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 y,C-NRLF 
 
 ^B 51 ^70 
 
IN MEMORIAM 
 BERNARD MOSES 
 
fbhty^^-^M^-^'S'*-^ 
 
 THE CHURCH AND 
 OUR GOVERNMENT 
 IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 A7i Address Delivered before the Fac- 
 ulty and Students of the Ihiiversity 
 of Notre Dame, October 5, 1904. 
 From the Author's Manuscript 
 
 THE HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT, 
 
 U. S. SECRETARY OF WAR 
 
 NOTRE DAME, INDIANA 
 THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME, 
 
 NOTRE DAHE, INDIANA. 
 
 The University offers its students every facility and opjjor- 
 tunity for a complete 
 
 Collegiate Training 
 in the Ancient and Modern Classical Courses, Economics 
 and History, Journalism and Science. 
 
 The Law and Pre'-Medical (Biological) Courses under an 
 increased corps of professors afford students special advan- 
 tages in training for professional life. 
 I Technical Courses 
 
 Thd graduates in the Civil, Mechanical, and Electrical 
 Engineering Courses are in constant demand, for the courses 
 are thorough in every respect. There is a two-year or short 
 course, in Electrical Engineering. 
 
 Architecture 
 This coitrse has been introduced as a natural outgrowth 
 of the splendid Civil Engineering Course and is designed to 
 work in harmony with it. The course combines a mathe- 
 matical education together with a full and complete course of 
 architecture. The work of the course is under the direct 
 supervision of a practicing architect from Chicago. 
 Pharmacy 
 This course opens a broad field to Catholic young men. 
 Special attention given to laboratory work. 
 Preparatory School 
 The studies in the Preparatory Department are equivalent 
 to a High School course. Unexcelled opportunities for 
 students in grammar school grades. 
 
 Commercial Ccurse 
 Notre Dame claims to give the student a complete business 
 traininr. 
 
 St. Edward's Hall 
 for boys under 13 is unique in the completeness of its equip- 
 ment. It afiords to pupils the rare abvantages of the Pre- 
 paratory School and the tender care of the Sisters during 
 study hours. 
 
 The Gymnasium 
 with a track hall 100x180 feet— a Physical Culture room 40x100 
 feet modernly equipped, a lo-acre athletic field, spacious 
 recreation grounds, two lakes for aquatic sports, a large 
 indoor swimming pool 30x75, leave nothing to be desired 
 for the building ttp of the physical man. 
 
 Free Rooms for Students 
 over 17 who are admissable to the Sophomore year of any 
 collegiate course. Rooms to rent to students over 17 who 
 can not qualify as Sophomores. 
 
 Catalogues Free 
 The authorities solicit a personal inspection of the Univer- 
 sity and equipment on the part of parents, guardians, and 
 students. 
 
 Address: VERY REV. ANDREW MORRISSEY. C. S.C.LL.D., 
 
 Kotre Dame, Indiana. 
 
The Church and Our Government 
 in the Philippines 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/churchourgovernmOOtaftriGh 
 
The Church and Our Govern 
 ment in the Philippines 
 
 An Address Delivered Before the Faculty and 
 Students of the University of Notre Dame, 
 Octobers, 1904. From the Author's Manuscript 
 
 BY 
 
 THE HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT 
 
 U. S. SECRETARY OF WAR ' 
 
 NOTRE DAME, INDIANA 
 THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
• • • 
 
 • •» : . • •' 
 
 "> 
 
 BERNARD MCISES 
 
The Church and Our Government 
 In the Philippines. 
 
 SINCE my return from the Philippine 
 Islands, it has been my privilege 
 to discuss the question touching Church 
 and State arising in the administration of 
 those islands, before Presbyterian and 
 Episcopalian bodies and before the General 
 Chautauqua Assembly. This is the first 
 time that I have addressed a distinctly 
 Catholic audience upon the subject. I am 
 glad to do so, because, naturally, the Roman 
 Catholics of America are more closely 
 interested than any other denomination in 
 such issues, affecting, as they do, 7,000,000 
 of people in the archipelago, a large 
 majority of w^hom are Roman Catholics. 
 
 Magellan, in search of spices, was the first 
 European to land in the Philippine Islands. 
 He lost his life near the present city of Cebu 
 in 1521. The archipelago was not really 
 taken possession of as a colony of Spain 
 until 1565. This was in the reign of 
 Philip II. The colonization of the Philip- 
 pines had its motive not in gain but in 
 the desire to extend the Christian religion. 
 The islands were indeed a Christian mission 
 
 794151 
 
— 6 — 
 
 rather than a colony, and this characteristic 
 has affected their histor}^ to the present 
 day. It is true that Legaspi, the former 
 alcalde of the city of Mexico, who was sent 
 out with Friar Urdaneta, of the Augustinian 
 Order, was directed to examine the ports 
 of the Philippine Islands and to establish 
 trade with the natives; and that the 
 importance of winning the friendship of the 
 natives was emphasized as a means of 
 continuing the trade. But the viceroy of 
 Philip II. ordered Legaspi to treat the five 
 Augustinian Friars in his company with 
 the utmost respect and consideration, so 
 that the natives should also hold them in 
 respect; ''since," as he wrote to Legaspi, 
 "you are aware that the chief thing sought 
 after by his Majesty is the increase of the 
 Holy Catholic Faith and the salvation of 
 the souls of these infidels." In other Spanish 
 expeditions the sum of money paid for the 
 trip was paid by adventurers who con- 
 tributed part of the fund and who w^ere 
 aided from the royal treasury, the under- 
 standing being that there should be an 
 equitable division of the profits between 
 the adventurers and the king. There v^as, 
 however, no adventurer connected with this 
 expedition. It was purely a governmental 
 enterprise sent out by order of Philip II., 
 and he paid all the expenses. A contem- 
 
— 7 — 
 
 porary writer says that when the king was 
 informed that the PhiHppines were not rich 
 in gold and pearls and that their occupation 
 might not be lucrative but the reverse, 
 he answered: ''That is not a matter ot 
 moment; I am an instrument of Divine 
 Providence. The main thing is the conver- 
 sion of the kingdom of Luzon ; and God has 
 predestined me for that end, having chosen 
 me His king for that purpose. And since 
 He has intrusted so glorious a w^ork to 
 me and my crown, I shall hold the islands 
 of Luzon, even though by doing so I exhaust 
 my treasury." 
 
 Again, in 1619, in the reign of Philip IIL, 
 it was proposed to abandon the Philippines 
 on the ground of their useless expense to 
 Spain, and an order to that eifect was 
 given. A delegation of Spanish friars from 
 the archipelago, however, implored the king 
 not to abandon the 200,000 Christians 
 whom they had by that time converted, 
 and the order was countermanded. 
 
 I may digress here to say that some years 
 before the American occupation, a popular 
 subscription was taken up in Manila to pay 
 for the erection of the statue of Legaspi, 
 the founder of the city. Subsequently the 
 plan was changed so as to include Urdaneta, 
 the Augustinian Friar, who accompanied 
 Legaspi. Querol, a Spanish sculptor of note. 
 
8 
 
 designed the monument, and it was cast in 
 bronze and sent to Manila. When the Amer- 
 ican forces captured the place, there were 
 found in the Custom House the various pieces 
 of the monument, but nothing looking 
 to its erection had been done. The military 
 government of Manila under General Davis, 
 decided, and properly decided, that it would 
 be a graceful act on the part of the American 
 authorities to erect the monument. This 
 was done, and the monument now stands 
 on the Luneta overlooking the Bay ot 
 Manila, and occupies the most prominent 
 site in the whole archipelago. It is a 
 work of art. The two figures are instinct 
 with courage and energy. Legaspi on the 
 right bears in his left hand the standard of 
 Spain ; on the left, and slightly in advance 
 of Legaspi, Urdaneta carries in his right 
 hand, and immediately in the front of the 
 Spanish standard, the cross. The whole, 
 as an artistic expression, satisfies the 
 sense of admiration that one feels in 
 reading of the enterprise, courage and 
 fidelity to duty that distinguished those 
 heroes of Spain who braved the then 
 frightful dangers of the deep to carry 
 Christianity and European civilization into 
 the far-off Orient. 
 
