Chapter 35

THE UNITED STATES IN THE ORIENT

WAR, CONTROVERSY, PEACE

It was wholly problematical how long Aguinaldo unaided could dominate Luzon, still more so whether he would rule tolerably, and more uncertain yet whether centre or south would ever yield to him. The insurgents had foothold in four or five Visayan islands, but were never admitted to Negros, which of its own accord raised our flag. In Mindanao, the Sulu Islands, and Palawan they practically had no influence. Governor Taft was of opinion that they could never, unaided, have set up their sway in these southern regions. But should they succeed in establishing good government over the entire archipelago, clearly they must be for an indefinite period incompetent to take over the international responsibilities connected with the islands. To have at once conceded their sovereignty could have subserved no end that would have been from any point of view rational or humane.

The American situation was delicate. We were present as friends, but could be really so only by, for the time, seeming not to be so. At points we failed in tact. We too little recognized distinctions among classes of Filipinos, tending to treat all alike as savages. When our thought ceased to be that of ousting Spain, and attacked the more serious question what to do next, our manner toward the Filipinos abruptly changed. Our purposes were left unnecessarily equivocal. Our troops viewed the Filipinos with ill-concealed contempt. "Filipinos" and "niggers" were often used as synonyms.

Suspicion and estrangement reached a high pitch after the capture of Manila, when Aguinaldo, instead of being admitted to the capital, was required to fall still farther back, the American lines lying between him and the prize. December 21, 1898, the President ordered our Government extended with despatch over the archipelago. That the Treaty of Paris summarily gave not only the islands but their inhabitants to the United States, entirely ignoring their wishes in the matter, was a snub. Still worse, it seemed to guarantee perpetuation of the friar abuses under which the Filipinos had groaned so long. Outside Manila threat of American rule awakened bitter hostility. In Manila itself thousands of Tagals, lip-servants of the new masters, were in secret communion with their kinsmen in arms.