ties required by government for admission to these offices, which consist in two sureties[1] to an amount proportionable to the value of the taxes of the province, which all pass through the Alcalde's hands.
Of the nature and amount of these abuses an idea will be better formed from the following abridged quotations, which are translated from the work of Comyn before quoted (p. 16).[2]
"It is indeed common enough to see the barber or lacquey of a governor, or a common sailor, transformed at once into the Alcalde in chief of a populous province, without any other guide or council than his own boisterous passions.
"Without examining the inconvenience which may arise from their ignorance, it is yet more lamentable to observe the consequences of their rapacious avarice, which government tacitly allows them to indulge, under the specious title of permissions to trade (indultos).
"and these are such that it may be asserted, that the evil which the Indian feels most severely is derived from the very source which was originally intended for his assistance and protection, that is, from the Alcaldes of the provinces, who, generally speaking, are the determined enemies and the real oppressors of their industry.
- ↑ It will be understood that these sureties have their share in the advantages, that is plunder, which the Alcalde derives from the government. This often amounts to 20, 30, or even 50,000 dollars in three or four years—though at the time of their leaving Manila, they are in debt to a large amount. It is but just to observe, that there are some few honorable exceptions.
- ↑ This is a typographical error; the reference to Comyn's work is on p. 13 of Remarks.—Eds.
