The Philippine Islands Part 57

This letter from your son, His Highness Datto Mohammed Dahiatul Kalbi, to my father, the Governor of Sulu, Major Scott, and to my younger brother, Sali.

I want to inform you that at 7 o'clock in the morning of Sat.u.r.day, we had a fight with Tallu. I have taken his head, but if you will allow it, I will bury it, if my father will let me do that, because he is an Islam and I would commit an offence. It scared my wife very much when she looked at the head in my house. Those that are dead were Sadalani, Namla, Muhamad, and Salui. Beyond that I have not investigated.

With greetings to my father and to my younger brother, I beg you, my younger brother, to let me bury the head, if my father does not feel bad about it. If our father should not believe that the head is there, come to our house and see yourself, so to be sure. I would not soil the faith my father has in me. To close I herewith send the kris of Orang Kaya Tallu. The end of the pen. Sunday, February 23, 1904.

Whilst I was in Zamboanga in June, 1904, Datto Pedro Cuevas, of Basilan Island, sent a message over to say that there would be no more trouble with certain pirates who had been caught, as he had cut off their heads.

It would fill a volume to recount the legends of the sharks near Cagayan de Jolo which wreck ships; the Moro who heard the voice of Allah rising from a floating cocoanut to urge him to denounce the Sultan's evil ways; the new prophet who could point at any object and make it disappear, and a hundred other superst.i.tious extravagances.

Jolo (_vide_ p. 149), one of the prettiest places on earth, has been improved since the American occupation. Apart from the many new buildings erected for military convenience, there is now a fine jetty with a tramway, a landing-stage for small vessels, a boys'

and a girls' school, some new residences, etc. The munic.i.p.ality is under the presidency of a military officer, and the clean, orderly aspect of the town is evidence of Anglo-Saxon energy in its administration. In 1904 there was only one drinking-saloon, kept by a Bohemian-born American, who paid $6,000 a year for his monopoly licence. Much to the disgust of the military, a society of well-intentioned temperance ladies in America procured the prohibition of alcohol-selling in military canteens and Post Exchanges. The eastern extremity of Jolo is appropriated for military purposes, and on the rising ground is situated the stabling for the cavalry horses. There is a large military hospital, well appointed, and a club-house for whites, overlooking the picturesque harbour. Outside the town walls towards the west the dwellings of natives, chiefly from other islands in their origin, extend about a mile as far as Tulay, where the Sultan has a residence. On the way one pa.s.ses through the little square, in the centre of which stands a monument erected to commemorate the landing here of Gov.-General Corcuera, April 17, 1638. During my last visit to Jolo I called upon His Highness the Sultan at Tulay, accompanied by the civil interpreter, Mr. J. Schuck, whose late father I had known many years before. [263] Tulay signifies _bridge_ in Tagalog, and probably this place derives its name from the bridge spanning the rivulet, which forms a natural division between this village and the Jolo ex-mural western suburb. Just across the bridge, in most unattractive surroundings, stands a roofed rough pile of wooden planks--the residence of the Sultan. At a few paces to the left of it one sees another gloomy structure, smaller and more cheerless than the royal abode--it is the domicile of Hadji Butu, the Sultan's Prime Minister.

