The Philippines
A Century Hence
»
"In the Philippine Islands the American govern-
ment has tried, and is trying, to carry out exactly
what the greatest genius and most revered patriot
ever known in the Philippines, Jose Rizal, stead-
fastly advocated."
— From a public address at Fargo. N.D., on
April 7th, 1905. by the President of the United
States.
A sketch map, by Dr. Kizal, of spheres of influence
in the Pacific at the time of writing "The Philippines
A Century Hence," as they appeared to him.
Most of the French names will he easily recognized,
though it may he noted that "Etats Unis" is cur own
United States, "L'Angleterre" England and, "L'Espagne"
Spain.
Noli Me Tangere Quarter-Centennial Series
Edited by Austin Craig
The Philippines
A Century Hence
BY Jose Rizal
Manila : 1912
Philippine Education Company
34 Escolta
Copyright 1912
BY Austin Craig
Registered in the Philippine Islands.
Introduction
Oi<«'
Introduction.
As "Filipinas dentro deCien Alios", this article
was originally published serially in the Filipino
fortnightly review "La Solidaridad". of Madrid,
running through the issues from September,
1889, to January, 1890.
It supplements Rizal's great novel "Noli Me
Tangere" and its sequel "El Filibusterismo",
and the translation here given is fortunately by
Mr. Charles Derbyshire who in his "The Social
Cancer" and "The Reign of Greed" has so hap-
pily rendered into English those masterpieces
of Rizal.
The reference which Doctor Rizal makes to
President Harrison had in mind the grandson-
of-his-grandfather's blundering, wavering policy
that, because of a groundless fear of infringing
the natives' natural rights, put his country in
10 INTRODUCTION
the false light of wanting to share in Samoa's
exploitation, taking the leonine portion, too,
along with Germany and England.
Robert Louis Stevenson has told the story of
the unhappy condition created by that disas-
trous international agreement which was achiev-
ed by the dissembling diplomats of greedy
Europe flattering unsophisticated America into
believing that two monarchies preponderating
in an alliance with a republic would be fairer
than the republic acting unhampered.
In its day the scheme was acclaimed by ir-
rational idealists as a triumph of American
abnegation and an example of modern altruism.
It resulted that "the international agreement"
became a constant cause of international dis-
agreements, as any student of history could
have foretold, until, disQ:usted and disillusioned,
the United States tardily recalled Washington's
warning against entanglements with foreign
powers and became a party to a real partition.
INTRODUCTION 11
but this time playing the lamb's part. England
was compensated with concessions in other
parts of the world, the United States was "given"
what it already held under a cession twenty-
seven years old, — and Germany took the rest
as her emperor had planned from the start.
There is this Philippine bearing to the
incident that the same stripe of unpractical
philanthropists, not discouraged athaving forced
the Samoans under the ungentle German rule —
for their victims and not themselves suffer by
their mistakes, are seeking now the neutraliza-
tion by international agreement of the Archi-
pelago for which Rizal gave his life. Their
success would mean another "entangling
alliance" for the United States, with six allies,
or nine including Holland, China and Spain, if
the "great republic" should be allowed by the
diplomats of the "Great Powers" to invite these
nonentities in world politics, with whom she
would still be outvoted.
12 INTRODUCTION
Rizal's reference to America as a possible
factor in the Philippines' future is based upon
the prediction of the German traveller Feodor
Jagor, who about 1860 spent a number of
months in the Islands and later published his
observations, supplemented by ten years of
further study in European libraries and mu-
seums, as "Travels in the Philippines", to use
the title of the English translation, — a very
poor one, by the way. Rizal read the much
better Spanish version while a student in the
Ateneo de Manila, from a copy supplied by
Paciano Rizal Mercado who directed his younger
brother's political education and transferred
to Jose the hopes which had been blighted for
himself by the execution of his beloved teacher,
Father Burgos, in the Cavite alleged insurrec-
tion.
Jagor's prophecy furnishes the explanation to
Rizal's public life. His policy of preparing his
countrymen for industrial and commercial
INTRODUCTION 13
competition seems to have had its inspiration
in this reading done when he was a youth in
years but mature in fact through close contact
Avith tragic public events as'well as with sensa-
tional private sorrows.
