362 The National Geographic Magazine 



there are concerned, those issues are set- 

 tled ; and therefore we may properly 

 turn to the critics whom, with deference 

 for the anti-imperialists of Boston and 

 elsewhere, I regard as much more for- 

 midable, the critics who found what they 

 have to say in derogation of our govern- 

 ment upon the experience of the great- 

 est colonial government of the world — 

 the British Empire ; and we find, curi- 

 ously enough, or perhaps not so curi- 

 ously, though, when you come to con- 

 sider the facts, that the very things for 

 which we are attacked by the anti- 

 imperialists in the Philippine govern- 

 ment are made the only basis for ap- 

 proval on the part of the British critics. 

 And in what I have to say tonight I 

 should like to take up, not in very 

 great detail, but subject by subject, the 

 grounds for the criticisms of the Philip- 

 pine government which have appeared 

 in publications of the British critics. 



The first one of these, who is hardly 

 worthy of notice, yet I do notice him 

 for the purpose of saying one or two 

 severe things about him — he deserves 

 it — is Mr John Foreman. Mr John 

 Foreman published a book upon the 

 Philippine Islands before they came 

 under the American regime that, on the 

 whole, furnished the most material and 

 possibly the best information, the most 

 accurate information, although there 

 were a great many inaccuracies in it, 

 concerning the Philippine Islands. He 

 left the islands, it was said, because of 

 some strictures which he made upon the 

 Spanish friars, and did not return there 

 until long after the Americans had es- 

 tablished a government. Then he made 

 a very summary visit, and returned last 

 summer in time to publish an article in 

 the Fort?iightly Review on what the 

 Americans had done in the Philippines. 



I suppose that the editors of that very 

 reputable review permitted the publica- 

 tion of the article because Mr Foreman 

 had established a good reputation by 

 the book which he had published ; but 



no one can read it, and read between the 

 lines, without perceiving the bitterness 

 and utter irresponsibility of the criti- 

 cisms which he made upon the present 

 condition of affairs in the island. He 

 must first, although professing to hold 

 in the greatest contempt those who were 

 struggling for independence in the isl- 

 ands, have made his home with irrecon- 

 cilables, for he gave credence to the very 

 wildest statements concerning the gov- 

 ernment which I am in a position, hav- 

 ing formed a part of that government, 

 to be able to deny without hesitation. 

 He had an insinuating way of saying, 

 for instance, " The government is now 

 taking up the work of the Spanish gov- 

 ernment, proceeding with the harbor 

 works, which will bring into use 160 

 acres of valuable lands just below the 

 Malecon drive, for warehouses and other 

 purposes. This will doubtless be ap- 

 propriated by the Americans in the gov- 

 ernment service. ' ' He had no founda- 

 tion, so far as I know, for saying that 

 the lands would be disposed of except 

 at public auction, and it is a gratuitous 

 insult to any one connected with the 

 government to suggest that those of us 

 who are connected with the government 

 would divide these lands between us. 



Now, I pass Mr Foreman by with the 

 statement that the character of his arti- 

 cle entitles him to be classed in the cate- 

 gory of those " European waifs " who 

 are found upon the shores of the Orient. 

 We had in Manila a collection of per- 

 sons from America and Europe, and all 

 along the shore between, attracted there 

 by the disturbed condition of the coun- 

 try, whom it took us two full years to 

 eliminate, and when they found the 

 police force of Manila growing more 

 and more strict in its regard for the 

 presence of good individuals and the 

 absence of bad individuals, they took 

 up their march, or their swim, or their 

 sail up the coast, and they put in at 

 Shanghai, which seems to be the final 

 home of all the ocean waifs of the 



