Chapter XXIX: The Way Out (1)

Respect for the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland
has now taken such lodgment in the conscience of
Europe that its violation would inevitably provoke
a storm of indignation.

M. de Martens in the Revue des Deux Mondes.

On March 25, 1912, Honorable W. A. Jones, of Virginia, Chairman of the House Committee on Insular Affairs, introduced a resolution (H. J. 278) proposing the neutralization of the Philippines, to accompany his Philippine Independence Bill discussed in the preceding chapter. Such a resolution, accompanying such a bill, both introduced by one of the majority leaders in the House of Representatives, lifts the question of Philippine neutralization out of the region of the "academic," and brings it forward as a thing which must, sooner or later, command the serious consideration both of Congress and the country. There have been many such resolutions before that of Mr. Jones. But they are all the same in principle. All contemplate our guaranteeing the Filipinos their independence until the treaties they propose shall be consummated. In 1911, there were at least nine such resolutions proposing neutralization of the Philippines, introduced by the following named gentlemen, the first a Republican, the rest Democrats:

Mr. McCall, of Massachusetts; Mr. Cline, of Indiana; Mr. Sabath, of Illinois; Mr. Garner, of Texas; Mr. Peters, of Massachusetts; Mr. Martin, of Colorado; Mr. Burgess, of Texas; Mr. Oldfield, of Arkansas; and Mr. Ferris, of Oklahoma.

Because the neutralization plan to provide against the Philippines being annexed by some other Power in case we ever give them their independence would, if successfully worked out, reduce by that much the possible area of war, and be a distinct step in the direction of universal peace, it is certainly worthy of careful consideration by the enlightened judgment of the Congress and the world.

Mr. McCall is the father of the neutralization idea, so far as the House of Representatives is concerned, application of it to the Philippines having been first suggested at the Universal Peace Conference of 1904, by Mr. Erving Winslow, of Boston. Mr. McCall has been introducing his neutralization resolution at every Congress for a number of Congresses past.

The McCall Resolution (H. J. Res. 107) is the oldest, and perhaps the simplest, of the various pending resolutions for the neutralization of the Philippines, and is typical of all. It reads:

JOINT RESOLUTION

Declaring the purpose of the United States to recognize
the independence of the Filipino people as soon as a stable
government can be established, and requesting the President to
open negotiations for the neutralization of the Philippine Islands.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled:

That in accordance with the principles upon which its government
is founded and which were again asserted by it at the outbreak of
the war with Spain, the United States declares that the Filipino
people of right ought to be free and independent, and announces
its purpose to recognize their independence as soon as a stable
government, republican in form, can be established by them, and
thereupon to transfer to such government all its rights in the
Philippine Islands upon terms which shall be reasonable and just,
and to leave the sovereignty and control of their country to the
Filipino people.

Resolved, That the President of the United States be, and he hereby
is, requested to open negotiations with such foreign Powers as in
his opinion should be parties to the compact for the neutralization
of the Philippine Islands by international agreement.

If the McCall Resolution, or any one of the kindred resolutions, were passed, and complied with by the President of the United States, and accepted by the other Powers, and the Filipinos were helped to organize territorial governments such as Arizona and New Mexico were before they became States, several such territories could form the nucleus about which to begin to build at once, as indicated in the chapter on "The Road to Autonomy." A number of such territories could be made at once as completely autonomous as the governments of the territories of Arizona and New Mexico were before their admission to our Union. With those examples to emulate, together with the tingling of the general blood that would follow a promise of independence and a national life of their own, similar territorial governments could be successively organized, as indicated in the preceding chapter, throughout the archipelago. These could, in less than ten years, be fitted for admission to a federal union of autonomous territories, with the string of our sovereignty still tied to it, and an American Governor-General still over the whole, as now. And when the last island knocked for admission and was admitted, the string could be cut, and the Federal Union of Territories admitted, through our good offices, to the sisterhood of nations, as an independent Philippine republic. They would not bother the rest of the world any more than Belgium and Switzerland do, which are likewise protected by neutralization.

The idea of international neutralization is not without pride of ancestry or hope of posterity. It was born out of the downfall of Napoleon I. The Treaty of Paris of 1815 declared that

the neutrality and inviolability of Switzerland, as well as its
independence of outside influences, are in conformity with the
true interests of European politics.

The Congress of Vienna, held afterwards in the same year, at which there were present, besides the various monarchs, such men as Wellington, Talleyrand, and Metternich, solemnly and finally reiterated that declaration. Would not "the neutrality and inviolability" of the Philippines be gladly acceded to by the great Powers as being "in conformity with the true interests of European politics," and Asiatic politics as well?

Says M. De Martens, in an article in the Revue des Deux Mondes for November 15, 1903:

Respect for the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland has now taken
such lodgment in the conscience of the civilized nations of Europe
that its violation would inevitably provoke a storm of indignation.

At present, the Philippines are a potential apple of discord thrown into the Balance of Power in the Pacific. The present policy of indefinite retention by us, with undeclared intention, leaves everybody guessing, including ourselves. Now is the accepted time, while the horizon of the future is absolutely cloudless, to ask Japan to sign a treaty agreeing not to annex the Philippine Islands after we give them their independence. By her answer she will show her hand. The overcrowded monarchies do not pretend any special scruples about annexing anything annexable. Germany very frankly insists that she became a great Power too late to get her rightful share of the earth's surface, and that she must expand somewhither. And only the virile menace of the Monroe Doctrine has so far stayed her heavy hand from seizing some portion of South America. But probably none of the Powers would object to converting the Philippines into permanently neutral territory, by the same kind of an agreement that protects Switzerland.

The Treaty of London of 1831, relative to Belgium and Holland, declares:

Within the limits indicated, Belgium shall form an independent
and perpetually neutral state. She shall be required to observe
this same neutrality toward all the other states.

