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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6885-8.txt b/6885-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..166c478 --- /dev/null +++ b/6885-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1976 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Indolence of the Filipino, by Jose Rizal +#2 in our series by Jose Rizal + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!**** + + +Title: The Indolence of the Filipino + +Author: Jose Rizal + +Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6885] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on February 7, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO 8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INDOLENCE OF THE FILIPINO *** + + + + +Prepared by Jeroen Hellingman + + + + +THE INDOLENCE OF THE FILIPINO + +BY JOSE RIZAL + +("LA INDOLENCIA DE LOS FILIPINOS" IN ENGLISH.) + + + + + + + + +EDITOR'S EXPLANATION + +Mr. Charles Derbyshire, who put Rizal's great novel Noli me tangere +and its sequel El Filibusterismo into English (as The Social Cancer and +The Reign of Greed), besides many minor writings of the "Greatest Man +of the Brown Race", has rendered a similar service for La Indolencia +de los Filipinos in the following pages, and with that same fidelity +and sympathetic comprehension of the author's meaning which has made +possible an understanding of the real Rizal by English readers. Notes +by Dr. James A. Robertson (Librarian of the Philippine Library and +co-editor of the 55-volume series of historical reprints well called +The Philippine Islands 1493-1898, so comprehensive are they) show +the breadth of Rizal's historical scholarship, and that the only error +mentioned is due to using a faulty reprint where the original was +not available indicates the conscientiousness of the pioneer worker. + +An appropriate setting has been attempted by page decorations whose +scenes are taken from Philippine textbooks of the World Book Company +and whose borders were made in the Drawing Department of the Philippine +School of Arts and Trades. + +The frontispiece shows a hurried pencil sketch of himself which +Rizal made in Berlin in the Spring of 1887 that Prof. Blumentritt, +whom then he knew only through correspondence, might recognize him at +the Leitmeritz railway station when he should arrive for a proposed +visit. The photograph from which the engraving was reproduced came +one year ago with the Christmas greetings of the Austrian professor +whose recent death the Philippine Islands, who knew him as their +friend and Rizal's, is mourning. + +The picture perhaps deserves a couple of comments. As a child Rizal +had been trained to rapid work, an expertness kept up by practice, and +the copying of his own countenance from a convenient near-by mirror +was but a moment's task. Yet the incident suggests that he did not +keep photographs of himself about, and that he had the Cromwellian +desire to see himself as he really was, for the Filipino features +are more prominent than in any photograph of his extant. + +The essay itself originally appeared in the Filipino forthrightly +review, La Solidaridad, of Madrid, in five installments, running +from July 15 to September 15, 1890. It was a continuation of Rizal's +campaign of education in which he sought by blunt truths to awaken his +countrymen to their own faults at the same time that he was arousing +the Spaniards to the defects in Spain's colonial system that caused +and continued such shortcomings. + +To-day there seems a place in Manila for just suets, missionary work +as The Indolence of the Filipino aimed at. It may help on the present +improving understanding between Continental Americans and their +countrymen of these "Far Off Eden Isles", for the writer submits as +his mature opinion, based on ten years' acquaintance among Filipinos +through studies which enlisted their interest, that the political +problem would have been greatly simplified had it been understood +in Dewey's day that among intelligent Americans the much-talked-of +lack of "capacity" referred to the mass of the people's want of +political experience and not to any alleged racial inferiority. To +wounded pride has the discontent been due rather than to withholding +of political privileges. + +Spanish Philippine history has curiously repeated itself during the +fifteen years of America's administration of this archipelago. + +Just as some colonial Spaniards seemed to the Filipinos less +creditable representatives of the metropolis than the average of +those who remained in the Peninsula, so not all who now pass for +Americans in the Philippines are believed here to measure up to the +highest homestandard. + +Sitters in swivel-chairs underneath electric fans hold hopeless the +future of the land where men do not desire to be drudges just as did +their predecessors who in wide armed lazy seats, beneath punkahs, +talked of Filipino indolence. + +Ingratitude, to-day as then, is the regular rejoinder to the +progressing people's protest against paternalism, and altruistic +regard for their real welfare is still represented as the reason why +special legislation should be provided when Filipinos prefer the same +laws as govern the sovereign people. + +Though those who claim to champion the Philippines' cause apparently +are unaware of it, these Islands have a population strangely alike in +its make up to the people of America; their history is full of American +associations; Americans developed their leading resources, and American +ideas have inspired their political aspirations. It betrays blindness +somewhere that ever since 1898 Filipinos have been trying to get loose +from America in order to set up here an American form of government, + +There seems now a, prospect that insular legislation may make available +to the individual the guarantees of personal liberty upon which America +at home prides itself, that municipal self-government and provincial +autonomy may become realities in the Philippines, and possibly even +that both Filipinos and Americans may realize before it is too late +how our elastic territorial government could be made to exact from +them much less of their independence than the sacrifice of sovereignty +necessary in Neutralization or internationalization. + +Unwillingness to work when there is nothing in it for them +is common to Filipinos and Americans, for Thomas Jefferson +admitted that extravagance and indolence were the chief faults +of his countrymen. Labor-saving machinery has made the fruits of +Americans' labors in their land of abundance afford a luxury in +living not elsewhere existing. But the Filipino, in his rich and not +over-populated home, shutting out, as we do, oriental cheap labor, +may employ American machinery and attain the same standard. The +possibilities for the prosperity of the population put the Philippines +in the New World, just as their discovery and their history group +them with the Western Hemisphere. + +Austin Craig, + +University of the Philippines, + +Manila, December 20th, 1913. + + + + +------ + + + + +I + +DOCTOR Sancianco, in his Progreso de Filipinas, (1), has taken up +this question, agitated, as he calls it, and, relying upon facts and +reports furnished by the very same Spanish authorities that rule the +Philippines, has demonstrated that such indolence does not exist, and +that all said about it does not deserve reply or even passing notice. + +Nevertheless, as discussion of it has been continued, not only +by government employees who make it responsible for their own +shortcomings, not only by the friars who regard it as necessary in +order that they may continue to represent, themselves as indispensable, +but also by serious and disinterested persons; and as evidence +of greater or less weight may be adduced in opposition to that +which Dr. Sancianco cites, it seems expedient, to us to study this +question thoroughly, without superciliousness or sensitiveness, +without prejudice, without pessimism. And as we can only serve our +country by telling the truth, however bit, tee it be, just as a +flat and skilful negation cannot refute a real and positive fact, +in spite of the brilliance of the arguments; as a mere affirmation is +not sufficient to create something impossible, let us calmly examine +the facts, using on our part all the impartiality of which a man +is capable who is convinced that there is no redemption except upon +solid bases of virtue. + +The word indolence has been greatly misused in the sense of little +love for work and lack of energy, while ridicule has concealed the +misuse. This much-discussed question has met with the same fate as +certain panaceas and specifies of the quacks who by ascribing to them +impossible virtues have discredited them. In the Middle Ages, and even +in some Catholic countries now, the devil is blamed for everything that +superstitious folk cannot understand or the perversity of mankind is +loath to confess. In the Philippines one's own and another's faults, +the shortcomings of one, the misdeeds of another, are attributed to +indolence. And just as in the Middle Ages he who sought the explanation +of phenomena outside of infernal influences was persecuted, so in the +Philippines worse happens to him who seeks the origin of the trouble +outside of accepted beliefs. + +The consequence of this misuse is that there are some who are +interested in stating it as a dogma and others in combating it as a +ridiculous superstition, if not a punishable delusion. Yet it is not +to be inferred from the misuse of a thing that it does not exist. + +We think that there must be something behind all this outcry, for it +is incredible that so many should err, among whom we have said there +are a lot of serious and disinterested persons. Some act in bad faith, +through levity, through want of sound judgment, through limitation +in reasoning power, ignorance of the past, or other cause. Some repeat +what they have heard, without, examination or reflection; others speak +through pessimism or are impelled by that human characteristic which +paints as perfect everything that belongs to oneself and defective +whatever belongs to another. But it cannot be denied that there are +some who worship truth, or if not truth itself at least the semblance +thereof, which is truth in the mind of the crowd. + +Examining well, then, all the scenes and all the men that we have +known from Childhood, and the life of our country, we believe that +indolence does exist there. The Filipinos, who can measure up with the +most active peoples in the world, will doubtless not repudiate this +admission, for it is true that there one works and struggles against +the climate, against nature and against men. But we must not take the +exception for the general rule, and should rather seek the good of our +country by stating what we believe to be true. We must confess that +indolence does actually and positively exist there; only that, instead +of holding it to be the cause of the backwardness and the trouble, +we regard it as the effect of the trouble and the backwardness, +by fostering the development of a lamentable predisposition. + +Those who have as yet treated of indolence, with the exception of +Dr. Sancianco, have been content to deny or affirm it. We know of no +one who has studied its causes. Nevertheless, those who admit its +existence and exaggerate it more or less have not therefore failed +to advise remedies taken from here and there, from Java, from India, +from other English or Dutch colonies, like the quack who saw a fever +cured with a dozen sardines and afterwards always prescribed these +fish at every rise in temperature that he discovered in his patients. + +We shall proceed otherwise. Before proposing a remedy we shall examine +the causes, and even though