The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 Part 5

This Dewey-Anderson call on Aguinaldo was on July 1st. Admiral Dewey now began to foresee that the Washington programme was going to put him in an awkward position. So he began to take Aguinaldo more seriously. On July 4th, he wired Washington: "Aguinaldo proclaimed himself President of the Revolutionary Republic on July 1st." [74]

It was on July 7th that Admiral Dewey captured 1300 armed Spanish prisoners, the garrison of Isla la Grande, off Olongapo, and turned them over to the forces of the Aguinaldo government because he had no way to keep them. [75] Was not that taking that government a bit seriously? How wholly unauthorized by the facts was this of "not taking it seriously," on the part of "The Liberator of the Filipinos,"

[76] the immortal victor of Manila Bay, who two months before had taught the nation the magnitude of its power for good, in a cause as righteous as the crusades of old, and more sensible!

But to return to General Anderson's account in the North American Review of his call, with Admiral Dewey, on the insurgent chief: "He asked me at once whether the 'United States of the North' either had, or would recognize his government. I am not quite sure as to the form of the question, whether it was 'had' or 'would'? In either form it was embarra.s.sing." General Anderson then tells of Aguinaldo's returning his call: "A few days thereafter he made an official call, coming with cabinet, staff, and band. He asked if we, the North Americans, as he called us, intended to hold the Philippines as dependencies. I said I could not answer that, but that in 122 years we had established no colonies. He then made this remarkable statement: 'I have studied attentively the Const.i.tution of the United States, and I find in it no authority for colonies, and I have no fear.'" General Anderson adds: "It may seem that my answer was evasive, but I was at the time trying to contract with the Filipinos for horses, fuel, and forage."

While this history must not lapse into an almanac, it may not be amiss to follow these early stages of this matter through a few more successive dates, because the history of that period was all indelibly branded into Filipino memory shortly afterward with the red-hot iron of war.

July 4th, General Anderson writes the Filipino candidate for Independence inviting him to "co-operate with us in military operations against the Spanish forces." [77] This was written not to arrange any plan of co-operation but in order to get room about Cavite as a military base without a row. In his North American Review article General Anderson says that on that same day, the Fourth of July, Aguinaldo was invited to witness a parade and review "in honor of our national holiday." "He did not come," says the article, "because he was not invited as President but as General Aguinaldo." An odd situation, was it not? Here was a man claiming to be President of a newly established republic based on the principles set forth in our Declaration of Independence, which republic had just issued a like Declaration, and he was invited to come and hear our declaration read, and declined because we would not recognize his right to a.s.sert the same truths. On subsequent anniversaries of the day in the Philippines it was deemed wise simply to prohibit the reading of our Declaration before gatherings of the Filipino people. It saved discussion.

July 6th, General Anderson writes telling Aguinaldo that he is expecting more troops soon and therefore "I would like to have your excellency's advice and co-operation." [78]

July 9th, General Anderson writes the War Department that Aguinaldo tells him he has about 15,000 fighting men, 11,000 armed with guns, and some 4000 prisoners, [79] and adds: "When we first landed he seemed very suspicious, and not at all friendly but I have now come to a better understanding with him and he is much more friendly and seems willing to co-operate."

July 13th, we find Admiral Dewey also still in a co-operative mood. On that day he cables the Navy Department of the capture of the 1,300 prisoners on July 7th, mentioned above, which capture was made, it appears, because Aguinaldo complained to him that a German war-ship was interfering with his operations, [80] the prisoners being at once turned over to Aguinaldo, as stated above.

