The Story of the Philippines Part 47

Secretary Alger sent the following cablegram to General Otis, at Manila:

"Accept my best congratulations upon your magnificent victory of Sunday, all the more creditable because you were not the aggressor."

"Manila, February 10.--Adjutant-General: Insurgents collected considerable force between Manila and Caloocan, where Aguinaldo is reported to be, and threatened attack and uprising in city.

"This afternoon swung left of McArthur division, which is north of Pasig River, into Caloocan, driving enemy easy.

"Our left now at Caloocan. Our loss slight; that of insurgents considerable. Particulars in morning.

"Attack preceded by one-half hour's firing from two of Admiral Dewey's vessels.

"_Otis_."

"Manila, February 13.--Adjutant-General, Was.h.i.+ngton: Everything quiet this morning; business in city resuming former activity. _Otis_."

"Manila, February 13.--General Miller reports from Iloilo that that town was taken on the 11th inst., and is held by troops. Insurgents given until evening of 11th to surrender, but their hostile actions brought on an engagement during the morning. Insurgents fired the native portion of town, but little losses to property of foreign inhabitants. No casualties among United States troops reported.

"_Otis_."

The legal situation, while the treaty was not ratified, and seemed gravely in doubt, was an embarra.s.sment to the executive of the United States. The Philippine question was by the act of the President a special reservation, and it was submitted to the people as too great in scope and various in detail, to be determined by one man, especially as the Philippine Archipelago was so far away from our Pacific sh.o.r.e as to be, according to the average citizen's information, a new departure; and the novelties in a Republic need much consideration. Really the departure is not new--it is in the direct line of the logic of our history. The President exceedingly desired to preserve the peace with the Filipinos, and gave orders not to attack them. He trusted this anxious care would prevent bloodshed. Hence the annoying att.i.tude of waiting acquiesence at Iloilo, and at Manila under almost intolerable provocation. A personal letter from Manila, dated December 8th, and written by a general officer contains this.

"Aguinaldo has sent for a new hatter with inflated blocks, and has his people dragging up field guns in face of our outposts. You can draw your own inferences."

There is a flavor of bitter humor in this, but the fact is prominent that the desperadoes were quite wild, and had no understanding of themselves or of us, and could acquire it only by getting themselves whipped by us.

We quote again from the letter of which we have taken the pa.s.sage above:

"The able and thinking men in this country tell me in unmistakable language that they are in no way prepared to take up the government of these islands. They insist upon the fact that tribunals will have, through lack of native material, to be mixed bodies. They say that with all the harshness that must accompany occupancy, the people here never had as much liberty as they have now, and that they show a strong inclination to abuse what is given them."

This is the true story of the Philippine people wherever there has been a free and intelligent expression.

Our army did not go to Manila to harm the Filipinos who have the misfortune to become infatuated with the malicious vanity of those who have surrounded themselves with a cloud of superst.i.tion and all the inventions of falsehood. It was necessary that Americans should protect themselves, or yield the country to the destructiveness of barbarism, and they have defended Americanism and civilization.

The dragging of field pieces to bear upon our pickets was with the purpose of bringing American soldiers into contempt, at once, and to force fighting ultimately. The poor men who became victims were deluded and carried their defiance to an intolerable pitch. In the same style employed when he demanded that General Anderson should consult him about getting on Philippine soil, Aguinaldo attempted to intimidate General Otis by inviting a conference, and avowing that he would make war if any more troops were sent to Manila. He would have bloodshed, and is responsible for it, so far as he is an accountable being. It is of the horrors of war that the blood of brave men is shed on both sides of a controversy that has been appealed to the arbitrament of arms, though the origin of the affray may be obscure and the issue uncertain. In the bloodshed around Manila the case is clear and the conclusion certain, and there is the compensation that the heroism, enterprise, activity and dash and continuance of the American soldiers under the most trying circ.u.mstances, flame forth, and the glory of our soldiers is equal to that of our sailors in the judgment of the men of all nations.

There is something more in this second clash of arms at Manila. It is difficult to find ground harder to carry in offensive movements than the sultry thickets in which the Filipinos were hidden, but our soldiers obeyed all orders to advance with alacrity, energy and enthusiasm, and were eager for their work. The men who can do what ours did at Manila can do anything that may rationally be dared. And in this story of Manila is the testimony that after the volunteers have been seasoned, they do keep step with the dread music of war with the regulars of any race or people, and there can be no national retreat from the duty destiny defines in the Philippines, any more than from the States of the valley that is the heart of the country--the valley watered by the Ohio, the n.o.blest river in the world, that flows westward in the course of empire.

