Proceedings of the first Independence congress : held in the city of Manila, Philippine islands, February 22-26, 1930 / Published under the direction of Dean maximo M. Kalaw, executive secretary, University of the Philippines.

166 INDEPENDENCE CONGRESS PROCEEDINGS

ful objections of the Philippine nationalistic press against the
Saxonization of our institutions and the monopoly which the
English language was beginning to enjoy in all the official
centers of learning, came even to deny with arguments, some
of which were wise and others sophistical, the existence of i
what was called "Filipino soul" defended with tenacity by
the Filipino nationalism; but such did not triumph over the
government with its theories and objections, because inside
that new state of things it hardly began to recover and organize
itself.
The monopoly of the English language in school was due to 4
the proper initiative of the American authorities, or it might
be due to the petition of the Filipino "leaders" who then
dominated the situation, in both of which cases we find no justification: it is the violation so easily manifested which has been
committed with impunity of the spirit and the letter of certain clauses of the famous Instructions of McKinley, constituting, as in fact they did constitute, the first Magna Charta of the
civil government of the Philippines under the sovereignty of the
United States.
Textually those clauses said the following with relation to
the fundamental purposes of the government which treated of
the founding of anything:
"In all forms of government and administrative dispositions which are authorized to decree, the Commission
should take into consideration that the government that
is being established is not designed for our satisfaction or
for the expression of our theoretical ideas but for the
happiness, peace, and prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands, and the measures adopted should be made
in accord with their customs, habits, and even their prejudices, to the most ample extension compatible with the
fulfillment of the indispensable requisites of an upright
and effective government."
Mark it well: the government that was instituted here was
not for the satisfaction of the desires of the Americans themselves, neither with the object to put only into practice the
governmental theories of the American statesmen, but princi- V
pally for the happiness, peace, and prosperity of our country.