It is an abuse that, contrary to the command of the laws and so many
decrees, the fathers do not permit the Indians to talk Spanish, to
which they are greatly inclined, and punish them if they do. This is
the surest rule (although very pernicious to the state) of which the
fathers have availed themselves, since the time of the conquest, to
domineer over the Indians despotically with the king and the Spaniards,
to the common prejudice of all. [97]
From this policy it results that every convent of Manila is a Babel,
for, when the fathers assemble in the capital, it frequently occurs
that each one brings servants from his province to serve him. And
since they follow a system, from which no religious order departs,
to speak to each Indian in his own language, it happens that in one
convent are found the Tagálog, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Ilocan, Cagayan,
Zamboangan, Camarines, Igorot, Ilongot, and Visayan tongues, all in
sight of the government, Audiencia, and Spaniards, with total contempt
of what is ordered in this regard by his Majesty; and by this very
proceeding they boast that we do not understand them, and that they
alone command the wretched Indians.
Quite the contrary was the rule which the Portuguese followed in
India from the beginning of their conquests. Hence one finds that
there is no other language in Macao, Canton, Goa, the Malabar Coast,
Coromandel, Ceilan, and Batavia, than their own. Surely, if that
plan had been followed (as it ought to have been) in the two Américas
and in Filipinas, so many hardships would not have been encountered
[by the Spaniards] as were seen during the invasion of the English,
[98] and as will always be seen for this reason; and the king would be
master of those domains with as much security as he is of these [in
Spain], but, if the contrary be true, they will always be dependent
on the will of the ecclesiastics.
In proof of this truth, one must not forget what we all witnessed
during the war; for with the exception of the provincial of
St. Francis, who was most loyal and of great service, and that of the
Augustinian Recollects, all the rest were declared enemies--so much
so that in the most critical time of the undertaking, they asserted
that the governor was an insurgent. They held meetings to depose him,
contrary to the express laws, and openly encouraged the opposing
side. [99]
All the above is confirmed by what was seen in the same system,
namely, that notwithstanding the noble example of the loyalty of
the two above-mentioned provincials, some of their subjects gave
them much to suffer, and as much more to do, for the party of the
king. This proves that neither to his Majesty nor to their superiors
do they render submission, because of the absolute lawlessness with
which they grow up.