 Under the circumstances I have described, 
 the occupation of the islands took on a 
 
— 9— • 
 
 different aspect from that of ordinary 
 seeking for gold and profit, and was not in 
 the least like the conquest of Pizarro and 
 Cortez. The natives were treated with great 
 kindness and consideration. The priests 
 exerted every effort to conciliate them. The 
 government was first established at Cebu, 
 subsequently at Iloilo in Panay, and finally 
 at Manila in 1571. There was at Manila 
 some fighting of a desultory and not very 
 bloody character; but Legaspi, obeying 
 the direction of his superior, at once entered 
 into negotiations with the natives. He found 
 that there was no great chief in command, 
 but that each town had its own chief and 
 there was no other government than that of 
 many petty rulers. They were jealous of one 
 another, were easily induced to acknowledge 
 allegiance to the King of Spain, and were 
 quickly brought under the influence of the 
 active missionary efforts of the friars who 
 accompanied Legaspi. History affords few 
 instances in which sovereignty was extended 
 over so large a territory and so many 
 people (for the island must then have had 
 half a million inhabitants) with less blood- 
 shed. When Legaspi's lieutenant, Salcedo, 
 first visited Manila, he found evidence that 
 there had been an effort to convert the 
 people to Mohammedanism, but it had not 
 proceeded far. Undoubtedly, if Legaspi had 
 
lO 
 
 not at that time come into the islands, all 
 the peoples of the archipelago, instead of 
 only five per cent of them, would now, 
 have been Mohammedan. The willingness of 
 the natives to embrace Christianity, their 
 gentle natures and their love of the solemn 
 and beautiful ceremonies of the Catholic 
 Church, enabled the friars to spread Christi- 
 anity through the islands with remarkable 
 rapidity. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that these are 
 a Malay people; and that nowhere in the 
 world, except in the Philippine Islands, has 
 the Malay been made a Christian. In other 
 places where the race abides, Mohamme- 
 danism has become its religion; and there 
 is no condition of mind which offers such 
 resistance to the inculcating of Christianity 
 as that found in the followers of the 
 Prophet of Mecca. 
 
 The friars learned the various dialects ot 
 the natives, and settled down to live with 
 them as their protectors and guardians. In 
 the first two hundred years of Spanish occu- 
 pation, the Crown had granted to various 
 Spanish subjects large tracts of land called 
 encomiendas. To those who occupied these 
 encomiendas it was intended to give the 
 character of feudal lords. They, of course 
 came into contact w^ith the natives and 
 attempted to use them for the develop- 
 
II 
 
 ment of their properties. The history 
 of the islands until 1800 shows that the 
 friars who had increased in number from 
 time to time were constantly exercising 
 their influence to restrain abuse of the 
 natives by these encomienderos, or large 
 land-owners ; and the result of their efforts 
 is seen in the royal decrees issued at their 
 request, which were published and became 
 known as the "Laws of the Indies." It is 
 very probable that the encomienderos fre- 
 quently violated the restrictions w^hich v^ere 
 put upon them by these laws in dealing with 
 the natives; but there is nothing to show 
 that the friars winked at this or that they 
 did not continue to act sincerely as the 
 protectors of the natives down to the 
 beginning of the past century. Under the 
 law a native could not be sued unless there 
 was made party to the suit an official who 
 was ordinarily a friar, known as ''the 
 Protector of the Indian." The encomiendero 
 who had to do with the natives was 
 not permitted to live in a town on his 
 own estates where the natives lived. The 
 friars exerted their influence to induce the 
 natives to live in tow^ns near the church 
 and the convento, or parish house, because 
 they thought that this would bring the 
 natives more fully ''under the the bells," 
 as they called it, or within religious 
 
12 
 
 influence. One of the friars laid down as 
 a rule, which was adopted by his Order 
 and approved by the government as early 
 as 1580, the following: 
 
 1. **It is proper that pueblos should be 
 formed, the missionaries being ordered to 
 establish themselves at a certain point where 
 the church and the parish house (convento), 
 which w^ill serve as a point of departure for 
 the missions, will be built. The new Chris- 
 tians will be obliged to build their houses 
 about the church, and the heathen will 
 be advised to do so. 
 
 2. ** Elementary schools should be estab- 
 lished, in which the Indians will be taught 
 not only Christian doctrine and reading 
 and writing, but also arts and trades; so 
 that they may become not only good 
 Christians but also useful citizens." 
 
 So great and complete became the control 
 which the friars exercised over the natives 
 by reason of their sincere devotion to their 
 interests, that Spain found it possible to 
 police the islands with very few troops. 
 
 The Spanish military force in the Philip- 
 pines in 1600 was 470 oflficers and men. 
 In 1636 this had increased to 1762 
 Spaniards and 140 natives. From 1828 to 
 1896 the Spanish forces varied from 1000 
 to 3000 officers and men. In 1896, just 
 before the revolution, the army included 
 
— IS- 
 IS, 000 men, of whom 3000 were Spaniards; 
 and a constabulary of 3500 men most of 
 whom were natives. 
 
 The Spaniards, but not the natives, v^ere 
 until 1803 subject to the jurisdiction of the 
 Inquisition. Idolatries, heresies and errors 
 of belief committed by the natives were 
 brought before the bishop of the diocese, but 
 not before the Holy Office. 
 
 Although the natives held slaves, upon the 
 arrival of the Spaniards the custom was 
 discouraged by a law forbidding Span- 
 iards to hold slaves, and by prohibiting 
 judges from deciding in cases of dispute 
 whether a man was a slave ; so that a slave 
 appearing before the court was ordinarily 
 liberated. 
 
 In Cavite the friars maintained a hospital 
 for sick sailors; in Manila, Los Banos and 
 Caceres were hospitals for sick natives; 
 in Manila, Pila and Caceres were hospitals 
 for Spaniards, the clergy and natives who 
 could afford to pay. In Manila was main- 
 tained a hospital for sick negro slaves. 
 
 Between 1591 and 1615, the friars of the 
 Philippines had sent missionaries to Japan, 
 wrho devoted themselves to the succor of the 
 poor and needy there, and especially the 
 lepers of that country ; so that there were in 
 Japan, when the ports of that country were 
 closed, about thirty-two priests. Twenty-six 
 
— 14 — 
 
 of them were crucified or burned alive. When 
 the Mikado expelled the Christians he sent to 
 the governor-general of the Philippines three 
 junks laden with 150 lepers, v^ith a letter in 
 which he stated that, as the Spanish friars 
 v^ere so anxious to provide for the poor and 
 afflicted, he sent them a cargo of men who 
 were really sorely oppressed. These unfort- 
 unates v^ere taken ashore and housed at 
 Manila, in the hospital of San Lazaro, which 
 has ever since been used for lepers. 
 
 I draw much of what I have said from an 
 introduction by Captain John R. M. Taylor, 
 of the 14th Infantry, Assistant to the Chief 
 of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, who is 
 engaged in compiling original documents 
 connected w^ith the Philippines, with notes. 
 Speaking of what the friars did in the 
 islands, Captain Taylor says : 
 
 *'To accomplish these results required 
 untiring energy and a high enthusiasm 
 among the missionaries, in whom the fierce 
 fires of religious ardor must have consumed 
 many of the more kindly attributes ol 
 humanity. Men who had lived among 
 savages, trying to teach them the advan- 
 tages of peace and the reasonableness of a 
 higher life, who had lived among them 
 speaking their tongues until they had 
 almost forgotten their own, must have felt 
 when promoted to the high places in the 
 
— 15 — 
 
 religious hierarchy, that their sole duty was 
 to increase the boundaries of the vineyard in 
 which they had worked so long. Spain had 
 ceased to be everything to them : their Order 
 was their country ; and the cure of souls, and 
 the accumulation of means for the cure of 
 souls was the truest patriotism. . . . They 
 were shepherds of a very erring flock. 
 Spanish officials came and w^ent, but the 
 ministers of the Church remained, and as 
 they grew to be the interpreters of the 
 wants of the people, and in many cases 
 their protectors against spoliation, power 
 fell into their hands." 
 
 The influence of the friars was thrown 
 against the investigation and development 
 of the resources of the Philippines. The 
 priests reasoned that the working of the 
 mines in Peru and Mexico had meant suffer- 
 ing and death to many of the natives ; and 
 that it was better to let the mines in the 
 Philippines, if mines there were, lie unopened. 
 Few Spanish merchants lived permanently 
 in the islands, and these were chiefly engaged 
 in the transshipment of Asiatic merchandise 
 from Manila, and had but little interest in 
 Philippine products. The internal develop- 
 ment of the islands was neglected. Taxes 
 were light, and there was little money to 
 make improvements or to establish schools. 
 One Spanish - speaking priest among three 
 
i6 
 
 or four thousand natives could not do much 
 in spreading the knowledge of the language. 
 It is probable that, apart from the con- 
 venience of the priest's learning the language 
 of his parish instead of requiring the 
 parishioners to learn his, it w^as deemed 
 expedient from a moral standpoint to keep 
 the common people ignorant of Spanish. 
 To know^ Spanish meant contact v^ith the 
 outside w^orld, and the priests feared — not 
 civilization, but the evils of civilization. 
 Modem material progress seemed to the 
 Spanish missionaries of little w^orth, com- 
 pared with keeping their people innocent. 
 
 It ought to be noted, however, that while 
 the policy of the friars seems to have been 
 to keep the common people in a state of 
 Christian pupilage, they founded a university, 
 that of St. Thomas, which is older than 
 either Harvard or Yale, and is still doing 
 educational work. The Jesuits, too, founded 
 and are now carrying on several very good 
 academic schools in Manila, and there are a 
 few others in the islands. All the well- 
 educated Filipinos owe their education to 
 institutions of learning founded by friars or 
 Jesuits, or conducted under their auspices. 
 
