390 COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION 



practically no initiative, and submit without question to the will 

 of a ruler whose conduct is not modified by any organized expression 

 of a popular desire. The brief struggle for independence in the 

 Philippines was not a movement to establish the liberty of the 

 people, but an effort to set up the rule of a limited oligarchy. Before 

 the occupation of the islands by the Americans there were probably 

 not forty persons in the whole population who desired to see political 

 power pass into the hands of the great body of the people. Inde- 

 pendence for a people on the social level of the Javanese or of the 

 bulk of the inhabitants of the Philippines means the establishment, 

 immediately or ultimately, of &ome form of absolute rule, destined 

 to manifest the qualities of a more or less oppressive tyranny. In 

 spite of the exactions of the Dutch in the East Indies, or of the strong 

 rule of the English in India, there is a vastly higher grade of popular 

 prosperity and personal liberty in those parts of Java or of India 

 where the people are directly under the Dutch or English control 

 than in the native states where the immediate government of the 

 people is in the hands of the native princes. This is not a far- 

 reaching argument, but it is a sufficient refutation of the statement 

 that the rule of the Anglo-Saxons or kindred peoples never tends 

 to elevate the lower races brought under their control. 



The question of vital importance for the inhabitants of depend- 

 encies is essentially the same question as that which is important 

 for the members of the dominant nation itself. The popular welfare 

 in both cases depends largely upon the character of the national 

 government. If the authority of a reckless and tyrannical govern- 

 ment is extended over a semi-barbarous people, it is not to be 

 expected that the inhabitants of the dependency will be greatly bene- 

 fited or have abundant reasons for rejoicing. On the other hand, 

 the extension of a wise and beneficent government's authority over 

 a rude people may furnish it an impulse and guidance toward the 

 attainment of a higher form of life and larger liberty for the individ- 

 ual citizens. Even a nation not especially noteworthy for political 

 wisdom may, in the position of a superior, materially assist a rude 

 people to take important steps toward civilization. The political 

 wisdom of Spain has never been adequate to her great opportunities, 

 yet the inhabitants of the Philippines owe to Spain their most im- 

 portant achievements in social progress. Practically all the qual- 

 ities they now have distinguishing them from the non-Christian 

 barbarians of the East Indian Archipelago have been acquired under 

 the direction of their European superiors. 



In passing under American control, the inhabitants of the Philip- 

 pines fell under the influences of a new form of society and a new 

 system of instruction. The cultivation of a rude people begun by 

 the Spaniards is continued on more practical lines by the United 



