THE FRIARS IN THE PHILIPPINES

CONTENTS.



Chapter Page

I. The Work of the Religious Orders in the Philippines 7
II. The Charges made against Them considered 37
III. The Rebellion Largely the Work of a Secret Organization 60
IV. The Rebels and Their Grievances 86
V. The Sectarian Missionary Movement 99
Postscript 116

APPENDIX.

I. A Short Account of Missions in China, conducted by the
Dominican Friars of the Philippines 122
II. Extracts relating to the Friars, from the Official
Correspondence of Generals Weyler and Moriones 124
III. The Work of Freemasonry in South and Central America 129
IV. Interview with Augustinian Friars 138
V. Letter from a Friar in the Power of the Rebels, to a
Friend in Manila 145
VI. The Rev. Mr. Hykes on Burial Fees, and the Paco
Cemetery outside Manila 149






THE FRIARS IN THE PHILIPPINES.


CHAPTER I.

THE WORK OF THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS IN THE PHILIPPINES.


A recent traveller designates the Philippines as the birthplace
of typhoons, the home of earthquakes,--epithets undoubtedly strong
yet well deserved; and typhoons at certain seasons of the year, with
earthquakes at uncertain periods, when taken together with the torrid
heat, trying at all seasons, and the malaria fruitful of fevers,
make these islands of the Eastern seas, which otherwise would be a
veritable Paradise upon earth, an undesirable place of abode to the
average European, unless, indeed, he is attracted thither by the
greed of gain or by the nobler desire of missionary enterprise.

For Nature, bountiful there almost to prodigality, revelling in
all the luxuriance of tropical vegetation, has always at hand, as
a set-off to her gifts, terrible manifestations of her power. The
seventeenth-century navigator, William Dampier, in his own quaint
and amusing way, describes how the natives and the Spanish colonists
of Manila strove to guard against the double danger of earthquakes
and typhoons, and how they both failed ignominiously. The Spaniards
built strong stone houses, but the earthquake made light of them, and
shook them so violently that the terrified inmates would rush out of
doors to save their lives; while the natives from their frail bamboo
dwellings, which were perched on high poles, placidly contemplated
their discomfiture. All that the earthquake meant to them was a
gentle swaying from side to side. But the Spaniards had their turn
when the fierce typhoon blew, against which their thick walls were
proof. Then, from the security of their houses, could they view, with
a certain grim satisfaction, the huts of the natives swaying every
minute more violently in the wind, till, one by one, they toppled
over--each an indescribable heap of poles, mats, household utensils,
and human beings.

By way of general description it may be said that the Philippine
Archipelago consists of between one and two thousand islands; two of
which, Luzon and Mindanao, are much larger than Ireland, while the
rest vary in size down to mere islets, rocks, and reefs. Altogether
the islands stretch from north to south a distance as great as from
the north of England to the south of Italy. The soil is extremely rich,
and easily cultivated; vast forests abound, containing valuable timber;
and the mineral resources, up to the present undeveloped, are apt to
prove a sure source of income under modern methods of working.

But what concerns us most in this inquiry is the character of the
inhabitants. The population, which is variously estimated at from
eight to ten millions, is made up of more than eighty distinct tribes,
which nearly all belong to the Malay race. There are still to be
found in some of the islands, and principally in the mountainous
districts, the remnants of the aboriginal inhabitants, usually called
Negritos. These are of a distinctively inferior type, are rapidly
diminishing in numbers, and seem to many observers incapable of
civilization. Our only concern therefore is with the Malays, who form
the vast bulk of the population, and have in the course of time been
nearly all converted to Christianity. Nearly seven million Christians
are counted among them; while the unconverted pagans, together with
the Moros, or Malay Mohammedans, of Mindanao and the Sulu islands,
are not a million in number.