COMMERCE.
To foreign nations--to our own especially--the particular interest
felt in the state of the Philippines is naturally more of a commercial
than of a political character. They must grow in trading importance;
already enough has been done to make a retrograde or even a stationary
policy untenable. Every step taken towards emancipation from the
ancient fetters which ignorance and monopoly laid upon their progress
has been so successful and so productive as to promise and almost to
ensure continuance in a course now proved to be alike beneficial to
the public treasury and to the common weal. The statistics which I
have been able to collect are often unsatisfactory and inaccurate,
but, upon the whole, may be deemed approximative to the truth,
and certainly not without value as means of comparison between the
results of that narrow-minded exclusive system which so long directed
the councils of Spain and the administration of las Indias, and the
wiser and more liberal views which make their way through the dense
darkness of the past.
The caprices and mischiefs of a privileged and protected trade and
the curses which monopolies bring with them to the general interests,
may, indeed, be well studied in the ancient legislation of Spain
as regards her colonies. One vessel only was formerly allowed to
proceed from the Philippines to Mexico; she was to be commanded
by officers of the royal navy, equipped as a ship of war, and was
subject to a variety of absurd restrictions and regulations: the
adventurers were to pay 20,000 dollars for their privilege; and no
one was allowed to adventure unless he were a vocal de consulado,
which required a residence of several years in the islands, and the
possession of property to the extent of 8,000 dollars. The privilege
often passed clandestinely, by purchase, into the hands of friars,
officials, women and other speculators--and it may well be supposed
at what prices the goods had to be invoiced. Such being the licensed
pillage in Asia, on arriving at Acapulco, in America, to which place
the cargo was necessarily consigned, 33 1/3 per cent. was imposed upon
the valuation of the Manila invoices. And on the return of the ship
similar or even more absurd conditions were exacted: she was only
allowed to bring back double the value of the cargo she conveyed;
but, as the profits were often enormous, every species of fraud was
practised to give fictitious values to the articles imported--in fact,
from the beginning to the end of the undertaking there seems to have
been a rivalry in roguery among all parties concerned.
The establishment of the Company of the Philippines, in 1785, gave
to monopoly another shape, but led to some development of colonial
industry.
It is scarcely needful to follow the history of the commerce of the
Philippines through the many changes which have produced its present
comparative prosperity--a prosperity to be measured by the amount of
emancipation which has been introduced. Had the Spanish authorities the
courage to utter the magic words "Laissez faire, laissez passer!" what
a cornucopia of blessings would be poured upon the archipelago!
But it could hardly be expected from a government constituted like the
government of Spain, that, either of its own spontaneous movement, or
by licence delegated to the Captain-General, so grand a work would be
accomplished as the establishment of free production, free commerce,
free settlement, and free education in the Philippines; and yet a step
so bold and noble would, as I fully believe, in a few years be followed
by progress and prosperity far beyond any calculations that have
been ventured on. The little that has been hazarded for the liberty
of trade, though hurriedly and imperfectly done, cannot but encourage
future efforts; and in the meantime many beneficial reforms have been
pressed upon the attention of the government with such conclusive
statistics and irresistible logic, that, if it depended on these alone,
the Philippines might hope to enter upon the early enjoyment of their
heritage of future advancement. The reform of the tariffs--the removal
of petty vexatious fiscal interferences--improvements in the navigation
of the rivers--the cleansing the harbours--lighthouse, buoys and other
appliances for the security of shipping--are among the more obvious
and immediate claims of commerce. In Manila the absence of docks for
repairing and harbouring vessels is much felt; the custom-house is on
the wrong side of the river--though it were better it should exist
on neither side; there are no means of regular postal communication
with the islands from the Peninsula; tug-steamers, life-boats, quays
and piers, seamen's houses, marine hospitals, are wanting, but their
introduction has been so strongly advocated that its advent may be
hoped for. In truth, it is pleasant to find in a country so remote and
so long under the most discouraging and retarding influences, that
inquiry, which is the pioneer and the handmaid of all improvement,
is already busily at work and will not be at work in vain.
A communication was made to the Chamber of Commerce by the
Governor-General in 1858, requesting that the merchants would point
out to him the best possible means for developing the riches of the
Philippine Islands by extending their foreign trade. The British
merchants, after expressing a general wish that the islands should
enjoy the benefits of that system of free trade and liberal commercial
policy whose "great results" are manifest to all, point out the
special grievances which demand immediate reform.
1. The present system of requiring permits for every cargo boat
employed, leads to many needless charges, vexations and delays.
