A Visit to the Philippine Islands

Internal trade suffers much from the many impediments to communication and the various shiftings to which merchandise is exposed. It is said that in the transit from the north of Luzon to the capital there are as many as a hundred floating rafts upon which the goods must be carried across the different streams; at each considerable delay is experienced, as the raft (balsa) is seldom found when and where it is wanted. And during half the year inland conveyance is the only means of transport, as the monsoons make the sea voyage impossible for coasting vessels. Indeed, in the remoter islands months frequently pass without arrivals from the capital. Some of the fairs in the interior are largely attended by the Mahomedan and heathen natives, who will not visit the ports or larger towns. That of Yligan (Misamis, in Mindanao) is much visited by Moros, who bring thither for sale paddy, cocoa, coffee, gold dust, cotton fabrics, krises and weapons of war, with many other native articles, which they exchange mostly for European and Chinese wares. Panaguis, in Luzon, is another market much frequented by the Igorrote Indians. Many of the ancient river communications have been stopped by inundations, which have given a new direction to the stream, and by the invasion of snags, trees and rocks from the upper regions. There is a great deal of ambulatory petty trade in the interior; the Chinese especially are active pedlars and factors, and make their way to buy and to sell wherever there is a profit to be gained. They are to a great extent the pioneers of commerce, and in this way valuable auxiliaries and co-operators by opening new fields to be hereafter more extensively explored.

There are in Manila seven English, three American, two French, two Swiss and one German, commercial establishments. In the new ports there is no European house of business except at Iloilo, where there is an English firm, of which the British vice-consul is the directing partner.

Among the curiosities of commercial legislation is a decree of the governor of the Philippines, dated only a few years ago, by which it was ordered that no vessel should be allowed to introduce a cargo from China or the East Indies unless an engagement was entered into by the captain to bring to Manila five hundred living shrikes (mimas?), as the bird was reported to be most useful in destroying the insects which were at that time seriously damaging the harvests. I believe not a single bird was ever brought. It would have been about as easy and as reasonable to require them to import some slices of the moon, for the catching, and the caging, and the keeping, are scarcely within mortal capabilities, and 500 birds were the required minimum by every ship; nor was it the least remarkable part of the decree or requirement that they were all to be delivered gratis.

For the protection of the revenue there is an armed body called the Carabineros de Real Hacienda. It is composed of natives under European officers, and is charged with both land and sea service. They wear a military uniform and a broad hat resembling a large punch-bowl, which is, however, an admirable protection from the sun’s rays.

Great Britain has a salaried consul and vice-consul in Manila and vice-consuls in Iloilo and Sual. France has also a salaried consul in the capital. The United States, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden and Chili, are represented by members of commercial establishments, who exercise consular authority in Manila. The American consul is Mr. Charles Griswold, and few are the visitors to these islands who have not enjoyed his hospitality and benefited by his experience.

The post-office establishments are imperfect and unsatisfactory and the charges for the conveyance of letters heavy. There is a weekly postal communication from the capital with the provinces in the island of Luzon, and southwards as far as Samar and Leyte, but all the other eastern and southern islands are left to the chances which the coasting trade offers and are frequently many months without receiving any news from the capital or the mother country. A regular service, providing for the wants of these important districts, Panay especially, with its population exceeding half a million, is greatly to be desired.

There is now a fortnightly service carried on by the steamers of the Peninsular and Oriental Company between Manila and Hong Kong, generally reaching forty-eight hours before the departure, and quitting forty-eight hours after the arrival, of the steamers from Europe. It is conducted with great regularity and the letters from Spain arrive in about fifty days; but many days would be saved were there a branch steamer from Malta to Alicant. For this service an annual sum (recoverable monthly) of 120,000 dollars is paid by the Manila government to the company. The steamers are freed from all port charges except pilotage.

The government has published proposals for the establishment of a steam-packet company for the service of the islands, offering 45,000 dollars annually as a State contribution, but I believe there is no immediate prospect of the adoption of the scheme.

