The
plan developed, stage by stage, and quite satisfactorily.
We entered into a military alliance with the trusting
Filipinos, and they hemmed in Manila on the land side,
and by their valuable help the place, with its garrison
of 8,000 or 10,000 Spaniards, was captured -- a thing
which we could not have accomplished unaided at that time.
We got their help by -- by ingenuity. We knew they were
fighting for their independence, and that they had been
at it for two years. We knew they supposed that we also
were fighting in their worthy cause -- just as we had
helped the Cubans fight for Cuban independence -- and
we allowed them to go on thinking so. Until Manila
was ours and we could get along without them. Then
we showed our hand. Of course, they were surprised --
that was natural; surprised and disappointed; disappointed
and grieved. To them it looked un-American; uncharacteristic;
foreign to our established traditions. And this was natural,
too; for we were only playing the American Game in public
-- in private it was the European. It was neatly done,
very neatly, and it bewildered them. They could not understand
it; for we had been so friendly -- so affectionate, even
-- with those simple-minded patriots! We, our own selves,
had brought back out of exile their leader, their hero,
their hope, their Washington -- Aguinaldo; brought him
in a warship, in high honor, under the sacred shelter
and hospitality of the flag; brought him back and restored
him to his people, and got their moving and eloquent gratitude
for it. Yes, we had been so friendly to them, and had
heartened them up in so many ways! We had lent them guns
and ammunition; advised with them; exchanged pleasant
courtesies with them; placed our sick and wounded in their
kindly care; entrusted our Spanish prisoners to their
humane and honest hands; fought shoulder to shoulder with
them against "the common enemy" (our own phrase);
praised their courage, praised their gallantry, praised
their mercifulness, praised their fine and honorable conduct;
borrowed their trenches, borrowed strong positions which
they had previously captured from the Spaniard; petted
them, lied to them -- officially proclaiming that our
land and naval forces came to give them their freedom
and displace the bad Spanish Government -- fooled them,
used them until we needed them no longer; then derided
the sucked orange and threw it away. We kept the positions
which we had beguiled them of; by and by, we moved a force
forward and overlapped patriot ground -- a clever thought,
for we needed trouble, and this would produce it. A Filipino
soldier, crossing the ground, where no one had a right
to forbid him, was shot by our sentry. The badgered patriots
resented this with arms, without waiting to know whether
Aguinaldo, who was absent, would approve or not. Aguinaldo
did not approve; but that availed nothing. What we wanted,
in the interest of Progress and Civilization, was the
Archipelago, unencumbered by patriots struggling for independence;
and the War was what we needed. We clinched our opportunity.
For
Twain's views on Belgian imperialism in the Congo, visit
Mark
Twain and Imperialism, Mark Twain's Comments
on Imperialism, King Leopold's
Soliloquy, and To
the Person Sitting in Darkness.
Part
of That Magnificent African
Cake: The Congo Free State exhibit |
