y
during the first six months from the date of their embarking. That
the Governor of Palauan should be instructed respecting the highways
to be constructed, and the convenience of opening free ports in that
island. That the land and sea forces should be increased; and of
the latter, a third-rate man-o'-war should be stationed on the west
coast. That convicts should continue to be sent to Palauan, and the
Governor should be authorized to employ all those of bad conduct in
public works. That schools of primary instruction should be established
in the island wherever such might be considered convenient, etc.,
etc. [71]

The Spaniards (in 1898) left nearly half the Philippine Archipelago
to be conquered, but only its Mahometan inhabitants ever persistently
took the aggressive against them in regular continuous warfare. The
attempts of the Jesuit missionaries to convert them to Christianity
were entirely futile, for the _Panditas_ and the Romish priests were
equally tenacious of their respective religious beliefs. The last
treaty made between Spain and Sulu especially stipulated that the
Mahometans should not be persecuted for their religion.

To overturn a dynasty, to suppress an organized system of feudal
laws, and to eradicate an ancient belief, the principles of which
had firmly established themselves among the populace in the course of
centuries, was a harder task than that of bringing under the Spanish
yoke detached groups of Malay immigrants. The pliant, credulous nature
of the Luzon settlers--the fact that they professed no deeply-rooted
religion, and--although advanced from the migratory to the settled
condition--were mere nominal lieges of their puppet kinglings, were
facilities for the achievement of conquest. True it is that the
dynasties of the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru yielded to
Spanish valour, but there was the incentive of untold wealth; here,
only of military glory, and the former outweighed the latter.

If the Spaniards failed to subjugate the Mahometans, or to incorporate
their territory in the general administrative system of the Colony,
after three centuries of intermittent endeavour, it is difficult to
conceive that the Philippine Republic (had it subsisted) would have
been more successful. It would have been useless to have resolved
to leave the Moros to themselves, practically ignoring their
existence. Any Philippine Government must needs hold them in check
for the public weal, for t