2. Reform of the tariffs which press very heavily on certain articles,
for the protection of some small manufacturing interest in the
island. This is specially the case with cotton goods intended for
common use; those of the colours given by dyes produced in the island
are selected for the heaviest impost, to give encouragement to native
dyers. Many articles are estimated much beyond their real value, so
that the percentage duty becomes excessive. Lawns, for instance, are
tariffed at double their market price. Iron chains worth five dollars
per cwt. are tariffed at twelve dollars. A small quantity of white,
black, blue, purple and rose-coloured cotton twist being produced,
there is a duty of from 40 to 50 per cent., while red, yellow, green,
&c., which the natives cannot dye, are admitted duty free. These are
striking exemplifications of the workings of a protective system.
Other blue goods are prohibited because the islands produce indigo;
and for the protection of the native shoemakers (who, by the way,
are almost invariably Chinese and mere birds of passage in the
country), foreign boots and shoes pay from 40 to 50 per cent., to
the great detriment of the public health, for the country-tanned
leather will not keep out the rain and the mud, while the protective
duty encourages the Chinese settler to become a manufacturer, who
is less wanted than the agricultural labourer. In the same spirit
the tailors are protected, i.e. allowed to overcharge the consumer
to the extent of 40 to 50 per cent., the duty on imported clothes,
which goes principally to the Chinese. Foreign fruits, preserves and
liquors have to bear similar burdens, for cannot the Philippines give
confectionary and sweets enough of their own? So runs the round of
folly and miscalculation. One hundred dozen of Spanish beer entered
the Philippines in 1857, and to protect and encourage so important
an interest an excessive impost was levied on 350 pipes and nearly
100,000 bottles of beer not Spanish.
3. Then, again, the heavy differential duties in favour of Spanish
ships are a well-grounded subject of discontent and highly prejudicial
to the general interest. The levying tonnage duties upon ships entering
and departing without cargoes is a grievance of which there are just
complaints. The adjacency of so many free ports--Hong Kong, Macao
and Singapore--and the more liberal system of the Australian and
Polynesian regions, place the Philippine trade in a disadvantageous
position. Among the documents which I collected is one from a native
merchant, in which he says:--"The demonstrations of political
economists, and the practical results of free-trade legislation,
establish the fact that public credit and public prosperity are alike
benefited by the emancipation of commerce, and narrow is the view
which, looking only to the temporary defalcation of revenue from
the diminution of imports, forgets the enormous increase of all the
sources of revenue from lowering prices and extending demand." In
this way the great truths which have been silently and successfully
revolutionizing our commercial legislation are spread on all the
wings of all the winds, and will finally encircle the world in the
great bonds of brotherhood, with peace and prosperity for attendants.
By a decree of the 18th June, 1857, the restrictions on the trade in
rice and paddy were removed, and foreign grain was allowed to enter
duty free, not, only into the ports opened to foreign trade, but into
divers subordinate ports. Though the permission was then temporary,
it has now become permanent, and I found that the emancipation of these
important articles from all custom-house interference had been attended
with the best results, by regulating and assimilating prices, without
any detriment to native production. The more general the principles of
free trade the more security will there be against dearth and famine
on the one side, and superfluity and glut on the other.
Rice is sold by the cavan. Its price is ordinarily double that of
paddy. The average fluctuations are from one to two dollars.
In 1810 the import trade of the Philippines amounted to only 5,329,000
dollars, of which more than half consisted of precious metals, sent
from the Spanish colonies of America. From Europe and the United States
the trade was only 175,000 dollars. The exports were 4,795,000 dollars,
of which one-and-a-half million consisted of silver to China, and the
whole amount of exports to Europe and the United States was 250,000
dollars. The great start took place in 1834, when the monopoly of
the Philippine Company terminated, and commerce may be regarded as
progressive from that time. Of the trade with the surrounding islands,
that with Jolo, conducted principally by Chinese, is important. One of
the leading articles of export is the edible bird's-nests, of whose
collection a Spanish writer gives the following account:--"The nests
are collected twice a year; those most valued from deep and humid
caverns. Early training is needful to scale the localities where
the nests are found, and the task is always dangerous. To reach
the caves it is necessary to descend perpendicularly many hundred
feet, supported by a rope made of bamboo or junk, suspended over the
sea waves as they dash against the rocks." There is also from Jolo
a considerable exportation of tortoise-shell. Trepang (sea-slug,
Holothuria) and shark-fins are sent to the Chinese markets; also
mother-of-pearl, wax and gold dust. The voyage from Manila to Jolo
and return generally occupies seven to eight months. A trade in most
respects resembling that of Jolo is carried on between Manila and
the Moluccas. Spices are, however, added to the imports. There is a
large trade between Singapore and Manila, and with Amoy, in China,
the transactions are very important. Vessels are generally loading
from and to that port. Rice, paddy, cocoa-nut oil, sugar, fine woods,
table delicacies and a variety of minor articles, are exported; silks,
nankins, tea, vermilion, umbrellas, earthenware and a thousand smaller
matters, make up the returns.
