Dominicans, Augustinians, Recolletos, and Franciscans, can no longer perform in behalf of the State the duties in relation to public instruction and public charities formerly resting upon them, and the power which they formerly exercised, through their relations to the civil government, being now withdrawn, they find themselves the objects of such hostility on the part of their tenantry against them as landlords, and on the part of the people of the parishes against them as representatives of the former government, that they are no longer capable of serving any useful purpose for the Church. No rents can be collected from the populous communities occupying their lands unless it be by the intervention of the civil government with armed force. Speaking generally, several years past the friars of these four orders, formerly installed over the parishes, have been unable to remain at their posts, and are collected in Manila with the vain hope of returning. They will not voluntarily be accepted again by the people, and can not be restored to their positions except by forcible intervention on the part of the civil government, which the principles of our government forbid.

"It is manifest that, under these conditions, it is for the interest of the Church, as well as of the State, that the landed proprietorship of the religious orders in the Philippine Islands should cease, and that if the Church wishes, as of course it does wish, to continue its ministration among the people of the Islands, and to conduct in its own behalf a system of instruction in the parishes, with which we have no desire to interfere, it should seek other agents therefor.

"(4) It is the wish of our government, in case Congress shall grant authority, that the titles of the religious orders to the large tracts of agricultural lands which they now hold shall be extinguished, but that full and fair compensation shall be made therefor.

(5) It is not, however, deemed to be for the interests of the people of the Philippine Islands that, in thus transforming wholly unproductive tracts of land into money capable of productive investment, a fund should thereby

be created to be used for the attempted restoration of the friars to the parishes from which they are now separated.

"(6) The titles to the great amount of Church lands and buildings in the Islands, other than those of the religious orders, and now apparently owned by the State, should be settled fairly.

"(7) Provision should be made for ascertaining what rentals, if any, ought to be paid for conventos and other church buildings which have been occupied by United States troops during the insurrection, this being, of course, subject to further specific action by Congress.

"(8) The rights and obligations remaining under the various specific trusts for education and charity, which are now in doubt and controversy, ought to be settled by agreement, if possible, rather than by the slow and frequently disastrous processes of litigation, so that the beneficent purposes of these foundations may not fail.

"(9) Your errand will not be in any sense or degree diplomatic in its nature, but will be purely a business matter of negotiation by you as governor of the Philippines for the purchase of property from the owners thereof, and the settlement of land titles, in such a manner as to contribute to the best interests of the people of the Islands.

"Any assistance which you may desire, whether on the part of officers of the civil government or of military officers, to cnable you to perform the duties above described in a manner satisfactory to yourself will be afforded; but the business is left entirely in your hands, subject to such action as may be taken pursuant to law upon your report. Very Respectfully, "(Signed) ELIIU ROOT, "Secretary of War.

"HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT,

"Civil Governor of the Philippine Islands,

"Washington, D. C.”

CHAPTER XVII.

THE FRIAR LANDS. (Continued.)

THE Address of Governor Taft and the Instructions of Secretary Root were pondered deeply before a reply was made to their straightforward statements of fact and declarations of purpose. In the experience of the Vatican it is not likely that documents so plain—even to the point of brusqueness-had been submitted for consideration. In this correspondence there was no discourtesy, but a coming directly to the matter in hand. characteristic of the American mind. It must have been something of a shock to the pope to be plainly told that the friars could no longer serve either the Church or the State because of their unacceptability with the people. The open disavowal of any diplomatic character in the errand of Governor Taft, and its reduction to the level of a proposed real estate transaction between alleged owners and a possible buyer, must have sorely hurt the papal hopes. The proposal that other agents than the friars should be furnished for the Philippine curacies must have roused discussions whose heat strikes up through the otherwise cold document. An altogether dispassionate student of the steps our government had taken up to this point in the negotiations could hardly say that our agents had handled Rome with gloves. Governor Taft's opening remarks were complimentary to the personal record of the pope. That was to be expected. When contrasted with the dark impurities and even

bloodshed caused by some popes, Leo XIII lived an exemplary life. But there was no "shading" of the vital principle of the complete separation of Church and State. There was no toning down of ugly facts as to the relation the friar is known to hold in the Philippines. There was no room for any man, be he Catholic or Protestant, to say that the effort of Governor Taft to buy the lands of the friars was the entering wedge for future diplomatic relations with the papacy. Such Protestants as think this, I must believe to be unaware of the Instructions of Secretary Root, and the undeviating straightforwardness of Governor Taft.

It is well to contrast this open and candid disclosure of plans and reasons with the essentially serpentine. methods disclosed in the papal answer which follows. The answer commits the pope to nothing except delay and evasion. It is an elaborate attempt to hide one or two sound kernels of meaning in a bushel of complimentary chaff. Here it is, or so much of it as is essential to our purposes:

"EXCELLENCY-After mature consideration of the instructions which Your Excellency received from Mr. the American Secretary of War concerning the religious questions in the Philippine Islands, the Holy Father has commanded me to address Your Excellency the accompanying document, in which are expressed the appreciations of the Holy See on that subjcct.

"With feelings of particular regard, I have the pleasure to subscribe myself, with the most distinguished consideration, Your Excellency's most obedient servant, "M. CARD. RAMPOLLA.'

"H. E. MR. W. H. TAFT, Civil Governor of the Philippine Islands.

"The decision of the government of the United States of America to send to Rome a Commission for the pur

pose of treating with the supreme authority of the Catholic Church concerning various questions of common interest about the Philippine Islands and of settling them by means of amicable accord has been welcomed by the Holy See with especial pleasure. For if the government of the United States has, by a wise and approved principle, judged this manner of direct understanding to be preferable in order to regulate the situation created for a population of several millions exclusively Catholic that has entered on the sphere of its political dominion, likewise the Holy See on its part deems that this method of direct understanding answers best of all others the reciprocal interest of both parties; and that, as at present, so also in the future, it will be of aid to the good government of those people. The Holy See, animated by a friendly disposition toward the American government, has hastened to examine with benevolent deference the views and wishes of said government as set forth in the instructions of the Secretary of War, to the Civil Governor of the Philippine Islands, and does not hesitate to declare that, saving the religious interests of those people to the protection of which she can never be wanting, it is disposed to second them in just measure; and it confides. . . .

"Regarding the religious orders, of which mention is made in the instructions of the Secretary of War, the Holy See can not give its adhesion to all the views contained therein; nor does it consider it opportune to enter into a discussion on that point. Placing itself entirely on the practical ground of the provisions required by the new situation, the Holy See admits, first of all, that the system obtaining under the Spanish domination and the mixing up of the religious in the civil administration might have created for them in a portion of the people a certain ill-will. How to eliminate this antipathy the Holy See has already devised means, gradually, by opportune measures to recall the regulars to the life proper to their institutes, to devote themselves exclusively to spiritual ministry, to abstain from any kind of interference in things appertaining to the civil authority, to consolidate mutual peace of life between the people and clergy of the