The Story of the Philippines Part 28

"My Fellow Citizens: I have been deeply moved by this great demonstration. I have been deeply touched by the words of patriotism that have been uttered by the distinguished men so eloquently in your presence. It is gratifying to all of us to know that this has never ceased to be a war of humanity. The last s.h.i.+p that went out of the harbor of Havana before war was declared was an American s.h.i.+p that had taken to the suffering people of Cuba the supplies furnished by American charity, and the first s.h.i.+p to sail into the harbor of Santiago was another American s.h.i.+p bearing food supplies to the suffering Cubans.

"I am sure it is the universal prayer of American citizens that justice and humanity and civilization shall characterize the final settlement of peace as they have distinguished the progress of the war.

"My countrymen, the currents of destiny flow through the hearts of the people. Who will check them? Who will divert them? Who will stop them? And the movements of men, planned by the master of men, will never be interrupted by the American people."

The Philadelphia celebration was a scene of a demonstration of popular interest and patriotic feeling amazing in its mult.i.tudinous enthusiasm. The Loyal League was out in full force, the parade was a prodigy of display, and the Clover Club gave a brilliant dinner, and the cleverness of the President's speech carried the club by storm. He said:

"I cannot forego making acknowledgment to this far-famed club for the permission it has granted me to meet with you here to-night. You do not seem half so bad at this stage as you have been pictured. No one can unfold the future of the Clover Club. (Laughter.)

It has been so gratifying to me to partic.i.p.ate with the people of the city of Philadelphia in this great patriotic celebration. It was a pageant the like of which I do not believe has been seen since the close of the great Civil War, when the army of Grant, Sherman and Sheridan, and the navy of Dupont, Dahlgren and Porter gave the great review in the capital city of the nation. And I know of no more fitting place to have a patriotic celebration than in this great city, which witnessed the first consecration of liberty and of the Republic. As I stood on the great reviewing stand, witnessing the soldiers and sailors pa.s.sing by, my heart was filled only with grat.i.tude to the G.o.d of battles, who has so favored us, and grat.i.tude to the brave soldiers and sailors who had won such signal victories on land and on sea, and had given a new meaning to American valor.

"It has been especially gratifying to me to partic.i.p.ate not only with the people of Philadelphia, but with the people of the great West, where I have recently visited, in doing honor to the American army and the American navy. No n.o.bler soldiers or sailors ever a.s.sembled under any flag. You had with you to-day the leaders of Santiago, Porto Rico and Guantanamo. We unfortunately had none of the heroes of Manila with us. But I am sure that our hearts go out to them to-night and to the brave Dewey and Otis and Merritt, and all the other gallant men that are now sustaining the flag in the harbor city of Manila."

(A voice, "How about Hobson?")

"The American people are always ready for any emergency, and if the Merrimac is to be sunk there is an American officer to do it. He succeeded in doing what our foe has been unable to do, sink an American s.h.i.+p. (Applause.)

"I ask you, gentlemen of the Clover Club, to unite with me in toasting the Army and Navy of the United States, without whose valor and sacrifice we could not celebrate the victory we have been celebrating to-day. Not only the men at the front, not only the men on the battles.h.i.+ps and in the battle line, but the men at home with ambition to go to fight the battles of American civilization, should be the recipients of the grat.i.tude of the American people."

Hobson and his men were a great feature of the parade in the four-in-hand. Hobson, during this visit to Philadelphia was caught, surrounded and captured at his hotel and was forced to make a speech, of which there is this report:

"The young officer was plainly embarra.s.sed. His red face suggested it, his trembling voice told it. In a low tone and frequently pausing, as if from a loss of a word, he said:

"'Your reception has been so very kind that it seems almost as if I had lost the power to say anything.'

"Someone called out: 'Never mind, you had nerve enough to go into Santiago Harbor,' and then the crowd gave three cheers for Hobson.

"He began again. 'The incident you have referred to is one you unduly magnify. Believe me, it was really nothing more than a little bit of work, which came to my men and to me to do in the ordinary course of strategy in warfare. That was all it was, a little bit of work, and it is sheer exaggeration to say anything else.'

"'Can't agree with you! Can't agree with you!' was the shouted answer from the crowd."

At the Clover Club jubilee dinner, Captain "Fighting Bob" Evans gave a wonderfully interesting account of the destruction of Cervera's fleet, closing with a grim picture of war the celebration of peace. He had been speaking of the blockade of Cuba, and insistently called upon to tell about Santiago, said:

"Of our little sc.r.a.p, it was the prettiest mix-up that was ever seen. I want to say that no fleet ever met a braver enemy than we did at Santiago. Those Spaniards stood up and got killed in the best possible shape. Six hundred of them died in less than thirty minutes, so you can see that there was very little flinching on Cervera's s.h.i.+ps.