strictly speaking a predisposition is not +a cause, let us, however, study at its true value this predisposition +due to nature. + +The predisposition exists? Why shouldn't it? + +A hot, climate requires of the individual quiet and rest, just as +cold incites to labor and action. For this reason the Spaniard is +more indolent than the Frenchman; the Frenchman more so than the +German. The Europeans themselves who reproach the residents of the +colonies so much (and I am not now speaking of the Spaniards but of +the Germans and English themselves), how do they live in tropical +countries? Surrounded by a numerous train of servants, never going +afoot but riding in a carriage, needing servants not only to take +off their shoes for them but even to fan them! And yet they live and +eat better, they work for themselves to get rich, with the hope of +a future, free and respected, while the poor colonist, the indolent +colonist, is badly nourished, has no hope, toils for others, and +works under force and compulsion! Perhaps the reply to this will be +that white men are not made to stand the severity of the climate. A +mistake! A man can live in any climate, if he will only adapt himself +to its requirements and conditions. What kills the European in hot +countries is the abuse of liquors, the attempt to live according to +the nature of his own country under another sky and another sun. We +inhabitants of hot countries live well in northern Europe whenever +we take the precautions the people there do. Europeans can also stand +the torrid zone, if only they would get rid of their prejudices. (2) +The fact is that in tropical countries violent work is not a good +thing as it is in cold countries, there it is death, destruction, +annihilation. Nature knows this and like a just mother has therefore +made the earth more fertile, more productive, as a compensation. An +hour's work under that burning sun, in the midst of pernicious +influences springing from nature in activity, is equal to a day's +work in a temperate climate; it is, then, just that the earth yield +a hundred fold! Moreover, do we not see the active European, who has +gained strength during the winter, who feels the fresh blood of spring +boil in his veins, do we not see him abandon his labors during the +few days of his variable summer, close his office--where the work +is not violent and amounts for many to talking and gesticulating in +the shade and beside a lunch-stand,--flee to watering places, sit +in the cafés or stroll about? What wonder then that the inhabitant +of tropical countries, worm out and with his blood thinned by the +continuous and excessive heat, is reduced to inaction? Who is the +indolent one in the Manila offices? Is it the poor clerk who comes +in at eight in the morning and leaves at, one in the afternoon with +only his parasol, who copies and writes and works for himself and +for his chief, or is it the chief, who comes in a carriage at ten +o'clock, leaves before twelve, reads his newspaper while smoking and +with is feet cocked up on a chair or a table, or gossiping about all +his friends? Which is indolent, the native coadjutor, poorly paid +and badly treated, who has to visit all the indigent sick living in +the country, or the friar curate who gets fabulously rich, goes about +in a carriage, eats and drinks well, and does not put himself to any +trouble without collecting excessive fees? [3] + +Without speaking further of the Europeans, in what violent labor does +the Chinaman engage in tropical countries, the industrious Chinaman, +who flees from his own country driven by hunger and want, and whose +whole ambition is to amass a small fortune? With the exception of some +porters, an occupation that the natives also follow, he nearly always +engages in trade, in commerce; so rarely does he take up agriculture +that we do not know of a single case. The Chinaman who in other +colonies cultivates the soil does so only for a certain number of +years and then retires. [4] + +We find, then, the tendency to indolence very natural, and have to +admit and bless it, for we cannot alter natural laws, and without +it the race would have disappeared. Man is not a brute, he is not +a, machine; his object is not merely to produce, in spite of the +pretensions of some Christian whites who would make of the colored +Christian a kind of motive power somewhat more intelligent and less +costly than steam. Man's object is not to satisfy tile passions of +another man, his object is to seek happiness for himself and his kind +by traveling along the road of progress and perfection. + +The evil is not that indolence exists more or less latently but that +it is fostered and magnified. Among men, as well as among nations, +there exist not only aptitudes but also tendencies toward good and +evil. To foster the good ones and aid them, as well as correct the +evil and repress them, would be the duty of society and governments, +if less noble thoughts did not occupy their attention. The evil is +that the indolence in the Philippines is a magnified indolence, an +indolence of the snowball type, if we may be permitted the expression, +an evil that increases in direct proportion to the square of the +periods of time, an effect of misgovernment and of backwardness, +as we said, and not a cause thereof. Others will hold the contrary +opinion, especially those who have a hand in the misgovernment, but +we do not care; we have made an assertion and are going to prove it. + + + +II + +When in consequence of a long chronic illness the condition of the +patient is examined, the question may arise whether the weakening +of the fibers and the debility of the organs are the cause of the +malady's continuing or the effect of the bad treatment that prolongs +its action. The attending physician attributes the entire failure of +his skill to the poor constitution of the patient, to the climate, to +the surroundings, and so on. On the other hand, the patient attributes +the aggravation of the evil to the system of treatment followed. Only +the common crowd, the inquisitive populace, shakes its head and cannot +reach a decision. + +Something like this happens in the case of the Philippines. Instead of +physician, read government, that is, friars, employees, etc. Instead +of patient, Philippines; instead of malady, indolence. + +And, just as happens in similar cases then the patient gets worse, +everybody loses his head, each one dodges the responsibility to place +it upon somebody else, and instead of seeking the causes in order +to combat the evil in them, devotes himself at best to attacking +the symptoms: here a blood-letting, a tax; there a plaster, forced +labor; further on a sedative, a trifling reform. Every new arrival +proposes a new remedy: one, seasons of prayer, the relics of a saint, +the viaticum, the friars; another, a shower-bath; still another, with +pretensions to modern ideas, a transfusion of blood. "It's nothing, +only the patient has eight million indolent red corpuscles: some few +white corpuscles in the form of an agricultural colony will get us +out of the trouble." + +So, on all sides there are groans, gnawing of lips, clenching of fists, +many hollow words, great ignorance, a deal of talk, a lot of fear. The +patient is near his finish! + +Yes, transfusion of blood, transfusion of blood! New life, new +vitality! Yes, the new white corpuscles that you are going to +inject into its veins, the new white corpuscles that were a cancer +in another organism will withstand all the depravity of the system, +will withstand the blood-lettings that it suffers every day, will +have more stamina than all the eight million red corpuscles, will +cure all the disorders, all the degeneration, all the trouble in the +principal organs. Be thankful if they do not become coagulations and +produce gangrene, be thankful if they do not reproduce the cancer! + +While the patient breathes, we must not lose hope, and however late we +be, a judicious examination is never superfluous; at least the cause +of death may be known. We are not trying to put all the blame on the +physician, and still less on the patient, for we have already spoken +of a predisposition due to the climate, a reasonable and natural +predisposition, in the absence of which the race would disappear, +sacrificed to excessive labor in a tropical country. + +Indolence in the Philippines is a chronic malady, but not a hereditary +one. The Filipinos have not always been what they are, witnesses +whereto are all the historians of the first years after the discovery +of the Islands. + +Before the arrival of the Europeans, the Malayan Filipinos carried +on an active trade, not only among themselves but also with all the +neighboring countries. A Chinese manuscript of the 13th century, +translated by Dr. Hirth (Globus, Sept. 1889), which we will take +up at another time, speaks of China's relations with the islands, +relations purely commercial, in which mention is made of the activity +and honesty of the traders of Luzon, who took the Chinese products +and distributed them throughout all the islands, traveling for nine +months, and then returned to pay religiously even for the merchandise +that the Chinamen did not remember to have given them. The products +which they in exchange exported from the islands were crude wax, +cotton, pearls, tortoise-shell, betel-nuts, dry-goods, etc. [5] + +The first thing noticed by Pigafetta, who came with Magellan in 1521, +on arriving at the first island of the Philippines, Samar, was the +courtesy and kindness of the inhabitants and their commerce. "To honor +our captain," he says, "they conducted him to their boats where they +had their merchandise, which consisted of cloves, cinnamon, pepper, +nutmegs, mace, gold and other things; and they made us understand by +gestures that such articles were to be found in the islands to which +we were going." [6] + +Further on he speaks of the vessels and utensils of solid gold that he +found in Butuan, where the people worked mines. He describes the silk +dresses, the daggers with long gold hilts and scabbards of carved wood, +the gold, sets of teeth, etc. Among cereals and fruits he mentions +rice, millet, oranges, lemons, panicum, etc. + +That the islands maintained relations with neighboring countries and +even with distant ones is proven by the ships from Siam, laden with +gold and slaves, that Magellan found in Cebu. These ships paid certain +duties to the King of the island. In the same year, 1521, the survivors +of Magellan's expedition met the son of the Rajah of Luzon, who, +as captain-general of the Sultan of Borneo and admiral of his fleet, +had conquered for him the great city of Lave (Sarawak?). Might this +captain, who was greatly feared by all his foes, have been the Rajah +Matanda whom the Spaniards afterwards encountered in Tondo in 1570? + +In 1539 the warriors of Luzon took part in the formidable contests +of Sumatra, and under the orders of Angi Siry Timor, Rajah of Batta, +conquered and overthrew the terrible Alzadin, Sultan of Atchin, +renowned in the historical annals of the Far East. (Marsden, Hist. of +Sumatra, Chap. XX.) (7) + +At that time, that sea where float the islands like a set of emeralds +on a paten of bright glass, that sea was everywhere traversed by junks, +paraus, barangays, vintas, vessels swift as shuttles, so large that +they could maintain a hundred rowers on a side (Morga;) that sea +bore everywhere commerce, industry, agriculture, by the force of the +oars moved to the sound of warlike songs (8) of the genealogies and +achievements of the Philippine divinities. (Colin, Chap. XV.) (9) + +Wealth abounded in the islands. Pigafetta tells us of the abundance +of foodstuffs in Paragua and of its inhabitants, who nearly all +tilled their own fields. At this island the survivors of Magellan's +expedition were well received and provisioned. A little later, these +same survivors captured a vessel, plundered and sacked it, add took +prisoner in it the chief of the Island of Paragua (!) with his son +and brother. (10) + +In this same vessel they captured bronze lombards, and this is the +first mention of artillery of the Filipinos, for these lombards were +useful to the chief of Paragua against the savages of the interior. + +They let him ransom himself within seven days, demanding 400 measures +(cavanes?) of rice, 20 pigs, 20 goats, and 450 chickens. This is the +first act of piracy recorded in Philippine history. The chief of +Paragua paid everything, and moreover voluntarily added coconuts, +bananas, and sugar-cane jars filled with palm-wine. When Caesar +was taken prisoner by the corsairs and required to pay twenty five +talents ransom, he replied; "I'll give you fifty, but later I'll +have you all crucified!" The chief of Paragua was more generous: he +forgot. His conduct, while it may reveal weakness, also demonstrates +that the islands were abundantly provisioned. This chief was named +Tuan Mahamud; his brother, Guantil, and his son, Tuan Mahamed. (Martin +Mendez, Purser of the ship Victoria: Archivos de Indias.) + +A very extraordinary thing, and one that shows the facility with +which the natives learned Spanish, is that fifty years before the +arrival of the Spaniards in Luzon, in that very year 1521 when they +first came to the islands, there were already natives of Luzon who +understood Castilian. In the treaties of peace that the survivors +of Magellan's expedition made with the chief of Paragua, when the +servant-interpreter died they communicated with one another through +a Moro who had been captured in the island of the King of Luzon and +who understood some Spanish. (Martin Mendez, op, cit ) Where did +this extemporaneous interpreter learn Castilian? In the Moluccas? In +Malacca, with the Portuguese? Spaniards did not reach Luzon until 1571. + +Legazpi's expedition met in Butuan various traders of Luzon with +their boats laden with iron, wax cloths, porcelain, etc. (Gaspar de +San Agustin,) plenty of provisions, activity, trade, movement in all +the southern islands. (11) + +They arrived at the Island of Cebu, "abounding in provisions, with +mines and washings of gold, and peopled with natives," as Morga says; +"very populous, and at a port frequented by many ships that came +from the islands and kingdoms near India," as Colin says; and even +though they were peacefully received discord soon arose. The city was +taken by force and burned. The fire destroyed the food supplies and +naturally famine broke out in that town of a hundred thousand people, +(12) as the historians say, and among the members of the expedition, +but the neighboring islands quickly relieved the need, thanks to the +abundance they enjoyed. + +All the histories of those first years, in short, abound in long +accounts about the industry and agriculture of the natives: mines, +gold-washings, looms, farms, barter, naval construction, raising +of poultry and stock, weaving of silk and cotton, distilleries, +manufactures of arms, pearl fisheries, the civet industry, the horn +and hide industry, etc., are things encountered at every step, and, +considering the time and the conditions in the islands, prove that +there was life, there was activity, there was movement. + +And if this, which is deduction, does not convince any minds imbued +with unfair prejudices, perhaps of some avail may be the testimony of +the oft-quoted Dr. Morga, who was Lieutenant-Governor of Manila for +seven years and after rendering great service in the Archipelago was +appointed criminal judge of the Audiencia of Mexico and Counsellor +of the Inquisition. His testimony, we say, is highly credible, not +only because all his contemporaries have spoken of him in terms that +border on veneration but also because his work, from which we take +these citations, is written with great circumspection and care, as well +with reference to the authorities in the Philippines as to the errors +they committed. "The natives," says Morga, in chapter VII, speaking of +the occupations of the Chinese, "are very far from exercising those +trades and have even forgotten much about farming, raising poultry, +stock and cotton, and weaving cloth AS THEY USED TO DO IN THEIR +PAGANISM AND FOR A LONG TIME AFTER THE COUNTRY WAS CONQUERED." (13) + +The whole of chapter VIII of his work deals with this moribund +activity, this much-forgotten industry, and yet in spite of that, +how long is his eighth chapter! + +And not only Morga, not only Chirino, Colin, Argensola, Gaspar de San +Agustin and others agree in this matter, but modern travelers, after +two hundred and fifty years, examining the decadence and misery, +assert the same thing. Dr. Hans Meyer, when he saw the unsubdued +tribes cultivating beautiful fields and working energetically, asked +if they would not become indolent when they in turn should accept +Christianity and a paternal government. + +Accordingly, the Filipinos, in spite of the climate, in spite of +their few needs (they were less then than now), were not the indolent +creatures of our time, and, as we shall see later on, their ethics +and their mode of life were not what is now complacently attributed +to them. + +How then, and in what way, was that active and enterprising infidel +native of ancient times converted into the lazy and indolent Christian, +as our contemporary writer's say? + +We have already spoken of the more or less latent predisposition +which exists in the Philippines toward indolence, and which must +exist everywhere, in the whole world, in all men, because we all +hate work more or less, as it may be more or less hard, more or less +unproductive. The dolce far niente of the Italian, the rascarse la +barriga of the Spaniard, the supreme aspiration of the bourgeois to +live on his income in peace and tranquility, attest this. + +What causes operated to awake this terrible predisposition from its +lethargy? How is it that the Filipino people, so fond of its customs +as to border on routine, has given up its ancient habits of work, +of trade, of navigation, etc., even to the extent of completely +forgetting its past? + + +III + +A fatal combination of circumstances, some independent of the will +in spite of men's efforts, others the offspring of stupidity and +ignorance, others the inevitable corollaries of false principles, and +still others the result of more or less base passions has induced the +decline of labor, an evil which instead of being remedied by prudence, +mature reflection and recognition of the mistakes made, through +deplorable policy, through regret, table blindness and obstinacy, +has gone from bad to worse until it has reached the condition in +which we now see it. (14). + +First came the wars, the internal disorders which the new change +of affairs naturally brought with it. It was necessary to subject +the people either by cajolery or force; there were fights, there was +slaughter; those who had submitted peacefully seemed to repent of it; +insurrections were suspected, and some occurred; naturally there +were executions, and many capable laborers perished. Add to this +condition of disorder the invasion of Limahong, add the continual +wars into which the inhabitants of the Philippines were plunged +to maintain the honor of Spain, to extend the sway of her flag in +Borneo, in the Moluccas and in Indo-China; to repel the Dutch foe: +costly wars, fruitless expeditions, in which each time thousands and +thousands of native archers and rowers were recorded to have embarked, +but whether they returned to their homes was never stated. Like the +tribute that once upon a time Greece sent to the Minotaur of Crete, +the Philippine youth embarked for the expedition, saying good-by to +their country forever: on their horizon were the stormy sea, the +interminable wars, the rash expeditions. Wherefore, Gaspar de San +Agustin says: "Although anciently there were in this town of Dumangas +many people, in the course of time they have very greatly diminished +because the natives are the best sailors and most skillful rowers +on the whole coast, and so the governors in the port of Iloilo take +most of the people from this town for the ships that they send abroad +............. When the Spaniards reached this island (Panay) it is +said that there were on it more than fifty thousand families; but +these diminished greatly; ........... and at present they may amount +to some fourteen thousand tributaries." From fifty thousand families +to fourteen thousand tributaries in little over half a century! + +We would never get through, had we to quote all the evidence of the +authors regarding the frightful diminution of the inhabitants of the +Philippines in the first years after the discovery. In the time of +their first bishop, that is, ten years after Legazpi, Philip II said +that they had been reduced to less than two thirds. + +Add to these fatal expeditions that wasted all the moral and material +energies of the country, the frightful inroads of the terrible pirates +from the south, instigated and encouraged by the government, first in +order to get complaint and afterwards disarm the islands subjected to +it, inroads that reached the very shores of Manila, even Malate itself, +and during which were seen to set out for captivity and slavery, +in the baleful glow of burning villages, strings of wretches who had +been unable to defend themselves, leaving behind them the ashes of +their homes and the corpses of their parents and children. Morga, +who recounts the first piratical invasion, says: "The boldness of +these people of Mindanao did great damage to the Visayan Islands, +as much by what they did in them as by the fear and fright which the +native acquired, because the latter were in the power of the Spaniards, +who held them subject and tributary and unarmed, in such manner that +they did not protect them from their enemies or leave them means with +which to defend themselves, AS THEY DID WHEN THERE WERE NO SPANIARDS +IN THE COUNTRY." These piratical attacks continually reduced the +number of the inhabitants of the Philippines, since the independent +Malays were especially notorious for their atrocities and murders, +sometimes because they believed that to preserve their independence +it was necessary to weaken the Spaniard by reducing the number of his +subjects, sometimes because a greater hatred and a deeper resentment +inspired them against the Christian Filipinos who, being of the their +own race, served the stranger in order to deprive them of their +precious liberty. These expeditions lasted about three centuries, +being repeated five and ten times a year, and each expedition cost +the islands over eight hundred prisoners. + +"With the invasions of the pirates from Sulu and Mindanao," says +Padre Gaspar de San Agustin, [the island of Bantayan, near Cebu] +"has been greatly reduced, because they easily captured the people +there, since the latter had no place to fortify themselves and were +far from help from Cebu. The hostile Sulu did great damage in this +island in 1608, leaving it almost depopulated." (Page 380). + +These rough attacks, coming from without, produced a counter effect, +in the interior, which, carrying out medical comparisons, was like +a purge or diet in an individual who has just lost a great deal +of blood. In order to make headway against so many calamities, to +secure their sovereignty and take the offensive in these disastrous +contests, to isolate the warlike Sulus from their neighbors in the +south, to care for the needs of the empire of the Indies (for one of +the reasons why the Philippines were kept, as contemporary documents +prove, was their strategic position between New Spain and the Indies), +to