The Banco Español de Isabel II. is a joint-stock company, whose capital is 400,000 dollars, in 1,000 shares of 400 dollars each. It was established in the year 1855, and has generally paid to the shareholders dividends at the rate of six to eight per cent. per annum. It issues promissory notes, discounts local bills of exchange and lends money on mortgage. The general rate of interest in the Philippines fluctuates from six to nine per cent. The yearly operations of the bank exceed 2,000,000 of dollars. The value of about half-a-million of bills of exchange is usually under discount. Its ordinary circulation does not exceed 200,000 dollars in promissory notes and it has deposits and balances to the value of about 1,750,000 dollars. The bank has afforded considerable facilities to commerce, and has answered one of its principal objects, that of bringing into circulation some of the hoarded money of the natives. Most of the foreign houses are shareholders.

The decimal system of accounts and currency was introduced into the Philippines by a royal decree, and an end put to all the complications of maravedis, quartos, and reales de ocho, by the simple adoption of the dollar, divided into one hundred cents. It would be, indeed, a wretched compliment to the population of England (let me say it in passing) if, as certain opponents of improvement have averred, they would never be brought to appreciate or comprehend a change to decimal denominations which the “untutored mind” of the “wild Indian” has already begun to adopt, using his digits as the instruments of the new philosophy, and aided now and then probably by the simple abacus of the Chinese shopkeeper, with whom he has much to do.

The weights and measures used in the Philippines are —

The following return gives the exports from Manila for the year 1858: —

EXPORTS FROM MANILA FOR 1858EXPORTS FROM MANILA FOR 1858. (Continued.)

In the year 1855, Don Sinibaldo de Mas, having been charged with an official mission of inquiry into the state of these islands, published an article on the revenues of the Philippines, addressed to the finance minister of Spain.30

He begins his report by contrasting the population and commerce of Cuba with that of the Philippines; stating that Cuba, with less than a million of inhabitants, has a trade of 27,500,000 dollars, while the Philippines, which he says contained, in 1850, 4,000,000 of people in a state of subjection and 1,000,000 unsubdued, had a trade of less than 5,000,000 of dollars. He calculates the coloured population of Cuba at 500,000; the white population of the Philippines at from 7,000 to 8,000 persons. He deduces that, if the produce of the Philippines were proportioned to that of Cuba, it would be of the value of 250,000,000 dollars, and that the revenue should be 48,000,000 dollars, instead of about 9,500,000 dollars.

He avers that the soil is equal in its productive powers to any in the world; that the quality of the produce – sugar, coffee, tobacco, indigo, cocoa and cotton – is most excellent; that it possesses almost a monopoly of abacá (Manila hemp); and he goes on to consider the means of turning these natural advantages to the best account.

He altogether repudiates any extension of the existing system, or augmentation of taxation in its present forms; and states, what is most true, that to the development of agriculture, industry and commerce the Philippines must look for increased prosperity.

His three proposals are: —

1. Opening new ports to foreign trade.

2. Emancipating the production, manufacture and sale of tobacco.

3. Increasing the population of the islands.

By a royal decree, dated 31st March, 1855, three additional ports were opened to foreign trade – Zamboanga (Mindanao), Iloilo (Panay), and Sual (Luzon). The results have not responded to anticipations. One reason is obvious – custom-house officers, custom-house restrictions, custom-house vexations accompanied the seemingly liberal legislation. These are sufficient to check, if not to crush, the growth of intercourse. I doubt if in either of the new ports the custom-house receipts cover the costs of collection. The experiment should have been a free-trade experiment, but the jealousies and fears of the capital were probably influential. It ought not to have been forgotten that the new ports, charged with all the burdens which pressed upon Manila, offered none of its facilities, the creation of many generations – wharves and warehouses, accomplished merchants, capital, foreign settlers, assured consumption of imports and supply of exports; these counterbalanced the cost of conveyance of goods to or from the capital, while, on the other hand, the introduction of a custom-house has prejudiced the trade which previously existed – as, for example, the call of whalers at Zamboanga, unwilling to submit to the fiscal exactions now introduced. But if every port in the Philippines were made free from custom-houses a great impulse would be given to industry, commerce and shipping; the loss to the treasury would be inconsiderable, for the net proceeds of the customs duties is very insignificant, while other sources of revenue would be undoubtedly increased by the impulse given to the general prosperity. De Mas states that the extension of the trade of Cuba from the Havana to other ports led to an augmentation in its value from 2,000,000 to 30,000,000 dollars.

