The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes
By Fedor Jagor et al

Part VI

People and Prospects of the Philippines

Blackwood’s magazine for August, 1818, has an account of conditionsin Manila and the Philippines from data given by an English merchantwho left the Islands in 1798 after twenty years’ residence in whichhe accumulated a fortune.

“Your first question, with respect to the Spanish population, mustrefer to native Spaniards only; as their numerous descendants, throughall the variety of half-castes, would include one third at least ofthe whole population of Luconia (i.e., Luzon–A. C.)

“Of native Spaniards, accordingly, settled in the Philippine Islands,the total number may be stated at 2,000 not military. The military,including all descriptions, men and officers, are about 2,500,out of which number the native regiments are officered These last,in 1796-7, were almost entirely composed of South Americans and werereckoned at 5,000 men, making a military force of about 7,500.

“The castes bearing a mixture of the Spanish blood are in Luconiaalone at least 200,000. The Sangleys, or Chinese descendants, areupwards of 20,000, and Indians, who call themselves the originalTagalas, about 340,000, making a total population in that island ofabout 600,000 souls. What may be the respective numbers in the otherPhilippine Islands I never had any opportunity of learning.”

(This opinion, of a day when it was not desired to disparage thepeople, gives an idea of the mixed blood of the Filipinos which, in theopinion of the ethnologists, like Ratzel, is a source of strength. Itclasses them with the English and Americans. One danger of the presentappears in over-emphasizing the Malay blood, just as in Spanish timesa real loss seems to have come from the contempt toward the Chinesewhich led to minimizing and concealing a most creditable ancestry.

Prejudice in the past called all trouble makers mestizos, but today’sstudy is showing that trouble maker meant man who would stand up forhis rights; one must not forget that mestizo was used as a reproach,that the leaders of the people were really typical of the people. Bythe old injustice those who were mediocre were called natives andwhoever rose above his fellows was claimed as a Spaniard, but afairer way would seem to be to consider Filipinos all born in thePhilippines.–C.).

The Cornhill magazine in the late ’70s had a contribution by the thenBritish Consul, Mr. Palgreave, on “Malay Life in the Philippines,"that makes more understandable the reputation of the islands, whichbefore the opening of the Suez were a health resort for Japan,the China coast and India. It also shows a fairness to the peopleuncommon in the Spanish-inspired writings of his day.

“Dull indeed must be his soul, unsympathetic his nature who can seethe forests and mountains of Luzon, Queen of the Eastern Isles, fadeaway into dim violet outlines on the fast receding horizon withoutsome pang of longing regret. Not the Aegean, not the West Indian,not the Samoan, not any rival in manifold beauties of earth, sea andsky the Philippine Archipelago. Pity that for the Philippines no wordlimner of note exists. The chiefest, the almost exceptional spell ofthe Philippines, is situated, not in the lake or volcano, forest orplain, but in the races that form the bulk of the island population.

“I said ’almost exceptional’ because rarely is an intra-tropicalpeople a satisfactory one to eye or mind. But this cannot besaid of the Philippine Malays who in bodily formation and mentalcharacteristics alike, may fairly claim a place, not among middlingones merely, but among almost the higher names inscribed on the world’snational scale. A concentrated, never-absent self-respect, an habitualself-restraint in word and deed, very rarely broken except when extremeprovocation induces the transitory but fatal frenzy known as ’amok,’and an inbred courtesy, equally diffused through all classes, high orlow, unfailing decorum, prudence, caution, quiet cheerfulness, readyhospitality and a correct, though not inventive taste. His family isa pleasing sight, much subordination and little constraint, unison ingradation, liberty–not license. Orderly children, respected parents,women subject but not oppressed, men ruling but not despotic, reverencewith kindness, obedience in affection, these form lovable pictures,not by any means rare in the villages of the eastern isles.” (Hereagain comes the necessity of combatting the popular impression that thePhilippines is a tropical land peopled by Malays. The modification ofclimate from being an ocean archipelago suggests that these islands arereally subtropical, while mixture of blood joined with three centuriesof European civilization makes the term Malay misleading.–C.)

PART VII

Filipino Merchants of the Early 1890s

F. Karuth, F. R. G. S., (President of an English corporation interestedin Philippine mining) about 1894, wrote:

“Few outside the comparatively narrow circle who are directlyinterested in the commerce and resources of the Philippine Islandsknow anything about them. The Philippine merchants are a ratherclose community which only in the last decade or so has expanded itsdiameter a little. There are a number of very old established firmsamongst them, several of them being British.... Amongst them alsoare firms–perhaps as far as wealth and local influence go, the mostimportant firms–whose chiefs are partly at least of native blood.

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