MAXILOM TO CEBUANOS, JULY 29, 1899

Exhibit 1397.

[Original in Spanish. Letter book. P . I. R.. Books B. 10. ]

JULY 29, 1899.

BELOVED CEBUANOS [Citizens of Cebu]: The hour has already sounded when the Mother-Country, in the midst of her tortures and countless sufferings, calls to us, Cebuanos, with a sorrowful and pleading voice, so that we, her sons, may without hesitation or dismay, raise the war cry throughout our fields.

It is, hidden from no one that hardly, at the cost of innumerable sacrifices and bloodshed, was our emancipation from Spanish domination assured, when there comes again a foreign nation to overthrow our indisputable rights, acquired at the point of the sword, a nation impelled only by measureless ambition to reduce us ere long to barbarous slavery, rigid and more cruel than the former state.

We, Filipinos, however, guided by the light of the noblest ideal, raising aloft the sacred banner of the tricolor, before which we swore in the face of the whole world to defend it at all hazards, pursue with head erect the path marked out by the Supreme Creator, without deviating from the course which directs us toward the splendor of independence.

Independence or death - this is our theme. After tolerating for five months the presence of the enemy, their acts of provocation while invading the towns in the south of this province, seeing the most offensive contempt cast upon our flag, the orders given to the towns to recognize American sovereignty - all this we have borne because the wise and just counsels of prudence bridled the fury which burned and still burns within our breasts. The supreme moment came when the enemy, taking advantage of our silence, which they mistook for weakness, broke out into hostilities, attacking our lines on the 24 h of the present month.

I repeat, the moment has now come. The enemy sought us in these mountains, they found us, and you, beloved Cebuanos, to whom we are bound by the sweet ties of blood and honor, have you the heart to leave us abandoned to the mercy of time, to the chances of fate, looking upon us from a safe vantage ground? Have you, perchance, within your breasts Filipino hearts? If you are Filipinos, look with pity upon your brothers who are hastening into the fields to fight with the invader, enduring the dan,gers of war with pleasure and devotion. What means this coldness, this indifference, which you exhibit before the just and sacred cause which we are upholding? Is it perhaps fear, caused by thinking upon the unequalness of the struggle, or because of love for your riches? Do you fear to lose the latter? Or is it because you accept with pleasure this phantom of autonomy offered by the Americans? If the first, where is that lofty patriotism, that ardent love of country which with pride you solemnly swore? Where is that vow which you registered before the sacred banner when waiving it in this small corner of the Philippines? Let us keep our word if we have learned how to have dignity, and thus we shall have honor before the civilized world.

If the latter, what advantages would this autonomy confer upon you, however ample it might be? It only leads to fallacious promises and illusive hopes. I say fallacious, because it is only a net and a snare which, fascinating to the ambitious at present, brings us dangers and misfortunes, whence will undoubtedly result our degradation, the ruin of the country and the gradual extinction of our race, as egoism dominates in individuals, towns and cities. If we do not consider the future of our posterity, I am confident that should the starry flag of the Union dominate these Islands, our children will not receive the Christian education which is found in the Philippines, through the grace of God now strongly rooted, and should they be converted to Protestantism and will continue corrupting Christian customs-why-have you not heard at times of the crimes committed by the American soldiers, outraging our young girls and forcibly destroying the fidelity of the married women? This is the most repugnant barbarism. Moreover, our happiness is dependent upon us to make durable, because our forefathers bequeathed us this task. Such stability will not be possible to secure if the people are ruled by two governments, one national and the other foreign; for howeyer good may be the laws, the State will not be well governed, because the laws will not be obeyed.

In the face of such considerations, I now believe that there is not a single Filipino who does not cherish our ideas-and feels in his soul our aspirations for liberty and independence.

Let us fight then without hesitation or dismay, because God is in us, and His power is great, and however powerful the American nation may be, he can overthrow its power, destroying it as He did the giant Goliath, by the hand of the boy, David, with no weapon but a sling.

Let us fight, I repeat, and trust in God, the God of armies, who is watching over us.

HEADQUARTERS, Hibuyo. July 29, 1899.

ARCADIO MAXILOM,
General-in-Chief.