Of the numerous groupes of islands which constitute
the maritime division of Asia, the Phillippines, in situation, riches,
fertility, and salubrity, are equal or superior to any. Nature has here
revelled in all that poets or painters have thought or dreamt of
unbounded luxuriance of Asiatic scenery. The lofty chains of
mountains—the rich and extensive slopes which form their
bases—the ever-varying change of forest and savannah—of
rivers and lakes—the yet blazing volcanoes in the midst of
forests, coeval perhaps with their first eruption—all stamp her
work with the mighty emblems of her creative and destroying powers.
Java alone can compete with them in fertility; but in riches, extent,
situation, and political importance, it is far inferior.
Their position, whether in a political or commercial point of view,
is strikingly advantageous. With India and the Malay Archipelago on the
west and south, the islands of the fertile Pacific and the rising
empires of the new world on the east, the vast market of China at their
doors, their insular position and numerous rivers affording a facility
of communication and defence to every part of them, an active and
industrious population, climates of almost all varieties, a soil so
fertile in vegetable and mineral productions as almost to exceed
credibility; the Phillippine [75]Islands alone, in the hands of an
industrious and commercial nation, and with a free and enlightened
government, would have become a mighty empire:—they are—a
waste!
This archipelago presents, in common with all the islands which form
the southern and eastern barrier of Asia, those striking features which
mark a recent or an approaching convulsion of nature: they are
separated by narrow, but deep, and frequently unfathomable channels;
their steep and often tremendous capes and headlands, though clothed
with verdure to the very brink, appear to rise almost perpendicularly
from the ocean; they have but few reefs or shoals, and those of small
extent; and in the interior of the islands, numerous volcanoes, in
activity or very recently so, boiling springs and mineral waters of all
descriptions, minerals of all kinds on the very surface of the earth,
and frequent shocks of earthquakes, all point to this conclusion, and
offer a rich and unexplored field to the geologist2 and
mineralogist, as do their plants and animals to the botanist and
zoologist;3 the few attempts that have hitherto been made to
examine them, having from various causes failed, or only extended to a
short distance round the capital.4 [76]
The climate of these islands is remarkably temperate and salubrious.
The thermometer in Manila is sometimes as low as 70°, and rarely
exceeds 90° in the house during the N. E. monsoon. In the interior
[77]it is sometimes as low as 68° in the mornings,
which are remarkably cool, so much so as to require at time$ woolen
clothing. None of the mountains are within the limits of perpetual
congelation; but I think some cannot be far from it, as I have seen
something much resembling snow on the Pico de Mindoro, and there may be
higher ones in the interior of Magindanao.6
Both natives and Spaniards live to a tolerable age, in spite of the
indolent habits of the latter, and the debauches of both. The Spaniards
are most commonly carried off by chronic dysentery, which is called by
them “la enfermedád del pays”
(the illness of the country): from its very frequent occurrence, at
least 7 out of 10 of those who exceed the age of 40, fall victims to
this disorder.7 Acute [78]liver complaints are very rare,
as is also the chronic affection of that organ, unless as connected
with the preceding disorder.
Fevers are not common amongst Europeans, in Manila. Amongst
the natives, the intermittent is of common occurrence, particularly
after the rains (in September and October), and in woody or marshy
situations.8 This appears to be owing as much to the thinness
and want of clothing, together with their habits of bathing
indiscriminately at all hours, as to miasmata; and, as their fevers are
generally neglected, they often superinduce other and more fatal
disorders, as obstructions, &c. Tetanos in cases of wounds is of
common occurrence, and generally fatal.
Their population, by a census taken in 1817–18, amounted to
2,236,000 souls, and is increasing rapidly. In one province, that of
Pampanga, from 1817 to 1818, there was an increase of 6,737 souls, the
whole population being in 1817, 22,500; but I suspect some inaccuracy
in this. The total increase from 1797 to 1817, 25 [sic] years,
is by this statement 835,500, or 3,360 per annum! In this census are
included only [79]those subject to Spanish laws. About three
quarters of a million more may be added for the various independent
tribes,9 which may be said to possess the whole of the
interior of the islands, on some of which, as the large one of Mindanao
(called by the natives Magindanao) there are only a few contemptible
[Spanish] posts, the interior and a great part of the coast being still
subject to the Malay sultans, originally of Arab race.
The population of the Marianas and Calamianes Islands, with that of
Palawan, which are all included in “The Kingdom of the
Phillippines,” are [80]comprised in this number, but the
whole of these does not exceed 19,000.
Of this number about 600 only are European Spaniards, with
some few foreigners: the remainder are divided into various classes, of
which the principal are, 1st, The Negroes, or aborigines; 2d, the
Malays (or Indians, as they are called by the Spaniards); and the
Mestizos and Creoles, who are about as 1 to 5 of the Indian
population.
The Negroes [i.e., Negritos]10 are in all
probability the original inhabitants of these islands, as they appear
at some remote epoch to have been of almost all the eastern
archipelago. The tide of Malay emigration, from whatever cause and part
it proceeded, has on some islands entirely destroyed them. Others, as
New Guinea, it has not yet reached, a circumstance which seems to point
to the west as the original cradle of the Malay race. In the
Phillippines, it has driven them from the coast to the mountains, which
by augmenting the difficulty of procuring subsistence, may have much
diminished their numbers. Still, however, they form a distinct, and
perhaps a more numerous class of men than is generally suspected. They
have in the present day undisturbed possession of nearly ⅔ds of
the island of Luzon, and of others a still larger proportion.
These people are small in stature, some of them almost dwarfish,
woolly-headed, and thick-lipped, like the negroes of Africa, to whom
indeed they bear [81]a striking resemblance, though the different
tribes vary much in their stature and general appearance. They subsist
entirely on the chase, or on fruits, herbs, roots, or fish when they
can approach the coast. They are nearly, and often quite naked, and
live in huts formed of the boughs of trees, grass &c., or in the
trees themselves, when on an excursion or migration. Their mode of life
is wandering and unsettled, seldom remaining long enough in one place
to form a village. They sometimes sow a little maize or rice, and wait
its ripening, but not longer. These are the habits of the tribes which
border on the Spanish settlements. Farther within the mountains they
are more settled, and even form villages of considerable size, in the
deep vallies by which the chains of mountains are intersected. The
entrances to these they fortify with plantations of the thorny bamboo,
pickets of the same, set strongly in the earth and sharpened by fire,
ditches and pit-falls; in short all the means of defence in their power
are employed to render these places inaccessible. Here they cultivate
corn, rice, and tobacco; the last they sell to Indians, who smuggle it
into the towns. This being a contraband article, as it is monopolized
by government, the defences are used against the Spanish revenue
officers and troops, who on this account never fail to destroy their
establishments when they can do so, though many are impregnable to any
force they can bring against them, from the nature of the passes, and
from the activity of the negroes, who use their bows with wonderful
expertness. There are indeed instances of their repulsing bodies of one
or two hundred native troops, but affairs of this magnitude are very
rare.
To this predatory kind of warfare, as well as to [82]the
defective qualities, and often very reprehensible conduct of the
missionaries, generally Indian priests (Clerigos), are
perhaps to be in some measure attributed their unsettled habits. Those
nearest the Spanish settlements carry on a little commerce, receiving
wrought iron, cloth, and tobacco, but oftener dollars, in
exchange for gold-dust, &c., or for wax, honey, and other products
of their mountains. The circumstance of their receiving dollars, which
they rarely use in their purchases, is a curious one; but it is a fact,
and very large quantities of money are supposed to be thus buried; from
what motive, except a superstitious one, cannot be imagined.11
Of their manners or customs little or nothing is known. Like all
savage nations, they are abundantly tinctured with superstitions,
fickle, and hasty. One of their customs best known is, that upon the
death of a chief, they plant themselves in ambush on some frequented
track, and with their arrows assassinate the first unfortunate
traveller who passes, and not unfrequently two or three; the bodies are
carried off as sacrifices to the manes of the deceased.12 The communications between the Spanish
settlements are often interrupted by this circumstance, as no Indian
will venture out when the negroes are known to be “de luto” (in mourning): they are also said to
have a “throwing of spears,” similar to those of New
Holland, at the death of any eminent person. In fact, upon this, as
upon all other points unconnected with masses and sermons, there exists
a degree of ignorance which is almost incredible. The early
missionaries, [83]in their rage for nominal conversion,
appear to have neglected entirely the history or origin of their
neophytes; and, as in America, where the monuments of ages were
crumbled to the dust to plant the cross, all that related to the
history of their converts was considered as unprofitable, if not as
impious, the devil13 being compendiously supposed to
preside over their political as well as religious institutions in all
cases. In this belief, and in its consequent effects, the modern
missionaries, who are mostly Indian priests, are worthy successors of
their Spanish predecessors.
The government have many missions established for the purpose of
converting them, but with little success. Like most savages, their mode
of life has to them charms superior to civilization, or rather to
Christianity (for here the terms are not synonimous); and they rarely
remain, should they even consent to be baptized, but on the first
caprice, or exaction of tribute, which immediately takes place, and
sometimes even precedes this ceremony, return again to their
mountains.
