Chapter II: Part 2

Colonial governments are of necessity adaptations of familiar domestic institutions to new functions. The government of Spain in the sixteenth century was not that of a modern centralized monarchy but rather of a group of kingdoms only partially welded together by the possession of the same sovereign, the same language, and the same religion. The King of Spain was also the ruler of other kingdoms outside of the peninsula. Consequently when the New World was given a political organization it was subdivided for convenience into kingdoms and captaincies general in each of which the administrative machinery was an adaptation of the administrative machinery of Spain. In accordance with this procedure the Philippine islands were constituted a kingdom and placed under the charge of a governor and captain general, whose powers were truly royal and limited only by the check imposed by the Supreme Court (the _Audiencia_) and by the ordeal of the _residencia_ at the expiration of his term of office. Among his extensive prerogatives was his appointing power which embraced all branches of the civil service in the islands. He also was _ex officio_ the President of the _Audiencia_. [53] His salary was $8,000 [54] a year, but his income might be largely augmented by gifts or bribes. [55] The limitations upon the power of the Governor imposed by the _Audiencia_, in the opinion of the French astronomer Le Gentil, were the only safeguard against an arbitrary despotism, yet Zúñiga, a generation later pronounced its efforts in this direction generally ineffectual. [56] The _residencia_ to which reference has been made was an institution peculiar in modern times to the Spanish colonial system, it was designed to provide a method by which officials could be held to strict accountability for all acts during their term of office. Today reliance is placed upon the force of public opinion inspired and formulated by the press and, in self-governing communities, upon the holding of frequent elections. The strength of modern party cohesion both infuses vigor into these agencies and neutralizes their effectiveness as the case may be. But in the days of the formation of the Spanish Empire beyond the sea there were neither free elections, nor public press, and the criticism of the government was sedition. To allow a contest in the courts involving the governor's powers during his term of office would be subversive of his authority. He was then to be kept within bounds by realizing that a day of judgment was impending, when everyone, even the poorest Indian, might in perfect security bring forward his accusation. [57] In the Philippines the _residencia_ for a governor lasted six months and was conducted by his successor and all the charges made were forwarded to Spain. [58] The Italian traveler Gemelli Careri who visited Manila in 1696 characterizes the governor's _residencia_ as a "dreadful Trial," the strain of which would sometimes "break their hearts." [59]

On the other hand, an acute observer of Spanish-American institutions of the olden time intimates that the severities of the _residencia_ could be mitigated and no doubt such was the case in the Philippines. [60] By the end of the eighteenth century the _residencia_ seems to have lost its efficacy. [61] The governorship was certainly a difficult post to fill and the remoteness from Europe, the isolation, and the vexations of the _residencia_ made it no easy task to get good men for the place. An official of thirty years experience, lay and ecclesiastical, assures us in the early seventeenth century that he had known of only one governor really fitted for the position, Gomez Perez Dasmariñas. He had done more for the happiness of the natives in three years than all his predecessors or successors. Some governors had been without previous political experience while others were deficient in the qualities required in a successful colonial ruler. [62]

The supreme court or _Audiencia_ was composed of four judges (_oidores,_ auditors) an attorney-general _(fiscal)_ a constable, etc. The governor who acted as president had no vote. [63] Besides the functions of this body as the highest court of appeal for criminal and civil cases it served as has been said as a check upon the governor. Down to 1715 the _Audiencia_ took charge of the civil administration in the interim between the death of a governor and the arrival of his successor, and the senior auditor assumed the military command. [64] Attached to the court were advocates for the accused, a defender of the Indians, and other minor officials. In affairs of public importance the _Audiencia_ was to be consulted by the governor for the opinions of the auditors. [65]

For the purposes of local administration the islands were subdivided into or constituted Provinces under _alcaldes mayores_ who exercised both executive and judicial functions, and superintended the collection of tribute. [66] The _alcaldes mayores_ were allowed to engage in trade on their own account which resulted too frequently in enlisting their interest chiefly in money making and in fleecing the Indians. [67]

The provincial court consisted of the _alcalde mayor,_ an assessor who was a lawyer, and a notary. The favoritism and corruption that honeycombed the civil service of Spain in the colonies in the days of her decline often placed utterly unfit persons in these positions of responsibility. A most competent observer, Tomás de Comyn, many years the factor of the Philippine Commercial Company, has depicted in dark colors, and perhaps somewhat overdrawn the evils of the system. [68]

The subdivision of the provinces was into _pueblos_ each under its petty governor or _gobernadorcillo._ The _gobernadorcillo_ was an Indian and was elected annually. In Morga's time the right of suffrage seems to have been enjoyed by all married Indians, [69] but in the last century it was restricted to thirteen electors. [70] The _gobernadorcillo_ was commonly called the "captain." Within the _pueblos_ the people formed little groups of from forty to fifty tributes called _barangays_ under the supervision of _cabezas de barangay_. These heads of _barangay_ represent the survival of the earlier clan organization and were held responsible for the tributes of their groups. Originally the office of _cabeza de barangay_ was no doubt hereditary, but it became generally elective. [71] The electors of the _gobernadorcillo_ were made up of those, who were or had been _cabezas de barangay_ and they after three years of service became eligible to the office of petty governor.