Pa.s.sing through the ground-floor, which serves as a vestibule and storehouse for nondescript rubbish, I was met by several armed Moros who conducted me up a dark staircase, the lid of which, at the top, was raised to admit me to the royal presence. His Highness, the Majasari Hadji Mohammad Jamalul Kiram, reclining on a cane-bottomed sofa, graciously smiled, and extending his hand towards me, motioned to me to take the chair in front of him, whilst Mr. Schuck sat on the sofa beside the Sultan. His Highness is about thirty-six years of age, short, thick set, wearing a slight moustache and his hair cropped very close. With a cotton _sarong_ around his loins, the nakedness of his body down to the waist was only covered by _jabul_ (_vide_ p. 146) thrown loosely over him. Having explained that I was desirous of paying my respects to the son of the great Sultan whose hospitality I had enjoyed years ago at Maybun, I was offered a cigar and the conversation commenced. Just at that moment came the Prime Minister, who spoke a little English, and at the back of me, facing the Sultan, stood his trusted warriors in semi-circle, attired in fantastic garments and armed to the teeth. From time to time a dependent would come, bend the knee on the royal footstool and present the _buyo_ box, or a message, or whatever His Highness called for. The footstool attracted my curiosity, and my eye was fixed on it for a while until I could decipher the lettering, which was upside down. At last I made it out--"Van Houten's Cocoa." The audience-chamber needs no minute description; it can be all summed up in bare boards, boxes, bundles, weapons, dirt, a dilapidated writing-desk, a couple of old chairs, and the Sultan's sofa-seat. Of course the Sultan had a grievance. The Americans, he said, had appropriated his pearl-fisheries, his tribute-money, and other sources of valuable income; they were diverting the taxes payable to him into their own coffers, with detriment to his estate and his dignity as a ruler. [264]

The questions in dispute and his position generally were, he added, to be discussed between him and the Insular Government in Manila in the following month. Naturally, the study of the man and his surroundings interested me far more than conversation on a subject which was not my business. Speaking with warmth, at every gesture the _jabul_ would slide down to his waist, exposing his bare breast, so that perhaps I saw more of the _Majasari_ than is the privilege of most European visitors. On leave-taking His Highness graciously presented me with a handsome Moro dress-sword and a betel-cutter set in a solid silver handle, and, in return, I sent him my portrait from Manila.

Exactly a month after my visit, the Sultan, accompanied by Major Scott, the Governor and Commander of Jolo, came and made a short stay in Manila, where he was conducted around town and to the presence of the authorities. Many valuable presents were officially made to him, together with P5,000 pocket-money to console him for the postponement _sine die_ of the "settlement" question. Driving round in wagonettes, his retinue saw the sights of the capital and made their purchases, but the Sultan himself was strictly guarded from pressmen and others who might give local publicity to his claims.

America's policy with regard to the Sultan of Sulu and all other Sultans and _Dattos_, as expounded to me by the best American authorities, is as clear as crystal. They wish all these petty potentates were elsewhere; but as that cannot be, they must be shorn of all power, princely dignity being out of harmony with American inst.i.tutions. Nevertheless, they can call themselves what they like among their own people, provided that in their relations with the Government of the Islands they are to be simple citizens with dominion over their own personal property, but not over that of others. There is to be no sovereign power, great or small, other than American, and tribal wards are to supersede dattoships. The _Dattos_ are more numerous than Continental barons, and of varying grades, from the Panglima Ha.s.san type, possessor of fortresses, commander of 5,000 men, down to the t.i.tular lord of four score acres who lounges in the village, in filthy raiment, closely followed by two juveniles, the one carrying his bright metal _buyo_ box, in case he needs a quid, and the other the bearer of the _barong_, lest he must a.s.sert his dignity by force. America has decreed that from these and all their compeers the Philippines are to be preserved.

