Philippine progress prior to 1898 : $b a source book of Philippine history to supply a fairer view of Filipino participation and supplement the defective Spanish accountsCraig, Austin
History
Philippine progress prior to 1898 : $b a source book of Philippine history to supply a fairer view of Filipino participation and supplement the defective Spanish accounts
Craig, Austin
Philippines
Ferdinand VII abolished the Constitution of 1812, which had so pleased
the Indians, and then arose a conspiracy because the Indians believed
the abolition of the Constitution was due to the intrigues of the
Spaniards and the missionaries to deprive them of the equality over
which they had gotten so enthusiastic. With the organic law of 1812
they had thought themselves free, happy, and independent, with no
tribute to pay nor any authority to obey.
Other insurrections followed in 1820, 1828, 1837, 1844, 1854, 1863,
1869, 1872, 1883, and 1888. (Also in 1896 and 1898--C.)
The fatal consequences of the imprudent proclamation of the
constitution of Cadiz in the Philippines produced a certain lack
of social discipline and led to uprisings. A pitiable one was the
catastrophe of 1820, when, with excuse of cholera, the Indians
assassinated countless Chinese and many foreigners who were in
Manila. The hatred against the French (from Napoleon's attempt to make
his brother King of Spain in place of Ferdinand VII.--C.) the pretext
which caused the American conspiracies--had come even there. Let us
cover with a veil the horrible picture, only saying that the ones
chiefly guilty of this international crime were the acting Captain
General Folgueras, weak and not far-seeing, and the Alcalde of Tondo
(a position corresponding to the later Governor of Manila) who was
a Spaniard of the country (creole) named Varela, more ignorant,
impressionable and of worse and bad faith than any Indian.
The archbishop and all the clergy sallied forth in procession
through the streets of Binondo, yet nevertheless did not succeed in
pacifying the insurgents, who now commenced to attack by word the
same missionaries until the peninsulars united with the friars, in
obliging Folgueras, who had shut himself up in the walled city, to
display energy and military skill. For the affair was not alone with
the foreigners and Chinese, but was taking very serious proportions.
The political events happening in the Peninsula from 1820-1823,
likewise had in the Philippines their echo. A vast conspiracy was
discovered by various native women who denounced it to the friars,
so there were exiled to Spain several persons, among whom figured
officers of the army. But there was great laxity by the authorities
because they left there other conspirators, among them a creole captain
named Novales who gathered up the scattered threads of the conspiracy.
The Auditor de Guerra (Judge Advocate--C.) asked that Novales be
likewise exiled and watched very closely, even in exile, but General
Martinez, a goodhearted fellow and more than goodhearted, simple,
and unsuspecting, was content to order him to Mindanao to chase
pirates in the province of Cagayan de Misamis.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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