Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/104

76 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS attacks of the insurgents upon the U. S. forces on February 4, had any great weight in influencing the voting upon the treaty ; there can be little doubt, however, that the insurgent leaders, ignorant of the real feelings of the people at large, did draw en couragement for themselves from the reports of opposition to the treaty. The question of peace with Spain once settled, the outbreak in the Philippines opened a new prob lem to the president. Anxious for information on the situation in those islands, he had appointed in January a commission of five, consisting of Ad miral Dewey, Gen. Otis, President J, G, Schur- man, of Cornell, Prof. Dean C. Worcester, of the University of Michigan, and Col. Charles Denby, for many years U. S. minister to China, to study the general situation in the Philippines and to act in an advisory capacity. In this step the president had shown his desire to act only upon ample infor mation. When actual hostilities broke out, how ever, there was left to him but one thing to do : the insurrection must be put down. For this reason he gave Gen. Otis, in his policy of vigorous action, all the support possible. Another difficulty for his solution arose in the condition of affairs in the Samoan islands. After the death in 1898 of Malietoa, King of Samoa, a struggle for the succession took place in the islands between the followers of Mataafa and of young