Amigo 113: The Presidio of San Francisco and the Filipino

'The Ordonez Gun – “War Prize” from the Philippines

'The Presidio’s Ordonez gun was originally mounted in a Spanish coastal fort at Subic Bay in the Philippines.  Undamaged during the Spanish-American War, the gun was captured by Filipino nationalists, who were known as “Insurrectos” by the occupying Americans.

'In September 1899, a combined U.S. Army-Navy force attacked Filipino positions at Subic Bay. This gun was reported to have been destroyed by shellfire from American cruiser USS Charleston.  Some historians suggest that the damage was caused by the explosion of a shell within the gun.' -- From the Presidio Marker

The Presidio is not as popular a tourist destination as the Golden Gate Bridge and Palace of Fine Arts even if all three are in the same neighborhood.  One can take the free Presidio shuttle bus to reach the Bridge, or walk from its Lombard Gate to the Palace. It is a favorite of hikers and bikers; there's a green for golfers, outlook points for nature lovers, and places of interest for history researchers.  Crowd-drawing relocators may soon follow the Walt Disney Museum that's now housed in one of the restored military barracks there.

This was the military outpost of the Spanish empire in North America since 1776, then of the Mexicans for 24 years before the U.S. Army took over in 1846 (California became the 31st state in 1850).

On 13 August 1898, Manila was captured by the US Army under General Wesley Merritt with the support of the naval fleet under Admiral George Dewey. Spanish power in the Philippines ended.  This coming Saturday will be the 113rd anniversary of the fall of Manila.

Thus, the 113 in our title.  The Amigo (friend, Sp.) derives from John Sayle's movie of the same name about a barrio chief torn by conflicting alliances during the Philippine war for independence (1898-1902), a facet of Fil-Am history that Americans and Filipinos know so little about.  The movie is scheduled for theatrical showings in major American cities starting this month.

The Lombard Gate.  Inset are war trophies (cannons, left and right) and decorative detail at the right gate post.  The trophies are bronze cannons "probably from the harbor fortifications of Manila ... cast in Seville in 1783 [and] engraved with the monogram CR III for Carlos de Borbon, King of Spain from 1759 to 1788. (War & Dissent Exhibition Brochure)."

So, what has the Presidio got to do with the Filipino amigo then and now - the tourist from Manila, or the Fil-Am living in the [San Francisco] Bay Area or visiting from other states?

We recall that George Dewey crushed the Spanish navy in Manila Bay on 01 May 1898.  There was no way he could capture Manila.  He could only set up a blockade, and because the Spaniards did not allow him to use the cable lines, he cut them on 02 May.  From Hong Kong, he wired Washington DC on 07 May:  "I have taken possession of the naval station at Cavite, Philippine Islands, and destroyed its fortifications. Have destroyed fortifications bay entrance, paroling garrison. Have cut cable to main land. I control bay completely and can take city at any time, but I have not sufficient men to hold..."

"Unaware of Dewey’s success," a marker in the Presidio reads, "President McKinley authorized troops to mount a campaign against the capital of Manila. The military base best suited as a staging point was the Presidio of San Francisco. "

Thus, a military expedition was organized with Major-General Wesley Merrritt in command.  These comprised thousands of men from the regular army and volunteers in the regiments from the western states so that the rail travel to San Francisco, the port of mobilization, would be shorter.

The troops were all encamped in the Presidio; from 1898 through 1900, 18,000 soldiers passed through this post to the Philippines.

The first transports came on board the City of Peking, City of Sydney and  Australia under the convoy of the Charleston and reached Manila Bay on 30 June, 1898.  These were the four companies of the 14th infantry of the regular army and the 1st California and 1st Oregon regiments of volunteers under the command of General Thomas M. Anderson of the US Army.

The next troopships arrived in July--those under General Frank V. Greene on the 17th; General Merritt's on the 25th; and those of General Arthur MacArthur on the 30th.

It's important to recall that General Emilio Aguinaldo left Hongkong on 17 May on board the USS McCulloch, arrived in Cavite on the 19th, and issued three proclamations on the 24th.  In the third, he invoked that "The great American nation, a lover of true liberty, and therefore desirous of liberating our country from tyranny and despotism to which it has been subjected by its rulers, has decided to give us disinterested protection, considering us sufficiently able and civilized to govern ourselves."

Within a week, Aguinaldo had mobilized his army to resume the revolution against the Spaniards eventually liberating Cavite. On 12 June, he proclaimed the country's independence from the window of their house in Kawit.