The signatories to this treaty were Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia. Forty years after it was made, during the Franco-Prussian war, when Belgium's neutrality was threatened by manifestations of intention on the part both of France and of Prussia to occupy some of her territory, England served notice on both parties to the conflict that if either violated the territorial integrity of Belgium, she, England, would join forces with the other. And the treaty was observed. The specific way in which observance of it was compassed was this: Great Britain made representations to both France and Germany which resulted in two identical conventions, signed in August, 1870, at Paris and Berlin, whereby any act of aggression by either against Belgium was to be followed by England's joining forces with the other against the aggressor. So long as human nature does not change very materially, "the green-eyed monster" will remain a powerful factor in human affairs. The mutual jealousy of the Powers will always be the saving grace, in troubled times, of neutralization treaties signed in time of profound peace. If "Balance of Power" considerations in Europe have protected the Turkish Empire from annexation or dismemberment all these years, without a neutralization treaty, why will not the mutual jealousy of the Powers insure the signing and faithful observance of a treaty tending to preserve the Balance of Power in the Pacific? Who would object?

The Panama Canal is to be opened in 1913. We want South America to be a real friend to the Monroe Doctrine, which she certainly is not enthusiastic about now, and will never be while we remain wedded to the McKinley Doctrine of Benevolent Assimilation of unconsenting people--people anxious to develop, under God, along their own lines. In 1906, while Secretary of State of the United States, Mr. Root made a tour of South America. He told those people down there, at Rio Janeiro, by way of quieting their fears lest we may some day be moved to "improve" their condition also, through benevolent assimilation and vigorous application of the "uplift" treatment:

We wish for * * * no territory except our own. We deem the
independence and equal rights of the smallest and weakest member
of the family of nations entitled to as much respect as those of
the greatest empire, and we deem the observance of that respect the
chief guaranty of the weak against the oppression of the strong.

That Rio Janeiro speech of Mr. Root's is as noble a masterpiece of real eloquence, its setting and all considered, as any utterance of any statesman of modern times. Among other things, he said:

No student of our times can fail to see that not America alone
but the whole civilized world is swinging away from its old
governmental moorings and intrusting the fate of its civilization
to the capacity of the popular mass to govern. By this pathway
mankind is to travel, whithersoever it leads. Upon the success
of this, our great undertaking, the hope of humanity depends.

As Secretary of War, "civilizing with a Krag," Mr. Root reminds one of Cortez and Pizarro. As Secretary of State, he permits us to believe that all the great men are not dead yet.

If, in making that Rio Janeiro speech, Mr. Root laid to his soul the flattering unction that the minds of his hearers did not revert dubiously to his previous grim missionary work in the Philippines, where the percentage of literacy is superior to that of more than one Latin-American republic, he is very much mistaken. If he is laboring under any such delusion, let him read a book written since then by a distinguished South American publicist, called El Porvenir de La Americana Latina ("The Future of Latin America"). If he does not read Spanish, he can divine the contents of the book from the cartoon which adorns the title-page. The cartoon represents the American eagle, flag in claw, standing on the map of North America, looking toward South America as if ready for flight, its beak bent over Panama, the shadow of its wings already darkening the northern portions of the sister continent to the south of us. To get the trade of South America, in the mighty struggle for commercial supremacy which is to follow the opening of the Panama Canal, we must win the confidence of South America. We will never do it until we do the right thing by the Filipinos. Concerning the Philippines, South America reflects that we annexed the first supposedly rich non-contiguous Spanish country we ever had a chance to annex that we had not previously solemnly vowed we would not annex. We must choose between the Monroe Doctrine of mutually respectful Fraternal Relation, which contemplates some twenty-one mutually trustful republics in the Western Hemisphere, all a unit against alien colonization here, and the McKinley Doctrine of grossly patronizing Benevolent Assimilation, which contemplates some 8,000,000 of people in the Eastern Hemisphere, all a unit against alien colonization there--a people, moreover, whose friendship we have cultivated with the Gatling gun and the gallows, and watered with tariff and other legislation enacted without knowledge and used without shame.

We should stop running a kindergarten for adults in Asia, and get back to the Monroe Doctrine. There are only two hemispheres to a sphere, and our manifest destiny lies in the Western one. We do not want the earth. Our mission as a nation is to conserve the republican form of government, and the consent-of-the-governed principle, and to promote the general peace of mankind by insuring it in our half of the earth. The first thing to do to set this country right again is to get rid of the Philippines, and give them a square deal, pursuant to the spirit of the neutralization resolutions now pending before Congress. All these resolutions contain the one supreme need of the hour, an honest declaration of intention. The longer we fight shy of that, the less likely we are ever to give the Filipinos their independence, and the deeper we get into the mire of mistaken philanthropy and covert exploitation.

We should resume our original programme of blazing out the path and making clear the way up which any nation of the earth may follow when it will. That path lies along the line of actually attempting as a nation a practical demonstration of the Power of Righteousness, or, in other words, the existence of an Omnipotent Omniscient Benevolent Good (whether you spell it with one o or with two is not important) shaping, guiding, and directing human affairs, such demonstration to be made through the concerted action of a self-governing people under a written Constitution based on equality of opportunity and the Golden Rule.

As a people we are very young yet. It is not yet written in the Book of Time how long this nation will survive. So far, our government is only an experiment. But, as John Quincy Adams once said, it and its Constitution are "an experiment upon the human heart," to see whether or not the Golden Rule will work in government among men.

NOTES

[1] The date contemplated by the pending Philippine Independence Bill, introduced in the House of Representatives in March, 1912, by Hon. W. A. Jones, Chairman of the Committee on Insular Affairs.

[2] Congressional Record, December 6, 1897, p. 3.

[3] Split Rock.

[4] Senate Document 62, p. 381.

[5] See pages 341 et seq., Senate Document 62, part 1, 55th Cong., 3d Sess., 1898-9.

[6] Senate Document 62, p. 346.

[7] Ib., 349.

[8] The natives in and about Singapore are Mohammedans, forbidden by their religion to use alcoholic beverages.

[9] Senate Document 62, p. 354.

[10] Senate Document 62, p. 356.

[11] Hearings on Philippine affairs, Senate Document 331, part 3, 57th Cong., 1st Sess., 1901-2, proceedings of June 26-8, 1902.

[12] S. D. 331, pt. 3, p. 2927.

[13] The Senate Document has it backwards "left Mirs Bay for Hong Kong," clearly an error.

[14] S. D. 331, pt. 3, p. 2932.