In the few Spanish towns in the islands the local government was similar to that which prevailed in America, which in turn was derived from Spain. That of Manila may be taken as an example. The corporation, _El Cabildo_ (chapter) consisted of two ordinary _alcaldes_, eight _regidores_, a registrar, and a constable. The _alcaldes_ were justices, and were elected annually from the householders by the corporation. The _regidores_ were aldermen and with the registrar and constable held office permanently as a proprietary right. These permanent positions in the _cabildo_ could be bought and sold or inherited. [72]

Turning now to the ecclesiastical administration, we find there the real vital organs of the Philippine governmental system. To the modern eye the islands would have seemed, as they did to the French scientist Le Gentil, priest-ridden. Yet it was only through the Friars that Spain retained her hold at all. [73] A corrupt civil service and a futile and decrepit commercial system were through their efforts rendered relatively harmless, because circumscribed in their effects. The continuous fatherly interest of the clergy more than counterbalanced the burden of the tribute. [74] They supervised the tilling of the soil, as well as the religious life of the people; and it was through them that the works of education and charity were administered. [75]

The head of the ecclesiastical system was the Archbishop of Manila, who in a certain sense was the Patriarch of the Indies. [76] The other high ecclesiastical digntaries were the three bishops of Cebú, of Segovia in Cagayán, and of Cazeres in Camarines; and the provincials of the four great orders of friars, the Dominicans, Augustinians, the Franciscans, the barefooted Augustinians, and the Jesuits. [77] In the earlier days the regular clergy (members of the orders) greatly outnumbered the seculars, and refused to acknowledge that they were subject to the visitation of bishop or archbishop. This contention gave rise, at times, to violent struggles. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the proportionate number of seculars increased. In 1750 the total number of parishes was 569, of which 142, embracing 147,269 persons, were under secular priests. The numbers in charge of the orders were as follows:

Villages. Souls.
Augustinians, 115 252,963
Franciscans, 63 141,193
Jesuits, 93 209,527
Dominicans, 51 99,780
Recollects, 105 53,384

making a total of 569 parishes and 904,116 souls. [78]

These proportions, however, fail to give a correct idea of the enormous preponderance of the religious orders; for the secular priests were mostly Indians and could exercise nothing like the influence of the Friars upon their cures. [79]

In these hundreds of villages the friars bore sway with the mild despotism of the shepherd of the flock. Spanish officials entered these precincts only on occasion. Soldiers were not to be seen save to suppress disorders. Spaniards were not allowed to live in these communities, and visitors were carefully watched. [80] As Spanish was little known in the provinces, the curate was the natural intermediary in all communications between the natives and the officials or outsiders. In some provinces there were no white persons besides the _alcalde mayor_ and the friars. Without soldiers the _alcalde mayor_ must needs rely upon the influence of the friars to enable him to execute his duties as provincial governor. In contemplating their services for civilization and good order Tomas de Comyn rises to enthusiasm. "Let us visit," he writes, "the Philippine Islands, and with astonishment shall we there behold extended ranges, studded with temples and spacious convents, the Divine worship celebrated with pomp and splendour; regularity in the streets, and even luxury in the houses and dress; schools of the first rudiments in all the towns, and the inhabitants well versed in the art of writing. We shall see there causeways raised, bridges of good architecture built, and, in short, all the measures of good government and police, in the greatest part of the country, carried into effect; yet the whole is due to the exertions, apostolic labours, and pure patriotism of the ministers of religion. Let us travel over the provinces, and we shall see towns of 5, 10, and 20,000 Indians, peacefully governed by one weak old man, who, with his doors open at all hours, sleeps quiet and secure in his dwelling, without any other magic, or any other guards, than the love and respect with which he has known how to inspire his flock." [81]

If this seems too rosy a picture, it still must not be forgotten that at this time the ratio of whites to Indians in the islands was only about one to sixteen hundred, [82] that most of these lived in Manila, and that the entire military force was not more than two thousand regular troops. [83] As has been intimated this condition lasted down until a comparatively recent period. As late as 1864 the total number of Spaniards amounted to but 4,050 of whom 3,280 were government officials, etc., 500 clergy, 200 landed proprietors, and 70 merchants; and in the provinces the same conditions prevailed that are described by Comyn. [84] In more than half of the twelve hundred villages in the islands "there was no other Spaniard, no other national authority, nor any other force to maintain public order save only the friars." [85]

Recurring for a moment to the higher ecclesiastical organization, the judicial functions of the church were represented by the archbishop's court and the commissioner of the Inquisition. The Episcopal court, which was made up of the archbishop, the vicar-general, and a notary, tried cases coming under the canon law, such as those relating to matrimony and all cases involving the clergy. Idolatry on the part of the Indians or Chinese might be punished by this court. [86] The Holy Inquisition transplanted to New Spain in 1569 stretched its long arm across the great ocean to the Philippines, in the person of a commissioner, for the preservation of the true faith. The Indians and Chinese were exempted from its jurisdiction. Its processes were roundabout, and must have given a considerable proportion of its accused a chance to die a natural death. The Commissioner must first report the offense to the Court in New Spain; if a trial was ordered, the accused must be sent to Mexico, and, if convicted, must be returned to the Philippines to receive punishment. [87]

The most peculiar feature of the old regime in the Philippines is to be found in the regulations of the commerce of the islands. In the _Recopilacion de leyes de los reinos de las Indias_, the code of Spanish colonial legislation, a whole title comprising seventy-nine laws is devoted to this subject. For thirty years after the conquest the commerce of the islands was unrestricted and their prosperity advanced with great rapidity. [88] Then came a system of restrictions, demanded by the protectionists in Spain, which limited the commerce of the islands with America to a fixed annual amount, and effectively checked their economic development. All the old travelers marvel at the possibilities of the islands and at the blindness of Spain, but the policy absurd as it may seem was but a logical application of the protective system not essentially different from the forms which it assumes today in our own relations to Porto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines.

