Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Get Monsters and Mistletoe A Christmas Monster Romance Anthology Cassia Briar - PD PDF Full Chapter
Get Monsters and Mistletoe A Christmas Monster Romance Anthology Cassia Briar - PD PDF Full Chapter
https://ebookmeta.com/product/beignets-and-mistletoe-a-bbw-
military-man-christmas-romance-1st-edition-lana-love/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/beignets-and-mistletoe-a-bbw-
military-man-christmas-romance-1st-edition-lana-love-2/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/beignets-and-mistletoe-a-bbw-
military-man-christmas-romance-1st-edition-lana-love-3/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/ours-for-halloween-a-dark-monster-
romance-novella-darkly-depraved-monsters-violet-taylor/
Monsters Burning Bright Urban Fantasy Monster Romance
1st Edition Cari Silverwood
https://ebookmeta.com/product/monsters-burning-bright-urban-
fantasy-monster-romance-1st-edition-cari-silverwood/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/the-gargoyle-grinch-a-cozy-
christmas-monster-romance-1st-edition-lilith-stone/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/beignets-and-mistletoe-a-cajun-
christmas-1st-edition-lana-love/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/dragons-hate-mistletoe-fabled-
hearts-volume-five-a-curvy-woman-dragon-shifter-christmas-
romance-1st-edition-banks-tamrin/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/mistletoe-madness-a-christmas-
party-shared-world-novella-ariana-st-claire/
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
church gained adherents with such startling rapidity that it seemed
as if a majority of the population would go over to it.
The result may easily be imagined. The Roman Catholic
organisation had controlled Philippine affairs, both temporal and
spiritual, for so long that the possibility of a rebellion of this
character had never been thought of. Every loyal Catholic, and
especially every bishop and priest and friar, was horrified, and an
almost frantic controversy began to rage about the devoted head of
the civil Governor as soon as he arrived in Manila. He was appealed
to to take drastic action to suppress the movement and because he
could do nothing even to check it the American government was
reviled in the Catholic press as it had never been reviled before. Mr.
Taft calmly met the storm with an iteration and reiteration of
American principles of religious toleration, and declared that he had
neither right nor wish to try to direct the religious inclinations of the
people, and that all he could do in the matter was to enforce the
keeping of the peace.
The people had been taught by Aglipay and his fellow-
conspirators, and, indeed, by the whole history of church buildings in
the Islands, that church properties belonged to the people and that if
they wished to do so it was right for them to oust the regularly
constituted priests from the churches and to turn these edifices over
to the Independent body. This the government would not allow,
holding that any dispute over property rights must be settled by due
process of law. A few riots ensued wherein the constabulary and
police came in violent contact with the Aglipayanos, but the Filipino
is quick to recognise justice, and this decree of the government was
very readily given general acceptance.
Mr. Taft was repeatedly warned by the allies of Rome that the
movement was nothing but a cloak for the worst insurrection against
the government that the Filipinos had yet attempted, and this
suspicion was somewhat strengthened by the fact that many of the
least tractable insurrecto leaders were among its directors, but in the
main the schismatics evinced every desire to obey the injunction laid
upon them not to resort to incendiary methods. And it was thought
that the treatment they received in return would probably do more
than all the preaching in the world to convince them that under
American sovereignty they were actually to enjoy complete religious
freedom.
Liberty to take possession of property by force was denied them,
but liberty to think and worship as they pleased was not only given
them, but in the peaceful exercise of this liberty they even enjoyed
police protection, and this was a never-before-heard-of thing which
gave them food for very serious thought. Under Spanish dominion
Aglipay would have been taken to the Luneta and shot as José Rizal
was shot, and his followers would have met and mourned in secret,
but the American authorities held, according to American beliefs,
that an Aglipayan, or independent Catholic organisation, had as
much right to parade in the streets with candles and images as had
the Roman Catholic or any other religious body.
Mr. Taft had vaguely suggested the possibility of some such
development as this during his visit to the Vatican, but it made no
impression. However, now that it had come, it gave the American
Commission some advantage in the Friars and Friars’ lands
negotiations because it was sure to convince the Vatican that the case
of the Friars was hopeless and so inspire speedier action than might
otherwise be hoped for.
In the midst of it all the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Guidi of
Stauropoli, arrived from Rome! He was an Italian, very friendly and
tolerant, with neither fanatic nor ascetic tendencies. He was by no
means adverse to taking part in any kind of social gaiety and I
remember that at one of our first entertainments after his arrival he
expressed great regret that he could not join in the Rigodon. I came
to enjoy association with him exceedingly.
At one of my first receptions that season quite a dramatic scene
occurred in the ballroom. A thousand or more people, perhaps, had
passed the receiving line. Monsignor Guidi came in all his stately
regalia, and shortly afterward Aglipay put in an appearance. The
people wandered around all over the place, circulating through the
spacious gardens and around the verandahs, so there was a
possibility that these two would not meet even though they were both
very conspicuous figures. But it was not long before the Papal
Delegate hurried up to Mr. Taft and, in a state of visible excitement,
inquired who the stranger in the striking religious garb might be.
“That,” said Mr. Taft, “is Aglipay.”
“But, you know,” said the Monsignor, “it is impossible for you to
receive him here when I am present!”
