consent, the natives of the Spanish Islands may find all their legal rights set forth. Not only so, but in the same lines they may also find the claims of a state church to much of the desirable property of their islands carefully preserved and protected. This shows great progress in the power of condensed statement. By comparison, what a waste of words appears in our Magna Charta, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitutions! We need not wonder, as we stand with uncovered head in the presence of this final charter of liberty, that there are those among us who regard our musty and verbose charters' outgrown.'

"The simple terms and limitations of this precious document also bear concrete testimony to Mr. McKinley's faith in what he calls the wisdom of Congress.' In this he has also made a great advance over the suspicious framers of the Constitution. They feared and refused to commit the liberties of the three million people to the tender care of a Congress of their own choice and directly responsible to themselves. He neither fears nor hesitates to commit the liberties of ten million souls to the control of a Congress of another race in no way representative of, or responsible to, them. He says that he has every (undisclosed) reason to believe that his new wards share his own faith in the wisdom of Congress.

"This treaty of peace,' or new charter of liberty, is of course to be interpreted in the light of Mr. McKinley's purpose of 'benevolent assimilation.' It is in this spirit that Mr. Root, in his annual report as Secretary of War, proceeds as follows:

"The people of the ceded islands have acquired a moral right to be treated by the United States in accordance with the underlying principles of justice and freedom which we have declared in our Constitution, which are the essential safeguards of every individual against the powers of government, not because those provisions were enacted for them, but because they are essential limitations inherent in the very existence of American Government.'

"Thus it appears that, by reason of a treaty in the making of which they did not share, the Filipinos have acquired rights both legal and moral in character. Their rights of property and security in the exercise of religion are in some sense legal. Their civil rights and political status rest on moral sanctions. How thankful they should be, especially for the assurance of Secretary Root, that they have acquired a moral right to be treated by their alien masters in accordance with the underlying principles of justice and freedom.' It seems that but for this precious treaty they would be without even moral rights. Anybody can see that by vir

tue of the treaty they have become entitled to 'such measure of liberty as Congress shall from time to time deem them fit to enjoy.' What more can an inferior race' ask of its masters? What matter if the liberty which comes without effort and as a benefaction to its recipients is a plant of slow growth? These people live in the tropics. Whoever heard of such people caring much for liberty? They may thank their lucky stars that they have been committed to the tender care of such good masters. If their chance of liberty is slight, what they get will cost them nothing, not even a thought. It ought also to be worth something to tropical islanders to be but one remove from Mr. McKinley's 'Providence of God." " 6

For two years after the ratification of the treaty (from February 6, 1899, to March 2, 1901) President McKinley, by virtue of his being the military commander-in-chief of the United States, was the absolute ruler of the Philippines. He had unlimited power. He could dispose of the lives and property of the inhabitants of the Philippines. It must, however, be said to the credit of President McKinley and of American governmental institutions, that real military power was allowed to be continued in the Philippines only so long as civil government was impracticable. His military • Edwin Burritt Smith, Republic or Empire, pp. 18-21.

power included executive, judicial, and legislative authority. And in order to facilitate the establishment of civil government, on March 16, 1900, he appointed the second Philippine Commission vested with the power of exercising the legislative function and of establishing courts of justice, which would in turn be vested with judicial authority." The military commanders were to continue exercising the executive function. To this commission he reaffirmed his purpose to insure an orderly and safe government for the Philippines. He was strongly against the exploitation of the Philippines. The only suggestion he made to Chairman Cooper, of the House Committee on Insular Affairs, upon the latter's assumption of that office, was that there should be no exploitation of the Islands. He was for the rapid Filipinization of the service and was particularly desirous that the native customs and institutions and even prejudices be respected. "In all the forms of government and administrative provisions which they are authorized to prescribe," the instructions read, "the Commission should bear in mind that the government which they are establishing is designed not

8

7 The second Philippine Commission was composed of Hon. William H. Taft, Prof. Dean C. Worcester, Hon. Luke E. Wright, Hon. Henry C. Ide, and Prof. Bernard Moses. See Appendix B for complete instructions to this commission.

8 From Mr. Cooper's speech before a Rizal Day dinner, Washington, D. C., December 30, 1914.

for our satisfaction, or for the expression of our theoretical views, but for the happiness, peace, and prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands, and the measures adopted should be made to conform to their customs, their habits, and even their prejudices, to the fullest extent consistent with the accomplishment of the indispensable requisites of just and effective government."

President McKinley's military authority over the Philippines terminated in 1901, with the passage by Congress of what is called the Spooner Amendment, which vested in him all civil and X judicial powers necessary to govern the Philippines until a permanent form of government could be devised by Congress.

The immediate and complete establishment of civil government, however, was made impossible by the outbreak of the Filipino-American War. When news of the tragic event of February 4, 1899, reached the United States it was with the positive assurance from the newspapers that the Filipino soldiers were to blame for the outbreak, having treacherously fired the first shot. A storm of indignation arose from every corner of America. This charge was exploited by the jingoes and the advocates of retention. "We never dreamed," said President McKinley," "that the little body of inAt Fargo, N. D., October 13, 1899.