[30] Francisco Enriquez succeeded Urrijola (who had been appointed October, 1820, as intendant-general of the army and treasury), in the office of intendant in 1828, being granted more ample powers than the latter had enjoyed. By a royal decree of October 27, 1829, it was ordered that the superintendency should be held by the intendant of the army and royal treasury, and accordingly Enriquez took such charge on September 9, 1630. See Montero y Vidal, Hist. gen., ii, pp. 457, 521. [↑]
[31] See José Cabezas de Herrera’s Apuntes históricos sobre la organización político-administrativa de Filipinas (Manila, 1883). This is an excellent treatise on the governmental administration of the Philippines. [↑]
[32] See the budget of receipts and expenditures in the Philippines for the year, July, 1885-June, 1886, in Montero y Vidal’s El archipiélago filipino, pp. 169–186. The expenditures involve: general obligations, 1,523,335.07 pesos; state, 125,000 pesos; grace and justice, 1,085,769.62 pesos; war, 3,494,923.31 pesos; treasury, 1,356,031.30 pesos; navy, 2,423,518.91 pesos; government, 1,267,007.43 pesos; public works (fomento), 349,322.87 pesos; total, 11,624,908.51 pesos. The receipts were 11,528,178 pesos. [↑]
[33] The administrative affairs of the colonies were placed in charge of the ministerio de la gobernación (ministry of the government) in 1832, and were added in 1836 to the ministerio de marina (ministry of the navy), which was after that called secretaría del despacho de marina, comercio y gobernación de ultramar (department of the navy, commerce, and colonial government). After various other changes, the ministerio de ultramar (ministry of the colonies) was established by royal decree, May 20, 1863. The duties of the ministry are outlined as follows: to modify the organization or administrational régime of the colonies; to fix or change the annual budget of receipts and expenditures; to dispose of the surplus products of the colonies; to adopt any rule relative to the establishment or suppression of imposts; to propose persons for the offices of governor and captain-general, intendants, and regents of the Audiencia; to grant titles, etc., to persons in the colonies; to adopt any measure affecting the exterior regimen of the Church or the royal patronage; to decide any serious matter according to the judgment of the minister; to draw up preparatory measures of resolutions allowing expenses or advances of funds by the public treasury of the Peninsula, which resolutions belong to the ministry of the treasury; to transmit communications of the ministers of state, war, and navy, to the authorities of those provinces, and the communications of the latter to the respective ministers. See Dic. encic. Hisp.-Amer., xiii, pp. 131, 132. [↑]
[34] In 1803 a Spanish pamphlet was published at Philadelphia, advocating the opinion that Spain “ought to get rid of all her colonies in America and Asia, in order to promote agriculture and industries in the Peninsula;” it is attributed to the Marqués de Casa Irujo (Vindel, Catálogo biblioteca filipina, no. 1797). [↑]
MATTA’S REPORT, 1843
Communication from the intendant of the army and treasury [Intendente de Ejercito y Hacienda] of the Filipinas Islands, Don Juan Manuel de la Matta,[1] to the governor and captain-general of said islands, Don Marcelino Oraá, in regard to the moral condition of the country after the insurrection of a portion of the troops of the third regiment of the line, which happened at daybreak of the twenty-first of last January; and declaration of the chief legislative reforms, and of the peremptory measures of precaution and security, demanded by said condition.
[The recent disaffection of a portion of the Philippine troops has caused the government to issue instructions in case of the occurrence of any excitement, insurrection, or alarm in the city of Manila and its environs. Matta, on receiving these instructions, has transmitted secretly to the commander of the revenue guard[2] (whom he has advised in case of any danger to assemble all his command in the tobacco factory of Binondo) the portion of the instructions that concerns him. Also the forces of the station of San Fernando are to be embarked on the boats in the river belonging to the revenue guard, and placed in command of the port captain. In addition to the instructions above cited, it seems advisable, “considering the moral condition of the country, to adopt radical measures to avoid the evil before having to punish it, thereby to shelter the colony from new seditions, which cannot be repeated without imminent risk of sad consequences.” The suppression of the attempts of the insurgents and the calming of Manila was due to the loyalty of the artillerymen quartered at the fort of Santiago and the presence of other loyal troops.]
The sedition of Apolinario[3] in the province of Tayabas, at the end of October, 1841, and the insurrection of part of the third regiment of the line, which occurred in the capital at daybreak of January 21,[4] have in little more than one year placed these important possessions at the verge of a terrible civil war, and have compromised great interests.