CHAPTER XXX

THE VOICE OF THE PERSECUTED.

Before the sun went down, Ibarra put his foot into Elias's banca

on the shore of the lake. He seemed displeased about something,

as though he had been opposed or contradicted.

"Pardon me, senor," said Elias on seeing him. "Pardon me for having

ventured to make this appointment with you. I would like to speak

with you freely, and here we have no witnesses. We can return within

an hour."

"You are mistaken, friend Elias," replied Ibarra, trying to smile. "You

will have to take me to that town over there, where you see that

belfry. Fate obliges me to go there."

"Fate?"

"Yes; on my way here, I met the alferez. He insisted upon accompanying

me. I thought about you, and knew that he would recognize you, and, in

order to get rid of him, I told him that I was going to that town. Now

I will have to remain there all day to-morrow, for the man whom I am

going to see will not look for me till to-morrow afternoon."

"I am obliged to you for your thoughtfulness, but you might have

simply told him to accompany you," replied Elias with naturalness.

"How's that? And what about you?"

"He would never have recognized me. The only time that he ever saw me,

I don't believe that he thought to take down a description of me."

"I am in hard luck!" sighed Ibarra, thinking of Maria Clara. "What

have you to say to me?"

Elias looked around him. They were far from the shore. The sun

had already sunk below the horizon, and, as the twilight in these

latitudes is very short, the darkness was falling over the earth,

and the disk of the full moon was already shining.

"Senor," replied Elias, in a grave voice, "I am the spokesman of many

unfortunate people."

"Unfortunate people. What do you mean?"

In a few words, Elias referred to the conversation which he had had

with the chief of the tulisanes, but omitted saying anything about the

doubts which the chief entertained, or the threats. Ibarra listened

attentively, and, when Elias concluded his story, a long silence

reigned. Ibarra was the first to break the spell.

"So that they desire-?"

"Radical reforms in the armed forces, in the religious matters,

and in the administration of justice. That is to say, they ask for

paternal care on the part of the Government."

"Reforms? In what sense?"

"For example: more respect for human dignity; more security for the

individual; less power in the hands of the forces already armed;

fewer privileges for that body which easily abuses them."

"Elias," replied the young man, "I don't know who you are, but

I believe that you are not an ordinary man. You think and work

differently from the others. You will understand me if I say to

you that, even if it is true that the present state of affairs is

defective, there will be a worse state if there is a change. I could

arrange to get the assistance of my friends in Madrid, by paying

them. I could speak to the Governor General, but all of that would

accomplish nothing. He has not enough power to introduce reforms,

nor would I ever take a step in that direction, for I know very well

that, if it is true that these religious corporations have their

defects, they are now necessities. They are what you might call a

necessary evil."

Elias raised his head and looked astonished.

"Do you believe, senor, in necessary evils?" he asked, his voice

slightly trembling. "Do you believe that in order to do good it is

necessary to do evil?"

"No. I look upon it as a violent remedy which we have to make use of

to cure an illness. To illustrate further, the country is an organism

which is suffering from a chronic illness, and, in order to cure it,

the Government finds itself compelled to use medicines, hard and

violent, if you wish, but useful and necessary."

"He is a bad doctor, senor, who seeks to cure the symptoms and suppress

them without trying to find the origin of the illness, or knowing it,

fears to attack it. The Guardia Civil has no other end than this:

the suppression of crime by terror and force. This end it neither

fulfills nor carries out except in chance instances. And you have

to take into account that society can be severe with individuals

only after she has furnished all means necessary for their perfect

morality. In our country, since there is no society, since the

people and the Government do not form a unity, the latter ought to

be indulgent, not only because indulgence is necessary, but because

the individual, neglected and abandoned by Government, has less self

responsibility than if he had been enlightened. Besides, following out

your comparison, the medicine applied to the evils of the country is

so much of a destroyer that its effect is only felt on the sane parts

of the organism. These it weakens and injures. Would it not be more

reasonable to fortify and strengthen the infirm organism and minimize

a little the violence of the medicine?"

"To weaken the Guardia Civil would be to put the security of the

towns in danger."

"The security of the towns!" exclaimed Elias with bitterness. "The

towns have had the Guardia Civil for nearly fifteen years and

what is the result? We still have tulisanes, we still hear of them

sacking towns, and they still make their attacks on people on the

roads. Robberies continue and the robbers are not punished. Crime

exists and the real criminal goes free, but not so with the peaceful

inhabitants of the town. Ask any honorable citizen if he looks upon

this institution as a good, as a protection by the Government, or

as an imposition, a despotism whose excesses do more harm than the

violence of the criminals. Communication between people is paralyzed,

for they fear to be maltreated for trifling causes. More importance

is attached to the formality of the law than to the basal principle

of it,-the first symptom of incapacity in government. The heads of

the organization consider it their first duty to make people salute

them, either of their own will or by force, even in the darkness of

night. In this, their inferior officers imitate them and maltreat

and fleece the poor countrymen. There is no such thing as sacredness

of the fireside. There is no security for the individual. What have

the people accomplished by overcoming their wrath and by waiting for

justice at the hands of others? Ah! senor, if you call that preserving

the order-"

"I agree with you that there are evils," replied Ibarra. "But we

have to accept those evils for the good which accompanies them. This

institution may be imperfect, but believe me, by the terror which it

inspires, it prevents the number of criminals from increasing."