In November, 1903, the District Governor of Zamboanga summoned the Manguiguin, or Sultan of Mindanao (_vide_ p. 131), and all the _Dattos_ in his district to attend a durbar. The aged Sultan very reluctantly responded to the call, and, accompanied by his Prime Minister, Datto Ducalat, and a large retinue, the royal party came in about 250 armed _vintas_. When they were within a few miles of the port they sent a message to ask if they would be allowed to salute with their _lantacas_, and the reply being in the affirmative, they entered the harbour with great _eclat_, amidst the booming of a hundred cannon. Interpreters put off to meet them and escorted them to the landing-stage, where the District Governor waited to receive them. The Sultan wore a gorgeous turban, a royal _sarong_ worked in thread of gold, and shoes with similar adornments. On landing, the old prince, trembling from top to toe, with despairing glance clutched the arm of the Governor for protection. Never before had he seen the great city of Zamboanga; he was overcome and terrified by its comparative grandeur, and possibly by the imposing figure of the six-foot Governor himself. The police had to be called out to restrain the mobs who watched his arrival. On the other hand, as the Sultans, the _Dattos_ and their suites together numbered about 600, and from other places by land about 400 more had come, all armed, many of the townspeople, with traditional dread, shut themselves up in their houses, believing that such a vast a.s.semblage of Moros might, at any moment, commence a general ma.s.sacre. It is well known that the question of public security did engage the attention of the American authorities, for the gathering was indeed a formidable one, and at the moment General Wood was in Sulu Island, leading his troops against Panglima Ha.s.san. All the available forces were therefore held in readiness to meet any emergency. With faltering footsteps and shaking like an aspen leaf, the Manguiguin, followed by his _Dattos_, approached the double lines of soldiers with fixed bayonets stationed on the quay. There was a pause; the Sultan, who in his youthful days had known no fear, now realized the folly of walking into the jaws of death. But the Governor a.s.sured him, through the interpreters, that he was doing him the greatest honour that could be rendered to any prince or to the great president of the greatest republic. Only half convinced and full of suspicion, the Sultan walked on in a daze, as though he were going to his last doom. Having emerged safely from this peril, the great durbar was held, and lasted some hours. This was followed by a reception at the Army and Navy Club, where a throne was erected under a canopy for the Sultan, with seats of honour around it for the chief _Dattos_. The reception over, the royal party was conducted to where waggons and teams awaited them to take them to a suburb at the foothills of the great sierra. The Governor purposely had the biggest American horses and the largest vehicles brought out to make an impression. The Sultan point blank refused to enter the waggon. He had run the gauntlet through rows of pointed steel, and now new horrors awaited him. Perfectly bewildered at the sight of such enormous animals, he turned piteously to his Prime Minister and invited him to lead the way. "I will follow your Highness," the minister discreetly replied, but the muscular Governor, Captain John P. Finley, ended the palaver by gently lifting the Sultan into the vehicle, whilst he himself immediately entered it, and the timorous Prime Minister and suite summoned up courage to follow. During the drive the Governor gave the word to the teamsters to detach the forecarriages on reaching the foothills and let the teams go. To the great amazement of the Moro chiefs, the waggons suddenly became stationary, whilst the released horses galloped on ahead! The Sultan and his suite glanced at each other speechless with fright. Surely now their last day had come! So this was the trick treacherously prepared for them to segregate them from their fighting-men! But the teams were caught again, and the waggons brought them safely back to the sight of the port and the _vintas_. Allah had turned the hearts of the great white men and rescued his chosen people in the hour of imminent danger. The durbar was continued day by day until every point had been discussed. Meanwhile the Sultan and suite daily returned to their _vintas_ afloat to eat, drink, and sleep, whilst in the town of Zamboanga the christian natives quaked, and crowds of Moros perambulated the streets in rich and picturesque costumes, varying in design according to the usage of their tribes. Before the departure of the royal visitor the troops were formed up, military evolutions were performed with clockwork precision, and volley after volley was fired in the air. The Sultan declared he could never receive the Governor with such splendour, but he wanted him to promise to return his visit. It was not politic, however, to agree to do so. And the Sultan and his people left, pa.s.sing once more through lines of troops with bayonets fixed, this time with a firmer step than when they landed, thanking the Great Prophet for their happy deliverance from what had appeared to them a dreamland of dreadful novelty.

The Manguiguin of Mindanao was indeed "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," for in the days of his decrepitude he was jilted by the widow of Utto (_vide_ p. 143), the once celebrated Cottabato _Datto_, the idol of the Christian-haters.

Education is one of the chief concerns of the Moro Province Government. The efforts of the _School Department_, up to June 30, 1904, will be understood from the following official statistics, viz. [265]:--

Teachers employed--15 Americans, 50 Christian Filipinos, and nine Mahometan Filipinos.

41 Schools were established.

2,114 Children were on the school rolls.

1,342 Christian children attended on average.

240 Moro children attended on average.

P46,898.17 were expended in the School Department, of which P28,355.09 were disbursed in Zamboanga District.

Besides the public schools, the Jesuits are permitted to continue their excellent work of civilization and education in their own schools wherever they have a mission established.