"[U]ntil the arrival of the first detachment of United States troops on the 30th of June," Stickney (1899) wrote, "Aguinaldo maintained his headquarters in Cavite, but his troops were continually pressing the Spaniards back upon Manila.  ... It was not long before they reached the fort near the beach at Malate ... and continued their movement for investing the city to the east and north."

When his large troops landed, General Anderson asked Aguinaldo to evacuate Cavite for them.  Aguinaldo obliged and moved his troops to Bacoor where he organized a provisional government.

In July, the Spaniards in Manila were already on the defensive against the Filipino forces.  The US troops had advanced to Parañaque, and the Americans were preparing to compel the Spaniards to surrender Manila to General Merritt.

In August, while the Filipinos were pressing forward to Manila, the Americans and the Spaniards were negotiating the battle plans and the terms of surrender.  

On 13 August, the Anderson and MacArthur troops pinched Manila from two sides; the Olympia, Charleston, Raleigh and the Petrel pummeled the Malate fortifications and Fort San Antonio while the Spanish guns from Intramuros remained mute; and the California volunteers ordered the Filipino troops to hold their fire and leave them alone and in no way should they advance ahead of them.

Thus, the fall of Manila to the Presidio boys. Part 1 of America's first foreign war, a conventional one--the Spanish-American--ended;  Part 2, the Philippine-American, a guerilla type, had began.

References:

• Presidio Trust. (2008). War & Dissent. The U.S. in the Philippines, 1898-1915 at http://www.presidio.gov/NR/rdonlyres/FE971A08-508F-4301-A48A-8CF5B0E74608/0/pt_wd_gallery1.pdf

• Stickney, Joseph L.  (1899).  War in the Philippines and Life and Glorious Deeds of Admiral Dewey. A Thrilling Account of our Conflicts with the Spaniards and Filipinos in the Orient including the Glorious Deeds of the Great Commander and The Complete Story of the Philippine Islands, Historical and Descriptive. Chicago: Imperial Publishing Company. 

• White, Douglas. (1899, May).  The Surrender of Manila.  Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly.  48(1):38-48.

Looking for Philippine traces around the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts

The Palace of Fine Arts is the only structure preserved from among several palaces of exhibition built for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915. Photo by the author.

A long time ago, in the mid-1970s, we associated the iconic architectural dome with out-of-school science education when we were hammering out program plans of the Science Foundation of the Philippines-National Science Development Board (now the Dept. of Science &Technology) for a Takarang Agham ng Pilipinas (Philippine Science Center). It was the Exploratorium to us then, one of our models for the science museum where viewers handle/interact with the exhibits to learn the science principles behind them. 

We first visited the Exploratorium in the 1980s. There we learned that it was actually occupying the Palace of Fine Arts, said to be the "most beloved of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition."   We've been going back to this architectural masterpiece of Bernard Maybeck whenever we are in San Francisco. The blending of what looks like ancient Roman ruins with the landscape--water and lush greens--evokes varying moods as we go around with our camera.

Photograph of Palace of Fine Arts by U.H. Berney, 1915.

The Exposition (20 February-04 December 1915) was organized to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, and also to commemorate the discovery of the Pacific Ocean by the explorer Vasco Nuñez de Balboa 400 years earlier. The canal bridged the Atlantic and the Pacific, shortening travel time between the continents, and promising enormous commercial benefits for the major players in the world trade. 

By that time, the "Philippine Islands" ("P.I.") has fully become a peaceful territory of the budding United States empire with the public school system fully entrenched throughout the archipelago, and Filipinos have started moving to America as pensionados or working students, or documented sacadas in Hawaii, another US territory, or in California, And the annual Manila Carnival has been running for years. These all suggest that there could have been Philippine representation in the 1915 Expo.

There were indeed exhibits from "P.I." in the Palaces of Education & Social Economy ('domestic and foreign education, and areas relevant to social and economic conditions'), Manufactures ('commercial transformation of natural resources'), Agriculture, Food Products, and Horticulture.

Grouping, location and nature of exhibits of the Bureau of Education of the Government of the Philippine Islands at the Palace of Education &Social Economy

We had none in the Palaces of Fine Arts ('11,043 works of art from the US and some foreign countries'), Live Stock, Liberal Arts ('commercial and scientific exhibits from the US and in "industrial" groups'), Machinery ('machines and electrical apparatus, and related instruments and appliances'), Transportation (developments in modern land, sea and air transportation), and Mines and Metallurgy.

