Urgence of reform.The only objection which, at first sight, might be started against the suggestions here thrown out is the increased expense which would fall on the treasury, owing to the necessity of appropriating competent salaries for the interior magistrates under the new order of things. Independent, however, of the fact that the rapid improvements the provinces must assume, in every point of view, would superabundantly make up this trifling difference; yet supposing the sacrifice were gratuitous, and even of some moment, it ought not, on that account, to be omitted, since there is no public object more important to the sovereign himself, than to make the necessary provision for the decorum of the magistracy, the due administration of justice, and the maintenance of good order among his subjects.
The position being established, that a number of whites more than sufficient might be obtained, eligible and fit to perform the duties of civil magistrates, which they would be induced to undertake, if adequate terms were only proposed, it would seem that no ill consequences might be expected from at once assimilating the regulations of these provincial judicatures to those of the corregimientos, or mayoralties of towns in Spain, or in making out an express statute, on a triple scale, for three classes of magistrates, granting to them emoluments equivalent to the greater or lesser extent of the respective jurisdictions. As far as regards the pay, it ought to be so arranged as to act as a sufficient stimulus to induce European colonists to embrace this career, in a fixed and permanent way, which hitherto they have only resorted to as a five years’ speculation. Conformably to this suggestion, and owing to the lesser value attached to money in India, compared with Europe, on account of the greater abundance of the necessaries of life, I am of opinion that it would be expedient to affix an annual allowance of $2,000 to each of the appointments of the six principal and most populous provinces, $1,500 for the next in importance, and for the twelve or thirteen remaining, at the rate of $1,000 each; leaving to the candidates the option of rising according to their length of services and good conduct, from the lowest to the highest, as is the case in Spain.
Objects to be gained.The first part of the plan above pointed out embraces two objects. The one is to prevent the provincial magistrates from carrying on traffic, thus depriving them of every pretext to defraud the natives of what is their own; and the other, to form, in the course of a few years a class of men hitherto unknown in the Philippine Islands, who, taught by practice, may be enabled to govern the provinces in a more correct and regular manner, and acquire more extended knowledge, especially in the judicial proceedings of the first instance, which, owing to this defect, frequently compel the litigants to incur useless expenses, and greatly embarrass the ordinary course of justice. Although the second part at first seems to involve an increased expense of $36,000 or $37,000 annually, when well considered, this sum will be found not to exceed $20,000, because it will be necessary to deduct from the above estimate the amount of three per cent. under the existing regulations allowed to the magistrates for the collection of the native tributes, in their character of subdelegates, generally amounting to $16,000 or $17,000; besides only taking into account such real and effective disbursements or extraordinary expenses as in fact they may legally have incurred in the performance of their duties.
Should it, however, be deemed expedient, from causes just in their nature, hereafter to exonerate the natives from the obligations of paying tributes, by which means the amount deducted for the three per cent. commission could not then be brought into account, let me be allowed to ask what enlightened government would hesitate submitting to an additional expense of so trifling an import, in exchange for beholding more than two millions of men forever freed from the extortionate acts of their old magistrates; and, through the effects of the new regulations, the latter converted into real fathers of the people over whom they are placed? How different would then be the aspect these fine provinces would present to the eyes of the philosophical observer who would, in that case, be able to calculate to what an extent the progress of agriculture and industry in these islands might be carried.
Demoralization of over-seas service.Nevertheless, I do not wish to insinuate that by the better organization of the provincial governments, the present irregularities and abuses of authority would entirely cease; because I am aware, more especially in the Indies, that the persons who hold public situations usually have too exaggerated ideas of their own personal importance, and easily mistake the gratification of their own whims for firmness of character, in the necessity of causing themselves to be respected. Still it is an incontestable fact that, by removing the chief temptation, and rescinding altogether the license to trade, the just complaints preferred by the native against the Spaniard would cease; the motives of those continual disputes which arise between the magistrates and the ministers of the gospel exercising their functions in the same provinces, and the zealous defenders of the rights of their parishioners, would be removed, and the inhabitants of Manila, extending their mercantile operations to the interior, without the dread of seeing them obstructed through the powerful competition of the magistrates in authority there, would be induced to settle in or connect themselves with the provinces, and thus diffuse their knowledge, activity and money among the inhabitants, the true means of encouraging the whole.
