El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-07-07


ery, COnQuests and admins
! tration of the Philippine islands is re-
plete with adventure, romance. in
trigue, blOOdShed and Of the remaklng
( Of race through religion rather than
] through force The cracked and worm
eaten pages Of history barking back
! for nearly 400 years tell not only of
! Spaniards and Filipinos, but OF POr-
! tuguese, Dutch, British and Chinese.
I Soldiers. priests civil administrators,
] pirates and harlOts schemed their
! lives away in plots and cOunterpIOts
/ from generation unto generation, from
/ century unto century, weaving into
/ the pre-American history of the Phil
! Of the Arabian Nights.
] The Philippine islands were discOy-
] cred by Ferdinand Magellan in the
! name of King Charles V. of Spain, May
| Z, 1921. Magellan haE explored the
2 MOluccas for the king of Portugal and
| it was there that he heard of the
| Spice islands. But his king gave him
/ a cold reception upon his return TO
| Portugal and as a result he entered
| the service Of Spain.
Pope Divides the World.
Another interesting point which
] seems amusing today in view of the
I relative Importance Of Spain and POr-
| tugal in comparison with the great ma
| items of today, is that in the days Of
! Magellan, Spain and Portugal were
considered so powerful that Pope Alex
ander VI. divided the world equally
among them To Portugal he gave
that which lay TO the east of a meri-'
dian which he fixed $40 leagues to the
west Of the Cape Verde islands, and
to Spain he gave the half lying to
the west of that meridian Magellan
4 believed that MOlucca islands were
situated in the Spanish hemisphere and
proposed to Charles V. that he endea-
vOr to reach these islands by the
western route, the course travelled at
that time by the Portuguese being
a Of
The king agreed and Magellan sailed
from Seville on August 10, 1913. He
discovered the straits which are now
known as Magellan straits, crossed
which he knew the MOlucca islands
We're situated and thus discovered the
Philippine archipelago
Glory Goes to Del CaRO.
He landed at the port OF Cebu, April
Z. 1920. The landing was effected
only after fight with the natives.
Trouble continued between the Ma
gellan party and the native chief un-
til Magellan agreed to Join the chief
in his tribal war on the chief of the
island OF Mactan near Cebu- He was
killed in the fight his followers com
PEELED to flee from the Islands and
the command devOlved upon Capt
Juan Sebastian del CanO. InasmuCh
as the voyage out had been across
the Paclflc and the return was made
via Cape of Good Hope. the glory Of
having been the first party TO 90
around the world went TO del CanO
and the handful Of men who made the
return trip with him.
Magellan's newly discovered islands
were named POnienue Islands, the
word 'pOniente' meaning very poor.
An expedition under the famous eN-
plOrer fernando COrtes ventured
forth, reaching the MOluccas, but not
the POnientes. The next hardy mar
iner to make the hazardous voyage
was Capt Andrea de UrdanetO, who af-
Hs.r.r a--r1s-
He left Navidad, Mexico. on November
1, 1912. Three ships went to pieces on
the coast Of Samar and the explorer
reached Spain only after an absence of
ing the Islands Of POniente was then
given up.
However, Philip II. decided to send
another expedition to the islands
Magl LOpey de Legaspi was selected
TO command the expedition. He was
appointed governor and captain-gen-
eral for life Of all the lands he might
occupy. Accompanying him was cap
tain Urdaneta, now an .AUgustinian
frlar, whose knowledge obtained dur
ing the voyage of LOaisa. was very
useful on the trip Legaspi and Ur-
daneLa sailed from NaVidad Mexico,
on November y. 1864. on February
13, 1865 the island of Leyte was
reached; then in turn he touched at
the islands of MindanaO. BOhOI and
Cebu- He took possession of each in
the name of king Philip H. and thus
the islands became known as the
Philippine islands.
Mexico at Bottom of Move.
It is fact that this definite pos
Session of the islands was prompted
by religion and not in search of gold.
me FlcerOy Of Mexico who dispatched
Legaspl IN the name of Philip IL di-
rected him to treat the AuguStianian
frlarS IN his company with the ut
most respect and consideration so that
the natives would also hold them in
respect He wrote Legaspi. You are
aware that the chief end sought by
his majesty is the increase of the holy
Catholic faith and the salvation of the
souls Of these infidels." When the
king was later told that the Philip
pines were not rich in gold and pearls,
he answered
That is not a matter Of moment. I
am an instrument of divine PrOvi-
dence- The main thing is the CONVEX
sion Of the kingdom of LuZOn. and
God has predestined me for that end,
having chosen me as king for that
And since he has intrusted
crown I shall help the islands Of Iu-
zon even though by doing so I ex-
haust my treasury"
Again in 1919 in the reign of Philip
III II was proposed to abandon the
philippines on the ground of their use
less. expense to Spain and an order to
that effect was given A delegation
of Spanish friars from the islands an
pealed to the king personally not to
abandon the 100000 Christians whom
they had by that time converted. and
the order was cOuntermanded Indeed, I
the friars always had greater influence
in the Philippines than the civil au-
thorlties and more than once the arch
bishop ruled the islands with the gov ,
eminent agent in the role of bejeWeled
major dOmO to his grace.
Naval Battles in 1900.
The seventeenth century in the Phil
ippines was featured by the naval bat
ties in the year 1900 between the /
Dutch and the Spaniards. The Dutch
corsair Oliver van MORT hove into
view with two Warships. His object {
was TO capture the galleOn which left
Manila once every year with a rich
cargo for Mexico. Two galleys and !
300 soldiers were equipped by the
Spaniards for the fight and a battle
royal ensued at the very mouth of
Manila Bay The Dutch commander
was defeated, escaping with one ship
IN flames. leaving the other in the pos
session of the Spaniards. This little
celebration ended with a hanging bee /
In which the Dutch captives We're the Z
principal actors.
Other events consisted in the ar /
rival Of hundreds of Augustinian. /
franciscan and Dominican friars; the |
expulsion Of the Dutch from the Mo- !
.Uccas by governor Acuua. the disas- (
-rous failure of tthe Spaniards TO col I
)nize the MOluccas. the immigration I
of thousands Of Chinese and the sub I