to show that the actual system of administration suffers from capital
defects, and to assert that, in my opinion, the organization of a
government is peremptory, which besides being a check on despotism
and a barrier to ambition, by means of correction and reform through
itself, contains the elements of unity, concord, prudence, rectitude,
power, and duration. Here follows for what it may be worth, a plan
circumscribed on fundamental bases. [31]
[Mas's plan provides for a regency or commission of three persons,
one of whom shall be the president and exercise the powers of the
governor-general. A fourth member is to be elected as a substitute in
case of death or illness, who, until called upon to fill any vacancy,
shall travel through the provinces and study the conditions of the
country. All matters of importance, especially money matters must be
decided at a meeting of the regency, and appear by an act signed by
all three. The president shall communicate and sign all orders, and
all official communications must be sent to him. The two secretaries,
political and military, shall receive orders only from the president,
and shall attend the meetings of the regency without vote. The
president alone shall decide questions of detail and procedure and
execution, in accordance with the regulations, always expressing
whether any measure has been voted on or not. The secretary shall
send concise daily reports of all communications signed during the
day by the president, noting after each one whether it was with or
without the vote of the regency. Thus the other two regents having it
in their power to call for the rough draft of any measure, can easily
tell whether the president has overstepped his executory powers and
encroached on the powers of the entire regency. This provision will
obviate any such tendency on the president's part, and will remove
the jealousy of his two associates. The plan further provides for
a commander-in-chief of all the army; a commander of the navy; a
superintendent of the treasury; a court of justice; and a Council
of State, to be composed of the officials above mentioned, together
with the chiefs of artillery and fortification, the contador-mayor
of accounts, the contadors of the army and treasury, the archbishop
of Manila, and the provincials of the religious orders. The Council
which has no power to assemble of its own accord, shall be assembled
to consult on serious matters by the regency. At the death of the
president, the senior regent shall assume his office, the substitute
shall take a regular seat in the regency, and the Council shall appoint
a new substitute to act provisionally until the court make a regular
appointment, which shall never be the provisional appointment of
the Council. The deliberations of the Council shall be secret and
the regents shall only state the matters for discussion and then
retire. The Council may be assembled at the request of the regents
acting either singly or in accord. In impeachments of the president,
if the impeachment is sustained, the senior regent shall take his
place; if it is not sustained, the Council shall retire, but may
be assembled any number of times for the same matter. There is a
clause against lobbying in the Council to influence the votes of the
members. In case of two summons at the same time, the Council shall
obey the one emanating from the president or senior regent first.]
The members of the regency shall be jurisconsults, owners of estates,
or military men, and the regularly-appointed president shall always be
a grandee of España. It is highly important that, at that distance,
the first chief impose some personal respect, and that even his very
lineage make him appear superior to all the others.
[The dissension manifest in Basco's term as governor was due to
his low rank, as he was only a captain of fragata when he went to
the islands as governor, a fact that gave rise to envy. He was an
excellent governor, but the ministry that supported him did not know
the sentiments that move the human heart. Governor Lardizabal also
was of lower rank than some who served in subordinate positions in
the islands. It would be better to appoint a grandee to the post of
governor; for, having his estates in Spain, he would be more loyal. A
grandee also could better support the prestige of the government than
a poor soldier or man of no rank, as he would be more accustomed to
the duties of that life. A soldier generally desires to make money,
and will neglect his real duties. As a rule there are no battles
to be fought, while there are many duties of an administrational and
industrial character. The governor must have tact with the natives, and
look carefully after foreign, commercial, and industrial relations,
and the progress of the islands. It would be highly advisable to
choose such a man when General Alcala is relieved.]
[For the government of the provinces, advocates shall be appointed
from Spain, and they shall remain no longer than twenty years in
the islands. There shall be three classes of provincial governments
with distinct salaries. In addition to the requisite number of
provincial governors there shall be six or eight substitutes in case
of vacancies. These shall receive a salary of fifty pesos per month,
so long as they are not called upon to fill a vacancy, and shall
meanwhile do the bidding of the regency. A vacancy in the governments
of the first class shall be filled by the regency from the governors
of the second and third classes; and one in the third class from the
substitutes. Governors may be transferred at will by the regency,
and the relative importance of the various provinces may also vary.]
