If he sees all around him thieving and enjoying their plunder with impunity, what wonder is it that he should thieve also? If his tribunals of all descriptions afford him no redress, or place that redress beyond his reach, what resource has he but private revenge?[30] If he cannot enjoy the fruits of his labour in peace, why should he work? If he is ignorant, why has he not been instructed? There exist scarcely any schools to teach him his duties: the few that do exist teach him Latin! prayers! theology! jurisprudence! and some little reading and writing;[31] but he is only taught to read the lives of the saints, and the legends of the church, whose gloomy, fanatical doctrines and sanguinary histories have not a little contributed to make him at times revengeful and intolerant. Does he prevaricate and flatter? It is because he dare not speak the truth, and because a long system of oppression has broken his spirit.
Does he endeavour to advance himself a few steps in civilization? his attempts are treated with ridicule and contempt;[32] hence he becomes apathetic, careless of advancement, and often insensible to reproach. The best epithets he hears from Spaniards (often as ignorant as himself) are “Indio!” The God of nature made him so. “Bruto!” He has been and is brutalized by his masters. “Barbaro!” He is often so by force, example, or even by precept. “Ignorante!” He has no means of learning; the will is not wanting. In a word, the spirit of the followers of Cortes and Pizarro, appears to have left its last vestiges here, and perhaps the Indian has been saved from its persecutions only by the weakness of the Spaniard.
Such are some of the causes which have marked the character of the Indian, which is not naturally bad, with some of its prominent blemishes. I am far from holding up the Indian of the Phillippines as a faultless being; he is not so; the Indian of Manila[34] has all the vices attributed to him; but I assert, that the Phillippine islander owes the greater part of his vices to example, to oppression, and above all to misgovernment; and that his character has traits, which under a different system, would have produced a widely different result.
To sum up his character:—He is brave, tolerably faithful, extremely sensible to kind treatment, and feelingly alive to injustice or contempt; proud of ancestry, which some of them carry to a remote epoch; fond of dress and show, hunting, riding, and other field exercises; but prone to gambling and dissipation. He is active, industrious, and remarkably ingenious. He possesses an acute ear, and a good taste for music and painting, but little inclination for abstruse studies. He has from nature excellent talents, but these are useless for want of instruction. The little he has received, has rendered him fanatical in religious opinions; and long contempt and hopeless misery has mingled with his character a degree of apathy, which nothing but an entire change of system and long perseverance will efface from it.[36]
The Mestizos are the next class of men who inhabit these islands: under this name are not only included the descendants of Spaniards by Indian women and their progeny, but also those of the Chinese, who are in general whiter than either parent, and carefully distinguish themselves from the Indians. The Mestizos are, as the name denotes, a mixed class, and, with the creoles of the country, like those of all colonies, when uncorrected by an European education, inherit the vices of both progenitors, with but few of the virtues of either. Their character has but few marked traits; the principal ones are their vanity, industry, and trading ingenuity: as to the rest, money is their god; to obtain it they take all shapes, promise and betray, submit to everything, trample and are trampled on; all is alike to them, if they get money; and this, when obtained, they dissipate in lawsuits, firing cannon, fireworks, illuminations, processions on feast days and rejoicings, in gifts to the churches, or in gambling. This anomaly of actions is the business of their lives. Too proud to consider themselves as Indians, and not sufficiently pure in blood to be acknowledged as Spaniards, they affect the manners of the last, with the dress of the first, and despising, are despised by both.[37] They however, cautiously mark on all occasions the lines which separate them from the Indians, and have their own processions, ceremonies, inferior officers of justice, &c., &c. The Indian repays them with a keen contempt, not unmixed with hatred. And these feuds, while they contribute to the safety of a government too imbecile and corrupt to unite the good wishes of all classes, have not unfrequently given rise to affrays which have polluted even the churches and their altars with blood.
Such are the three great classes of men which may be considered as natives of the Phillippine Islands. The Creole[38] Spaniards, or those whose blood is but little mingled with the Indian ancestry, pass as Spaniards. Many of them are respectable merchants and men of large property; while others, from causes which will be seen hereafter, are sunk in all the vices of the Indian and Mestizo.
The government of the Phillippine Islands is composed of a governor, who has the title of Captain General, with very extensive powers; a Teniente Rey, or Lieutenant Governor; the Audiencia or Supreme Court, who are also the Council. This tribunal is composed of three judges, the chief of whom has the title of Regent, and two Fiscals or Attorney Generals, the one on the part of the king, the other on that of the natives, and this last has the specious title of “Defensor de los Indios.” The financial affairs are under the direction of an Intendant, who may be called a financial governor. He has the entire control and administration of all matters relative to the revenue, the civil and military auditors and accountants being under him. Commercial affairs are decided by the Consulado, or chamber of commerce, composed of all the principal, and, in Manila, some of the inferior merchants. From this is an appeal to a tribunal “de Alzada” [i.e., of appeal] composed of one judge and two merchants, and from this to the Audiencia, without whose approbation no sentence is valid.
The civic administration is confided to the Ayuntamiento (Courts of Aldermen or Municipality). This body, composed of the two Alcaldes, twelve Regidors (or Aldermen) and a Syndic, enjoy very extensive privileges, approaching those of Houses of Assembly; their powers, however, appear more confined to remonstrances and protests, representations against what they conceive arbitrary or erroneous in government, or recommendations of measures suggested either by themselves or others. They have, in general, well answered the object of their institution as a barrier against the encroachments of government, and as a permanent body for reference in cases where local knowledge was necessary, which last deficiency they well supply.
The civil power and police are lodged in the hands of a Corregidor and two Alcaldes: the decision of these is final in cases of civil suits, where the value in question is small, 100 dollars being about the maximum.[39] Their criminal jurisdiction extends only to slight fines and corporal punishments, and imprisonment preparatory to trial. The police is confided to the care of the Corregidor, who has more extensive powers, and also the inspection and control of the prisons.
To him are also subject the Indian Captains and Officers of towns, who are annually elected by the natives. These settle small differences, answer for disturbances in their villages, execute police orders, impose small contributions of money or labour for local objects, such as repairs of roads, &c. &c. They also have the power of inflicting slight punishments on the refractory. To them is also confided the collection of the capitation or poll-tax, which is done by dividing the population of the town or village into tens, each of which has a Cabeça (or head), who is exempt from tribute himself, but answerable for the amount of the ten under him. This tax is then paid to the Alcalde or Corregidor, and from him to the treasury. The Mestizos and Chinese have also their captains and heads, who are equally answerable for the poll-tax.