the natives of the islands if the apostolic zeal of the missionaries had not seconded their exertions, and aided to consolidate the enterprise. The latter were the real conquerors; they who, without any other arms than their virtues, gained over the good will of the islanders, caused the Spanish name to be beloved, and gave the King, as it were, by miracle, two millions more of submissive and Christian subjects."

Filipinos who are not blinded by prejudice recognize the good while condemning the evil work of the friars. Doctor Pardo de Tavera, writing after the friars had left the islands, says: "History makes the friars responsible for the errors committed by the Spanish government in these Islands, but it would appear that without the aid of the religious orders it would have been impossible for Spain to have fulfilled, even to the extent she has, her promises of civilizing the Filipinos, and of helping them to advance along the lines marked out by the European nations. It is impossible not to recognize the humanitarian impulses, truly Christian and equitable, which guided the Kings and the Spanish legislators in what they did for the Philippine Islands. The friars have been made to bear the brunt of many shortcomings, but if the other officials of the Spanish government had complied with their duties even to the extent to which the friars complied with theirs, it is certain that history to-day would shift that burden of responsibility to other shoulders. The friars undoubtedly were responsible for many things, but they also should be credited with the attainment of certain results in the civilization of the Filipino people, the credit for which is now denied them."15 With this judgment we must agree.

Until the year 1598 the Bishopric of Manila was suffragan to the Archbishopric of Mexico and was included in the district of the Mexican Inquisition. But the energetic Bishop Salazar, on his own authority, established an Inquisition and proceeded to clear the Philippines of heresy.16 His activities soon attracted

15 Census of the Philippine Islands, I, p. 340.

16 "The Holy office of the Inquisition residing in Mexico of Nueva Espana

the attention of the authorities in Mexico, and a commissioner was sent out to vindicate their rights. Salazar refused to recognize the commissioner and threatened all who did so with excommunication. As the commissioner was a member of the Augustinian order the bishop found adherents among the Jesuits and for a time remained in control of the situation.

Finally the tribunal annulled all the acts of the bishop, and the king wrote that he had exceeded his jurisdiction and in the future should not interfere with the work of the commissioner. Subsequent attempts to organize an independent tribunal in the islands were unsuccessful. The power of the commissioner was carefully limited and defined." He could do little more than collect information, receive charges, search ships for prohibited books and report to Mexico and execute the orders received from there. He could interfere with the courts, but not enforce orders. He could make arrests only in special cases, such as bigamy and desertion to the Dutch or Moros, and was required to send all his prisoners to Mexico for trial and punishment. The cases of desertion by soldiers to the Moros or Dutch proved difficult. The matter was submitted to Philip III, and learned discussions ensued. But the question was purely academic. The Inquisition never had a real case to act on for the very good reason that the military authorities promptly shot all available culprits. There was another class of cases which troubled the tribunals greatly and which throws light on the conditions in the military service. It seems strange that any one should have voluntarily submitted himself to the Inquisition, but many soldiers preferred it to the hardships of the service. Deliberately uttering heretical opinions or blaspheming, they would be arrested and sent to Mexico for trial. The tribunal was then called upon to bear the expenses, and for a time it looked as if

has its commissaries, servants, and helpers in Manila and in the bishoprics of the Islands, who attend to matters touching the Holy Office. They never fail to have plenty to do there because of the entrance of so many strangers into those districts. However, the Holy tribunal does not have jurisdiction of the causes pertaining to the natives, as the latter are so recently converted." Morga's Sucesos (1609), B. & R., XVI, p. 154.

17 For the instructions to the Commissary, see B. & R., V, p. 256.

it might be required to furnish free transportation home to the entire army. It preferred to authorize the commissioner to dispose of such cases.

Lea finds during the sixteenth century only three cases of "real inquisitorial work for the purity of the faith." Diego Hernandez, who was accused of ordering his cook to cut the chickens' throats instead of strangling them, had his property sequestrated and died during the long delay occasioned by the search for evidence in his home province in Spain. There were numerous insignificant cases during the following centuries which the curious will find fully described in Lea's learned book. In 1762 the commissioner attempted unsuccessfully to exercise jurisdiction over the Moros and the English sailors on board an English ship.

