The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 Part 10

Probably the one thing about the Paris Peace negotiations that is sure to interest the average American most at this late date is the matter of how we came to pay that twenty millions. It was this way. On October 27th, the Commission wired Was.h.i.+ngton:

Last night Spanish amba.s.sador called upon Mr. Reid.

It seems they talked long and earnestly far into the night, trying to find a way which would prevent the conference from resulting in sudden disruption, and consequent resumption of the war. Mr. Reid made plain the inflexible determination of the American people not to a.s.sume the Cuban debt. The Amba.s.sador said: "Montero Rios [146] could not return to Madrid now if known to have accepted entire Cuban indebtedness,"

and asked delay to see "if some concessions elsewhere might not be found which would save Spanish Commissioners from utter repudiation at home." There is no doubt that the talk we are now considering was a "heart-to-heart" affair, probably quite informal. Yet it is one of the most important talks that have occurred between any two men in this world in the last fifty years. Mr. Reid finally threw out a hint to the effect that as the preponderance of American public sentiment seemed rather inclined to retain the Philippines, "It was possible,"

he said, "but not probable that out of these conditions the Spanish Commissioners might find something either in territory or debt [147]

which might seem to their people at least like a concession.!" [148]

It was the leaven of this hint that leavened the whole loaf. There was doubtless much informal parleying after that, but finally, the American Commissioners, having become satisfied that Spanish honor would not be offended by an offer having the substance, if not the form, of charity, and being very tired of Spain's sparring for wind in the hope of a European coalition against us should war be resumed, submitted the following proposal:

The Government of the United States is unable to modify the proposal heretofore made for the cession of the entire archipelago of the Philippine Islands, but the American Commissioners are authorized to offer to Spain, in case the cession should be agreed to, the sum of $20,000,000.

This alluring offer was accompanied with the stern announcement that

Upon the acceptance * * * of the proposals herein made * * *

but not otherwise, it will be possible * * * to proceed to the consideration * * * of other matters.

Also, our Commissioners wired Was.h.i.+ngton:

If the Spanish Commissioners refuse our proposition * * * nothing remains except to close the negotiations.

This was very American and very final. Was.h.i.+ngton answered: "Your proposed action approved."

November 29th, Mr. Day wired Mr. Hay:

Spanish Commissioners at to-day's conference presented a definite and final acceptance of our last proposition.

And that is how that twenty millions found its way into the treaty--not forgetting the prayers and other contemporaneous activities of Archbishop Chapelle.

After the tremendous eight weeks' tension had relaxed, and before the final reduction to writing of all the details, we see this dear little telegram, from Secretary of State Hay, himself a writer of note, come bravely paddling into port, where it was cordially received by both sides, taken in out of the wet, and put under the shelter of the treaty:

Mr. Hay to Mr. Day: In renewing conventional arrangements do not lose sight of copyright agreement.

And here is the last act of the drama:

Mr. Day to Mr. Hay, Paris, December 10, 1898: Treaty signed at 8.50 this evening.

CHAPTER VIII

THE BENEVOLENT a.s.sIMILATION PROCLAMATION

Prometheus stole the heavenly fire from the altar of Jupiter to benefit mankind, and Jupiter thereupon punished both Prometheus and the rest of mankind by creating and giving to them the woman Pandora, a supposed blessing but a real curse. Pandora brought along a box of blessings, and when she opened it, everything flew out and away but Hope.

Tales from aeschylus.

The ever-memorable Benevolent a.s.similation Proclamation, the Pandora box of Philippine woes, was signed December 21, 1898, and its contents were let loose in the Philippines on January 1, 1899.

Let us consider for a moment the total misapprehension of conditions in the islands under which Mr. McKinley drafted and signed that famous doc.u.ment--a misapprehension due to General Otis's curious blindness to the great vital fact of the situation, viz., that the Filipinos were bent on independence from the first, and preparing to fight for it to the last. Take the following Otis utterance, for example, concerning a date when practically everybody in the Eighth Army Corps, and every newspaper correspondent in the Philippines, recognized that war would be certain in the event the Paris Peace negotiations should result, as common rumor then said they would result, in our taking over the islands:

My own confidence at this time in a satisfactory solution of the difficulties which confronted us may be gathered from a despatch sent to Was.h.i.+ngton on December 7th, wherein I stated that conditions were improving, and that there were signs of revolutionary disintegration. [149]

There can be no doubt that, at the date of that despatch, General Otis had been given to understand that under the Treaty of Paris we were going to keep the islands if the treaty should be ratified, and also that the if might give the Administration trouble, should trouble arise with the Filipinos before the if was disposed of at home. As heretofore intimated, in addition to his preference for legal and administrative work to the work of his profession, in the Philippines General Otis const.i.tuted himself from the beginning a political henchman. Ample evidence will be introduced later on to show beyond all doubt that all through the early difficulties, when the American people should have been frankly dealt with and given the facts, General Otis would, in the exercise of his military powers as press censor, always say to the war correspondents, "I will let nothing go that will hurt the Administration."