According to Moro custom the fruit of a man's labour belongs to the _Datto_ who gives the man a subsistence. The Americans are teaching the man that the fruit of his labour is his own, and, for that purpose, market-places are established at many centres on the coast with the hope of inculcating free-labour notions, so that the seller can get cash for his goods and keep it. I visited three of these markets on the south coast of Mindanao, and also the one in course of construction at Zamboanga (ward of Magay), where Governor John P. Finley was putting his heart and soul into his scheme for creating an important Moro Exchange. By Legislative Council Act No. 55, the sum of P1,850 was appropriated for its construction, and the Governor had succeeded in persuading the Moros themselves to contribute P1,300 towards its completion. The Moros are urged to come in their produce-laden _vintas_ and occupy the stalls erected for them in the large commodious market-shed, which has accommodation for carts and cattle if need be. Boats of less than 15 tons gross are free of tax, licence, or doc.u.ments (Phil. Com. Act No. 1354, of June 15, 1905). Whenever any trouble arises up the coast the Governor's official _vinta_ is despatched, manned by Moros, under the command of the Governor's messenger, Hadji Nuno, a parvenu _Datto_ whose name reveals his Spanish origin.

Everything within the powers of the Legislative Council of the Moro Province seems to have been done to introduce law, order, and administrative uniformity, constrain violence, propagate knowledge and set the inhabitants on the path of morality and prosperity. The result of a century's labour, at the present rate of development, might, however, be achieved in a decade if the Insular Government had authority from Washington to relax the rigidity of the "Philippines for the Filipinos" doctrine in the special case of the Moro Province. It is true the Moros are as much Filipinos as the rest of the Philippine inhabitants, but it will be generations before they can know how to enjoy their birthright without the example of energetic white men who are, naturally, unwilling to come and philanthropically devote their lives to "pulling the chestnuts out of the fire" for the Moro. They want to reap some material advantage for themselves. Gen. Leonard Wood, in his First Annual Report of the Moro Province, remarks:--"What is needed to develop this portion of the world is a suitable cla.s.s of settlers, bringing with them knowledge of modern agricultural methods, enterprise and some capital.... If he (the Moro) could see the results ... it is believed that his ambition would be stimulated and that his development would be comparatively rapid. In short, a scattering of good agriculturists throughout the province would be of inestimable value to the people. At the present time such a cla.s.s of settlers is _not_ coming, and it is not believed they will come until much more liberal inducements are offered them, especially in the way of obtaining land by settlement. Our standing among the people of these Islands has been much injured by the presence of a large and tough cla.s.s of so-called Americans whose energies have been princ.i.p.ally extended in the construction, maintenance and patronage of rum shops, which outnumber other American business establishments."

The American who would go to Mindanao to settle on 40 acres of land could not be of the cla.s.s desired. [266] A maximum of 1,000 acres to an individual settler and 10,000 acres to a company of not less than five persons, would produce a rapid and beneficial development of Mindanao and push on its civilization by giant strides. There would be little fear of the natives' rights being unduly encroached upon by whites if, in addition to the Homestead Law conditions, the period of application for land were limited to two or three years from the promulgation of the law, with solid guarantees to prevent a flood of bogus applications from land-grabbers. The Treasurer, in his First Annual Report of the Moro Province, says:--"It is not reasonable to expect, under present conditions, any systematic effort on their (the Moros') part to cultivate the soil, as they know, as well as the powers that be, that they have no a.s.surance that the land they will improve to-day will be theirs to-morrow. They have t.i.tle to not one foot of land, and no guarantee from the Government that present improvements will be theirs when they are finally settled by the former. A liberal _land law_ will also bring an influx of settlers and capital.... It will not only make this province the richest part of the Philippine Islands and the State the beneficiary, but it will remove the necessity for the soldier in the field. No other legislation is going to improve financial conditions here to any extent. There is no doubt the Government land unsettled and untouched in this province amounts to 90 per cent. of all the tillable land, and equals in area and excels in richness that of all the tillable land of Luzon."

