LITMIR.BIZ

      The First Philippine Commission

      This photograph taken in the room where the commission held its hearings is the only one ever obtained which shows all the members. From left to right: the author, Colonel Charles Denby, President Jacob Gould Schurman, Mr. John R. MacArthur, Secretary to the Commission, Admiral George Dewey and General E.S. Otis.

      As a matter of fact, American officers usually addressed and treated Aguinaldo as a general. The extent to which they were able to use his organization to further the ends of their government will be set forth later.

In a letter to Wildman, dated August 7, 1898, Aguinaldo admits that there is no agreement, but says that he cannot tell the peoples that it does not exist, “fearing that I may not be able to restrain the popular excitement.”66 He begs Wildman to use his influence on his government so that it will realize the inadvisability of deciding the fate of the people “without considering their will duly represented by my government.” Is it conceivable that, if there had been any ground for claiming a promise of independence, Aguinaldo would have failed to mention it at this time?

      We may summarize the well-established facts as follows:—

      Consul-General Pratt was, or professed to be, in hearty sympathy with the ambition of the Filipino leaders to obtain independence, and would personally have profited from such a result, but he refrained from compromising his government and made no promises in its behalf.

      Admiral Dewey never even discussed with Aguinaldo the possibility of independence.

      There is no reason to believe that any subordinate of the Admiral ever discussed independence with any Filipino, much less made any promise concerning it.

      Neither Consul Wildman nor Consul Williams promised it, and both were kept in ignorance of the fact that it was desired up to the last possible moment.

      It is not claimed that either General Anderson or General Merritt made any promise concerning it.

      The conclusion that no such promise was ever made by any of these men is fully justified by well-established facts.

      Aguinaldo himself carefully refrained at the outset from saying, in any document which Americans could read, that independence had been promised, and advanced this claim only when the growing strength of his land force had given him confidence. He repeated it, with increasing emphasis, as his army increased in size, ultimately openly threatening war if his pretensions were not recognized. In doing this, he was merely carrying out a carefully prearranged plan, agreed upon by the Hongkong junta.

And now let us examine the claim that the insurgents were our “faithful allies” and “coöperated” with us in the taking of Manila. We shall find that this subject richly repays investigation.

1 Beginning with the letters “P.I.R.”

2 See pp. 53, 55, 68.

3 See pp. 27, 47, 49, 63 of this book for repetitions and variations of this charge of Aguinaldo.

4 See p. 31 of his book, “The American Occupation of the Philippines,” in referring to which I will hereafter use the word Blount, followed by a page number.

5 U. S. Consul General Rounseville Wildman of Hongkong.

6 U. S. Consul O. F. Williams of Manila.

7 Blount, p. 43.

8 A term, more or less corresponding to mayor, then applied to the ranking municipal officer of a pueblo or town.

9 Eight hundred thousand Mexican dollars, the actual value of which constantly fluctuated.

10 The Ilocanos are one of the eight civilized peoples who collectively make up the Filipinos. They number 803,942, and inhabit certain provinces in northern Luzon.

11 I have not felt at liberty to correct spelling, capitalization, punctuation or grammar in quotations, except in the case of perfectly evident printer’s errors. It should be remembered that the results of Taylor’s work were left in the form of galley proof.

12 Taylor, 42 F Z-43 F Z.

13 For the history of this document, see p. 51.

14 P.I.R., 1300.2.

15 Senate Document 62, part 1, Fifty-fifth Congress, Third Session, P. P. 341 et seq.

16 Senate Document 62, part 1, Fifty-fifth Congress, Third Session; also P.I.R., 496.

17 Blount, pp. 11–12.

18 Pratt.

19 P.I.R., 516. 4.

20 “The Consul—after telling me that, before arriving in Hongkong harbor, a launch would be sent by the Admiral to secretly take us to the North American squadron, a secrecy which pleased me also, as it would avoid giving publicity to my acts—then advised me that I should appoint him the representative of the Philippines in the United States to promptly secure the official recognition of our independence. I answered that whenever the Philippine government should be formed, I would nominate him for the office he desired, although I considered that but small recompense for his aid, and that in case of our having

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