The Seville merchants through whose hands the Spanish export trade to the New World passed looked with apprehension upon the importation of Chinese fabrics into America and the exportation of American silver to pay for them. The silks of China undersold those of Spain in Mexico and Peru, and the larger the export of silver to the East the smaller to Spain. Consequently to protect Spanish industry and to preserve to Spanish producers the American market, [89] the shipment of Chinese cloths from Mexico to Peru was prohibited in 1587. In 1591 came the prohibition of all direct trade between Peru or other parts of South America and China or the Philippines, [90] and in 1593 a decree--not rigorously enforced till 1604--which absolutely limited the trade between Mexico and the Philippines to $250,000 annually for the exports to Mexico, and to $500,000 for the imports from Mexico, to be carried in two ships not to exceed three hundred tons burden. [91] No Spanish subject was allowed to trade in or with China, and the Chinese trade was restricted to the merchants of that nation. [92]

All Chinese goods shipped to New Spain must be consumed there and the shipping of Chinese cloths to Peru in any amount whatever even for a gift, charitable endowment, or for use in divine worship was absolutely prohibited. [93] As these regulations were evaded, in 1636 all commerce was interdicted between New Spain and Peru. [94] A commerce naturally so lucrative as that between the Philippines and New Spain when confined within such narrow limits yielded monopoly profits. It was like a lottery in which every ticket drew a prize. In these great profits every Spaniard was entitled to share in proportion to his capital or standing in the community. [95] The assurance of this largess, from the beginnings of the system, discouraged individual industry and enterprise, and retarded the growth of Spanish population. [96] Le Gentil and Zúñiga give detailed descriptions of the method of conducting this state enterprise [97] after the limits had been raised to $500,000 and $1,000,000 respectively for the outgoing and return voyage. The capacity of the vessel was measured taking as a unit a bale about two and one-half feet long, sixteen inches broad and two feet high. If then the vessel could carry four thousand of these bales, each bale might be packed with goods up to a value of one hundred and twenty-five dollars. The right to ship was known as a _boleta_ or ticket. The distribution of these tickets was determined at the town hall by a board made up of the governor, attorney-general, the dean of the _audiencia_, one _alcalde_, one _regidor_ and eight citizens. [98]

To facilitate the allotment and the sale of tickets they were divided into sixths. Tickets were ordinarily worth in the later eighteenth century in times of peace eighty dollars to one hundred dollars, and in war time they rose to upwards of three hundred dollars. [99] Le Gentil tells us that in 1766 they sold for two hundred dollars and more, and that the galleon that year went loaded beyond the limit. [100] Each official as the perquisite of his office had tickets. The regidores and alcaldes had eight.

The small holders who did not care to take a venture in the voyage disposed of their tickets to merchants or speculators, who borrowed money, usually of the religious corporations, at twenty-five to thirty per cent per annum to buy them up and who sometimes bought as many as two or three hundred. [101] The command of the Acapulco galleon was the fattest office within the gift of the Governor, who bestowed it upon "whomsoever he desired to make happy for the commission," and was equivalent to a gift of from $50,000 to $100,000. [102] This was made up from commissions, part of the passage-money of passengers, from the sale of his freight tickets, and from the gifts of the merchants. Captain Arguelles told Careri in 1696 that his commissions would amount to $25,000 or $30,000, and that in all he would make $40,000; that the pilot would clear $20,000 and the mates $9,000 each. [103] The pay of the sailors was three hundred and fifty dollars, of which seventy-five dollars was advanced before the start. The merchants expected to clear one hundred and fifty to two hundred per cent. The passenger fare at the end of the eighteenth century was $1,000 for the voyage to Acapulco, which was the hardest, and $500 for the return. [104] Careri's voyage to Acapulco lasted two hundred and four days. The ordinary time for the voyage to Manila was seventy-five to ninety days. [105] Careri's description of his voyage is a vivid picture of the hardships of early ocean travel, when cabin passengers fared infinitely worse than cattle today. It was a voyage "which is enough to destroy a man, or make him unfit for anything as long as he lives;" yet there were those who "ventured through it, four, six and some ten times." [106]

Acapulco in New Spain had little reason for existence, save for the annual fair at the time of the arrival of the Manila ship, and the silver fleet from Peru. That event transformed what might more properly be called "a poor village of fishermen" into "a populous city," for the space of about two weeks. [107]

The commerce between the Philippines and Mexico was conducted in this manner from 1604 to 1718, when the silk manufacturers of Spain secured the prohibition of the importation of Chinese silk goods into New Spain on account of the decline of their industry. A prolonged struggle before the Council of the Indies ensued, and in 1734 the prohibition was revoked and the east and west cargoes fixed at $500,000 and $1,000,000 respectively. [108] The last _nao_, as the Manila-Acapulco galleon was called, sailed from Manila in 1811, and the final return voyage was made in 1815. After that the commerce fell into private hands, the annual exports were limited to $750,000 and the ports of San Blas (Mexico), Guayaquil (Ecuador), and Callao (Peru) were opened to it.

