[At the beginning of VOLUME L may be found a brief summary of events during the latter third of the eighteenth century, a record which is here continued as above. As before, we epitomize from Montero y Vidal’s Hist. de Filipinas (tomo ii, pp. 360–573; iii, pp. 6–32), using his own language wherever practicable, usually distinguished by quotation marks.]

Under Governor Aguilar the “Ordinances of good government,” as revised by Governor Raon in 1768 (for which see VOL. L, pp. 191–264), were reprinted in the year 1801. “On September 8, 1804, Don Fray Juan Antonio Zulaibar, a Dominican, and formerly a professor in the university of AlcalÁ, took possession of the archbishopric of Manila.” In November following, the governor sent despatches to the king explaining his action in appointing to certain curacies regular instead of secular priests, saying that the latter were seldom qualified for those charges. He said, in regard to this: “No one is ignorant how different are the appearance and the degree of prosperity of all the churches and settlements administered by religious from those in the villages which are in charge of Indian clerics. Of the latter, some are doubtless men of virtue and pious intentions; but in general it is notorious that, on account of their origin, lack of education, the very obscure condition in which they are reared, and the little (if any) knowledge that they possess, they do not inspire in their parishioners that respect and veneration with which the latter regard the religious—who, on account of being Spaniards, possess the art of dominating the minds of the Indians, in order to maintain them in those conditions on which depends the preservation of these your Majesty’s dominions. The religious know how to guide the Indians, without violence, to whatever ends are expedient for both religion and the State, as the results of never becoming too familiar with the natives. The Indian clerics not only follow the opposite course, but, lacking the dignity that belongs to their character as priests, they mingle familiarly with their parishioners not only in their sports, but in feasting and other things which are entirely unfitting; and not seldom they dress themselves in the same manner as do the natives, abandoning the very garb of their priestly estate.” He proceeded to say that only deplorable consequences could result from the surrender of the curacies entirely to the native priests; and that the religious of the orders must be employed therein, unless they could be supplied with properly qualified secular priests who were Spaniards. The same ideas were expressed by the municipal council of Manila, who said of the native priests: “The weak and yielding disposition which has been for so long a time noticed in these islanders does not permit in them that steadfastness which is so proper for the priestly character and the difficult office of the care of souls.”

“In June, 1805, the Frenchman FÉlix Renouard de Sainte-Croix was commissioned to examine the gold mines in Mambulao (in Camarines); and in his report he explained that various gold mines existed there, with very rich veins, but some were difficult to develop and others had been abandoned. By royal order of July 5, 1805, was decreed the total independence of the Manila custom-house, ordaining that its manager should be under the immediate orders of the [treasury] superintendent.”1 On December 20, 1806, Aguilar created a Bureau of Vaccination at Manila, of which he was president; and regulations were made for public vaccination, which had a marked effect in diminishing the ravages of the smallpox. This governor gave much attention to the construction of public works, one of the more important of these being the highway from Manila to Cavite. He caused the streets of the capital to be lighted at public expense, and paved sidewalks to be built, and made the police system more efficient; he also did much to promote domestic industries.

Aguilar endeavored, throughout his term of office, to check the incursions of the Moros. The pirates attacked even the coasts of LuzÓn in 1793, and an expedition sent out against them in December of that year accomplished almost nothing, being too late and ineffective. In the following year the governor called a council of the leading military officers and other persons experienced in Moro wars and the affairs of the southern islands, where it was shown that the Moros made captive some 500 persons a year, whom they rendered slaves—excepting the old, who “were sold to the inhabitants of Sandakan, who sacrificed these captives to the shades of their deceased relatives or of prominent personages,2 preserving the skull of the victim as a proof that they had complied with so barbarous a usage.” It was shown at this council that during the time from the establishment of the vintas in 1778 until the end of 1793 the colony had spent the sum of 1,519,209 pesos fuertes for vessels, expeditions, wages, etc., in the warfare with the Moros, to say nothing of the losses and destruction caused by the pirate raids. The council resolved to abolish the present equipment of vintas and pancos, replacing these by lanchas carrying cannon, in six divisions of six lanchas and one panco each, with extra pay and honors to the crews; and to repair and strengthen all the forts on the coasts liable to attack. Aguilar attempted to open negotiations for peace with the Moro sultans; but these had no effect, the piracies still continuing. In the summer of 1794, a Portuguese trader of Manila who had carried goods to JolÓ was treacherously attacked on his return, when near Iloilo, by the same Moros with whom he had traded at JolÓ; but he defended his vessel bravely, and one of the leading dattos of JolÓ was killed in the fray. In August, 1795, two vessels of the Spanish royal navy arrived at Manila, with tidings that the English, again at war with Spain, were planning to occupy the Filipinas Islands; this compelled Aguilar to desist from further proceedings against the Moros, for the time. It was hoped that Álava and his powerful squadron (who remained at Manila during 1797–1802) might chastise the Moros, but nothing was accomplished in this direction—either through fear of another English invasion, or because of the disagreements between Aguilar and Álava.3 On January 21, 1798, two English ships attacked the Spanish post at Zamboanga, but were bravely repulsed with much damage to the invaders. In that year a strong force of Moros attacked the village of Baler and others inland from the eastern coast of LuzÓn [where now is the province of Principe], constituting the oldtime missions of Ituy; they devastated these towns, and seized four hundred and fifty captives, among them three parish curas, one of whom was sold by them for 2,500 pesos. These pirates were established in BurÍas Island for four years, from which center they harried the neighboring coasts. In 1799, the authorities decided that it was more expedient that the warfare with the Moros be carried on by the provincial authorities, with the direction and aid of the central government; and instructions to this effect were sent to all the alcaldes-mayor. In 1800 Aguilar established friendly and commercial relations with Bandajar, sultan of Borneo; and on November 4, 1805, his governor at Zamboanga, Francisco Bayot, made a treaty of peace with Mahamad Ali Mudin, sultan of JolÓ, in which the latter agreed to forbid any foreigners to reside in his dominions without the consent of the Spanish government, and in case of war to close his ports to enemies of Spain. In 1804–05 English cruisers were frequently seen off the coasts of Filipinas, and they even attempted to capture several villages on the Mindanao coast, but were repulsed.