The provincial governors shall be as now political chiefs, judges of
first instance, subdelegates of the treasury for the receiving of
the direct incomes, managers of the mails, and war captains. This
centralization has many advantages, a very chief one being the
economic. The inconveniences which follow from it, will disappear
when there is one supreme authority in the islands.
The limits of the provincial courts shall be enlarged to include
both civil and criminal cases. This will increase the power of
the subordinate authorities, and decrease the troubles of the
Audiencia. The party [in the suit] shall always have the recourse
of appeal.
The superior court of justice shall be composed of three persons,
one of whom shall be the president. It shall try criminal, civil,
and contentious matters as well as trade questions by appeal. Appeal
may be had from its sentences to the regency, which shall appoint
three advocates to judge the case. These latter shall become joint
judges, and together with the three judges shall form the court of
appeal. This court shall be presided over by one of the regents or
by the substitute with a vote, the jurisconsult member being rightly
preferred for this if there is one in the regency.
[The fees of the court of appeal shall be larger than those of
the Audiencia; and if the decision of the latter is found correct
the penalty shall be increased; the death sentence, however,
being abolished. A vacancy in the court of justice shall be filled
provisionally by the regency, and regular appointment shall be made
from Madrid, which must be otherwise than the provisional one made
by the regency, unless such appointment be made before the action of
the regents is known in Spain. This will tend to make the judiciary
independent of the government.]
[In regard to the treasury employes a plan similar to that of the
provincial governors shall be adopted. The custom of sending employes
for any of the treasury posts from Madrid, many of whom are ignorant
even of bookkeeping, means death to the hopes of those already in
the islands, and breeds discontent.]
[This plan does not involve any extra expense. The president shall
have a yearly salary of 12,000 pesos, in addition to the palace of
Manila and the house at Malacañang; the two regents shall each receive
6,000 pesos and 1,000 pesos extra for a house; and the substitute
4,000 pesos--a total of 30,000 pesos. [32] Posts of rank in Manila
have lately been increased, and now there are a lieutenant-general,
a mariscal de campo, six brigadier-generals, and many colonels and
commandants; and yet men of lower rank than all these have been
appointed governor of the islands. There is no need of so many
military titles. A brigadier-general, with 6,000 pesos' pay acts as
second commandant of the navy, which consists of but a few gunboats;
and a sub-inspector of engineers has just arrived who has only
two officers under him. Colonels can serve in place of brigadiers,
and since they receive 2,000 pesos less, this will be a saving of
at least 10,000 pesos. This added to the 7,000 pesos that can be
saved from the affairs of justice being managed by three persons,
who have no administrational duties, the 13,000 pesos saved from the
present salary of the captain-general, and the 1,000 pesos given as
a gratification to the commandant of the marine corps, will mean a
total saving of 31,000 pesos.]
[Mas also proposes the establishment at Madrid of a ministry of the
colonies, [33] through whom all the communications of the regency shall
pass. It should have departments of government, war, navy, revenues,
and justice. It can easily turn over to other ministries what primarily
concerns them, and work in harmony with them. For instance it would
not elect bishops, but would determine their number and salary.]
Thus far I have given minute details on the three principles which,
in my opinion, I said it was necessary to adopt as basic policies
in order to conserve the Filipinas: namely, to avoid the increase
of the white population; make of the colored population, a docile
and well-inclined mass; and reform the present administration. I
have still to add that I conceive it to be of the foremost interest
to always have in that treasury a sufficient store of spare funds
to at least cover the expenses of one year. [It will be impossible
to realize loans in case of either internal or external war. The
treasury has been continually exhausted for years, and has drawn on
the obras pías. Notes have been drawn on the Manila treasury for over
three million pesos, on which interest is being paid, and there is
no hope of paying the principal.] Such a method of doing things, is,
in my opinion, a political imprudence twice over--in the first place
because the islands are left exposed to reverses from a faction or
from a foreign enemy; in the second, because it causes certain murmurs
among their inhabitants, and a discontent difficult to conceive of
here, and which may precipitate their ruin.
After having discussed the means of conserving the colony, supposing
that this is always the intention of the government, let us consider
the other extreme, taken in review, namely, to resolve to emancipate
it and prepare it for giving it liberty.