[15] Cong. Record, April 17, 1900, p. 4287.

[16] S. D. 331, pt. 3, p. 2928.

[17] Ib.

[18] S. D. 148, 56th Cong., 2d Sess., 1901, p. 6.

[19] S. D. 331, pt. 3, p. 2937.

[20] S. D. 331, pt. 3, p. 2934.

[21] Ib., p. 2967.

[22] See pp. 2928 and 2956, S. D. 331, part 3.

[23] S. D. 331, pt.3, p. 2965.

[24] S. D. 331, pt. 3, p. 2939.

[25] Ib., p. 2936.

[26] Ib., p. 2940.

[27] See letter of H. Irving Hancock, American war correspondent in the field, dated Manila, May 3, 1899, published New York Criterion, June 17, 1899. This Hancock interview with General MacArthur was quoted in debate on the floor of the Senate on April 17, 1900 (see Cong. Rec. of that date), and was corroborated by General MacArthur himself as substantially correct in that officer's testimony before the Senate in 1902, S. D. 331, pt. 2, 57th Congress, 1st Session, p. 1942, in answer to questions put by Senator Culberson.

[28] Rev. Clay Macaulay, who afterwards made that statement in a letter to the Boston Transcript.

[29] S. D. 331, pt. 3, p. 2939.

[30] S. D. 208, part 2, 56th Congress, 1st Sess., pp. 7, 8.

[31] Cong. Record, December, 1897.

[32] See Cong. Record, April 11, 1898, pp. 3699 et seq.

[33] Cong. Record, April 13, 1898, pp. 3701 et seq.

[34] Navy Dept. Report, 1898, Appendix, p. 103.

[35] S. D. 62, p. 327.

[36] Navy Dept. Report, 1898, App., p. 100. Dispatch May 20, 1898.

[37] War Dept. Report, 1899, vol. i, pt. 4, p. 13.

[38] S. D. 331, pt. 3, p. 2930.

[39] Report Schurman Commission, vol. i., p. 172.

[40] S. D. 62, p. 337.

[41] S. D. 331, pt. 3, 1902, p. 2951.

[42] S. D. 331, p. 2955.

[43] Ib., p. 2954.

[44] S. D. 62, pp. 328-9.

[45] Navy Dept. Report, 1898, Appendix, p. 103.

[46] Ib., p. 102.

[47] Navy Dept. Report, 1898, Appendix, p. 102.

[48] S. D. 62, p. 362.

[49] Ib., pp. 360-1.

[50] Navy Dept. Report, 1898, Appendix, p. 106.

[51] S. D. 62, p. 354.

[52] S. D. 62, p. 329.

[53] Ib., p. 432.

[54] Alas, that rare man, Frank Millet, perished in the Titanic disaster of April, 1912, since the above was written.

[55] Expedition to the Philippines.

[56] Navy Dept. Report, 1898, Appendix, p. 111.

[57] See p. 2934, S. D. 331, pt. 3, 57th Cong., 1st Sess.

[58] See p. 2934, S. D. 331, pt. 3, 57th Cong., 1st Sess.

[59] S. D. 62, p. 383.

[60] See Admiral Dewey's testimony before the Senate Committee of 1902, S. D. 331, pp. 2942, 2957.

[61] See National Geographic Magazine, August, 1905.

[62] Congressional Record, December 5, 1898.

[63] See p. 2938, S. D. 331 (1902).

[64] Congressional Record, December 5, 1898, p. 5.

[65] Senate Document 169, 55th Cong., 3d Sess. (1898).

[66] Ib.

[67] Hon. Frank A. Vanderlip, August, 1898 Century Magazine.

[68] See p. 85, S. D. 208, 1900.

[69] See General Orders No. 101, series 1898, Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, July 18, 1898, a copy of which accompanied the President's message to Congress of December, 1898, and may be seen at p. 783, House Document No. 1, 55th Cong., 3d Sess., 1898-9.

[70] For a copy of this proclamation, see p. 86, S. D. 208, 56th Cong., 1st Sess.

[71] S. D. 208, p. 8.

[72] S. D. 331, p. 2976, Hearings before Senate Committee, 1902.

[73] S. D. 208, 56th Cong., 1st Sess., 1900, p. 16.

[74] Correspondence, War with Spain, vol. ii., p. 720.

[75] For Admiral Dewey's cable report of this, see Navy Dept. Report, 1898, Appendix, p. 110. For particulars, given by him subsequently, see S. D. 331, 1902, p. 2942.

[76] S. D. 331, pt. 3, 1902, p. 2942, and thereabouts.

[77] S. D. 208, 56th Cong., 1st Sess., 1900, p. 4.

[78] S. D. 208, p. 4.

[79] Anderson only had about 2500 troops then.

[80] See Navy Dept. Report, 1898, Appendix, p. 110; S. D. 331, 1902, p. 2942.

[81] Senate Document 208, 1900, p. 8.

[82] Ib., pp. 12-13.

[83] S. D. 208, 1900, p. 9.

[84] Ib., p. 8.

[85] See page 40 of General Merritt's Report, War Dept. Report, 1898, vol. i., part 2.

[86] S. D. 208, 1900, 56th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 11.

[87] Ib., p. 10.

[88] The writer is certainly one of these, and while calling in question the wisdom and righteousness of our Philippine policy, he cannot refrain from avowing just here a feeling of individual obligation to Mr. Root for his exquisite tribute to the personal equation of Mr. McKinley, delivered at the National Republican Convention of 1904, which was, in part, as follows: "How wise and skilful he was. How modest and self-effacing. How deep his insight into the human heart. How swift the intuitions of his sympathy. How compelling the charm of his gracious presence. He was so unselfish, so genuine a lover of his kind. And he was the kindest and tenderest friend who ever grasped another's hand. Alas, that his virtues did plead in vain against his cruel fate."

[89] See Navy Dept. Report, 1898, Appendix, p. 117.

[90] S. D. 208, 1900, p. 13.

[91] For the Merritt proclamation, see S. D. 208, p. 86.

[92] In 1906.

[93] S. D. 208, 1900, p. 13.

[94] Ib., p. 40.