When in Berlin, Doctor Rizal met Professor
Jagor, and the distinguished geographer and
his youthful but brilliant admirer became fast
friends, often discussing how the progress of
events was bringing true the fortune for the
Philippines which the knowledge of its history
and the acquaintance with its then condition
had enabled the trained observer to foretell
with that same certainty that the meteorologist
foretells the morrow's weather.
A like political acumen Rizal tried to
develop in his countrymen. He republished
Morga's History (first published in Mexico in
1609) to recall their past. Noli Me Tangere
painted their present, and in El Filibusterismo
was sketchod the future which continuance upon
14 INTRODUCTION
their thea course must bring. "The Philippines
A Century Hence" suggests other possiblities,
and seems to have been the initial issue in the
series of ten which Rizal planned to print, one
a year, to correct the misunderstanding of his
previous writings which had come from their
being known mainly by the extracts cited in
the censors' criticism.
Jose Rizal in life voiced the aspirations of his
countrymen and as the different elements in his
divided native land recognized that these were
the essentials upon which all were agreed and
that their points of difference among themselves
were not vital, dissension disappeared and there
came an united Philippines. Now, since his
death, the fact that both continental and insular
Americans look to him as their hero makes pos-
sible the hope that misunderstandings based on
differences as to details may cease when Fili-
pinos recognize that the American Government
in the Philippines, properly approached, is will-
INTRODUCTION 15
ing to grant all that Rizal considered import-
ant, and when Americans understand that the
people of the Philippines, unaccustomed to the
frank discussions of democracy, would be con-
tent with so little even as Rizal asked of Spain
if only there were some salve for their unwit-
tingly wounded «mor iiropio.
A better knowledge of the writings of Jose
Rizal may accomplish this desirable consum-
mation.
1 do not write for this generation. I am writ-
ing for other ages. If this could read me, they
would burn my books, the work of my whole life.
On the other hand, the generation which interprets
these writings will be an educated generation; they
will understand me and say: Not all were asleep
in the night-time of our grandparents'."
— The Philosopher 'Tasio, in Noli Me Tangere.
The Prophecy which Prompted
RiZAL's Policy oe Preparation
FOR the Philippines
jAGOR's Prophecy
This extract is translated from Pages 287-289
of "Reisen in den Philippinen von F. Jagor:
Berlin 1873".
"The old situation is no longer possible of
maintenance, with the changed conditions of
the present time.
"The coloty can no longer be kept secluded
from the world. Every facility afforded for
commercial intercourse is a blow to the old
system, and a great step made in the direction
of broad and liberal reforms. The more foreign
capital and foreign ideas and customs are in-
troduced, increasing the prosperity, enlighten-
ment, and self respect of the population, the
more impatiently will the existing evils be
endured.
"England can and does open her possessions
unconcernedly to the world. The British col-
onies are united to the mother country by the
20 .TAGOR'S PROPHECY
bond of mutual advantage, viz., the production
of raw material by means of English capital,
and the exchange of the same for English
manufactures. The wealth of England is so
great, the organization of her commerce with
the world so complete, that nearly all tlie for-
eigners even in the British possessions are for
the most part agents for English business
houses, which would scarcely be affected, at
least to any marked extent, by a political dis-
memberment. It is entirely different with
Spain, which possesses the colony as an inherit-
ed property, and without the power of turning
it to any useful account.
"Government monopolies rigorously maintain-
ed, insolent disregard and neglect of the half-
castes and powerful Creoles, and the example of
the United States, were the chief reasons of the
downfall of the American possessions. The
same causes threaten ruin to the Philippines;
but of the monopolies i have said enough.
JAGOR'S PROPHECY 21
"Half-castes and Creoles, it is true, are not, as
they formerly were in America, excluded from
all official appointments; but they feel deeply
hurt and injured through the crowds of place-
hunters which the frequent changes of Ministers
send to Manila.
"Also the influence of American elements is at
least discernible on the horizon, and will come
more to the front as the relations of the two
countries grow closer. At present these are
still of little importance; in the meantime com-
merce follows its old routes, which lead to
England and the Atlantic ports of the Union.