 This brief description of the control of 
 the Philippine Islands and of the Philippine 
 people by a thousand Spanish friars prior 
 to the nineteenth century, at once prompts 
 
— 17 — 
 
 the question how it has come about that the 
 PhiHppine people now manifest such hos- 
 tihty to those who were for two hundred 
 and fifty years their sincere and earnest 
 friends, benefactors and protectors? There 
 were several causes for the change. The 
 intimate and affectionate relations existing 
 between the friars and their native parish- 
 ioners had led to the education of natives 
 as priests, and to the acceptance of some 
 of them as members of the religious orders. 
 Before 1800, of the bishops and archbishops 
 who had been appointed in the islands, 
 twelve were natives; but after the first 
 years of the nineteenth century no such 
 places of preferment were offered them ; and 
 after 1832 they were not allowed to become 
 members of the religious orders. This 
 change of policy created a cleavage between 
 the native clergy and the friars, which 
 gradually widened. In all countries in 
 which the Roman Catholic religion has 
 become fairly established, it has been the 
 ultimate policy of Rome to make the Church 
 as popular as possible by appointing the 
 priests and the hierarchy from the natives 
 of the country; but in the Philippines, and 
 especially in the nineteenth century, under 
 the Spanish influence — which, by means ot 
 the Concordat between the Spanish Crown 
 and Rome, largely excluded the direct 
 
— i8 — 
 
 interposition of Rome in the Philippines — 
 a different pohcy was followed, and the 
 controlling priesthood was confined as rnuch 
 as possible to the dominant and alien race. 
 The inevitable result of this policy, as 
 soon as any small percentage of the 
 Philippine people passed out from under 
 the pupilage of the Spanish friars, was to 
 create an opposition to them among the 
 people. 
 
 In 1767, the Jesuits had been banished 
 from the islands by the Pragmatic Sanc- 
 tion of Charles the Third, and their 
 properties had been confiscated. They were 
 at the time very powerful and rich, and 
 the thirty -two parishes to which they 
 had administered were now given over, 
 through the influence of a secular arch- 
 bishop, to native priests. The parishes 
 were chiefly in the provinces of Cavite, 
 Manila and Bulacan. In 1852, the Jesuits 
 were permitted to return, and the order 
 permitting their return directed that they 
 should receive again their thirty-two 
 parishes, but in the remote Island of 
 Mindanao. Those parishes had been occu- 
 pied by Recolletos, the barefooted branch 
 of the Franciscan Order. The Recolletos 
 demanded that if they were turned out of 
 their parishes in Mindanao, they should 
 be restored to the parishes occupied by 
 
— 19 — 
 
 the native secular clergy in Cavite, Manila 
 and Bulacan, which had been originally 
 Jesuit parishes. This proposal was resisted 
 by the native secular clergy, but was, 
 nevertheless, carried into effect, increasing 
 the hostility already existing on the part 
 of the native clergy toward the friars. 
 The bitterness of feeling thus engendered 
 spread among the people. 
 
 Secondly, the friars had become, generally 
 by purchase, large landowners. They held 
 land enough to nlake up 250,000 acres in 
 the Tagalog provinces in the immediate 
 neighborhood of Manila. This land, which 
 was rented by them to thousands of tenants, 
 was the best cultivated land in the islands, 
 and was admirably suited for the cheap 
 conveyance of the crops to market. Charges 
 were made that the friars were collecting 
 exorbitant rents; and other agrarian diffi- 
 culties arose, which, however free from 
 blame the friars may have been, contributed 
 very decidedly to the growing feeling on 
 the part of the native people against their 
 former friends and protectors. 
 
 Finally, the construction of the Suez Canal 
 brought the Philippines into comparatively 
 close communication w^ith Spain, and hordes 
 of Spanish adventurers came to the islands. 
 Republican or liberal political views which 
 were then spreading in Spain, leading later to 
 
— 20 — 
 
 the formation for a short time of a Spanish 
 republic, reached Manila, and, finding 
 lodgment among some of the educated 
 Filipinos led to a small uprising and 
 so-called insurrection in 1870. A prominent 
 Filipino priest named Burgos, who had been 
 active in the controversies between the friars 
 and the native clergy, was charged with 
 complicity in this uprising, was convicted 
 and was shot on the Luneta. The Spanish 
 government looked to the Spanish friars, 
 because of their intimacy v^ith the people 
 and control over them, to do what was 
 necessary in ferreting out sedition or 
 treason, supposed to be then rife. By 
 custom, and subsequently by law, to the 
 parish priest was given complete super- 
 visory power over the municipal government 
 of his town. His civil functions became 
 very many, and one of his chief duties 
 was supposed by the people to be to report 
 to the central government at Manila the 
 persons in his parish whose political views 
 or actions were hostile to the Spanish regime. 
 The friars thus became involved in a reaction- 
 ary policy, which placed them in opposition 
 to the people, and made them responsible 
 in the popular mind for the severity with 
 which the Spanish government punished 
 those suspected of liberal political opinions. 
 So bitter did the feeling become that in the 
 
21 
 
 revolution of 1898 there were forty friars 
 killed and three hundred imprisoned; and 
 the latter were released only by the 
 advance of the American forces and the 
 capture of the towns in which they were 
 confined. 
 
 I have at various times discussed the 
 dilemma which was presented to the United 
 States after the battle of Manila Bay and 
 the taking of the city of Manila, the signing 
 of the protocol, and when the question arose 
 as to what form the treaty of peace should 
 take. It is not my purpose now^ to review^ 
 the situation; it has convinced me that 
 the course which was taken — to wit, that 
 of assuming sovereignty over the islands — 
 was the only honorable course open to 
 the United States. 
 
 The condition of the Roman Catholic 
 Church after the treaty of peace between 
 Spain and the United States was a critical 
 one; and while it has somewhat improved, 
 there still remains much to be desired before 
 the Church can assume its proper sphere of 
 usefulness. Many of the churches were injured 
 in the war of the insurrection, and many of 
 the parishes had to be abandoned for lack of 
 priests. The native clergy, consisting mainly 
 of priests of limited education who had acted 
 as assistants to the friars, have become 
 the parish priests; and the learning and 
 
22 
 
 character of many of them are by no means 
 as high as those of CathoHc priests of other 
 countries. The friars who were parish priests 
 could not return to the parishes because of 
 the enmity felt against them; and it was 
 difficult to obtain priests from other lands 
 who could discharge the duties of ministers 
 of religion among people whom they did 
 not understand and who did not understand 
 them. I am informed that arrangements are 
 now^ being made to bring in French, Bel- 
 gian and American missionaries. The funds 
 which the Spanish government was under 
 obligation to furnish for the salaries of the 
 parish priests, by reason of the Concordat 
 with the Pope, are of course not now 
 available ; and this makes it important, from 
 a churchman's standpoint, that as much of 
 the money as possible realized from the 
 friars' lands should be kept in the coffers 
 of the Philippine Church. The truth is 
 that the Church has been placed under the 
 necessity of preparing a new priesthood and 
 of establishing the old church on a new 
 foundation. The policy of the Vatican looks 
 now to the creation as soon as practicable 
 of a new clergy by the education of young 
 Filipinos of good character in theological 
 seminaries to be established for the purpose 
 in Manila, Rome and America. 
 The transfer of a people from a sovereignty 
 
— 23 — 
 
 like that of Spain — in which the Church and 
 government and the State were so closely 
 united that it is at times very difficult to 
 distinguish .the possessions and functions 
 of each — to a sovereingty like that of the 
 United States, in which the Church and the 
 state must be separate, has presented a 
 number of most interesting questions for 
 readjustment and settlement ; and these 
 questions have been much complicated by 
 the political bearing which the hostility of 
 the people toward the friars' ownership of 
 large argricultural holdings has had upon 
 the situation. 
 
 Let us take up, in order, the classes of ques- 
 tions arising between the Roman Catholic 
 Church and the government of the Philippine 
 Islands established by the United States : 
 
 First. The three orders — the Augustinians, 
 the RecoUetos and the Dominicans — owned ^ 
 among them about 420,000 acres of land. 
 Of this, 120,000 acres had been very recently 
 acquired by grant of the Spanish govern- 
 ment, 60,000 acres of it lay in the remote 
 province of Isabela and was granted to the 
 Augustinian Order, in order to secure its 
 improvement; and a similar grant in the 
 Island of Mindoro was made to the 
 RecoUetos. The remaining 300,000 acres, 
 however, had been held by the Orders for 
 periods ranging from 50 to 200 years. I 
 
— 24 — 
 
 do not find any indication that this land was 
 acquired through undue influence as has been 
 sometimes charged. The chain of titles seems 
 to show that it was all purchased either at 
 private sale or public auction. The lands, 
 especially those in the neighborhood of 
 Manila, the friars highly improved by 
 irrigation at large expense. After the 
 Revolution of 1896, the popular feeling 
 against the friars made the collection of 
 rents from their tenants impossible. 
 
