Note 52 — Chapter XIV · The Taft Commission

In his annual report for 1901,52 General MacArthur describes the capture of Aguinaldo as “the most momentous single event of the year,” stating also that “Aguinaldo was the incarnation of the insurrection.” This last statement explains why he was so anxious to capture him alive. If dead, he would be sure to get re-incarnated in the person of some able assistant of his entourage, thus insuring undisturbed continuance of the war. He was most graciously treated by General MacArthur during his stay as that distinguished soldier’s “guest” at the Malacañan palace, from March 28th until April 20th. The word “guest” is placed in quotations because the host thought so much of him that he considered him worth many hundred times his weight in gold, and had him watched night and day by a commissioned officer. Everything that had been done by the Americans since November, 1899, was explained to him, and he was made to see that our purposes with regard to his people were not only benevolent but also inflexible; in other words that there was no altering our determination to make his people happy whether they were willing or not. Seeing this, Aguinaldo bowed to the inevitable. The programme explained to Aguinaldo is wittily described by a very bright Englishwoman as a plan “to have lots of American school teachers at once set to work to teach the Filipino English and at the same time keep plenty of American soldiers around to knock him on the head should he get a notion that he is ready for self-government before the Americans think he is”—a quaint scheme, she adds, “and one characteristic of the dauntlessness of American energy.” To be brief, on April 19th, Aguinaldo took the oath of allegiance to the American Government, which all agree he has faithfully observed ever since, and issued a proclamation recommending abandonment of further resistance. This proclamation was at once published by General MacArthur and signalized by the immediate liberation of one thousand prisoners of war, on their likewise taking the oath of allegiance. In his proclamation Aguinaldo said, among other things: