Historical Introduction

_by Edward Gaylord Bourne_

The American people are confronted with two race problems, one within

their own confines and long familiar but still baffling solution;

the other, new, remote, unknown, and even more imperatively demanding

intelligent and unremitting effort for its mastery.

In the first case there are some eight millions of people

ultimately derived from various savage tribes in Africa but long

since acclimatized, disciplined to labor, raised to civilized life,

Christianized, and by the acquisition of the English language brought

within a world of ideas inaccessible to their ancestors. Emancipated

by the fortune of war they are now living intermingled with a ruling

race, in it, but not of it, in an unsettled social status, oppressed

by the stigma of color and harassed and fettered by race prejudice.

In the other case there are six or seven millions of Malays whose

ancestors were raised from barbarism, taught the forms and manners

of civilized life, Christianized, and trained to labor by Catholic

missionaries three centuries ago. A common religion and a common

government have effaced in large measure earlier tribal differences

and constituted them a people; yet in the fullest sense of the word a

peculiar people. They stand unique as the only large mass of Asiatics

converted to Christianity in modern times. They have not, like the

African, been brought within the Christian pale by being torn from

their natural environment and schooled through slavery; but, in their

own home and protected from general contact with Europeans until

recent times, they have been moulded through the patient teaching,

parental discipline, and self-sacrificing devotion of the missionaries

into a whole unlike any similar body elsewhere in the world. They,

too, by the fortunes of war have lost their old rulers and guides

and against their will submit their future to alien hands. To govern

them or to train them to govern themselves are tasks almost equally

perplexing, nor is the problem made easier or clearer by the clash

of contradictory estimates of their culture and capacity which form

the ammunition of party warfare.

What is needed is as thorough and intelligent a knowledge of their

political and social evolution as a people as can be gained from

a study of their history. In the case of the Negro problem the

historical sources are abundant and accessible and the slavery

question is accorded, preeminent attention in the study of American

history. In the Philippine question, however, although the sources

are no less abundant and instructive they are and have been highly

inaccessible owing, on the one hand, to the absolute rarity of the

publications containing them, and, on the other, to their being

in a language hitherto comparatively little studied in the United

States. To collect these sources, scattered and inaccessible as they

are, to reproduce them and interpret them in the English language,

and to make it possible for university and public libraries and

the leaders in thought and policy to have at hand the complete and

authentic records of the culture and life of the millions in the

Far East whom we must understand in order to do them justice, is an

enterprise large in its possibilities for the public good.

In accordance with the idea that underlies this collection this

Introduction will not discuss the Philippine question of today nor

Philippine life during the last half century, nor will it give a

short history of the Islands since the conquest. For all these the

reader may be referred to recent publications like those of Foreman,

Sawyer, or Worcester, or earlier ones like those of Bowring and

Mallat, or to the works republished in the series. The aim of the

Introduction is rather to give the discovery and conquest of the

Philippines their setting in the history of geographical discovery,

to review the unparalleled achievements of the early conquerors and

missionaries, to depict the government and commerce of the islands

before the revolutionary changes of the last century, and to give such

a survey, even though fragmentary, of Philippine life and culture under

the old régime as will bring into relief their peculiar features and,

if possible, to show that although the annals of the Philippines may

be dry reading, the history of the Philippine people is a subject of

deep and singular interest.

The Philippine Islands in situation and inhabitants belong to the

Asiatic world, but, for the first three centuries of their recorded

history, they were in a sense a dependency of America, and now the

whirligig of time has restored them in their political relations to

the Western Hemisphere. As a dependency of New Spain they constituted

the extreme western verge of the Spanish dominions and were commonly

known as the Western Islands [2] _(Las Islas del Poniente)._ Their

discovery and conquest rounded out an empire which in geographical

extent far surpassed anything the world had then seen. When the sun

rose in Madrid, it was still early afternoon of the preceding day in

Manila, and Philip II was the first monarch who could boast that the

sun never set upon his dominions. [3]

In one generation, 1486-1522, the two little powers of the Iberian

Peninsula had extended their sway over the seas until they embraced the

globe. The way had been prepared for this unparalleled achievement by

the courage and devotion of the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator,

who gave his life to the advancement of geographical discovery and

of Portuguese commerce. The exploration of the west coast of Africa

was the school of the navigators who sailed to the East and the West

Indies, and out of the administration of the trade with Africa grew

the colonial systems of later days.

In the last quarter of the fifteenth century the increasing

obstructions in Egypt and by the Turks to the trade with the East

Indies held out a great prize to the discoverer of an all-sea route

to the Spice Islands. Bartholomew Diaz and Vasco da Gama solved this

problem for Portugal, but the solution offered to Spain by Columbus

and accepted in 1492 revealed a New World, the Indies of the West.

The King of Portugal, zealous to retain his monopoly of African and

eastern exploration, and the pious sovereigns of Spain, desirous to

build their colonial empire on solid and unquestioned foundations,

alike appealed to the Pope for a definition of their rights and a

confirmation of their claims. The world seemed big enough and with a

spacious liberality Pope Alexander VI granted Ferdinand and Isabella

the right to explore and to take possession of all the hitherto

unknown and heathen parts of the world west of a certain line drawn

north and south in the Atlantic Ocean. East of that line the rights

of Portugal, resting on their explorations and the grants of earlier

popes, were confirmed.

The documentary history of the Philippines begins with the Demarcation

Bulls and the treaty of Tordesillas, for out of them grew Magellan's

voyage and the discovery of the islands; and without them the

Philippines would no doubt have been occupied by Portugal and later

have fallen a prey to the Dutch as did the Moluccas.

King John of Portugal was dissatisfied with the provisions of the

Demarcation Bulls. He held that the treaty between Spain and Portugal

in 1479 had resigned to Portugal the field of oceanic discovery,

Spain retaining only the Canaries; and he felt that a boundary line

only a hundred leagues west of the Azores not only was an infringement

on his rights but would be a practical embarrassment in that it would

not allow his sailors adequate sea room for their African voyages.

His first contention was hardly valid; the second, however,

was reasonable and, as Columbus had estimated the distance from

the Canaries to the new islands at over nine hundred leagues, the

Catholic sovereigns were disposed to make concessions. By the treaty

of Tordesillas, June 7, 1494, it was agreed that the Demarcation

Line should be drawn three hundred and seventy leagues west of the

Cape Verde Islands. [4] This treaty accepted the principle of the

Papal arbitration but shifted the boundary to a position supposed to

be half-way between the Cape Verde Islands and the newly discovered

islands of Cipangu and Antilia. [5]

Neither in the Papal Bulls nor in the Treaty of Tordesillas was there

any specific reference to an extension of the Line around the globe or

to a division of the world. The arrangement seems to have contemplated

a free field for the exploration and conquest of the unknown parts

of the world, to the eastward for Portugal, and to the westward for

Spain. If they should cross each other's tracks priority of discovery

would determine the ownership. [6]

The suggestion of the extension of the line around the globe and of the

idea that Spain was entitled to what might be within the hemisphere

set off by the Demarcation Line and its extension to the antipodes

does not appear until the time of Magellan, and it is then that we

first meet the notion that the Pope had divided the world between

Spain and Portugal like an orange. [7]

The Portuguese reached India in 1498. Thirteen years later Albuquerque

made conquest of Malacca of the Malay Peninsula, the great entrepôt

of the spice trade; but even then the real goal, the islands where

the spices grow, had not been attained. The command of the straits,

however, promised a near realization of so many years of labor, and, as

soon as practicable, in December 1511, Albuquerque despatched Antonio

d'Abreu in search of the precious islands. A Spanish historian of the

next century affirms that Magellan accompanied d'Abreu in command of

one of the ships, but this can hardly be true. [8] Francisco Serrão,

however, one of the Portuguese captains, was a friend of Magellan's and

during his sojourn of several years in the Moluccas wrote to him of a

world larger and richer than that discovered by Vasco da Gama. It is

probable, as the historian Barros, who saw some of this correspondence,

sugguests, that Serrão somewhat exaggerated the distance from Malacca

to the Moluccas, and so planted the seed which bore such fruit in

Magellan's mind. [9]

The year after the Portuguese actually attained the Spice Islands,

Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, first of Europeans (1513), set eyes upon the

great South Sea. It soon became only too certain that the Portuguese

had won in the race for the land of cloves, pepper, and nutmegs. But,

in the absence of knowledge of the true dimensions of the earth and

with an underestimate of its size generally prevailing, the information

that the Spice Islands lay far to the east of India revived in the

mind of Magellan the original project of Columbus to seek the land

of spices by the westward route. That he laid this plan before the

King of Portugal, there seems good reason to believe, but when he saw

no prospect for its realization, like Columbus, he left Portugal for

Spain. It is now that the idea is evolved that, as the Moluccas lie so

far east of India, they are probably in the Spanish half of the world,

and, if approached from the west, may be won after all for the Catholic

king. No appeal for patronage and support could be more effective,

and how much reliance Magellan and his financial backer Christopher

Haro placed upon it in their petition to King Charles appears clearly

in the account by Maximilianus Transylvanus of Magellan's presentation

of his project: "They both showed Caesar that though it was not yet

quite sure whether Malacca was within the confines of the Spaniards

or the Portuguese, because, as yet, nothing of the longitude had been

clearly proved, yet, it was quite plain that the Great Gulf and the

people of Sinae lay within the Spanish boundary. This too was held

to be most certain, that the islands which they call the Moluccas,

in which all spices are produced, and are thence exported to Malacca,

lay within the Spanish western division, and that it was possible to

sail there; and that spices could be brought thence to Spain more

easily, and at less expense and cheaper, as they come direct from

their native place." [10]

