wished to wait for reënforcements that would have come too late, — it was he who declared that whatever they might do, he proposed to march at once, and he did march, and they all marched with him, and the legations were saved. Great credit came to the American army, because in that march and after Peking was captured, American soldiers under Chaffee did not loot and were not cruel, but protected the property and the lives of the Chinese.

The quarter of Peking over which the American flag floated was crowded by the poor people when other parts were deserted, because under that flag they found protection and kindness, and upon General Chaffee's departure he was accompanied by many most touching and gratifying expressions of gratitude and affection from the people who had received the benefits of his humanity. I did not think an American could be found who was not proud of that record. Against these contemptuous and injurious aspersions upon the soldiers of the United States, I will call four witnesses. The first is William McKinley:

If any orders of mine were required to insure the merciful conduct of military and naval operations, they would not be lacking, but every step in the progress of our troops has been marked by a humanity which has surprised even the misguided insurgents.

The second is President Schurman, and joining with him Admiral George Dewey and the other members of the first Philippine Commission:

To those who derive satisfaction from seizing on isolated occurrences regrettable, indeed, but incident to every war and making them the basis of sweeping accusations, this Commission has nothing to say. Still less do we feel called upon to answer idle tales without foundation in fact. But for the satisfaction of those who have found it difficult to understand why the transporting of American citizens across the Pacific Ocean should change their nature, we are glad to express the belief that a war was never more humanely conducted. Insurgents wounded were repeatedly succored on the field by our men at the risk of their lives. Those who had a chance

for life were taken to Manila and tenderly cared for in our hospitals. If churches were occupied, it was only as a military necessity, and frequently after their use as forts by the insurgents had made it necessary to train our artillery upon them. Prisoners were taken whenever opportunity offered, often only to be set at liberty after being disarmed and fed. Up to the time of our departure, although numerous spies had been captured, not a single Filipino had been executed. Such wrongs as were actually committed against the natives were likely to be brought to our attention, and in every case that we investigated we found a willingness on the part of those in authority to administer prompt justice.

The third is Governor William H. Taft, of Ohio, who said in his testimony under oath before the Philippine Committee of the Senate:

I desire to say that it is my deliberate judgment that there never was a war conducted, whether against inferior races or others, in which there was more compassion and more restraint and more generosity, assuming that there was war at all, than there have been in the Philippine Islands.

The fourth is Vice-Governor Luke E. Wright, of Tennes

see:

General Chaffee, as a matter of course, had no patience with any acts of oppression or cruelty, and whenever his attention has been called to them has at once taken proper steps. The howl against the army has been made mainly for political purposes and the cruelties practiced have been largely exaggerated. Of course, numerous instances of this character have occurred. There never was and never will be a war of which the same may not be said; but taken as a whole, and when the character of the warfare here is considered, I think the officers and men of the American army have been forbearing and humane in their dealings with the natives, and the attempt to create a contrary impression is not only unjust to them, but it seems to me unpatriotic as well.

No one of these positions, these arguments, these efforts, these attacks, by the Democratic leaders during the critical and trying time of our Philippine undertaking stands by itself. Men may differ upon this point and upon that point, upon this question and upon that question, and different environment and disposition will produce different views; but when we consider the whole course of these Democratic

leaders; when we find them attacking the administration upon the ground of doing the very thing they themselves had authorized; when we find them denying our right of sovereignty, denying the justice of our cause, assuming the truth of the insurgents' statements upon every question, rejecting the truth of American statements upon every question, elevating and lauding Filipino insurgent character and insurgent competency, and ascribing the most disgraceful motives and the most outrageous conduct to the representatives of their own government, both civil and military; holding out to the insurgents the hope of success through further resistance, and painting for them in the blackest colors the dreadful consequences of failure, denying and impugning before all the world from their high places the good faith of the American government, the integrity of the American people, and the beneficence of American rule; arraying argument and statistics, never to encourage, but always to dishearten the American people; insisting always upon the construction of powers and methods of procedure which would make success difficult or impossible; accepting and adopting with alacrity every aspersion upon American honor, and rejecting contemptuously every evidence of American efficiency and noble purpose; I think we must say that the Democratic party which has allowed these things to be done in its name has failed in one more opportunity to secure the respect and confidence of the American people. I will not say that these men wished their country to fail, but I will say that they wished the Republican administration to fail, and blinded by partisan feeling and desire for power, they forgot that the failure of the administration in the Philippines would be the failure of their country.

Throughout all this storm of detraction and abuse, the Republican majorities of the Senate and the House labored unceasingly to frame and perfect legislation under which the

people of the Philippine Islands might have peace and order and individual freedom and prosperity. They studied the needs of the Islands, the character of the people, the existing laws and system of government, and they produced and passed, against Democratic opposition, a Philippine Government bill which exhibits a high degree of wise statesmanship and opens to the Philippine people the pathway to that enlightenment and capacity for self-government for which Rizal longed, and to the blessings which the noble and gentle McKinley believed would descend upon them under the benediction of our flag. I think they and not the others were the true friends of the Philippine people. I think they and not the others used well and wisely the powers vested in them as representatives of the people in the Congress of the United States; and I submit to you, my countrymen, that they and not the others are entitled to the expression of your confidence in the coming election.

EXTERNAL POLICIES IN 1904

ADDRESS AS TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN OF THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, JUNE 21, 1904

Mr. Root was elected temporary chairman of the National Republican Convention which met at Chicago, Ill., on June 21, 1904, to nominate the candidates of the Republican party for the Presidential election of that year. As temporary chairman, he delivered the opening address before the Convention, reviewing at length the record of the Republican party under the administrations of President McKinley and President Roosevelt, of which he himself had been a member as Secretary of War.

Those portions of the address are omitted which may be considered as falling beyond the scope of the topics included within the present volume.

OUR years ago we held the island of Cuba by military occupation. The opposition charged, and the people of Cuba believed, that we did not intend to keep the pledge of April 20, 1898, that when the pacification of Cuba was accomplished we should leave the government and control of the island to its people. The new policy towards Cuba which should follow the fulfillment of that pledge was unformed. During the four years it has been worked out in detail and has received effect. It was communicated by executive order to the military governor. It was embodied in the act of Congress known as the Platt Amendment. It was accepted by the Cuban Constitutional Convention on the twelfth of October, 1901. It secured to Cuba her liberty and her independence, but it required her to maintain them. It forbade her ever to use the freedom we had earned for her by so great a sacrifice of blood and treasure, to give the island to any other power; it required her to maintain a government adequate for the protection of life and property and liberty, and should she fail, it gave us the right to intervene for the maintenance of such a government. And it gave us the right to naval stations upon her coast for the protection and defense alike of Cuba and the United States.