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! / by..  i
The War of Despotism     in the Philippine Islands
LIBERTY IS LIBERTY AS GOD IS GOD.
Louis Kossuth.
ADDRESS
OF THE
HON. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL,
'AT SPRINGFIELD, MASS., SEPT. 5, 1899.
The war against Spain and the war in the Philippine
Islands have given rise to an opinion, now much cultivated
by the advocates and organs of imperialism, that the
supreme power in the United States is vested in the President, and, consequently, that any criticism of his doings
is akin to the crime known in monarchies as lese majeste,
meaning thereby high treason or the purpose to commit
high treason. The prevalence of this opinion and the
support given to it by the imperialistic press of the
country justify an inquiry into the nature of our government, and especially for the purpose of ascertaining
where the attribute or endowment called supremacy has
been lodged.
Indirectly and in a collateral inquiry that question has
been settled by the Supreme Court. The President: and
all subordinates in the Executive Departments holding
under him, and all judges and all subordinates in the
Jtudicial Department holding under them, are officers of the
goverament, and consequently all of them may, under
some circumstances, become amenable to a higher power.
An office is a place created, and an officer is a person
holding a a place created., and by necessity he is amenablto, theaauthor or creator of the place so created. This
theory is met in practice and without limitation in our
systei of governient. All the officers of whom I have
spoken, iscluding the Presicfnt, are amenable to an
authority i..which.the President has no part - an authority to wHieh the President himself may become responsei
ble.; Tat authority is vested in the House of Represettatives Ab d in the Senate of the United States, acting
concurreptlVy.
-"Adi":". '/  [ tPublilehM bM the AtI-Impe.laet LIague.],Nl -SII 0OE MICHIGAN LIBRARI$




2


The Congress of the United States is a body which
may or may not include the President as a coordinate
branch. The provision of the Constitution by which the
veto power is given to the President may work, and often
it has worked, the exclusion of the President from the
law-making branch of the government. For a particular
occasion and for a special purpose, he ceases to be of the
Congress of the United States. The two houses, by a
two-thirds vote in each house, may enact laws in defiance
of the President's opinion, may declare war without his
concurrence, may authorize and require him to make a
treaty of peace, and in case of his neglect to comply with
such requirement the two Houses, acting in the way
pointed out in the Constitution, may impeach him and remove him from office.
By the Constitution the United States guarantees to
each State a republican form of government.   That
guarantee is to be executed by Congress, with the cooperation of the President as a part of the Congress, or by the
two Houses acting independently, in case of the non-concurrence of the President. Thus the phrase " the United
States " means the two houses of Congress acting concurrently, and either with or without the cooperation of the
Executive.
In the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses the great
measures for the reconstruction of the government, and
for its preservation upon a republican basis, became
statutes against the opinion of the President. Moreover,
the two houses provided for the assembling and reassembling of Congress in defiance of the wishes of the President.
Beyond what has been done, a Congress may assemble
upon the motion of a majority of the members of each
house, and may proceed to business without the aid of a
preliminary proclamation by the Executive. The Congress
always exists, and upon its own motion it may exist with
a right to act. Members of Congress are not officers of
the government; they are constituent parts of the government.
For the purposes of government and in the ultimate,
the two Houses of Congress are the United States. They
are self-existent bodies. They can command men and
money for such purposes as they may think expedient,
including their own support and defence, and on them
every branch and agency of the government is dependent.
As individuals, the members of Congress are responsi



