As a body, such Spanish gentlemen as I have been acquainted with,
appeared to be quite as remarkable for good breeding as they usually
have the credit of being. They generally have a great appearance of
candour or frankness of manner, which, although it is for the most
part more studied than natural, is prepossessing, and makes them
pleasant companions.
Here, however, I am afraid my praise must stop, because I have seen
among a great number of them a good deal of dissimulation, or,
to speak more plainly, of bad faith,--with regard to which their
modes of thinking are very different from those prevailing at home;
and among their mercantile people especially, they often appear to
imitate, or unconsciously to act upon a smart Yankee trader's modes
of getting the best of a bargain, being very frequently rather too
unscrupulous in their representations, when it appears to them that
it is for their interest to be so.
To give an idea of their opinions about the subject of buying and
selling, I will tell the reader a story. A lad, the son of a high
government officer, sold an unsound horse to a companion as a sound
one, which, on being discovered by the purchaser, of course made him
very indignant, and he demanded his money back, complaining at the same
time to the boy's father, who passes for a person of high character
and good sense, about the scurvy trick his son had played him. "Well,"
said this respectable old gentleman, "I am glad to see that the lad
is so sharp; for, if he could get the better of you so well, he will
make a capital merchant, and be able to cheat the Chinamen!"
Without exaggeration this is a good deal the system on which the
Spaniards carry on business. They always appear to be trying to take
advantage of a purchaser, and if successful have very complaisant
consciences; but should they themselves be taken in, or have
the worst of a bargain, their virtuous horror and indignation on
discovering it know no bounds. There is very little, or almost none,
of that mutual confidence existing between them which exists between
British merchants, and which is so necessary in large transactions,
or in carrying on an extensive business, as they do.
The large number of government _empleados_ residing at Manilla makes
an important addition to the society of the place, as, from being idle
men to a great extent, they seek how to amuse and be amused, and are
cultivators of the society of the English, whose dinner tables are
probably the chief causes of the intercourse which exists between them.
The entire white population in Manilla amounts to about 5,000, a large
proportion of them being officers, sergeants, and corporals of the
troops stationed either within the town, or in the immediate vicinity.
All the officers are not, however, persons of European descent, as
occasionally a black may be seen in an officer's uniform, and very
frequently is to be found wearing a sergeant's or corporal's coat. But
the natives promoted to the rank of commissioned officers are not many,
and on the whole it is probably better for the army that few of them
should be so, as were it a common occurrence, or were they allowed to
rise to high rank, or to occupy important places, beyond a doubt the
_morale_ of the troops would suffer; for when those men do rise from
the ranks, they are not considered on an equality by their European
brother officers, nor in fact do they consider themselves to be so,
and have little or no intercourse with them, beyond the routine of
their military duties.
The appearance of the troops is good on the whole; but they appeared
to me to be wanting in precision of movement, being by no means
equal or similar to some of our best Sepoy soldiers. It is clear
that frequently they have not been precisely drilled into all their
attempted evolutions. The men, as individuals, are well and powerfully
formed, although they are rather deficient in stature and soldierly
appearance; they are naturally bold, and when lately tried against the
Sooloos, evinced no want of resolution to follow, when their officers
would lead them on. I have seen several of them suffer death with an
admirable and even heroic composure, such as any man might envy when
his last hour comes. It is not an unfrequent thing to see soldiers
shot at Manilla for some misdemeanours, and I have not heard of one of
them dying a poltroon; certainly, all those I have ever seen suffer,
met their doom with the utmost calmness.
The cavalry force, for the purposes of actual conflict, is about the
most inefficient branch of the military establishment, being mounted
on the ponies of the country, which stand on an average about twelve
hands. But as irregulars they might be of some use. It always appeared
to me that a single well-mounted squadron of our heavy dragoons could,
without any difficulty, ride down the entire regiment. The Government
is aware of the inactive state of the horses, their attention having
been called thereto by my friend Captain de la O----, an officer of
the force, who, in conjunction with the colonel of the regiment, has
for some time past been occupied in investigations, and in preparing
estimates of the probable expense of an attempt to improve the breed
of horses by crossing them with Arab stallions, which it has for some
time been in contemplation to send for to cover the country mares.