"You might better say that by that terror it increases the number

of criminals," said Elias, correcting him. "Before this body was

created, almost all the evildoers, with the exception of a very few,

were criminals because of their hunger. They pillaged and robbed in

order to live. That famine once passed over and hunger once satisfied,

the roads were again free from criminals. It was sufficient to have

the poor but valiant cuaderilleros chase them, with their imperfect

arms-that body of men so often calumniated by those who have written

upon our country, those men who have three legal rights, to do their

duty, to fight and to die. And for all that, a jest as recompense. Now

there are tulisanes who will be tulisanes all their lives. A crime

inhumanly punished, resistance against the excesses of the power

which inflicts such punishment, and fear that other atrocities may

be inflicted-these make them forever members of that society who

are bound by oath to kill and die [21]. The terrorism of the Guardia

Civil impressed upon them closes forever the doors to repentance. And

as a tulisan fights and defends himself in the mountains better than

a soldier, whom he scorns, the result is that we are incapable of

abating the evil which we have created. Call to mind what the prudent

Governor General de la Torre did. The amnesty which he granted to

these unhappy people has proved that in these mountains the hearts

of men still beat, and only await pardon. Terrorism is useful only

when the people are enslaved, when the mountains have no caverns,

when the governing power can station a sentry behind every tree, and

when the slave has in his body nothing but a stomach. But when the

desperado who fights for his life feels the strong arm of that power,

then his heart beats and his being fills with passion. Can terrorism

put out the fire which-"

"It confuses me, Elias, to hear you talk so. I would believe that

you were right if I did not have my own convictions. But note this

point-and do not be offended, for I do not include you-I look

upon you as an exception-consider who those are who ask for this

reform. Almost all are criminals or people who are in the way of

becoming such."

"Criminals or future criminals; but why are they so? Because their

peace has been disturbed, their happiness taken away from them,

their dearest affections wounded, and, after asking protection from

Justice, they have been convinced that they can secure it only by

their own hands, by their own efforts. But you are mistaken, senor,

if you believe that only criminals ask for it. Go from town to town,

from house to house. Listen to the secret sighings of the family and

you will be convinced that the evils which the Guardia Civil causes

are equal to if not greater than those which it corrects. Would you

conclude then that all the citizens are criminals? Then, why defend

them from the others? Why not destroy them?"

"There is some flaw in your reasoning which escapes me now. In Spain,

the Mother Country, this body lends and has lent very useful services."

"I do not doubt it. Perhaps there it is better organized; the personnel

more select. Perhaps, too, Spain needs such a body, but the Philippines

do not. Our customs, our mode of living, which are always cited when

any one wants to deny us a right, are totally forgotten when some

one wants to impose something on us. And tell me, senor, why have not

other nations adopted this institution, other nations which resemble

Spain more than do the Philippines? Is it due to the efforts of such an

institution that other nations have fewer robberies of the railways,

fewer riots, fewer assassinations, and less hand-to-hand fighting in

their great capitals?"

Ibarra bowed his head in meditation. Afterward he raised it and

replied:

"That question, my friend, needs serious study. If my investigations

tell me that these complaints are well founded, I will write to my

friends in Madrid, since we have no deputies to represent us. In the

meantime, believe me, the Government needs a body like the Guardia

Civil, which has unlimited power, in order to make the people respect

its authority and the laws imposed."

"That would be all right, senor, if the Government were at war

with the country; but, for the good of the Government, we ought

not to make the people believe that they are in opposition to the

law. Furthermore, if that were the case, if we preferred force to

prestige, we ought to look well to whom we give this unlimited force

or power, this authority. Such great power in the hands of men, and

ignorant men at that, men full of passion, without moral education,

without tested honor-such a thing is a weapon in the hands of a

maniac in a multitude of unarmed people. I grant and I will agree

with you that the Government needs this weapon, but let it choose

that weapon well; let it choose the most worthy men to bear it."

Elias was speaking with enthusiasm and with fervor. His eyes glistened

and his voice vibrated. Then followed a solemn pause. The banca, no

longer propelled by the paddle, floated tranquilly on the waves. The

moon was shining majestically from a sapphire sky. Some lights were

glimmering on the shore.