3


ble, first, to their associates in the respective Houses, and
beyond that they are responsible only to the people whom
they represent.
The President, as a public officer, is open to criticism
on the part of any citizen who may think that the President errs in his public policy or in his personal conduct.
The law protects him, as it protects other citizens, but not
otherwise. Every citizen who criticises another is responsible for the manner in which he exercises his privilege. Nothing more. What Shakespeare has said of
kings does not apply to Presidents - not as yet:
" There's such divinity doth hedge a king."
Not upon Presidents only, but upon Congresses as well,
the right and the exercise of the right of criticism are
security for the freedom of the citizen and the preservation of the State. Nor is the exercise of this right to be
limited to times of peace; indeed, its fullest enjoyment is
most important in times of war.
War implies the destruction of human life, and the
sacrifice and often the waste of vast sums of money.
Wars that are unavoidable and defensible are great
calamities -wars that are unnecessary and unjust are
the greatest of crimes. Is there to be no inquiry, no
judgment, no criticism on the part of those who fill the
ranks or pay the taxes? No words of warning from
those who, void of ambition, consult only the safety and
prosperity of the State? As the perils of the Republic
are greater in war than in peace, so in war rather than in
peace should there be entire freedom in inquiry, unrestricted freedom of judgment of public affairs, and of
criticism of those in authority.
The full recognition of the right of criticism, with the
free exercise of the right on the part of the people, is the
chief security, indeed, it is the only security, against
mal-laministration in public affairs. One of the regretable incidents of the Philippinean war is the appearance
of officers of the regular army and navy who, not content
with the free expression of their own opinions, venture
to suggest the suppression of opinion in those who differ
from them. They should realize that they are the servants of the Republic, and not its rulers.
The attempt now making by the imperialistic press l
and organs to compel the country into silence means the
acceptance of imperialism in America, while the President
makes war in Asia-a war which has never been sane



4


tioned or recognized by Congress, and whose conduct
and fortunes are systematically concealed from the
people. Thus does imperialism in Asia react and imperil
liberty in America. The attempt to stifle criticism is a
vain attempt. Criticism of the President will be more
and more general and vigorous as month after month
passes, until his administration shall have come to an
end. With this explanation and defence of the right of
criticism on the part of the citizens of the United States,
I proceed to the individual exercise of the right.
First of all, I seek for an answer to this question:
What is the character of the war that we are now carrying on in the Philippine Islands? Is it a struggle of arms
for the suppression of a riot or a popular outbreak against
recognized and established authority, such as occurred at
Chicago in President Cleveland's administration, or is it
a war against an organization which has all the attributes
and qualities of a civil government and which has come
into existence through the exercise of original sovereignty
by 8,000,000 or 10,000,000 people,- a sovereignty that
is divine in its origin, if any sovereignty in government
can be called divine -and with which the millions of
Filipinos were and are quite content?  If it is a war
against such an organization and against such a people,
then those who are carrying it on are guilty of a crime
called lese humanite, treason to humanity.
It is only by slow processes and under the restraints of
a military censorship and despotism that we have gained
a partial knowledge of the nature and perfectness of the
civilization of the island of Luzon. Whoever has had
the opportunity to read Clay MacCauley's lecture on "The
Very Noble City Manila," delivered at Yokohama in the
present year, has acquired some trustworthy knowledge of
the civilization of the chief city of the Philippine Islands
- a civilization which has a footing in other parts of the
island and in the other islands of the Philippinean group.
Mr. MacCauley was formerly a resident clergyman in
Washington, where he is now well remembered and highly
appreciated. For many years he has lived in Japan as
the representative of the Unitarian denomination of the
United States. He is a trustworthy witness, and that
within my ownr knowledge.
Listen to a description of a home in Manila. He says:
"Possibly you would like to know of the-kind of house
into which I then was welcomed. It is a long, broad




5


bungalow, having a floor raised about five feet from the
ground. Between it and the street lies the garden of
which I spoke before, ornamented in the centre by a
fountain, and bearing in great abundance foliage, shrubbery, and flowers that serve as a shield for the inmates of
the house against the curious eyes of passers-by, and that
delight the senses with color and fragrance.
"Fronting the garden and reached by wide steps is a
vine-surrounded porch extending the whole width of the
house, whence one may enter, by large windows and doors,
a vestibule that is as wide as the porch. This vestibule,
large enough for the dancing of a good-sized Virginia reel,
is richly frescoed in dark colors - walls and ceiling. Its
floor is made of hardwood boards, so hard as to seem
rather like metal than wood, laid in alternating colors,
yellow and brown, and so highly polished as to look more
like costly furniture than a floor.  Here is social hall,
drawing-room, and family gathering-place, all in one.
"-Leading backward from the vestibule for about seventyfive feet is a generous corridor. From one side of this
passage doors open into five large chambers for the use
of separate members of the family. In a certain sense
this corridor is only a balcony. It may be thrown wholly
open, on the side opposite the bedrooms, upon the shaded
driveway that leads thence to the carriage-house and servants' quarters. At the farther end of the passageway,
by flights of steps under three Moresque arches, one
ascends to a large enclosed platform that covers the carriage-house, and serves as the general dining-room. The
walls of the dining-room are frescoed so as to. simulate
the trellises of a grape arbor.
" Everywhere in the building are Pompeii-like decorations: floors of hardwood, laid, as in the vestibule, in
alternating colors; high-studded ceilings with open gratings under them for the free circulation of air, and large
windows, unglazed, but iron barred and heavily shuttered.
Toward the sea the view is fully open. The house is
especially characterized by spaciousness, airiness, shade,
and a free outlook across the bay."
On this description I ask you to realize that such a
home could not exist, would not be permitted to exist,
except in a highly civilized community, and under the
protection of a wise and efficient government.
From Manila a railway extends longitudinally along the
island to the distance of one hundred and forty-nine miles,