wrest from the Dutch their growing colonies of the Moluccas and +get rid of some troublesome neighbors, to maintain, in short, the +trade of China with New Spain. it was necessary to construct new +and large ships which, as we have seen, costly as they were to the +country for their equipment and the rowers they required, were not +less so because of the manner in which they were constructed. (16) +Fernando de los Rios Coronel, who fought in these wars and later +turned priest, speaking of these King's ships, said: "As they were +so large, the timber needed was scarcely to be found in the forests +(of the Philippines!), and thus it was necessary to seek it with great +difficulty in the most remote of them, where, once found, in order +to haul and convey it to the shipyard the towns of the surrounding +country had to be depopulated of natives, who get it out with immense +labor, damage, and cost to them. The natives furnished the masts for +a galleon, according to the assertion of the Franciscans, and I heard +the governor of the province where they were cut, which is Lacuna de +Bay, say that to haul them seven leagues over very broken mountains +6,000 natives were engaged three months, without furnishing them food, +which the wretched native had to seek for himself!" + +And Gaspar de San Agustin says: "In those times (1690), Bacolor has +not the people that it had in the past, because of the uprising in +that province when Don Sabiniano Manrique de Lava was Governor of +these islands and because of the continual labor of cutting timber +for his Majesty's shipyards, WHICH HINDERS THEM FROM CULTIVATING THE +VERY FERTILE PLAIN THEY HAVE." (17) + +If this is not sufficient to explain the depopulation of the islands +and the abandonment of industry, agriculture and commerce, then +add "the natives who wore executed, those who loft their wives and +children and fled in disgust to the mountains, those who were sold +into slavery to pay the taxes levied upon them," as Fernando de los +Rios Coronel says; add to all this what Philip II said in reprimanding +Bishos Salazar about "natives sold by some encomendoros to others, +those flogged to death, the women who are crushed to death by their +heavy burdens, those who sleep in the fields and there bear and nurse +their children and die bitten by poisonous vermin, the many who are +executed and left to die of hunger and those who eat poisonous herbs +............ and the mothers who kill their children in bearing them," +and you will understand how in less than thirty years the population +of the Philippines was reduced one-third. We are not saying this: +it was said by Gaspar de San Agustin, the preeminently anti-Filipino +Augustinian, and he confirms it throughout the rest of his work by +speaking every moment of the state of neglect in which lay the farms +and fields once so flourishing and so well cultivated, the towns +thinned that had formerly been inhabited by many leading families! + +How is it strange, then, that discouragement may have been infused +into the spirit of the inhabitants of the Philippines, when in the +midst of so many calamities they did not know whether they would see +sprout the seed they were planting, whether their field was going to +be their grave or their crop would go to feed their executioner? What +is there strange in it, when we see the pious but impotent friars of +that time trying to free their poor parishioners from the tyranny +of the encomenderos by advising them to stop work in the mines, +to abandon their commerce, to break up their looms, pointing out to +them heaven for their whole hope, preparing them for death as their +only consolation? (18) + +Man works for an object. Remove the object and you reduce him to +inaction The most active man in the world will fold his arms from +the instant he understands that it is madness to bestir himself, that +this work will be the cause of his trouble, that for him it will be +the cause of vexations at home and of the pirate's greed abroad. It +seems that these thoughts have never entered the minds of those who +cry out against the indolence of the Filipinos. + +Even were the Filipino not a man like the rest; even were we to suppose +that zeal in him for work was as essential as the movement of a wheel +caught in the gearing of others in motion; even were we to deny him +foresight and the judgment that the past and the present form, there +would still be left us another reason to explain the attack of the +evil. The abandonment of the fields by their cultivators, whom the +wars and piratical attacks dragged from their homes was sufficient +to reduce to nothing the hard labor of so many generations. In the +Philippines abandon for a year the land most beautifully tended and +you will see how you will have to begin all over again: the rain will +wipe out the furrows, the floods will drown the seeds, plants and +bushes will grow up everywhere, and on seeing so much useless labor +the hand will drop the hoe, the laborer will desert his plow. Isn't +there left the fine life of the pirate? + +Thus is understood that sad discouragement which we find in the friar +writers of the 17th century, speaking of once very fertile plains +submerged, of provinces and towns depopulated, of products that +have disappeared from trade, of leading families exterminated. These +pages resemble a sad and monotonous scene in the night after a lively +day. Of Cagayan Padre San Agustin speaks with mournful brevity: "A +great deal of cotton, of which they made good cloth that the Chinese +and Japanese every year bought and carried away." In the historian's +time, the industry and the trade had come to an end! + +It seems that these are causes more thorn sufficient to breed indolence +even in the midst of beehive. Thus is explained why, after thirty-two +years of the system, the circumspect and prudent Morga said that the +natives "have forgotten much about farming, raising poultry, stock +and cotton, and weaving cloth, as they used to do in their paganism +and FOR A LONG TIME AFTER THE COUNTRY HAD BEEN CONQUERED!" + +Still they struggled a long time against indolence, yes: but their +enemies were so numerous that at last they gave up! + + + +IV + +We recognize the causes that, awoke the predisposition and provoked the +evil: now let us see what foster and sustain it. In this connection, +government and governed have to bow our heads and say: we deserve +our fate. + +We have already truly said that when a house becomes disturbed and +disordered, we should not accuse the youngest, child or the servants, +but the head of it, especially if his authority is unlimited, he +who does not act freely is not responsible for his actions; and the +Filipino people, not being master of its liberty, is not responsible +for either its misfortunes or its woes. We says this, it is true, +but, as will be seen later on, we also have a large part, in the +continuation of such a disorder. + +The following, among other causes, contributed to foster the evil +and aggravate it: the constantly lessening encouragement that labor +has met with in the Philippines. Fearing to have the Filipinos deal +frequently with other individuals of their own race, who were free +and independent, as the Borneans, the Siamese, the Cambodians, and +the Japanese, people who in their customs and feeling's differ greatly +from the Chinese, the Government acted toward these others with great +mistrust and great severity, as Morga testifies in the last pages of +his work, until they finally ceased to come to the country. In fact, +it seems that once an uprising' planned by the Borneans was suspected: +we say suspected, for there was not even an attempt, although there +were many executions. (19) And, as these nations were the very ones +that, consumed Philippine products, when all communication with them +had been cut off, consumption of these products also ceased. The only +two countries with which the Philippines continued to have relations +were China and Mexico, or New Spain, and from this trade only China +and a few private individuals in Manila got any benefit. It, fact, +the Celestial Empire sent, her junks laden with merchandise, that +merchandise which shut down the factories of Seville and ruined the +Spanish industry, and returned laden in exchange with the silver that +was every year sent from Mexico. Nothing from the Philippines at that +time went to China, not even gold, for in those years the Chinese +traders would accept no payment but silver coin. (20) To Mexico went +little more: some cloth and dry goods which the encomendoros took +by force or bought from the natives at, a paltry price, wax, amber, +gold, civet, etc, but nothing more, and not even in great quantity, +as is stated by Admiral Don Jerónimo de Bañuelos y Carrillo, when +he begged the King that "the inhabitants of the Manilas be permitted +(!) to load as many ships as they could with native products, such +as wax, gold, perfumes, ivory, cotton cloths, which they would have +to buy from the natives of the country ............... Thus the +friendship of those peoples would be gained, they would furnish New +Spain with their merchandise and the money that is brought to Manila, +would not leave this place," (21) + +The coastwise trade, so active in other times, had to die out, thanks +to the piratical attacks of the Malays of the south; and trade in +the interior of the islands almost entirely disappeared, owing to +restrictions, passports and other administrative requirements. + +Of no little importance were the hindrances and obstacles that from +the beginning were thrown in the farmers's way by the rulers, who were +influenced by childish fear and saw everywhere signs of conspiracies +and uprisings. The natives were not allowed to go to their labors, +that is, their farms, without permission of the governor, or of his +agents and officers, and even of the priests as Morga says. Those who +know the administrative slackness and confusion in a country where the +officials work scarcely two hours a day; those who know the cost of +going to and returning from the capital to obtain a permit; those who +are aware of the petty retaliations of the little tyrants will well +understand how with this crude arrangement it is possible to have the +most absurd agriculture. True it is that for some time this absurdity, +which would be ludicrous had it not been so serious, has disappeared; +but even if the words have gone out of use other facts and other +provisions have replaced them. The Moro pirate has disappeared but +there remains the outlaw who infests the fields and waylays the farmer +to hold him for ransom. Now then, the government, which has a constant +fear of the people, denies to the farmers even the use of a shotgun, +or if it does allow it does so very grudgingly and withdraws it at +pleasure; whence it results with the laborer, who, thanks to his means +of defense, plants his crops and invests his meager fortune in the +furrows that he has so laboriously opened, that when his crop matures, +it occurs to the government, which is impotent to suppress brigandage, +to deprive him of his weapon; and then, without defense and without +security he is reduced to inaction and abandons his field, his work, +and takes to gambling as the best means of securing a livelihood. The +green cloth is under the protection of the government, it is safer! A +mournful counselor is fear, for it not only causes weakness but also +in casting aside the weapons strengthens the very persecutor! + +The sordid return the native gets from his work has the effect of +discouraging him. We know from history that the encomenderos, after +reducing many to slavery and forcing them to work for their benefit, +made others give up their merchandise for a trifle or nothing at all, +or cheated them with false