Residencia

“ The eminent authority, Manuel Bernáldez Pizarro, writing from Manila on April 26, 1827, deplored the laxity which was characteristic of the method of conducting trials of residencia, and recommended that they be made more effective and just. He criticized especially the prevailing system of holding the alcaldes mayores to a strict accountability; who, he wrote, “as they have permission to trade, are more tempted to evade or infringe the laws; and many persons are appointed to that office ‘who lack all the qualifications necessary for any public office whatever,’ ... ”

“ The residencia to which reference has been made was an institution peculiar in modern times to the Spanish colonial system. It was designed to provide a method by which officials could be held to strict accountability for all acts during their term of office. Today reliance is placed upon the force of public opinion inspired and formulated by the press and, in self-governing communities, upon the holding of frequent elections. The strength of modern party cohesion both infuses vigor into these agencies and neutralizes their effectiveness as the case may be. ”

“ Again, Governor Corcuera, after nine years of very successful rule, during which he distinguished himself in several campaigns of conquest and incidentally aroused the hostility and jealousy of the oidores, was arrested on charges made by the audiencia on the arrival of Governor Diego Fajardo in 1644. An oidor, who was the personal enemy of Corcuera, was designated to conduct the residencia, the ex-governor was fined 25,000 pesos and was imprisoned five years while the magistrates of the audiencia delayed the transmission of the papers which permitted a rehearing of the case. ”

“ During the first two centuries of Spanish rule in the Islands the residencias of the governors were especially stringent, many of these officials suffering deprivation of office, imprisonment, and exile. The [136] families and dependents of some were reduced to the last extreme of poverty, while the victims themselves spent years in some distant province, unable to defend themselves from their enemies. Many victims of the residencia were purposely put aside in order that no appeal could be heard from them. ”

“ THE OLD MANSION-HOUSE.
STRANGER.
Old friend! why, you seem bent on parish duty,
Breaking the highway stones,—and 'tis a task
Somewhat too hard, methinks, for age like yours.
OLD MAN.
Why, yes! for one with such a weight of years
Upon his back. I've lived here, man and boy,
In this same parish, near the full age of man
For I am hard upon threescore and ten.
I can remember sixty years ago
The beautifying of this mansion here
When my late Lady's father, the old Squire
Came to the estate. ”

“ As one walks thoughtfully up the narrow, winding, stone stairs, into the dormitory, hospital, lavatory and other apartments,—in all but few in number,—the solid and venerable walls, the open sky above him, and the green grass (emblematic of human life in its best estate) beneath his feet,—under the influence of these, in spite of himself he becomes absorbed in meditation, and holds communion with those who lived and labored here centuries ago, and at length passed on to "the house appointed for all the living." ”

“ Within, the apartments are pleasantly situated, commanding views of the joyous scene without; comfort, and even luxury, abound; the furnishing of the house is such as to please the eye and harmonize with the senses; form, color, and texture all blend in perfect unison. Seclusion and privacy may be had by those who will; cheerful companionship also is freely offered. Surely such a house of refuge, such a home of peace, must be welcome to a weary, storm-tossed soul. ”

“ For certain purposes, however, a man may be said to have his residence not only where he sleeps, but also at his place of business. See Abode; Domicile. In ecclesiastical law residence is the continuance of a spiritual person upon his benefice. As a general rule, it is necessary for every rector or vicar to reside within his parish, even though there may be no house of residence annexed to the benefice. ”

“ We kept our town-house, into which we returned for a winter or two; but gave it up for a permanent residence here, with which we are perfectly content. We see here all the friends we want to see; we all enjoy ourselves, and the children are healthy and happy." And this is but a specimen of thousands of families in the enjoyment of country life, including the families of men in the highest station, and possessed of sufficient wealth. ”

“ A twelve months' residence is, therefore, indispensably necessary, for without being fully initiated in the diabolical arts of lying out, swearing out, swindling out, and thieving out, ruin is inevitable. ”

“ Crazy old buildings, crowded rear tenements in filthy yards, dark, damp basements, leaking garrets, shops, outhouses, and stables [3] converted into dwellings, though scarcely fit to shelter brutes, are habitations of thousands of our fellow-beings in this wealthy, Christian city. ”

“ Imagine a lonely country-house, a quiet 151 and well-ordered family seated at their evening meal, after dark, of a somewhat gloomy day, the apartment imperfectly lighted by the glowing fire, and according to such conveniences for the purpose as old times ordinarily afforded ”

“ We have a word for home, and our home is often a moated grange, an island, a castle with its drawbridge up, cutting us off from all but our own home-circle. In France and Germany and Italy there are the boulevards and public gardens, where people do their family living in common. ”

“ Families live in tenements, they live in flats, they live on floors; they are piled layer upon layer in the great tenement houses of our crowded districts, and not only are they piled layer upon layer, but they are associated room by room, so that there is in every room, sometimes, in our congested districts, a separate family. ”

“ But what most elicited our admiration were the private dwellings, which in number and beauty are seldom equalled in our cities. They are spacious, built of marble or stone, in gothic or grecian form surrounded by wings and piazzas, and out-buildings and grounds handsomely laid out, adorned with shade trees, shrubbery and flowers. They are delightful retreats from the city’s dust and noise; make fine playgrounds for the children, and altogether evince much taste and wealth. ”

“ Like a layman, he has his own domicile and fireside, his parsonage in the country with a garden, or an apartment in town—in any event, his own home and household, a servant or housekeeper, who is often either his mother or a sister ”