The District of Davao is far more developed agriculturally than the other four. Planters whom I know personally are opening up land and producing large quant.i.ties of hemp, giving employment to Bagobos and others, but without any certainty about the possession of the land. Inexhaustible forests of fine timber remain undisturbed, and are left to decay in the ordinary course of nature, whilst shiploads of Oregon pine arrive for public works. My attendance at the public conferences on the timber-felling question, before the Philippine Commission in Manila, did not help me to appreciate the policy underlying the Insular Government's apparent reluctance to stimulate the development of the timber industry; indeed, it is not easy to follow the working of the "Philippines for the Filipinos"

policy in several details.

In 1904 General Wood recommended to the Philippine Commission the incorporation of the present provinces of Misamis and Surigao in the Moro Province, seeing that the people of those provinces and the Moro Province belong to the same races and have identical interests. As it is, the hill tribes of Misamis find themselves between two jurisdictions, and have to pa.s.s nearly a hundred miles through the Moro Province to reach the sea coast--an anomaly which will no doubt be rectified by including the whole Island of Mindanao in the Moro Province.

The American Government's abstinence from proselytism in dealing with the Moros is more likely to succeed than Spain's well-meant "policy of attraction" adopted in the last years of her rule, for whatever progress this system made was counterbalanced by the futile endeavour to induce the Mahometans to change their religion. Under the wise administration set in progress by General Leonard Wood there is a hopeful future for Moroland.

CHAPTER x.x.x

The Spanish Friars, After 1898

The Aglipayan Schism. Education. Politics. Population.

With the American dominion came free cult. No public money is disbursed for the support of any religious creed. No restraint is placed upon the practice of any religion exercised with due regard to morality. Proselytism in public schools is declared illegal. [267]

The prolonged discussion of the friars' position and claims encouraged them to hope that out of the labyrinthine negotiations might emerge their restoration to the Philippine parishes. For a while, therefore, hundreds of them remained in Manila, others anxiously watched the course of events from their refuges in the neighbouring British and Portuguese colonies, and the unpopular Archbishop Bernardino Nozaleda only formally resigned the archbishopric of Manila years after he had left it. Having prudently retired from the Colony during the Rebellion, he returned to it on the American occupation, and resumed his archiepiscopal functions until the end of 1899. Preliminary negotiations in Church matters were facilitated by the fact of the Military Governor of the Islands at the time being a Roman Catholic, an American army chaplain acting as chief intermediary between the lay and ecclesiastical authorities. The common people were quite unable, at the outset, to comprehend that under American law a friar could be in their midst without a shred of civil power or jurisdiction. There were Filipinos of all cla.s.ses, some in sympathy with the American cause, who were as loud in their denunciation of the proposed return of the friars as the most intransigent insurgents. They thought of them most in their lay capacity of _de facto_ Government agents all over the Islands. It cannot be said that the parish priests originally sought to discharge civil functions; they did so, at first, only by order of their superiors, who were the _de facto_ rulers in the capital, and afterwards by direct initiative of the lay authorities, because the Spanish Government was too poor to employ civil officials. What their functions were is explained in Chapter xii. The complaints of the people against the friars const.i.tuted the leading theme of Dr. Rizal's writings, notably his "Noli me tangere," and the expulsion of the four obnoxious Religious Orders is claimed to have been one of the most important reforms verbally promised in connexion with the alleged Treaty of Biac-na-bato. The allegation of the prelates and other members of the regular clergy who gave evidence before the American Civil Commission in 1900, to the effect that the _Katipunan Society_ members invaded the parishes only to murder the friars and rob the churches, should be weighed against the fact that two hundred thousand Filipinos were ready to leave glowing life for grim death to rid the country of monastic rule. The townspeople, apparently apathetic, were afraid to express their opinion of the friars until they were backed up by the physical force of the _Katipunan_ legions. It was the conflict of material interests and the friars' censorship which created the breach between the vicar and the people. The immorality of the friars was not general and by no means the chief ground, if any, for hostility against them; the frailties of the few simply weakened the prestige of all and broke the pedestal of their moral superiority. My own investigations convinced me that the friars'

incontinence was generally regarded with indifference by the people; concubinage being so common among the Filipinos themselves it did not shock them in the pastor's case. Moreover, women were proud of the paternity of their children begotten in their relationship to the friars.