In order to attain this end, it becomes natural, as is necessary,
to adopt a system diametrically opposed to the first. The chief
object must be that it does not cause the shedding of blood, that the
relations of friendship and of trade with España are not interrupted,
that the European Spaniards living there do not lose their chattels
or landed property, and, especially, that our race there, the
Filipino-Spaniards, preserve their estates and their rights of
naturalization, and free from the unfortunate fate that threatens
them, and which is even inevitably expected for them, if the colony
separates by force and at this moment. It is needful to encourage
public instruction in all ways possible, permit newspapers subject
to a liberal censure, to establish in Manila a college of medicine,
surgery, and pharmacy: in order to break down the barriers that divide
the races, and amalgamate them all into one. For that purpose, the
Spaniards of the country, the Chinese mestizos, and the Filipinos
shall be admitted with perfect equality as cadets of the military
corps; the personal-service tax shall be abolished, or an equal and
general tax shall be imposed, to which all the Spaniards shall be
subject. This last plan appears to me more advisable, as the poll-tax
is already established, and it is not opportune to make a trial of
new taxes when it is a question of allowing the country to be governed
by itself. Since the annual tribute is unequal, the average shall be
taken and shall be fixed, consequently, at fifteen or sixteen reals
per whole tribute, or perhaps one peso fuerte annually from each
adult tributary person. This regulation will produce an increase in
the revenue of 200,000 or 300,000 pesos fuertes, and this sum shall
be set aside to give the impulse for the amalgamation of the races,
favoring crossed marriages by means of dowries granted to the single
women in the following manner. To a Chinese mestizo woman who marries
a Filipino shall be given 100 pesos; to a Filipino woman who marries
a Chinese mestizo, 100 pesos; to a Chinese mestizo woman who marries
a Spaniard, 1,000 pesos; to a Spanish woman who marries a Chinese
mestizo, 2,000 pesos; to a Filipino woman who marries a Spaniard,
2,000 pesos; to a Spanish woman who marries a Filipino chief, 3,000 or
4,000 pesos. Some mestizo and Filipino alcaldes-mayor of the provinces
shall be appointed. It shall be ordered that when a Filipino chief
goes to the house of a Spaniard, he shall seat himself as the latter's
equal. In a word, by these and other means, the idea that they and
the Castilians are two kinds of distinct races shall be erased from
the minds of the natives, and the families shall become related by
marriage in such manner that when free of the Castilian dominion
should any exalted Filipinos try to expel or enslave our race, they
would find it so interlaced with their own that their plan would be
practically impossible.
After some years, when this population was sufficiently trimmed
off, an assembly of deputies shall be formed from the people, in
order that they may hold sessions in Manila for two or three months
every year. In those sessions they shall discuss public affairs,
especially those treating of taxes and budgets. Then after some time
of such political education, our government may be withdrawn without
fear, fixing before doing that the kind of government that is to be
established--probably some constitutional form analogous to those of
Europe, with a royal prince at its head chosen from among our infantes.
My task is concluded. Which of the two plans, above analyzed, it is
the most just or advisable to follow, does not concern me to recommend,
much less propose.
I will add, however, a page to express my opinion as an individual of
the Spanish nation. If I had to choose I would vote for the last. I
cannot see what benefits we have had from the colonies: depopulation,
decadence in the arts, and the public debt, which come in great
measure from them. The interest of a state consists, as I see it, in
having a dense and well-educated population, and I do not speak only
of literary or political education, but of that general education,
which makes each one perfect in his trade, I mean in that education
which constitutes a cabinet-maker, a weaver, a blacksmith, the best
cabinet-maker, weaver, or blacksmith possible. The greater or less
number of machines is, in our century, an almost sure thermometer by
which to gage the power of empires.
