s of the native,
and makes it felt upon the whole frame of the society in embryo. On
the other hand, the value of prestige was perfectly well understood by
the higher officials, and the rigid maintenance of their dignity, both
in private life and in their public offices, played an important part
in the moral conquest of the Filipinos. Equality of races was never
dreamed of, either by the conquerors or the conquered; and the latter,
up to the last days of Spanish rule, truly believed in the superiority
of the white man. This belief was a moral force which considerably
aided the Spaniards in their task of civilization, and has left its
impression on the character of polite Philippine society to this day.

Christianity was not only the basis of education, but the symbol of
civilization; and that the Government should have left education
to the care of the missionaries during the proselytizing period
was undoubtedly the most natural course to take. It was desirable
that conversion from paganism should precede any kind of secular
tuition. But the friars, to the last, held tenaciously to their old
monopoly; hence the University, the High Schools, and the Colleges
(except the Jesuit Schools) were in their hands, and they remained as
stumbling-blocks in the intellectual advancement of the Colony. Instead
of the State holding the fountains of knowledge within its direct
control, it yielded them to the exclusive manipulation of those who
eked out the measure as it suited their own interests.

Successful government by that sublime ethical essence called "moral
philosophy" has fallen away before a more practical _regime_. Liberty
to think, to speak, to write, to trade, to travel, was only partially
and reluctantly yielded under extraneous pressure. The venality of the
conqueror's administration, the judicial complicacy, want of public
works, weak imperial government, and arrogant local rule tended to
dismember the once powerful Spanish Empire. The same causes have
produced the same effects in all Spain's distant colonies, and to-day
the mother country is almost childless. Criticism, physical discovery
of the age, and contact with foreigners shook the ancient belief
in the fabulous and the supernatural; the rising generation began
to inquire about more certain scientific theses. The immutability
of Theology is inharmonious to Science--the School of Progress;
and long before they had finished their course in these Islands the
friar