F.R.G.S. John Foreman

Article 31.—The Government shall establish abroad a Revolutionary Committee, composed of an indefinite number of the most competent persons in the Philippine Archipelago. This Committee shall be divided into three sections, viz.:—Of diplomacy; of the navy; and of the army. The diplomatic section shall negotiate with the foreign cabinets the recognition of belligerency and Philippine independence. The naval section shall be intrusted with the study and organization of a Philippine navy and prepare the expeditions which the circumstances of the Revolution may require. The army section shall study military tactics and the best form of organizing staff, artillery and engineer corps, and all that is necessary to put the Philippine army on a footing of modern advancement.

Article 32.—The Government shall dictate the necessary instructions for the execution of the present decree.

Article 33.—All decrees of the Dictatorial Government which may be in opposition to the present one are hereby rescinded.

Given at Cavite, June 23, 1898.

Emilio Aguinaldo.

The Promulgation of the Constitution of the Revolutionary Government was accompanied by a Message from Emilio Aguinaldo, of which the following is a translation:—

Message of the President of the Philippine Revolution

It is an established fact that a political Revolution, judiciously carried out, is the violent means employed by nations to recover the sovereignty which naturally belongs to them, when the same has been usurped and trodden under foot by tyrannical and arbitrary government. Therefore, the Philippine Revolution cannot be more justifiable than it is, because the country has only resorted to it after having exhausted all peaceful means which reason and experience dictated.

The old Kings of Castile were obliged to regard the Philippines as a sister nation united to Spain by a perfect similarity of aims and interests, so much so that in the Constitution of 1812, promulgated at CÁdiz, as a consequence of the Spanish War of Independence, these Islands were represented in the Spanish Parliament. But the monastic communities, always unconditionally propped up by the Spanish Government, stepped in to oppose the sacred obligation, and the Philippine Islands were excluded from the Spanish Constitution, and the country placed at the mercy of the discretional or arbitrary powers of the Gov.-General.

Under these circumstances the country clamoured for justice, and demanded of the Peninsular Government the recognition and restitution of its secular rights, through reforms which should gradually assimilate it to Spain. But its voice was soon stifled, and its children were rewarded for their abnegation by punishment, martyrdom and death. The religious corporations, whose interests were always at variance with those of the Filipinos and identified with the Spanish Government, ridiculed these pretensions, calmly and persistently replying that liberty in Spain had only been gained by the sacrifice of blood.

What other channel, then, was open to the country through which to insist upon the recovery of its lawful rights? No other remedy remained but the application of force, and convinced of this, it had recourse to revolution.

Now its demands are no longer limited to assimilation with the Spanish Constitution. It asks for a definite separation therefrom; it struggles for its independence, with the certainty that the time has arrived when it is able and ought to rule itself.

Hence, it has constituted a Revolutionary Government, based on wise and just laws, suited to the abnormal circumstances it is passing through, preparatory to the founding of a real Republic. Accepting Right as the only standard of its acts, Justice as its sole aim, and honourable Labour as its sole means, it calls upon all Filipinos, without distinction of birth, and invites them to unite firmly with the object of forming a noble society, not by bloodshed, nor by pompous titles, but by labour and the personal merit of each one; a free society where no egoism shall exist—where no personal politics shall overflow and crush, nor envy nor partiality debase, nor vain boasting nor charlatanry throw it into ridicule.

Nothing else could be expected from a country which has proved by its long suffering and courage in tribulation and danger, and industry and studiousness in peace, that it is not made for slavery. That country is destined to become great; to become one of the most solid instruments of Providence for ruling the destinies of humanity. That country has resources and energy sufficient to free itself from the ruin and abasement into which the Spanish Government has drawn it, and to claim a modest, though worthy, place in the concert of free nations.

Given at Cavite, June 23, 1898.

Emilio Aguinaldo.

These public documents were supplemented by the issue, on June 27, of “Instructions,” signed by Emilio Aguinaldo, which, as they relate solely to working details of the Revolutionary Government offices, are of minor interest to the general reader.

