Note 22 — ANDA’S MEMORIAL, 1768

“In this, as in other points in the memorial, Anda is not the only one who points out the abuses committed by the missionaries.” (Here Le Gentil is cited; see our VOL. XXVIII, pp. 210, 218, where he speaks of the absolute power of the religious.) “The friars explained their attitude against the Spaniards by saying that those who went to the provinces served only to instruct the Indians in vices; but it is certain that, granted the sort of life led by the curas, and their absolute independence, the presence of a Spaniard in the town must have been vexatious to them. Besides, the latter could not tolerate their abuses without protesting against them; and his attitude would have served as an example and stimulus for the Indians to escape from the insupportable domination and tyranny of the fathers.

“At the end of this present century an intelligent and respectable Dominican friar says, in an official memorial, referring to the Spaniards of the provinces in Filipinas: ‘If they remain many years they live altogether like the Indians—dragging along a miserable and wretched life, a disgrace to the Spanish name in these islands—and become utterly slothful and vicious, deserving I know not whether pity or execration. For, since they come from España without education or ability to undertake even a simple commission—and it is a wonder if in their own country they ever knew how to plow or make a pair of shoes—here they are of no use whatever. And, as here all the Spaniards bear the title of Don, and are addressed as Señor, they are prone to desire to appear as such, establishing themselves with a white suit [Americana], which costs them half a peso, and giving themselves airs as gentlemen, and persons of distinction. There are very few of them who make some little fortune—a situation which, however little it can be bettered, is never to be envied—and almost all of them lead a life that is melancholy and wretched enough, having become idlers, and scandalizing the Indians of the villages wherever they go, being a disgrace to the Spanish name in these islands.’ Such is the opinion regarding the Spaniards residing in the provinces, expressed by the reverend father Fray José María Ruiz, in his Memoria prepared for the Exposition of Filipinas at Madrid in 1887, pp. 284, 285. In a decree dated August 4, 1765, the king, angered by the conduct of the friars who oppose the residence of the Spaniards in the provinces, issues strict orders that no hindrance shall be placed in the way of such residence.” (Pardo de Tavera, note 21, pp. 80–82.) ↑