PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



69T 



our artillery upon them. Prisoners were taken 

 whenever opportunity offered, often only to be 

 set at liberty after being disarmed and fed. Up 

 to the time of our departure, although numerous 

 spies had been captured, not a single Filipino 

 had been executed. Such wrongs as were actually 

 committed against the natives were likely to be 

 brought to our attention, and in every case that 

 we investigated we found a willingness on the 

 part of those in authority to administer prompt 

 justice." 



The fact that there was a party in the United 

 States opposed to the assertion of American sov- 

 ereignty over the Philippine Islands inspired 

 Aguinaldo with the constant hope that his Philip- 

 pine Republic would in the end be recognized, and 

 the expectation of establishing their dominion 

 as the dominant race throughout the archipelago 

 kept the Tagals generally faithful to him. It 

 was the Chinese mestizos, the wealthiest class in 

 the islands, who furnished the means and most 

 of the leaders for the revolution, through which 

 they aimed to become the ruling caste in a mili- 

 tary oligarchy and occupy a position similar to 

 that formerly held by the Spaniards. 



While the American army was still confronting 

 the Spaniards in Manila Aguinaldo sent garri- 

 sons to seize the chief posts in Panay, Cebu, Leyte, 

 and other islands, and impose taxes, which the 

 people paid unwillingly.. He made allies of the 

 bandits in the mountains, who lived by levying 

 tribute on the planters. When the American 

 naval force was sufficiently organized vessels were 

 sent with troops to take possession of the south- 

 ern islands. The military force under Gen. Miller 

 took Iloilo, after overcoming the resistance of the 

 natives, on Feb. 11. On March 27 a naval ex- 

 pedition was sent to Cebu, where the natives 

 welcomed the American flag. Negros also hailed 

 American rule with joy. Smaller islands were 

 occupied subsequently, and a force was dispatched 

 to Mindanao, where the natives were besieging 

 Spanish garrisons that could not get away. 



The strong anti-American feeling was entirely 

 confined to the Tagal provinces. These are Ma- 

 nila, Cavit, Laguna, Batangas, Morong, Bulacan, 

 Nueva Ecija, Principe, Infanta, and Zambales, 

 estimated to contain a total population of 1,500,- 

 000. But only in the first six of these, those im- 

 mediately adjacent to Manila, was the sentiment 

 prevalent, and even in these it was by no means 

 universal, while in the other four it scarcely ex- 

 isted. Among the people of wealth and intelli- 

 gence there existed everywhere a strong conserva- 

 tive element that was opposed to -the war. In 

 the remaining provinces of Luzon the Tagal re- 

 bellion was viewed at first with indifference, and 

 later with dread. Throughout the archipelago 

 trouble and hostility existed only at those points 

 to which armed Tagals had been sent in con- 

 siderable numbers. In general the machinery of 

 government that was set up by the agents of 

 Aguinaldo served only for plundering the people 

 under the pretext of levying war contributions, 

 while many of the insurgent officials were rapidly 

 accumulating wealth. The administration of jus- 

 tice was paralyzed, crime of all sorts was ram- 

 pant, and the rule of force was the only law. In 

 the worst period of Spanish misgovernment the 

 people were not so overtaxed, nor was the ad- 

 ministration so disrupted, sinking into absolute 

 anarchy in many of the provinces. From all sides 

 petitions were sent to the American military gov- 

 ernor to send troops to occupy the country and 

 protect the people. But while Aguinaldo's'army 

 was in the field troops could not be detached for 

 that purpose. 



Aguinaldo protested against the intrusion of 

 the Americans from the time that Gen. Otis, as 

 military governor, first issued a proclamation as- 

 serting the sovereignty of the United States. The 

 Filipino leader insisted that he returned to the 

 islands on an American war ship solely in order 

 to conquer the Spaniards and win independence; 

 that Gen. Merritt had stated that the American 

 forces had come to overthrow the Spanish Gov- 

 ernment and liberate the Filipinos; and that the 

 American forces had recognized the object aimed 

 at by the insurgents by co-operating with the 

 Filipinos as belligerents and by publicly saluting 

 the Philippine flag. In regard to the Spanish 

 prisoners held by the insurgents, whose libera- 

 tion the American Government undertook to se- 

 cure as soon as possible, he refused to treat with 

 the American authorities, on the ground that it 

 would imply a recognition of their rights over 

 Philippine soil. Their surrender to Spain would 

 be conditional on the repatriation' of all Filipinos 

 in Spain or her African possessions, in the Caro- 

 lines, Mindanao, Jolo, or elsewhere held as pris- 

 oners of war or condemned as traitors or revo- 

 lutionists. The friars held as prisoners by the 

 Filipinos he would only set free as the result of a 

 direct understanding with the Pope through an 

 apostolic delegate, the conditions being that de- 

 crees granting special privileges to the religious 

 orders should be revoked and the rights of the 

 secular clergy respected ; that no friar should hold 

 any parochial or diocesan charge, but only the 

 native or naturalized Filipino clergy; and that 

 bishops should be made elective. The insurgents 

 did not trouble the Jesuits or the Benedictines, 

 but the monasteries of the Dominicans and other 

 orders were despoiled, supplying a great part of 

 the funds by which the revolution was supported, 

 and the friars were made captives and treated 

 very harshly. 



The assurance of Gen. Otis that the welfare 

 and happiness of the Philippine people depended 

 on the friendly protection of the United States 

 had no effect upon Aguinaldo and the politicians 

 associated with him nor upon the Tagals who ex- 

 pected under his lead to become the dominant 

 caste on the islands. The Philippine commis- 

 sioners appointed by President McKinley met 

 with no better response to their proclamation of 

 April 4, which warned the Filipinos that the 

 supremacy of the United States must be enforced, 

 and those who resisted would accomplish nothing 

 except their own ruin, but promised them the 

 amplest liberty of self-government that is recon- 

 cilable with just, stable, effective, and economical 

 administration and compatible with the sover- 

 eign rights and obligations of the United States. 

 The commissioners assured the Filipinos that 

 their civil rights and religious liberty would 

 be guaranteed and respected, and that all would 

 have equal standing before the law; that honor, 

 justice, and friendship forbid the exploitation of 

 the people of the islands, the purpose of the Ameri- 

 can Government being their welfare and advance- 

 ment. It guaranteed an honest and effective civil 

 service, in which, to the fullest extent possible, 

 natives would be employed. The collection and 

 application of taxes and other revenues would 

 be put upon a sound, honest, and economical 

 basis; the public funds, raised justly and collected 

 honestly, would be applied only to defraying the 

 proper expenses of the establishment and main- 

 tenance of the Philippine Government and such 

 general improvements as public interests demand, 

 and local funds collected for local purposes would 

 not be diverted to other ends; with such prudent 

 and honest fiscal administration it was believed 



