,
in the same site in which Rajamora had his town and fort (as has
been said more at length), at the mouth of the river which pours out
into the bay, on a point which is formed between the river and the
sea. He occupied the whole of it with this town and divided it among
the Spaniards in equal building plots, with streets and blocks of
houses regularly laid out, straight and level leaving a great place,
tolerably square, where he erected the cathedral church and municipal
buildings; and another place of arms, in which stood the fort and
there also the royal buildings; he gave sites to the monasteries and
hospital and chapels, which would be built, as this was a city which
would grow and increase every day, as has already happened; because
in the course of time which passed by, it has become as illustrious
as the best cities of all those parts.
"The whole city is surrounded by a wall of hewn stone of more than two
and a half yards in width, and in parts more than three, with small
towers and traverses at intervals; it has a fortress of hewn stone at
the point, which guards the bar and the river, with a ravelin close
to the water, which contains a few heavy pieces of artillery which
command the sea and the river, and other guns on the higher part of the
fort for the defense of the bar, besides other middling-sized field
guns and swivel guns, with vaults for supplies and munitions, and a
powder magazine, with its inner space well protected, and an abundant
well of fresh water; also quarters for soldiers and artillerymen and
a house for the Commandant. It is newly fortified on the land side,
in the place of arms, where the entrance is through a good wall, and
two salient towers furnished with artillery which command the wall
and gate. This fortress named Santiago, has a detachment of thirty
soldiers, with their officers, and eight artillerymen, who guard the
gate and entrance in watches, under the command of an alcalde who
lives within, and has the guard and custody of it.
"There is another fortress, also of stone, in the same wall, at the
ditance of the range of a culverin, at the end of the wall which runs
along the shore of the bay; this is named Nuestra Senora de Guia; it
is a very large round block, with its courtyard, water and quarters,
and magazines and other workshops within; it has an outwork jutting out
towards the beach, in which there are a dozen of large and middle-sized
guns, which command the bay, and sweep the walls which run from it
to the port and fort of Santiago. On the further side it has a large
salient tower with four heavy pieces, which command the beach further
on, towards the chapel of Nuestra Senora de Guia. The gate and entrance
of this is within the city, it is guarded by a detachment of twenty
soldiers, with their officers, and six artillerymen, a commandant,
and his lieutenant, who dwell within.
"On the land side, where the wall extends, there is a bastion called
Sant Andres, with six pieces of artillery, which can fire in all
directions, and a few swivel guns; and further on another outwork
called San Gabriel, opposite the parian of the Sangleys, with the
same number of cannon, and both these works have some soldiers and
an ordinary guard.
"The wall is sufficiently high, with battlements and turrets for
its defense in the modern fashions; they have a circuit of a league,
which may be traversed on the top of the walls, with many stairs on
the inside at intervals, of the same stonework, and three principal
city gates, and many other posterns to the river and beach for the
service of the city in convenient places. All of these gates are shut
before nightfall by the ordinary patrol, and the keys are carried to
the guard-room of the royal buildings; and in the morning, when it
is day, the patrol returns with them and opens the city.
"The royal magazines are in the parade; in them are deposited and kept
all the munitions and supplies, cordage, iron, copper, lead, artillery,
arquebuses, and other things belonging to the royal treasury, with
their special officials and workmen, who are under the command of
the royal officers.
"Close to these magazines is the powder magazine, with its master,
officials, and convicts, in which, on ordinary occasions, thirty
mortars grind powder, and that which is damaged is refined.
"In another part of the city, in a convenient situation, is the
cannon foundry, with its moulds, furnaces, and instrument founders,
and workmen, who carry on the works.
"The royal buildings are very handsome, with a good view, and very
roomy, with many windows opening seaward and to the parade; they are
all of hewn stone, with two courts and high and low corridors with
thick pillars."
The city of to-day verifies the descriptive talent and accuracy of
this writer.