Grouping, location and agriculural products of the Philippine Islands displayed at the Palace of Agriculture.

The Islands had prepared for it since 1911 after San Francisco was officially declared as expo site no less than US President William Howard Taft himself.  A board composed of Leon Ma. Guerrero, president; William W. Barclay, director general; and Francisco Liongson, with Allen T. St. Clair as chief clerk was created.

There was only this group of furniture makers at the Palace of Manufactures.

 "The Exposition, will be a great fair, largely industrial in nature," Parker (1912) of the Bureau of Education wrote, "at which there will be offered displays from all parts of the world, showing the resources of countries and the products of their hands and factories. The Philippines are to be properly represented at this exposition, and the schools of these Islands will have an unexcelled opportunity to exhibit to the whole world, and especially to educators, the results of fifteen years of instruction in the schools of the Islands under the practical administration of a body of American superintendents and teachers, many of whom will have been connected with the service for the full term."

Cover of Tobacco brochure (left) and group/location/nature of exhibits at the Palace of Food Products.  Other brochures were made for the other products (rice, abaca, sugar).

In 1914, the Philippine Legislature appropriated PhP100,000 for an exposition in Manila from which the best of products would be purchased for the fair in San Francisco. High standards were set for the selection of exhibits from the provinces to the Manila fair.  The Bureau of Education took it that these would be the gauge by which visitors in San Francisco will measure the work of the public schools. 

What did the millions who visited the Exposition see from the Philippine Islands?

• At the Palaces of Education & Social Economy, "the exhibit consisted of charts, written work, publications, reference books, statistics, compilations, textbooks, models, designs and plans, research work, school library work, school museum work, scientific and technical displays, graded industrial courses, transparencies, photographs, lantern slides, moving pictures, an industrial working exhibit, a force of demonstrators, and the sales department of school-made articles [which]served the purpose of showing the complete public school system (Report of the Governor General, 1916)."
• At the Palace of Agriculture, a farm house and a farm cart; tobacco leaves and tobacco products; cocoanut, copra, and oil; abaca hemp, products and apparatus for stripping and cleaning abaca; a complete forestry exhibit, lumber and wood products; textile plants and their products; also a collection of useful and injurious insects plus apparatus to eradicate them.
• At the Palace of Food Products, cocoanut oil press, corn and rice mills; sugar from cane, chocolate, coffee, vinegar, pepper, etc.; commercial alcohol, wine and gin from sugar cane; fermented beverages (basi and tapuy); and, strangely, tobacco also.
• At the Palace of Manufactures, furniture (tables, chairs, etc) from individual exhibitors.
• At the Palace of Horticulture, a large collection of orchids.

The 1915 Exposition accorded the country and the Filipinos civilized treatment so far better than what we received at the St Louis Fair a decade earlier.  There were no more native villages reconstructed and shows using our tribal people to demonstrate to the American public that we were far from deserving independence and self-government.

"For the first time," the Governor General reported to Washington, "the Philippine Islands were presented to the outside world by an exhibition of the education and accomplishments of the 8,000,000 civilized inhabitants of the islands, instead of an exhibit of the 1,000,000 or less partly civilized inhabitants of the mountains and more remote regions, as has been the case in exhibitions, pictures, and lectures upon so many occasions in the recent past."

The Governor General had much to crow about with regard to the Bureau of Education exhibits: "The exhibit of the Philippine public schools ... not only set forth the operation of the public school system, but also correlated very closely with the general industrial and commercial purposes of the entire Philippine participation in the exposition....most favorably commented upon by visitors at the exposition were the centralized system of control, the adaptation of textbooks to Philippine needs, the emphasis placed upon games and athletics, the instruction in citizenship and in good manners and right conduct, the differentiation in the work for boys and girls, and the vocational specialization in the intermediate grades."

The Philippine public schools received the highest award in education; there were also honors in social economy, liberal arts, and manufactures.  All in all, "the awards granted included 4 grand prizes, 15 medals of honor, 37 gold medals, 13 silver medals, 2 bronze medals, and 4 honorable mentions." Our Bureau of Education representatives spoke at 17 congresses and associations allied with the international congress on education and the meetings of the National Education Association, and also talked before school bodies, societies,, and clubs at the Expo and around San Francisco.

The Filipino brain nurtured by the Philippine educational system has since then joined the diaspora to the American (and international) job market.

