History of Philippine press / Carson Taylor.

14

History of the Philippine Press

their distress, we have determined to face the repugnant
undertaking of giving space in our own columns to those
who fight us, very often unfairly, usually evading the true
meaning of the propositions.
"By reasons of these we frequently find ourselves
obliged to postpone articles, perhaps more interesting, with
the risk of disgusting many subscribers who are inconvenienced by these polemic writings. To these we beg a little
indulgence, and to the others, since our excessive sensativeness places us in such a delicate situation, that they be a
bit more concise.
"Our discriminating readers will have observed that
the greater part of these controversies originate from the
poor understanding of our propositions. We regret that we
can't express ourselves more clearly, or better said, that
the strict limits of a newspaper,. do not permit us to treat
matters to the extent necessary to have it understood by
everybody, and we must take it for granted that there is no
necessity for our giving things in minute detail, though we
must admit that we often err in our judgement."
The three articles mentioned with so much courtesy
and consideration are then answered in such a manner as
to discourage the writers from again venturing to air their
views in the columns of La Filantropia.
In the last number published the controversy over the
censorship of books was still the paramount issue and it
is not improbable that censorship in some form had something to do with the demise of La Filantropia.
The last number contained the information, that "La
Espina has arrived, 68 days from Acapulco with two religious passengers, one of whom is an Agustiniano and
the other a Recoleto, six boxes of mail, miscellaneous freight
among which are several packages of garbanzos (peas) and
frijoles (beans)."
It was also announced that two brigantines were in
sight of Corregidor, but their identity had not been ascertained. With the passing of La Filantropia, what was no
doubt then considered as yellow journalism appears to have
suffered a severe relapse and Manila was for sometime without a newspaper of any kind.
In 1823 there was a single issue of a paper under the
title of "News Compiled from Public Documents from the
Peninsula," possibly issued by the government, as it contained the King's proclamation in connection with the declaration of war against France.