6


carrying civilization to the interior parts of Luzon. One
excuse, one pretext for the war, has been the assertion
that the Filipinos were uncivilized, and, therefore, that
they were not entitled to consideration, - a criminal view
of human rights, and a view resting on a falsehood as to
the facts.
The country has indulged in many delusions. It was a
delusion that the insurgents in Cuba were the worthiest
part of the population of the island. That delusion is
passing away, but it was an incentive to the war against
Spain.
It is an error, which the Administration has promulgated, and which it continues to cherish and defend, that
the Filipinos are uncivilized and incapable of self-government, even now when the evidence to the contrary is conclusive.
With cheek unblushing we go on in the prosecution of
this war as though our ideas of civilization were to be
accepted by every grade of people from the tropics to the
arctics.
In all the public policy of this war, and especially in
the proclamations of the President to the Filipinos, there
may be seen, and only half concealed, the arrogant pretension that whatever we have is good and that whatever
has been accepted by the inhabitants of the Philippines
is bad.
But the evidence of civilization and good government is
not limited to Manila and Luzon. Five degrees of latitude to the south of Manila is the small island of Cebu,
which resembles in size and shape the island of Long
Island, on our own coast. On the anniversary day of the
birth of Washington the United States gunboat '" Petrel "
demanded the surrender of the city of Cebu. I am to
read the answer which the governor of Cebu gave to the
commander of the "Petrel" upon the short notice of
fourteen hours. As a specimen of literary work it may
rival the writings of the mayor of the city of Boston, and
the writer exhibits a respectable knowledge of diplomacy
and the usage of nations, not unworthy the notice of the 
accomplished Secretary of State of the United States.
Listen to words of truth and justice from the lips of an
uncivilized ruler of an uncivilized people:
"In the face of the verbal intimation to this government by the commander of the United States gunboat
' Petrel' demanding the surrender of the fort and city of




7


Cebu, in order to hoist the flag of his nation on the Cotta
within the limit of fourteen hours, the great council convoked in consequence, and, composed of representatives
of all the live forces of the country, resolved unanimously
to cede to these demands, in view of the superiority of
the American arms, but not without first protesting that
neither the government of this province nor the whole of
its inhabitants combined have the power to execute acts
expressly forbidden by the honorable President of the
Philippine Republic, Emilio Aguinaldo, our legitimate chief
of the state, recognized, thanks to his indisputable qualities of just governor and illustrious general.
" Sad and painful is the situation of this defenceless
city, compelled to act contrary to its own convictions;
therefore, it proclaims before the whole world that this
occupation is not based upon any rights which form the
codes of any civilized nation; it never expected to behold
such a scene at the close of a century supposed to be enlightened.
" The talk of conquest, of protectorate, of cession
made by the Spaniards, as if the Archipelago, and our
persons, above all, were merchandise, subject to barter,
when one only of these is worth more than a thousand
worlds, even if composed of that metal called vile, which
possibly enchants like the eyes of a serpent.
"But be this as it may, the only person whom the pretender can treat with is Senor Aguinaldo, without whose
acquiescence the act demanded of this government is
neither licit nor legal, being too momentous.
(Signed)                  "LuIS FLORES,
"L Governor.
"CEBU, Feb. 22, 1893."
Can this act on the part of the United States be
called a worthy commemoration of the birthday of a man
who carried on a war through seven years in support of
the right of self-government, and thereupon founded a
republic as a living protest against tyranny and imperialism in every form?
I am thus able to lay before you evidence from two
cities in two islands of the Philippine group, five hundred
miles distant from each other, which gives support to
three propositions; namely, That the Filipinos are a
civilized people; that they are already a self-governing
people; and that Aguinaldo is supreme even in the extreme parts of the archipelago.