"During the fight there were two very interesting moments, the first when the four big cruisers of the enemy came outside of the harbor, firing away with mechanical regularity and presenting a most magnificent spectacle. They were not hitting anything, but that made little difference at that time, they tried hard enough. As we closed in, there came a moment when the fleeing Spanish s.h.i.+ps had an almost perfect chance to use their rams on our vessels. I submit now that not a single one changed his course a single inch. They came out of that harbor and ran away, and that was all they attempted to do, fighting as they went.

"The second point was when 'd.i.c.k' Wainwright misread a signal. I know he won't admit that he did misread it; however, I'll tell you the incident. In the Gloucester Wainwright was just off the harbor mouth when the two Spanish torpedo boat destroyers were noticed making straight at him. The Indiana signaled 'The enemy's torpedo boats are coming out.' Wainwright read it 'Close in and attack enemy's torpedo boats,' and you know the rest of the story.

"There was a dramatic picture which I want to call your attention to. It was after the Vizcaya had run ash.o.r.e, and I had to stop the Iowa, some 400 yards away. I saw the survivors on a sand bar, which was merely a narrow strip of about 200 yards from sh.o.r.e, on either side of a small inlet. On one side a school of hungry sharks were making fierce rushes toward the men, and on the other, the Cubans were shooting away, utterly regardless of the fact that they were fighting a helpless foe. Out in front we were not supposed to be very friendly.

"Finally, I saw Captain Eulate, of the destroyed s.h.i.+p, coming toward my vessel in a small boat. Now Eulate is what you call a black Spaniard, one of those fellows that would cry as though his heart would break every few minutes when in trouble. He sat in the stern of a small boat that had belonged to his vessel. She was partly stove in and had about a foot of water, or I should say blood and water, in her bottom.

"As I looked down in the gangway I think it was the most horrible sight that I ever witnessed. In the bottom of the boat lay two dead Spaniards, one with his head completely shot away. The Spanish Captain was wounded in three places, and each of the four men who rowed his boat was more or less cut up. We slung a chair over the side and carefully hauled him on board.

"As he came up to the starboard gangway the marine guard saluted and he was received with all the honors of his rank. As he stepped toward me he burst into tears, threw his hands up in the air, and then, with a gesture of utter despair, but with all the grace of the pretty gentleman, loosed his sword belt and pressing a fervent kiss on the hilt of the weapon he extended it toward me. Every man on that s.h.i.+p knew that that Spaniard was giving up something of value equal to his life. I am not very good-natured, but I could not take that sword."

This met with loud cries of "You did right, Bob," and one l.u.s.ty-lunged individual announced that there was not a man in the country that would take it. Captain Evans, who recognized the speaker, a friend from the rural districts, answered: "Oh, you don't know what some of those up-country Pennsylvanians would do. It was a pretty good sword."

Continuing, Captain Evans said: "I didn't know exactly what to do with the Spanish Captain to get him into our sick bay. As I was about to ask him of his wound he stepped toward the gangway and looked sh.o.r.eward. About a quarter of a mile off lay the once magnificent vessel in which he had boasted he would tow the Brooklyn back to Spain.

"She was burning fore and aft, terrific columns of flame shooting up around her, and suddenly, with a burst of tears, Captain Eulate kissed his hand and bade fond farewell to the burning hulk and said with impa.s.sioned voice, 'Adios Viscaya.' As he did this the very same instant there came a tremendous roar and the Vizcaya's magazine blew her superstructure hundreds of feet into the air. Had the incident occurred that way on the stage anybody would have said it was too well timed.

"He turned back and we got him into the s.h.i.+p's hospital, where the surgeons placed him on his stomach to shave the hair around a small cut on the back of his head. I stood alongside of him, and rolling his eyes into the starboard corner he said to me, with a rather comical expression, 'I think I have heard of you before.' I told him I did not know how that could have been, and he asked: 'Did you not command the Indiana?' 'Yes,' I said; then he said, shaking his head as well as circ.u.mstances would permit, 'Yes, I have heard of you. You are "Bob" Evans.'

"I have often wondered just what he referred to. I have a notion that it would fit certain remarks regarding certain language that I was credited with having used in reference to an attack on Havana; language, by the way, which I never used. As I said before, the battle before Santiago was the prettiest imaginable kind of effect. Why, two torpedo boat destroyers came out, and inside of ten minutes we had them sounding. One sounded in 200 fathoms of water and sunk to rest there. The other preferred a berth with her nose on the beach.

"The Maria Teresa and Admiral Oquendo were on fire inside of five minutes after the fight had started. They made beautiful sweeps toward the sh.o.r.e, and were regular Fourth of July processions as they swept in on the beach. We helped them along a bit by landing a few sh.e.l.ls in the stern. It was a pretty fight, but it should never be forgotten that the Spaniards fought their s.h.i.+ps as hard and with as much valor as any men in any s.h.i.+ps ever fought."

After the first cabinet meeting succeeding the peace jubilee, the President issued his annual Thanksgiving proclamation:

"_By the President of the United States_.