Then Mr. Taft once more laboriously explained the standpoint of
the American government, saying that Aglipay was in his house in
his private capacity as a citizen, that he had as much right there as
any other citizen, and that it would not be possible to ask him to
leave as long as he conducted himself as a guest should.
“Then, I shall have to go,” said Monsignor Guidi.
“I am very sorry,” said Mr. Taft. “I understand your position
perfectly and I trust you understand mine as well.”
So the highest of insular Church dignitaries got his hat and
hastened away while the “renegade and impious impostor” remained
—in serene unconsciousness of the disturbance he had created?
Perhaps not. At least he was serene.
But our relations with Monsignor Guidi continued most agreeable
during our entire stay in the Islands. Mr. Taft thought very highly of
him as a man and an ecclesiastical statesman and diplomat and
greatly regretted his death which occurred after we left the Islands.
Through him, the question of the Friars’ lands was settled as Pope
Leo had told Mr. Taft it would be, satisfactorily to the United States.
To bring that story, which was distractingly long drawn out in reality,
to a close, I will merely add that the government succeeded in
purchasing the Friars’ lands for the sum of $7,000,000; they were
turned into a public domain to be sold under most encouraging
conditions, to their tenants and others who wished to acquire
homesteads. The Friars were not sent back to the parishes and many
left the Islands.
However this was not brought about without the protracted
exercise of patience and diplomacy in the very midst of which the
long arm of Washington reached out and touched my busy husband
on the shoulder. He came home one day with a puzzled air and a
cablegram from President Roosevelt. This cablegram read, in part:
Taft, Manila. On January first there will be a vacancy on the Supreme Court to
which I earnestly desire to appoint you.... I feel that your duty is on the Court
unless you have decided not to adopt a judicial career. I greatly hope you will
accept. Would appreciate early answer.
Roosevelt.
This came before I had been in the Islands a month and when Mr.
Taft was so deep in the complications of his work that he was almost
a stranger to his friends.
There was an accompanying cablegram from Secretary Root
strongly urging acceptance on the score of my husband’s impaired
health. Mr. Root declared that he was most unwilling to lose his
services in the Philippines, but thought it better for him “not to take
any serious risk of breaking down and having to leave the Islands an
invalid even after a considerable period of further service.” As Mr.
Taft was feeling particularly well and was taking daily exercise and
keeping himself in excellent condition this sounded rather like
anticipating a very unlikely calamity, but the last time Mr. Root had
seen him he was anything but robust so it was easy to understand the
Secretary’s friendly concern for him.
What to do? This was not a question which gave Mr. Taft even a
shade of hesitation, because he knew immediately what he must do.
All his life his first ambition had been to attain the Supreme Bench.
To him it meant the crown of the highest career that a man can seek,
and he wanted it as strongly as a man can ever want anything. But
now that the opportunity had come acceptance was not to be thought
of. I had always been opposed to a judicial career for him, but at this
point I shall have to admit I weakened just a little. I remembered the
year of illness and anxiety we had just been through; and sometimes
I yearned to be safe in Washington even though it did mean our
settlement in the “fixed groove” that I had talked against for so long.
Mr. Taft’s plain and unmistakable duty held him in the Philippine
Islands. He knew he could not detach himself completely from the
enterprise upon which he was engaged without grave consequences
to it. His one cause for uncertainty as to what he should do lay in a
suspicion that he might have done something to embarrass the
Administration in a political sense, or that his opponents in the
monastic orders and Friars’ lands controversy might have made
representations which caused the President to consider his removal
“upstairs” advisable. He discussed the matter confidentially with Mr.
Benito Legarda and with the Chief Justice of the Philippines, Mr.
Arellano, and the comment of the Chief Justice was: “There, the
influence of the Friars has reached even to Washington.” Mr. Taft
cabled to his brother Henry in New York to make private inquiries in
this connection, since he did not wish to remain in the islands if his
presence there was in any way undesirable, but at the same time he
cabled to the President:
President Roosevelt, Washington. Great honour deeply appreciated but must
decline. Situation here most critical from economic standpoint. Change proposed
would create much disappointment and lack of confidence among people. Two
years now to follow of greater importance to development of islands than previous
two years. Cholera, rinderpest, religious excitement, ladrones, monetary crisis, all
render most unwise change of Governor. These are sentiments of my colleagues
and two or three leading Filipinos consulted confidentially. Nothing would satisfy
individual taste more than acceptance. Look forward to the time when I can accept
such an offer, but even if it is certain that it can never be repeated I must now
decline. Would not assume to answer in such positive terms in view of words of
your despatch if gravity of situation here was not necessarily known to me better
than it can be known in Washington.
Taft.
Taft.
In late November Mr. Taft received this letter from the President:
Dear Will, I am disappointed, of course, that the situation is such as to make you
feel it unwise for you to leave, because, exactly as no man can quite do your work in
the islands, so no man can quite take your place as the new member of the Court.
But, if possible, your refusal on the ground you give makes me admire you and
believe in you more than ever. I am quite at a loss whom to appoint to the Bench in
the place I meant for you. Everything else must give way to putting in the right
man; but I can’t make up my mind who is the right man.
Taft.