I
I




i
I
I
i
i
I
I
i
i
I




I




AMERICAN SERIES


OF AMERICA




I          ," f
4
I                      -




HIS PAN IC
NOTES & MONOGRAPHS
ESSAYS, STUDIES, AND BRIEF
BIOGRAPHIES ISSUED BY THE
HISPANIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA




a




SPAIN OVERSEAS
BY
BERNARD      MOSES, PH.D., LL.D.
Professor Emeritus in the University of California
Honorary Professor in the University of Chile
Member of The Hispanic Society of America


PRINTED BY ORDER OF
THE TRUSTEES
NEW YORK
1929




COPYRIGHT, 1929, BY
THE HISPANIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA






CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE..... Vii
CHAPTER I
SPAIN IN THE COLONIZING PERIOD                   I
CHAPTER II
BASES OF SPANISH COLONIAL SOCIETY               12
CHAPTER III
DEVELOPED AND LESS-DEVELOPED RACES IN CONTACT.22
CHAPTER IV
MEXICO THE TYPICAL SPANISH COLONY.             29
CHAPTER V
A SOCIAL REVOLUTION AND ITS CONSEQUENCE         50
CHAPTER VI
SPAIN'S SUCCESSORS IN AMERICA..             59
CHAPTER VII
THE SPANISH REGIME IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.  71
CHAPTER VIII
SPAIN'S SUCCESSOR IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS    83
APPENDIX.....                     00
NOTES......                      09
INDEX..........  IIO






I




PREFACE
The following chapters are in effect marginal comments on some sections of the general history of Spanish
America, and one may refer to that history for light, in
case the connection between these chapters does not
appear to be clear. The aim of this volume is to emphasize certain topics, thought to be important, at the
risk of passing by others of equal or even greater importance.




K




I


SPAIN IN THE COLONIZING PERIOD
Towards the end of the fifteenth century Spain stood, in relation to the other nations of Europe, economically higher than
she had ever stood before or has ever stood since. Between 1482
and 1700 her population declined from Io,ooo,ooo to 6,ooo,ooo,
and there was a corresponding decline in her economical affairs.
A conspicuous sign of Spain's decay was the decline of her agriculture. Foreseeing the evil here impending, the Government
had, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, undertaken to
exempt from seizure animals and implements employed in
cultivation, except under certain prescribed conditions. The
Council of Castilla, giving an account of the state of the realm in
the beginning of the seventeenth century, said "the agricultural
districts were becoming deserted, and the inhabitants were disappearing and leaving the fields abandoned."
The depression of agriculture and Spain's loss in population
were further intensified by the overthrow of the Moriscos in the
Alpujarras and their final expulsion from the Peninsula.
In 1618, a few years after the expulsion of the Moriscos, a
commission called to propose a remedy for the ruinous condition
of the kingdom, began its memorial to the King with the following lamentation: "The depopulation and want of people in Spain
are at present much greater than ever before in the reigns of
any of your Majesty's progenitors; it being in truth so great at
this time that if God do not provide such a remedy for us as we
may expect from your Majesty's piety and wisdom, the Crown of
Spain is hastening to its total ruin; nothing being more visible
than that Spain is on the verge of destruction, its houses being




2


SPAIN


in ruins everywhere, and without anybody to rebuild them, and
its town and villages lying like so many deserts."
It was of great importance for agriculture that the means of
irrigation which the Spaniards found established in the districts
taken from the Moors should be maintained and even extended.
But the conquerors in this matter appear as inefficient successors
of the conquered. Their attempts in this direction were few and
ineffectual.
The privileges enjoyed by the sheep-owners who were represented by the Council of Mesta were not without importance
for the agriculture of Spain, particularly for the agriculture of
Extremadura. When the Spaniards took this province from the
Moors, the cities were razed and the inhabitants were destroyed
or driven into exile. Peace followed the war, but it was the peace
of desolation.
"Vast tracts previously in cultivation were then abandoned,
and nature, here prolific, soon obliterated the furrows of man,
resumed her rights, covered the soil with aromatic weeds, and
gave it up to the wild birds and beasts... Only a small portion
of the country was recultivated by the lazy, ignorant, soldierconquerors; and the new population, scanty as it was, was almost
swept away by the plague of I348, after which fifty whole
districts were left unclaimed... These unclaimed, uninhabited
pasturages at last attracted the attention of the highland shepherds of Le6n, Segovia, and Molina de Arag6n, who drove down
their flocks to them to a milder winter quarter; hence by degrees a
prescriptive right of agistment was claimed over these commons,
and the districts at last were set apart and apportioned. This
feeding their flocks at the expense of others exactly suited the
national predilection for self, and as the profit of the wool was
great, and long one of the most productive staples of Spain,
the flocks naturally multiplied, and with them their encroach



I
I


OVERSEAS


3


ments. As the owners were powerful nobles and convents, the
poor peasants in vain opposed such overwhelming influence."
Gradually the population of Extremadura increased, resulting
in contests between the wandering shepherds and the resident
cultivators. In 1556, a compromise was effected, and the privileges of the mesta were defined and legally established. Conspicuous among these privileges, two may be cited: one is that
the permanent residents were prohibited from plowing land that
had not been cultivated hitherto; the other is that they were
prohibited from extending their inclosures. The privileges of
the mesta suggest the hunting privileges of a mediaeval aristocracy. They discouraged agriculture, and those who opposed
them found it easy to argue that they "doomed to barrenness
some of the finest districts of Spain."
An effective obstacle to agricultural progress existed also in
the practice of entailing estates in behalf of the eldest son and
of bestowing lands in mortmain on churches and monasteries.
Although excuses may have been found for the existence of
entailed estates while the aristocracy was powerful and rendering the Crown great service iniwar, it is difficult to justify that
extension of the practice which we observe in the sixteenth century, when the comparatively poor were ennobled, and thus confirmed in their idleness, and made ridiculous in their unsupported
pretensions. This practice is noteworthy for its evil effects on
the agriculture of the country. In bringing honest work into
contempt, and in setting up numerous models of indolent and
worthless lives, its influence was so great that in 1552 the Cortes
of Madrid was moved to repudiate the privileges which the
king was accustomed to grant to persons of little distinction and
small wealth, to entail property to the prejudice of the younger
children and to the injury of the nation.
Towards the end of the fifteenth century the lands of Spain,
whether in public or private hands, were being rapidly denuded




4


SPAIN


of trees, and the Government had already at that time perceived
the need of special action to preserve the forests; but the present
treeless condition of a large part of the country is in evidence
that no permanently effective provision was made. Besides a
number of general ordinances relating to the preservation of
the forests, Ferdinand and Isabella caused to be issued, also,
special ordinances touching the conservation of the forests of
Madrid and those of Medina del Campo.
It may be seen from the instructions given to Diego de
Covarrubias, when he was appointed president of the Council of
Castilla, that Philip the Second appreciated the seriousness of
the situation: "One thing," he said, "I desire to see given
thorough treatment, and that is the matter of the preservation
of the forests, and their increase which is very necessary; for I
believe they are going to destruction. I fear those who come
after us may have many complaints that we have allowed them
to be used up, and God grant that we may not see this in our
day."
Prominent among the causes of the disappearance of the forests
was the disposition, which has also prevailed in the United
States, to plunder rather than to husband the resources of the
country. In order to prepare the soil to receive the seed and to
provide abundant pasture, it was the practice in some parts of
Spain to bum the forests and the thickets which occupied the
ground. The fires, kindled for this purpose, which sometimes
extended over several leagues and often caused serious losses,
were recognized as an evil to be abated. Ordinances were,
therefore, issued to prohibit them, but the abuses proved to be
difficult to correct. In this barbarous manner disappeared the
forests of Extremadura, Andalucia, Toledo, and other parts of
the kingdom, leaving no possibility of being replaced, inasmuch
as the new growths, the fresh and tender shoots, were destroyed
by the cattle which occupied these fields as pastures.




OVERSEAS


5


i




That some part of the damage might be avoided, Philip the
Second ordered that the justices of the districts in which the
forests had been burned should not allow cattle to graze where
the ground had been burnt over, except as permitted by the
license of his council. The ancient right to take wood for the
use of the court had also much to do with the destruction of the
forests; not that the strict observance of the right itself would
have caused any serious damage, but that under the pretense
of observing it, a way was found for extensive frauds, in that
persons about the court not entitled to the advantage of this
privilege ravaged the forests and contributed in a large measure
to their ruin.
Concerning the industries of Spain in the sixteenth century,
there appear two widely divergent views. According to one
opinion, the beginning of the century witnessed an extraordinary
development in the silk and woolen industries, which lost their
importance in the seventeenth century; while in the other view
there never existed in the country any remarkable industrial
development. The historical fact, however, lies nearer the first
view than the second, but at the same time there is no doubt
that tradition has somewhat exaggerated the degree of industrial prosperity which had been attained at the beginning of
the sixteenth century. There is no doubt, moreover, that the
course of the century was marked by a conspicuous decline in
Spanish industry, but it is not now possible to date the several
steps of that decline. Among the first symptoms were the complaints made in I537 that the cloth of Segovia had risen in price
in the four preceding years. With these complaints of high
prices appeared also denunciations of fraud employed in the
processes of manufacturing. On account of these high prices,
the common people were unable to use the cloth made in their
own country and were granted the privilege of purchasing foreign
goods. This was the beginning of the fall of the textile industries






6


SPAIN


in Spain, which was hastened by the operation of several causes.!
The most efficient of all the causes of Spain's deterioration in the
sixteenth century was the abundance of gold and silver received;
from America. Accumulated under a national monopoly, these 
metals, introduced into the coinage of the country, caused a i
general and unprecedented rise in prices, while prices in the:
neighbouring countries remained practically unchanged at their 
low mark, until Spanish traders, induced by the comparative 
cheapness of foreign wares, defied all restraining laws, and made i
their purchases abroad. The influx of foreign goods could not i
be stemmed until Spanish gold and silver, sent over the national
border, had equalized prices within the area of Spanish trade.
Another cause was the marked decline in the quality of Spanish
products, which placed them in an unfavourable contrast with 
the wares of other countries and destroyed the demand for 
them. Among these causes may be mentioned, also, the rigidity
of the surviving mediaeval trade organizations, which, by their
narrow views and their illiberal conduct in the management of
their monopolies, prevented industrial and commercial growth
and made impossible, even in Spanish markets, successful competition with the more liberal industrial systems of other nations.
A survey of the industries of Spain throughout the century,
however, leads to the conclusion that the manufacture of cloth
flourished in the beginning of the sixteenth century, while in the
second quarter there were conspicuous symptoms of its approaching decline. "By the middle of the century the evil had become
so far aggravated that Spain not only did not export textile
fabrics, but was even under the necessity of importing them in
order to meet the demands of her own consumption." In the
last half of the century the fall was rapid, and all subsequent
efforts for revival were fruitless.
Conspicuous among the hindrances to the economic development of Spain in the sixteenth century was the lack of facilities




OVERSEAS


7


I


for transportation. This phase of civilization received little
attention from the Moors. The habits of their ancestors, accustomed to free life on the desert or in Northern Africa, made
them indifferent to the establishment of roads suited to vehicles
with wheels; and the fact that the Spaniards remained in a very
large measure satisfied with the beasts of burden as a means of
transportation may be in part accounted for by the influence of
their Mohammedan neighbours. From the point of view of
economics, it is a mistake for a people to consent to make settlements at points to which they cannot take their household goods
and industrial elements on carts. An important difference between the Spanish and the English settling in America is that
in the one case the settlers have insisted on finding or making
roads over which they could drag with them their belongings on
carts or wagons, while in the other case they have been content
to carry their outfit on the back of mules and have not insisted
that their settlements should be connected with the rest of the
world by carriage roads.
The lack of convenient and inexpensive means of communication between buyers and sellers suggested the fixing of certain
times and places for general meetings. These meetings became
the great fairs of the later Middle Ages, survivals of which may
still be seen at Leipzig and at other points in Eastern Europe.
In Spain they were held at Segovia, Valladolid, Alcal6, Salamanca, Sevilla, Villal6n, Medina de Rioseco, and Medina del
Campo. On account of the great wealth gathered at Rioseco,
the place acquired the title of India Chica; but the most important of all the fairs was that of Medina del Campo, whose origin,
like the origin of most European fairs, is not a matter of definite
historical knowledge.
The apologist of Spain's economic policy with respect to
foreign trade in the sixteenth century is disposed to find in the
restrictive and artificial system of the Hanseatic League and




8


SPAIN


the Italian republics an earlier employment of the methods whose
origin is ascribed to the Spaniards, claiming that the influence
of these powers was felt throughout Europe and that the
mercantile system was introduced into Spain not earlier than
into France and England. If it struck deeper roots in Spain than
elsewhere, it was because Spain controlled the best mines of the
world and could not without difficulty give up the thought of
monopolizing the precious metals,
In examining the trade with foreign nations and the shifting
attitude of the Government towards it, it is not possible to discover any principle which was consistently observed. Many
decrees of prohibition issued with respect to exportation were
prompted by the desire not to have diminished the store of
articles necessary for the support of the people; and if in certain
cases the importation of wares was prohibited, it was to avoid
too sharp competition with Spain's domestic products. In other
cases the principle of the mercantile system, or the desire to
increase the amount of specie in the kingdom, was unquestionably the determining factor in the policy. The state of things
has been characterized by Colmeiro in the remark that "the
mercantile doctrines grew up slowly and without order, indicating the triumph of other ideas, without succeeding in forming
a new system; so that the commercial policy of the sixteenth
century appears as a web of contradictions."
Passing over the details of the effects of the colonial system
and the transatlantic trade, attention may be directed to the
influence of the government on the economic affairs of Spain.
It may be noticed, in the first place, that the extensive dominions,
involving the government in large expenses in carrying on wars
into which it was drawn by an aggressive ambition, made a
demand on the nation which the public revenue, even when
supplemented by the treasures of America, could not satisfy.
Through the great undertakings of Charles the Fifth and Philip




OVERSEAS


9


i
I
I
i


the Second the expenditures went on from year to year carrying
over an increasing burden upon the income of the future, so
that, at the death of Philip the Second, Spain had a debt of
I40,000,000 ducats.
Philip's extraordinary need of money to meet his numerous
obligations led him to extraordinary means to obtain it. He
appropriated for his own uses the silver and gold which came
from the Indies for merchants and other private persons. This
helped to destroy the fundamental condition of material prosperity, namely, the citizen's sense of security in the possession
of his property. The King sold offices and titles of nobility and
the lands which belonged to the Crown. He imposed forced
loans on prelates and the owners of large estates which were
taken with violence and without consideration. He suspended
payments to creditors; and in return for payments in money he,
rendered legitimate the sons of the clergy. Against these abuses
the Cortes from time to time protested; and they, moreover,
petitioned that luxury in dress might be abated and that the
King himself might set the example. In reply to the petitions
for restrictions on expenditure in matters of dress, Philip the
Second issued the remarkable edict of October 25th, 1563, which
Lafuente quotes at some length, and which Prescott describes
as "going at great length into such minute specifications of
wearing apparel, both male and female, that it would seem to
have been devised by a committee of tailors and milliners,
rather than of grave legislators."
The scale on which the royal household was ordered also made
a draft on the resources of the kingdom. To reduce these expenditures was the object of frequently repeated petitions by the
Cortes to the King. The members of the Cortes wished for
the court and the nation a simpler form of life, and in this they
were supported by the bulk of those who had intelligent opinions
on public affairs. They called the attention of the King to "the






IO


SPAIN


pernicious effects which this manner of living necessarily had
on the great nobles and others of his subjects, prone to follow the
example of their master."
Philip's financial outlook and the condition of the country in
the nineteenth year of his reign are characterized in a note
written by him to his treasurer: "Having already reached," he
said, "my forty-eighth year, and the hereditary prince, my son,
being only three years old, I cannot but see with the keenest
anxiety the disorderly condition of the treasury. What a prospect for my old age, if I am permitted to have a longer career,
when I am now living from day to day without knowing how I
shall live on the next, and how I shall procure that of which I
am so much in need."
And yet, with a deficit increasing from year to year, he entered
upon the building of the Escorial. The cost of construction and
interior decoration amounted to about 6,ooo,ooo ducats, a sum
equal to $30,000,000 at present, or more than the total annual
revenue of the kingdom of Castilla at that time. Although it
may have laid a burden on the nation, yet, according to Fray
Alonzo de San Jer6nimo, it at the same time placed the Almighty under obligations of gratitude to the King. It illustrates
how far Philip's administration was removed from an economic
basis. This, his chief work, stands as a monument of economic
folly, and in the design of the King it was intended to stay the
current of social progress. According to his own declaration,
he intended to make a bulwark unconquerable by the new doctrines, and in which the throne and religion should be sheltered
so securely that they might not be reached by the ideas then
agitating and moving the world. It was important for the
economic condition of Spain that the building of the Escorial set
a fashion for the magnates of the realm. They felt called upon
to manifest their pious zeal in founding churches and monasteries
and in purchasing relics, so that at the close of the sixteenth




I


OVERSEAS                          II
century there were in Spain about 9,ooo cloisters for monks and
988, for nuns, containing about 46,000 monks and 13,500 nuns.
And whatever influence these institutions exerted on the spiritual
welfare of the nation, it is clear that they were not powerful
factors in economic progress. We may count, also, as a hindrance
to economic progress the great number of holidays, set apart
primarily for exercises of devotion, but which came to be days of
pleasure, developing in the people a spirit opposed to that persistent effort necessary to growth in material well-being.




