The following pages originally appeared as magazine articles. In both England and America the papers were favorably received; and as the public has not heard the last of the Friars in the Philippines, it seemed worth while to reproduce them in the more permanent form of a small volume, making such corrections and additions as might be deemed advisable. Whatever may be the shortcomings of the book, there is a real and pressing need for the information it contains, and this need must remain the ex

A recent traveller designates the Philippines as the birthplace of typhoons, the home of earthquakes,—epithets undoubtedly strong yet well deserved; and typhoons at certain seasons of the year, with earthquakes at uncertain periods, when taken together with the torrid heat, trying at all seasons, and the malaria fruitful of fevers, make these islands of the Eastern seas, which otherwise would be a veritable Paradise upon earth, an undesirable place of abode to the average European, unless, indee

But what concerns us most in this inquiry is the character of the inhabitants. The population, which is variously estimated at from eight to ten millions, is made up of more than eighty distinct tribes, which nearly all belong to the Malay race. There are still to be found in some of the islands, and principally in the mountainous districts, the remnants of the aboriginal inhabitants, usually called Negritos. These are of a distinctively inferior type, are rapidly diminishing in numbers, and see

Mr. Halstead made a special journey to Manila to study the situation. He was most favorably impressed by the Archbishop, whom he has undertaken to vindicate before the people of America. One paragraph from his interview with the Spanish prelate is of special interest at the present moment: “When asked what it was that caused the insurgents to be so ferocious against the priests, and resolved on their expulsion or destruction, he said the rebels were at once false, unjust, and ungrateful. They ha

By means of atheistical French literature, the works of Voltaire and other unbelievers, translated into Spanish, brought across the border in large bales, and disseminated through the Peninsula, the Freemasons had already indoctrinated a large number of active and restless spirits with revolutionary and anti-Christian ideas, when the troubles and civil war of 1834 gave them the opportunity they desired of making an onslaught on the religious Orders. At such times the minds of men are in a fermen

The Filipinos have already shown proof how far removed they are from civilized ideals, and how dangerous it would be to leave them to themselves, by their inhuman treatment of their Spanish prisoners. Besides ordinary Spanish civilians, they have kept in captivity for several months hundreds of Friars, including one hundred Dominicans, and the Dominican Bishop of Neuva Segovia, Mgr. Joseph Hevia, whose portrait we give. Numbers of the Friars have lately died of the hardships to which they were s

Harbor of Manila. There are grave problems ahead which will tax the wisdom of the American Congress far more than the military occupation of the country. John Foreman, who spent some years there, and claims to be a Catholic, advocates ( National Review , September, 1898) the disendowment of the Church as a necessary financial measure which would bring a certain amount of relief to the colonial treasury. With the exception of £3,000 a year paid to the Archbishop of Manila, and £1,500 to each of t

7. It is untrue to say that the Friars did not wish to spread the Spanish language. What they were opposed to was the folly of trying to teach the Christian doctrine and some other elementary knowledge in a language not understood by the people. In this matter they gave their candid opinion to the Government that it was impossible to teach Spanish in out-of-the-way rural schools. But in towns they taught in Spanish, and taught the Spanish language and literature. They used to induce parents to s

1 From the Analecta Ordinis Prædicatorum . “The mission of the Religious Orders is not over, as is pretended by some who, having fallen foul of them, seek to abolish them altogether, or at least to restrict and limit their influence. It is this spirit of jealousy that has dictated many of the so-called reforms, which we have seen enforced of late years. “But these people seem to forget that we have established our authority in Luzon and the Visayas by the exercise of moral influence alone, backe

“These are my aims, and to their realization I have devoted myself with earnestness, taking for my programme—if I might so express it—the advancement and strengthening of the civil authority, the spreading of civilization and learning, so that the country may enjoy at no distant date the blessings that have come to other countries through the same means. “But this, in my opinion, can only be achieved through the Religious Orders. For let the Government bear in mind that those who deny this are f

A writer in the San Francisco Monitor has made a very intelligible and instructive abstract of an article recently written by Rev. Reuben Parsons, D.D., on “Freemasonry in Latin America.” This is a subject upon which there is much popular misapprehension, and Dr. Parsons throws a strong light upon it. His language is, all in all, moderate; and his tone, temperate. He makes no vicious attack upon the Order, and all his assertions are substantiated by quotations from Masonic organs or unprejudiced

Bolivar returned and restored order and peace to the distracted country. He was hated by the lodges, and his death was decreed. On Sept. 25, 1828, a band of assassins entered his house, but fortunately Bolivar escaped by a secret passage. That the crime had been plotted by the Masons is evident from the decree which the President issued soon afterwards: “Considering that secret societies have the planning of political revolutions for their principal object, and that their baneful character is su

Of the condition of the people in the islands Father Alvarez thought it compared fairly well with the rural population of his native Spain or other European countries. The bulk of the natives own and cultivate their own lands. There are schools for boys and girls in every parish, and the great majority can read and write. Of the religious spirit of the country people and their respect for the missionaries he spoke very favorably. The movement which drove them out was political, not religious. Fa

The Governor of the locality is polite enough with us, but does not obtain any favor for us. Fathers N. and N. have written several times to him, begging him to get our position bettered as far as he is able. A great number of rebel chiefs have come to see us, and all seem possessed by a satanic hatred for us, and instead of pitying us rejoice to see us in a state of misery. They boast of having taken part in the massacres of the insurrection, and say to us: “Fathers So-and-So have escaped us, b

In conclusion, we are anxious to know if Mr. Hykes examined the spiritual condition of the Protestants in the Philippines. “To our shame be it said,” observed a British officer, in 1859, “there is no Protestant place of worship on the island; and even the burial-ground is in an unseemly position and condition, and, I believe, unconsecrated.” 1 1 “Hongkong to Manila,” by H. T. Ellis, R.N....

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