Mr. Davis: Suppose the United States, by virtue of a treaty with Spain, should take Luzon ... paying no attention to the insurgents—how would that be taken by Aguinaldo?
General Merritt: I think Aguinaldo and his immediate following would resist it; but whether he could resist to any extent I do not know, because his forces are divided. I believe that, as matters go, Aguinaldo will lose more or less of his power there.
The Chairman: If the United States should say, We will take this country and govern it our own way, do you think they would submit to it?
General Merritt: Yes, sir.
Mr. Davis: How many troops in your opinion will be necessary to administer the government of this island—to secure the administration of our government there?
General Merritt: From 20,000 to 25,000 would be requisite at first.
I admire the conviction of this distinguished officer that the benefits of American rule would be highly appreciated by the Tagals, of whom, by-the-bye, he knew next to nothing, having only been a few weeks in Manila amongst sycophantic Mestizo-Americanistas.
That interesting people were, however, of a different opinion. On p. 4582 of the ‘Congressional Record,’ I find that Señor Mabini, in a manifesto published at San Isidro, April 15th, 1899, states that “race hatred is much more cruel and pitiless among the Anglo-Saxons” (he is comparing them with the Spaniards). Again he says, “Annexation, in whatever form it may be adopted, will unite us for ever to a nation whose manners and customs are different from our own, a nation which hates the coloured race with a mortal hatred, and from which we could never separate ourselves except by war.” The outbreaks against the negroes that have recently happened [August, 1900] in New Orleans, Liberty City, Georgia, and in New York, seem to justify Señor Mabini’s remarks.
Don Macario Adriatico, in an answer to a message of General Miller, writing from Jaro, January 3rd, 1900, says: “It could easily be conceived that the Philippines would not suffer a new reign, least of all of a nation on whose conscience the curse of the Redskins rests as a heavy load.”
In other documents they refer to the probable action of the Trusts, and anticipate that, what with the Sugar Trust, the Tobacco Trust, and the Hemp Trust, they would soon find themselves reduced to the condition of porters and workmen, or even of domestic servants.