II


BASES OF SPANISH COLONIAL SOCIETY
No ideas of governmental organization are so familiar to
colonists as those which they have seen realized in the mother
country, and for this and other reasons the government of the
colony is almost universally a more or less accurate copy of the
home government. The spirit, at least, is transmitted, and whatever variation in form appears is due to the peculiar circumstances
of the new settlement. The colonies of Spain and England
stand in sharp contrast in this regard. A Spanish colony,
whether viewed with reference to its organization or to its influence, is widely different from an English colony. The difference is not merely casual; it is fundamental. With certain
variations, it is the distinction which existed between the colonization policies of the Greeks and the Romans. The Greek
settlements, made up of the voluntary overflow of the population
of the mother country, were generally independent from the
start. "The migrations of the colonists were commonly undertaken with the approbation and encouragement of the states
from which they issued; and it frequently happened that the
motive of the expedition was one in which the interest of the
mother country was mainly concerned: as when the object was
to relieve it of superfluous hands or of discontented and turbulent
spirits. But it was seldom that the parent state looked forward
to any more remote advantage from the colony, or that the
colony expected or desired any from the parent state. There
was in most cases nothing to suggest the feeling of dependence
on the one side, or a claim of authority on the other. The sons




SPAIN


13


when they left their homes to shift for themselves on a foreign
shore, carried with them only the blessing of their fathers, and
felt themselves completely emancipated from their control.
Often the colony became more powerful than its parent, and the
distance between them was generally so great as to preclude
all attempts to enforce submission." The only bond between
them was a moral sentiment growing out of the fact of a common
origin.
The Roman colonies, on the other hand, formed a part of an
elaborate scheme for extending Roman dominion. They were
the creatures of the central power and the main instruments for
confirming its conquests. "The Grecian colonies were not intended to increase the power of the parent state by enlarging
its dominions, and they were usually established in some unoccupied or partially occupied territory." But the Roman
colonies were generally "established in existing towns, the
citizens of which were ejected and deprived of their lands...
Instead of being independent of the parent state, they were
strictly dependent on it, and the political rights of the colonists
were very limited. In fact, the Roman colonies were in their
origin little more than garrisons in conquered fortified places,
where land was allotted to the soldiers instead of pay and provisions." In the methods of their establishment, the Grecians,
colonies were like the colonies of modern England. The colonies
of Spain, like the Roman colonies, were creations of the central
political organization and were (upheld and controlled by a power
outside of themselves. Most English colonial dependencies
have worked their way to prominence through a struggling age
of feebleness. The Spanish dependencies, on the other hand,
have been from the outset equipped with ample legal machinery
and been controlled and supported by the sagacity and power
of the monarch. "The fundamental maxim of Spanish jurisprudence with respect to America," says Robertson, "is to con



14


SPAIN


sider what has been acquired there as vested in the crown, rather
than in the state. By the bull of Alexander the Sixth, on which,
as its great charter, Spain founded its right, all the regions that
had been or should be discovered were bestowed as a free gift
upon Ferdinand and Isabella. They and their successors were
uniformly held to be the universal proprietors of the vast territories which the arms of their subjects conquered in the new
world. The leaders who conducted the various expeditions,
the governors who presided over the different colonies, the
officers of justice, and the ministers of religion, were all appointed
by their authority, and removable at their pleasure. The people
who composed infant settlements were entitled to no privileges
independent of the sovereign, or that served as a barrier against
the power of the crown." The power that was exercised by the
elected magistrates in the towns was merely municipal and was
confined to the regulation of their own interior commerce and
police. All political power "centered in the crown, and in the
officers of its nomination."
For the purpose of exercising this vast power with which the
Spanish Crown was clothed, the Spanish dependencies of America
were divided into two governments, each under a viceroy, that
of Mexico and that of Peru. The former embraced all the
possessions of Spain in North America, and the latter, those of
South America. The viceroy, like the monarch whom he represented, exercised a power that was practically absolute within
the limits of his government. His authority extended to every
department of the administration, and his external pomp was
suited to his authority.
But the independent feebleness of the English settlement was
more conducive to healthy social growth than the rigid and
powerful rule of the Mexican viceroy. The knowledge of the
viceroy's power and of his uncompromising jealousy of any
interference in affairs falling within the sphere of his prerogative




OVERSEAS


15


paralyzed all efforts of.local self-help; and yet, by reason of the
multiplicity of his duties, and the vastness of his dominions,
and the indifference of his subordinates, he could render no
efficient force to stimulate social action, and stagnation, therefore, necessarily ensued.
But however unlike the English and Spanish dependencies
with respect to their social and political organization, there were
certain fundamental motives to their establishment which were
the same for both. Conspicuous among these was the primary
notion on which the mercantile system of economics was constructed, the notion that the precious metals were alone wealth
and that that nation which had the largest quantity of these
must be regarded as the most wealthy. On this idea was based
the colonial policy of modem European states. Spain sought
the desired end directly; England, under the influence of the
East India Company, advanced towards it in a somewhat more
roundabout way. Mexico and Peru furnished these metals
directly from their mines and, for this reason, were regarded by
Spain as the most desirable possessions conceivable. No effort
was spared that might be necessary to conquer and hold them.
They contained in abundance what all nations looked upon as
the basis of material salvation.
While Spain sought gold directly and legislated to prevent its
exportation, England advanced one step farther towards the
light and was willing under certain circumstances to allow it to
leave the country. But the ulterior aim of the English was the
same as that of the Spaniards. Gold and silver might leave
England for the purchase of raw material, since raw material,
when elaborated into commodities, would be more valuable
than in its primitive condition and might in its new form be exported for a return of the precious metals larger than that which
had been allowed originally to leave the kingdom. Under this
view it became necessary to have a market for manufactured




SPAIN


commodities; hence the idea of colonies under sufficient control
to be kept from all kinds of production but that of raw material,
in order, in the first place, that such raw material might be cheap
and, in the second place, that there might be a demand for the
industrial products of the mother country. Thus, the thirst for
gold was a common motive in both the English and Spanish
struggles for foreign dependencies.
Although the fundamental idea of the mercantile system has
been long since discredited, many of its practical consequences
survive in modern legislation. The hostility to importation,
which marks the commercial policy of many existing states, is a
practical survival of an exploded economic theory. England's
support of the Southern States of the Union in the Civil War was
suggested by the surviving ideas of her colonial policy. The
South, an abundant producer of raw material, without manufactures and with a considerable demand for manufactured
commodities, was such a colony as the European nations sought
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. To draw these
States into a close alliance with England was one of the aims of
the English, and they were not careful about the means.
From another point of view the English and Spanish policies
with reference to colonial dependencies have been somewhat
wide apart. While Spain was sending Christian missionaries to
extend the kingdom of heaven on earth, England was making her
colonies a place of banishment for her convicts. There is no
doubt that one of the motives of Spain's action was a genuine
and honest desire for the spiritual regeneration of the native
population and that this desire was felt by many of those who
sought to make themselves the instruments of this regeneration.
But, at the same time, ecclesiastics, when they constitute the predominating element, do not furnish a hopeful basis for a new
social organism. It may be said that under the priests in the
Spanish settlements in America the natives learned the arts of




OVERS EAS


I7


peace and were well started on the way towards civilized life.
Yet, in almost every instance the priestly method of building up
a society has had to undergo a revolution before any real progress
could become possible. For an illustration of this process it is
only necessary to observe the history of California. The missions
of California, when they were secularized, had gone about as far
as it was possible to go on that line towards civilization. A few
thousand natives had been reduced to slave-like submission, and
a few thousand cattle had been scattered over the hills and along
the valleys, and at this point social progress had stopped.
Further advance towards the cultivation of civilized life required the substitution of an entirely new basis of social order.
Before a new and more effective structure could be built, the old
structure had to be broken down and a new foundation laid.
But the most significant contrast between Spanish and English
dependencies appears with reference to the extent of power
exercised in matters of local control. In other words, it is a
contrast in means of political education. Under the rigid rule of
the Council of the Indies and of its subordinates, provided for
carrying out the decrees of the Spanish Government, the great
body of the people learned only one lesson, and that was the lesson
of obedience. The power of self-determination they had no opportunities for acquiring. They onjy learned to follow, not because
they saw any reason for going in one direction rather than in
another, but because they were dominated by a superstition
born of inexperience in matters of public concern. The result of
this was to make possible quiet and orderly conduct as long as
the power of the parent state remained unshaken; but it did not
prepare the way for independent national conduct. When,
therefore, the tie of allegiance to Spain was severed, the communities were like a ship without a rudder or ballast. There
were no points of advantage that could be used to give them
consistent movement in any direction. They were subject to the




8


SPAIN


shifting currents of uninstructed prejudice. While the bulk of
the people were willing to render obedience, they were without
the means of determining to whom it should be rendered. They
were perfect material for the demagogue, that is to say, they
were the pliant tools of revolutionists. The Spanish American
attempts at self-government, therefore, had difficult beginnings;
not because of any original incapacity in the stock, but because
of the lamentable political education which the dependencies
received during their three centuries of bondage to Spain, an
education, the evil tendencies of which it will require yet several
generations completely to counteract. It is customary to cast
the blame for the political shortcoming of Mexico and the South
American republics on the republican form of government. The
wonder, rather, is that the republican system has been able to
find there any tolerable application. Most of the evils which
are charged against republicanism, whether in the former
Spanish dependencies of America or in the now independent
English settlements, cannot with justice be ascribed to democracy but are, rather, attributable to the unfortunate political antecedents of those who attempted to live by the democratic rule.
This previous education under monarchy is one of the chief
sources of embarrassment to republican government. But on
the other hand, colonies in pursuit of republican liberty derive
an incalculable advantage from their antecedents when they are
derived from a nation in which the spirit of liberty was active
at the time of separation. The zeal for political freedom, which
was manifest in a large part of the English nation in the seventeenth century, and the ample provisions for self-government,
which had already been carried out by the English people, are
points not to be overlooked in considering the political affairs of
the United States; nor, in seeking a rational explanation of the
establishment and long continuance of absolutism in Spanish
America, are we to forget that the colonization of that country




OVERSEAS


I9


took place at a time when the ancient popular liberty of Spain
had been suppressed, and the nation, subjected to the despotic
rule of the crown. The position and influence of the ecclesiastical
institutions of the two nations also furnish data essential to an
understanding of the affairs of these nations. In these matters,
the United States appears, from a political point of view, to have
been the more fortunate. The contrast presented here is between
the principle and practice of toleration, on the one hand, and
intolerance and the Inquisition, on the other. In one nation,
religion tended to become a private matter; in the other it was,
and tended to remain, an affair of the State. In some of the
settlements of the United States, the ecclesiastical and political
organizations were at first merged in one, but the tendency to
separate them appeared early and continued until the divorce was
complete. But in Spanish America, the alliance continued unbroken for more than three hundred years, the church constantly
gaining wealth, power, and compactness of organization. From
one end of the realm to the other, there were no affairs of memorable importance but those in which the church was more or less
directly concerned. It held a large part of the property of the
country and was directed by men whose very calling placed
them out of sympathy with those interests on which the prosperity of society depends. Against this powerful organization,
wielding immense wealth, has had to be waged the struggle for
free, secular government.
The fact that the settlers of the United States were dissenters,
bound to no strong hierarchial organization, was significant in
that it rendered easy the complete separation of the colonies
from England. The Spaniards, on the other hand, were adherents
of the Roman Church, and thus the Church of Spanish America
and the Church of Spain became allied as parts of one great
organism. When, therefore, the struggle for independence came,
it was found that it was not enough to break the political bond;




20


SPAIN


the bond of ecclesiastical union and sympathy remained, always
drawing a large part of the new nation back to its allegiance to
Spain. The Tories of the thirteen colonies disappeared soon
after the Revolutionary period; they either accepted gracefully
the fact of independence or wandered off to seek more congenial
companionship. But the upholders of Spanish rule during the
war for independence remained, when the war was over, a powerful and dissatisfied element in the national politics. The thirteen
colonies had achieved intellectual and spiritual independence
long before the war for political independence began. But even
after the Spanish Americans had achieved their political independence, they remained in ecclesiastical and intellectual
bondage to the mother country.
The strength of this conservative element has been one of the
main causes of the numerous revolutions which have afflicted the
Spanish American Republics. These revolutions, by giving to
the inhabitants an unstable character, by preventing them from
learning that there is any other way to settle a national issue in
politics than by force of arms, have unquestionably made an
impression on the mind of the people, which cannot be overlooked
in explaining their political institutions and practice. Bad conduct may give a nation, as well as an individual man, bad habits,
and these habits in both cases become factors in determining political conduct. Nations that live through two or three revolutions in
a generation become familiarized with the idea of effecting results
by this means and have constantly to be dealt with as if at the first
appearance of dissatisfaction they might fly into revolt. But the
English people, in England and the United States, have never
shown great sympathy with revolutionary methods. They have
generally manifested a firm adherence to legal means for accomplishing public ends. Their allegiance is to impersonal law. But
in the Continental nations, in whose governments the monarchial
element has played a more conspicuous role, the allegiance of the


I
I






OVERSEAS                          21
subjects partakes of the character of personal devotion to the
king or emperor. It is not strange, therefore, that the Spanish
Americans, after their long tutelage under absolutism, should
find it somewhat difficult to guide their actual conduct by a rule
which they cannot attribute to any personal protector.
Of the other phases of national life, which might be examined
and set as a background for the presentation of the politics of
Spanish America, it must suffice, after what has already been
said, to refer to their economic affairs, to the fact of the large unassimilated elements of population, of the poverty of the great
bulk of the people, the insignificant development of the practical
business sense, and the almost entire want of the spirit of industrial association. These facts indicate national qualities that
are influential in determining not only the political law, but also
the political customs and usages of a nation.




III


DEVELOPED AND LESS-DEVELOPED
RACES IN CONTACT
It is one of the simplest and most evident facts of social growth
that, in the early history of peoples now civilized, one generation
succeeded another with very few changes either in character or
outward condition. If some of these peoples developed peculiar
institutions and established, independently, peculiar manners,
customs, and ordinances, this result was made possible by their
long isolation or their freedom from external influences through
extensive periods of time. Such isolation and such freedom were
characteristic of the early ages of social life. The barbarians of
long ago were left undisturbed through centuries, and if they had
capacity, they had also the opportunity to develop an indigenous
civilization. The barbarians of today, if they have the capacity,
have not the time at their disposal, have not the opportunity to
effect an independent development.
The creation of the means of communication, the desire and the
ability of the strong, enlightened nations to expand the field of
their dominion, and the economic need felt by civilized society
for the resources of the whole world take away from the undeveloped peoples the opportunity for a centuries-long process of
slow, independent social growth. If it were assumed that the
American Indians left to themselves for a thousand years longer
would have advanced to a state of civilization, this capacity
would have been of no avail because the other factor, the period
of a thousand years, was not accorded to them. In the days of
old it might have been reasonable to urge the leaving of each




SPAIN


23




barbarian people to work out its own progress independently.
Such a policy then might have been effective. There were few and
imperfect means of communication. There were strong prejudices
holding one tribe or race aloof from another. The commercial
motive that leads civilized men to invade every corner of the
world was almost entirely wanting. Then it might have been
possible for a people to have a thousand years of isolation in
which either to stagnate or to develop its institutions.
All this is now changed. Modern means of communication
have drawn together the ends of the earth. They have made
every country contiguous to every other country. The representatives of modern enlightenment have laid aside most of the
barbarian's race prejudices, and their commercial relations bring
them into contact with the inhabitants of every quarter of the
world. No tribe or nation, whether rude or civilized, can now
maintain its isolation. The view that a rude people should be
permitted to develop its own life without foreign interference may
have involved a practicable policy in the beginnings of social
growth. As applied to the present it is utopian. Dominated by
notions founded on ancient traditions, we may think that a
policy involving this view ought to prevail; but our opinions of
what ought to be the attitude of one people to another have no
necessary relation to the facts in the case. The curiosity of the
civilized nations and their economic needs have thrown down all
partition walls. If there is any people now in the state of barbarism with capacity for independent development under long isolation, it is safe to affirm that it will not achieve such development.
The spirit of contemporary civilization is intolerant of barbarian
isolation. The peoples of the uncultivated races may not now
have the same time for independent development and the
freedom from interference that they had in the earlier ages of
social progress.




24


SPAIN


One is likely to lay much stress on political independence and
regard it, everywhere and under all conditions, as the paramount
political good. But it is quite possible that this is an exaggerated
view. An impartial examination of it is presupposed in a critical
discussion of a nation's colonial policy and administration; and
when it is determined that in the present state of international
politics the barbarian tribes or rude peoples have not, under the
actual demand for universal intercourse, the opportunity for independent development, part of the basis of the claim that such
tribes or peoples should be independent appears to fall away.
In view of these considerations, it becomes necessary to
recognize union with some civilized nation as inevitable in these
cases. The question of the independence of such countries in the
present political state of the world is a purely academic question.
Dependence in these cases is not only inevitable, but it may also
be advantageous for the social body over which authority is
exercised. The advantage, however, does not appear in all cases.
The advantage to such communities brought under foreign control appears when that control is exercised by a liberal and enlightened nation. They become associated with representatives of
a higher form of life and acquire a knowledge of the arts by which
wealth is increased and the physical well-being of a community is
promoted. They become familiar with the more effective modes
of social organization. They learn the language of an enlightened
people, and through it they are brought under the influences that
make for cultivation. The dependent body is drawn into the
current of the superior nation's life and is carried along by the
momentum of its progress. There is, moreover, no necessary connection between political independence and personal liberty.
Paraguay threw off the rule of Spain and was politically independent under Dr. Francia. After the death of Francia, the
Paraguayans, still independent, fell under the even more brutal
domination of L6pez. To them independence brought only


I




OVERSEAS


25


tyranny and disaster. Under independence the nation was broken
under the heel of an absolute ruler and led into wars that brought
it to the verge of extinction. Independence is not a universal
social remedy, nor everywhere a sure introduction to a higher
phase of political life.
The dominant political ideal of the societies now on the lower
level of civilization is that of arbitrary personal rule. The
Javanese accepted the decrees of their native princes as if they
were the inevitable decrees of Fate. The subjects of the native
princes of India have practically no initiative and submit without question to the will of a ruler whose conduct is not modified
by any organized expression of a popular desire. The brief
struggle for independence in the Philippines was not a movement to establish the liberty of the people, but an effort to set up
the rule of a limited oligarchy. Before the occupation of the Islands by the Americans there were probably not forty persons in
the whole population who desired to see political power pass into
the hands of the great body of the people. Independence for a
people on the social level of the Javanese or of the bulk of the
inhabitants of the Philippines means the establishment, immediately or ultimately, of some form of absolute rule, destined
to manifest the qualities of a more or less oppressive tyranny.
In spite of the exactions of the Dutch in the East Indies or of
the strong rule of the English in India, there is a vastly higher
grade of popular prosperity and personal liberty in those parts of
Java or of India where the people are directly under the Dutch
or English control than in the native states where the immediate
government of the people is in the hands of the native princes.
The question of vital importance for the inhabitants of dependencies is essentially the same question as that which is important for the members of the dominant nation itself. The
popular welfare in both cases depends largely upon the character
of the national government. If the authority of a reckless and




26


SPAIN


tyrannical government is extended over a semi-barbarous people,
it is not to be expected that the inhabitants of the dependency
will be greatly benefited or have abundant reasons for rejoicing.
On the other hand, the extension of a wise and beneficent government's authority over a rude people may furnish it an impulse
and guidance towards the attainment of a higher form of life
and larger liberty for the individual citizens. Even a nation not
especially noteworthy for political wisdom may, in the position
of a superior, materially assist a rude people to take important
steps towards civilization. The political wisdom of Spain has
never been adequate to her great opportunities, yet the inhabitants of the Philippines owe to Spain their most important
achievements in social progress. Practically all the qualities
they now have, distinguishing them from the non-Christian barbarians of the East Indian archipelago, have been acquired under
the direction of their European superiors.
The control of dependencies appears to be part of the general
policy of the leading Western nations, and there is no doubt that
by this policy, taking into consideration the whole history of
colonies, the well-being of the inhabitants of dependencies has
been materially advanced by influences that have come to them
in consequence of their relation to a superior nation. And the
result on the superior nation has been scarcely less advantageous.
America's undertaking in the control of dependencies represents the administrative policy which the enlightened nations
have been, and are, gradually approaching. When England,
France, and Portugal made their first settlements in India, they
had no plans for changing the condition of the people among
whom they settled. They sought to trade with them as they
were. Gradually it has become clear to the leading nations that
highly developed peoples are both better producers and better
purchasers than rude nations. The dependency of great natural
resources manifests its full commercial significance only when its




OVERSEAS


27


population has developed the higher, as well as the lower, needs
of a civilized society. To undertake to develop the wealth of a
dependency peopled with semi-civilized inhabitants, without at
the same time bringing about that social differentiation characteristic of a higher grade of society, is simply to exploit that
dependency, for without the forms and institutions of a developed
society accumulated wealth will not be largely sought and cannot
be maintained. Sometimes a differentiated society is formed in
a dependency by introducing members of the dominant nation
to constitute the higher ranks. These members then assume all
the more important occupations, while the natives are relegated
to agricultural and unskilled employments.
A hard line is drawn between the natives and the Europeans
and determines the position of persons with mixed blood in such
a way as to discriminate unjustly between the native of pure blood
and persons having a slight trace of European blood. It appears
to maintain the view that the white race should rule, not because it can lift the dependent people to a higher plane of life, but
simply because it is the white race and has the necessary power.
The extreme of liberalism in dealing with colonies of an alien
race in the tropics is represented by America's government of the
Philippines. No line is drawn between the American and the
Asiatic. Under these conditions the inhabitants of the Islands
enjoy opportunities for their intellectual and political development which were never extended to them before. The essential
feature of the new phase of colonial administration is that it sets
a higher estimate on the dependent people than was usual when
Europeans began to exercise political authority over communities
composed of members of other races.
The Spaniards and the Indians in Spain's American dependencies offer an instance of two widely different races in contact.
A significant feature of this relation was that the Indians became
members of the colonial society, although at the bottom of the




28


SPAIN


social scale, thus establishing conditions for the amalgamation
of the two races with whatever good or evil results might ensue.
The theory that alien races should be governed in accordance
with their own traditions has not great practical value, for,
wherever civilized man governs, he is moved to govern by his
hereditary instincts. He knows only imperfectly the governmental forms of other races, and he knows less about their ideas
of administration. Western governments, to illustrate, are based
on the idea of individual responsibility to established authority,
and they would probably make a very poor display in attempting
to apply, for example, a scheme of control under which a clan or
an association was responsible for each of its individual members.
If the American government, or any other enlightened government, assumes to exercise authority over territory occupied by
members of an alien race, it may maintain temporarily the institutions and usages of the adopted society, but ultimately it
must stand for its own laws and the acceptance of its own social
ideas. It is not worth while to proceed practically as if the institutions and customs of the undeveloped peoples were to be
permanently preserved. Their customs and institutions are often
their shackles which make it impossible for them to run the
course of progress. Nobody supposes that the institution of
caste and its attendant customs are anything but a hindrance
to the social progress of India. The spirit of many of the institutions of the less-developed races is the spirit of domination and
bondage. The spirit of civilization or enlightenment is liberty.
The undeveloped tribes or nations may be politically independent
and yet in bondage to their traditions. If America, for example,
has any mission outside of her continental limits, it is not to
preserve among less-developed peoples such institutions and
customs as make for bondage and social stagnation, but to put
in their place the ideas that have made for freedom and the laws
by which this nation has been enabled to preserve its freedom.




