The Philippine Islands

by Ramon Reyes Lala

Spain never learned the lesson that the other nations were taking to heart. In the nineteenth century her policy with her colonies was as illiberal as in the eighteenth. As a result, rebellions everywhere broke out; one by one the colonies became free, and the country whose possessions covered more than a continent at the beginning of the century, held, at the end, but a shred of her once-splendid dominion. Spain’s treatment of the Philippine Islands in their commercial interests, forms a marked example of what I have previously said, and an extended account of this remarkable method of trade cannot fail to be of interest.

The Puente de España: Stone Bridge, Replacing the Old Wooden One.

The Philippines, at first, in 1569, were too far away to be dealt with directly, and were made an appanage of the intermediate colony of Mexico, through which they were reached and controlled. The method was curious. The natives were no sooner subdued and put under Spanish governors than they were required to pay roundly in taxes and tribute to the royal treasury. All this belonged to the crown, but some of it had to be devoted to the government of the colony; and the Spanish grandees that exiled themselves to that far land, took good care to pay themselves well for the penance.

For many years the taxes were paid to the treasury wholly in colonial produce, and for many more years, partly so. This material was exchanged for Chinese wares, junks from the Celestial kingdom visiting the islands each spring, and bartering silks and diverse goods of China for the rice, hemp, and other produce of the islands, which had been collecting during the year in the royal stores at Manila.

The Treasure-galleons.

The method of dealing with the goods thus received was, to say the least, peculiar. They were done up each year in bales, always just fifteen hundred in number, and of exactly the same size and shape, for shipment to Mexico. From the first year after the formation of the colony until the year 1811, a fixed process was maintained. Every year a State-galleon left Manila for Mexico, bearing the baled Chinese goods, which represented the Philippine tribute. Every year the ship returned with a portion of the proceeds to the starting-point, this being known as the Mexican subsidy. One galleon and no more. For two centuries, and longer, this rigid system was kept up, the commerce of the islands being limited to this conveyance of tribute across the seas. Navidad was at first the Mexican port of call. Then Acapulco was chosen, and for more than two hundred years the State-galleon, Naos de Acapulco, yearly came and went across the Pacific, carrying tribute for Spain. The ships employed were very different from modern commercial craft. Short of length, wide of beam, and light of draught, with high elevation in bow and stern, above water they presented something of the outline of a crescent moon. They were of about 1,500 tons burden, had four decks, and were provided with guns; for, the waters they crossed were not secure from hostile craft, and Spain not infrequently had the loss of one of her rich galleons to mourn.

Thus it continued, until the rebellion in Mexico put an end to the traffic, the last of the treasure-galleons leaving for Mexico in 1811. The last for Manila set sail in 1815. There were other reasons than the war to put an end to the old traffic. The expense had become too great and the profit too small. Spain’s finances had fallen into a lamentable state, and the Naos de Acapulco was, perforce, withdrawn. Needy politicians, who knew little about seamanship, but much about perquisites, had forced themselves into the galleon, whose commander received an annual salary of $40,000, the chief executive officer $25,000, and the quartermaster nine per cent. of the cargo, the total of which was no small sum.

It was an odd idea to restrict the commerce of a group of the richest islands of the tropic seas, to a single vessel carrying the annual tribute of the island. In fact, it was not quite so restricted. The tribute-cargo did not fill the ship. There was some space left, and the use of this was given to a few favored merchants, the Consulado, as they were called, a trading ring, each member of which must have resided a certain number of years in the Philippines, and have a fortune of at least $8,000. This surplus freight was regulated by the issue of boletas,—documents that long did duty as paper money, passing from hand to hand. The demand for space much exceeded the supply, and the right to ship on the annual galleon often went to favored hands, merchants being set aside by churchmen, officials, and others with grasping palms.