Other changes were the establishment of direct communication with Spain and trade with Europe by a national vessel in 1766. [109] These expeditions lasted till 1783 and their place was taken in 1785 by the Royal Philippine Company, organized with a capital of $8,000,000, and granted the monopoly of the trade between Spain and the islands. [110] The Manila merchants resented the invasion of their monopoly of the export trade, and embarrassed the operations of the company as much as they could. [111] It ceased to exist in 1830.

By this system for two centuries the South American market for manufactures was reserved exclusively for Spain, but the protection did not prevent Spanish industry from decay and did retard the well-being and progress of South America. Between Mexico and the Philippines a limited trade was allowed, the profits of which were the perquisites of the Spaniards living in the Philippines and contributed to the religious endowments. But this monopoly was of no permanent advantage to the Spanish residents. It was too much like stock-jobbing, and sapped all spirit of industry. Zúñiga says that the commerce made a few rich in a short time and with little labor, but they were very few; that there were hardly five Spaniards in Manila worth $100,000, nor a hundred worth $40,000, the rest either lived on the King's pay or in poverty. [112] "Every morning one could see in the streets of Manila, in the greatest poverty and asking alms, the sons of men who had made a fine show and left much money, which their sons had squandered because they had not been well trained in youth." [113] The great possibilities of Manila as an entrepot of the Asiatic trade were unrealized; for although the city enjoyed open trade with the Chinese, Japanese, and other orientals, [114] it was denied to Europeans and the growth of that conducted by the Chinese and others was always obstructed by the lack of return cargoes owing to the limitations placed upon the trade with America and to the disinclination of the Filipinos to work to produce more than was enough to insure them a comfortable living and pay their tributes. That the system was detrimental to the economic progress of the islands was always obvious and its evils were repeatedly demonstrated by Spanish officials. Further it was not only detrimental to the prosperity of the islands but it obstructed the development of Mexico.

Grau y Monfalcon in 1637 reported that there were fourteen thousand people employed in Mexico in manufacturing the raw silk imported from China. This industry might be promoted by the relaxation of the restrictions on trade. It would also be for the advantage of the Indians of Peru to be able to buy for five pence a yard linen from the Philippines, rather than to be compelled to purchase that of Rouen at ten times the price. [115] But such reasoning was received then as it often is now, and no great change was made for nearly two centuries.

We have now passed in review the political, ecclesiastical, and commercial administration of the Philippines in the olden time; and a general survey of some of the more striking results of the system as a whole may now be made. This is especially necessary on account of the traditional and widely prevalent opinion that the Spanish colonial system was always and everywhere a system of oppression and exploitation; whereas, as a matter of fact, the Spanish system, as a system of laws, always impeded the effectual exploitation of the resources of their colonies, and was far more humane in its treatment of dependent peoples than either the French or English systems.

If, on the one hand, the early conquistadores treated the natives with hideous cruelty, the Spanish government legislated more systematically and benevolently to protect them than any other colonizing power. In the time of the first conquests things moved too rapidly for the home government in those days of slow communication, and the horrors of the clash between ruthless gold-seekers and the simple children of nature, as depicted by the impassioned pen of Las Casas and spread broadcast over Europe, came to be the traditional and accepted characteristic of Spanish rule. [116] The Spanish colonial empire lasted four hundred years and it is simple historical justice that it should not be judged by its beginnings or by its collapse.

The remoteness of the Philippines, and the absence of rich deposits of gold and silver, made it comparatively easy for the government to secure the execution of its humane legislation, and for the church to dominate the colony and guide its development as a great mission for the benefit of the inhabitants. [117] To the same result contributed the unenlightened protectionism of the Seville merchants, for the studied impediments to the development of the Philippine-American trade effectually blocked the exploitation of the islands. In view of the history of our own Southern States, not less than of the history of the West Indies it should never be forgotten that although the Philippine islands are in the Tropics, they have never been the scene of the horrors of the African slave trade or of the life-wasting labors of the old plantation system.

Whether we compare the condition of the natives of the other islands in the Eastern Archipelago or of the peasants of Europe at the same time the general well-being of the Philippine mission villagers was to be envied. A few quotations from unimpeachable witnesses, travelers of wide knowledge of the Orient, may be given in illustration and proof of this view. The famous French explorer of the Pacific, La Pérouse, who was in Manila in 1787, wrote: "Three million people inhabit these different islands and that of Luzon contains nearly a third of them. These people seemed to me no way inferior to those of Europe; they cultivate the soil with intelligence, they are carpenters, cabinet-makers, smiths, jewelers, weavers, masons, etc. I have gone through their villages and I have found them kind, hospitable, affable," etc. [118]

Coming down a generation later the Englishman Crawfurd, the historian of the Indian Archipelago, who lived at the court of the Sultan of Java as British resident, draws a comparison between the condition of the Philippines and that of the other islands of the East that deserves careful reflection.

