The "friar" so much slandered by those who wish to overthrow his beneficent influence, ever carried the banner of his country enlaced with the Cross of the Redeemer. He came to the Archipelago as a messenger of peace and order, and was the strongest supporter of the sovereignty of his nation. The "friar" was hated because he was the one who best knew and understood the indian, and from his intimate knowledge of his parishioners, could the more easily detect anything on their part which tended to the detriment of the integrity of the Spanish sovereignty. The campaign against the Religious Orders was the attack of the battering-rams against the city to be captured. By piercing the wall the entry into the city could be the easier made; and this the separatist element well knew, hence all their efforts were directed against the stout wall which defended from its assaults the treasure of the metropolis. For three hundred years the Philippines remained submitted to Spain exclusively by reason of the moral influence of the Clergy. Whilst the banner of Spain, floated over the Archipelago, the Religious formed the strongest guard for its protection; when it fell, strung by the ingratitude and treachery of those who had sworn to defend it to the last drop of their blood, and lay dishonored in the dust, it was the Religious who bowed his head in the deepest grief and who shed the bitterest tears. When the flag of the conquerer was hauled up to the height from which once gloriously floated the symbol of Spanish authority, the Religious, obedient to the commands of his superiors, withdrew to the solicitude of his convent, to await in patience, the passing of the storm. He looks out upon the clouded political horizon, as Noah looked out from the window of the ark upon the vast sea of waters which hid from his view the fearful destruction which had overcome the world, patiently awaiting the time when he should, at God's will, go forth to commence again the work of reconstruction. Often have I heard the opinion expressed that the Government's worst enemy is the "friar", that it is the "friar" who keeps alive the spirit of rebellion. Let those who think thus, ponder over one small thought: what has the friar to gain in sustaining a rebellion which has caused him more moral and material damage, than has been caused to any other entity in the Philippines? To those who are able and willing to utilize the power of thought with which God has endowed them, it is sufficiently clear that the Religious has nothing to gain by such tactics, but, on the contrary, all to lose.