In both cases, however, the end is accomplished
by comparatively few individuals, whose official position and the
largeness of whose undertakings place them far above the mass of the
population. In Java, moreover, the Europeans constitute the governing
classes, the natives the governed; and even in Singapore where both
races are equal before the law the few white men understand how to mark
the difference of race so distinctively that the natives without demur
surrender to them, though not by means of the law, the privileges of a
higher caste. The difference of religion does but widen the gap; and,
finally, every European there speaks the language of the country, while
the natives are totally ignorant of that spoken by the foreigners.

[Dutch colonials well educated.] The Dutch officials are educated at
home in schools specially devoted to the East Indian service. The art
of managing the natives, the upholding of prestige, which is considered
the secret of the Dutch power over the numerous native populations,
forms an essential particular in their education. The Dutch, therefore,
manage their intercourse with the natives, no matter how much they
intend to get out of them, in strict accordance with customary usage
(adat); they never wound the natives' amor propio and never expose
themselves in their own mutual intercourse, which remains a sealed
book to the inhabitants.

[Spanish officials undesirables.] Things are different in the
Philippines. With the exception of those officials whose stay is
limited by the rules of the service, or by the place-hunting that
ensues at every change in the Spanish ministry, few Spaniards who
have once settled in the colony ever return home. It is forbidden
to the priests, and most of the rest have no means of doing so. A
considerable portion of them consist of subaltern officers, soldiers,
sailors, political delinquents and refugees whom the mother-country
has got rid of; and not seldom of adventurers deficient both in means
and desire for the journey back, for their life in the colony is far
pleasanter than that they were forced to lead in Spain. These latter
arrive without the slightest knowledge of the country and without
being in the least prepared for a sojourn there. Many of them are so
lazy that they won't take the trouble to learn the language even if
they marry a daughter of the soil. Their servants understand Spanish,
and clandestinely watch the conversation and the actions, a