IV
MEXICO THE TYPICAL SPANISH COLONY
Many of the persons who had part in the settlement of Mexico
and assisted in organizing the new society brought to their task
a certain experience derived from their participation in the
occupation of Hayti and Cuba. This experience was not extensive, but it enabled them to avoid in Mexico one of the
difficulties that they had encountered in those islands. The large
number of the native population in Mexico and their hostile
attitude made a determined and united action necessary on the.
part of the invaders. It helped them to proceed with vigour to the
establishment and development of a colony that became a type
or model for other Spanish colonies in America. The legal forms
adopted for Mexico were applied to the other colonies later, but
with less practical completeness. The government, established in
Peru, held nominally for many decades supreme authority in the
whole of Spanish South America. This authority was necessarily ineffective, and in the course of time other regions rose to
the legal status of Peru. They lacked, however, Peru's prestige.
Contrary to this practice of distributing colonial power, Mexico
remained a governmental unit with centralized power.
In colonial development, however, certain forms and institutions remain stationary while along other lines the advance may
be rapid. This is, of course, true of the progress of all nations,
but it is more especially true of colonial progress than of any
other, partly for the reason that colonies, awakening from their
stagnant condition, appropriate, in their completed forms,
methods and means that have been slowly and painfully wrought




30                    SPAIN
out elsewhere. It would be very difficult to find a more striking
illustration of this than that presented by the history of Me!ico.
By her inherited Spanish conservatism; by her strong element of
Indian stock; by her geographical isolation; by the survival of
the spirit of absolutism; and by the dominant power of the
church, the people of Mexico remained for generation after
generation without important changes in their economic affairs
and with very little change of point of view.
The audiencia of San Domingo had been influential in extending the conquest to the continent. From San Domingo had proceeded the conquest and settlement of Cuba, and from Cuba had
proceeded the expedition led by Cortes for the conquest of
Mexico. Diego Velazquez was the governor of Cuba, and the
expedition was organized under his authority and in part at his
personal expense. Cort6s received his appointment from him but
very early determined to act on his own account. Velazquez
suspected this determination on the part of Cort6s before the
expedition set sail but too late to repair the mistake of having
appointed an insubordinate leader for an expedition on which he
had spent a large part of his own fortune. The breach between
Cortes and Velazquez was never healed, and all the efforts of
the governor to regain his lost advantage only resulted in his
impoverishment and ruin. Cortes, on his side, bent his energies
to getting his undertaking recognized by some other power than
the governor of Cuba. Therefore, soon after his landing on the
coast of Mexico, he caused to be organized the municipality of
Vera Cruz. It was established on his initiative, and the officers
were nominated by him. This was the first political organization
effected by Europeans on the soil of Mexico. The two alcaldes
were Puertocarrero and Montejo, the latter an adherent of
Velazquez, and the former a member of the Cortes faction. In
view of the limitations placed upon the expedition by the
audiencia of San Domingo, Cort6s's right under Spanish law to




OVERSEAS


3I


found a city is questionable. But a municipal organization was,
nevertheless, formed, and, whether revolutionary in its origin or
not, its powers were at least recognized by the leader of the expedition. Into the hands of this body Cort6s surrendered his
authority and retired, but the next morning he was informed
that he had been elected captain-general and justicia mayor of
the municipality. If Cortes designed this manoeuvre to place behind him for his support some other power than the governor of
Cuba, it was in a measure successful, although the adherents of
Velazquez denounced the whole proceeding as a conspiracy. At
certain periods, when warfare was the conspicuous feature of
Spain's activity, the military leader of a Spanish municipality
had held a position of recognized dignity and power, and it is
possible that Cortes aimed at this advantage.
Before Cortes received any commission directly from Spain, he
was authorized, in 1522, by the audiencia of San Domingo, "to
conquer the whole of New Spain, to brand slaves in accordance
with prescribed rules, and to distribute encomiendas." Although
this authorization was provisional, it nevertheless came from
the supreme representative of the Spanish crown in America
and gave a character of legality to the efforts of Cort6s to extend
the dominions of Spain. In October 1522, the authority which
had come to him provisionally from the audiencia of San Domingo was confirmed by a commission issued by the emperor.
This commission bestowed upon the conqueror of Mexico the
titles of royal judge, governor, justice, and captain-general and
was accompanied by an expression of the emperor's appreciation
of the services which Cortds had hitherto rendered.
There is little doubt that Cortes fancied that, having taken
possession of Mexico, he would be allowed to proceed according
to his own will without much interference from the Spanish
crown and that it would be possible for him, supported by the
Indians, to maintain independent authority. "He wrote a letter




32


SPAIN


to the Spanish crown, the language of which is little known, in
which, while he insisted in the plainest manner upon his services
and personal devotion, he in the most courtly terms, declined
any interference of the royal officers in the administration of
the new colony." The Spanish crown had in the meantime sent
four officers to Mexico to take charge of the royal interests.
These were the treasurer, Alonso de Estrada; the accountant and
paymaster, Rodrigo de Albornoz; the factor, Gonzalo de Salazar,
and the inspector, Peral Mendez Chirinos.
His conquests in Mexico completed, Cortes directed his attention to establishing means of defense, and his fundamental
idea appears to have been derived from European feudalism.
Every settler possessed of repartimientos of less than five hundred
Indians was required to provide himself, within six months from
the date of the ordinance, with a lance, a sword, and a dagger,
a helmet, two pikes, and either Spanish or native defensive
armour. Holders of repartimientos with from five hundred to one
thousand Indians were required to possess, in addition to these
implements of war, one horse fully equipped; while those with
repartimientos with more than one thousand Indians were required to maintain a still larger equipment. These vassals of the
governor were obliged to keep themselves in readiness to answer
a summons at any time, and the municipalities were authorized
to call them from time to time for a review and to exact penalties
in case of their non-compliance.
The municipality of Mexico, like that of Vera Cruz, was
created through the appointment by Cortes of municipal officers,
among whom Pedro de Alvarado was given the place of the leading alcalde. In 1522 this city had become so conspicuous that
the king was moved to grant it a coat of arms. Seven years
later its preeminence in New Spain was officially recognized, and
in 1548 it was entitled the "very noble, great, and very loyal
city." This method of constituting a municipality was, however,


i
I
l
I
1




OVERSEAS


33


I


not always followed even in these years, for the municipal organization that was established at Oaxaca was constituted
through an election by the settlers. Not long after the municipality of Mexico was organized-by Cortes, the appointing power of
the governor was limited, and he was required to act in this
matter jointly with two other royal officials and to appoint each
officer from a list of three which had been nominated by the
people. The number of regidores, or members of the town council,
was, moreover, increased from four to six, and some of them
were appointed by the king for life.
The troubles in New Spain, arising out of the clashing interests of jealous parties and the inefficiency of the audiencia of
San Domingo in dealing with distant affairs, led to the establishment of an audiencia at Mexico. It was deemed prudent to
curtail the conqueror's power, and it was believed that no single
official would be able to do it. There was clearly needed, moreover, some force to put an end to local quarrels and to give to
all persons, particularly to the Indians, the protection of an
authoritative government. On the I3th of December, 1527, the
audiencia was created by the appointment of four oidores, or
judges. Although ordered to embark immediately, they did not
sail from Spain until July 1528. As was customary later in the
case of the passage of the viceroy from Spain to America, the
vessels which conveyed them were placed under the command of
the oidores. In view of the fact that there was no suitable public
building in Mexico in which they might be accommodated, the
emperor requested Cortes to receive them in his palace and gave
orders that they should be obeyed throughout the conquered
region. At the time of their appointment, the conduct of Cortes
was under investigation before the king, and, after some delay,
Nuflo de Guzman, governor of Panuco, was appointed president
of the audiencia, to hold office until the termination of Cortds's
trial. Guzman arrived in Mexico in December 1528.




34


SPAIN


The unsatisfactory state of the public administration of Mexico
under the audiencia persuaded the King of Spain to place a
viceroy in direct control of affairs. It seemed to be necessary to
make the headship of the government of such dignity that it
might not be attained by an adventurer. The viceroyalty having
been established, it became customary to appoint the viceroy
from among the distinguished nobles of the Spanish court. They
were thus supposed to be placed above the avarice and low
ambition which had marked the career of the officers of the first
audiencia. But, before this plan was carried out, it became
necessary to send a new audiencia, organized like the first; and
whatever hopes were entertained of better results were based on
the care taken in the selection of the members. The four oidores,
or judges, nominated by the president of the audiencia of
Valladolid, were Juan de Salmer6n, Alonso Maldonado, Francisco Ceynos, and Vasco de Quiroga. The presidency of the new
audiencia was conferred upon the bishop, Fuenleal, who at the
time of his appointment was president of the audiencia of
San Domingo.
The instructions of the oidores were dated July 12th, 1530, and
provided that, in the absence of the president, the senior oidor
should preside; the audiencia should protect the natives; it
should despatch all unfinished business pending before the first
audiencia; it should proclaim the residencia of the officers supplanted, sending the papers to Spain; it should restore to Cortes
his estates and maintain friendly relations with him. In case
President Guzman's administration was approved by the
residencia on judicial examination of his official conduct, he
should return to Panuco. The members of the new audiencia
took their seats on the 12th of January, I53I, but the president
did not arrive from San Domingo till the following September.
It was found later that the work which devolved upon the
audiencia was so great that, in order to facilitate its execution,




OVERSEAS


35


the president appointed two additional oidores for a term of
two years.
Soon after sending the second audiencia to New Spain, the
emperor carried out the suggestion to make that country a
viceroyalty. Antonio de Mendoza was appointed viceroy. His
commission/was dated at Barcelona, April I7th, I535. He was
granted a salary of six thousand ducats, three thousand as
viceroy, and three thousand as president of the audiencia. There
was also granted the sum of two thousand ducats for the expenses of his body-guard. In 1614, the salary of the viceroy of
Mexico was fixed at twenty thousand ducats. The viceroys,
presidents, judges, and other royal officers in Spanish America
were hedged about with numerous restrictions. They might not
hold more than one office; they might not marry or contract for
marriage within the districts of their authority; and their sons
and daughters were under the same restriction. They were
prohibited from engaging in any form of commercial enterprise.
They might not leave their districts without a special license
from the king or the Council of the Indies, and they might not
hold more than four slaves apiece. In the affairs of the government, the viceroy was expected to seek the advice of the audiencia,
but that body had no power to determine his decision, yet in
judicial matters the oidores were supreme, and the viceroy had
no vote. He might, however, exercise the functions of captaingeneral.
The viceroy, who, in the person of Mendoza, now appears for
the first time in Spanish America, represented the person of the
king of Spain. He stood at the head of the vice-regal government, exercised his vast governmental powers with justice
equally to all his subjects and vassals, and urged such measures
as conduced to their peace and elevation. On assuming his duties,
his first care, as indicated by the law, was to provide for the
service of God and the preaching of the Christian faith for the




36


SPAIN


benefit of the natives and the inhabitants of the provinces. He
was charged to govern and defend his kingdom; to reward services rendered in the exploration, pacification, and population
of the Indies; to collect and remit funds due the royal treasury;
and to do everything which would devolve upon the king to do
were he governing in person, except in cases of special prohibition. All other officers and subjects, ecclesiastical and secular,
were ordered to respect and obey him as the representative of the
king. He was president of the royal audiencia, was captaingeneral of the provinces within his dominions, and, in the
exercise of his powers, maintained the state and dignity of
royalty. His court was "formed upon the model of that of
Madrid, with horse and foot guards, a household regularly
established, numerous attendants, and ensigns of power, displaying such pomp as hardly retained the appearance of delegated authority."
Even before the newly appointed viceroy had reached the
Indies, he was treated with distinction. On arriving at Sevilla,
he was lodged in the Alcazar and, accompanied by his family and
guard, was transported to America without charge. On the
voyage, the viceroy was general of the armada, or fleet, from the
time of his departure from the port of San Licar till his arrival
at Porto Bello or Vera Cruz. In order to avoid the temptations
to depart from a wise and impartial administration, the viceroy
was enjoined from taking with him his married sons or daughters,
his sons-in-law and his daughters-in-law. He was ordered on the
outward voyage, in passing the cities of Porto Bello and Cartagena, to inspect the public works, the artillery, the munitions,
and the men-of-war, and to send a detailed account of their
condition and needs. Whenever the viceroy of Mexico was promoted to the viceroyalty of Peru, he was at liberty to take with
him his furniture and wardrobe and all his servants, slaves, and
other persons in his employment, without paying duty, but he




OVERSEAS


37


was obliged to pay the customed costs of transportation. While
making the voyage from Mexico to Peru, he was regarded by the
generals, admirals, captains, masters, and owners of vessels as
their superior, and they were required to obey and salute him,
when not impeded by the peculiar circumstances of the voyage.
When the viceroy entered the capital of Mexico or Peru for the
first time, those engaged in the industries and trade might not
be required to go out to receive him; nor should the towns and
villages through which he passed be required to pay the expenses
of his journey.
At the beginning of his term of service, the viceroy obtained
information as to the condition of affairs in his dominions
through conferences with his predecessor, from whom also he
received the papers belonging to the office. His duties in punishing crime were not limited to acts committed during his term of
office but extended to crimes committed under his predecessors.
He exercised also the power of pardoning within his dominions
under essentially the same condition as the king in Spain. He
kept a record of the distribution of the Indians and acted as
judge of first instance in cases in which they were involved; and
in these cases an appeal lay to the audiencia. He had, moreover,
the power to place the Indians in positions of feudal dependence,
as provided by the laws relating to encomiendas, in case they
were not already in this position at the time he assumed the
duties of his office. The viceroy of Peru might be attended by a
captain and fifty soldiers, and each soldier should receive a
salary of three hundred dollars, and the captain, six hundred
dollars. The viceroy of Mexico might be attended by a captain
and twenty soldiers. The term of the viceroy's service was fixed
at three years, counted from the day of his arrival in the City of
Mexico or Lima, but he might hold his position for a longer or
shorter time according to the will of the king. In Peru he received a salary of thirty thousand ducats, in Mexico, twenty




38


SPAIN


thousand; and these amounts were reckoned from the day
on which he assumed his duties until the arrival of his successor,
it being provided that there should not be paid at any given
time two salaries for the same post. For the journeys from and
to Spain six months each were allowed, and both voyages were
made at the public expense.
Mendoza arrived in Mexico in I535. He was made president
of the audiencia and acting captain-general. His authority extended to all affairs of government; but at the same time his
position furnished no exception to the rule under which nearly all
the offices of Spanish America were ordered, namely, that every
office in the administration should be checked in the exercise of
its function by some other office. The viceroy might be checked
by the audiencia, and both might correspond directly with the
Council of the Indies. "But any beneficial effect which this
might have had in protecting the people, was counteracted by the
inordinate power of the viceroys, and their consequent means of
influencing the audiencia, and every other subordinate authority,
civil, military, judicial, or ecclesiastical." The viceroy's power
was, however, in certain respects limited. He could not create
offices and increase salaries without the special authority of the
king. He could not extend the term of an office beyond the
point fixed by law; and, if any person should hold office under
such pretended extension, for his services during such time he
should receive no pay.
On his arrival at the capital Mendoza was received with
marked distinction by the public authorities; but, on this first
occasion of the reception of a viceroy, the ceremony was much
simpler than it became later. In the course of time the whole
journey of the viceroy from Vera Cruz to Mexico assumed the
character of a triumphal march. Arches were erected along the
way, and the inhabitants of the towns through which he passed
came out in holiday attire to do him honour. His entrance to




OVERSEAS


39


the capital was made the occasion of displaying all the magnificence which the city could lavish on a high state ceremony. The
expenses attending this display became at length so great that
the king issued a decree limiting to eight thousand dollars the
sum that rpight be expended for this purpose on any single
occasion.
The most important political event in Mendoza's reign of
fifteen years was the publication of the "New Laws." These
laws proceeded from the Council of the Indies, under the sanction
of the emperor, and were designed to bring about new relations
between the Indians and the Spanish settlers. Under the system
of repartimientos or ecomiendas, the Indians had been the serfs
of slaves of the Spaniards. At first, while Columbus was governor in the Indies, lands were apportioned to Spaniards, with
authority to require them to be cultivated by a certain specified
cacique and his people. Later, under Governor Ovando of San
Domingo, an encomienda of a certain number of Indians was
granted, and the grant of Indians was not always accompanied
by a grant of land. The encomienda has been defined as "a
right, conceded by royal bounty to well-deserving persons in the
Indies, to receive and enjoy for themselves the tributes of the
Indians who should be assigned to them, with a charge of providing for the good of those Indians in spiritual and temporal
matters, and of inhabiting and defending the provinces where
these encomiendas should be granted to them." The clause in
the terms of the grant requiring that the Iridians should be taught
"the things of our holy Catholic faith" was from the first treated
as a mere formality and had little or no influence in determining
conduct. The change in the character of the grants, from those
made under Columbus to those made under Ovando, was a
change from serfdom to slavery. When pressed by suitors for
royal favours, Ferdinand, having little else to give, gave Indians;
and some of the recipients of these gifts intended to go to the




40


SPAIN


Indies, while others intended, as absentee proprietors, to farm
out their Indians.
On February 22nd, 1512, the King issued from Burgos an
ordinance providing that no one, of whatever station, in the
Indies, should hold more than three hundred Indians under the
laws providing for their distribution among the settlers. If any
one had more than this number, the excess should be taken away
and distributed among the neighbouring residents, and if, at the
expiration of thirty days after the publication of this ordinance
in the island of Espafiola, anyone were found to have more than
the prescribed number, he should be deprived of all he had and
in the future would be incapable of holding others. In such a
case the person making the accusation would be entitled to onethird of the Indians, and of the other two-thirds the judge rendering the decision should receive the fifth part, while the other
four-fifths should be distributed among the neighbouring settlers.
The laws promulgated in December I5I2, relating to the
system of encomiendas and known as the laws of Burgos, provided that the Indians should be first brought among the Spaniards; that all gentle means should be used towards the caciques
to persuade them to come willingly. "Then for every fifty
Indians four large huts, fifteen by thirty feet, should be made
by their masters." A certain amount of land for growing yucca,
yams, and pepper, and a certain number of fowls should be set
aside for the support of each fifty Indians. A chapel should
be constructed where prayers might be said both morning and
evening. When the holders of encomiendas were engaged in
mining, the Indians were required to work five months at a time
in the mines, with forty days intervening between the two
periods, during which they might till the land on their own
account. Each year a small amount of money was given to the
Indians with which they might purchase clothes. In each
settlement there were two visitors, or inspectors, but inasmuch


I




OVERS EAS


4I


as they might have encomiendas, they could not be expected to
judge the system impartially. The caciques were permitted to
have only six Indians in their service, and the cacique and his
servants were to be allotted to the Spaniard holding the largest
number of Indians of the same tribe.
Whatever may have been the wishes of the crown as to the
spread of tlis system, it became clear very early that the great
advantage in it for the conquerors or colonists made inevitable
its extension from the islands, where it originated, to the conquered lands of the continent. Nevertheless, the crown, by an
order dated July 26, 1523, undertook to forbid the granting of
repartimientos in Mexico and to revoke those already granted;
but the political and economic interests of Cortes and his
followers constituted an obstruction which could not be readily
removed. In view of the remonstrances and on the advice of
the Council of the Indies, the order of prohibition was withdrawn.
The practice was, therefore, continued, and the natives, under
the unaccustomed toil to which they were driven, continued to
diminish in numbers. The laws provided by the crown and the
Council of the Indies contained abundant provisions apparently designed to promote the material and spiritual well-being
of the Indians, but, under the conditions of communication then
existing between Spain and Mexico, the actual practice in Mexico
was determined rather by the wishes of the local authorities than
by the will of the King of Spain.
The system of repartimientos was also extended to South
America. It was carried out here for the first time by Pizarro in
connection with the founding of the town of San Miguel in
1532; but, at this time, conditionally "that the new inhabitants
might be maintained, and the Indians instructed in the faith,
conformably to the orders of his majesty, until it would be decided what was the most suitable for the service of God and of
the king, and most advantageous to the natives." The next




42


SPAIN


year Charles the Fifth authorized the granting of encomiendas
in Peru, and by the Law of Succession of 1536 they were granted
for two lives. It was provided, also, that one who lived in another
province might hold Indians in this relation by appointing an
agent who should reside in the province with the Indians concerned.
While these measures were being adopted, the Spanish
authorities appear not to have been definitely persuaded of the
desirability of the system. Under this condition of affairs, Las
Casas, the well-known advocate of the rights of the Indians,
announced the proposition before the council at Valladolid that
the Indians were by nature free; that, under the crown, they were
entitled to its protection; and that they "should be immediately
declared free, without exception, and forever." The argument
that their labour was necessary to the cultivation of the soil and
the development of the mines was swept away as of little weight,
since it had not been shown that the mines must be developed
or the land cultivated, if these things could be done only by the
commission of a great wrong.
Las Casas had been a conspicuous figure in Spain during the
preceding two reigns, and Charles the Fifth had grown from boyhood with a full appreciation of his strong and disinterested
character. Las Casas had been in the Indies and had, probably,
a more thorough knowledge of the public affairs of America than
any other man in Spain. His experience in labouring for the
conversion of the natives and in peaceably establishing his
dominion over them, enabled him to speak as one having
authority. He had held an estate with Indian serfs or slaves and
had liberated them in obedience to his conviction of the injustice
of the relation. His preaching in favour of liberation was followed
by his celebrated book on The Destruction of the Indies and by
the "Twenty Reasons" why the Indians should not be given to
the Spaniards in encomienda, or vassalage, or made subject to




OVERSEAS


43


individuals in any other manner. In 1539, Las Casas was in
Spain, and his great influence was directed to urging the adoption
of a law that would release the Indians from bondage and
ameliorate their condition. The advocates of this reform were
not stimulated by hopes of any material advantage for themselves, but their opponents were moved to resistance by the
prospects of the loss of wealth and power. Without being able
to command the services of the Indians, they feared the loss of
their revenues and a decline in the value of their lands. Although
they might have set up claims for vested interests destroyed,
yet there was no possibility for recovering an indemnity from
any source. The material interests of Spain herself had already
begun to decline, and extensive borrowing to meet emergencies
had not become a feature of national policy. The holders of land
in America had, therefore, grounds for supposing they would be
called to face more or less complete ruin in case the proposed
laws were passed and executed. In view of the difficulties of the
situation, the Emperor's advisers were not of one mind. The
laws, however, as they were finally issued by the Council of the
Indies were entirely in harmony with the wishes of Las Casas
and the other advocates of the liberation of the Indians. They
provided, among other things, that after the death of the conquerors, the repartimientos of Indians, given to them in encomienda, were not to pass to their heirs but were to be placed
under the king; also that all officers of the crown were to renounce their repartimientos at once. They provided, moreover,
that personal service of the natives was to be entirely abolished
and that the only right to be retained by the encomenderos was
the right to a moderate tribute.
Don Tello de Sandoval, a member of the Council of the Indies,
was appointed to carry the "New Laws" to Mexico. By his
instructions he was empowered to take the residencia of all the
royal officers, including the viceroy and the members of the




44.