Exposed to all inclemencies of the weather, and with an unwholesome
and precarious diet, they perhaps rarely attain more than forty years
of age. Their numbers are supposed rather to diminish than increase;
and in a few years this race of men, with their language, will probably
be extinct. It is indeed a curious subject of enquiry, whether the
language of those of the eastern islands has any, and what resemblance
to those of Africa, or the southern parts of New Holland and Van
Dieman’s Land?14 [84]
They are not represented as very mischievous; but if strangers
venture too far into their woods, they consider it an aggression, and
repel it accordingly [85]with their arrows. Those who frequent the
Spanish settlements are rather of a mild character; and there are
instances of Spanish vessels being wrecked on the [86]coast,
whose people, particularly the Europeans, have been treated by them in
the kindest manner, and carefully conducted to the nearest settlement.
[87]
The character of the different tribes appears, however, to vary in
this particular: some are described as treacherous and cruel, and those
which inhabit the [88]north western coasts of the Bay of Manila are
accused of having frequently attacked the boats of ships, when these
were not sufficiently guarded in their intercourse with them. The
natives of the town in the Bay of Mariveles, at the entrance of that of
Manila, assured the writer of these pages, that it would be madness to
attempt accompanying them into the woods, even in disguise; and in this
they persisted, though money was offered them to allow him to proceed
with them.
The Indians are the descendants of the various Malay tribes which
appear to have emigrated to this country at different times, and from
different parts of Borneo and Celebes. Their languages, though all
derived from one stock (the Malay), has a number of dialects differing
very materially; so much so, that those from different provinces
frequently do not understand each other.
They differ too in their character, and slightly in their manners
and customs. The most numerous class of them are the Bisayas,18 (a Spanish name, from their [89]anciently painting their bodies, and using
defensive armour). These inhabit the largest part of the southern
islands. Luzon contains several tribes, of which the most remarkable
are the Ylocos, Cagayanes, Zambales, Pangasinanes, Pampangos, and
Tagalos. These still retain their national distinctions and characters
to such a degree, that they often occasion quarrels amongst each other.
Of their general character as a nation we are now to speak.
The Indian of the Phillippine Islands has been strangely
misrepresented. He is not the being that oppression, bigotry,
and indolence, have for 300 years endeavoured to make him, or he is so
only when he has no other resource. Necessity, and the force of example
have made those of Manila, what the whole are generally
characterized as—traitors, idlers, and thieves.
How, under such a system as will be afterwards described, should
they be otherwise? Say rather, that all considered, it is surprising to
find them what they are; for they are in general (I speak of the Indian
of the provinces), mild, industrious, as far as they dare to be so,
hospitable, kind, and ingenuous. The Pampango is brave,19 faithful, and active; the fidelity of the Cagayan
is proverbial; the Yloco and the Pangasinanon are most industrious; the
Bisayan is brave and enterprising almost to fool-hardiness:—they
are all a spirited, a proudly-spirited race of men; and such materials,
in other hands, would form the foundation of all that is great and
excellent in human nature.
But for 300 years they have been ground to the earth with
oppression. They have been crushed by [90]tyranny; their spirit has
been tortured by abuse and contempt, and brutalized by ignorance; in a
word, there is no injustice that has not been inflicted on them, short
of depriving them of their liberty; and in a work published at Madrid
in 1819 (Estado de las Yslas Filipinas, par
[sic; for por] Don Tomas Comyn), whose author
was a factor of the Phillippine company, a whole chapter (the 4th) is
devoted to the mild and humane project “of establishing Spanish
agriculturists throughout the islands,” who are, “to
require a certain number of Indians from the governors of towns and
provinces, who are to be driven to the plantations, where they are to
be obliged to work a certain time, the price of their labour
being fixed, and then to be relieved by a fresh drove!”20
Such a system, incredible as it may appear, has been proposed to a
Spanish cortes; and still more wonderful, plans like these excited no
reprobation in Manila. Such were Spanish ideas of governing Indians!
Justice would almost tempt us to wish that this scheme had been carried
into execution, and that the Indian had risen and dashed his chains on
the heads of the authors of such an infernal project. And yet the
Indian is marked out as little better than a brute; so many of them
are, but to the system of government, and not to the Indian, is the
fault to be ascribed.
It is not here meant to accuse the Spanish laws; many of them are
excellent, and would appear to [91]have been dictated by the very
spirit of philanthropy. But these are rarely enforced, or if they are,
delay vitiates their effect. That this colony, the most favoured
perhaps under heaven by nature, should have remained till the present
day almost a forest, is a circumstance which has generally excited
surprise in those who are acquainted with it, and has as generally been
accounted for by attributing it to the laziness of the Spaniards
and Indians. This is but a superficial view of the subject; one of
those general remarks which being relatively a little flattering to
ourselves, pass current as facts, and then “we wonder how any one
can doubt of what is so generally received.”—The cause lies
deeper, man is not naturally indolent. When he has supplied his
necessities, he seeks for superfluities—if he can enjoy them in
security and peace;—if not—if the iron gripe of despotism
(no matter in what shape, or through what form it is felt), is ready to
snatch his earnings from him, without affording him any
equivalent—then indeed he becomes indolent, that is, he merely provides
for the wants of to-day. This apathy is perpetuated through numerous
generations till it becomes national habit, and then we falsely call it
nature. It cannot be too often repeated, that from the poles to the
equator, man is the creature of his civil institutions, and is active
in proportion to the freedom he enjoys. Who that has perused the
History of Java by Sir S. Raffles,21 and seen the effects of
government planned [92]by the talents of Minto in the spirit
of the British constitution in that country, will now accuse the
Javanese of unwillingness to work, if the fruits of his labour are
secured to him? And yet we remember when a Javanese was another name
for every thing that is detestable. It is ever thus—we blame the
race, because that flatters our pride—we should first look to
their institutions. I return to the Phillippines.
The cause, then, of their little progress is “because there
is no security for property;” or in other words, the
smallness of the salaries of the officers of justice, as well as of
other members of government, and the profligacy inseparable from all
despotic governments, have laid the inhabitants under that curse of all
societies, venal courts of justice. Does an unfortunate Indian scrape
together a few dollars to buy a buffalo, in which consists their whole
riches? Woe to him if it is known; and if his house is in a lonely
situation—he is infallibly robbed. Does he complain, and is the
robber caught? In three months he is let loose again (perhaps with some
trifling punishment), to take vengeance on his accuser, and renew his
depredations.
Hundreds of Indian families are yearly ruined in this manner.
Deprived of their cattle, on which they [93]depend for subsistence,
they grow desperate and careless of future exertion, which can but lead
to the same results, and thus either drag on a miserable existence from
day to day, or join with the robbers23 to pursue
the same mode of life, and to exonerate themselves from paying tributes
and taxes, in return for which no protection is granted. In many
provinces this has been carried to such an extent, that whole districts
are rendered impassable by the robbers,24 who even
lay villages under contribution!
This is the state of the inland towns. On the coasts, and while a
flotilla of gun-boats is maintained at an expense of upwards of half a
million of dollars annually, there is no part safe from the attacks of
the Malay pirates from Borneo, Sooloo, and Mindanao. These make regular
cruises to procure slaves, and have even not unfrequently carried them
off, not only from the bay of Manila,25 but even
from within gun-shot of its ramparts! The very soldiers and sailors
sent for their protection plunder them. An Indian in whose
neighbourhood troops are posted, [94]or who sees the gun-boats
approaching, can no longer consider his property safe; and in the very
vicinity of Manila, soldiers ramble about with their loaded muskets,
and pilfer all they lay hands upon at midday!26
Does the Indian, in spite of all this, escape, and by patient
industry make a little way in the world? he is vexed with offices; he
is chosen Alguazil, Lieutenant, and Captain of his town; to these
offices no pay is attached, they always occasion expenses and create
him enemies; he is pinched or cheated by the Mestizos, a forestalling,
avaricious, and tyrannical race. Does he suffer in silence? it is a
signal for new oppressions: does he complain? a law suit. The Mestizos
are all connected, they are rich, and the Indian is poor.
The imperfect mode of trial, both in civil and criminal cases (by
written declarations and the decisions of judges alone), lays
them open to a thousand frauds; for if the magistrate be supposed
incorruptible, his notaries or writers (escribanos and escribientes) are not
so; and from their knavery, declarations are often falsified, or one
paper is exchanged for another whilst in the act of or before signing
them.
To such a degree does this exist, that few Indians, even of those
who can read Spanish tolerably, will sign a declaration made before a
magistrate without threats, or without having some one on whom they
[95]can depend, to assure them they may safely do so.
Nor is this to be wondered at, when it is known that declarations on
which the life or fortune of an individual may depend are left, often
for days, in the power of writers or notaries, any of whom may be
bought for a doubloon; and some of them are even the menial servants of
the magistrate! This applies to Luzon. In the other islands, this
miserable system is yet worse: they have seldom but one communication a
year with the capital, to which all causes of any magnitude are sent
for decision or confirmation; and, as the papers are often (purposely)
drawn up with some informality, the cause, after suffering all the
first ordeal of chicane and knavery, experiences a year’s delay
before it is even allowed a chance of being exposed to that which
awaits it at Manila. Or should the cause be at length carried to the
Audiencia, or Supreme Court, and there, as is sometimes the
case, be judged impartially, the delay of the decision renders it
useless—the sentence is evaded—or treated with contempt!
This may appear almost incredible, but known to any person who has
resided in Manila.
While the civil power is thus shamefully corrupt or negligent of its
duties, the church has not forgotten that she too has claims on the
Indian. She has marked out, exclusive of Sundays, above 40 days in the
year on which no labour can be performed throughout the islands.
Exclusive of these are the numerous local feasts in honor of the patron
saints of towns and churches.27 The influence of these extends
[96]often through a groupe of many islands, always to
many leagues round their different sanctuaries; and often lasting three
or four days, sometimes a week, according to his or her reputation for
sanctity; so that including Sundays, the average cannot be less than
110 or 120 days lost to the community in a year. This alone is a heavy
tax on the agricultural classes, by whom it is most severely felt; but
its consequences are more so, from the habits of idleness and
dissipation which it engenders and perpetuates. These feasts are
invariably, after the procession is over, scenes of gambling, drinking,
and debauchery of every description.
“And mony jobs that day begun,
Will end in houghmagandie.”29
Thus they unsettle and disturb the course of their
labours [97]by calling off their attention from their domestic
cares; and by continually offering occasions of dissipation destroy
what little spirit of economy or foresight may exist amongst so rude
and ignorant a people. Nor is this all; they are subject to numerous
other vexations and impositions under the title of church-services;
such are, in some towns, five or six men attendant daily in rotation to
bring the sick to the church to confess, or to carry the
“Padre” with the host to their houses, and many others; all
of which, though in themselves trifles, are more harassing, from their
unsettling tendency, than pecuniary imposts. An encouragement to
celibacy and its consequent evils is also to be found in the (to them)
heavy expenses attendant on all the domestic offices of religion, as
matrimony, baptism, &c., as well as in the increase of the poll-tax
on married persons, for the whole of which the husband is responsible.
The ecclesiastical expenses of a marriage between the poorer classes
are about five dollars: the others, as christenings, buryings, &c.,
in proportion. These appear trifles; but if to these are added the
confessions, bulas, [i.e., of the Crusade] and other
exactions, it will be seen that these constitute no trifling part of
the oppressive and ill managed system which has so much contributed to
debase their real character.
I say nothing here of the natural effect of the Roman Catholic
religion on an ignorant people, who imagine, that verbal confession and
pecuniary atonements (rarely to the injured person) are a salvo
for crimes of all magnitudes: that such is the case, is notorious to
every one who has visited Catholic countries. [98]
Let us for a moment retrace this picture. To whom after this is it
attributable that the Indian is often a vicious and degraded being,
particularly in the neighborhood of Manila?
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
[99]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 [100]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 Manila34 [101]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 [102]
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. [103]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 [104]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,
[105]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, [106]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 Creole38 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 [107]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 [108]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.
The different districts and islands, which are called provinces, and
are 29 in number, are governed by Alcaldes. The more troublesome ones,
or those requiring a military form of government, by military officers,
who are also Corregidors. Samboangan on the south west coast of
Mindanao, and the Marianas, have governors named from Manila, and these
are continued from three to five years in office.
These Alcaldeships are a fertile source of abuses and oppression:
their pay is mean to the last degree, not exceeding 350 dollars per
annum, and a trifling per centage on the poll-tax. They are in general
held by Spaniards of the lower classes, who finding no possible
resource in Manila, solicit an Alcadeship. This is easily obtained, on
giving the securities [109]required by government for
admission to these offices, which consist in two sureties40 to an amount proportionable to the value of the
taxes of the province, which all pass through the Alcalde’s
hands.
Of the nature and amount of these abuses an idea will be better
formed from the following abridged quotations, which are translated
from the work of Comyn before quoted (p. 16).41
“It is indeed common enough to see the barber or lacquey of a
governor, or a common sailor, transformed at once into the Alcalde in
chief of a populous province, without any other guide or council than
his own boisterous passions.
“Without examining the inconvenience which may arise from
their ignorance, it is yet more lamentable to observe the consequences
of their rapacious avarice, which government tacitly allows them to
indulge, under the specious title of permissions to trade (indultos).
——“and these are such that it may be asserted,
that the evil which the Indian feels most severely is derived from
the very source which was originally intended for his assistance and
protection, that is, from the Alcaldes of the provinces, who,
generally speaking, are the determined enemies and the real oppressors
of their industry. [110]
“It is a well known fact, that far from promoting the felicity
of the provinces to which he is appointed, the Alcalde is exclusively
occupied with advancing his private fortune, without being very
scrupulous as to the means he employs to do so: hardly is he in office
than he declares himself the principal consumer, buyer, and exporter of
every production of the province. In all his enterprises he requires
the forced assistance of his subjects, and if he condescends to
pay them, it is at least only at the price paid for the royal works.
These miserable beings carry their produce and manufactures to him, who
directly or indirectly has fixed an arbitrary price for them. To offer
that price is to prohibit any other from being offered—to
insinuate is to command—the Indian dares not hesitate—he
must please the Alcalde, or submit to his persecution: and thus, free
from all rivalry in his trade, being the only Spaniard in the province,
the Alcalde gives the law without fear or even risk, that a
denunciation of his tyranny should reach the seat of government.
“To enable us to form a more correct idea of these iniquitous
proceedings, let us lift a little of the veil with which they are
covered, and examine a little their method of collecting the
‘tributo’ (poll-tax).
“The government, desirous of conciliating the interests of the
natives with that of the revenue, has in many instances commuted the
payment of the poll-tax into a contribution in produce or manufactures:
a year of scarcity arrives, and this contribution, being then of much
higher value than the amount of the tax, and consequently the payment
in produce a loss, and even occasioning a serious want in their
families, they implore the Alcalde to make a representation
[111]to government that they may be allowed to pay
the tribute for that year in money. This is exactly one of those
opportunities, when, founding his profits on the misery of his people,
the Alcalde can in the most unjust manner abuse the power confided to
him. He pays no attention to their representations. He is the zealous
collector of the royal revenues;—he issues proclamations and
edicts, and these are followed by his armed satellites, who seize on
the harvests, exacting inexorably the tribute, until nothing more is to
be obtained. Having thus made himself master of the miserable
subsistence of his subjects, he changes his tone on a sudden—he
is the humble suppliant to government in behalf of the unfortunate
Indians, whose wants he describes in the most pathetic terms, urging
the impossibility of their paying the tribute in produce—no
difficulty is experienced in procuring permission for it to be paid in
money—to save appearance, a small portion of it is collected in
cash, and the whole amount paid by him into the treasury, while
he resells at an enormous profit, the whole of the produce (generally
rice) which has been before collected!” Comyn, p. 134 to
138.
This extract, though long, is introduced as an evidence from a
Spaniard (not of the lower order, or a disappointed adventurer, but a
man of high respectability), of the shameless abuses which are daily
practiced in this unfortunate country, and of which the Indian is
invariably the victim: and it is far from being an overcharged
one. Hundreds of other instances might be cited,42 but this
one will perhaps [112]suffice to exonerate the writer of these
remarks from suspicion of exaggeration, in pointing out some of the
most prominent of them.
While treating of the government of the Phillippines, we must not
forget the ministers of their religion, and the share which they have
in preserving these islands as dominions to the crown of Spain. This
influence dates from the earliest epoch of their discovery. The
followers of Cortes and Pizarro, with their successors, were employed
in enriching themselves in the new world; and the spirit of conquest
and discovery having found wherewith to satiate the brutal avarice by
which it was directed, abandoned these islands to the pious efforts of
the missionaries by whom, rather than by force of arms, they were in a
great measure subdued; and even in the present day, they still preserve
so great an influence, that the Phillippines may be almost said to
exist under a theocracy approaching to that of the Jesuits in
Paraguay.
The ecclesiastical administration is composed of an Archbishop (of
Manila), who has three suffragans, Ylocos, Camarines, and Zebu; the
first two on Luzon, the last on the island of the same name. The
revenue of the Archbishop is 4000, and that of the bishops 3000 dollars
annually. The regular Spanish clergy of all orders are about 250, the
major part of which are distributed in various convents in [113]the
different islands, though their principal seats are in that of Luzon;
and many of them, from age or infirmity, are confined to their convents
in Manila.
