posts ought to be filled by the most wealthy. Among these people
aristocracy of money has great influence, but not that of family. In
the colony, there must be no noble blood except the Spanish. When the
Filipino or mestizo meets a Spaniard, the former shall be obliged to
stop (except at Manila) to salute him. If seated, he shall rise when
the Spaniard addresses him or passes in front of him. He who raises his
hand against a Spaniard, although it be to defend his own life, shall
incur the penalty of laboring on the public works all his life. If the
offense is verbal, the punishment shall be decreased in proportion to
the case. A Spaniard shall not give a seat in his house to a Filipino
or mestizo, much less sit at table with him. He who falls into this
fault of decorum, shall be punished the first two times by a fine,
and the third time he shall be exiled from the colony. No Spaniard,
under any consideration, shall be allowed to contract marriage with
any Filipino or mestizo woman. The Filipinos or mestizos who desire
to use a carriage or a saddle horse, shall have to obtain a permit
for which an annual tax shall be charged, so that those who sustain
this luxury may be very few. [Mas condemns the custom of giving
the title "Don" to gobernadorcillos and principales. Even almost
naked Tinguianes and Igorots are found with that title--which is
ridiculous. Let the Filipinos use their own native equivalents for
"Don" and "Doña." Also the natives should not be allowed to present
petitions which are disrespectful because of their ignorance of the
language, such as for instance calling the governor a robber.]
Government employes should be well paid, for in a country where
appearances count for so much as in the Philippines, it is not well to
live in a miserly manner. There are no Spanish grandees in the colony,
and but few of the merchants can afford to live luxuriously. Mere
living expenses are cheaper than in Spain, and one could if he
desired save more, but if the natives live better than the ruling
class, there will be a loss of prestige. Better salaries are paid in
the Philippines than in Spain, but this is necessary. The governor,
for instance, must really give some idea of the royal master whom
he is serving, and this can be done through a certain amount of
display. Each official ought to spend at least two-thirds of his pay.
No Spaniard ought to be allowed to go to the provinces who is not of
well-known good behavior, and who does not leave in Manila a bondsman
for the debts which he may contract. Passports are at times given to
poor Spaniards, soldiers, or licensed corporals, for example, who go
through the villages of the interior defrauding, guzzling, entering
the houses of the town in an unbecoming manner, asking perhaps,
food or baggage without paying for them, and finally obliging the
natives to arrest them. The pernicious consequences of these examples
are incalculable.
[In case that the employes of the treasury are decreased in number, and
collections are made by contractors, only natives and Chinese mestizos
should be accepted as such, on account of the odium incurred. The
latter class will probably take the contract, which will result in good
as it will tend to develop race hatred between them and the Filipinos.]
Those races are the ones who make up the population. The one excels and
is strong through its number, and the other through its intelligence,
activity, and wealth. The ability of the government will consist
in keeping them always separated, and at swords' points, in order
that they may never form a common mass or public spirit, but that,
on the contrary, the one may serve as an instrument to subject the
other. Filipinos would rather associate with mestizos than with
Spaniards, for although the first tyrannize over them, and draw them
under the yoke so far as possible, they invite them to dine, and treat
them so that they all appear united. The Spaniards, for the most part,
always talk to them with an air of superiority, and keep them at a
certain distance--a thing which naturally disgusts the Filipino.
