up to him the whole of their confidence.  In this way rendered the master of their wishes, nothing is done without the advice, or rather consent, of the curate.  The subaltern governor, on receiving an order from the superior magistrate, before he takes any step, goes to the minister to obtain his sanction, and it is he in fact who tacitly gives the mandate for execution, or prevents its being carried into effect.  As the father of his flock, he arranges, or directs, the lawsuits of his parishioners; it is he who draws out their writings; goes to the capital to plead for the Indians; opposes his prayers, and sometimes his threats, to the violent acts of the provincial magistrates, and arranges every thing in the most fit and quiet manner.  In a word, it is not possible for any human institution to be more simple, and at the same time more firmly established, or from which so many advantages might be derived in favor of the state, as the one so justly admired in the spiritual ministry of these islands.  It may therefore be considered a strange fatality, when the secret and true art of governing a colony, so different from any other as is that of the Philippines, consists in the wise use of so powerful an instrument as the one just described, that the superior government, within the last few years, should have been so much deluded as to seek the destruction of a work which, on the contrary, it is, above all others, advisable to sustain.

In this, as well as many other cases, we see how difficult, or rather how absurd it is, to expect to organize a system of government, indistinctly adapted to the genius and disposition of all nations, however great the discordance prevailing in their physical and moral constitutions.  Hence it follows that, by wishing to assimilate the administrative plan of these provinces to the one adopted in the sections of America, inconveniences are unceasingly met with, evidently arising out of this erroneous principle.  Whatever may be asserted to the contrary, there is no medium.  It is necessary to insure obedience either through dread and force, or respect must be excited by means of love and confidence.  In order to be convinced that the first is not practicable, it will only be necessary to weigh well the following circumstances and reflections.

The number of the whites compared to that of the natives is so small, that it can scarcely be estimated in the proportion of 15 to 25,000.  These provinces, infinitely more populous than those of America, are entirely delivered up to the charge of provincial [Friars only check on officials.] magistrates, who carry with them to the seats of their respective governments, no other troops than the title of military commandants, and their royal commission on parchment.  Besides the friars, it sometimes happens that no other white person is to be found in an entire province, but the presiding magistrate.  It is the duty of the latter to collect in the king’s revenue; to pursue robbers;