8


In the presence of the missive of the Governor of Cebu,
what is to be said of the tender of " good and stable government" by the President of the United States? How
can the claim be made that we are engaged in a war for
civilization and humanity)? In truth, nothing in honesty
and justice remains for the President and his supporters
except the admission that the war is a war of aggression
and conquest-a criminal war of aggression and conquest for which the President alone is responsible. But,
whether admitted or evaded, that is the issue before the
country.
Wherever we have touched the islands of the Philippinean group we have found civilization, domestic comfort,
and a form of government that was popular in its nature
and agreeable to the people. The records of the army
movements in Luzon justify this statement, and at Iloilo
and Cebu there were well-administered local governments
when we entered those towns.
In all the principal islands there are local and municipal
governments on which the framework of a general government can rest and be maintained in stability and vigor.
Such a government, based on a declaration of independence, has been set up, with Aguinaldo at its head, and
with the authorized concurrence of the representative men
of one hundred and-ninety-one provinces and cities and
towns.
Its provisions are known. They are not open to any
serious criticism. The instrument, as a scheme of workmanship, and as an instrument for the guidance of affairs
of state, is far superior to our Articles of Confederation
under which our fathers lived for a long ten years.
The answer to all this is that the government is a government of paper only, and that Aguinaldo is not recognized beyond the military limits of his command.
Something to the contrary might be inferred from the
events of the 18th and 19th of June, when a reconnoitring
party of General Wheaton's command was ambuscaded
within twenty miles of Manila by Filipinos who professed
friendship, and then subjected our small force to a treatment not unlike that which the troops of England received
at Concord in 1775.
In the autumn of 1898 Aguinaldo proclaimed a fast to
be observed on the 31st day of December in memory of
Jos6 Rizal, who had been executed by the Spanish Government. The day was observed in Manila, in the presence of our army. Business was suspended, the streets




9


were vacant, and the houses were draped in mourningSuch was the influence of Aguinaldo.
The Filipinos at Manila, and elsewhere, are not to be
trusted as to the position and power of Aguinaldo, nor as
to the strength and location of his command. To the inhabitants of Luzon we are usurpers and tyrants, and as a
consequence they practise falsehood and deception upon
us. These vices everywhere and always are the outgrowth of tyranny. Frankness, truthfulness, courage,
justice, coexist with freedom of thought and freedom of
action, and they flourish nowhere else.
To the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands the President is a usurper and a tryant, and yet we indulge the
hope that the subjugation of the Filipinos will be followed
by confidence, respect, and a devoted attachment on their
part to the institutions and people of the United States.
Friendships and the attendant virtues of friendships -
confidence, mutual respect, free service, devotion - are
not the outcome of processes of subjugation. Subjugation
is followed always by tyranny, and tyranny on the one
part breeds hypocrisy, deception, and treachery on the
part of those who are the victims of tryanny.
At this point in my address I give emphasis to two
propositions: We are engaged in war with an organized, civilized body of men, who number 8,000,000 or
10,000,000, or even 12,000,000 possibly in all, and who
can command a fighting force of 2,000,000, all our enemies, and united in opinion and compacted in purpose as
were never the people of the United States in any war
that we have carried on.
My second proposition is this: As between the policy
of the President and the demand of the Filipinos there
can be no compromise, no arrangements. We are to subjugate the Filipinos, or they are to achieve their independence. In this view of the situation I ask: What has
been accomplished, and what is now the outlook? What
value can the President now attach to his proclamations
of January 5 and April last?
Let him consider the answer that has been given by time
and events to the declarations therein made, and let him
announce the time, if he will, that will be required for
their fulfilment. Three of the propositions as announced
by the President are these:
1. " The destruction of the Spanish fleet and the
capture of the city of Manila practically effected the conquest of the Philippine Islands."




