country and the people, too, are described with the charming simplicity
of the eyes that see clearly, the brain that ponders deeply, and the
heart that beats sympathetically. Through all the pages of his account
runs the quiet strain of peace and contentment, of satisfaction with
the existing order, for he had looked upon the creation and saw that
it was good. There is "neither haste, nor hate, nor anger," but the
deliberate recital of the facts warmed and illumined by the geniality
of a soul to whom age and experience had brought, not a sour cynicism,
but the mellowing influence of a ripened philosophy. He was such
an old man as may fondly be imagined walking through the streets of
Paranaque in stately benignity amid the fear and respect of the brown
people over whom he watched.

But in all his chronicle there is no suggestion of anything more to
hope for, anything beyond. Beautiful as the picture is, it is that
of a system which had reached maturity: a condition of stagnation,
not of growth. In less than a decade, the terrific convulsions in
European politics made themselves felt even in the remote Philippines,
and then began the gradual drawing away of the people from their rulers
--blind gropings and erratic wanderings at first, but nevertheless
persistent and vigorous tendencies.

The first notable influence was the admission of representatives
for the Philippines into the Spanish Cortes under the revolutionary
governments and the abolition of the trade monopoly with Mexico. The
last galleon reached Manila in 1815, and soon foreign commercial
interests were permitted, in a restricted way, to enter the
country. Then with the separation of Mexico and the other American
colonies from Spain a more marked change was brought about in that
direct communication was established with the mother country, and