The degree of respect in which "the Padre" is held by the Indian, is truly astonishing. It approaches to adoration, and must be seen to be credited. In the most distant provinces, with no other safeguard than the respect with which he has inspired the Indians, he exercises the most unlimited authority, and administers the whole of the civil and ecclesiastical government, not only of a parish, but often of a whole province. His word is law--his advice is taken on all subjects. No order from the Alcalde, or even the government [68] is executed without his counsel and approbation, rendered too in many cases the more indispensable from his being the only person who understands Spanish in the village. [69] To their high honour be it spoken, the conduct of these reverend fathers in general fully justifies and entitles them to this confidence. The "Padre" is the only bar to the oppressions of the Alcalde: he protects, advises, comforts, remonstrates, and pleads for his flock; and not unfrequently has he been seen, though bending beneath the weight of years and infirmity, to leave his province, and undertake a long and often perilous voyage to Manila, to stand forward as the advocate of his Indians; and these gratefully repay this kind regard for their happiness by every means in their power. Their hospitality is equally praiseworthy. The stranger who is travelling through the country, no matter what be his nation or his religion, [70] finds at every town the gates of the convent open to him, and nothing is spared that can contribute to his comfort and entertainment. They too are the architects and mechanists: many of them are the physicians and schoolmasters of the country, and the little that has been done towards the amelioration of the condition of the Indian, has generally been done by the Spanish clergy. It is painful, however, to remark, that much that might have been done, has been left undone. The exclusive spirit of the Roman church, which confines its knowledge to its priests, is but too visible even here: they appear to be more anxious to make Christians, than citizens, and by neglecting this last part of their duty, have but very indifferently fulfilled the first,--the too common error of proselytists of all denominations, which has probably its source in that vanity of human nature, which is as insatiable beneath the cowl as under any garb it has yet assumed. Some of them too have furnished a striking but melancholy proof of the eloquent moral, "It is not good for man to be alone."