July 18th, is the date of the letter to the War Department in which General Anderson states that the establishment of a provisional government by us will probably mean a conflict with the insurgents. This was equivalent to saying that they will probably be ready to fight whenever we a.s.sert the "absolute and supreme" authority that the President's instructions had directed to be a.s.serted by the army as soon as it should arrive in the Philippines. Yet in the fall of 1899, President McKinley said he "never dreamed" that Aguinaldo's "little band" would oppose our rule to the extent of war against it. It would have been more accurate if the martyred Christian gentleman who used those words had said he "always hoped" they would not, instead of "never dreamed" they would. This letter of July 18th, informs the Department:

Aguinaldo has declared himself dictator and self-appointed president. He has declared martial law and promulgated a minute method of procedure under it.

July 19th, General Anderson sends Major (now Major-General) J. F. Bell, to Aguinaldo, and asks of him a number of favors, such as any soldier may properly ask of an ally, for example, permission to see his military maps, etc., and that Aguinaldo "place at his [Bell's]

disposal any information you may have on the above subjects, and also give him [Bell] a letter or pa.s.s addressed to your subordinates which will authorize them to furnish him any information they can * * *

and to facilitate his pa.s.sage along the lines, upon a reconnaissance around Manila, on which I propose to send him." [81] All of which Aguinaldo did.

Military training is very keen on honor. Talk about what the French call foi d'officier,--the "word of an officer"! Did ever a letter from one soldier to another more completely commit the faith and honor of his government, to recognition of the existence of an alliance? "In 122 years we have established no colonies," he had told Aguinaldo. "It looks like we are about to go into the colonizing business," he had, in effect, said to Admiral Dewey, about the same time.

July 21st, General Anderson writes the Adjutant-General of the army as follows:

Since I last wrote, Aguinaldo has put in operation an elaborate system of military government. * * * It may seem strange that I have made no formal protest against his proclamation as dictator, his declaration of martial law, etc. I wrote such a protest but did not publish it at Admiral Dewey's request. [82]

When he wrote this letter, General Anderson was evidently beginning to have some compunctions about the trouble he now saw ahead. He was a veteran of the Civil War, whose gallantry had then been proven on many a field against an enemy compared with whom these people would be a picnic. But things did not look to the grim old hero like there was going to be a square deal. So he put this in the letter:

I submit, with all deference, that we have heretofore underrated the natives. They are not ignorant savage tribes, but have a civilization of their own, and although insignificant in appearance are fierce fighters and for a tropical people they are industrious. A small detail of natives will do more work than a regiment of volunteers.

Of course, this slam at "volunteers" was a bit rough. But the battle-scarred veteran's sense of fair play was getting on his nerves. He foresaw the coming conflict, and though he did not shirk it, he did not relish it. He understood the "game," and it seemed to him the cards were stacked, to meet the necessity of demonstrating that forcible annexation, instead of being criminal aggression, was merely Trade Expansion, and that his government was right then irrevocably committing itself, without any knowledge of, or acquaintance with, the Filipinos, to the a.s.sumption that they were incapable of running a government of their own.

The next day, July 22d, General Anderson wrote Aguinaldo a letter advising him that he was without orders as yet concerning the question of recognizing his government. But that this letter was neither a protest nor in the nature of a protest, is evident from its text:

I observe that Your Excellency has announced yourself dictator and proclaimed martial law. As I am here simply in a military capacity, I have no authority to recognize such an a.s.sumption. I have no orders from my government on the subject. [83]

Yet General Anderson's letter to the Adjutant-General of the army of July 18th [84] uses the words "since reading the President's instructions to General Merritt," etc., showing that he had a copy of them; and those instructions order and direct (see ante) that as soon as the commanding general of the American troops arrives he is to let the Filipinos know that "the powers of the military occupant are absolute and supreme and immediately operate upon the political condition of the inhabitants." A charitable view of the matter would be that, technically, those were Merritt's orders, not Anderson's. But the whole scheme was to conceal the intention to a.s.sume supreme authority and keep Aguinaldo quiet "until," as General Merritt afterwards expressed it in his report, "I should be in possession of the city of Manila, * * * as I would not until then be in a position to * * * enforce my authority, in the event that his [Aguinaldo's] pretensions should clash with my designs." [85]