Let us see what the real facts of the Philippine situation were at the date of the Treaty of Paris, December 10th, or, which is the same thing, when General Otis sent his despatch of December 7th. When the Treaty of Paris was signed, General Otis was in possession of Manila and Cavite, with less than 20,000 men under his command, and Aguinaldo was in possession of practically all the rest of the archipelago, with between 35,000 and 40,000 men under his command, armed with guns, and the whole Filipino population were in sympathy with the army of their country. We have already seen the conditions in the various provinces at that time and also the inauguration of the native central government. Let us now examine the military figures.

Ten thousand American soldiers were on hand when Manila was captured, August 13th, and 5000 more had arrived under command of Major-General Elwell S. Otis a week or so after the fall of the city. [150] They had 13,000 Spanish soldiers to guard. In addition to this, by the terms of the capitulation, the city (population say 300,000), its inhabitants, its churches and educational establishments, and its private property of all descriptions had been placed "under the special safeguard of the faith and honor of the American army." [151] Some 4500 to 5000 more troops began to swarm out of San Francis...o...b..und for Manila in the latter part of October, 1898, the last of them reaching Manila December 11th, the day after the Treaty of Paris was signed. After that there were no further additions to General Otis's command prior to the outbreak of war with the Filipinos, February 4, 1899. [151] Of these (approximately) 20,000 men, only 1500 to 2000 were regulars, having the Krag-Jorgensen smokeless gun. The rest were State volunteers, armed with the antiquated Springfield rifles, the same the 71st New York and the 2d Ma.s.sachusetts had been permitted to carry into the Santiago campaign the summer before. Aguinaldo's people were equipped entirely with Mausers captured from the Spaniards, and other rifles, bought in Hong Kong mostly, using smokeless ammunition. Major (now Major-General) J. F. Bell, who is, in the judgment of many, one of the best all-round soldiers in the American army to-day, was in charge of the "Division of Military Information" at Manila both before and after the taking of the city. General Bell has done many fine things, in the way of reckless bravery in battle at the critical moment and of bold reconnoitring in campaign, and what he fails to find out about an enemy, or a prospective enemy, is not apt to be ascertainable. In a report bearing date August 29, 1898, [152] prepared in antic.i.p.ation of possible trouble with the Filipinos, he estimated the number of men under arms that Aguinaldo had at between 35,000 and 40,000. This estimate is based by General Bell in his report on the number of guns out in the hands of the Filipinos, which he figures thus:

Captured from Spanish militia 12,500 From Cavite a.r.s.enal 2,500 From Jackson & Evans (American merchants trading with Hong Kong) 2,000 From Spanish (captured in battle) 8,000 In hands of Filipinos previous to May 1, 1898 15,000 ------ Total 40,000

From this number General Bell deducts several thousands as having been recaptured by the Spaniards, or bought in. I at once hear some former comrade-in-arms of the Philippine insurrection say: "Oh, no. They couldn't have had as many as 40,000 guns, or near that." I thought the same thing when I first read General Bell's report on the matter. But he removes the doubt thus: "They are being continually sent away to other provinces."

We did not understand Aguinaldo's movements then. All his troops were not around Manila. From what I learned from General Lawton and his staff in 1899, my belief is that Aguinaldo had perhaps 30,000 men with guns around Manila, and out along the railroad, at the time of the outbreak of February 4th. It is idle, of course, at this late date, to claim that the Filipinos were not bent on independence from the first. The matured plans of their leaders, formulated at Hong Kong May 4, 1898, before they ever started the insurrection, preserved in the captured minutes of the meeting already noticed, [153] provide the programme to be adopted in the event we should be tempted to keep the islands. In that event, they were prepared against surprise, or any necessity for making new plans, and were agreed to accept war as inevitable. From the first, they made ready for it.

