ADVERTISEMENT
The following remarks are drawn up by one but little accustomed to writing, and offered with much diffidence. In them the Spanish character will be found perhaps severely treated; but it is necessary to remark, that not only these observations are, from their very nature, general; but farther, that they have no reference to the genuine or European Spanish character—a character of which the writer has but little knowledge, and one as essentially different from that which falls under consideration in the following pages, as the society of all convict colonies is from that of the mother country.[1]
PART I
THE PHILLIPPINES
Of the numerous groupes of islands which constitute the maritime division of Asia, the Phillippines, in situation, riches, fertility, and salubrity, are equal or superior to any. Nature has here revelled in all that poets or painters have thought or dreamt of unbounded luxuriance of Asiatic scenery. The lofty chains of mountains—the rich and extensive slopes which form their bases—the ever-varying change of forest and savannah—of rivers and lakes—the yet blazing volcanoes in the midst of forests, coeval perhaps with their first eruption—all stamp her work with the mighty emblems of her creative and destroying powers. Java alone can compete with them in fertility; but in riches, extent, situation, and political importance, it is far inferior.
Their position, whether in a political or commercial point of view, is strikingly advantageous. With India and the Malay Archipelago on the west and south, the islands of the fertile Pacific and the rising empires of the new world on the east, the vast market of China at their doors, their insular position and numerous rivers affording a facility of communication and defence to every part of them, an active and industrious population, climates of almost all varieties, a soil so fertile in vegetable and mineral productions as almost to exceed credibility; the Phillippine Islands alone, in the hands of an industrious and commercial nation, and with a free and enlightened government, would have become a mighty empire:—they are—a waste!
This archipelago presents, in common with all the islands which form the southern and eastern barrier of Asia, those striking features which mark a recent or an approaching convulsion of nature: they are separated by narrow, but deep, and frequently unfathomable channels; their steep and often tremendous capes and headlands, though clothed with verdure to the very brink, appear to rise almost perpendicularly from the ocean; they have but few reefs or shoals, and those of small extent; and in the interior of the islands, numerous volcanoes, in activity or very recently so, boiling springs and mineral waters of all descriptions, minerals of all kinds on the very surface of the earth, and frequent shocks of earthquakes, all point to this conclusion, and offer a rich and unexplored field to the geologist[2] and mineralogist, as do their plants and animals to the botanist and zoologist;[3] the few attempts that have hitherto been made to examine them, having from various causes failed, or only extended to a short distance round the capital.[4]
The climate of these islands is remarkably temperate and salubrious. The thermometer in Manila is sometimes as low as 70°, and rarely exceeds 90° in the house during the N. E. monsoon. In the interior it is sometimes as low as 68° in the mornings, which are remarkably cool, so much so as to require at time$ woolen clothing. None of the mountains are within the limits of perpetual congelation; but I think some cannot be far from it, as I have seen something much resembling snow on the Pico de Mindoro, and there may be higher ones in the interior of Magindanao.[6]
Both natives and Spaniards live to a tolerable age, in spite of the indolent habits of the latter, and the debauches of both. The Spaniards are most commonly carried off by chronic dysentery, which is called by them “la enfermedád del pays” (the illness of the country): from its very frequent occurrence, at least 7 out of 10 of those who exceed the age of 40, fall victims to this disorder.[7] Acute liver complaints are very rare, as is also the chronic affection of that organ, unless as connected with the preceding disorder.
Fevers are not common amongst Europeans, in Manila. Amongst the natives, the intermittent is of common occurrence, particularly after the rains (in September and October), and in woody or marshy situations.[8] This appears to be owing as much to the thinness and want of clothing, together with their habits of bathing indiscriminately at all hours, as to miasmata; and, as their fevers are generally neglected, they often superinduce other and more fatal disorders, as obstructions, &c. Tetanos in cases of wounds is of common occurrence, and generally fatal.
Their population, by a census taken in 1817–18, amounted to 2,236,000 souls, and is increasing rapidly. In one province, that of Pampanga, from 1817 to 1818, there was an increase of 6,737 souls, the whole population being in 1817, 22,500; but I suspect some inaccuracy in this. The total increase from 1797 to 1817, 25 [sic] years, is by this statement 835,500, or 3,360 per annum! In this census are included only those subject to Spanish laws. About three quarters of a million more may be added for the various independent tribes,[9] which may be said to possess the whole of the interior of the islands, on some of which, as the large one of Mindanao (called by the natives Magindanao) there are only a few contemptible [Spanish] posts, the interior and a great part of the coast being still subject to the Malay sultans, originally of Arab race.
The population of the Marianas and Calamianes Islands, with that of Palawan, which are all included in “The Kingdom of the Phillippines,” are comprised in this number, but the whole of these does not exceed 19,000.
Of this number about 600 only are European Spaniards, with some few foreigners: the remainder are divided into various classes, of which the principal are, 1st, The Negroes, or aborigines; 2d, the Malays (or Indians, as they are called by the Spaniards); and the Mestizos and Creoles, who are about as 1 to 5 of the Indian population.
The Negroes [i.e., Negritos][10] are in all probability the original inhabitants of these islands, as they appear at some remote epoch to have been of almost all the eastern archipelago. The tide of Malay emigration, from whatever cause and part it proceeded, has on some islands entirely destroyed them. Others, as New Guinea, it has not yet reached, a circumstance which seems to point to the west as the original cradle of the Malay race. In the Phillippines, it has driven them from the coast to the mountains, which by augmenting the difficulty of procuring subsistence, may have much diminished their numbers. Still, however, they form a distinct, and perhaps a more numerous class of men than is generally suspected. They have in the present day undisturbed possession of nearly ⅔ds of the island of Luzon, and of others a still larger proportion.
These people are small in stature, some of them almost dwarfish, woolly-headed, and thick-lipped, like the negroes of Africa, to whom indeed they bear a striking resemblance, though the different tribes vary much in their stature and general appearance. They subsist entirely on the chase, or on fruits, herbs, roots, or fish when they can approach the coast. They are nearly, and often quite naked, and live in huts formed of the boughs of trees, grass &c., or in the trees themselves, when on an excursion or migration. Their mode of life is wandering and unsettled, seldom remaining long enough in one place to form a village. They sometimes sow a little maize or rice, and wait its ripening, but not longer. These are the habits of the tribes which border on the Spanish settlements. Farther within the mountains they are more settled, and even form villages of considerable size, in the deep vallies by which the chains of mountains are intersected. The entrances to these they fortify with plantations of the thorny bamboo, pickets of the same, set strongly in the earth and sharpened by fire, ditches and pit-falls; in short all the means of defence in their power are employed to render these places inaccessible. Here they cultivate corn, rice, and tobacco; the last they sell to Indians, who smuggle it into the towns. This being a contraband article, as it is monopolized by government, the defences are used against the Spanish revenue officers and troops, who on this account never fail to destroy their establishments when they can do so, though many are impregnable to any force they can bring against them, from the nature of the passes, and from the activity of the negroes, who use their bows with wonderful expertness. There are indeed instances of their repulsing bodies of one or two hundred native troops, but affairs of this magnitude are very rare.
To this predatory kind of warfare, as well as to the defective qualities, and often very reprehensible conduct of the missionaries, generally Indian priests (Clerigos), are perhaps to be in some measure attributed their unsettled habits. Those nearest the Spanish settlements carry on a little commerce, receiving wrought iron, cloth, and tobacco, but oftener dollars, in exchange for gold-dust, &c., or for wax, honey, and other products of their mountains. The circumstance of their receiving dollars, which they rarely use in their purchases, is a curious one; but it is a fact, and very large quantities of money are supposed to be thus buried; from what motive, except a superstitious one, cannot be imagined.[11]
Of their manners or customs little or nothing is known. Like all savage nations, they are abundantly tinctured with superstitions, fickle, and hasty. One of their customs best known is, that upon the death of a chief, they plant themselves in ambush on some frequented track, and with their arrows assassinate the first unfortunate traveller who passes, and not unfrequently two or three; the bodies are carried off as sacrifices to the manes of the deceased.[12] The communications between the Spanish settlements are often interrupted by this circumstance, as no Indian will venture out when the negroes are known to be “de luto” (in mourning): they are also said to have a “throwing of spears,” similar to those of New Holland, at the death of any eminent person. In fact, upon this, as upon all other points unconnected with masses and sermons, there exists a degree of ignorance which is almost incredible. The early missionaries, in their rage for nominal conversion, appear to have neglected entirely the history or origin of their neophytes; and, as in America, where the monuments of ages were crumbled to the dust to plant the cross, all that related to the history of their converts was considered as unprofitable, if not as impious, the devil[13] being compendiously supposed to preside over their political as well as religious institutions in all cases. In this belief, and in its consequent effects, the modern missionaries, who are mostly Indian priests, are worthy successors of their Spanish predecessors.
The government have many missions established for the purpose of converting them, but with little success. Like most savages, their mode of life has to them charms superior to civilization, or rather to Christianity (for here the terms are not synonimous); and they rarely remain, should they even consent to be baptized, but on the first caprice, or exaction of tribute, which immediately takes place, and sometimes even precedes this ceremony, return again to their mountains.
Exposed to all inclemencies of the weather, and with an unwholesome and precarious diet, they perhaps rarely attain more than forty years of age. Their numbers are supposed rather to diminish than increase; and in a few years this race of men, with their language, will probably be extinct. It is indeed a curious subject of enquiry, whether the language of those of the eastern islands has any, and what resemblance to those of Africa, or the southern parts of New Holland and Van Dieman’s Land?[14]
They are not represented as very mischievous; but if strangers venture too far into their woods, they consider it an aggression, and repel it accordingly with their arrows. Those who frequent the Spanish settlements are rather of a mild character; and there are instances of Spanish vessels being wrecked on the coast, whose people, particularly the Europeans, have been treated by them in the kindest manner, and carefully conducted to the nearest settlement.
The character of the different tribes appears, however, to vary in this particular: some are described as treacherous and cruel, and those which inhabit the north western coasts of the Bay of Manila are accused of having frequently attacked the boats of ships, when these were not sufficiently guarded in their intercourse with them. The natives of the town in the Bay of Mariveles, at the entrance of that of Manila, assured the writer of these pages, that it would be madness to attempt accompanying them into the woods, even in disguise; and in this they persisted, though money was offered them to allow him to proceed with them.
The Indians are the descendants of the various Malay tribes which appear to have emigrated to this country at different times, and from different parts of Borneo and Celebes. Their languages, though all derived from one stock (the Malay), has a number of dialects differing very materially; so much so, that those from different provinces frequently do not understand each other.
They differ too in their character, and slightly in their manners and customs. The most numerous class of them are the Bisayas,[18] (a Spanish name, from their anciently painting their bodies, and using defensive armour). These inhabit the largest part of the southern islands. Luzon contains several tribes, of which the most remarkable are the Ylocos, Cagayanes, Zambales, Pangasinanes, Pampangos, and Tagalos. These still retain their national distinctions and characters to such a degree, that they often occasion quarrels amongst each other. Of their general character as a nation we are now to speak.
The Indian of the Phillippine Islands has been strangely misrepresented. He is not the being that oppression, bigotry, and indolence, have for 300 years endeavoured to make him, or he is so only when he has no other resource. Necessity, and the force of example have made those of Manila, what the whole are generally characterized as—traitors, idlers, and thieves.
How, under such a system as will be afterwards described, should they be otherwise? Say rather, that all considered, it is surprising to find them what they are; for they are in general (I speak of the Indian of the provinces), mild, industrious, as far as they dare to be so, hospitable, kind, and ingenuous. The Pampango is brave,[19] faithful, and active; the fidelity of the Cagayan is proverbial; the Yloco and the Pangasinanon are most industrious; the Bisayan is brave and enterprising almost to fool-hardiness:—they are all a spirited, a proudly-spirited race of men; and such materials, in other hands, would form the foundation of all that is great and excellent in human nature.
