spiritual children and the wrongs from which they sought to protect them are clearly displayed in the Relacion de las Cosas de las Filipinas of Domingo de Salazar, the first bishop, who has been styled the "Las Casas of the Philippines."[1]
That it was the spirit of kindness, Christian love, and brotherly helpfulness of the missionaries that effected the real conquest of the islands is abundantly testified by qualified observers of various nationalities and periods,[2] but the most convincing demonstration is the ridiculously small military force that was required to support the prestige of the Catholic king. The standing army organized in 1590 for the defense of the country numbered four hundred men![3] No wonder an old viceroy of New Spain
- ↑ Printed in Retana's Archivo, iii, pp. 3–45.
- ↑ "Of little avail would have been the valor and constancy with which Legaspi and his worthy companions overcame the natives of the islands, if the apostolic zeal of the missionaries had not seconded their exertions, and aided to consolidate the enterprise. The latter were the real conquerors; they who without any other arms than their virtues, gained over the good will of the islanders, caused the Spanish name to be beloved, and gave the king, as it were by a miracle, two millions more of submissive and Christian subjects." Tomas de Comyn, State of the Philippine Islands, etc., translated by William Walton, London, 1821, p. 209. Comyn was the general manager of the Royal Philippine Company for eight years in Manila and is described by his latest editor, Senor del Pan, editor of the Revista de Filipinas, as a man of "extensive knowledge especially in the social sciences." Retana characterizes his book as "un libro de merito extraordinario," Zúñiga, ii, pp. 175–76. Mallat says: "C'est par la seule influence de la religion que l'on a conquis les Philippines, et cette influence pourra seule les conserver." Les Philippines, histoire, geographie, moeurs, agriculture, industrie et commerce des Colonies espagnoles dans l'oceanie. Par J. Mallat, Paris, 1846, i, p. 40. I may say that this work seems to me the best of all the modern works on the Philippines. The author was a man of scientific training who went to the islands to study them after a preparatory residence in Spain for two years.
- ↑ Morga, p. 325.