Two plans are suggested by Señor De Mas for the emancipation of the tobacco cultivation and manufacture from the existing State monopoly. One, the levying a heavy land tax on all lands devoted to the produce; the other, the imposition of a duty on exportation. He estimates that a baleta of land (1,000 brazas square) gives 1,500 plants, and 4 to 5 cwt. of tobacco, saleable at 4 to 5 dollars per quintal. The cost of manufacturing 14,000 cigars, which represent 1 cwt., 5¼ dollars, and boxes for packing, 3½ dollars. He says the value of the cigars is 6½ dollars per box (it is now considerably more), in which case the profit would be 77¼ dollars, and proposes a duty of 70 dollars per cwt., which is more than five times the cost of the article. He gives satisfactory reasons for the conclusion that cigars would be made much more economically by the peasantry than by the government, shows that the cost of the machinery of administration might be greatly diminished, asserts that the Indians employed at home would be satisfied with lower gains than the wages paid by the government, and supposes that the unoccupied houses of the natives would be dedicated to the making of cigars as a pleasant and profitable domestic employment. It may be doubted whether he estimates at its full value the resistance which the indolent habits of the Indian oppose to voluntary or spontaneous labour; but the conclusion I have reached by not exactly the same train of reasoning is the same as that arrived at by my friend whom I have been quoting, namely, that the government monopoly is less productive than free cultivation, manufacture and sale might become; that a reduction of prices would extend demand, leave larger benefits to the treasury and confer many advantages upon the people; and that the arguments (mostly of those interested in the monopoly) in favour of the existing system are not grounded on sound reasoning, nor supported by statistical facts.

The tobacco monopoly (estanco) was established in 1780 by Governor-General Basco; it was strongly opposed by the friars, and menaces of severe punishments were held over those who sought to escape the obligations imposed. But to the present hour there are said to be large plantations of tobacco which escape the vigilance of government, and cigars are purchaseable in many of the islands at one-fourth of the government price. The personal establishment for the protection of the tobacco monopoly consists of nearly a thousand officials and more than thirty revenue boats. It is, notwithstanding, cultivated largely in provinces where the cultivation is prohibited by law; and I find in a report from the Alcalde of Misamis (Mindanao) the following phrase: “The idea of interfering with the growth of tobacco for the benefit of the treasury must be abandoned, as the territory where it is produced is not subject to Spanish authority.”

Attempts were made a few years ago to encourage the planting of tobacco in the province of Iloilo, by a company which made advances to the Indians; but the enterprise, discouraged by the government, failed, and I found, when I visited the locality, the warehouses abandoned and the company dissolved. There have been many expeditions for the destruction and confiscation of illicit tobacco; and on more than one occasion insurrections, tumults, serious loss of life and very doubtful results have followed these interferences. The statistical returns show that the consumption of the State tobacco varies considerably in the different provinces, being influenced by the greater or less difficulty of obtaining the contraband article.