But almost a century after the Expo, the farm house and farm cart remain fixtures in the countryside, and today there is the National Food Authority to ensure that domestic rice supply is complemented by imports from our Asian neighbors.  There are Philippine food products available in Pinoy and Asian groceries in America but they stand in stiff competition with the similar products from our neighbor countries.

Until recent years, our traditional furniture makers were a strong presence in the international trade until competition from China and other neighbor countries grabbed the market from them, coupled with their slow response to the changing tastes of the world market.

Before the second world war, the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines Journal kept watch on American investments in economic activities related to rice and corn, tobacco, lumber, copra and other natural products.  There also occurred in the 1920s an intense debate on the issue of turning Mindanao into a rubber plantation.  In recent times, we have seen export processing zones in strategic areas in the country.

While we write this, we don't know why the Laurel-Langley agreement keeps popping up in our head.

References:

• Bernard Maybeck marker at the Palace of Fine Arts. 

•  The Panama Pacific International Exposition at http://www.sanfranciscomemories.com/ppie/index.html

• Catalogue of Exhibits. Panama-Pacific International Exposition 1915.  Retrieved from http://www.archive.org/details/catalogexhibitors00panarich

• Jacobson, Henry O. (1913?). Tobacco [in the Philippines]/Panama Pacific International Exposition/Sn Francisco California. Manila:Bureau of Agriculture. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/alt0509.0001.001

• Parker, Luther. (1912, July).  Notes on the Direction and Limits of Industrial Work.Philippine craftsman. 1(1):48-49.  Manila: Bureau of Education.  Retrieved form http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acw9599.0001.001

• Parker, Luther; Foreman, North H; Mulle, Theodore; Hansen, O.C.; and Sawyer, Leroy, R.  (1913, March).  The 1913 Industrial Exhibition of the Public Schools of the Philippines.Philippine craftsman. 1(9):660.  Manila: Bureau of Education.  Retrieved form http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acw9599.0001.001 

•  Report of the Governor General.  (1916).  Report of the Philppine Commission to the Secretary of War 1915 (January 1,1915, to December 31, 1915).  Washington: Government Printing Office. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acx1716.1916.001

• [White, Frank R.]. (1913, Aug).  Editorial. Philippine craftsman. 2(2):117. Manila: Bureau of Education. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acw9599.0002.00

Embedded journalists reporting on the Battle of Manila of May 1, 1898.

Photo of screen image of original copy of the New York Journal of May 8, 1898  in the collection of the Newseum, Washington DC.

We enjoyed the Newseum (short for news museum) on Pennsylvania & Sixth, a short walk from the National Mall in Washington DC, because it afforded us historical reportage and current multi-media coverages of significant American and international events.

We've known the Newseum for quite some time through its website. We knew what to expect.  Thus, we gave ourself a day to enjoy the Newseum beginning with its collection of original editions of American newspapers that capture significant moments in history from as far back as the colonial period.

We were not surprised to find the May 8, 1898 edition of the New York Journal that headlined Gen. George Dewey's victory at the Battle of Manila.

The Journal front page spread was the "detailed American account of the Great Battle of Manila from Journal correspondent John T[inney] McCutcheon on board the United States gunboat McCulloch," his special cable dispatch six days after the defeat of the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay on May 1:

     Hong Kong, May 7.—This is the result of the great fight in Manila Bay:

     Eleven Spanish ships destroyed.

     Eight Spanish ships captured.

     Four shore batteries at Cavite demolished.
     Three forts on Corregidor Island reduced.

     Four hundred Spaniards killed.

     Six hundred Spaniards wounded.

     Spanish supplies lost and captured to the amount of $5,000,000.

     American loss:

     Eight men slightly wounded.

     One thousand dollars damage.

     Those are the figures of victory. The story of the battle will live forever. 
     The names of its heroes can never die.

     The fighting began at 5 o’clock in the morning.

     The Spaniards  surrendered at 12:40 in the afternoon. 

Aside from McCutcheon, there were two other journalists embedded with Dewey's fleet to cover the Spanish-American war in the Asiatic region.  These were Edward Walker Harden and Joseph L. Stickney.

McCutcheon and Harden were reporting for the Chicago Tribune, and Stickney for the New York Herald. We are sticking to these assignments even if there are accounts that say Stickney reported for Chicago papers. Their battle of Manila stories could have been syndicated by their papers, which may explain how McCutcheon's account found its way to the New York Journal. 