SPAIN


audiencia; to exercise the functions of an oidor; to enjoy the
rights and prerogatives of an inquisitor; to extend or restrict
bishoprics; to convene the bishops of New Spain for the purpose
of providing for the spiritual welfare of the people; to improve
the colleges, hospitals and churches, and to further the establishment of new ones; and to have in hand all matters of importance
to either the crown or the inhabitants. Knowledge of the formation and character of the New Laws reached Mexico before the
commissioner, and the Spanish settlers saw themselves threatened
with the immediate loss of the results of all their toil and adventure. As feudal lords over the Indians who had been allotted
to them and as vassals of the crown, they held positions which
promised not only dignity but wealth; and these prospects were
to be destroyed at a single blow. The despair which took
possession of the inhabitants was shown by their resolution to
clothe themselves in mourning robes, as at a funeral and go out
of the city to meet the messenger of their evil fortunes. But the
viceroy dissuaded them from carrying out this plan. On the
8th of March, 1544, Sandoval arrived at the City of Mexico and
was almost immediately met with petitions and remonstrances
concerning the publication of the laws he had come to execute.
But, in spite of the strong and universal opposition of the
Spanish settlers, the laws were published in the city of Mexico,
March 24th, 1544. They were read publicly in the presence of the
viceroy, the special commissioner, the oidores, and the other
royal officials. This action of the authorities, showing a determination on their part to disregard the wishes of the encomenderos,
raised a storm of indignation which threatened to break into
open revolt. At this point Bishop Zumarraga poured oil on the
troubled waters by calling a meeting at the cathedral and there
leading the Spanish settlers to believe that, wherever the laws
were opposed to the interests of the Spaniards, they would not
be enforced. The settlers took hope not only from the address




OVERSEAS                         45
of the bishop but also from the knowledge that the clergy were
holders of important encomiendas, and that their interests in
them were likely to weaken their natural loyalty to the crown.
The ecclesiastics were, with very few exceptions, in favour of
continuing the system of encomiendas and opposed to the
liberation of the Indians. With the church as an ally, the
encomenderbs had very good grounds for believing their cause
was not hopeless.
In view of the great losses that the execution of the new laws
would entail on large numbers of the Spanish settlers and of the
resistance to the authorities that might be aroused by an attempt
to enforce them, both Mendoza and Sandoval saw the necessity
of at least delaying action. Commissioners representing the
municipality and the religious orders were sent to Spain to ask
the king to revoke at least those parts of the New Laws which
threatened the interests of the settlers. By a royal decree of
October 2oth, 1545, the desired revocation was granted. This
action filled the Spanish settlers with joy and the enslaved
Indians with despair.
That the attempt to introduce these laws did not lead to
bloodshed or a popular uprising in Mexico was in large measure
due to the wise discretion of the viceroy, Mendoza. In Peru,
where the first viceroy, Vasco Nufiez de Vela, undertook to
execute them, the outcome was quite different. The resistance
to the proposed laws assumed the form of a far-reaching rebellion,
led by Gonzalo Pizarro, which resulted in the death of the Viceroy
and the temporary suppression of all authority proceeding from
the Spanish crown.
The question concerning the relation of the Spaniards to the
Indians was not easily solved and was consequently passed on
from decade to decade. The New Laws of 1542 had proposed a
solution, but the end sought had not been reached. In I549,
Luis de Velasco was appointed to supersede Mendoza as viceroy.




46


SPAIN


Mendoza proceeded to Cholula to receive his successor and there
delivered to the new viceroy information and instructions concerning the government. During the fifteen years of Mendoza's
rule, order had been established throughout the viceroyalty;
revolts and conspiracies had been suppressed; and even the
agitation caused by the threatened execution of the New Laws
had been allayed by their postponement. The vast regions of
the north had been explored; mines had been discovered and
developed; and towns such as Guadalajara and Zacatecas had
been established.  Mendoza was transferred to Peru, and
Velasco became his successor with the understanding that he
might be recalled at the end of three years, provided Mendoza
wished to return to Mexico. Mendoza had found it advisable
to defer the execution of the New Laws, but now, nine years after
their formation, Velasco undertook to apply them. In this he
was acting under specific commands from the King. In July 1551,
the King ordered that all Indian women made prisoners of war
and all males under fourteen years of age should be immediately
set free, whether they had been branded as slaves or not. Under
this order were brought also the prisoners taken in the Jalisco
war. If any person held a prisoner of war in slavery, it devolved
upon that person to show that the prisoner had been taken in a
just war and in accordance with the law, and, failing in this, the
prisoner might go free. This measure encountered vigourous
opposition, but it was nevertheless carried, and as a consequence
of it a large number of slaves were liberated. By another royal
decree, the viceroy and audiencias were forbidden to hold Indians
in service, except for wages, and no one might hereafter demand
personal service from the Indians in payment of tribute.
Among other measures of reform belonging to this period may
be mentioned the effort of the viceroy to prevent the practice of
compelling the natives to carry heavy burdens. The clergy as
well as the laymen were guilty of this abuse, but it was thought




OVERSEAS


47


that the clergy could not be accused and corrected without
weakening their moral influence with the Indians. While Velasco
was viceroy, attempts were made to limit the authority of the
caciques in their dealings with their followers, preventing them
from inflicting capital punishment or corporal mutilations. A
little later efforts were made to cause the natives to live in the
towns in order that they might be compelled to adopt habits of
industry; and at the same time the succession to encomiendas
was regulated.
Prior to I560 the viceroy had been independent of any other
constituted authority in Mexico; his power was limited only by
the will of the king. The audiencia might correspond directly
with the king, but it could not check or modify the viceroy's
decisions. Moved by jealousy, or by real or fancied wrongs, the
members of the audiencia undertook to undermine the King's
confidence in Velasco, and thus curtail his authority. They did
not attack him openly but led the King to infer that ill health
had affected the Viceroy's mind to such an extent as to impair
his discretion and the soundness of his decisions. They demanded that he should be required to consult some council before rendering a decision on public affairs; and they succeeded in
persuading the King to decree that the Viceroy should take no
action without the previous advice and consent of the audiencia.
By this means the members of the audiencia hoped to destroy
the Viceroy's power and prestige. But the Viceroy was not without his partisans. The ayuntamiento of Mexico and the majority
of the leading Spaniards of the kingdom objected to the project
to pull down and humiliate the head of the government. Yet
the party of the audiencia so far temporarily prevailed that on the
death of Velasco, in I564, petitions from certain authorities in
the city of Mexico were sent to the King of Spain, asking for the
abolition of the office of viceroy. The petition was naturally
treated as an interference with the king's prerogatives.




48


SPAIN


Those who sought the abolition of this office wished the King
to appoint Valderrama governor, and the Marquis del Valle
captain-general. Valderrama, who was then in Mexico as
visitador, urged that a viceroy should be appointed, but that he
should not be made president of the audiencia. On the death of
the viceroy, under the law then in force, his power fell into the
hands of the audiencia; but, at the time of the death of Velasco,
the audiencia was subject to an investigation. This threw the
power practically into the hands of the visitador; but, on the
completion of Valderrama's mission and his return to Spain, all
authority was centred in the audiencia. This body, however,
was not able to command universal respect, as witness the unrest and conspiracies which disturbed the interregnum between
Velasco and his successor. When, however, the new viceroy, Don
Gast6n de Peralta, arrived in 1566, the audiencia was clearly
master of the situation. The Viceroy made light of the conspiracy,
which, it was pretended, had been put down with great sacrifice,
and by this means aroused the opposition of the audiencia. In
reply to the viceroy's report to the crown that there had been no
conspiracy, the oidores, or members of the audiencia, advanced
the charge that the Viceroy was indifferent to the welfare of the
country and even disloyal. The King determined to make an
investigation and for this purpose sent three commissioners, empowered to take possession of the government and return the
Viceroy to Spain. On the outward voyage, one of the commissioners died, but the other two, Alonso Mufioz and Luis Carrillo,
arrived in Mexico and took up the reins of authority. The cruel
and arbitrary character of their rule, as directed by Mufioz,
roused the subjects in indignation against them and led the King
to depose them. Power then fell once more into the hands of the
oidores; and, in the brief period of their administration, they
succeeded in allaying the popular fears that had been excited by
the merciless rule of Mufioz and Carrillo. They were relieved, in




OVERSEAS                         49
1568, by the arrival of the new viceroy, Martin Enriquez de
Almansa, who remained in power in Mexico twelve years, or until
I580, when he was transferred to the viceroyalty of Peru.
The efforts to break the power of the viceroy had no important
result. The office was firmly established, a kingdom had been
set up in America, and, after the reign of the viceroy Almansa,
it continued yet two hundred and forty years. The throne of
New Spain was occupied by sixty viceroys, and their average
term of power was four years. At the close of the period of
Spanish rule in America, the limits of the viceroy's dominion
embraced not only the region to which the name of New Spain
was at first applied but also the ancient kingdoms of Michoacin
and Galicia, the Californias, the peninsula of Yucatan, and
various other provinces which in the course of time had been
drawn together under the viceregal government.




v


A SOCIAL REVOLUTION AND ITS CONSEQUENCE
The transfer of the Philippine Islands to the United States
of America was the last act in Spain's great colonial undertaking.
This was the second and final loss of Spanish dominion beyond
the seas. The first of these losses was one of the results of a
social revolution in the colonies in America, the second was in
consequence of the misfortunes of war.
The colonists who established themselves in America had no
prevision of the character of the social structure destined to arise
through their efforts combined with the forces of their environment. Under influences proceeding from these two sources, the
society of Spanish America, in the beginning of the nineteenth
century, had departed widely from that which its founders proposed to establish. It had acquired new ideals, and the spiritual
life of the component parts rested, at least in part, on a new
body of traditions.
But, in the course of this change, colonial life had passed
-through three phases: the period when the veil of darkness that
for ages had hung over this part of the world was gradually
withdrawn; then the decades of settlement when centres of
civilized life were established and the growing population retained the ideals and purposes of Spain; and, finally, the decades
when part of the inhabitants were disposed to renounce the ideals
of Spain and to form a new society.
It was in the second phase of her colonial enterprise that
Spain performed the greater part of her constructive work with
reference to America. The organization formed was a creation of




SPAIN


51


the Spanish mind, the Spanish mind still true to its European
conceptions. And the government of Spain was not less true to
these conceptions in its remarkable efforts to carry,the Christian
faith to the Indians. Spanish America was, moreover, to be
assimilated to the mother country not merely with respect to
religion but also with respect to the form of society; its life was
expected to grow into conformity with the European type.
Distinct efforts were made to counteract any democratic influence or any non-European social forms that might issue from
the conditions of a new country. A titled nobility was created,
and, where titles were not formally granted, the relation of the
encomendero to his dependents offered a distinctly recognized
superior and inferior. And whatever influence the church with
its hierarchical order exerted was clearly in favour of centralized
authority and in no sense suggestive of equality or of a democratic social organization. In fact, in all the activity of the
second phase of colonial life in South America there was no
anticipation of a point of view different from that which had
been traditional in Spain.
But in the first half of the eighteenth century there were
indications that the Spanish view in its completeness had ceased
to be entertained by at least a part of the colonial population.
There were clear signs of the beginning of a new party, a new
society, opposed to the opinions and plans of Spain. As soon as
the colonists became conscious of their individuality as communities, the unconventional life of the frontier gave them a
sense of freedom and independence which led inevitably to a reaction against a social organization that was created in another
environment. This disposition on the part of the colonists was
strengthened by Spain's attitude with respect to her American
possessions, an attitude determined in large measure by the prevailing opinion that a great gulf was fixed between the Spaniards who lived in Spain and the members of a Spanish colony.




52


SPAIN


Aristocratic Spaniards, however, were not the only persons who
emphasized this distinction; it was made by every colonizing
nation of Europe. But on this subject, Spain's views were those
of an extremist.
-The deprecation of colonists was so extreme and general that
Spanish parents who emigrated held in very different regard
their children who were born in Spain and those who were born
later in America. In public affairs the same prejudice was manifest. The high civil and ecclesiastical offices were given to
Spaniards but not to creoles. But in the course of time the
creoles became a numerous class. They acquired wealth, and
many of them, taking advantage of the facilities for instruction
at Lima, C6rdoba, Santiago, Bogota, and Caracas, as well as in
different parts of Europe, became men of extensive intellectual
attainments and cultivation. They knew the circumstances and
needs of the colonies and were conscious of their own fitness to
have a part in the colonial government. When, therefore, they
were excluded from public office, they very naturally felt that
they were the victims of an unjust discrimination. By this attitude of the Spanish government all persons thus unjustly
affected, their relatives, their friends, and their dependents were
drawn together into the solidarity of an increasingly powerful
opposition.
Even in her virtuous solicitude for the welfare of her unmarried daughters, Spain strengthened this opposition and
helped to prepare for a social revolution in America. By positive
law and by the restraints of an efficient administrative system,
unmarried Spanish women were prevented from emigrating. A
large number of the persons who went to the colonies were unmarried men. The inevitable consequence of this state of affairs
was the rise of a large class of mestizos, who became affiliated
with the increasing class of creoles.




OVERSEAS


53


Another consequence of the amalgamation of the Spanish and
Indian peoples was the creation of marked differences among the
populations of different districts. The differing Indian peoples
in their union with Spaniards produced descendants of varying
qualities. Much of the character of the bold, hardy, independent
Araucanian reappeared in the Chilean mestizo. The gentle
Peruvian Indians, on the other hand, under the severe discipline
of their rulers, were unfavourably placed for developing heroic
qualities; and they passed on to their mestizo descendants the
virtues of gentleness and amiability rather than the sterner
qualities of a warlike people. Thus, in the course of time, within
the limits of her Spanish American dominions, Spain had to deal
not with one homogeneous people but with a number of nations,
who, although using a common language, were about as unlike
one another as are the nations of Western Europe. These differences of character among the inhabitants of the several political
divisions imposed a heavy administrative task upon Spain at a
time when she was undertaking to govern her vast colonial
empire under a system which took no account of social differences or the varying demands of unlike climatic conditions.
Under this state of things Spain's government of her dependencies
became gradually more ineffective, and this lessening of the
disciplinary power of the legitimate r6gime permitted the growth
of the creole-mestizo party of opposition and the development in
it of community self-consciousness and a certain sense of independence. While the application of Spain's rigid system of
colonial government might find favour in one quarter, it tended
to provoke dissatisfaction and a temper of revolt in another.
It pleased Lima, because the merchants of that city enjoyed
important commercial privileges; but Buenos Aires had not
privileges, had not even the advantages of freedom of trade, and
consequently manifested a rapidly declining loyalty; and, as
subsequent events proved, the chain of provincial administra



54


SPAIN


tions in the colonies was no stronger than the weakest link. The
triumphant self-assertion of the new 'society in one province
meant its ultimate domination in all other provinces. The line
of cleavage between the new society and the old, between the
creole-mestizo element and the Spanish element, appeared from
one viewpoint as the line between privileges and no privileges,
between the recipients of political favours and those who were
excluded from such favours.
In view of the fact that many of the Indians, notably the
Chibchas of Colombia, and the Aymaris of Peru, represented
a certain phase of civilization, the mestizos shaded off imperceptibly into the Indians of pure blood. In connection with
this fact one is able to see the importance of that feature of
Spain's policy which provided for the adoption of the Indians as
members of the colonial society. This was in marked contrast
with the English plan. The Spaniards accepted the Indian but
assigned him a social position similar to that held by the dependent class recognized in the European feudal order. With the
Indians in feudal subjection to Spaniards it was thought to be
possible to preserve in Spanish America differentiated classes
corresponding with those of Europe. But the more important
result of the adoption of the Indians into the body of colonial
society was the fact that, separated by their dependent position
from the Spanish encomenderos and official class, they became attached to or embodied in the creole-mestizo element and thus
constituted an effective part of the new society.
In what may be called the germ of colonial society, there was
no middle class between the encomendero and his dependent
Indians, but the lack was supplied in the course of time by the
appearance of the mestizos, the landless creoles, and the adopted
Indians. The development continued until the population of
Spanish America embraced, on the one hand, a class of Spanish
officials and other Spaniards who conserved the interests and




OVERSEAS


55


traditions of Spain and, on the other hand, the combined classes
of creoles, mestizos, and Indians. When this point had been
attained, a far-reaching social change was impending. Its
practical crisis, or the self-assertion of the hitherto suppressed
party, was delayed by the isolation of the colonies and the consequent absence of free intellectual activity. During the seventeenth century this isolation was practically complete, except for
the infrequent communication that was maintained between the
colonies and Spain. No enlightenment came to them from the
English colonies, for these colonies were still in the period of
their feeble beginnings, and the subjects of other European
nations were effectually excluded. The importation of books
of information was prohibited, and no ray of light reached them,
except that which passed through the Spanish ecclesiastic.
A certain change was, however, effected in the beginning of
the eighteenth century. Philip the Fifth, a grandson of Louis the
Fourteenth, ascended the throne of Spain, and the government
at Madrid was controlled in all essential particulars by the king
of France. This fact was interpreted by the French people to
mean that, so far as the French were concerned, the exclusiveness
of the Spanish colonial system was broken down. French merchants and French men of science visited the western shore of
South America, and the colonial markets were filled with wares
which had not been seen there before. Many Frenchmen belonging to the expeditions to the Chilean or Peruvian ports
abandoned their places on the ships and remained to exert a
more or less direct influence on the affairs of the colonies. But
in less than a score of years the long reign of Louis the Fourteenth had ended; the government at Madrid had become
emancipated, and the ports of the Spanish colonies were once
more formally closed against the foreign invader. The old policy
of privilege and unjust discrimination was reestablished. The
viceroys, the captains-general, the judges, the high ecclesiastics,