The same day that General Anderson wrote Aguinaldo his billet doux about the dictatorship, viz., July 22d, he cabled Washington a much franker and more serious message; which read: "Aguinaldo declares dictatorship and martial law over all islands. The people expect independence." The very next day, July 23d, he wrote Aguinaldo asking his a.s.sistance in getting five hundred horses, and fifty oxen and ox-carts, and manifesting considerable impatience that he had not already complied with a similar request previously made "as it was to fight in the cause of your people." [86] The following day, July 24th, replying to General Anderson's letter of the 22d wherein General Anderson had advised him that he was as yet without orders concerning the question of recognizing his government, Aguinaldo wrote:

It is true that my government has not been acknowledged by any of the foreign powers, but we expected that the great North American nation, which had struggled first for its independence, and afterwards for the abolition of slavery, and is now actually struggling for the independence of Cuba, would look upon it with greater benevolence than any other nation. [87]

That cablegram of July 22d, above quoted, in which the commanding general of our forces in the Philippines advises the Washington government, "The people expect independence," is the hardest thing in the published archives of our government covering that momentous period for those who love the memory of Mr. McKinley to get around. [88] After the war with the Filipinos broke out Mr. McKinley said repeatedly in public speeches, "I never dreamed they would turn against us." You do not find the Anderson cablegram of July 22d in the published report of the War Department covering the period under consideration. General Anderson addressed it to the Secretary of War and signed it, and, probably for lack of army cable facilities, got Admiral Dewey to send it to the Secretary of the Navy for transmission to the Secretary of War. [89] Certain it must be that at some Cabinet meeting on or after July 22, 1898, either the Secretary of the Navy or the Secretary of War read in the hearing of the President and the rest of his advisers that message from General Anderson, "The people expect independence." The object here is not to inveigh against Mr. McKinley. It is to show that, as Gibbon told us long ago, in speaking of the discontent of far distant possessions and the lack of hold of the possessor on the affections of the inhabitants thereof, "the cry of remote distress is ever faintly heard." The average American to-day, if told the Filipinos want independence, will give the statement about the same consideration Mr. McKinley did then, and if told that the desire among them for a government of their people by their people for their people has not been diminished since the late war by tariff taxation without representation, and the steady development of race prejudice between the dominant alien race and the subject one, he will begin to realize by personal experience how faintly the uttered longings of a whole people may fall on distant ears.

We saw above that in a letter written July 21st, the day before the telegram about the "people expect independence," which letter must have reached Washington within thirty days, General Anderson not only notified Washington all about Aguinaldo's government and its pretensions, but stated that at the request of Admiral Dewey he had made no protest against it. [90] Yet straight on through the period of General Merritt's sojourn in the Islands, which began July 25th, and terminated August 29th, we find no protest ordered by Washington, and we further find the purpose of the President as announced in the instructions to Merritt, "The powers of the military occupant are absolute and supreme" throughout the Islands, not only not communicated to the Filipino people, but deliberately suppressed from the proclamation published by General Merritt pursuant to those instructions. [91]

Comments and conclusions are usually impertinent and unwelcome save as mere addenda to facts, but in the light of the facts derivable from our own official records, is it any wonder that General Anderson, a gallant veteran of the Civil War, and perhaps the most conspicuous figure of the early fighting in the Philippines, delivered an address some time after he came back home before the Oregon Commandery of the Loyal Legion of the United States [92] on the subject, "Should republics have colonies?" and answered the question emphatically "No!"

CHAPTER IV

MERRITT AND AGUINALDO

There are no tricks in plain and simple faith.

Julius Caesar, Act IV., Sc. 2.

