ch Manila has been a success, is the fact that
the original inhabitants have not disappeared before the Europeans,
and that they have been civilized, and brought into a closer union
with the dominant race than is to be found elsewhere in similar
circumstances. The inhabitants of the Philippines previous to
the Spanish settlement were not like the inhabitants of the great
Indian peninsula, people with a civilization as old as that of their
conquerors. Excepting that they possessed the art of writing, and an
alphabet of their own, they do not appear to have differed in any way
from the Dayaks of Borneo as described by Mr. Boyle in his recent
book of adventures amongst that people. Indeed, there is almost
a coincidence of verbal expressions in the descriptions he and De
Morga give of the social customs, habits, and superstitions of the
two peoples they are describing; though many of these coincidences
are such as are incidental to life in similar circumstances, they are
enough to lead one to suppose a community of origin of the inhabitants
of Borneo and Luzon." Mr. Consul Farren, Manila, March 13th, 1845,
wrote and is quoted in support of this view as follows:

"The most efficient agents of public order throughout the islands
are the local clergy, many of whom are also of the country. There are
considerable parts of these possessions in which the original races,
as at Ceylon, retain their independence, and are neither taxed nor
interfered with; and throughout the islands the power of the government
is founded much more on moral than on physical influence. The laws are
mild, and peculiarly favorable to the natives. The people are indolent,
temperate and superstitious. The government is conciliatory and
respectable in its character and appearance, and prudent, but decisive
in the exercise of its powers over the people; and united with the
clergy, who are shrewd, and tolerant, and sincere, and respectable in
general conduct, studiously observant of their ecclesiastical duties,
and managing with great tact the native character."

March 29, 1851, Mr. Consul Farren wrote: "Without any governing
power whatever, the greatest moral influence in these possessions
is that which the priests possess, and divide among the monastic
orders of Augustines, Recoletos, Dominicans, and Franciscans (who
are all Spaniards), and the assistant native clergy. A population
exceeding 3,800,000 souls is ranged into 677 pueblos or parishes,
without r