A History of the Philippines Part 1

A History of the Philippines.

by David P. Barrows.

PREFACE

This book has been prepared at the suggestion of the educational authorities for pupils in the public high schools of the Philippines, as an introduction to the history of their country. Its preparation occupied about two years, while the author was busily engaged in other duties,--much of it being written while he was traveling or exploring in different parts of the Archipelago. No pretensions are made to an exhaustive character for the book. For the writer, as well as for the pupil for whom it is intended, it is an introduction into the study of the history of Malaysia.

Considerable difficulty has been experienced in securing the necessary historical sources, but it is believed that the princ.i.p.al ones have been read. The author is greatly indebted to the Honorable Dr. Pardo de Tavera for the use of rare volumes from his library, and he wishes to acknowledge also the kindness of Mr. Manuel Yriarte, Chief of the Bureau of Archives, for permission to examine public doc.u.ments. The occasional reprints of the old Philippine histories have, however, been used more frequently than the original editions. The splendid series of reprinted works on the Philippines, promised by Miss Blair and Mr. Robertson, was not begun in time to be used in the preparation of this book. The appearance of this series will make easy a path which the present writer has found comparatively difficult, and will open the way for an incomparably better History of the Philippines than has ever yet been made.

The drawings of ethnographic subjects, which partly ill.u.s.trate this book, were made from objects in the Philippine Museum by Mr. Anselmo Espiritu, a teacher in the public schools of Manila. They are very accurate.

Above every one else, in writing this book, the author is under obligations to his wife, without whose constant help and encouragement it could not have been written.

David P. Barrows.

Manila, Philippine Islands, March 1st, 1903.

CHAPTER I.

THE PHILIPPINES AS A SUBJECT FOR HISTORICAL STUDY.

Purpose of this Book.--This book has been written for the young men and young women of the Philippines. It is intended to introduce them into the history of their own island country. The subject of Philippine history is much broader and more splendid than the size and character of this little book reveal. Many subjects have only been briefly touched upon, and there are many sources of information, old histories, letters and official doc.u.ments, which the writer had not time and opportunity to study in the preparation of this work. It is not too soon, however, to present a history of the Philippines, even though imperfectly written, to the Philippine people themselves; and if this book serves to direct young men and young women to a study of the history of their own island country, it will have fulfilled its purpose.

The Development of the Philippines and of j.a.pan.--In many ways the next decade of the history of the Philippine Islands may resemble the splendid development of the neighboring country of j.a.pan. Both countries have in past times been isolated more or less from the life and thought of the modern world. Both are now open to the full current of human affairs. Both countries promise to play an important part in the politics and commerce of the Far East. Geographically, the Philippines occupy the more central and influential position, and the success of the inst.i.tutions of the Philippines may react upon the countries of southeastern Asia and Malaysia, to an extent that we cannot appreciate or foresee, j.a.pan, by reason of her larger population, the greater industry of her people, a more orderly social life, and devoted public spirit, is at the present time far in the lead.

The Philippines.--But the Philippines possess certain advantages which, in the course of some years, may tell strongly in her favor. There are greater natural resources, a richer soil, and more tillable ground. The population, while not large, is increasing rapidly, more rapidly, in fact, than the population of j.a.pan or of Java. And in the character of her inst.i.tutions the Philippines have certain advantages. The position of woman, while so unfortunate in j.a.pan, as in China and nearly all eastern countries, in the Philippines is most fortunate, and is certain to tell effectually upon the advancement of the race in compet.i.tion with other eastern civilizations. The fact that Christianity is the established religion of the people makes possible a sympathy and understanding between the Philippines and western countries.

j.a.pan.--Yet there are many lessons which j.a.pan can teach the Philippines, and one of these is of the advantages and rewards of fearless and thorough study. Fifty years ago, j.a.pan, which had rigorously excluded all intercourse with foreign nations, was forced to open its doors by an American fleet under Commodore Perry. At that time the j.a.panese knew nothing of western history, and had no knowledge of modern science. Their contact with the Americans and other foreigners revealed to them the inferiority of their knowledge. The leaders of the country awoke to the necessity of a study of western countries and their great progress, especially in government and in the sciences.

j.a.pan had at her service a special cla.s.s of people known as the samurai, who, in the life of Old j.a.pan, were the free soldiers of the feudal n.o.bility, and who were not only the fighters of j.a.pan, but the students and scholars as well. The young men of this samurai cla.s.s threw themselves earnestly and devotedly into the study of the great fields of knowledge, which had previously been unknown to the j.a.panese. At great sacrifice many of them went abroad to other lands, in order to study in foreign universities. Numbers of them went to the United States, frequently working as servants in college towns in order to procure the means for the pursuit of their education.