There have been divers projects for augmenting the population of the Philippines – from China, from Switzerland, from Borneo and even from British India. The friars have never looked with complacency on any of these schemes. They all present elements which would not easily he subjected to ecclesiastical influence. The Chinese would not be willing cultivators of the soil if any other pursuit should promise greater profits, and it is quite certain that the indolent Indian will nowhere be able to compete with the industrious, persevering and economical Chinese. Many suggestions have been made for the introduction of Chinese women, with a view of attaching Chinese families to the soil; but hitherto nothing has sufficed to conquer the abhorrence with which a Chinese female contemplates the abandonment of her country, nor the general resistance to such abandonment on the part of the Chinese clans. Chinese female children have been frequently kidnapped for conveyance to the Philippines, and some horrible circumstances have come to the knowledge of British authorities in China, followed by the exposure and punishment of British subjects concerned in these cruel and barbarous deeds. An establishment of a sisterhood in China, called that of the Sainte Enfance, has been looked to as a means of christianizing female children, and conveying them to the Philippines; they have collected or purchased many orphans, but small success has attended these well-meant, but not well-directed labours. In 1855, it was stated in an official document (De Mas, p. 26) that in 1858, an annual entry of 2,500 children might be expected. The calculation has been a total mistake; the establishments in China are in a state of embarrassment and difficulty, and I am not aware that a single Chinese female has been supplied for the suggested purpose. Any number of orphans or abandoned children might be bought in the great cities of China, especially from the orphan asylums; but an increased demand would only encourage their abandonment by their mothers. These foundling hospitals are of very doubtful utility, and produce, probably, more misery than they cure.

The greatest impediment to the progress of the Philippines, and the development of their immense resources, is attributable to the miserable traditional policy of the mother country, whose jealousies tie the hands of the governors they appoint to rule; so that the knowledge and experience which are acquired in the locality are wholly subjected to the ignorance and shortsightedness of the distant, but supreme authority. Would the Spaniard but recognize the wisdom of one of their many instructive proverbs —Mas sabe el loco en su casa que cuerdo en la agena (the fool knows more about his own home than the wise man of the home of another) – more confidence might be reposed in those who are thoroughly cognizant of local circumstances and local wants. As it is, everything has to be referred to Madrid. A long delay is inevitable – an erroneous decision probable; circumstances are constantly changing, and what would have been judicious to-day may be wholly unadvisable to-morrow. Then there is the greatest unwillingness to surrender even the shadow of authority, or any of those sources of patronage which a government so enervate and corrupt as that of Spain clings to as its props and protection. Again, the uncertainty of tenure of office, which attaches to all the superior offices held under the Spanish Government, is alike calculated to demoralize and discourage. Before a governor has surveyed his territory and marked out to himself a course of action, he may be superseded under one of those multitudinous changes which grow out of the caprices of the court or the clamour of the people. It was a melancholy employment of mine to look round the collection of the various portraits of the captains-general which adorned my apartment, bearing the dates of their appointment and their supersession. Some of them only occupied their office for a few months, and were as carelessly and recklessly dismissed as a worthless weed is flung away. And there seemed no expectation of any change in this respect, for there were many blank frames made to receive the vera effigies of future excellencies. Our colonial system is wiser, as we appoint governors for six years, and, except under special circumstances, they are not dispossessed of their government. Whether there may be any moral deterioration connected with the possession of power, sufficient to counterbalance all the benefits which are furnished by long experience and local knowledge, may be a question for philosophy and statesmanship.

But other causes of backwardness are traceable to those very elements of wealth and prosperity, to which these islands must look for their future progress. A soil so feracious, a sun so bright, rains so bountiful, require so little co-operation from the aid of man that he becomes careless, indolent, unconcerned for the morrow. He has but to stretch out his hand, and food drops into it. The fibre of the aloe, which the female weaves with the simplest of looms, gives her garments; the uprights and the floors and the substantial parts of his dwelling are made of the bamboo, which he finds in superfluous abundance; while the nipa palm provides roofs and sides to his hut. Wants he has few and he cares little for luxuries. His enjoyments are in religious processions, in music and dancing, in his gallo above all. He may take possession without rent of any quantity of land which he is willing to cultivate. There is a tendency, no doubt, to improvement. Cultivation extends and good examples are not without effect.

