A Visit to the Philippine Islands. Bowring John

all the brutality of military conquerors was exhibited, and the possession and plunder of new territories were encouraged by the Spanish court, and were the main object of the Spanish invader. But far different was the policy adopted in the Philippines, where only a small body of soldiers was accompanied by zealous missionaries, whose purpose was rather to convert and christianize the Indians than to pillage and destroy them. These friars gradually obtained a paramount influence over the Indians. The interests of trade have ever been the predominant consideration among Dutch colonizers, and among British adventurers the commercial element has always been intimately associated with the desire for territorial occupation. To the Spaniards it must be conceded that the religious purpose – be its value what it may – has never been abandoned or forgotten. Ecclesiastical jurisdiction and authority are interwoven in the Philippines with the machinery of government and the daily concerns of life.

      And such ecclesiastical action has been comparatively little interfered with in the Philippines. The development which mental emancipation has given to many Protestant countries and their dependencies has reached few Catholic colonies; nor is that emancipation, indeed, consistent with the more rigid discipline and doctrines of Rome. But in the case of the most prosperous instances of colonization by the British, the native races have either wholly disappeared or are in progress of extinction, while the infusion of Spanish and foreign blood into the colonies of Spain has not only allowed the increase of the indigenous population, but has been insufficient to change or do more than slightly modify their national characters. It has undoubtedly been the boast of the Catholics that Francis de Xavier and his followers won more for the Roman Church in the East than Luther or Calvin ever tore away from it in the West; but the value of the conquests, contrasted with that of the losses and sacrifices, if fairly estimated, would hardly be deemed unsatisfactory to the Protestant cause.

      No doubt the great remoteness of the Philippines from Europe, the difficulties and infrequency of communication, gave to the local authorities more of independent action than would otherwise have been allowed to them; and in case of the death of the governor, the archbishop was generally the functionary who filled his place; his adjacency to the government, and frequent direction of it, naturally led to the strengthening of his own authority and that of all ecclesiastics dependent upon him.

      In the earlier periods of Eastern colonization, too, the Portuguese, jealous of all European intercourse but their own with nations east of the Cape, did all in their power to prevent any other than the Lusitanian flag from being seen in Oriental waters. But as regards missionary objects their views were to some extent concurrent with those of the Spanish priests, and their proceedings were in harmony with those of the Spaniards, especially in so far as both received their direction from the Pontiff at Rome. It ought not, however, to be forgotten that whatever may have been the progress of Christianity in the Philippines, the persecutions, disasters, discomfiture, and death of so many professing Christians in Japan, are probably attributable to the ill-guided zeal of the Portuguese preachers of the Gospel in these still remoter regions. It is well for the interests of truth, as most assuredly it is for the interests of commerce and civilization, that a more temperate and tolerant spirit has for the last century been associated with the progress of European influence in the East.

      The comparatively small number of Spanish settlers in the Philippines would not allow them, even if such had been their purpose, which it does not appear to have been, unnecessarily to interfere with the usages of the Indians, or their forms of administration and government, except in so far as their conversion to Christianity compelled the observance of the Christian rites; and the friars willingly accommodated their action to the social habits of the people, respecting, as to this hour are respected, most of the patriarchal forms of administration and government which had existed among them from immemorial time.

      There have been speculations – and M. Mallat is among the sanguine anticipators of such an advent – that in process of time the Philippines may become the dominant political power of the Eastern world, subjecting to its paramount influence the Netherlands Archipelago, the Pacific, Australia, and even China and Japan, and that Manila is destined to be the great emporium for the eastern and south-eastern world. M. Mallat even goes further, and says: “Manila might easily become the centre of the exports and imports of the entire globe.” It must be contented with a less brilliant futurity. Certainly its commercial relations might be greatly extended, and the Spanish archipelago be much elevated in value and in influence; but in the vast development of commercial relations in the Oriental world, the Philippines must be contented with a moderate though a considerable share of benefit, even under the best administration and the adoption of the wisest policy.

      Tropical regions fail to attract permanent settlers from the West. The foreign merchant comes to realize what he deems an adequate fortune, and to withdraw; the superior public functionary is among, or above, but never of, the people. What must be looked to is the popular element. Of what are the millions composed, and how can the millions be turned to account? There is no reason to apprehend that these millions will aspire to political power or sovereignty. Their pristine habits would permit of no general organization. The various races and clans would never unite in a national object, or recognize one native chief. All that is found of order and government among them is local; except through and for their masters, the different islands have little or no intercourse with one another. The Tagál and the Bisayan have no common sympathies. Dissatisfaction might produce disorder, which, if not controlled, would lead to anarchy, but not to good government.

      The Philippines are free from the curse of slavery. Time will settle the controversy as to whether the labour of the freeman can, in the long run, be brought into competition with that of the slave, especially in the tropics; but that the great tide of tendency flows towards the abolition of slavery, that civilizing opinion and enlightened Christian legislation must sweep the ignominy away, is a conviction which possesses the minds of all who see “progress” in the world.

      As it is, the Philippines have made, and continue to make, large contributions to the mother country, generally in excess of the stipulated amount which is called the situado. Spain, in her extreme embarrassment, has frequently called on the Philippines to come to her aid, and it is to the credit of the successive governors-general that, whatever may have been the financial disorders at home, the dependants upon the Manila treasury have had little motive for complaint, and while the Peninsula was engaged in perilous struggles for her independence, and even her existence as a nation, the public tranquillity of her island colonies was, on the whole, satisfactorily maintained, and interruptions to the ordinary march of affairs of short endurance.

      There would seem to be no legislation defining the powers of the viceroy, or captain-general; but whenever any important matter is under discussion, it is found that reference must be made to Madrid, and that the supreme rule of this vast archipelago is in the leading strings of the Spanish Cabinet, impotent to correct any great abuses, or to introduce any important reforms. The captain-general should be invested with a large amount of power, subject, of course, to a personal responsibility as to its becoming exercise. As he must, if properly selected, know more, being present, than strangers who are absent, his government should be trusted on account of that superior knowledge. Well does the Castilian proverb say, “Mas sabe el loco en su casa que el cuerdo en la agena” – “The fool knows more about his own house than the sage about the house of another.” He should be liberally paid, that the motives for corruption be diminished. He should be surrounded by a council composed of the best qualified advisers. Many objects would necessarily occupy the attention of such a body, and it would naturally have to create becoming local machinery and to furnish the materials for improved administration, such as surveys and statistics of the land and population, which would lead to a more satisfactory distribution of provinces, districts and pueblos. A simple code of civil and criminal law would be a great blessing, and should be grounded, in so far as the real interests of justice will allow, upon the customs and habits of the people, while employing, when compatible with those interests, the administrative local machinery in use among the natives.

      Nothing would be more beneficial to the interests of Manila than the establishment of an efficient board of works, with provincial ramifications, to whose attention the facilitating communications should be specially recommended. The cost and difficulty of transport are among the principal impediments to the development of the resources of the islands, and the tardy progress