But for 300 years they have been ground to the earth with oppression. They have been crushed by tyranny; their spirit has been tortured by abuse and contempt, and brutalized by ignorance; in a word, there is no injustice that has not been inflicted on them, short of depriving them of their liberty; and in a work published at Madrid in 1819 (Estado de las Yslas Filipinas, par [sic; for por] Don Tomas Comyn), whose author was a factor of the Phillippine company, a whole chapter (the 4th) is devoted to the mild and humane project “of establishing Spanish agriculturists throughout the islands,” who are, “to require a certain number of Indians from the governors of towns and provinces, who are to be driven to the plantations, where they are to be obliged to work a certain time, the price of their labour being fixed, and then to be relieved by a fresh drove!”[20]
Such a system, incredible as it may appear, has been proposed to a Spanish cortes; and still more wonderful, plans like these excited no reprobation in Manila. Such were Spanish ideas of governing Indians! Justice would almost tempt us to wish that this scheme had been carried into execution, and that the Indian had risen and dashed his chains on the heads of the authors of such an infernal project. And yet the Indian is marked out as little better than a brute; so many of them are, but to the system of government, and not to the Indian, is the fault to be ascribed.
It is not here meant to accuse the Spanish laws; many of them are excellent, and would appear to have been dictated by the very spirit of philanthropy. But these are rarely enforced, or if they are, delay vitiates their effect. That this colony, the most favoured perhaps under heaven by nature, should have remained till the present day almost a forest, is a circumstance which has generally excited surprise in those who are acquainted with it, and has as generally been accounted for by attributing it to the laziness of the Spaniards and Indians. This is but a superficial view of the subject; one of those general remarks which being relatively a little flattering to ourselves, pass current as facts, and then “we wonder how any one can doubt of what is so generally received.”—The cause lies deeper, man is not naturally indolent. When he has supplied his necessities, he seeks for superfluities—if he can enjoy them in security and peace;—if not—if the iron gripe of despotism (no matter in what shape, or through what form it is felt), is ready to snatch his earnings from him, without affording him any equivalent—then indeed he becomes indolent, that is, he merely provides for the wants of to-day. This apathy is perpetuated through numerous generations till it becomes national habit, and then we falsely call it nature. It cannot be too often repeated, that from the poles to the equator, man is the creature of his civil institutions, and is active in proportion to the freedom he enjoys. Who that has perused the History of Java by Sir S. Raffles,[21] and seen the effects of government planned by the talents of Minto in the spirit of the British constitution in that country, will now accuse the Javanese of unwillingness to work, if the fruits of his labour are secured to him? And yet we remember when a Javanese was another name for every thing that is detestable. It is ever thus—we blame the race, because that flatters our pride—we should first look to their institutions. I return to the Phillippines.
The cause, then, of their little progress is “because there is no security for property;” or in other words, the smallness of the salaries of the officers of justice, as well as of other members of government, and the profligacy inseparable from all despotic governments, have laid the inhabitants under that curse of all societies, venal courts of justice. Does an unfortunate Indian scrape together a few dollars to buy a buffalo, in which consists their whole riches? Woe to him if it is known; and if his house is in a lonely situation—he is infallibly robbed. Does he complain, and is the robber caught? In three months he is let loose again (perhaps with some trifling punishment), to take vengeance on his accuser, and renew his depredations.
Hundreds of Indian families are yearly ruined in this manner. Deprived of their cattle, on which they depend for subsistence, they grow desperate and careless of future exertion, which can but lead to the same results, and thus either drag on a miserable existence from day to day, or join with the robbers[23] to pursue the same mode of life, and to exonerate themselves from paying tributes and taxes, in return for which no protection is granted. In many provinces this has been carried to such an extent, that whole districts are rendered impassable by the robbers,[24] who even lay villages under contribution!
This is the state of the inland towns. On the coasts, and while a flotilla of gun-boats is maintained at an expense of upwards of half a million of dollars annually, there is no part safe from the attacks of the Malay pirates from Borneo, Sooloo, and Mindanao. These make regular cruises to procure slaves, and have even not unfrequently carried them off, not only from the bay of Manila,[25] but even from within gun-shot of its ramparts! The very soldiers and sailors sent for their protection plunder them. An Indian in whose neighbourhood troops are posted, or who sees the gun-boats approaching, can no longer consider his property safe; and in the very vicinity of Manila, soldiers ramble about with their loaded muskets, and pilfer all they lay hands upon at midday![26]
Does the Indian, in spite of all this, escape, and by patient industry make a little way in the world? he is vexed with offices; he is chosen Alguazil, Lieutenant, and Captain of his town; to these offices no pay is attached, they always occasion expenses and create him enemies; he is pinched or cheated by the Mestizos, a forestalling, avaricious, and tyrannical race. Does he suffer in silence? it is a signal for new oppressions: does he complain? a law suit. The Mestizos are all connected, they are rich, and the Indian is poor.
The imperfect mode of trial, both in civil and criminal cases (by written declarations and the decisions of judges alone), lays them open to a thousand frauds; for if the magistrate be supposed incorruptible, his notaries or writers (escribanos and escribientes) are not so; and from their knavery, declarations are often falsified, or one paper is exchanged for another whilst in the act of or before signing them.
To such a degree does this exist, that few Indians, even of those who can read Spanish tolerably, will sign a declaration made before a magistrate without threats, or without having some one on whom they can depend, to assure them they may safely do so. Nor is this to be wondered at, when it is known that declarations on which the life or fortune of an individual may depend are left, often for days, in the power of writers or notaries, any of whom may be bought for a doubloon; and some of them are even the menial servants of the magistrate! This applies to Luzon. In the other islands, this miserable system is yet worse: they have seldom but one communication a year with the capital, to which all causes of any magnitude are sent for decision or confirmation; and, as the papers are often (purposely) drawn up with some informality, the cause, after suffering all the first ordeal of chicane and knavery, experiences a year’s delay before it is even allowed a chance of being exposed to that which awaits it at Manila. Or should the cause be at length carried to the Audiencia, or Supreme Court, and there, as is sometimes the case, be judged impartially, the delay of the decision renders it useless—the sentence is evaded—or treated with contempt! This may appear almost incredible, but known to any person who has resided in Manila.
While the civil power is thus shamefully corrupt or negligent of its duties, the church has not forgotten that she too has claims on the Indian. She has marked out, exclusive of Sundays, above 40 days in the year on which no labour can be performed throughout the islands. Exclusive of these are the numerous local feasts in honor of the patron saints of towns and churches.[27] The influence of these extends often through a groupe of many islands, always to many leagues round their different sanctuaries; and often lasting three or four days, sometimes a week, according to his or her reputation for sanctity; so that including Sundays, the average cannot be less than 110 or 120 days lost to the community in a year. This alone is a heavy tax on the agricultural classes, by whom it is most severely felt; but its consequences are more so, from the habits of idleness and dissipation which it engenders and perpetuates. These feasts are invariably, after the procession is over, scenes of gambling, drinking, and debauchery of every description.
“And mony jobs that day begun,
Will end in houghmagandie.”[29]
Thus they unsettle and disturb the course of their labours by calling off their attention from their domestic cares; and by continually offering occasions of dissipation destroy what little spirit of economy or foresight may exist amongst so rude and ignorant a people. Nor is this all; they are subject to numerous other vexations and impositions under the title of church-services; such are, in some towns, five or six men attendant daily in rotation to bring the sick to the church to confess, or to carry the “Padre” with the host to their houses, and many others; all of which, though in themselves trifles, are more harassing, from their unsettling tendency, than pecuniary imposts. An encouragement to celibacy and its consequent evils is also to be found in the (to them) heavy expenses attendant on all the domestic offices of religion, as matrimony, baptism, &c., as well as in the increase of the poll-tax on married persons, for the whole of which the husband is responsible. The ecclesiastical expenses of a marriage between the poorer classes are about five dollars: the others, as christenings, buryings, &c., in proportion. These appear trifles; but if to these are added the confessions, bulas, [i.e., of the Crusade] and other exactions, it will be seen that these constitute no trifling part of the oppressive and ill managed system which has so much contributed to debase their real character.
I say nothing here of the natural effect of the Roman Catholic religion on an ignorant people, who imagine, that verbal confession and pecuniary atonements (rarely to the injured person) are a salvo for crimes of all magnitudes: that such is the case, is notorious to every one who has visited Catholic countries.
Let us for a moment retrace this picture. To whom after this is it attributable that the Indian is often a vicious and degraded being, particularly in the neighborhood of Manila?
If he sees all around him thieving and enjoying their plunder with impunity, what wonder is it that he should thieve also? If his tribunals of all descriptions afford him no redress, or place that redress beyond his reach, what resource has he but private revenge?[30] If he cannot enjoy the fruits of his labour in peace, why should he work? If he is ignorant, why has he not been instructed? There exist scarcely any schools to teach him his duties: the few that do exist teach him Latin! prayers! theology! jurisprudence! and some little reading and writing;[31] but he is only taught to read the lives of the saints, and the legends of the church, whose gloomy, fanatical doctrines and sanguinary histories have not a little contributed to make him at times revengeful and intolerant. Does he prevaricate and flatter? It is because he dare not speak the truth, and because a long system of oppression has broken his spirit.
Does he endeavour to advance himself a few steps in civilization? his attempts are treated with ridicule and contempt;[32] hence he becomes apathetic, careless of advancement, and often insensible to reproach. The best epithets he hears from Spaniards (often as ignorant as himself) are “Indio!” The God of nature made him so. “Bruto!” He has been and is brutalized by his masters. “Barbaro!” He is often so by force, example, or even by precept. “Ignorante!” He has no means of learning; the will is not wanting. In a word, the spirit of the followers of Cortes and Pizarro, appears to have left its last vestiges here, and perhaps the Indian has been saved from its persecutions only by the weakness of the Spaniard.
Such are some of the causes which have marked the character of the Indian, which is not naturally bad, with some of its prominent blemishes. I am far from holding up the Indian of the Phillippines as a faultless being; he is not so; the Indian of Manila[34] has all the vices attributed to him; but I assert, that the Phillippine islander owes the greater part of his vices to example, to oppression, and above all to misgovernment; and that his character has traits, which under a different system, would have produced a widely different result.
To sum up his character:—He is brave, tolerably faithful, extremely sensible to kind treatment, and feelingly alive to injustice or contempt; proud of ancestry, which some of them carry to a remote epoch; fond of dress and show, hunting, riding, and other field exercises; but prone to gambling and dissipation. He is active, industrious, and remarkably ingenious. He possesses an acute ear, and a good taste for music and painting, but little inclination for abstruse studies. He has from nature excellent talents, but these are useless for want of instruction. The little he has received, has rendered him fanatical in religious opinions; and long contempt and hopeless misery has mingled with his character a degree of apathy, which nothing but an entire change of system and long perseverance will efface from it.[36]
The Mestizos are the next class of men who inhabit these islands: under this name are not only included the descendants of Spaniards by Indian women and their progeny, but also those of the Chinese, who are in general whiter than either parent, and carefully distinguish themselves from the Indians. The Mestizos are, as the name denotes, a mixed class, and, with the creoles of the country, like those of all colonies, when uncorrected by an European education, inherit the vices of both progenitors, with but few of the virtues of either. Their character has but few marked traits; the principal ones are their vanity, industry, and trading ingenuity: as to the rest, money is their god; to obtain it they take all shapes, promise and betray, submit to everything, trample and are trampled on; all is alike to them, if they get money; and this, when obtained, they dissipate in lawsuits, firing cannon, fireworks, illuminations, processions on feast days and rejoicings, in gifts to the churches, or in gambling. This anomaly of actions is the business of their lives. Too proud to consider themselves as Indians, and not sufficiently pure in blood to be acknowledged as Spaniards, they affect the manners of the last, with the dress of the first, and despising, are despised by both.[37] They however, cautiously mark on all occasions the lines which separate them from the Indians, and have their own processions, ceremonies, inferior officers of justice, &c., &c. The Indian repays them with a keen contempt, not unmixed with hatred. And these feuds, while they contribute to the safety of a government too imbecile and corrupt to unite the good wishes of all classes, have not unfrequently given rise to affrays which have polluted even the churches and their altars with blood.