He started with the Chicago Morning News as an artist in 1889, worked as cartoonist of the Tribune from 1903 until he retired in 1946, and was awarded the Pulitzer prize for cartoons in 1931.   He wrote eleven books,  one of them Stories of Filipino Warfare (1900).  His articles covering Dewey's victory until the "taking of Manila" in August 1898 were included in the collection of stories on the war in Cuba and the Philippines by the reporters of the Chicago Records (1898). 

Harden was the financial editor of the Chicago Tribune when he volunteered as  war correspondent with the US Navy for his paper and the New York World in 1898.  He later reported on the "Financial and Industrial Conditions of the Philippines, 1898" based on the studies he did for six months as a special commissioner of the United States.   

McCutcheon and Harden were actually close friends, and according to one account, they accompanied each other to the Far East, "where they joined Commodore Dewey's Asiatic Squadron."  McCutcheon was best man when Harden got married in New York on September 9, 1903.

Joseph Stickney, a graduate of the US Naval Academy, was a naval officer before he opted to become a reporter.  He was in Tokyo doing intelligence work for the New York Herald when the US declared war against Spain.  He wrote --

"... I had gone to Japan to keep a look-out upon the British, Japanese and Russian fleets in the Far East, because there were such indications of tension among the Western powers that it was desirable to be in the neighbourhood of Asiatic waters for any war that might occur between Russia and Great Britain. 

“Being in Tokio (sic), Japan, I cabled to Commodore Dewey on Saturday, April 9^th, as follows:

“”The Secretary of the Navy gives me permission to accompany your squadron to the Philippines if you do not object. May I go with you, agreeing not to send while with you any news except when approved by you?  If yes, shall I come immediately? Stickney, Imperial Hotel.”

“I received next day the following reply, dated Honkong (sic):

“”Yes; come immediately. Dewey.”

Stickney even got designated as Dewey's aide.  Here's his account of his appointment --

“As a non-combatant, I felt that I had a right to no privileges except those granted me by the Admiral.  On Saturday I asked him if I might be allowed a position on the forward bridge, if a battle should be fought.

“He answered: “I think you’ll be satisfied.” After the council of war, when the officers had returned to their respective ships, he sent for me to come to the quarter deck, and said:  “Mr. Stickney, Mr. Caldwell [his naval secretary] has volunteered for duty at the guns, and I have decided to appoint you my aide.  You will take station with me on the forward bridge.”  He paused and then added with a quizzical twinkle in his eye: “Satisfied?” 

While in Hongkong, Dewey imposed restrictions on what the three embedded reporters could send to their papers.  “The commodore," McCutcheon would recall later, "has asked the three newspaper men with the fleet to send no cablegrams which might reveal the plans of the fleet, because these cablegrams would be returned at once to Madrid and from there to Manila.  Consequently there are a good many things which it would be inadvisable to have printed at this time and which it would not be well to cable.”

In Manila, Stickney had all the advantages over Harden and McCutcheon. By being right beside Dewey on the Olympia all throughout the battle, he saw how the commodore directed the war.  The Chicago boys were on the gunboat McCulloch, which was positioned opposite the Olympia, where they could only see how the battle proceeded. 

It was six days later on May 7 that America would know of Dewey's defeat of the Spanish armada in Manila Bay because the story could only be dispatched by telegram from Hongkong.  

Before they all left Manila on board the McCulloch, Dewey again admonished them to file their stories only after his official report has been dispatched to Washington, and that they should not include any speculations about his post-victory plans in Manila.    

According to Lyons (1970),  "the biggest news beat of the Spanish-American War was scored by E.W. Harden of the New York World [Chicago Tribune?--LFR], who won a rickshaw race with Joseph Stickney of the New York Herald to the Hong Kong telegraph office to file a one-paragraph report of Dewey’s victory at Manila.  This was a whole week after the battle. For America had no Pacific cable.” 

Below is one account of how that happened although we doubt the part about the length of Harden's story-- 

"Upon arrival in Hong Kong, Consul General Wildman took a steam launch to the McCulloch to ferry the new arrivals to shore.  Even before the launch could tie up at the docks, Harden and Stickney were leaping ashore and racing for the telegraph office.  The younger Harden took a shortcut, arriving only minutes before Stickney.  While the clerk protested the lengthy (3,000 word) dispatch, Stickney arrived and went directly to the manager's office.

"Stickney's observance of office protocol earned the loyalty of the manager, who ruled that the first dispatch would the the Herald's.  Harden protested, ordering dispatches to the general manager of the telegraph lines in London requesting the immediate dismissal of the Hong Kong office manager.  The clerk refused to send Harden's complaint to the general manager after noting that it was NOT a WAR DISPATCH.  

