one generation makes upon another in the observance of its precepts. One who has read the old Penitential books and observed the evidences they afford of the vitality of heathen practices and rites among the people in England in the early Middle Ages will not be too harsh in characterizing the still imperfect fruits of the Catholic missions of the last three centuries.
In the light, then, of impartial history raised above race prejudice and religious prepossessions, after a comparison with the early years of the Spanish conquest in America or with the first generation or two of the English settlements, the conversion and civilization of the Philippines in the forty years following Legaspi's arrival must be pronounced an achievement without a parallel in history. An examination of what was accomplished at the very ends of the earth with a few soldiers and a small band of missionaries will it is believed reveal the reasons for this verdict. We are fortunate in possessing for this purpose, among other materials, a truly classic survey of the condition of the islands at the opening of the seventeenth century written by a man of scholarly training and philosophic mind, Dr. Antonio de Morga, who lived in the islands eight years in the government service.[1]
The Spaniards found in the population of the
- ↑ He was lieutenant to the Governor and the first justice to be appointed to the supreme court (Audiencia) on its reorganization. His Sucesos de la islas Philipinas—Mexici ad Indos, anno 1609, is a work of great rarity. It was reprinted in Paris in 1890 with annotations by the Filipino author and patriot, Dr. José Rizal and with an Introduction by Blumentritt. Rizal tries to show that the Filipinos have retrograded in civilization under Spanish rule; cf. Retana's comments in his Zúñiga, ii, p. 277. The references to Morga to follow are to the Hakluyt Society edition.