On Aguilar’s death (August 8, 1806), the rule of the islands was assumed by the king’s lieutenant at Manila, Mariano FernÁndez de Folgueras; and his first measures were for the defense of Manila, as there were rumors of another attack by the English. In the summer of 1807, there arose a rebellion in the mountains of Ilocos Norte, begun by certain Spanish deserters from Vigan in conjunction with some vagabond Indians; afterward it spread to many of the Ilocans, who resented the government monopoly of wine and prohibition of native manufacture of basi (a liquor produced by the fermentation of the juice of sugar cane). This revolt was put down without much difficulty, and the leaders were hanged at Manila; much was accomplished by the Augustinian fathers of Ilocos in restoring peace. In February, 1809, the news arrived at Manila of the French invasion of Spain, and the captivity of Fernando VII; the Manila authorities promptly declared their loyalty to that monarch. Somewhat later a French schooner of war was captured off the coast of Batangas, and the French authorities at Isle de France endeavored to persuade those at Manila that England, not France, was the enemy of Spain, and that the people of Filipinas ought to support the French interests. Folgueras answered, refusing to accept any such propositions, and would do no more than to return the French prisoners from the captured vessel.

On March 4, 1810, the new proprietary governor Manuel GonzÁlez Aguilar, assumed his office. On February 14 preceding, a decree had been issued by the Spanish government granting to all the colonies in America and to Filipinas representation in the Spanish Cortes by deputies chosen by the various capital cities. The sessions of this Cortes began on September 24, 1810, and Filipinas was represented therein by acting deputies; afterward, one was duly chosen (Ventura de los Reyes) by the municipality of Manila, according to the forms required.4 “In the jurisdiction of each village in the Philippine archipelago, there are extensive communal lands, in which the natives can keep, almost without cost and easily guarded, their herds of cattle and horses. In regard to these lands (which in that country are called estancias [“ranches”]), the new governor framed a useful ordinance, which remained in force, with good results, during a long period. (It has now fallen into disuse, and many of the communal lands have become the property, illegally acquired, of private persons.) Important service was rendered [to the country] by these ranches, on account of the increase of live-stock and its great cheapness; and a positive source of wealth for the provinces was initiated with the exportation of their cattle.” In the sessions of Cortes in 1811, a decree was issued (January 26) that trade in quicksilver should be free in all the Spanish dominions of Indias and Filipinas. In the summer of 1811, a new rebellion broke out among the natives of Ilocos Norte, some of whose chiefs attempted to found a new religion, in behalf of a deity whom they called Lungao;5 they endeavored to persuade the heathen mountain-dwellers of Cagayan to join them, but the insurrection was quelled promptly by the Spaniards, and the ringleaders put to death. It was in GonzÁlez Aguilar’s time that the Indians were allowed to render the services required from them for public works on those in their neighborhood. In order to relieve the public anxiety and impatience caused by the dearth of news from the mother-country, the authorities of the colony undertook to publish a sort of gazette containing such information as was available from Europe—mostly received through English publications that came from Bengal. Accordingly, “the first newspaper in Filipinas made its appearance on August 8, 1811,”6 the second number appearing three days later; it was published during the rest of 1811 and part of 1812, and must have ceased for lack of material.7 “On account of the war which EspaÑa was sustaining against the French invaders, the religious corporations agreed to contribute with their donations toward the expenses of so great an undertaking; the Order of Dominicans gave with that object, in August, 1812, the sum of 36,000 pesos. On March 19 the Constitution of 1812 was promulgated at CÁdiz, and orders were issued that allegiance to it should be sworn in all the towns of the monarchy. The deputies signed it on the eighteenth, and among the signatures appears that of Don Ventura de los Reyes.” The Constitution was solemnly proclaimed in Manila on April 17, 1813, and the oath of allegiance was taken on the following day. A decree in Cortes (July 3, 1813) extended to the veteran troops of the over-seas colonies the same scale of rewards as had been recently granted to the soldiers of the Peninsula. In that same year a special effort was made by the Spanish government to add to its revenues by pushing in the colonies the sale of bulls of the Crusade.8

A new governor arrived at Manila assuming command on September 4, 1813; this was JosÉ de Gardoqui Jaraveitia, who also had appointment as chief of the naval station. This exasperated the treasury officials, for thus the entire naval force was under one head, that sent against the pirates [which Aguilar had stubbornly kept separate from the naval bureau—see “Events in Filipinas,” VOL. L, pp. 23–74] being now taken from their control, with all its opportunities for their personal profit; and they opposed Gardoqui in whatever he proposed or undertook.9 On February 1, 1814, a fearful eruption occurred in the volcano MayÓn, which partially or wholly destroyed many villages in Albay and Camarines; hot stones, sand, and ashes were poured forth from the crater, and villages were thus set on fire, and their inhabitants killed. The slain numbered 12,000, besides many more seriously injured; and those who escaped lost all their possessions. The most fertile and beautiful districts of Camarines were converted into a desert of sand.

