154: 



CONGRESS. (THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



" All legislative rules and orders, establishments 

 of government, and appointments to office by the 

 commission will take effect immediately, or at 

 such times as they shall designate, subject to your 

 approval and action upon the coming in of the 

 commission's reports, which are to be made from 

 time to time as their action is taken. Wherever 

 civil governments are constituted under the direc- 

 tion of the commission such military posts, garri- 

 sons, and forces will be continued for the sup- 

 pression of insurrection and brigandage and the 

 'maintenance of law and order as the military 

 commander shall deem requisite, and the military 

 forces shall be at all times subject, under his 

 orders, to the call of the civil authorities for the 

 maintenance of law and order and the enforcement 

 of their authority. 



" In the establishment of municipal governments 

 the commission will take as the basis of their work 

 the governments established by the military gov- 

 ernor under his order of Aug. 8, 1899, and under 

 the report of the board constituted by the mili- 

 tary governor by his order of Jan. 29, 1900, to 

 formulate and report a plan of municipal govern- 

 ment, of which his Honor Cayetano Arellano, 

 president of the Audiencia, was chairman, and 

 they will give to the conclusions of that board the 

 weight and consideration which the high char- 

 acter and distinguished abilities of its members 

 justify. 



" In the constitution of departmental or provin- 

 cial governments they will give especial attention 

 to the existing government of the island of Negros, 

 constituted, with the approval of the people of that 

 island, under the order of the military governor of 

 July 22, 1899, and after verifying, so far as may 

 be practicable, the reports of the successful work- 

 ing of that government, they will be guided by 

 the experience thus acquired so far as it may be 

 applicable to the condition existing in other por- 

 tions of the Philippines. They will avail them- 

 selves, to the fullest degree practicable, of the con- 

 clusions reached by the previous commission to the 

 Philippines. 



" In the distribution of powers among the gov- 

 ernments organized by the commission, the pre- 

 sumption is always to be in favor of the smaller 

 subdivision, so that all the powers which can 

 properly be exercised by the municipal government 

 shall be vested in that government, and all the 

 powers of a more general character which can be 

 exercised by the departmental government shall 

 be vested in that government, and so that in the 

 governmental system, which is the result of the 

 process, the central government of the islands, fol- 

 lowing the example of the distribution of the 

 powers between the States and the National Gov- 

 ernment of the United States, shall have no direct 

 administration except of matters of purely gen- 

 eral concern, and shall have only such supervision 

 and control over local governments as may be 

 necessary to secure and enforce faithful and effi- 

 cient administration by local officers. 



"The many different degrees of civilization and 

 varieties of custom and capacity among the people 

 of the different islands preclude very definite in- 

 struction as to the part which the people shall take 

 in the selection of their own officers ; but these gen- 

 eral rules are to be observed : That in all cases the 

 municipal officers, who administer the local affairs 

 of the people, are to be selected by the people, and 

 that wherever officers of more extended jurisdic- 

 tion are to be selected in any way, natives of the 

 islands are to be preferred, and if they can be found 

 competent and willing to perform the duties, they 

 are to receive the offices in preference to any 

 others. 



" It will be necessary to fill some offices for the 

 present with Americans which after a time may 

 well be filled by natives of the islands. As soon 

 as practicable a system for ascertaining the merit 

 and fitness of candidates for civil office should be 

 put in force. An indispensable qualification for all 

 offices and positions of trust and authority in the 

 islands must be absolute and unconditional loyalty 

 to the United States, and absolute and unham- 

 pered authority and power to remove and punish 

 any officer deviating from that standard must at 

 all times be retained in the hands of the central 

 authority of the islands. 



" In all the forms of government and adminis- 

 trative provisions which they are authorized to 

 prescribe the commission should bear in mind that 

 the government which they are establishing is 

 designed not for our satisfaction, or for the expres- 

 sion of our theoretical views, but for the happi- 

 ness, peace, and prosperity of the people of the 

 Philippine Islands, and the measures adopted 

 should be made to conform to their customs, their 

 habits, and even their prejudices, to the fullest 

 extent consistent with the accomplishment of the 

 indispensable requisites of just and effective gov- 

 ernment. 



" At the same time the commission should bear 

 in mind, and the people of the islands should be 

 made plainly to understand, that there are cer- 

 tain great principles of government which have 

 been made the basis of our governmental system 

 which we deem essential to the rule of law and the 

 maintenance of individual freedom, and of which 

 they have, unfortunately, been denied the ex- 

 perience possessed by us ; that there are also certain 

 practical rules of government which we have found 

 to be essential to the preservation of these great 

 principles of liberty and law, and that these prin- 

 ciples and these rules of government must be estab- 

 lished and maintained in their islands for the sake 

 of their liberty and happiness, however much they 

 may conflict with the customs or laws of procedure 

 with which they are familiar. 



" It is evident that the most enlightened thought 

 of the Philippine Islands fully appreciates the im- 

 portance of these principles and rules, and they 

 will inevitably within a short time command uni- 

 versal assent. Upon every division and branch 

 of the government of the Philippines, therefore, 

 must be imposed these inviolable rules: 



" That no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, 

 or property without due process of law; that pri- 

 vate property shall not be taken for public use 

 \vithout just compensation; that in all criminal 

 prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to 

 a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the 

 nature and cause of the accusation, to be con- 

 fronted with the witnesses against him, to have 

 compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his 

 favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his 

 defense; that excessive bail shall not be required, 

 nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual 

 punishment inflicted; that no person shall be put 

 twice in jeopardy for the same offense, or be com- 

 pelled in any criminal case to be a witness against 

 himself; that the right to be secure against unrea- 

 sonable searches and seizures shall not be violated ; 

 that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude 

 shall exist except as a punishment for crime; that 

 no bill of attainder or ex-post-facto law shall be 

 passed; that no law shall be passed abridging the 

 freedom of speech or of the press, or the rights of 

 the people to peaceably assemble and petition the 

 Government for a redress of grievances; that no 

 law shall be made respecting an establishment of 

 religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, 

 and that the free exercise and enjoyment of relig- 



