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Lawton called in one of his dispatches, a lovely battle:" The enemy, to the number of 3,000, were entrenched along the river in trenches that were virtually bomb-proof, and in addition were led by a man who was impelled by the bravery of fanaticism. By the aid of the gunboats, however, the Filipinos were finally driven from their position, but instead of taking to their heels as was their wont in other engagements, they stood their ground and contested every inch. Their opponents, however, were not less brave and pressing forward finally drove the enemy a mile to the rear of their original position. The Filipino loss was heavy; the American forces losing 9 killed and 30 wounded.

After this serious defeat the Filipinos fell back to Imus, which, however, was occupied without resistance by General Wheaton's brigade on June 18. The next day, a mile from Imus, occurred the last collision of importance in the Tagalog revolt. At this place General Wheaton's brigade engaged a force of 2,500 Filipinos, which was utterly dispersed. As the result of this last campaign of Lawton, the territory surrounding Manila was cleared of organized opposition to American authority, and it is one of the strangely tragic facts of the war, that the man who should have done most to bring it to an end should lose his life in a trifling skirmish with a small body of the enemy at San Mateo. By the death of General H. W. Lawton, the United States lost a

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soldier of the most perfect type. His nature, his training, his life, and his death were consistently that of the soldier, and though his death was a serious blow to the army, yet the work he did in the Civil War, on the plains, at El Caney and San Juan, and in the far-off Philippines is sufficient. What he did was done modestly, but perfectly, and, like the soldier he was, according to directions. The esteem with which his memory was held, was shown by the gift of $100,000 made by the people of the United States to his family when it was learned that Lawton had died a poor man.

For two years the insurgents held out against the American authority, keeping up guerrilla warfare until by wounds, disease and disaffection all organized opposition was destroyed. The situation is best expressed by the letter written by General Wheeler (December, 1899) in tendering his resignation as a general in the volunteer army:

"The insurgent government is virtually destroyed. Aguinaldo is a fugitive in the northern provinces; his Cabinet and Congress are scattered. The president of the Filipino Congress is here, and from what he says I think it will be impossible for their Congress ever to reconThe various commands of the insurgent generals are reduced to mere skeletons and fly before us so fast that it is almost impossible to get within gun range."

vene.

The last chapter of the Tagalog revolt was closed by the capture of Aguinaldo by Colonel Funston, who by the means of a subterfuge, justifiable perhaps in war, captured the Filipino leader and brought him in

triumph to Manila. It was clear, however, that Aguinaldo had had enough punishment; his dreams of a Philippine republic or dictatorship were all dissipated, and therefore on April 2, 1901, he took the oath of alle

giance, and became a citizen of the country he had fought so long. With this he disappears from history. In reward for this and other daring enterprises Colonel Funston was made a brigadier-general.

The theory that a nation is only an aggregate of individual units held together by some sort of an expressed or implied compact is denied by history. The one fact that stands forth clear and definite, when all accessory facts are eliminated is that a nation is organic, reproducing in a larger sense the conditions that hold with respect to the individual; and like the individual, it also passes through the periods of childhood, youth, manhood and old age. The duration of these periods vary from a generation to centuries, depending partly upon external conditions, but mainly upon the spirit and quality of the people itself. It is evident, in addition, that the passing from one plane to another brings to the nation new responsibilities and new perils. Never has a nation developed with such tremendous

swiftness as the United States. During the course of a single century, with the exception of the small strip on the eastern coast comprising the original thirteen colonies, it has passed through all the stages of development that other nations have taken long periods of time to experience. In America today the primitive cabin of the pioneer still stands side by side with the palace of the promoter of enterprises beyond the dreams of conquering spirits of the past.

It was clear from the very beginning that the spirit of America could not be restricted by any very definite boundaries. Almost in spite of itself, and in spite of vast territories unused by its people, the area of the United States has gradually extended westward and southward, first by the Louisiana purchase, then by the ac

cession of Florida, Texas and the other Mexican territories, and finally a startling leap was made across noncontiguous territory to Alaska. Each of these phases of expansion met in its turn with bitter opposition on the part of sincere and patriotic men who conceived that each expansion was in direct opposition to the policy of the founders of the Republic, so solemnly and explicitly voiced in the farewell address of President Washington. Nor, in addition, have these gains been made without loss to others. The tremendous tide of immigration that swept across the valley of the Mississippi and occupied the vast region Thomas Jefferson obtained from France, also swept away the natives who had wandered over it from one hunting ground to another. Yet it is the law that those who neglect or abuse the gifts of the soil must lose them, and so the Indian had either to conform or be extinguished. He selected the latter, and today he is mythology. A portion of the territory gained from Mexico was little short of a spoliation, yet in this case, too, the end has been a justification of the means.

With the exception, however, of Alaska, the territory gained has been contiguous, and the absorption of it as an organic part of the State has

been easy. The Treaty of Paris, however, meant a definite break with a policy that in theory, at least, had been conceived to be in the Constitution itself. This was to the effect that the spirit of the document was opposed to the holding of colonies or

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other non-contiguous territory not capable, eventually, of being merged into the nation itself.

It is true that the taking of the Philippines was more or less an accident of war, yet the very presence of Dewey's fleet in Asiatic waters proves that it was a foreseen accident, and that it was in the mind of the administration to wrest the islands from Spain should war be declared. The events justified that foresight and the islands by conquest and by treaty became the possession of the United States. States. Their cost has been tremendous both in money and blood.*

Thus the United States expanded in spite of itself. Yet in the main it was a normal and wholesome growth, recognized by the most far-seeing statesmen as necessary, if not inevitable. This thought is clearly developed in a letter written in 1844 by John C. Calhoun to Rufus King, minister to France: "It is our policy to increase by growing and spreading out into unoccupied regions, assimil

*The United States paid Spain $20,100,000 for the islands; $20,000,000 according to the Treaty, and $100,000 in addition for two islands that had been overlooked in the original agreement. This brought the cost of the war up to $300,000,000. To this should be added the millions spent during the long struggle with the Filipinos, those paid to the Friars for their lands, and those for war claims and pensions. The cost of the Philippines and Porto Rico has been little short of a half billion dollars. In the lives of American soldiers the cost has been equally great. In the campaigns against Aguinaldo, from February 4, 1899, to April 30, 1902, there were 2,561 battles; and to July 16, 1902, 130,000 Americans had been sent to the islands. Of these 7,000 died of wounds and disease; and many thousands came back to the States handicapped for life by wounds or hardships.