“The introduction into Filipinas of the political reforms established at the metropolis [of Madrid] were the occasion, in certain localities of the archipelago, of lamentable disturbances of public order. The Indians understood that the proclamation of the political creed of 1812, solemnly made known to the country, signified exemption from tributes and public services; and this absurd belief spread to such an extent that the governor of the islands found himself obliged to publish an edict on February 8, 1814, explaining the extent of the benefits conferred [by the Constitution], and the necessity which exists in every nation for paying contributions for supporting the expenses of the State. These explanations did not satisfy the Indians, and uprisings occurred in various places, principally in Ilocos Norte; the people claimed that they ought to be relieved, as were the notables, from polos and services, or the obligation of laboring on public works, as bridges, highways, churches, convents, school-houses, etc.,—an exaction which, according to them, did not go with the equality which was established among all by the Constitution; and it cost the alcalde-mayor of the province his utmost efforts to restrain the Ilocanos from violence.” Still worse were the effects of the renewal of absolutism in Spain, on the return of Fernando VII from his captivity in France; for on May 4, 1814, he issued a decree abolishing the Cortes, and nullifying its acts, and immediately began a course of persecution and condemnation, even to death, of all the prominent Liberals in the country. He also reËstablished in Spain the Inquisition10 (which had been abolished by the Cortes on February 22, 1813), and the Society of Jesus. When the royal decrees were received in Filipinas, the Indians believed that they were false, and concocted in Manila; one thousand five hundred Ilocanos seized their arms, and began plundering, killing, and destroying throughout the province. This was mainly, however, a rebellion of the common people (Tagal, cailianes) against the ruling class, the principalÍa or notables; and the latter finally took arms against the rebels, aiding the Spaniards to suppress the insurrection. On July 20, 1814, a treaty of peace was made between Spain and France. “Gardoqui, by an edict of December 1, 1814, prohibited the introduction of opium into Filipinas, imposing on those who should violate this law six years of confinement in a presidio and the confiscation of the opium; and to those who were found smoking the drug a fortnight’s imprisonment for the first offense, thirty days for the second, and four years in presidio for the third. A term of eight days was allowed in order that persons who might possess unsold stocks of the said drug could deposit them in the custom-house for reshipment to China. In the said year of 1814, there was built in the environs of the town of Laoag (Ilocos Norte) a leper hospital, at the expense of the charitable parish priest there, Fray Vicente Febras, an Augustinian; and this act is worthy of note, since this was the first establishment of the kind in the provinces of the Archipelago.” A royal decree of August 22, 1815, reËstablished the Jesuit order in the Indias and Filipinas; and another, dated December 11, commanded the seizure in the colonies of various political books and pamphlets, with penalties for their use in schools. After the death of Governor Aguilar, the Moro pirates were comparatively quiet for a time, but in 1813 they renewed their attacks on the Spanish territories, and during several years they harassed the latter, taking many captives, and even seizing several vessels, both Spanish and English, on the seas. Governor Raffles, of Java, after the restoration of that island by England to Holland, proposed to Gardoqui that they coÖperate in occupying JolÓ and Mindanao; but the Spaniard declined this, protesting against any operations by the English in Spanish territory. “Gardoqui, during his term of office, caused the fortifications of Cavite to be repaired, making them very strong; he issued orders regulating weights and measures; he created the general administration for the revenues from wine; and he occupied himself greatly with the improvement and development of the tobacco plantations. The bandits, smugglers, and gamblers had been increasing at an alarming rate; and, in order that they might be promptly punished the governor appointed a military commission, headed by a lieutenant-colonel. Thanks to their energetic proceedings, the desired object was attained.” Gardoqui’s last days were embittered, and his end hastened, by the treacherous act of one of his secretaries, who, by substituting a false report for the one which Gardoqui had dictated in favor of retaining the naval bureau, procured the governor’s unwitting signature to the former and thus made him appear to report adversely to the bureau; as a result, the bureau was suppressed by a royal decree of March 23, 1815. His disappointment and wounded honor so grieved him that his death soon resulted (December 9, 1816).

The command ad interim was again assumed by Folgueras, who held it during nearly six years. On December 17, 1819, he reËstablished the “Royal Economic Society of Filipinas,” as a result of royal orders to that effect issued in 1811 and 1813; and five days later its first session was held, the governor presiding, only two members of the original society being still alive.11 A month later, it met again, with sixty new members, and Manuel BernÁldez was chosen director of the association; and its new ordinances were approved by the governor on July 24 following. Folgueras, learning that certain immunities and advantages had been granted to Cuba and Puerto Rico for the encouragement of agriculture, requested from the home government similar help for Filipinas; the crown decreed an investigation of the subject, but the fulfilment of this was delayed from time to time, so that not until 1848 was even a definite statement and proposal for action in this direction made.12 (This was done by Rafael DÍaz Arenas, one of the four members of the Economic Society—to which the investigation had been referred—who had been appointed to prepare the data for a report to the crown; “but we do not know whether the Society accepted his proposal, or whether it reached any definite conclusion on the subject.”) In October of the year 1820, Manila was ravaged by a terrible epidemic of smallpox, which was especially fatal in the villages along the Pasig River; the corregidor of Tondo therefore issued an edict prohibiting the use of the river water. A public relief committee was organized to give the sick medical treatment and to furnish food to the poor; and the friars and the private citizens vied with the authorities in ministering to the victims of the pest. The medical men belonging to the ships anchored in the bay came to the city, and did all in their power to aid these benevolent efforts; but all these things only confirmed in the ignorant natives the fatal idea, already spread among them, that the disease was caused by the foreigners having poisoned the waters and used to this end the specimens of insects and other creatures which they had collected for scientific purposes. A crowd of armed Indians therefore gathered in the square of Binondo on October 9, attacked the houses of the foreigners, and murdered twenty-seven persons—among whom was not one Spaniard; nor did they, in plundering the houses, rob any Spaniard. The governor sent out some troops, but they accomplished nothing in checking the riot, which ended only at nightfall; and he did nothing to prevent further crimes of this sort, so that the mob renewed their acts of violence the next day,13 plundering and killing many Chinese of the suburbs. This aroused Folgueras to activity, and he sent out a large force of soldiers to pursue the assassins; but the latter at once dispersed. A council of the authorities was called, but there were discordant opinions among them, and they seem to have taken no definite action. The municipal council of Manila called upon the governor for the proper legal proceedings in regard to this scandalous and lawless uprising; and for this purpose he appointed a commission.14