When, on the American occupation, the friar question could be freely discussed, hot disputes at once ensued between the friar party and the Philippine clergy, supported by the people. In the meantime, an Apostolic Delegate, Monsignor P. L. Chapelle, [268] was appointed by the Pope, in agreement with the American Government, to endeavour to adjust the friar problem. The details to be considered were manifold, but the questions which most interested the public were the return of the friars to the parishes and the settlement of their property claims. Monsignor Chapelle so vigorously espoused the cause of the friars that he appeared to be more their advocate than an independent judge in the controversy. Many friars, anxious to quit the Islands, were dissuaded from doing so by this prelate. [269] He arrived in Manila on January 2, 1900, and, without having made any personal investigations in the provinces, by the 16th of April he deemed himself competent to declare that "the accusations adduced against them (the Religious Orders) are the merest pretexts of shrewd and anti-American Filipino politicians." [270] As a matter of fact, nothing anti-American, or American, had any connexion with the subject. The struggle to expel the friars from these Islands was initiated years before the Americans contemplated intervention in Philippine affairs. Open rebellion was started against the friars twenty months before the Battle of Cavite. Nozaleda and Chapelle wished to appoint friars to the provincial benefices, whilst protests against this proposal were coming from nearly every Christian quarter of the Colony. The Filipinos desired to have the whole administration of the Church in their own hands and, if possible, to see every friar leave the Archipelago. The representative Philippine clergy were Dr. Mariano Sevilla, Father Rojas, Father Changco, and Father Singson. The great champions of the national cause were the first two, who stoutly opposed Nozaleda's schemes. Fierce discussions arose between the parties; Father Sevilla and party defied Nozaleda to make the appointments he desired, and then sent a cablegram to the Pope to the following effect:--"Archbishop and Apostolic Delegate want to appoint friars to the Philippine benefices. The Philippine people strongly oppose. Schism imminent." Father Sevilla could not be wheedled into agreeing to Nozaleda's and Chapelle's plans, so he was sent to prison for two months in the _Calle de Anda_, Manila, and deportation to the Island of Guam was menacingly hinted at. When the reply came from Rome, disapproving of the action of the two prelates, Father Sevilla was released from prison. Nevertheless, Nozaleda's wrath was unappeased. He then proposed that the benefices should be shared between Filipinos and friars, whilst Father Sevilla insisted on the absolute deposition of the friars. At this time there were 472 members of the four confraternities in the Islands, mostly in Manila. [271] At a meeting of the Philippine clergy the expulsion of the friars was proposed and supported by a majority; but Father Sevilla vetoed the resolution, and his ruling was obeyed. Moreover, he agreed that the friars should hold some benefices in and near Manila and the ecclesiastical-educational employments in the colleges. "We,"

said Father Sevilla, "are for the Church; let them continue their work of education; it is not our function." Nozaleda then made advances towards Father Sevilla, and endeavoured to cajole him by the offer of an appointment, which he repeatedly refused. Rome, for the time being, had overruled the question of the benefices contrary to Nozaleda's wish. For the moment there was nothing further for the Philippine clergy to defend, but in their general interests Father Sevilla, their spokesman, elected to remain in an independent position until after the retirement of Monsignor Chapelle, when Father Sevilla became parish priest of Hagonoy (Bulacan).

The outcome of the controversy respecting the benefices was that the friars could be sent to those parishes where the people were willing to receive them, without danger of giving rise to public disorder. This was in accordance with President McKinley's Instructions to the Taft Commission dated April 7, 1900, [272] which says: "No form of religion and no minister of religion shall be forced upon any community or upon any citizen of the Islands."

Archbishop Nozaleda left for Spain, but did not relinquish his archbishopric until June, 1903. [273] In his absence his office was administered by Father Martin Garcia Alcocer, the Spanish bishop of Cebu, whilst the bishopric of Cebu was left in charge of a popular Chinese half-caste secular priest, Father Singson, [274] who subsequently became vicar of Cebu on the appointment of an American prelate, Father Hendrichs, to the bishopric.