[The Filipinos do not, however, like the Chinese any better,
but on the contrary, respect the Spaniards more as coming from a
higher race. They regard the mestizos as a bastard race and beneath
themselves. There are many lawsuits between the two classes for
preference in rank. In villages where there are both mestizos and
natives, each class has its own gobernadorcillo, although that of the
latter has now been declared superior in rank, and in case of the death
or absence of the alcalde-mayor, takes his place. They are jealous of
these privileges, and in case of immediate separation, the mestizos
would not become the dominant force in the country. This rivalry
is useful for Spanish interests and must be preserved. The Chinese
mestizos will within a century have grown to at least one million
by natural increase and immigration from China; and will possess the
greater part of the wealth of the islands. They are the proprietors,
merchants, and educated people of the country, and will dominate public
opinion. This class has no sympathy for Spain and will be difficult to
subdue. Therefore, the moral force of the natives must be preserved,
and the rivalry between the two classes fomented, so that the natives
may not become the vassals of the mestizos. Mas proposes a land tax
on the mestizos and a distinctive dress. Theaters for both natives
and mestizos, where they can rival and ridicule each other will be
helpful. Arts and the prosperity of the country must be stimulated,
for if the natives are left to their natural incapacity and sloth,
they will be in the power of the Chinese mestizos within a century.]
[A Spanish force of at least one thousand or five hundred men is
needed. If the native soldiers mutiny, nothing can restore discipline
unless there is a Spanish force. Some of the governors have opposed
even Spanish corporals and sergeants. The country seems quiet but
a terrible mutiny and revolt may occur any day. There were only
Spanish soldiers in the old days, and respect was more manifest. Native
regiments are of modern date. The disreputable regiment of Asia made up
largely of criminals has caused the Spanish soldiers to lose prestige
among the natives. And besides they have been wretchedly treated. It
would be well to have soldiers from Borneo or other islands outside the
archipelago. If the British do not object, men might even be enlisted
cheaply in India. This would relieve the natives from service, from
which they would gladly be free; and the country would be more secure,
and more prosperous.]
[The principales should be allowed to hold meetings only in the
presence of the cura. It is well known that they plot against the
alcalde-mayor and the cura at times when they assemble for any
common matter.]
The Spanish language ought not to be taught them, but they ought
to learn to read and write in their own. It is impossible to avoid
the introduction of papers and books into the provinces which it is
unadvisable for them to read, and experience demonstrates that those
who know our language, are almost always the restless ones of the
villages and those who murmur at, censure, and act contrary to the
curas and alcaldes.
[It is folly to teach the natives how to make artillery and
firearms. Factories for the manufacture of these are now being
finished in the islands. It would be better to send everything of
this nature from Spain. Another imprudence is the manufacture of
powder. Besides its inferiority to Spanish powder, and the danger of
allowing the natives to learn to make it, it costs more than that sent
from Spain. Although after the delivery of twelve thousand quintals,
the factory and its effects are to become national property, the
works which are now not worth more than ten thousand pesos, will
be worthless.]
[Mas recommends the use of steam vessels for inter-island
communication, for the rapid moving of troops, and the better
protection of Spanish interests. They can also be used against the
Moros [20] with better effect than the small squadron of sailing
vessels now employed, and will be more economical. Coal and wood
abound in the islands and can be used as fuel.]
The publication of a newspaper shall be permitted under the supervision
of the government. In them shall be inserted descriptions of the
best methods of making sugar, indigo, etc., dyeing thread, tempering
iron, and in fact everything that may conduce to the instruction of
agriculture and manufacture; the edicts and orders of the government;
and political news, both peninsular and foreign, edited in the manner
that is found advisable. [All the village ayuntamientos shall be
compelled to subscribe to such a paper, and the cura shall be asked
to translate into the native vernacular all useful articles. Foreign
papers are admitted without any charge, and prove, instead of a
benefit, an injury, for they are all democratic in tone, and foment
disorder and discontent.] The non-existence of newspapers in Filipinas
causes a very bad result among foreigners, who consider them and with
reason, the foremost mark of civilization, and at the same time, the
government is deprived of the advantage of guiding public opinion. [21]
A system of police must be established, especially in the capital. Not
many years ago, there was a commission of public vigilance, which
was abolished, I believe, during the government of General Camba. The
neglect of the captains-general in this regard at present is scarce
credible.
