The system was not secular, for it primarily was devoted to the teaching of religious doctrine. The Spanish friar, the pueblo curate, was the local inspector of schools and practically directed their conduct. It was not wholly a free system, because tuition was required of all but the poorest children; nor was it an adequate system, because, even when most complete, it reached only a small proportion of the children of a parish, and these very largely were of the well-to-do families. And yet this system, for what it accomplished, is deserving of great credit. Besides the church, the convent, and the tribunal, nearly every town in the Philippines, toward the close of Spanish rule, had also, in the public plaza, its public school buildings for boys and for girls. In these towns a number of Filipinos were taught to converse in the Spanish language and at least the rudiments of Spanish education. But this system did not give opportunity for education to the little child of the humble fisherman and the husbandman. The Manila Normal School.--To prepare Filipino teachers to do this work of primary instruction, a decree of 1863 established the Manila Normal School. In charge of the Jesuits, this school was inaugurated in January, 1865. And about the same date the government decreed the foundation of the Jesuit "Ateneo Municipal" for higher instruction in the classics and sciences that should conduct the student to the degree of bachelor of arts. The influence of these institutions upon the development of the Filipino has been remarkable. In one or the other of them have been trained nearly all of those young men who in recent years have stirred the Filipino people to wide ambitions and demands. At the same time the excellent Jesuit observatory, which has done such important work in meteorology, was established in charge of Padre Faura. Increase in Spanish Population.--The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 brought immense changes to the Islands. Previous to this date Spanish residents had been few. Almost the only class deeply interested in the Islands and permanently established here had been the friars. But with communication by steamer in thirty days from Barcelona to Manila, a new interest was felt by Spaniards in the Philippines, though unfortunately this interest was greatest among the politicians. Some of the projects planned and decreed can only be regarded as visionary and beyond the point of serviceability, and others, more unfortunately still, had for their purpose the creation of offices and emoluments for Peninsula politicians; but they all contributed to bring to an end the paternal government under which there was no prospect of further enlightenment or progress for the Filipino.