The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1899-10-28
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sATURDAY....OCTOBER Is 1898
vinaioa.iOu Of the Catholic Church,

Vindieation OF the Cathole enuFsA'
Gen. Frederick Funstou delivered
an address st Stanford CONVERSELY
last Friday, during which he severely
criticised the Catholic Church IN the
Philippines. According to telegraphle
REPORTS sent out from San Francisco,
he said:
IL Congress would drive out the
frisrs and copfiscste every inch OF
church property, the bottom would
drop out OF the insurrection within
one week. The inhabitants OF Luzon
sre completely under the Church.
Archbishop Chapelle, Of New Or
leans, Apostolic Delegate to Cuba,
Puerto Rico and the Philippines, to-
dsy made the following statement IN
reply to General Funston
"Knowing what do from most
reliable authority of General Funs
toms broad mindedness and sense of
fairness, do not believe be has been
quoted correctly. He may have
stated that the insurgents demand
this as condition of peace, but that
he gave them as his own sentiments
cannot credit. From my own ex-
perience, know how easily it is to
be misquoted. All can say is, If
General Funston did make this
remarkable statement, he manifested
a dense ignorance Of the work done by
the religious orderslin this archipelago
"On the very face of it, however,
it shows quite plainly that it did not
come from one as well posted as
General Funston should be on affairs
in Luzon. He is quoted as saying
The inhabitants of Luzon are com
pletely under the Church. Now, |
would ask how can this be possible
when every priest with the exception
Of a few natives in the walled city
of Manila, is o prisoner of the insur-
gentsi For the past is months this
state Of affairs has existed, and dur
ing all this period more than $50
friars have been undergoing unheard
Of torture in insurgent dungeons.
This being fact, it is hard for me to
see how the islands can be under the
frisrs.' 1t looks to me as though
the opposite were the case
That the insurgents have asked,
as one of their terms of peace, the
expulsion of the friars and the cOnfs-
cation to the insurgents of all the
church property is fact well known,
but we are told by the Government
officials land know it to be fact,
from other reliable sources) that the
insurgents represent only one tribe
out Of the s. tribes peopling the
archipelago so the sentiments voiced
by the insurgents about the friars
and church property cannot be taken
as the sentiments of the natives to-
ward our people and Government.
Whatever the natives are or have
they owe to the friars. By them they
were lifted out of ssvsgery and
brought under the blessed and rein.
ing influences Of Christianity. By
them they were educated, not only in
the schools, but in the fields and the
workshops were taught by them the
very industries which are now the
source Of their prosperity. Mr.. Pey-
ton, the agent Of the Episcopal For
eign Mission Association, tells US that
the natives are the most moral and
religious people on the face of the
globe.' Now, the men who taught
them to be so cannot be such men as
some nsrrow-minded people would
try to have US believe.
Rev. DR.. Abeel, a Scotch Prot.
estant missionary, also testi6es that
nearly the whole population of the
Filipino archipelago has been con-
verted to the Catholic faith by the
Spanish monks, and wonderful i'm.
provement in their social condition
has been the result He then goes
on to show that if anyone doubts this
improvement it can easily be made
manifest by comparing the Christian
native with his Southern neighbor of
the same blood, the fanatical Moro.
LAS to the confscation of the |
estates, you might as well talk of
confiscating the estates of the Van
derbilts, the Astors and other mil
lionsires whose estates have, in the |
course Of years grown so wonderfully. |
There would be just as much right |
and justice in one case as in the |
other. The estates of the religious |
orders have been acquired in the |
usual way, by purchase, and in the
course Of nearly four centuries 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, Prot
estant, writing on this subject, says
: 1t was by means Of these estates the
frisrs introduced agriculture and |
settled habits Of life among tribes
originally nomsdic.' 1t was by means
of these estates that they got them to
live in villages and introduced among |
them the arts of civilized life. 1t
was by means of these estates that
they acquired the power of inducing
them TO labor with q certain amount |
of regularity and method-the great |
safeguard against relapse again
into their original state of ssvagery.
The natives he says, are, with
some rare exceptions, in need of
tutelage, without which they would
fall back to the customs of their an
cestors-a tutelsge that no one can
exercise better than the friars. With
in the precincts of the monssteries
are to be found carpenter shops,
FORCES, brick and tile yards, ETC., to
teach the natives various trades.
The villages formed around them
presented a pleasing picture of hap
piness and content, in startling con-
trast to those who were still pagan
and uncivilized.'
% In short time | will start for the
Philippines, and l will personally
investigate all charges made against
1~lo~c k,tloa &c