 The Insurgent Congress at Malolos, under 
 Aguinaldo, passed acts confiscating to the 
 Filipino Republic all the lands of the friars 
 in the islands; and many of the tenants 
 based their refusal to pay rents to the friars' 
 agents on the ground of this "nationalizing" 
 of the lands, as it was called. 
 
 In 1901, American civil government was 
 established, and courts were created for the 
 purpose of determing civil rights. The friars 
 had meantime transferred their titles to 
 promoting companies, taking back shares 
 in the corporations as a consideration for 
 the transfers. With the restoration of tran- 
 quillity in 1902, there was no just reason 
 why the companies now owning the lands 
 should not proceed to collect their rents and 
 to oust the tenants if the rents w^ere not 
 paid. The tenants were sullen and not 
 disposed to recognize the titles of the friars 
 
— 25 — 
 
 or to pay their rents. A sytematic attempt 
 to collect the rents would involve eviction 
 suits against many thousand tenants ; 
 judgment w^ould doubtless follow^ the suits, 
 and the executive officers of the courts must 
 then proceed to evict from their houses and 
 homes thousands of farmers in the most 
 populous provinces of the islands, and chiefly 
 among the Tagalogs, a tribe easily aroused 
 to disturbance and insurrection. After four 
 years of the difficult w^ork of tranquillization 
 it seemed impossible, w^ere these evictions to 
 be instituted, to avoid a return to the dis- 
 turbed conditions that had so injuriously 
 affected the interests of the islands betv^een 
 1898 and 1902. Something must be done 
 to avoid the manifest danger to the public 
 peace and to vy^ell-ordered government v^hich 
 w^holesale evictions of the character described 
 would involve. 
 
 Second. It was found that the political 
 hostility toward the friars was so great on 
 the part of the people that any eff*ort to send 
 them from Manila, where they were housed 
 in their monasteries, to the parishes where 
 they had formerly exercised priestly func- 
 tions, created disturbances that it was 
 difficult for the civil government to control. 
 On political grounds, therefore, it seemed 
 wise for the Church on the friendly sug- 
 gestion of the government, to select other 
 
26 
 
 ministers than the Spanish members of the 
 Orders which had aroused such poHtical 
 antagonism among the people in the recent 
 history of the islands. 
 
 Third. Under the Spanish regime, when- 
 ever either a civil or religious charity or 
 school was founded and maintained, the 
 immediate executive officers selected by the 
 government for the purpose of supervising 
 and carrying on such institutions were 
 members of the clergy. There were several 
 large foundations, educational and charit- 
 able, with respect to which the claim was 
 made, as soon as the United States govern- 
 ment assumed control, that they were not 
 religious charities and so subject to tl;ie 
 control of the Roman Catholic Church ; but 
 that they were really civil foundations, the 
 care and custody of which necessarily passed 
 with the transfer of sovereignty from the 
 Crown of Spain to the government of the 
 United States. This question has arisen 
 with respect to two hospitals, and the 
 College of San Jose. The union of Church 
 and State under the Spanish regime was 
 so close that the decision whether a 
 particular foundation was civil or religious 
 involves a consideration of some of the 
 nicest and most puzzling points of law. 
 Take the instance of the College of San Jose. 
 
 A Spaniard named Figueroa, who was 
 
— 27 — 
 
 governor of the Island of Mindanao in 
 1600, died and left a will by which he gave 
 a fund for the establishment and assistance 
 of a school for the education of young 
 Spaniards. In this will, he directed specifi- 
 cally that the school should not be subject 
 to ecclesiastical domination; but he provided 
 that the pupils should have a Christian 
 education, and that the rector of the school 
 should be the head of the Jesuit Order in 
 the Philippines. In 1767, as already said, 
 the Jesuits were expelled from the islands 
 by the King of Spain. After the Jesuits 
 left, the Archbishop of Manila and the 
 governor -general took possession of the 
 property of the College of San Jose and 
 divided it between them for Church and 
 governmental purposes. When this was 
 brought to the attention of the King of 
 Spain, he severely criticised both officials, 
 and directed that the property— which, he 
 said, had not belonged to the Jesuits, but 
 was only under the control of the superior 
 to carry out Figueroa's will — should be 
 continued in the same trust. He then 
 appointed a Dominican to supervise the 
 administration of the college. 
 
 Though the Jesuits were allowed to return 
 to the islands in 1852, the superior of the 
 Order did not resume control of the college. 
 The foundation continued to be under 
 
— 28 — 
 
 Dominican supervision, and is now a part 
 of the University of Santo Tomas. The 
 funds are used, under the doctrine known to 
 lawyers as the doctrine of cy pres, to 
 maintain a school of medicine in the 
 university. The Filipino Medical Associa- 
 tion, as soon as the American government 
 took control of the islands, insisted that 
 this San Jose trust was a civil foundation, 
 and that it was the duty of the American 
 government to take possession as the 
 trustee, and to '*run" the institution as 
 a medical college free from ecclesiastical 
 control. Much local bitterness grew out of 
 the controversy, and the commission finally 
 concluded to pass a law providing a special 
 case for the Supreme Court of the islands 
 to decide. It is now pending, but has not 
 been brought to a hearing, because it was 
 hoped, after the visit to Rome, that it might 
 be settled by compromise. 
 
 Fourth. Another class of questions arising 
 between the government of the United 
 States and the Roman Catholic Church is 
 the question of rent and damages for the 
 occupation of churches and conventos by 
 the troops of the United States during the 
 insurrection and subsequent thereto. You 
 must know that nine-tenths of the popula- 
 tion of- the Philippine Islands reside in 
 houses made of a very light and temporary 
 
— 29 — 
 
 material. They live in what are called 
 "shacks" made of bamboo frames with 
 roofs and sides of the nipa-palm. The 
 houses are quickly constructed, easily moved 
 and much subject to destruction by fire. 
 The only permanent buildings in the ordi- 
 nary town in the Philippines, with the 
 exception of the municipal or town building 
 and a few houses of the wealthy, are the 
 church and the rectory, called the convento. 
 The church is usually a large building of 
 stone or brick, finely situated; and the 
 convento is a great structure adjoining 
 the church and connected with it. The 
 convento offered excellent facilities as a 
 barracks for the troops. As it happened 
 that during the insurrection many of the 
 churches and conventos were abandoned, 
 the troops moved into them — very much to 
 the satisfaction of the church authorities, 
 because in this way their destruction was 
 avoided. The insurgents early in the w^ar 
 had pursued the policy of destroying the 
 churches, in the belief that in this wise 
 they would prevent the American troops 
 from having places in w^hich to live. 
 The occupation of the churches and con- 
 ventos for military purposes continued for 
 two years, and sometimes longer, and often 
 for quite a period after all hostilities had 
 ceased. This is the foundation for a reason- 
 
~3o — 
 
 able claim against the United States for 
 rent and for damages caused by the occupa- 
 tion. The difficulty is in settling the proper 
 amount due. 
 
 Fifth. Another class of questions, and 
 one which at present is perhaps the most 
 troublesome, involves the question of 
 title to a number of parish churches and 
 conventos. In these cases, the title is 
 claimed by the respective municipalities in 
 w^hich the parish church and conventos 
 stand ; and the people of some of these 
 municipalities claim the right to turn the 
 church and convento over to the so-called 
 Independent Filipino Catholic Church, a 
 schismatic body established by an apostate 
 Roman Catholic priest named Aglipay. I 
 shall speak more in detail of this question 
 farther on. 
 
 I think I have sufficiently stated and 
 explained the questions betw^een the Church 
 and the government to shov\^ that they 
 were serious obstacles to the progress of 
 the American government, if steps were not 
 immediately taken to secure a settlement 
 of them. It is not too much to say that 
 the Church was as anxious to bring about 
 a settlement as was the government. The 
 commission recommended the purchase of 
 the friars' lands as a solution of the 
 difficulties arising with respect to them. 
 
— 31 — 
 
 It had been fairly well ascertained that if 
 the government bought the lands, the 
 government as a landlord w^ould have less 
 difficulty in dealing with the tenants than 
 it would have in enforcing the rights of the 
 friars as landlords; and that by offering to 
 the tenants opportunity to purchase the 
 lands on small annual payments for ten 
 or twenty years, a transfer of the lands 
 to the tenants might probably be effected 
 without much, if any, pecuniary loss to 
 the government. 
 
