he greedy and avaricious,
he who does what common and vile men do, will, notwithstanding the
habit in which he is clad, notwithstanding the sermons he preaches,
be considered as mean, if he does not end by being despised and
abhorred. Nevertheless, I can affirm that the religious who trade
are very few, and among the Dominicans, not any. And this, and their
anxiety for saving their stipends and for making money, proceeds
in great measure from the information which they receive concerning
the wretched condition of the religious in Espana, and their fear of
falling into the same condition.

In respect to their pride and ambition to govern, all men have that,
for this is our most powerful instinct; and the priests of all times
and countries have had it. The royal decrees and the articles of
which we have spoken demonstrate quite clearly that those of Filipinas
have not escaped from falling into this sin. Up to a certain point,
one can affirm that the civil government itself--or, to speak more
accurately, circumstances--have placed them in a position where they
must take part in the temporal administration. In a whole province,
there is no other Spaniard in authority except the alcalde-mayor, and
he never knows a word of the idiom of the country (see my remarks on
the administration of justice). Hence it necessarily arises that the
alcalde-mayor does not know more than the natives allow him to know;
and that the gobernadorcillos of the villages are masters, inasmuch
as in everything they do whatever they think proper. In order to
obviate these inconveniences, scarcely is any document asked in
which the government does not require the supervision of the cura;
and in this way it obliges him to be acquainted with matters quite
at variance with his ministry. The cura possesses the language,
resides in the village, has the means of the confessional, [104]
and when he wishes there are but few matters, even the most trivial,
that can be hidden from him. On the contrary the alcalde, not having
any of these advantages, can have knowledge of but few things, if
the parish priest does not communicate them. I shall quote here what
father Fray Manuel del Rio says on this point. "Although the temporal
government of the village that he administers does not belong to the
obligation of the minister of souls, but it may, on the contrary,
be prejudicial to his obligation and ministry for him to meddle
too much in this; yet on certain occasion