Aguinaldo had made Mabini the president of his council and secretary of foreign affairs. Mabini now bent himself to organize a constitutional government, and if the achievement that followed had been staged nearer to the center of the world’s attention it would have been hailed as a triumph of constructive statesmanship. On September 15, the first Philippine Congress met at Malolos, about twenty-five miles north of Manila, and proceeded to draft for the Philippine Republic a constitution that for wisdom and sound democratic philosophy may be compared with any other similar chart by which any government ever was steered. On November 29, 1898, the Congress adopted this constitution, and on the following January 21, the Philippine Republic, complete and functioning, was installed in place of the Provisional Government. Mabini was chief justice of the Supreme Court. The United States refused to recognize the new republic, but, in accordance with the absurd treaty of Paris, insisted upon its own sovereignty over all the Philippines. For twenty million dollars it had bought of Spain a title that Spain did not possess. We need not dwell long on the deplorable strife that now ensued between the American and Filipino forces. [233] On February 4, the Americans advanced into territory held by the Filipino army, and for the next two years war raged. The Filipinos, although badly armed and always outnumbered, showed a tenacity, a courage, and a military prowess that continually astonished the Americans and won their candid and reiterated praise. Much of the credit for the skilful handling of the Filipino forces was due to General Antonio Luna, Aguinaldo’s chief of staff, whose natural aptitude for arms had been developed by study in the best schools of Europe. When he lost his life in June, 1899, the Filipino cause suffered a heavy blow, but not so heavy as its enemies expected. For the singular fact was to be noted that out of the body of natives once despised and scornfully classed as “brethren of the water-buffalo” arose men capable of inspiring the soldiers of a hopeless cause and of leading them well in desperately fought battles. If for the moment we can lay aside nationalistic consciousness, the dauntless strivings of the Filipinos against the Americans will appear worthy of a place in best records of the struggles of the weak against the strong. On March 23, 1901, President Aguinaldo was captured, and thereafter the war slowly subsided until on July 4, 1902, President Roosevelt issued a proclamation of amnesty and the American Government took up the work of reconstruction, of which the first purpose was to prepare the natives for the independence repeatedly promised them.