[Franciscan friars.] Most of the priests in the eastern provinces of Luzon and Samar are Franciscan monks (The barefooted friars of the orthodox and strictest rule of Our Holy Father St. Francis, in the Philippine Islands, of the Holy and Apostolic Province of St. Gregory the Great), brought up in seminaries in Spain specially devoted to the colonial missions.  Formerly they were at liberty, after ten years’ residence in the Philippines, to return to their own country; but, since the abolition of the monasteries in Spain, they can do this no longer, for they are compelled in the colonies to abandon all obedience to the rule of their order, and to live as laymen.  They are aware that they must end their days in the colony, and regulate their lives accordingly.  On their first arrival they are generally sent to some priest in the province to make themselves acquainted with the language of the country; then they are installed into a small parish, and afterwards into a more lucrative one, in which they generally remain till their death.  Most of them spring from the very lowest class of Spaniards.  A number of pious trusts and foundations in Spain enable a very poor man, who cannot afford to send his son to school, to put him into a religious seminary, where, beyond the duties of his future avocation, the boy learns nothing.  If the monks were of a higher social grade, as are some of the English missionaries, they would have less inclination to mix with the common people, and would fail to exercise over them the influence they wield at present.  The early habits of the Spanish monks, and their narrow knowledge of the world, peculiarly fit them for an existence among the natives.  This mental equality, or rather, this want of mental disparity, has enabled them to acquire the influence they undoubtedly possess.

[Young men developed by responsibility.] When these young men first come from their seminaries they are narrow-brained, ignorant, frequently almost devoid of education, and full of conceit, hatred of heretics, and proselytish ardor.  These failings, however, gradually disappear; the consideration and the comfortable incomes they enjoy developing their benevolence.  The insight into mankind and the confidence in themselves which distinguish the lower classes of the Spaniards, and which are so amusingly exemplified in Sancho Panza, have plenty of occasions to display themselves in the responsible and influential positions which the priests occupy.  The padre is frequently the only white man in his village, probably the only European for miles around.  He becomes the representative not only of religion, but of the government; he is the oracle of the natives, and his decisions in everything that concerns Europe and civilization are without appeal.  His advice is asked in all important emergencies, and he has no one whom he in his turn can consult.  Such a state of things naturally develops his brain.  The same individuals who in Spain would have followed