Equally explicit was the contract which Magellan entered into with King

Charles: "Inasmuch as you bind yourself to discover in the dominions

which belong to us and are ours in the Ocean Sea within the limits of

our demarcation, islands and mainlands and rich spiceries, etc." This

is followed by an injunction "not to discover or do anything within

the demarcation and limits of the most serene King of Portugal." [11]

Las Casas, the historian of the Indies, was present in Valladolid when

Magellan came thither to present his plan to the King. "Magellan,"

he writes, "had a well painted globe in which the whole world was

depicted, and on it he indicated the route he proposed to take,

saving that the strait was left purposely blank so that no one should

anticipate him. And on that day and at that hour I was in the office

of the High Chancellor when the Bishop [of Burgos, Fonseca] brought it

[_i.e._ the globe] and showed the High Chancellor the voyage which

was proposed; and, speaking with Magellan, I asked him what way he

planned to take, and he answered that he intended to go by Cape Saint

Mary, which we call the Rio de la Plata and from thence to follow the

coast up until he hit upon the strait. But suppose you do not find

any strait by which you can go into the other sea. He replied that

if he did not find any strait that he would go the way the Portuguese

took.--This Fernando de Magalhaens must have been a man of courage and

valiant in his thoughts and for undertaking great things, although

he was not of imposing presence because he was small in stature and

did not appear in himself to be much." [12]

Such were the steps by which the Papal Demarcation Line led to

the first circumnavigation of the globe, the greatest single human

achievement on the sea. [13] The memorable expedition set out from

Seville September 20, 1519. A year elapsed before the entrance to the

strait named for the great explorer was discovered. Threading its

sinuous intricacies consumed thirty-eight days and then followed a

terrible voyage of ninety-eight days across a truly pathless sea. The

first land seen was the little group of islands called Ladrones from

the thievishness of the inhabitants, and a short stay was made at

Guam. About two weeks later, the middle of March, the little fleet

reached the group of islands which we know as the Philippines but

which Magellan named the islands of St. Lazarus, from the saint whose

day and feast were celebrated early in his stay among them. [14]

The calculations of the longitude showed that these islands were well

within the Spanish half of the world and the success with which a Malay

slave of Magellan, brought from Sumatra, made himself understood [15]

indicated clearly enough that they were not far from the Moluccas

and that the object of the expedition, to discover a westward route

to the Spice Islands, and to prove them to be within the Spanish

demarcation, was about to be realized. But Magellan, like Moses,

was vouchsafed only a glimpse of the Promised Land. That the heroic

and steadfast navigator should have met his death in a skirmish with

a few naked savages when in sight of his goal, is one of the most

pathetic tragedies in history. [16]

The difficulties, however, of approaching the Moluccas by the western

route through the straits of Magellan (that Cape Horn could be rounded

was not discovered till 1616), the stubborn and defiant attitude

of the King of Portugal in upholding his claims, the impossibility

of a scientific and exact determination of the Demarcation Line in

the absence of accurate means for measuring longitude,--all these,

reinforced by the pressure of financial stringency led King Charles in

1529 to relinquish all claims to or rights to trade with the Moluccas

for three hundred and fifty thousand ducats. [17] In the antipodes a

Demarcation Line was to be drawn from pole to pole seventeen degrees

on the equator, or two hundred and ninety-seven leagues east of the

Moluccas, and it was agreed that the subjects of the King of Castile

should neither sail or trade beyond that line, or carry anything

to the islands or lands within it. [18] If a later scientific and

accurate determination should substantiate the original claims of

either party the money should be returned [19] and the contract be

dissolved. Although the archipelago of St. Lazarus was not mentioned

in this treaty it was a plain renunciation of any rights over the

Philippines for they lie somewhat to the west of the Moluccas.

The King of Spain, however, chose to ignore this fact and tacitly

assumed the right to conquer the Philippines. It was, however,

thirteen years before another attempt was made in this direction. By

this time the conquest and development of the kingdom of New Spain

made one of its ports on the Pacific the natural starting point. This

expedition commanded by Rui Lopez de Villalobos was despatched

in 1542 and ended disastrously. The Portuguese Captain-general in

the Moluccas made several vigorous protests against the intrusion,

asserting that Mindanao fell within the Portuguese Demarcation and

that they had made some progress in introducing Christianity. [20]

Villalobos left no permanent mark upon the islands beyond giving

the name "Felipinas" to some of them, in honor of "our fortunate

Prince." [21]

Nearly twenty years elapsed before another expedition was undertaken,

but this was more carefully organized than any of its predecessors, and

four or five years were absorbed in the preparations. King Philip II,

while respecting the contract with Portugal in regard to the Moluccas,

proposed to ignore its provisions in regard to other islands included

within the Demarcation Line of 1529. In his first despatch relative

to this expedition in 1559 he enjoins that it shall not enter the

Moluccas but go "to other islands that are in the same region as

are the Philippines and others that were outside the said contract,

but within our demarcation, that are said to produce spices." [22]

Friar Andrés de Urdaneta, who had gone to the Moluccas with Loaisa

in 1525, while a layman and a sailor, explained to the king that as

_la isla Filipina_ was farther west than the Moluccas the treaty of

Zaragoza was just as binding in the case of these islands as in that

of the Moluccas, and that to avoid trouble some "legitimate or pious

reason for the expedition should be assigned such as the rescue of

sailors who had been lost on the islands in previous expeditions or

the determination of the longitude of the Demarcation Line" [23]

It is clear from the sequel that King Philip intended, as has been

said, to shut his eyes to the application of the Treaty of Zaragoza

to the Philippines. As they did not produce spices the Portuguese

had not occupied them and they now made no effectual resistance

to the Spanish conquest of the islands. [24] The union of Portugal

to the crown of Spain in 1580 subsequently removed every obstacle,

and when the Portuguese crown resumed its independence in 1640 the

Portuguese had been driven from the Spice Islands by the Dutch.

This is not the place to narrate in detail the history of the

great expedition of Legaspi. It established the power of Spain

in the Philippines and laid the foundations of their permanent

organization. In a sense it was an American enterprise. The ships

were built in America and for the most part equipped here. It was

commanded and guided by men who lived in the New World. The work of

Legaspi during the next seven years entitles him to a place among the

greatest of colonial pioneers. In fact he has no rival. Starting with

four ships and four hundred men, accompanied by five Augustinian monks,

reinforced in 1567 by two hundred soldiers, and from time to time by

similar small contingents of troops and monks, by a combination of

tact, resourcefulness, and courage he won over the natives, repelled

the Portuguese and laid such foundations that the changes of the

next thirty years constitute one of the most surprising revolutions

in the annals of colonization. A most brilliant exploit was that of

Legaspi's grandson, Juan de Salcedo, a youth of twenty-two who with

forty-five men explored northern Luzon, covering the present provinces

of Zambales, Pangasinán, La Union, Ilocos, and the coast of Cagayán,

and secured submission of the people to Spanish rule. [25] Well might

his associates hold him "unlucky because fortune had placed him where

oblivion must needs bury the most valiant deeds that a knight ever

wrought." [26] Nor less deserving of distinction than Legaspi and his

heroic grandson was Friar Andrés de Urdaneta the veteran navigator

whose natural abilities and extensive knowledge of the eastern seas

stood his commander in good stead at every point and most effectively

contributed to the success of the expedition. Nor should the work of

the Friars be ignored. Inspired by apostolic zeal, reinforced by the

glowing enthusiasm of the Catholic Reaction, gifted and tireless,

they labored in harmony with Legaspi, won converts, and checked the

slowly-advancing tide of Mohammedanism. The ablest of the Brothers,

Martin de Rada, was preaching in Visayan within five months.

The work of conversion opened auspiciously in Cebu, where Legaspi

began his work, with a niece of Tupas, an influential native, who was

baptized with great solemnity. Next came the conversion of the Moor

[Moslem] "who had served as interpreter and who had great influence

throughout all that country." In 1568 the turning point came with

the baptism of Tupas and of his son. This opened the door to general

conversion, for the example of Tupas had great weight. [27]

It is a singular coincidence that within the span of one human life

the Spaniard should have finished the secular labor of breaking the

power of the Moslem in Spain and have checked his advance in the

islands of the antipodes. The religion of the prophet had penetrated

to Malacca in 1276, had reached the Moluccas in 1465, and thence was

spreading steadily northward to Borneo and the Philippines. Iolo

(Sulu) and Mindanao succumbed in the sixteenth century and when

Legaspi began the conquest of Luzon in 1571 he found many Mohammedans

whose settlement or conversion had grown out of the trade relations

with Borneo. As the old Augustinian chronicler Grijalva remarks, and

his words are echoed by Morga and by the modern historian Montero y

Vidal: [28] "So well rooted was the cancer that had the arrival of

the Spaniards been delayed all the people would have become Moors,

as are all the islanders who have not come under the government of

the Philippines." [29]

It is one of the unhappy legacies of the religious revolution

of the sixteenth century that it has fixed a great gulf between

the Teutonic and the Latin mind, which proves impassable for the

average intellect. The deadly rivalries of Catholic and Protestant,

of Englishman and Spaniard, have left indelible traces upon their

descendants which intensify race prejudice and misunderstanding. The

Englishman or American looks with a contempt upon the economic

blindness or incapacity of the Spaniard that veils his eyes to their

real aims and achievements.

