--we should not need
information; but, unfortunately, most of us are not in that happy state.
This whole subject is now with Congress; and Congress is the voice, the
conscience and the judgment of the American people. Upon their judgment
and conscience can we not rely? I believe in them. I trust them. I know
of no better or safer human tribunal than the people. [Applause.]

Until Congress shall direct otherwise, it will be the duty of the
Executive to possess and hold the Philippines, giving to the people
thereof peace and order and beneficent government, affording them every
opportunity to prosecute their lawful pursuits, encouraging them in
thrift and industry, making them feel and know that we are their
friends, not their enemies, that their good is our aim, that their
welfare is our welfare, but that neither their aspirations nor ours can
be realized until our authority is acknowledged and unquestioned.

That the inhabitants of the Philippines will be benefited by this
Republic is my unshaken belief. That they will have a kindlier
government under our guidance, and that they will be aided in every
possible way to be a self-respecting and self-governing people is as
true as that the American people love liberty and have an abiding faith
in their own government and in their own institutions. No imperial
designs lurk in the American mind. They are alien to American sentiment,
thought and purpose. Our priceless principles undergo no change under a
tropical sun. They go with the flag. They are wrought in every one of
its sacred folds and are inextinguishable in its shining stars.

"Why read ye not the changeless truth,
The free can conquer but to save."

If we can benefit these remote peoples, who will object? If in the years
of the future they are established in government under law and liberty,
who will regret our perils and sacrifices? Who will not rejoice in our
heroism and humanity? Always perils, and always after them safety;
always darkness and clouds, but always shining through them the light
and the sunshine; always cost and sacrifice, but always after them the
fruition of liberty, education and civilization.

I have no light or knowledge not common to my countrymen. I do not
prophesy. The present is all-absorbing to me, but I cannot bound my
vision by the blood-stained trenches around Manila, where every red
drop, whether from the veins of an American soldier or a misguided
Filipino, is anguish to my he