The degree of respect in which “the Padre” is held by
the Indian, is truly astonishing. It approaches to adoration, and must
be seen to be credited. In the most distant provinces, with no other
safeguard than the respect with which he has inspired the Indians, he
exercises the most unlimited authority, and administers the whole of
the civil and ecclesiastical government, not only of a parish, but
often of a whole province. His word is law—his advice is taken on
all subjects. No order from the Alcalde, or even the
government43 is executed without his counsel and approbation,
rendered too in many cases the more indispensable from his being the
only person who understands Spanish in the village.44 To their
high honour be it spoken, the conduct of these reverend fathers in
general fully justifies [114]and entitles them to this
confidence. The “Padre” is the only bar to the oppressions
of the Alcalde: he protects, advises, comforts, remonstrates, and
pleads for his flock; and not unfrequently has he been seen, though
bending beneath the weight of years and infirmity, to leave his
province, and undertake a long and often perilous voyage to Manila, to
stand forward as the advocate of his Indians; and these gratefully
repay this kind regard for their happiness by every means in their
power.
Their hospitality is equally praiseworthy. The stranger who is
travelling through the country, no matter what be his nation or his
religion,45 finds at every town the gates of the convent open
to him, and nothing is spared that can contribute to his comfort and
entertainment. They too are the architects and mechanists: many of them
are the physicians and schoolmasters of the country, and the little
that has been done towards the amelioration of the condition of the
Indian, has generally been done by the Spanish clergy.
It is painful, however, to remark, that much that [115]might have been done, has been left undone. The
exclusive spirit of the Roman church, which confines its knowledge to
its priests, is but too visible even here: they appear to be more
anxious to make Christians, than citizens, and by neglecting this last
part of their duty, have but very indifferently fulfilled the
first,—the too common error of proselytists of all denominations,
which has probably its source in that vanity of human nature, which is
as insatiable beneath the cowl as under any garb it has yet
assumed.
Some of them too have furnished a striking but melancholy proof of
the eloquent moral,
“It is not good for man to be alone.”
Let us draw a veil over these infirmities. He who has
lived amidst the busy hum of crowds, amidst the wild whirl of human
passions and interests, can have but little conception of the state of
that mind, which perhaps feeling alive to the blessings of social
intercourse, is cut off for years from civilized men; and thus buried
mentally, is constrained to seek all its resources within
itself.46 That heart is one of powerful fibre which does
not sometimes show itself to be human ….
There are instances indeed of some of them forgetting in a great
measure their language! and of others who have become almost idiots
while yet in the vigour of life!47 [116]
The next and lowest order of ecclesiastics are the Indian clergy
(clerigos); they are in number from 800 to 1000, and
though from the want of Spaniards, the administration of many large
districts and towns is confided to them, they are as a body far from
being worthy of such an important charge. The majority of them are
ignorant to the last degree, proud, debauched, and indolent: in a word,
they unite the vices of the priesthood to those of the Indian, and form
a class of men who may almost be said to be distinguished by
their vices only.
This arises from various causes, of which the principal appears to
be that of their being entirely excluded from the higher ecclesiastical
situations. This alone, by depriving them of the most powerful stimulus
to correct conduct, together with the very confined education they
receive, and the impassable line drawn between them and the Spanish
clergy, whom they are never allowed to approach, and who treat them
with much contempt, are sufficient to account, in a great measure, for
their apparent demerit. The fact, however, is such, whatever be its
cause; and seldom a week passes, or at most a month, but [117]some
of them are brought before the ecclesiastical tribunals, under
accusations but little creditable to their cloth.
Their ordinary resort at Manila is the cockpit or the gaming table,
where they shew an avidity and keenness which are disgraceful and
shameless to the last degree. Yet to the guidance of beings like these
is the unfortunate Indian in a great measure abandoned, even in his
last moments: for from the very great proportion of these to the
Spanish priests, and from the recluse lives of the latter, nearly
nine-tenths of all the clerical duties are performed by the Indian
clerigos, such as I have described them. The few who
do form an exception, are men whose conduct is highly creditable to
themselves, and more striking from its unfrequent occurrence.
A keen and deadly jealousy subsists between these and the Spanish
ecclesiastics, or rather a hatred on the one side, and a contempt on
the other. The Indian clergy accuse these last of a neglect of their
ecclesiastical duties, of vast accumulations of property in lands,
&c., which, say they, “belong to us the
Indians.” The Spaniards in return treat them with silent
contempt, continuing to enjoy the best benefices, and living at their
ease in the convents. From what has been said, it will be easily seen,
“that much may be said on both sides;” but these
recriminations have the bad effect of debasing both parties in the eyes
of the natives, and are the germs of a discord which may one day
involve these countries in all the horrors of religious
dissentions.48 [118]
Such are the civil and ecclesiastical government of the
Phillippines. We turn now to the Revenue and Expenditure, Military
establishments, &c.
Until very lately these rich islands have been a constant burden to
the crown of Spain, money having been annually sent from Mexico to
supply their expenses. The establishment of the monopoly of tobacco has
principally contributed to supply this deficiency. It was established
by an active and intelligent governor (Vasco) about 1745 [sc.,
1785] and still continues to be the principal revenue of the country;
and large sums have been from time to time sent home to Spain, as a
balance against those received from Mexico. The sales of this article
amount more or less to a million of dollars per annum. The extensive
establishment which is kept up to prevent smuggling, and the expenses
of purchase and manufacture, reduce its net produce to 500,000 dollars
per annum. The plant is cultivated in the districts of Gapan in
Pampanga, in a part of the province of Cagayan, and in the island
Marinduque to the south of Luzon. It is delivered in by the cultivators
at fixed prices, and sent to Manila, where it is manufactured in a
large range of buildings dedicated to that purpose, and retailed to the
public at about 18 to 19½ dollars per arroba of 25 lbs.
(Spanish), the prices varying a little according to the harvests.
The administration, inspection, and manufacture [119]of
this article, employ several thousand persons of both sexes (the
manufacturing process being almost wholly carried on by women). This is
not only the most productive, but the best conducted branch of the
revenue; while it is at the same time the least vexatious in its
operations, though not exempt from those objections which are common to
all government monopolies.
Another of these monopolies is that of Coco wine, as it is called
(vino de Coco y nipa). This is a weak spirit produced from the juice of
the Toddy tree (Borassus gomutus),49 and from the nipa (Cocos
nypa): of this, large quantities are used by the natives. The expense
of collection is about 80,000 dollars, the net revenue to government
varying from 2 to 300,000.
The poll-tax (tributo) is the other great branch of the revenue; the
manner of collecting it is described in p. 29. Its amount to each
individual is, with some exceptions and variations in different
provinces, 14 rials, or 1¾ dollars for every married Indian,
from the age of 24 to 60. The Mestizos pay 24 rials or 3 dollars, and
the Chinese 6 dollars each: this last branch is generally farmed. The
amount of Indian and Mestizo tribute may be stated in round numbers at
800,000 dollars: the expense of collecting it diminishes it to about
640,000. The exemptions [120]from it are disbanded soldiers,
who pay less than others, men above 60 years of age, and the
cultivators of tobacco, or makers of wine for the royal monopolies.
The collection of this tax is always attended with much trouble, and
it is detested by the Indians to the last degree. The exaction of it
from the newly converted tribes,50 and the extensive frauds
which, as already detailed, are practised by means of it, render it the
most oppressive of all impositions. The natives consider it (perhaps
with some justice), as giving money to no purpose; and infallibly evade
it by every means in their power.
The customs produce from 1 to 300,000 dollars per annum. The
remaining part of the revenue is derived from various minor sources:
such are the cockpits, which are farmed, and produce a net revenue of
25 to 40,000 dollars;—the Chinese poll-tax, 30,000
dollars;—“Bulas,”51 (the sale of which is [121]farmed, and produces from 10 to 12,000
dollars);—cards, powder (a monopoly), stamps, and other articles
of minor importance; amongst which was formerly the monopoly of betel
nut, which is now abolished.
The expenses of administration are as follows. The civil and
ecclesiastical officers of government, 250,000 dollars. The military,
including all classes, about 600,000; and the marine, about
550,000.
The excess of revenue over the expenditure is stated by Comyn to
have been in 1809 about 450,000 dollars, but in this is included
250,000 received from Mexico.
In 1817, by an account published by order of the Ayuntamiento of
Manila, the amount of the revenue was—
Receipts
|
Dollars |
| Poll Tax |
638,976 |
| Rentas (monopolies, farms, &c.) |
810,784 |
| Total |
1,449,76052 |
of which a surplus would remain when all the expenses were
liquidated. In preceding years, some surplus has been remitted to
Spain.
The military establishment consists of three regiments of infantry,
one of dragoons, a squadron of hussars, and a battalion of artillery,
in all about 4500 regulars. The militia are numerous, but only one
[122]regiment is under arms: the total of men may be
estimated at 5000, but on an emergency, large bodies of irregulars can
be called into activity. In 1804, the governor, Don J. M. de Anguilar,
[i.e., Aguilar] is said to have had upwards of 20,000 men
under arms, being in expectation of an attack from the English.
