and its authorities possess in respect of the official archives and records, executive as well as judicial, in the islands above referred to, which relate to said islands or the rights and property of their inhabitants. Such archives and records. shall be carefully preserved, and private persons shall without distinction have the right to require, in accordance with law, authenticated copies of the contracts, wills and other instruments forming part of notarial protocols or files, or which may be contained in the executive or judicial archives, be the latter in Spain or in the islands aforesaid. ARTICLE IX. Spanish subjects, natives of the Peninsula, residing in the territory over which Spain by the present treaty relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty, may remain in such territory or may remove therefrom, retaining in either event all their rights of property, including the right to sell or dispose of such property or of its proceeds; and they shall also have the right to carry on their industry, commerce and professions, being subject in respect thereof to such laws as are applicable to other foreigners. In case they remain in the territory they may preserve their allegiance to the Crown of Spain by making, before a court of record, within a year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty, a declaration of their decision to preserve such allegiance; in default of which declaration they shall be held to have renounced it and to have adopted the nationality of the territory in which they may reside. The civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded to the United States. shall be determined by the Congress. ARTICLE X. The inhabitants of the territories over which Spain relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty shall be secured in the free exercise of their religion. ARTICLE XI. The Spaniards residing in the territories over which Spain by this treaty cedes or relinquishes her sovereignty shall be subject in matters civil as well as criminal to the jurisdiction of the courts of the country wherein they reside, pursuant to the ordinary laws governing the same; and they shall have the right to appear before such courts, and to pursue the same course as citizens of the country to which the courts belong. ARTICLE XII. Judicial proceedings pending at the time of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty in the territories over which Spain relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty shall be determined according to the following rules: 1. Judgments rendered either in civil suits between private individuals, or in criminal matters, before the date mentioned, and with respect to which there is no recourse or right of review under the Spanish law, shall be deemed to be final, and shall be executed in due form by competent authority in the territory within which such judgments should be carried out. 2. Civil suits between private individuals which may on the date mentioned be undetermined shall be prosecuted to judgment before the court in which they may then be pending or in the court that may be substituted therefor. 3. Criminal actions pending on the date mentioned before the Supreme Court of Spain against citizens of the territory which by this treaty ceases to be Spanish shall continue under its jurisdiction until final judgment; but, such judgment having been rendered, the execution thereof shall be committed to the competent authority of the place in which the case arose. ARTICLE XIII. The rights of property secured by copyrights and patents acquired by the Spaniards in the Island of Cuba, and in Porto Rico, the Philippines and other ceded territories, at the time of the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, shall continue to be respected. Spanish scientific, literary and artistic works, not subversive of public order in the territories in question, shall continue to be admitted free of duty into such territories for the period of ten years, to be reckoned from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this trcaty. ARTICLE XIV. Spain shall have the power to establish consular officers in the ports and places of the territories, the sovereignty over which has been either relinquished or ceded by the present treaty. ARTICLE XV. The Government of each country will, for the term of ten years, accord to the merchant vessels of the other country the same treatment in respect of all port changes, including entrance and clearance dues, light dues, and tonnage duties, as it accords to its own merchant vessels, not engaged in the coastwise trade. This article may at any time be terminated on six months' notice given by either Government to the other. ARTICLE XVI. It is understood that any obligations assumed in this treaty by the United States with respect to Cuba are limited to the time of its occupancy thereof; but it will, upon the termination of such occupancy, advise any government established in the island to assume the same obligations. ARTICLE XVII. The present treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain; and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington within six months from the date hereof, or earlier if possible. In faith whereof we, the respective Plenipotentiaries, have signed this treaty and have hereunto affixed our seals. Done in duplicate at Paris, the tenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight. (Seal.) (Seal.) (Seal.) (Seal.) (Seal.) WILLIAM R. DAY. GEO. GRAY. WHITELAW REID. LETTER OF ADMIRAL DEWEY ON THE PHILIPPINE QUESTION. U. S. Naval Force on Asiatic Station, Flagship Baltimore, Manila, Philippine Islands, August 29, 1898. Sir: Referring to the Department's telegram of the 28th instant, I have the honor to transmit by the hand of Brig. Gen. F. V. Greene, U. S. V., the following views and information upon the subject of the Philippines. A copy of this communication is also given to Major-General Merritt: The most important islands of the Philippines are Luzon, Panay, Cebu, Negros, Leyte and Mindanao. The others, owing either to the character of the inhabitants, the limited amount of civilization, or the almost entire absence of cultivated land, may be neglected in any consideration of the relative importance or desirability of these islands, especially those of the southern group, which are almost wholly given. over to savages. Luzon is in almost all respects the most desirable of these islands, and therefore the one to retain. In it is situated Manila, the most important commercial as well as the most populous port of all the islands-a port that in our hands would soon become one of the first ports of the world. Not only is tobacco produced in large quantities, but all the tobacco of fine quality grown in the Philippines comes from the northern provinces of this island. The interior has as yet not been developed. There is but one short railroad, from Manila to Dagupan, and no highways, so that almost all the commerce is carried on by water. Were railroads and highways built-and labor is very cheap-there is little doubt that this island would rapidly increase in productiveness and wealth. The population of Luzon is reported to be something over 3,000,000, mostly natives. These are gentle, docile, and, under just laws and with the benefits of popular education, would soon make good citizens. In a telegram sent to the Department on June 23 I expressed the opinion that "these people are far superior in their intelligence and more capable of self-government than the natives of Cuba, and I am familiar with both races." Further intercourse with them has confirmed me in this opin As Luzon is the farthest north of the large islands, its climate is naturally the most temperate. In this connection it may be mentioned that out of a force of over 2,000 on the ships of my squadron the number of men on the sick list at any time has not exceeded forty, nor has there been any considerable sickness among our troops on shore, though they were much exposed for three weeks in the trenches during the rainy season. As a matter of fact, Manila is far from being an unhealthy city, and the climate is as fine as that of any place in the tropics. About sixty miles from Manila and to the northward and westward is Subig Bay, decidedly the best harbor in the Philippines, having no equal as a coaling station or naval and military base. The entrances are narrow, the shores bold, the water deep, the bay landlocked, easily defended from attack by sea or land, and the fresh-water supply ample. As it is just off the trade route between Manila and China and Japan, it strategically commands Manila. It is there that the Spanish Government had planned to place its principal naval arsenal in the East. Already a great deal of money has been expended, many buildings erected, and much work done. A contract has been made with an English company to construct a floating dock of 12,000 tons capacity; some of the material has been delivered and payments made. The arsenal is on the south side of the harbor, at the village of Olongapo. It is expected that a connection will be made with the railroad from Manila to Dagupan, thus putting Subig in easy reach of Manila. The principal naval station in the Philippines is now at Cavite, in Manila Bay. It has very fair workshops for light work and ways for vessels of less than 1,000 tons. But it is capable of little expansion, and the small depth of water precludes the building of dry docks for large ships, or even the use of floating docks of much capacity. Luzon has other decided advantages, both in a commercial and military sense. It is nearest the great centers of trade in the far East, such as Hongkong, Canton, Shanghai, Pekin, Nagasaki and Yokohama, and nearest the trade routes from the United States and Honolulu to those centers; consequently its influence would be greater if held by us. It also |