 Through a prominent American prelate 
 of the Roman Catholfc Church, it was 
 intimated by the Vatican to Mr. Root, the 
 Secretary of War, that if an agent of the 
 government could be sent to Rome, the 
 settlement of all these questions might be 
 greatly facilitated by direct negotiation 
 with the head of the Roman Church. The 
 issue was presented to the President and 
 the Secretary of War whether they ought 
 to take the responsibility of a direct 
 communication with the Vatican in the 
 settlement of these questions. Of course 
 the immediate objection to this was the 
 possibility of severe condemnation by the 
 non-Catholics of America, on the ground 
 that it was a radical departure from the 
 traditions of the government, and would be 
 establishing diplomatic relations with the 
 
— 32 — 
 
 head of the Roman Church, inconsistent 
 with the separation of Church and State 
 always maintained by our government. 
 There was the natural fear that the purpose 
 of the visit might thus be misconstrued and 
 that a sectarian feeling would be aroused; 
 so that the visit, instead of contributing 
 to the solution of the difficulties in the 
 Philippines, might prove to be a most serious 
 obstacle. On the other hand, the President 
 and Secretary of War thought it possible, 
 after full and frank consultation with many 
 leading clergymen of various denominations, 
 to rely on the clear judgment and common- 
 sense and liberality of all the American 
 people, v^ho must see the supreme difficulties 
 and exceptional character of the problem 
 which the government had to meet in the 
 Philippine Islands, and would welcome any 
 reasonable step toward its solution. It was 
 a business proposition. Was it wiser to deal 
 with an agent of the great corporation of the 
 Roman Church in the Philippine Islands, or 
 with the head of the Church at Roman ? The 
 disadvantage of dealing with an agent in the 
 Philippine Islands was that unless direct and 
 satisfactory communication v^as established 
 with the head of the Church, the representa- 
 tives of the Church in the islands would be 
 likely to be more or less under the influence 
 of the Spanish friars, whose attitude with 
 
— 33 — 
 
 respect to the questions to be decided could 
 not be expected, under the circumstances, to 
 be impartial and free from bias. It was 
 concluded, therefore, to accept the informal 
 invitation, and to send a representative to 
 the Vatican to deal directly with the Pope 
 and with the Congregation of Cardinals, to 
 whom in the ordinary course of business 
 he would probably assign the matter. I 
 was then the Governor of the Philippine 
 Islands, visiting this country for the pur- 
 pose of testifying before the congressional 
 committees on Philippine affairs. 
 
 It was thought appropriate that I should 
 represent the government of the United 
 States in the conferences at Rome. Judge 
 James F. Smith, of the Supreme Court of 
 the Phihppines Islands, a Roman CathoHc, 
 then on leave in this country, was assigned 
 to accompany me. In addition. Bishop 
 Thomas O 'Gorman, the Catholic bishop of 
 Sioux Falls, who had lived a long time in 
 Rome and spoke French with much fluency, 
 and Colonel John Biddle Porter, of the 
 Judge Advocate's Corps of the Army, who 
 also spoke French, made up the party. 
 It was properly thought that Bishop 
 O'Gorman's familiarity with the methods 
 of doing business in the Vatican would be 
 of much assistance to me in carrying on 
 the negotiation. This proved to be in every 
 
— 34 — 
 
 way true. Bishop O'Gorman preceded us 
 
 iu the visit to Rome by about two weeks, 
 
 and met us at Naples when the rest of us 
 
 landed from the North German Lloyd 
 
 steamer on our way to Rome, I had 
 
 received a letter of instruction from the 
 
 Secretary of War, a letter of introduction 
 
 from the Secretary of State to Cardinal 
 
 Rampolla, and a personal letter of courtesy 
 
 and greeting from President Roosevelt to 
 
 his Holiness Pope Leo XIII. We first 
 
 called upon Cardinal Rampolla, who 
 
 received us cordially, and indicated the 
 
 time when the Pope would receive us in 
 
 audience. At the appointed hour, through 
 
 the magnificent chambers of the Vatican, 
 
 v^e v^ere escorted into the presence of 
 
 Leo XIII. From the moment that we 
 
 were presented to the Pope until his death, 
 
 we were constantly being made conscious 
 
 of the fact that he took a real personal 
 
 interest in the solution of the difficult 
 
 problems vsrhich had to be solved between 
 
 the Church and the Philippine government; 
 
 and that he intended, so far as lay in his 
 
 power, to bring about the most friendly 
 
 relation between the United States in the 
 
 Philippines and the church authorities. 
 
 He received us most graciously, directed us 
 
 to seats immediately in front of him, listened 
 
 attentively while the address which I ^^(j 
 
— 35 — 
 
 prepared, and which had been translated 
 into French, was read to him by Colonel 
 Porter. He responded in remarks of per- 
 haps fifteen minutes in length, showing 
 that he had caught the points which were 
 presented to him in the address and fully 
 understood them. Our audience was held 
 with him, without the presence of any 
 adviser, cardinal, priest or attendant. 
 
 I had always had great admiration for 
 Leo XIII. because of his statesmanlike 
 grasp of the many portentous questions 
 that were presented to him for discussion 
 and solution; but I had supposed that in 
 the latter years of his pontificate he had 
 become so feeble as to be not much more 
 than a lay figure in the Papal government, 
 and that, except for a more formal greeting 
 and salutation, we should have to trans- 
 act our business with the Curia. I w^as 
 greatly surprised, therefore, to find this 
 grand old man of ninety-two, though some- 
 what bent in years and delicate - looking, 
 still able to walk about ; and, what was 
 more remarkable, keen and active in his 
 mind, easily following the conversation and 
 addresses made to him, and responding 
 v^ith a promptness and clearness of intel- 
 lectual vision rarely found in men of old age. 
 Nothing could exceed the cordial gracious- 
 ness and simple, kindly manner with which 
 
-36- 
 
 he received us. After the serious part of 
 the audience had been concluded, he made 
 inquiries after our families and our health, 
 and lightened the conversation with a 
 genial w^it and sense of humor that were 
 very charming. He assured us of his 
 great delight at our coming and of his 
 determination to insure the success of 
 our visit. 
 
 After our first audience with the Pope, I 
 presented my letter of instruction to Car- 
 dinal Rampolla, which was referred by him 
 to the proper Congregation of Cardinals, 
 'and the negotiations thereafter were in 
 writing. The answer of the Vatican to the 
 Secretary of War's instructions contained 
 a general acquiescence in the desire of the 
 government of the United States to purchase 
 the friars' lands, and an announcement of 
 the Vatican's intention to effect a change in 
 the personnel of the priests in the islands, by 
 a gradual substitution for the Spanish friars 
 of priests of other nationalities, with the 
 ultimate purpose of fitting Filipinos for the 
 clergy; and a proposal that all the matters^ 
 pending should be turned over for settle- 
 ment to a conference between an Apostolic 
 Delegate to be sent to the Philippine Islands 
 and the ofiicers of the Insular government. 
 
 The correspondence has been published, 
 and I shall not weary you with its details 
 
— 37 — 
 
 further than to say that, in the response 
 to the first letter received from Cardinal 
 Rampolla, we thought it proper to propose 
 a definite contract between the government 
 of the islands and the Vatican for the 
 purchase of the lands, at a price to be 
 fixed by a tribunal of arbitration, which 
 should pass not only upon the price of 
 the lands but also upon the question of the 
 trust foundations already referred to, and 
 which should fix for the approval of Congress 
 the amount of rent and damages due for*^ 
 the occupation of the churches and conventos 
 by the United States troops. It was further 
 proposed that this contract should have a 
 condition by which the Vatican would agree " 
 to withdraw the friars in the course of 
 three years. 
 
 To this condition the Vatican declined 
 to agree. It was willing to make a 
 definite contract for arbitration, but it 
 declined to agree as one of its terms to 
 .withdraw the friars from the islands: first, 
 because that was a question of religious 
 discipline which, it did not think, ought to 
 form a term of a commercial contract; 
 secondly, because it did not desire, by such 
 a stipulation, to reflect upon the Spanish 
 religious Orders, and thus give apparent 
 support to the slanders which had been pub- 
 lished against the Orders by their enemies; 
 
-38- 
 
 and, thirdly, because such agreement would 
 be offensive to Spain. We, on the part of 
 the United States, under the instructions of 
 the Secretary War, did not feel authorized 
 to enter into a contract of arbitration with 
 all the uncertainty as to the extent of 
 the obligation assumed, if it did not include 
 as a consideration the withdrawal of the 
 Spanish friars ; and accordingly we reverted ^ 
 to the general agreement proposed in the 
 Vatican's first letter, in which the Church 
 indicated its approval of the purchase of 
 the lands, and the settlement of the other 
 questions by negotiation v^ith an Apostolic 
 Delegate to be sent w^ith full powers to 
 Manila. 
 
 We were honored by a second audience 
 with Leo XIII. on our departure. We had 
 received at his hands great courtesy, had 
 been invited to attend his consistory held 
 while we were in Rome, and had much 
 enjoyed that interesting occasion. He talked 
 to us on the subject of the Philippines for 
 some twenty or thirty minutes, and assured 
 us again of his intense interest in the friendly 
 solution of the questions .arising there, and 
 of his determination that they should all 
 be solved to the satisfaction of the American 
 government. He intimated that while we 
 had not possibly been as successful as we 
 hoped, we would find that through his 
 
— 39 — 
 
 Apostolic Delegate, whom he would send, 
 the whole matter would be worked out to 
 our satisfaction. 
 
