The Story of the Philippines. Murat Halstead

contributions without authority of the government and misappropriate the public funds. 3d. Those who desert to the enemy, or are guilty of cowardice in the presence of the enemy, being armed; and, 4th, those who seize the property of any person who has done no wrong to the revolution, violate women and assassinate or inflict serious wounds on unarmed persons and commit robberies or arson.

      Article XXX. Those who commit the crimes enumerated will be considered as declared enemies of the revolution, and will incur the penalties prescribed in the Spanish penal code, and in the highest grade.

      If the crime shall not be found in the said code, the offender shall be imprisoned until the revolution triumphs unless the result of this shall be an irreparable damage, which in the judgment of the tribunal shall be a sufficient cause for imposing the penalty of death.

       Additional Clauses.

      The government will establish abroad a revolutionary committee, composed of a number not yet determined of persons most competent in the Philippine Archipelago. This committee will be divided into three delegations; one of diplomacy, another of the navy and another of the army.

      The delegation of diplomacy will manage and conduct negotiations with foreign cabinets with a view to the recognition of the belligerency and independence of the Philippines.

      The delegation of the navy will be charged with studying and organizing the Philippine navy and preparing the expenditures which the necessities of the revolution may require.

      The delegation of the army will study military tactics and the best form of organization for the general staff, artillery and engineers and whatever else may be necessary in order to fit out the Philippine Army under the conditions required by modern progress.

      Article XXXII. The government will issue the necessary instructions for the proper execution of the present decree.

      Article XXXIII. All decrees of the dictatorial government in conflict with the foregoing are hereby annulled.

      Given at Cavite, the 23d of June, 1898.

       Emilio Aguinaldo.

       Instructions.

      Desiring to bring about a proper execution of the decree dated the 23d of the present month, and to provide that the administrative measures shall not result hereafter in the paralysis of public business, but that, on the contrary, it shall constitute the best guarantee of the regularity, promptitude and fitness in the transaction of public business, I give the following instructions and decree:

      (Then follow ten rules concerning the details of installing the government.)

      Cavite, the 27th of June, 1898.

       Emilio Aguinaldo.

       Message of the President of the Philippine Revolution.

      If it is true, as it is true, that political revolutions properly understood, are the violent means which people employ to recover the sovereignty which naturally belongs to them, usurped and trampled upon by a tyrannical and arbitrary government, no revolution can be more righteous than that of the Philippines, because the people have had recourse to it after having exhausted all the pacific means which reason and experience could suggest.

      The ancient Kings of Castile felt obliged to consider the Philippines as a brother people, united to the Spanish in a perfect participation of aims and interests, so much so that when the Constitution of 1812 was promulgated, at Cadiz, on account of the War of Spanish Independence, these islands were represented in the Spanish Cortez; but the interests of the Monastic corporations which have always found unconditional support in the Spanish Government, overcame this sacred duty and the Philippines remained excluded from the Spanish Constitution, and the people at the mercy of the discretionary or arbitrary powers of the Governor-General.

      In this condition the people claimed justice, begged of the metropolis the recognition and restitution of their secular rights by means of reforms which should assimilate in a gradual and progressive manner, the Philippines to the Spaniards; but their voice was quickly throttled and their sons received as the reward of their self-denial, deportation, martyrdom and death. The religious corporations with whose interests, always opposed to those of the Philippine people, the Spanish Government has been identified, scoffed at these pretensions and answered with the knowledge of that Government that Spanish liberties have cost blood.

      What other recourse then remained to the people for insisting as in duty bound on regaining its former rights? No alternative remained except force and, convinced of that, it has had recourse to revolution.

      And now it is not limited to asking assimilation to the Spanish Political Constitution, but it asks a definite separation from it; it struggles for its independence in the firm belief that the time has arrived in which it can and ought to govern itself.

      There has been established a Revolutionary Government, under wise and just laws, suited to the abnormal circumstances through which it is passing, and which, in proper time, will prepare it for a true Republic. Thus taking as a sole model for its acts, reason, for its sole end, justice, and, for its sole means, honorable labor, it calls all Filipinos its sons without distinction of class, and invites them to unite firmly with the object of forming a noble society, not based upon blood nor pompous titles, but upon the work and personal merit of each one; a free society, where exist neither egotism nor personal politics which annihilate and crush, neither envy nor favoritism which debase, neither fanfaronade nor charlatanism which are ridiculous.

      And it could not be otherwise. A people which has given proofs of suffering and valor in tribulation and in danger, and of hard work and study in peace, is not destined to slavery; this people is called to be great, to be one of the strongest arms of Providence in ruling the destinies of mankind; this people has resources and energy sufficient to liberate itself from the ruin and extinction into which the Spanish Government has plunged it, and to claim a modest but worthy place in the concert of free nations.

      Given at Cavite the 23d of June, 1898.

       Emilio Aguinaldo.

       To Foreign Governments.

      The Revolutionary Government of the Philippines, on its establishment, explained, through the message dated the 23d of June last, the true causes of the Philippine Revolution, showing, according to the evidence, that this popular movement is the result of the laws which regulate the life of a people which aspires to progress and to perfection by the sole road of liberty.

      The said Revolution now rules in the Provinces of Cavite, Batangas,

       Mindoro, Tayabas, Laguna, Morong, Bulacan, Bataan, Pampanga,

       Neuva-Ecija, Tarlac, Pangasinan, Union, Infanta, and Zambales, and

       it holds besieged the capital of Manila.

      In these Provinces complete order and perfect tranquility reign, administered by the authorities elected by the Provinces in accordance with the organic decrees dated the 18th and 23d of June last.

      The Revolution holds, moreover, about 9,000 prisoners of war, who are treated in accordance with the customs of war between civilized nations and humane sentiments, and at the end of the war it has more than 30,000 combatants organized in the form of a regular army.

      In this situation the chiefs of the towns comprised in the above mentioned Provinces, interpreting the sentiments which animate those who have elected them, have proclaimed the Independence of the Philippines, petitioning the Revolutionary Government that will entreat and obtain from foreign Governments recognition of its belligerency and its independence, in the firm belief that the Philippine people have already arrived at that state in which they can and ought to govern themselves.

      This is set forth in the accompanying documents, subscribed by the above named chiefs.

      Wherefore, the undersigned, by virtue of the powers which belong to him as President of the Revolutionary Government of the Philippines and in the name and representation of the Philippine