Note 32 — EVENTS IN FILIPINAS, 1801–1840

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.