"The crafty Harden finally resorted to bribery, informing the office manager he would pay for his dispatches in cash...at a rate THREE TIMES the commercial rate and NINE TIMES the press rate.  The bribe worked, and the office manager ruled that Harden's dispatch to the Tribune would go first, followed by Stickney's dispatch, and finally McCutcheon's.

"In keeping with the conditions imposed by Commodore Dewey, Harden advised the clerk that Lieutenant Brumby's dispatches must preceded them all, and specified that these official dispatches must be repeated.  Harden's instructions were in keeping with the LETTER of the conditions, though not the spirit.  In requiring that Dewey's dispatches be repeated, it mean delays at each of the six relay stations between Hong Kong and the U.S. Capitol.  At the first relay station, Harden's report of the battle passed the official report of Lieutenant Brumbly, arriving between 3 and 4 A.M. (hours ahead of everyone else), just in time to make the morning editions."

Lyons wrote that the first report actually came from Spanish sources but the garbled story had "Dewey's fleet retiring damaged."

We haven't laid our hands on Harden's and Stickney's stories but they could not have been any longer or more detailed than McCutcheon's considering the limitations of telegraphy.

Dewey's report was brief:

"HONGKONG, May 7, 1898. (Manila, May 1.)

"SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, Washington:
         

"The squadron arrived a Manila at daybreak this morning. Immediately engaged enemy and destroyed the following Spanish vessels: Reina Christina, Castilla, Don Antonio de Biloa, Don Juan de Austria, Isla de Luzon, Isla de Cuba, General Lezo, Marquis del Duaro, El Curreo, Velasco, one transport, Isla de Mandano, water battery at Cavite. I shall destroy Cavite arsenal dispensatory. The squadron is uninjured. Few men were slightly wounded. I request the Department will send immediately from San Francisco fast steamer with ammunition. The only means of telegraphing is to the American consul at "Hongkong.

"DEWEY."

Fuller reports from the embedded journalists would come later in American magazines.  While McCutcheon was a cartoonist, he was also a photographer, and his and Harden's articles would carry illustrations based on McCutcheon's photographs.  Stickney carried his own camera.

McCutcheon's photograph used in Harden's Dewey at Manila-One Year's Retrospect.

The Spaniards had their official accounts of their defeat. We have yet to see a Filipino reporter's coverage of the Asiatic part of the war between Spain and America, and we'd like to think that there could have been a feature about it in the Diario de Manila.  

McCutcheon's photograph used in Harden's Dewey at Manila-One Year's Retrospect.

The Philippine revolution was in exile in Hong Kong.  In about two months Manila would fall, and the US and Spain would sign a treaty of peace in Paris.  In the brief interlude, Aguinaldo came home and proclaimed independence on June 12 in Cavite.  

Little did McCutcheon imagine that that independence would be short-lived and his countrymen would be engaged in their first foreign war in Asia,  as invaders of an alien soil, when he wrote -- 

“In years to come, if the fond hopes of the Filipinos are to be realized, the 12^th of June will be an occasion of rejoicing and jubilee.  It will be to the natives of these islands what the Fourth of July is to the Americans.  The declaration of independence will be read to the school children, every house will be gay with Filipino flags, and the sounds of parading bands will share the honors with the noisy firecracker and the soaring skyrocket.  It will become such an institution that the daily papers will speak familiarly of it as the”Glorious Twelfth,” and on the morning of the 13^th there will be a great deal of fire news.

“On the afternoon of June 12 the formation of a provisional government was officially proclaimed in Old Cavite ...”

References:

You may want to read what the three embedded journalists wrote later after May 1, 1898. 

