Читать книгу The Inhabitants of the Philippines - Frederic H. Sawyer - Страница 17

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The Government and the laws partook of a patriarchal character, and notwithstanding certain exactions, the Spanish officials and the natives got on very well together. The Alcaldes remained for many years in one province, and knew all the principal people intimately. I doubt if there was any colony in the world where as much intercourse took place between the governors and the natives, certainly not in any British colony, nor in British India, where the gulf ever widens. In this case, governors and governed professed the same religion, and no caste distinctions prevailed to raise a barrier between them. They could worship together, they could eat together, and marriages between Spaniards and the daughters of the native landowners were not unfrequent. These must be considered good points, and although the general corruption and ineptitude of the administration was undeniable, yet, bad as it was, it must be admitted that it was immeasurably superior to any government that any Malay community had ever established.

1 A whip made from hippopotamus hide.