made to their relatives by governors and magistrates were directed to be canceled. More Augustinian friars were to be sent to the islands, and they were to be followed by missionaries from the other orders. Of the expenses of the outgoing friars one-half of the passage money was to be paid by the king and one-half by the clergy out of the funds accruing from their share of the tribute. Slaves held by Spaniards were to be immediately set free, and natives thereafter born were declared free. Provision was also made for the ultimate freedom of all natives then held in bondage. The audiencia, which had been established in 1583, and which had not proved satisfactory to the ecclesiastical authorities, was abolished and a sort of advisory council provided for the governor. Apparently at the instance of Sanchez, Gomez Perez Desmariñas was sent out as governor, with authority to name his son as his successor, and the changes and reforms were included in his instructions. In the meantime Governor Ronquillo had died and the senior magistrate of the audiencia was acting as governor. Desmariñas proved to be a strong and energetic man; but as he would admit no ecclesiastical partnership in the administration of the secular government he was soon at cross purposes with Bishop Salazar. He sailed in personal command of an expedition against the Dutch in the Moluccas and was murdered by his Chinese crew, who mutinied and took possession of the fleet, thus bringing the enterprise to a disastrous end. According to one of the contemporary chroniclers, Desmariñas was "the only Governor who held office during the first quarter of the seventeenth century who was fitted for his position, and did more for the happiness of the natives in three years than all his predecessors and successors.' Bishop Salazar, after quarreling with the new governor, as he had done with his predecessor, began to long for the days when the audiencia had been there to share his troubles. Notwithstanding his extreme old age, the bishop determined to journey to far-away Spain and lay his claims and grievances before the king in person. His influence was very great and the visit re sulted in the reestablishment of the audiencia and the raising of the See of Manila to an Archbishopric. Salazar was appointed as the first Archbishop of Manila, but died before his investiture was officially authorized by the Pope, leaving in Philippine history the reputation of a sincere friend of the native people. In the year 1606 Doctor Antonio de Morga, who had been the senior magistrate of the audiencia, published an elaborate description of conditions, from which it appears that the Spaniards had by that time substantially completed their constructive work in the Philippines. The situation changed but little thereafter until near the middle of the nineteenth century. CHAPTER VI Two and One-Half Centuries of Stagnation Loss of Energy-Quarrels of Officials-Character of Governors-Financial Difficulties-Governor Corcuera and Archbishop Guerrero-Salcedo and Pobleta-Vargas and Pardo-Difficulties of Reformers-Ferdinand de Bustamente-Capture of Manila by British-Archbishop Roja and Simon de Anda -The Indemnity and the Dishonored Drafts-A Friar's Opinion of Governor Torre-Chinese Uprisings and Massacres-Moro Raids-The Obras PiasAn Enterprising Governor-The Liberal Movement in Spain-Representation in the Cortes-Discontent-Description of Conditions by Mas and Matta. There is little of general interest in the history of the Philippines during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was a long dreary period filled with the eternal quarrels of governors, audiencias and ecclesiastics, enlivened by occasional Moro raids and massacres of Chinese. The spirit seemed to have gone out of Spanish rule. The State felt that its work was done, and the people were left for the Church to educate and civilize. Isolated and its activities restricted by a narrow commercial policy, the beautiful land simply marked time while the world moved on its way. Once, for a few months, it was drawn within the influence of world forces. The unexpected appearance of a British fleet in the bay for a while galvanized the community into unwonted activity; but Manila was only a pawn in the European game and, unfortunately for the country, the conquerors sailed away, leaving it to take up anew its droning life. It would be an unprofitable task even to name all the men who, each for a few years, ruled over the colony.1 Many of them were corrupt, seeking only ways and means to repair their own broken fortunes. 1 A complete list of Spanish governors with a brief summary of the events of each administration is printed in B. & R., XVII, p. 285 et seq. "O que triste el alma mia A few very honest gentlemen tried to do their duty under evil conditions. Occasionally an energetic governor like Enrile attempted to rouse the land from its lethargy. Fortunate indeed were the ones who escaped unscathed from the mob, the Holy Inquisition, or the residencia. Those who were sufficiently tactful to avoid friction with the ecclesiastical authorities earned thereby consideration for piety. The ordinary Spanish civil official was there to accumulate a fortune, and from this he did not propose to be diverted by any religious or fanciful scruples with reference to the rights of the natives. Under such conditions more than royal mandates were necessary to secure good government in a far-away colony where public opinion did not exist, and that of the home land was ineffective. The public revenues were of course mismanaged. They seemed to dissolve on the way from the taxpayer to the treasury, and even what reached the treasury was too often misappropriated or wasted on dishonest projects. Hence, the financial condition of the colony was always deplorable. During the early years it was natural that the expenses of the government should be greater than any income which could be raised without exploiting the natives, but as time passed and the government became more settled it seemed reasonable to the authorities in Spain that the colony should become self-supporting. About thirty years after the death of Legaspi we find the Manila procurator soliciting financial aid from Spain to meet the deficits created by official misconduct. A Royal Commission, after a full investigation of the conditions in the Philippines, reported that owing to the constant disputes, ill feeling and general bad government the islands were and would continue to be unproductive and unprofitable, and recommended that they should be abandoned. But for the opportune presence of a missionary named Morga it is probable that the king would have approved 2 "Alas, how sad a soul I bear this report. Morga protested energetically against the abandonment of the work of the Church and induced the king to announce that "even though the maintenance of the colony should exhaust the Mexican treasury his conscience would not allow him to consent to the perdition of souls which had been saved and the hope of rescuing far more in the distant region." Brief reference to a few of the bitter controversies, some of them tragic and bloody, will give an idea of the difficulties and obstacles which obstructed the growth and progress of the country. Governor Corcuera, who ruled with a high hand, quarreled with Archbishop Guerrero. The friars, he declared, "were law-, less people;" he "would rather fight the Dutch in Flanders than them." After a stormy period, during which the churches were closed, the archbishop was overcome, imprisoned, fined and banished to Corregidor. But the governor's triumph was only temporary, as his successor, after inquiring into his conduct, caused him to be imprisoned for five years.* Diego de Salcedo, who was governor from 1663 to 1668, carried on a constant quarrel with Archbishop Pobleta, who by the ill-advised courtesy of the preceding governor had been conceded the privilege of vetoing all his official acts. Archbishop Pobleta refused to obey certain decrees of Governor Salcedo and was finally banished to Marivales. Ultimately the archbishop was compelled to pay a heavy fine, and when he died the governor prohibited the de profundis mass on the ground that its observance would interfere with the feasts by which he proposed to celebrate the archbishop's demise. But Salcedo's triumph was also temporary. He was soon in the hands of the Inquisition, 31635 to 1644. Corcuera was an energetic governor who reorganized all the departments of the government and quarreled indiscriminately with friars, bishops and civilians. His reports to the king are interesting. See Rept. for 1636, B. & R., XXVI, p. 60 et seq. For his account of the trouble with the ecclesiastical authorities, B. & R., XXVI, p. 60. * Lea, The Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies, p. 309. After Corcuero was out of office the Augustinians prosecuted him for removing one of their buildings while constructing the defensive city walls. They secured a judgment against him for $2,500, which he was unable to pay-a very good evidence of his honesty while in office. On his liberation Philip IV appointed him governor of the Canary Islands. |