Note 19 — REPRESENTATION OF FILIPINAS IN THE SPANISH CORTES

The special discussion arose over the item of 50,000 reals for missions and a note in the report reflecting on the native clergy in the Philippines. Some of the Americans, who were quite fully imbued with the free thought of the French philosophical school, declared for the suppression of the missionaries (meaning friars), inasmuch as they were useless and even harmful. The committee answered this by asserting that the missionaries in the Philippines were used by the government as civil and political agents, and that they did do much good work in their own legitimate line. The passage concerning the incapacity of the native clergy was meant to apply to the Philippines alone, but if desired it could be removed as it was not essential to the report. An American representative moved that the 50,000 reals be used in the establishment of normal schools in Ultramar. The Philippine representatives seem to have taken no part in the debate except that Camus y Herrera moved that the obnoxious clause concerning the Filipino clergy be stricken out. The report was accepted as read. ↑