Note 1 — INTERNAL POLITICAL CONDITION OF THE PHILIPPINES, 1842

This is Sinibaldo de Mas, a noted Spanish traveler and diplomat. He was born at Barcelona, in 1809, and studied at Madrid, especially the classic languages, Arabic and other modern languages. In 1634, he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the Orient, where he visited successively Constantinople, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Calcutta, the Arabian desert, and lastly Manila, where he lived for some months. After his return to the Peninsula, he was appointed Spanish minister plenipotentiary to China. Pardo de Tavera says of him (Biblioteca Filipina, p. 253): “The work of Mas is highly interesting, only that, having sojourned a very short time in Filipinas, during which he was sick most of the time, he wrote his work by reference to others, and taking from the chronicles of the friars the elements necessary for the history and the races. He does not cite sources, and it is cleverly written, and passes with some persons as a classic work on Filipinas …. His vanity led him to suppress his name ….” Pardo de Tavera does not seem to know the third volume. Retana [who possessed a copy of the third volume (No. 2432 in his library, which was sold to the Compañía general de tabacos de Filipinas), says in Bibliografía filipina, p. 524]: “This third and secret part has never been described. The author published very few copies of it because of the gravity of its contents. Sinibaldo de Mas contrary to what those who know his Estado [i.e., the first two volumes] may imagine, pronounced in favor of preparation of independence for Filipinas.” In this third volume Mas precedes the text as follows: “Of this secret chapter, the last of the Informe sobre el estado de las Islas Filipinas en 1842, only some few copies have been printed for the ministers, gentlemen of the Council of the Government, and other persons influential in the affairs of the nation. Consequently, your Excellency is requested to keep it for your own use, without allowing it to circulate or permitting a copy to be made of it.” The copy belonging to the Peabody Institute Library belonged to Javier de Burgos. See (in addition to Pardo de Tavera and Retana) Dic. encic. Hisp.-Amer., xii, p. 537. ↑