The record-union., 1898-09-18
A FILIPINO'S WRONGS.
Unutterable Cruelty and Rapacity
OF Spanish Rule.

UnutteraDle cruelty ana hapac1ty
Of Spanish Rule.
The National Review for August
] contains "A Renaissance of Manila,
by Frank T. Bullen, which recites
things interesting and amusing. One
| of his acQuaintanceS described was
| half breed soldier. After telling OF
| their meeting the writer goes on to
say:
After a while my friend grew conf
dental about the difficulties of his life
ashore, until I interposed with the in
nocent remark, You don't seem to love
the Spaniards over much. Then
! change came over the man dreadful TO
see From a meek spiritless creature
| he became to all appearance blooo-
| thirsty demon, with distorted features
| that would have served as a model FOR
| a statue of hatred With a string OF
those unutterably horrid blasphemies IN
which Spanish-speaking people are SO
| proficient he assured me that no death
| could be sufficiently dreadful, no tor
| ture that could be devised painful
enough for the punishment of that
thrice-accursed race, in his opinion
His vehemence was painful to witness,
| the epithets kissing through his
clenched teeth, and his eyes glaring
| like those of a maniac. Presently he
calmed down somewhat. and, taking my
arm, he pointed along the coast to
low point where 1 could just distin-
guish few twinkling lights.
| There he said, lies the little viii
! lage where / was born. My father was
| a Spaniard, who boasted that his race
was too noble for anything so degrad-
! ing as work, but who thought it quite
| fit and proper that my mother, native
! of LuZon, should labor both for him
| and his miserable offspring. | was the
youngest of five, four boys and girl,
| each of whom, as soon as they grew
| old enough to walk let alone work,
| We're taken away from my mothers
| side She never saw them again. For
tunately for me, my father was killed
| before I was old enough to know what
| his crimes We're / rejoice at the
/ thought that he received his deserts
| at the hands of one of my mothers
| people, who waylaid him and hacked
| him to pieces one night after he had
| brutally fogged my poor mother, and
| left her bleeding and insensible on the
| floor of our hut. After this act of
righteous justice we We're left in peace
| for many years. l grew up into
/ strong healthy lad, as passionately
fond of my mother as she was OF me-
and able to help her, SO that her hard
! life was no longer SO bitterly severe
| as il had been. She was cripple,
| having had her leg broken by my
! father before / was born, and been
! left to die or recover, as it might hap
pen, just like a wild animal. The one
| fear. that never left us both was that
/ should be torn away from her, as
| we had seen so many others hurried
| to Manila by the soldiers, for what
purpose we never knew, but they never
came back again. But by some strange
oversight, which l do not even now
| understand, 1 was overlooked until
was 20 years of age The ever-present
| terror was no less than it had been,
| but somehow l felt a proud confidence
| quite ground1ess) in my ability to de-
! fend my liberty or escape If ever L
should be seized, and l vowed to our
ancient gods that nothing should keep
| me from my mothers side. Another
tie came also to bind me to my little
| home still closer If that had been pos
sible The daughter of one Of my
mothers oldest friends was left an or
phan and to save her from the fate
| that in such village as ours, so near
Manila, always overtakes our young
| women. mother contrived to give her
a shelter with us. l fell in love with
her, and we were married, although
1 was sorely put to it to pay the
| priests fee which I was bound to
do to have even the shadow Of right to
my own wife. Our marriage made no
! difference to our mode of living as we
still occupied the same little hut and
all toiled hard to get a bit of food. She
was almost as fond of my mother as
! /, and although we had a hard strug-
gle for a bare existence, we were free
and very happy. Our people want so
little beside liberty. Then-then; how
can I tell you?" and he suddenly burst
/ into a passionate fit of weeping, which
seemed as if it would tear him to
| pieces 1 was distressed myself to see
| his agony but could offer no comfort.
| At last he calmed down and proceed
ed: I'm spite of the gloomy prospect
of difficulties in finding food for another
| mouth, 1 was overjoyed when Leequa
| whispered to me her hopes, and went
| about my work feeling bigger and
stronger, and swelling with Importance.
But it was only the next day after l
| had heard the news, that as I was re-
| turning home for the siesta, Leequa
| sprang out from a bush near the hut
looking mad with fright. Hide hide
/ she said, the soldiers are in the village,
I'm sure they'll take you away from
me- l was stunned for a moment and
| unable to think Before I had recov-
cred myself sufficiently to form any
| idea of where to go or what to do, those
| Internal wretches had surrounded US.
Then, too late, I made dash for lib
erty fighting like a tiger; but what
! could / do? In a minute 1 was over
powered, tied hand and foot and
| thrown into stupefied heap on the
ground. They i'll used my poor girl, my
Leequa, before my eyes, and at the
sight went mad. I remember no more
until found myself in a filthy den in
Cavite, my head shaven, and my whole
body aching and smarting with bruises
and cuts. They had been flogging me
to hasten the recovery of my reason
| All my spirit was gone. I was no lon-
ger a man but thing, and the happy
| past was only a foolish dream, impos-
/ sible ever to have been real Well, with
| hundreds of other unfortunates, like
myself, all wolfish with hunger beaten.
spit at and trampled upon continually
was drilled and made into a soldier. We
| were driven like cattle to fight, to shoot