A colony cannot be useful except with the end of filling one of the
following three objects: to make of it a tributary country, for the
increase of the income of the mother-country (as Holland effects
by means of a compulsory and exclusive system); to erect it into a
second country, and a place of immigration of the surplus population
(such as are especially Australia, Van Diemen's land and New Zealand);
finally to procure in it, a place wherein to expend the products
of the national manufactures (as is the principal aim of the modern
colonial establishments). For the first, we have already seen that the
Filipinas are a poor resource, and will be for a long time; and I shall
not wonder that before losing them, they will cost us, on the contrary,
some millions. As for the second, they are not necessary, for we have
no surplus population to unload. And for the third they are useless,
for we ourselves have no manufactures to export. Barcelona, which has
the most factories in the Peninsula, does not have the least direct
communication with the islands. All that is taken there from Cadiz
consists of a little paper, oil, and liquors. If it were not for the
tobacco and the passengers who go and come, one or two vessels annually
would be enough to take care of all the mercantile speculations between
both countries. [Separation will not deprive Spain of a future rich
market in the Philippines, as the case of the American colonies and
England shows. Even if Spain should have a surplus population within a
century, the Philippines will also have no lack of inhabitants, and it
will be necessary for the Spaniards to emigrate to the Marianas. Mas
is not concerned by the argument that separation would mean the loss
of the Christian religion in the islands. To the argument that the
islands might fall into the hands of the British, French, Dutch,
or Chinese, he asks why Spain should become a knight errant for all
unprotected peoples. Spaniards in the islands can always return to
Spain. People assert that since Spain has spent over 300,000,000 pesos
on the islands, it is but proper that that country be reimbursed;
but although it has also spent much on the holy land, it never expects
any return therefor. Let the Filipinos pay heavier taxes under their
own government; why is that any concern? Even if ninety per cent of
the population should desire to remain under Spain's domination, that
is no sign that there may not be a better condition.] In conclusion,
if we are conserving the islands for love of the islanders, we are
losing our time, and merit, for gratitude is sometimes met with
in persons, but never can it be hoped for from peoples; and indeed
through our love, why do we fall into an anomaly, such as combining
our claim for liberty for ourselves, and our wish at the same time
to impose our law on remote peoples? Why do we deny to others the
benefit which we desire for our fatherland? By these principles of
universal morality and justice, and because I am persuaded that in the
midst of the political circumstances in which España is at present,
the condition of that colony will be neglected; that none of the
measures which I propose for its conservation (this is my conviction)
will be adopted; and that it will emancipate itself violently with the
loss of considerable property and many lives of European Spaniards and
Filipinos: I think that it would be infinitely more easy, more useful,
and more glorious for us to acquire the glory of the work by being the
first to show generosity. Hence, the foreign authors who have unjustly
printed so many calumnies against our colonial governments, authors
belonging to nations who never satisfy their hunger for colonies,
would have to say at least this once: "The Spaniards crossing new
and remote seas, extended the domain of geography by discovering
the Filipinas Islands. They found anarchy and despotism there, and
established order and justice. They encountered slavery and destroyed
it, and imposed political equality. They ruled their inhabitants with
laws, and just laws. They christianized them, civilized them, defended
them from the Chinese, from Moro pirates, and from European aggressors;
they spent much gold on them, and then gave them liberty." [34]
MATTA'S REPORT, 1843
Communication from the intendant of the army and treasury [Intendente
de Ejercito y Hacienda] of the Filipinas Islands, Don Juan Manuel de
la Matta, [35] to the governor and captain-general of said islands,
Don Marcelino Oraá, in regard to the moral condition of the country
after the insurrection of a portion of the troops of the third
regiment of the line, which happened at daybreak of the twenty-first
of last January; and declaration of the chief legislative reforms,
and of the peremptory measures of precaution and security, demanded
by said condition.
[The recent disaffection of a portion of the Philippine troops
has caused the government to issue instructions in case of the
occurrence of any excitement, insurrection, or alarm in the city
of Manila and its environs. Matta, on receiving these instructions,
has transmitted secretly to the commander of the revenue guard [36]
(whom he has advised in case of any danger to assemble all his command
in the tobacco factory of Binondo) the portion of the instructions that
concerns him. Also the forces of the station of San Fernando are to be
embarked on the boats in the river belonging to the revenue guard, and
placed in command of the port captain. In addition to the instructions
above cited, it seems advisable, "considering the moral condition of
the country, to adopt radical measures to avoid the evil before having
to punish it, thereby to shelter the colony from new seditions, which
cannot be repeated without imminent risk of sad consequences." The
suppression of the attempts of the insurgents and the calming of
Manila was due to the loyalty of the artillerymen quartered at the
fort of Santiago and the presence of other loyal troops.]
The sedition of Apolinario [37] in the province of Tayabas, at the
end of October, 1841, and the insurrection of part of the third
regiment of the line, which occurred in the capital at daybreak
of January 21, [38] have in little more than one year placed these
important possessions at the verge of a terrible civil war, and have
compromised great interests.