10


2. " As the result of the victories of American arms,
the future control, disposition, and government of the
Philippine Islands are ceded to the United States.
3. " The military government heretofore maintained
by the United States in the city, harbor, and bay of Manila
is to be extended with all possible despatch to the whole
of the ceded territory."
And now in this month of September, 1899, what remains of these pretensions to power and right?  Has
the conquest of the Philippine Islands been effected?
Have we the "control, disposition, and government"
of them? Has the military government " heretofore
maintained by the United States in the city, harbor, and
bay of Manila" been extended to "the whole of the
ceded territory," or permanently to any part of it? Has
our recognized occupation of territory or our authority
in government been advanced since the opening of the
year? Has any declaration then made been verified by
events? Has any promise then made been kept? Has
any hope that was then entertained been realized?
What has come from the embassy of peace that went
out with a demand for unconditional submission in one
hand and a promise of supernal government in the other?
Buffeted and overmatched by its adversaries, it returns
discredited by its own admissions.
Further, I ask what progress has been made in the execution of these declarations put forth by the President in
January and April of the present year?1. '1 The taxes and duties heretofore payable by the
inhabitants to the late government become payable to the
authorities of the United States, unless it be seen fit to
substitute for them other reasonable rates or modes of
contribution to the expenses of government.
2. "In the fulfilment of this high mission, supporting
the temperate administration of affairs for the greatest good
of the governed, there must be sedulously maintained the
strong arm of authority, to repress disturbances, and to
overcome all obstacles to the bestowal of the blessings of
good and stable government upon the people of the
Philippine Islands, under the free flag of the United States."
Have any taxes been collected outside of Manila and
the environs of that city and two other cities that we
control by force of arms? How far has " the strong arm
of authority " been stretched over the thousand islands of
the Philippine group? I do not ask the imperialistic supporters of the administration to name an island, even an




11


insignificant one, that is grateful or would be grateful for
our presence. I only ask them to name a league of land,
however sparsely inhabited, that will accept our jurisdiction with complacency. Enemies have we everywhere?
Yes, enemies everywhere; and everywhere they have been
created by the policy and doings of the government and
the army. In June, 1898, from Aguinaldo to the humblest
worker in the rice fields the United States had not an
enemy in the archipelago. In June, 1899, we could not
command a friend.
Diplomacy and embassies have accomplished nothing,
and now I ask what can be said of our military operations?
Our navy has had command of the coasts.' The natives
there have been defenceless. Our dominion within range
of the shell and shot of the navy is supreme. We are
indebted to the navy for the capture and occupation of
Cebu and Iloilo.
At the end, what remains as the fruit of the operations
of the army? When the contest of arms opened our force
in the Philippines was not less than 30,000 men -a force
equal to the conquest of the islands, as was then claimed.
Through many dreary weeks and months we were assured
from day to day that General Otis was '" master of the
situation;" that the Filipinos were discouraged; that
Aguinaldo was anxious to surrender; that he was deserted
by his army; and that the insurrection would soon come
to an end.
What was our situation when in June the weather for
campaigning was ended, and the rainy season had come?
We occupied three positions in Luzon - Manila, Fernandino, and Imus, the two last mentioned of no value whatever in a strategical point of view. In the four months
from February to May, inclusive, we had had many skirmishes,.many insignificant victories, many exhibitions of
courage on the part of our soldiers, but for the subjugation of the islands the prospect was less favorable in
June than it had been in January. Our losses in battle
were inconsiderable, but our capacity for further military
undertakings had been reduced not less than 50 per cent.
The quite unanimous refusal of the volunteers to reinlist,
although large inducements were offered, was a protest
against service in the islands, and it may have been a protest also against the policy of the war on the part of the
government. Upon the return of the volunteers, we are
receiving trustworthy information, from which the country
will derive valuable instruction.




