there to negotiate with these people, makes the following

statement:

CORNELL UNIVERSITY, OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT,

Ithaca, N. Y., February 3, 1900. DEAR SENATOR DEPEW: I see, from page 1362 of the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, that Senator PETTIGREW, speaking of myself, says: "The fact of the matter is that he tried to bribe the insurgents, as near as we can ascertain, and failed; but they would not take gold for peace."

Had this preposterous statement been made anywhere else I should not have paid any attention to it, but as it has been made in the Senate of the United States I desire to say to you that it is absolutely without foundation.

I

Very truly yours,

Hon. CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW,

J. G. SCHURMAN.

United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

Now, let us see whether it is without foundation or not. go into this matter in detail, because I propose to show by the record that these men are not entitled to credit. Their statements will be used on the stump during the entire summer and fall. I quote from the Chicago Tribune of September 15, 1899, an interview purporting to be with Mr. Schurman, said to be authentic, never disputed except in this letter, which does not dispute the interview, but undertakes to dispute my statement that they undertook to bribe the insurgens:

It is stated on authority that the Schurman Peace Commission offered every possible inducement short of absolute self-government to Aguinaldo and his followers. Aguinaldo was promised as the price of the restoration of peace in the Tagalo tribe a bonus of more than $5,000 a year while the Tagalos remained peaceful. He was told that he could choose men from his tribe for the minor municipal offices.

The commission, it is asserted, went so far as to promise Aguinaldo the moral support of the United States Government, if such were needed, to make his leadership of the Tagalos thoroughly secure.

With all these inducements, tempting as they must have been, Aguinaldo, as the recognized head of the insurgent movement, declined to vield. He insisted upon immediate self-government, and, as his insistance was so firm as to make an agreement impossible, the American commissioners ceased negotiations.

I quote from an editorial in the Chicago Tribune of September 21:

President Schurman says Aguinaldo rejected with scorn an offer to take a salary of $5,000 and become governor of Tagalos.

It seems to me it is clearly proved that they did undertake to bribe the insurgents. Further, we all know they offered, and the offer is still open, $30 a gun for every arm they will surrender.

Now, I am going to read from the only continuous, consecutive, and truthful, so far as I can ascertain, statement of affairs in the Philippines that has been published, and that is, the statement by Aguinaldo, giving a history of the Philippine revolt from its beginning up to last fall. It is the only consecutive statement we have. The Administration refuses to furnish one; has concealed the information, and has refused to send to us the facts which are in its possession. So far they have been unable to impeach this statement in any material particular, and it has been corroborated in very many particulars. Aguinaldo says that the flag of the Filipino republic was saluted.

Ah! what a beautiful, inspiring, joyous sight that flag was, fluttering in the breeze from the topmasts of our vessels, side by side, as it were, with the ensigns of other and greater nations, among whose mighty warships our little cruisers passed to and fro dipping their colors, the ensign of liberty and independence!

Admiral Dewey said his reply to the French and German admirals was with his knowledge and consent the Filipinos used that flag, and, apart from this, he was of opinion that in view of the courage and steadfastness of purpose displayed in the war against the Spaniards the Filipinos deserved the right to use their flag.

I am going to ask to place in the RECORD as a part of my remarks, without reading, the report of Robert M. Collins, of the Associated Press, in which he makes a statement in detail in response to the Associated Press managers of this country, with regard to the suppression of news and the total unreliability of Mr. Otis in his statements during the summer of 1899, last year. I will read the protest of the Manila

1. See Appendix V.

correspondents, presented to Otis July 9 and cabled from Hongkong July 17, 1899.

The undersigned, being all staff correspondents of American newspapers stationed at Manila, unite in the following statement: We believe that owing to official dispatches from Manila made public in Washington the people of the United States have not received a correct impression of the situation in the Philippines, but that these dispatches have presented an ultra optimistic view that is not shared by the general officers in the field.

We believe the dispatches incorrectly represent the existing conditions among the Philippines in respect to dissension and demoralization resulting from the American campaign and to the brigand character of their army.

We believe the dispatches err in the declaration that "The situation is well in hand," and in the assumption that the insurrection can be speedily ended without a greatly increased force.

We think the tenacity of the Filipino purpose has been underestimated, and that the statements are unfounded that volunteers are willing to enlist in further service.

The censorship has compelled us to participate in this misrepresentation by excising or altering uncontroverted statements of facts on the plea, as General Otis stated, that "they would alarm the people at home," or "have the people of the United States by the ears."

Specifications: Prohibition of hospital reports; suppression of full reports of field operations in the event of failure; numbers of heat prostrations in the field; systematic minimization of naval operations, and suppression of complete reports of the situation.

The Associated Press thereupon wrote to their correspondent in the Philippines to ascertain the truth of this statement, and Mr. Collins makes a reply which I ask to have printed in the RECORD. I will read an extract from it:

The censorship enforced during the war and before the beginning of it was, according to newspaper men who had worked in Japan, Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and Russia in war times, and in Cuba under the Weyler régime and during our war, so much more stringent than any hitherto attempted that we were astonished that the American authorities should countenance it, and were confident that public opinion would be overwhelmingly against it if its methods and purposes became known.

Here, then, was a censorship of the press more thorough than that practiced by any despotic nation in the world, according to these newspaper correspondents, and yet we are asked to believe everything that Mr. Otis says.

M

CHAPTER XI

THE PHILIPPINE REVOLT

R. PETTIGREW. Mr. President,1 the ship which brought General Lawton's body to this country brought also the body of one of my dearest friends, the adjutant of the First South Dakota Regiment, killed after the treaty of peace was signed, killed in a service in which he did not enlist, killed in a service which he believed was wrong. Yet, brave boy that he was, he led his forces to victory many a time and finally fell in that distant land.

Mr. President, I want a truce. I wanted it before my friend was killed. I wanted a truce before the sixty South Dakota boys were killed. Aroused by a just indignation and a grand patriotism and a splendid enthusiasm, they enrolled their names to drive from this continent the despotic power of Spain. But they are gone, drafted into an unwilling service and killed in an unwilling service, after they had a right to go. home-after their term of enlistment had expired. With unparalleled bravery and courage they obeyed the commands of their President and went to their death.

The day after fighting began at Manila, Aguinaldo asked for a truce. He said, "Fix the limits of a zone which we shall occupy, and let us try, without bloodshed, to settle this difficulty;" and the answer was, "Fighting having once begun, it must go on to the grim end." But if the request had been granted, if the truce had been given, General Lawton would be living to-day and the South Dakota boys would be in the bosoms of their families instead of moldering in the soil of Luzon. Day by day, constantly from that time to this, the Filipinos fighting for freedom have sent their envoys asking 1. Speech in Senate January 31, 1900.