ros, Bagobos, Mandayas and Manobos of Davao; of
Jose M. Lerma, the unscrupulous politician of the province of Bataan,
just across the bay from Manila, representing the wild Moros of
Cotabato; of Juan Tuason, a timid Chinese _mestizo_ Manila business
man, representing the Yacan and Samal Moros of Basilan; of my good
friend Benito Legarda, since a member of the Philippine Commission,
and a resident delegate from the Philippines to the congress of the
United States, representing the bloody Moros of Jolo! Yet they appear
as representatives of these several regions.

Few, indeed, of the delegates from non-Christian territory had ever
set foot in the provinces or _comandancias_ from which they were
appointed, or would have been able to so much as name the wild tribe
or tribes inhabiting them.

I have been furnished a list, made up with all possible care by
competent persons, from which it appears that there were eighty-five
delegates actually present at the opening of congress, of whom
fifty-nine were Tagalogs, five Bicols, three Pampangans, two Visayans,
and one a Zambalan. For the others there are no data available. Yet
it has been claimed that this was a representative body! It was a
Tagalog body, without enough representatives of any other one of the
numerous Philippine peoples to be worth mentioning.

With a congress thus organized, Aguinaldo should have had no difficulty
in obtaining any legislation he desired.

The committee of congress appointed to draw up a constitution set
to work promptly, and by October 16,1898, had proceeded so far
with their work that Buencamino was able to write to Aguinaldo that
while he had been of the opinion that it would have been best for
him to continue as a dictator aided by a committee of able men,
yet it would now be a blow to the prestige of congress to suspend
its sessions. Aguinaldo noted upon this letter the fact that he did
not approve of a constitution. [383]

Apparently early in December the committee submitted their project. In
presenting it to congress they said [384] that--

"The work whose results the commission has the honour to present for
the consideration of congress has been largely a matter of selection;
in executing it not only has the French constitution been used,
but also those of Belgium, Mexico, Brazil, Nicaragua, Costa Rica,
and Guatemala, as we have considered those nations as most resembling
the Filipino people."

The most important difference betwee