In October, 1820, was created the office of general intendant of army and treasury, separate from the superior government; and it was conferred upon Colonel Luis UrrÉjola, with a salary of 5,000 pesos. In May, 1821, the Constitution of 1812 was again proclaimed in Filipinas, only to be again abrogated in 1824, as a result of Fernando VII’s triumph (with French aid) over the Liberal party in Spain. “Folgueras gave great impulse to the Economic Society of Friends of the Country; and he attempted to found in Manila a school of medicine, surgery, and pharmacy, commencing for this purpose the indispensable documentary evidence [expediente], but he did not succeed in carrying out this plan—a failure much to be regretted, because nearly all of the towns [in the islands] had neither physician nor drug-store. As a compensation, the creation of the nautical academy was an excellent idea, for its practical results are of great value.” “In 1821 appeared the second periodical which was published in the country, entitled El Noticiero Filipino;15 [i.e., “The Philippine Intelligencer”]; and in the same year were published two others, El Ramillete PatriÓtico [“The Patriotic Bouquet”] and La FilantropÍa [“Philanthropy”]. The life of all was of short duration.”

Folgueras was replaced by a proprietary governor, Juan Antonio Martinez, who began to exercise that office on October 30, 1822. He brought with him many military officers from the Peninsula, “a measure counseled by Folgueras, in view of the deficiency of officers in the regiments of Filipinas, and the little confidence which they inspired; and this was the cause or pretext which he advanced to the court to exculpate himself for not having adopted more energetic measures when the melancholy assassinations were committed by the Indians among the foreigners in 1820. The body of officers in the army of Filipinas was almost entirely composed of American Spaniards. These were greatly displeased at the increase of Peninsular officers, partly because they supposed that thus their own promotions would be stopped, and partly on account of race antagonisms.” They talked so much against the newcomers that the governor became distrustful, and finally discovered that the American officers were plotting and conspiring against authority; he consequently arrested the persons suspected of this intrigue, and sent them to Spain (February 18, 1823)—among them being Luis RodrÍguez Varela, styled El Conde Filipino [“The Filipino Count”];16 and the factor of the Company of Filipinas, JosÉ Ortega. Nevertheless, the plots continued, and the authorities sent him who appeared to be the leader in these, Captain AndrÉs Novales, to fight the pirates in northern Mindanao; he embarked (June 1, 1823), but was driven back by a storm, and immediately he and his accomplices determined to “declare themselves openly against the authority of EspaÑa,” and set up a government of their own. The insurgents (some eight hundred in number) seized the cabildo house, and incarcerated therein the leading military chiefs and some magistrates; then they murdered Folgueras, and took from his pockets the keys of the city; and they fortified themselves in the royal palace, and attempted to seize the artillery quarters. Here they were resisted bravely by a few loyal officers and men, and word was conveyed to the governor, who collected the troops available and sent these against the palace. The insurgents there were soon overcome, and many abandoned their posts and fled; Novales was made a prisoner, taken before a court-martial—to whom he declared that he had no accomplices, and was alone guilty of seducing the troops—and with the sergeant Mateo (who had commanded the insurgent force in the palace) was shot that afternoon, as also was Lieutenant Ruiz, who had assassinated Folgueras. Amnesty was extended to all the remaining prisoners, except six officers, who were shot soon afterward. On October 26, 1824, great damage was done in Manila by a severe earthquake, which destroyed the barracks, several churches, and many houses; and this was followed (November 1) by a fearful hurricane, which ruined many buildings and wrecked a multitude of sailing vessels. In this same year the Economic Society founded a monthly periodical entitled Registro Mercantil17 [“The Mercantile Register”].

The ravages of the Moro pirates continuing, and becoming each year more menacing,18 MartÍnez sent out an expedition against them (February 29, 1824), which laid waste the shores of JolÓ and southern Mindanao, and killing a considerable number of Moros, among whom were three of their fiercest and most treacherous dattos. MartÍnez advocated such operations as this, as the only means of stopping the piracies of the Moros. During the period of 1823–29, the Augustinian missionary Fray Bernardo Lago succeeded in reducing to village life and converting more than eight thousand Tinguianes and Igorrots in the province of Abra, forming the mission of Pidigan. In 1825 MartÍnez was replaced by Mariano Ricafort PalacÍn y Abarca, and departed for Spain; a few days after leaving Manila he died, and was buried in Cochinchina.