[95] Report First Philippine Commission, vol. i., p. 172.

[96] War Dept. Report, 1899, vol. i., pt. 4. Otis report, p. 13.

[97] S. D. 331, 1902, p. 2941.

[98] Correspondence Relating to the War with Spain, vol. ii., p. 788.

[99] May 19th-July 9th; see General Anderson's report to the Adjutant-General of the army of July 9, 1898, S. D. 208, p. 6.

[100] See Major J. F. Bell's report to Merritt of August 29, 1898, S. D. 62, p. 379.

[101] Clerks.

[102] See S. D. 208, pp. 101-2.

[103] Senate Document 148, 56th Cong., 2d Sess., 1901, p. 34.

[104] S. D. 208, p. 99.

[105] Admiral Dewey to Senate Committee, 1902, S. D. 331, 1902, p. 2940.

[106] 7,635,426. See Philippine Census of 1903, vol. ii., p. 15.

[107] 3,798,507. See Philippine Census of 1903, vol. ii., p. 125.

[108] See Senate Document 62, 1898, p. 379.

[109] Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, and Sorsogon.

[110] Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Isabela, Cagayan.

[111] S. D. 62, p. 380.

[112] Diary of Major Simeon Villa, p. 1898, Senate Document 331, pt. 3, 56th Congress, 1st Session, 1902.

[113] See Merritt's Report for 1898, War Dept. Report, 1898, vol. i., pt. 2, p. 40.

[114] Expedition to the Philippines, p. 61.

[115] "With 10,000 men, we would have had to guard 13,300 Spanish prisoners, and to fight 14,000 Filipinos," says General Anderson, North American Review for February, 1900.

[116] Senate Document 208, p. 86.

[117] Mr. McKinley's instructions to the Peace Commissioners, Senate Document 148, 56th Cong., 2d Sess., 1901, p. 6.

[118] See General Greene's Report, W. D. R., 1898, vol. i., pt. 2, p. 72, where Mr. Millet's conduct in the assault on the city receives special mention.

[119] War Dept. Report, 1898, vol. i., pt. 2, p. 73.

[120] See War Dept. Report, 1898, vol. i., pt. 2, p. 58.

[121] Congressional Record, December 5, 1898, p. 5.

[122] War Dept. Report, 1898, vol. i., pt. 2, p. 57.

[123] Ib., vol. i., pt. 4, p. 190.

[124] See his Report, War Dept. Report, 1899, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 3.

[125] On August 20th. War Dept. Report,1899, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 345.

[126] Ib., p. 5.

[127] War Dept. Report, 1899, vol. 1., pt. 4, pp. 346-7.

[128] Ib. p. 335.

[129] Senate Document 148, 56th Cong., 2d Sess., p. 34.

[130] S. D. 208, pt. ii., pp. 7, 8.

[131] Otis's Report, p. 10.

[132] Navy Dept. Report, 1898, Appendix, p. 101.

[133] To say nothing of the "chariot and four, and a band of a hundred pieces, and everything in the grandest style," of which Admiral Dewey told the Senate Committee in 1902 (S. D. 331, 1902, p. 2972).

[134] See p. 7, S. D. 148, 56th Cong., 2d Sess.

[135] Expedition to the Philippines, p. 255.

[136] "Putting the road and accessories into the same state as they were on February 4, 1899," was the language in which Mr. Higgins formulated his demand in a letter to General Otis on Jan. 25, 1900. See War Dept. Record, 1900, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 516.

[137] North American Review, January 18, 1907, p. 140.

[138] The six main Visayan Islands. Mohammedan Mindanao is always dealt with in this book as a separate and distinct problem.

[139] Senate Document 196, 56th Cong., 1st. Sess., p. 14.

[140] Here the author's commanding officer, Major Batson, was shot a year and a day later while directing with his usual clear-headed intrepidity the fire of a part of his battalion to protect the crossing of the rest of it over the Aringay River, we being at the time in hot pursuit of Aguinaldo, whose rear-guard made a stand in the trenches on the other side of the river.

[141] Senate Document 62, pt. 1, 55th Cong., 3d Sess., 1898-9, p. 283.

[142] Hon. Frank A. Vanderlip, then Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, now (1912) President of the National City Bank, New York, in the Century Magazine, August, 1898.

[143] S. D. 148, p. 15.

[144] Navy Department Report for 1898, Appendix, p. 122.

[145] Senate Document 148, p. 19.

[146] Chairman of the Spanish Commission.

[147] Meaning evidently payment of some of Spain's debts with money she could probably get from us for the asking, as a matter of sympathy for the fellow who is "down and out."

[148] Mr. McKinley had before that sent word significantly that he was not unmindful of the distressing financial embarrassments of Spain.

[149] Otis's Report for 1899, p. 43.

[150] War Dept. Report, 1899, vol. i, pt. 4, p. 3.

[151] Ib., pt. 2, p. 75.

[152] Senate Document 62, p. 379.

[153] Published at page 7 of Senate Document 208, pt. 2, 56th Congress, 1st Session (1900).

[154] Called in Spanish "Visayas," or Bisayas. Visayas is an adjective derived from the name of the Bay of Biscay, "b" and "v" being interchangeable in Spanish.

[155] For a fuller description of the archipelago, see Chapter XII.

[156] Vol. ii., p. 315.

[157] This proclamation has been printed many times, in various government publications, e.g., War Department Report, 1899, vol. i., pt. 4, pp. 355-6; Senate Document 208, 56th Congress, 1st Session (1900), pp. 82-3, etc.

[158] Senate Document 62, pt. 1, 55th Congress, 3d Session, p. 272.

[159] The "self-doubting" lay in the doubt of the Administration as to whether its programme of conquest would or would not be ratified by the Senate. The "pusillanimity" lay, wholly unbeknown to Washington of course, in the estimate of us it produced among the Filipinos.

[160] War Department Report, 1899, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 62.

[161] War Department Report, 1899, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 64.

[162] War Dept. Report, 1899, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 79.

[163] Ib., p. 67.

[164] "I sent you the President's proclamation, not for publication, but for your information," wrote Otis to Miller after the latter had let the cat out of the bag. Senate Document 208, p. 58.