"It is remarkable, that the Indian administration of one of the worst governments of Europe, and that in which the general principles of legislation and good government are least understood,--one too, which has never been skillfully executed, should, upon the whole, have proved the least injurious to the happiness and prosperity of the native inhabitants of the country. This, undoubtedly, has been the character of the Spanish connection with the Philippines, with all its vices, follies, and illiberalities; and the present condition of these islands affords an unquestionable proof of the fact. Almost every other country of the Archipelago is, at this day, in point of wealth, power, and civilization, in a worse state than when Europeans connected themselves with them three centuries back. The Philippines alone have improved in civilization, wealth, and populousness. When discovered most of the tribes were a race of half-naked savages, inferior to all the great tribes, who were pushing, at the same time, an active commerce, and enjoying a respectable share of the necessaries and comforts of a civilized state. Upon the whole, they are at present superior in almost everything to any of the other races. This is a valuable and instructive fact." [119]

This judgment of Crawfurd in 1820 was echoed by Mallat (who was for a time in charge of the principal hospital in Manila), in 1846, when he expressed his belief that the inhabitants of the Philippines enjoyed a freer, happier, and more placid life than was to be found in the colonies of any other nation. [120]

Sir John Bowring, who was long Governor of Hong Kong, was impressed with the absence of caste: "Generally speaking, I found a kind and generous urbanity prevailing,--friendly intercourse where that intercourse had been sought,--the lines of demarcation and separation less marked and impassable than in most oriental countries. I have seen at the same table Spaniard, Mestizo and Indian--priest, civilian, and soldier. No doubt a common religion forms a common bond; but to him who has observed the alienations and repulsions of caste in many parts of the eastern world--caste, the great social curse--the binding and free intercourse of man with man in the Philippines is a contrast worth admiring." [121] Not less striking in its general bearing than Crawfurd's verdict is that of the German naturalist Jagor who visited the islands in 1859-1860.

"To Spain belongs the glory of having raised to a relatively high grade of civilization, improving greatly their condition, a people which she found on a lower stage of culture distracted by petty wars and despotic rule. Protected from outside enemies, governed by mild laws, the inhabitants of those splendid islands, taken as a whole, have no doubt passed a more comfortable life during recent centuries than the people of any tropical country whether under their own or European rule. This is to be accounted for in part by the peculiar conditions which protected the natives from ruthless exploitation. Yet the monks contributed an essential part to this result. Coming from among the common people, used to poverty and self-denial, their duties led them into intimate relations with the natives and they were naturally fitted to adapt the foreign religion and morals to practical use. So, too, in later times, when they came to possess rich livings, and their pious zeal, in general, relaxed as their revenues increased, they still contributed most essentially to bring about conditions, both good and bad, which we have described, since, without families of their own and without refined culture, intimate association with the children of the soil was a necessity to them. Even their haughty opposition to the secular authorities was generally for the advantage of the natives." [122] Similar testimony from a widely different source is contained in the charming sketch "Malay Life in the Philippines" by William Gifford Palgrave, whose profound knowledge of oriental life and character and his experience in such divergent walks in life as soldier and Jesuit missionary in India, pilgrim to Mecca, and English consul in Manila, give his opinion more than ordinary value.

"To clerical government," he writes "paradoxical as the statement may sound in modern European ears, the Philippine islands owe, more than to anything else, their internal prosperity, the Malay population its sufficiency and happiness. This it is that again and again has stood a barrier of mercy and justice between the weaker and stronger race, the vanquished and the victor; this has been the steady protector of the native inhabitants, this their faithful benefactor, their sufficient leader and guide. With the 'Cura' for father, and the 'Capitan' for his adjutant, a Philippine hamlet feels and knows little of the vexations inseparable from direct and foreign official administration; and if under such a rule 'progress,' as we love to term it, be rare, disaffection and want are rarer still."

As compared with India, the absence of famines is significant; and this he attributes in part to the prevalence of small holdings. "Not so much what they have, but rather what they have not, makes the good fortune of the Philippines, the absence of European Enterprise, the absence of European Capital. A few European capitalist settlers, a few giant estates, a few central factories, a few colossal money-making combinations of organized labour and gainful produce, and all the equable balance of property and production, of ownership and labour that now leaves to the poorest cottager enough, and yet to the total colony abundance to spare, would be disorganized, displaced, upset; to be succeeded by day labour, pauperism, government relief, subscriptions, starvation. Europe, gainful, insatiate Europe would reap the harvest; but to the now happy, contented, satiate Philippine Archipelago, what would remain but the stubble, but leanness, want, unrest, misery?" [123]

The latest witness to the average well-being of the natives under the old system whom I shall quote is Mr. Sawyer. "If the natives fared badly at the hands of recent authors, the Spanish Administration fared worse, for it has been painted in the darkest tints, and unsparingly condemned. It was indeed corrupt and defective, and what government is not? More than anything else it was behind the age, yet it was not without its good points.

"Until an inept bureaucracy was substituted for the old paternal rule, and the revenue quadrupled by increased taxation, the Filipinos were as happy a community as could be found in any colony. The population greatly multiplied; they lived in competence, if not in affluence; cultivation was extended, and the exports steadily increased.--Let us be just; what British, French, or Dutch colony, populated by natives can compare with the Philippines as they were until 1895?" [124]

These striking judgments, derived from such a variety of sources, are a sufficient proof that our popular ideas of the Spanish colonial system are quite as much in need of revision as popular ideas usually are.

