le of indulgences);
yet none is so invidious and pernicious as the tobacco monopoly.

[Injustice of the monopoly.] Often in the course of this narrative
of my travels I have had occasion to commend the clemency of the
Spanish Government. In glaring contrast therewith, however, stands the
management of the tobacco regulations. They appropriated the fields of
the peasantry without the slightest indemnification--fields which had
been brought under cultivation for their necessary means of sustenance;
forced them, under penalty of bodily punishment, to raise, on the
confiscated property, an article which required an immense amount
of trouble and attention, and which yielded a very uncertain crop;
and they then valued the harvested leaves arbitrarily and without any
appeal, and, in the most favorable case, paid for them at a nominal
price fixed by themselves. To be paid at all, indeed, appears to have
been a favor, for it has not been done in full now for several years in
succession. Spain regularly remains indebted to the unlucky peasants
in the amount of the miserable pittance allowed, from one year's end
to another. The Government ordered the officials to exact a higher
return from the impoverished population of the tobacco districts; and
even rewarded informers who, after pointing out fields already owned,
but which were considered suitable to the cultivation of tobacco,
were installed into possession of the proclaimed lands in the place
of the original owners.

For proofs of these accusations, one need only peruse a few paragraphs
contained in the following stringent regulations, entitled "General
Instructions," [233] and, further, a few extracts from the official
dispatches of Intendant-General Agius to the Colonial Minister:-- [234]

[Resume of regulations] Cap. 25, Sec. 329. The compulsory system of
cultivation in Cagayan, New Vizcaya, Gapan, Igorots, and Abra to
remain in force.

Sec. 331. The Director-General of the Government is authorized to
extend compulsory labor to the other provinces, or to abolish it
where already introduced. These instructions may be altered wholly
or in part as occasion requires.

Sec. 332. Prices may be either increased or lowered.

Sec. 337. Claims or actions concerning the possession of tobacco
lands pending before the usual tribunal shall not prevent such
lands from being used for the purposes of tobacco cultivation, the
present proprietor being under strict obligation to continu