Nevertheless, he who attempts to form a judg-
ment as to the future destiny of the Philippines
cannot fix his gaze only on their relations to
Spain; he must also consider the mighty changes
which within a few decades are being effected
on that side of our planet. For the first time
in the world's history, the gigantic nations on
both sides of a gigantic ocean are beginning to
22 JAGOR'S PROPHECY
come into direct intercourse: Russia, which
alone is greater than two divisions of the world
together; China, which within her narrow bounds
contains a third of the human race; America,
with cultivable soil enough to support almost
three times the entire population of the earth.
Russia's future role in the Pacific Ocean at
present baffles all calculations. The intercourse
of the two other powers will probably have all
the more important consequences when the ad-
justment between the immeasurable necessity
for human labor-power on the one hand, and a
correspondingly great surplus of that power on
the other, shall fall on it as a problem."
"The world of the ancients was confined to
the shores of the Mediterranean; and the
Atlantic and Indian Oceans sufficed at one time
for our traffic. When first the shores of the
Pacific re-echoed with the sounds of active
commerce, the trade of the world and the his-
tory of the world may be really said to have
JAGOR'S PROPHECY 23
begun. A start in that direction has been
made; whereas not so very long ago the im-
mense ocean was one wide waste of waters, tra-
versed from both points only once a year.
From 1603 to 1769 scarcely a ship had ever
visited California, that wonderful country which,
twenty-five years ago, with the exception of a
few places on the coast, was an unknown wilder-
ness, but which is now covered with flourishing
and prosperous towns and cities, divided from
sea to sea by a railway, and its capital already
ranking among the world's greatest seaports.
"But in proportion as the commerce of the
western coast of America extends the influence
of the American elements over the South Sea,
the ensnaring spell which the great republic
exercises over the Spanish colonies will not fail
to assert itself in the Philippines also. The
Americans appear to be called upon to bring the
germ planted by the Spaniards to its full devel-
opment. As conquerors of the New World,
24 JAGOR'S PROPHECY
representatives of the body of free citizens in
contradistinction to the nobility, they follow
with the axe and plow of the pioneer where the
Spaniards had opened the way with cross and
sword. A considerable part of Spanish America
already belongs to the United States, and has,
since that occurred, attained an importance
which could not have been anticipated either
during Spanish rule or during the anarchy which
ensued after and from it. In the long run, the
Spanish system cannot prevail over the Amer-
ican. While the former exhausts the colonies
through direct appropriation of them to the
privileged classes, and the metropolis through
the drain of its best forces (with, besides, a
feeble population), America draws to itself the
most energetic element from all lands; and these
on her soil, free from all trammels, and restlessly
pushing forward, are continually extending fur-
ther her power and iniduence. The Philippines
will so much the less escape the influence of the
JAGOR'S PROPHECY 25
two great neighboring empires, since neither
the ishmds nor their metropolis are in a condi-
tion of stable equilibrium, it seems desirable
for the natives that the opinions here expressed
shall not too soon be realized as facts, for their
training thus far has not sufficiently prepared
them for success in the contest with those rest-
less, active, most inconsiderate peoples; they
have dreamed away their youth."
The Philippines A Century Hence
The Philippines A Century Hence
1.
T?OLLOWING our usual custom of facing
squarely the most difficult and delicate
questions relating to the Philippines, without
weighing the consequences that our frankness
may bring upon us, we shall in the present
article treat of their future.
In order to read the destiny of a people, it is
necessary to open the book of its past, and this,
for the Philippines, may be reduced in general
terms to what follows.
Scarcely had they been attached to the
Spanish crown than they had to sustain with
their blood and the efforts of their sons the
wars and ambitions of conquest of the Spanish
people, and in these struggles, in that terrible
32 THE PHILIPPINES A CENTURY HENCE
crisis when a people changes its form of govern-
ment, its laws, usages, customs, religion and
beliefs the Philippines were depopulated, im-
poverished and retarded — caught in their meta-
morphosis, without confidence in their past,
without faith in their present and with no fond
hope for the years to come. The former rulers
who had merel}'' endeavored to secure the fear
and submission of their subjects, habituated
by them to servitude, fell like leaves from a
dead tree, and the people, who had no love for
them nor knew what liberty was, easily changed
masters, perhaps hoping to gaiii something by
the innovation.
