No war was ever yet waged in the interests of humanity, as the war against Spain unquestionably was, that did not produce consequences entirely unforeseen at its beginning. This truth was never more convincingly confirmed than by the war just ended. The United States demanded the evacuation by Spain of Cuba and Cuban waters. Compliance by Spain would have limited the consequences to the evacuation. She did not comply. She chose the arbitrament of war, and the result was her extirpation from her insular possessions in the West Indies and the Philippines. This providential and revolutionary event imposed upon the United States duties unforeseen, but none the less imperious. As to the Philippines, those duties are complicated by the irresistible tendencies which seem to make certain the dismemberment of China, and the subjection of that immemorial empire to all the influences of Western civilization. This is an event not inferior in importance to the discovery of America by Columbus, and the interest of the United States in its consequences is of incalculable importance. With this interest its relations to the Philippines is inseparably connected, and those relations present for consideration policies which disenchant the situation of all idealism and make it intensely practical. To this possible result the war waged against the United States by Aguinaldo and his followers has decisively contributed. But, in any event, whatever the relations of the United States to the Philippines may finally become, the book of Mr. Lala will undoubtedly influence and assist the considerate judgment of those whose duty shall call them to determine the momentous questions which are now enforcing themselves for solution upon the attention of the American people. Cushman K. Davis Washington, March 22d, 1899. [Cushman Kellogg Davis, U. S. Senate, Minnesota, 1887 to ----; Chairman Committee on Foreign Relations; Member of the Commission that met at Paris, September 1898, to arrange terms of peace between the United States and Spain.] PREFACE. About twenty years ago, when a student at St. John's College, London, I was frequently asked by people I met in society for information regarding the Philippines and the Filipinos. Many also, who showed considerable interest, and who wished, for various reasons, to carry their investigations further, complained that there was in English no good book on the subject. Afterward, when I continued my studies at a French college in Neûchatel, Switzerland, I met with many similar inquiries, and here too in America I found demand for a comprehensive, reliable work upon my country.