The important fact to note is that the natives were never subject to the inquisitional jurisdiction; it applied only to Spaniards. As Lea says, "While this branch of the Inquisition accomplished so little for the faith, it was eminently successful in the functions of contributing to the discontent and confusion which so disastrously affected colonial administrations." It became involved in the quarrel between Governor Corcuera and the archbishop and finally lost all influence with the public through the persecution of Governor-General Salcedo. This proceeding originated in the malice of Commissioner Paternia and the ambitions of his accomplices in the audiencia. It was repudiated by the tribunal in Mexico, and Paternia, like his victim, died a prisoner while on the way to Mexico. But he had accomplished something. He "had reduced the power of the Holy office until its officials were so despised that if they had to arrest the vilest individual no one would help them."

"'18

For the purposes of government the islands were at first divided into three provinces and from time to time these were subdivided according, as nearly as possible, to the dialects spoken

18 Lea, The Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies, p. 299 et seq. The records of the Inquisition were destroyed in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of the English at the time of the capture of Manila.

by the inhabitants. Each province was under the control of a functionary known as alcalde-mayor who exercised both executive and judicial powers, under the direction of and subject to rules and regulations proclaimed by the governor-general.

Until about 1884, these alcaldes or provincial governors were allowed to engage in trade on their own account, and as they were charged with the duty of receiving tribute in kind and in fixed amounts, they were enabled to profit by the fluctuation in prices, thus filling their own pockets at the expense of the tribute payers. The king several times directed that the alcaldes should not engage in business, but in 1754 a royal cedula permitted them to go into business on condition of paying a "fine for engaging in commerce"-the treasury thus sharing in the profits. The fines to be paid for violating the law ran from forty to three hundred pesos in the different provinces. In 1840 to be alcalde in certain localities is said to have been worth fifty thousand pesos per year.

In 1886 the office of alcalde was abolished, and that of civil governor established. The governors were thereafter charged with the administration of the laws and the management of the provincial finances and the punishment of offenses against religion. At the same time the judicial system was reorganized, and the judicial powers of the alcaldes were transferred to the newly created judges of the Courts of First Instance. The governors appear, however, to have retained some of the powers of local magistrates.

Contemporaneous writers paint very somber pictures of the men who were appointed to these provincial offices during the decadent period of Spanish rule. No doubt, here, as elsewhere, there were exceptions to the rule of incompetency and corruption.

"It is a fact common enough," says the indignant Tomas de Comyn, "to see a hairdresser or a lackey converted into a governor; a sailor or a deserter transformed into a district magistrate, collector or military commander of a populous province without other counselor than his own crude understanding, or

any other guide than his own passions. Such a metamorphosis would excite laughter in a comedy or farce; but realized in the theater of human life, it must give rise to sensations of a very different nature. Who is there that does not feel horror-struck and tremble for the innocent when he sees a being of this kind transformed from the yard-arm to the seat of justice, deciding in the first instance on the honor, lives and property of a hundred thousand persons, and haughtily exacting the homage and incense of the spiritual ministers of the towns under his jurisdiction as well as the parish curates, respectable for their acquirements and benevolence and who in their own native places would possibly have rejected as a servant the very man whom in the Philippines they are compelled to court and obey as a sovereign.'

9919

The provinces were subdivided into districts called pueblos, each under a gobernadorcillo, ordinarily called capitan. This important local official was required to be a citizen, that is, either a native or a Chinese mestizo, twenty-five years old, able to speak and write Spanish and be or have been a cabeza for a certain number of years. The pueblos were subdivided into barangays, each, as in the original native system, under a sort of tribal chief called a cabeza de barangay. Each barangay was supposed to contain from one hundred to one hundred and fifty families. Originally the office of cabeza was hereditary, but in time it became elective.20 Morga says that in his time all married natives had the right to vote for gobernadorcillo, but later this official was elected by thirteen electors from those who, like himself, held the office of cabeza. The chief of a barangay paid no tribute, and after three years of service could resign and thereafter be a member of a local municipal body called la principaliaa1 and be exempt from the payment of tribute.

19 State of the Philippines, p. 194. However, compare this with the same writer's description, supra, of the idyllic conditions in the towns where the curate is the king.

20 "Formerly the cabeza exercised many functions of the government, but under the Spanish régime the office has gradually degenerated until the person who fills it enjoys little but the ill-will of his district. The function he exercised was that of a representative, or better, an agent for the government." Report of the Schurman Commission, 1900, I, p. 56.

21 The leading citizens in the Philippines are still referred to locally as principalias.