[51] Morga, p. 319.

[52] Relation d’un Religieux, Thevenot, volume ii, (p. 7 of the Relation).

[53] On the powers of the Governor, see Morga, pp. 344-345.

[54] Throughout this Introduction the Spanish “peso” is rendered by “dollar.”  The reader will bear in mind the varying purchasing power of the dollar.  To arrive at an approximate equivalent ten may be used as a multiplier for the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and five for the middle of the eighteenth century.

[55] It may be remembered that the official conscience in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was not so sensitive in regard to “tips” as it is expected to be today.  Le Gentil writes:  “Les Gouverneurs de Manille corrompent journellement leurs graces, et les Manillois ne les abordent guere pour leur en demander, sans se precautioner auparavant du rameau d’or; seul et unique moyen de se les rendre favorables.  Un soir etant alle voir le Gouverneur, in 1767, a peine m’eut-il demande des nouvelles de ma sente qu’il alla me chercher une bouteille de verre de chopine, mesure de Paris, (half-pint) pleine de paillettes d’or, il me la fit voir en me disant que c’etoit un present dont on I’avoit regale ce jour-la meme; Oi, me dit-il, me regalaron de este.” Voyage dans Les Mers de L’Inde, Paris, 1781, ii, pp. 152-153.  Le Gentil was in the Philippines about eighteen months in 1766-67 on a scientific mission.  His account of conditions there is one of the most thorough and valuable that we have for the eighteenth century.  As a layman and man of science his views are a useful offset against those of the clerical historians.

[56] Voyage, ii, p. 153.  “The Royal Audience was established to restrain the despotism of the Governors, which it has never prevented; for the gentlemen of the gown are always weak-kneed and the Governor can send them under guard to Spain, pack them oft to the provinces to take a census of the Indians or imprison them, which has been done several times without any serious consequences.”  Zuniga:  Estadismo de las Islas Filipinos o mis Viages por este Pais, ed.  Retana, i, p. 244.

[57] “Cuando se pusieren edictos, publicaren, y pregonaren las residencias, sea de forma que vengan a noticia de los Indios, para que puedan pedir justicia de sus agravios con entera libertad.” Law of 1556, lib. v, tit. xv, ley xxviii of the Recopilacion de Leyes de los Reinos de las Indias.

[58] Recopilacion, lib. v, tit. xv, ley vii.

[59] Churchill’s Voyages, iv, pp. 427-428.

[60] “I request the reader not to infer from my opinion of the tribunals of residence, my confidence in their efficacy.  My homage is immediately and solely addressed to the wisdom of the law.  I resign all criticism on its operation, to those who know the seductive influence of Plutus over the feeble and pliant Themis.”  De Pons:  Voyage to the Eastern Part of Terra Firma or the Spanish Main in South America during the years 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804.  New York, 1806, ii, p. 25.