Ricafort assumed office on October 14, 1825, and by royal orders also took possession of the intendancy of exchequer, although UrrÉjola was continued in its charge; but in the following January Ricafort concluded that “this dual command was impossible,” and restricted the intendant to certain routine functions, at the same time asking the approval of the home government for this proceeding. He had brought with him a portrait of Fernando VII, presented by the king to his colony of Filipinas; the municipal council of Manila decided to pay this portrait the same honors as if the king himself had visited the islands, and during the week of December 19–25 festivities of every kind were conducted, with the utmost display and magnificence. (Five years later, orders from the Spanish government were received at Manila, censuring the extravagant expenditures on that occasion, said, to amount to some 16,000 pesos, as an unwarranted and blamable use of municipal funds, and regulating, for the future, expenditures of this sort.) A royal decree of June 8, 1826, ordained that the secularization of parish curacies should cease, and that those ministries should be restored to the religious orders, which was accordingly done. On September 15 of that year Fray HilariÓn Diez, an Augustinian, took possession of the archbishopric of Manila, replacing Zulaibar, who had died on March 4, 1824. In June a circular letter was sent by Ricafort to the provincial governors, reminding them of the law (art. 26 of the “Ordinances of good government”) which forbade them to hinder in any way the trade in the products of the provinces, whether by Spaniards, natives, or mestizos, and whether in kind or with money, ordering them to permit trade freely everywhere, without any delays or exactions against those doing business. In 1827 Ricafort sent an expedition against JolÓ, which was kept off by the valor of the Joloans; but the Spaniards burned and ravaged the settlements on the shores of Illana Bay, doing the Moros much damage. In that same year the Spanish government reËstablished the naval bureau at Manila, independent of the captain-general, and Pascual Enrile was appointed as its chief; he proceeded to reorganize all branches of the service, including that intended to serve against the pirates, whom he was able to restrain to a great extent; and he constructed several cruisers and other vessels, one of which remained in active service for forty years. He established the jurisdiction of the bureau throughout the archipelago, creating port-captains for Iloilo, Capiz, CebÚ, and PangasinÁn. Ever since the insurrection of 1744 in Bohol, caused by the imprudence of the Jesuit Morales, the insurgents had (under their chief Dagohoy) maintained hostilities, not only against the Spaniards, but even harassing their own countrymen who occupied the coastal villages of that island. The Recollects, in charge of the missions of Bohol after the expulsion of the Jesuits, tried to persuade the rebels to submit to Spanish authority, and secured from Governor Raon a general amnesty for them; but it resulted only in their defying further the authority of the government, which was long unable to take any measures for subduing them. Finally, in 1827, the danger to the loyal villages of Bohol was so menacing that the authorities were compelled to protect them and reduce the insurgents; and to this end Ricafort sent powerful expeditions (May, 1827, and April, 1828), which after strenuous efforts compelled the rebels to submit.19 That governor accomplished much during his term of office for the promotion of agriculture. He ordained (1825 and 1826) that the native gobernadorcillos should furnish to agriculturists the idle and unoccupied Indians within their jurisdictions, to work on the estates, these laborers being paid their daily wages; and on October 30, 1827, that all complaints in civil cases relating to farm laborers should be settled by the magistrates as promptly and simply as possible, “observing the contracts and usages of the Indians, when these are not unjust,” and that no Indian laborer should be imprisoned for a purely civil debt (save those to the royal exchequer), nor should his animals, tools, lands, or house be seized therefor. The Spanish minister of the exchequer, Luis LÓpez Ballesteros, also took a paternal interest in the islands, and secured royal decrees for the benefit of their industries. One of these (dated April 6, 1828) encouraged the importation into Filipinas of all machinery suitable for spinning and weaving cotton, offered public aid to private enterprises for improvement in weaving and dyeing, and promised protection and encouragement to all projects for promoting native manufactures of cloth; and made the exportation of raw cotton from the islands free, in order to promote the cultivation of that plant. Another decree (of the same date) permitted the free importation of all kinds of agricultural machinery and implements into Filipinas; and authorized premiums and rewards from the public funds to Filipino farmers who should first make large plantations of coffee, cacao, cinnamon, and cloves, as also to those who should make most progress in the plantations of Chinese cinnamon [canelÓn], tea, and mulberry-trees, and in raising silk, etc. Those who kept in cultivation a certain area of land, and day-laborers who continued to work for a certain number of years, were exempted from paying tributes; and the native farmers were allowed to keep cockpits in operation daily and without tax, on the estates which they cultivated. “In spite of so many privileges, not many of them were inclined to the cultivation of their fields.” Another royal order (April 6, 1828) made important regulations regarding the Chinese residing in the islands; they were to be gathered into villages, as were the Indians; their heads of barangay were to collect the tributes, as in the Indian villages, being allowed three per cent of the collections for their trouble; they were classified into three groups—those who were engaged in foreign or wholesale trade, those in domestic or retail trade, and artisans of all classes—who were obliged to pay a monthly tax of ten, four, and two pesos respectively; those who had settled in the islands, but were not married, must return to China within six months; and any Chinaman who failed to pay his tax for three months was to be sent to compulsory labor on some estate, at a specified wage, from which should be deducted two pesos a month until his tax dues should be paid.20 Still another royal order of the same date gave free permission to any person of sufficient means to cultivate the opium poppy in Filipinas and export its product therefrom; and ordered that its culture should begin on lands close to Manila. Another decree ordained the establishment of a mint at Manila; but this desirable measure was not carried out until many years afterward, and the islands meanwhile had to suffer from the wretched clipped and debased currency which had so long prevailed there. On October 13, 1828, Ricafort published an edict that all money which came to the islands coined by the revolted Spanish colonies of America should be recoined at Manila, taxing it one per cent for this recoinage. On November 9 following, a long but not destructive earthquake occurred. In that same year a conspiracy was set on foot by some civil officials; it was discovered, and its promoters sent to Spain. As a result, the authorities created a public vigilance commission, and demanded more troops from Spain; a regiment was accordingly sent to Manila in 1830. By royal decree of October 27, 1829, it was provided that the post of superintendent of the exchequer should be filled by the intendant of the army and treasury; accordingly this charge was assumed (September 9, 1830) by Francisco Enriquez, who for two years had been intendant succeeding UrrÉjola. In January, 1829, an officer named Guillermo Galvey (whose duty it was to follow up smugglers in PangasinÁn and Ilocos) conducted an expedition into the district of Benguet; an interesting account of this is found in the diary left by him. By royal decree of April 5, 1820 Spanish vessels were permitted to enter British ports just as British vessels were admitted to Spanish ports. Ricafort, having finished his government of Filipinas, sailed for Spain at the end of 1830. He was a governor of good judgment and much energy, and did much to improve the condition of Manila and of the country. He issued edicts imposing penalties on those who should sing obscene songs, and on blasphemers, gamblers, beggars, and parents who brought up their children in evil ways; and he “made provision for a general domiciliary visitation of Manila and the formation of a list of its citizens, which measure resulted in many persons of bad antecedents abandoning the capital. He also decreed standards for weights and measures, which unfortunately soon fell into disuse; and he created a military commission with power to execute evildoers, which fulfilled the object of its creation.”

