The record-union., 1899-11-05

who in all the East Indian Spanish pos
sessions became oppressofs of the poor
and offenders against every line in the
decalogue; plotters against the Govern
ment and dictators in all local affairs.
Worcester tells us that the friars pro-
cured the recall of General Blanco from
the Philippines because he was too hui
name to suit their notions: that the
feud between the temporal and spirit
ual powers in the islands has been long
and bitter, and that the spirituals al
ways prevailed. Councils of mercy to
the natives. he says, always proceeded
from the State, not from the church.
Andres de Urdaneta and his body
of Augustinians found a race whose
credulity and superstition were up
| bounded, and their successors, playing
ON these weaknesses, rendered the ma
tive little more than an ignorant
slave" Says Don Jose Aguilar: ''The
clero has believed that ignorance is
indispensable for the complete observ-
Says the Quarterly Review: Mere
lapses from the strict path of sexual
morality are so frequent as to excite
no remark Says Mr.. Foreman,
speaking of an acquaintance in Negros:
my host was the son of secular cler-
gyman; his wife and sister-in-law were
the daughters Of a friar: the sister-in-
law was the mistress of a friar: my
host had a son married to another
friars daughter.
A pagan Mangyan, whose conversion
was attempted, replied that if he became
a Christian it would cost money to be
born, money to be allowed to live,
money to marry, money to die. and
money to be buried. and that he con-
sidered himself better off as he was.
I'm one way or another" says Fore
man, 1.-The native who possesses any,
thing worth having, has either to yield
to the avarice, lust or insolence of the
Spanish priest or risk losing his liberty
and his position in life."
Worcester and Stevens both tell Of
the extortionate demands of the priests,
especially for funerals, so great that
the people could not at once raise the
the money. zone instance was where
the friar caused the bodies to be ex-
humed and exposed on trees in the vii
lage square until the relatives or
friends were able to pay the fees.
Worcester tells of a clerical who 'stop-
ped the delivery Of cargo Of rice sent
during a famine to relieve his starry
ing parishioners, that he might sell his
own store to such survivors as were
able to pay the price,
"And these, it must be remembered
are no isolated cases instanced," adds
Professor Worcester. The Quarterly
Review" adds: 1T is not astonishing
therefore, to find a hatred so bitter on
the part OF the more enlightened native,
a condemnation so general and SO
sweeping on that of all recent travel
ers Mr.. Lala, the Filipino
author, churchman already re-
ferred to, declares: Here is one
of the hardest problems of the fu-
ture There is but one way out
of the diff1culty-to expel the whole
body of friars from the islands. By so
doing much bloodshed will in the end
be avoided"
The whole body of ecclesiastics is not
included in this indictment, for the ma
tive clergy have been quite as much
oppressed as the 1aymen whose inter-
ests and sympathies they share. Cap
tain General Despujois instituted
search and found various seditious
pamphlets which the friars accused
the native clergy of disseminating, but
they were in reality found to be the
products of the friar's own printing
presses. "They thus hoped to shed
luster ON their own body and ruin their
opponents" So powerful were they
that they managed to overthrow Des-
pujols and ruin him.
But against the Jesuits no such COM
plants were ever made. They were
jealousy regarded by the friars, but
they did their duty as missionaries in
the face Of danger and hardship. They
attended to the spiritual and educa-
tional and did not mingle in secular
concerns. They advanced the cause of
science wherever placed. To them is
due the geographical knowledge We
have of the great southern island of
Mindanao. The grammars and voca-
bularies in use are their work. They
founded the great observatory in Ma
Mia, with it's elaborate seismic instru
ments to record earthquakes. They
set up weather service through
which approach of typhoons was fore
told, and thus vast property values and
innumerable lives were saved.
There were and are many noble
priests in the islands true to their call
the word. But all the testimony is in
one direction and to one end, namely,
that the friars have been the bane of
the Spanish possessions; have enslaved
the people, become arrogant, extortion-
ate, violators of laws, moral and secu-
lar, divine and Legislative; upholders
and promoters of the cruelties practiced
by the Spanish residents upon the ma