lers of
wide knowledge of the Orient, may be given in illustration and proof
of this view. The famous French explorer of the Pacific, La Perouse,
who was in Manila in 1787, wrote: "Three million people inhabit
these different islands and that of Luzon contains nearly a third of
them. These people seemed to me no way inferior to those of Europe;
they cultivate the soil with intelligence, they are carpenters,
cabinet-makers, smiths, jewelers, weavers, masons, etc. I have
gone through their villages and I have found them kind, hospitable,
affable," etc. [118]

Coming down a generation later the Englishman Crawfurd, the historian
of the Indian Archipelago, who lived at the court of the Sultan of
Java as British resident, draws a comparison between the condition
of the Philippines and that of the other islands of the East that
deserves careful reflection.

"It is remarkable, that the Indian administration of one of the
worst governments of Europe, and that in which the general principles
of legislation and good government are least understood,--one too,
which has never been skillfully executed, should, upon the whole,
have proved the least injurious to the happiness and prosperity
of the native inhabitants of the country. This, undoubtedly, has
been the character of the Spanish connection with the Philippines,
with all its vices, follies, and illiberalities; and the present
condition of these islands affords an unquestionable proof of the
fact. Almost every other country of the Archipelago is, at this
day, in point of wealth, power, and civilization, in a worse state
than when Europeans connected themselves with them three centuries
back. The Philippines alone have improved in civilization, wealth,
and populousness. When discovered most of the tribes were a race of
half-naked savages, inferior to all the great tribes, who were pushing,
at the same time, an active commerce, and enjoying a respectable share
of the necessaries and comforts of a civilized state. Upon the whole,
they are at present superior in almost everything to any of the other
races. This is a valuable and instructive fact." [119]

This judgment of Crawfurd in 1820 was echoed by Mallat (who was
for a time in charge of the principal hospital in Manila), in 1846,
when he expressed his belief that the inhabitants of the Philippines
enjoyed a freer, happier, and more placid life than was to be found
in the colonies of any other nation. [120]

Sir John Bowri