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Mabini, speaking of the attitude of the Americans, says, "Notwithstanding all this and in spite of their protestations of friendship, they have always refused to recognize that government." Also, "If they persist in refusing to recognize our government, we shall see ourselves compelled to come to an agreement with any other government that will consent to recognize us on friendly terms."
During the early part of August, Aguinaldo seems to have avoided conferences with American officers. On the second of the month Mabini wrote him how he had put off Admiral Dewey's aid with a false statement that he did not know Aguinaldo's whereabouts.
"I think it necessary to send Aglipay to quiet Tarlac. Send for him. If you desire, I will go to Tarlac to investigate the causes of the disorders, in order to find a remedy for them." At this stage of events Aguinaldo was summoned to Malolos by a telegram from Mabini under date of December 29, which reads as follows: "Most urgent. You must come here immediately. Trías is sick.
The war was practically over. The insurrection had failed. In my opinion no Filipino who held out to the end for independence compared in intellectual power with Mabini, and I deem his views as to why it failed worthy of special attention. At the time of his death, he left behind a memoir from which I quote the following:
Mabini's logic was a real embarrassment to the American military forces, and in January, 1901, he was arrested a second time by the Americans. This time he was exiled to the island of Guam, where he remained until his return to Manila on February 26, 1903. Mabini died in Manila, of cholera, May 13, 1903, at the age of 39 years. His funeral was the most largely attended of any ever held in Manila.
He himself had drawn up a project for a constitution during June, 1898, but it was not accepted by the committee, the greater part of whom were Catholics and for that reason opposed to Mabini, who was a bitter antagonist of that church.
Mabini thought that it was possible that the wording of the constitution might have been deliberately planned by members of the congress in favour of annexation to the United States, so that that country would be warned, would become more mistrustful, and would refuse to recognize Aguinaldo's government.
Mabini was undoubtedly the most profound thinker and political philosopher that the Pilipino race ever produced. Some day, when his works are fully published, but not until then, Mabini will come into his own. A great name awaits him, not only in the Philippines, for he is already appreciated there, but in every land where the cause of liberty and human freedom is revered.
There exists among the Insurgent records a very important document, prepared by Mabini, showing that when the call for the first session of the Filipino congress was issued, there were no less than sixty-one provinces and commandancias, which the Insurgents, when talking among themselves, did not even claim to control, and twenty-one of these were in or immediately adjacent to Luzón.
Although he died from natural causes, Mabini died a martyr to the cause of Philippine independence. Five years of persecution left his intense patriotism untouched, but it had made his physical self a ready victim for a premature death. =By APOLINARIO MABINI= First.
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