Internal trade suffers much from the many impediments to communication
and the various shiftings to which merchandise is exposed. It is
said that in the transit from the north of Luzon to the capital there
are as many as a hundred floating rafts upon which the goods must be
carried across the different streams; at each considerable delay is
experienced, as the raft (balsa) is seldom found when and where it is
wanted. And during half the year inland conveyance is the only means
of transport, as the monsoons make the sea voyage impossible for
coasting vessels. Indeed, in the remoter islands months frequently
pass without arrivals from the capital. Some of the fairs in the
interior are largely attended by the Mahomedan and heathen natives,
who will not visit the ports or larger towns. That of Yligan (Misamis,
in Mindanao) is much visited by Moros, who bring thither for sale
paddy, cocoa, coffee, gold dust, cotton fabrics, krises and weapons
of war, with many other native articles, which they exchange mostly
for European and Chinese wares. Panaguis, in Luzon, is another market
much frequented by the Igorrote Indians. Many of the ancient river
communications have been stopped by inundations, which have given
a new direction to the stream, and by the invasion of snags, trees
and rocks from the upper regions. There is a great deal of ambulatory
petty trade in the interior; the Chinese especially are active pedlars
and factors, and make their way to buy and to sell wherever there is
a profit to be gained. They are to a great extent the pioneers of
commerce, and in this way valuable auxiliaries and co-operators by
opening new fields to be hereafter more extensively explored.
There are in Manila seven English, three American, two French, two
Swiss and one German, commercial establishments. In the new ports
there is no European house of business except at Iloilo, where there
is an English firm, of which the British vice-consul is the directing
partner.
Among the curiosities of commercial legislation is a decree of the
governor of the Philippines, dated only a few years ago, by which
it was ordered that no vessel should be allowed to introduce a cargo
from China or the East Indies unless an engagement was entered into by
the captain to bring to Manila five hundred living shrikes (mimas?),
as the bird was reported to be most useful in destroying the insects
which were at that time seriously damaging the harvests. I believe
not a single bird was ever brought. It would have been about as easy
and as reasonable to require them to import some slices of the moon,
for the catching, and the caging, and the keeping, are scarcely
within mortal capabilities, and 500 birds were the required minimum
by every ship; nor was it the least remarkable part of the decree or
requirement that they were all to be delivered gratis.
For the protection of the revenue there is an armed body called the
Carabineros de Real Hacienda. It is composed of natives under European
officers, and is charged with both land and sea service. They wear
a military uniform and a broad hat resembling a large punch-bowl,
which is, however, an admirable protection from the sun's rays.
Great Britain has a salaried consul and vice-consul in Manila and
vice-consuls in Iloilo and Sual. France has also a salaried consul
in the capital. The United States, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden and
Chili, are represented by members of commercial establishments,
who exercise consular authority in Manila. The American consul is
Mr. Charles Griswold, and few are the visitors to these islands who
have not enjoyed his hospitality and benefited by his experience.
The post-office establishments are imperfect and unsatisfactory and
the charges for the conveyance of letters heavy. There is a weekly
postal communication from the capital with the provinces in the
island of Luzon, and southwards as far as Samar and Leyte, but all the
other eastern and southern islands are left to the chances which the
coasting trade offers and are frequently many months without receiving
any news from the capital or the mother country. A regular service,
providing for the wants of these important districts, Panay especially,
with its population exceeding half a million, is greatly to be desired.
There is now a fortnightly service carried on by the steamers of
the Peninsular and Oriental Company between Manila and Hong Kong,
generally reaching forty-eight hours before the departure, and
quitting forty-eight hours after the arrival, of the steamers from
Europe. It is conducted with great regularity and the letters from
Spain arrive in about fifty days; but many days would be saved were
there a branch steamer from Malta to Alicant. For this service an
annual sum (recoverable monthly) of 120,000 dollars is paid by the
Manila government to the company. The steamers are freed from all
port charges except pilotage.
The government has published proposals for the establishment of a
steam-packet company for the service of the islands, offering 45,000
dollars annually as a State contribution, but I believe there is no
immediate prospect of the adoption of the scheme.