These troops (which are all natives) are in general badly
disciplined and officered, mostly by country-born officers, without the
advantage of an European education, ignorant of their military duties
to the last degree, many of them (more especially in the Mestizo
regiments) connected with the soldiers by relationship, or at least by
the tie of mutual indulgence, the soldier performing every menial
office for the officer, who in return winks at the excesses of the
soldier. This is carried to such an extent, that, not to mention such
trifles as a garden wall or gate, a bathing house, or a stable, or at
times a little smuggling; there are instances on record, where the
commanding officer of a regiment has built himself a country house! the
whole of the masonry and carpentry being performed by soldiers of his
regiment! Another is of a captain collecting his debts by means of a
piquet of infantry; taking possession of his debtor’s house until
payment was made!
It will be easily conceived, that where these things are permitted,
the soldiers are made subservient to other purposes; accordingly they
have been employed to punish the paramours of their officers’
wives—to eject a troublesome tenant—or at times to take
vengeance for affronts, in cases where it might not be safe for the
injured person to do so.53 [123]
These remarks apply more particularly to the Mestizo officers. The
Spaniards, and some of the creoles, who are but very few in number,
form a respectable class of military men, of whom some few may be cited
as models of spirit and discipline: but they are not sufficiently
numerous for their example to influence the despicable beings with whom
they are unavoidably associated; and the wealth and influence being
generally on the side of the native-born officers, these abuses are
permitted, and the complaints of others disregarded.
It is but just, however, to remark, that their pay is excessively
mean; it is a bare, and miserable subsistence; and due weight should be
given to this circumstance in extenuation. A captain of regulars has
not more than 80 dollars per month! and so on in proportion, and when
we reflect, that from the low value of the circulating medium, a dollar
will barely command more than a rupee in any part of India, much must
be allowed for men so situated.
Hence, though the men, arms, and accoutrements are not bad, the
troops are, from abuses, embezzlement, and neglect, miserably deficient
in a military point of view, and but poorly calculated to answer any
efficient purpose. To this description, the regiment [124]of
artillery and Pampango militia are exceptions: the style of equipment
and discipline of the first are a high testimony of the activity and
military talents of their colonel. The queen’s regiment is by far
the most respectable of the infantry.
Their cavalry are badly mounted, the horses being very small, and by
no means good. The men too are clumsily equipped, with swords
manufactured apparently in the 14th century, being straight,
disproportionably long, and furnished with a steel poignet or basket,
above which is a cross, resembling the rapiers of that time.
Their marine is still more miserably deficient in the requisite
qualities for essential service, and suffers more from the
mal-administration of its various branches. All work done in the royal
arsenal is computed to cost at least 40 per cent. more than that by
individuals! The marine consists of a flotilla of 40 or 50 gun-boats,
and as many feluccas,54 of which about one half, or
fewer, may be in constant activity; with what effect has been already
remarked.
Like the army, the navy is almost entirely officered by creoles and
Mestizos, whose pay is but a subsistence, and consequently no prospect
is offered to young men of family and enterprise who may have other
resources.
The arsenal at Cavite, about 10 miles from Manila, is well provided
with officers and workmen, but has no docks. Vessels, however, may
heave down [125]with great safety; and the work, though
expensive, is remarkably well executed.
The agriculture of this very fertile country is yet in its infancy.
Oppressed with so many enemies to his advancement, and placed in a
climate where the slightest exertion insures subsistence, the Indian
has, like the majority of his Malay brethren, been content with
supplying his actual wants, without seeking for luxuries. Hence, and
from the expulsion of the Jesuits, they have made no advances beyond
the common attainments of the surrounding islanders.
This spirited and indefatigable order of men, who, both by precept
and example, encouraged agriculture, not only as the source of national
greatness, but as preparatory to, and inseparable from, conversion to
Christianity, which they well knew did not consist alone in
ceremonies, but in fulfilling the duties of citizens and men, and who,
whatever were their political sins, certainly possessed more than any
other the talent of converting men from savage to civilized life, have
left in the Phillippines some striking monuments of their
wide-spreading and well-directed influence. Extensive convents (the
ground stories of which were magazines), in the centre of fertile
districts formerly in the highest state of cultivation, but now more
than half abandoned,—tunnels,—canals,—reservoirs and
dams, by which extensive tracts were irrigated for the purposes of
cultivation, attest the spirit with which they encouraged this science;
and if their expulsion was a political necessity, it certainly appears
to have been in this country a moral evil.
The restraints imposed on commerce were another insuperable bar to
their prosperity, as depriving [126]them of a market for their
produce. Since foreigners have been allowed free intercourse with them,
their agriculture has in some degree improved by the increased demand
of produce; but under the present system, but little can be expected
from it.55
The soil is in general a rich red mould, with a great proportion of
iron, and in some districts volcanic matters; it is easily worked and
very productive: that in the immediate vicinity of Manila, and for four
or five miles round it, extending to that distance from the coast of
the Bay, is an alluvial soil, formed by the confluence of the numerous
rivers with the ocean; it is stiff, and in all respects very inferior
to the other. In some parts are extensive tracts, the reservoirs of the
waters from the mountains in the rainy season, which first yield an
amazing supply of fish,56 and then a good crop of rice or
pasture for the buffaloes.
The frequent rains, and the numerous rivers and streams with which
the country is every-where intersected, adds to its extraordinary
fertility: it is seldom, [127]if ever, afflicted with droughts,
but is at times devastated by locusts (perhaps once in 10 or
15 years), and these make dreadful havoc amongst the canes. Their
attacks, however, are partial, and generally take place after the rice
is harvested, in December, disappearing before the rains. In 1818,
nearly the whole of the canes were destroyed by them, and the
Ayuntamiento of Manila expended from 60 to 80,000 dollars in
purchasing large quantities of them, which were thrown into the
sea.58
The buffalo is universally used in all field labours, [128]for
which, however, he is but poorly calculated: the slowness of his pace,
and his great suffering from heat, which obliges the labourer to bathe
him frequently, occasion a very considerable loss of time, which is
scarcely compensated by his great strength and little expense in
keeping. Indeed, the bullock should perhaps be on all occasions
substituted for him, excepting only in the cultivation of rice fields.
In a few districts, this is the case; but it is with reluctance that
the native uses him in preference to the buffalo.
Their breed of horses is small, but very hardy: they are never used
for agricultural purposes, though but few of the peasants are without
one for riding, and many of them have two or three. In the province of
Pampanga (the finest tribe of Indians in the Phillippines), they risk
considerable sums on races! of which they are very fond.
Their plough is of Chinese origin: it has but one handle, and no
coulter or mould-board, the upper part of the share, which is flat, and
turned to one side, performing this part of the work. The common harrow
is composed of five or six pieces of the stems of the thorny bamboos,
which at the lower part are almost solid; these are united by a long
peg of the same, passing through all the pieces: to these the hard
branches of thorns are left appending, and being cut off at a short
distance from the stem, form the teeth of the instrument, which, rude
as it is, performs its work well, and usefully, and is seldom out of
order.
For cleaning and finally pulverizing the ground, they have another
harrow of Chinese origin, (or an invention of the Jesuits?) It is of
wrought iron, and [129]for simplicity and utility it is, I think,
unequalled. By means of it they can extirpate the Lallang grass
(Andropogon caricosum), called by them Cogon,60 and which no other instrument will perform so
well, that I am acquainted with.
A hoe, like that of the West Indies, answers the purposes of a
spade; and (with the basket) of a shovel. A large knife (the Malay
Parang), called “Bolo,” completes the list of their
agricultural instruments. Machinery they cannot be said to possess,
except a rude mill of two cylinders for cane, and another for grinding
their rice, can be called such. The greater part of the rice is beaten
from the husk in wooden mortars, and by hand.
The rainy season commences with the S. W. monsoon, and ends in
October. The rice (the aquatic sorts) is planted by hand in July and
August, and reaped in December. The upland rice, of which they have two
varieties, is planted earlier, and comes sooner to maturity. The cane
is planted in the manner called “en canon” by the French,
that is, the plant piece is stuck diagonally into the ground; and thus,
from the roots being often on the surface, the plant suffers frequently
from drought, and they have seldom two crops from a piece of cane:
their sugar, though clumsily manufactured, is of excellent grain, and
highly esteemed by the refiners of Europe.
The indigo plant is very fine; and though, as in all countries, a
precarious crop, yet it is far from being so much so as in India: it
has been manufactured equal to Guatemala, but in the present day
is of a very inferior quality: this arises from various causes, of
which the principal are ignorance in the manufacture [130]of
it, a want of capital, and spirit of enterprise. They have no tanks of
masonry, the whole process being carried on in two wooden vats of a
very moderate size, from which the fecula is taken once a week. It is
needless to remark, that the quality of the indigo is materially
injured by this alone: it is also subject to many adulterations in the
hands of the Mestizos, before being brought to market.
The coffee plant was almost entirely unknown about 40 years ago, a
few plants only existing in the gardens about Manila. It was gradually
transported from thence to the towns in the neighbourhood of the lake,
where it has been since multiplied to an amazing degree by an
extraordinary method. A species of civet cat with which the woods
abound, swallows the berries,61 and these passing through the
animal entire, take root, and thus the forests are filled with wild
plants. This fact may be depended upon, and the major part of all the
coffee exported from Manila is produced from the wild plants, and is
equal or superior in flavour to that of Bourbon. The government, in
1795 or 96, made an attempt to force its cultivation in the province of
Bulacan, but forgot, as one of their own officers naivement observes, “Que no habia
compradores ni consumidores”—that there were neither
consumers or customers for it! It [131]of course fell to the ground,
and in the next passage of the same work, the Indian is partly
blamed for it!