It would probably be necessary for Government, in order to accomplish
this successfully, to adopt a plan similar to that followed at the East
India Company's breeding stables in Bengal, and should the project be
followed out and properly managed, there can be no doubt but that it
will be of the most essential importance to the government service,
and a boon to the country.
The horses of the Philippines are small, but for their inches
uncommonly powerful, and sometimes fast. They do not appear to have
any distinguishing peculiarity, except perhaps that the head of most
of them is rather too large, and very rarely indeed is that feature
quite perfect in any of the horses one meets with. At Manilla, and
for a considerable distance round it, no mares are allowed to be used,
which secures a higher and better looking horse in the neighbourhood
of the capital than is met with in the interior of the country;
none of them are geldings, and of course they are stronger and more
playful in consequence.
But to return to the service and the officers of it whom one meets in
society. They are not fond of being sent to the colony, and although
with about double the amount of pay they would receive at home,
most of them would infinitely prefer remaining in Spain.
After a term of service abroad they get a step in rank, which appears
to be the main attraction to those who come to Manilla. Many of them
are not very well educated men, and are therefore rather inferior to
my countrymen of the same profession in that respect.
A considerable proportion of them, perhaps an equal ratio to those
of our army, are gentlemen, or persons of good birth and family
connections. They are in general, however, poor, or at all events not
over burdened with the good things of this life, and like soldiers
of all nations and times, some of them have a certain notoriety for
outrunning the constable, or for spending all that they can, which
is generally merely their pay. Soon after reaching Manilla, I was
accidentally thrown a good deal into their society, from chancing to
meet with Don Francisco Caro, a pleasant and lively young lieutenant,
at the house of my Spanish teacher, where he was as eager to learn
English as I was to be able to speak good Spanish. We became intimate,
and agreed to visit each other, he to talk in English to me, and I
to him in Spanish,--a practice which very soon enabled us to pick
up the languages, and saved a world of trouble in getting up tasks
for a teacher, whom we were soon able to do without. The fact of my
going frequently to his house, and taking part in the conversation of
himself and the many friends with whom he made me acquainted, gave me
a considerable facility in talking the language, from having gained
a knowledge of it in this way in place of from a pedantic teacher,
whose purisms were quite thrown away on one whose wish it was to
speak it fluently, although it might be at some sacrifice of elegance.
Here let me record my regret at the manner in which this old companion
and friend met his untimely fate, which is not the less regretted
because it proceeded from his own strong sense of duty and habitual
gallantry of spirit--for this poor fellow was a true Spaniard in all
his best qualities. Having been ordered into the provinces with a
detachment on the very disagreeable service of hunting up a band of
_tulisanes_, or robbers, the necessary exposure to the sun on such an
expedition operated so severely on his constitution as to produce a
very high fever; yet even in this state he would not succumb to it, but
persisted in marching for several days at the head of his men, although
they, on perceiving his condition, had several times endeavoured to
persuade him to make use of a litter which they had framed for the
purpose, and wished to carry him in. But he would not remain in it
even when they almost forced him to use it, and would take no repose
until after having accomplished his duty. In this he was successful,
as he surprised and destroyed the robber band,--but the effort cost
him his life, for he died solely from the effects of the unnatural
exertion which he had undergone while the fever was raging within him.
Your many amiable and good qualities yet live, Francisco, in the fond
memories of former friends, although you are no longer among them; and
your heroic death, while it chastens grief, has added another memento,
and a laurel leaf to the wreath your brave Castilian ancestors left
behind them, bequeathed to the care of one who knew so well how to
value and protect it, and to add to its honour.