• Harden, Edward W. (1899, May). Dewey at Manila. One Year’s Retrospect. Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly. 48(1): 21-38.  Available at http://books.google.com. [Harden wrote as the U.S. Commissioner to the Philippines. Illustrations were done by his friend John T McCutcheon.]
• The Chicago Record’s War Stories (1898) by the staff correspondents in the field.  Available at http://books.google.com. Stories written by John T McCutcheon in this collection:  Dewey's Fleet in Mirs Bay, The Battle of Manila, After Dewey's Victory, On the Eve of the Battle, A Day Off Blockaded Manila, American Soldiers in Cavite, A Battle in the Night, The Taking of Manila, and Fighting at Malate.    The Battle of Manila and The Taking of Manila are blow-by-blow accounts of the May 1 and August 12-13 battles between America and Spain, respectively.  Fighting at Malate tells of his guided inspection with a Filipino general of the Filipino lines against the Spaniards. 
• McCutcheon, John T. (1899, April).  The Surrender of Manila. (August 13, 1898.) As Seen from Admiral Dewey’s Flagship. The Century Magazine. 47(6):935-942.  Available at http://books.google.com. 
• Stickney, Joseph L.  (1899).  Admiral Dewey at Manila and the Complete Story of the Philippines/Life and Glorious Deeds of Admiral George Dewey including a Thrilling Account of our Conflicts with the Spaniards and Filipinos in the Orient. Chicago: Imperial Publishing Company.  Available at http://books.google.com. [He wrote as Admiral Dewey’s Aide. Fully illustrated with photographs many of which were taken by the author during the battle, from the bridge of the flagship “Olympia” in Manila Bay.]
• Stickney, Joseph L.  (1899).  War in the Philippines and Life and Glorious Deeds of Admiral Dewey. A Thrilling Account of our Conflicts with the Spaniards and Filipinos in the Orient including the Glorieous Deeds of the Great Commander and The Complete Story of the Philippine Islands, Historical and Descriptive. Chicago: Imperial Publishing Company.Available at http://books.google.com. [He wrote as Admiral Dewey’s Aide. Fully illustrated with photographs many of which were taken by the author during the battle, from the bridge of the flagship “Olympia” in Manila Bay.]

Other references used in this blog --

• Department of the Navy-Naval Historical Center. Selected Documents of the Spanish American War. Includes Naval Battle of Manila Bay, Communications before the battle, The Battle of Manila Bay: Miscellaneous Documents.  Available at  http://www.history.navy.mil/docs/spanam/spanam.htm#anchor671595 
• Victory in the Philippines/The Beginning of a New War. From Home of Heroes at http://www.homeofheroes.com/wallofhonor/spanish_am/16_trouble.html 
• Leonard, John William, Ed. (1922),  Harden, Edward Walker. Who’s who in finance and banking/A biographical dictionary of contemporaries/1920-1922. Brooklyn, NY: Who’s Who in Finance, Inc. at  http://books.google.com/books?id=9aooAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s  
• Lyons, Louis M . (1970). The Press and Politics before Television. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Third Series. 82:48-68. Available at  http://www.jstor.org/stable/25080690
• DePauw University Libraries. John T. McCutcheon at http://www.depauw.edu/library/archives/ijhof/inductees/mccutcheonj.htm 
• Syracuse U/John T McCutcheon Papers at http://libwww.syr.edu/digital/guides/m/mccutcheon_jt.htm 
• Time Magazine. (1929, Sept. 09).  National Affairs: Rust-Sploshed Hulk.  http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,737801,00.html

Recalling "Give me Liberty or Give me Death!" this 4th of July

Patrick Henry delivered his "Give me Liberty or Give me Death" on 23 March 1775 during the second Virginia revolutionary council at the St. John's Episcopal Church ((left) in Richmond.  Today, visitors of the Church may have the chance to see the re-enactment of that session where Patrick Henry rose to deliver the call for American independence. George Washington, who was a member of that convention, is portrayed by the actor shown above.

After visiting the William Jones Memorial in Warsaw, Virginia, that "tribute of the undying gratitude of the Filipino people" to the author of the Jones Law, we drove to Richmond with one thing in mind--the wide and grand marble staircase of The Jefferson Hotel--a popular tourist attraction there. It has been rumored to be the model of Atlanta mansion stairs in Gone with the Wind where Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) carried Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) up in his arms. 

We could have tarried there a little longer but the front desk urged us to catch the re-enactment of Patrick Henry's delivery of the Give me Liberty or Give Me Death scene at the actual site of the second Virginia revolutionary council convention--the St. John's Episcopal Church--on 23 March 1775.  Performances are done on summer Sundays, from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. We arrived right on time, the playlet started as soon as we got settled on our seats.

The audience assumed the role of delegates aside from the actors who played Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and eight others.  We of course supported the call for rebellion against the Brits!

This historical journey reminded us that many years ago, United States history was part of our high school curriculum.  If we remember correctly, we had Philippine history in the freshman year, US history in the sophomore year, and world history in the junior year.  

Of the many persons, places and events we had to memorize, those that can be recalled easily were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Patrick Henry, probably in that order; 4th of July, because it was both the American and our independence day in our youth; Gettysburg address, the Declaration of Independence and the phrase "Give me Liberty of Give me Death."