[165] Senate Document 208, 56th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 54.

[166] War Dept. Report, 1899, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 66.

[167] Ibid.

[168] War Dept. Report, 1899, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 59.

[169] Senate Document 208, 56th Cong., 1st Sess. (1900), pp. 54-5.

[170] Colonel Enoch H. Crowder, General Otis's Judge Advocate, was "the brains of" the Otis government. But the difference between General Otis and Aguinaldo was that Aguinaldo always had the good sense to follow Mabini's advice, while Otis did not always follow Crowder's.

[171] Senate Document 208, p. 56.

[172] S. D. 208, p. 58.

[173] See Congressional Record, January 18, 1899, p. 734.

[174] Senate Document 208, p. 59.

[175] War Department Report, 1899, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 66.

[176] Senate Document 208, 56th Cong., 1st Sess., 1900, p. 58, letter to General Miller.

[177] A campaign synonym for forced marching. It has no known etymology, but to the initiated it suggests torrential downpouring of rain and bedraggled mud-spattered columns of troops.

[178] Senate Document 208, pt. 2, p. 7.

[179] Otis Report, p. 80.

[180] The American "Tommy Atkins."

[181] Otis Report, 1899 War Dept. Rpt., 1899, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 81.

[182] See Senate Document 331, 1902, p. 2709 et seq.

[183] Congressional Record, January 11, 1899, p. 735.

[184] Ib., January 18, 1899, p. 733.

[185] The vote on the Bacon resolution was a tie, 29 to 29, and the Vice-President of the United States then cast the deciding vote against it. Cong. Rec., Feby. 14, 1899, p. 1845.

[186] See Present-Day Problems, by Wm. H. Taft, p. 9; Dodd, Mead, & Co., N. Y., 1908.

[187] Congressional Record, February 14, 1899, p. 1846 (55th Cong., 3d Sess.).

[188] See General Hughes's testimony before Senate Committee, 1902, Senate Document 331, p. 508.

[189] See Annual Report of the Secretary of War to the President for 1899, pp. 7 et seq.

[190] This is no mere attempt at rhetorical decoration. Said General MacArthur to the Senate Committee in 1902 concerning Aguinaldo: "He was the incarnation of the feelings of the Filipinos." Senate Document 331, 1902, p. 1926.

[191] Senate Document 331, 1902, pp. 2927 et seq.

[192] Senate Document 208, 56th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 23.

[193] Senate Document 62, 55th Cong., 3d Sess., 1898-9, p. 383.

[194] See end of Chapter IV. ante.

[195] Otis Report for 1899, p. 66.

[196] Report, p. 99.

[197] Ib., p. 100.

[198] Ib., p. 150.

[199] Raw recruits.

[200] War Department Report, 1899, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 375.

[201] There were thirteen States represented by at least one organization. These were the First Californias, Second Oregons, First Colorados, First Nebraskas, Tenth Pennsylvanias, Major Young's Utah Battery, the First Idahos, Thirteenth Minnesotas, the North Dakota Artillery, the Twentieth Kansas, and the Tennessees, Montanas, and Wyomings.

[202] The regular regiments represented were the 14th, 8th, and 23d Infantry and 4th Cavalry. There were also some batteries of the Third Regular Artillery, and a number of Engineers, Hospital Corps, and Signal Corps people.

[203] War Dept. Report, 1899, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 440.

[204] Hearings on affairs in Philippine Islands, 1902.

[205] War Department Report, 1899, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 109.

[206] Senate Document 331, p. 1890.

[207] Senate Document 331, pp. 1890 et seq.

[208] Ib., p. 1436.

[209] Senate Document 331, p. 1448.

[210] Ib., pt. 2, p. 1447.

[211] The "water cure" (a cure for reticence) consisted in placing a bamboo reed in the victim's mouth and pouring water down his throat thus painfully distending his stomach and crowding all his viscera. Allowed to void this after a time, he would, under threat of repetition, give the desired information.

[212] Since the above was written, the officer in question has joined the Great Majority. It was that fearless, faithful, and kindly man, General Fred. D. Grant, who died in April, 1912.

[213] The lieutenant is no longer in the army, but he resigned voluntarily long after the incident related in the text, and for reasons wholly foreign to said incident.

[214] Of course my host's name was not Jones, but Jones will do.

[215] Spanish for man.

[216] A Philippine campaign expression for losing one's nerve and wanting to quit.

[217] Otis's Report, p. 133.

[218] War Dept. Report, 1899, vol. i., pt. 5, p. 35. In this handsome commendation General Lawton also included Maj. Charles G. Starr, one of the best all-round soldiers I ever knew.

[219] See Correspondence Relating to the War with Spain, vol. ii., pp. 1068 et seq.

[220] Otis's Report, p. 115.

[221] An interesting account of this experience is given by General Funston himself in the October, 1911, number of Scribner's Magazine, in an article entitled "From Malolos to San Fernando."

[222] Otis's Report, p. 136.

[223] War Dept. Report, 1899, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 138.

[224] Except, of course, the capture of Aguinaldo by General Funston nearly two years later.

[225] See General Lawton's Report on the Zapote River fight, War Department Report, 1900, vol. i., pt. 5, p. 282.

[226] See Harper's History of the War in the Philippines, p. 214, where the name of the gentleman is spelled "Kanly."

[227] Correspondence Relating to the War with Spain, Otis Despatches of November 27th, vol. ii., p. 846.

[228] House Document 85, 55th Cong., 3d Sess.

[229] The words quoted are from President McKinley's message to Congress of December, 1899.

[230] Correspondence Relating to the War with Spain, vol. ii., p. 1002.

[231] Correspondence Relating to the War with Spain, vol. ii., p. 1020.

[232] Meaning, of course, in time not to embarrass President McKinley's prospective candidacy for re-election in 1900, in a campaign in which all knew the acquisition of the Philippines was sure to be the paramount issue.

[233] War Dept. Report, 1899, vol. i., part 4, p. 122.