Yet one must not forget that the Spanish mission system, however useful and benevolent as an agency in bringing a barbarous people within the pale of Christian civilization, could not be regarded as permanent unless this life is looked upon simply as a preparation for heaven. As an educative system it had its bounds and limits; it could train to a certain point and no farther. To prolong it beyond that stage would be to prolong carefully nurtured childhood to the grave, never allowing it to be displaced by self-reliant manhood. The legal status of the Indians before the law was that of minors, and no provision was made for their arriving at their majority. The clergy looked upon these wards of the State as the school-children of the church, and compelled the observance of her ordinances even with the rod. La Pérouse says: "The only thought was to make Christians and never citizens. This people was divided into parishes, and subjected to the most minute and extravagant observances. Each fault, each sin is still punished by the rod. Failure to attend prayers and mass has its fixed penalty, and punishment is administered to men and women at the door of the church by order of the pastor." [125] Le Gentil describes such a scene in a little village a few miles from Manila, where one Sunday afternoon he saw a crowd, chiefly Indian women, following a woman who was to be whipped at the church door for not having been to mass. [126]

The prevalence of a supervision and discipline so parental for the mass of the people in the colony could but react upon the ruling class, and La Pérouse remarks upon the absence of individual liberty in the islands: "No liberty is enjoyed: inquisitors and monks watch the consciences; the oidors (judges of the Audiencia) all private affairs; the governor, the most innocent movements; an excursion to the interior, a conversation come before his jurisdiction; in fine, the most beautiful and charming country in the world is certainly the last that a free man would choose to live in." [127]

Intellectual apathy, one would naturally suppose, must be the consequence of such sedulous oversight, and intellectual progress impossible. Progress in scientific knowledge was, indeed, quite effectually blocked.

The French astronomer Le Gentil gives an interesting account of the conditions of scientific knowledge at the two Universities in Manila. These institutions seemed to be the last refuge of the scholastic ideas and methods that had been discarded in Europe. A Spanish engineer frankly confessed to him that "in the sciences Spain was a hundred years behind France, and that in Manila they were a hundred years behind Spain." Nothing of electricity was known but the name, and making experiments in it had been forbidden by the Inquisition. Le Gentil also strongly suspected that the professor of Mathematics at the Jesuit College still held to the Ptolemaic system. [128]

But when we keep in mind the small number of ecclesiastics in the islands we must clear them of the charge of intellectual idleness. Their activity, on the other hand, considering the climate was remarkable. [129] An examination of J.T. Medina's monumental work [130] on printing in Manila and of Retana's supplement [131] reveals nearly five hundred titles of works printed in the islands before 1800. This of course takes no account of the works sent or brought to Spain for publication, which would necessarily comprise a large proportion of those of general rather than local interest, including of course the most important histories. To these should be added no small number of grammars and dictionaries of the native languages, and missionary histories, that have never been printed. [132] The monastic presses in the islands naturally were chiefly used for the production of works of religious edification, such as catechisms, narratives of missions, martyrdoms, lives of saints, religious histories, and hand-books to the native languages. Simpler manuals of devotion, rosaries, catechisms, outlines of Christian doctrine, stories of martyrdoms, etc., were translated for the Indians. Of these there were about sixty in the Tagal, and from three to ten or twelve each in the Visayan, Vicol, Pampanga, Ilocan, Panayan, and Pangasinán languages. [133]

If, as is credibly asserted, the knowledge of reading and writing was more generally diffused in the Philippines than among the common people of Europe, [134] we have the singular result that the islands contained relatively more people who could read, and less reading matter of any but purely religious interest, than any other community in the world. Yet it would not be altogether safe to assume that in the eighteenth century the list of printed translations into the native languages comprised everything of European literature available for reading; for the Spanish government, in order to promote the learning of Spanish, had prohibited at times the printing of books in Tagal. [135] Furthermore, Zúñiga says explicitly that "after the coming of the Spaniards they (_i.e._ the people in Luzon) have had comedies, interludes, tragedies, poems, and every kind of literary work translated from the Spanish, without producing a native poet who has composed even an interlude." [136] Again, Zúñiga describes a eulogistic poem of welcome addressed by a Filipino villager to Commodore Alava. This _loa_, as this species of composition was called, was replete with references to the voyages of Ulysses, the travels of Aristotle, the unfortunate death of Pliny, and other incidents in ancient history. The allusions indicate some knowledge at any rate outside the field of Christian doctrine, even if it was so slight as not to make it seem beyond the limits of poetic license to have Aristotle drown himself in chagrin at not being able to measure the depths of the sea, or to have Pliny throw himself into Vesuvius in his zeal to investigate the causes of its eruption. The literary interests of the Indians found their chief expression however in the adaptation of Spanish plays for presentation on religious holidays. Zúñiga gives an entertaining description of these plays. They were usually made up from three or four Spanish tragedies, the materials of which were so ingeniously interwoven that the mosaic seemed a single piece. The characters were always Moors and Christians, and the action centered in the desire of Moors to marry Christian princesses or of Christians to marry Moorish princesses. The Christian appears at a Moorish tournament or vice versa. The hero and heroine fall in love but their parents oppose obstacles to the match. To overcome the difficulties in case of a Moor and Christian princess was comparatively easy. A war opportunely breaks out in which, after prodigies of valor, the Moor is converted and baptized, and the wedding follows. The case is not so easy when a Christian prince loves a Moorish lady. Since he can never forsake his religion his tribulations are many. He is imprisoned, and his princess aids in his attempt to escape, which sometimes costs him his life; or if the scene is laid in war time either the princess is converted and escapes to the Christian army, or the prince dies a tragic death. The hero is usually provided with a Christ, or other image or relic, given him by his dying mother, which extricates him from his many plights. He meets lions and bears, and highwaymen attack him; but from all he escapes by a miracle. If, however, some principal personage is not taken off by a tragic end, the Indians find the play insipid. During the intermission one or two clowns come out and raise a laugh by jests that are frigid enough "to freeze hot water in the tropics." After the play is over a clown appears again and criticizes the play and makes satirical comments on the village officials. These plays usually lasted three days. [137] Le Gentil attended one of them and says that he does not believe any one in the world was ever so bored as he was. [138] Yet the Indians were passionately fond of these performances. [139]