Such are the three great classes of men which may be considered as natives of the Phillippine Islands. The Creole[38] Spaniards, or those whose blood is but little mingled with the Indian ancestry, pass as Spaniards. Many of them are respectable merchants and men of large property; while others, from causes which will be seen hereafter, are sunk in all the vices of the Indian and Mestizo.
The government of the Phillippine Islands is composed of a governor, who has the title of Captain General, with very extensive powers; a Teniente Rey, or Lieutenant Governor; the Audiencia or Supreme Court, who are also the Council. This tribunal is composed of three judges, the chief of whom has the title of Regent, and two Fiscals or Attorney Generals, the one on the part of the king, the other on that of the natives, and this last has the specious title of “Defensor de los Indios.” The financial affairs are under the direction of an Intendant, who may be called a financial governor. He has the entire control and administration of all matters relative to the revenue, the civil and military auditors and accountants being under him. Commercial affairs are decided by the Consulado, or chamber of commerce, composed of all the principal, and, in Manila, some of the inferior merchants. From this is an appeal to a tribunal “de Alzada” [i.e., of appeal] composed of one judge and two merchants, and from this to the Audiencia, without whose approbation no sentence is valid.
The civic administration is confided to the Ayuntamiento (Courts of Aldermen or Municipality). This body, composed of the two Alcaldes, twelve Regidors (or Aldermen) and a Syndic, enjoy very extensive privileges, approaching those of Houses of Assembly; their powers, however, appear more confined to remonstrances and protests, representations against what they conceive arbitrary or erroneous in government, or recommendations of measures suggested either by themselves or others. They have, in general, well answered the object of their institution as a barrier against the encroachments of government, and as a permanent body for reference in cases where local knowledge was necessary, which last deficiency they well supply.
The civil power and police are lodged in the hands of a Corregidor and two Alcaldes: the decision of these is final in cases of civil suits, where the value in question is small, 100 dollars being about the maximum.[39] Their criminal jurisdiction extends only to slight fines and corporal punishments, and imprisonment preparatory to trial. The police is confided to the care of the Corregidor, who has more extensive powers, and also the inspection and control of the prisons.
To him are also subject the Indian Captains and Officers of towns, who are annually elected by the natives. These settle small differences, answer for disturbances in their villages, execute police orders, impose small contributions of money or labour for local objects, such as repairs of roads, &c. &c. They also have the power of inflicting slight punishments on the refractory. To them is also confided the collection of the capitation or poll-tax, which is done by dividing the population of the town or village into tens, each of which has a Cabeça (or head), who is exempt from tribute himself, but answerable for the amount of the ten under him. This tax is then paid to the Alcalde or Corregidor, and from him to the treasury. The Mestizos and Chinese have also their captains and heads, who are equally answerable for the poll-tax.
The different districts and islands, which are called provinces, and are 29 in number, are governed by Alcaldes. The more troublesome ones, or those requiring a military form of government, by military officers, who are also Corregidors. Samboangan on the south west coast of Mindanao, and the Marianas, have governors named from Manila, and these are continued from three to five years in office.
These Alcaldeships are a fertile source of abuses and oppression: their pay is mean to the last degree, not exceeding 350 dollars per annum, and a trifling per centage on the poll-tax. They are in general held by Spaniards of the lower classes, who finding no possible resource in Manila, solicit an Alcadeship. This is easily obtained, on giving the securities required by government for admission to these offices, which consist in two sureties[40] to an amount proportionable to the value of the taxes of the province, which all pass through the Alcalde’s hands.
Of the nature and amount of these abuses an idea will be better formed from the following abridged quotations, which are translated from the work of Comyn before quoted (p. 16).[41]
“It is indeed common enough to see the barber or lacquey of a governor, or a common sailor, transformed at once into the Alcalde in chief of a populous province, without any other guide or council than his own boisterous passions.
“Without examining the inconvenience which may arise from their ignorance, it is yet more lamentable to observe the consequences of their rapacious avarice, which government tacitly allows them to indulge, under the specious title of permissions to trade (indultos).
——“and these are such that it may be asserted, that the evil which the Indian feels most severely is derived from the very source which was originally intended for his assistance and protection, that is, from the Alcaldes of the provinces, who, generally speaking, are the determined enemies and the real oppressors of their industry.
“It is a well known fact, that far from promoting the felicity of the provinces to which he is appointed, the Alcalde is exclusively occupied with advancing his private fortune, without being very scrupulous as to the means he employs to do so: hardly is he in office than he declares himself the principal consumer, buyer, and exporter of every production of the province. In all his enterprises he requires the forced assistance of his subjects, and if he condescends to pay them, it is at least only at the price paid for the royal works. These miserable beings carry their produce and manufactures to him, who directly or indirectly has fixed an arbitrary price for them. To offer that price is to prohibit any other from being offered—to insinuate is to command—the Indian dares not hesitate—he must please the Alcalde, or submit to his persecution: and thus, free from all rivalry in his trade, being the only Spaniard in the province, the Alcalde gives the law without fear or even risk, that a denunciation of his tyranny should reach the seat of government.
“To enable us to form a more correct idea of these iniquitous proceedings, let us lift a little of the veil with which they are covered, and examine a little their method of collecting the ‘tributo’ (poll-tax).
“The government, desirous of conciliating the interests of the natives with that of the revenue, has in many instances commuted the payment of the poll-tax into a contribution in produce or manufactures: a year of scarcity arrives, and this contribution, being then of much higher value than the amount of the tax, and consequently the payment in produce a loss, and even occasioning a serious want in their families, they implore the Alcalde to make a representation to government that they may be allowed to pay the tribute for that year in money. This is exactly one of those opportunities, when, founding his profits on the misery of his people, the Alcalde can in the most unjust manner abuse the power confided to him. He pays no attention to their representations. He is the zealous collector of the royal revenues;—he issues proclamations and edicts, and these are followed by his armed satellites, who seize on the harvests, exacting inexorably the tribute, until nothing more is to be obtained. Having thus made himself master of the miserable subsistence of his subjects, he changes his tone on a sudden—he is the humble suppliant to government in behalf of the unfortunate Indians, whose wants he describes in the most pathetic terms, urging the impossibility of their paying the tribute in produce—no difficulty is experienced in procuring permission for it to be paid in money—to save appearance, a small portion of it is collected in cash, and the whole amount paid by him into the treasury, while he resells at an enormous profit, the whole of the produce (generally rice) which has been before collected!” Comyn, p. 134 to 138.
This extract, though long, is introduced as an evidence from a Spaniard (not of the lower order, or a disappointed adventurer, but a man of high respectability), of the shameless abuses which are daily practiced in this unfortunate country, and of which the Indian is invariably the victim: and it is far from being an overcharged one. Hundreds of other instances might be cited,[42] but this one will perhaps suffice to exonerate the writer of these remarks from suspicion of exaggeration, in pointing out some of the most prominent of them.
While treating of the government of the Phillippines, we must not forget the ministers of their religion, and the share which they have in preserving these islands as dominions to the crown of Spain. This influence dates from the earliest epoch of their discovery. The followers of Cortes and Pizarro, with their successors, were employed in enriching themselves in the new world; and the spirit of conquest and discovery having found wherewith to satiate the brutal avarice by which it was directed, abandoned these islands to the pious efforts of the missionaries by whom, rather than by force of arms, they were in a great measure subdued; and even in the present day, they still preserve so great an influence, that the Phillippines may be almost said to exist under a theocracy approaching to that of the Jesuits in Paraguay.
The ecclesiastical administration is composed of an Archbishop (of Manila), who has three suffragans, Ylocos, Camarines, and Zebu; the first two on Luzon, the last on the island of the same name. The revenue of the Archbishop is 4000, and that of the bishops 3000 dollars annually. The regular Spanish clergy of all orders are about 250, the major part of which are distributed in various convents in the different islands, though their principal seats are in that of Luzon; and many of them, from age or infirmity, are confined to their convents in Manila.
The degree of respect in which “the Padre” is held by the Indian, is truly astonishing. It approaches to adoration, and must be seen to be credited. In the most distant provinces, with no other safeguard than the respect with which he has inspired the Indians, he exercises the most unlimited authority, and administers the whole of the civil and ecclesiastical government, not only of a parish, but often of a whole province. His word is law—his advice is taken on all subjects. No order from the Alcalde, or even the government[43] is executed without his counsel and approbation, rendered too in many cases the more indispensable from his being the only person who understands Spanish in the village.[44] To their high honour be it spoken, the conduct of these reverend fathers in general fully justifies and entitles them to this confidence. The “Padre” is the only bar to the oppressions of the Alcalde: he protects, advises, comforts, remonstrates, and pleads for his flock; and not unfrequently has he been seen, though bending beneath the weight of years and infirmity, to leave his province, and undertake a long and often perilous voyage to Manila, to stand forward as the advocate of his Indians; and these gratefully repay this kind regard for their happiness by every means in their power.
Their hospitality is equally praiseworthy. The stranger who is travelling through the country, no matter what be his nation or his religion,[45] finds at every town the gates of the convent open to him, and nothing is spared that can contribute to his comfort and entertainment. They too are the architects and mechanists: many of them are the physicians and schoolmasters of the country, and the little that has been done towards the amelioration of the condition of the Indian, has generally been done by the Spanish clergy.
It is painful, however, to remark, that much that might have been done, has been left undone. The exclusive spirit of the Roman church, which confines its knowledge to its priests, is but too visible even here: they appear to be more anxious to make Christians, than citizens, and by neglecting this last part of their duty, have but very indifferently fulfilled the first,—the too common error of proselytists of all denominations, which has probably its source in that vanity of human nature, which is as insatiable beneath the cowl as under any garb it has yet assumed.
Some of them too have furnished a striking but melancholy proof of the eloquent moral,
“It is not good for man to be alone.”
Let us draw a veil over these infirmities. He who has lived amidst the busy hum of crowds, amidst the wild whirl of human passions and interests, can have but little conception of the state of that mind, which perhaps feeling alive to the blessings of social intercourse, is cut off for years from civilized men; and thus buried mentally, is constrained to seek all its resources within itself.[46] That heart is one of powerful fibre which does not sometimes show itself to be human ….
There are instances indeed of some of them forgetting in a great measure their language! and of others who have become almost idiots while yet in the vigour of life![47]
The next and lowest order of ecclesiastics are the Indian clergy (clerigos); they are in number from 800 to 1000, and though from the want of Spaniards, the administration of many large districts and towns is confided to them, they are as a body far from being worthy of such an important charge. The majority of them are ignorant to the last degree, proud, debauched, and indolent: in a word, they unite the vices of the priesthood to those of the Indian, and form a class of men who may almost be said to be distinguished by their vices only.
This arises from various causes, of which the principal appears to be that of their being entirely excluded from the higher ecclesiastical situations. This alone, by depriving them of the most powerful stimulus to correct conduct, together with the very confined education they receive, and the impassable line drawn between them and the Spanish clergy, whom they are never allowed to approach, and who treat them with much contempt, are sufficient to account, in a great measure, for their apparent demerit. The fact, however, is such, whatever be its cause; and seldom a week passes, or at most a month, but some of them are brought before the ecclesiastical tribunals, under accusations but little creditable to their cloth.
Their ordinary resort at Manila is the cockpit or the gaming table, where they shew an avidity and keenness which are disgraceful and shameless to the last degree. Yet to the guidance of beings like these is the unfortunate Indian in a great measure abandoned, even in his last moments: for from the very great proportion of these to the Spanish priests, and from the recluse lives of the latter, nearly nine-tenths of all the clerical duties are performed by the Indian clerigos, such as I have described them. The few who do form an exception, are men whose conduct is highly creditable to themselves, and more striking from its unfrequent occurrence.
A keen and deadly jealousy subsists between these and the Spanish ecclesiastics, or rather a hatred on the one side, and a contempt on the other. The Indian clergy accuse these last of a neglect of their ecclesiastical duties, of vast accumulations of property in lands, &c., which, say they, “belong to us the Indians.” The Spaniards in return treat them with silent contempt, continuing to enjoy the best benefices, and living at their ease in the convents. From what has been said, it will be easily seen, “that much may be said on both sides;” but these recriminations have the bad effect of debasing both parties in the eyes of the natives, and are the germs of a discord which may one day involve these countries in all the horrors of religious dissentions.[48]
Such are the civil and ecclesiastical government of the Phillippines. We turn now to the Revenue and Expenditure, Military establishments, &c.
Until very lately these rich islands have been a constant burden to the crown of Spain, money having been annually sent from Mexico to supply their expenses. The establishment of the monopoly of tobacco has principally contributed to supply this deficiency. It was established by an active and intelligent governor (Vasco) about 1745 [sc., 1785] and still continues to be the principal revenue of the country; and large sums have been from time to time sent home to Spain, as a balance against those received from Mexico. The sales of this article amount more or less to a million of dollars per annum. The extensive establishment which is kept up to prevent smuggling, and the expenses of purchase and manufacture, reduce its net produce to 500,000 dollars per annum. The plant is cultivated in the districts of Gapan in Pampanga, in a part of the province of Cagayan, and in the island Marinduque to the south of Luzon. It is delivered in by the cultivators at fixed prices, and sent to Manila, where it is manufactured in a large range of buildings dedicated to that purpose, and retailed to the public at about 18 to 19½ dollars per arroba of 25 lbs. (Spanish), the prices varying a little according to the harvests.
The administration, inspection, and manufacture of this article, employ several thousand persons of both sexes (the manufacturing process being almost wholly carried on by women). This is not only the most productive, but the best conducted branch of the revenue; while it is at the same time the least vexatious in its operations, though not exempt from those objections which are common to all government monopolies.
Another of these monopolies is that of Coco wine, as it is called (vino de Coco y nipa). This is a weak spirit produced from the juice of the Toddy tree (Borassus gomutus),[49] and from the nipa (Cocos nypa): of this, large quantities are used by the natives. The expense of collection is about 80,000 dollars, the net revenue to government varying from 2 to 300,000.
The poll-tax (tributo) is the other great branch of the revenue; the manner of collecting it is described in p. 29. Its amount to each individual is, with some exceptions and variations in different provinces, 14 rials, or 1¾ dollars for every married Indian, from the age of 24 to 60. The Mestizos pay 24 rials or 3 dollars, and the Chinese 6 dollars each: this last branch is generally farmed. The amount of Indian and Mestizo tribute may be stated in round numbers at 800,000 dollars: the expense of collecting it diminishes it to about 640,000. The exemptions from it are disbanded soldiers, who pay less than others, men above 60 years of age, and the cultivators of tobacco, or makers of wine for the royal monopolies.
The collection of this tax is always attended with much trouble, and it is detested by the Indians to the last degree. The exaction of it from the newly converted tribes,[50] and the extensive frauds which, as already detailed, are practised by means of it, render it the most oppressive of all impositions. The natives consider it (perhaps with some justice), as giving money to no purpose; and infallibly evade it by every means in their power.
The customs produce from 1 to 300,000 dollars per annum. The remaining part of the revenue is derived from various minor sources: such are the cockpits, which are farmed, and produce a net revenue of 25 to 40,000 dollars;—the Chinese poll-tax, 30,000 dollars;—“Bulas,”[51] (the sale of which is farmed, and produces from 10 to 12,000 dollars);—cards, powder (a monopoly), stamps, and other articles of minor importance; amongst which was formerly the monopoly of betel nut, which is now abolished.
The expenses of administration are as follows. The civil and ecclesiastical officers of government, 250,000 dollars. The military, including all classes, about 600,000; and the marine, about 550,000.
The excess of revenue over the expenditure is stated by Comyn to have been in 1809 about 450,000 dollars, but in this is included 250,000 received from Mexico.
In 1817, by an account published by order of the Ayuntamiento of Manila, the amount of the revenue was—
Receipts
| Dollars | |
| Poll Tax | 638,976 |
| Rentas (monopolies, farms, &c.) | 810,784 |
| Total | 1,449,760[52] |
of which a surplus would remain when all the expenses were liquidated. In preceding years, some surplus has been remitted to Spain.
The military establishment consists of three regiments of infantry, one of dragoons, a squadron of hussars, and a battalion of artillery, in all about 4500 regulars. The militia are numerous, but only one regiment is under arms: the total of men may be estimated at 5000, but on an emergency, large bodies of irregulars can be called into activity. In 1804, the governor, Don J. M. de Anguilar, [i.e., Aguilar] is said to have had upwards of 20,000 men under arms, being in expectation of an attack from the English.
These troops (which are all natives) are in general badly disciplined and officered, mostly by country-born officers, without the advantage of an European education, ignorant of their military duties to the last degree, many of them (more especially in the Mestizo regiments) connected with the soldiers by relationship, or at least by the tie of mutual indulgence, the soldier performing every menial office for the officer, who in return winks at the excesses of the soldier. This is carried to such an extent, that, not to mention such trifles as a garden wall or gate, a bathing house, or a stable, or at times a little smuggling; there are instances on record, where the commanding officer of a regiment has built himself a country house! the whole of the masonry and carpentry being performed by soldiers of his regiment! Another is of a captain collecting his debts by means of a piquet of infantry; taking possession of his debtor’s house until payment was made!
It will be easily conceived, that where these things are permitted, the soldiers are made subservient to other purposes; accordingly they have been employed to punish the paramours of their officers’ wives—to eject a troublesome tenant—or at times to take vengeance for affronts, in cases where it might not be safe for the injured person to do so.[53]
These remarks apply more particularly to the Mestizo officers. The Spaniards, and some of the creoles, who are but very few in number, form a respectable class of military men, of whom some few may be cited as models of spirit and discipline: but they are not sufficiently numerous for their example to influence the despicable beings with whom they are unavoidably associated; and the wealth and influence being generally on the side of the native-born officers, these abuses are permitted, and the complaints of others disregarded.
It is but just, however, to remark, that their pay is excessively mean; it is a bare, and miserable subsistence; and due weight should be given to this circumstance in extenuation. A captain of regulars has not more than 80 dollars per month! and so on in proportion, and when we reflect, that from the low value of the circulating medium, a dollar will barely command more than a rupee in any part of India, much must be allowed for men so situated.
Hence, though the men, arms, and accoutrements are not bad, the troops are, from abuses, embezzlement, and neglect, miserably deficient in a military point of view, and but poorly calculated to answer any efficient purpose. To this description, the regiment of artillery and Pampango militia are exceptions: the style of equipment and discipline of the first are a high testimony of the activity and military talents of their colonel. The queen’s regiment is by far the most respectable of the infantry.
Their cavalry are badly mounted, the horses being very small, and by no means good. The men too are clumsily equipped, with swords manufactured apparently in the 14th century, being straight, disproportionably long, and furnished with a steel poignet or basket, above which is a cross, resembling the rapiers of that time.
Their marine is still more miserably deficient in the requisite qualities for essential service, and suffers more from the mal-administration of its various branches. All work done in the royal arsenal is computed to cost at least 40 per cent. more than that by individuals! The marine consists of a flotilla of 40 or 50 gun-boats, and as many feluccas,[54] of which about one half, or fewer, may be in constant activity; with what effect has been already remarked.
Like the army, the navy is almost entirely officered by creoles and Mestizos, whose pay is but a subsistence, and consequently no prospect is offered to young men of family and enterprise who may have other resources.
The arsenal at Cavite, about 10 miles from Manila, is well provided with officers and workmen, but has no docks. Vessels, however, may heave down with great safety; and the work, though expensive, is remarkably well executed.
The agriculture of this very fertile country is yet in its infancy. Oppressed with so many enemies to his advancement, and placed in a climate where the slightest exertion insures subsistence, the Indian has, like the majority of his Malay brethren, been content with supplying his actual wants, without seeking for luxuries. Hence, and from the expulsion of the Jesuits, they have made no advances beyond the common attainments of the surrounding islanders.
This spirited and indefatigable order of men, who, both by precept and example, encouraged agriculture, not only as the source of national greatness, but as preparatory to, and inseparable from, conversion to Christianity, which they well knew did not consist alone in ceremonies, but in fulfilling the duties of citizens and men, and who, whatever were their political sins, certainly possessed more than any other the talent of converting men from savage to civilized life, have left in the Phillippines some striking monuments of their wide-spreading and well-directed influence. Extensive convents (the ground stories of which were magazines), in the centre of fertile districts formerly in the highest state of cultivation, but now more than half abandoned,—tunnels,—canals,—reservoirs and dams, by which extensive tracts were irrigated for the purposes of cultivation, attest the spirit with which they encouraged this science; and if their expulsion was a political necessity, it certainly appears to have been in this country a moral evil.
The restraints imposed on commerce were another insuperable bar to their prosperity, as depriving them of a market for their produce. Since foreigners have been allowed free intercourse with them, their agriculture has in some degree improved by the increased demand of produce; but under the present system, but little can be expected from it.[55]
The soil is in general a rich red mould, with a great proportion of iron, and in some districts volcanic matters; it is easily worked and very productive: that in the immediate vicinity of Manila, and for four or five miles round it, extending to that distance from the coast of the Bay, is an alluvial soil, formed by the confluence of the numerous rivers with the ocean; it is stiff, and in all respects very inferior to the other. In some parts are extensive tracts, the reservoirs of the waters from the mountains in the rainy season, which first yield an amazing supply of fish,[56] and then a good crop of rice or pasture for the buffaloes.
The frequent rains, and the numerous rivers and streams with which the country is every-where intersected, adds to its extraordinary fertility: it is seldom, if ever, afflicted with droughts, but is at times devastated by locusts (perhaps once in 10 or 15 years), and these make dreadful havoc amongst the canes. Their attacks, however, are partial, and generally take place after the rice is harvested, in December, disappearing before the rains. In 1818, nearly the whole of the canes were destroyed by them, and the Ayuntamiento of Manila expended from 60 to 80,000 dollars in purchasing large quantities of them, which were thrown into the sea.[58]
The buffalo is universally used in all field labours, for which, however, he is but poorly calculated: the slowness of his pace, and his great suffering from heat, which obliges the labourer to bathe him frequently, occasion a very considerable loss of time, which is scarcely compensated by his great strength and little expense in keeping. Indeed, the bullock should perhaps be on all occasions substituted for him, excepting only in the cultivation of rice fields. In a few districts, this is the case; but it is with reluctance that the native uses him in preference to the buffalo.
Their breed of horses is small, but very hardy: they are never used for agricultural purposes, though but few of the peasants are without one for riding, and many of them have two or three. In the province of Pampanga (the finest tribe of Indians in the Phillippines), they risk considerable sums on races! of which they are very fond.
Their plough is of Chinese origin: it has but one handle, and no coulter or mould-board, the upper part of the share, which is flat, and turned to one side, performing this part of the work. The common harrow is composed of five or six pieces of the stems of the thorny bamboos, which at the lower part are almost solid; these are united by a long peg of the same, passing through all the pieces: to these the hard branches of thorns are left appending, and being cut off at a short distance from the stem, form the teeth of the instrument, which, rude as it is, performs its work well, and usefully, and is seldom out of order.