The j.a.panese Government in every way began to adopt measures for the transformation of the knowledge of the people. Schools were opened, laboratories established, and great numbers of scientific and historical books were translated into j.a.panese. A public school system was organized, and finally a university was established. The Government sent abroad many young men to study in almost every branch of knowledge and to return to the service of the people. The manufacturers of j.a.pan studied and adopted western machinery and modern methods of production. The government itself underwent revolution and reorganization upon lines more liberal to the people and more favorable to the national spirit of the country. The result has been the transformation, in less than fifty years, of what was formerly an isolated and ignorant country.

The Lesson for the Filipinos.--This is the great lesson which j.a.pan teaches the Philippines. If there is to be transformation here, with a constant growth of knowledge and advancement, and an elevation of the character of the people as a whole, there must be a courageous and unfaltering search for the truth: and the young men and young women of the Philippines must seek the advantages of education, not for themselves, but for the benefit of their people and their land; not to gain for themselves a selfish position of social and economic advantage over the poor and less educated Filipinos, but in order that, having gained these advantages for themselves, they may in turn give them to their less fortunate countrymen. The young Filipino, man or woman, must learn the lessons of truthfulness, courage, and unselfishness, and in all of his gaining of knowledge, and in his use of it as well, he must practice these virtues, or his learning will be an evil to his land and not a blessing.

The aim of this book is to help him to understand, first of all, the place that the Philippines occupy in the modern history of nations, so that he may understand how far and from what beginnings the Filipino people have progressed, toward what things the world outside has itself moved during this time, and what place and opportunities the Filipinos, as a people, may seek for in the future.

The Meaning of History.--History, as it is written and understood, comprises many centuries of human life and achievement, and we must begin our study by discussing a little what history means. Men may live for thousands of years without having a life that may be called historical; for history is formed only where there are credible written records of events. Until we have these records, we have no ground for historical study, but leave the field to another study, which we call Archeology, or Prehistoric Culture.

Historical Races.--Thus there are great races which have no history, for they have left no records. Either the people could not write, or their writings have been destroyed, or they told nothing about the life of the people. The history of these races began only with the coming of a historical, or more advanced race among them.

Thus, the history of the black, or negro, race begins only with the exploration of Africa by the white race, and the history of the American Indians, except perhaps of those of Peru and Mexico, begins only with the white man's conquest of America. The white, or European, race is, above all others, the great historical race; but the yellow race, represented by the Chinese, has also a historical life and development, beginning many centuries before the birth of Christ.

The European Race.--For thousands of years the white race was confined to the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It had but little contact with other races of men and almost no knowledge of countries beyond the Mediterranean sh.o.r.es. The great continents of America and Australia and the beautiful island-world of the Pacific and Indian oceans were scarcely dreamed of. This was the status of the white race in Europe a little more than five hundred years ago. How different is the position of this race to-day! It has now explored nearly the entire globe. The white people have crossed every continent and every sea. On every continent they have established colonies and over many countries their power.

During these last five centuries, besides this spread of geographical discoveries, the mingling of all the races, and the founding of great colonies, has come also the development of scientific knowledge--great discoveries and inventions, such as the utilization of steam and electricity, which give to man such tremendous power over the material world. Very important changes have also marked the religious and political life of the race. Within these years came the Protestant revolt from the Roman Catholic Church, destroying in some degree the unity of Christendom; and the great revolutions of Europe and America, establis.h.i.+ng democratic and representative governments.

The European Race and the Filipino People.--This expansion and progress of the European race early brought it into contact with the Filipino people, and the historical life of the Philippines dates from this meeting of the two races. Thus the history of the Philippines has become a part of the history of nations. During these centuries the people of these islands, subjects of a European nation, have progressed in social life and government, in education and industries, in numbers, and in wealth. They have often been stirred by wars and revolutions, by centuries of piratical invasion, and fear of conquest by foreign nations. But these dangers have now pa.s.sed away.

There is no longer fear of piratical ravage nor of foreign invasion, nor is there longer great danger of internal revolt; for the Philippines are at the present time under a government strong enough to defend them against other powers, to put down plunder and ravage, and one anxious and disposed to afford to the people such freedom of opportunity, such advantages of government and life, that the incentive to internal revolution will no longer exist. Secure from external attack and rapidly progressing toward internal peace, the Philippines occupy a position most fortunate among the peoples of the Far East. They have representative government, freedom of religion, and public education, and, what is more than all else to the aspiring or ambitious race or individual, freedom of opportunity.