 I count it one of the opportunities of my 
 life to have had the honor of a personal 
 interview with so great an historical figure. • 
 Fragile in body almost to the point of 
 transparency, with beautiful eyes, and a 
 continuing smile full of benignity and 
 charity, he seemed a being w^hose life could 
 be blown out like a candle flame; and yet 
 there was no apparent failing of intellectual 
 vigor or keenness, and there ^were all the 
 charm of manner and courtesy of the 
 high-bred Italian. 
 
 After the conclusion of the negotiations 
 at Rome, I proceeded to the Philippine 
 Islands to resume the duties of Governor. 
 Within four or five months I was followed' 
 by the Apostolic Delegate, Monsignor Jean 
 Baptiste Guidi, titular Archbishop of 
 Stauropoli. From that time until I left 
 the islands in December, 1903, I was con- 
 stantly in conference with Monsignor Guidi. 
 Nothing could have proven more conclu- 
 sively the sincerity of the Pope's desire 
 to establish friendly relations with the 
 American government in the Philippines and 
 to bring about a solution satisfactory to 
 both sides, than his selection of Monsignor 
 Guidi as Apostolic Delegate. He was a 
 
— 40 — 
 
 man of the widest pQlitical and diplomatic 
 experience ; he was a Roman, but had Hved 
 in Germany for fourteen years; had been 
 the Secretary of the Papal Nuncio at Berlin ; 
 had been himself the Papal Nuncio in Brazil 
 and in Ecuador and the United States of 
 Colombia, and had visited America, where 
 a brother, Father Guidi, had lived for 
 twenty years as a Jesuit priest among the 
 Indians in the Rocky Mountains. He was a 
 profound student of comparative philology, 
 spoke a dozen languages,"^ was a man of 
 affairs, and dealt in the largest and most 
 liberal way with questions presented to him. 
 When we began the negotiations for fix- 
 ing the price of the friars' lands, the task 
 seemed a hopeless one. Monsignor Guidi 
 labored under the great disadvantage that, 
 while he w^as anxious to bring about a sale, 
 he could not control the owners of the lands. 
 The transfer to promoting corporations had 
 apparently put the decision, as to the price 
 in the hands of promoters, — persons not so 
 much interested in a solution of the problem 
 as in the mere question of the amount of 
 money which should be secured. For more 
 than a year and a half, the negotiations 
 were continued; evidence w^as taken as to 
 the value of the lands, and finally by great 
 good fortune we were able to reach an 
 agreement, and signed contracts for the 
 
— 41 — 
 
 purchase and sale of the lands the day 
 before I set sail from Manila to return to 
 Washington — on the 24th of December, 1903. 
 The first offers on the part of the 
 owners aggregated $12,500,000 : our first 
 offer was $6,000,000. Their second offer 
 was $10,500,000: we raised our offer 
 $1,500,000; and this price of ^7,500,000 
 was agreed to as a basis, on condition 
 that there should be left out of the sale 
 one hacienda already sold to a railroad 
 company, compensation for which in the 
 price would reduce it to $7,200,000. A 
 deficiency in area has now reduced the price 
 to about $7,000,000. The evidence taken 
 as to their value is printed as an appendix 
 to the report of the Governor for 1903. 
 The question of the value of agricultural 
 lands like these is, of course, a mere matter 
 of opinion which can not be settled with 
 certainty. My own view is that the price 
 paid for the lands under present conditions 
 is a good one and certainly fair to the 
 vendors; but that if prosperity returns to 
 the islands, and if the development follow, 
 which we have a reasonable ground for 
 supposing will follow, the government will 
 be able to recoup itself by the price at 
 which it can sell the lands to the tenants, 
 and thus discharge the debt which it 
 has now contracted in order to pay the 
 
— 42 — 
 
 purchase price of the lands. The contract 
 of purchase provided for a resurvey of 
 the lands, or rather a joint survey, and 
 also that a good merchantable title should 
 be furnished. 
 
 With three of the four promoting com- 
 panies we have reached a satisfactory 
 conclusion, and the money v^ill be paid 
 within a few days. With the fourth — the 
 company representing the Dominican lands — 
 there has been considerable dispute over 
 the contract price and the title. We have 
 the money ready to pay in a Nev^ York bank, 
 but there is such a deficiency in the area 
 that it must be compensated for under the 
 contract by an abatement of the price. I 
 am glad to say that the last dispatch I 
 had from Governor Wright indicates that 
 the Spanish gentleman representing the 
 promoting company, after threatening to 
 break off negotiation, has concluded to be 
 reasonable and that a settlement w^ith the 
 fourth company is near at hand. 
 
 There is, we understand, some question 
 as to the division of the money between the 
 Religious Orders and the Church. The 
 Vatican has intimated that a very con- 
 siderable part of the money paid ought to be 
 retained in the Philippines for the purpose of 
 maintaining the Church; and of course all 
 w^ho are interested in the islands must be 
 
— 43 — 
 
 interested in having as large a fund as 
 possible to assist in the restoration of the 
 Church of the majority to a prosperous 
 condition. It would seem that the Church 
 might very well say to the friars that much 
 of the money which they had accumulated 
 was earned through their administration 
 of Church matters as parish priests, and 
 that that money at least ought to be 
 retained for general church purposes in the 
 islands. However, this is a matter with 
 which we, as representatives of the civil 
 government, have nothing to do, though 
 in its solution we properly have a general 
 interest, growing out of our interest in 
 everything which concerns the welfare of 
 the people of the islands ; and the prosperity 
 of all Christian churches among them 
 certainly tends to their betterment. 
 
 Nothing has been done toward a solution 
 of the trust questions, because there was 
 not time for Archbishop Guidi and me 
 to reach those less pressing matters. The 
 amount to be paid by the . government of 
 the United States for the occupation of the 
 churches and conventos is in the process of 
 being ascertained. Evidence has been taken 
 on both sides, and I have no doubt that 
 with the coming of the new Delegate a 
 proper sum can speedily be reached. This 
 leads me to express my deep regret that 
 
— 44 — 
 
 Monsignor Guidi, the Apostolic Delegate, 
 died from heart disease last June in Manila. 
 I regretted this both personally and offi- 
 cially, because we were very warm friends. 
 He had become so familar with all the 
 questions, and had approached them with 
 so statesmanlike and liberal a spirit that 
 I am convinced that v^ith his assistance 
 all the questions awaiting solution would 
 have been speedily settled. I have not the 
 pleasure or the honor of the acquaintance 
 of the nev^ Apostolic Delegate, but I am 
 assured that he is a worthy successor of 
 Monsignor Guidi. If so, we may look forward 
 to an early conclusion of all the differences 
 that now^ exist. 
 
 I ought to say that though the Vatican 
 declined as a term of the contract to with- 
 draw the Spanish friars from the Phillip- 
 pines, they have been very largely reduced 
 in number, — indeed, in a much shorter time^' 
 than that in which we asked the Vatican to 
 stipulate they should be. There were over 
 1000 friars in the Philippines in 1898: 
 by the first of January, 1904, they had 
 been reduced to 246 ; and 83 of these 
 were Dominicans who have renounced the 
 right to go into the parishes and have 
 devoted themselves to education. Fifty of 
 the remainder are infirm and unable to do 
 any work, or indeed to leave the islands 
 
— 45 — 
 
 on account of the danger of the change 
 of climate; so that there are only a few 
 more than 100 available to be sent back 
 to the parishes, and of these many are 
 so engaged in educational work as to 
 make it impracticable for them to act as 
 parish priests. The consequence is that, as 
 there are more than 900 parishes, the, 
 question of the intervention of the Spanish 
 friars in the islands as parish "priests ceases 
 to be important. 
 
 When the Filipinos were advised that the 
 Roman Pontiff would not formally and by 
 contract agree to withdraw^ the friars as 
 a condition of the purchase of the lands, 
 Aglipay, a former Catholic priest, took 
 advantage of the disappointment felt at 
 the announcement to organize a schism 
 and to found what he calls the ''Indepen- 
 dent Filipino Catholic Church." 
 
 Aglipay had been a priest rather favored 
 by the Spanish hierarchy. He had been made 
 the grand vicar of the diocese of Nueva 
 Segovia, of which Vigan is the head. When 
 Aguinaldo, with his government, was at 
 Malolos, and afterward at Tarlac, Aglipay 
 appeared and acted as his chief religious 
 adviser. He w^as called 'to Manila by the 
 archbishop, and, declining to go, was excom- 
 municated. Subsequently he was given a 
 guerrilla command in Ilocos Norte, and as a 
 
-46- 
 
 gnerrilla leader acquired a rather unenviable 
 reputation for insubordination. His general- 
 issimo, Tinio, issued an order (which I have 
 seen) directing that he be seized and cap- 
 tured w^herever found, and turned over to 
 the military authorities for punishment as 
 a bandit. Hov^ever, he surrendered among 
 others, and gave over his forces to the 
 United States. 
 
