OF THE CAUSES WHICH ANTAGONIZE THE INTERNAL SECURITY OF THE FILIPINAS ISLANDS, AND OF CORRECTIVES FOR THEM Of the present composition of the divisions of the army The army of the Filipinas Islands, in view of the class of men of whom it now consists, offers very little (if any) moral confidence for their resisting the force of the revolutions which may be formed in the very bosom of the islands. It is officered, in great part, by Spaniards of the country, and by some Americans and mestizos; and the disposition, tendencies, and education of the latter class are (with very rare exceptions) absolutely different from those of the other and European officers; consequently, there exists between the two classes, from the outset, a certain insuperable disunion of feeling, between not only individuals but the two classes. The officer who is a native of the country has all the lax characteristics which the climate induces. He lives in exclusive intercourse with his neighbors, and separated from the Europeans. He likes the military career solely for the conveniences connected with his office; he is incapable of a noble emulation, and limits himself in the service to the outside and very inexact fulfilment of the necessary obligations of his position; and when the cause of the legitimate government exacts on his part sacrifices incompatible with his own interests or those of his neighbors, he disowns and absolutely abandons his duties. For these reasons the officers born in that country have never come to merit the confidence of their chiefs; and if from the rank of cadets they have been promoted to that of captain, it has been more from the peremptory necessity of completing the military corps and protecting the service than on account of their fitness, military spirit, or appreciation of the confidence and honor which the king bestows on them. Such sentiments they can never possess until they undergo a rigid training moral and political, in the colleges of España. This mental divergence, and the natural contrariety of their temperaments, so mischievous in the ordinary service of military bodies, are much more lamentable in the crisis of a revolution. The officers of the country, being nearer to the Indian soldiers in their customs and language, make common cause with the latter, and seduce and lead them into their own faction, with a marvelous readiness; this I have repeatedly seen in the mutinies of military bodies which have occurred in the Americas, and especially in that of the troops in the kingdom of Guadalajara in the year '21, and in that at Manila in the year '23.