September 3, 2025 • 23 mins
Delve into one of the earliest comprehensive studies of Philippine history crafted by an American scholar. This remarkable work stems from the authors ethnological research on indigenous island tribes following the American war in the Philippines. Aimed at the Filipino audience, the author skillfully weaves the islands history into the expansive tapestry of European and American narratives, offering a unique perspective on the cultural and historical significance of the Philippines. (Summary by JoeD)
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Chapter eleven, Part two, A History of the Philippines. This
is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
LibriVox doroorg. Recording by Nathan Markham. A scientific survey of
the coast of the Islands. About seventeen ninety the Philippines
(00:21):
were visited by two Spanish frigates, the Discubierta and the Atrevida,
under the command of Captain Malaspina. These vessels formed an
exploring expedition sent out by the Spanish government to make
a hydrographic and astronomic survey of the coasts of Spanish America,
the Ladrones and the Philippines. It was one of those
(00:42):
creditable enterprises for the widening of scientific knowledge which modern
governments have successively and with great honor conducted. The expedition
charted the strait of the San Bernardino, the coasts of
several of the Bisayan islands, and Mindanao. One of the
scientists the party was the young botanist don Antonio Pineda,
(01:03):
who died in Ilocos in seventeen ninety two, but whose
studies in the Flora of the Philippines thoroughly established his reputation.
A monument to his memory was erected near the church
in Malat, but it has since suffered from neglect and
is now falling in ruins. Establishment of a permanent navy
in the Philippines. The intentions of England in this archipelago
(01:27):
were still regarded with suspicion by the Spanish government, and
in seventeen ninety five and seventeen ninety six a strong
Spanish fleet, sent secretly by way of the coast of
South America, was concentrated in the waters of the Philippines,
under the command of Admiral Alava. Its object was the
defense of the islands in case of a new war
(01:48):
with Great Britain. News of the declaration of war between
these two countries reached Manila in March seventeen ninety seven,
but though for many months there was anxiety, in England
made no attempt at reoccupation. These events led, however, to
the formation of a permanent naval squadron, with headquarters and
naval station at Cavite Note one. These little islands have
(02:12):
a dense population, but owing to their stormy situation, seemed
never to have been examined until the visit of the
English freebooter Dampier in sixteen eighty seven. End Note the
climax of Moro piracy. The continued presence of the Moros
in Mindoro, where they haunted the bays and rivers of
both east and west coasts for months at a time,
(02:34):
stealing off from this island for attack in every direction,
was especially noted by Padre Sufiliga and indicated how feebly
the Spaniards repulsed these pirates. A hundred years ago. It
was the latest severe phase of Malay piracy, when even
the strongest merchant ships of England and America dreaded the
Straits of Borneo and passed with caution through the China Sea,
(02:57):
North Borneo, the Sulu Archipelago, and the southern coasts of
Minninow with the centers from which came these fierce sea wolves,
whose cruel exploits have left their many traditions in the
American and British merchant navies, just as they periodically appear
in the chronicles of the Philippines. Five hundred captives annually
seem to have been the spoils taken by these motos
(03:20):
in the Philippines Islands and as far south as Batavia
and Macassar. Captive Filipinos were sold in the slave marts
of the Malays. The aged and infirm were in humanly
bartered to the savage tribes of Borneo, who offered them
up in their ceremonial sacrifices. The measures of the Spanish government,
though constant and expensive, were ineffective. Between seventeen seventy eight
(03:45):
and seventeen ninety three, a million and a half of
besos were expended on the fleets and expeditions to drive
back or punish the Motos, but at the end of
the century a veritable climax of piracy was attained. Pirates
swarmed continually about the coasts of Mindoro, Burias, and Masbate,
(04:06):
and even frequented the Esteros of Manila Bay. Some sort
of peace seems to have been established with Holo, and
a friendly commerce was engaged in toward the end of
the century, but the Motos of Mindanao and Borneo were
unceasing enemies. In seventeen ninety eight, a fleet of twenty
five Moro bancas passed up the Pacific coast of Lucon
(04:28):
and fell upon the isolated towns of Balaer, Casiguran and Palanan,
destroying the pueblos and taking four hundred and fifty captives.
The Kura of Casiguran was ransomed in Binangonan for the
sum of twenty five hundred pesos For four years. This
pirate fleet and its rendezvous on Burias, whence it raided
(04:51):
the adjacent coasts in the Catanduanes the Great Wars in
America and Europe. The English riachicupied Baalambangan in eighteen o three,
beheld the island for only three years, when it is
definitely abandoned. For some years, however, the coasts of the
Philippines were threatened by English vessels, and there was reflected
(05:13):
here in the far East the tremendous conflicts which were
convulsing Europe at this time. The wars which changed Europe
at the close of the eighteenth century following the French
Revolution formed one of the most important and interesting periods
of European history, but it is also one of the
most difficult Peers to judge and describe. We will say
(05:36):
of it here only so much as will be sufficient
to show the effect upon Spain, and so upon the Philippines.