Ricafort was succeeded (December 23, 1830) by Pascual Enrile y Alcedo, a most zealous and able governor. He personally visited the northern provinces of LuzÓn, accompanied by his relative and adjutant, JosÉ MarÍa PeÑaranda (afterward the governor of Albay), a military engineer, who afterward made journeys and surveys in a large part of the rest of that island; this resulted in carefully prepared itineraries, plans, and maps, which were utilized in the construction of highways and bridges, and the establishment of postal routes, which opened up communication between regions before destitute of such facilities, and sometimes in places heretofore deemed impassable. The navigable rivers and bayous of PangasinÁn were explored and mapped; a highway was made in Pampanga which should be safe from the overflow of Lake Canarem; and explorations were made from east to west in LuzÓn for the sake of bringing the shores of the island into communication with the fertile plains of the interior. On May 14, 1834, PeÑaranda was made corregidor or governor of the province of Albay, “which experienced a complete transformation during his just and beneficent rule. To him it owed its most important roads, bridges, and public edifices, and the promotion of its agriculture, on which account his name is venerated by the inhabitants of Albay; they perpetuated the memory of this illustrious but modest patriot by erecting, some years after his death, a monument to him in the plaza of the capital of the province.” The Economic Society of Friends of the Country contributed to the development of agriculture, in the time of Enrile, by its reports, memoirs, and material support. We read with surprise, however, that in 1833 this Society, in an opinion requested from it by the home government, opposed the establishment of a mint at Manila, and informed Enrile that such institution was at that time unnecessary. In March, 1831, Galvey made an expedition into the country of the Igorrots; and in the following December, to the district of BacÚn. A decree of May 9, 1831, established a custom-house in Zamboanga, “in order to prevent the frauds committed by foreigners in the port of JolÓ, and to facilitate and promote expeditions to that point.” A royal decree of April 24, 1832, substituted the garrote for the gallows in capital punishments. Another, dated February 16, 1833, provided for the adjustment and management of the funds belonging to the obras pÍas, which charge was entrusted later to a committee composed of the governor of the islands, some of the treasury officials, and the archbishop.21 The treasury officials, by a decree of July 3, 1833, accepted the proposal of certain persons to establish “a lottery, at their own account and risk, offering to pay to the treasury forty per cent [of the receipts?], besides twenty-five per cent of the value of the tickets which composed each drawing, after furnishing adequate security as a guarantee for the fulfilment of their promise.” The exclusive privilege of this lottery was granted to these persons for a period of five years. Enrile created the GuÍa de forasteros [“Guide for Strangers”] of Filipinas; it first appeared in 1834. Our author reproduces (t. ii, pp. 539, 540) the table of contents of this annual. Fernando VII died on September 29, 1833, and was succeeded by his daughter Isabel II, to be until her majority under the regency of her mother, Maria Cristina; this was quickly followed by the Carlist insurrection, the reactionary party being headed by the young prince Carlos, who was proclaimed king as Carlos V, and civil war ensued, which for seven years stained the soil of Spain with the blood of her own sons. By royal order of August 10, 1834, the Chinese traders were restricted to the PariÁn, and those Chinese who were allowed to reside in the provinces must devote themselves to agricultural pursuits. Enrile issued an edict on October 1, 1834, removing the special duties imposed on the Chinese champans, and placing them under the same regulations as the vessels of other foreign nations. On February 2, 1835, the official despatches arrived from Spain which decreed the restoration of the constitutional regime and the convocation of the Cortes. Enrile strengthened the naval forces sent against the pirates [la marina sutil, composed of light-draught vessels], and was able to drive them away from the coasts of Visayas. He also increased the area planted in tobacco, enforced just weights and measures, endeavored to correct the evils resulting from the debased money of the islands, and caused a light-house to be erected on Corregidor Island. Our writer commends this governor as being “one of the most intelligent and industrious who have ever ruled Filipinas.” “To him the country owes material improvements of the utmost value, of so much importance as the great highways of LuzÓn, which have facilitated the intercourse between the provinces, bringing them into postal communication, one after another, by means of the mail-routes established by him; and the administration of the colony is indebted to him for regulations and procedures that are scientific and orderly, in all the branches that have contributed to the development of the general welfare, making considerable increase in the public wealth. Agriculture, commerce, and navigation likewise experienced the beneficial results of this illustrious governor’s judicious management; and his term of office was the source of the rapid progress which has been made from that time by these most important factors of the general welfare—in great part, thanks to the impulse received from the measures, dictated by him, which conduced to the natural development of those industries.” Enrile resigned his post, and returned to Spain early in 1835.

