This seemed final enough as to be quite unanswerable, so I heaved a sigh of resignation and made some remark about the not unpleasing prospect of our all getting home alive at any rate. General Wright was to succeed to the Governorship, which was a great consolation to my husband, and we began at once to outline a programme of obedience to the President. Mr. Taft announced his impending departure and really considered that further argument was useless, but conditions were such that he could not resist the temptation to hazard one more protest. He cabled to Mr. Roosevelt:
The President, Washington, Recognise soldier’s duty to obey orders. Before orders irrevocable by action however I presume on our personal friendship even in the face of your letter to make one more appeal, in which I lay aside wholly my strong personal disinclination to leave work of intense interest half done. No man is indispensable; my death would little interfere with programme, but my withdrawal more serious. Circumstances last three years have convinced these people, controlled largely by personal feeling, that I am their friend and stand for a policy of confidence in them and belief in their future and for extension of self-government as they show themselves worthy. Visit to Rome and proposals urged there assure them of my sympathy in regard to friars in respect to whose far-reaching influence they are morbidly suspicious. Announcement of withdrawal pending settlement of church question, economic crises, and formative political period when opinions of all parties are being slowly moulded for the better, will, I fear, give impression that change of policy is intended because other reasons for action will not be understood. My successor’s task is thus made much heavier because any loss of the people’s confidence distinctly retards our work here. I feel it is my duty to say this. If your judgment is unshaken I bow to it and shall earnestly and enthusiastically labour to settle question friars’ lands before I leave, and to convince the people that no change of policy is at hand; that Wright is their warm friend as sincere as they think me, and that we both are but exponents of the sincere good will toward them of yourself and the American people.
After this things began to happen which nobody, least of all my husband, had anticipated. When the announcement was made that we were to leave there was, at first, just a buzz of astonishment and incredulity, but within two days the whole city of Manila was placarded, in all the necessary languages, with the simple and uniform sentiment: “Queremos Taft,” “We Want Taft.” Mr. Root’s rendering of this in English was “I want you, Mah Honey, yes, I do.” These announcements were printed in letters of all sizes and all colours, but the wording did not vary in the slightest degree; just, “We Want Taft.”
Then on the morning of the 10th of January—the letter from Mr. Roosevelt was received on the 6th—we saw marching through the gates of Malacañan a column of citizens, blocks long, with bands playing, flags flying and many transparencies bobbing over their heads. These citizens packed themselves around the entrance of the Palace and proceeded to make a demonstration. It was rather saddening to us in view of our conviction that we must go, but we listened with what composure we could command to the eloquent speeches. The speakers came up into the Palace and addressed the crowd from a great window over the main entrance.
Dr. Dominador Gomez, one of the popular orators and labour agitators, began by saying that Mr. Taft was the “saint” who had “the power to perform the great miracle” of uniting the distinct opinions and contrary motives of the people, and declared that “this is a spontaneous demonstration of affection for our Governor which is to be reduced to expression in a respectful petition to the President.”
Dr. Xeres Burgos, an old insurrecto, said he spoke for no political party but in behalf of the mass of people which surrounded us—“this people who wish to say to you that all those calamities which have weighed and do weigh upon the Filipinos are as nothing compared with the evil effect caused by your impending departure from this government, just at the precise moment when the Filipino people expect, through your honesty and love for them, an end to all economic and governmental disturbances, as well as the solution of the agricultural problem which is so closely interwoven with the Friar question. The Filipino people trust that the home government will not tear from their arms their beloved governor upon whom depends the happy solution of all Philippine questions. In a word: the Filipino people desire the continuation of Governor Taft in these Islands!”
Tomaso G. del Rosario likened Mr. Taft to a ship’s rudder adept at “avoiding shallows” and “bringing her safe into port.” Then he