12


An Englishman, who claims to have been at the theatre
of war, estimates the American losses from fighting at an
average of five per day during the winter campaign, and
the losses of the Filipinos at twice that number. If the
loss on the part of the Filipinos from February to June
has been at the rate of fifty or even one hundred a day,
Aguinaldo's fighting force has not been diminished.
In November next Aguinaldo will have all the fighting
men that he can use; he will have added to his supply of
arms and ammunition, and in every respect his command
will be better prepared than ever before. This view, however, will not be accepted at Washington, and the statement will be offensive to the imperialists of the country.
Time will test its wisdom.
We are at the end of a year of occupation - we are at
the close of a winter campaign. We have gained nothing
that is of value to us. The Filipinos have lost nothing
that impairs their resources for the conduct of another
campaign.   Our loss of life must be counted by the
thousand, and the expenditure of money by tens of
millions, and where is the imperialist who can boast of
what has been accomplished? Or state the gain that has
been secured? Or offer anything but vain promises for
the future, such as the President's promise of a victorious
peace?
Nor are we free from cause for anxiety for the fate of
the army during the months of inaction through which we
are passing. The statements made by Surgeon McQueston of General Otis' staff, and recently the head of the
medical staff at Manila, furnish food for serious thought.
The interviewer's report, which has stood unchallenged
for many weeks, is this:
" Unless troops, thousands of them, are sent to the aid
of our men there, they will be driven back into Manila
in the course of the next few months, during the rainy
season. Our men simply cannot stand the climate.
Fifty per cent. of them will be incapacitated by sickness,
and the territory overrun will have to be abandoned.
Manila will be in a state of siege again.
' Our officers and soldiers have accomplished wonders
and have proved themselves the best soldiers in the world.
But nothing decisive has come of it, because our men
were not in great enough force. One of the great dangers
that our men have to face is the climate. The newcomers
will be at a disadvantage, because the volunteers who are
returning home are inured to the climate. This will make




13


more men necessary than we could otherwise have put in
the field. As a matter of belief, the Filipinos think they
have the Americans licked already. One solution of the
situation might be to enlist colored men from the Gulf
States, and this might settle some of the race questions of
that section. These men would be better able to stand
the climate conditions around Manila, and it has been
proved that they are good fighters.
"I want to say a word for the Western volunteers. They
make the finest soldiers in the world, and their fighting
qualities are wonderful. But the volunteers all want to
return home, and I hardly think that the plan to reenlist
these skeleton regiments from the volunteers now in the
Philippines will be a success. The men enlisted to fight
for their country, and they are not the kind of men who
want to stay and fight an insurrection for money or the
fun of fighting."
If Surgeon McQueston's report of the condition of the:army is trustworthy, the summary must be this: At the
end of a fruitless campaign the remnant of the army is
not only incapable of an aggressive movement, but reenforcements are required for its protection and preservation.
As proclamations of power and embassies of peace are
no longer available, the Administration can offer to the
country only war - exhausting war — for an indefinite
future.
The continuance of the war means more men and more
money. The increase of the army for service in the
tropics means a longer death roll, and that without reference to the losses in the field. With men, and the frequent renewal of the supply of men, we can overrun the 
territory, we can destroy property, we can lay waste the
evidences of civilization, we may blast the prospects of
youth and dim the hopes of age, we may make misery
the general condition of millions of human beings, and
the inheritance of those yet to be born, but there are two
enemies in the Philippines we cannot vanquish.  The
climatic diseases of the tropics gloat upon numbers, and
prosper with every addition. When you double or treble
the army in the East, you lengthen the death roll and increase the sum of family and domestic misery in the
United States in the same proportion.
Our other enemy is the embittered hostility of the
people, which war may aggravate but can never remove.
Is it a wild suggestion to say that if General Otis had




14


had 60,000 men in his command in January last his situation to-day would not be better than it now is, while his
record of death losses would be much worse?
He might have penetrated the island to the distance of
a hundred miles, but the spectacle would have been the
same, and the necessity for a retreat the same upon the
approach of the rainy season.
The invasion of a territory is not conquest. Conquest
requires permanent occupation of territory and continuing
local government, and finally the abject submission or
the general approval of the people. These conditions
are impossible in the Philippines,
American citizens will never colonize the islands, and,
therefore, local civil government friendly to the United
States can never be instituted. The army cannot subsist
in the interior through the seasons and year after year,
and, therefore, local military government is impracticable.
The Administration may be congratulated upon its success if it will accept the teaching of the lessons furnished
by the experience of the past year. We are invincible on
the seacoast along the margin that is within range of our
gunboats and ships of war, but gunboat jurisdiction is
temporary, evanescent, and at any moment we may be
dispossessed by a storm.
An army of 30,000 men may penetrate the island
of Luzon at its pleasure in the winter season, and an
army of 100,000 men will perish in the swamps and ricefields of the interior, or it will seek refuge in the mountains,
or it will retreat to the seacoast when the rainy season
comes on, as in this year, 1899.
What Macaulay said of Spain is equally true of the
Philippines: " The easiest of all lands to overrun and
the hardest to conquer." We have overrun a territory in
Luzon as large as the State of Rhode Island, and we have
not gained peaceful jurisdiction of an acre of ground.
Hostile populations, numbering millions, cannot be
charmed by peace embassies or cajoled by veneered
proclamations, nor by force of armies can they be converted into patriotic citizens.
It is the history of popular rebellions that they succeed
-it is in the nature of things that they should succeed -
especially when the rebels have a just cause and ample
territory to which they may flee for refuge and for reorganization. We have examples, not in the United States
only, but in Hayti and in the states of Central and South
America, from Mexico to the Argentine Republic.