The Banco Español de Isabel II. is a joint-stock company, whose
capital is 400,000 dollars, in 1,000 shares of 400 dollars each. It
was established in the year 1855, and has generally paid to the
shareholders dividends at the rate of six to eight per cent. per
annum. It issues promissory notes, discounts local bills of
exchange and lends money on mortgage. The general rate of interest
in the Philippines fluctuates from six to nine per cent. The yearly
operations of the bank exceed 2,000,000 of dollars. The value of about
half-a-million of bills of exchange is usually under discount. Its
ordinary circulation does not exceed 200,000 dollars in promissory
notes and it has deposits and balances to the value of about 1,750,000
dollars. The bank has afforded considerable facilities to commerce,
and has answered one of its principal objects, that of bringing into
circulation some of the hoarded money of the natives. Most of the
foreign houses are shareholders.
The decimal system of accounts and currency was introduced into the
Philippines by a royal decree, and an end put to all the complications
of maravedis, quartos, and reales de ocho, by the simple adoption
of the dollar, divided into one hundred cents. It would be, indeed,
a wretched compliment to the population of England (let me say it
in passing) if, as certain opponents of improvement have averred,
they would never be brought to appreciate or comprehend a change to
decimal denominations which the "untutored mind" of the "wild Indian"
has already begun to adopt, using his digits as the instruments of
the new philosophy, and aided now and then probably by the simple
abacus of the Chinese shopkeeper, with whom he has much to do.
The weights and measures used in the Philippines are--
The Arroba (25 lbs. Spanish) = 25·36 English lbs.
The Quintal (100 ,, ) = 101·44 ,,
The Catty = 1·395 ,,
The Pecul of 137 catties (36 lbs. Spanish) = 139·48 ,,
Cavan = 25 gautas.
Gauta = 8 chupas.
Pie = { 12 Spanish inches.
{ 11 English inches.
Vara = { 3 pies.
{ 33 English inches.
Cavan of rice (clean) weighs 132 lbs. avoirdupois.
Cavan of paddy 103 1/2 ,,
Jar of oil 96 ,,
The following return gives the exports from Manila for the year 1858:--
EXPORTS FROM MANILA FOR 1858.
+---------------------+--------+---------+-----------+---------+--------+
| | | | | | |
| | |United | |Continent| Great |
| | |States, |California.| of |Britain.|
| | |Atlantic.| | Europe. | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
+---------------------+--------+---------+-----------+---------+--------+
|Hemp |Peculs. | 289,953 | 10,140 | 6,650 |105,633 |
|Sugar | ,, | 16,030 | 45,038 | 17,252 |315,768 |
|Sapan Wood | ,, | 10,594 | | 2,491 | 21,295 |
|Indigo |Qtls. | 503 | | 171 | 58 |
|Leaf Tobacco | ,, | | | 82,120 | |
|Cigars | M. | 4,613 | 3,416 | 209 | 8,244 |
|Coffee |Peculs. | 2,389 | 236 | 13,882 | 81 |
|Cordage | ,, | | | 2,751 | |
|Hides | ,, | 999 | | 113 | 3,619 |
|Hide Cuttings | ,, | 2,929 | | | 62 |
|Mother-of-Pearl | | | | | |
| Shell | ,, | | | 1,205 | 1,351 |
|Tortoise-Shell |Catties.| | | 260 | 1,931 |
|Grass Cloth |Pieces. | 57,224 | | 547 | |
|Gum Almasiga |Peculs. | | | 2,113 | 3,571 |
|Cowries | ,, | | | | 2,773 |
|Rice |Cavans. | | | | |
|Paddy | ,, | | | | |
|Beche de Mer |Peculs. | | | | |
|Liquid Indigo |Jars. | | | | |
|Buffalo Horns |Peculs. | | | 11 | 387 |
|Birds' Nests | ,, | | | | |
|Arrowroot | ,, | | 170 | 15 | 368 |
|Gold Dust |Taels. | | | | |
|Canes | M. | | | 11 | 610 |
|Cow Bones |Peculs. | | | | |
|Hats | M. | | | | 408 |
|Molave Logs | ,, | | | 58 | |
+---------------------+--------+---------+-----------+---------+--------+
EXPORTS FROM MANILA FOR 1858. (Continued.)