For cleaning and finally pulverizing the ground, they have another harrow of Chinese origin, (or an invention of the Jesuits?) It is of wrought iron, and for simplicity and utility it is, I think, unequalled. By means of it they can extirpate the Lallang grass (Andropogon caricosum), called by them Cogon,[60] and which no other instrument will perform so well, that I am acquainted with.
A hoe, like that of the West Indies, answers the purposes of a spade; and (with the basket) of a shovel. A large knife (the Malay Parang), called “Bolo,” completes the list of their agricultural instruments. Machinery they cannot be said to possess, except a rude mill of two cylinders for cane, and another for grinding their rice, can be called such. The greater part of the rice is beaten from the husk in wooden mortars, and by hand.
The rainy season commences with the S. W. monsoon, and ends in October. The rice (the aquatic sorts) is planted by hand in July and August, and reaped in December. The upland rice, of which they have two varieties, is planted earlier, and comes sooner to maturity. The cane is planted in the manner called “en canon” by the French, that is, the plant piece is stuck diagonally into the ground; and thus, from the roots being often on the surface, the plant suffers frequently from drought, and they have seldom two crops from a piece of cane: their sugar, though clumsily manufactured, is of excellent grain, and highly esteemed by the refiners of Europe.
The indigo plant is very fine; and though, as in all countries, a precarious crop, yet it is far from being so much so as in India: it has been manufactured equal to Guatemala, but in the present day is of a very inferior quality: this arises from various causes, of which the principal are ignorance in the manufacture of it, a want of capital, and spirit of enterprise. They have no tanks of masonry, the whole process being carried on in two wooden vats of a very moderate size, from which the fecula is taken once a week. It is needless to remark, that the quality of the indigo is materially injured by this alone: it is also subject to many adulterations in the hands of the Mestizos, before being brought to market.
The coffee plant was almost entirely unknown about 40 years ago, a few plants only existing in the gardens about Manila. It was gradually transported from thence to the towns in the neighbourhood of the lake, where it has been since multiplied to an amazing degree by an extraordinary method. A species of civet cat with which the woods abound, swallows the berries,[61] and these passing through the animal entire, take root, and thus the forests are filled with wild plants. This fact may be depended upon, and the major part of all the coffee exported from Manila is produced from the wild plants, and is equal or superior in flavour to that of Bourbon. The government, in 1795 or 96, made an attempt to force its cultivation in the province of Bulacan, but forgot, as one of their own officers naivement observes, “Que no habia compradores ni consumidores”—that there were neither consumers or customers for it! It of course fell to the ground, and in the next passage of the same work, the Indian is partly blamed for it!
The cultivation of cotton is as yet but very partial. It is of the herbaceous species, of a very fine quality, almost equalling the Bourbon, but excessively adherent to the grain: so much so indeed, that none of the attempts to separate it from the seed by machinery have hitherto succeeded; the grains passing through the rollers, and staining the cotton. It is cleared by the natives by means of a hand-mill, very clumsy in its construction, and performing so little work, that the cleaning costs six dollars per pekul.
The principal part of the cotton comes from the province of Ylocos, where large quantities of stuffs are manufactured. The brown cotton, for which a prize was offered in 1818 by the Society of Arts, grows in great quantities, and is manufactured into durable cloths and blankets. The prices of agricultural labour vary from 1 rial[63] per day near Manila to ¾ and ½ rial in the provinces—a plough with two buffaloes and a man, 2½ rials. The workmen, like day labourers in all countries, are often “looking for sunset;” but when allowed task work, are willing and industrious. A plough will go over rather more than a loan[64] of ground in a day—about a quinion in three months.
Of the produce of any given cultivation, it is difficult to speak with any degree of correctness: calculations of this kind are difficult to make amongst a people labouring each for himself, and all for the wants of the day: for, unaccustomed to generalize, each gives his own as the average, and hence the discrepancy which every person must have remarked who has had occasion to make inquiries of this description in half civilized countries, where a main point, the value of the labourer’s time, and of that of his animals, is invariably left out, as is also the difference of work for himself and for a master. The tables given at the conclusion of Comyn’s work are, as far as regards the vicinity of the capital, very erroneous. They are also very deficient in many points.[67] The following is a much nearer approximation.
A quinion of land requires four ploughings and three harrowings, say six ploughings in all.
| Ds. | Rs. | |
| Now as 1 Quinion will occupy a hired labourer about 90 days at 2½ Rials = 28 Dollars 1 Rial, which for six times is | 168 | 6 |
| Fencing, 12 Ds.; Grubbing, &c., 15; Cane Slips, 25; Planting, 18; Weeding and Hoeing, 30; Carriage, 18; Manufacture, 45; Pilones, &c., 12 | 175 | 0 |
| Cost | 343 | 6 |
| Produce at low average, 150 Pilones,[68] salable at 3½ Ds. | 487 | 4 |
| Profit | 143 | 6 |
This supposes the proprietor of the cane to be possessed of a mill, buffaloes, &c. for the wear of which no estimate is made.
The 150 pilones of sugar, each weighing about 150 lbs. gross, will produce the refiner who has purchased them about 100 piculs of sugar, of which
| S. | Ds. | |
| 80 1st sort, worth 6¼ Dollars | 500 | 0 |
| 20 2d ditto, and Molasses, &c. 3¾ | 75 | 0 |
| 575 | 0 | |
| They have cost him about | 487 | 4 |
| Refiner’s allowance on 100 Pilones, S. Ds. | 47 | 8 |
The profits of the refiner would appear high; and they have been so; but are far from what this statement appears to give, from various reasons, of which the chief are, the heavy capital sunk in buildings, interest on advances, &c. and from a want of knowledge, the enormous waste of labour in the process. A glance at this may give an idea of what trade is at these antipodes of commercial knowledge.
I have termed the process “refining;” it should rather be called claying and sorting—and it is as clumsily managed as the ingenuity of man could well devise. The trade is principally in the hands of three or four capitalists; advances are made by these to brokers, the provincial merchants, who annually bring their produce to the capital in small vessels,[69] and to the masters of coasting traders, in which the sugar merchants have shares. These are made to a large amount, 80 to 100,000 dollars; and as the interest of this must at least run for six months at 9 per cent. it forms a heavy item. Losses and defaulters form another, say ½ per cent. in all 5 per cent.
The pilones are delivered from November to May and June, and are received into extensive warehouses, which are provided with large court-yards and terraced roofs. Here the upper part of the pilone is cut off, and a quantity of manufactured sugar being pressed down on the top of it, a thin layer of the river mud is put on it; this is watered from time to time and changed once or twice, the pilone standing on a small foot, with the small hole at its apex left open, through which the molasses slowly drains, leaving the upper and broader part of the pilone of a fine white, gradually decreasing in goodness to the bottom, where it is little more than molasses—the pilone is then cut in two; the darker part is put by as second quality (or reboiled), and the whiter portion as firsts, of the sugar, the care taken in the process, the kind of mud used, &c. About two piculs of sugar from three pilones is a fair average, when these are of a good size. That from the province of Pampanga is by far the best; it is produced from a small red cane[70] about four feet high, and of the thickness of a good walking stick.
The sugar being thus clayed, is now to be mixed, pounded, and dried. The last process is performed by laying it on small mats in the sun, on the terraces and pavements of the court-yards. On the slightest appearance of rain, it must be hurried under cover, and brought out again when this is past. So that in a manufacture of any size, when from 3 to 400 Chinese are employed at 4½ dollars per month, fully ⅓d of their labour is expended on this operation alone. The management of the rest requires no comment.
The cost of production of any of the other articles cannot be estimated to any degree of correctness, from the very small scale on which they are cultivated, and the limited knowledge of the writer of these remarks. Those of Comyn are erroneous.
The Indians are the principal and almost the only cultivators of the soil, very few Mestizos or Chinese[71] being engaged in it. The few Spaniards and other Europeans who have attempted it, have been obliged to abandon their attempts to form plantations. These failures, or rather determination to abandon their speculations (even when in a promising state), have arisen from various causes; but the general one may be stated to be the very little security for life and property, in a country such as has been described. This is with the major part an insuperable objection; for from the moment they are established, and known to possess money for the payment of their workmen, they must be in expectation of an attack, and prepared to defend themselves; nor can they lie down at night free from the apprehension of seeing their establishments in flames before morning! either from robbers, or from malice of any individual who may think himself aggrieved:—the impossibility of obtaining justice so generally experienced by the Indians, and the many chances of escaping punishment, being strong inducements to the ill-disposed to adopt these modes of revenge. To this it may be added, that even were the foreigner to kill the most determined robber in the country, the circumstance of having done so in defence of his life and property, would by no means exonerate him from a fleecing by the inferior officers of justice, and from a long and tiresome process of depositions, declarations, &c. during which his affairs must be entirely neglected.[73]
In addition to this he must lay his account with another obstacle, and this none of the smallest—the chance of bad faith on the part of those with whom he is connected; a chance which by no means will diminish in proportion to his success; for, let no foreigner deceive himself on this head in Manila; if he cannot flatter as low, or bribe as high as his adversary, his cause is lost by some means or other.
The Phillippines also produce cacao of an excellent quality, though not sufficient for their consumption, a large quantity being imported from New Spain.
Pepper is also an article of exportation, but in very limited quantities, the utmost the Phillippine Company have been able to procure being about 60,000 lbs. in favourable years.
To these may be added the Abaca (Musa textilis), a species of plantain, from which the beautiful fibres are procured known by that name. This is becoming a very considerable article of exportation, both raw, and manufactured into cordage. The natives also consume large quantities of it in cordage, and as shirting cloth, into which a large portion of the interior and finer fibres are manufactured. Some of it is equal to the coarser sort of China grass cloth.[74]
In Gogo,[76] a gigantic climbing plant, whose trunk attains the size of a man’s body, is another remarkable production of these islands. Its branches being cut out into lengths, are coarsely pounded and dried in the sun: they are used as soap by all classes of people, the saponaceous fluid which is extracted from them being remarkably cleansing, and the fibres answering the purpose of a brush.
It is also used in large quantities in washing the earth of rivers and streams, to separate the gold from them. It is not cultivated, but exists in great abundance in the forests, in which are also the sapan-wood (called Sibacao), the sandal, ebony, and vanilla. They abound in gums and resins, large portions of which are washed down by the torrents; but these are for the most part useless, either from the ignorance of the natives, or from the impossibility of venturing far in the interior.
Their timber is excellent, and in a country so covered with forests, of course plentiful; but the want of roads and other conveniences of transport, renders it, in Manila, rather an expensive article.
The principal timber woods are, the “Mulave” [i.e., Molave], a compact, heavy, yellowish wood, and almost incorruptible, perhaps from the very great portion of tannin it contains. Tindalo,[78] a hard wood, much resembling the iron-wood of the Brasils, and like it used for screws, &c., &c. when great hardness is required. “Betis,” an excellent timber tree, which grows to a very great size, and for its durability is generally used for the main beams of churches, convents, and other large buildings. The “Narra,” of which there are two kinds, the white and red: this last is almost equal to mahogany in polish and durability. Banaba, a red wood resembling cedar; and many others of equal goodness. Of these the Banaba and Mulave are most used in shipbuilding, the first for planking, and the last for the framework. For masts, the Manga-chapuy and Palo-maria are generally used: the last is equal or superior to pine, both in strength and lightness.
Their forests are not infested with those ferocious animals which are the terror of those of other Asiatic countries. The tiger, elephant, and rhinoceros are unknown: the wild buffalo and hog are the only ones of which the native has any dread. These attain an enormous size, but are not mischievous, unless provoked. The dried flesh and hides of these animals, as well as of deer and wild cattle, which are in immense numbers, form a considerable article of trade amongst the natives, the “tappa” or dried flesh being used for food, and the hides for exportation.