What has already been said will suffice to convince the lover of truth and the friend of general prosperity, how urgent it is to introduce as early as possible, the reform proposed into the interior administration of this important, although neglected colony; and it is to be hoped that the government, guided by these same sentiments, will not be led away by those narrow-minded people, who predict danger from every thing that is new; but, after due and mature deliberation, resolve to adopt a measure dictated by reason, and at the same time conformable to the best interests of the state.
Of little avail would have been the valor and constancy with which Legaspi and his worthy companions overcame the natives of these islands, if the apostolic zeal of the missionaries had not seconded their exertions, and aided to consolidate the enterprise. The latter were the real conquerors; they who, without any other arms than their virtues, won over the good will of the islanders, caused the Spanish name to be beloved, and gave to the king, as it were by a miracle, two millions more of submissive and Christian subjects. These were the legislators of the barbarous hordes who inhabited the islands of this immense Archipelago, realizing, by their mild persuasion, the allegorical prodigies of Amphion and Orpheus.
Pioneer Philippine government a theocracy.As the means the missionaries called in to their aid, in order to reduce and civilize the Indians, were preaching and other spiritual labors, and, although scattered about and acting separately, they were still subject to the authority of their prelates, who, like so many chiefs, directed the grand work of conversion, the government primitively established in these colonies must necessarily have partaken greatly of the theocratical order, and beyond doubt it continued to be so, till, by the lapse of time, the number of colonists increased, as well as the effective strength of the royal authority, so as to render the governing system uniform with that established in the other ultramarine dominions of Spain.
This is also deduced from the fragments still remaining of the first constitution, or mode of government introduced in the Batanes Islands and missions of Cagayan, administered by the Dominican friars in a spiritual and temporal manner; as well as from what may frequently be observed in the other provinces, by any one who bestows the smallest attention. Although the civil magistracies have since been regulated, and their respective attributes determined with due precision, it has not hitherto been possible, notwithstanding the pains taken to make the contrary appear, to do without the personal authority and influence the parish curates possess over their flocks. The government has, in fact, constantly been obliged to avail themselves of this aid, as the most powerful instrument to insure respect and a due subordination, in such manner that, although the parish curates are not at present equally authorized to interfere in the civil administration, in point of fact, they are themselves the real administrators.
Standing of parish priests.It happens that, as the parish curate is the consoler of the afflicted, the peacemaker of families, the promoter of useful ideas, the preacher and example of every thing good; as in him liberality is seen to shine, and the Indians behold him alone in the midst of them, without relatives, without traffic, and always busied in their care and improvement, they become accustomed to live satisfied and contented under his paternal direction, and deliver up to him the whole of their confidence. In this way rendered the master of their wishes, nothing is done without the advice, or rather consent, of the curate. The subaltern governor, on receiving an order from the superior magistrate, before he takes any step, goes to the minister to obtain his sanction, and it is he in fact who tacitly gives the mandate for execution, or prevents its being carried into effect. As the father of his flock, he arranges, or directs, the lawsuits of his parishioners; it is he who draws out their writings; goes to the capital to plead for the Indians; opposes his prayers, and sometimes his threats, to the violent acts of the provincial magistrates, and arranges every thing in the most fit and quiet manner. In a word, it is not possible for any human institution to be more simple, and at the same time more firmly established, or from which so many advantages might be derived in favor of the state, as the one so justly admired in the spiritual ministry of these islands. It may therefore be considered a strange fatality, when the secret and true art of governing a colony, so different from any other as is that of the Philippines, consists in the wise use of so powerful an instrument as the one just described, that the superior government, within the last few years, should have been so much deluded as to seek the destruction of a work which, on the contrary, it is, above all others, advisable to sustain.