The Revolution of the English Colonies in America. In seventeen
seventy six, the thirteen English colonies on the Atlantic coast
of North America declared their independence of Great Britain and
the unfair treatment of the British King and Parliament they had,
(05:56):
they believed just grounds for revolution. Eight years of war continued,
by which England strove to reduce them again to obedience.
But at the end of that time, England, having successively
lost two armies of invasion by defeat and capture, made
peace with the American colonists and recognized their independence. In
(06:16):
seventeen eighty nine, the Americans framed their present constitution and
established the United States of America. The French Revolution condition
of the people in France. In their struggle for independence.
The Americans had been aided by France, who hoped, through
this opportunity, to cripple her great colonial rival England. Between
America and France there was close sympathy of political ideas
(06:38):
and theories, although in their actual social conditions the two
countries were as widely separated as could be. In America,
the society and government were democratic. All classes were experienced
in politics and government they had behind them the priceless
heritage of England's long struggle for free and representative government.
There was an abundance of the necessaries of las and
(07:00):
nearly complete freedom of opportunity. France, like nearly every other
country of continental Europe, was suffering from the obsolete burden
of feudalism. The ownership of the land was divided between
the aristocracy and the church. The great bulk of the
population were serfs, a bound to the estates, miserably oppressed
and suffering from lack of food and despoiled of almost
(07:23):
every blessing which can brighten and dignify human life. The
life of the court and of the nobility grew more luxurious, extravagant,
and selfish as the economic conditions in France became worse.
The king was nearly an absolute monarch, his will was law,
and the earlier representative institutions, which in England had developed
(07:43):
into the splendid system of parliamentary government, had in France
fallen into decay. In other countries of Europe, the German
states of Austria, Italy and Spain, the condition of the
people was quite as bad, probably in some places even
worse than it was in France. But it was in
France that the revolt broke forth, and it was France
(08:05):
which led Europe in a movement for a better and
more democratic order. Frenchmen had fought in the armies of America,
they had experienced the benefits of a freer society, and
it is significant that in the same year seventeen eighty nine,
thus saw the founding of the American state of the
revolution in France began. It started in a sincere and
(08:25):
conservative attempt to remedy the evils under which France was suffering.
But the accumulation of injustice and misery was too great
to be settled by slow and hesitating measures. The masses,
ignorant and bitter with their wrongs, broke from the control
of statesmen and reformer threw themselves upon the established state
and church, both equally detestable to them, and tore them
(08:48):
to pieces. Both king and Queen died by beheading. The
nobility were either murdered or expelled. The revolutionary government, if
such it could be called, fell into the hands of
wicked and terrible leaders who maintained themselves by murder and terrorism.
Effects of the revolution these are the outward and terrible
(09:09):
expressions of the revolution which were seized upon by European statesmen,
and which have been most dwelt upon by historical writers.
But apart from the bloody acts of the years from
seventeen ninety three to seventeen ninety five, the Revolution modernized
France and brought in calculable gains to the French people.
By the seizure of the great estates and their division
(09:30):
among the peasantry, the agricultural products of the country were
doubled in a single year, and that terrible condition of
semi starvation which had prevailed for centuries was ended. The
other monarchies of Europe regarded the events in France with
horror and alarm. Monarchs felt their own thrones threatened, and
a coalition of European monarchies was formed to destroy the
(09:53):
Republic and to restore the French monarchy in old regime.
France found herself invaded by armies upon every front. It
was then the remarkable effects produced by the revolution upon
the people of France appeared with a passionate enthusiasm which
was irresistible. The people responded to the call for war.
Great armies were enlisted, which by an almost uninterrupted series
(10:17):
of victories, threw back the forces of the allies. Men
rose from obscurity to the command of armies, and there
was developed that famous group of commanders, the Marshals of France.
