Of the use of weapons in Filipinas

[The writer protests against the carelessness which, contrary to

the laws of the Indias, has allowed the natives to possess and carry

weapons--even including campilans and sabers, pistols and guns. These

arms have, through culpable negligence of the government officials,

been imported in the foreign ships and sold publicly; and, possessing

them, the natives are a constant source of danger to the whites. He

recommends that the governor of Filipinas be commanded to disarm the

natives, using mild and politic methods, and allow them no implements

or tools save those required in their labor; to stop the importation

of arms into the islands; to compel all coasting vessels to deposit

with the authorities, during their stay in the harbor, the arms which

they carry for defense against the pirates; to see that no weapons

be allowed in the villages save those needed by the local guards;

and to stop all clandestine manufacture and sale of gunpowder.]