measures. + +Speaking of Ipion, in Panay, Padre Gaspar de San Agustin says: +"It was in ancient times very rich in gold, ............... but +provoked by the annoyances they suffered from some governors they have +ceased to get it out, preferring to live in poverty than to suffer +such hardships." (Page 378). Further on, speaking of other towns, +he says: "Goaded by the ill treatment of the encomenderos who in +administering justice have treated the natives as their slaves and +not as their children, and have only looked after their own interests +at the expense of the wretched fortunes and lives of their charges +..............." (Page 422) Further on: "In Leyte, where they tried +to kill an encomendero of the town of Dagami on account of the great +hardships he made them suffer by exacting tribute of wax from them +with a steelyard which he had made twice as long as the others" + +This state of affairs lasted a long time and still lasts, in spite of +the fact, that the breed of encomenderos has become extinct. A term +passes away but the evil and the passions engendered do not pass away +so long as reforms are devoted solely to changing the names. + +The wars with the Dutch, the inroads and piratical attacks of the +people of Sulu and Mindanao disappeared; the people have been +transformed; new towns have grown up while others have become +impoverished; but the frauds subsist as much as or worse than they +did in those early years. We will not cite our own experiences, for +aside from the fact that, we do not know which to select, critical +persons may reproach us with partiality; neither will we cite those +of other Filipinos who write in the newspapers; but we shall confine +ourselves to translating the words of a modern French traveler who +was in the Philippines for a long time: + +"The good curate," he says with reference to the rosy picture a friar +had given him of the Philippines, "had not told me about the governor, +the foremost official of the district, who was too much taken up +with the ideal of getting rich to have time to tyrannize over his +docile subjects; the governor, charged with ruling the country and +collecting the various taxes in the government's name, devoted himself +almost wholly to trade; in his hands the high and noble functions he +performs are nothing more than instruments of gain. He monopolizes +all the business and instead of developing on his part the love +of work, instead of stimulating the too natural indolence of the +natives, he with abuse of his powers thinks only of destroying all +competition that may trouble him or attempt to participate in his +profits. It matters little to him that the country is impoverished, +without cultivation, without commerce, without, industry, just so +the governor is quickly enriched!" + +Yet the traveler has been unfair in picking out the governor +especially: Why only the governor? + +We do not cite passages from other authors, because we have not their +works at hand and do not wish to quote from memory. + +The great difficulty that every enterprise encountered with the +administration contributed not a little to kill off all commercial +and industrial movement. All the Filipinos, as well as all those who +have tried to engage in business in the Philippines, know how many +documents, what comings, how many stamped papers, how much patience is +needed to secure from the government a permit for an enterprise. One +must count upon the good will of this one, on the influence of that +one, on a good bribe to another in order that the application be not +pigeonholed, a present to the one further on so that he may pass it on +to his chief; one must pray to God to give him good humor and time to +see and examine it; to another, talent to recognize its expediency; to +one further on sufficient stupidity not to scent behind the enterprise +an insurrectionary purpose; and that they may not all spend the time +taking baths, hunting or playing cards with the reverend friars in +their convents or country houses. And above all, great patience, +great knowledge of how to get along, plenty of money, a great deal of +politics, many salutations, great influence, plenty of presents and +complete resignation! How is it strange that, the Philippines remain +poor in spite of their very fertile soil, when history tells us that +the countries now the most flourishing date their development from +the day of their liberty and civil rights? The most commercial and +most industrious countries have been the freest countries: France, +England and the United States prove this. Hongkong, which is not worth +the most insignificant of the Philippines, has more commercial movement +than all the islands together, because it is free and is well governed. + +The trade with China, which was the whole occupation of the colonizers +of the Philippines, was not only prejudicial to Spain but also to +the life of her colonies; in fact, when the officials and private +persons at Manila found an easy method of getting rich they neglected +everything. They paid no attention either to cultivating the soil +or to fostering industry; and wherefore? China furnished the trade, +and they had only to take advantage of it and pick up the gold that +dropped out on its way from Mexico toward the interior of China, +the gulf whence it never returned. + +The pernicious example of the dominators in surrounding themselves +with servants and despising manual or corporal labor as a thing +unbecoming the nobility and chivalrous pride of the heroes of so many +centuries; those lordly airs, which the natives have translated into +tila ka castila, and the desire of the dominated to be the equal of the +dominators, if not essentially, at least in their manners: all this had +naturally to produce aversion to activity and fear or hatred of work. + +Moreover, 'Why work?' asked many natives. The curate says that the rich +man will not go to heaven The rich man on earth is liable to all kinds +of trouble, to be appointed a cabeza de barangay, to be deported if +an uprising occurs, to be forced banker of the military chief of the +town, who to reward him for favors received seizes his laborers and +his stock, in order to force him to beg for mercy, and thus easily +pays up. Why be rich? So that all the officers of justice may have +a lynx eye on your actions, so that at the least slip enemies may be +raised up against you, you may be indicted, a whole complicated and +labyrinthine story may be concocted against you, for which you can +only get away, not by the thread of Ariadne but by Danae's shower +of gold, and still give thanks that you are not kept in reserve for +some needy occasion? The native, whom they pretend to regard as an +imbecile, is not so much so that he does not understand that it is +ridiculous to work himself to death to become worse off. A proverb +of his says that the pig is cooked in its own lard, and as among +his bad qualities he has the good one of applying to himself all the +criticisms and censures he prefers to live miserable and indolent, +rather than play the part of the wretched beast of burden. + +Add to this the introduction of gambling. We do not mean to san that +before the coming of the Spaniards the natives did not gamble: the +passion for grumbling is innate in adventuresome and excitable races, +and such is the Malay. Pigafetta tells us of cock-fights and of bets +in the Island of Paragua. Cock-fighting must also have existed in +Luzon and in all the islands, for in the terminology of the game +are two Tagalog words: sabong, and tari (cockpit and gaff). But +there is not the least doubt that the fostering of this game is +due to the government, as well as the perfecting of it. Although +Pigafetta tells us of it, he mentions it only in Paragua, and not +in Cebu nor in any other island of the south, where he stayed long +time. Morga does not speak of it, in spite of his having spent +seven years in Manila, and yet he does describe the kinds of fowl, +the jungle hens and cocks. Neither does Morga, speak of gambling, +when he talks about vices and other defects, more or less concealed, +more or less insignificant. Moreover, excepting the two Tagalog words +sabong and tari, the others are of Spanish origin, as soltada (setting +the cocks to fight, then the fight itself), presto, (apuesta, bet), +logro (winnings), pago (payment), sentenciador (referee), case (to +cover the bets), etc. We say the same about gambling: the word sugal +(jugar, to gamble), like kumpisal (confesar, to confess to a priest), +indicates that gambling was unknown in the Philippines before the +Spaniards. The word laró (Tagalog, to play) is not the equivalent of +the word sunni. The word balasa (baraja, playing-card) proves that the +introduction of playing-cards was not due to the Chinese, who have a +kind of playing-cards also, because in that case they would have taken +the Chinese name. Is not this enough? The word tayá (taltar, to bet), +paris-paris (Spanish pares, pairs of cards), politana (napolitana, +a winning sequence of cards), sapore (to stack the cards), kapote +(to slam), monte, and so on, all prove the foreign origin of this +terrible plant, which only produces vice, and which has found in the +character of the native a fit soil, cultivated by circumstances. + +Along with gambling, which breeds dislike for steady and difficult toil +by its promise of sudden wealth and its appeal to the emotions, with +the lotteries, with the prodigality and hospitality of the Filipinos, +went also, to swell this train of misfortunes, the religious functions, +the great number of fiestas, the long masses for the women to spend +their mornings and the novenaries to spend their afternoons, and +the night, for the processions and rosaries. Remember that lack of +capital and absence of means paralyze all movement, and you will see +how the native has perforce to be indolent for if any money might +remain to him from the trials, imposts and exactions, he would have +to give it to the curate for bulls, scapularies, candles, novenaries, +etc. And if this does not suffice to form an indolent character, +if the climate and nature are not enough in themselves to daze him +and deprive him of all energy, recall then that the doctrines of his +religion teach him to irrigate his fields in the dry season, not by +means of canals but with masses and prayers; to preserve his stock +during an epizootic with holy water, exorcisms and benedictions that +cost five dollars an animal; to drive away the locusts by a procession +with the image of St. Augustine, etc. It is well, undoubtedly, to +trust greatly in God; but it is better to do what one can and not +trouble the Creator every moment, even when these appeals redound +to the benefit of His ministers. We have noticed that the countries +which believe most in miracles are the laziest, just, as spoiled +children are the most ill-mannered. Whether they believe in miracles +to palliate their laziness or they are lazy because they believe in +miracles, we cannot say; but the fact is the Filipinos were much less +lazy before the word miracle was introduced into their language. + +The facility with which individual liberty is curtailed, that continual +alarm of all from the knowledge that they are liable to secret report, +a governmental ukase, and to the accusation of rebel or suspect, +an accusation which, to be effective, does not need proof or the +production of the accuser. With that lack of confidence in the future, +that uncertainty of reaping the reward of labor, as in a city stricken +with the plague, everybody yields to fate, shuts himself in his house +or goes about amusing himself in the attempt to spend the few days +that remain to him in the least disagreeable way possible. + +The apathy of the government itself toward everything in commerce +and agriculture contributes