Then began a new era for the Filipinos.
They gradually lost their ancient traditions,
their recollections — they forgot their writings,
their songs, their poetry, their laws, in order to
learn by heart other doctrines, which they did
not understand, other ethics, other tastes, dif-
ferent from those inspired in their race by their
THE PHILIPPINES A CENTURY HENCE 33
climate and their way of thinking. Then there
was a fallinor-off, they were lowered in their
own eyes, they became ashamed of what was
distinctively their own, in order to admire and
praise what was foreign and incomprehensible:
their spirit was broken and they acquiesced.
Thus years and centuries rolled on . Eeligious
shows, rites that caught the eye, songs, lights,
images arrayed with gold, worship in a strange
language, legends, miracles and sermons, hyp-
notized the already naturally superstitious spirit
of the country, but did not succeed in destroy-
ing it altogether, in spite of the whole system
afterwards developed and operated with un-
yielding tenacity.
When the ethical abasement of the inhabitants
had reached this stage, when they had become
disheartened and disgusted with themselves, an
effort was made to add the final stroke for re.
ducing so many dormant wills and intellects to
nothingness, in order to make of the individual
34 THE PHILIPPINES A CENTURY HENCE
a sort of toiler, a brute, a beast of burden, and
to develop a race without mind or heart. Then
the end sought was revealed, it was taken for
granted, the race was insulted, an eifort was
made to deny it every virtue, every human char-
acteristic, and there were even writers and pri-
ests who pushed the movement still further by
trying to deny to the natives of the country not
only capacity for virtue but also even the ten-
dency to vice.
Then this which they had thought would be
death was sure salvation. Some dying persons
are restored to health by a heroic remedy.
So great endurance reached its climax with
the insults, and the lethargic spirit woke to life.
His sensitiveness, the chief trait of the native,
was touched, and while he had had the forbear-
ance to suffer and die under a foreign flag, he
had it not when they whom he served repaid his
sacrifices with insults and jests. Then he began
to study himself and to realize his misfortune.
THE PHILIPPINES A CENTURY HENCE 35
Those who had not expected this result, like all
despotic masters, regarded as a wrong every
complaint, every protest, and punished it with
death, endeavoring thus to stifle every cry of
sorrow with blood, and they made mistake after
mistake.
The spirit of the people was not thereby cowed,
and even though it had been awakened in only
a few hearts, its flame nevertheless was surely
and consumingly propagated, thanks to abrses
and the stupid endeavors of certain classes
to stifle noble and generous sentiments. Thus
when a flame catches a garment, fear and con-
fusion propagate it more and more, and each
shake, each blow, is a blast from the bellows to
fan it into life.
Undoubtedly during all this time there were
not lacking generous and noble spirits among
the dominant race that tried to struggle for the
rights of humanity and justice, or sordid and
cowardly ones among the dominated that aided
3(5 THE PHILIPPINES A CENTURY HENCE
the debasement of their own country. But both
were exceptions and we are speaking in general
terms.
»Snch is an outline of their past. We know
their present. Now, what will their future be?
Will the Philippine Islands continue to be a
Spanish colony, and if so, what kind of colony?
Will they become a province of Spain, with or
without autonomy? And to reach this stage,
what kind of sacrifices will have to be made?
Will they be separated from the mother
country to live independently, to fall into the
hands of other nations, or to ally themselves
with neighboring powers?
It is impossible to reply to these questions,
for to ail of them both yrs and no may be
answered, according to the time desired to be
covered. When there is in nature no fixed
condition, how much less must there be in the
life of a people, beings endowed with mobility
and movement! So it is that in order to deal
THE PHILIPPINES A CENTURY HENCE 37
with these questions, it is necessary to presume
an unlimited period of time, and in accordance
therewith try to forecast futiire events.
II
II.
'I X THAT will become of the Philippines with-
in a century? Will they continue to
ba a Spanish colony?
