The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-10-24
He Thinks General Funston Has Been
Misguided i'm Charging Them
with F~omentinG Revolution.
MANY ARE In REBEL PRISONS
UNDERGOING TORTURE AT HANDS OF
AGUINALDO's FOLLOWERS.
Trfbute to the Work of the Relig-
iOus Orders in the Philippines
Property.

WASHINGTON. Oct. 2-Archbisop Chap
pelle, of New Orleans. apostolic delegate to
Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines to-
day gave out the following statement to
the Ass ociated Press:
I'm answer to General Funston's state
ment made in an address to the students
of Stanford University that If Congress
would drive out the friars and confiscate
every inch of church property the bottom
che week. The inha bitants of Iuzon are
completely under tie church. l deem 1t
proper to make the following public state
nent:
knowing what do from most relia-
BILE authority of General Funston'S broad
mindedness and sense of fairness, L do not
believe tina he has been quoted correctly.
He may have stated that the insurgents de-
mand this as a condition OF peace; but that
he gave them as his own sentiments L
cannot credit. From my own experience l
know how easily it is TO be misquoted. All
1 can say is, If General Funston did make
this statement he manifested a dense ignor-
epce of the work done by the religious
orders in this archipelago. On the very face
of it, however. it shows quite plainly that
il did not come from one as well posted as
General Funston should be on affairs in
Luzon. He is quoted as saying: The inhabi-
tants of Luzon are completely under the
church. Now I would ask how can this be
possible when every priest with the ex-
ception of a few natives) in the island OF
Luzon. outside of the walled city of Manila
10 q oAAS ol tiC Aco 81 ~ R'Se
eighteen months this state Of affairs has
existed and during all this period more than
$50 friars rave been undergoing unheard of
tortures in inSurgent dungeons. This being
a fact, Ii Is hard for me TO see how the
islands can be under the friars. 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 a fact well
known; but we are told by the government
officials (and / know it to be a fact from
other reliable s%ourcesl that the insurgents
represent only one tribe out of the eighty
five tribes peopling the archipelago, so the
sentiments voiced by the insurgents about
the friars and church propery cannot be
taken as the sentiments of the great body
of the natives, no more than they can be
taken as the sentiments of the natives to-
wards our people and government.
OWE MUCH TO THE FRIARS.
Whatever the natives are or have they
owe to the friars. By them they were lifted
put Of savagery and brought under the
blessed and refining influences of Chris
tianity. 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.. Peyton, the agent of
the Episcopal Foreign Mission Association,
tells US that the natives are the most moral
hoAOo PCORlS VII Tie lace OIL The
gioDe. Now, the men who taught them
10 be so cannot be such men as some mar
roW-ninded people would try and nave us
believe. Rev. DR.. Abel. a Scotch Protes-
tant missionary, also ~testifies that nearly
the whole population of the Philippine
archlpelago has been converted to the
Catnoic faith by the Spanish monks, and
a wonderful Improvement in their social
condition has been the result He then
goes on TO show that If any one doubts this
Improvement ii can easily be made manifest
by comparing the Christian native with his
southern neighbor Of the same blood-the
fanatical Moor.
"As to the c~onfiscation of the estates. you
might as well talk of confiscatingl the es-
tates OF the Vanderbilts, the Astors and
other millionaires whose estates have, in
the course of years, grown so wonderfully.
There would be just as much right and ius.
tice in one case as in the other. The es.
tates of the religious orders have been ac.
CURED in the usual way by purchase. and in
the course of nearly four centuries have
naturally grown large. but if even un-
biased Protestant witnesses are to be cred.
tied, large as they are, all are used fol
the betterment and uplifting of the ma
tives.
"A former British consul Ga Protestant
writing on this subject, says: 1T was BY
means Of these estates the friars introduced
agriculture and settled habits of life amons
tribes originally nomadic.' 1t was by means
in villages and introduced among them the
arts of civilized life. 1t was by means Of
these estates that they acquired the power
VI iiluuClllS lucln 10 dDOT WITH a certain
amount of regularity and method-the grear
safeguard against a relapse again into theil
original state of savagery.
IN NEED OF TUTELAGE.
The natives, he says, are, with some
rare exceptions, in need of tutelage, with,
out which they would fall back to the Gus.
toms of their ancestors; a tutelage thai
no one can exercise better than the friars
Within the precincts of the monasteries are
to be found carpenter shops, FORCES, brick
and tile yards, etc., to teach the natives
various trades. The villages around then
presented a pleasing picture of happiness
and content, in startling contrast to those
who were still pagan and uncivilized.'
I'm a short time l will start for the
Philippines and L will personally investir
gate all charges made against religion:
completed my work 1 would ask the gooC
people Of the United States not to be too
gentlemen whose previous training ant
lack OF opportunities TO get at the rea
facts do not warrant their statements con
corning the Catholic ministers of religion
the Intellectual capacity and the moral anC
social condition of the people of the archi
pelago. Their statements should not b'
taken as undisputed facts by sensible AM
just minds; nor can they. therefore. b
taken as an exact presentation of a con
dition of things In the Philippines upol
which the United States government coult
prudently and equitably base its policy witt
regard to this archipelago. The church ask
only Justice, and j will not countenanc
the retention of one inch of property which
is not legitimately held.
lone word now on another subject.
see that IL is said that the object of m.
visit to the White House on Saturday wa
to protest against the footing. and desecrat
ing of the churches in the Philippines Thi
was not the case. AS TO the looting an
decorating of these churches 1 am in
formed by a person, whose word 1 canno
doubt. that this footing was not done b.
our American soldiers, but by the insur
gents and the Chinese.
'P. L. CHAPPELLE,
Archbishop of New Orleans, Delegat
Apostolic"
ron MONnMENT