+----------------+----------+--------+----------+---------+-------+-------+
| | | | | South | | |
| | | |Singapore,| America,| | |
| |Australia.|Batavia.| and | Cape of | China.|Total. |
| | | | British | Good | | |
| | | | Islands. |Hope and | | |
| | | | | Pacific | | |
| | | | | Islands.| | |
+----------------+----------+--------+----------+---------+-------+-------+
|Hemp | | | 1,100 | | 28 |412,504|
|Sugar | 147,369 | | | 170 |15,506 |557,133|
|Sapan Wood | | 1,200 | 4,607 | |27,031 | 67,218|
|Indigo | | | | | | 732|
|Leaf Tobacco | | | | | | 82,120|
|Cigars | 18,504 | 12,552 | 24,489 | 115 |13,000 | 85,142|
|Coffee | 6,764 | 55 | | | 1,556 | 24,963|
|Cordage | 10,150 | 999 | 3,293 | | 4,606 | 21,799|
|Hides | | | | | 1,694 | 6,425|
|Hide Cuttings | | | | | 884 | 3,875|
|Mother-of-Pearl | | | | | | |
| Shell | | | | | 36 | 2,592|
|Tortoise-Shell | | | | | 314 | 2,505|
|Grass Cloth | | | 350 | | | 58,121|
|Gum Almasiga | 14 | | 1,674 | | | 7,372|
|Cowries | | | 165 | | | 2,938|
|Rice | | | | |21,361 | 21,361|
|Paddy | | | | | 1,300 | 1,300|
|Beche de Mer | | | | | 3,889 | 3,889|
|Liquid Indigo | | | | | 4,805 | 4,805|
|Buffalo Horns | | | | | | 398|
|Birds' Nests | | | | | 66 | 66|
|Arrowroot | 263 | | | | | 816|
|Gold Dust | | | | | 1,721 | 1,721|
|Canes | | | | | | 620|
|Cow Bones | | | | | 906 | 906|
|Hats | | | 120 | | 1,372 | 1,900|
|Molave Logs | | | | | 1,203 | 1,259|
+----------------+----------+--------+----------+---------+-------+-------+
In the year 1855, Don Sinibaldo de Mas, having been charged with
an official mission of inquiry into the state of these islands,
published an article on the revenues of the Philippines, addressed
to the finance minister of Spain. [30]
He begins his report by contrasting the population and commerce
of Cuba with that of the Philippines; stating that Cuba, with less
than a million of inhabitants, has a trade of 27,500,000 dollars,
while the Philippines, which he says contained, in 1850, 4,000,000
of people in a state of subjection and 1,000,000 unsubdued, had a
trade of less than 5,000,000 of dollars. He calculates the coloured
population of Cuba at 500,000; the white population of the Philippines
at from 7,000 to 8,000 persons. He deduces that, if the produce of
the Philippines were proportioned to that of Cuba, it would be of
the value of 250,000,000 dollars, and that the revenue should be
48,000,000 dollars, instead of about 9,500,000 dollars.
He avers that the soil is equal in its productive powers to any in
the world; that the quality of the produce--sugar, coffee, tobacco,
indigo, cocoa and cotton--is most excellent; that it possesses almost
a monopoly of abacá (Manila hemp); and he goes on to consider the
means of turning these natural advantages to the best account.
He altogether repudiates any extension of the existing system,
or augmentation of taxation in its present forms; and states, what
is most true, that to the development of agriculture, industry and
commerce the Philippines must look for increased prosperity.
His three proposals are:--
1. Opening new ports to foreign trade.
2. Emancipating the production, manufacture and sale of tobacco.
3. Increasing the population of the islands.
By a royal decree, dated 31st March, 1855, three additional ports were
opened to foreign trade--Zamboanga (Mindanao), Iloilo (Panay), and Sual
(Luzon). The results have not responded to anticipations. One reason is
obvious--custom-house officers, custom-house restrictions, custom-house
vexations accompanied the seemingly liberal legislation. These are
sufficient to check, if not to crush, the growth of intercourse. I
doubt if in either of the new ports the custom-house receipts cover
the costs of collection. The experiment should have been a free-trade
experiment, but the jealousies and fears of the capital were probably
influential. It ought not to have been forgotten that the new ports,
charged with all the burdens which pressed upon Manila, offered none
of its facilities, the creation of many generations--wharves and
warehouses, accomplished merchants, capital, foreign settlers, assured
consumption of imports and supply of exports; these counterbalanced
the cost of conveyance of goods to or from the capital, while, on
the other hand, the introduction of a custom-house has prejudiced
the trade which previously existed--as, for example, the call of
whalers at Zamboanga, unwilling to submit to the fiscal exactions now
introduced. But if every port in the Philippines were made free from
custom-houses a great impulse would be given to industry, commerce
and shipping; the loss to the treasury would be inconsiderable,
for the net proceeds of the customs duties is very insignificant,
while other sources of revenue would be undoubtedly increased by
the impulse given to the general prosperity. De Mas states that the
extension of the trade of Cuba from the Havana to other ports led to
an augmentation in its value from 2,000,000 to 30,000,000 dollars.