not a little to foster indolence. There +is no encouragement, at all for the manufacturer or for the farmer; +the government furnishes no aid either when poor crop comes, when +the locusts (23) sweep over the fields, or when a cyclone destroys +in its passage the wealth of the soil; nor does it take any trouble +to seek a market for the products of its colonies. Why should it do +so when these same products are burdened with taxes and imposts and +have not free entry into the ports, of the mother country, nor is +their consumption there encouraged? While we see all the walls of +London covered with advertisements of the products of its colonies, +while the English make heroic efforts to substitute Ceylon for Chinese +tea, beginning with the sacrifice of their taste and their stomach, +in Spain, with the exception of tobacco, nothing from the Philippines +is known: neither its sugar, coffee, hemp, fine cloths, nor its Ilocano +blankets. The name of Manila is known only from those cloths of China +or Indo-China which at one time reached Spain by way of Manila, heavy +silk shawls, fantastically but coarsely embroidered, which no one has +thought of imitating in Manila, since they are so easily made; but the +government has other cares, and the Filipinos do not know that such +objects are more highly esteemed in the Peninsula than their delicate +piña, embroideries and their very fine jusi fabrics. Thus disappeared +our trade in indigo, thanks to the trickery of the Chinese, which +the government could not guard against, occupied as it was with other +thoughts; thus die now the other industries; the fine manufactures of +the Visayas are gradually disappearing from trade and even from use; +the people, continually getting poorer, cannot afford the costly cloths +and have to be content with calico or the imitations of the Germans, +who produce imitations even of the work of our silversmiths. + +The fact that the best plantations, the best tracts of land in some +provinces, those that from their easy access are more profitable +than others, are in the hands of the religious corporations, whose +desideratum is ignorance and a condition of semi-starvation for the +native, so that they may continue to govern him and make themselves +necessary to his wretched existence, is one of the reasons why many +towns do not progress in spite of the efforts of their inhabitants. We +will be met with the objections, as an argument on the other side, +that the towns which belong to the friars are comparatively richer +than those which do not belong to them. They surely are! Just as their +brethren in Europe, in founding their convents, knew how to select +the best valleys, the best uplands for the cultivation of the vine or +the production of beer, so also the Philippine monks (25) have known +how to select the best towns, the beautiful plains, the well-watered +fields, to make of them rich plantations. For some time the friars +have deceived many by making them believe that if these plantations +were prospering, it was because they were under their care, and the +indolence of the native was thus emphasized; but they forget that in +same provinces where they have not been able for some reason to get +possession of the best tracts of land, their plantations, like Baurand +and Liang, are inferior to Taal, Balayan and Lipa, regions cultivated +entirely by the natives without any monkish interference whatsoever. + +Add to this lack of material inducement the absentee of moral stimulus, +and you will see how he who is not indolent in that country must +needs be a madman or at least a fool. What future awaits him who +distinguishes himself, him who studies, who rises above the crowd? At +the cost of study and sacrifice a young man becomes a great chemist, +and after a long course of training, wherein neither the government +nor anybody has given him the least help, he concludes his long +stay in the University. A competitive examination is held to fill +a certain position. The young man wins this through knowledge and +perseverance, and after he has won it, it is abolished, because +......... we do not care to give the reason, but when a municipal +laboratory is closed in order to abolish the position of director, +who got his place by competitive examination, while other officers, +such as the press censor, are preserved, it is because the belief +exists that the light of progress may injure the people more than all +the adulterated foods (26). In the same way, another young man won a +prize in a literary competition, and as long as his origin was unknown +his work was discussed, the newspapers praised it and it was regarded +as a masterpiece, but the sealed envelopes were opened, the winner +proved to be a native, while among the losers there were Peninsulars; +then all the newspapers hastened to extol the losers! Not one word +from the government, nor from anybody, to encourage the native who +with so much affection was cultivating the language and letters of +the mother country! (27) + +Finally, passing over many other more or less insignificant reasons, +the enumeration of which would be interminable, let us close this +dreary list with the principal and most terrible of all: the education +of the native. + +From his birth until he sinks into his grave, the training of the +native is brutalizing, depressive and antihuman (the word 'inhuman' +is not sufficiently explanatory: whether or not the Academy admit it, +let it go). There is no doubt that the government, some priests like +the Jesuits and some Dominicans like Padre Benavides, have done a +great deal by founding colleges, schools of primary instruction, and +the like. But this is not enough; their effect is neutralized. They +amount to five or ten years (years of a hundred and fifty days at most) +during which the youth comes in contact with books selected by those +very priests who boldly proclaim that it is an evil for the natives +to know Castilian, that the native should not be separated from his +carabao, that he should not have any further aspirations, and so on; +five to ten years during which the majority of the students have +grasped nothing more than that no one understands what the books +say, not even the professors themselves perhaps; and these five to +ten years have to offset the daily preachment of the whole life, +that preachment which lowers the dignity of man, which by degrees +brutally deprives him of the sentiment of self-esteem, that eternal, +stubborn, constant labor to bow the native's neck, to make him accept +the yoke, to place him on a level with the beast--a labor aided by +some persons, with or without the ability to write, which if it does +not produce in some individuals the desired effect, in others it has +the opposite effect, like the breaking of a cord that is stretched +too tightly. Thus, while they attempt to make of the native a kind of +animal, vet in exchange they demand of him divine actions. And we say +divine actions, because he must be a god who does not become indolent +in that climate, surrounded by the circumstances mentioned. Deprive a +man, then, of his dignity, and you not only deprive him of his moral +strength but you also make him useless even for those who wish to +make use of him. Every creature has its stimulus, its mainspring: +man's is his self-esteem. Take it away from him and he is a corpse, +and he who seeks activity in a corpse will encounter only worms. + +Thus is explained how the natives of the present time are no longer +the same as those of the time of the discovery, neither morally +nor physically. + +The ancient writers, like Chirino, Morga and Colin, take pleasure +in describing them as well-featured, with good aptitudes for any +thing they take up, keen and susceptible and of resolute will, +very clean and neat in their persons and clothing, and of good +mien and bearing. (Morga). Others delight in minute accounts of +their intelligence and pleasant manners, of their aptitude for +music, the drama, dancing and singing; of the facility with which +they learned, not only Spanish but also Latin, which they acquired +almost by themselves (Colin); others, of their exquisite politeness +in their dealings and in their social life; others, like the first +Augustinians, whose accounts Gaspar de San Augustin copies, found +them more gallant and better mannered than the inhabitants of the +Moluccas. "All live off their husbandry," adds Morga, "their farms, +fisheries and enterprises, for they travel from island to island by +sea and from province to province by land." + +In exchange, the writers of the present time, without being better than +those of former times, neither as men nor as historians, without being +more gallant than Hernan Cortez and Salcedo, nor more prudent than +Legazpi, nor more manly than Morga, nor more studious than Colin and +Gaspar de San Agustin, our contemporary writers, we say, find that the +native is a creature something more than a monkey but much less than +a man, an anthropoid, dull-witted, stupid, timid, dirty, cringing, +grinning, ill-clothed, indolent, lazy, brainless, immoral, etc., etc. + +To what is this retrogression due? Is it the delectable civilization, +the religion of salvation of the friars, called of Jesus Christ by +a euphemism, that has produced this miracle, that has atrophied his +brain, paralyzed his heart and made of the man this sort of vicious +animal that the writers depict? + +Alas! The whole misfortune of the present Filipinos consists in that +they have become only half-way brutes. The Filipino is convinced that +to get happiness it is necessary for him to lay aside his dignity +as a rational creature, to attend mass, to believe what is told him, +to pay what is demanded of him, to pay and forever to pay; to work, +suffer and be silent, without aspiring to anything, without aspiring to +know or even to understand Spanish, without separating himself from his +carabao, as the priests shamelessly say, without protesting against +any injustice, against any arbitrary action, against an assault, +against an insult; that is, not to have heart, brain or spirit: +a creature with arms and a purse full of gold ............ there's +the ideal native! Unfortunately, or because the brutalization is not +yet complete and because the nature of man is inherent in his being in +spite of his condition, the native protests; he still has aspirations, +he thinks and strives to rise, and there's the trouble! + + + +V + +In the preceding chapter we set forth the causes that proceed +from the government in fostering and maintaining the evil we are +discussing. Now it falls to us to analyze those that emanate from +the people. Peoples and governments are correlated and complementary: +a fatuous government would be an anomaly among righteous people, just +as a corrupt people cannot exist under just rulers and wise laws. Like +people, like government, we will say in paraphrase of a popular adage. + +We can reduce all these causes to two classes: to defects of training +and lack of national sentiment. + +Of the influence of climate we spoke at the beginning, so we will +not treat of the effects arising from it. + +The very limited training in the home, the tyrannical and sterile +education of the rare centers of learning, that blind subordination of +the youth to one of greater age, influence the mind so that a man may +not aspire to excel those who preceded him but must merely be content +to go along with or march behind them. Stagnation forcibly results +from this, and as he who devotes himself merely to copying divests +himself of other qualities suited to his own nature, he naturally +becomes sterile; hence decadence. Indolence is a corollary derived +from the lack of stimulus and of vitality. + +That modesty infused into the convictions of every one, or, to +speak more clearly, that insinuated inferiority, a sort of daily and +constant depreciation of the mind so that, it may not be raised to +the regions of light, deadens the energies, paralyzes all tendency +toward advancement, and at the least struggle a man gives up without +fighting. If by one of those rare accidents, some wild spirit, that +is, some active one, excels, instead of his example stimulating, it +only causes others to persist in their inaction. 