15


No exception in two continents, and the Philippines
will not be an exception.
The Administration has been forced by events to abandon its policy of peace, for which there was no justifying
foundation or ground for hope.
We now enter upon a policy of war - a policy of war
unmasked and freed from all adventitious circumstances.
A heavy responsibility rests upon those who venture to
assume it. Not much time can pass before the country
will be forced to abandon the policy of war and to enter
upon a policy of justice to others, thereby securing peace
for ourselves. Let the country command peace, or else
be prepared to accept a conscription act for the prosecution of the war in the Philippine Islands.
The Governor of Cebu has raised the question of title
on our part, as against the title of the Filipinos, who are
the occupants, and whose ancestors for centuries have
been the occupants of the islands. He claims that the
title of the inhabitants of the Philippines is superior to the
title of Spain as the discoverer. His claim has support
in the treaty between Great Britain and Venezuela, to
which the United States has assented.
The valley of the Essequibo river is the territory in
dispute. Great Britain claims a right to the entire valley
as derived from Spain, the discoverer, through Denmark,
the intermediate proprietor. By the treaty, which is now
under arbitration at Paris, Great Britain holds the territory that it has occupied for fifty years, and Venezuela
holds the territory that its citizens have occupied for fifty
years, and all without any inquiry as to the original title,
whether it was in Venezuela or in Great Britain. The title
to the intermediate and unoccupied portion of the valley
is to be found by the arbitrators.
The Venezuelan treaty warrants this conclusion;
namely, That a title resting in possession is superior to
a title derived from discovery. Under this doctrine the
superior title'to the Philippine Islands was in the inhabitants, and consequently Spain had nothing in the nature
of a title to which the treaty of December, 1898, could
attach. Under this doctrine the Filipinos had a right to
assert their superior title. This has been done in every
part of the islands, unless, possibly, the city of Manila
may have been an exception. We are now asserting a
title that, in principle, has been disavowed by Great
Britain and Venezuela in a treaty that received our approval, and that was proclaimed as a triumph of Ameri-.,4




16.
can policy in our new part as one of the great powers of
the world.
If in this address I have presented a gloomy view of our
conduct in the Philippinean war, and of our condition at
the close of the year, some relief may be found in a single
ray of light that may be thrown upon the dark picture.
We declared war against Spain in the belief - a belief
in which I had no share - that the sufferings of the patriotic Cubans were such as to justify and require our intervention upon grounds of humanity. The country was
-deceived and misled, and we entered at once upon a war
of aggression and conquest, first in Porto Rico and Cuba,
then and now -n the Philippine Islands, with hints that
the interests of trade and the missionary spirit combined
may soon demand our intervention in China.
A war commenced in misrepresentations and misunderstandings, and carried on for the subotion of a people
who owe no allegiance to us, may be 9-ed in an exhibition of chivalric justice for which no exam*e ca. be found
in the history of mankind.
Is it a vain thing to suggest, is it a vain thiAgto indulge
the hope, that the United States may redeem its honor and
purge itself from the foul stain of c*rrying on a war for
conquest and power; by conceding, namd conceding frot
and without delay, independent statehood and full individual sovereignty to Porto Rico, to Cuba, and to the
Philippine Islands?
The CELLAR BOOK SHOP
18090 Wyoming
Detroit, Mich. 48221, U.S.A.






THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
DATE DUE






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