The Story of Magellan and The Discovery of the Philippines Part 23

The future of these islands must be one of civilization, education, and development, and we may hope that these will be brought about under the divine law of American inst.i.tutions, that "all governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." Justice alone is the true sword of power, perpetuity, and peace. To lead the natives of these islands to desire to receive all that is best in civilized life, is one of the great missions of the republic of the West; and that republic, governed by the conscience of the people, will be true to the cause of human rights.

Pigafetta? We must let him tell the story of his life on his return.

"Leaving Seville I repaired to Valladolid, where I presented his sacred Majesty, Don Carlos, neither gold nor silver, but other things far more precious in the eyes of so great a sovereign. For I brought to him, among other things, a book written in my own hand, giving an account of all the things which had happened day by day on the voyage.

"Then I went to Portugal, where I related to King John the things that I had seen.

"Returning by the way of Spain, I came to France, where I presented treasures that I had brought home to the regent mother of the most Christian King Don Francis.

"Then I turned my face toward Italy, where I gave myself to the service of the ill.u.s.trious Philip de Villiers l'Isle Adams, the Grand Master of Rhodes."

The scene of the presentation of the parchment story of Magellan to Charles V is most interesting. That ma.n.u.script was like the return of Magellan himself; it told what the hero of the sea had been and what he had done. It was in itself a work of genius, and the world has never ceased to read it in the spirit of sympathy in which it was written.

We may fancy the scene: the young King surrounded by his court, in his happiest days; the Italian Knight amid the splendors of the audience room, placing in the hands of the new Caesar the roll of the narrative of the voyage around the world! Such a story no pen had ever traced before.

That must have been one of the proudest moments in the life of Charles as he took from the Knight the map of the round world.

To the last Pigafetta was true to the Admiral; and one of the best things that can be said of any man is, "He is true hearted."

A wooden statue of Del Cano was found at Cavite on the surrender of that port to Commodore Dewey. It was sent to Was.h.i.+ngton. It should be replaced by some worthy work of art.

The island of Guam, of the Ladrones, which broke the long voyage of Magellan over the Pacific, and which is some fifteen hundred miles from Luzon, was captured by Captain Gla.s.s, of the United States cruiser Charleston, July 21, 1898. It is a connecting link between the West and the Orient. A memorial of Magellan, Del Cano, and Pigafetta might be suitably placed there.

The author of the Songs of the Sierras has described the spirit of Columbus in a poem which has been highly commended. The interpretation applies as well to Magellan. We quote two verses: genius must overcome obstacles, and all obstacles, to be made divine.

THE PORT.

Behind him lay the gray Azores, Behind, the gates of Hercules.

Before him not the ghosts of sh.o.r.es, Before him only sh.o.r.eless seas.

The good mate said: "Now must we pray, For, lo! the very stars are gone.

Brave Admiral, speak--what shall I say?"

"Why say--Sail on, sail on, sail on!"

They sailed, they sailed. Then spoke the mate: "This mad sea shows her teeth to-night; She curls her lip and lies in wait With lifted teeth as if to bite.

Brave Admiral, say but one good word, What shall we do when hope is gone?"

The words leaped as a leaping sword-- "Sail on, sail on, sail on and on!"

SUPPLEMENTAL.

THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.--LAGASPI.--THE STRUGGLE OF THE NATIVES WITH SPAIN.--STORY OF THE PATRIOT RIZAL.--AGUINALDO.

The Philippine Islands, which promise to become a republic of the seas, and the first republic in Asiatic waters, were for generations held by Spain. These one thousand and more sea gardens, some eleven thousand miles from New York, number about as few islands of importance as there are American States. The government of the more populous islands has been so restrictive that, before the boom of Dewey's guns in the China Sea, little was known about them to the world.

The archipelago consists of some six hundred islands that might find marking on an ordinary map of the world.

Twenty-five of these have gained a commercial standing, from which are collected products for foreign trade. The chief of these is Luzon, and the princ.i.p.al ports of the larger islands are Iloilo, on the island of Panay; Zebu and Zamboango.