Two plans are suggested by Señor De Mas for the emancipation of
the tobacco cultivation and manufacture from the existing State
monopoly. One, the levying a heavy land tax on all lands devoted to
the produce; the other, the imposition of a duty on exportation. He
estimates that a baleta of land (1,000 brazas square) gives 1,500
plants, and 4 to 5 cwt. of tobacco, saleable at 4 to 5 dollars per
quintal. The cost of manufacturing 14,000 cigars, which represent 1
cwt., 5 1/4 dollars, and boxes for packing, 3 1/2 dollars. He says the
value of the cigars is 6 1/2 dollars per box (it is now considerably
more), in which case the profit would be 77 1/4 dollars, and proposes
a duty of 70 dollars per cwt., which is more than five times the cost
of the article. He gives satisfactory reasons for the conclusion that
cigars would be made much more economically by the peasantry than by
the government, shows that the cost of the machinery of administration
might be greatly diminished, asserts that the Indians employed at
home would be satisfied with lower gains than the wages paid by the
government, and supposes that the unoccupied houses of the natives
would be dedicated to the making of cigars as a pleasant and profitable
domestic employment. It may be doubted whether he estimates at its
full value the resistance which the indolent habits of the Indian
oppose to voluntary or spontaneous labour; but the conclusion I have
reached by not exactly the same train of reasoning is the same as
that arrived at by my friend whom I have been quoting, namely, that
the government monopoly is less productive than free cultivation,
manufacture and sale might become; that a reduction of prices would
extend demand, leave larger benefits to the treasury and confer many
advantages upon the people; and that the arguments (mostly of those
interested in the monopoly) in favour of the existing system are not
grounded on sound reasoning, nor supported by statistical facts.
The tobacco monopoly (estanco) was established in 1780 by
Governor-General Basco; it was strongly opposed by the friars, and
menaces of severe punishments were held over those who sought to
escape the obligations imposed. But to the present hour there are
said to be large plantations of tobacco which escape the vigilance
of government, and cigars are purchaseable in many of the islands at
one-fourth of the government price. The personal establishment for
the protection of the tobacco monopoly consists of nearly a thousand
officials and more than thirty revenue boats. It is, notwithstanding,
cultivated largely in provinces where the cultivation is prohibited
by law; and I find in a report from the Alcalde of Misamis (Mindanao)
the following phrase: "The idea of interfering with the growth of
tobacco for the benefit of the treasury must be abandoned, as the
territory where it is produced is not subject to Spanish authority."
Attempts were made a few years ago to encourage the planting of tobacco
in the province of Iloilo, by a company which made advances to the
Indians; but the enterprise, discouraged by the government, failed,
and I found, when I visited the locality, the warehouses abandoned
and the company dissolved. There have been many expeditions for the
destruction and confiscation of illicit tobacco; and on more than one
occasion insurrections, tumults, serious loss of life and very doubtful
results have followed these interferences. The statistical returns
show that the consumption of the State tobacco varies considerably
in the different provinces, being influenced by the greater or less
difficulty of obtaining the contraband article.
There have been divers projects for augmenting the population of the
Philippines--from China, from Switzerland, from Borneo and even from
British India. The friars have never looked with complacency on any
of these schemes. They all present elements which would not easily he
subjected to ecclesiastical influence. The Chinese would not be willing
cultivators of the soil if any other pursuit should promise greater
profits, and it is quite certain that the indolent Indian will nowhere
be able to compete with the industrious, persevering and economical
Chinese. Many suggestions have been made for the introduction of
Chinese women, with a view of attaching Chinese families to the soil;
but hitherto nothing has sufficed to conquer the abhorrence with
which a Chinese female contemplates the abandonment of her country,
nor the general resistance to such abandonment on the part of the
Chinese clans. Chinese female children have been frequently kidnapped
for conveyance to the Philippines, and some horrible circumstances
have come to the knowledge of British authorities in China, followed
by the exposure and punishment of British subjects concerned in these
cruel and barbarous deeds. An establishment of a sisterhood in China,
called that of the Sainte Enfance, has been looked to as a means of
christianizing female children, and conveying them to the Philippines;
they have collected or purchased many orphans, but small success has
attended these well-meant, but not well-directed labours. In 1855,
it was stated in an official document (De Mas, p. 26) that in 1858,
an annual entry of 2,500 children might be expected. The calculation
has been a total mistake; the establishments in China are in a state
of embarrassment and difficulty, and I am not aware that a single
Chinese female has been supplied for the suggested purpose. Any
number of orphans or abandoned children might be bought in the
great cities of China, especially from the orphan asylums; but an
increased demand would only encourage their abandonment by their
mothers. These foundling hospitals are of very doubtful utility,
and produce, probably, more misery than they cure.