Major-General Wesley Merritt's account of the operations of the troops under his command in the First Expedition to the Philippines may be found in volume i., part 2, War Department Report for 1898. He left San Francisco accompanied by his staff, June 29, 1898, arrived at Cavite, Manila Bay, July 25th, received the surrender of the city of Manila August 13th, and sailed thence August 30th, in obedience to orders from Washington to proceed without unnecessary delay to Paris, France, for conference with the Peace Commissioners. According to General Merritt's report, about the time he arrived Aguinaldo had some 12,000 men under arms, with plenty of ammunition, and a number of field-pieces. The late lamented Frank D. Millet has preserved for us, in his Expedition to the Philippines, some valuable and intimate studies of this army of Filipino besiegers whom our troops found busily at work when they arrived in the Islands:

It was an interesting sight at Camp Dewey to see the insurgents strolling to and from the front. Pretty much all day long they were coming and going, never in military formation, but singly, and in small groups, perfectly clean and tidy in dress, often accompanied by their wives and children, and all chatting as merrily as if they were going off on a pigeon shoot. The men who sold fish and vegetables in camp in the morning would be seen every day or two dressed in holiday garments, with rifle and cartridge boxes, strolling off to take their turn at the Spaniards.

The reader will readily understand that there were many times as many volunteers as guns. Mr. Millet continues:

When they had been at the front twenty-four hours they were relieved and returned home for a rest. They generally pa.s.sed their rifles and equipments on to another man and thus a limited number of weapons served to arm a great many besiegers. They had no distinctive uniform, the only badge of service being a red and blue c.o.c.kade with a white triangle bearing the Malay symbol of the sun and three stars, and sometimes a red and blue band pinned diagonally across the lower part of the left sleeve. * * *

Many of them * * * had belonged to the native volunteer force.

* * * The recruits were soon hammered into shape by the veterans of the rank and file. * * * Their men were perfectly obedient to orders * * * and they made the most devoted soldiers. There was no visible Commissary or Quartermaster's Departments, but the insurgent force was always supplied with food and ammunition and there was no lack of transportation. The food issued at the front was mostly rice brought up in carromatas to within a few hundred yards of the trenches, when it was cooked by the women.

* * * Each man had a double handful of rice, sometimes enriched by a small proportion of meat and fish, which was served him in a square of plantain leaf. Thus he was unenc.u.mbered with a plate or knife or fork and threw away his primitive but excellent dish when he had "licked the platter clean." It was noticeable that the insurgents carried no water bottles nor haversacks, and no equipments indeed, but cartridge boxes. They did not seem to be worried by thirst like our men.

"Although insignificant in appearance, they are fierce fighters," wrote General Anderson to the Adjutant-General of the army in July. [93]

General Merritt states in his report that Aguinaldo had "proclaimed an independent government, republican in form, with himself as President, and at the time of my arrival in the Islands the entire edifice of executive and legislative departments had been accomplished, at least on paper." [94] Of course at that time we were still officially declining to take Filipino aspirations for independence seriously, and preferred to treat Aguinaldo's government as purely a matter of stationery. As a matter of fact, an exhaustive examination of the official doc.u.ments of that period, made with a view of ascertaining just how much of that Aguinaldo government of 1898 was stationery fiction and how much was stable fact, has absolutely surprised one man who was out there from 1899 to 1905 (the writer), and I have no doubt will be interesting, as mere matter of political necrology, to any American who was there "in the days of the empire" as the "ninety-niners" called it.

Early in the spring of 1899, Mr. McKinley sent out the Commission of which President Schurman of Cornell University was Chairman, to try to stop the war. They bent themselves to the task in a spirit as kindly as that in which we know Mr. McKinley himself would have acted. They failed because the war was already on and the Filipinos were bent on fighting for independence to the bitter end. But they learned a good deal about the facts of the earlier situation. Speaking of these in their report to the President [95] with especial reference to the period beginning with Aguinaldo's landing at Cavite in May, after describing how the Filipino successes in battle with the Spaniards finally resulted in all of them being driven into Manila, where they remained hemmed in, they say:

While the Spanish troops now remained quietly in Manila, the Filipino forces made themselves masters of the entire island except that city.