In the matter of the _Friars' lands_, it was apparently impossible to arrive at any settlement with the friars themselves. The purchase of their estates was recommended by the Insular Government, and the Congress at Washington favourably entertained that proposal. In many places the tenants refused to pay rent to the friars, who then put forward the extraordinary suggestion that the Government should send an armed force to coerce the tenants. The Government at once refused to do this, pointing out that the ordinary courts were open to them the same as to all citizens. Truly the friars found themselves in a dilemma. By the rules of their Order they could not sue in a court of law; but under the Spanish Government, which was always subservient to their will, they had been able to obtain redress by force. Under the American Government these immunities and privileges ceased.

In 1902 the Civil Governor of the Philippines, Mr. W. H. Taft, visited the United States, and on May 9 in that year he was commissioned by his Government to visit Rome on his way back to the Islands in order to negotiate the question of the friars' lands with the Holy See. The instructions issued to him by the Secretary of War contain the following paragraphs, namely [275]:--

One of the controlling principles of our Government is the complete separation of Church and State, with the entire freedom of each from any control or interference by the other. This principle is imperative wherever American jurisdiction extends, and no modification or shading thereof can be a subject of discussion. . . . By reason of the separation, the Religious Orders can no longer perform, in behalf of the State, the duties in relation to public instruction and public charities formerly resting upon them. . . . They find themselves the object of such hostility on the part of their tenantry against them as landlords, and on the part of the people of the parishes against them as representatives of the former Government, that they are no longer capable of serving any useful purpose for the Church. No rents can be collected from the populous communities occupying their lands, unless it be by the intervention of the civil government with armed force. Speaking generally, for several years past the friars, formerly installed over the parishes, have been unable to remain at their posts, and are collected in Manila with the vain hope of returning. They will not be voluntarily accepted again by the people, and cannot be restored to their positions except by forcible intervention on the part of the civil government, which the principles of our Government forbid....It is for the interest of the Church, as well as for the State, that the landed proprietorship of the Religious Orders in the Philippine Islands should cease, and that if the Church wishes...to continue its ministration among the people of the Islands...it should seek other agents therefor. It is the wish of our Government, in case Congress shall grant authority, that the t.i.tles of the Religious Orders to the large tracts of agricultural lands which they now hold shall be extinguished, but that full and fair compensation shall be made therefor. It is not, however, deemed to be for the interests of the people of the Philippine Islands that...a fund should thereby be created to be used for the attempted restoration of the friars to the parishes from which they are now separated, with the consequent disturbance of law and order. Your errand will not be, in any sense or degree, diplomatic in its nature; but will be purely a business matter of negotiation by you, as Governor of the Philippines, for the purchase of property from the owners thereof, and the settlement of land t.i.tles."

Governor Taft arrived in Rome in June, 1902, in the pontificate of His Holiness Leo XIII., whose Secretary of State was Cardinal M. Rampolla. In Governor Taft's address to His Holiness, the following interesting pa.s.sage occurs: "On behalf of the Philippine Government, it is proposed to buy the lands of the Religious Orders with the hope that the funds thus furnished may lead to their withdrawal from the Islands, and, if necessary, a subst.i.tution therefor, as parish priests, of other priests whose presence would not be dangerous to public order."

In the doc.u.ment dated June 22, in reply to Governor Taft's address to His Holiness, Cardinal Rampolla says: "As to the Spanish religious in particular belonging to the Orders mentioned in the instructions, not even they should be denied to return to those parishes where the people are disposed to receive them without disturbance of public order . . . The Holy See will not neglect to promote, at the same time, the better ecclesiastical education and training of the native clergy, in order to put them in the way, according to their fitness, of _taking gradually_ the place of the Religious Orders in the discharge of the pastoral functions. The Holy See likewise recognizes that in order to reconcile more fully the feelings of the Filipinos to the religious possessing landed estates, _the sale of the same is conducive thereto_. The Holy See declares it is disposed to furnish the new Apostolic Delegate, who is to be sent to the Philippine Islands, with necessary and opportune instructions in order to treat amicably this affair in understanding with the American Government and the parties interested."