Governmentally and strategically, the Philippine Islands, except Mohammedan Mindanao, which is a separate and distinct problem, may be described very simply and sufficiently as consisting of the great island of Luzon, on which Manila is situated, and the Visayan group. [154] We are already familiar with the conditions in Luzon in December, 1898. You hear a great deal about the Philippine archipelago consisting of a thousand and one islands, but there are only eight that are, broadly speaking, worth considering here. The moment a jagged submarine ledge peeps out of the water it becomes an island. And even before that it may wreck a s.h.i.+p. But we are talking about islands that need to be charted on the sea of world politics. The Visayan Islands that really count at all in a great problem such as that we are now considering, are but six in number: Panay, capital Iloilo; Cebu, capital Cebu; Bohol, Negros, Samar, and Leyte. [155] Iloilo is some three hundred and odd miles south of Manila, and, besides being the capital of Panay, is the chief port of the Visayas and the second city of the archipelago, Cebu being the third. Under the Spaniards, as now under us, a vessel might clear from either of these places for any part of the world. As we saw in the chapter preceding this, as early as November 18th, Admiral Dewey had cabled Was.h.i.+ngton that the entire island of Panay was in possession of insurgents, except Iloilo. By the end of December, all the Spanish garrisons in the Visayan Islands had surrendered to the insurgents. (Otis's Report, p. 61.) Iloilo did not surrender to the insurgents until the day before Christmas. But let us not antic.i.p.ate.

December 13th, General Otis received a pet.i.tion for protection signed by the business men and firms of Iloilo (p. 54), sent of course with the approval of the general commanding the imperilled Spanish garrison. December 14th, he wired Was.h.i.+ngton for instructions as to what action he should take on this pet.i.tion, saying, among other things, "Spanish authorities are still holding out, but will receive American troops"; and adding one of his inevitable notes of optimism as to the tameness of Filipino aspirations (at Iloilo) for independence: "Insurgents reported favorable to American annexation."

General Otis knew the Spanish troops were hard pressed by the insurgents down at Iloilo, and eagerly awaited a reply. President McKinley was then away from Was.h.i.+ngton, on a southern trip, to Atlanta and Macon, Georgia, and other points, and n.o.body at home was giving any thought to the Filipinos, while they were knocking successively at the gates of the various Visayan capitals, and receiving the surrender of their Spanish defenders. It was getting toward the yuletide season. President McKinley was engaged, quite seasonably, in putting the finis.h.i.+ng touches to the great work of his life, which was welding the North and the South together forever by wise and kindly manipulation of the countless opportunities to do so presented by the latest war. It was a season of general peace and rejoicing in a thrice-blessed land, and n.o.body in the United States was looking for trouble with the Filipinos. With our people it was a case of ignorance being bliss, so far as the Philippine Islands and their inhabitants were concerned. In his Autobiography of Seventy Years, Senator h.o.a.r tells of an interview with President McKinley concerning his (the Senator's) att.i.tude toward the Treaty of Paris, early in December, 1898. [156] "He greeted me with the delightful and affectionate cordiality which I always found in him. He took me by the hand, and said: 'How are you feeling this winter, Mr. Senator?' I was determined there should be no misunderstanding. I replied at once: 'Pretty pugnacious, I confess, Mr. President.' The tears came into his eyes and he said, grasping my hand again: 'I shall always love you whatever you do.'"

It behooves this nation, and all nations, to consider those tears. They explain all the subsequent history of the Philippines to date. Mr. McKinley had proved himself a gallant soldier in his youth, and he knew something of the horrors of war. He was also one of the most amiable gentlemen that ever lived. But it is no disrespect to his memory to say that while Mr. McKinley was a good man, Senator h.o.a.r was his superior in moral fibre, and he knew it, and he knew the country knew it. He knew that Senator h.o.a.r was going to fight the ratification of the treaty to the last ditch, speaking for the Rights of Man and such old "worn out formulae," and that his only defence before the bar of history would have to rest on "Trade Expansion," alias the "Almighty Dollar." Those tears were harbingers of the coming strife in the Philippines. They were shed for such lives as that strife might cost. They were an a.s.sumption of responsibility for such shedding of blood as the treaty might entail. The President returned to Was.h.i.+ngton from his southern trip on December 21st, and on December 23d (p. 55) cabled General Otis the following reply to his request of December 14th for instructions:

Send necessary troops to Iloilo, to preserve the peace and protect life and property. It is most important that there should be no conflict with the insurgents. Be conciliatory but firm.