He was succeeded ad interim (March 1, 1835) by Gabriel de Torres, at the time the commander of the army [segundo cabo] under Enrile; as a military officer, he immediately proposed plans for the improvement of the military service; but these were checked by his premature death,22 less than two months after entering on his office. In his place, the command was assumed (April 23) by the officer next him in rank, Juan CrÁmer; but he surrendered this office on September 9 following to the new segundo cabo, Pedro Antonio Salazar Castillo y Varona. The latter, on April 25, 1836, issued an edict that “the plain [sencillas] pesetas coined in the Peninsula should be accepted [in the islands] at their lawful value of four reals vellÓn instead of five, as if they were pillar coins [columnarias];23 accordingly they began to circulate, having been recently introduced into the islands.” On June 11, 1836, the superintendency of treasury affairs was assumed by UrrÉjola in place of EnrÍquez.24 On July 28, Salazar found it necessary to issue an edict for the enforcement of the laws which prohibited carrying gunpowder and firearms to the Indias, and selling them in countries hostile to Spain; this referred especially to Moroland, where evidently the pirates had been thus aided by unscrupulous traders to make their raids against the northern islands. Salazar thought that he could restrain those piracies by carrying on commerce with the Moros, and therefore made a treaty with the sultan of JolÓ, Mahamad Diamalud Quiram (September 22, 1836), which stipulated “that every three-masted ship which made port at JolÓ with Chinese passengers from Manila should pay 2,000 pesos fuertes, and smaller vessels in proportion to their size;” but “the most important cargo which went from Manila to JolÓ never exceeded 2,500 pesos. The Joloan barks which should go to Zamboanga were to pay a duty of one per cent, and those which entered at Manila two per cent; but no Joloan bark was accustomed to go to Manila.” The governor of Zamboanga also made a treaty with another Moro ruler; but it resulted only in increasing the insolence of the pirates, who paid no attention to their treaties. At the beginning of 1836, Salazar sent an expedition under Galvey to occupy the Igorrot country; but it was, despite Galvey’s remonstrances, sent in too great haste, and without adequate preparations, and too near the beginning of the rainy season; they reached that region, and built some forts, but so many of the soldiers were attacked by sickness that the expedition was forced to give up the undertaking and retire, “without any other result than the expenditure of several thousand dollars.”25 In that same year, PeÑaranda conducted with brilliant success an expedition to dislodge the pirates from Masbate Island, where they had fortified themselves. “Afterward, he established a system of signals in the provinces of the south, to watch the movements of those pirates.” On January 26, 1837, Salazar sent an urgent request to the Spanish government for the despatch of Spanish regulars to supply the parish curacies throughout the archipelago, as (for the same reasons advanced by former governors) he considered the Indian clerics unfit for that purpose. In view of the secularization of the orders that had been decreed in Spain,26 he desired that some two hundred of the friars there should be sent to Filipinas, which, added to those already in the islands, would be sufficient for the parishes. The political disturbances in Spain found some reflection in the distant colonies; and in February, 1837, there was danger of a tumult arising, “some insisting that the Constitution should be proclaimed, in order that they might utilize the change to their own advantage;” among these were several officers of high rank. Absurd reports were circulated throughout Manila: that the governor was opposed to the proclamation, and was intending to banish certain persons from the country, and that he was a Carlist, etc. Violent measures were proposed by some of the radicals, but these were resisted by some of the cooler heads; and many citizens opposed the proclamation of the Constitution, fearing that serious disturbances would result. Salazar, being informed of these things, promised that when the royal despatches arrived he would open them in the presence of all, and fulfil whatever orders he should receive from the home government. This occurred on August 26 of that year, and the royal orders decreed that no change in political affairs should be made in Filipinas until the Cortes should decide the matter; this and Salazar’s tact reconciled the contending factions. At the same time he received a decree reducing in all departments the military forces of the islands; the authorities resolved to suspend the execution of this order, and sent an envoy to remonstrate with the government on this subject—for this purpose choosing one of the officers who had been most prominent in the recent controversy, and thus removing from Manila a person whose presence there was regarded as dangerous. By royal order of February 1, 1836 (published in the islands on March 31, 1837), order was given that there should be compiled and published in Manila every year tables of the values of the moneys from the new provinces of America, in order that their value might, in their circulation in Manila, be properly adjusted to the Spanish peso; consequently, the recoinage of American money was stopped. A later edict ordered that from June 1, 1837, “the coin called cuarto should circulate at the rate of twenty to the real,27 instead of seventeen as hitherto, on account of the greater size and weight of the new coins; and to this new subdivision were adjusted the prices of the measures of tobacco established therefor, and the revenues from wine. Also the circulation of cigars [tabacos] in place of money was forbidden; the Indians had introduced this on account of the scarcity of copper coin, and because the greater part of that then current was counterfeit, on which account a multitude of disputes had arisen. The governor decided, moreover, that the Spanish peseta should be accepted at thirty-two cuartos, five [pesetas], therefore, corresponding to the peso fuerte.” A royal order of May 31, 1837, declared certain jurisdictions—Caraga, Samar, Iloilo, Antique, Capis, Albay, Camarines Sur, and Tayabas—to be those of governors, at once military and political, who should be military officers appointed by the War Department; all the rest (excepting Cavite, Zamboanga, and the Marianas, which also were filled like the foregoing) were classed as alcaldeships, and appointments thereto should be made from the attorney-general’s office [Ministerio de Gracia y Justicia]. The Constitution of 1837 was decreed and sanctioned by the Cortes on June 8 of that year; and it was ordained by that body that the provinces of Ultramar should be governed by special laws, a provision reiterated by succeeding constitutions. “From that time Filipinas lost its representation in the Cortes.”