Their serpents, however, attain an enormous size: the largest are those of the Boa species (Constrictor), and will devour a horse or a cow at a meal.[79] Of this genus there is one variety very beautifully marked, which frequents the houses, and is called by the Spaniards (Culebra casera), the house snake,[80] and by the Indians “Sawa.” These are often seen from 10 to 12 feet in length, but are very harmless. Few houses are without one or more of them in the cellars, stables, &c. but they are seldom disturbed, as they are said to devour rats and other noxious animals; though, when these fail them, they attack fowls, or even goats. They form a favourite article of food with the Chinese, who keep them in jars to fatten, and the Indians may be often seen carrying them through the streets for sale.
Of other varieties they have great numbers; some of which, as the “dahun palay,” or leaf of rice, of a deep green and yellow, which frequents the rice fields, and the “mandadalag,” or whip-snake, are excessively venomous: accidents from these animals are not, however, very frequent; from whence it may be concluded, that the superstition of the natives has greatly exaggerated the number of venomous ones: and this may be the more readily inferred, not only from their excessively superstitious character, and the common custom of all nations in this particular; but also from the thousand ridiculous fables told by them of the cameleon, which is very common in the woods, and perfectly harmless. The Indian name for it is “Ynyano.”
Of minerals they have an inexhaustible supply: gold is found in almost all the streams, and even in the sands of the shores of the Bay after blowing weather: no mines of it have as yet been wrought, though they are known to exist. The quantity obtained by the rude efforts of the natives merely washing the sands of the torrents, is very great, and certainly does not fall short of 4 to 500,000 dollars worth annually, as great quantities are expended in gilding for the churches, &c. &c.
Silver is also found, but in small quantities. Virgin copper is another produce of their mountains: pieces of it are frequently met with in the torrents, and on the shores of some of the islands (Masbate, Burias, and Ambil). The negroes have also been seen with rude ornaments, and even with utensils made from it.
Of iron they have whole mountains in the very vicinity of Manila! (provinces of Pampanga and Bulacan), some of the ores yielding 75 per cent. of metal, and of an excellent quality, this having been ascertained by some Biscayan iron-masters sent out for that purpose. It contains great numbers of magnets. There are some miserable establishments for working and smelting these ores, but on a very small scale; they have only produced cast iron articles, and those of an inferior quality. They have no forging machinery.[82]
Cinnabar, lead, and tin are supposed to exist; but of these last there is no certainty.
Sulphur is found in the neighbourhood of the volcanoes in considerable quantities, and is an article of export to Bengal and other places: the principal part of it is collected on the island of Leyté, which is next to Samar on the south side of the strait of St. Bernardino. It is collected on the edges of numerous small apertures, which emit at times flames and smoke. These are situated in an extensive plain near the sea-coast in the vicinity of the village of Dulag, on the eastern side of the island. With these natural advantages, and those are not few that still remain to be enumerated, the commerce of this country, like its agriculture, is still in its infancy: and this has been principally owing to two great causes—the trade to Acapulco, and the prohibitory system invariably pursued by Spain in regulating the intercourse with her colonies, and which here has been burdened with an additional weight, the monopoly of the Phillippine Company.
It were a task far exceeding the intention and ability of the writer of these remarks to point out the causes and effects of these extensive evils:—a few observations only will be made to elucidate such remarks as may follow on the commerce of Manila.
Of the prohibitory system pursued by Spain towards her colonies, it may perhaps be said, with as much justice as of her wars, that it was, “en faire un desert pour s’en assurer l’empire;”[83] for few systems could have been better calculated to assure the first object; the last has miserably disappointed its advocates, and left a striking lesson to the world, at which humanity has cause to rejoice.
With jealousy of foreigners exceeding even the bounds of credibility, she invariably refused them admittance,[84] whether for scientific or commercial purposes;[85] or when from accident or influence this was obtained, the people following, and often exceeding the lessons of their rulers, by civil and religious persecutions, and contempt, contrived to render their existence almost a burden. It would appear to have become an axiom amongst them, remarkable only for its illiberality, that “a dollar gained by foreigners was one taken from the pocket of a Spaniard;”[86] and that in all cases where the interests of the merchants of the mother country and those of the colonies were opposed, the latter were to be sacrificed.[87] Her own subjects were, from the same miserable narrow policy, embarrassed with restrictions and conditions—permissions from the Consejo de las Yndias, &c. &c. that it became by no means a trifling affair to be able to embark for the Phillippines, unless at the risk of being sent home from there by the local authorities.
Unable herself, from the want of manufactures and energy, to profit by her colonies, she obstinately refused to allow others to do so, and in this she invariably persisted. The fruits of such a system were such as might have been expected; the colonies submitted—(while they were obliged by force to do so), smuggled to a large amount, remonstrated, resisted, and declared themselves independent; and thus has Spain forever lost those advantages which a more liberal policy might have secured to her through a long course of time.[88]
In the Philippines, this system, though followed for a long time, has been of late years successively relaxed, and the good effects of this modification are visible to the most indifferent observer: it has however left deep traces of its operations, and much is still wanting: the foreign merchant or adventurer, how much soever he may be smiled upon and caressed, has still to contend against a rooted and long cherished jealousy of all that is not Spanish.
The Acapulco trade is another and a principal cause of the very confined state of the commerce of this valuable colony. A few remarks will be sufficient to justify the apparent paradox.
The merchant of Manila (says Comyn), is “entirely different from the merchant of other parts of the world; he has no extensive correspondence, no books, or intricate accounts; his operations are confined to a shipment of bales to Acapulco, and to receiving the silver in return: and in 40 years, only one or two instances have occurred wherein bankrupts have been able to produce a correct set of books to the Consulado (or Chamber of Commerce)!” This description was doubtless correct at the time when it was written (1809); but it is just to observe that they are now much improved, and though not excessively enterprising, are better acquainted with the true principles of commerce. Such were the merchants: let us examine a little the trade.
The basis of it was, and is, the funds called “Obras Pias”[89] (Pious Works). These are funds under various denominations, whose origin was the piety of well-meaning Spaniards, who dying rich have bequeathed large sums for the purpose of lending to deserving traders to commence or continue their career with. The administration of these is confided to various religious and charitable institutions, or to civil associations—the trustees forming a board, at which the sums to be lent, &c. are determined. Their statutes differ in many unessential points;[90] but their general tenour is the same, viz. that sums not exceeding two thirds of the fund shall be lent on respondentia at certain rates of interest, which are fixed according to the risk of the voyages; and these, when repaid, shall be added, principal and interest, to the original fund. The interests are 25 per cent. to Acapulco, 15 to Bengal, and so in proportion. The total of the capitals of these establishments (there are 12 or 14 of them), amounted to about three millions and a half of dollars in 1820, of which about two millions are due to the funds on various risks, principally those of New Spain: of this the major part is considered as lost by those best qualified to judge of the subject.
The principal employ of these funds has been in the commerce to Acapulco; and from the facility with which capital was procured, the excessive gambling spirit which this introduced, as well as the system of mutual accommodations from the trustees of different funds, and the utter absence of the wholesome restraint of public examinations of their accounts, it has resulted that more harm than good has been done by these establishments. The original intentions are entirely perverted, a few small sums being lent to young adventurers (when they have powerful friends), but far the greatest part is employed by the trustees themselves under the name of a relation or friend.[91]
When, without risking any capital of his own, the merchant might thus share the enormous profits of this trade, with no more exertion than signing the invoices and letters (they were written by Indian clerks), and receiving the treasure on the return of the vessel, it is not surprising that for nearly two centuries they neglected all the other commercial advantages which surrounded them, or that such a commerce produced such merchants: the history of it and of them for that period may be confined to a few words:—they were the agents of the merchants of Madras and Bengal, receiving and shipping their goods, and returning their proceeds, while their profits were confined to a large commission on them.[92]
This trade was anciently confined to a single ship annually, the famous Galleon. She was fitted out, manned and armed, at the king’s expense, and commanded by a king’s officer. This was reimbursed by a duty of 33⅓ per cent. on the registered cargo, the merchants contributing to her provisionment, and to the payment of 20,000 dollars as a bounty to her commander. She was calculated to carry 3,000 bales of a certain size, and the privilege of shipping these was confined to the holders of 1,000 tickets called “boletas,” which were divided amongst different public bodies, charitable and religious institutions, the widows of the officers, &c., these tickets being saleable to others:[93] and of the enormous profit on this trade, some idea may be formed, when it is known, that with the very heavy expenses attendant on every stage of it, 500 dollars have been paid for a ticket entitling the holder to ship three bales!
By regulation, the invoice was not to exceed 500,000 dollars; but this was always evaded. The vessels were crammed with goods, and generally netted 100 per cent. or even 150 on every thing taken out.[94] By applications from private merchants, the permissions have of late years been extended to their ships, and even brigs; but they still were encumbered with many useless restrictions and conditions, which of course were evaded by every means that could be devised.
By the adoption of the new constitution, and the late declaration of the independence of Mexico,[95] which began in the seizure of a convoy of nearly a million of dollars belonging to the merchants of Manila, this trade is now almost annihilated.
As has been remarked, their intercourse with the other countries is very limited. The Phillippine Company, who were in possession of the exclusive trade of Europe, have for many years taken no advantage of their privilege (the last ship which arrived from Spain was in 1817);[96] but private merchants were still debarred from doing so, till the promulgation of the constitution.[97] Foreigners have been, however, gradually admitted since 1800; and they have supplied the wants of the country by introducing European articles, and carrying off the surplus produce, when a sufficient quantity could be procured to employ their capital, which rarely happens without much delay. So rapid has been the augmentation of this trade, that though in 1813 only 15,000 pekuls of sugar were exported, it had increased in 1818 to 200,000, at from 6½ to 9 dollars per pekul. The other exports of the same year were as follows:—
Coffee, about 400 pekuls, at 28 dollars; Cotton, 1,000, at 20 to 25 dollars; Indigo, 1,000 quintals, at 90 to 110 dollars per quintal; wax, 600 pekuls at 40 to 50 dollars; red wood, &c. &c. in large quantities. In a printed account, the number of foreign vessels for that year (1818) are stated to be, English, 18; American, 10; French, 4; Portuguese, 2; Chinese Junks, 10, and 8 Spanish vessels. The value of imports as follows:
| Goods, | 2,296,272 | dollars |
| Cash, | 758,239 | |
| $3,054,511 |
The exports, 1,205,649 dollars; but this last is any thing but correct, not only from the very imperfect nature of the custom-house valuations, but from the smuggling, which is carried on to an immense amount. It will be nearer the truth to estimate the imports at about 3,8, or 3,900,000, and the exports at 3¼ or 3,500,000.[98]
The imports consist of piece-goods for the Acapulco market, and for home consumption from Bengal; cambrics and handkerchiefs of plaided patterns from Madras; woollens, wines, spirits, silks, printed cottons, hosiery, hardware, &c. from Europe (principally from France); bird’s nests, tortoise and mother-of-pearl shell, bich-de-mar [i.e., balate], wax, dried fish, &c. from Soolo, Borneo, and other islands of the Archipelago; toys, silks, nankeens, teas, and dollars from China; dollars from the United States; and from South America, silver, cochineal, and cacao. Of these articles the specie and cochineal are mostly exported to Bengal and Madras, and the produce of the Soolos and Borneo to China; the other exports have been noticed in a preceding page.
An active coasting trade[99] is carried on by the natives amongst the islands, though they suffer dreadfully from the pirates; but such is their enterprising turn, that with these in sight, they will often cross from one island to another, when they have a fair start; and frequently set out on a long trip in a small prow [i.e., prau], armed only with their spears and “campilans,”[100] though knowing the pirates to be in the neighbourhood of their track. They are well known in the piratical states, where a Manila slave always commands a higher price than any other. They have been much stigmatized in British country-ships, as the leaders of mutinies, &c.; but though no doubt can exist that they have often assisted in cutting off vessels, yet I question much whether the fault was not in a great measure to be attributed to a want of discrimination between the high spirit of the Philippine islander, and the meek sufferance of the patient Lascar—a fatal mistake, when both are trampled on, as it is to be feared they but too often are.
