Tea at Trianon: The Chinese in the Philippines

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, February 9, 2017

The Chinese in the Philippines

As many of you know, I just returned from a marvelous trip to the Philippines to visit relatives and gather information for a book. Here is an article about the Chinese Christians in Cebu, from whom I am descended. To quote:

In the case of the Chinese who settled in the Philippines to take advantage of the galleon trade, the formation of ghettos (where the infidels could be proselytized to Roman Catholicism), known as the parian, also became a reality. The Spanish Crown later recognized the leaders of the Chinese Christians as also part of the principalia, and like their native equivalent, could carry the Hidalgo titles of don or doña, were permanently exempted from tribute and labor services, and exercised the right to hold public office and participate in elections. In office, they were granted such emblems of authority as canes, hats and a retinue of deputies. (Read more.)