Samoa, Guam and the Sulu Archipelago: Sultan and Philippine Archipelago

"Unable to lodge the whole of his wives in the `palace,' his Highness boarded a few of them-not the prettiest, I suspect-in the houses of his followers. One of these peris, an outcast from the Palawan paradise through want of room, consoled herself in the usual way-quite innocently, I was assured. The news reaching the Sultan, he sent for the venturesome lover and smilingly bade him be seated opposite himself. Not being altogether an idiot, the man had come armed. From his sarong the jeweled handle of his kris protruded, plain to see. After a few complimentary commonplaces had been exchanged his Highness remarked the weapon:

"`Allah has been good to you, S'Ali,' he said. `Those emeralds are very fine, and the diamonds are as stars in the heavens. If the blade match the hilt, you have a treasure. Show it to me.'

"Thrown off his guard, S'Ali drew his kris from its sheath, and holding it by the wavy blade, presented it to the Sultan. Instantly half a dozen of his Highness' attendants threw themselves upon the unfortunate fellow. He was overpowered in a moment and his hands securely tied behind his back.

"`Take him out,' said the Sultan, still smiling.

"S'Ali was led away and lowered to the ground. Not a word did he utter. It was Kismet. Why waste his breath? I did not learn the manner of his death, by kris or bowstring. Let us hope it was the first. In the hands of a skilful executioner the kris is a merciful weapon. He was buried in the jungle behind the Sultan's `palace.'"

President Schurman writes of these Sulu chiefs as follows:

"On the other hand, as I have explained, in the south the tribal Indians are governed by hereditary datoes, sultans, or chieftains, and still remain almost unaffected by Spanish civilization. I visited the Sultan of Sulu, who is the most important of them. I told the Sultan I was the first American official to arrive there, and that we succeeded to Spanish authority in the archipelago; that we proposed to exercise all of our rights. On the other hand, I told the Sultan that I was instructed to declare that the United States would respect his rights and have regard for his religion and the customs of his people, and that I foresaw no circumstances which by any possibility could lead to the interruption of the friendly relations which I thought subsisted between us at the time. He reciprocated this expression of sentiment, and when I suggested further that we might have an agreement with him along the line of the Spanish agreement, a copy of which I had with me, and under which he lived before, he immediately acquiesced.

"I recommended to the President that the plan be adopted with the Sultan of Sulu and with the sultans, datoes, and chieftains of Mindanao and all these southern islands, and I recommended it because these chieftains could swing their people. The people render them obedience; they look up to them with reverence, and I know it would be vastly easier to deal with the individual hereditary rulers than with half a million or a million of semi-civilized barbarians. Shortly afterwards, General Bates went to the archi-pelago and made such an arrangement with the Sultan of Sulu and another chief. The problem, therefore, so far as these southern islands are concerned, is, for the time being, settled, but there still remains the vast majority of the people of the Philippine islands to deal with-the 6,500,000 of more or less civilized people occupying Luzon and the Visayan islands."

By a convention with Spain, signed at the Department of State, Washington, November 7, 1900, the United States became the owner of two more islands in the Pacific. They are the islands of Cagayan and Sibutu, near the Philippine Archipelago, and by some authorities regarded as part of the group. They were intentionally omitted from the treaty of Paris in the enumeration of Spain's possessions, which she was to turn over, because her title to them was not altogether clear. A thorough examination was made by eminent geographers, and it was decided that these two islands did not clearly belong to Spain. The United States authorities, after gaining possession of the Philippines, took a look at these two waifs in the ocean, and concluded to adopt them, especially as one of them, the island of Cagayan, furnished a fine harbor and a commanding naval base from which a maritime power could threaten the whole Philippine Archipelago. So the American flag was raised and the islands were annexed. Spain then discovered that she did have some title to them and claimed them. To avoid any complications, however, and more in the nature of a gratuity than of a purchase, this Government agreed to pay $100,000 for them.]