'There's one who will +work for us: let's sleep on!' say his relatives and friends. True it +is that the spirit of rivalry is sometimes awakened, only that then +it awakens with bad humor in the guise of envy, and instead of being +a lever for helping, it is an obstacle that produces discouragement. + +Nurtured by the example of anchorites of a contemplative and lazy +life, the natives spend theirs in giving their gold to the Church +in the hope of miracles and other wonderful things. Their will is +hypnotized: from childhood they learn to act mechanically, without +knowledge of the object, thanks to the exercises imposed upon them +from the tenderest years of praying for whole hours in an unknown +tongue, of venerating things that they do not understand, of accepting +beliefs that are not explained to them to having absurdities imposed +upon them, while the protests of reason are repressed. Is it any +wonder that with this vicious dressage of intelligence and will the +native, of old logical and consistent--as the analysis of his +past and of his language demonstrates--should now be a mass of +dismal contradictions? That continual struggle between reason and +duty, between his organism and his new ideals, that civil war which +disturbs the peace of his conscience all his life, has the result, of +paralyzing all his energies, and aided by the severity of the climate, +makes of that eternal vacillation, of the doubts in his brain, the +origin of his indolent disposition. + +"You can't know more than this or that old man!" "Don't aspire to +be greater than the curate!" "You belong to an inferior race!" "You +haven't any energy!" This is what they tell the child, and as they +repeat it so often, it has perforce to become engraved on his mind +and thence mould and pervade all his actions. The child or youth +who tries to be anything else is blamed with vanity and presumption; +the curate ridicules him with cruel sarcasm, his relatives look upon +him with fear, strangers regard him with great compassion. No forward +movement! Get back in the ranks and keep in line! + +With his spirit thus moulded the native falls into the most pernicious +of all routines: routine not planned, but imposed and forced. Note +that the native himself is not, naturally inclined to routine, but +his mind is disposed to accept all truths, just as his house is open +to all strangers. The good and the beautiful attract him, seduce and +captivate him, although, like the Japanese, he often exchanges the good +for the evil, if it appears to him garnished and gilded. What he lacks +is in the first place liberty to allow expansion to his adventuresome +spirit, and good examples, beautiful prospects for the future. It is +necessary that his spirit, although it may be dismayed and cowed by +the elements and the fearful manifestation of their mighty forces, +store up energy, seek high purposes, in order to struggle against +obstacles in the midst of unfavorable natural conditions. In order +that he may progress it is necessary that a revolutionary spirit, +so to speak, should boil in his veins, since progress necessarily +requires change; it implies the overthrow of the past, there deified, +by the present; the victory of new ideas over the ancient and accepted +ones. It will not be sufficient to speak to his fancy, to talk nicely +to him, nor that the light illuminate him like the ignis fatuus that +leads travelers astray at night; all the flattering promises of the +fairest hopes will not suffice, so long as his spirit is not free, +his intelligence not respected. + +The reasons that originate in the lack of national sentiment are +still more lamentable and more transcendental. + +Convinced by the insinuation of his inferiority, his spirit harassed +by his education, if that brutalization of which we spoke above can +be called education, in that exchange of usages and sentiments among +different nations, the Filipino, to whom remain only his susceptibility +and his poetical imagination, allows himself to be guided by his fancy +and his self-love. It is sufficient that the foreigner praise to him +the imported merchandise and run down the native product for him to +hasten to make the change, without reflecting that everything has its +weak side and the most sensible custom is ridiculous in the eyes +of those who do not follow it. They have dazzled him with tinsel, +with strings, of colored glass beads, with noisy rattles, shining +mirrors and other trinkets, and he has given in return his gold, +his conscience, and even his liberty. He changed his religion for the +external practices of another cult; the convictions and usages derived +from his climate and needs, for other usages and other convictions +that developed under another sky and another inspiration. His spirit, +well-disposed toward everything that looks good to him, was then +transformed, at the pleasure of the nation that forced upon him +its God and its laws, and as the trader with whom he dealt did not +bring a cargo of useful implements of iron, hoes to till the fields, +but stamped papers, crucifixes, bulls and prayer-books; as he did +not have for ideal and prototype the tanned and vigorous laborer, +but the aristocratic lord, carried in a luxurious litter, the result +was that the imitative people became bookish, devout, prayerful; it +acquired ideas of luxury and ostentation, without thereby improving +the means of its subsistence to a corresponding degree. + +The lack of national sentiment brings another evil, moreover, which is +the absence of all opposition to measures prejudicial to the people and +the absence of any initiative in whatever may redound to its good. A +man in the Philippines is only an individual, he is not a member +of a nation. He is forbidden and denied the right of association, +and is therefore weak and sluggish. The Philippines are an organism +whose cells seem to have no arterial system to irrigate it or nervous +system to communicate its impressions; these cells must, nevertheless, +yield their product, get it where they can: if they perish, let them +perish. In the view of some this is expedient so that a colony may +be a colony; perhaps they are right, but not to the effect that a +colony may flourish. + +The result of this is that if a prejudicial measure is ordered, +no one protests; all goes well apparently until later the evils are +felt. Another blood-letting, and as the organism has neither nerves +nor voice the physician proceeds in the belief that the treatment +is not injuring it. It needs a reform, but as it must not speak, it +keeps silent and remains with the need. The patient wants to eat, +it wants to breathe the fresh air, but as such desires may offend +the susceptibility of the physician who thinks that he has already +provided everything necessary, it suffers and pines away from fear of +receiving scolding, of getting another plaster and a new blood-letting, +and so on indefinitely. + +In addition to this, love of peace and the horror many have of +accepting the few administrative positions which fall to the Filipinos +on account of the trouble and annoyance these cause them places at the +head of the people the most stupid and incapable men, those who submit +to everything, those who can endure all the caprices and exactions of +the curate and of the officials. With this inefficiency in the lower +spheres of power and ignorance and indifference in the upper, with the +frequent changes and the eternal apprenticeships, with great fear and +many administrative obstacles, with a voiceless people that has neither +initiative nor cohesion, with employees who nearly all strive to +amass a fortune and return home, with inhabit, ants who live in great +hardship from the instant they begin to breathe, create prosperity, +agriculture and industry, found enterprises and companies, things +that still hardly prosper in free and well-organized communities. + +Yes, all attempt is useless that does not spring from a profound +study of the evil that afflicts us. To combat this indolence, +some have proposed increasing the native's needs and raising the +taxes. What has happened? Criminals have multiplied, penury has been +aggravated. Why? Because the native already has enough needs with his +functions of the Church, with his fiestas, with the public offices +forced on him, the donations and bribes that he has to make so that +he may drag out his wretched existence. The cord is already too taut. + +We have heard many complaints, and every day we read in the papers +about the efforts the government is making to rescue the country +from its condition of indolence. Weighing its plans, its illusions +and its difficulties, we are reminded of the gardener who tried to +raise a tree planted in a small flower-pot. The gardener spent his +days tending and watering the handful of earth, he trimmed the plant +frequently, he pulled at it to lengthen it and hasten its growth, +he grafted on it cedars and oaks, until one day the little tree died, +leaving the man convinced that it belonged to a degenerate species, +attributing the failure of his experiment to everything except the +lack of soil and his own ineffable folly. + +Without education and liberty, that soil and that sun of mankind, +no reform is possible, no measure can give the result desired. This +does not mean that we should ask first for the native the instruction +of a sage and all imaginable liberties, in order then to put a hoe +in his hand or place him in a workshop; such a pretension would be +an absurdity and vain folly. What we wish is that obstacles be not +put in his way, that the many his climate and the situation of the +islands afford be not augmented, that instruction be not begrudged +him for fear that when he becomes intelligent he may separate from +the colonizing nation or ask for the rights of which he makes himself +worthy. Since some day or other he will become enlightened, whether +the government wishes it or not, let his enlightenment be as a gift +received and not as conquered plunder. We desire that the policy be +at once frank and consistent, that is, highly civilizing, without +sordid reservations, without distrust, without fear or jealousy, +wishing the good for the sake of the good, civilization for the sake of +civilization, without ulterior thoughts of gratitude, or else boldly +exploiting, tyrannical and selfish without hypocrisy or deception, +with a whole system well-planned and studied out for dominating by +compelling obedience, for commanding to get rich, for getting rich +to be happy. If the former, the government may act with the security +that some day or other it will reap the harvest and will find a +people its own in heart and interest; there is nothing like a favor +for securing the friendship or enmity of man, according to whether +it be conferred with good will or hurled into his face and bestowed +upon him in spite of himself. If the logical and regulated system of +exploitation be chosen, stifling with the jingle of gold and the sheen +of opulence the sentiments of independence in the colonies, paying +with its wealth for its lack of liberty, as the English do in India, +who moreover leave the government to native rulers, then build roads, +lay out highways, foster the freedom of trade; let the government heed +material interests more than the interests of four orders of friars; +let it send out intelligent