The tragedies and blunders of English colonization in America are often

forgotten and only the tragedies and blunders of Spanish colonization

are remembered. In the period which elapsed between the formulation of

the Spanish and of the English colonial policies religious ideals were

displaced by the commercial, and in the exaltation of the commercial

ideal England took the lead. Colonies, from being primarily fields for

the propagation of Christianity and incidentally for the production

of wealth, became the field primarily for industrial and commercial

development and incidentally for Christian work. The change no doubt

has contributed vastly to the wealth of the world and to progress,

but it has been fatal to the native populations. The Spanish policy

aimed to preserve and civilize the native races, not to establish a

new home for Spaniards, and the colonial legislation provided elaborate

safeguards for the protection of the Indians. Many of these were a mere

dead letter but the preservation and civilization of the native stock

in Mexico, Central and South America, and above all in the Philippines

stand out in marked contrast, after all allowances and qualifications

have been made, with the fate, past and prospective, of the aborigines

in North America, the Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, and Australia,

and clearly differentiate in their respective tendencies and results

the Spanish and English systems. The contrast between the effects of

the Spanish conquest in the West Indies, Mexico, and the Philippines

reflects the development of the humane policy of the government. The

ravages of the first conquistadores, it should be remembered, took

place before the crown had time to develop a colonial policy.

It is customary, too, for Protestant writers to speak with contempt

of Catholic missions, but it must not be forgotten that France and

England were converted to Christianity by similar methods. The

Protestant ridicules the wholesale baptisms and conversions and

a Christianity not even skin-deep, but that was the way in which

Christianity was once propagated in what are the ruling Christian

nations of today. The Catholic, on the other hand, might ask for some

evidence that the early Germans, or the Anglo-Saxons would ever have

been converted to Christianity by the methods employed by Protestants.

The wholesale baptisms have their real significance in the

frame of mind receptive for the patient Christian nurture that

follows. Christianity has made its real conquests and is kept alive

by Christian training, and its progress is the improvement which one

generation makes upon another in the observance of its precepts. One

who has read the old Penitential books and observed the evidences

they afford of the vitality of heathen practices and rites among the

people in England in the early Middle Ages will not be too harsh in

characterizing the still imperfect fruits of the Catholic missions

of the last three centuries.

In the light, then, of impartial history raised above race prejudice

and religious prepossessions, after a comparison with the early years

of the Spanish conquest in America or with the first generation or

two of the English settlements, the conversion and civilization of

the Philippines in the forty years following Legaspi's arrival must be

pronounced an achievement without a parallel in history. An examination

of what was accomplished at the very ends of the earth with a few

soldiers and a small band of missionaries will it is believed reveal

the reasons for this verdict. We are fortunate in possessing for this

purpose, among other materials, a truly classic survey of the condition

of the islands at the opening of the seventeenth century written by a

man of scholarly training and philosophic mind, Dr. Antonio de Morga,

who lived in the islands eight years in the government service. [30]

The Spaniards found in the population of the islands two sharply

contrasted types which still survive--the Malay and the Negrito. After

the introduction of Christianity the natives were commonly classified

according to their religion as Indians (Christian natives), Moors

[31] (Mohammedan natives), and Heathen (Gentiles) or Infidels. The

religious beliefs of the Malays were not held with any great tenacity

and easily yielded to the efforts of the missionaries. The native taste

for the spectacular was impressed and gratified by the picturesque

and imposing ceremonials of the church.

Their political and social organization was deficient in

cohesion. There were no well established native states but rather a

congeries of small groups something like clans. The headship of these

groups or _barangays_ was hereditary and the authority of the chief of

the _barangay_ was despotic. [32] This social disintegration immensely

facilitated the conquest; and by tact and conciliation, effectively

supported by arms, but with very little actual bloodshed, Spanish

sovereignty was superimposed upon these relatively detached groups,

whose essential features were preserved as a part of the colonial

administrative machinery. This in turn was a natural adaptation of that

developed in New Spain. Building upon the available institutions of the

_barangay_ as a unit the Spaniards aimed to familiarize and accustom

the Indians to settled village life and to moderate labor. Only under

these conditions could religious training and systematic religious

oversight be provided. These villages were commonly called _pueblos_

or _reducciones_, and Indians who ran away to escape the restraints

of civilized life were said to "take to the hills" (_remontar_).

As a sign of their allegiance and to meet the expenses of government

every Indian family was assessed a tribute of eight reals, about one

dollar, and for the purpose of assessment the people were set off in

special groups something like feudal holdings (_encomiendas_). The

tribute from some of the _encomiendas_ went to the king. Others had

been granted to the Spanish army officers or to the officials. [33]

The "Report of the _Encomiendas_ in the Islands in 1591" just twenty

years after the conquest of Luzon reveals a wonderful progress in

the work of civilization. In the city of Manila there was a cathedral

and the bishop's palace, monasteries for the Austin, Dominican, and

Franciscan Friars, and a house for the Jesuits. The king maintained a

hospital for Spaniards; there was also a hospital for Indians in the

charge of two Franciscan lay brothers. The garrison was composed of

two hundred soldiers. The Chinese quarter or _Parián_ contained some

two hundred shops and a population of about two thousand. In the suburb

of Tondo there was a convent of Franciscans and another of Dominicans

who provided Christian teaching for some forty converted Sangleyes

(Chinese merchants). In Manila and the adjacent region nine thousand

four hundred and ten tributes were collected, indicating a total of

some thirty thousand six hundred and forty souls under the religious

instruction of thirteen missionaries (_ministros de doctrina_), besides

the friars in the monasteries. In the old province of La Pampanga

the estimated population was 74,700 with twenty-eight missionaries;

in Pangasinán 2,400 souls with eight missionaries; in Ilocos 78,520

with twenty missionaries; in Cagayán and the Babuyan islands 96,000

souls but no missionaries; in La Laguna 48,400 souls with twenty-seven

missionaries; in Vicol and Camarines with the island of Catanduanes

86,640 souls with fifteen missionaries, etc., making a total for the

islands of 166,903 tributes or 667,612 souls under one hundred and

forty missionaries, of which seventy-nine were Augustinians, nine

Dominicans, forty-two Franciscans. The King's _encomiendas_ numbered

thirty-one and the private ones two hundred and thirty-six. [34]

Friar Martin Ignacio in his _Itinerario_, the earliest printed

description of the islands (1585), says: "According unto the common

opinion at this day there is converted and baptised more than foure

hundred thousand soules." [35]

This system of _encomiendas_ had been productive of much hardship and

oppression in Spanish America, nor was it altogether divested of these

evils in the Philippines. The payment of tributes, too, was irksome

to the natives and in the earlier days the Indians were frequently

drafted for forced labor, but during this transition period, and later,

the clergy were the constant advocates of humane treatment and stood

between the natives and the military authorities. This solicitude of

the missionaries for their spiritual children and the wrongs from which

they sought to protect them are clearly displayed in the _Relacion de

las Cosas de las Filipinas_ of Domingo de Salazar, the first bishop,

who has been styled the "Las Casas of the Philippines." [36]

That it was the spirit of kindness, Christian love, and brotherly

helpfulness of the missionaries that effected the real conquest of

the islands is abundantly testified by qualified observers of various

nationalities and periods, [37] but the most convincing demonstration

is the ridiculously small military force that was required to support

the prestige of the Catholic king. The standing army organized in

1590 for the defense of the country numbered four hundred men! [38]

No wonder an old viceroy of New Spain was wont to say: "_En cada fraile

tenía el rey en Filipinas un capitan general y un ejercito entero_"--

"In each friar in the Philippines the King had a captain general and

a whole army." [39] The efforts of the missionaries were by no means

restricted to religious teaching, but were also directed to promote

the social and economic advancement of the islands. They cultivated

the innate taste for music of the natives and taught the children

Spanish. [40] They introduced improvements in rice culture, brought

Indian corn and cacao from America and developed the cultivation

of indigo and coffee, and sugar cane. Tobacco alone of the economic

plants brought to the islands by the Spaniards owes its introduction

to government agency. [41]

The young capital of the island kingdom of New Castile, as it was

denominated by Philip II, in 1603 when it was described by Morga

invites some comparison with Boston, New York, or Philadelphia in the

seventeenth century. The city was surrounded by a wall of hewn stone

some three miles in circuit. There were two forts and a bastion, each

with a garrison of a few soldiers. The government residence and office

buildings were of hewn stone and spacious and airy. The municipal

buildings, the cathedral, and the monasteries of the three orders were

of the same material. The Jesuits, besides providing special courses of

study for members of their order, conducted a college for the education

of Spanish youth. The establishment of this college had been ordered by

Philip II in 1585 but it was 1601 before it was actually opened. [42]

Earlier than this in 1593 there had been established a convent school

for girls, [43] the college of Saint Potenciana. In provisions for

the sick and helpless, Manila at the opening of the seventeenth

century was far in advance of any city in the English colonies for

more than a century and a half to come. [44] There was first the

royal hospital for Spaniards with its medical attendants and nurses;

the Franciscan hospital for the Indians administered by three priests

and by four lay brothers who were physicians and apothecaries and

whose skill had wrought surprising cures in medicine and surgery;

the House of Mercy, which took in sick slaves, gave lodgings to

poor women, portioned orphan girls, and relieved other distresses;

and lastly, the hospital for Sangleyes or Chinese shopkeepers in the

Chinese quarter. [45] Within the walls the houses, mainly of stone and

inhabited by Spaniards, numbered about six hundred. The substantial

buildings, the gaily-dressed people, the abundance of provisions and

other necessaries of human life made Manila, as Morga says, "one of

the towns most praised by the strangers who flock to it of any in the

world." [46] There were three other cities in the islands, Segovia

and Cazeres in Luzon, and the city of the "most holy name of Jesus"

in Cebú, the oldest Spanish settlement in the archipelago. In the

first and third the Spanish inhabitants numbered about two hundred

and in Cazeres about one hundred. In _Santisimo nombre de Jesús_

there was a Jesuit college.