[Although China has caused and will cause trouble in the future,
still the salutary punishments that the Chinese have received, and
the rapid increase in the Filipino population, justify the admission
into the islands of 15,000 or 20,000 more Chinese, on the basis
that there are only 8,000 or 10,000 now in the islands. These can
be scattered through the islands and would work only on the estates
of Spaniards.] Twenty thousand Chinese could work 10,000 quiñons of
land, which planted with sugar cane would yield annually 2,000,000
picos of sugar. This sugar sold at Manila at only 3 pesos fuertes
[per quintal] would produce the sum of 6,000,000 pesos fuertes. [In
case of a popular insurrection the Chinese would all side with the
government and if an attack were threatened from China, it would be
sufficient to turn them over to the Filipinos, who, because of their
hatred for them, on account of their superior industry, would soon
make short work of them.]
[Foreigners are useful because of their knowledge and capital, and
create much wealth for the islands through their continued traffic
with their own countries. But their presence does not promote the
conservation of the colony.] Formerly the feeling against this class of
persons was very pronounced, owing in great measure to the religious,
who always spoke of the English, Dutch, etc., as heretics, drunkards,
and barbarians. The antipathy thus engendered was highly important,
in case of an outside attack. [The natives are now friendly to
foreigners, who pay more liberally than Spaniards, and even Spaniards
at Manila are aping the English and are friendly to them. Undesirable
books have and will surely be introduced through the foreigners; and
consequently, the laws forbidding them to go to the provinces must
be enforced, and entrance to Manila must not be easy. La Place, the
Frenchman, although he wrote many inaccurate things of the islands,
[22] recognized the danger from foreigners, when speaking of the
slaughter of the foreigners in 1819 during the cholera.]
3rd. The administration requires a complete reform. The command of
Filipinas has always been entrusted to a governor and captain-general,
as if it were a province of España. To set some balance to his
power, because of the distance from the throne, certain privileges
and preeminences have been granted to other persons, especially to
the Audiencia, even to the point of making of the latter a court of
appeal against the measures of the chief of the islands. Besides, the
revenues have been removed from his jurisdiction, and the office of
the intendant has been constituted, who obeys no others than the orders
communicated to him by the ministry of the treasury from Madrid. [23]
It is very obvious that this single point is quite sufficient to
paralyze completely the action of the governor-general. Besides,
since there are many matters which require to be passed on by distinct
ministries, it happens that two contrary orders touch the same matter,
or that one order is lacking, which is enough to render its execution
impossible, the contingency moreover arising that a chief may detain
a communication, even after he has received it, if it does not suit
him. This system of setting obstacles in the way of the governor of a
distant colony is wise and absolutely necessary, but since the Leyes
de Indias are not a constitutional code, but a compilation made in
the year 1754 [24] of royal orders despatched at various epochs and by
distinct monarchs, in which are decided points of government, justice,
war, politics, revenue, procedure, etc., there results rather than
a balance among the various departments of authority a confusion of
jurisdictions, the fatal fount of eternal discord. [Mas cites laws
from Leyes de Indias showing the great confusion and contrariety
of the orders to governor and Audiencia. This confusion has given
rise to scandalous and tragic events because of the contests over
authority. During these latter years have occurred many offenses of
like nature. General Enrile had them with the intendant, and General
Camba mentions several during the period of his government. To
these difficulties, is added another, in order that the chariot may
run right and easily; the government of the provinces is in charge
of an alcalde-mayor, [25] who is at once judge of first instance,
chief of the political matters, subdelegate of the treasury, and
war captain or military commandant, for whose different attributes
he is subject to authorities distinct from one another. This appears
inconceivable, but yet it is a fact, although the cleverness of our
India legislators has not been so great that it could free the system
of the inconveniences which necessarily must obstruct it.