 Popular hatred of the friars gave force to 
 his movement, and he had the sympathy of 
 many v^ealthy and educated Filipinos v^ho 
 declined to join his church and were not 
 v^illing to leave the Roman communion, but 
 whose dislike for the friars and their control 
 aroused their opposition to the apparent 
 course of Rome in this matter. The adher- 
 ents of Aglipay came largely from the poorer 
 people throughout the islands. The vicious 
 and turbulent all joined the ranks; every 
 demagogue and every disappointed poli- 
 tician who saw the initial rapid increase in 
 the membership of the new church, joined 
 it in order to get the benefit of its supposed 
 political strength. 
 
 The use of the words '' independent 
 Filipino" in the name of the church was 
 probably intended to secure popular support, 
 though it was not an improper use of the 
 v^ords to describe such a schism. In this 
 v^ay it has occurred that politicians have 
 
— 47 — 
 
 made Aglipayism mean one thing in one 
 place and another thing in another; and 
 that while generally it may be said that 
 the church is recruited from those who 
 would join an insurrection if opportunity 
 offered, and embraces most of those enrolled 
 in the Nationalist party, whose platform 
 favors immediate independence, there are 
 many respectable followers of Aglipay, not 
 Nationalists, who separated from the Roman 
 Church chiefly on the basis of opposition 
 to the friars. Aguinaldo was. one of the 
 first to enrol himself as a follower of Aglipay, 
 *and published a letter advising Filipinos 
 generally to do so. 
 
 Aglipay has installed himself as Obispo 
 Maximo of the Independent Filipino Catholic 
 Church, and has created fifteen or twenty 
 bishops. He and his bishops have organ- 
 ized churches in various provinces. Of 
 course the first business of the new church 
 authorities is to secure church buildings and 
 property, and they turn with longing eyes 
 to the churches and parish houses heretofore 
 used by the Roman Catholic Church. They 
 maintain that these churches are really 
 government property, and that therefore 
 the people of the islands may, if they wish, 
 properly take them from the authorities of 
 the Roman Church and give them to the 
 Independent Filipino Catholic Church. There 
 
-48- 
 
 are churches and chapels which have not 
 been occupied as such by the Roman CathoHc 
 Church for four or five years, because of 
 the inadequate number of priests. In some 
 of these church and chapel buildings, with the 
 consent of the townspeople, priests of the 
 Aglipayan church have set up their worship. 
 In other places, church buildings have 
 been constructed of temporary materials. 
 Aglipay looks forward to the early 
 independence of the islands because, as he 
 says, he expects that under a Filipino 
 government all the property now held by 
 the Roman Church in the islands will be 
 properly appropriated to the benefit of the 
 Independent Filipino Catholic Church, then to 
 become the State Church. The possibility that 
 confiscation of church property might follow 
 the leaving of the islands by the Americans 
 in the near future, may be judged somewhat 
 by the action of the Aguinaldo government 
 in confiscating the friar lands; though, of 
 course, the feeling against the friars was 
 much stronger than Aglipay could arouse 
 against the Roman Church. This govern- 
 ment in giving up control of the islands 
 could require as a condition from the new 
 government that no such confiscation of 
 church lands should take place; but it is 
 doubtful of hov^ much avail a stipulation of 
 this character would be, if courts organized 
 
-^49 — 
 
 under the new government were to hold 
 that all the property in possession of the 
 Roman Church in the islands were really 
 government property. But would not the 
 majority of good Roman Catholics among 
 the people prevent such proceedings in case 
 of Philippine independence ? I do not know. 
 It is possible. The difficulty with the Filipino 
 people, however, has heretofore been that 
 when the guiding and restraining hand 
 of Spain or the United States has been 
 withdrawn, it has been the violent and the 
 extremists who have come to the front 
 and seized the helm. 
 
 Let us examine somewhat more in 
 detail what this question of the title of 
 the parish churches and convento is. 
 
 Under the Concordat with Spain, Spain, 
 by reason of the control of church matters 
 which was given her, assumed the obligation 
 to construct the churches and conventos and 
 to pay the priests a yearly stipend. As we 
 have already seen, the parish priest, who 
 was usually a friar, had absolute control 
 over the people and parish w^here he 
 lived. He induced the people to contribute 
 material and work to the construction of 
 the church, to the building of the parish 
 house or convento, and the laying out 
 of the cemetery. He selected his site in 
 the most prominent place in the town. 
 
— 50 — 
 
 usually upon the public square. The title in 
 the site was either in the municipality itself 
 or in the central government of Spain as 
 the Crown land. The close union of Church 
 and State made it unnecessary to procure 
 a formal patent from the State to the 
 Church, and so it is that many of the 
 churches stand upon what the records show 
 to be public property. Now, in towns in 
 which a majority of the people belong to 
 the Aglipayan church (and there are such 
 towns), it is quite natural that they should 
 think that the church, convento and cem- 
 etery belong to the municipality, and so 
 should be used as desired by the majority 
 of the people of the municipality. In some 
 instances, the native parish priest himself 
 has deserted the Roman communion and 
 has joined the Aglipayan church. In such 
 cases the priest has simply turned over to the 
 municipality the possession of the church, 
 convento and cemetery, and received it back 
 as a priest of the Aglipayan church at the 
 instance of the people of the municipality. 
 Personally, as a lawyer, I am convinced 
 that in most cases the churches, conventos 
 and cemeteries belong, not to the people 
 of the municipality or to the municipality, 
 but to the Roman Catholics of the parish; 
 that they were given to be used by the 
 Roman Catholics of the parish for Roman 
 
— 51 — 
 
 Catholic worship, for the residence of the 
 Roman CathoHc priest, and for the interment 
 of Roman CathoHcs ; that this was a trust 
 which required, if completely executed, that 
 the title should be, according to canon 
 law, in the bishop of the diocese ; and that, 
 therefore, the Roman Catholic Church is 
 entitled to possession, through its priests, 
 for the benefit of the Catholics of the parish. 
 This opinion of mine is founded on an 
 official opinion given by the Solicitor- 
 General, a Filipino lawyer of the highest 
 ability, but it, of course, can not control 
 the decisions of the courts when their 
 opinion is invoked upon the issue; and 
 what their opinion is can be author- 
 itatively settled only by suits brought 
 and decided; for this is a question which, 
 because of its importance, might very well 
 be carried through the Supreme Court of 
 the islands to the Supreme Court of the 
 United States. 
 
 The Executive has been powerless to 
 prevent a change of possession where that 
 change of possession was peaceable and 
 effected without violence or disturbance of 
 the peace. The only recourse for the Roman 
 Church in such cases is to the courts. 
 Both sides have avoided the courts on the 
 ground that it would be expensive to go 
 to them, and have looked to the Executive 
 
— 52 — 
 
 to assist them. Much feeling exists over 
 these questions of property; and we find 
 that good, conscientious CathoHcs, includ- 
 ing some of the American bishops in the 
 Philippines, insist that it is the business of 
 the Executive to determine in advance the 
 question of title or rightful possession and 
 to turn the Aglipayans out. Such a course 
 v^ould involve the Executive in all sorts 
 of difficulties, and is contrary to our prin- 
 ciples of judicature, in that it would be 
 taking from the municipalities, without due 
 process of law something of which they 
 w^ere in possesson. It is said that because 
 municipalities are merely the arm of the 
 central government, and because, as the 
 Executive ought to know, the municipalities 
 have no title to the property, it is his 
 business as the executive and superior of 
 the municipalities to order them out of 
 possession. But the difficulty here is that 
 under the Treaty of Paris the property of 
 the municipality, as well as the property of 
 the religious Orders, is declared to be 
 inviolate by the central government; and 
 it would, therefore, savor of most arbitrary 
 action were the governor to declare the 
 title in advance and direct the municipality 
 to give up possession. In other words, the 
 municipality in such action is to be treated 
 as a quasi - citizen and as having property 
 
— 53 — 
 
 rights over which the central government 
 has no arbitrary control. The Philippine 
 government is now engaged in preparing 
 for the establishment of a special tribunal 
 which shall go through the provinces and 
 consider all the questions arising from the 
 churches and conventos and cemeteries, 
 decide the same, and place the judgments 
 in the hands of the Executive and have 
 them executed. In this way a burning 
 question, and one which is likely to involve 
 a great deal of bitterness and perhaps 
 disturb the public peace, can be disposed 
 of with least friction, with least expense, 
 with greatest speed, and with a due regard 
 to everybody's rights. 
 
 Archbishop Guidi adopted the policy, 
 w^hich I can not but think is the wrise one, 
 of accepting the resignation of the Spanish 
 archbishop and bishops who had formed 
 the hierarchy in the Philippine Islands, and 
 all of whom were friars; and appointing in 
 their places one Filipino bishop, an American 
 archbishop of Manila and three American 
 bishops. I speak with considerable knowl- 
 edge when I say that the work which 
 these prelates will have to perform in order 
 that they may be successful will require an 
 immense amount of patience, charity, self- 
 sacrifice, self-restraint and hard work; but 
 ultimately the reward for their labors will 
 
— 54 — 
 
 come, and when it comes will be amply 
 worth all the effort. I sincerely hope that 
 the coming of the Catholic bishops means the 
 gradual increase of the number of American 
 priests who may be induced to take parishes 
 in the islands, and to instruct the native 
 clergy, both by precept and example, in what 
 constitues a model priest of the Roman 
 Catholic Church. The elevation of the priest- 
 hood in those islands means much for the 
 elevation of the people. The American priests 
 are used to free government, to a separation 
 of Church and State, and to a church 
 independent of political control and political 
 manipulation. 
 