Although the Indians possessed an alphabet before the arrival of the

Spaniards and the knowledge of reading and writing was fairly general

they had no written literature of any kind. [47] A Jesuit priest who

had lived in the islands eighteen years, writing not far from 1640,

tells us that by that time the Tagals had learned to write their

language from left to right instead of perpendicularly as was their

former custom, but they used writing merely for correspondence. The

only books thus far in the Indian languages were those written by

the missionaries on religion. [48]

In regard to the religious life of the converted Indians the Friars

and Morga speak on the whole with no little satisfaction. Friar Martin

Ignacio in 1584 writes: "Such as are baptised, doo receive the fayth

with great firmenesse, and are good Christians, and would be better, if

that they were holpen with good ensamples." [49] Naturally the Spanish

soldiers left something to be desired as examples of Christianity

and Friar Martin relates the story of the return from the dead of a

principal native--"a strange case, the which royally did passe of a

trueth in one of these ilandes,"--who told his former countrymen of the

"benefites and delights" of heaven, which "was the occasion that some

of them forthwith received the baptisme, and that others did delay

it, saying, that because there were Spaniard souldiers in glory, they

would not go thither, because they would not be in their company." [50]

Morga writing in 1603 says: "In strictest truth the affairs of the

faith have taken a good footing, as the people have a good disposition

and genius, and they have seen the errors of their paganism and the

truths of the Christian religion; they have got good churches and

monasteries of wood, well constructed, with shrines and brilliant

ornaments, and all the things required for the service, crosses,

candlesticks, chalices of gold and silver, many brotherhoods and

religious acts, assiduity in the sacraments and being present at

divine service, and care in maintaining and supplying their monks,

with great obedience and respect; they also give for the prayers

and burials of their dead, and perform this with all punctuality and

liberality." [51] A generation later the report of the Religious is

not quite so sanguine: "They receive our religion easily and their lack

of intellectual penetration saves them from sounding the difficulties

of its mysteries. They are too careless of fulfilling the duties of

the Christianity which they profess and must needs be constrained by

fear of chastisement and be ruled like school children. Drunkenness

and usury are the two vices to which they are most given and these

have not been entirely eradicated by the efforts of our monks." [52]

That these efforts were subsequently crowned with a large measure of

success is shown by the almost universal testimony to the temperate

habits of the Filipinos.

This first period of Philippine history has been called its Golden

Age. Certainly no succeeding generation saw such changes and

advancement. It was the age of Spain's greatest power and the slow

decline and subsequent decrepitude that soon afflicted the parent

state could not fail to react upon the colony. This decline was in

no small degree the consequence of the tremendous strain to which

the country was subjected in the effort to retain and solidify its

power in Europe while meeting the burden of new establishments in

America and the Philippines. That in the very years when Spaniards

were accomplishing the unique work of redeeming an oriental people

from barbarism and heathenism to Christianity and civilized life,

the whole might of the mother-country should have been massed in a

tremendous conflict in Europe which brought ruin and desolation to

the most prosperous provinces under her dominion, and sapped her own

powers of growth, is one of the strangest coincidences in history.

Bending every energy for years to stay the tide of change and progress,

suppressing freedom of thought with relentless vigor, and quarantining

herself and her dependencies against new ideas, conservatism

grew to be her settled habit and the organs of government became

ossified. Policies of commercial restriction which were justifiable

or at least rationally explicable in the sixteenth century lasted on,

proof against innovation or improvement, until the eighteenth century

and later. Consequently from the middle of the seventeenth century at

the period of the rapid rise of colonial powers of France, Holland,

and England, the Spanish colonies find themselves under a commercial

regime which increasingly hampers their prosperity and effectually

blocks their advancement.

The contrast between the Spanish possessions and those of the other

maritime powers became more marked as time went on. The insuperable

conservatism of the home government gave little opportunity for the

development of a class of energetic and progressive colonial officials,

and financial corruption honeycombed the whole colonial civil service.

Such conditions: the absence of the spirit of progress, hostility to

new ideas, failure to develop resources, and the prevalence of bribery

and corruption in the civil service, insure abundant and emphatic

condemnation at the present day for the Spanish colonial system. But

in any survey of this system we must not lose sight of the terrible

costs of progress in the tropical colonies of Holland, France, and

England; nor fail to compare the _pueblos_ of the Philippines in the

eighteenth century with the plantations of San Domingo, or Jamaica,

or Java, or with those of Cuba in the early nineteenth century when

the spirit of progress invaded the island.

To facilitate the understanding of the historical materials which will

be collected in this series and to lay the foundation for a just and

appreciative comparison of the institutions of the Philippines with

those of other European dependencies in the tropics, it will be my aim

now to bring into relief the distinctive features of the work wrought

in the islands which raised a congeries of Malay tribes to Christian

civilization, and secured for them as happy and peaceful an existence

on as high a plane as has yet been attained by any people of color

anywhere in the world, or by any orientals for any such length of time.

Such a survey of Philippine life may well begin with a brief

account of the government of the islands. This will be followed by a

description of the commercial system and of the state of the arts and

of education, religion, and some features of social life during the

eighteenth century and in the first years of the nineteenth before

the entrance of the various and distracting currents of modern life

and thought. In some cases significant details will be taken from the

works of competent witnesses whose observations were made somewhat

earlier or later. This procedure is unobjectionable in describing

a social condition on the whole so stationary as was that of the

Philippines before the last half century.

From the beginning the Spanish establishments in the Philippines were

a mission and not in the proper sense of the term a colony. They were

founded and administered in the interests of religion rather than of

commerce or industry. They were an advanced outpost of Christianity

whence the missionary forces could be deployed through the great

empires of China and Japan, and hardly had the natives of the islands

begun to yield to the labors of the friars when some of the latter

pressed on adventurously into China and found martyrs' deaths in

Japan. In examining the political administration of the Philippines,

then, we must be prepared to find it a sort of outer garment under

which the living body is ecclesiastical. Against this subjection to

the influence and interests of the Church energetic governors rebelled,

and the history of the Spanish domination is checkered with struggles

between the civil and religious powers which reproduce on a small

scale the mediæval contests of Popes and Emperors.

Colonial governments are of necessity adaptations of familiar domestic

institutions to new functions. The government of Spain in the sixteenth

century was not that of a modern centralized monarchy but rather of

a group of kingdoms only partially welded together by the possession

of the same sovereign, the same language, and the same religion. The

King of Spain was also the ruler of other kingdoms outside of the

peninsula. Consequently when the New World was given a political

organization it was subdivided for convenience into kingdoms and

captaincies general in each of which the administrative machinery was

an adaptation of the administrative machinery of Spain. In accordance

with this procedure the Philippine islands were constituted a kingdom

and placed under the charge of a governor and captain general,

whose powers were truly royal and limited only by the check imposed

by the Supreme Court (the _Audiencia_) and by the ordeal of the

_residencia_ at the expiration of his term of office. Among his

extensive prerogatives was his appointing power which embraced

all branches of the civil service in the islands. He also was _ex

officio_ the President of the _Audiencia_. [53] His salary was $8,000

[54] a year, but his income might be largely augmented by gifts or

bribes. [55] The limitations upon the power of the Governor imposed by

the _Audiencia_, in the opinion of the French astronomer Le Gentil,

were the only safeguard against an arbitrary despotism, yet Zúñiga,

a generation later pronounced its efforts in this direction generally

ineffectual. [56] The _residencia_ to which reference has been made

was an institution peculiar in modern times to the Spanish colonial

system, it was designed to provide a method by which officials

could be held to strict accountability for all acts during their

term of office. Today reliance is placed upon the force of public

opinion inspired and formulated by the press and, in self-governing

communities, upon the holding of frequent elections. The strength

of modern party cohesion both infuses vigor into these agencies and

neutralizes their effectiveness as the case may be. But in the days

of the formation of the Spanish Empire beyond the sea there were

neither free elections, nor public press, and the criticism of the

government was sedition. To allow a contest in the courts involving

the governor's powers during his term of office would be subversive of

his authority. He was then to be kept within bounds by realizing that a

day of judgment was impending, when everyone, even the poorest Indian,

might in perfect security bring forward his accusation. [57] In the

Philippines the _residencia_ for a governor lasted six months and was

conducted by his successor and all the charges made were forwarded to

Spain. [58] The Italian traveler Gemelli Careri who visited Manila in

1696 characterizes the governor's _residencia_ as a "dreadful Trial,"

the strain of which would sometimes "break their hearts." [59]

