The Story of the Philippines. Murat Halstead

comprehend that without the destruction of the Spanish squadron the Philippine revolution would not have advanced so rapidly; because of this I take the liberty of indicating to Your Excellency the necessities that before disembarking troops you should communicate in writing to this government the places that are to be occupied, and also the object of the occupation, that the people may be advised in due form and (thus) prevent the commission of any transgression against friendship. I can answer for my people, because they have given me evident proofs of their absolute confidence in my government, but I cannot answer for that which another nation, whose friendship is not well guaranteed, might inspire in it (the people); and it is certain that I do this not as a menace, but as a further proof of the true and sincere friendship which I have always professed to the North American people in the complete security that it will find itself completely identified with our cause of liberty.

      I am, with respect,

      Your obedient servant,

      Emilio Aguinaldo.

CHAPTER VII

       Table of Contents

      Interview with the Archbishop of Manila.

      Insurgents' Deadly Hostility to Spanish Priests—The Position of

       the Archbishop as He Defined It—His Expression of Gratitude to the

       American Army—His Characterization of the Insurgents—A Work of

       Philippine Art—The Sincerity of the Archbishop's Good Words.

      The intense feeling by the Philippine insurgents against the Spanish priests made it seem very desirable to see the Archbishop of Manila, and he informed two American priests that he would have pleasure in making an expression of his views to me to be placed before the people of the United States. He had been charged with extreme vindictiveness and the responsibility of demanding that the city should be defended to the last extremity, when actually, in the consultation of dignitaries that took place, and the surrender of the capital was demanded by General Merritt and Admiral Dewey, he declared the situation hopeless and that it was a plain duty to prevent the sacrifice of life. He was overruled by the peculiar folly that has caused Spain in the course of the war to inflict heavy and avoidable losses upon herself. Indeed, the war originated in the Spanish state of mind that it was necessary to open fire and shed blood for the honor of the arms of Spain. The Spanish officers knew they could not save Manila from the hands of the Americans while the command of the sea by our fleet was indisputable and we had unlimited reserves to draw upon to strengthen the land forces, irrespective of the swarms of insurgents pressing in the rear and eager to take vengeance for centuries of mismanagement and countless personal grievances. It was the acknowledgment of the Spanish Captain-General, when he received the peremptory summons from Merritt and Dewey to give up the city, that there was no place of refuge for the women and children, the sick and the wounded; and yet it was insisted that the honor of Spain required bloodshed—not much, perhaps, but enough to prove that the army of Spain was warlike. When the American army had been reinforced so as to have 8,000 men ready to take the field, General Merritt and Admiral Dewey had a conference and agreed to send the Spaniards in authority a formal notification that in forty-eight hours they would bombard and assail the defenses of the city of Manila if it were not surrendered. The Spanish reply was that the Americans could commence operations at once, but there was no place where the women and children, the wounded and the sick could go to find a place of security. This was tantamount to a declaration that the Spaniards were sliding into a surrender, but wanted to make a claim to the contrary.

      The residence of the Archbishop is within the walled city and a very substantial edifice, the stone work confined to the lower story and hardwood timber freely used in massive form instead of stone. His grace was seated at a small table in a broad hall, with a lamp and writing material before him. He is imposing as a man of importance and his greeting was cordial to kindliness. He said his acknowledgments were personally due the American people for the peace of mind he had enjoyed during the occupation of the city by the army of the United States, for its establishment of order and the justice in administration that relieved good citizens from oppression and alarm. He was glad to have Americans know his sensibility on this subject, and wanted me to convey his sentiments to the President.

      When asked what it was that caused the insurgents to be so ferocious against the priests and resolved on their expulsion or destruction he said the rebels were at once false, unjust and ungrateful. They had been lifted from savagery by Catholic teachers, who had not only been educators in the schools but teachers in the fields. The same Catholic Orders that were singled out for special punishment had planted in the islands the very industries that were sources of prosperity, and the leaders of the insurgents had been largely educated by the very men whom now they persecuted. Some of the persecutors had been in Europe and became revolutionists in the sense of promoting disorder as anarchists. It was the antagonism of the church to murderous anarchy that aroused the insurgents of the Philippines to become the deadly enemies of priests and church orders. It was true in Spain, as in the Philippines, that the anarchists were particularly inflamed against the church. His grace did not seem to have heard of the American anarchist, but the European revolutionist has received a large share of his attention.

      He produced a box of cigars, also a bottle of sherry, and chatted comfortably and humorously. There was one thing then that he had in his heart—that his anxiety for peace and appreciation of order as enjoyed under the American military government should be recorded and responsibly reported to the people of the United States. The American priests had informed him that I was a friend of long standing of President McKinley, and he again enjoined that I should declare his sentiments to the President. A beautiful work of wood carving was shown on an easel, which had a frame of hard wood, the whole, easel and frame, with elaborately wrought ornamentation, cut out of one tree. It was at once strong and graceful, simple and decorative. The picture was a gold medallion, raised on a plate of silver, an excellent likeness of his grace. It was evident that the refinements of art were known to "these barbarians of the Philippines," for their works testified.

      His grace announced that he would return my call, and his convenience being consulted, the time was fixed for him to appear at 11 o'clock the next day, Sunday, and he came accordingly, accompanied by three priests, the chaplain of the First California, Father Daugherty who sailed with General Merritt to Manila, and Father Boyle, the superintendent of the famous observatory founded by the Jesuits, who was a typical Irishman of a strong and humorously hearty type. Father Boyle had one of the most perfect methods of speaking English in the Irish way that I have ever heard, and admitted that he had resided in England long enough to be born there; and this was great fun. It is not too much to say that the institution he represented is illustrious.

      The cathedral of Manila is within the walled city and of immense proportions. It was shattered by an earthquake, and in its reconstruction wood rather than marble was used for the supporting pillars within, but no one would find out that the stately clusters of columns were not from the quarries rather than the forests, unless personally conducted to the discovery. Here 2,000 Spanish soldiers, held under the articles of capitulation, were quartered, consumed their rations and slept, munching and dozing all around the altar and pervading the whole edifice. The other great churches, five in number, in the walled city, were occupied in the same way. The Archbishop was anxious to have the soldiers otherwise provided with shelter, and if not all of them could be restored to their ordinary uses it was most desirable, in his opinion, the cathedral should be.

      It is estimated that 2,000 of the American soldiers in the expeditionary force are Catholics, and Father Daugherty was anxious to preach to them in English. During the call upon me by the Archbishop this subject was discussed, and the suggestion made that the Americans had tents in great number that they did not occupy and that would probably not be preserved by keeping them stored in that hot and trying climate. They might be pitched on the Luneta, which is beside the sea, and the town thus relieved of 13,000 men, who, herded in churches, produced unsanitary conditions. This seemed reasonable, and the policy of the change would have a tendency to develop an element of good-will not to be despised