[43] Recopilación, 5–15–3; this cédula was annulled by that of May 21, 1787; see note to law 3 of the same title.
[44] King to Basco y Vargas, December 30, 1776 (A. I., 107–5–20). These annual deductions of one-fifth were first authorized on August 26, 1757, on the recommendation of the Council of the Indies. They were discontinued by the consulta of March 2, 1773, it being ordered that governors should only post the customary bonds with the president of the Council of the Indies. We see here that the practice was restored on December 30, 1776. This requirement seems to have been confined to governors of the Philippines (A. I., 105–2–21).
[45] Recopilación, 8–19; see notes 11 and 13, Chapter V of this book.
[46] Recopilación, 8–26–17.
[47] Ibid., 5–15–42.
[48] Ibid., note 12.
[49] Royal decree of November 20, 1841, in Rodríguez San Pedro, Legislación ultramarina, I, 282; see also royal order of December 3, 1844 (for Cuba), ibid., 287.
[50] Officials, desirous of ingratiating themselves into the favor of the new executive, frequently journeyed by land and sea from Manila as far as the Straits of San Bernardino. The privilege thus gained of returning to Manila in company with the new governor, gave them the unrestricted or unqualified opportunity to poison his mind with tales of the misdeeds of the incumbent, and insinuations as to the wealth which the latter had heaped up for himself through the exercise of dishonest methods.
[51] The residencia of a governor presented a splendid opportunity to his enemies for revenge. A governor was always in a fair way to make enemies; consequently any such awaited the residencia of their former oppressor with great eagerness. In case a governor did make fair profit out of his office, and there were many opportunities for profit, commercial and otherwise, legitimate and illegitimate, his enemies gave him no rest at the time of his residencia. (According to Martínez de Zúñiga [Estadismo. I, 242] the emoluments of the governor, aside from his salary, aggregated 20,000 pesos a year.) It is probable that most of the governors were dishonest, as the opportunities for corruption were numerous, and the temptations offered by the position were too powerful to be resisted by any human being. Thousands of miles from Spain, in an age of slow communication, entrusted with the assignment of all sorts of lucrative offices, encomiendas, and commercial privileges, and having friends, relatives, and special interests to serve, a governor was surrounded by countless officials who were eagerly awaiting their share of booty, and who were ready at a moment’s notice to turn traitor if they could gain by such an act. It may be said of the Spanish colonial governor as was said of Verres of old, that in stealing, one must steal threefold, once for himself, once for his judges, and once to pay the penalty.
[52] Chapter II of this book.