Luzon and the northern islands are inhabited by a partly civilized race, called the Tagals, who are supposed to be descended from immigrants from the Malay peninsula. They have had the reputation of a mild-mannered people, as they have long received, directly or indirectly, European influences. There are two thousand one hundred schools in Luzon and some six millions of the natives of the islands are claimed as Catholics.

A sultanate was formed on the Sulu archipelago nearly eight hundred years ago, and the Mohammedan populations are called Moros or Moors. The Visayas people are a lower race. Colonies of Chinese are to be found in many of the larger islands, and these const.i.tute the centers of thrift and industry.

The official language of the islands is Spanish, but the natives speak in twenty or more dialects. The islands are supposed to contain about ten million people, but there are no correct censuses by which to compute the number. Even the islands themselves seem not to have been correctly counted.

The history of the islands since their discovery has been one of the most silent in the world. They have been governed by Spain in such a manner as to enrich the Crown of Spain. When the Pope apportioned the newly discovered world among the Kings of the Church, the Western Hemisphere was given to Spain, and by an error of division Spain received the Moluccas or Spice Islands. Magellan declared the King of Spain suzerain of the islands, and after many years Spain sent an expedition from one of her colonies to Zebu to begin the occupation of the Spicery. The leader of this expedition, Miguel de Legaspi, caused his men to marry native women, hoping thereby more easily to subdue a wild and untrained race.

In 1571 this colonizer brought Manila under his influence, and induced the native King to accept the suzerainty of the Spanish King. He proclaimed Manila the seat of Government, and made it an episcopal city.

Legaspi came to learn a very strange thing. It was that the Chinese had made themselves masters of navigation _by monsoons_. They came down from their coasts to Manila Bay on northwest monsoons, and when the monsoons changed they were carried back again. This power was akin to steam.

Their boats were junks, but they filled the marts of Manila with silks and other Oriental luxuries.

Legaspi encouraged this trade. He was the founder of trade in the ports of the China Sea. He caused a market place to be built for the Chinese traders in Manila, in the form of a circus, and afterward opened a quarter for them within the walls. The Chinese still hold a large part of the retail trade of the port. Before the late Spanish war, they numbered about sixty thousand, and one hundred thousand in the port and provinces.

The monks came and sought to convert the people; their efforts were partly successful, but sometimes ended in tragedies.

The trade between Spain and the Philippines was for a long time carried on by the way of Mexico. The intercourse between the Crown and her dependencies here was infrequent. The Mohammedans waged frequent wars against the Catholic missionaries, whom they sought to exterminate.

The friars became the real rulers of the civilized parts of the islands.

The will of the Spanish priest was absolute. He was independent of State authority. The rule of the Church was so severe that it brought religion into disfavor, and when the power of Aguinaldo arose, that chief insisted upon the expulsion of certain monastic orders, as detrimental to liberty, and demanded the restoration of the estates of the Church to the people.

Such is, in brief, the simple history of the islands discovered by Magellan before the archipelago was ceded by the treaty of Paris to the United States.

MANILA.

Beautiful Manila, s.h.i.+ning over the China Sea--so seductive to the white man when seen from a distance, so withering to all his energies when the same white man becomes a resident there!

A two days' voyage from Hong Kong brings the traveler to Luzon to the river Pasig, where the grim old fortresses of Manila, earthquake rent, like a haze of green vegetation, break the view. Palms lift their green cool shadows in the burning air.

Manila is a walled city. The entrance is by drawbridges, which are raised at night.

The mediaeval atmosphere does not disappear when one finds one's self within the walls. Exhaustion and decay are everywhere. The large open bay lies in the splendors of the sunlight when the day is calm, and the visitor would never dream of its turbulent condition when it is lashed by the typhoon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Admiral Dewey.]

Across the bay stands Cavite, the naval station, the scene of Dewey's victory over the Spanish fleet.

The city has some two hundred and seventy thousand inhabitants. The merchants, as we have said, are largely Chinese, and their quarters are picturesque with gay bazaars.

In the shadow land of trees and open dry marshes outside of the city are beautiful estates, and along the roadsides people go waving their fans slowly and listlessly. Here are the parks, the bull ring, and the lovely botanical gardens.

Commercial Manila is a city of coolies, who bare their backs to the sun, though little work can be done here in the noonday heat.