Note 204 — Chapter VII

Of the remainder of the letter, Delgado says (p. 323): “In regard to all the rest that the reverend writer adds, concerning the manner in which those who live with the Indians ought to comport themselves, I have nothing more to say or to add. For it is all well written and noted, and those who come new to these islands will do very well to read it and to do as the reverend father prescribes, teaching the Indians to read and write and other knowledge, for they have great capacity for all and at the same time, civilization, which is very necessary to them; and where they fail and sin, punish them as children, and not as slaves. By so doing they will obtain from them whatever they wish.”

Mas says (pp. 130, 131) of the advice given by San Agustin “I would be very glad, and it would be very advantageous for them, if all the Spaniards would adopt this system which is both wise and unique. But quite to the contrary, many persons think that the Filipinos ought to understand them at the slightest insinuation and very readily. For any fault they become impatient and call the Filipinos brutes, and carabaos, and express themselves in the presence of the Filipinos in the most violent manner, and in the most insulting terms about the race in general, even to the point of wishing to destroy them and other barbarous and sanguinary ideas of which their heart is not capable. And they do not take note that such outbreaks of wrath only serve the purpose of confusing the Filipinos, rendering them more stupid, and rousing up hatred against them and all the Spaniards.”