56


SPAIN


the bulk of the priests, in short, all the holders of desirable
offices, continued to be sent from Spain; and men born in the
colonies, whatever might be their attainments or fitness for the
posts in question, were neglected, were left without political
recognition. The line excluding the creoles, the mestizos, and
the Indians from any participation in the public affairs that concerned them was becoming every year more distinct. The unwise government at Madrid sought to strengthen the barrier
between two sections of the colonial population.
The Spanish reaction against French influence after the death
of Louis the Fourteenth tended to confirm the loyalty of the
colonial officials, but it did not remove the alienation of the increasing body of creoles, mestizos, and Indians. The line of
separation became fixed, and although the Spanish government
appears to have been entirely unaware of the fact, in the neglected
members of the colonies were laid the foundations of a new
society. From this point onward through the succeeding decades
of Spanish colonial politics we observe the decline of one section
of the population and the rise of the other section. We observe,
moreover, the attempt on the part of Spain to govern the colonies
in accordance with her original plan and the recurring evidence
of her inability to adapt herself to the changing conditions and
the changing needs of the colonies. Three facts in this history,
however, assured the superiority and ultimate domination of the
creole-mestizo class. One of these was the continuation by the
Spanish government of its uncompromising, repelling, and exclusive attitude towards that class, thus keeping alive class
antagonisms; another was the fact that the number of persons
creoles and mestizos, born in the colonies, in a given period, was
in excess of the number added to the population by immigration; a third was the fact that the creoles and mestizos were
practically the only persons who were sufficiently open-minded
to receive the liberal idea that gradually drifted into the colonies




OVERSEAS


57


from foreign countries in America. The failure of the Spaniards
living in the colonies to be influenced by imported ideas was not
due to any intellectual inferiority on their part, as compared
with the creoles, but to the fact that they were placed in a nonreceptive mood by the offices or commercial privileges which
they enjoyed and by their natural adherence to the ideas and
spirit of Spain. All the higher officials, civil, military, and
ecclesiastical, were opposed to any access of liberalism, since
their privileges were created and upheld by the government's
conservative policy, and coming as they did from Spain, they
very naturally stood for the ideas dominant in the country they
had left. Thus, the enlightenment which gradually streamed in
through the breaking walls of Spain's exclusiveness influenced
especially the members of the new society. Their attainment of
more liberal ideas through their growing connection with England
and the English colonies carried them farther and farther from
the position of those who represented the old order of things.
The new society became more and more clearly conscious of the
separation. It became conscious, moreover, that its interests
were opposed to the purposes of the Spanish government and
that these interests would be properly safeguarded only by its
control of the public affairs which concerned its members.
The discussions, the agitation, the rebellions, and the military
campaigns of the later decades of the eighteenth century and the
early years of the nineteenth century gave evidence of dissatisfaction with the old order of affairs and reveal efforts, often misdirected, to realize new ideals.
In the presence of influences designed to preserve in America
the forms and the spirit of European society, in the presence of
monarchical traditions and monarchical experience, in the
presence of a titled nobility and a powerful ecclesiastical aristocracy, there was no possibility of organizing governments or
establishing social conduct that did not involve the funda



58


SPAIN


mental ideas of the new society, and these ideas and sentiments
became dominating factors. The creole-mestizo element of the
population resented the centuries-long manifestation of Spain's
arrogance and exclusiveness; it resented the injustice of her
social discrimination; and this resentment, now that the society
was predominantly creole-mestizo, repudiated the monarchy of
Spain and all its social appurtenances. The new society made
the new states.
Thus, in the course of time, there was developed in Spanish
America a new society, embracing persons of pure Spanish stock
and also persons of mixed Spanish and Indian blood. After the
destruction of Spain's authority in America, the several geographical sections of this society, instead of uniting in a great
state as the British colonies in America had done, formed a
number of independent states and in this way continued the reaction against centralized rule, begun before the achievement of
independence. The prejudice in favour of Spaniards born in
Spain and settled in America and against Spaniards born in
America tended to disappear in the new nations. Although the
Spaniards born in Spain had for the greater part appeared as
enemies of the creoles and mestizos in the long war for independence, yet the prestige they had acquired under Spanish
rule made it impossible for them to be ignored under the new
political order. Thus, the ancient class-lines faded out under the
republican r6gime, and the new nations acquired a degree of
social unity unknown in the colonial days.




VI
SPAIN'S SUCCESSORS IN AMERICA
The inhabitants of the Spanish American states that were
organized after their long struggle for independence were heirs
of Spain, but, like other heirs, they modified their heritage by
additions and omissions. They retained much of the Spaniard's
personal dignity but laid aside in a large measure his intolerance. They softened the lines of class inequality, ceased to
emphasize distinction of race and birth, and held that the mestizo
might hold a high place in society and in the government. They
still adhered to the church but abolished the Inquisition. In
their reaction against the absolutism of Spain they conceived
the project to establish for themselves free republics, but in
carrying out this design, their heritage of political ignorance
became a serious impediment.
In spite of the fact that some of the lower clergy became advocates of liberty, the church as an organization with its heritage
of absolutism was necessarily opposed to any far-reaching plan
for individual or political liberty. In the colonial period the
church had furnished writers of distinction, many of the priests
sought to abate the cruelty inflicted on the Indians by rude
explorers and unrestrained miners, crazed by their thirst for
gold. The general result of this opposition in Spanish America
has been the lessening of ecclesiastical intervention in the affairs
of civil government. The contest in Mexico in 1928 only indicates that there the decision of the controversy was delayed.
When colonists, increasing in numbers, proceed to occupy
new territory for agriculture, they move upon the land with a




60


SPAIN


broad and fairly even front. Roads are extended from the
settled part of the country, giving the frontier communication
with the older society. Whenever the aim of an increasing population is to discover the precious metals and establish mines, it
penetrates the wilderness wherever there is hope of reward, and
the construction of roads is seldom a prime necessity. The
mountain trail serves the needs of the mining settlement, and
thus the country remains without a regular frontier, possessing
centres of civilization and smaller centres of semi-civilization
hidden in the valleys and scattered among the mountains. Some
of the countries of Spanish America answered to this character
when mines were the principal source of their production.
Existence in the mining centres of Mexico and Peru, life on
the vast Argentine plains, and existence under the climatic
conditions of Colombia and Venezuela have produced qualities
not derived from the Spanish inheritance and developed from
the Spanish colonies a series of more or less unlike nations, using
a common language but in their varied literary production revealing instances of strong nationality. Besides the natural
environment, another force that has made for national differentiation in the growth from colonies to independent states is
seen in the variety of native groups that have been brought into
relation with the dominant Spaniards. The strong and independent Araucanian has left his mark on the body of the Chilean
nation, and the gentler Peruvian is what he is by reason of his
contact with the Indians who for many generations had submitted to the authority of the Inca empire. In a greater or less
degree, the mind and spirit of the Indians have entered into the
Europeans associated with them in all of that vast region from
the northern border of Mexico to the southern limit of Chile.
The modifications of character and mental attitude that have
descended from colonial days have not proceeded merely from
the mixture of blood but also from unconscious imitation in the




OVERSEAS


ordinary intercourse of life. By this double process a new people
came into being, acquiring political independence after three
hundred years of colonial subjection.
The rise of independent nations in Spanish America was attended by a change of literary, as well as political, activity. In
the colonial period almost insurmountable obstacles were
maintained against printing and the importation of books. The
church, religion, and history from the ecclesiastical point of
view had especially engaged the attention of writers in the
colonial period, but when the people had declared for independence, a multitude of writers turned their attention to secular
affairs, particularly to questions of politics. They were embarrassed in their advocacy of independence by the lack of newspapers, but this want was in a measure supplied by the appearance of a number of small journals that were sometimes issued
to champion a special cause and ceased to exist when the cause
was either won or lost. Some of these publications survived a
few issues only, or even only a single issue, while others ran for
a year or longer. Their form was ordinarily a small quarto. The
Aurora, published at Santiago de Chile, was, however, of larger
form than most of the others, and it presented in its columns
some of the noted letters or addresses of the early leaders of
political thought in the United States. The enthusiastic manner
in which these papers were received by the people indicates
that the thought and interest of the bulk of the population had
moved far from the old colonial standard.
These little journals mark the transition from the arbitrary
control or suppression of the press to the full freedom enjoyed
by it after the revolution, but writers of the older manner still
persisted and chronicled the more or less insignificant and routine
doings in the churches. The dominant note of Spanish American
literature had, however, been set by the great undertaking to be
free, and the worthy outcome is seen in the later literary produc



62


SPAIN


tion of the larger states. In their literature one may observe the
noteworthy individuality of these states. The historical writings
of Chile, for example, reveal genuine distinction among the
South American republics, and Colombia, for her poets, holds a
conspicuous position. Thus, while the old colonial order aimed
to secure uniformity throughout Spain's American dominion, the
new order of liberty encouraged political education and the
freedom of the spirit to adjust itself to its most propitious
environment.
Both Spain and England held a low estimate of their colonists.
When the colonists became conscious of their increased political
and social importance, they resented the attitude of the mother
country that was suggested by this opinion. After this there was
only the question of a pretext for revolt. The immediate pretext for revolution in neither case was-fundamental. Back of all
pretexts existed the increasing and involuntary push for national
birth. When the crisis of the British colonies drew near, they
had made important development. The organs of local government were in form, and the geographical position of the colonies
facilitated the formation of agencies for expressing national
activity.
The Spanish Americans, on the other hand, had to face certain
difficulties arising from the fact they had no background of
democratic national traditions. The British colonists were
strongly moved to be free from the domination of the mother
country, but no temporary antagonism or even war was able to
annul the effect of a thousand years of political activity. Wherever a little group of Englishmen was gathered on this continent,
there was a centre of political activity, and as the group increased,
a government was developed. Thus, as the colonies grew, the
organization grew to meet the increasing need for regulation and
control. When, therefore, British interference ceased, a government was ready at hand, adequate to meet the needs of civilized




OVERSEAS


63


society. A very different state of things prevailed in Spanish
America. The people had only weak traditions of political
activity, they were not left to create their colonial administrations, and this, on the withdrawal of Spain's interference, they
had before them the work of creating state governments among
the ruins of the old r6gime and with hands untrained to the task.
The development of political institutions in the territory of 
the British colonies was from local to higher forms of government, while the effective organization of the Spanish colonies
began with a central institution established by absolute authority where the lower forms of government were created by power
proceeding from the centre, and only the lowest organization,
the municipality, took root in the soil. The withdrawal of Spain
left, therefore, the town as the only remaining political body.
These disconnected political units were scattered over the vast
territory of Spanish America with very imperfect means of
communication and with practically no common interests. The
inhabitants, who had lived under a government in which they
had had no part, were without political experience and had
naturally little disposition to sacrifice any part of their local
interests for the sake of a common good of which they had never
dreamed. If they had had any thought of the common government, it was doubtless the wish that its agents might keep as
far as possible from their doors. Yet, the creation of permanent
governments, each covering a definite region and its inhabitants,
was necessary to the maintenance of order and progress within
the territory released from Spain's control, and the establishment of such governments was the task to which the people of
Spanish America had to put their hand upon the overthrow of
their ancient sovereign.
In carrying out their political undertaking, the emancipated
colonists not only suffered the handicap of political inexperience
but also encountered the obstacles presented by their vast,




64


SPAIN


differentiated, and sparsely-peopled territory. Spain, that stood
stoutly for governmental unity, had to increase the number'of
viceroyalties in America and recognize as only a little lower in
dignity the governments established in Chile, Guatamala, and
Venezuela. Nature had contributed in a large measure towards
fixing the boundaries of the states that were to arise in Spanish
America after the revolution. The city of Mendoza and its adjoining territory east of the Andes acknowledged allegiance to
Chile for a certain period, but ultimately a line along the summit
of the Andes separated Chile from Argentina. The desert north
of Chile was thought to offer a proper state limit until its deposits
of nitrate were discovered. The long isolation of the inhabitants
of the Colombian tableland gave them a sense of independence
and furthered their progress towards statehood. Between
Argentina and Bolivia lay the mountain barrier and the contrasts of the mining and the pastoral life. Even Spain, while
giving the same fundamental laws to the north and the south,
recognized the need of separate agencies of administration for
Mexico and South America. When, therefore, the Spanish
Americans set themselves to the task of creating states, the
natural features of the territory and traditions from the colonial
administration helped to fix the limits of these states.
The territorial limits of the proposed states were, in fact,
determined already at the time of the revolution, but there remained the important inquiry concerning the form of the governments to be established. Not all of the inhabitants supported
the cause of the revolution. Spanish America, as well as British
America, had its tories, and these persons favoured maintaining
such a connection with Spain as would be secured by setting up
Spanish princes in America. The advocates of completely independent republics naturally opposed this view and found an
argument in favour of their contention in the order and prosperity of the United States (i).




O V E R S E A S


65


After the thought of calling Spanish princes had been put
aside and European models of government had been rejected, the
people looked to the United States for suggestions. That
government was then simple and economical. It stood as the
guardian of-the general interests of the nation and gave little or
no evidence of a disposition to encroach upon the legitimate
domain of the states. The United States, moreover, presented
the most conspicuous instance of organized democracy. The
Spanish Americans had, thus, many reasons for approaching the
United States and 'gathering such political suggestions as that
nation's forty years of freedom had to offer. There was a certain
bond of sympathy between the two peoples in that each had
made an heroic and successful struggle for independence, that
each was a new people in a new land, and that each was anxious
to find a new and better way in politics.
It was less difficult for the emancipated colonists to imitate
the government of the United States than that of any of the principal governments of Europe because it was less determined by
custom and more by written laws. When a constitution was
needed, the fundamental law of the United States could be taken
and adapted to the country seeking a government. The new
constitutions, when they came from the hands of their framers,
were found to be generally much longer and covering more details than the model. This was, at least in part, due to familiarity
with the voluminous and specific Spanish colonial law. The
federal constitution of the United States might be adequate,
though brief, since much of the business of governing was
directed by laws of the states, while each of the Spanish American
states embraced all governmental activities under a centralized
organization, and the constitutions of these states became in
some sense composites of the federal and State constitutions of
the United States. In the course of time some of these states
carried their imitation of the United States a step further and




66


SPAIN


called their governments federal governments but without, in
some cases, an adequate development of the constituent states.
Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela are in this class.
The formation of the new states was attended by far-reaching
economic changes. The old world of prohibition, restrictions,
and monopoly disappeared, and the economic freedom thus prepared was hardly less important than the political freedom
established by the revolution. An absolute state and an absolute
church in cooperation had prohibited trade with foreign nations
and subjected trade between Spain and her colonies to elaborate
restrictions. Books were conceived to be extremely dangerous,
and those persons who by chance had come into possession of a
few of them kept them hidden in the most secret places of their
houses. The authorities predicted and emphasized the evils of
positive knowledge. A person who had caused The rights of man
to be printed was held to be unfit to be at large in any community and suffered years of imprisonment. The free introduction of
books prepared the dawn of a better day. Light from new
sources stimulated public interest in political affairs and made
possible the maintenance of governments that have a stable basis
in popular intelligence and knowledge. The government that
had been put aside had had ecclesiastics as its chief advisers,
men wise in the things of the other world, but these new republicans had for the solution of their political problems need
of all the suggestions a freely-imported worldly literature could
offer.
All trade between Spain and the colonies had been subjected
to rigid control, which was sometimes exercised to the advantage
of one district and to the disadvantage of another. The bulk of
Spain's trade with South America was carried on with Peru,
while the trade with Buenos Aires was limited to two small ships
a year. The exchange of Peruvian exports for imports was made
for a long period at the fair on the Isthmus of Panama, and the




OVERSEAS


67


Peruvian monopoly was so thoroughly established that goods
were sometimes entered there, taken across the Isthmus, down
the coast to Lima, and overland half the length of the continent
to Buenos Aires. The new governments early undertook to
abolish these and other unjust trade discriminations and prepare
for the unhampered commercial development of their several
territories in accordance with their proper resources. The nearly
complete exclusion of foreign nations from trading with the
Spanish colonies had caused the colonial markets to be scantily
supplied and the great body of the people to remain accustomed
to a simple manner of living. When independence was achieved,
there was no prospect of their wants being greatly expanded
immediately. This fact was not sufficiently impressed upon the
minds of foreign traders who saw the ports of Spanish America
thrown open to them and imagined rich harvests to be gathered
in the fabled land of gold and silver. But when their high-loaded
ships arrived, they found that the supplies they had brought far
outran the wants of the people, and in some cases there seemed
no better way out than to allow both ships and goods to rot in
the harbours.
The eagerness of certain European nations to trade with the
liberated Spanish colonists suggested to the inhabitants of the
continent that instead of "trade following the flag," the flag
might follow the trade. Instances of the latter sequence of
events, as in India, for example, were sufficient to call attention
to the possibility that another case might be added to the list.
The forty years of political turmoil and aggression then ending in
Europe naturally stimulated a desire in the Americans to remain
outside of the European political system, and it devolved on
some one of the American nations to give voice to this desire.
The United States were then not powerful, but had already an
established position, and at that time was the only nation that
could have properly assumed the right to be the spokesman of




68


SPAIN


the continent. The Spanish American states had not fought the
last battle of the long war that was to confirm their independence.
It was, therefore, inevitable that, if any protest against European
aggression was to be made, such a protest had to come from the
United States. And it is not to the discredit of the little nation of
six million members that it dared to stand as the champion of
the national liberty and independence of the whole group of
American nations. Although the utterance of the Monroe
Doctrine carried no suggestion of a protectorate, it might have
been foreseen, perhaps, that it would become a source of irritation after the new nations had reached maturity, for they and
their ancestors had been a hundred years longer on the continent
than their British neighbours who had assumed to announce a
continental policy.
When this announcement was made, the battle of Ayacuoho
had not been fought, and it required no especially penetrating
vision to enable one to see that Spain's only means of saving
anything from her vast American possessions was to call to her
assistance one of the European powers and divide with it whatever might be saved from the wreck, but President Monroe's
announcement helped to make such an enterprise unattractive.
That Monroe's position was not seriously challenged at that
time may possibly be found in the knowledge of the weakness of
the United States and in the thought that the protest might be
swept away when necessary. The long struggle of the new nations against Spain was a sufficient indication that they were,
and would continue to be, opposed to any intervention of the
European states' system in America. This was nothing more or
less than the attitude assumed by the United States in the Monroe Doctrine. This utterance was, therefore, an announcement
that the United States had, on one point at least, the same
interest as the Spanish American nations and stood in a spiritual
alliance with them. This announcement assumed, as there was




OVERSEAS


69


reason for assuming, that all the states of the continent were
opposed to aggression by the states of Europe and that the
United States stood as the champion of all the states. It was
fortunate for both British and Spanish America that the French
Revolution and the Napoleonic wars had left Europe too weary
of war and too nearly exhausted to be willing then to take up
the American challenge.
Thus, the new nations started on their independent careers
with none to molest or make them afraid, and if later they encountered political troubles, these were by foes of their own
households, furthered by lack of political training and by the
want of proper lines of communication between isolated groups
of inhabitants. Rejecting the authority of the old regime during fourteen years of war had tended to weaken respect for all
authority and made the seizure of power by local leaders and
their union, or subjection, by the strongest serve as steps from
political anarchy to established government. Whatever might
be the variations from this process, the way was the alwaysdifficult road from political absolutism to democracy.
The free states of Spanish America met peculiar difficulties in
attempting to establish democratic governments. The idea and
recognition of equality were foreign to Spanish colonial society.
The New Englanders moved upon the wilderness, and the
Indians disappeared before them. The society there established
had no place for the Indians, and as the old-world distinctions
among the immigrants faded away, the new communities, composed of members of a single race, revealed a large measure of
democratic equality. The Spanish colonies presented a very
different aspect. They were composed of Spaniards, creoles,
mestizos, and Indians, for here the Indians found a place in the
new society, although an inferior place. The presence of these
distinct classes and members of two different races made democratic equality quite impossible, at least in the beginning. This




70                    SPAIN
heritage of the new estates from their colonial ancestors offers an
adequate reason for whatever failure attended the early efforts to
establish democratic governments in Spanish America.
When a nation has lived through all republican forms from
aristocracy to complete manhood and womanhood suffrage, submitting complicated laws and difficult administrative problems
to popular vote, it is not probable that this situation will satisfy
the nation permanently, whence long life for a republic hangs on
its delay in approaching this democratic finale.
The Spanish American republics have been slow in acquiring
stability, and their reluctance to assume the more extreme
phases of radical democracy, if continued, will help to insure the
continuance of republican institutions in their several territories.




