.

[110] This gentleman is at present residing in the county of Essex,
England.

[111] Under British law, a litigant is not allowed to bring and
conduct an action _in forma pauperis_ until it is proved that he is
not worth L5 after his debts are paid; and, moreover, he must obtain
a certificate from a barrister that he has _good cause of action_.

[112] According to Zuniga ("Hist. de Philipinas"), the ancient
inhabitants of Luzon Island had a kind of shell-money--the _Siguey_
shell. _Siguey_ shells are so plentiful at the present day that they
are used by children to play at _Sunca_.

[113] _Situado_ is not literally "Subsidy," but it was tantamount
to that.

[114] The values of shipments by law established were little regarded.

[115] The _Obras Pias_ (i.e., Pious Works) funds were legacies
left exclusively by Spaniards, chiefly pious persons, for separate
beneficent objects. Two-thirds of the capital were to be lent at
interest, to stimulate trade abroad, and one-third was to be a reserve
against possible losses. When the accumulated interest on the original
capital had reached a certain amount, it was to be applied to the
payment of masses for the repose of the donors' souls.

The peculations of the Gov.-General Pedro Manuel de Arandia (1754-59)
permitted him to amass a fortune of a quarter of a million pesos in
less than five years' service, which sum he left to pious works. On the
secession of Mexico (in 1819) the Government took over the _Obras Pias_
funds, to control their administration. There is reason to believe
that many of the donations were the fruits of the corrupt practices
of high officials, the legacies being for their benefit hereafter.

The funds were severally administered by the four boards of San
Francisco, Santo Domingo, the Recoletos and Santa Isabel, controlled
by one general board of management. In 1850 the Spanish Government,
in the exercise of its right (_Real patronato_) to intervene in all
ecclesiastical administrative affairs, ordered these funds to be
transferred to a banking establishment entitled the "Banco Espanol
de Isabel II.," more generally known as the "Banco Espanol-Filipino"
(q.v.). The _Obras Pias_ funds constituted the original capital of
this bank. The board, presided over by the Archbishop, still continued
to control the manipulation of these funds by the bank, the income
derived from the original capital having to be paid out in accordance
with the wills of the se