The greatest impediment to the progress of the Philippines, and
the development of their immense resources, is attributable to the
miserable traditional policy of the mother country, whose jealousies
tie the hands of the governors they appoint to rule; so that the
knowledge and experience which are acquired in the locality are wholly
subjected to the ignorance and shortsightedness of the distant, but
supreme authority. Would the Spaniard but recognize the wisdom of one
of their many instructive proverbs--Mas sabe el loco en su casa que
cuerdo en la agena (the fool knows more about his own home than the
wise man of the home of another)--more confidence might be reposed in
those who are thoroughly cognizant of local circumstances and local
wants. As it is, everything has to be referred to Madrid. A long
delay is inevitable--an erroneous decision probable; circumstances are
constantly changing, and what would have been judicious to-day may be
wholly unadvisable to-morrow. Then there is the greatest unwillingness
to surrender even the shadow of authority, or any of those sources
of patronage which a government so enervate and corrupt as that of
Spain clings to as its props and protection. Again, the uncertainty
of tenure of office, which attaches to all the superior offices held
under the Spanish Government, is alike calculated to demoralize and
discourage. Before a governor has surveyed his territory and marked
out to himself a course of action, he may be superseded under one of
those multitudinous changes which grow out of the caprices of the
court or the clamour of the people. It was a melancholy employment
of mine to look round the collection of the various portraits of the
captains-general which adorned my apartment, bearing the dates of
their appointment and their supersession. Some of them only occupied
their office for a few months, and were as carelessly and recklessly
dismissed as a worthless weed is flung away. And there seemed no
expectation of any change in this respect, for there were many blank
frames made to receive the vera effigies of future excellencies. Our
colonial system is wiser, as we appoint governors for six years, and,
except under special circumstances, they are not dispossessed of their
government. Whether there may be any moral deterioration connected
with the possession of power, sufficient to counterbalance all the
benefits which are furnished by long experience and local knowledge,
may be a question for philosophy and statesmanship.
But other causes of backwardness are traceable to those very elements
of wealth and prosperity, to which these islands must look for their
future progress. A soil so feracious, a sun so bright, rains so
bountiful, require so little co-operation from the aid of man that he
becomes careless, indolent, unconcerned for the morrow. He has but to
stretch out his hand, and food drops into it. The fibre of the aloe,
which the female weaves with the simplest of looms, gives her garments;
the uprights and the floors and the substantial parts of his dwelling
are made of the bamboo, which he finds in superfluous abundance;
while the nipa palm provides roofs and sides to his hut. Wants he has
few and he cares little for luxuries. His enjoyments are in religious
processions, in music and dancing, in his gallo above all. He may take
possession without rent of any quantity of land which he is willing to
cultivate. There is a tendency, no doubt, to improvement. Cultivation
extends and good examples are not without effect.
In times of tranquillity Spain has nothing to fear for her Philippine
colonies. So long as they are unmolested by foreign invaders and
the government is carried on with mildness and prudence, there is
little to be apprehended from any internal agitation; but I doubt the
efficiency of any means of defence at the disposal of the authorities,
should a day of trouble come. The Indian regular forces might for
some time be depended on; but whether this could be anticipated of
the militia or any of the urban auxiliaries is uncertain. The number
of Spaniards is small--in most of the islands quite insignificant;
indolence and indifference characterize the indigenous races; and if,
on the one hand, they took no part in favour of intrusive strangers,
on the other, they could not be looked to for any patriotic or
energetic exertions on behalf of their Spanish rulers. They have,
indeed, no traditions of former independence--no descendants of famous
ancient chiefs or princes, to whom they look with affection, hope or
reverence. There are no fragments left of hierarchies overthrown. No
Montezumas, no Colocolos, are named in their songs, or perpetuated
in their memories. There are no ruins of great cities or temples;
in a word, no records of the remote past. There is a certain amount
of dissatisfaction among the Indians, but it is more strongly felt
against the native gobernadorcillos--the heads of barangay--the
privileged members of the local principalia--when exercising their
"petty tyrannies," than against the higher authorities, who are beyond
the hearing of their complaints. "The governor-general is in Manila
(far away); the king is in Spain (farther still); and God is in heaven
(farthest of all)." It is a natural complaint that the tribute or
capitation tax presses equally on all classes of Indians, rich or
poor. The heads of barangay, who are charged with its collection, not
unfrequently dissipate the money in gambling. One abuse has, however,
been reformed--the tribute in many provinces was formerly collected
in produce, and great were the consequent exactions practised upon
the natives, from which the treasury obtained no profit, but the petty
functionaries much. I believe the tax is now almost universally levied
in money. All Spaniards, all foreigners (excepting Chinese), and their
descendants are exempted from tribute. One of the most intelligent
of the merchants of Manila (Don Juan Bautista Marcaida) has had the
kindness to furnish me with sundry memoranda on the subject of the
capabilities of the Philippine Islands, and the means of developing
them. To his observations, the result of careful observation, much
experience and extensive reading, I attach great value. They are
imbued with some of the national prejudices of a Spanish Catholic,
in whose mind the constitution of the Romish Church is associated
with every form of authority, and who is unwilling to see in that
very constitution, and its necessary agencies, invincible impediments
to the fullest progress of intellect--to the widest extension of
agricultural, manufacturing and commercial prosperity--in a word,
to that great agitation of the popular mind, to which Protestant
nations owe their religious reforms, and their undoubted superiority
in the vast field of speculation and adventure.