This trade is carried on in pontines,[101] galeras, feluccas, and prows or boats of all sizes. The pontines are stout-built vessels of European models, from 80 to 150 tons, with two long mat sails, like a Chinese junk. The “galeras” are smaller, and carry a lateen sail, like those of the Mediterranean. The feluccas have been already described, and their prows and boats resemble nearly those of their Malay brethren. Large property is often embarked in these vessels, and they are conducted entirely by natives.
They have but a few manufactures: the principal one is that of coarse gauzes, and rope from the Abaca plant, the first of which has a very extensive consumption and is universally worn by all classes of the natives. It is principally carried on in the province of Camarines, at the S. E. angle of the island.
Considerable quantities of coarse canvas and striped cloths are manufactured from cotton in the province of Ylocos; and in those in the more immediate vicinity of the capital, the striped cloths called “tapis” are universally worn by the native women over their petticoat. None of these articles except the Abaca rope are exported, and probably the whole of the cloths might be imported at a cheaper rate than they are made. The Phillippine Company, by a mistaken policy, expended large sums in endeavoring to render these manufactures articles of export to Spain and the Americas; but after heavy and repeated losses, the attempt was at length abandoned.
I am not certain whether there was not a clause in their charter, obliging them to attempt this; and from the interfering spirit of Spanish legislature throughout the last two centuries, it is more than probable it was so. For the Company must have seen the impropriety of endeavoring to establish manufactures in a country so thinly populated, and where the little security for property or power of enforcing contracts, must have exposed them to a thousand losses unknown in Europe.
This last circumstance is one which is at all times a severe check on the prosperity of any undertaking in this country. The most shameless frauds are daily committed, particularly by the Chinese and Chinese Mestizos, and for these there is no resource; complaint is unavailing, for the trouble of obtaining redress is greater than the injury, and it is a matter of common conversation—how so and so has been cheated in his contracts. They appear to mistake indolence for compassion, and allow themselves to be robbed with impunity, rather than pursue the offender, or, should they do so, the magistrate to whom they apply is but too apt, if the affair is intricate, to mistake procrastination for deliberation, and thus the culprit escapes unpunished. The losses of private merchants and the individuals in this way, would, if enumerated, exceed belief. Another and a most serious drawback to the commercial prosperity of the Phillippines, has been the negligence or ignorance, or both which have prevented the establishment of bonded warehouses, or a system of drawback duties on re-exportations. A glance at their position, and the consideration of the monsoons, will convince any one, that this was of all things that for which ample provision should have been made; and it would be no exaggeration to say, that this commerce would in a few years have increased tenfold with China alone, had this plan been adopted. The enormous duties and vexatious spirit of the Chinese government, together with, what must doubtless be often the case, the fleecing combinations of the Hong merchants;[102] would long ago have driven every vessel from their ports, could another have been found near enough to insure a supply of goods, which, from the enterprising spirit of the Chinese, could not have failed. Manila is this port. From Amoy and Nankin, the granaries and workshops of the eastern provinces, the most fertile and commercial part of the empire, it is but a short run to Manila; and thus, when the Chinese could freely trade in their favourite article, opium,[103] and find too an assortment of European and Malay goods, while the European could complete his investment of funds with the valuable produce of China,[104] without the expense of the measurement duties, and while the Malay could trade with both, an emporium might have risen, inferior only perhaps to Batavia or Calcutta.
An attempt was made in 1817, by a Spanish merchant, to commence something of this sort. He purchased a quantity of Turkey opium from an American, with an understanding that it was to be reshipped, on payment of a small additional duty. It was so, but a quantity of the opium was plundered from the custom-house godowns, and the proprietor was told “that the king was not responsible for losses.”
Plan of the environs, and a portion of the coast and bay adjacent to the city of Manila, 1779 (?)
[From original MS. map (in colors), in Archivo general de Indias, Sevilla]
It would be foreign to the object of a cursory sketch like the present to enter farther into the details of this subject. Enough has been said to bear out an assertion, which those who are acquainted with the trade will not think exaggerated, that had this system been fairly and equitably established, one half of the trade to China would before this have centered at Manila; and it is only at Manila that the advantages of such a transit could have been unknown or neglected in the 19th century. I proceed to make some observations on the capital and its inhabitants.[105]
PART II
MANILA
Manila,[106] the capital of the “kingdom of the Phillippines,”[107] in lat. 14° 26′ N. and long. 121° 3′ East of Greenwich, is situated on the eastern side of an extensive bay in the western coast of the island Luzon, or Luconia, as it is sometimes called. It is a captain general-ship (not a viceroyalty), and archbishopric, and the seat of the Audiencia, or Supreme Tribunal.
The city forms nearly a sector of a circle, of which the center is a point formed by the coast and the influence of a small but rapid river, the Passig, which flowing to the westward, and passing to the north of the city, discharges the waters of an extensive lake about 30 miles distant from the town. This river is navigable for vessels of 250 tons for a small distance from its entrance, which is formed by two fine moles, built by the municipality of the city. On the southern of these is a small semicircular battery for four guns, and on the other a light-house. The southern or outer mole is much out of repair.
The constant and rapid current of the river forms a bar at its entrance, over which there is 10, and at times 11 feet water at spring tides, in a narrow channel close to the battery.
The city is well fortified on the sea and land faces, but on that towards the river very indifferently, being only defended by a long curtain with a few ill-constructed bastions, which from their diminutive size are rather playthings than bastions. The curtain is narrow, and confined on the inside, and unfit for guns of calibre; the buildings within the city overlooking, and even joining the wall in some places. On the other side of the river, within 200 yards of this curtain, are a number of stone houses, along the whole length of its bank; and the bases of these being walls of eight and ten feet thick of solid masonry, would afford an immediate cover for an enemy, who might breach the curtain in ten minutes at so short a distance, and with perfect safety, the fire from some of these taking the whole of the works on the N. Eastern side in reverse. Indeed its only defence on this side is the river,[108] the current of which is always rapid.
Over it is a neat but narrow stone bridge of ten arches, which joins the city at its northern angle to the suburbs. On the city side of the bridge is a square tower, with an archway pierced through it, and with embrasures on the top. This is intended as a “tête de pont;” but it is too small for any effective purpose, and, like the bastions on this face, resembles a military plaything; and this defect is the more striking, as the fortifications, from this angle on the land and sea faces, are remarkably handsome and well proportioned.
At the north-western point of the city, which joins the mole, is the citadel of Santiago, a clumsy old-fashioned fortification, separated from the rest of the city by a narrow ditch with a stone bridge, but joined by the curtains of the bastions. It is incapable of any respectable defence, except from a semicircular bastion, which forms the point, and commands the moles and entrance to the river. It is now used as a state prison and magazine. The convicts employed in the public works are also lodged in it. This was the refuge of the unfortunate foreigners who escaped from the massacre on the 9th of October 1820; and to the honour of the commandant (Col. Don A. Parreno), and his lady be it recorded, they found there another home.
The length of the city within the walls is 1,300 yards Spanish, from N. W. to S. E.; its width 744, and circumference 4,166. The side towards the river, it has already been remarked, is, from the want of bastions, and from the encumbered state of the approaches to it, in a very defective state. The sea and land faces are exactly the reverse of this, being remarkably clear and strong.
The land face has a double ditch, and an esplanade of five or six hundred yards in breadth, which towards the river is marshy and swampy, and utterly unfit for military operations. Towards the sea, and for some miles along the coast, is an epaulement,[109] thrown up when in expectation of an attack from the English in 1804. On this esplanade formerly stood a church, from the tower of which the English under Sir W. Draper fired into the heart of the city:[110] it is now razed. There is also a small battery called Charles the Fourth’s, on an elevated spot in the marshy ground; it is about 350 yards from the fortifications and is mostly used as an exercising battery. Another redoubt of stone stands at the southern point of the outer ditch, and flanks the sea shore to a considerable distance to the southward: it also serves to cover the head of the outer ditch, which is not carried round the sea face, apparently for want of room, as its crest would nearly approach high water mark in this part.
There are six gates to the city, two on each face: those on the land side have neat stone bridges over the outer ditch, which are not mined, and, being of solid masonry, would be found cumbersome in case of an attack. The inner ones, and those on the sea side, are of wood or stone pillars with drawbridges. The ditches are wide and deep, but much encumbered with mud and weeds, from which last the fortifications also have suffered. The bastions on the sea and land sides are in many places without embrasures, the guns being “en barbette.”[111] The shore is not very flat, and will perhaps allow a frigate to lay within gunshot of the ramparts.
Within the walls of the city is the cathedral, the inside of which is very handsome, though the exterior is destitute of all symmetry, and seems to have been intended as a contrast to the majestic architecture of the interior.
The governor’s palace resembles a decent barn or warehouse, both externally and internally. It is large, dirty, and ill distributed, the basement being used as a prison.
The Cabildo, or Town House, is a handsome building, and the only one in the country which has any pretensions to symmetry, of which the architects of the Phillippines take every opportunity of shewing a sovereign contempt:—so much so, that it is rare to find even the doors and windows, or the angles of a room, correctly placed and laid out! These three buildings form three sides of a small square, the only one in the city, of about 100 yards on each side, the fourth side being occupied by private houses. In the centre is a handsome pedestal of reddish marble, on which no statue has yet been placed.[112]
The streets of the city are narrow and dirty; and the middle being a hollow, in rainy weather forms a continued puddle. They are paved at the sides with granite from China, the stone in the immediate neighbourhood of Manila being too soft. The pavement is not in good repair, and in some streets only occupies one side; the other, which is generally occupied by a large house, or the wall of a convent, being heaped up with dirt, rendered solid by long accumulation, and forming a hill against the wall, the receptacle of …. This is not confined to bye-lanes, but is most common in the great square (Plaza Constitucional) in front of the cathedral![113]
The city and suburbs are well lighted, and the European quarters of the last are cleaner than the city.
The convents, which occupy nearly one third of the whole area of the city! are more distinguished for their size and massy architecture, than for their beauty. The church and convent of St. Augustine, and that of the Jesuits (now fast falling to decay), are, however, neat and well built. That of San Domingo is the most extensive.
The hospital of St. John of God, a military order of Knights Hospitallers, is extensive, but for want of funds, is but indifferently entertained.[114] There is also a university (St. Thomas), two colleges for the instruction of Indians and mestizos, and three convents of nuns, who receive girls to educate. There are also two schools for girls, both endowed by the piety of single individuals; the first of these being a Spanish lady, who came out from Spain for the express purpose of devoting herself to the education of Indian and mestizo girls! The other is that of a mestizo woman of the village of Binondo, a suburb of Manila.
There are some large houses, but they are generally ill-built and inconvenient, the rooms being often excessively large, and always badly laid out. The ground floor is used for warehouses, stables, &c. and always includes a large court-yard. The first floor only is inhabited. The architecture of the lower part is very massive, being often walls of solid masonry of eight or ten feet thick, with large arches from side to side, and connected with massy beams. At the height of the floor, these walls are discontinued, and on them are raised at distances clumsy pillars of brickwork, or at times of wood (which is seldom straight). These pillars are connected at the top by large joists in all directions, having wooden forelocks driven through them close to the pillars; and on this framework are laid the rafters for the tiled roof; the interstices of the pillars, and divisions of the rooms, being filled up with brick and plaster. The ends of the floor timbers being allowed to project over the walls, form a gallery of eight or ten feet in width along the front of the house, and round it when insulated: this gallery is boarded for about four feet in height in front, and then filled up with sliding windows, the small panes of which are filled with plates of thin mother-of-pearl shell,[115] forming one continued window, like the front of a hot-house. The communication to this gallery is by wide folding doors from the rooms, a large one having four or five, which thus admit light and air into the apartments; but the shell windows, when closed against the sun, transmit an intolerable heat, and the houses are not in general cool ones. The galleries are often used as dressing, and even as bathing rooms; and as they overhang the streets, the passenger is often sprinkled from them, in consequence of this dirty practice.
