Since it has been my privilege to represent the Filipino people on the floor of the American House of Representatives, I have encountered an apparently very general willingness in this country to permit my people to go ahead and set up a government of their own and proceed to enjoy what your Declaration of Independence calls "the pursuit of happiness," in their own way instead of in somebody else's way; PROVIDED the American people be convinced:

First: That my beloved compatriot, Speaker Osmena, of the Philippine Assembly, and myself, and the rest of the Young Filipino Party, would not at once cut each other's throat in a mad scramble for the offices, and

Second: That if we were given this independence that we are forever pleading for, Japan, Germany or England, or some other power, will not annex the Islands on the first pretext.

The general impression among the American people as to the ability of the Filipinos to institute and maintain a government of their own, is, perhaps, well expressed in the following utterance made in 1900 by one of the statesmen of this country: "To grant self-government to Luzon under Aguinaldo would be like granting self-government to an Apache reservation under some local chief." If you turn to the famous Senate Document No. 62 there may be found a report by General J. Franklin Bell, since Chief of Staff of the United States Army, then a Major on General Merritt's staff, in which General Bell gives pen pictures or character sketches of General Aguinaldo and his leading officers and refers to Aguinaldo as "a sincere patriot and a born leader of men." These notes of General Bell were not "bouquets." They were careful notes by a born fighter as to the caliber of the men with whom collision might come later. As I happen to have been a Major on General Aguinaldo's staff during the late "unpleasantness," I have reasons to know that I can subscribe to the opinion thus expressed.

Honorable George Curry, recently Governor of New Mexico, who commanded one of the troops of Colonel Roosevelt's Regiments in the Santiago campaign, authorized me not long ago to quote him as being of the opinion that there would be no trouble at all about the Filipino people running a decent Government of their own, satisfactory to all concerned. Governor Curry lived among us some eight years, and was Governor of three or four provinces. He knows us as well as any other American does. Judge James H. Blount, who fought against the Filipinos as a Captain of U.S. Volunteers, and later on was Judge of the Court of First Instance for a number of years, by appointment of President Taft, said in some article, which appeared in the "North American Review" in 1907, and which was given wide publicity in the form of reprints distributed at the expense or Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who gave a large sum for that purpose:

"If three strong and able men familiar with Insular conditions and still young enough to undertake the task . . . were told by the President of the United States, by authority of Congress -- 'go out there and set up a respectable native government in ten years, and then come away' -- they could and would do it, and that government would be a success; and one of the greatest moral victories in the annals of free government would have been written by the gentlemen concerned upon the pages of their country's history."

Honorable William Jennings Bryan, who has visited the Philippines, reprinted Judge Blount's article in "The Commoner" and endorsed its conclusions editorially. President Schurman, of Cornell University, who was President of the First Philippine Commission sent by President McKinley, has, some time since, been expressing himself as a firm believer of Filipino ability for self-government.

Before the American Government decided to keep the Philippines, Admiral Dewey said that we were better fitted for self-government than the Cubans. Those famous words of your famous Admiral, concerning my people, occurred in a letter signed by him and addressed to the Secretary of the Navy under date of August 29, 1898. The letter is one of the documents which accompanied the treaty of Paris in Senate Document No. 62 of the Session of Congress of the winter 1898 and 1899.

He says:

"In a telegram sent to the Department on June 23, I expressed the opinion that 'this 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 opinion."

When that letter was written the Government of the Philippine Republic was "a going concern" -- a bona fide, patriotically supported de facto government -- all over the Philippine Islands. Honorable John Barrett, now Director-General of the Pan-American Union, formerly United States Minister to Siam, wrote of Aguinaldo, the President of that government, under date of January 16, 1899:

"He has organized a government which has been administering the affairs of that great Island (Luzon) since the American occupation in Manila . . . . He has a properly formed cabinet and Congress, the members of which, in appearance and manners, would compare favorably with Japanese statesmen. He has amongst his advisers men of acknowledged ability as international lawyers, while his supporters include most of the prominent educated and wealthy natives."

Of our Congress, Mr. Barrett wrote:

These men, whose sessions I repeatedly attended, conducted themselves with great decorum and showed a knowledge of debate and parliamentary law that would not compare unfavorably with the Japanese Parliament. The executive portion of the Government was made up of a ministry of bright men who seemed to understand their respective positions."

Thus, prominent Americans who are familiar with my people, expressed their opinion as to our capability for self-government.

The independence of the Philippine Archipelago can be protected and guaranteed by a neutralization treaty whereby the signatory powers would all promise the United States and each other not to grab the Islands.

Belgium and Switzerland have long been protected by just such neutralization treaties. Some people brush aside the suggestion by saying that such a treaty would be respected only until some one of the signatory Powers should "need the Philippines in its business," and that then, such Power would unblushingly annex them. But there is where the mutual jealousy of the Powers would be the sure salvation of my country. During the Franco-Prussian war there was some talk, both in France and Germany, of seizing Belgium. But both these nations being, as Great Britain also was, parties to a treaty under which it had been agreed that Belgium should forever remain neutral territory, Great Britain notified both parties to the conflict, that if either should violate the territorial integrity of Belgium she would at once take sides with the other. If "balance of power" consideration in Europe has preserved the integrity of Turkey up to the present time, without a neutralization treaty, why will not a treaty actually signed by all the great Powers making the Philippines neutral territory forever, be respected by the several nations signing it, since the one great subject ever held under jealous surveillance by the statesmen both of Europe and Japan, as well as of the United States, is the "balance of power" in the Pacific? Neutralization has long been recognized by the advanced thought of America as the key-to the way out of the Philippine Islands.

So far as I can learn, I do not see why the great Powers will not welcome a treaty for the neutralization of the Philippine Islands; besides other reasons, because it would forever reduce by that much the possible area of war. The sincerity of the leading nations in their plea for peace will be found out in their answer to the question "Will you consent to the neutralization of the Philippine Islands?"

To sum up, I assert: THAT

IF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS WERE PROTECTED BY A NEUTRALIZATION TREATY WHEREBY THE SIGNATORY POWERS WOULD ALL PROMISE THE UNITED STATES AND EACH OTHER NOT TO SEIZE THE ISLANDS, AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN DECLARED INDEPENDENT, AN AGREEMENT THE SIGNING AND FAITHFUL KEEPING OF WHICH THE MUTUAL JEALOUSY OF THE POWERS WILL MOST HAPPILY INSURE, MY PEOPLE CAN SET UP, AT ANY TIME, AND MAINTAIN FOREVER, A RESPECTABLE GOVERNMENT OF THEIR OWN, AMPLY ADEQUATE FOR THE PROTECTION OF LIFE AND PROPERTY AND CAPABLE OF FULFILLING ALL INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS.

MANUEL L. QUEZON, Resident Commissioner of the Philippine Islands in the United States.