It's possible that most people would forget the name Patrick Henry but his call of liberty or death would certainly ring familiar to those who had to memorize the piece for the oratorical contests among town or provincial schools.

Henry's words still endure and inspire.  The young Chinese protesters carried "Liberty or Death" in their placards during the Tienanmen Square upheaval.

It would take more than a year for the colonies to translate Patrick Henry into the Declaration of Independence through the pen of Thomas Jefferson in June 1776.  A month later, on 4th of July 1776, they would declare their independence from Great Britain. 

It's fireworks time!

Photo taken at the News Museum on Pennsylvania Ave., Washington DC shows the replica of the press used in the printing of the Declaration of Independence, a large reproduction of which serves as background of the exhibit.  The original Declaration can be seen at the US National Archives.

Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death **

Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775.

No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The questing before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free-- if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

** From the Liberty Online at http://libertyonline.hypermall.com/henry-liberty.html

The Puerto Princesa [Palawan] underground river in the 1920s.

Front page photograph from Manila Bulletin, 02 July 2011 issue.

Early evening of 01 July, Salem, MA.--We've just opened the online version of the 02 July edition of the Manila Bulletin, and the picture spread on top of the front page reminded us of deferred plans to go nature tripping in Palawan foremost of which is to explore the Puerto Princesa underground river.   

The US Navy officials in the picture above could have nothing else to describe their exploration but superlative praises just like the many local and foreign nature lovers before them. 

Two days ago, we came across a report of a similar journey by Americans in the 1920s [see bibliographic note].  They might not have totally covered the underground river then partly because their guides had some fears arising from superstitions about the dark and forbidding place.  Their report --

 "There are many natural wonders to be seen everywhere in exploring these isles [the Philippines].  Perhaps the most impressive of all is the underground river, which exists on the long and narrow island of Palawan.  Here a good sized river bursts forth from a cave close to the shore.  The natives regard this black cave as something supernatural and terrible.  American explorers have ventured several miles up its hidden depths; but the full passage of the river never has been, perhaps never can be traced. The river fills the bottom of the strange tunnel which nature has made for it.  At some distance up the passage, a mass of great rocks have been shaken by earthquakes from the roof, and almost block the passage.  Climbing over these, adventurers have explored the wonderful passage beyond, piercing its absolute blackness by means of artificial light.  Sometimes the tunnel expands into vast cathedral halls of inexpressible awe and majesty; sometimes it contracts to a narrow hole, almost completely filled by the rushing waters.  The rocks along its edge have been worn into every conceivable, fantastic shape.  The whole cavern seems destined to be exploited some day as one of the chief natural wonders of the world." 

Today, it has become a major tourist attraction not only in Palawan but also in the country.

It is now one of the 28 finalists in the worldwide search for the N7W (New 7 Wonders of the World), and the seven will be officially announced on 11.11.2011 (11 November, 2011). 

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III himself has campaigned for votes.  "We only need a billion votes," he was quoted as saying, "just half a day of texting for all Filipinos who have cellular phones.

From YouTube:  Puerto Princesa Underground River and the Sirenia Fossil

Reference:

• Part 56. (c1924). Chapters XXIX-XXX--The Philippines. The World and its People. New York: Ira R. Hiller.

Two days ago, we found this booklet in an antique shop in Salem, Massachusetts.  This is where we usually rest-stop during our almost 2-mile walk from our sister's place to the downtown Essex mall. We take some time to examine old stuffs and rummage through old pictures, books and magazines hoping that we may find something Philippine to bring home.  After all, American trading ships sailed from Salem to Asia including the Philippines in the 1800s, and there may be relics from those years that have found their way to this store.

Part 56 comprises three chapters, two about the Philippines (Luzon and Southern Islands) and the third about Borneo and Celebes. The pages carry labels perhaps to catch the interest of the American readers. The Luzon pages are marked "The Renowned Virgin of Antipolo", "The Friars' Land and Pagsanjan", "Baguio and its Amazing Road", "The Modernizing of the Igorots" and "Baseball among the Head-hunters" while the Southern Islands have "Taal and Mayon, Our Volcanos", "Negritos, Visayans, and Moros", "The Jolly Harbor of Cebu", "An Ancient Idol in Modern Dress" [referring to the Sto Nino of Cebu] and "The Lovely Tropic Town of Zamboanga".

Readers today may not be pleased with some portions of this material like those about the Igorots and about religious practices.