THE FIRST AMERICAN FLAG RAISED IN MANILA.
Under this treaty of peace Spain, as had been planned in the protocol, gave up all claim to Cuba; she ceded to the United States Porto Rico and all of her other islands in the West Indies, and also the island of Guam, one of the Ladrone group in the Pacific. Besides this, she ceded “the archipelago known by the name of the Philippine Islands,” which for over three hundred years had been one of her richest colonies. The United States was to pay Spain the sum of $20,000,000, gold, within three months after this ratified treaty was exchanged between the two nations.
Other matters were dealt with in the treaty, but this transfer of the Philippine archipelago is the point which vitally interests us now. It is because of the facts which have been set forth in these chapters that the United States is now in possession of the Philippines, and that this history of the country is written in the English language.
But the real history of the Philippine Islands has only begun. The events that make up the past record of this beautiful land have been but a sad preface to the future which we hope may be hers. The Filipino people have had much to bear. They have been shut away from the rest of the world, and from a knowledge of the world’s progress. They have been governed by unjust laws until the great mass of the people, left to themselves, would scarcely know how to go about to rule their own lives. But they have a history; they have a country; they have a future. It is not the policy of the United States either to forget these things or to let the people themselves forget them. As the late President McKinley expressed it—the United States desires not conquest, but a benevolent assimilation of these islands, that they may become one country and one united, prosperous, and happy people.
Summary.—In April, 1898, war was declared between the United States and Spain. Commodore George Dewey, in command of the American squadron in the Pacific, being ordered to go in search of the Spanish fleet in the Pacific, and capture or destroy it, sailed for the Philippine Islands, where he knew the fleet to be. He entered Manila Bay under cover of night, April 30, and at daybreak on May 1 his ships lay at anchor off Cavite. At six o’clock that same morning the battle of Manila Bay was begun. By noon the Spanish fleet was destroyed, and the admiral and all survivors had fled into the city. By sunset Cavite was taken. Two months later, American troops arrived in Manila Bay, and on August 13 the city of Manila surrendered to the Americans. On February 10, 1899, a treaty of peace was signed between the United States and Spain. Under this treaty, Spain ceded the Philippine Islands to the United States.
Questions.—When was war declared between the United States and Spain? What causes led up to this war? Why did Dewey have to leave Hong-Kong harbor? What were his orders? How did he carry them out? When did Manila surrender to the Americans? When did the first body of American troops arrive? When was the treaty of peace signed? What were the terms of that treaty relating to the Philippine Islands?
Chapter XX.
CIVIL GOVERNMENT FOR THE PHILIPPINES.
