avite. The
Tagalog rebels were neither seeking nor desiring a change of masters,
but the state of war with Spain afforded America the opportunity,
internationally recognized as legitimate, to seize any of the enemy's
possessions; hence the acquisition of the Philippines by conquest. Up
to this point there is nothing to criticize, in face of the universal
tacit recognition, from time immemorial, of the right of might.

American dominion has never been welcomed by the Filipinos. All the
principal Christianized islands, practically representing the whole
Archipelago, except Moroland, resisted it by force of arms, until,
after two years of warfare, they were so far vanquished that those
still remaining in the field, claiming to be warriors, were, judged
by their exploits, undistinguishable from the brigand gangs which have
infested the Islands for a century and a half. The general desire was,
and is, for sovereign independence; and although a pro-American party
now exists, it is only in the hope of gaining peacefully that which
they despaired of securing by armed resistance to superior force. The
question as to how much nearer they are to the goal of their ambition
belongs to the future; but there is nothing to show, by a review of
accomplished facts, that, without foreign intervention, the Filipinos
would have prospered in their rebellion against Spain. Even if they
had expelled the Spaniards their independence would have been of
short duration, for they would have lost it again in the struggle
with some colony-grabbing nation. A united Archipelago under the
Malolos Government would have been simply untenable; for, apart
from the possible secessions of one or more islands, like Negros,
for instance, no Christian Philippine Government could ever have
conquered Mindanao and the Sulu Sultanate; indeed, the attempt might
have brought about their own ruin, by exhaustion of funds, want of
unity in the hopeless contest with the Moro, and foreign intervention
to terminate the internecine war. Seeing that Emilio Aguinaldo had to
suppress two rivals, even in the midst of the bloody struggle when
union was most essential for the attainment of a common end, how
many more would have risen up against him in the period of peaceful
victory? The expulsion of the friars and the confiscation of their
lands would have surprised no one cognizant of Philippine history. But
what would have become of religion? Would the predominant religion
in t