Manila, P. I., June 21, 1900: Admiral Dewey and Pancho Aguinaldo
Thirdly-Though the majority of the inhabitants are uneducated, they evince a strong desire to be instructed, and the example of Japan is with them a cherished ideal of the value of education. A system of free schools for the people, another American institution, it will be noted, has been an important element in every Philippine programme of reforms.
Fourthly-The educated Filipinos, though constituting a minority, are far more numerous than is generally supposed, and are scattered all over the archipelago; and the commission desires to bear the strongest testimony to the high range of their intelligence, and not only to their intellectual training but also to their social refinement as well as to the grace and charm of their personal character. These educated. Filipinos, in a word, are the equals of the men one meets in similar vocations-law, medicine, business, etc.-in Europe or America.
The unique personality of Aguinaldo is the subject of two interesting utterances, one by Admiral Dewey, the other in the Philadelphia Press, partly owned and formerly edited by Postmaster-General Emory Smith. In the newspaper it is stated that Pancho Aguinaldo is the son of a prominent native chief and was born in 1871. Anxious that his boy should be educated, this chief confided the lad to the Spanish priests, who thought that Aguinaldo's influence, when he grew up, would help to maintain Spanish authority among the Malay population. The father is rich, for a native, and Pancho Aguinaldo, after being taught in the local schools, was sent to Madrid to study theology and qualify for the priesthood. After a year or two of study the young man boldly declared he would not be a priest, but a soldier. So he was drafted into one of the native regiments, in which a few of the subalterns are Manila men, but all the captains and field-officers are Spaniards. It is reported that he upset his whole university career by joining the Masons. Soon afterwards he went to Hong-Kong and knocked around for several years, practically a political refugee because of his Masonic affiliations.
In his despatch to Washington of June 27, 1898, Admiral Dewey made the following report:
Aguinaldo, insurgent leader, with thirteen of his staff, arrived May 19, by permission, on Nanshan, establishing himself at Cavite, outside the arsenal, under the protection of our guns, and organized his army. I have had several conversations with him, generally of a personal nature. Consistently I have refrained from assisting him in any way with the force under my command, and on several occasions I have declined requests that I should do so, telling him the squadron could not act until the arrival of the United States troops. At the same time I have given him to understand that I considered insurgents as friends, being opposed to a common enemy. He has gone to attend a meeting of insurgent leaders for the purpose of forming a civil government. Aguinaldo has acted independently of the squadron, but has kept me advised of his progress, which has been wonderful. I have allowed to pass by water recruits, arms and ammunition, and to take such Spanish arms and ammunition from the arsenal as he needed. Have advised frequently to conduct the war humanely, which he has done invariably. My relations with him are cordial, but I am not in his confidence. The United States has not been bound in any way to assist insurgents by any act or promises, and he is not, to my knowledge, committed to assist us. I believe he expects to capture Manila without my assistance, but doubt ability, he not yet having many guns. In my opinion these people are far superior in their intelligence and more capable of self-government than the natives of Cuba, and I am familiar with both races.
Admiral Dewey repeated this in his communication to the Paris Peace Commissioners, dated August 9; "further intercourse with them has confirmed me in this opinion."
The Rev. Clay Macauley, a missionary in Japan, visiting Manila in July, 1899, wrote an account of interviews he had held with Admiral Dewey and General Otis. The former said to him: "Rather than make a war of conquest upon the Filipino people I would up anchor and sail out of the harbor." General Otis, he reports, "expressed regret that there was not a better knowledge of the situation among the Washington legislators than there seemed to be. He impressed me deeply by his declaration, `I was ordered to this post from San Francisco. I did not believe in the annexation of these islands when I came here, nor do I believe in their annexation now.'"
General Joseph Wheeler, in an interview in San Francisco March 7, 1900, upon his return from the Philippines, said:
"So far as their capacity for self-government is concerned, I think that the Filipinos are capable of it under certain restrictions.
"The few experiments already made in civic governments throughout the provinces have been very successful, and I think they ought to have authority to make their own laws and govern themselves under a system similar to that known as our territorial system.
"This they practically had under the Spanish regime, and they did very well. There are a great many more intelligent and educated men among them than is generally supposed."
As every utterance of the conqueror of Manila Bay has peculiar significance in this connection, we quote this from the interview between the Naples correspondent of the London Daily News and Admiral Dewey, dated August 21, 1899: