This extract, though long, is introduced as an evidence from a Spaniard (not of the lower order, or a disappointed adventurer, but a man of high respectability), of the shameless abuses which are daily practiced in this unfortunate country, and of which the Indian is invariably the victim: and it is far from being an overcharged one. Hundreds of other instances might be cited, [67] but this one will perhaps suffice to exonerate the writer of these remarks from suspicion of exaggeration, in pointing out some of the most prominent of them. While treating of the government of the Phillippines, we must not forget the ministers of their religion, and the share which they have in preserving these islands as dominions to the crown of Spain. This influence dates from the earliest epoch of their discovery. The followers of Cortes and Pizarro, with their successors, were employed in enriching themselves in the new world; and the spirit of conquest and discovery having found wherewith to satiate the brutal avarice by which it was directed, abandoned these islands to the pious efforts of the missionaries by whom, rather than by force of arms, they were in a great measure subdued; and even in the present day, they still preserve so great an influence, that the Phillippines may be almost said to exist under a theocracy approaching to that of the Jesuits in Paraguay. The ecclesiastical administration is composed of an Archbishop (of Manila), who has three suffragans, Ylocos, Camarines, and Zebu; the first two on Luzon, the last on the island of the same name. The revenue of the Archbishop is 4000, and that of the bishops 3000 dollars annually. The regular Spanish clergy of all orders are about 250, the major part of which are distributed in various convents in the different islands, though their principal seats are in that of Luzon; and many of them, from age or infirmity, are confined to their convents in Manila.