VII
SPANISH REGIME IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
Spain's relation to the Philippine Islands differed widely from
the relation maintained towards the colonies in America, and
this difference was in large measure due to the geographical
position of the Islands, to their dependence on Mexico, and to
the absence of the precious metals. When emigrants from Spain
found themselves in Mexico, where the vast deposits of gold and
silver stimulated their hopes of wealth, there was little in the
prospect beyond the Pacific to tempt them to undertake the
long journey. Even persons who had planned to go to the
Philippines were liable to become involved in affairs in Mexico
while awaiting the annual sailing. The fact that the Spaniards
had made settlements only along the coast and had hardly
penetrated the interior did not attract persons who found in
America an apparently boundless field of adventure. Thus, the
lone ship that sailed once a year across the unfrequented sea
carried as passengers chiefly officials and employees of the
government.
The character of Spain's policy with reference to her colonies
was to a very great extent determined by her long crusade against
the Moors. This struggle was a part of the crusades. The other
part was carried on by the European nations in Palestine. In the
East the crusades came to an end by reason of the waning interest of France, Italy, and Germany. These nations were at
liberty to cease from the conflict, whenever they were weary of
it, without loss of territory or diminution of national honour.
But the western wing of the Mohammedan force was within the




72


SPAIN


borders of Spain. Therefore, although the struggle was ended in
the East, Spain was obliged to carry it on single-handed in the
West. For two hundred years after the last half-hearted crusaders of France had retired, Spain continued the war with
unabated zeal, not merely to defend Western Europe from the
Mohammedan conqueror but to preserve her honour, to defend
her territory, to maintain her religion, and to perpetuate her
national existence.
Seven centuries of conflict with a non-Christian people fixed
the essential features of Spain's national character and strengthened her devotion to the forms and doctrines of the church.
They made her intolerant, for the difference of belief had for
centuries been the real ground of her hostility to the Moors. The
Spaniards have not consciously and willingly made themselves
conservative and intolerant. The nation has acquired its character as other nations have acquired theirs by the force of inheritance and environment.
The year which closed the Moorish wars was the year of the
discovery of America. The experience of the nation had given
it the spirit of a crusader, and with the overthrow of the unbelievers in the Peninsula the Spaniards needed a new field for
their pious ambition. This was furnished by the uncivilized
pagans of America and the Philippines, and in occupying this
field Spanish colonization partook of the character of a crusade.
No instructions to the royal agents in the New World were
oftener repeated than those which commanded these agents to
keep especially prominent all those measures that would contribute to the conversion of the Indians and to their growth in a
knowledge of Christianity.
In keeping with this general purpose, severe restrictions were
imposed upon migration to the colonies, in order that unworthy
persons might not have an opportunity to exert an evil influence
upon the native inhabitants. All persons converted from Juda



OVERSEAS


73


ism or Mohammedanism to the Catholic faith were forbidden
to emigrate. The same prohibition applied to the children and
grandchildren of persons who had been under the ban of the
Inquisition and also to the descendants of persons who had been
burned at the stake or condemned for heresy. By this means it
was designed to keep the Indians free from the influence of
heretics and provide for their conversion to the orthodox faith.
And, to make this prohibition effective, heavy penalties were imposed upon persons who should in any way contribute to the
violation of these restrictions.
Since Spain has fallen from the relatively high position which
she once occupied, and her colonies have either become independent states or have been brought under the authority of other
nations, it is almost inevitable that her achievements should be
underestimated; for failure in politics and war leads the world
generally to think lightly of all the other phases of a nation's
activity. In fact, it has already become the habit to disparage
the features of greatness displayed by Spain in exploring and
colonizing America and the islands of the Pacific. We can hardly
expect that the American will render a just judgment in this case,
for he is the historical antagonist of the Spaniard, and because of
political rivalry he has always found it difficult to appreciate
fully the achievements of the Spaniards. The Spaniard is conservative, while the American is radical. The Spaniard is skillful
in formulating rules and methods, the American is prompt in
action. The Spaniard's power in constructing legal forms is seen
in Spanish colonial legislation, which is more completely unified
and systematized than that of any other nation. The laws made
for the Spanish colonies were applied to every part of Spain's
vast possessions beyond the sea. The supreme court that was
established in the Philippine Islands had the same form of
organization as that established at Buenos Aires or Guatamala.
They were all created under a common law. And the municipal




74


SPAIN


government that was set up in Chile was formed under the general
law which determined the organization of the municipal governments in Mexico and the Philippines. The whole realm of
Spain's colonial dominion was subject to a single body of laws
which secured to all parts of this dominion similar institutions
and the same practical methods.
The most striking difference between the colonial policies of
ain and England relates to the control exercised by the two
nations over their respective colonists and the colonial trade. All
the ports of England were open to emigration to the colonies or
to trade with them, and the English authorities paid little or no
attention to the character or standing of the persons who proposed to emigrate. Spain, on the other hand, during the greater
art of her colonial period allowed ships to depart for the
lonies from only one port, at first the port of Sevilla, later the
p rt of Cadiz, and the most rigourous scrutiny was exercised
respecting the emigrants. The British colonist, having reached
America, was free to visit or reside anywhere in any of the colonies, while the Spanish colonist was required to announce his
destination before his departure, and the law presumed that after
his arrival he would remain within the district, or jurisdiction,
indicated. Between the two policies there was the contrast of the
largest liberty, in the case of England, and the most rigourous
restriction on the part of Spain.
In estimating the results of Spain's influence in the Philippine
Islands, one must take into account not only the persistently
benevolent intentions of the king but also the uncontrolled
malevolence of subordinate officers and irresponsible private
persons. The king might design the well-being of the islanders,
but if his agents had other designs, he was powerless to carry out
his intentions, for it must be remembered that during the greater
part of the Spanish colonial period, the crown had only the most
infrequent, and often indirect, communication with the Philip



OVERSEAS


75


pines. Until the early part of the nineteenth century the Philippine Islands were under the viceroy of Mexico, and the connection between these two parts of the vice-kingdom was maintained
by a line of ships between Acapulco and Manila, and the schedule
of sailings was one ship a year each way; in fact, the trip from
Acapulco to'Manila and return lasted usually thirteen or fourteen months.
Under this condition of affairs, the local officers and private
merchants might abuse the confidence of the king with impunity;
and that they often did this is evident from such appeals to the
king as that made by Domingo de Salazar, the first bishop of the
Philippines. Having learned of abuses by the Spaniards, the
bishop was moved by the hardships which the people suffered
and petitioned the king that these abuses might be removed.
The people, he affirmed, "ought to be feasted and favored, in
order that they might become attached to the Catholic faith,
and understand the mercy of God in bringing them to a knowledge of it." In 1583, when the bishop wrote, there were clearly
two opinions respecting the manner in which the Filipinos should
be treated, just as there have been two opinions ever since.
There is no doubt that many men, whose purpose was rather to
spoil than to convert the heathen, found their way to the Spanish
colonies. There is no doubt, moreover, that many men have
appeared in the Philippines since they have come under American
authority, who have had more interest in making great immediate
gains than in protecting the Filipinos or in rendering them secure
in the possession of their property and their opportunities. But
it is not safe in either case to affirm that the persons who would
spoil the weak represent the real designs of the nation to which
they belong. Whether Spain's colonial expeditions and settlements were carried out by more or less unprincipled men than
the similar undertakings of other nations is a subject that at
this point need not be minutely investigated. A more profitable




76


SPAIN


inquiry concerns the specific influences exerted by the Spaniards
for the promotion of civilization among the Filipinos; and such
an inquiry will probably indicate that no influences proceeding
from the Spaniards were more important or more far-reaching
in their civilizing effect on the Filipinos than those which resulted in making them a Christian people. It may be difficult to
determine to what extent their conversion modified their fundamental race ideas, or to find out how far their thoughts about
Christianity coincide with the thoughts of Western Christians
on the same subject.
In spite of the fact that the bulk of the Filipinos have apparently retained their fundamental ideas of religion without great
change, there is no doubt that the church, in the course of the
centuries of its domination, has impressed upon their minds a
large number of practical ideas. Through the influence of these
ideas, the Filipinos have, to a certain extent, been turned away
from the oriental point of view and made to see things as Spaniards see them. The Spaniard, through long contact with the
Moors and the infusion of a certain amount of Jewish and Moorish blood, became something of an Oriental, while the Filipino,
through long contact with the Spaniards and the infusion of a
certain amount of European blood, has become something of a
European. In this way the two peoples approached a common
character.
On their arrival in the Philippines, the Spaniards found the
people still under a tribal organization that apparently contributed very little to the preservation of order and peace, for
in the words of a writer in the last half of the sixteenth century,
"these people declare war among themselves at the slightest
provocation, or with none whatever. All those who have not
made a treaty of peace with them or formed with them the
blood compact are considered as enemies. Privateering and
robbery have a natural attraction for them. Whenever the oc



OVERSEAS                        77
casion presents itself, they rob one another, even if they be
neighbors or relatives."
Under the influence of the Spaniards in the sixteenth century
a sudden change was made in the social condition of the Islands.
The Filipinos were led to acknowledge a superior political authority, tribal allegiance disappeared, and in the towns, as they
gradually grew up, there was formed a nucleus of a more or less
cultivated society that in the course of time acquired a certain
European character. The schools that were established made a
few of the young Filipinos familiar with subjects ordinarily presented in a European curriculum. When in the course of years
young men desired more advanced instruction, they naturally
went to Spain and at the end of their studies returned to the
Islands more or less thoroughly Europeanized. They returned,
moreover, with an ambition to make the institutions of their
native country more like those of Europe. They became lawyers
and officers in the civil service, and in both capacities they were
instrumental in spreading among the people a knowledge of
European law on which the public administration was founded
and which had been adopted to fix the relations of private persons to one another. The civil law having been made the basis
of the legal system of the Islands, all persons in seeking to acquire
a knowledge of this system were necessarily led to consider the
social conditions in Europe under which this law arose. The law
and the administrative system thus constituted the road by
which the cultivated minds among the people were drawn back
to the ancient source from which European nations have derived
much of their culture and legal wisdom. The importance of
bringing an oriental people under European law cannot be easily
overestimated. It is a purely practical process, and in the case
of the Filipinos it was an essential step in the development of a
civilized society. The government of the United States in enter



78


SPAIN


ing upon its task in the Philippine Islands derived a very great
advantage from Spain's preliminary work.
An important step, often an exceedingly difficult step, in preparing for the rise of a rude people to a higher stage of cultivation is the destruction of ancient social forms and prejudices.
Without this preliminary work the reconstructive process is impossible. If one would rebuild a city and make it more beautiful,
he must first clear away the ruins and ugly buildings that
cumber the ground. If one would rebuild society and give it
better institutions, he must first clear the ground of such organizations and ideas as are incompatible with the execution of
the new design. If old institutions have become rigid by long
continuance and are maintained by an uncompromising conservatism, the changes required to introduce a new and better
social existence become difficult, if not impossible. Caste as it
appears in India furnishes a pertinent illustration. It has become rigid by continuance through a long period; it is upheld by
conservatism that is intensified by religious fanaticism; and it is
entirely incompatible with the intellectual receptivity and free
intercourse of progressive society. It presents an unwavering
resistance to England's attempts to ameliorate the condition of
the Indian people by the introduction of the new ideas and new
institutions that would contribute to the freedom, the enlightenment, and general well-being of the people.
Obstacles like those presented by the system of caste in India
are not encountered in the Philippine Islands. There is a strong
tie of social union in the sentiment of loyalty to a family or to a
personal superior. In the matter of social organization, the
people are apparently ready for any new thing. The church has
made its leveling influence felt, and not the least of the services
it has rendered is that it weakened old prejudices, and traditions,
and habits and made possible new governmental organizations
and more enlightened communities. It thus prepared the




OVERSEAS


79


Filipinos to take advantage of the opportunities presented to
them under a liberal government and particularly to profit by a
well-manned system of public instruction.
The rule of the Spaniards, moreover, left a marked effect on
the personal character and bearing of the cultivated part of the
Filipino people. The Spaniards habitually maintain a certain
form and ceremony in speech and conduct, and this quality they
have communicated to the Filipinos. It is, of course, easier for a
barbarous people to acquire the forms than the spirit of civilized
life. Through observing the forms, however, there comes gradually an understanding of the spirit. The Spaniards were, therefore, excellent masters in the first stages of the discipline that
makes for civilization. Through them the Filipinos attained a
noteworthy distinction among the peoples of the Far East for
their good manners and generally dignified bearing. As instructors and models in this department, the Americans would
have been greatly inferior to the Spaniards. The American goes
to the Islands as the representative of a rising civilization, but
his personal superiority does not appear in his manners. In this
respect the Filipino outranks him. The American, however,
justifies his presence as a leader and a teacher in the Islands by
the fact that he is able to carry on the work of education and the
material development of the country, from the point already
reached, more effectively than his predecessors. The Spaniards
taught the Filipinos the forms of enlightened society; the Americans are in a position to give them an opportunity to acquire its
open-minded, liberal, and practical spirit.
That the cultivated Filipinos under the Spaniards acquired
somewhat of the spirit of civilized society as well as the form is
indicated by the position of woman in the Islands. Nowhere in
the Orient is the position of woman better than in the Philippines.
Among the non-Christian Malays she is degraded by polygamy
and slavery. In China those whom society seeks especially to




80


SPAIN


favour are as irrationally treated as those who are found at the
other extreme of the social scale. In the Philippines woman is
neither a useless ornament nor a beast of burden, but a rational
being standing by her husband and contributing her part in the
struggle for existence. Even when the struggle has ceased to be
hard, she does not appear to be disposed to renounce all effort
and all responsibility. She is willing to make sacrifices for her
own education, but hitherto her opportunities have not been
commensurate with her ambition. The ordinary Filipino woman
has a liking for trade. She appears to have less vanity and more
business sagacity than her husband. In the more fortunate social
circumstances, her bearing is such as to suggest better opportunities and a wider experience than have in reality been her lot.
Like the women of Southern Europe, the women of the Philippines are attached to the church and through its influence have
been brought into a position quite different from the traditional
position of Oriental women.
But, in order that an exaggerated impression of the extent of
the Spaniard's Europeanizing influence may not be conveyed, it
is necessary to recall the fact that this influence was limited by
the Spanish policy of communicating as much as possible with
the Filipinos in one or another of their own dialects, for wherever
the native language was used there was a strong probability that
the Spaniards would descend to the Filipino's plane of thought.
The Filipinos who were to any considerable extent Europeanized
were those who acquired the Spanish language and thus had
access to European ideas. The Filipinos who had never learned
Spanish remained, except in rare cases, without much knowledge
of Europe or sympathy with Europeanizing reform. Therefore,
in discouraging the Filipinos from learning Spanish, as was extensively done under the old regime, the Spaniards positively
limited the influence which might otherwise have proceeded
from their presence. So effectual was this discouragement, or so




OVERSEAS


few opportunities for learning the language were offered, that,
after an occupation of three hundred and fifty years, less than
ten per cent of the inhabitants were able to speak Spanish. It is
to this limited number that our attention is confined when we
speak of the civilizing influence of the Spaniards on the Filipinos.
The influence of the Spaniards was further limited by the fact
that they never thoroughly mastered the country. In many
parts, instead of building roads that would penetrate the interior and open the lurking places of brigands, they were satisfied
to remain on the defensive, failing to make their force recognized everywhere. The ruder inhabitants of the unexplored and
unconquered regions acquired a certain contempt for the
civilized man and regarded him as a weakling unworthy of
imitation, for the first step necessary to make the barbarian
accept the ideas of civilization is to let him know that the
civilized man is his superior in physical force. To smite the
barbarian with a heavy hand is sometimes the surest way to
liberalize his mind. This the Spaniards did not always do when
it ought to have been done, and consequently there remained,
after centuries of nominal control, vast regions where neither the
Spaniards nor the civilization which they represented were
respected and where there was no disposition to accept their
ideas.
Furthermore, the frequent departure of the Spaniards from the
economic practices of modern Europe in dealing with the Filipinos
delayed the acceptance of those ideas which constitute the basis
of modem society. Under the Spaniards much was done by
forced labour at a time when practically all labourers in Europe
were free and received wages. Considering the relations in which
the two peoples lived, it was inevitable that the Filipinos should
regard the Spaniards as their teachers, but what they gained
from the object lesson in this case was knowledge of a state of
things that was not characteristically European, but rather




82                     SPAIN
characteristically Oriental. But in the course of time a new age
dawned: the crusading spirit became antiquated; feudalism survived only as a relic of a receding past; the union of ecclesiastical
and political functions in a single body was repudiated; and it
was clearly seen that Spain, which had stood for these things,
was no longer a competent guide.
And thus, although we recognize the zeal and heroism displayed by the Spaniards in discovery and exploration and keep
in mind their high purpose to bring to the heathen an uncorrupted faith, it may be reasonably expected that, with less of
the crusader's spirit, but with more practical sense, the United
States will carry Spain's unfinished work in the Far East to a
conclusion which the stereotyped conservatism of the older
nation made it impossible for her to reach.




VIII


SPAIN'S SUCCESSOR IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
In turning to the remote colony of the Philippines, one observes a strong contrast to the condition of affairs in Spanish
America. The centuries of Spanish control produced no noteworthy change in the greater part of the inhabitants. On withdrawing, the Spaniards left a land of semi-barbarism with a
fringe of civilization. No creole-mestizo society had been developed that might form the basis and major element of a new
nation. Persons of mixed blood had found no important permanent class of Spaniards ready to claim their alliance, and they,
therefore, remained to constitute a superior element of the native
population. The retirement of the Spaniards left no educated
class sufficiently numerous or with sufficient experience to assume
the affairs of government with a reasonable hope of success. This
was in a large measure due to the unfavourable geographical
position of the Philippines, to the lack of resources as compared
with Spanish America, and to the fact that this distant possession
was in some sense a dependency of Mexico, where the rich mines,
the varied regions inciting to exploration, and the liberality of
the Spanish government in granting lands and Indians for its
cultivation threw into shadow any attractions the Philippines
could offer. One ship, making a round trip between Acapulco
and Manila once a year, furnished all the transportation of both
persons and goods required. This was little more than the going
and coming of Spanish officials and their dependents, and when
the Islands had passed under their new sovereign, and the
personnel of the Spanish government had withdrawn, only a




84


SPAIN


negligible number of Spaniards remained. The end of Spain's
administration in America and in the Philippines thus left two
widely different social and political problems. In the Spanish
American states self-government followed as the inevitable consequence of independence. In the Philippines, long accustomed
to dependence on an absolute superior and with no knowledge
of any other form of government, the inhabitants needed
especially two things, a protector and a tutor. Without a
preconceived design the United States found itself practically
obliged to serve in both of these capacities. Here was an opportunity for popular government to make a monumental
blunder, but fortunately the Islands passed under a form of administration closely resembling the audiencia established by the
Spanish king in the beginning of Spain's colonial enterprises. In
this undertaking the President of the United States, as commander-in-chief of the army, exercised power comparable with
that displayed by the King of Spain in creating the administrative institutions of the Spanish colonies, and it minimized the
shock of passing under a new sovereign, for the people recognized
that, although the dominion had passed from Spain to the United
States, the Philippine Commission, the immediate instrument of
power, did not differ greatly in form or authority from the
audiencia long familiar as the conspicuous instrument of Spanish
government. The progress from absolute power towards the
establishment of more liberal institutions naturally inspired the
popular thought that, after centuries of Spanish absolutism, an
age of liberal government was dawning, and persons were not
wanting who mistook the dawn for high noon. They observed
the ease with which the progress was made and rushed to the
conclusion that they had no further need of tuition. Ignorance,
personal conceit, and lack of political experience urged not only
the abrogation of all the foreign forces contributing to the
political enlightenment of the people, but also the withdrawal of




OVERSEAS


85


the power that insured the undisturbed development of the
people. This overleaping ambition, if more members of Congress
had rallied to its support, might have been an impediment in the
way of Philippine progress, but this ambition, duly regulated,
bore in itself-the promise of political improvement and the hope
of a general advance in the social condition of the Islands. It is
less difficult to curb and direct the social and political ambition
of an undeveloped people than to awaken it, and this ambition
in the Filipinos has added efficiency to the efforts of the government established by the United States to facilitate the further
progress in the Philippine Islands. The difficulties encountered
by the Americans in the Philippines arose largely from the chaotic
condition of the Philippine population, the absence of social
organizations of a high grade, and the lack of traditions of order.
There were better reasons for building on Spanish foundations
than for borrowing a system from either Java or India.
Immediately after the American army landed, the military
authorities took possession of the civil offices within their lines,
collected the internal revenue taxes and customs duties, and
executed such laws relating to civil affairs as were valid at the
close of Spanish rule. As commander-in-chief of the army, the
President took steps to enlarge the scope of the civil offices and
to bring the Islands under civil authority as fast as the inhabitants could be pacified. To this end, and acting still as head of
the army without special congressional authorization, the President of the United States, after the dissolution of a First
Commission, consisting of military and civil officers, appointed
the second United States Philippine Commission, composed of
five civilians in March I9oo, "to continue and perfect the work
of organizing and establishing civil government." After the first
of September 1900 this commission had authority to exercise,
subject to the President's approval, legislative power in the
Philippine Islands, formerly held by the military governor. It




86


SPAIN


included "the making of rules and orders having the effect of
law, for the raising of revenue by taxes, customs duties, and
imposts; the appropriation and expenditure of public funds of
the islands; the establishment of an educational system; the
establishment of a system to secure an efficient civil service; the
organization and establishment of courts; the organization and
establishment of municipal and departmental governments, and
all other matters of a civil nature for which the military governor
was formerly competent to provide by rules or orders of a legislative character." One might note the likeness of this commission
to the audiencia established in Mexico.
The next step in carrying out the policy of the United States
with respect to the Philippine Islands was that in which the
President directed affairs, not as the commander-in-chief of the
army, but as authorized by definite congressional action. The
action taken by Congress in this matter was essentially the same
action as that which had been taken in the case of Louisiana.
By a law approved in October I803, it was provided that, until
Congress should have made provision for a temporary government, all the military, civil, and judicial powers then exercised
by the officers of the government of Louisiana should be vested
in such person or persons and should be exercised in such manner
as the President of the United States might direct. The language
of this act of I803 was repeated in a law passed ninety-eight years
later, approved March 2nd, 901o, giving the President congressional authority "for the establishment of civil government and
for maintaining and protecting the inhabitants of the Philippine
Islands in the free enjoyment of their liberty, prosperity, and
religion." This was the Spooner amendment to the army appropriation bill for I902. By it Congress ratified the established
authority but at the same time imposed certain restrictions
particularly with reference to granting franchises.




