Preface. The writer feels that no English book does justice to the natives of the Philippines, and this conviction has impelled him to publish his own more favourable estimate of them. He arrived in Manila with a thorough command of the Spanish lang ... Read more

Preface. The writer feels that no English book does justice to the natives of the Philippines, and this conviction has impelled him to publish his own more favourable estimate of them. He arrived in Manila with a thorough command of the Spanish language, and soon acquired a knowledge of the Tagal dialect. His avocations brought him into contact with all classes of the community—officials, priests, land-owners, mechanics, and peasantry: giving him an unrivalled opportunity to learn their ideas and observe their manners and customs. He resided in Luzon for fourteen years, making trips either on business or for sport all over the Central and Southern Provinces, also visiting Cebú, Iloilo, and other ports in Visayas, as well as Calamianes, Cuyos, and Palawan. Old Spanish chroniclers praise the good breeding of the natives, and remark the quick intelligence of the young. Recent writers are less favourable; Cañamaque holds them up to ridicule, Monteverde denies them the possession of any good quality either of body or mind. Foreman declares that a voluntary concession of justice is regarded by them as a sign of weakness; other writers judge them from a few days’ experience of some of the cross-bred corrupted denizens of Manila. Mr. Whitelaw Reid denounces them as rebels, savages, and treacherous barbarians. Mr. McKinley is struck by their ingratitude for American kindness and mercy. [vi] Senator Beveridge declares that the inhabitants of Mindanao are incapable of civilisation. It seems to have been left to French and German contemporary writers, such as Dr. Montano and Professor Blumentritt to show a more appreciative, and the author thinks, a fairer spirit, than those who have requited the hospitality of the Filipinos by painting them in the darkest colours. It will be only fair to exempt from this censure two American naval officers, Paymaster Wilcox and Mr. L. S. Sargent, who travelled in North Luzon and drew up a report of what they saw. As regards the accusation of being savages, the Tagals can claim to have treated their prisoners of war, both Spaniards and Americans with humanity, and to be fairer fighters than the Boers. The writer has endeavoured to describe the people as he found them. If his estimate of them is more favourable than that of others, it may be that he exercised more care in declining to do business with, or to admit to his service natives of doubtful reputation; for he found his clients punctual in their payments, and his employés, workmen and servants, skilful, industrious, and grateful for benefits bestowed. If the natives fared badly at the hands of recent authors, the Spanish Administration fared worse, for it has been painted in the darkest tints, and unsparingly condemned. It was indeed corrupt and defective, and what government is not? More than anything, it was behind the age, yet it was not without its good points. Until an inept bureaucracy was substituted for the old paternal rule, and the revenue quadrupled by increased taxation, the Filipinos were as happy a community as could be found in any colony. The population greatly multiplied; they lived in competence, if not in affluence; cultivation was extended, and the exports steadily increased. The natives were secured the perpetual usufruct of the [vii]land they tilled, they were protected against the usurer, that curse of East and West. In guaranteeing the land to the husbandman, the “Laws of the Indies” compare favourably with the law of the United States regarding Indian land tenure. The Supreme Court in 1823 decided that “discovery gives the dominion of the land discovered to the States of which the discoverers were the subjects.” It has been almost an axiom with some writers that no advance was made or could be made under Spanish rule. There were difficulties indeed. The Colonial Minister, importuned on the one hand by doctrinaire liberals, whose crude schemes of reform would have set the Archipelago on fire, and confronted on the other by the serried phalanx of the Friars with their hired literary bravos, was very much in the position of being between the devil and the deep sea, or, as the Spaniards phrase it “entre la espada y la pared.” Even thus the Administration could boast of some reforms and improvements. Less