The cultivation of cotton is as yet but very partial. It is of the
herbaceous species, of a very fine quality, almost equalling the
Bourbon, but excessively adherent to the grain: so much so indeed, that
none of the attempts to separate it from the seed by machinery have
hitherto succeeded; the grains passing through the rollers, and
staining the cotton. It is cleared by the natives by means of a
hand-mill, very clumsy in its construction, and performing so little
work, that the cleaning costs six dollars per pekul.
The principal part of the cotton comes from the province of Ylocos,
where large quantities of stuffs are manufactured. The brown cotton,
for which a prize was offered in 1818 by the Society of Arts, grows in
great quantities, and is manufactured into durable cloths and blankets.
The prices of agricultural labour vary from 1 rial63 per day
near Manila to ¾ and ½ rial in the provinces—a
plough with two buffaloes and a man, 2½ rials. The workmen, like
day labourers in all countries, are often “looking for
sunset;” but when allowed task work, are willing and industrious.
A plough will go over rather more than a loan64 of ground
in a day—about a quinion in three months. [132]
Of the produce of any given cultivation, it is difficult to speak
with any degree of correctness: calculations of this kind are difficult
to make amongst a people labouring each for himself, and all for the
wants of the day: for, unaccustomed to generalize, each gives his
own as the average, and hence the discrepancy which every person
must have remarked who has had occasion to make inquiries of this
description in half civilized countries, where a main point, the value
of the labourer’s time, and of that of his animals, is invariably
left out, as is also the difference of work for himself and for a
master. The tables given at the conclusion of Comyn’s work are,
as far as regards the vicinity of the capital, very erroneous. They are
also very deficient in many [133]points.67 The
following is a much nearer approximation.
A quinion of land requires four ploughings and three harrowings, say
six ploughings in all.
|
Ds. |
Rs. |
| Now as 1 Quinion will occupy a hired
labourer about 90 days at 2½ Rials = 28 Dollars 1 Rial, which
for six times is |
168 |
6 |
| Fencing, 12 Ds.; Grubbing, &c., 15; Cane
Slips, 25; Planting, 18; Weeding and Hoeing, 30; Carriage, 18;
Manufacture, 45; Pilones, &c., 12 |
175 |
0 |
| Cost |
343 |
6 |
| Produce at low average, 150 Pilones,68 salable at 3½ Ds. |
487 |
4 |
| Profit |
143 |
6 |
This supposes the proprietor of the cane to be possessed
[134]of a mill, buffaloes, &c. for the wear of
which no estimate is made.
The 150 pilones of sugar, each weighing about 150 lbs. gross, will
produce the refiner who has purchased them about 100 piculs of sugar,
of which
|
S. |
Ds. |
| 80 1st sort, worth 6¼ Dollars |
500 |
0 |
| 20 2d ditto, and Molasses, &c. 3¾ |
75 |
0 |
|
575 |
0 |
| They have cost him about |
487 |
4 |
| Refiner’s allowance on 100
Pilones, S. Ds. |
47 |
8 |
The profits of the refiner would appear high; and
[135]they have been so; but are far from what this
statement appears to give, from various reasons, of which the chief
are, the heavy capital sunk in buildings, interest on advances, &c.
and from a want of knowledge, the enormous waste of labour in the
process. A glance at this may give an idea of what trade is at these
antipodes of commercial knowledge.
I have termed the process “refining;” it should rather
be called claying and sorting—and it is as clumsily managed as
the ingenuity of man could well devise. The trade is principally in the
hands of three or four capitalists; advances are made by these to
brokers, the provincial merchants, who annually bring their produce to
the capital in small vessels,69 and to the masters of coasting
traders, in which the [136]sugar merchants have shares. These
are made to a large amount, 80 to 100,000 dollars; and as the interest
of this must at least run for six months at 9 per cent. it forms a
heavy item. Losses and defaulters form another, say ½ per cent.
in all 5 per cent.
The pilones are delivered from November to May and June, and are
received into extensive warehouses, which are provided with large
court-yards and terraced roofs. Here the upper part of the pilone is
cut off, and a quantity of manufactured sugar being pressed down on the
top of it, a thin layer of the river mud is put on it; this is watered
from time to time and changed once or twice, the pilone standing on a
small foot, with the small hole at its apex left open, through which
the molasses slowly drains, leaving the upper and broader part of the
pilone of a fine white, gradually decreasing in goodness to the bottom,
where it is little more than molasses—the pilone is then cut in
two; the darker part is put by as second quality (or reboiled), and the
whiter portion as firsts, of the sugar, the care taken in the process,
the kind of mud used, &c. About two piculs of sugar from three
pilones is a fair average, when these are of a good size. That from the
province of Pampanga is by far the best; it is produced from a small
red cane70 [137]about four feet high, and of the
thickness of a good walking stick.
The sugar being thus clayed, is now to be mixed, pounded, and dried.
The last process is performed by laying it on small mats in the sun, on
the terraces and pavements of the court-yards. On the slightest
appearance of rain, it must be hurried under cover, and brought out
again when this is past. So that in a manufacture of any size, when
from 3 to 400 Chinese are employed at 4½ dollars per month,
fully ⅓d of their labour is expended on this operation alone. The
management of the rest requires no comment.
The cost of production of any of the other articles cannot be
estimated to any degree of correctness, from the very small scale on
which they are cultivated, and the limited knowledge of the writer of
these remarks. Those of Comyn are erroneous.
The Indians are the principal and almost the only cultivators of the
soil, very few Mestizos or Chinese71 being engaged in it. The
few Spaniards and other Europeans who have attempted it, have been
obliged to abandon their attempts to form plantations. These failures,
or rather determination to [138]abandon their speculations (even
when in a promising state), have arisen from various causes; but the
general one may be stated to be the very little security for life and
property, in a country such as has been described. This is with the
major part an insuperable objection; for from the moment they are
established, and known to possess money for the payment of their
workmen, they must be in expectation of an attack, and prepared to
defend themselves; nor can they lie down at night free from the
apprehension of seeing their establishments in flames before morning!
either from robbers, or from malice of any individual who may think
himself aggrieved:—the impossibility of obtaining justice so
generally experienced by the Indians, and the many chances of escaping
punishment, being strong inducements to the ill-disposed to adopt these
modes of revenge. To this it may be added, that even were the foreigner
to kill the most determined robber in the country, the circumstance of
having done so in defence of his life and property, would by no means
exonerate him from a fleecing by the inferior officers of justice, and
from a long and tiresome process of depositions, declarations, &c.
during which his affairs must be entirely neglected.73
[139]
In addition to this he must lay his account with another obstacle,
and this none of the smallest—the chance of bad faith on the part
of those with whom he is connected; a chance which by no means will
diminish in proportion to his success; for, let no foreigner deceive
himself on this head in Manila; if he cannot flatter as low, or bribe
as high as his adversary, his cause is lost by some means or other.
The Phillippines also produce cacao of an excellent quality, though
not sufficient for their consumption, a large quantity being imported
from New Spain.
Pepper is also an article of exportation, but in very limited
quantities, the utmost the Phillippine Company have been able to
procure being about 60,000 lbs. in favourable years.
To these may be added the Abaca (Musa
textilis), a species of plantain, from which the beautiful
fibres are procured known by that name. This is becoming a very
considerable article of exportation, both raw, and manufactured into
cordage. The natives also consume large quantities of it in cordage,
and as shirting cloth, into which a large portion of the interior
[140]and finer fibres are manufactured. Some of it is
equal to the coarser sort of China grass cloth.74
In Gogo,76 a gigantic climbing plant, whose trunk attains
the size of a man’s body, is another remarkable production of
these islands. Its branches being cut out into lengths, are coarsely
pounded and dried in the sun: they are used as soap by all classes of
people, the saponaceous fluid which is extracted from them being
remarkably cleansing, and the fibres answering the purpose of a
brush.
It is also used in large quantities in washing the earth of rivers
and streams, to separate the gold from them. It is not cultivated, but
exists in great abundance in the forests, in which are also the
sapan-wood (called Sibacao), the sandal, ebony, and vanilla. They
abound in gums and resins, large portions of which are washed down by
the torrents; but these are for the most part useless, either from the
ignorance of the natives, or from the impossibility of venturing far in
the interior.
Their timber is excellent, and in a country so covered with forests,
of course plentiful; but the want of [141]roads and other
conveniences of transport, renders it, in Manila, rather an expensive
article.