Out of this terrible period of warfare. There arose too
another who was, perhaps, if we except the Macedonian King Alexander,
the greatest man ever permitted to lead armies and to
(10:39):
rule men. Bonaparte, later the Emperor Napoleon the first France
and Europe under Napoleon Bonaparte. From seventeen ninety five, when
Bonaparte was given command of the invasion of Italy until
eighteen fifteen, when he was finally defeated at Waterloo in Belgium,
Europe experienced almost continuous war. The genius of Napoleon reduced
(11:02):
to the position of vassal states Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium,
Germany and Austria. In all these countries, the ancient thrones
were humbled, feudalism was swept away, and the power of
a corrupt church and aristocracy was broken. In spite of
the humiliation of national pride, these great benefits to Europe
(11:23):
of Napoleon's conquests cannot be overestimated. Wherever Napoleon's power extended,
there followed the results of the revolution, a better system
of law, the introduction of the liberal code Napoleon, the
liberation of the people from the crushing toils of medievalism,
and the founding of a better society. These are the
(11:43):
debts which Europe owes to the French Revolution, the decline
of Spain lack of progress in this advance in progress
Spain did not share. The Empire of Napoleon was never
established in the peninsula. In eighteen eleven, the Spaniards, with
the assusmstance of the English, under the Great General Wellington,
repulsed the armies of the French. This victory, so gratifying
(12:07):
to national pride, was perhaps a real loss to Spain,
for the reforms which prevailed in the other parts of
Europe were never carried out in Spain, and she remains
even yet unliberated from aristocratic and clerical power. A liberal
constitutional government was however, set up in Spain in eighteen
twelve by the Cortesse, and in eighteen fourteen King Ferdinand
(12:30):
the Seventh, aided by the Spanish aristocracy and clergy, was
able to overthrow this representative government and with tyrannical power
to cast reforms aside, fifty thousand people were imprisoned for
their liberal opinions. The Inquisition was restored, the Cortesse abolished,
and its acts nullified. The effects of these acts upon
(12:51):
the Philippines will be noticed presently. Separation of the Philippines
from Mexico. The events of these years served to separate
the Fililippines from their long dependency on Mexico. In eighteen thirteen,
the Cortes decreed the suppression of the subsidized Acapulco Galleon.
The Mexican trade had long been waning and voyages had
(13:12):
become less profitable. The last of the galleons left Manila
in eighteen eleven and returned from Acapulco in eighteen fifteen,
never again to attempt this classical voyage. The cessation of
these voyages only briefly preceded the complete separation from America.
From the first period of settlement, the Philippines had, in
many respects been a dependency of the New World. Mexico
(13:35):
had until late afforded the only means of communication with
the mother country, the only land of foreign trade Mexican
officials frequently administered the government of the islands. The Mexican
Indians formed the larger part of the small standing army
of the Philippines, including the regiment of the King. As
we have seen, a large subsidy, the Situalo, was annually
(13:58):
drawn from the Mexican treasury to assist the deficient revenues
of the Philippines. Rebellion of the South American countries, but
the grievances of the Spanish American colonists were very great
and very real. The revolution, which had successfully stirred North
America and Europe, now passed back again to the Spanish
countries of the New World, and between eighteen ten and
(14:20):
eighteen twenty five they fought themselves free of Spain. The
last of the colonies from which the Spaniards were forced
to retire was Peru. Mexico achieved her separation in eighteen twenty.
Spain lost every possession upon the mainland of both Americas,
and the only vestiges of her once vast American empire
were the rich islands of the Greater Antilles, Cuba and
(14:43):
Puerto Rico. Limited trade with the Philippines. The Philippines were
now forced to communicate by ship directly with Spain. The
route for the next fifty years lay by sailing vessels
around the Cape of Good Hope. It occupied from four
to six months. But this route had now become practically
a neutral passage. Its winds and currents were well understood,
(15:05):
and it was annually followed by greater numbers of vessels
of Europe, England and United States. Trade was still limited
to the ships of the Royal Philippine Company, and this
shipping monopoly lasted until eighteen thirty five, when a new
era in the commercial and industrial life of the Philippines opened.
An English commercial house was established in Manila. As early
(15:26):
as eighteen o nine. Volcanic eruptions, the terrible eruptions of
Mount tal, the last of which occurred in seventeen fifty four,
were followed in the next century by the destructive activity
of Mount Mayon. In eighteen fourteen, an indescribable eruption of
ashes and lava occurred, and the rich hemp towns around
(15:47):
the base of this mountain were destroyed. Father Francisco Aragonesis
Gura of Cagsawa, an eye witness, states that twelve thousand
people perished in the Church of Buriau alone, two hundred
lay dead. Rebellions in the Philippines the Liberal Spanish Cortess
(16:08):
two revolts in the Philippines that occurred at this period
are of much importance and show the effect in the
Philippines of the political changes in Spain. In eighteen ten,
the Liberal Spanish Cortest had declared that the kingdoms and
provinces of America and Asia are and ought to have
been always reputed an integral part of the Spanish monarchy,
(16:29):
and for that same their natives and free inhabitants are
equal in rights and privileges to those of the Peninsula.
This important declaration, which if carried out, would have completely
revolutionized Spain's colonial policy, was published in the Philippines, and
with that remarkable and interesting facility by which such news
is spread even among the least educated classes of Filipinos,
(16:52):
this proclamation had been widely disseminated and discussed throughout the islands.
