Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/924

 914 Reviews of Books history, 1661-1712, by Father Assis (compared as to Mindoro and Zambales missions, with the later history of Father Concepcion) ; Augustinian history, 1670-1700, by Father Diaz; and Dominican mis- sions in Zambales, Pangasinan and Kagayan, 1669-1700, by Father Salazar. Among these, Father Assis easily leads as a historian, and his compilation contains a good fund of miscellaneous information, shedding light upon religious and ecclesiastical conditions, Spanish ad- ministration and trade, and even upon the life of the people. Few and far between are such items given by the tedious Father Diaz, chronicler of chapter happenings, and, even as abstracted, one must regard the space he occupies as in great part wasted. Among the various documents in strict chronological order, those in volume XXXIX. presenting the contest of Archbishop Fardo (1681- 1689) with civil authorities and ecclesiastical seculars, and those in volume XLII. presenting the controversy over Archbishop Camacho's attempt to enforce episcopal visitation of the friars' parishes, are of prime importance ; and they have been well presented and annotated. The Fardo controversy is of interest as a contest not over principles, but over personalities in the main, and because it reveals the state of jealousy between civil and ecclesiastical authority, between regular and secular ecclesiastics, and among the orders themselves. The Camacho controversy involved an important principle, which was not, however, decisively settled in practice till later in Philippine history. Volumes XLIV.-XLVI. are taken up for the most part with the continuation of Alvarez de Abreu's Extracto Historical, bringing the his- tory of Philippine commerce down to 1736, and the translations and compilations regarding education in the Philippines throughout the en- tire period of Spanish rule. Among the documents which carry along the chronological record, the letter of Master-of-Camp Santisteban (1730) is what the modern editor would call a document of "human interest ", though its revelations of Philippine politics and trade as affected by cliques and intrigues in Spain, Mexico, and the islands themselves furnish material for the historian only upon the sordid side of man's nature. If the story of Governor Bustamante's assassination were to be reproduced, one would wish to see both sides quite fully pre- sented; here we have only the glossed-over accounts of the archbishop, of a Jesuit, and of the Augustinian friar, Concepcion. Yet the abstract of this period from Concepcion's history only tells us that he " gives the principal items of revenue and expenditure at this time" (1718); one would prefer to have that " budget " from Concepcion, with only a bibliography, if space failed, of the Bustamante scandal. At any rate, Montero y Vidal's account of this episode should have been mentioned. The Extracto Historial of Alverez de Abreu is a work of prime value, and a service has been performed by its reproduction in this series. It sheds light on the details of the galleon trade, on Spain's bad economic policy, the failure to develop Philippine internal trade and resources