On the other hand, an acute observer of Spanish-American

institutions of the olden time intimates that the severities of the

_residencia_ could be mitigated and no doubt such was the case in the

Philippines. [60] By the end of the eighteenth century the _residencia_

seems to have lost its efficacy. [61] The governorship was certainly a

difficult post to fill and the remoteness from Europe, the isolation,

and the vexations of the _residencia_ made it no easy task to get good

men for the place. An official of thirty years experience, lay and

ecclesiastical, assures us in the early seventeenth century that he

had known of only one governor really fitted for the position, Gomez

Perez Dasmariñas. He had done more for the happiness of the natives in

three years than all his predecessors or successors. Some governors had

been without previous political experience while others were deficient

in the qualities required in a successful colonial ruler. [62]

The supreme court or _Audiencia_ was composed of four judges

(_oidores,_ auditors) an attorney-general _(fiscal)_ a constable,

etc. The governor who acted as president had no vote. [63] Besides

the functions of this body as the highest court of appeal for

criminal and civil cases it served as has been said as a check upon

the governor. Down to 1715 the _Audiencia_ took charge of the civil

administration in the interim between the death of a governor and the

arrival of his successor, and the senior auditor assumed the military

command. [64] Attached to the court were advocates for the accused,

a defender of the Indians, and other minor officials. In affairs of

public importance the _Audiencia_ was to be consulted by the governor

for the opinions of the auditors. [65]

For the purposes of local administration the islands were subdivided

into or constituted Provinces under _alcaldes mayores_ who exercised

both executive and judicial functions, and superintended the collection

of tribute. [66] The _alcaldes mayores_ were allowed to engage in trade

on their own account which resulted too frequently in enlisting their

interest chiefly in money making and in fleecing the Indians. [67]

The provincial court consisted of the _alcalde mayor,_ an assessor

who was a lawyer, and a notary. The favoritism and corruption that

honeycombed the civil service of Spain in the colonies in the days of

her decline often placed utterly unfit persons in these positions of

responsibility. A most competent observer, Tomás de Comyn, many years

the factor of the Philippine Commercial Company, has depicted in dark

colors, and perhaps somewhat overdrawn the evils of the system. [68]

The subdivision of the provinces was into _pueblos_ each under

its petty governor or _gobernadorcillo._ The _gobernadorcillo_

was an Indian and was elected annually. In Morga's time the right

of suffrage seems to have been enjoyed by all married Indians, [69]

but in the last century it was restricted to thirteen electors. [70]

The _gobernadorcillo_ was commonly called the "captain." Within the

_pueblos_ the people formed little groups of from forty to fifty

tributes called _barangays_ under the supervision of _cabezas de

barangay_. These heads of _barangay_ represent the survival of the

earlier clan organization and were held responsible for the tributes

of their groups. Originally the office of _cabeza de barangay_ was no

doubt hereditary, but it became generally elective. [71] The electors

of the _gobernadorcillo_ were made up of those, who were or had been

_cabezas de barangay_ and they after three years of service became

eligible to the office of petty governor.

In the few Spanish towns in the islands the local government was

similar to that which prevailed in America, which in turn was derived

from Spain. That of Manila may be taken as an example. The corporation,

_El Cabildo_ (chapter) consisted of two ordinary _alcaldes_, eight

_regidores_, a registrar, and a constable. The _alcaldes_ were

justices, and were elected annually from the householders by the

corporation. The _regidores_ were aldermen and with the registrar

and constable held office permanently as a proprietary right. These

permanent positions in the _cabildo_ could be bought and sold or

inherited. [72]

Turning now to the ecclesiastical administration, we find there the

real vital organs of the Philippine governmental system. To the modern

eye the islands would have seemed, as they did to the French scientist

Le Gentil, priest-ridden. Yet it was only through the Friars that Spain

retained her hold at all. [73] A corrupt civil service and a futile

and decrepit commercial system were through their efforts rendered

relatively harmless, because circumscribed in their effects. The

continuous fatherly interest of the clergy more than counterbalanced

the burden of the tribute. [74] They supervised the tilling of the

soil, as well as the religious life of the people; and it was through

them that the works of education and charity were administered. [75]

The head of the ecclesiastical system was the Archbishop of Manila,

who in a certain sense was the Patriarch of the Indies. [76] The other

high ecclesiastical digntaries were the three bishops of Cebú, of

Segovia in Cagayán, and of Cazeres in Camarines; and the provincials

of the four great orders of friars, the Dominicans, Augustinians,

the Franciscans, the barefooted Augustinians, and the Jesuits. [77]

In the earlier days the regular clergy (members of the orders) greatly

outnumbered the seculars, and refused to acknowledge that they were

subject to the visitation of bishop or archbishop. This contention

gave rise, at times, to violent struggles. During the eighteenth and

nineteenth centuries the proportionate number of seculars increased. In

1750 the total number of parishes was 569, of which 142, embracing

147,269 persons, were under secular priests. The numbers in charge

of the orders were as follows:

Villages. Souls.

Augustinians, 115 252,963

Franciscans, 63 141,193

Jesuits, 93 209,527

Dominicans, 51 99,780

Recollects, 105 53,384

making a total of 569 parishes and 904,116 souls. [78]

These proportions, however, fail to give a correct idea of the enormous

preponderance of the religious orders; for the secular priests were

mostly Indians and could exercise nothing like the influence of the

Friars upon their cures. [79]

In these hundreds of villages the friars bore sway with the mild

despotism of the shepherd of the flock. Spanish officials entered

these precincts only on occasion. Soldiers were not to be seen save

to suppress disorders. Spaniards were not allowed to live in these

communities, and visitors were carefully watched. [80] As Spanish was

little known in the provinces, the curate was the natural intermediary

in all communications between the natives and the officials or

outsiders. In some provinces there were no white persons besides

the _alcalde mayor_ and the friars. Without soldiers the _alcalde

mayor_ must needs rely upon the influence of the friars to enable

him to execute his duties as provincial governor. In contemplating

their services for civilization and good order Tomas de Comyn rises

to enthusiasm. "Let us visit," he writes, "the Philippine Islands,

and with astonishment shall we there behold extended ranges, studded

with temples and spacious convents, the Divine worship celebrated with

pomp and splendour; regularity in the streets, and even luxury in the

houses and dress; schools of the first rudiments in all the towns,

and the inhabitants well versed in the art of writing. We shall see

there causeways raised, bridges of good architecture built, and, in

short, all the measures of good government and police, in the greatest

part of the country, carried into effect; yet the whole is due to the

exertions, apostolic labours, and pure patriotism of the ministers of

religion. Let us travel over the provinces, and we shall see towns of

5, 10, and 20,000 Indians, peacefully governed by one weak old man,

who, with his doors open at all hours, sleeps quiet and secure in his

dwelling, without any other magic, or any other guards, than the love

and respect with which he has known how to inspire his flock." [81]

If this seems too rosy a picture, it still must not be forgotten that

at this time the ratio of whites to Indians in the islands was only

about one to sixteen hundred, [82] that most of these lived in Manila,

and that the entire military force was not more than two thousand

regular troops. [83] As has been intimated this condition lasted

down until a comparatively recent period. As late as 1864 the total

number of Spaniards amounted to but 4,050 of whom 3,280 were government

officials, etc., 500 clergy, 200 landed proprietors, and 70 merchants;

and in the provinces the same conditions prevailed that are described

by Comyn. [84] In more than half of the twelve hundred villages in the

islands "there was no other Spaniard, no other national authority, nor

any other force to maintain public order save only the friars." [85]

Recurring for a moment to the higher ecclesiastical organization, the

judicial functions of the church were represented by the archbishop's

court and the commissioner of the Inquisition. The Episcopal court,

which was made up of the archbishop, the vicar-general, and a notary,

tried cases coming under the canon law, such as those relating to

matrimony and all cases involving the clergy. Idolatry on the part

of the Indians or Chinese might be punished by this court. [86]

The Holy Inquisition transplanted to New Spain in 1569 stretched its

long arm across the great ocean to the Philippines, in the person of

a commissioner, for the preservation of the true faith. The Indians

and Chinese were exempted from its jurisdiction. Its processes were

roundabout, and must have given a considerable proportion of its

accused a chance to die a natural death. The Commissioner must first

report the offense to the Court in New Spain; if a trial was ordered,

the accused must be sent to Mexico, and, if convicted, must be returned

to the Philippines to receive punishment. [87]

The most peculiar feature of the old regime in the Philippines is

to be found in the regulations of the commerce of the islands. In

the _Recopilacion de leyes de los reinos de las Indias_, the code of

Spanish colonial legislation, a whole title comprising seventy-nine

laws is devoted to this subject. For thirty years after the conquest

the commerce of the islands was unrestricted and their prosperity

advanced with great rapidity. [88] Then came a system of restrictions,

demanded by the protectionists in Spain, which limited the commerce

of the islands with America to a fixed annual amount, and effectively

checked their economic development. All the old travelers marvel

at the possibilities of the islands and at the blindness of Spain,

but the policy absurd as it may seem was but a logical application

of the protective system not essentially different from the forms

which it assumes today in our own relations to Porto Rico, Cuba,

and the Philippines.