It was welcomed by the Filipino with great satisfyc action,
because he believed it exempted him from the enforced labor
of the polos y cervicios. These were the unremunerated tasks
required of Filipinos for the construction of public works, bridges, roads,
(17:13):
churches and convents. Effect of the repeal of the Declaration
of the Cortess, King Ferdinand seven in May eighteen fourteen,
on his return to power, as we have seen, published
the famous decree abolishing constitutional government in Spain and annulling
all the acts of the Corteses, including those which aimed
(17:34):
to liberalize the government of the colonies. These decrees, when
published in the Philippines, appeared to the Filipinos to return
them to slavery, and in many places their disaffection turned
to rebellion. In Ilocos, twelve hundred men banded together, sacked
convents and churches, and destroyed the books and documents of
the municipal archives. Their fury seems to have been particularly
(17:58):
directed against the petty tyrants of their own race. The
Kasike or principalis. The result of Spanish civilization in the
Philippines had been to educate and to a certain degree
enrich a small class of Filipinos, usually known as distinguidos
or the hente Illustrada. It is this class which has
(18:20):
absorbed the direction of municipal and local affairs, and which
almost alone of the Filipino population has shared in those
benefits and opportunities which civilized life should bring. The vast
majority of the population have unfortunately fallen or remained in
a dependent and almost semi servile position beneath the principals
(18:43):
in Ilocos. This subordinate class, or de panientes, is known
as Kilian. And it was these Kailian who now fell
upon their more wealthy masters, burning their houses and destroying
their property, and in some instances killing them. The assignment
of compulsory labor have left to the principalis in their
positions as goberto norcillos and cabss de Barangay. And these
(19:07):
officials had unquestionably abused their power and had drawn upon
themselves the vengeance of the Chilian. This revolt, it will
be noticed, was primarily directed neither against Friars nor Spanish authorities,
but against the unfortunate social order which the rule of
Spain maintained. A revolt led by Spaniards, a plot with
(19:30):
far more serious motives, took place in eighteen twenty three.
The official positions in their regiments and provinces had previously
been held almost entirely by Spaniards born in America or
the Philippines. The government now attempted to fill these positions
with Spaniards from Spain. The officials, deprived of their positions,
(19:51):
incited the native troops which they had commanded, into a revolt,
which began in the walled city in Manila. About eight
hundred soldiers followed them, and they gained possession of the
Quartel of the King, of the Royal Palace and of
the Cabildo, but they failed to seize the fortress of Santiago.
It was not properly a revolt of Filipinos, as the
(20:14):
people were not involved and did not rise, but it
had its influence in exciting later insurrection insurrection on Bohol.
Since the insurrection on Bohol in seventeen forty four, when
the natives had killed the Jesuit missionaries, a large part
of the island had been practically independent under the leader Dagooi.
(20:36):
After the expulsion of the Jesuits, recollects were placed in
special charge of those towns along the sea coast which
had remained loyal to Spain. An effort was made to
secure the submission of the rebels by the proclamation of
a pardon, but the power of the revolt grew rather
than declined, until in eighteen twenty seven it was determined
to reduce their rebellion by force. An expedition of three
(21:00):
forty two hundred men was formed in Cebu, and in
April eighteen twenty eight the campaign took place, which resulted
in the defeat of the rebels and then settlement in
the Christian towns the new provinces of Banguet and Abra.
It is proper to notice also the slow advances of
Spanish authority which began to be made about this time
(21:22):
among the heathen tribes of northern Luson. These fierce and
powerful tribes occupy the entire range of the CORDILLERA. Central
missionary effort in the latter half of the eighteenth century
had succeeded in partly christianizing the tribes along the River
Magat in Nueva Viscaya, but the fierce head hunting Hillman
(21:42):
remained unsubdued and unchristianized. Between eighteen twenty three and eighteen
twenty nine, the Mission of Piedigan under an Augustinian Friar,
christianized some thousands of the Tinguineans of the River Abra.
In eighteen twenty nine, in exps addition of about sixty
soldiers under Donguilleremont, Galvai penetrated into the cool, elevated plateau
(22:07):
of Bengt. The diary of the leader recounts the difficult
march up the river cagling from Ringai, and their delight
upon emerging from the jungle and cogone upon the grassy
pine timbered slopes of the plateau. They saw little cultivated
valleys and small clusters of houses, and splendid herds of cattle,
carabaos and horses, which to this day have continued to
(22:30):
enrich the people of these mountains. At times they were
surrounded by the yelling bands of Igorots, and several times
they had to repulse attacks, but they nevertheless succeeded in
reaching the beautiful circular depression now known as the Valley
of Latrinidad. The Spaniards saw with enthusiasm the carefully separated
(22:51):
and walled fields growing camontes, daro and sugar cane. The
village of about five hundred houses was partly burned by
the Spaniards as the Egorotes continued hostile. The expedition returned
to the coast, having suffered only a few wounds. The
Commandancia of Benguet was not created until eighteen forty six,
(23:14):
in which year also Abra was organized as a province.