How History is Written.--One other thing should be explained here. Every child who reads this book should understand a little how history is written. A most natural inquiry to be made regarding any historical statement is, "How is this known?" And this is as proper a question for the school boy as for the statesman. The answer is, that history rests for its facts largely upon the written records made by people who either lived at the time these things took place, or so near to them that, by careful inquiry, they could learn accurately of these matters and write them down in some form, so that we to-day can read their accounts, and at least know how these events appeared to men of the time.

But not all that a man writes, or even puts in a book, of things he has seen and known, is infallibly accurate and free from error, partiality, and untruthfulness. So the task of the historian is not merely to read and accept all the contemporary records, but he must also compare one account with another, weighing all that he can find, making due allowance for prejudice, and on his own part trying to reach a conclusion that shall be true. Of course, where records are few the task is difficult indeed, and, on the other hand, material may be so voluminous as to occupy a writer a lifetime, and make it impossible for any one man completely to exhaust a subject.

Historical Accounts of the Philippines.--For the Philippines we are so fortunate as to have many adequate sources of a reliable and attractive kind. In a few words some of these will be described. Nearly all exist in at least a few libraries in the Philippines, where they may sometime be consulted by the Filipino student, and many of them, at least in later editions, may be purchased by the student for his own possession and study.

The Voyages of Discovery.--European discovery of the Philippines began with the great voyage of Magellan; and recounting this discovery of the islands, there is the priceless narrative of one of Magellan's company, Antonio Pigafetta. His book was written in Italian, but was first published in a French translation. The original copies made by Pigafetta have disappeared, but in 1800 a copy was discovered in the Ambrosian Library of Milan, Italy, and published. Translations into English and other languages exist. It may be found in several collections of Voyages, and there is a good Spanish translation and edition of recent date. (El Primer Viaje alrededor del Mundo, por Antonio Pigafetta, traducido por Dr. Carlos Amoretti y anotado por Manuel Walls y Merino, Madrid, 1899.) There are several other accounts of Magellan's voyage; but Pigafetta's was the only one written by an eye-witness, and his descriptions of the Bisaya Islands, Cebu, Borneo, and the Moluccas are wonderfully interesting and accurate.

There were several voyages of discovery between Magellan's time (1521) and Legaspi's time (1565). These include the expeditions of Loaisa, Saavedra, and Villalobos, and accounts of them are to be found in the great series of publications made by the Spanish Government and called Coleccion de doc.u.mentos ineditos, and, in another series, Navarrete's Coleccion de los viajes y descubrimientos.

Spanish Occupation and Conquest.--As we come to the history of Spanish occupation and conquest of the Philippines, we find many interesting letters and reports sent by both soldiers and priests to the king, or to persons in Spain. The first complete book on the Philippines was written by a missionary about 1602, Father Predo Chirino's Relacion de las Islas Filipinas, printed in Rome in 1604. This important and curious narrative is exceedingly rare, but a reprint, although rude and poor, was made in Manila in 1890, which is readily obtainable. The Relacion de las Islas Filipinas was followed in 1609 by the work of Judge Antonio de Morga, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas. This very rare work was printed in Mexico. In 1890 a new edition was brought out by Dr. Jose Rizal, from the copy in the British Museum. There is also an English translation.

These two works abound in curious and valuable information upon the Filipino people as they were at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, as does also a later work, the Conquista de las Islas Filipinas, by Friar Gaspar de San Augustin, printed in Madrid in 1698. This latter is perhaps the most interesting and most important early work on the Philippine Islands.

As we shall see, the history of the Philippines is closely connected with that of the East Indian Spice Islands. When the Spanish forces took the rich island of Ternate in 1606, the triumph was commemorated by a volume, finely written, though not free from mistakes, the Conquista de las Islas Moluccas, by Leonardo de Argensola, Madrid, 1609. There is an old English translation, and also French and Dutch translations.

To no other religious order do we owe so much historical information as to the Jesuits. The scholars.h.i.+p and literary ability of the Company have always been high. Chirino was a Jesuit, as was also Father Francisco Colin, who wrote the Labor Evangelica, a narrative of the Jesuit missions in the Philippines, China, and j.a.pan, which was printed in Madrid in 1663. This history was continued years later by Father Murillo Velarde, who wrote what he called the Segunda Parte, the Historia de la Provincia de Filipinas de la Compania de Jesus, Manila, 1749.

There is another notable Jesuit work to which we owe much of the early history of the great island of Mindanao: this is the Historia de Mindanao y Jolo, by Father Francisco Combes. The year 1663 marked, as we shall see, an epoch in the relations between the Spaniards and the Mohammedan Malays. In that year the Spaniards abandoned the fortress of Zamboanga, and retired from southern Mindanao. The Jesuits had been the missionaries in those parts of the southern archipelago, and they made vigorous protests against the abandonment of Moro territory. One result of their efforts to secure the reoccupancy of these fortresses was the notable work mentioned above. It is the oldest and most important writing about the island and the inhabitants of Mindanao. It was printed in Madrid in 1667. A beautiful and exact edition was brought out a few years ago, by Retana.

