The San Francisco call., 1899-10-24

Chapeile Of New Orleans, Apostolic dele
gate 10 Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philip
pines to-day gave out the following state
ment:
In answer to General Funstoh's state
ment made in an address to the
students of Stanford University that If
Congress would drive out the fTiars and
Contlscate every inch of church property
the bottom would drop out of the insur-
Tectiou within one week The inhabitants
of Luzon are completely under the
church. I deem 1t proper to make the fol-
lowing statement:
Knowing what ] DO from most reliable
authority Of General Funston's broad
mindedness and sense of fairness. ] do not
believe that he has been quoted correctly.
He may have stated that the insurgents
demand this as a condition of peace, but
that he gave them as hts own sentiments
L cannot credit
From my own experience, l know how
easy ii is to be misquoted. All l can say
IS that If General Funston did make this
statement he manifested dense ignor-
a0Ce OF the work done d., the religious
orders in the archipeiago. on the very
face of it, however. it SHOES quite. plainly
that il did not come from one as well
posted as General Funston should be on
affairs in Luzon. He is quoted az saying,
The inhabitants of Luzon are complete
" under the church. Now, 1 would ask
how can this be possible when every
priest with the exception of few ma
JlYes) in the island of Luzon, outside of
the walled city Of Manila. is a prisoner of
the insurgents. For the past eighteen
months this state Of affairs has existed.
and during all this period more than three
hundred and fifty friars have been under
going unheard of torture in insurgent
dungeons. This being a fact, II is hard
for me TO see how the islands can be 'un-
der the frars. 1t looks to me as though
just the opposite were the case. That the
insurgents have asked as one of their
terms of peace the expulsion of the friars
and the confisCation to the insurgents Of
all the church property is TACT We'll
known. but we are told by the Govern
ment officials tand ! know II 70 be fact
from other reliable sourCes) that the in
surgentS represent only one tribe out OF
the eighty-iive tribes peOpllng the archi-
pelagO. SO the sentiments voiced by the
insurgents about the friars and church
property cannot be taken as the senti-
ments of the great body OF natives. no
more than they can be taken as the senu-
ments of the natives toward our people
and Government
Whatever the natives are or have.
they owe to the friars. BY them they
were lifted out Of savagery and brought
under the blessed and refining influences
of Christianity. BY them they were edu-
Gated not only I'm the schools but in the
fields and in the workshops were taught
by them the very industries which are
now the source Of their prosperity. Mr..
PeytOu. the agent OF the Episcopal for-
eiEn Mission Association. tells Us that the
natives are the most moral and religious
on the face of the globe Now the men
who taught them to be so cannot be SuCh
men as some DarToW-minCeu. people would
try to have us believe Rev. Or. AmDeu,
d Scotch Protestant missionary, also tes-
tfes that nearly the whole population
Of the Philippine Archipelago has been
converted to the Catholic faith by the
Spanish monks. au6 a wonderful improve
meut In their social condition has been
the result. He then goes on TO show that
If any one doubts this Improvement, it
can easily be made manifest by cOmpar-
ing the Christian native with his southern
ueighhOr Of the same blood, the fanaucal
"As to the confiscations of the estates,
YOU might as well talk of cOnilscating the
estates of the Fanderbilts the Astors
and other milliOnaires whose estates have
in the course of years grown so wonder
fully. There would be just as much right
and Justice in one case as in the other.
The status Of the religious estates has
been acquired in the usual way by pur-
chase and In the course or nearly TOUR
centuries they have naturally grown
large but if even unbiased Protestant
witnesses are to be credited. large as they
are all are used for the betterment and
uplifting of the natives.
"A former British Consul "a ProtestanD
writing on this subject says: 1t was by
means of these estates the friars intro
duced agriculture and settled habits OF
life among tribes originally nomadlc.
1T was by means of these estates that
they got them 10 live in villages and in
troduced among them the arts of civil
ized life.
1T was by this means that they ac-
uuired the power Of inducing them TO
labor with a certain amount of regularity
and methOd-the great safeguard against
a relapse again into their original state
of saVagerE.
The natives, he says, are, with some
out which they would fall back to the
customs Of their ancestOrs-a tutelage
that no one can exercise better than the
friars. Within the precincts OF the mon
asteries are to be found carpenter shops,
forges, brick and tile yards, etc, to teach
the natives various trades. The villages
formed around them presented q pleasing
picture OF happiness and content in start
ling contrast to those who were still pa
gan and unCiYilized.
I'm a short time 1 will start for the
Philippines. and ! will personally investi-
gate all charges made against religious
orders. titles of property. etc. Until
have completed my work / would ASK
the good people Of the United states not
TO be too ready to swallow as facts the
opinions Of gentlemen whose previous
training and lack Of opportunities to get
at the real facts do not warrant their
statements concerning the Catholic min
isters of religion. the intellectual capac-
itv the mora and social condition Of the
people Of the archipelago, to be taken as
i,pdisuuted facts by sensible and just
minds: nor can they therefore be taken
as an exact presentation OF q CONDITION
OF things in the Philippines upon which
the United States Government could pru-
IDENTIFY and equitably base Its policy with
regard 10 this archipelago: The church
asks only Justice. and l viii not counte-
nance the retention of one inch of prop
ertv which is not now legitimately held.
"One word now on another statement
I see that It is said that the object OF
dav was TO protest against the loOting
and desecrating of the churches in the
Philippines. This was not the case. AS
fvt ting
churches. | am informed by a person
whose word ] cannot doubt that this loot
ing was not done by our American sol
diers, but by the insurgents ana the Chi
neHe. +. l. Ct1Aff.lltE.
Archbishop Of New Orleans. Delegate
Apostolic"