End of Chapter eleven, Part two
Chapter eleven, Part two, A History of the Philippines. This
is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
LibriVox doroorg. Recording by Nathan Markham. A scientific survey of
the coast of the Islands. About seventeen ninety the Philippines
(00:21):
were visited by two Spanish frigates, the Discubierta and the Atrevida,
under the command of Captain Malaspina. These vessels formed an
exploring expedition sent out by the Spanish government to make
a hydrographic and astronomic survey of the coasts of Spanish America,
the Ladrones and the Philippines. It was one of those
(00:42):
creditable enterprises for the widening of scientific knowledge which modern
governments have successively and with great honor conducted. The expedition
charted the strait of the San Bernardino, the coasts of
several of the Bisayan islands, and Mindanao. One of the
scientists the party was the young botanist don Antonio Pineda,
(01:03):
who died in Ilocos in seventeen ninety two, but whose
studies in the Flora of the Philippines thoroughly established his reputation.
A monument to his memory was erected near the church
in Malat, but it has since suffered from neglect and
is now falling in ruins. Establishment of a permanent navy
in the Philippines. The intentions of England in this archipelago
(01:27):
were still regarded with suspicion by the Spanish government, and
in seventeen ninety five and seventeen ninety six a strong
Spanish fleet, sent secretly by way of the coast of
South America, was concentrated in the waters of the Philippines,
under the command of Admiral Alava. Its object was the
defense of the islands in case of a new war
(01:48):
with Great Britain. News of the declaration of war between
these two countries reached Manila in March seventeen ninety seven,
but though for many months there was anxiety, in England
made no attempt at reoccupation. These events led, however, to
the formation of a permanent naval squadron, with headquarters and
naval station at Cavite Note one. These little islands have
(02:12):
a dense population, but owing to their stormy situation, seemed
never to have been examined until the visit of the
English freebooter Dampier in sixteen eighty seven. End Note the
climax of Moro piracy. The continued presence of the Moros
in Mindoro, where they haunted the bays and rivers of
both east and west coasts for months at a time,
(02:34):
stealing off from this island for attack in every direction,
was especially noted by Padre Sufiliga and indicated how feebly
the Spaniards repulsed these pirates. A hundred years ago. It
was the latest severe phase of Malay piracy, when even
the strongest merchant ships of England and America dreaded the
Straits of Borneo and passed with caution through the China Sea,
(02:57):
North Borneo, the Sulu Archipelago, and the southern coasts of
Minninow with the centers from which came these fierce sea wolves,
whose cruel exploits have left their many traditions in the
American and British merchant navies, just as they periodically appear
in the chronicles of the Philippines. Five hundred captives annually
seem to have been the spoils taken by these motos
(03:20):
in the Philippines Islands and as far south as Batavia
and Macassar. Captive Filipinos were sold in the slave marts
of the Malays. The aged and infirm were in humanly
bartered to the savage tribes of Borneo, who offered them
up in their ceremonial sacrifices. The measures of the Spanish government,
though constant and expensive, were ineffective. Between seventeen seventy eight
(03:45):
and seventeen ninety three, a million and a half of
besos were expended on the fleets and expeditions to drive
back or punish the Motos, but at the end of
the century a veritable climax of piracy was attained. Pirates
swarmed continually about the coasts of Mindoro, Burias, and Masbate,
(04:06):
and even frequented the Esteros of Manila Bay. Some sort
of peace seems to have been established with Holo, and
a friendly commerce was engaged in toward the end of
the century, but the Motos of Mindanao and Borneo were
unceasing enemies. In seventeen ninety eight, a fleet of twenty
five Moro bancas passed up the Pacific coast of Lucon
(04:28):
and fell upon the isolated towns of Balaer, Casiguran and Palanan,
destroying the pueblos and taking four hundred and fifty captives.
The Kura of Casiguran was ransomed in Binangonan for the
sum of twenty five hundred pesos For four years. This
pirate fleet and its rendezvous on Burias, whence it raided
(04:51):
the adjacent coasts in the Catanduanes the Great Wars in
America and Europe. The English riachicupied Baalambangan in eighteen o three,
beheld the island for only three years, when it is
definitely abandoned. For some years, however, the coasts of the
Philippines were threatened by English vessels, and there was reflected
(05:13):
here in the far East the tremendous conflicts which were
convulsing Europe at this time. The wars which changed Europe
at the close of the eighteenth century following the French
Revolution formed one of the most important and interesting periods
of European history, but it is also one of the
most difficult Peers to judge and describe. We will say
(05:36):
of it here only so much as will be sufficient
to show the effect upon Spain, and so upon the Philippines.
