their babes at birth and whole tribes to prefer self-immolation to the
living death in the mines and slave-pens. Quite differently from the
case in America, where entire islands and districts were depopulated,
to bring on later the curse of negro slavery, in the Philippines
the fact appears that the native population really increased and
the standard of living was raised under the stern, yet beneficent,
tutelage of the missionary fathers. The great distance and the
hardships of the journey precluded the coming of many irresponsible
adventurers from Spain and, fortunately for the native population,
no great mineral wealth was ever discovered in the Philippine Islands.

The system of government was, in its essential features, a simple
one. The missionary priests drew the inhabitants of the towns
and villages about themselves or formed new settlements, and with
profuse use of symbol and symbolism taught the people the Faith,
laying particular stress upon "the fear of God," as administered by
them, reconciling the people to their subjection by inculcating the
Christian virtues of patience and humility. When any recalcitrants
refused to accept the new order, or later showed an inclination to
break away from it, the military forces, acting usually under secret
directions from the padre, made raids in the disaffected parts with
all the unpitying atrocity the Spanish soldiery were ever capable of
displaying in their dealings with a weaker people. After sufficient
punishment had been inflicted and a wholesome fear inspired, the padre
very opportunely interfered in the natives' behalf, by which means
they were convinced that peace and security lay in submission to the
authorities, especially to the curate of their town or district. A
single example will suffice to make the method clear: not an isolated
instance but a typical case chosen from among the mass of records
left by the chief actors themselves.