_A Proclamation_.

"The approaching November brings to mind the custom of our ancestors, hallowed by time and rooted in our most sacred traditions, of giving thanks to Almighty G.o.d for all the blessings he has vouchsafed to us during the past year.

"Few years in our history have afforded such cause for thanksgiving as this. We have been blessed by abundant harvests, our trade and commerce have been wonderfully increased, our public credit has been improved and strengthened, all sections of our common country have been brought together and knitted into closer bonds of national purpose and unity.

"The skies have been for a time darkened by the cloud of war; but as we were compelled to take up the sword in the cause of humanity, we are permitted to rejoice that the conflict has been of brief duration and the losses we have had to mourn, though grievous and important, have been so few, considering the great results accomplished, as to inspire us with grat.i.tude and praise to the Lord of Hosts. We may laud and magnify His holy name that the cessation of hostilities came so soon as to spare both sides the countless sorrows and disasters that attend protracted war.

"I do, therefore, invite all my fellow citizens, as well those at home as those who may be at sea or sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe Thursday, the twenty-fourth day of November, as a day of national thanksgiving, to come together in their several places of wors.h.i.+p, for a service of praise and thanks to Almighty G.o.d for all the blessings of the year, for the mildness of seasons and the fruitfulness of the soil, for the continued prosperity of the people, for the devotion and valor of our countrymen, for the glory of our victory and the hope of a righteous peace, and to pray that the Divine guidance, which has brought us heretofore to safety and honor, may be graciously continued in the years to come.

"In witness whereof, etc.

(Signed)

"_William M'Kinley_.

"By the President:

"_John Hay_, Secretary of State."

CHAPTER XVII

Early History of the Philippines.

The Abolishment of the 31st of December, 1844, in Manila--The Mystery of the Meridian 180 Degrees West--What Is East and West?--Gaining and Losing Days--The Tribes of Native Filipinos--They Had an Alphabet and Songs of Their Own--The Ma.s.sacre of Magellan--His Fate Like That of Captain Cook--Stories of Long Ago Wars--An Account by a Devoted Spanish Writer of the Beneficent Rule of Spain in the Philippines--Aguinaldo a Man Not of a Nation, But of a Tribe--Typhoons and Earthquakes--The Degeneracy of the Government of the Philippines After It Was Taken from Mexico--"New Spain"--The Perquisites of Captain-Generals--The Splendor of Manila a Century Ago.

The 31st of December was abolished in Manila in 1844. Up to that time it had been retained as the discoverers fixed it by pure piety and patriotism. Pope Alexander VI had issued a bull on the 4th of May, 1493, dividing the world into two hemispheres, which was quite correct, though it did not correspond to the secular lines of more modern days. The gracious object of His Holiness was to keep the peace of the world by dividing the lands taken from the heathen between the Spaniards and Portuguese. The East was to belong to Portugal. The line was drawn to include Brazil. The west was the hunting ground for heathen of Spain. The claim of Spain for the Philippines was that they were west. That was the way Magellenas (Magellan), the Portuguese navigator sailed through the straits named for him, and westward found the alleged Oriental islands, in which we, the people of the United States, are now so much interested. When sailing into the sunset seas he picked up a day, and never discovered his error for he did not get home, and the Captain who navigated his s.h.i.+p did not know he was out of time with the European world until he got as far around as the Cape Verde Islands. An added day was held in Manila, as a kind of affirmation of clear t.i.tle, or trade mark of true righteousness, on the part of Spain. It is one of the enduring puzzles in going around the world that a day is gained or lost, and it is not always a sure thing whether there is a loss or gain. The perplexing problem is increased in its persistence if one sails westward over the 180 Meridian west from Greenwich, and goes beyond that line (which is not the one drawn by Alexander VI)--say to the Philippines, and turns back, as is done in the voyage from San Francisco to Manila, and vice versa.

In this case, the mystery of the meridian becomes something dreadful. One loses a day going west and gains one coming east, and it is a difficulty for a clear mind not to become cloudy over the account of loss and gain--or perhaps we may say profit and loss, when the account is closed. "The historian of the Philippine Expedition" lost a Wednesday going out, jumping from Tuesday to Thursday, and found an extra Thursday on the return--celebrated his birthday on another day than that on which he was born, and had to correct the s.h.i.+p account of his board bill, by adding a day. The Captain's clerk had forgotten it because it was not in the Almanac. s.h.i.+p time begins a day at noon (and ends another), so when we crossed the meridian 180 degrees west at 2 p. m. by the sun, and the day was Thursday and to-morrow was Thursday also, the forenoon was yesterday by the s.h.i.+p. Therefore, Thursday was yesterday, to-day and to-morrow on the same day. The forenoon was yesterday--from 12 to 2 p. m. was to-day--and from 2 p. m. to midnight was to-morrow! It is no wonder "the historian,"