Had this question been asked three centuries
ago, when at Legazpi's death the Malayan Fili-
pinos began to be gradually undeceived and,
finding the yoke heavy, tried in vain to shake it
off, without any doubt whatsoever the reply
would have been easy. To a spirit enthusiastic
over the liberty of the country, to those uncon-
querable Kagayanes who nourished within
themselves the spirit of the Magalats, to the
descendants of the heroic Gat Pulintang and
Gat Salakab of the Province of Batangas,
independence was assured, it was merely a ques-
42 THE PHILIPPINES A (,'ENTURY HENCE
tion of getting together and making a determin-
ed effort. But for him who, disillusioned by sad
experience, saw everywhere discord and dis-
order, apathy and brutalization in the lower
classes, discouragement and disunion in the
upper, only one answer presented itself, and it
was: extend his hands to the chains, bow his
neck beneath the yoke and accept the future
with the resignation of an invalid who watches
the leaves fall and foresees a long winter amid
whose snows he discerns the outlines of his
grave. At that time|discord justified pessimism
— but three centuries passed, the neck had be-
come accustomed to the yoke, and each new
generation, begotten in chains, was constantly
better adapted to the new order of things.
Now, then, are the Philippines in the same
condition they were three centuries ago?
For the liberal Spaniards the ethical condi-
tion of the people remains the same, that is,
the native Filipinos have not advanced; for the
THE PHILIPPINES A CENTURY HENCE 43
friars and their followers the people have been
redeemed from savagery, that is, they have
progressed; for many Filipinos ethics, spirit
and customs have decayed, as decay all the
good qualities of a people that falls into slavery
that is, they have retrograded.
Laying aside these considerations, so as not
to get away from our subject, let us draw a
brief parallel between the political situation
then and the situation at present, in order to
see if what was not possible at that time can be
so now, or vice versa.
Let us pass over the loyalty the Filipinos
may feel for Spain; let us suppose for a moment,
along Avith Spanish writers, that there exist
only motives for hatred and jealousy between
the two races; let us admit the assertions
flaunted by many that three centuries of domi-
nation have not awakened in the sensitive
heart of the native a single spark of affection
or gratitude; and we may see whether or not
44 THE PHILIPPINES A CENTURY HENCE
the Spanish cause has gained ground in the
Islands.
Formerly the Spanish authority was upheld
among the natives by a handful of soldiers,
three to five hundred at most, many of whom
were engaged in trade and were scattered about
not only in the Islands but also among the
neighboring nations, occupied in long wars
against the Mohammedans in the south, against
the British and Dutch, and ceaselessly harassed
by Japanese, Chinese, or some tribe in the
interior Then communication with Mexico
and Spain was slow, rare and difficult; frequent
and violent the disturbances among the ruling
powers in the Islands, the treasury nearly
always empty, and the life of the colonists
dependent upon one frail ship that handled the
Chinese trade. Then the seas in those regions
were infested with pirates, all enemies of the
Spanish name, which was defended by an im-
provised fleet, generally manned by rude ad-
venturers, when not by foreigners and enemies,
THE PHILIPPINES A CENTURY HENCE 45
as happened in the expedition of Gomez Perez
Dasmarinas, which was checked and frustrated
bj the mutiny of the Chinese rowers, who killed
him and thwarted all his plans and schemes.
Yet in spite of so many adverse circumstances
the Spanish authority has been upheld for more
than three centuries and, though it has been
curtailed, still continues to rule the destinies of
the Philippine group.
On the other hani,the present situation seems
to be gilded and rosy — as we might say, a beau-
tiful morning compared to the vexed and stormy
night of the past. The material forces at the
disposal of the Spanish sovereign have now been
trebled; the fleet relatively improved; there is
more organization in both civil and military af-
fairs; communication with the sovereign country
is swifter and surer; she has no enemies abroad;
her possession is assured; and the country domi-
nated seems to have less spirit, less aspiration
for independence, a word that is to it almost
incomprehensible. Everything then at first
46 THE PHILIPPINES A CENTURY HENCE
glance presages another three centuries, at least,
of peaceful domination and tranquil suzerainty.
But above the material considerations are
arising others, invisible, of an ethical nature, far
more powerful and transcendental.
Orientals, and the Malays in particular, are
asensitivepeople: delicacy of sentimentispredom-
inant witli them. Even now, in spite of contact
with the occidental nations, who have ideals