[234] Strictly speaking, only twenty-three regiments were sent out from the United States. Under the Act of March 2, 1899, providing the volunteer army of 35,000 men for the Philippines, twenty-four regiments of infantry and one of cavalry were organized. The infantry regiments were numbered Twenty-six to Forty-nine, both inclusive, the numbering taking up where the numbering of the regular infantry regiments then ended, with the Twenty-fifth. The cavalry regiment was called the Eleventh Cavalry, the regular cavalry regimental enumeration ending at that time with the Tenth. The Eleventh Cavalry and the Thirty-sixth Infantry were organized, officered, and largely recruited from men of the State Volunteers sent out in '98, who, in consideration of liberal inducements offered by the Government, consented to remain.

[235] The population of the city of Manila according to the Philippine Census of 1903, vol. ii., p. 16; was 219,928. The three next largest towns are: Laoag, in the province of Ilocos Norte, about 270 miles north of Manila, near the northwest corner of Luzon, population 19,699; Iloilo, capital of the island of Panay and chief city and port of the Visayan Islands, some 300 miles south of Manila, population 19,054; and Cebu, capital and chief port of the island of Cebu, a day's voyage from Iloilo, population 18,330. See Philippine Census of 1903, vol. ii., p. 38.

[236] 115,026 is the exact figure. See Philippine Census, vol. i., p. 57.

[237] The exact figure for Luzon is 40,969, and that for Mindanao, 36,292. Ib.

[238] Philippine Census, vol. i., p. 56.

[239] Ibid.

[240] Table of Areas, Census, 1903, vol. i., p. 263.

[241] Table of Populations, ib., vol. ii., p. 126.

[242] Total of these six in large type 20,418 square miles, say roughly 20,500.

[243] Total of these last three in smaller type 9114 square miles.

[244] There is a large sugar estate on Mindoro, supposed to contain over 60,000 acres or, say, ninety odd square miles, which in 1911 figured in a congressional investigation of certain charges against Professor Worcester, a member of the Philippine Commission, but this is wholly separate from the original problem of public order.

[245] The exact figure is 36,292. Philippine Census, vol. i., p. 263.

[246] 499,634, Philippine Census, vol. ii., p. 126.

[247] The semi-civilized Moros of Mindanao live mostly in the interior, and have a crude form of Mohammedanism. The civilized Christian Filipinos of Mindanao live mostly on the littoral.

[248] This was said in no mere speech. Speeches are often misquoted. It was a letter signed by the foremost man of this age, Mr. Roosevelt, written September 15, 1900, accepting the nomination for the Vice-Presidency. (See Proceedings of the Republican National Committee, 1900, p. 86.) Yet it represented then one of the many current misapprehensions about the Filipinos which moved this great nation to destroy a young republic set up in a spirit of intelligent and generous emulation of our own.

[249] One of the sultans, or head-men, was believed in 1899, to have tried on his return from a pilgrimage to Mecca made before we took the Philippines, by some dickering at Singapore or near there in the Straits Settlements, to sell out for a consideration to Great Britain, so as to be under the protection and in the pay of British North Borneo.

[250] The fraction used is based on 500,000 (the population of Mindanao), being that fraction of 7,500,000 (which last is, roughly speaking, the total population of the archipelago). The census figures being 499,634 and 7,635,426 respectively, as heretofore stated.

[251] 7,635,426. Philippine Census, vol. ii., p. 15.

[252] 3,798,507. Philippine Census, vol. ii., p. 125.

[253] 223,506 is the total of the uncivilized tribes still extant in Luzon, Philippine Census, vol. ii., p. 125, but they live in the mountains and you might live in the Philippines a long lifetime without ever seeing a sample of them, unless you happen to be an energetic ethnologist fond of mountain climbing.

[254] Philippine Census of 1903, vol. i., p. 57.

[255] The area of Cuba is about 44,000 square miles.

[256] Except Ohio, the States of Pennsylvania and Tennessee are nearer the size of Luzon than any others of the Union, the former containing about 45,000 square miles and the latter about 42,000.

[257] This comparison does not pretend to be mathematically exact. New Jersey's area is nearer 8000 than 7000 square miles. For further illustration by comparison, it may be noted in this connection that the area of Massachusetts is over 8000 square miles (8315) and that of Vermont between 9000 and 10,000 (9565). As Costa Rica has only 368,780 inhabitants (Statesman's Year Book), the province of Pangasinan alone contains more people than the republic of Costa Rica. The average of intelligence and industry of the masses in both is doubtless about the same, with the probabilities in favor of Pangasinan.

[258] Table of Areas, Philippine Census of 1903, vol. i., p. 58.

[259] Table of Populations, ib., vol. ii., p. 123.

[260] In alluding, in complimentary terms, to this officer's gallant conduct on that occasion, Harper's History of the War in the Philippines spells the name "Hustin," as it had previously misspelled the name of the star actor among the younger officers who participated in the Zapote River fight "Kanly." "Such is fame." The gentleman's right name is Mustin. He is now a lieutenant-commander, well known in the navy to-day, as the inventor of the "Mustin gun-sight."

[261] There is a notable unanimity, among the men in the army of about Major March's age and rank, in the opinion that he is a man of very extraordinary ability. This unanimity is so generous and genuine that I deem it a duty as well as a pleasure to emphasize it here.

[262] See Otis's Report covering September 1, 1899, to May 5, 1900, War Dept. Report, 1900, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 261.

[263] The 12th, part of the 25th, and the 32d Infantry being used to guard the railroad and for other purposes.

[264] Calumpit will be remembered as the place where in the previous spring Colonel Funston and his Kansans performed the daring and successful manoeuvre of crossing the Bagbag River under fire.

[265] Senate Document 331, pt. 2 (1902), p. 1926.

[266] This ratio is no jest. It is a statistical fact, figured out from one of the War Department Reports.

[267] War Department Report, 1900, vol. i., pt. 5, p. 59.

[268] Report of Secretary of War, 1899, p. 12.

[269] Campaign Spanish for "look for." Generals Lawton and Young had cut loose from their base of supplies and their command was trusting for subsistence to living upon the country.