“ IN AN extravagantly furnished apartment of a fine-looking mansion in the heart of the city, sits a family group, consisting of a father, mother, two sons, and one daughter. They are far from exhibiting in their countenances that contentment of mind which is a "continual feast," and yet something has transpired that gives them, for the time being, an unusual degree of pleasurable emotion. ”

“ You pass some of the most elegant of the houses, and notice that they are two stories high, and that the family apartments are on the upper stories, so that you miss the furtive views of the families at meals and of the ladies reclining in the broad-tiled window sills that you have in the older one-story sections of the city. ”

“ Many families living in the same house, and at the entrance of the apartments belonging to each, a strong iron gate to separate the residence of one set from that of another, has likewise an odd melancholy look, like that of a prison or a nunnery. ”

“ The habitations of this city of harmony are formed or fashioned of various substances, each dweller building his mansion to suit himself; hence we observe the tiny, white vine-embowered cottage, with its surrounding flower garden, side by side with the stately mansion, environed with smooth walks and velvety lawns. ”

“ It would be more correct to say that that place is the home or domicile of a person in which his habitation is fixed, without any present intention of removing therefrom.”
Here are words completely applicable to the case now before us. The learned author then proceeds to say:—
“It is often a mere question of intention.”
And then adds:—
“The mere dwelling or residence in a place is not of itself sufficient to make it the domicile of the party. ”

“ The country is not a proper place to pursue such studies; but any man may chuse a healthy habitation in town, and live in a lightsome house, a high apartment, refreshed by a breeze in summer, and enlightened by the sun in winter. ”

“ We habitually insist that certain conditions shall be fulfilled before a dwelling house shall be considered habitable or a hospital fit for the reception of patients, and in other matters, but do not as firmly stipulate that certain rules shall be followed in the building of schoolhouses. ”

“ There, the tenant of the cottage exchanges smiles with the proprietor of the mansion, and the joys and sorrows of both are warmly reciprocated. No important step is taken by those who are below without knowing first what those above them think of it. ”

“ Before raising the folds of the mysterious curtain beneath whose shelter are laid the veritable foundations of the home, let us endeavour to form some conception of the sureness of vision, the accurate calculation and industry our little people of emigrants will be called to display in order to adapt this new dwelling to their requirements. ”

“ This basis is the basis of residence. Given that a conqueror, or a seat of Government established by routine, is established in a particular place and chooses there to remain; or given that the pleasure attached to a particular site—its natural pleasures or the inherited grandeur of its buildings or what not—make it an established residence for those who control the expenditure of wealth, then that place will acquire an economic importance which has for its foundation nothing more material than the human will. ”

“ A house should be planned and constructed for the use of the household, with incidental accommodation for our immediate friends or guests—which can always be done without sacrifice to the comfort or convenience of the regular inmates. In this remark, a stinted and parsimonious spirit is not suggested. A liberal appropriation of rooms in every department; a spare chamber or two, or an additional room on the ground floor, 26 looking to a possible increase of family, and the indulgence of an easy hospitality, should always govern the resident of the country in erecting his dwelling. ”

“ When the shades of night and the dew have driven the guests to seek shelter within doors, the great parlor affords to the young people ample room for the cotillion or German, while the reception-room, office, and reading-room lure the seniors to whist or magazines. ”

“ Let their usual places of residence be visited when practicable, and when they are so isolated and scattered as to render this impracticable, let them' be collected at places as contiguous to their homes as possible and there treated with, not with a view of indulging their savage whims and fancies but with an eye to their real and permanent good and if possible their elevation in the social scale of humanity. ”

“ The house is splendid, and yet homely; there is none of the burden of magnificence either in the mansion or the grounds, while ostentation seems as far removed from the lofty and munificently furnished apartments as from those which ornament a simple cottage dwelling. ”

“ At a house-warming or the taking possession of a new residence, all your friends are under obligation to bring their contribution to the home. It is our way of wishing you good luck and a happy tenancy. ”

“ Outsiders—relatives, friends, strangers, even another family—are brought in to share his home. He now lives in a perfect slum. And he pays for that slum about as much as he would for a home in the Bayonne garden apartments. ”

“ The central apartment was the common gathering place for quite an extensive community, consisting of a family in three or four generations; for each son upon marrying brought his wife to the paternal homestead, and built a new chamber connecting with the central one. ”

“ Every residence section has its shabby houses, monuments to departed aspirations, falling into slow decay in the midst of weedy yards, sometimes uninhabited and sometimes sheltering one or two members of the family who apparently have been left, like the ancient furniture, to be forgotten. ”

“ Those who are not considered ill enough to be sent to the hospital, are permitted to remain in their houses or cabins, reporting themselves every evening at the "great hus," as they term the family mansion. ”

“ But the inmost residence is in the soul, and the bodily members are made servants of righteousness, which is a great honour and dignity, in regard of that base employment they had once, and so it is most suitable that he who hath thus dwelt in both repair his own dwelling-house. ”

“ The residence, which is suitable for a highly respectable family, contains dining-room, drawing-room, library, six best bedrooms, and four servants' rooms, with all necessary offices, coach-house, stabling for six horses, convenient farm buildings, with good pleasure and kitchen gardens, and about 27 acres of prime meadow and orchard land, stocked with fruit-trees. ”

“ In securing a home in a good residence section a man secures safe, healthy and attractive conditions for his family to live, under, and in the smaller cities, desirable social life, these social considerations explaining the strong pressure in all cities towards the best residence sections. ”