he Philippines, fifty years hence, have been Christian? Recent
events lead one to conjecture that liberty of cult, under native rule,
would have been a misnomer, and Roman Catholicism a persecuted cause,
with the civilizing labours of generations ceasing to bear fruit.

No generous, high-minded man, enjoying the glorious privilege of
liberty, would withhold from his fellow-men the fullest measure of
independence which they were capable of maintaining. If America's
intentions be as the world understands them, she is endeavouring to
break down the obstacles which the Filipinos, desiring a lasting
independence, would have found insuperable. America claims (as
other colonizing nations have done) to have a "mission" to perform,
which, in the present case, includes teaching the Filipinos the art of
self-government. Did one not reflect that America, from her birth as an
independent state, has never pretended to follow on the beaten tracts
of the Old World, her brand-new method of colonization would surprise
her older contemporaries in a similar task. She has been the first to
teach Asiatics the doctrine of equality of races--a theory which the
proletariat has interpreted by a self-assertion hitherto unknown, and
a gradual relinquishment of that courteous deference towards the white
man formerly observable by every European. This democratic doctrine,
suddenly launched upon the masses, is changing their character. The
polite and submissive native of yore is developing into an ill-bred,
up-to-date, wrangling politician. Hence rule by coercion, instead
of sentiment, is forced upon America, for up to the present she
has made no progress in winning the hearts of the people. Outside
the high-salaried circle of Filipinos one never hears a spontaneous
utterance of gratitude for the boon of individual liberty or for the
suppression of monastic tyranny. The Filipinos craving for immediate
independence, regard the United States only in the light of a useful
medium for its attainment, and there are indications that their
future attachment to their stepmother country will be limited to an
unsentimental acceptance of her protection as a material necessity.

Measures of practical utility and of immediate need have been set
aside for the pursuit of costly fantastic ideals, which excite more
the wonder than the enthusiasm of the people, who see left in abeyance
the reforms they most desire. The system of civilizing the natives
on a curriculum