The principal timber woods are, the “Mulave”
[i.e., Molave], a compact, heavy, yellowish wood, and almost
incorruptible, perhaps from the very great portion of tannin it
contains. Tindalo,78 a hard wood, much resembling
the iron-wood of the Brasils, and like it used for screws,
&c.,
&c. when great hardness is required. “Betis,” an
excellent timber tree, which grows to a very great size, and for its
durability is generally used for the main beams of churches, convents,
and other large buildings. The “Narra,” of which there are
two kinds, the white and red: this last is almost equal to mahogany in
polish and durability. Banaba, a red wood resembling cedar; and many
others of equal goodness. Of these the Banaba and Mulave are most used
in shipbuilding, the first for planking, and the last for the
framework. For masts, the Manga-chapuy and Palo-maria are generally
used: the last is equal or superior to pine, both in strength and
lightness.
Their forests are not infested with those ferocious animals which
are the terror of those of other Asiatic countries. The tiger,
elephant, and rhinoceros are unknown: the wild buffalo and hog are the
only ones of which the native has any dread. These attain an enormous
size, but are not mischievous, unless provoked. The dried flesh and
hides of these animals, [142]as well as of deer and wild
cattle, which are in immense numbers, form a considerable article of
trade amongst the natives, the “tappa” or dried flesh being
used for food, and the hides for exportation.
Their serpents, however, attain an enormous size: the largest are
those of the Boa species (Constrictor), and will devour a horse or a
cow at a meal.79 Of this genus there is one variety very
beautifully marked, which frequents the houses, and is called by the
Spaniards (Culebra casera), the house
snake,80 and by the Indians “Sawa.” These are
often seen from 10 to 12 feet in length, but are very harmless. Few
houses are without one or more of them in the cellars, stables, &c.
but they are seldom disturbed, as they are said to devour rats
and other noxious animals; though, when these fail them, they attack
fowls, or even goats. They form a favourite article of food with the
Chinese, who keep them in jars to fatten, and the Indians may be often
seen carrying them through the streets for sale.
Of other varieties they have great numbers; some of which, as the
“dahun palay,” or leaf of
rice, of a deep green and yellow, which frequents the rice fields,
and the “mandadalag,” or whip-snake,
are excessively venomous: accidents from these animals are not,
however, very frequent; from whence it may be concluded, that the
superstition of the natives has greatly exaggerated the number of
venomous ones: and this may be the more readily inferred, not only from
their excessively superstitious character, and [143]the
common custom of all nations in this particular; but also from the
thousand ridiculous fables told by them of the cameleon, which is very
common in the woods, and perfectly harmless. The Indian name for it is
“Ynyano.”
Of minerals they have an inexhaustible supply: gold is found in
almost all the streams, and even in the sands of the shores of the Bay
after blowing weather: no mines of it have as yet been wrought, though
they are known to exist. The quantity obtained by the rude efforts of
the natives merely washing the sands of the torrents, is very great,
and certainly does not fall short of 4 to 500,000 dollars worth
annually, as great quantities are expended in gilding for the churches,
&c. &c.
Silver is also found, but in small quantities. Virgin copper is
another produce of their mountains: pieces of it are frequently met
with in the torrents, and on the shores of some of the islands
(Masbate, Burias, and Ambil). The negroes have also been seen with rude
ornaments, and even with utensils made from it.
Of iron they have whole mountains in the very vicinity of Manila!
(provinces of Pampanga and Bulacan), some of the ores yielding 75 per
cent. of metal, and of an excellent quality, this having been
ascertained by some Biscayan iron-masters sent out for that purpose. It
contains great numbers of magnets. There are some miserable
establishments for working and smelting these ores, but on a very small
scale; they have only produced cast iron articles, and those of an
inferior quality. They have no forging machinery.82
[144]
Cinnabar, lead, and tin are supposed to exist; but of these last
there is no certainty.
Sulphur is found in the neighbourhood of the volcanoes in
considerable quantities, and is an article of export to Bengal and
other places: the principal part of it is collected on the island of
Leyté, which is next to Samar on the south side of the strait of
St. Bernardino. It is collected on the edges of numerous small
apertures, which emit at times flames and smoke. These are situated in
an extensive plain near the sea-coast in the vicinity of the village of
Dulag, on the eastern side of the island. With these natural
advantages, and those are not few that still remain to be enumerated,
the commerce of this country, like its agriculture, is still in its
infancy: and this has been principally owing to two great
causes—the trade to Acapulco, and the prohibitory system
invariably pursued by Spain in regulating the intercourse with her
colonies, and which here has been burdened with an additional weight,
the monopoly of the Phillippine Company.
It were a task far exceeding the intention and ability of the writer
of these remarks to point out the causes and effects of these extensive
evils:—a few observations only will be made to elucidate such
remarks as may follow on the commerce of Manila.
Of the prohibitory system pursued by Spain towards her colonies, it
may perhaps be said, with as much justice as of her wars, that it was,
“en faire un desert pour s’en assurer
l’empire;”83 for few systems [145]could have been better calculated to assure the
first object; the last has miserably disappointed its advocates, and
left a striking lesson to the world, at which humanity has cause to
rejoice.
With jealousy of foreigners exceeding even the bounds of
credibility, she invariably refused them admittance,84 whether
for scientific or commercial purposes;85 or when
from accident or influence this was obtained, the people following, and
often exceeding the lessons of their rulers, by civil and religious
persecutions, and contempt, contrived to render their existence almost
a burden. It would appear to have become an axiom amongst them,
remarkable only for its illiberality, that “a dollar gained by
foreigners was one taken from the pocket of a Spaniard;”86 and that in all cases where the [146]interests of the merchants of the mother country
and those of the colonies were opposed, the latter were to be
sacrificed.87 Her own subjects were, from the same miserable
narrow policy, embarrassed with restrictions and
conditions—permissions from the Consejo de las Yndias, &c.
&c. that it became by no means a trifling affair to be able to
embark for the Phillippines, unless at the risk of being sent home from
there by the local authorities.
Unable herself, from the want of manufactures and energy, to profit
by her colonies, she obstinately refused to allow others to do so, and
in this she invariably persisted. The fruits of such a system were such
as might have been expected; the colonies submitted—(while they
were obliged by force to do so), smuggled to a large amount,
remonstrated, resisted, and declared themselves independent; and thus
has Spain forever lost those advantages which a more liberal policy
might have secured to her through a long course of time.88 [147]
In the Philippines, this system, though followed for a long time,
has been of late years successively relaxed, and the good effects of
this modification are visible to the most indifferent observer: it has
however left deep traces of its operations, and much is still wanting:
the foreign merchant or adventurer, how much soever he may be smiled
upon and caressed, has still to contend against a rooted and long
cherished jealousy of all that is not Spanish.
The Acapulco trade is another and a principal cause of the very
confined state of the commerce of this valuable colony. A few remarks
will be sufficient to justify the apparent paradox.
The merchant of Manila (says Comyn), is “entirely different
from the merchant of other parts of the world; he has no extensive
correspondence, no books, or intricate accounts; his operations are
confined to a shipment of bales to Acapulco, and to receiving the
silver in return: and in 40 years, only one or two instances have
occurred wherein bankrupts have been able to produce a correct set of
books to the Consulado (or Chamber of Commerce)!” This
description was doubtless correct at the time when it was written
(1809); but it is just to observe that they are now much improved, and
though not [148]excessively enterprising, are better acquainted
with the true principles of commerce. Such were the merchants: let us
examine a little the trade.
The basis of it was, and is, the funds called “Obras
Pias”89 (Pious Works). These are funds under various
denominations, whose origin was the piety of well-meaning Spaniards,
who dying rich have bequeathed large sums for the purpose of lending to
deserving traders to commence or continue their career with. The
administration of these is confided to various religious and charitable
institutions, or to civil associations—the trustees forming a
board, at which the sums to be lent, &c. are determined. Their
statutes differ in many unessential points;90 but their
[149]general tenour is the same, viz. that sums not
exceeding two thirds of the fund shall be lent on respondentia at
certain rates of interest, which are fixed according to the risk of the
voyages; and these, when repaid, shall be added, principal and
interest, to the original fund. The interests are 25 per cent. to
Acapulco, 15 to Bengal, and so in proportion. The total of the capitals
of these establishments (there are 12 or 14 of them), amounted to about
three millions and a half of dollars in 1820, of which about two
millions are due to the funds on various risks, principally those of
New Spain: of this the major part is considered as lost by those best
qualified to judge of the subject.
