ave
been accustomed to judge and condemn them, representing as common
to all the body the vices of a few of the members. Consequently,
there is not one who does not read without shame and indignation the
insidious motives and the defamatory expressions lavished against them
in the ordinances of good government drawn up in Filipinas in 1768
[99]--which, although ordered to be modified by his Majesty, are now
in force for lack of others, and are found, printed, in the hands of
all. For even granting that in any case there can actually have existed
a cause for complaint, what will it matter at the end that this or
that father may have abused the confidence reposed in him, so long as
the spirit that animates the whole body of the religious is in accord
with the sanctity of their estate, and in accordance with the aims
of the government? Why must one forever pursue an ideal perfection,
which cannot be obtained, and which is unnecessary in human society?"

Even though this be matter which pertains to a chapter on internal
policy rather than to religion, I can do no less than say, succinctly
and in passing, that in my opinion the ideas of Senor Comyn are very
true; and that nothing could better qualify as men weak in affairs of
state the governors or counselors who dictated the present ordinances
and the above-mentioned measures and phrases printed in them against
the religious. Even supposing those sentences to be very just, wise,
and merited, what need would there be, what gain would result from
printing them and placing them in the hands of the Filipinos?

Those who have no liking for the friars, censure them as egoists
and buffoons; as living in concubinage; as gamblers and usurers;
as arrogant, and ambitious for power.

In respect to refinement, it is known that the majority [of the friars]
are of obscure birth. They pass from the bosom of the family to their
novitiate; thence in a boat to the convent at Manila, and then to
a village where there are no other Spaniards than themselves. Is
it strange, then, that they are not more in the current of social
forms? On that account one ought to overlook the fact that they do
not know more, as is done with an honored artist or farmer. But other
is the motive for this accusation of guilt. It is said that on the
arrival of a Spaniard at a village the friars do not offer him lodging,
and they often will not drink his health in a glass of water--or,
at least, do not go to receive