Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-04-26

| damned in the hereafter. SPANS army in
| the ISLANDS was never large, while her civil
omciai roll was also comparatively small.
FOR this reason. and because the church
was a state institution, churchmen played
a large part in governmental affairs.
The priests were subsidized by the state.
practically all Of them receiving a regular
allowance from the government treasury.
| In vast number of the towns of the archi-
peiago the priest was the only representa-
tive OF Spanish sovereignty among the peo-
| pie, being not only the Intermediary be-
tween the government and the people but
performing as well the duties of a govern
| ment official The strong arm of the state,
| with its mysterious power to arrest, i'm
prison, punish or kill, was always back OF
him, making his authority dreaded among
the people. So strong, in fact did the re-
Iisious corporations grow eventually, and
SO powerful was their influence throughout
the islands, that the government and it's
ofhcers became their puppets, and the ten
ure of the governor or the officers who
dared oppose their will or their plans was
short.
Abuse of Influence.
It is not altogether strange that this ire
| mendous influence given into their hands
was too often abused. The high ends of
their calling soon became little more than a
memory, their power being prostituted to
satisfy personal appetites and enmities and
to enrich their orders. Holding over their
| intended victims the twin terrors of punish
ment here and hereafter, few ever dared
to resist their will and none perhaps sue
cessfully. Concubinage on the part of
priests with the women of their parishes
was OF such common occurrence as scarcely
to excite comment. To such an extent, in
deed, did their power their sophistry and
their spiritual influence extend over the
hpi hot ha 1o- fro
quently considered it an honor to have re-
lations with the priests, and were proud of
the children they bore him. Many of the
prominent Fflipinos of the islands today
trace their Spanish blood to this source,
ana openly speak of the fact
All the terrors of the death bed, coupled
with the alluring promise of Indulgence for
all earthly SINS were used to secure dona-
tions and requests of property to the or
ders, and their riches grew apace. Fees for
baptism, marriage and burial were in most
cases excessive, and were raised the
wealth Of the individual made collection
possible. In many instances the fees
charged for the sacrament of marriage were
such that the people of the poorer classes
dispensed with the marriage ceremony alto
gether, finding it impossible to meet the
charges. To speak against the church or
seek to combat its influence marked man
Tor punishment or execution.
Jose Rizal's Fate.
There can be but little doubt that Dr.
Jose Rial. perhaps the greatest native the
Islands have produced, and who was pub
licly shot upon the Luneta, Manila, as late
as December 80 1896, met his death be-
cause of his antagonism Of the religious
orders in his book, ''Noli Me Tangere," and
his constant efforts to free the people from
their baneful enfiuence. These indictments
may seem hard but their truth is forced
upon any who travels up and down
these islands with open eyes and ears. The
charge as to immortality is proved by the
universal testimony of the people and by
the numerous offspring of the priests scat
tered throughout the country. who take no
pains to deny the relation. Their success
full effort to enrich themselves is more than
established by the fact that three of the
orders alone, the DominicanS, AuguStinians
and Recolletos, own over 100000 acres OF
the choicest agricultural lands of the archi-
pelago, besides large holdings of real es-
tate in the city of Manila and other towns
of the islands. The effect of their arbi-
trary actions and conduct toward the peo-
pie generally is found in the bitter and inn
placable hatred felt against them through
out the entire archipelago.
That this widespread feeling exists cam
not be seriously questioned, and any effort
on the part Of the church to hide it or to
belittle it is idle as 1t is useless The
root of this animosity on the part Of the
people against the friarS is found, no
doubt in the general conditions already
described. The center of the trouble, how
ever, was, no doubt, a political one, i'm
that the friar represented to the people
all that was vicious and bad in Spanish
governmental methods. He was to them
the visible embodiment of grinding and
oppressive taxes, of CONSUMPTION, OF cruel
and unjust punishments, and Of every ar
bitrary and unreasonable demand made
by a government whose officials were con-
cerned In everything but the good of the
governed.
The Friar the Point of Attack.
The friar being the exposed part of the
government machine was the point of at
tack. 1t is well to state here that In the
various uprisings of this people against
the Spanish authorities no demand was
ever made for independence. The fight
was not against Spanish sovereignty, but
against the intolerable abuses of the gov
eminent, as represented by the church.
Relief was often promised to the people
by the government, but it had no power
to execute its agreements The church
had grown stronger than the state, and
successfully resisted any change which
threatened to curtail it's privileges or its
power. In the final uprising Immediately
preceding American occupation over forty
friars We're killed and over four hundred
taken and kept prisoners. The cry of
the people was and still is Down with
the friars''
Archbishop Chapelle's Mission.
With affairs in this condition Archbishop
Chapelle of New Orleans was sent as apos-
tolic delegate of the church, with instruc-
lions to examine into the affairs of the
church in the islands and to harmonic the
discordant elements therein so far as might
be possible 1t is not unfair to state that
measured by results, his mission was an
entire failure. Whether from interested
motives or otherwise, Archbishop Chapelle
identified himself closely with the friar in
dpStrOVpd a1v
whatever influence he might else have had
In bringing about better relations on the
part of the church with the great mass of
the Catholics of the islands. 1t has been
said that this line of conduct was pursued
upon the belief that by enlisting the DOW
erful influence of the monastic orders he