In the same doc.u.ment the Holy See asked for indemnity for "the acts of vandalism perpetrated by the insurgents in the destruction of churches and the appropriation of sacred vestments," and also for the damage caused by the occupation by the American Government of "episcopal palaces, seminaries, convents, rectories, and other buildings intended for worship." The Holy See further claimed "the right and the liberty of administering the pious trusts of ecclesiastical origin, or of Catholic foundation, which do not owe their existence to the civil power exclusively"; also "suitable provisions for religious teaching in the public schools, especially the primary."

Governor Taft, in his reply to the Holy See, dated July 3, expressed regret at the suggested appointment of a new Apostolic Delegate, and sought to bring the Holy See to a definite contract. For the settlement of the friars' land question he proposed "a tribunal of arbitration to be composed of five members--two to be appointed by His Holiness, two to be appointed by the Philippine Government, and one, the fifth, to be selected by an indifferent person, like the Governor-General of India"; the expenses to be defrayed wholly by the Philippine Government, and the tribunal to meet in the City of Manila not later than January 1, 1903. He further proposed that the lands should be valued in Mexican dollars, and be paid for in three cash instalments of three, six, and nine months after the report of the award and the delivery of the deeds. Furthermore, that "the payments ought to be made to the person designated by the Holy See to receive the same," on the condition that "no money shall be paid for the lands to be purchased until proper conveyances for the land shall have been made to the Philippine Government." Another condition was "that all the members of the four Religious Orders of Dominicans, Agustinians, Recoletos, and Franciscans now in the Islands shall withdraw therefrom after two years from the date of the first payment. An exception is made in favour of any member of those Orders who has been able to avoid hostility of the people and to carry on his duties as parish priest, in his parish outside Manila, from August, 1898, to date of this agreement," because "it is certain that such a priest is popular with the people." Governor Taft adds: "Nothing will calm the fears of the people.... except the definite knowledge ... that the Spanish friars of the four Orders are to leave the Islands at a definite time, and are not to return to the parishes."

Cardinal Rampolla replied on July 9 to Governor Taft's communication of July 3, which covered his proposed contract and enclosed a counter project of convention, explaining as follows:--"The Holy See cannot accept the proposition of the Philippine Government to recall from the Archipelago in a fixed time all the religious of Spanish nationality ... and to prevent their return in the future. In effect, such a measure ... would be contrary to the positive rights guaranteed by the Treaty of Paris, and would put, consequently, the Holy See in conflict with Spain ... Such a measure would be, in the eyes of the Filipinos and of the entire Catholic world, the explicit confirmation of all the accusations brought against the said religious by their enemies, accusations of which ... the evident exaggeration cannot be disputed. If the American Government, respecting, as it does, individual rights, does not dare to interdict the Philippine soil to the Spanish religious ... how could the Pope do it? The Holy See, in accord with the diocesan authorities, will not permit the return of the Spanish religious ... in the parishes where their presence would provoke troubles."

The Holy See's counter-proposal was cabled to the Secretary of War, who, in his reply dated July 14, which was tantamount to a rejection of it, remarked: "The lay Catholic population and the parish priests of native and non-Spanish blood are practically a unit in desiring both to expel the friars and to confiscate their lands ... This proposed confiscation, without compensation for the Church lands, was one of the fundamental policies of the Insurgent Government under Aguinaldo." As an alternative, the Secretary of War accepted the proposal of the Holy See to send a new Apostolic Delegate, with necessary instructions to negotiate the affair amicably. Therefore, in transmitting this reply to Cardinal Rampolla on July 15, Gov. Taft closed the negotiations by stating: "I have the honour to request ... that the negotiations concerning the various subjects touched upon in the proposals and counter-proposals be continued in Manila between the Apostolic Delegate and myself, on the broad lines indicated in this correspondence.... I much regret that we cannot now reach a more precise agreement...."

The receipt of this last communication was courteously acknowledged by Cardinal M. Rampolla on July 18, 1902, and Gov. Taft then continued his journey to the Philippines. [276]