The Seville merchants through whose hands the Spanish export trade to

the New World passed looked with apprehension upon the importation

of Chinese fabrics into America and the exportation of American

silver to pay for them. The silks of China undersold those of Spain

in Mexico and Peru, and the larger the export of silver to the East

the smaller to Spain. Consequently to protect Spanish industry and to

preserve to Spanish producers the American market, [89] the shipment

of Chinese cloths from Mexico to Peru was prohibited in 1587. In 1591

came the prohibition of all direct trade between Peru or other parts

of South America and China or the Philippines, [90] and in 1593 a

decree--not rigorously enforced till 1604--which absolutely limited

the trade between Mexico and the Philippines to $250,000 annually for

the exports to Mexico, and to $500,000 for the imports from Mexico, to

be carried in two ships not to exceed three hundred tons burden. [91]

No Spanish subject was allowed to trade in or with China, and the

Chinese trade was restricted to the merchants of that nation. [92]

All Chinese goods shipped to New Spain must be consumed there and

the shipping of Chinese cloths to Peru in any amount whatever even

for a gift, charitable endowment, or for use in divine worship was

absolutely prohibited. [93] As these regulations were evaded, in

1636 all commerce was interdicted between New Spain and Peru. [94]

A commerce naturally so lucrative as that between the Philippines and

New Spain when confined within such narrow limits yielded monopoly

profits. It was like a lottery in which every ticket drew a prize. In

these great profits every Spaniard was entitled to share in proportion

to his capital or standing in the community. [95] The assurance

of this largess, from the beginnings of the system, discouraged

individual industry and enterprise, and retarded the growth of Spanish

population. [96] Le Gentil and Zúñiga give detailed descriptions of the

method of conducting this state enterprise [97] after the limits had

been raised to $500,000 and $1,000,000 respectively for the outgoing

and return voyage. The capacity of the vessel was measured taking as

a unit a bale about two and one-half feet long, sixteen inches broad

and two feet high. If then the vessel could carry four thousand of

these bales, each bale might be packed with goods up to a value of

one hundred and twenty-five dollars. The right to ship was known as a

_boleta_ or ticket. The distribution of these tickets was determined

at the town hall by a board made up of the governor, attorney-general,

the dean of the _audiencia_, one _alcalde_, one _regidor_ and eight

citizens. [98]

To facilitate the allotment and the sale of tickets they were divided

into sixths. Tickets were ordinarily worth in the later eighteenth

century in times of peace eighty dollars to one hundred dollars,

and in war time they rose to upwards of three hundred dollars. [99]

Le Gentil tells us that in 1766 they sold for two hundred dollars

and more, and that the galleon that year went loaded beyond the

limit. [100] Each official as the perquisite of his office had

tickets. The regidores and alcaldes had eight.

The small holders who did not care to take a venture in the voyage

disposed of their tickets to merchants or speculators, who borrowed

money, usually of the religious corporations, at twenty-five to thirty

per cent per annum to buy them up and who sometimes bought as many

as two or three hundred. [101] The command of the Acapulco galleon

was the fattest office within the gift of the Governor, who bestowed

it upon "whomsoever he desired to make happy for the commission,"

and was equivalent to a gift of from $50,000 to $100,000. [102]

This was made up from commissions, part of the passage-money of

passengers, from the sale of his freight tickets, and from the

gifts of the merchants. Captain Arguelles told Careri in 1696 that

his commissions would amount to $25,000 or $30,000, and that in all

he would make $40,000; that the pilot would clear $20,000 and the

mates $9,000 each. [103] The pay of the sailors was three hundred

and fifty dollars, of which seventy-five dollars was advanced before

the start. The merchants expected to clear one hundred and fifty to

two hundred per cent. The passenger fare at the end of the eighteenth

century was $1,000 for the voyage to Acapulco, which was the hardest,

and $500 for the return. [104] Careri's voyage to Acapulco lasted two

hundred and four days. The ordinary time for the voyage to Manila was

seventy-five to ninety days. [105] Careri's description of his voyage

is a vivid picture of the hardships of early ocean travel, when cabin

passengers fared infinitely worse than cattle today. It was a voyage

"which is enough to destroy a man, or make him unfit for anything

as long as he lives;" yet there were those who "ventured through it,

four, six and some ten times." [106]

Acapulco in New Spain had little reason for existence, save for

the annual fair at the time of the arrival of the Manila ship, and

the silver fleet from Peru. That event transformed what might more

properly be called "a poor village of fishermen" into "a populous

city," for the space of about two weeks. [107]

The commerce between the Philippines and Mexico was conducted

in this manner from 1604 to 1718, when the silk manufacturers of

Spain secured the prohibition of the importation of Chinese silk

goods into New Spain on account of the decline of their industry. A

prolonged struggle before the Council of the Indies ensued, and in

1734 the prohibition was revoked and the east and west cargoes fixed

at $500,000 and $1,000,000 respectively. [108] The last _nao_, as

the Manila-Acapulco galleon was called, sailed from Manila in 1811,

and the final return voyage was made in 1815. After that the commerce

fell into private hands, the annual exports were limited to $750,000

and the ports of San Blas (Mexico), Guayaquil (Ecuador), and Callao

(Peru) were opened to it.

Other changes were the establishment of direct communication with

Spain and trade with Europe by a national vessel in 1766. [109] These

expeditions lasted till 1783 and their place was taken in 1785 by the

Royal Philippine Company, organized with a capital of $8,000,000, and

granted the monopoly of the trade between Spain and the islands. [110]

The Manila merchants resented the invasion of their monopoly of the

export trade, and embarrassed the operations of the company as much

as they could. [111] It ceased to exist in 1830.

By this system for two centuries the South American market for

manufactures was reserved exclusively for Spain, but the protection did

not prevent Spanish industry from decay and did retard the well-being

and progress of South America. Between Mexico and the Philippines a

limited trade was allowed, the profits of which were the perquisites

of the Spaniards living in the Philippines and contributed to the

religious endowments. But this monopoly was of no permanent advantage

to the Spanish residents. It was too much like stock-jobbing, and

sapped all spirit of industry. Zúñiga says that the commerce made a

few rich in a short time and with little labor, but they were very few;

that there were hardly five Spaniards in Manila worth $100,000, nor a

hundred worth $40,000, the rest either lived on the King's pay or in

poverty. [112] "Every morning one could see in the streets of Manila,

in the greatest poverty and asking alms, the sons of men who had made a

fine show and left much money, which their sons had squandered because

they had not been well trained in youth." [113] The great possibilities

of Manila as an entrepot of the Asiatic trade were unrealized; for

although the city enjoyed open trade with the Chinese, Japanese,

and other orientals, [114] it was denied to Europeans and the growth

of that conducted by the Chinese and others was always obstructed

by the lack of return cargoes owing to the limitations placed upon

the trade with America and to the disinclination of the Filipinos to

work to produce more than was enough to insure them a comfortable

living and pay their tributes. That the system was detrimental to

the economic progress of the islands was always obvious and its evils

were repeatedly demonstrated by Spanish officials. Further it was not

only detrimental to the prosperity of the islands but it obstructed

the development of Mexico.

Grau y Monfalcon in 1637 reported that there were fourteen thousand

people employed in Mexico in manufacturing the raw silk imported

from China. This industry might be promoted by the relaxation of

the restrictions on trade. It would also be for the advantage of the

Indians of Peru to be able to buy for five pence a yard linen from

the Philippines, rather than to be compelled to purchase that of Rouen

at ten times the price. [115] But such reasoning was received then as

it often is now, and no great change was made for nearly two centuries.

We have now passed in review the political, ecclesiastical, and

commercial administration of the Philippines in the olden time; and

a general survey of some of the more striking results of the system

as a whole may now be made. This is especially necessary on account

of the traditional and widely prevalent opinion that the Spanish

colonial system was always and everywhere a system of oppression

and exploitation; whereas, as a matter of fact, the Spanish system,

as a system of laws, always impeded the effectual exploitation of the

resources of their colonies, and was far more humane in its treatment

of dependent peoples than either the French or English systems.

If, on the one hand, the early conquistadores treated the natives with

hideous cruelty, the Spanish government legislated more systematically

and benevolently to protect them than any other colonizing power. In

the time of the first conquests things moved too rapidly for the home

government in those days of slow communication, and the horrors of the

clash between ruthless gold-seekers and the simple children of nature,

as depicted by the impassioned pen of Las Casas and spread broadcast

over Europe, came to be the traditional and accepted characteristic

of Spanish rule. [116] The Spanish colonial empire lasted four hundred

years and it is simple historical justice that it should not be judged

by its beginnings or by its collapse.

The remoteness of the Philippines, and the absence of rich deposits

of gold and silver, made it comparatively easy for the government to

secure the execution of its humane legislation, and for the church to

dominate the colony and guide its development as a great mission for

the benefit of the inhabitants. [117] To the same result contributed

the unenlightened protectionism of the Seville merchants, for the

studied impediments to the development of the Philippine-American

trade effectually blocked the exploitation of the islands. In view of

the history of our own Southern States, not less than of the history

of the West Indies it should never be forgotten that although the

Philippine islands are in the Tropics, they have never been the scene

of the horrors of the African slave trade or of the life-wasting

labors of the old plantation system.

