The development of Philippine politics

156 THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHILIPPINE POLITICS

one and the same aspiration, namely the independence of
this land and freedom from every foreign yoke.
Union must be our fortress and the foundation of our
tranquilty; wherefore we must jealously guard against and
blot out anything that may tend to prejudice or engender
our union. Let despotism disappear from among us, for a
superior is a superior only so far as he promotes the welfare
of his subordinates; let us destroy the parties and factions
in the towns, for these only serve to fritter away the money,
talents and energy which should be devoted to the advancement of our common aspirations. Let us not allow ourselves
to fall victims of a covetous ambition to go in pursuit of
undeserved honors or to serve the riches of the Governrment
instead of the Government. Let us manage to keep ourselves
from being stained and disgraced through gambling and
cock-fighting, all of which have been taught us by the
Spaniards. They well know that these things were great
sowers of discord, and that with them we would be constantly
engaged in disagreements, and would thus be kept from becoming identified and united, and from driving them out,
as is happening today. An iniquitous end which they have
failed to attain! For God, who had engraved upon our
hearts the idea of national and racial unity, has now determined that there shall appear the sun which is to dissipate
and put to an end all this iniquity, and thus unite with a
single aspiration the intelligence and will of the whole Philippine Archipelago.
If perchance, after having achieved our liberty which
has cost us so many lives, we are compelled to lose it again
through lack of union and through internecine struggles
among our own people, let those who think so not oblige me
on this very day to shed tears of grief, but let me unsheath
and break in pieces the same sword I have used to defend
our cause; and let me retire to an island lost in the sea,
carrying upon my shoulders our consecrated standard, to
use in drying the tears that must come coursing down my
cheeks, as I weep inconsolable in a corner of the shore, over
the misfortunes of our Native Land. But I know that you
will never consent to this, for by the white color of the
banner which we defend, born amidst the tumult of war,
we have pledged ourselves to lose life and fortune rather
than to permit the loss of our liberty.(l)

(1) Taylor, Vol. III, Exhibit 86, 42 MG.