 I am not a Catholic, and as a member of 
 the government I have no right to favor one 
 sect or denomination more than another; 
 but I have a deep interest in the welfare of 
 the Philippine Islands, as anyone charged 
 with the civil government of them must 
 have. And when I know that a majority of 
 the people there are sincere Roman Catholics, 
 anything which tends to elevate them in 
 their church relation is, I must think, for the 
 benefit of the government and the welfare 
 of the people at large. 
 
 There are Protestant missionaries in the 
 islands. They have done excellent work. 
 They have conducted themselves with the 
 utmost propriety and tact; and there has 
 
— 55 — 
 
 been very little, if any, conflict between 
 them and the Roman Catholics. If anyone is 
 interested in the local differences growing out 
 of the presence in the islands of the Roman 
 Catholics, the Aglipayans and the Protest- 
 ants, which have been brought to the 
 attention of the Executive of the islands for 
 action, he can find a full account of them 
 as an appendix to the report of the civil 
 governor of the islands for 1903. There 
 is work enough in the Philippines for all 
 denominations. The schools and charities 
 v^hich all denominations are projecting will 
 accomplish much for the benefit of those 
 aided ; and the Christian competition — if I 
 may properly use such a term — among the 
 denominations in doing good w^ill furnish the 
 strongest motive for the maintenance of a 
 high standard of life, character and works 
 among all the clergy, and so promote the 
 general welfare. 
 
 One subject I must touch upon before I 
 close, and that is the public schools and the 
 teaching of religion. Under the limitations 
 of the constitution and the instructions of 
 President McKinley requiring us to keep 
 Church and State separate, v^e could not 
 expend the public money for the teaching of 
 religion ; but we provided in the school law 
 that at the instance of the parents of the, 
 children, for a certain time each week, the 
 
-56- 
 
 schoolhouse could be occupied for the 
 teaching of rehgion by the minister of any 
 church estabHshed in the town, or by anyone 
 designated by him. I am glad to say that 
 this provision is working satisfactorily. In 
 many towns, by arrangement, the public 
 schools have their sessions in the morning 
 and the catechism schools are held in the 
 churches in the afternoon. 
 
 The Roman Catholics of this country and 
 the Philippines have, not unnaturally, felt 
 sensitive over the fact that a considerable 
 majority of the American schoolteachers 
 were Protestants. This arose from the 
 simple fact that the number of Protestant 
 teachers disengaged and able to go to the 
 Philippines was very much greater than 
 Catholic teachers so situated. However, it 
 must not be forgotten that all Filipino 
 teachers — three thousand in number, and 
 more than three times as many as the 
 American teachers— are Catholics. Naturally, 
 the Filipino teachers come much nearer to 
 the children of the primary school than do 
 the American teachers. Again, we have 
 imposed the severest penalty upon any 
 teacher found trying to proselyte or to teach 
 children ideas in favor of one religion or 
 against another. The Secretary of Public In- 
 struction and the Superintendent of Schools 
 in Manila are both' Roman Catholics, so 
 
— 57 — 
 
 that it is unlikely that any discrimination 
 against their religion will be permitted in 
 the school system. The American teachers 
 in the Philippines are of necessity temporary. 
 The ultimate object of the public school 
 system is to secure ten or fifteen thousand 
 Filipino teachers who will be able to teach 
 all branches in English. They certainly are 
 not likely to be prejudiced against the 
 Catholic Church. 
 
 Of course, it is the duty of this government, 
 and all acting under it, to treat every 
 denomination with strict impartiality, and 
 to secure the utmost freedom of religious 
 worship for all. 
 
 It is natural that a good Catholic without 
 government responsibility should hold Agli- 
 pay and his followers in abhorrence as 
 apostates from the true Church as he believes 
 it; and should view with little patience 
 governmental recognition of them as a new- 
 church entitled to as much protection, when 
 they do not violate the law or the rights 
 of others, as either the Roman Catholic 
 or the Protestant denomination. But 
 neither the civil government under American 
 principles of freedom of religion, nor any 
 officer thereof, whatever may be his religious' 
 predilections, can examine into the creed or 
 history of a church, or determine its virtues 
 or shortcomings, but must secure its mem- 
 
-58- 
 
 bers in their right to worship God as they 
 choose, so long as they keep within the laws 
 and violate no one's rights. Of course where 
 the government owes money or is under any 
 other legal obligation to a church, it may 
 properly facilitate the negotiation of a settle- 
 ment and the payment of the money or the 
 performance of its obligation from the proper 
 motive not only of doing justice but also of 
 generally aiding those institutions which 
 make for the moral and religious elevation of 
 the people. On this ground, and because of 
 the danger of the disturbance of the peace 
 from such controversy, it may properly 
 provide special judicial tribunals for suits 
 betw^een churches over property. It is a 
 mistake to suppose that the American 
 government is Opposed to the success and 
 prosperity of churches. It favors their 
 progress; it exempts them from taxation; 
 it protects their worship from disturbance; 
 it passes laws for their legal incorporation. 
 But it can not discriminate in favor of one 
 or against another. It must treat all alike. 
 It is exceedingly difficult, however, in the 
 heat of religious controversy betwreen sects 
 to convince both sides that the course 
 of the government is free from favor to 
 either party. We have not escaped criti- 
 cism, first from one side and then the other 
 in the Philippines; but a perusal of the 
 
— 59 — 
 
 record of each controversy, contained in the 
 Governor's report for 1903, already referred 
 to, will show that the government has 
 attempted to pursue the middle line, and 
 has fairly well succeeded. 
 
 In closing this long and somewhat 
 desultory discussion, I can not refrain from 
 expressing my gratification that, on the 
 v^hole, the Administration in this country 
 has found the utmost liberality of view 
 among American Catholics and Protestants 
 alike in the manner in which its efforts to 
 solve these delicate religious questions have 
 been received and commented on. While 
 there has been some bitter condemnation of 
 the course taken it seemed to come only 
 from extremists on one side or the other, and 
 v^as not shared in, I think, by the great 
 body of Catholics and Protestants. It speaks 
 volumes for the religious tolerance of the 
 present day that the motives of the Admin- 
 istration in sending an agent to Rome for 
 negotiation were not generally misconstrued, 
 and that the result of that negotiation 
 has met with the general and intelligent 
 approval of all denominations. I do not 
 think that such a result would have been 
 possible in this nation thirty years ago, or 
 that a similar tolerance and liberality could 
 be found to exist between different religious 
 denominations of any other country. 
 
OTHER PAMPHLETS. 
 
 Some Duties and Responsibilities of American Cath- 
 olics. By the Hon. Charles J. Bonaparte. 32 pp. 
 
 10 cts. 
 
 Progress in Education. By the Rt. Rev. J. h. 
 
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 The Victory of Love. By the Rt. Rev. J. I^. 
 
 Spalding, D. D. 63 pp. 10 cts. 
 
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 The Proof of Miracles. By Henry F. Brownson, 
 
 hh. D. 16 pp. 10 cts. 
 Religious Education and Its Failures. By the Right 
 
 Rev. James Bellord, D. D. 80 pp. 15 cts. 
 Unbelief a Sin. By the Rev. Edmund Hill, C. P. 
 
 16 pp. 10 cts. 
 A City of Confusioru By the Revr^ienr^y^^ G^nss^ 
 
 63 PP- X5^ts. ^^ 
 
 The Catholic Church and Modern Science. By the 
 /A^ery Rev. Dr. J. A. Zahni, C. S. C. 10 cts. 
 Views of Education. By the Rt. Rev. J. L. Spald- 
 ing, D. D. 31 pp. 10 cts. 
 The Dignity of Labor. By the Rt. Rev. Monsig. 
 
 Seton, D. D. 14 pp. 10 cts. 
 What the Church has Done for Science. By the Very 
 
 Rev. Dr. J. A. Zahm, C. S. C. 10 cts. 
 Growth and Duty. By the Rt. Rev. Bishop Spald- 
 ing. 20 pp. 10 cts. 
 Ideals of Youth. By the Rt. Rev. J L. Spalding, 
 
 D. D. 16 pp. 10 cts. 
 St. Thomas and Our Day. By the Rt. Rev. Francis 
 
 Silas Chatard, D. D. 15 pp. 10 cts. 
 Behold Thy Mother ; or, Motives of Devotion to the 
 
 Blessed Virgin. By the Rev. P. Roh, S. J. 26 pp. 
 
 10 cts. 
 
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