The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes

The Former Philippines thru
Foreign Eyes

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Former Philippines thru Foreign
Eyes
by Fedor Jagor; Tomas de Comyn; Chas. Wilkes; Rudolf Virchow.
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Title: The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes
Author: Fedor Jagor; Tomas de Comyn; Chas. Wilkes; Rudolf
Virchow.
Release Date: June 18, 2004 [EBook #10770]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE FORMER PHILIPPINES THRU FOREIGN EYES
Edited by Austin Craig

Preface
Among the many wrongs done the Filipinos by Spaniards, to be

charged against their undeniably large debt to Spain, one of the greatest,
if not the most frequently mentioned, was taking from them their good
name.
Spanish writers have never been noted for modesty or historical
accuracy. Back in 1589 the printer of the English translation of Padre
Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza's "History of the Great and Mighty
Kingdom of China" felt it necessary to prefix this warning: * * * the
Spaniards (following their ambitious affections) do usually in all their
writings extoll their own actions, even to the setting forth of many
untruthes and incredible things, as in their descriptions of the
conquistes of the east and west Indies, etc., doth more at large appeare.
Of early Spanish historians Doctor Antonio de Morga seems the single
exception, and perhaps even some of his credit comes by contrast, but
in later years the rule apparently has proved invariable. As the
conditions in the successive periods of Spanish influence were
recognized to be indicative of little progress, if not actually
retrogressive, the practice grew up of correspondingly lowering the
current estimates of the capacity of the Filipinos of the conquest, so
that always an apparent advance appeared. This in the closing period, in
order to fabricate a sufficient showing for over three centuries of
pretended progress, led to the practical denial of human attributes to the
Filipinos found here by Legaspi.
Against this denial to his countrymen of virtues as well as rights,
Doctor Rizal opposed two briefs whose English titles are "The
Philippines A Century Hence" and "The Indolence of the Filipino."
Almost every page therein shows the influence of the young student's
early reading of the hereinafter-printed studies by the German scientist
Jagor, friend and counsellor in his maturer years, and the liberal
Spaniard Comyn. Even his acquaintance with Morga, which eventually
led to Rizal's republication of the 1609 history long lost to Spaniards,
probably was owing to Jagor, although the life-long resolution for that
action can be traced to hearing of Sir John Bowring's visit to his uncle's
home and the proposed Hakluyt Society English translation then
mentioned.
The present value and interest of these now rare books has suggested
their republication, to make available to Filipino students a course of
study which their national hero found profitable as well as to correct

the myriad misconceptions of things Philippine in the minds of those
who have taken the accepted Spanish accounts as gospel truths.
Dr. L. V. Schweibs, of Berlin, made the hundreds of corrections, many
reversing the meanings of former readings, which almost justify calling
the revised Jagor translation a new one. Numerous hitherto-untranslated
passages likewise appear. There have been left out the illustrations,
from crude drawings obsolete since photographic pictures have
familiarized the scenes and objects, and also the consequently
superfluous references to these. No other omission has been allowed,
for if one author leaned far to one side in certain debatable questions
the other has been equally partisan for the opposite side, except a
cerement on religion in general and discussion of the world-wide social
evil were eliminated as having no particular Philippine bearing to
excuse their appearance in a popular work.
The early American quotations of course are for comparison with the
numerous American comments of today, and the two magazine extracts
give English accounts a century apart. Virchow's matured views have
been substituted for the pioneer opinions he furnished Professor Jagor
thirty years earlier, and if Rizal's patron in the scientific world fails at
times in his facts his method for research is a safe guide.
Finally, three points should constantly be borne in mind: (1) allowance
must be made for the lessening Spanish influence, surely more foreign
to this seafaring people than the present modified Anglo-Saxon
education, and so more artificial, i.e., less assimilable, as well as for the
removal of the unfavorable environment, before attempting to from an
opinion of the present-day Filipino from his prototype