The exterior of these galleries being painted a curious mixture of tawdry colours, such as black, grey, blue, yellow, and red, in panels, flowers, ovals, &c. on white or grey grounds, with their shell windows above, and the grated ones of the godowns below, gives a tawdry and unsociable appearance to the houses. The better sort, and those newly built, have venetians, which greatly improves both their appearance and comfort.
All the houses have a cross, and some two or three, on the roof or gables, as a preservative against evil spirits,[116] and lightning; and though few years pass without many accidents from the latter, the crosses are still preserved in preference to conductors, even in the magazines, not one of which is provided with this useful preservative, though that of the citadel contains many thousand pounds of powder.
The suburbs of the city are extensive, and contain many stone houses, in which some of the principal inhabitants reside, and generally all the foreigners, the vicinity of the river, and its many branches, rendering it more convenient for business.
The custom-house is a plain octagonal building of considerable extent, and contains a fine courtyard surrounded with an arcade, and extensive magazines for warehousing goods. These, from neglect and the ravages of the white ants, are fast falling to decay, and in a few years the building will be a ruin; it is now very dirty and ill-arranged, the entrance not being convenient to the river, and wanting quays and a crane. The officers of this establishment are in general attentive, civil, and indulgent to foreigners, though the length of their siestas does not contribute to the dispatch of business. There is no interpreter attached to this establishment, nor is the king responsible for goods or money deposited in it, this being solely at the merchant’s risk.
The “Calzada,” or public drive, is a broad neat carriage road, leading round the outer face of the outer ditch, from the bridge, round the land and sea faces of the fortifications to the river. It is planted with trees, and forms a good drive, having roads leading from it into the country, whose rich and cultivated appearance gives the stranger a high opinion of its fertility. The roads are however much in want of waterings in dry weather, the dust of the principal one being at these times insufferable.
On the road leading to the village of Santa Anna is the cemetery,[117] a building well worth the attention of strangers both as a novelty in itself, and as in some measure redeeming the character of the architecture of this country from its general want of interest and symmetry.
It consists of two concentric circular walls, about ten feet apart and fourteen in height, both surmounted with a balustrade. The inner wall forms the periphery of a circle of about 250 feet in diameter, and is pierced with three rows of small semicircular arches, which form the entrances to as many arched, oven-like receptacles, formed in the space betwixt the walls, and of a size just calculated to receive a coffin, to which purpose they are appropriated.
There are from two to three hundred of those receptacles; and when occupied, the entrances are walled up. The plot of ground in the centre is crossed by two broad stone walks, the borders of which are planted with flowers and shrubs; the remaining space is used for interments.
On the further side from the gate, and joined to the wall, is a handsome chapel of an oval shape, the roof being a dome. The interior of this chapel is remarkably neat; and the altar, which is white, and gold, is particularly so, from its elegant simplicity and chasteness of ornament: on each side of it are repositories for the remains of governors and bishops.
Without are flights of steps leading to the terrace joining the walls, and two passages leading to a smaller building at the back of the chapel, and in the same style as the large one. This is called the “Angelorio” and a recess in it the “Ossario.” The first is appropriated to the remains of infants and children, and the last to the bones which may in time accumulate. This purpose suggests the only objection which is apt to arise in viewing the building, which is, that, as in the course of time the receptacles must be filled up, those which have been first occupied must be opened, and the bones displaced to make room for others. To many this is a most revolting objection, and would appear to indicate a dulness of feeling and want of sentiment, which, though far from being uncommon at Manila, by no means accords with the spirit and style in which the building is executed, or with the reflections it is apt to excite.
There are no other buildings in the neighbourhood of Manila worthy the attention of the stranger. The appearance of the surrounding country is rich, and in some parts highly cultivated; but an air of neglect and dilapidation is visible throughout, which strikingly marks the apathetic character of both classes of its inhabitants. It is remarkable, too, that the neatness of the native villages, and the apparent comfort of the people, increase in direct proportion to their distance from the capital, as the influence of government is less felt, and the Indian, knowing no other authority than the “Padre,” retains more of his original character.
The vices of Spanish colonies have been often the theme of those who have visited them; and when speaking of Manila, they have seldom exaggerated.[118] It has been observed, and with some justice, that “to know the education of the children, is to know the character of a people.” If this be true, but little can be said for Manila, where this highly important duty is more neglected than perhaps in any civilized part of the globe.
The majority of the young are abandoned entirely to the Indian servants, who soon familiarize them with all that is vicious. They know but little of their parents more than as the master and mistress of the house, whose hand they must kiss, kneeling, every morning and evening. By five years of age they smoke cigars, ride out at night by moonlight, abuse the Indians, and not unfrequently their parents. At 12 they are debauched. At 18 or 20 they marry, and then form the citizens for which such an education has prepared them. They are seldom or ever taught any useful employment or profession. This the majority of them would look upon with the utmost contempt: “Soy gracias a Dios, de sangre noble,”[119] is their reply to any advice of this kind; and this is a passport to a cadetship in the army or colonial marine; which, though attained at the age of 12 or 13, seldom finds them with any vice unlearnt. The girls are educated nearly in the same manner, as far as to the acquirement of any useful knowledge. They are sent to the nunneries till 12 or 14 years, and from thence married. Of household duties they know little or nothing, and of any thing else, still less.
The manner of living is nearly as follows: The gentlemen rise about six or seven, and take chocolate. They then lounge about in their shirts and trowsers (the former often outside of the latter) till nine, when they dress, and dictate a letter or two to their writers (they rarely write for themselves); at 10 they breakfast, after which they go out in their carriages to transact any business they may have in town. At 12 or 1 they dine, and from table retire to sleep the siesta, till 4—at 4 chocolate[120]—at 5 drive on the esplanade, or into the country, till 6 or 7, when visits are received or made till 10 or 11; supper is served hot at this hour, and at midnight they retire to sleep. Some of these evening parties (tertulias) are lively and pleasant, but at most of them gambling is carried on with great avidity. Both ladies and gentlemen smoke at these, as well as at balls and other assemblies. They drink but little wine or strong liquors, their ordinary beverage being water, which is handed round in large glasses with sweetmeats, which are always eaten before drinking water.
Society in Manila is at a very low standard: in a community, the majority of which are men of inferior classes, no very select assemblies can be expected; and those whose character and education might have given another tone to it, are here, from necessity, amalgamated with the crowd. There are in fact only a few houses where a respectable society can be met with; at others the stranger is disgusted with a coarseness of manners, and with unfeeling or often excessively indelicate conversation, and an ignorance of the most common branches of knowledge that must be heard to be credited.
Hence, exclusive of some of the civil and military officers of government, the agents of the Company, and a few respectable merchants and priests, the remainder are but little qualified for select society, and there exists amongst them a want of moral discrimination, a toleration of publicly known vicious characters of both sexes, that is not a little embarrassing to the stranger. This is more particularly the case with the female part of society, with many of whom “era tentada la pobrecita por el demonio!” [i.e., “The poor woman was tempted by the devil”] appears to be a salvo, both at confession and in society, for failings which in Europe inevitably and justly entail expulsion from it.
Such is the society of Manila, and such its manners: from them the general character of those who compose it may be easily imagined; they are polite in offering every thing—but do but little or nothing:—they affect great decency of manners and a religious deportment in all their actions; but any thing but this is to be found in the conduct of the generality; and a common remark amongst themselves, “Esta no es tierra para un hombre de bien,”[121] is worth a chapter on the subject.
This may be thought an exaggerated, or at least a highly coloured picture, and it is natural that it should be so. A recital of a well-known custom may add an evidence to these assertions, premising that it is not the only, though the most prominent one that attracts the notice of the stranger: I allude to that of promiscuous bathing. This shamefully indecent custom could exist in no country where the common decencies of life were held in due consideration. Imagine the members of a large family, the father, mother, children, young and old, any visitors who may be in the house and often part of another family, all assembled in a large bath, built out on the river with bamboos, the women with only a petticoat and a gauze chemise, and the men with a thin pair of drawers, and this continuing for one or two hours. This is a Manila bath, to which it is no uncommon thing for an acquaintance to be asked, and in which ⅘ths of all the families in Manila indulge. It may be said in extenuation, that from its frequency no evil arises from it: this may be the case, but it is not the less indecent on that account.
The policy of Spain towards the Phillippines appears to have been to preserve them—no matter how, as it afforded occasion to remark, “that the sun never set in the dominions of his Catholic majesty.” Its neglect of so rich a colony can only be supposed to arise from ignorance, or from a mistaken determination to sacrifice it to the Americans: from which, this is not the place to enquire. It will suffice to observe, that in Spain it has been at all times considered as the “ne plus ultra” of expatriation: a natural consequence of this was the state of society which has been shewn to exist.[122] Nor is this idea confined to Spain alone: Mr. Whitbread, when addressing the House on the tyranny of Ferdinand to the liberal party, concluded in the following manner: “Some have perished on the scaffold—others in the dungeons of Ceuta—and others, still more horrible to relate, have been sent to linger out their days amidst the savages of the Phillippine islands!”
The islands have suffered too from another cause, the adoption of the Spanish language as that of the courts of justice, &c. &c. and the consequent neglect of that of the natives amongst the higher classes of Europeans. Hence they are ignorant of the feelings and prejudices of the people they govern, and who look to them for example, or at least for precept; and not a little of the extensive influence of the priesthood may be owing to their intimate knowledge of the language, and the mutual confidence which results from this. The Indian, meanwhile, has not neglected the language of his masters; and as from the Indian writers, who transact all business, every thing is known, it follows, while both mistakenly consider their interests as separate, the natives and creoles have much the advantage. Both despise and detest the Spaniards, the majority of whom, divided into factions of Andaluces, Montaneses, Serviles, and Liberales,[123] abuse each other cordially; while the few who know and feel that there are other and higher duties owing from them to the Indian, must look on with regret, or complain to be disregarded or insulted. The disaffected, and those who have nothing to fear and every thing to hope from a popular commotion, do not lose sight of these advantages; and are rapidly spreading doctrines gleaned from the works of Voltaire, Rousseau, Tom Paine; &c. and stimulating them with songs of liberty and equality; as unfit for them as they were for the creoles and slaves of St. Domingo, to whose fate the Phillippines are fast verging, and from which nothing but some extraordinary event can save them.[124]
The 9th of October, 1820, has given a fatal blow to the power of Spain in this country; for much as has been written and said on the subject, it is questionable whether there exists any country of black men, where the white is not looked upon as an intruder; and “the country belongs to the Indians,” “La tierra es de los Yndios,” is a common remark, even amongst the lower orders. Moral or political injustice seldom fails to recoil on the head of the oppressor; and when the government of Manila allowed an indiscriminate massacre and pillage of European foreigners by the mob, and by their shameful lenity gave a tacit sanction to it, they taught the Indian, that he might with equal impunity attack them. The plunder then obtained is a premium to future violence; and perhaps the day is not far distant, when they may bitterly repent the hour in which they allowed the Indian to feel his physical superiority.
This he is now hourly taught, and the doctrine of “El Pueblo Soberano” [i.e., “the sovereign people”] is hourly echoed in his ears by those who are least capable of managing him when once aroused. “La Constitucion” is made the pretext for every thing subversive of good order and due restraint; the convulsed state of Spain, the imbecile indecision of the present government, and the recent revolution of Mexico (another example to the many already before them), will not a little tend to accelerate the crisis to which, it is to be feared, they are fast approaching; a crisis to which every political body must be subject, who would govern an ignorant people by laws made for an enlightened one, and who forget in their speculations, that though the civil institutions of a people may be changed in a few hours, their moral character cannot; and on it and its influence throughout the circle of social intercourse depends the portion of real freedom which a people can enjoy.