The Rebellion in the Philip-Dine islands.

Manawatu Herald, 10 June 1897, Page 2

The Rebellion in the PhilipDine islands.

• ■ This is an article in the " National Review." It is written by John Foreman, F.R.G.S., who is a resident in Manilla. It is only a short paper, but it gives the reader a point of view that is novel and interesting. He says : — 14 The government of these islands is theocratic ; the governmental machinery is indeed secular, bat the wirepullers of the policy under which the colony is ruled are the religious corporations. No important step is taken without their assent ; no drastic reform is introduced without their acquiescence ; no functionary, from the highest to the lowest, is permitted to retain his post from the moment he ceases to be a persona grata in theocratic circles. What the natives rebel against is theocratic government altogether. The initial cause of this rising, like that of 1872, is their hatred of the priests. Their fundamental'object is to oust the friars. Although Mr Foreman has little ' sympathy with the theocracy of the friars, or the Spanish bayonets by which it is forced upon the unwilling population, he sums up on the whole against the insurgents : — The present struggle has now developed into a race contest in which we, like the Spaniards, are Europeans, and we wish to see no Orientals of any species- in ascendency here. Moreover, * British interests in these islands amount to several millions sterling. With regard to political independence in the form of a free united archipelago, the possibility of such a scheme is far too remote to merit argument. \ I am convinced beyond a shadow of doubt, after many years study of the native chaiacter, that the most virulent anarchy and internecine tumult would be the only result of any such experiment.