The dispatches of General Otis are clear and striking in tone, and may at once be cla.s.sified as model bulletins of history. He is a most energetic, careful, studious and laborious soldier, bearing himself with the dignity of a man modest as brave, and full of kindliness, but determined in discipline, knowing it to be for the common good. He is resolute in demanding that the requisitions shall be according to the forms, and those a.s.sociated with him must respect the regulations. The objection to him of those who seek one is that he attends too much to details, but that is well when the commander is absolute in duty and has an appet.i.te for hard work before which the small matters disappear as by magic and the greater ones are conquered by force of habit.

The scenery of the battle fields around Manila should be carefully regarded and remembered. The bay is a vast sheet nearly thirty miles in length, with a width exceeding twenty miles. The sh.o.r.es of the bay are low--not more than six feet at most, above high tide. They are also sandy and soft, resembling in some respects the banks of Louisiana rivers, but no levees are attempted. The famous Pasig river is only twenty miles long, and drains a large lake, in which there is an immense multiplication of vegetable growth that floats perpetually to the Bay, and is called "lilies," though having the look of small cabbages. The stream is almost as broad as the Ohio, and, in its snaky turns, crooked as the Mississippi. The banks seem to be prevented from was.h.i.+ng away by the dense matting of gra.s.ses, and the overhanging thickets, imposing in luxuriance. The houses are close to the water, for the tidal river does not rise and fall enough to disturb the inhabitants. There are mountains a few miles away east and south--big lumps of blue. The stream that furnishes pure water to Manila is from the mountains, and tapped near the mouth, where it empties into the Pasig, seven miles from the city. Manila is widespread, and of structures whose height has been moderated by experience of earthquakes. There is a great deal of marshy land, and rice fields, and the jungles, so thick and th.o.r.n.y, and the gra.s.ses so tall, fibrous, and rasping, that the marching of columns of soldiers is excessively fatiguing. It was a terrible task that was cut out for our men, by the delay in the Senate, mischievously elongated, the insurgents having fortified themselves in a way that they knew would have been utterly impervious by Spaniards. The military leaders of the Filipinos have the explanation to offer, if they have the enlightenment to comprehend their own predicament, as a discomfited ma.s.s of fugitives, that they never, before the American regulars and volunteers charged them, met soldiers who would not have retreated in dismay from the fiery ambuscades. The achievement of the Americans in confronting, rus.h.i.+ng and routing the array, formidable in numbers, of natives, gathered with great expectations of a victory that would convert them into the barbaric conquerors of a civilized community--the consecutive and conclusive victories over them that covered our arms, will have honorable distinction, of putting soldiers to the proof and finding them pure steel, for a long time to come. Our boys, weary of the aggressive att.i.tude of the still insurgent crowds, though the power of Spain had been broken, welcomed with cheers the order to charge; and it has been many days since there has been a trial of manliness more severe, or testimony of devotion more true, and of the staunch fighting quality of the troops whose only way out of difficulty was to find the enemy and drive them headlong.

It is not to be forgotten, while the flag of the nation flies, that the brave regiments that will bear upon their banners the name Manila, with the dates of February, 1899, are from all sections of the country, from the Alleghenies to the Pacific. They come from western Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Oregon, Was.h.i.+ngton, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Idaho, and California, and as Admiral Dewey said so well of the crews of his s.h.i.+ps on his immortal May day, "There was not a man in the fleet who did not do his duty, and no man did more." It is, as Admiral Schley said of the famous naval victory on the Southern Cuban coast, "There is glory enough to go around." Take the list of regiments and batteries and troops in the Eighth Army Corps, under the command of Major-General E.S. Otis, and there is but one record--each officer and enlisted man was in his place, and all are worthy to be glorified, for their das.h.i.+ng rushes through the swamps and the hideous tropic tangles, they penetrated to find the foe, equally with those heroes who mounted with unquailing ardor that only death could quench and that victory crowned the b.l.o.o.d.y hills of Santiago.

The easy capture of Iloilo proves the inadequacy of the followers of Aguinaldo to do any mischief beyond bushwhacking, and it will not be found worth while to pursue the natives who made an occupation of war far into the jungles. The complete possession of the railroad by our troops will be necessary, and the navy will have business for light vessels in preventing the smuggling of j.a.panese arms, which are, no doubt, furnished at low rates for special purposes.

Two proclamations have appeared in the Philippines--one by General Otis, the American General commanding the Eighth Army Corps, and the other by Aguinaldo, that make clear in a few words the policy of those engaged in the war that has followed the downfall of the sovereignty of Spain over the bits of the archipelago they occupied. General Otis said, January 4th, that the "United States forces came to give the blessings of peace and individual freedom to the Philippine people. We are here as friends of the Filipinos to protect them in their homes, their employments, their individual and religious liberty. All persons who, either by active aid or honest endeavor, co-operate with the government of the United States to give effect to these beneficient purposes will receive the reward of its support and protection."