Whatever difficulty occurs in the fulfilment of an order, it must be
solved by means of a conference and advice [consulta], [26] from which
a reply is not obtained until from twelve to fourteen months. These
difficulties are more frequent in Filipinas than in a province of the
Peninsula, because of the lack of knowledge of the country generally
possessed by the ministers who dictate the measures. Things have gone
so far that it has been ordered that the cultivation of the balate
(a fish) be encouraged; and that the situado of Zamboanga be sent
overland, because of the loss of the ship which was carrying it across
to the island of Mindanao, where D. Infantes was then governing said
presidio. The superintendent Enriquez says in the document which he
printed on leaving his post in 1836, [27] that in the short period in
which he filled the superintendency, he sent to the court six hundred
and twenty-seven questions for resolution. And to these springs of
torpor in the administration of the government, we must add that
the captains-general scarcely decide any question whatever, without
handing the matter for report to the assessor, fiscal, Audiencia, etc.,
because of the distance and impossibility of consulting España, and
through their fear of compromising themselves, since on many occasions,
measures have been obtained against them in Madrid, through agents and
representatives or through complaints sent from the islands. The same
thing happens with regard to the intendant and other authorities. From
this practice arises the system of expedientes [28] which reigns,
and which is so fatal to the prosperity and good government of the
country, since very often the arrangement that appears good to some,
is contrary to the opinions or interests of others. [Expedientes
lasting for years have been formulated for matters requiring immediate
attention. For instance, one lasting for years was formulated in
regard to an expedition against the Moro pirates. An expediente is
formed when a foreigner arrives at Manila without a passport from
Spain and asks permission to remain in the country, although the law
on this point is explicit. Thus much valuable time is lost and the
expedientes result in only a waste of paper, besides great injury
to the islands. The governor often has to conform to the opinions
expressed in the expediente, although he knows they will be the cause
of injustice. [29] On the other hand, the governor is often directly
at fault, because he enforces his own opinion on his assessor, who has
often obtained his position through favoritism and is not a lawyer,
and decides questions according to the will of the governor. Besides,
the governor has the armed force at his disposal. The chiefs of
the various departments at Manila carry on correspondence with
the directors-general of their respective departments in Madrid,
without the knowledge of the governor, a fact that increases the
confusion and disorder. The director of the mails even is at fault
in this, and renders accounts to the general post-office department
in Spain.] A sub-inspector of engineers newly created, just went to
Manila with orders to extend the fortifications of the capital to
its suburbs. The suburbs contain about fifty thousand inhabitants
scattered throughout various villages which are composed of houses
all of one story in height, which is enough to give an idea of the
extension of the imagined fortification. The amount of artillery for
garrisoning their walls, the workshop necessary to keep the artillery
in good condition, the garrison necessary for their defense, besides
the operating gangs: all were to be in the greatest magnitude, and
demand an annual expense which the treasury of the colony could not
even remotely meet. And if one reflect that the enemy can take all the
other islands and even disembark at any point of Luzon itself without
the necessity of going to Manila; that if this capital were besieged,
it would be by enemies coming by sea, and hence, being masters of the
port, they would very quickly take by hunger a place of one hundred and
fifty thousand souls, or indeed it would be surrendered by the natives,
and then the inhabitants, instead of contributing to the defense,
would open their doors to the aggressors; and that the concentration
of the forces, the property, the archives, and public and private
wealth, at one single enclosed point, is to form a target to call
the attention of exterior and interior enemies: we can do no less
than agree that the plan of extending the fortifications of Manila
to all its suburbs lacks all reasonable foundation, and that it will
be advocated only by the many people who possess houses on the shores
of the Pasig River, within cannon range, because of their fear lest,
if the events of 1762 are again repeated, all those edifices which
they were by a fatal lack of foresight permitted to raise successively
(an evil which it is now very difficult if not impossible to remedy),
would be leveled to the ground.