"And what more do they ask?" said Ibarra.

"Reforms in the priesthood," responded Elias, in a discouraged and

sad tone of voice. "The unfortunates ask more protection against-"

"Against the religious orders?"

"Against their oppressors, senor."

"Have the Filipinos forgotten what they owe to these orders? Have they

forgotten the immense debt of gratitude they owe to them for having

saved them from error and given them the Faith? What they owe to them

for protection against the civil power? Here is one of the evils which

result from not teaching the history of the country in our schools."

Elias, surprised, could scarcely give credit to what he heard.

"Senor," he replied in a grave voice. "You accuse the people of

ingratitude: permit me, one of those who suffer, to defend the

people. Favors, in order to be recognized as such, must be done by

persons with disinterested motives. Let us consider in a general

way the mission of the orders, of Christian charity, that threadbare

subject. Let us lay history aside. Let us not ask what Spain did with

the Jews, who gave all Europe a Book, a religion and a God! Let us not

ask what Spain has done with the Arabic people who gave her culture,

who were tolerant in religion and who reawakened in her a pure national

love, fallen into lethargy and almost destroyed by the domination of

Romans and Goths. Let us omit all that. Do you say that these orders

have given us the Faith and have saved us from error? Do you call those

outward ceremonies, faith? Do you call that commerce in straps and

scapularies religion? Do you call those miracles and stories which we

hear every day truth? Is that the law of Jesus Christ? To teach such

a faith as this it was not at all necessary that a God should allow

himself to be crucified. Superstition existed long before the friars

came here; it was only necessary to perfect it and to raise the price

of the traffic. Will you tell me that although our religion of to-day

is imperfect, it is better than that which we had before? I will agree

with you in that and grant it; but we have purchased it at too high

a price if we have had to renounce our nationality and independence

for it; when for it, we have given to the priests our best towns,

our fields, and still give them our little savings in order to buy

religious objects. A foreign industry has been introduced among us;

we pay well for it, and are in peace. If you speak of the protection

they have afforded us against the civil governors of the provinces,

I would reply that through them we fall under the power of these

governors. However, I recognize that a true Faith, and a true love

for humanity guided the first missionaries who came to our shores. I

recognize the debt of gratitude which is due those noble hearts. I

know that in those days Spain abounded in heroes of all kinds, as well

in religion as in politics, as well in civil life as in military. But

because the forefathers were virtuous, should we consent to the abuses

practiced by their degenerate descendants? Because a great good has

been done for us, are we guilty if we prevent ourselves from being

harmed? The country does not ask for abolition of the priesthood; it

only asks for reforms which new circumstances and new needs require."

"I love our country as you love it, Elias. I understand to some

extent what you desire. I have heard with attention what you have

said; yet, despite all of that, my friend, I believe we are looking

upon it with a little prejudice. Here, less than in other things,

I see the necessity of reforms."

"Can it be possible, senor," said Elias, discouraged and stretching

out his hands. "Do you not see the necessity of reforms, you whose

family-"

"Ah! I forget myself and I forget my own injuries for the sake of

the security of the Philippines, for the sake of the interests of

Spain," interrupted Ibarra eagerly. "To preserve the Philippines it

is necessary that the friars continue as they are, and in union with

Spain lies the welfare of our country."

Ibarra had ceased speaking, but Elias continued to listen. His face

was sad, his eyes had lost their brilliancy.

"The missionaries conquered the country, it is true," he said. "Do

you think that Spain will be able to keep the Philippines through

the instrumentality of the friars?"

"Yes, only through the friars. This is the belief held by all who

have written on the Philippines."

"Oh!" exclaimed Elias, discouraged and throwing his paddle into the

bottom of the banca. "I did not think that you had so poor a conception

of the Government and of the country."

Ibarra replied: "I love our country, not only because it is the

duty of all men to love the country to which they owe their being,

not only because my father taught me so; but also because my mother

was a native, an Indian, and because all my most beautiful memories

live in these islands. I love it too, because I owe it my happiness

and will continue to do so."

"And I, I love it because I owe to it my misfortunes," said Elias.

"Yes, my friend, I know that you are suffering, that you are

unfortunate, and that this makes you see a dark future and influences

your way of thinking. For this reason, I make allowance for your

complaints. If I were able to appreciate the motives, if I had known

part of that past-"

"My misfortunes have another source. If I had known that they would

have been of usefulness, I would have related them, for aside from

that, I make no secret of them. They are well enough known by many."

"Perhaps knowing them would rectify my opinions. You know I do not

rely much upon theories; facts are better guides."

Elias remained pensive for some moments.

"If that is the case, senor," he replied, "I will relate briefly the

history of my misfortunes."