[270] See translation of diary of Major Simeon Villa, Senate Document 331, pt. 3, 57th Cong., 1st Sess. (1902), p. 1988. It was in this Aringay fight that one of the narrowest escapes from death in battle ever officially authenticated occurred. Lieutenant Dennis P. Quinlan, now a captain of the 5th U. S. Cavalry, was struck just over the heart by an insurgent bullet (probably more or less spent) while crossing the river in the face of a hot fire, the bullet being deflected by a plug of tobacco carried in the breast pocket of the regulation campaign blue shirt he was wearing, which pocket, any one acquainted with that shirt will remember, is at the left breast just over the heart (War Department Report, 1900, vol. i., pt. 6, pp. 166, 279). He was knocked over, but soon recovered and went on. The flesh of the left breast over the heart was bruised black and blue. He was recommended for a medal of honor on account of the incident (War Department Report, 1900, vol. i., pt. 7, p. 136).

[271] If these figures are not exact, they are approximately correct. We always called it three hundred miles from Manila to the northern end of Luzon via Vigan and the lighthouse at Cape Bojeador.

[272] For instance, there was what used to be known to the 8th Corps as "Col. Jim Parker's night attack at Vigan," which occurred early in December, 1899, soon after that place was occupied, the insurgents coming into the town in large numbers, at night under command of General Tinio, through a tunnel so it was said, and being driven out only after desperate close quarters' fighting from about two o'clock in the morning until after broad daylight, leaving the streets and plaza of Vigan much cumbered with their dead. Again, later on, there was the sudden order, swiftly executed, in obedience to which Lieutenant Grayson V. Heidt with a part of a troop of the 3d Cavalry, rode from Laoag to Batac to the rescue of a besieged garrison at the latter place, arriving in time to prevent a small Custer massacre, the garrison having gotten short of ammunition, and having just managed to telegraph for reinforcements a few moments before the enemy cut the telegraph wire. Then, there was Lieutenant Hannay, of the 22d Infantry, who being at the front, received an order from General Lawton to come back to build a bridge. The order made him sick, the surgeon reported him sick, the messenger returned with that message, and then Hannay promptly got well, and stayed at the front. And so on, ad infinitum.

[273] The Visayan Islands--the half-dozen islands between Luzon and Mindanao already mentioned, as the only ones worth mentioning for our purposes, together with the various smaller islands, islets, and rocks "visible at high water."

[274] "During April, in the First District, comprising the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Union, Abra, Lepanto, Benguet, and Bontoc, Brigadier General S. B. M. Young, commanding, the insurgents manifested considerable activity and endeavored to take the offensive against the scattered detachments in the district. The insurgents were in every instance defeated, and lost more than 500 men killed." War Dept. Report 1900, vol. i., pt. 5, p. 196.

[275] The language quoted is that employed by Robert Collins, Associated Press Correspondent, in connection with the Round Robin incident of nine months previous, described in the concluding part of the chapter preceding this.

[276] Hereinafter more fully set forth.

[277] For the Table of Areas, see Philippine Census, vol. i., p. 58.

[278] For the Table of Populations, see Philippine Census, vol. ii., p. 123.

[279] Under the Spaniards, these were two provinces. They were combined by us.

[280] A province in Latin countries corresponds more nearly to what we call a county than to anything else familiar to our system of political divisions.

[281] For the details of this march, see War Department Report, 1900, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 309. Captain Batchelor had neither orders nor permission to do what he did. When he cut loose from the command he belonged to, he took very long chances on finding subsistence for his men in the unknown country he had set out to conquer, to say nothing of the highly probable chances of annihilation of his whole command. When an officer commanding troops does this in time of war, he does so at his peril, and signal success is his only salvation.

[282] Area tables, Philippine Census, vol. i., p. 58.

[283] Population tables, Philippine Census, vol. ii., p. 123.

[284] Though Nueva Vizcaya is not in the Cagayan valley, but on a plateau of the great divide, still, its streams all flow into the Cagayan valley, and that term will be used in this book, as it is colloquially in the Philippines, to include not only the Cagayan valley proper, but also the adjoining tributary province of Nueva Vizcaya.

[285] The only thing of interest to the American people that ever happened over there was the capture of Lieutenant Gilmore of the Navy, and his men, at Baler, on the Pacific coast, in Principe, a capture which, it will be recollected, was followed by long captivity, and ultimately terminated in rescue. The interested student will see these two provinces on the American maps of the islands, but they were each attached by the Taft government for administration purposes to another province, and do not appear in the American census list of provinces. Therefore, they cut no figure in the census totals, either of area or population.

[286] The officer on whom public attention in the United States was later focussed by an alleged order, charged to have been issued by him in a campaign in Samar to "kill everything over ten years old." This alleged order was called by the American newspapers of the period "Jake Smith's Kill and Burn Order."

[287] The figures as to Principe are mere arbitrary guesses, the exact figures used being fixed on merely to get convenient round numbers, there being no statistics as to Principe.

[288] Of course the Filipinos should be consulted as to what provinces should constitute each state, but I am simply sketching a tentative governmental scheme based upon the way our army perfected its original grip on public order and the general administrative situation.

[289] All along here we, of course, deal in round numbers only.

[290] See War Department Report, 1900, vol. i., part 5, pp. 45 et seq. The city of Manila and vicinity constituted the Sixth District of the Department of Northern Luzon.

[291] War Dept. Report, 1900, vol. i., part 5, pp. 47-8.

[292] War Dept. Report, 1900, vol. i., part 1, p. 9.

[293] The Spanish word camarin means a warehouse. The province of Camarines was originally two provinces, and is still referred to as two, though governmentally but one.

[294] Of March 2, 1899. Under it the term of enlistment of the volunteers was to expire June 30, 1901.

[295] Table of Areas, Philippine Census of 1903, vol. i., p. 263. Table of Population, ib., vol. ii., pp. 123 et seq.

[296] Copper-colored thief.

[297] Sung to the tune of "Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching."

[298] See Forum, vol. xxvi., p. 647.

[299] See Forum, vol. xxix., p. 403.

[300] These quotations are not taken from a scrap-book. Many readers forget that the bound volumes of all the great magazines are permanently available in the great libraries of the country.

[301] Hostilities had not yet broken out when the article now being considered appeared on January 4th, and did not break out until thirty days later, to wit, on February 4th.

