A History of the Philippines

by David P. Barrows

Chapter VI.

The Spanish Soldier and the Spanish Missionary.

History of the Philippines as a Part of the History of the Spanish Colonies.—We have already seen how the Philippines were discovered by Magellan in his search for the Spice Islands. Brilliant and romantic as is the story of that voyage, it brought no immediate reward to Spain. Portugal remained in her enjoyment of the Eastern trade and nearly half a century elapsed before Spain obtained a settlement in these islands. But if for a time he neglected the Far East, the Spaniard from the Peninsula threw himself with almost incredible energy and devotion into the material and spiritual conquest of America. All the greatest achievements of the Spanish soldier and the Spanish missionary had been secured within fifty years from the day when Columbus sighted the West Indies.

In order to understand the history of the Philippines, we must not forget that these islands formed a part of this great colonial empire and were under the same administration; that for over two centuries the Philippines were reached through Mexico and to a certain extent governed by Mexico; that the same governors, judges, and soldiers held office in both hemispheres, passing from America to the Philippines and being promoted from the Islands to the higher official positions of Mexico and Peru. So to understand the rule of Spain in the Philippines, we must study the great administrative machinery and the great body of laws which she developed for the government of the Indies.[1]

Character of the Spanish Explorers.—The conquests themselves were largely effected through the enterprise and wealth of private individuals; but these men held commissions from the Spanish crown, their actions were subject to strict royal control, and a large proportion of the profits and plunder of their expeditions were paid to the royal treasury. Upon some of these conquerors the crown bestowed the proud title of “adelantado.” The Spanish nobility threw themselves into these hazardous undertakings with the courage and fixed determination born of their long struggle with the Moors. Out of the soul-trying circumstances of Western conquest many obscure men rose, through their brilliant qualities of spirit, to positions of eminence and power; but the exalted offices of viceroy and governor were reserved for the titled favorites of the king.

The Royal Audiencia.—Very early the Spanish court, in order to protect its own authority, found it necessary to succeed the ambitious and adventurous conqueror by a ruler in close relationship with and absolute dependence on the royal will. Thus in Mexico, Cortes the conqueror was removed and replaced by the viceroy Mendoza, who established upon the conquests of the former the great Spanish colony of New Spain, to this day the most successful of all the states planted by Spain in America.

To limit the power of the governor or viceroy, as well as to act as a supreme court for the settlement of actions and legal questions, Spain created the “Royal Audiencia.” This was a body of men of noble rank and learned in the law, sent out from Spain to form in each country a colonial court; but their powers were not alone judicial; they were also administrative. In the absence of the governor they assumed his duties.

Treatment of the Natives by the Spanish.—In his treatment of the natives, whose lands he captured, the Spanish king attempted three things,—first, to secure to the colonist and to the crown the advantages of his labor, second, to convert the Indians to the Christian religion as maintained by the Roman Catholic Church, and third, to protect them from cruelty and inhumanity. Edict after edict, law after law, issued from the Spanish throne with these ends in view. As they stand upon the greatest of colonial law-books, the Recopilacion de Leyes de las Indias, they display an admirable sensitiveness to the needs of the Indian and an appreciation of the dangers to which he was subjected; but in the actual practice these beneficent provisions were largely useless.

The first and third of Spain’s purposes in her treatment of the native proved incompatible. History has shown that liberty and enlightenment can not be taken from a race with one hand and protection given it with the other. All classes of Spain’s colonial government were frankly in pursuit of wealth. Greed filled them all, and was the mainspring of every discovery and every settlement. The king wanted revenue for his treasury; the noble and the soldier, booty for their private purse; the friar, wealth for his order; the bishop, power for his church. All this wealth had to come out of the native toiler on the lands which the Spanish conqueror had seized; and while noble motives were probably never absent and at certain times prevailed, yet in the main the native of America and of the Philippines was a sufferer under the hand and power of the Spaniard.

“The Encomenderos.”—Spain’s system of controlling the lives and the labor of the Indians was based to a certain extent on the feudal system, still surviving in the Peninsula at the time of her colonial conquests. The captains and soldiers and priests of her successful conquests had assigned to them great estates or fruitful lands with their native inhabitants, which they managed and ruled for their own profit. Such estates were called first “repartimientos.” But very soon it became the practice, in America, to grant large numbers of Indians to the service of a Spaniard, who had over them the power of a master and who enjoyed the profits of their labor. In return he was supposed to provide for the conversion of the Indians and their religious instruction. Such a grant of Indians was called an “encomienda.” The “encomendero” was not absolute lord of the lives and properties of the Indians, for elaborate laws were framed for the latter’s protection. Yet the granting of subjects without the land on which they lived made possible their transfer and sale from one encomendero to another, and in this way thousands of Indians of America were made practically slaves, and were forced into labor in the mines.