[However, the present condition of the treasury will not allow this
plan to be executed. The sub-inspector of the artillery has petitioned
that all companies of the regiment be commanded by captains of the
staff. This would cause discontent among the subalterns who would
see all hope of promotion vanish forever. They can rise now only to
captain, and some of them are even now angry. The artillery corps
has always been loyal to the government and it is advisable to keep
it so. Officers might indeed be trained in the military college,
but in that case the promotion of the sergeants must be arranged
for. Complaints of the military in the Philippines mean more than they
do in Spain where the complainers are retired or exercise patience. But
this substitution may be made without consulting the governor, as it
is a matter concerning the artillery itself.]
In the various departments of the administration there may also be
abuses to examine or correct, which will never be known or exactly
proved by chiefs resident in Madrid, because of the distance which is
so favorable to the distortion of facts. For example, the brigadier of
the navy, Don J. Ruiz de Apodaca, told me before the sub-inspector
of artillery and another chief that all the articles which were
bought by the treasury for the arsenal, were charged at a much
higher price than those for the fort, etc., and he invited me to go
to his house where he would prove it to me with the documents. On
the other side, I have heard complaints that after a contract had
been made with the treasury for cables, iron, etc., it is impossible
to get a receipt for them in the arsenal, unless for a bonus; that
quantities of timber will not be receipted for and those who have
transported it to Cavite have to sell it at any price; and that it
is bought by the very ones who have qualified it as useless; that
many houses have been built in Cavite with the timber given out as
no good, only with the object of making new bargains. Don F. Ossorio
told me in the house of the secretary of the government, and in the
presence of several respectable persons, that when he was commandant
of artillery at that place, he made all the furniture of his house
with wood which he bought in the arsenal as firewood. It is a fact
that naval construction is very dear, and that the fragata "Esperanza"
cost more than 600,000 pesos fuertes. During my stay in the islands,
there has been talk of trickery in the outlay of tobacco, besides a
defalcation in the magazines of three thousand eight hundred bundles
of leaf. It was declared that there was introduced, for example, into
the factory magazines, a quantity of bundled tobacco, in which was one
part composed of fillers [palos] which had to be burned as useless; but
if these fillers amounted to five thousand arrobas, only four thousand
were destroyed. The other thousand arrobas were taken out as leaf of
the best brand [from the magazines] and was carried to private houses
where it was manufactured as contraband. This leaf was replaced by the
fillers which ought to have been burned. For that reason, the cigars
which were sent to the tobacco shops of the provinces, and even those
which were sold to the trade, were sometimes of the worst quality;
that the boxes were short weight; that choice lots were finished with
care, and marked with a mark, and papers were given authorizing the
exchange of tobacco in the factory, by which means the associates in
these speculations could buy the poor tobacco which was given to the
public, and leave it in the national magazines, taking in place of
it, that manufactured properly and reserved. But what I know to be
a positive fact in this matter is that few or many superior or fine
boxes were made, which were obtained by favor in Manila; and that when
Don Luis Urrijola [30] left the intendancy, the tobacco had lost its
credit, and nine thousand boxes were held in the magazines, which no
merchant then or since has cared to buy. The new superintendent, Don
J. M. de la Matta took direct and positive measures by separating the
magazine from the factory, and reducing the functions of the latter
to the manufacture only, etc., whereupon the requests for the new
tobacco were renewed, so that when I left Manila, it was impossible
by a great amount to meet the demands of the trade. But had it not
been for the providential appointment to the superintendency of said
clever and zealous employe, perhaps that revenue would have entirely
ceased. This is one of the foremost resources of that country, and
the governor-general would at this moment find himself, perhaps, in
the greatest straits, and it would be impossible to prevent the evil,
although he knew its origin and progress, as he had no intervention in
the department of the treasury, which is, nevertheless, the soul of all
government. In the same place I also heard talk of the sale of posts,
of abuses in the pay of vouchers and other matters. [These things
may be misrepresentation or calumny, but they are ever increasing in
force and are being repeated with exaggeration--which tends to weaken
Spanish prestige which is the source of their moral strength.]