On August 4, 1837, arrived at Manila the new governor of the islands, AndrÉs GarcÍa Camba, a knight of the Order of Santiago. He had already spent ten years in Filipinas (April, 1825, to March, 1835), and had gone to Spain as the deputy of Manila to the Cortes, an honor twice again conferred upon him. He was received with the utmost enthusiasm, although the Liberals at Manila were irritated by the action of the Cortes in depriving the islands of representation therein; but Camba himself had liberal views, as well as a generous and kindly nature, and gained the good-will of that party. This made trouble for him, however, in another direction. The civil war in Spain aroused there great partisan bitterness, which spread to the colonies; and in Filipinas was a Carlist and reactionary faction, who opposed Camba in every way. “The regular clergy, as a body, were partisans of the Pretender, and not only gave him their sympathy but aided him, as well as the Carlist publications, with their money. The court of Madrid was aware of this attitude of the friars, and had already sharply censured Salazar for his indulgence and lenity toward them. Several Carlist partisans had been banished from Spain to the Marianas, but had gone to Manila instead, and were not only unmolested there, but visited and entertained by many of the most prominent people of the city, and especially by the ecclesiastical element. Camba found that Carlist reunions were being held in the convents of San Juan de Dios and Santo Domingo, and that even the archbishop, [Fray JosÉ Segui] was an avowed adherent of the Pretender; the governor tried to conciliate the disaffected, but with little success, since the clergy, the Audiencia, and many influential persons, both citizens and officials, were jealous and hostile toward him.”28 He was obliged to compel the archbishop to deposit certain funds, belonging to the Cavite hospital, in the royal treasury, instead of the Dominican convent; also to arrest a Dominican friar for conducting treasonable correspondence with Carlists, and to send to Spain a military officer concerned therein. Notwithstanding Camba’s ability, integrity, and devotion to the interests of the islands, and his patience with his opponents, they exerted so much influence and carried on so many intrigues against him, not only in Manila but at Madrid, that they procured his recall to Spain;29 and on December 29, 1838, he surrendered the governorship to his successor, Luis LardizÁbal y Montoya. Notwithstanding the obstacles and difficulties which Camba continually encountered, he accomplished some important improvements in the administration,30 the chief of these being the reorganization of the postal service, which from 1838 was conducted under one bureau and on modern lines; he improved the means of communication between the provinces, and pushed forward the reduction of the heathen tribes. He informed the Spanish government that the attempts to make treaties and alliances with the sultans of JolÓ were of no use in bringing any permanent or substantial advantage to Spanish navigation and commerce. In 1837 was published the Flora de Filipinas of the Augustinian Fray Manuel Blanco, the first attempt to form a compendium of Philippine botany.31 A royal decree of October 24, 1838, “created in Spain a consulting committee for the administration of colonial affairs, as members of the same being appointed, among others, the ex-governors of Filipinas Ricafort and Enrile.”

A royal order of November 16, 1838, had prohibited the holding of provincial chapter-sessions in Filipinas; the Recollect procurator at Madrid remonstrated with the government against this, and the matter was referred to the governor and archbishop of Manila. LardizÁbal decided that the chapters should meet, and that the senior auditor of the Audiencia should attend those sessions, as the representative of the vice-regal patron. By a decree of August 31, the governor regulated the status of the Chinese in the islands. They were “classified as transients, those spending the winter [in the islands], and permanent residents. They were allowed to choose the occupation which best suited them, without any restriction. The resident Chinese who should be arrested [as being] without official permit [cÉdula] or passport were condemned to labor on the public works; and deportation to Zamboanga, Misamis, Paragua, and Calamianes was decreed for all those who were serving a prison term for failure to pay their capitation-tax, in both Manila and Cavite, with the object of securing by this means a larger population for those places.” On July 6, 1839, a weekly publication was begun in Manila entitled, Precios corrientes de Manila [i.e., “Prices current at Manila”],32 in the Spanish and English languages. A royal decree of October 4, 1839, provided for the introduction and circulation of books in the islands; the fiscal must designate those that merited examination, and then they must be passed upon by two censors, appointed by the governor and the archbishop respectively, whose opinion must be submitted to the fiscal; and if “there shall appear sufficient ground for prohibiting the circulation of any work, because it may contain principles, opinions, or doctrines opposed to the rights of the legitimate government or to the religion of the State, it shall be not only seized but reshipped.”33 On July 15, 1840, was opened the School of Commerce, established at the request of the Board [Junta] of Commerce. “On November 11 LardizÁbal repeated Ricafort’s edict of 1828, prohibiting foreigners from selling merchandise at retail and entering the provinces to trade.” At the end of this year important changes were made in the administration of financial affairs, all the revenues arising from government monopolies being united under one bureau; and another bureau was likewise created for the general administration of the tributes and some other branches of revenue, as those from cockpits, tithes, etc.; while in all the general offices of supervision was introduced the system of bookkeeping by double entry, which had been established in the royal accountancy of the exchequer in 1839. The governor also issued instructions for more careful and accurate accounting being made of municipal property and local imposts, in order to prevent abuses and waste of funds. LardizÁbal was soon weary of his command, although faithful to his duties while governor, and so earnestly entreated the home government to allow him to return to Spain that finally he gained this permission; and he departed on that voyage (February, 1841), only to die a few days after leaving Manila; he was buried on an islet near Java. He was succeeded by Marcelino de OrÁa Lecumberri.