The General quoted the instructions of the President, and remarked:

"I am fully of the opinion that it is the intention of the United States government, while directing affairs generally, to appoint the representative men now forming the controlling element of the Filipinos to civil positions of trust and responsibility, and it will be my aim to appoint to these such Filipinos as may be acceptable to the supreme authorities at Was.h.i.+ngton.

"It is also my belief that it is the intention of the United States Government to draw from the Filipino people so much of the military force of the islands as possible and consistent with a free and well-const.i.tuted government of the country, and it is my desire to inaugurate a policy of that character.

"I am also convinced that it is the intention of the United States government to seek the establishment of a most liberal government for the islands, in which the people themselves shall have as full representation as the maintenance of order and law will permit, and which shall be susceptible of development on lines of increased representation and the bestowal of increased powers into a government as free and independent as is enjoyed by the most favored provinces of the world.

"It will be my constant endeavor to co-operate with the Filipino people, seeking the good of the country, and I invite their full confidence and aid."

Aguinaldo, on this conciliatory definition of American purposes, objects to General Otis calling himself "Military Governor," and cries out, with "all the energy of his soul against such authority,"

and alludes to the policy of the President referring to the Philippine annexation, adding:

"I solemnly protest, in the name of G.o.d, the root and fountain of all justice and of all right, and who has given to me power to direct my dear brothers in the difficult work of our regeneration, against this intrusion of the government of the United States in the sovereignty of these islands.

"And so, you must understand, my dear brothers, that, united by bonds which it will be impossible to break, such is the idea of our liberty and our absolute independence, which have been our n.o.ble aspirations, all must work together to arrive at this happy end, with the force which gives conviction, already so generally felt, among all the people, to never turn back in the road of glory, on which we have already so far advanced."

President McKinley, on the evening of February l5th, addressed at the Boston Home Market Club banquet, all civilized nations, setting forth the policy of the United States in the Philippines, saying:

"The Philippines, like Cuba and Porto Rico, were intrusted to our hands by the war, and to that great trust, under the providence of G.o.d and in the name of human progress and civilization, we are committed. It is a trust from which we will not flinch.

"There is universal agreement that the Philippines shall not be turned back to Spain. No true American would consent to that.

"The suggestions that they should be tossed into the arena for the strife of nations or be left to the anarchy or chaos of no protectorate at all were too shameful to be considered. The treaty gave them to the United States. Could we have required less and done our duty?

"Our concern is not for territory, or trade, or empire, but for the people whose interests and destiny were put in our hands.

"It is not a good time for the liberator to submit important questions to the liberated while they are engaged in shooting down their rescuers.

"The future of the Philippine Islands is now in the hands of the American people.

"I know of no better or safer human tribunal than the people.

"Until Congress shall direct otherwise, it will be the duty of the executive to possess and hold the Philippines.

"That the inhabitants of the Philippines will be benefited is my unshaken belief.

"No imperial designs lurk in the American mind. They are alien to American sentiment."

There is a directness of purpose and precision of statement about this that bears the stamp of sincerity, is impressive with the power of authority, and s.h.i.+nes with the spirit of patriotism.

CHAPTER XXIX

The Aguinaldo War of Skirmishes.

The Filipino Swarms, After Being Repulsed with Slaughter, Continue Their Scattering Efforts to Be a.s.sa.s.sins--They Plan a General Ma.s.sacre and the Burning of Manila--Defeated in Barbarous Schemes, They Tell False Tales and Have Two Objects, One to Deceive the People of the Philippines, the Other to Influence Intervention--The Peril of Fire--Six Thousand Regulars Sent to General Otis--Americans Capture Iloilo and Many Natives Want Peace--The People of the Isla of Negros Ask That They May Go with Us--Dewey Wants Battles.h.i.+ps and Gunboats, Gets Them, and Is Made an Admiral--Arrival of Peace Commissioners, with Their School Books, Just Ahead of the Regulars with Magazine Rifles--The Germans at Manila Salute Admiral Dewey at Last.

The activity of the Aguinaldo insurgents was persisted in, while their commissioners were on the way to us, and ours to them. While Congress was in a reactionary state owing to political games, and many members tearful on the side of the barbarians, there was a desperate conspiracy to ma.s.sacre the white people of Manila and destroy the city by fire; and fighting was going on along our extended lines, the Filipinos shooting at Americans from the jungles. On February 15th the California Volunteers abandoned Guadalupe church and retired to San Pedro Macati, and the Filipinos held ambuscades near the Pasig River. It was reported that on the night of the 14th the retirement of General King's advance posts upon San Pedro Macati had evidently been construed by the rebels as a sign of weakness, as they pressed forward along both sides of the river, persistently hara.s.sing the occupants of the town.

The rebels poured volley after volley into San Pedro Macati from the brush on the adjacent ridge, but without effect. General King's headquarters, in the center of the town, was the target for scores of bullets. The rebels were using smokeless powder and it was extremely difficult to locate individual marksmen.