Crawfurd's verdict is that of the German naturalist Jagor who visited
the islands in 1859-1860.

"To Spain belongs the glory of having raised to a relatively high grade
of civilization, improving greatly their condition, a people which
she found on a lower stage of culture distracted by petty wars and
despotic rule. Protected from outside enemies, governed by mild laws,
the inhabitants of those splendid islands, taken as a whole, have no
doubt passed a more comfortable life during recent centuries than the
people of any tropical country whether under their own or European
rule. This is to be accounted for in part by the peculiar conditions
which protected the natives from ruthless exploitation. Yet the monks
contributed an essential part to this result. Coming from among the
common people, used to poverty and self-denial, their duties led
them into intimate relations with the natives and they were naturally
fitted to adapt the foreign religion and morals to practical use. So,
too, in later times, when they came to possess rich livings, and
their pious zeal, in general, relaxed as their revenues increased,
they still contributed most essentially to bring about conditions,
both good and bad, which we have described, since, without families
of their own and without refined culture, intimate association with
the children of the soil was a necessity to them. Even their haughty
opposition to the secular authorities was generally for the advantage
of the natives." [122] Similar testimony from a widely different source
is contained in the charming sketch "Malay Life in the Philippines"
by William Gifford Palgrave, whose profound knowledge of oriental life
and character and his experience in such divergent walks in life as
soldier and Jesuit missionary in India, pilgrim to Mecca, and English
consul in Manila, give his opinion more than ordinary value.