poverty
of these Indians is not their curse, but it is their own idleness
and laziness, and they content themselves with little. They are not
ruled by covetousness; and, although there is some covetousness,
their fondness for doing nothing tempers it, and they wish to live
rather by providence than to dedicate themselves to work." What, then,
would the good Father Diaz wish? that the Filipinos should not be
made to contribute even the little amount that they now contribute,
and that the government of Espana should send money there from the
mother country in order to meet all the expenses of state, at the cost
of increasing the heavy taxes which the Spaniards already pay? And
all this, for what motive? Because the Filipinos are very "fond of
doing nothing, desiring rather to live under the care of providence
than to dedicate themselves to work." For thus are the fathers all,
often carrying this enthusiasm or mania for protection to a ridiculous
extreme--for it is the same to touch one of their parishioners and the
apple of their eye. At times they make use of unjust and compromising
expressions: Thus the tobacco monopoly is "an imposition" or "a bit of
knavery." The impost for elections of gobernadorcillos, the signing
of a passport, or any other accidental expense which is incurred [by
the Indian], is "a theft." The services for the repairing of roads
and bridges are "annoyances" or "tyrannies." And so on all in this
tenor. Many would wish that the Filipino be left stretched out at ease
all day long, and that afterward the manna should fall, and he have
no other work than to open his mouth. Whoever has known the country,
especially in former years, can do no less than say that there is not
the least exaggeration in the picture which I draw; that the letters
and remonstrances of the religious are what have been influential
in dictating the laws of the Indias--which breathe out in every one
of their lines, so great piety and mildness that one would believe
that they treat only of innocent and tender lambs which are found
among wolves. These know, too, that this same spirit has always led
the religious to support the quarrels that have arisen against the
civil and military government, which have, for the greater part,
given origin to royal orders against them, and to the indiscreet
articles of the ordinances which we have cited. Notwithstanding
all this, during the last years certain new arrivals from Espana,
especially th