OVERSEAS


87


The next phase of the insular government was introduced by
the change effected July 4th, 9goI, through which the executive
authority previously exercised by the military governor in the
Philippine Islands was transferred to a civil governor. A little
later four executive departments were created: the departments
of the interior, of commerce and police, of finance and justice,
and of public instruction. The president of the commission
having become the civil governor, the four other original mem- 
bers of the commission were appointed, with the title of secretary,
to be the heads of the four executive departments. The governor
and the four secretaries continued to act as members of the
commission, which was at this time enlarged by the addition of
three Filipinos, and one of the secretaries was appointed vice
governor. Under the several secretaries were grouped the various
bureaus through which the work of the departments was carried
on.
The government thus established embraced a civil governor and
four secretaries, who, with the three Filipino members of the commission, constituted the central, or insular, legislature. To this
was added later a second house by organizing an elective legislative assembly. Besides the offices already mentioned there
was created the office of attorney-general and a system of courts
embracing the supreme court, the various courts of first instance,  /
and the local courts, such as the municipal courts and the courts
of the justices of the peace.
In most cases the Supreme Court of the Philippines had final
authority, but certain cases might be carried to the Supreme
Court of the United States. Such cases were all actions, cases,
causes, and proceedings in which the constitution or any statute,
treaty, title, right or privilege of the United States is involved,
or causes in which the value in controversy exceeded twenty-five
thousand dollars, or in which the title or possession of real estate




88


SPAIN


exceeding in value the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars was
involved or brought into question.
In establishing local governments, the boundaries of the
ancient pueblos, or townships, were recognized as determining
the territories of the new municipalities. The ancient names
were retained, and the public property of the old pueblos passed
to the new organizations. In organizing the municipalities,
the first steps were taken towards the establishment of local
self-government. The presidente, the vice-presidente and the
members of the municipal council were elected. But in view of
the limited knowledge and experience of the bulk of the inhabitants, it was found to be expedient to confine the privilege
of voting, in the beginning, to a comparatively few persons. It
was confined to those who had held some one of the principal
municipal offices prior to the American occupation, had property
valued at five hundred pesos, or who paid taxes to the annual
amount of thirty pesos, and those who could read, write, and
speak English or Spanish. It might happen that many of those
who had property worth five hundred pesos or who had previously
been municipal officers would not be able to read or write either
English or Spanish, but it was held that their ability to accumulate property or their previous experience in local government
would make it safe to confer upon them the privilege of voting
for municipal officers. By granting this privilege to the limited
number of persons who had the qualifications required, an incentive was given to the people to acquire the first elements of
the knowledge necessary to enable them to govern themselves.
This provision was in marked contrast with the law established
in Puerto Rico and Hawaii which conferred the highest privileges
of citizenship alike upon the fit and the unfit. By this action respecting Puerto Rico and Hawaii, the authorities threw away
whatever influence they might have exerted by holding out this
privilege as an inducement to the people to make themselves




OVERSEAS


89


worthy to participate in the local government. By thus bringing
into the government a vast mass of uncontrollable ignorance, the
new administrations in those islands began in confusion and with
the prospect of achievements that would not constitute a favourable recommendation of republicanism. If more Filipinos acquired and held property or acquired a knowledge of English
or Spanish, this would indicate a certain improvement, which, in
accordance with the law regulating the suffrage, would be
followed by an extension of political rights to other persons;
but if no such improvement appeared, the welfare of the local
communities would not be endangered by the presence and
authoritative interference of ignorant and shiftless persons in
public affairs.
Like many of the present townships of New England, the
pueblos in the Philippines often contained more than one village,
but each one of these villages, or barrios, had a certain territory
which was recognized as pertaining to it, and the sum of all the
tracts of territory pertaining to the several barrios coincided
with, or was the same as, the territory of the pueblo, or township. Each barrio was in the immediate charge of a member of
the town council, but the township, and not the barrio, was the
primary political unit. The town was the lowest distinct governmental group, for the barrio was simply a fraction of the pueblo,
or town.
Midway between the municipal government and the central
government of the archipelago stood the government of the
province. When the provinces, one after another, were turned
from war to peace, it became necessary to have a form of government under which they might be organized. This form was
furnished by the general provincial government act, adopted in
February 1901. In accordance with this act, the provincial
government consisted of five officers. These were a governor,
a supervisor, a treasurer, an attorney, and a secretary. The




90


SPAIN


governor, the supervisor, and the treasurer constituted the
provincial board. The attorney and the secretary were not
members of the board. The governor in the first instance, that
is to say, on the organization of the provincial government, was
appointed by the commission; later he was elected by a provincial
assembly, or electoral college, composed of the members of the
town councils of the organized municipalities of the province.
It was designed that ordinarily the provincial governor would be
a Filipino, although at the organization of the several provinces
a number of the appointed governors were Americans, and some
Americans were elected by the provincial assemblies at the
expiration of the first appointed term; still, under a normal
condition of affairs, it was expected that the governors of the
province would be Filipinos. The supervisor, charged with the
building of roads and bridges and the other public works of the
province, was required to be an engineer. Both the supervisors
and the provincial treasurers were drawn from the classified civil
service introduced by the Commission. After the general
provincial law had been formed, embracing the outlines of a
provincial government, there remained the task of applying it
to the several provinces with such modifications as might be
needed under the different circumstances.
From the foregoing statements it appears that there were two
groups of elected officers in the governmental organization
created under American authority. The first group embraced
the municipal officers, who were chosen at large by the qualified
electors of the municipality. The second group embraced the
governors of the provinces who were elected by the provincial
assemblies. A third election provided the members of the legislative assembly. These laws secured to the Filipinos a degree of
political freedom which transcended their experience under
Spanish domination.






OVERSEAS


9I


It is not to be supposed that the adult members of a barbarous,
or even of a semi-civilized, race can be lured very far from their
ideals or traditions. The elevation or the spiritual transformation of the race can be achieved only through influences
brought to bear upon the young. Thus, whatever has been done
or may be done towards the attainment of this end can be most
accurately estimated by considering the system or systems under
which the children and youth have been instructed. In indicating
the change from Spanish to American control, it is necessary to
emphasize the educational efforts of both Spain and America
with respect to the inhabitants of the Islands.
The system of primary instruction established under Spanish
rule made formal provision for one male and one female teacher
for each five thousand inhabitants. But even this inadequate
provision was never carried out. There was practically no provision made for the education of the bulk of the inhabitants.
There were few schoolhouses, no suitable furniture or apparatus,
and no proper textbooks. Where there was a schoolhouse it
was occupied by the teacher, and the school was held in a part
of the building not desired for the residence. Where there were
no schoolhouses, which was the ordinary condition, schools were
held in the residences of the teachers. School rooms entirely
without furniture were not unusual, and in this case the pupils
sat on the floor. The teachers were inadequately paid, and to
increase their meagre incomes they collected tribute from the
pupils. The instruction covered reading, writing, sacred history, and the catechism; in some of the towns the four elementary
arithmetical processes were also taught; and a little book on
geography was used as a reading book. Girls were taught
embroidery and some other forms of needlework. From the
beginning the schools were very largely, if not entirely, under
the supervision of the religious orders which were disposed to
emphasize secondary and higher education for a few pupils,




92


SPAIN


rather than to promote the primary education of the masses.
Special stress was also naturally laid on subjects connected with
the Christian religion. The result of this policy was that a few
persons stood out prominently as educated Filipinos, while the
great mass of the people were either not educated at all or were
furnished only with the rudiments of knowledge, learning merely
to read and write. The little school instruction the average
Filipino had did not give him power of independent thought.
There was a disposition on the part of the pupils to give back,
like phonographs, what they heard or read or memorized. As
a rule they possessed mechanical skill and excelled in writing and
drawing, but the Spaniards made very little use of this marked
capacity.
It is stated that when the Spaniards took possession of the
Islands the members of several of the tribes could read and write
their own languages, but it is probable that the utterances on
this subject are extravagant. At present there is no tribe all the
members of which can read and write either their native language
or any other language. During the Spanish period the system of
instruction was inefficient. The Spanish minister for the colonies
called attention to the fact that the affairs of education had fallen
into the hands of the religious orders. In a report made December 5th, I870, he said that "while every acknowledgment should
be made of their services in earlier times, their narrow exclusively
religious system of education and their imperviousness to modern
or external ideas and influences, which every day become more
and more evident, render secularization of instruction necessary."
Yet the system of instruction established by the Spaniards
remained essentially unchanged until the advent of the Americans.
In a typical school the pupils read at first a religious primer in
the native language and later a work on Christian doctrine.
They were obliged to commit to memory the exact words of the
textbook. Then the teacher heard one pupil at a time while the




OVERSEAS


93


others were studying aloud, apparently doing their best to drown
the voices both of the teacher and of the pupil reciting. The
instruction was thus tediously mechanical, noisy, and inefficient.
The schools had no daily programs and were consequently usually
in confusion. The teachers held an inferior position in the community, and little or no effort was made to increase their professional knowledge or efficiency, and they themselves manifested
little professional enthusiasm. Not only had the schools under
the Spanish regime no prescribed courses of study but also no
definite standards for each year.
While the Islands were under the control of the American
army, important steps were taken towards establishing schools
and improving the system of instruction. Better textbooks were
brought into use; officers of the army were appointed to be
superintendents of schools; soldiers in some instances were detailed to teach English; but the difficulty of getting a sufficient
number of properly trained teachers was insurmountable. Without more radical measures than the officers of the army felt
justified in taking, it was impossible to lift the schools out of
their chaotic condition.
Under the authority of the military governor considerable
sums were expended for stationery and textbooks. The Filipinos
were eager to learn English, but the soldiers detailed to teach
them were not uniformly successful. In order to render the
teaching of English more efficient, one thousand teachers were
brought from the United States and assigned to positions in the
public schools. When, therefore, the power to make laws and
control the expenditure of the insular funds passed to the civil
commission, the organization of an effective public school
system was one of a number of subjects that needed early attention.
The original bill framed to organize public instruction in the
Philippines was made brief in the expectation that it would be




94


SPAIN


amplified later, when its amendments and modifications might
be based on a fuller knowledge of the social conditions and the
needs of the people in different parts of the Islands. It had been
determined that every important bill should be discussed in
public and that any person interested might take part in the
discussion and oppose or support the provisions of the bill under
consideration. The public discussion of the educational bill
extended over many days, and a report of it is introduced in the
appendix to illustrate the method employed in the beginning in
reaching conclusions of great public interest.
Some days after the close of this public hearing the school bill
was voted. The section authorizing religious instruction in the
school buildings was adopted, but it became a dead letter in
practice. In the formation of the law establishing public instruction in the Philippines and in other important laws, careful
attention was always paid to the views of those whose interests
were to be affected, and ample opportunity was given for the
expression of these views.
The law provided that the English language, as soon as
practicable, should be made the basis of all public school instruction and that soldiers might be detailed as instructors until
such time as they might be replaced by trained teachers. To
supply the demand for trained teachers, authority was given to
the general superintendent to obtain from the United States
one thousand such teachers at monthly salaries of not less than
seventy-five dollars and not more than one hundred and twentyfive dollars. The general superintendent was to determine,
within these limits, the salary of each teacher in accordance
with the efficiency of the teacher in question and importance of
the position held.
Besides its general provisions, this law established three
special schools. The first was a normal school to be organized
at Manila for the education of Filipino teachers. The second






OVERSEAS


95


was a school of trades which was also to be maintained at
Manila and which was designed to instruct the Filipinos in the
useful trades, to give them skill in working in wood and metals.
The third was a school of agriculture which was to be established
in the island of Negros.
Before the enactment of the school law the commission had
assumed control of the schools that had come down from the
Spanish regime or had been organized under the military
authorities. To these it added, shortly after the first of September I900, a system of night schools. The eagerness of many
mature persons to learn English and the large measure of success
that attended the work of the first night school led to the early
establishment of other schools of a similar character. There
were classes for women taught by women, as well as classes for
men.
The enrollment in the night schools increased very rapidly;
the number of pupils rose in the course of a few weeks to over
nineteen hundred. Many occupations were represented; there
were clerks, merchants, newspaper reporters, bookbinders,
salesmen, teachers, police officers, firemen, secretaries, mechanics,
cigar makers, janitors, physicians, labourers, barbers, and persons
from a variety of other callings. At first, only the English
language was taught; later other subjects were introduced,
particularly history, arithmetic, and geography. Some of the
schools had classes in bookkeeping, stenography, typewriting,
and telegraphy. Persons wishing to enter the civil service, or
persons already employed in that service, resorted to the night
schools for the preparation necessary for their admission or
promotion. Filipino teachers, knowing that English would
ultimately be the language used in public instruction, took
advantage of the facilities here offered to fit themselves to hold
their positions under the new r6gime. The night schools that
were subsequently established in provincial towns where Ameri



96


SPAIN


can teachers had been stationed were attended by members of
all classes. The municipal officers and, sometimes, the governors
of provinces embraced this opportunity to acquire a knowledge
of English.
Many of the teachers of English in the regular day schools
were employed as teachers in night schools, but there were not
enough of these available to meet the demand, and recourse was
had to other persons, who, except for this work in the night
schools, were not employed in teaching.
Some of the interior towns presented a peculiar problem. Few,
if any, of the inhabitants knew any language but a native dialect.
In view of the demands of other and more important towns,
they could not be supplied by the insular government with
American teachers or with suitable Filipino teachers; they were
too poor to offer effective attractions to teachers of any sort.
There were no institutions within reach where their own youth
might be trained to be teachers. It was clear that, if they were
entirely neglected, their barbarism would perpetuate itself.
As an amelioration of the situation, it was provided by law that
the municipalities in question might expend from the school
funds, or from any municipal funds not otherwise appropriated,
forty pesos a month during the school year towards the support
of two residents of the municipality at any public secondary
school established under the department of public instruction.
The municipalities included under this provision were those
where no American public school teacher was maintained or
where there was no public school of secondary instruction. The
persons thus supported should be one young man and one young
woman between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five years, whose
parents should not be able to pay their expenses while attending a
secondary school. It was provided, moreover, that these persons
should be appointed by the president of the municipality, with
the approval of the majority of the members of the council, sub



OVERSEAS


97


ject to confirmation after one month's attendance by the principal
of the school in which they might be appointed to receive instruction. It was understood that the persons receiving this
support would be trained for teachers, and their services, on due
compensation, might be claimed by the municipality.
Under the Spanish regime, educational effort was directed to
topics not especially important for the development of the
material interests of society. This fact determined in a measure
the policy of the American government. It became clear to
the authorities very early that the theoretical teaching of the
Spaniards should be supplemented by instruction in subjects
immediately practical. To reach this end, the first school
law provided for the establishment of a school of agriculture,
a school of trades, and a normal school. If the school of
trades was not at the very beginning successful in interesting
a large number of pupils, this was due mainly to a strong social
prejudice against manual labour that existed in the Philippines,
as well as in all other lands which had been long under Spanish
dominion. A Filipino lad remarked on one occasion that the
physical training required in a school of mechanical trades was
quite appropriate for Americans who were strong in their arms,
but was not appropriate for Filipinos who were strong in their
heads. This conceit and the aversion to manual labour, developed
by the example and teachings of the Spaniards and by a climate
inducing lassitude and indolence, made it necessary to approach
the character which it was designed that instruction in the
Philippines should ultimately assume by a somewhat roundabout method. Before significant results with respect to any
form of instruction could be achieved, an enthusiasm for education had to be awakened, and the children led to acquire the
habit of going to school. These ends could not be reached by
presenting, without alternative, teaching of a kind that ran
counter to the notions and prejudices of that part of the people




98


SPAIN


who had any interest whatsoever in the schools. A beginning
was, therefore, made on the side of the Filipino's chief interests,
and it was fortunate that this involved instruction on a subject
of primary and fundamental importance.
The predominant ambition of the young Filipinos was to hold
a clerkship under the government, and they naturally did not
see how learning to work in wood and metals would advance
them towards their desired object. But when it became necessary
for the civil government to take over the telegraph lines that had
been controlled by the military authorities, a school of telegraphy
was established to prepare persons to become operators. Many
students were enrolled as soon as the school was opened, and
the number increased from week to week. Here was an opportunity for them to fit themselves for an occupation that approached closely the object of their ambition.
After the government printing plant had been established, it
was determined to make use of it in teaching young Filipinos
the art of printing and to have instruction furnished under the
actual conditions of effective work. With this end in view, the
secretary of public instruction, who exercised a general supervision over the affairs of the public printing office, wrote to the
several division superintendents of schools throughout the
archipelago and asked them to recommend a certain number of
boys to become apprentices in the bureau of public printing. It
was made clear to them that the government would cause them
to be instructed in the art of printing and that it would provide
for the most efficient of them opportunities for work in the public
printing office. Yet, even under these conditions it was found
that some of the parents to whom the subject was presented
entertained a strong prejudice against having their sons learn a
trade involving manual labour. The success, however, of some of
the boys who applied and were accepted and their subsequent
promotion in the bureau of public printing, with reasonable




OVERSEAS                        99
compensation, helped to weaken this prejudice and led to the
acceptance, by some persons at least, of a more rational view of
work. The prejudice, however, remained; and the government
had to recognize that the wishes and ambitions of the people
had much to do, in the beginning, in determining what form
of instruction could be successfully given.
In attempting to improve the condition of members of a lessdeveloped race, whether in America or Asia, the Spaniards
sought to change the most fundamental and permanent of all
racial ideas-the idea of religion. The Americans, on the other
hand, showing that much can be done for the advancement and
cultivation of a people without imposing on it a specific creed,
have corrected their efforts by applying a system of education
which, without omitting other sources of culture, emphasized
the knowledge of the practical achievement of the western
nations.
Thus, in establishing and administering a government in the
Philippines, the United States undertook to carry on every
branch of beneficent public activity which had been established
by the Spaniards and in addition to lay stress on certain phases
of instruction which had been neglected by them.