employees to foster industry; just judges, +all well paid, so that they be not venal pilferers, and lay aside all +religious pretext. This policy has the advantage in that while it may +not lull the instincts of liberty wholly to sleep, yet the day when +the mother country loses her colonies she will at least have the gold +amassed and not the regret of having reared ungrateful children. + + + + + + +1. Sancianco y Goson, Gregorio: El progreso de Filipinas. Estudios +económicos, administrativos y políticos. Parte económica. Madrid, +Imp. de la Vda. de J M. Perez, 1881 Pp XIV-260. + +An eminent student of Philippine life and history, James A. LeRoy in +his "The Philippines, 1860-1898--Some comment and bibliographical +notes" published in volume 52 of Blair and Robertson, Philippine +Islands 1493-1898, praises this book (p. 141) as "especially +valuable on administrative matters just prior to the revision of +the fiscal regime in connection with the abolition of the government +tobacco monopoly", and for its "data on land, commerce, and industry" + +2. Before 1590, one of the Spanish officers in the Philippines, +commenting on the climate of the Islands, declared, with considerable +acumen, that Europeans could stand life and work here if they observed +continence in regard to the use of alcoholic beverages. + +3. See Morga's "Report of conditions in the Philippines (June 8, +1598)" in Blair and Robertson vol. 10. pp. 75-80, in which various +abuses of the friars are set forth. This should be compared with the +following pages of the same relation (pp. 89-90) on secular affairs, +from which it will be recognized that the condition was not so much +the resultant of one class as of Spanish national character. Cf. also, +Anda y Salazar B. and R, vol. 50, pp. 137-190; and Le Gentil, Voyage +(Paris, 1779-81), vol. 1, pp. 183-191. It would be hardly fair +not to call to mind that the Filipinos are debtors to the friars in +many ways, and the Filipinos themselves should be the last to forget +this. For a good exposition from the friar point of view, see Zamora, +Las Corporaciones-Religiosas en Filipinas: Valladolid, 1901. + +See also Mallat, Les Philippines (Paris, 1846), vol. 1, pp. 374-389. + +4. The history of the Philippines is full of references to Chinese +who came here for the reasons assigned by Rizal. The antiquarian +will be interested in consulting a small work entitled Notes on +the Malay Archipelago and Malacca, compiled from Chinese sources, +by W. P. Groeneveldt. + +5 See B. and R., vol 34, pp. 183-191 for a description of the +early Chinese trade in the Philippines, also translated by Hirth from +Chinese sources, but evidently not the same as referred to by Rizal, + +6. This citation is translated directly from the original Italian +Ms. Rizal's account is seen to be slightly different and arises from +the fact that he made use of Amoretti's printed version of the Ms., +which is wrong in many particulars. Amoretti attempted to change +the original Ms. into modern Italian, with disastrous result. It is +to be regretted that Walls y Merino followed the same garbled text, +in his Primer viaje alrededor del Mundo (Madrid, 1899). + +Dr. Antonio de Morga's book is perhaps the most famous of all the +early books treating of the Philippines. Its full title is as follows: +"Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas: Dirigido á Don Cristoval Gomez de +Sandoval y Rojas, Duque de Cea, Mexico, En casa de Geronymo Balli, +1609." The original edition is very rare, and is worth almost its +weight in gold. The manuscript circulated for some years before the +date of publication. + +The second Spanish edition of the work was published by Rizal himself, +who was always a sincere admirer of the book. It bears the following +title-page: "Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas por el Doctor Antonio de +Morga. Obra publicada en Mejico el año de 1609 nuevamente sacada á luz +y anotada por José Rizal y precedida de un prólogo del Prof. Fernando +Blumentritt. Paris, Libreria de Garnier Hermanos, 1890." Shortly +before Rizal began work on his edition, a Spanish scholar, Justo +Zaragoza, began the publication of a new edition of Morga. The book +was reprinted, but the notes, prologue, and life of Morga which +Zargoza had intended to insert, were never completed because of that +editor's death. Only two copies of this edition, so far as known, were +ever bound, one of which belongs to the Ayer collection in Chicago, +and the other by the Tabacalera purchase to the Philippine Library, +in Manila. Still one other Spanish edition has appeared, namely: +"Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas por el Dr. Antonio de Morga. Nueva +edición enriquecida con los escritos inéditos del mismo autor ilustrada +con numerosas notas que amplian el texto y prologada extensamente por +W. E. Retana, Madrid, Libreria General de Victoriano Suarez, Editor, +1909." Retana adds a life of Morga and numerous documents written by +him. An English edition was published as follows: "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 +Hen. Henry E. J. Stanley, London, Printed for the Hakluyt Society, +1868". However, Stanley's translation is poor, and parts of passages +are not translated at all. [It was this edition then in preparation by +the Hakluyt Society, which Sir John Bowring, a director of the society, +mentioned on his visit to Rizal's uncle in Biñan, so that to make the +book available to Spaniards and Filipinos became an ambition from +childhood with Rizal.-C.] A second English translation appears in +B. and R. vols. 15 and 16. A separate copy of this translation was +also published in a very limited edition, with the title: "History +of the Philippine Islands from their discovery by Magellan in 1521 to +the beginning of the XVII century; with descriptions of Japan, China +and adjacent countries, by Dr. Antonio de Morga, alcalde of criminal +causes, in the Royal Audiencia of Nueva España, and counsel for the +Holy Office of the inquisition. Completely translated into English, +edited and annotated by E. H. Blair and J. A. Robertson. Cleveland, +Ohio, The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1907." See B. and R. vols. 9-12 +for other documents by Morga, and vol. 53 (or Robertson's Bibliography +of the Philippine Islands, Cleveland, 1908), for bibliographical +details regarding Morga and titles to documents. Perhaps the most +famous of all his writings outside of his book is his relation +mentioned ante, note 3. + +7. Published at London in 1783. See p. 346. + +8. See B. and R., vol. 4, pp. 221, 222, for an old boatsong. + +9. Colin's Labor evangelica, published in Madrid, 1663; a new edition, +in three volumes, and greatly enriched by notes and was published by +Pablo Pastells, S. J. (Barcelona, 1900-1902). + +10. See B. and R., vol. 33, pp. 233-235. The original says the +ransom included 150 chickens; hence 450, an error due again to +Amoretti. + +11, Conquistas do las Islas Fillpinas (Madrid, 1698). There is no +doubt of the frequency of inter-island trade among the peoples of the +Philippines at an early period. Trade was stimulated by the very fact +that the Malay peoples, except those who have been driven into the +mountainous interiors, are by their very nature a seafaring people. The +fact of an inter-island traffic is indicative of a culture above that +possessed by a people in the barbarian stage of culture. Of course, +there was considerable Chinese trade as well throughout the islands. + +12. This estimate is somewhat high. A writer in speaking of the +population of Manila, the metropolis of the Philippines then as now, +about 1570 says that its population scarcely reached 80,000, instead +of the 200,000 reported. + +13 Licentiate Pedro de Rojas, of the Manila Audiencia, in a letter +to Felipe II, June 30, 1586--Vol.6, pp. 265-274 says (p. 270): +"If there were no trade with China, the citizens of these islands, +would be richer; for the natives if they had not so many tostons, +would pay their tributes in the articles which they produce, and +which are current, that is, cloths, lampotes, cotton, and gold.--all +of which have great value in Nueva España. These they cease to +produce because of the abundance of silver; and what is worse and +entails more loss upon your Majesty, is that they do not, as formerly, +work the mines and take out gold". The old records contains numerous +references to the decline of the native industries of the Philippines +after the arrival of the Spaniards and the increase of Chinese trade. + +14. See ante, note 13. + +15. The decrease of population among native people in the Philippines +after the arrival of the Spaniards compares in no degree with what +occurred in America. A most distressing picture of conditions in the +Philippines is given by Bishop Domingo de Salazar in his relation +written about 1583 (see B. & R., vol 5, pp. 210-255. See especially +p. 212.) It is well to balance Salazar's account with those of others + +(A "tributary" was generally reckoned as five persons, one "tribute" +being required for each adult male. Hence "tributaries" and "families" +may here be taken to mean about the same number,--D.) + +16. The forced labor required by the Spaniards in shipbuilding formed +one of the legitimate causes of complaint among the people almost +from the beginning. + +17. See ante, note 15, also note 16. + +18. The early friars, although many of them fell into some of the very +faults which they condemned, inveighed boldly against the cruelty of +the Spaniards. Doubtless their attitude did encourage their converts +to withdraw from industry to a certain degree. + +19. See B. & R, vol. 4, pp. 148-303. + +20 See B & R., vol. 6, for early accounts of Chinese trade and Spanish +measures affecting it The hostility between Spaniards and Portuguese +enters largely into the question. The effects of the deplorably +bad economics of Spain in its trade relations are still felt in +the Peninsula. + +21. See ante, note 20. + +22. See ante, note 20. The arrival and departure of the annual galleon +were times of activity, but otherwise Manila was a dull town, with +little industry. The Chinese usurped all the petty trade. + +23 It is to the credit, of the Sociedad Económica de Amigos del Pais de +Filipinas, founded by the energetic governor Basco y Vargas in 1781, +that it extended its many-sided interests to the destruction of the +devastating hordes of locusts that visit the Philippines so frequently. + +24 The Spanish policy remained to the end one of exclusion, and +the privileges granted were almost all because of coercion, and the +penetrating force of modern ideas. + +25. A loose use of the word "monk", which is properly used of a +cloistered ecclesiastic who does not leave his convent. "Friar" would +be a more exact term. The Benedictines are monks; the Augustinians, +Dominicans, Franciscans, and Recollects, are friars. + +26. This was the Filipino chemist Anacleto del Rosario, whom Rizal +rightly praises. + +27. This refers doubtless to Rizal himself, who competed in an open +contest for Spaniards and Indians, of the Liceo Artistico-Literario +de Manila, and of whom such an occurrence is related. He was awarded +first prose prize for a production entitled "El Consejo de los Dioses", +which see in the "Revista del Liceo Artistico-Literario de Manila, +No. 4, 1880, pd. 45. This production, which bears neither signature +nor sign of authorship, is dated April 13, 1880. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Indolence of the Filipino, by Jose Rizal + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INDOLENCE OF THE FILIPINO *** + +This file should be named 6885-8.txt or 6885-8.zip + +Prepared by Jeroen Hellingman + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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