prime essential, the judiciary. A further charge against Spain is excessive centralization, with a large number of official parasites, yet with no representative institutions in which the Filipinos might participate or voice their needs. The most serious allegation is that the Spanish government took the substance of the people in the form of taxes and tribute, used the contributions for the benefit of the governing class, and gave no equivalent to the governed in the form of social improvement or economic development. Says Jagor, "The crown itself, as well as its favorites, thought of nothing but extracting the most it could from the colony, and had neither the intention nor the power to develop the natural wealth of the country by agriculture and commerce."1 Says Reinsch, "The Spanish government in the Philippines degenerated into a mere taxing machine, totally unproductive in its character, since practically none of the funds collected from taxation found their way into internal improvements." Says Tavera, "The Philippines were for Spain and for Spain alone."3 Yet even against,such reliable authorities as Jagor, Reinsch, Tavera, and others, it is but fair to state that the declining years of Spanish sovereignty saw increasingly larger sums set aside for public works and public instruction.

It is proper to acknowledge freely the more than counterbalancing merits of the Spanish administration. In the first place, the Spanish rule was generally a mild one, partaking of a patriarchal character. The scandalous cruelties of South America were not perpetrated. Unlike North America, the natives were not only not extirpated, but they increased many fold. The governors and the governed married,

1 Travels in the Philippines, English ed., page 16.

2 World Politics, page 321.

3 174 North American Review, January, 1902, page 73.

mingled socially, and worshipped together. Negatively, slavery and barbarous practices were eradicated. Affirmatively and above all, Latin civilization was implanted. This found its principal avenues through the results of Christianity; the unifying influence of a central administration; modern laws; education, although not universal; an increased commerce; freedom for women far in advance of other oriental countries; the introduction of staple agricultural products; and contact with the outer world.

Comparison of the Filipinos with other peoples of the same time have been made to the advantage of the Philippines. The famous French explorer of the Pacific, La Pérouse, who was in Manila in 1787, wrote: "Three million people inhabit these different islands, and that of Luzon contains nearly a third of them. These people seemed to me no way inferior to those of Europe; they cultivate the soil with intelligence, they are carpenters, cabinet-makers, smiths, jewelers, weavers, masons, etc. I have gone through their villages and I have found them kind, hospitable, and affable.”

Coming down nearly a generation later, the Englishman Crawfurd, the historian of the Indian Archipelago, who lived at the court of the Sultan of Java as British resident, said: "It is remarkable that the Indian administration of one of the worst governments of Europe, and that in which the general principles of legislation and good government are least understood, -one too, which has never been skillfully executed, should, upon the whole, have proved the least injurious to the happiness and prosperity of the native inhabitants of the country. This, undoubtedly, has been the character of the Spanish connection with the Philippines, with all its vices, follies, and illiberalities; and the present condition of these islands affords an unquestionable proof Voyage de la Pérouse autour du Monde, 1797, vol. ii, page 347.

of the fact. Almost every other country of the Archipelago is, at this day, in point of wealth, power, and civilization, in a worse state than when Europeans connected themselves with them three centuries back. The Philippines alone have improved in civilization, wealth, and populousness. When discovered, most of the tribes were a race of half-naked savages, inferior to all the great tribes, who were pushing, at the same time, an active commerce, and enjoying a respectable share of the necessaries and comforts of a civilized state. Upon the whole, they are at present superior, in almost everything, to any of the other races.'

"1

The German naturalist Jagor, who visited the Islands in 1859-1860, wrote: "Assuming the truth of the above sketch of pre-Christian culture, which has been put together only with the help of defective linguistic sources, and comparing it with the present, we find, as a result, a considerable progress, for which the Philippines are indebted to the Spaniards.'

2

The Austrian professor, Ferdinand Blumentritt, wrote in La Solidaridad of October 15, 1899, to this effect: "If the general condition of the civilization of the Tagalos, Pampangos, Bicoles, Bisayans, Ilocanos, Cagayanes, and Sambales is compared to the European constitutional countries of Servia, Roumania, Bulgaria and Greece, the Spanish-Filipino civilization of the said Indian districts is greater and of larger extent than those countries."

Finally, writing from historical perspective, an American scholar gives the following résumé of the results of the Spanish administration:

"The Spaniards did influence the Filipinos profoundly, and on the whole for the better. There are ways, indeed,

1 History of the Indian Archipelago, etc., by John Crawfurd, 1820, vol. ii, pages 447, 448.

2 Travels in the Philippines, English ed., page 151.

in which their record as a colonizing power in the Philippines stands to-day unique in all the world for its benevolent achievement and its substantial accomplishment of net progress. We do not need to gloss over the defects of Spain, we do not need to condone the backward and halting policy which at last turned the Filipinos against Spanish rule, nor to regret the final outcome of events, in order to do Spain justice. But we must do full justice to her actual achievements, if not as ruler, at any rate as teacher and missionary, in order to put the Filipinos of to-day in their proper category."1

French, English, German, Austrian, American, not to mention Spanish and Filipino writers, agree in a deserved tribute to the work of Spain in the Philippines.

The natives of the Philippines, after over three hundred years of Spanish rule, emerged far in advance of their preSpanish culture. Materially, they had increased in numbers from about half a million in 1591 to nearly seven millions at the opening of the twentieth century, and had advanced to an unascertainable degree in economic and agricultural conditions. Intellectually, they had improved until some had acquired advanced learning, and the general literacy had become fair. Spiritually, they had acquired the blessing of a common Christian faith. All this advancement and more is the debt which the Filipino people owe to Spain.

1 Le Roy, Philippine Life in Town and Country, 1905, pages 6, 7.

CHAPTER IV

THE REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT

36. Rise of Philippine Nationality. - The uniting of millions of individual Filipinos into a nation was, for centuries, a slow process. Potentialities were there, but organization was lacking. The native political system was not conducive to solidarity. The Spanish policy, while beneficial in many respects, was in this particular not very progressive. The people of the Islands possessed little education, and they had no model by which they could measure their civil and political rights. The reason the Spaniards could subjugate the Islands and dominate them for three centures was, to quote Mabini, "because the Filipinos were then in complete ignorance and lived without any thought of national solidarity."1 Rizal wrote: "There is, then, in the Philippines a progress or improvement which is individual, but there is no 'national' progress." 2

The nineteenth century saw a change in attitude, almost imperceptible at first, but gradually evolving into racial consciousness. Gusts of encouragement came from the rebellious storm centers of Latin America. A modification of the commercial system brought contact with other peoples and increased wealth. The opening of the Suez Canal shortened the distance between the Islands and European civilization. Education was sought by many. A constantly

1 Letter to General Bell of August 31, 1900.

2 Letter to Rev. Vicente Garcia of January 17, 1891, published by Craig, "Letters and Addresses of José Rizal,” Philippine Education, December, 1915,

page 312.