He says:--"The social organization of the Philippines is the most
paternal and civilizing of any known in the world; having for its
basis the doctrines of the Gospel, and the kind and fatherly spirit
of the Laws of the Indies." It may be admitted, in reference to the
legislation of the colonies of many nations, that the Spanish code
is comparatively humane and that the influence of the Romish clergy
has been frequently and successfully excited for the protection and
benefit of conquered natives, and of imported slaves; but M. Marcaida
goes on to acknowledge and point out "the torpid and unimproving
character of the existing system," and to demand important changes
for the advancement of the public weal.
"The government moves slowly, from its complicated organization,
and from the want of adequate powers to give effect to those reforms
which are suggested by local knowledge, but which are overruled by the
unteachable ignorance, or selfish interests, or political intrigues
of the mother country."
As regards the clergy, he thinks the administration generally good,
but that the progress of time and altered circumstances necessitate
many important changes in the distribution of the ecclesiastical
authority, a new arrangement of the pueblos, a better education of the
church functionaries, a great augmentation of the number of parochial
priests (many of whom have now cures varying from 3,000 to 60,000
souls). He would have the parish clergyman both the religious and
secular instructor of his community, and for this purpose requires that
he should be becomingly and highly educated--a consummation for which
the government would have some difficulty in providing the machinery,
and for which assuredly the Church would not lend its co-operation.
"For the administration of justice, the Philippines have one supreme
and forty-two subordinate tribunals. The number is wholly insufficient
for the necessities of 5,000,000 of inhabitants scattered over 1,200
islands, and occupying so vast a territorial space." There can be no
doubt that justice is often inaccessible, that it is costly, that it
is delayed, defeated, and associated with many vexations. Spain has
never been celebrated for the integrity of its judges, or the purity
of its courts. A pleyto in the Peninsula is held to be as great a
curse as a suit in Chancery in England, with the added evil of want
of confidence in the administrators of the law. Their character would
hardly be improved at a distance of 10,000 miles from the Peninsula;
and if Spain has some difficulty in supplying herself at home with
incorruptible functionaries, that difficulty would be augmented in
her remotest possessions. There seemed to me much admirable machinery
in the traditional and still existing usages and institutions of the
natives. Much might, no doubt, be done to lessen the dilatory, costly
and troublesome character of lawsuits, by introducing more of natural
and less of technical proceedings; by facilitating the production and
examination of evidence; by the suppression of the masses of papel
sellado (documents upon stamped paper); by diminishing the cost and
simplifying the process of appeal; and, above all, by the introduction
of a code applicable to the ordinary circumstances of social life.
He thinks the attempts to conglomerate the population in towns
and cities injurious to the agricultural interests of the country;
but assuredly this agglomeration is friendly to civilization, good
government and the production of wealth, and more likely than the
dispersion of the inhabitants to provide for the introduction of
those larger farms to which the Philippines must look for any very
considerable augmentation of the produce of the land.
"The natural riches of the country are incalculable. There are immense
tracts of the most feracious soil; brooks, streams, rivers, lakes,
on all sides; mountains of minerals, metals, marbles in vast variety;
forests whose woods are adapted to all the ordinary purposes of life;
gums, roots, medicinals, dyes, fruits in great variety. In many of
the islands the cost of a sufficiency of food for a family of five
is only a cuarto, a little more than a farthing, a day. Some of
the edible roots grow to an enormous size, weighing from 50 to 70
lbs.:--gutta-percha, caoutchouc, gum-lac, gamboge, and many other
gums abound. Of fibres the number is boundless; in fact, the known
and the unknown wealth of the islands only requires fit aptitudes
for its enormous development.
"With a few legislative reforms," he concludes, "with improved
instruction of the clergy, the islands would become a paradise of
inexhaustible riches, and of a well-being approachable in no other
portion of the globe. The docility and intelligence of the natives,
their imitative virtues (wanting though they be in forethought), make
them incomparably superior to any Asiatic or African race subjected to
European authority. Where deep thought and calculation are required,
they will fail; but their natural dispositions and tendencies, and
the present state of civilization among them, give every hope and
encouragement for the future." [31]