The Revolution of the English Colonies in America. In seventeen
seventy six, the thirteen English colonies on the Atlantic coast
of North America declared their independence of Great Britain and
the unfair treatment of the British King and Parliament they had,
(05:56):
they believed just grounds for revolution. Eight years of war continued,
by which England strove to reduce them again to obedience.
But at the end of that time, England, having successively
lost two armies of invasion by defeat and capture, made
peace with the American colonists and recognized their independence. In
(06:16):
seventeen eighty nine, the Americans framed their present constitution and
established the United States of America. The French Revolution condition
of the people in France. In their struggle for independence.
The Americans had been aided by France, who hoped, through
this opportunity, to cripple her great colonial rival England. Between
America and France there was close sympathy of political ideas
(06:38):
and theories, although in their actual social conditions the two
countries were as widely separated as could be. In America,
the society and government were democratic. All classes were experienced
in politics and government they had behind them the priceless
heritage of England's long struggle for free and representative government.
There was an abundance of the necessaries of las and
(07:00):
nearly complete freedom of opportunity. France, like nearly every other
country of continental Europe, was suffering from the obsolete burden
of feudalism. The ownership of the land was divided between
the aristocracy and the church. The great bulk of the
population were serfs, a bound to the estates, miserably oppressed
and suffering from lack of food and despoiled of almost
(07:23):
every blessing which can brighten and dignify human life. The
life of the court and of the nobility grew more luxurious, extravagant,
and selfish as the economic conditions in France became worse.
The king was nearly an absolute monarch, his will was law,
and the earlier representative institutions, which in England had developed
(07:43):
into the splendid system of parliamentary government, had in France
fallen into decay. In other countries of Europe, the German
states of Austria, Italy and Spain, the condition of the
people was quite as bad, probably in some places even
worse than it was in France. But it was in
France that the revolt broke forth, and it was France
(08:05):
which led Europe in a movement for a better and
more democratic order. Frenchmen had fought in the armies of America,
they had experienced the benefits of a freer society, and
it is significant that in the same year seventeen eighty nine,
thus saw the founding of the American state of the
revolution in France began. It started in a sincere and
(08:25):
conservative attempt to remedy the evils under which France was suffering.
But the accumulation of injustice and misery was too great
to be settled by slow and hesitating measures. The masses,
ignorant and bitter with their wrongs, broke from the control
of statesmen and reformer threw themselves upon the established state
and church, both equally detestable to them, and tore them
(08:48):
to pieces. Both king and Queen died by beheading. The
nobility were either murdered or expelled. The revolutionary government, if
such it could be called, fell into the hands of
wicked and terrible leaders who maintained themselves by murder and terrorism.
Effects of the revolution these are the outward and terrible
(09:09):
expressions of the revolution which were seized upon by European statesmen,
and which have been most dwelt upon by historical writers.
But apart from the bloody acts of the years from
seventeen ninety three to seventeen ninety five, the Revolution modernized
France and brought in calculable gains to the French people.
By the seizure of the great estates and their division
(09:30):
among the peasantry, the agricultural products of the country were
doubled in a single year, and that terrible condition of
semi starvation which had prevailed for centuries was ended. The
other monarchies of Europe regarded the events in France with
horror and alarm. Monarchs felt their own thrones threatened, and
a coalition of European monarchies was formed to destroy the
(09:53):
Republic and to restore the French monarchy in old regime.
France found herself invaded by armies upon every front. It
was then the remarkable effects produced by the revolution upon
the people of France appeared with a passionate enthusiasm which
was irresistible. The people responded to the call for war.
Great armies were enlisted, which by an almost uninterrupted series
(10:17):
of victories, threw back the forces of the allies. Men
rose from obscurity to the command of armies, and there
was developed that famous group of commanders, the Marshals of France.