If one may judge from Retana's catalogue of his Philippine collection arranged in chronological order, the sketch we have given of the literature accessible to Filipinos who could not read Spanish in the eighteenth century would serve not unfairly for much of the nineteenth. The first example of secular prose fiction I have noted in his lists is Friar Bustamente's pastoral novel depicting the quiet charms of country life as compared with the anxieties and tribulations of life in Manila. [140] His collection did not contain so far as I noticed a single secular historical narrative in Tagal or anything in natural science.

Sufficient familiarity with Spanish to compensate for this lack of books of secular knowledge was enjoyed by very few Indians in the country districts and these had learned it mainly while servants of the curate. It was the common opinion of the Spanish authorities that the Friars purposely neglected instructing the Indians in Spanish, in order to perpetuate their hold upon them; but Zúñiga repels this charge as unjust and untrue. [141]

It is obvious that it was impracticable for the Indians to learn Spanish under the mission system. For the pastor of a pueblo of several hundred families to teach the children Spanish was an impossibility. A few words or simple phrases might be learned, but the lack of opportunity for constant or even frequent practice of the language in general conversation would make their attainments in it far below those of American grammar-school children in German in cities where that has been a compulsory study. [142] As long as the mission system isolated the pueblos from contact with the world at large, it of necessity followed that the knowledge of Spanish would be practically limited to such Indians as lived in Manila or the larger towns, or learned it in the households of the Friars. Slavery with its forced transplanting has been the only means by which large masses of alien or lower races have been lifted into the circle of European thought and endowed with a European language. If such a result is secured in the future in any large measure for the Filipino, it can be accomplished only by the translation of English or Spanish literature into the Tagal and other languages, on a scale not less generous than the work of the Friars in supplying the literature of religious edification. This will be a work of not less than two or three generations, and of a truly missionary devotion.

We have now surveyed in its general aspects the old régime in the Philippines, and supplied the necessary material upon which to base a judgment of this contribution of Spain to the advancement of civilization. In this survey certain things stand out in contrast to the conventional judgment of the Spanish colonial system. The conquest was humane, and was effected by missionaries more than by warriors. The sway of Spain was benevolent, although the administration was not free from the taint of financial corruption. Neither the islands nor their inhabitants were exploited. The colony in fact was a constant charge upon the treasury of New Spain. The success of the enterprise was not measured by the exports and imports, but by the number of souls put in the way of salvation. The people received the benefits of Christian civilization, as it was understood in Spain in the days of that religious revival which we call the Catholic Reaction. This Christianity imposed the faith and the observances of the mediæval church, but it did for the Philippine islanders who received it just what it did for the Franks or Angles a thousand years earlier. It tamed their lives, elevated the status of women, established the Christian family, and gave them the literature of the devotional life.

Nor did they pay heavily for these blessings. The system of government was inexpensive, and the religious establishment was mainly supported by the landed estates of the orders. Church fees may have been at times excessive, but the occasions for such fees were infrequent. The tenants of the church estates found the friars easy landlords. Zúñiga describes a great estate of the Augustinians near Manila of which the annual rental was not over $1,500, while the annual produce was estimated to be not less than $70,000, for it supported about four thousand people. [143] The position of women was fully as good among the Christian Indians of the Philippines as among the Christian people of Europe. But conspicuous among the achievements of the conquest and conversion of the islands in the field of humanitarian progress, when we consider the conditions in other European tropical colonies, have been the prohibition of slavery and the unremitting efforts to eradicate its disguised forms. These alone are a sufficient proof that the dominating motives in the Spanish and clerical policies were humane and not commercial. Not less striking proof of the comfortable prosperity of the natives on the whole under the old Spanish rule has been the steady growth of the population. At the time of the conquest the population in all probability did not exceed a half-million. In the first half of the eighteenth century according to the historian of the Franciscans, San Antonio, the Christian population was about 830,000. At the opening of the nineteenth century Zúñiga estimated the total at a million and a half as over 300,000 tributes were paid. The official estimate in 1819 was just short of 2,600,000; by 1845 Buzeta calculates the number at a little short of four millions. In the next half century it nearly doubled. [144]