Since June 30 the rebels were in possession of Coloocan (the first, station—beyond Manila—on the Manila-DagÚpan Railway) and the Manila suburbs of Santa Cruz and Tondo. The rebels purchased four vessels in Singapore and armed them, but, later on, Admiral Dewey forbade them to fly their flag pending the ultimate settlement of the whole Philippine problem. They also took possession of the waterworks of SantÓlan (near San Juan del Monte), but did not cut off the water-supply to the capital. Dissensions arose in the rebel camp between Emilio Aguinaldo and the leaders Yocson and Sandico. Yocson was the chief who carried on the war in the northern provinces during the absence of Aguinaldo and his companions (vide pp. 399, 407). The Americans had no less difficulty in dealing with the natives than with the Spaniards. There were frequent altercations between individual rebels and American soldiers which, in one case at least, near Cavite, resulted very seriously. The rebels were irritated because they considered themselves slighted, and that their importance as a factor in the hostilities was not duly recognized; in reality, there was nothing for them to do in co-operation with the Americans, who at any time could have brought matters to a crisis without them (by shelling the city) but for considerations of humanity. Aguinaldo's enemies were naturally the Spaniards, and he kept his forces actively employed in harassing them in the outlying districts; his troops had just gained a great victory in DagÚpan (PangasinÁn), where, on July 22, the whole Spanish garrison and a number of civilian Spaniards had to capitulate in due written form. But experience had taught him that any day an attempt might be made to create a rival faction. Such a contingency had been actually provided for in Article 29 of the Statutes of the Revolutionary Government already cited. Presumably with a view to maintaining his prestige and keeping his individuality well before the people, he was constantly issuing edicts and proclamations. He was wise enough to understand the proverbs, “L'union fait la force,” and “A house divided against itself shall surely fall.” Not the least of his talents was that of being able to keep united a force of 30,000 to 40,000 Filipinos for any object. His proclamation of the Constitution of the Revolutionary Government on June 23 implied a declaration of independence. He really sought to draw the American authorities into a recognition of it; but he did not seem to see, what others saw, the inopportunity of their doing so at that stage of America's relations with Spain. The generals were not the arbiters of the political situation. Then Aguinaldo adopted a course quite independently of the Great Power which had undertaken the solution of the Philippine question, and addressed a Memorandum to the foreign Governments, with a copy of an Act of Independence. The result was altogether negative; not a single Power chose to embarrass America, at that critical period, by a recognition of Aguinaldo's party. The Memorandum read as follows:—

The accompanying Act of Independence, dated August 1, 1898, and couched in the flowery language of the preceding edicts and proclamations, was signed by those Filipinos who had been appointed local presidents of the townships in the provinces referred to. The allusion to “the ambitions of the more powerful” could well be understood to signify an invitation to intervene in and counteract America's projects, which might, hereafter, clash with the Aguinaldo party's aspirations. At the same time a group of agitators, financed by the priests in and out of the Islands, was straining every nerve to disseminate false reports and create discord between the rebels and the Americans, in the hope of frustrating their coalition. But, even then, with a hostile host before Manila, and the city inevitably doomed to fall, the fate of Spanish sovereignty depended more on politicians than on warriors.

In the absence of a Spanish Ambassador at Washington the French and Austro-Hungarian Governments had accepted, conjointly, the protection of Spanish subjects and interests in the United States on terms set forth in the French Ambassador's letter to the Secretary of State in Washington, dated April 22, 1898. In August the city of Santiago de Cuba was beleaguered by the Americans under General Shafter; the forts had been destroyed by Admirals Schley and Sampson; General Linares, in command there, had been wounded and placed hors de combat; the large force of Spanish troops within the walls was well armed and munitioned, but being half-starved, the morale of the rank-and-file was at a low ebb, and General Toral, who succeeded General Linares, capitulated. The final blow to Spanish power and hopes in Cuba was the destruction of Admiral Cervera's fleet outside the port of Santiago de Cuba. Cuba was lost to Spain. No material advantage could then possibly accrue to any of the parties by a prolongation of hostilities, and on July 22 the Spanish Government addressed a Message to the President of the United States (Mr. William McKinley) to inquire on what terms peace might be re-established between the two countries. In reply to this inquiry the U.S. Secretary of State sent a despatch, dated July 30, conveying an outline of the terms to be stipulated. The French Ambassador at Washington, M. Jules Cambon, having been specially appointed “plenipotentiary to negotiate and sign,” by decree of the Queen-Regent of Spain, dated August 11, 1898, peace negotiations were entered into, and a Protocol was signed by him and the U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. William R. Day, for their respective Governments at 4.25 p.m. on August 12, 1898. It is interesting to note the exact hour and date, in view of subsequent events.