Out of this terrible period of warfare. There arose too
another who was, perhaps, if we except the Macedonian King Alexander,
the greatest man ever permitted to lead armies and to
(10:39):
rule men. Bonaparte, later the Emperor Napoleon the first France
and Europe under Napoleon Bonaparte. From seventeen ninety five, when
Bonaparte was given command of the invasion of Italy until
eighteen fifteen, when he was finally defeated at Waterloo in Belgium,
Europe experienced almost continuous war. The genius of Napoleon reduced
(11:02):
to the position of vassal states Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium,
Germany and Austria. In all these countries, the ancient thrones
were humbled, feudalism was swept away, and the power of
a corrupt church and aristocracy was broken. In spite of
the humiliation of national pride, these great benefits to Europe
(11:23):
of Napoleon's conquests cannot be overestimated. Wherever Napoleon's power extended,
there followed the results of the revolution, a better system
of law, the introduction of the liberal code Napoleon, the
liberation of the people from the crushing toils of medievalism,
and the founding of a better society. These are the
(11:43):
debts which Europe owes to the French Revolution, the decline
of Spain lack of progress in this advance in progress
Spain did not share. The Empire of Napoleon was never
established in the peninsula. In eighteen eleven, the Spaniards, with
the assusmstance of the English, under the Great General Wellington,
repulsed the armies of the French. This victory, so gratifying
(12:07):
to national pride, was perhaps a real loss to Spain,
for the reforms which prevailed in the other parts of
Europe were never carried out in Spain, and she remains
even yet unliberated from aristocratic and clerical power. A liberal
constitutional government was however, set up in Spain in eighteen
twelve by the Cortesse, and in eighteen fourteen King Ferdinand
(12:30):
the Seventh, aided by the Spanish aristocracy and clergy, was
able to overthrow this representative government and with tyrannical power
to cast reforms aside, fifty thousand people were imprisoned for
their liberal opinions. The Inquisition was restored, the Cortesse abolished,
and its acts nullified. The effects of these acts upon
(12:51):
the Philippines will be noticed presently. Separation of the Philippines
from Mexico. The events of these years served to separate
the Fililippines from their long dependency on Mexico. In eighteen thirteen,
the Cortes decreed the suppression of the subsidized Acapulco Galleon.
The Mexican trade had long been waning and voyages had
(13:12):
become less profitable. The last of the galleons left Manila
in eighteen eleven and returned from Acapulco in eighteen fifteen,
never again to attempt this classical voyage. The cessation of
these voyages only briefly preceded the complete separation from America.
From the first period of settlement, the Philippines had, in
many respects been a dependency of the New World. Mexico
(13:35):
had until late afforded the only means of communication with
the mother country, the only land of foreign trade Mexican
officials frequently administered the government of the islands. The Mexican
Indians formed the larger part of the small standing army
of the Philippines, including the regiment of the King. As
we have seen, a large subsidy, the Situalo, was annually
(13:58):
drawn from the Mexican treasury to assist the deficient revenues
of the Philippines. Rebellion of the South American countries, but
the grievances of the Spanish American colonists were very great
and very real. The revolution, which had successfully stirred North
America and Europe, now passed back again to the Spanish
countries of the New World, and between eighteen ten and
(14:20):
eighteen twenty five they fought themselves free of Spain. The
last of the colonies from which the Spaniards were forced
to retire was Peru. Mexico achieved her separation in eighteen twenty.
Spain lost every possession upon the mainland of both Americas,
and the only vestiges of her once vast American empire
were the rich islands of the Greater Antilles, Cuba and
(14:43):
Puerto Rico. Limited trade with the Philippines. The Philippines were
now forced to communicate by ship directly with Spain. The
route for the next fifty years lay by sailing vessels
around the Cape of Good Hope. It occupied from four
to six months. But this route had now become practically
a neutral passage. Its winds and currents were well understood,
(15:05):
and it was annually followed by greater numbers of vessels
of Europe, England and United States. Trade was still limited
to the ships of the Royal Philippine Company, and this
shipping monopoly lasted until eighteen thirty five, when a new
era in the commercial and industrial life of the Philippines opened.
An English commercial house was established in Manila. As early
(15:26):
as eighteen o nine. Volcanic eruptions, the terrible eruptions of
Mount tal, the last of which occurred in seventeen fifty four,
were followed in the next century by the destructive activity
of Mount Mayon. In eighteen fourteen, an indescribable eruption of
ashes and lava occurred, and the rich hemp towns around
(15:47):
the base of this mountain were destroyed. Father Francisco Aragonesis
Gura of Cagsawa, an eye witness, states that twelve thousand
people perished in the Church of Buriau alone, two hundred
lay dead. Rebellions in the Philippines the Liberal Spanish Cortess
(16:08):
two revolts in the Philippines that occurred at this period
are of much importance and show the effect in the
Philippines of the political changes in Spain. In eighteen ten,
the Liberal Spanish Cortest had declared that the kingdoms and
provinces of America and Asia are and ought to have
been always reputed an integral part of the Spanish monarchy,
(16:29):
and for that same their natives and free inhabitants are
equal in rights and privileges to those of the Peninsula.
This important declaration, which if carried out, would have completely
revolutionized Spain's colonial policy, was published in the Philippines, and
with that remarkable and interesting facility by which such news
is spread even among the least educated classes of Filipinos,
(16:52):
this proclamation had been widely disseminated and discussed throughout the islands.