A Dominican missionary, Father Diego Aduarte, wrote a very important work, the Historia de la Provincia del Sancto Rosario de la Orden de Predicadores en Filipinas, j.a.pon y China, which was printed in Manila at the College of Santo Tomas in 1640.

We may also mention as containing a most interesting account of the Philippines about the middle of the seventeenth century, the famous work on China, by the Dominican, Father Fernandez Navarrete, Tratados historicos, politicos, ethnicos, y religiosos de la Monarchia de China, Madrid, 1767. Navarrete arrived in these islands in 1648, and was for a time a cura on the island of Mindoro. Later he was a missionary in China, and then Professor of Divinity in the University of Santo Tomas. His work is translated into English in Churchill's Collection of Voyages and Travels, London, 1744, second volume.

The eighteenth century is rather barren of interesting historical matter. There was considerable activity in the production of grammars and dictionaries of the native languages, and more histories of the religious orders were also produced. These latter, while frequently filled with sectarian matter, should not be overlooked.

Between the years 1788 and 1792 was published the voluminous Historia General de Filipinas, in fourteen volumes, by the Recollect friar, Father Juan de la Concepcion. The work abounds in superfluous matter and trivial details, yet it is a copious source of information, a veritable mine of historical data, and is perhaps the best known and most frequently used work upon the Philippine Islands. There are a number of sets in the Philippines which can be consulted by the student.

Some years after, and as a sort of protest against so extensive a treatment of history, the sane and admirable Augustinian, Father Joaquin Martinez de Zuniga, wrote his Historia de las Islas Filipinas, a volume of about seven hundred pages. It was printed in Sampaloc, Manila, in 1803. This writer is exceptional for his fairmindedness, his freedom from the narrow prejudices which have characterized most of the writers on the Philippines. His language is terse and spirited, and his volume is the most readable and, in many ways, the most valuable attempt at a history of the Philippines. His narrative closes with the English occupation of Manila in 1763.

Recent Histories and Other Historical Materials.--The sources for the conditions and history of the islands during the last century differ somewhat from the preceding. The doc.u.mentary sources in the form of public papers and reports are available, and there is a considerable ma.s.s of pamphlets dealing with special questions in the Philippines. The publication of the official journal of the Government, the Gazeta de Manila, commenced in 1861. It contains all acts of legislation, orders of the Governors, pastoral letters, and other official matters, down to the end of Spanish rule.

A vast amount of material, for the recent civil history of the islands exists in the Archives of the Philippines, at Manila, but these doc.u.ments have been very little examined. Notable among these original doc.u.ments is the series of Royal Cedulas, each bearing the signature of the King of Spain, "Yo, el Rey." They run back from the last years of sovereignty to the commencement of the seventeenth century. The early cedulas, on the establishment of Spanish rule, are said to have been carried away by the British army in 1763, and to be now in the British Museum.

Of the archives of the Royal Audiencia at Manila, the series of judgments begins with one of 1603, which is signed by Antonia de Morga. From this date they appear to be complete. The earliest records of the cases which came before this court that can be found, date from the beginning of the eighteenth century.

Of modern historical writings mention must be made of the Historia de Filipinas, three volumes, 1887, by Montero y Vidal, and the publications of W. E. Retana. To the scholars.h.i.+p and enthusiasm of this last author much is owed. His work has been the republication of rare and important sources. His edition of Combes has already been mentioned, and there should also be mentioned, and if possible procured, his Archivo del Bibliofilo, four volumes, a collection of rare papers on the islands, of different dates; and his edition, the first ever published, of Zuniga's Estadismo de las Islas Filipinas, an incomparable survey of the islands made about 1800, by the priest and historian whose history was mentioned above.

Accounts of Voyagers Who Visited the Philippines.--These references give some idea of the historical literature of the Philippines. They comprise those works which should be chiefly consulted. There should not be omitted the numerous accounts of voyagers who have visited these islands from time to time, and who frequently give us very valuable information. The first of these are perhaps the English and Dutch freebooters, who prowled about these waters to waylay the richly laden galleons. One of these was Dampier, who, about 1690, visited the Ladrones and the Philippines. His New Voyage Around the World was published in 1697. There was also Anson, who in 1743 took the Spanish galleon off the coast of Samar, and whose voyage is described in a volume published in 1745. There was an Italian physician, Carreri, who visited the islands in 1697, in the course of a voyage around the world, and who wrote an excellent description of the Philippines, which is printed in English translation in Churchill's Collection of Voyages.