In view of all these facts one must readily accord assent to Zúñiga's simple tribute to the work of Spain. "The Spanish rule has imposed very few burdens upon these Indians, and has delivered them from many misfortunes which they suffered from the constant warfare waged by one district with another, whereby many died, and others lived wretched lives as slaves. For this reason the population increased very slowly, as is now the case with the infidels of the mountain regions who do not acknowledge subjection to the King of Spain. Since the conquest there has been an increase in well-being and in population. Subjection to the King of Spain has been very advantageous in all that concerns the body. I will not speak of the advantage of knowledge of the true God, and of the opportunity to obtain eternal happiness for the soul, for I write not as a missionary but as a philosopher." [145]

The old régime in the Philippines has disappeared forever. In hardly more than a generation the people have passed from a life which was so remote from the outside contemporary world that they might as well have been living in the middle ages in some sheltered nook, equally protected from the physical violence and the intellectual strife of the outside world, and entirely oblivious of the progress of knowledge. They find themselves suddenly plunged into a current that hurls them along resistlessly. Baptized with fire and blood, a new and strange life is thrust upon them and they face the struggle for existence under conditions which spare no weakness and relentlessly push idleness or incapacity to the wall. What will be the outcome no man can tell. To the student of history and of social evolution it will be an experiment of profound interest.

_Edward Gaylord Bourne_

_Yale University_, October, 1902.

Preface to Volume I

The history of the Philippine archipelago is fitly introduced by presenting a group of documents which relate to Pope Alexander VI's Line of Demarcation between the respective dominions of Spain and Portugal in the recently-discovered New World. So many controversies regarding this line have at various times arisen, and so little on the subject has appeared in the English tongue, that we have thought it well to place before our readers the more important of the documents relating thereto, of which a brief synopsis is here given.

They begin with Alexander's Bulls--two dated on the third and one on the fourth day of May, 1493. The first of these (commonly known as _Inter cætera_) grants to. Spain all the lands in the West, recently discovered or yet to be discovered, which are hitherto unknown, and not under the dominion of any Christian prince. The second (_Eximiæ devotionis_, also dated May 3) grants to Spain the same rights in those discoveries which had formerly been conferred on Portugal in Africa. These grants are superseded by the Bull of May 4 (_Inter cætera_), which establishes the Demarcation Line, and grants to Spain all lands west and south thereof which were not already in the possession of any Christian prince. Still another Bull (dated September 25 of the same year) authorizes Spain to extend her sovereignty also over lands which shall be discovered to the East, including India--thus practically annulling both the Demarcation Line and previous concessions to Portugal. The latter power's remonstrances against this infringement of her former rights lead to the Treaty of Tordesillas (June 7, 1494), in which, by mutual agreement between the sovereigns, a new line of demarcation is established to be drawn two hundred and seventy leagues farther west than that of Alexander VI; and another document (dated April 15, 1495) makes suitable arrangements for a scientific and equitable determination of this boundary. The final action of the Holy See in this matter is indicated by a Bull of Leo X (_Præcelsæ_, dated November 3, 1514) granted to Portugal; it confirms all previous papal gifts to that power of lands in the East, and grants to her both past and future discoveries and conquests, there and elsewhere. Disputes arising between Spain and Portugal over the ownership of the Moluccas or Spice Islands (see letters of Cárlos I to his ambassadors at Lisbon, February 4 and December 18, 1523; and the treaty of Vitoria, February 19, 1524), the Junta of Badajoz is convened (April 11-May 31, 1524) to settle this question; and that body fixes the Line of Demarcation three hundred and seventy leagues west of San Antonio, the most westerly of the Cape Verde Islands. (In this connection are presented the opinions of Hernando Colon, Sebastian Cabot, and other competent judges; and letters from Cárlos I to the Spanish deputies.) This settlement proving ineffectual, the Moluccas are relinquished to Portugal by the treaty of Zaragoza (April 22, 1529), Spain retaining possession of the Philippine Islands, although the terms of that treaty placed them outside of her jurisdiction.

Reverting to a somewhat earlier date, we note incidentally the Bull of Alexander VI (_Eximiæ_, November 16, 1501) which authorizes the Spanish monarchs to levy tithes on the natives and inhabitants of their newly-acquired possessions in the western world; and proceed to a summary of the life and voyages of Fernão de Magalhães (commonly known as Magellan). Synopses are given of many documents published by Navarrete, dated from 1518 to 1527: a contract by Magalhães and Falero to deliver to the House of Commerce of Seville one-eighth of all gains accruing to them from their future discoveries; a petition from the same men to Cárlos I regarding the expedition which they are about to undertake; remonstrances against the undertaking, by the Portuguese ambassador in Spain, Magalhães's request for more money; various appointments in the fleet; restriction of the number of seamen; instructions to Magalhães; a royal order that Ruy Falero shall not accompany the expedition; Magalhães's last will; the expense account of the fleet; an attempted mutiny on one of the ships; Francisco Albo'* journal of Magalhães's voyage; description of the cargo brought back to Spain by the "Victoria;" investigation of Magalhães's death; treaties with the natives of the Moluccas; advice given to the emperor by Diego de Barbosa; Brito's account of Magalhães's voyage; and the confiscation of two of his ships by the Portuguese.