Whether we compare the condition of the natives of the other islands in

the Eastern Archipelago or of the peasants of Europe at the same time

the general well-being of the Philippine mission villagers was to be

envied. A few quotations from unimpeachable witnesses, travelers of

wide knowledge of the Orient, may be given in illustration and proof

of this view. The famous French explorer of the Pacific, La Pérouse,

who was in Manila in 1787, wrote: "Three million people inhabit

these different islands and that of Luzon contains nearly a third of

them. These people seemed to me no way inferior to those of Europe;

they cultivate the soil with intelligence, they are carpenters,

cabinet-makers, smiths, jewelers, weavers, masons, etc. I have

gone through their villages and I have found them kind, hospitable,

affable," etc. [118]

Coming down a generation later the Englishman Crawfurd, the historian

of the Indian Archipelago, who lived at the court of the Sultan of

Java as British resident, draws a comparison between the condition

of the Philippines and that of the other islands of the East that

deserves careful reflection.

"It is remarkable, that the Indian administration of one of the

worst governments of Europe, and that in which the general principles

of legislation and good government are least understood,--one too,

which has never been skillfully executed, should, upon the whole,

have proved the least injurious to the happiness and prosperity

of the native inhabitants of the country. This, undoubtedly, has

been the character of the Spanish connection with the Philippines,

with all its vices, follies, and illiberalities; and the present

condition of these islands affords an unquestionable proof of the

fact. Almost every other country of the Archipelago is, at this

day, in point of wealth, power, and civilization, in a worse state

than when Europeans connected themselves with them three centuries

back. The Philippines alone have improved in civilization, wealth,

and populousness. When discovered most of the tribes were a race of

half-naked savages, inferior to all the great tribes, who were pushing,

at the same time, an active commerce, and enjoying a respectable share

of the necessaries and comforts of a civilized state. Upon the whole,

they are at present superior in almost everything to any of the other

races. This is a valuable and instructive fact." [119]

This judgment of Crawfurd in 1820 was echoed by Mallat (who was

for a time in charge of the principal hospital in Manila), in 1846,

when he expressed his belief that the inhabitants of the Philippines

enjoyed a freer, happier, and more placid life than was to be found

in the colonies of any other nation. [120]

Sir John Bowring, who was long Governor of Hong Kong, was impressed

with the absence of caste: "Generally speaking, I found a kind

and generous urbanity prevailing,--friendly intercourse where that

intercourse had been sought,--the lines of demarcation and separation

less marked and impassable than in most oriental countries. I have

seen at the same table Spaniard, Mestizo and Indian--priest, civilian,

and soldier. No doubt a common religion forms a common bond; but to

him who has observed the alienations and repulsions of caste in many

parts of the eastern world--caste, the great social curse--the binding

and free intercourse of man with man in the Philippines is a contrast

worth admiring." [121] Not less striking in its general bearing than

Crawfurd's verdict is that of the German naturalist Jagor who visited

the islands in 1859-1860.

"To Spain belongs the glory of having raised to a relatively high grade

of civilization, improving greatly their condition, a people which

she found on a lower stage of culture distracted by petty wars and

despotic rule. Protected from outside enemies, governed by mild laws,

the inhabitants of those splendid islands, taken as a whole, have no

doubt passed a more comfortable life during recent centuries than the

people of any tropical country whether under their own or European

rule. This is to be accounted for in part by the peculiar conditions

which protected the natives from ruthless exploitation. Yet the monks

contributed an essential part to this result. Coming from among the

common people, used to poverty and self-denial, their duties led

them into intimate relations with the natives and they were naturally

fitted to adapt the foreign religion and morals to practical use. So,

too, in later times, when they came to possess rich livings, and

their pious zeal, in general, relaxed as their revenues increased,

they still contributed most essentially to bring about conditions,

both good and bad, which we have described, since, without families

of their own and without refined culture, intimate association with

the children of the soil was a necessity to them. Even their haughty

opposition to the secular authorities was generally for the advantage

of the natives." [122] Similar testimony from a widely different source

is contained in the charming sketch "Malay Life in the Philippines"

by William Gifford Palgrave, whose profound knowledge of oriental life

and character and his experience in such divergent walks in life as

soldier and Jesuit missionary in India, pilgrim to Mecca, and English

consul in Manila, give his opinion more than ordinary value.

"To clerical government," he writes "paradoxical as the statement may

sound in modern European ears, the Philippine islands owe, more than

to anything else, their internal prosperity, the Malay population its

sufficiency and happiness. This it is that again and again has stood a

barrier of mercy and justice between the weaker and stronger race, the

vanquished and the victor; this has been the steady protector of the

native inhabitants, this their faithful benefactor, their sufficient

leader and guide. With the 'Cura' for father, and the 'Capitan'

for his adjutant, a Philippine hamlet feels and knows little of the

vexations inseparable from direct and foreign official administration;

and if under such a rule 'progress,' as we love to term it, be rare,

disaffection and want are rarer still."

As compared with India, the absence of famines is significant; and

this he attributes in part to the prevalence of small holdings. "Not

so much what they have, but rather what they have not, makes the good

fortune of the Philippines, the absence of European Enterprise, the

absence of European Capital. A few European capitalist settlers, a few

giant estates, a few central factories, a few colossal money-making

combinations of organized labour and gainful produce, and all the

equable balance of property and production, of ownership and labour

that now leaves to the poorest cottager enough, and yet to the

total colony abundance to spare, would be disorganized, displaced,

upset; to be succeeded by day labour, pauperism, government relief,

subscriptions, starvation. Europe, gainful, insatiate Europe would

reap the harvest; but to the now happy, contented, satiate Philippine

Archipelago, what would remain but the stubble, but leanness, want,

unrest, misery?" [123]

The latest witness to the average well-being of the natives under the

old system whom I shall quote is Mr. Sawyer. "If the natives fared

badly at the hands of recent authors, the Spanish Administration fared

worse, for it has been painted in the darkest tints, and unsparingly

condemned. It was indeed corrupt and defective, and what government

is not? More than anything else it was behind the age, yet it was

not without its good points.

"Until an inept bureaucracy was substituted for the old paternal rule,

and the revenue quadrupled by increased taxation, the Filipinos were

as happy a community as could be found in any colony. The population

greatly multiplied; they lived in competence, if not in affluence;

cultivation was extended, and the exports steadily increased.--Let us

be just; what British, French, or Dutch colony, populated by natives

can compare with the Philippines as they were until 1895?" [124]

These striking judgments, derived from such a variety of sources, are a

sufficient proof that our popular ideas of the Spanish colonial system

are quite as much in need of revision as popular ideas usually are.

Yet one must not forget that the Spanish mission system, however useful

and benevolent as an agency in bringing a barbarous people within the

pale of Christian civilization, could not be regarded as permanent

unless this life is looked upon simply as a preparation for heaven. As

an educative system it had its bounds and limits; it could train to a

certain point and no farther. To prolong it beyond that stage would be

to prolong carefully nurtured childhood to the grave, never allowing

it to be displaced by self-reliant manhood. The legal status of the

Indians before the law was that of minors, and no provision was made

for their arriving at their majority. The clergy looked upon these

wards of the State as the school-children of the church, and compelled

the observance of her ordinances even with the rod. La Pérouse says:

"The only thought was to make Christians and never citizens. This

people was divided into parishes, and subjected to the most minute

and extravagant observances. Each fault, each sin is still punished

by the rod. Failure to attend prayers and mass has its fixed penalty,

and punishment is administered to men and women at the door of the

church by order of the pastor." [125] Le Gentil describes such a

scene in a little village a few miles from Manila, where one Sunday

afternoon he saw a crowd, chiefly Indian women, following a woman who

was to be whipped at the church door for not having been to mass. [126]

The prevalence of a supervision and discipline so parental for the

mass of the people in the colony could but react upon the ruling

class, and La Pérouse remarks upon the absence of individual liberty

in the islands: "No liberty is enjoyed: inquisitors and monks watch

the consciences; the oidors (judges of the Audiencia) all private

affairs; the governor, the most innocent movements; an excursion to

the interior, a conversation come before his jurisdiction; in fine,

the most beautiful and charming country in the world is certainly

the last that a free man would choose to live in." [127]

Intellectual apathy, one would naturally suppose, must be the

consequence of such sedulous oversight, and intellectual progress

impossible. Progress in scientific knowledge was, indeed, quite

effectually blocked.