APPENDIX


AN EXTRACT FROM THE OFFICIAL REPORT OF
MEETINGS OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION
The section of the bill to organize public instruction that
excited more comment than any other was that treating the
relation of the schools to the church. It became manifest in the
course of the discussion that there were two opinions on this
subject. One favoured making the public schools in the Philippine Islands hold the same relation to the church as the public
schools in the United States. The other proposed to introduce the
system tried for a short period at Faribault, Minnesota. A
certain element in the church in America approved of this plan,
and this fact furnished a political consideration in favour of its
adoption. The section covering this subject was presented in
the following form:
"No teacher or other person shall teach or criticise the doctrines of any church, religious sect or denomination, or shall
attempt to influence the pupils for or against any church or
religious sect in any public school established under this act.
If any teacher shall intentionally violate this section, he or she
shall, after due hearing, be dismissed from public service.
"Provided, however, that it shall be lawful for the priest or
minister of any church established in the pueblo where a public
school is situated, either in person or by a designated teacher
of religion, to teach religion for one-half an hour three times a
week in the school buildings of those public-school pupils whose
parents or guardians desire it and express their desire therefor
in writing filed with the principal teacher of the school, to be






SPAIN


IOI


forwarded to the division superintendent, who shall fix the hours
and rooms for such teaching. But no public-school teacher shall
either conduct religious exercises, or teach religion, or act as a designated religious teacher in the school building under the foregoing authority, and no pupil shall be required by any publicschool teacher to attend and receive religious instruction herein
permitted. Should the opportunity thus given to teach religion be used by the priest, minister, or religious teacher for the
purpose of arousing disloyalty to the United States, or of
discouraging the attendance of pupils at such public school, of
creating a disturbance of public order, or of interfering with the
discipline of the school, the division superintendent, subject
to the approval of the general superintendent of public instruction, may, after due investigation and hearing, forbid such offending priest, minister, or religious teacher from entering the
public school building thereafter."
In the public discussion of the proposed law only a few of
those who participated spoke in favour of the provisions of this
section. All of the Filipinos but one opposed the introduction
of the proposed plan. Two or three speakers advocated projects
not involved in the bill. Thomas G. del Rosario, representing
the newly-formed federal party, wished to have the first section
require that primary instruction should be gratuitous and compulsory. He was informed by the commission that the bill as
originally drawn provided for compulsory instruction, but, in
view of the fact that existing schoolhouses and other facilities
in the Islands were entirely inadequate to provide for all the
children of school age, it was thought expedient to postpone
the enactment and enforcement of such a requirement. Sefor
Rosario urged, moreover, that the section providing for religious instruction in school buildings should be stricken out.
He expressed the belief that it would be a source of discord in
the field of public instruction. He held that the schools and the




102


SPAIN


church should be kept absolutely distinct and affirmed that this
concession to the church was opposed to the sentiments of the
mass of the Filipino people. He cited as evidence of the attitude
of the Filipinos on this question the action of the Malolos Congress which, after thorough argument, decreed the absolute
separation of the church and the state.
Modesto Reyes advocated the appointment of a council to act
in conjunction with the general superintendent and also the
establishment of a school of agriculture near Manila. Pedro
A. Paterno supported the plan of having a council to advise
with the general superintendent. He wished the law to direct
the superintendent more specifically as to places in which schools
should be established and urged that there should be a school in
every barrio or one for every five hundred inhabitants. Dr.
Xeres y Burgos appeared, as he said, not on behalf of any
political party or church organization, but as the father of a
family interested in its welfare. He directed his remarks entirely to the section treating of the relation of the church to the
schools. He amplified the arguments already advanced against
religious teaching in the school buildings and urged the omission
of this section. He feared the concession proposed would engender strife and bitterness and bring to the surface again all
the ills against which the Filipinos had struggled and from which
they now believed themselves free. Individual liberty would be
limited, and the subtle influence of the churchmen would impose itself further and further upon the consciences of the people
and gradually stifle all political freedom. If the priests of the
several creeds wished to spread their faiths, they' might do so
freely in their churches or in other places without the assistance
of the state but under its vigilance. He expressed his belief
that if the Filipinos who love their country could vote on this
question the proposed section would not be adopted.








OVERSEAS


I03


Another view of the question was presented by Manuel
Ravago, manager of Libertas, a newspaper conducted in the
interest of the friars. He spoke of the work done by the Catholic
Church in the Islands and its strong hold on the hearts and
minds of the people. The people wished their sons and daughters taught the Catholic faith and no other, and, as they supported the schools, they had the right to demand that the
teachers should be Catholics and that only Catholic schools
should be established. If other sects existed, they were in the
minority, and if they wished to teach their religion, they should
maintain their own teachers. He objected to the statement
that religion should be taught in the churches because the people
were accustomed to have religion taught in the schools and because in the country districts churches were not easily accessible.
The parents could not give religious instruction, as they were
not familiar with the church doctrines. He urged, therefore,
that religion should be taught in the schools but that the teaching should be confined to the Catholic religion. He wished the
section in question to be amended so as to provide: i. That all
primary teachers throughout the archipelago should be Catholics; 2. That as long as the Catholic religion continued to be
the universal religion professed in the Philippines it should be
taught in the schools; 3. That this religious instruction should
form a part of the daily instruction which the teacher should be
compelled to impart to the children who attended the school.
Referring to the project to take teachers from America, Sefor
Ravago argued that such teachers should be brought only in
case sufficient native teachers could not be had, and then, only
to the extent of this deficiency. He expressed his belief that
there was no need of American teachers; the teaching of English
was not a necessity. He held that the native teacher was better
qualified to teach the Filipinos than American teachers. Further



Io4


SPAIN


more, the United States could not send teachers to the Islands
because it did not have enough for its own needs.
The president stated to Sefior Ravago that the amendments
proposed were clearly in violation of the instructions of the
commission and of every principle that prevails under the
American constitutions, whether state or national, and that
they could not possibly be adopted by the commission. Sefnor
Rosario then replied to Ravago and affirmed that the position
taken by the Centro catolico de Filipinas, represented by Ravago,
was the best argument he could produce against permitting a
participation of the church in the affairs of the schools; that
what the church wanted, and has always wanted, was the exclusive control of education. He denied the statement that
seven million Filipinos, or any considerable number outside of
the religious orders, desired religious instruction in the schools.
The very thing the Centro cat6lico was contending for was the
thing that had brought down Spanish sovereignty in the Islands,
for the revolution of this people was not a political war, and was
not against the Spaniards, but was against the desire on the
part of the church to impose itself upon every action of the
people. Sefior Rosario rejected the conclusions of the previous
speaker concerning American teachers, saying that what the
Islands needed were new modes of thought and new modes of
instruction and that, as English was the commercial language
of the Orient, it should be given the first place in the instruction
of the children.
Sefior Cataline Sevilla, a Filipino teacher of much experience
and a writer on education, took up the theme that engaged the
special attention of all the speakers. He said that, while it was
the evident purpose of the law to separate religious instruction
from the teaching in the public schools, he believed that the
permission it was proposed to give to teach religion in the school
buildings, even though outside of school hours, would vitiate




OVERSEAS 


I05


the intention of the commission. He called attention to the
fact that the majority of the teachers were Catholics and subject
to the influence of the priests, at the same time affirming that
he was a Catholic. As the law in the form proposed would give
the priests the right to use the schoolhouse, the result, especially
in country districts, would be to perpetuate the old order of
affairs. The teachers would be under the religious dominion
of the priests and would be compelled to give religious as well
as secular instruction to the children; that is, they would be
required to see that the children were kept in the schoolroom
to attend to the religious instruction which the parents wished
them to receive. In case Protestants demanded this privilege,
where the teachers were Catholics, the situation would be embarrassing, for, as Catholic teachers, they might be instructed
by the priests to have nothing whatsoever to do with Protestantism.
Replying to the assertion that the churches would be inconvenient for religious instruction, Seior Sevilla maintained that
this would not be the case in Manila, while in the country districts houses could be readily found that would be suitable for
the purposes of instruction; and this would prevent the government, the children, or the teachers from having anything to do
with religious differences and the schoolhouse from being the
source of disorder.
In response to a query as to what would probably be the attitude of the people, should religious teaching be prohibited in the
school buildings, the speaker said that such an order had been
in effect more than a year, and yet over two hundred and forty
pupils were enrolled in his school, and he had noticed no falling
off in attendance. He thought that this would be the case in
all the large towns, but he could make no statement concerning
the smaller places as he was not familiar with them.




Io6


SPAIN


In a brief address, Sefior Maseras called attention to the need
of better schoolhouses, stating that he had been for eight years
an hygienic inspector, but that his recommendations had not
been followed. He referred to the fact that teachers lived in the
schoolhouses and took boarders and that frequently pigs were
staked out in the rooms. He was opposed to the coeducation of
the sexes, holding that the maintenance of such a system in the
Islands was impossible. His conservatism was further manifest
in his endorsement of the opinions of Ravago and the Centro
cat6lico and in his recommendation of an amendment to provide
for a committee of censorship for the examination of textbooks in order that they might contain nothing obnoxious
to the Catholic church or the friars.
Later in the course of the discussion Sefior Sevilla was again
heard. He referred to the fact that the law did not provide what
qualifications Filipino teachers should have in order to secure
positions, nor what disposition would be made of teachers who
had acquired rights under the Spanish r6gime. He showed
the basis of his remarks by explaining that under the Spanish
system a teacher acquired a vested right to his position and
after a certain period of service was allowed to retire on a pension. He wished to know whether such rights would be respected
by the United States, and also whether the American teachers,
would have charge of the schools and the native teachers be
merely assistants, or whether native teachers would be continued as principals, the American teachers simply teaching
English. In reply to his inquiries he was told that the selection
of teachers was left to the superintendents, and whether the
native teachers were continued as principals or as assistants
would depend upon their qualifications; that the United States
recognized no vested right to civil positions, although it was its
policy to deprive no person of his position arbitrarily or without reason, as long as he served the government faithfully.




OVERSEAS


I07


The brilliant Filipino lawyer, Felipe de Calder6n, spoke, in
the beginning of his address, in favour of the project to create
an advisory board to assist the general superintendent. His
utterances on the main topic of the discussion were more extreme than the facts seemed to justify. He said that, if the law
did not contain a provision allowing priests to teach in the
schools, within five days there would not be a child in attendance. His attention was, however, called to the fact that religious teaching had been prohibited for more than a year
without any such results as he had predicted. Still, he believed that public opinion would favour religious teaching in the
school, and he gave little weight to the provisions of the Malolos
constitution, saying that it was never enforced. Referring to
the section providing for a normal school, he inquired whether
it was designed for women as well as for men. When told that
it was for both, he stated that under existing conditions in the
Islands a separate normal school for women would have to be
provided, or no woman would attend. In this there was more of
prejudice than of prophetic vision. The fact of the admission
of both sexes has not apparently hindered the attendance of
either and has caused no more embarrassment than appears in
the normal schools of America.
The discussion of the school bill by volunteers from the general
public was closed by Sefior Pedro Serrano, who argued that the
law should provide for the compulsory attendance of children
who were not under the control of parents. In cases where there
were parents, the desire to have their children educated would
render such a provision unnecessary. He referred to the control
exercised by the church over education during Spanish times
and its suppression of all reforms in the schools. With this
church pressure removed, he believed that the Filipino teacher
would prove both willing and capable and would give good re



io8                   SPAIN
suits. When questioned as to the advisability of the coeducation
of the two sexes, he replied that he not only thought it feasible,
but that it would prove more expedient than the system followed heretofore. He expressed the belief that the Spanish
system rather conduced to immorality instead of tending to
prevent it and that the adoption of the American system would
result in gaining for women the same freedom and the same
respect that existed in Anglo-Saxon countries.




NOTES
(I) Reference is made to this subject in the author's book on
The intellectual background of the revolution in South America, 1810 -1824. New York, The Hispanic Society of America, I926.




INDEX
PAGE
Albornoz, Rodrigo  de.................................................  32
Alexander the  Sixth, Bull of...........................................  14
Alvarado, Pedro  de...................................................  32
Audiencia...............................30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 37, 47, 48, 84, 86
Aurora...................................................  61
Books, Prohibition  of.................................................  55
Removal of prohibition of..........................................  66
British colonization compared with Spanish......12-3, 15-20, 62-64, 69-70, 74
Calder6n, Felipe de.......................................... I07
California, M issions  in................................................   7
Carrillo, Luis........................................................  48
Casas, Bartolom 6  de  las...............................................42-43
Centro cat6lico de Filipinas.......................................... Io4, 0o6
Ceynos, Francisco...................................................   34
Chileans, Characteristics of.........................................  60
Church and schools in Philippine Islands..............................oo00-08
Church  and  state....................................................59, 66
In  Mexico........................................................  59
In Philippine Islands....................................... 97-I08
Civilization, Rise  of...............................................22-26, 78
Colmeiro, M anuel....................................................  8
Colonial life, Development of...................................... 50-5I
Colonists
Characteristics of...........................................   59
Commercial discrimination against...............................66-67, 74
Discrimination against................................... 27, 52, 56, 58, 62
Government, Ideas of....................................... 2, I8, 28
Reaction against social organization.........................51-52
Varied  development of............................................. 6o-6I
Communication, Importance of means of..........................7, 22-23, 60
Council  of  C astilla...................................................  I,  4
Council of Mesta.....................................................  2
Council of the  Indies....................................17, 35, 38, 39, 41, 43
Covarrubias, Diego  de................................................  4
Creole-mestizo class, Rise of.................................52, 53, 56, 58, 59
East  India  Com pany.................................................  15
Encomiendas..................................................41-43, 54-55
Enriquez de Almansa, M artin..........................................  49




SPAIN                                    II
Escorial, Cost of..................................................... 
Estrada, Alonso  de...............................................    32
Extremadura
Agriculture in............................................... 2, 3
Contests between shepherds and resident cultivators..................    3
Ferdinand  and  Isabella...............................................     4
Filipinos
A daptability  of...................................................78-82
A m bitions  of....................................................   98
Aversion  to  manual labour.........................................   97
Courtesy  of...........................................   79
E ducation   of.....................................................9I-I08
Enfranchisem ent  of................................................88-89
Lack of knowledge of Spanish language..............................80-8i
Religion of......................................................        76
Francia, Jos6................................................    24
Fuenleal,  Sebasti n...................................................   34
Greek colonization vs Roman...................I2-13
G uzmAn,  N ufio  de....................................................33,  34
India  Chica.........................................................       7
Indians, Status of....................................... 27, 39-41, 46-47, 54
Java, Government in.......................................   25
Journals in Spanish America, Appearance of..................      61-62
Liberalism, Opposition to............................   57
Literature in  Spanish  America........................................ 61-62
L6pez, --.........................................................    24
Louisiana, Government  of.............................................     86
M aldonado, Alonso...................................................       34
M aseras, Seflor.....................................................    Io6
Medina de Rio Seco..................................................        7
M edina  del Campo, Fairs  of...........................................    7
M 6ndez  Chirinos, Peral...............................................   32
M 6ndoza, Antonio  de.......................................35, 38, 39, 45, 46
Mexico, Municipality of
Coat of arms granted to..................................   32
Creation  of..................................................   32
Entitled..................................................... 32-33
M onroe  doctrine.....................................................67-69
Montejo, Francisco de......................3...................    30
Mufioz, Alonso..................................................    48
"New Laws".............................39, 43-45, 46
N6ffez de  Vela, Vasco.....................................    45
O idores.............................................................34,   35
Pow ers  of....................................................33, 34,  35
Ovando, N icol6.....................................................     39
Panama, Fair on the Isthmus of.......................................66-67




112                            SPAIN
Paraguay, Independence of...................................... 24-25
Paterno, Pedro  A....................................................  02
Peralta, Gast6n de...................................................   48
Peruvians, Characteristics of...........................................  6
Philip the Second
E dict  on  dress....................................................  9
Extravagance..................................................... 8 -Instructions  on  forests.............................................  4
Philippine Commission, Extracts from report of........................ IO-108
Philippine  Commission, First.....................................  84
Second........................................................... 85-86
Philippine Islands
Abuses in........................................           75
Alliance  of church  and  state....................................... 97-1o 8
Colonization of..............................................    71
Communication  with  M exico.....................................  75
Establishment of schools in.........................................  77
Executive departments of.......................................... 87-88
Government by Viceroy of Mexico..................................    75
Political subdivisions....8-.................................89 -Social and political problems.......................................83-85
Social debt  to  Spain............................................26, 74-79
System   of instruction.........................................9.. 91-08
Transfer to  United  States..........................................  50
United States' rule compared with Spain's...........................  84
Woman, Position of..................................... 79-80
Pizarro, Gonzalo.....................................4I, 45
Prescott,  W.  H.......................................................  9
Puertocarrero, alcalde........................................   30
Q uiroga,  V asco  de....................................................  34
Ravago, Manuel...................................... 10.... 3-I04, I06
R egidores.........................................................  33
Repartim ientos.................................................... 32,  39-43
Reyes,  M odesto......................................................  02
Roads, Importance of........................................    7, 22-23, 60
R obertson, W illiam...................................................  I3
Roman  colonization  vs Greek.........................................12-13
Rosario, Thomas G. del......................................... 0II-102
Salazar, D om ingo  de.................................................  75
Salazar, Gonzalo de...........................................  32
Salmer6n,  Juan  de..............................................  34
San  Jer6nim o, Alonso................................................ 
Sandoval, Tello  de..............................................   43-44,  45
Serrano, Pedro............................................     I07-108
Sevilla, Cataline......................................... 4-Io5, Io6




OVERSEAS                                 113
Spain
Agriculture......................................................, 2, 3
Economic status in sixteenth century................................ -I IExpenditures................................................... 8-9
Foreign  trade in  sixteenth  century...................................6, 7-8
Forests, Destruction  of.............................................  3-5
Ordinances for conservation  of...................................  4
Industry  of the sixteenth  century...................................  5-6
Influx  of gold  and  silver............................................  6
Lack of means of communication....................................  7
Legal machinery  for colonies........................................ I3-14
Loss of Philippine  Islands.........................................  5
M onastic  institutions.............................................. o0-11
Nobility.........................................................  3
Spain's  colonial  policy................................................50-5I
Commercial discrimination in................................. 53-54, 55-56
Creation of colonial nobility........................................  5 
French  influence  in................................................55-56
Government of Philippine Islands................................... 73-74
Influence of crusades in......................................... 71-72
Prohibition of emigration to unmarried women........................  52
Restrictions placed on emigrants in...............................72-73, 74
Support  of ecclesiastics in.......................................... 16-17
Underestimation  of achievements in.................................  73
W eakening   of.....................................................  53
Zeal for conversion  of heathen  in.................................... 72-73
Spanish America
Alliance  of church  and  state........................................  9-20
Governm ent................................................... 14,  I7-I8
Revolution, Causes of........................................ 20-21
Spanish America compared with British America.........................  63
Spanish American states, Territorial limits of............................  64
Spanish colonization compared with British......... 2-13, 15-20, 62-64, 69-70, 74
Spooner amendment..................................................  86
United  States..............................................65-66, 67, 68, 69
Colonization  policy  of..............................................  27
Government in Philippine Islands................................ 27, 84-90
Valderrama, --....................................................  48
V alle,  M arquis  del....................................................  48
Velasco, Luis  de............................................  45, 46, 47, 48
Velazquez, Diego..................................................... 30-31
Vera Cruz, Founding of............................................... 30-31
Viceroys of Mexico
Authority of.......................................  38, 46-47
Extension  of territory  of...........................................  49




114                             SPAIN
Honour paid to...........................................        37, 38-39
Promotion........................................................36-37
Salary..................................................... 35,  38
Term   of  office.....................................................  37
Viceroys  of  Peru..................................................  37-38
Viceroyalties, Increase  of..............................................  64
Viceroyalty
Dignity of.................................................     34, 36, 37
Pow ers  of...................................................   36,  37
Restrictions of...............................................   35, 36
Service of Indians.................................................    46
Wealth, Spanish compared with British idea of..........................     5
Xeres y Burgos, Doctor..................................... 102
Zumarraga, Juan de..................................................44-45




I




I




I
I




HISPANIC


HISPANIC SOCIETY








I
I




44