The principal employ of these funds has been in the commerce to
Acapulco; and from the facility with which capital was procured, the
excessive gambling spirit which this introduced, as well as the system
of mutual accommodations from the trustees of different funds, and the
utter absence of the wholesome restraint of public examinations of
their accounts, it has resulted that more harm than good has been done
by these establishments. The original intentions are entirely
perverted, a few small sums being lent to young adventurers (when they
have powerful friends), but far the greatest part is employed by the
trustees themselves under the name of a relation or friend.91 [150]
When, without risking any capital of his own, the merchant might
thus share the enormous profits of this trade, with no more exertion
than signing the invoices and letters (they were written by Indian
clerks), and receiving the treasure on the return of the vessel, it is
not surprising that for nearly two centuries they neglected all the
other commercial advantages which surrounded them, or that such a
commerce produced such merchants: the history of it and of them for
that period may be confined to a few words:—they were the agents
of the merchants of Madras and Bengal, receiving and shipping their
goods, and returning their proceeds, while their profits were confined
to a large commission on them.92
This trade was anciently confined to a single ship annually, the
famous Galleon. She was fitted out, manned and armed, at the
king’s expense, and commanded by a king’s officer. This was
reimbursed by a duty of 33⅓ per cent. on the registered cargo,
the merchants contributing to her provisionment, [151]and
to the payment of 20,000 dollars as a bounty to her commander. She was
calculated to carry 3,000 bales of a certain size, and the privilege of
shipping these was confined to the holders of 1,000 tickets called
“boletas,” which were divided amongst different public
bodies, charitable and religious institutions, the widows of the
officers, &c., these tickets being saleable to others:93 and of the enormous profit on this trade, some
idea may be formed, when it is known, that with the very heavy expenses
attendant on every stage of it, 500 dollars have been paid for a ticket
entitling the holder to ship three bales!
By regulation, the invoice was not to exceed 500,000 dollars; but
this was always evaded. The vessels were crammed with goods, and
generally netted 100 per cent. or even 150 on every thing taken
out.94 By applications from private merchants, the
permissions have of late years been extended to their ships, and even
brigs; but they still were encumbered with many useless restrictions
and conditions, which of course were evaded by every means that could
be devised.
By the adoption of the new constitution, and the late declaration of
the independence of Mexico,95 [152]which began in the
seizure of a convoy of nearly a million of dollars belonging to the
merchants of Manila, this trade is now almost annihilated.
As has been remarked, their intercourse with the other countries is
very limited. The Phillippine Company, who were in possession of the
exclusive trade of Europe, have for many years taken no advantage of
their privilege (the last ship which arrived from Spain was in
1817);96 but private merchants were still debarred from
doing so, till the promulgation of the constitution.97
Foreigners have been, however, gradually admitted since 1800; and they
have supplied the wants of the country by introducing European
articles, and carrying off the surplus produce, when a sufficient
quantity could be procured to employ their capital, which rarely
happens without much delay. So rapid has been the augmentation of this
trade, that though in 1813 only 15,000 pekuls of sugar were exported,
it had increased [153]in 1818 to 200,000, at from 6½ to 9
dollars per pekul. The other exports of the same year were as
follows:—
Coffee, about 400 pekuls, at 28 dollars; Cotton, 1,000, at 20 to 25
dollars; Indigo, 1,000 quintals, at 90 to 110 dollars per quintal; wax,
600 pekuls at 40 to 50 dollars; red wood, &c. &c. in large
quantities. In a printed account, the number of foreign vessels for
that year (1818) are stated to be, English, 18; American, 10; French,
4; Portuguese, 2; Chinese Junks, 10, and 8 Spanish vessels. The value
of imports as follows:
| Goods, |
2,296,272 |
dollars |
| Cash, |
758,239 |
|
|
$3,054,511 |
|
The exports, 1,205,649 dollars; but this last is any thing but
correct, not only from the very imperfect nature of the custom-house
valuations, but from the smuggling, which is carried on to an immense
amount. It will be nearer the truth to estimate the imports at about
3,8, or 3,900,000, and the exports at 3¼ or 3,500,000.98
The imports consist of piece-goods for the Acapulco market, and for
home consumption from Bengal; cambrics and handkerchiefs of plaided
patterns [154]from Madras; woollens, wines, spirits, silks,
printed cottons, hosiery, hardware, &c. from Europe (principally
from France); bird’s nests, tortoise and mother-of-pearl shell,
bich-de-mar [i.e., balate], wax, dried fish, &c. from Soolo,
Borneo, and other islands of the Archipelago; toys, silks, nankeens,
teas, and dollars from China; dollars from the United States; and from
South America, silver, cochineal, and cacao. Of these articles the
specie and cochineal are mostly exported to Bengal and Madras, and the
produce of the Soolos and Borneo to China; the other exports have been
noticed in a preceding page.
An active coasting trade99 is carried on by the natives
amongst the islands, though they suffer dreadfully from the pirates;
but such is their enterprising turn, that with these in sight,
they will often cross from one island to another, when they have a fair
start; and frequently set out on a long trip in a small prow
[i.e., prau], armed only with their spears and
“campilans,”100 though knowing the pirates to
be in [155]the neighbourhood of their track. They are well
known in the piratical states, where a Manila slave always commands a
higher price than any other. They have been much stigmatized in British
country-ships, as the leaders of mutinies, &c.; but though no doubt
can exist that they have often assisted in cutting off vessels, yet I
question much whether the fault was not in a great measure to be
attributed to a want of discrimination between the high spirit of the
Philippine islander, and the meek sufferance of the patient
Lascar—a fatal mistake, when both are trampled on, as it is to be
feared they but too often are.
This trade is carried on in pontines,101 galeras,
feluccas, and prows or boats of all sizes. The pontines are stout-built
vessels of European models, from 80 to 150 tons, with two long mat
sails, like a Chinese junk. The “galeras” are smaller, and
carry a lateen sail, like those of the Mediterranean. The feluccas have
been already described, and their prows and boats resemble nearly those
of their Malay brethren. Large property is often embarked in these
vessels, and they are conducted entirely by natives.
They have but a few manufactures: the principal one is that of
coarse gauzes, and rope from the Abaca plant, the first of which has a
very extensive consumption and is universally worn by all classes of
the natives. It is principally carried on in the province of Camarines,
at the S. E. angle of the island.
Considerable quantities of coarse canvas and striped cloths are
manufactured from cotton in the province of Ylocos; and in those in the
more immediate [156]vicinity of the capital, the striped cloths
called “tapis” are universally worn by the native women
over their petticoat. None of these articles except the Abaca rope are
exported, and probably the whole of the cloths might be imported at a
cheaper rate than they are made. The Phillippine Company, by a mistaken
policy, expended large sums in endeavoring to render these manufactures
articles of export to Spain and the Americas; but after heavy and
repeated losses, the attempt was at length abandoned.
I am not certain whether there was not a clause in their charter,
obliging them to attempt this; and from the interfering spirit of
Spanish legislature throughout the last two centuries, it is more than
probable it was so. For the Company must have seen the impropriety of
endeavoring to establish manufactures in a country so thinly populated,
and where the little security for property or power of enforcing
contracts, must have exposed them to a thousand losses unknown in
Europe.
This last circumstance is one which is at all times a severe check
on the prosperity of any undertaking in this country. The most
shameless frauds are daily committed, particularly by the Chinese and
Chinese Mestizos, and for these there is no resource; complaint is
unavailing, for the trouble of obtaining redress is greater than the
injury, and it is a matter of common conversation—how so and so
has been cheated in his contracts. They appear to mistake indolence for
compassion, and allow themselves to be robbed with impunity, rather
than pursue the offender, or, should they do so, the magistrate to whom
they apply is but too apt, if the affair is intricate, to [157]mistake procrastination for deliberation, and
thus the culprit escapes unpunished. The losses of private merchants
and the individuals in this way, would, if enumerated, exceed belief.
Another and a most serious drawback to the commercial prosperity of the
Phillippines, has been the negligence or ignorance, or both which have
prevented the establishment of bonded warehouses, or a system of
drawback duties on re-exportations. A glance at their position, and the
consideration of the monsoons, will convince any one, that this was of
all things that for which ample provision should have been made; and it
would be no exaggeration to say, that this commerce would in a few
years have increased tenfold with China alone, had this plan been
adopted. The enormous duties and vexatious spirit of the Chinese
government, together with, what must doubtless be often the case, the
fleecing combinations of the Hong merchants;102 would long
ago have driven every vessel from their ports, could another have been
found near enough to insure a supply of goods, which, from the
enterprising spirit of the Chinese, could not have failed. Manila is
this port. From Amoy and Nankin, the granaries and workshops of the
eastern provinces, the most fertile and commercial part of the empire,
it is but a short run to Manila; and thus, when the Chinese could
freely trade in their favourite article, opium,103 and find
too an assortment of European [158]and Malay goods, while the
European could complete his investment of funds with the valuable
produce [159]of China,104 without the expense of
the measurement duties, and while the Malay could trade with both, an
emporium might have risen, inferior only perhaps to Batavia or
Calcutta. [160]
An attempt was made in 1817, by a Spanish merchant, to commence
something of this sort. He purchased a quantity of Turkey opium from an
American, with an understanding that it was to be reshipped, on payment
of a small additional duty. It was so, but a quantity of the opium was
plundered from the custom-house godowns, and the proprietor was told
“that the king was not responsible for losses.”
It would be foreign to the object of a cursory sketch like the
present to enter farther into the details of this subject. Enough has
been said to bear out an assertion, which those who are acquainted with
the trade will not think exaggerated, that had this system been fairly
and equitably established, one half of the trade to China would before
this have centered at Manila; and it is only at Manila that the
advantages of such a transit could have been unknown or neglected in
the 19th century. I proceed to make some observations on the capital
and its inhabitants.105