It was welcomed by the Filipino with great satisfyc action,
because he believed it exempted him from the enforced labor
of the polos y cervicios. These were the unremunerated tasks
required of Filipinos for the construction of public works, bridges, roads,
(17:13):
churches and convents. Effect of the repeal of the Declaration
of the Cortess, King Ferdinand seven in May eighteen fourteen,
on his return to power, as we have seen, published
the famous decree abolishing constitutional government in Spain and annulling
all the acts of the Corteses, including those which aimed
(17:34):
to liberalize the government of the colonies. These decrees, when
published in the Philippines, appeared to the Filipinos to return
them to slavery, and in many places their disaffection turned
to rebellion. In Ilocos, twelve hundred men banded together, sacked
convents and churches, and destroyed the books and documents of
the municipal archives. Their fury seems to have been particularly
(17:58):
directed against the petty tyrants of their own race. The
Kasike or principalis. The result of Spanish civilization in the
Philippines had been to educate and to a certain degree
enrich a small class of Filipinos, usually known as distinguidos
or the hente Illustrada. It is this class which has
(18:20):
absorbed the direction of municipal and local affairs, and which
almost alone of the Filipino population has shared in those
benefits and opportunities which civilized life should bring. The vast
majority of the population have unfortunately fallen or remained in
a dependent and almost semi servile position beneath the principals
(18:43):
in Ilocos. This subordinate class, or de panientes, is known
as Kilian. And it was these Kailian who now fell
upon their more wealthy masters, burning their houses and destroying
their property, and in some instances killing them. The assignment
of compulsory labor have left to the principalis in their
positions as goberto norcillos and cabss de Barangay. And these
(19:07):
officials had unquestionably abused their power and had drawn upon
themselves the vengeance of the Chilian. This revolt, it will
be noticed, was primarily directed neither against Friars nor Spanish authorities,
but against the unfortunate social order which the rule of
Spain maintained. A revolt led by Spaniards, a plot with
(19:30):
far more serious motives, took place in eighteen twenty three.
The official positions in their regiments and provinces had previously
been held almost entirely by Spaniards born in America or
the Philippines. The government now attempted to fill these positions
with Spaniards from Spain. The officials, deprived of their positions,
(19:51):
incited the native troops which they had commanded, into a revolt,
which began in the walled city in Manila. About eight
hundred soldiers followed them, and they gained possession of the
Quartel of the King, of the Royal Palace and of
the Cabildo, but they failed to seize the fortress of Santiago.
It was not properly a revolt of Filipinos, as the
(20:14):
people were not involved and did not rise, but it
had its influence in exciting later insurrection insurrection on Bohol.
Since the insurrection on Bohol in seventeen forty four, when
the natives had killed the Jesuit missionaries, a large part
of the island had been practically independent under the leader Dagooi.
(20:36):
After the expulsion of the Jesuits, recollects were placed in
special charge of those towns along the sea coast which
had remained loyal to Spain. An effort was made to
secure the submission of the rebels by the proclamation of
a pardon, but the power of the revolt grew rather
than declined, until in eighteen twenty seven it was determined
to reduce their rebellion by force. An expedition of three
(21:00):
forty two hundred men was formed in Cebu, and in
April eighteen twenty eight the campaign took place, which resulted
in the defeat of the rebels and then settlement in
the Christian towns the new provinces of Banguet and Abra.
It is proper to notice also the slow advances of
Spanish authority which began to be made about this time
(21:22):
among the heathen tribes of northern Luson. These fierce and
powerful tribes occupy the entire range of the CORDILLERA. Central
missionary effort in the latter half of the eighteenth century
had succeeded in partly christianizing the tribes along the River
Magat in Nueva Viscaya, but the fierce head hunting Hillman
(21:42):
remained unsubdued and unchristianized. Between eighteen twenty three and eighteen
twenty nine, the Mission of Piedigan under an Augustinian Friar,
christianized some thousands of the Tinguineans of the River Abra.
In eighteen twenty nine, in exps addition of about sixty
soldiers under Donguilleremont, Galvai penetrated into the cool, elevated plateau
(22:07):
of Bengt. The diary of the leader recounts the difficult
march up the river cagling from Ringai, and their delight
upon emerging from the jungle and cogone upon the grassy
pine timbered slopes of the plateau. They saw little cultivated
valleys and small clusters of houses, and splendid herds of cattle,
carabaos and horses, which to this day have continued to
(22:30):
enrich the people of these mountains. At times they were
surrounded by the yelling bands of Igorots, and several times
they had to repulse attacks, but they nevertheless succeeded in
reaching the beautiful circular depression now known as the Valley
of Latrinidad. The Spaniards saw with enthusiasm the carefully separated
(22:51):
and walled fields growing camontes, daro and sugar cane. The
village of about five hundred houses was partly burned by
the Spaniards as the Egorotes continued hostile. The expedition returned
to the coast, having suffered only a few wounds. The
Commandancia of Benguet was not created until eighteen forty six,
(23:14):
in which year also Abra was organized as a province.
End of Chapter eleven, Part two
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