[302] Congressional Record, April 13, 1898, p. 3701.

[303] In the early days of the fighting they used to hurrah a good deal, and shout "Viva la Independencia" (Live Independence).

[304] See Judge Taft's cablegram to Secretary of War Root of August 21, 1900, War Department Report, vol. i., pt. 1, p. 80.

[305] The Caribao Society is an organization composed mainly of officers of the regular army, but to which any one who served as an officer, volunteer or regular, in the Philippine Insurrection, is eligible. Their principal function, like that of the famous Gridiron Club, is to give an annual dinner.

[306] Addresses at Republican National Convention (1904), p. 62, published by Isaac H. Blanchard & Co., New York, 1904. The Republican National Convention of 1900 met June 19th, just sixteen days after the Taft Commission arrived at Manila.

[307] General MacArthur relieved General Otis May 5, 1900, and the Taft Commission arrived at Manila June 3d thereafter.

[308] Correspondence Relating to the War with Spain, vol. ii., p. 1051.

[309] Letter of July 22, 1898, by Duc d'Almodovar del Rio, Prime Minister of Spain, to President McKinley, suing for peace. Senate Document 62, pt. 1, 55th Congress, 3d Session, pp. 272-3.

[310] See Congressional Record of that date, p. 33.

[311] General Otis's appreciation of such "aid" was thus expressed in his cablegram to Washington of June 4, 1899: "Negotiations and conferences with insurgents cost soldiers' lives and prolong our difficulties." Correspondence Relating to the War with Spain, vol. ii., p. 1002.

[312] Address by Secretary of War Taft before the National Geographic Society at Washington, published in the official organ of that Society, National Geographic Magazine for August, 1905.

[313] Says General Chaffee in his annual report for 1902: "The intelligent element controlled the ignorant masses as perfectly as ever a captain controlled the men of his company." War Department Report, 1902, vol. ix., p. 191.

[314] War Department Report, 1900, vol. i., pt. 5, p. 61.

[315] August 29, 1898, to May 5, 1900.

[316] Especially independence.

[317] Senate Document 331 (1902), pt. 1, page 50.

[318] A slander ignorantly repeated by the adverse report of the minority of the Insular Affairs Committee of the House, on the Jones Bill, introduced in March, 1912, proposing ultimate independence in 1921.

[319] See The Commoner, April 27, 1906.

[320] Philippine Census, vol. ii., p. 9.

[321] These are the three main lines of cleavage, linguistically speaking. Nearly all the minor dialects are kin to some one of the principal three.

[322] Peasant's hut, usually of bamboo, thatched with stout straw (nipa). It is the log cabin of the Philippines.

[323] By way of protest against this kind of belittling of the army's work, General MacArthur says in his annual report (War Dept. Rept., 1900, vol. i., pt. 5, p. 60), "Such a narrow statement of the case is unfair to the service," adding a handsome tribute, which might have come very graciously from the Commission had it felt so disposed, to "the endurance, fortitude, and valor" of his 70,000 men during the precise period while the Commission was filling the American papers with politically opportune nonsense about "Peace, peace," when there was no peace.

[324] See Report of Secretary of War Root for 1900. War Department Report, 1900, vol. i., pt. 1, p. 80.

[325] See Report of Taft Philippine Commission of 1900, p. 17.

[326] War Department Report, 1900, vol. i., pt. 5, pp. 34-42.

[327] S. D. 435, 56th Cong. 1st Sess.

[328] Report U. S. Philippine Commission, November, 1900, p. 15.

[329] General Lawton was killed in battle in the hour of victory at a point only about twelve miles out of Manila, in the winter preceding the spring of 1900 in which the Taft Commission left the United States for Manila.

[330] This interview was indorsed as substantially correct by General MacArthur before the Senate Committee of 1902, Senator Culberson first reading it to him and then asking him if it quoted him correctly. See hearing on Philippine affairs, 1902, Senate Document 331, pt. 2, p. 1942.

[331] War Department Report, 1901, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 88.

[332] Ibid., 1900, vol. i., pt. 5, p. 60.

[333] November, 1899, to September, 1900, both inclusive.

[334] W. D. R., 1900, vol. i., pt. 5, p. 60.

[335] Judge Taft had cabled Secretary of War Root on August 21, 1900, after his arrival in June: "Defining of political issues in United States reported here in full, gave hope to insurgent officers still in arms, * * * and stayed surrenders to await result of election." See War Department Report, 1901, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 80.

[336] War Department Report, 1901, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 89.

[337] See Report of Taft Commission to Secretary of War, dated November 30, 1900.

[338] A sample of one of these death sentences that Cailles and all the rest of the insurgent generals were accustomed to issue against their "Copperheads" may be seen in General MacArthur's report for 1900. War Department Report, 1900, vol. i., pt. 5, p. 63.

[339] War Department Report, 1901, vol. i., pt. 4, p. 90.

[340] See Report of Secretary Root for 1902, p. 13.

[341] Just how correct this was will be examined later.

[342] "The people seem to be actuated by the idea that men are never nearer right than when going with their own kith and kin." War Department Report, 1900, vol. i., pt. 5, p. 61.

[343] General MacArthur's Annual Report dated October 1, 1900. War Department Report, 1900, vol. i., pt. 5, pp. 61-2.

[344] General MacArthur's report which we are now quoting from, dated October 1, 1900, was forwarded by the ordinary course of mail, and even if it arrived before the day of the November election, the Secretary of War certainly did not at once place it before the public.

[345] Compare this MacArthur, October 1, 1900, statement with the Taft statements of the same situation between June and November, 1900, as expressed for instance in his November, 1900, report to the Secretary of War thus: "A great majority of the people long for peace and are entirely willing to accept the establishment of a government under the supremacy of the United States. They are, however, restrained by fear. * * * Without this, armed resistance to the United States authority would have long ago ceased. It is a Mafia on a very large scale." Report, Taft Commission, November 30, 1900, p. 17. This was before Judge Taft met Juan Cailles above mentioned and liked him well enough to make him governor of a province, in spite of his being an "assassin," in other words a Filipino general who had a few weak-kneed fellows shot for being too friendly with the Americans.

[346] Chapter XI., ante.