[43] "The naval department at San Blas was established to aid the government in its efforts to occupy vacant coasts and islands adjoining its settled provinces, especially the west coast of North America. Arsenals, shipyards, and warehouses were established. All orders given to expeditions passed through the hands of its chief. It was, however, on the point of being abandoned, when Father Junípero Serra's suggestions in 1773, on its usefulness in supplying the Californias, led to its being continued and carefully sustained.... Conde de Revilla Gigedo during his rule strongly urged removal to Acapulco; but it was not removed, and in 1803 remained at San Blas without change." (Bancroft, Hist. Mexico, iii, p. 420.) [44] Mas says (Informe, i, part ii of "Historia," p. 47): "In that same year 1800,... the king ordered that the arsenal called La Barraca should be abolished, and that only that of Cavite should remain, in charge of the royal navy. The execution of this decree was the cause, in 1802, of a dispute between the governor-general, Aguilar, and General Álava." See Barrantes's fuller account (Guerras piraticas, pp. 200, 201, 217, 249-263) of the arsenals at La Barraca and Cavite, and the controversies over them. According to this authority, the naval affairs of those places, as also of Corregidor Island, were in bad condition; the service was inefficient, the methods and tools were antiquated, and lack of discipline prevailed--to say nothing of the fraud and "graft" already hinted at. [45] In 1797 the following military forces were maintained in Filipinas: Infantry regiment of the king, created at the conquest of those islands, composed of two battalions on the regular footing; infantry company of Malabars (created in 1763), containing one hundred men; squadron of dragoons of Luzón (created in 1772), containing three companies, in all one hundred and sixteen men; corps of artillery, of two companies, and containing two hundred and six men. There were also bodies of provincial militia, both infantry and cavalry, one being composed of mestizos; and an invalid corps, created in 1763. (Guía oficial de España, 1797; cited in Vindel's Catálogo biblioteca filipina, no. 123.) [46] The Spanish régime in Filipinas lasted 333 years, from Legazpi's first settlement until the acquisition of the islands by the United States. During that time, there were 97 governors--not counting some twenty who served for less than one year each, mostly ad interim--and the average length of their terms of office was a little less than three and one-half years, a fact which is an important element in the administrative history of the islands. [47] These expenses were paid from the royal treasury, "at the rate of 34 p. 3 r. for every cura or religious, every year" (Viana Respuestas, fol. 161).