The French astronomer Le Gentil gives an interesting account of

the conditions of scientific knowledge at the two Universities

in Manila. These institutions seemed to be the last refuge of the

scholastic ideas and methods that had been discarded in Europe. A

Spanish engineer frankly confessed to him that "in the sciences Spain

was a hundred years behind France, and that in Manila they were a

hundred years behind Spain." Nothing of electricity was known but

the name, and making experiments in it had been forbidden by the

Inquisition. Le Gentil also strongly suspected that the professor

of Mathematics at the Jesuit College still held to the Ptolemaic

system. [128]

But when we keep in mind the small number of ecclesiastics in

the islands we must clear them of the charge of intellectual

idleness. Their activity, on the other hand, considering the climate

was remarkable. [129] An examination of J.T. Medina's monumental work

[130] on printing in Manila and of Retana's supplement [131] reveals

nearly five hundred titles of works printed in the islands before

1800. This of course takes no account of the works sent or brought

to Spain for publication, which would necessarily comprise a large

proportion of those of general rather than local interest, including

of course the most important histories. To these should be added no

small number of grammars and dictionaries of the native languages,

and missionary histories, that have never been printed. [132] The

monastic presses in the islands naturally were chiefly used for the

production of works of religious edification, such as catechisms,

narratives of missions, martyrdoms, lives of saints, religious

histories, and hand-books to the native languages. Simpler manuals

of devotion, rosaries, catechisms, outlines of Christian doctrine,

stories of martyrdoms, etc., were translated for the Indians. Of

these there were about sixty in the Tagal, and from three to ten

or twelve each in the Visayan, Vicol, Pampanga, Ilocan, Panayan,

and Pangasinán languages. [133]

If, as is credibly asserted, the knowledge of reading and writing

was more generally diffused in the Philippines than among the common

people of Europe, [134] we have the singular result that the islands

contained relatively more people who could read, and less reading

matter of any but purely religious interest, than any other community

in the world. Yet it would not be altogether safe to assume that

in the eighteenth century the list of printed translations into the

native languages comprised everything of European literature available

for reading; for the Spanish government, in order to promote the

learning of Spanish, had prohibited at times the printing of books

in Tagal. [135] Furthermore, Zúñiga says explicitly that "after the

coming of the Spaniards they (_i.e._ the people in Luzon) have had

comedies, interludes, tragedies, poems, and every kind of literary

work translated from the Spanish, without producing a native poet

who has composed even an interlude." [136] Again, Zúñiga describes

a eulogistic poem of welcome addressed by a Filipino villager to

Commodore Alava. This _loa_, as this species of composition was called,

was replete with references to the voyages of Ulysses, the travels

of Aristotle, the unfortunate death of Pliny, and other incidents in

ancient history. The allusions indicate some knowledge at any rate

outside the field of Christian doctrine, even if it was so slight

as not to make it seem beyond the limits of poetic license to have

Aristotle drown himself in chagrin at not being able to measure the

depths of the sea, or to have Pliny throw himself into Vesuvius in his

zeal to investigate the causes of its eruption. The literary interests

of the Indians found their chief expression however in the adaptation

of Spanish plays for presentation on religious holidays. Zúñiga gives

an entertaining description of these plays. They were usually made

up from three or four Spanish tragedies, the materials of which were

so ingeniously interwoven that the mosaic seemed a single piece. The

characters were always Moors and Christians, and the action centered

in the desire of Moors to marry Christian princesses or of Christians

to marry Moorish princesses. The Christian appears at a Moorish

tournament or vice versa. The hero and heroine fall in love but their

parents oppose obstacles to the match. To overcome the difficulties

in case of a Moor and Christian princess was comparatively easy. A

war opportunely breaks out in which, after prodigies of valor, the

Moor is converted and baptized, and the wedding follows. The case

is not so easy when a Christian prince loves a Moorish lady. Since

he can never forsake his religion his tribulations are many. He is

imprisoned, and his princess aids in his attempt to escape, which

sometimes costs him his life; or if the scene is laid in war time

either the princess is converted and escapes to the Christian army,

or the prince dies a tragic death. The hero is usually provided with

a Christ, or other image or relic, given him by his dying mother,

which extricates him from his many plights. He meets lions and bears,

and highwaymen attack him; but from all he escapes by a miracle. If,

however, some principal personage is not taken off by a tragic end,

the Indians find the play insipid. During the intermission one or

two clowns come out and raise a laugh by jests that are frigid enough

"to freeze hot water in the tropics." After the play is over a clown

appears again and criticizes the play and makes satirical comments on

the village officials. These plays usually lasted three days. [137]

Le Gentil attended one of them and says that he does not believe any

one in the world was ever so bored as he was. [138] Yet the Indians

were passionately fond of these performances. [139]

If one may judge from Retana's catalogue of his Philippine collection

arranged in chronological order, the sketch we have given of the

literature accessible to Filipinos who could not read Spanish in

the eighteenth century would serve not unfairly for much of the

nineteenth. The first example of secular prose fiction I have noted

in his lists is Friar Bustamente's pastoral novel depicting the quiet

charms of country life as compared with the anxieties and tribulations

of life in Manila. [140] His collection did not contain so far as I

noticed a single secular historical narrative in Tagal or anything

in natural science.

Sufficient familiarity with Spanish to compensate for this lack of

books of secular knowledge was enjoyed by very few Indians in the

country districts and these had learned it mainly while servants of

the curate. It was the common opinion of the Spanish authorities that

the Friars purposely neglected instructing the Indians in Spanish,

in order to perpetuate their hold upon them; but Zúñiga repels this

charge as unjust and untrue. [141]

It is obvious that it was impracticable for the Indians to learn

Spanish under the mission system. For the pastor of a pueblo of

several hundred families to teach the children Spanish was an

impossibility. A few words or simple phrases might be learned, but

the lack of opportunity for constant or even frequent practice of

the language in general conversation would make their attainments in

it far below those of American grammar-school children in German in

cities where that has been a compulsory study. [142] As long as the

mission system isolated the pueblos from contact with the world at

large, it of necessity followed that the knowledge of Spanish would be

practically limited to such Indians as lived in Manila or the larger

towns, or learned it in the households of the Friars. Slavery with

its forced transplanting has been the only means by which large

masses of alien or lower races have been lifted into the circle

of European thought and endowed with a European language. If such a

result is secured in the future in any large measure for the Filipino,

it can be accomplished only by the translation of English or Spanish

literature into the Tagal and other languages, on a scale not less

generous than the work of the Friars in supplying the literature of

religious edification. This will be a work of not less than two or

three generations, and of a truly missionary devotion.

We have now surveyed in its general aspects the old régime in the

Philippines, and supplied the necessary material upon which to

base a judgment of this contribution of Spain to the advancement of

civilization. In this survey certain things stand out in contrast to

the conventional judgment of the Spanish colonial system. The conquest

was humane, and was effected by missionaries more than by warriors. The

sway of Spain was benevolent, although the administration was not

free from the taint of financial corruption. Neither the islands nor

their inhabitants were exploited. The colony in fact was a constant

charge upon the treasury of New Spain. The success of the enterprise

was not measured by the exports and imports, but by the number of

souls put in the way of salvation. The people received the benefits

of Christian civilization, as it was understood in Spain in the days

of that religious revival which we call the Catholic Reaction. This

Christianity imposed the faith and the observances of the mediæval

church, but it did for the Philippine islanders who received it just

what it did for the Franks or Angles a thousand years earlier. It

tamed their lives, elevated the status of women, established the

Christian family, and gave them the literature of the devotional life.

Nor did they pay heavily for these blessings. The system of government

was inexpensive, and the religious establishment was mainly supported

by the landed estates of the orders. Church fees may have been at

times excessive, but the occasions for such fees were infrequent. The

tenants of the church estates found the friars easy landlords. Zúñiga

describes a great estate of the Augustinians near Manila of which

the annual rental was not over $1,500, while the annual produce was

estimated to be not less than $70,000, for it supported about four

thousand people. [143] The position of women was fully as good among

the Christian Indians of the Philippines as among the Christian people

of Europe. But conspicuous among the achievements of the conquest

and conversion of the islands in the field of humanitarian progress,

when we consider the conditions in other European tropical colonies,

have been the prohibition of slavery and the unremitting efforts to

eradicate its disguised forms. These alone are a sufficient proof

that the dominating motives in the Spanish and clerical policies were

humane and not commercial. Not less striking proof of the comfortable

prosperity of the natives on the whole under the old Spanish rule has

been the steady growth of the population. At the time of the conquest

the population in all probability did not exceed a half-million. In

the first half of the eighteenth century according to the historian

of the Franciscans, San Antonio, the Christian population was about

830,000. At the opening of the nineteenth century Zúñiga estimated the

total at a million and a half as over 300,000 tributes were paid. The

official estimate in 1819 was just short of 2,600,000; by 1845 Buzeta

calculates the number at a little short of four millions. In the next

half century it nearly doubled. [144]

In view of all these facts one must readily accord assent to Zúñiga's

simple tribute to the work of Spain. "The Spanish rule has imposed

very few burdens upon these Indians, and has delivered them from many

misfortunes which they suffered from the constant warfare waged by one

district with another, whereby many died, and others lived wretched

lives as slaves. For this reason the population increased very slowly,

as is now the case with the infidels of the mountain regions who do

not acknowledge subjection to the King of Spain. Since the conquest

there has been an increase in well-being and in population. Subjection

to the King of Spain has been very advantageous in all that concerns

the body. I will not speak of the advantage of knowledge of the true

God, and of the opportunity to obtain eternal happiness for the soul,

for I write not as a missionary but as a philosopher." [145]

The old régime in the Philippines has disappeared forever. In hardly

more than a generation the people have passed from a life which was

so remote from the outside contemporary world that they might as

well have been living in the middle ages in some sheltered nook,

equally protected from the physical violence and the intellectual

strife of the outside world, and entirely oblivious of the progress of

knowledge. They find themselves suddenly plunged into a current that

hurls them along resistlessly. Baptized with fire and blood, a new

and strange life is thrust upon them and they face the struggle for

existence under conditions which spare no weakness and relentlessly

push idleness or incapacity to the wall. What will be the outcome no

man can tell. To the student of history and of social evolution it

will be an experiment of profound interest.

_Edward Gaylord Bourne_

_Yale University_, October, 1902.