Directory_and_Chronicle_1887 — Page 576

THE PHILIPPINES.

The Philippines are a rich group of islands, situate between lat. 5 and 22 N., and long. 123 and 133 E., and held by Spain under military occupation. The islands are over five hundred in number and contain an area of 52,647 English square miles, with a population, in 1876, of 6,173,632 souls. At the end of 1883 the population, including the army and navy, was estimated at 7,636,632. The islands are divided into twenty-seven provinces, thirteen of which are on the Isle of Luzon, four on the Isle of Negros, turee on Panay, and three on the Isle of Mindanao.

Early in the sixteenth century the celebrated navigator Magellan unfolded to the King of Spain his brilliant project of reaching the Spice Islands by rounding the southern extremity of the American continent, and, having been furnished with men and ships, he set sail. Having passed through the straits which bear his name, be reached the islands, to which the name of the Philippines was afterwards given, in the spring of 1521, after a troublesome voyage of over eighteen months. The foundation of Spanish authority in the archipelago was then laid, but the illustrious navigator who first took possession in the name of his Royal Mas'er lost his life in an attack upon one of the islands a month later, and the expedition, reduced to one ship, returned. Other ex editions were dispatched, some of which proved fruitless, but in 1565 the islands were formally annexed to the Crown of Spain, and in 1571 the city of Manila, which has been the capital ever since, was founded.

The early history of the Philippines is a record of continual trouble. Conflicts between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities led to internal contentions, while both Portugal and the Netherlands coveted these rich possessions and harassed the Spaniards. Attacks were also made at differents points by powerful Chinese piratical fleets. In 1762 the capital was taker by the English, but was restored to S; ain two years afterwards for a ransom of £1,000.000. The ransom, however, has never been exacted.

After the discovery of the islands ecclesiastics flocked to them in large numbers, and, undisturbed by the attacks on Spanish authority, the work of converting the natives was carried on with great vigour. The clergy at the present time .umber 1,962, and most of the natives brought under subjection profess the Roman Catholic religion. In the Philippines there has been little of that cruelty to the aboriginal population which so often characterises the process of colonization, and the natives are in general contented and well conducted, the priests exercising the almost unbounded influence they possess with great effect in the preservation of order. In the inaccessible mountainous parts of the islands there are still tribes of unsubdued savages, but their number is comparatively small and the authority of the Govern- ment is being rapidly extended over them. In the last census returns the number of natives not subject to the civil government and paying no tribute is given as 602,853, while the number of natives paying tribute is returned as 5,501,356. The total population of the islands is given as 6,173,632, including Spaniards and other Europeans. There is a considerable number mestizos or half-castes, some of whom