Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/321

 m THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 277 or form the morals of the humbler classes, in a country, the natives of which are, by a fixed po- licy, deprived of the property of the soil they were born to inherit, and where commerce is shackled by the effects of restrictions and monopolies, the direct tendency of which, as long as they last, must be to perpetuate poverty, ignorance, and superstition. Under all the disadvantages of intolerance, bi- gotry, and oppression in the Philippines, and of a state of slavery in the Moluccas, amounting to a privation of almost every genial right which be- longs to the natural situation of these people, some advantage may still be discovered in the influence of the Christian religion. It has either given rise to an energy and intelligence superior to that which characterizes the followers of the other modes of worship, or has bred manners more mild, and morals more inoffensive. * The natives of the Philippines, who are Chris- tians, possess a share of energy and intelligence, not only superior to their Pagan and Mahomedan brethren of the same islands, but superior also to • Independent of the direct influence of religious principles, no doubt a good deal of this may fairly be ascribed to the re- ciprocity of kindness, good offices, and confidence, which a similarity of religious belief induces between the governors and the governed.