3 H Presidential Addresses 



welfare and liberties of the islanders. In a series of 

 exceedingly harassing .and difficult campaigns they 

 completely overthrew the enemy, reducing them 

 finally to a condition of mere brigandage ; and wher 

 ever they conquered they conquered only to make 

 way for the rule of the civil government, for the 

 introduction of law, and of liberty under the law. 

 When, by last July, the last -vestige of organized 

 insurrection had disappeared, peace and amnesty 

 were proclaimed. 



As rapidly as the military rule was extended over 

 the islands by the defeat of the insurgents, just so 

 rapidly was it replaced by the civil government. At 

 the present time the civil government is supreme 

 and the army in the Philippines has been reduced 

 until it is sufficient merely to provide against the 

 recurrence of trouble. In Governor Taft and his 

 associates we sent to the Filipinos as upright, as con 

 scientious, and as able a group of administrators as 

 ever any country has been blessed with having. 

 With them and under them we have associated the 

 best men among the Filipinos, so that the great 

 majority of the officials, including many of the high 

 est rank, are themselves natives of the islands. The 

 administration is incorruptibly honest; justice is as 

 jealously safeguarded as here at home. The gov 

 ernment is conducted purely in the interests of the 

 people of the islands; they are protected in their 

 religious and civil rights; they have been given an 

 excellent and well administered school system, and 

 each of them now enjoys rights to "life, liberty, and 



