i 9 °5] METZGER— THE FILIPINO. 19 



the native was not against Spain as a potentate but against the 

 dominant power of the friars. Spain's avaricious propensity seemed 

 to have subverted her better judgment, and this nation, that at one 

 time was a power potent, was soon to experience the worst insur- 

 rection in the history of her Philippine dependency. 



She had, by virtue of the Cortes de Cadiz, convened on the 

 twelfth of September, 1809, passed the first Suffrage Bill, which 

 permitted of the assembling of deputies from the various depen- 

 dencies. For twenty years the people of this colony enjoyed politi- 

 cal equality, but finally in 1837, their exclusion was voted as was 

 also the government of the islands by special laws. Spain's mis- 

 take was irremediable, the native had tasted of equality and suffrage 

 and he was apprehensive of the motive force back of this repeal and 

 it was this innate contempt for the timorous, so characteristic of 

 this people, and the hatred engendered through the treatment 

 accorded Jose Burgos that finally culminated in the insurrection of 

 1896 and '97, the result of which was the sacrifice of many lives, 

 especially that of Jose Rizal (a story in itself), one of Polaviejo's 

 most shameful acts, the imprisonment of thousands of suspects in 

 the dungeons of Fort Santiago, who were drowned like rats upon 

 the rising of the tide, the breaking of the treaty of Biac-na-bato 

 and finally the indelible stamp of distrust of the white-man by the 

 native. 



With the American occupation and subsequent history, we are 

 all familiar and does not permit of repetition here. From this 

 brief summary of the political history of this colony you will have 

 observed the potent agencies and modifying forces the native has 

 been subjected to for a period of three hundred years and now we 

 can take up the analysis of these people who have been subjected 

 to this environment. 



For practical purposes, we will divide the various domesticated 

 tribes into three great classes and endeavor to point out the char- 

 acteristics of the tribes which dominate the several territorial 

 divisions. 



The Tagalog dominates the northern islands, the Visayan, the 

 central group and the Mussulmans, or so-called Moros, the south- 

 ern islands of the archipelago. There exists no mutual feeling or 

 harmony between these tribes, yet they may unite against a common 

 enemy as in the recent insurrection. The Tagalog and the Visayan 