In times of tranquillity Spain has nothing to fear for her Philippine colonies. So long as they are unmolested by foreign invaders and the government is carried on with mildness and prudence, there is little to be apprehended from any internal agitation; but I doubt the efficiency of any means of defence at the disposal of the authorities, should a day of trouble come. The Indian regular forces might for some time be depended on; but whether this could be anticipated of the militia or any of the urban auxiliaries is uncertain. The number of Spaniards is small – in most of the islands quite insignificant; indolence and indifference characterize the indigenous races; and if, on the one hand, they took no part in favour of intrusive strangers, on the other, they could not be looked to for any patriotic or energetic exertions on behalf of their Spanish rulers. They have, indeed, no traditions of former independence – no descendants of famous ancient chiefs or princes, to whom they look with affection, hope or reverence. There are no fragments left of hierarchies overthrown. No Montezumas, no Colocolos, are named in their songs, or perpetuated in their memories. There are no ruins of great cities or temples; in a word, no records of the remote past. There is a certain amount of dissatisfaction among the Indians, but it is more strongly felt against the native gobernadorcillos – the heads of barangay – the privileged members of the local principalia – when exercising their “petty tyrannies,” than against the higher authorities, who are beyond the hearing of their complaints. “The governor-general is in Manila (far away); the king is in Spain (farther still); and God is in heaven (farthest of all).” It is a natural complaint that the tribute or capitation tax presses equally on all classes of Indians, rich or poor. The heads of barangay, who are charged with its collection, not unfrequently dissipate the money in gambling. One abuse has, however, been reformed – the tribute in many provinces was formerly collected in produce, and great were the consequent exactions practised upon the natives, from which the treasury obtained no profit, but the petty functionaries much. I believe the tax is now almost universally levied in money. All Spaniards, all foreigners (excepting Chinese), and their descendants are exempted from tribute. One of the most intelligent of the merchants of Manila (Don Juan Bautista Marcaida) has had the kindness to furnish me with sundry memoranda on the subject of the capabilities of the Philippine Islands, and the means of developing them. To his observations, the result of careful observation, much experience and extensive reading, I attach great value. They are imbued with some of the national prejudices of a Spanish Catholic, in whose mind the constitution of the Romish Church is associated with every form of authority, and who is unwilling to see in that very constitution, and its necessary agencies, invincible impediments to the fullest progress of intellect – to the widest extension of agricultural, manufacturing and commercial prosperity – in a word, to that great agitation of the popular mind, to which Protestant nations owe their religious reforms, and their undoubted superiority in the vast field of speculation and adventure.

He says: – “The social organization of the Philippines is the most paternal and civilizing of any known in the world; having for its basis the doctrines of the Gospel, and the kind and fatherly spirit of the Laws of the Indies.” It may be admitted, in reference to the legislation of the colonies of many nations, that the Spanish code is comparatively humane and that the influence of the Romish clergy has been frequently and successfully excited for the protection and benefit of conquered natives, and of imported slaves; but M. Marcaida goes on to acknowledge and point out “the torpid and unimproving character of the existing system,” and to demand important changes for the advancement of the public weal.

“The government moves slowly, from its complicated organization, and from the want of adequate powers to give effect to those reforms which are suggested by local knowledge, but which are overruled by the unteachable ignorance, or selfish interests, or political intrigues of the mother country.”

As regards the clergy, he thinks the administration generally good, but that the progress of time and altered circumstances necessitate many important changes in the distribution of the ecclesiastical authority, a new arrangement of the pueblos, a better education of the church functionaries, a great augmentation of the number of parochial priests (many of whom have now cures varying from 3,000 to 60,000 souls). He would have the parish clergyman both the religious and secular instructor of his community, and for this purpose requires that he should be becomingly and highly educated – a consummation for which the government would have some difficulty in providing the machinery, and for which assuredly the Church would not lend its co-operation.