I must tell what side the governor took in so delicate a matter. On one side he was pressed by the archbishop; on the other he was solicited by the Jesuits and the friars. During these contests I found him one evening when I went to see him, meditative and thoughtful. He had two letters in his hand, which the archbishop had written to him, successively, that same day. He told me, with demonstrations of feeling which showed his embarrassment, that the archbishop was writing to him letter after letter, on a matter that depended on him in no way at all. He said that he had no instructions on the matter, and that he could not exceed his powers. And, as he repeated that to me time after time, I answered him that, since he had no orders from his court, and especially since he had no secular priests at his disposal, it was in fact very difficult for him to proceed as the archbishop desired. It must be observed that I was living with a wealthy French merchant, one of whose daughters had married the secretary of the government; and I have often remarked that that secretary was not at all inclined to the archbishop’s side.
Next morning, four pasquinades[16] or injurious and very defamatory placards, were found posted in the city: one at the government offices; the second, on the gate of the Parián; a third at La Misericordia; and the fourth at our door. Those lampoons stated distinctly that the governor for twenty thousand piastres (105,000 livres), had prevented the archbishop from fulfilling his duty. The secretary was beside himself at the boldness of the lampoon, and especially at the one posted at his door. He spoke of it as a crime which deserved the most severe chastisement. He added that it would be better for him who had done it, if he were discovered, that he had never lived. In fact, I am quite sure that Sambouangam[17] (in the island of Mindanao), which I have before mentioned, would have been his dwelling, and that he would not have enjoyed himself there very greatly.
The friars in the Philippines are, as can be seen, absolute in the provinces. It is quite true that, according to the ordinances, the governor ought to send the auditors there from time to time in the quality of visitors. But besides that that scarcely ever happens, these visitors, although members of the royal Audiencia, are obliged to take recommendations from the convents of Manila before their departure, in order to be well received. However, that great authority of the friars over the people does not prevent the latter from revolting very often in the provinces; and those revolts are nearly always followed by the death of some religious. Then there is no means of restoring order except by sending troops to reduce the Indians to obedience, for the eloquence of the religious can do nothing. Such an emergency occurred in my time, at the end of 1767. Several settlements about the large lake revolted, and carried their boldness even to the point of killing the friar curas. It was necessary to send a cavalry officer at the head of a detachment of fifteen men, to make those rebels submit.
These disorders always happened when the provinces of the Philippines had at their head, to govern them, only an alcalde and the friars. I believe that it would be necessary for the court to have four or five hundred troops (or at least a sufficient number), for the sole purpose of scattering them through those different provinces, in posts of only fifteen or twenty men. That number, besides being but inconsiderable and of little expense, would be sufficient to maintain the Indians in their duty, since only fifteen men have appeased the disturbance in a considerable district near the lake.
[The following, also from Le Gentil (pp. 59–63), treats in part of the ecclesiastical estate.]
Ninth Article
Of the genius of the inhabitants of the Philippines, and the peculiar punishments inflicted by the religious on the women who do not attend mass on the prescribed days.
This article is the fourteenth chapter of the Franciscan religious from whom I have extracted a portion of my details. But I believe that it will be important to reproduce here in exact translation the text of the original.
[The extract is from San Antonio’s Chronicas, vol. i, part of chapter xl of book i; it is not, however, an exact translation, but in part a synopsis. The meaning is not distorted; but we have preferred to translate this portion of the chapter, entitled in San Antonio “Of the characteristics and genius of the Filipino Indians,” directly from the Spanish, reproducing exactly the matter synopsized by Le Gentil.]
“412. Among the gifts with which man is adorned, those of the soul are the most noble and most important—for instance, the characteristics or bent, and the skill or understanding in the exercise of a man’s reasonings and mental operations. And since the soul is so dependent on the body and on its sensations, the spiritual operations are tempered by the bodily characteristics. These characteristics (in the judgment of Galen, Plato, Aristotle, and Hippocrates), are such or such, according to the varying climate of the [different] regions. Consequently, the difference of nations in bodily characteristics, and in disposition, genius, and morals, springs from the various climates of the regions, and from the difference in air, water, and food—in accordance with that maxim, Natura facit habilem,[18] in its common interpretation. That makes evident (in distant regions) the difference between Spaniards and French, Indians and Germans, Ethiopians and English. It is experienced, within distances not so great, in the many provinces of España alone. Even in Ubeda and Baèza, only one legua apart, this diversity of men and women is found. There are more marked differences of this sort encountered in Philipinas; for there are certain peoples at the mouth of one river, while at the source are others very different in complexion, customs, and languages. In the same province are found stupid and intelligent peoples; white, black, and brown; and those of distinct degrees of corpulency, and features according to the various temperatures and climates. It is a matter which is truly surprising, to see so great a diversity of temperatures and so great a diversity of men within so small a space. But that happens in districts here and there, for usually there is but little differentiation in these islands in characteristics and genius. If one Indian be known, I believe that they are all known; but God alone can have this complete knowledge.