The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-22
COLONIAL CONDITIONS.
We Shall Have Enough to Do to At
tend to Cuba.
Washington Post.

Washington Post.
In conversation with a Post man Mr..
William Kennedy, of Edinburgh, Scotland,
II have lived over quarter of century
in the Orient and have had unusual oppor-
tunites of seeing and observing in several
countries thereoBritish India Burmah,
SIAM the Straits Settlements, Dutch India,
as the Hollanders call it, Cochin China the
Philippines, some parts of CHINA ana Japan,
and even in Egypt | have. resided some
months on my way home from the East.
Consequently it is easy for me TO under,
stand your situation in the Philippines ana
in Cuba from not merely civilian but
partly also from a military point OF view.
j should have said that have served as
an artillery volunteer in India and TOOK
my share Of active service during the war
between the British and the King of Bur-
NAH in 1856.
Now. il appears to me that for your own
sakes you should let the Philippines 60
They are too far away for you to properly
attend to- and you are as yet unprepared
race, religion, and, may say. climate Let
them 60 Who is to get the Philippines is
and not the French l am sure. The latter
have not done well with any Oriental col
ony. They had a grand footing in India
last century and lost It,. and their possess
sions in Tonquin and Cambodia are
wretched places. If Spain cannot keep the
Philippines they will fall to the British or
Japanese. But you should for your own
sakes let them go.
you think the fighting in Cuba is over?
plenty of room there yet for your fire.
eaters, your organs and Roosevelts, and
others. unless | am much mistaken. The
British have had the same case to face over
and over again in India; for India was not a
single country, but a number of independ-
ent kingdoms of various sizes: A quarrel
springs up between the British and the
ruler of one of those kingdoms, war breaks
out. and as a rule. the native ruler is
up in his place under British guidance. the
kingdom is bodily annexed, and thence
forward its government, in the higher
grades, is carried on by European British
officials. Let me instance the Punjab in
the northern part. There never was
Drawer man than Runjit Singh, the lion of
the Punjab,' or finer lot of fighting men
than the Sikhs, its inhabitants. The British
never had tougher foes. in or out of India,
went to the wall. and now the Sikhs form
the flower of the native army in India.
Then. within the last five years we had
Burmah to settle with finally.
I'm 1896 we took two bits out of that
kingdom on the seaboard in 1852 another,
by which the King of Burmah was effectu-
ally shut out or, rather. in, from the sea.
/. e., the Indian ocean. In 1886 we swallowed
the remainder of the kingdom, which in its
miles. In both those cases large native
army got off with their arms, and, calling
themselves patriots. were really armed rob-
bers. attacking their own countrymen I'M
mercifully surprising small numbers of
British troops, and carefully avoiding the
larger bodies sent against them. 1t took
finally put down the insurgents in Burmah.
and the loss in fighting was small compared
and other hardships. But they have done it.
We'll, you have the same circumstances
in Cuba: The insurgent' leaders may give
their adhesion to United States rule, they
may profess all loyal desire to see peace
reigning in their country and good govern
ment conferred on their fellow-countrymen
about the insurgents who have been go
ing about with arms in their hands for
turn at peaceful work all that time?
Their occupation is gone you all say.
Nothing of the sort They will go on fight
ing as of yore. harassing the dominant race,
whom they will detest for being 'heretics'
and foreigners. and robbing the other The
first thing you have to do is to disarm ev-
erybody in Cuba, who has any kind of
sh ooting iron about him; give them a speci-
fed time for doing So and if. and when,
will be a mercy to the peaceful people of
the island, the small cultivator, the large
planter, the merchant, the priest, the other
learned and peaceful professions, the wom-
EN- and children.
''You will require a large army Of occupa-
ton to do this; TO begin with, they must lie
white men, and you may count on 80 per
cent? of them being regularly invaded
from disease of one kind or another. Not
too much by long way; you have no idea
what a rainy season in the jungly part of
tropical country can do for a white mans
health; you have had a taste of it already
In Cuba. consequently, as in British India.
insurgents and other fighting people there
should be given the opportunity of enlist
ing under the United States flag; they
should be formed into exclusive Cuban reg
iments, and officers of the lower grades
should be native Cubans. At first. at any
rate, the superior officers must be white
men, who have a. regular military training,
in order to secure the respect of the men
they command and who will be prepared TO
serve in Cuba, as European British officers
do in India, with occasional furlough, till
they qualify for pension.
I'm this way the undoubted drain on a
white army in Cuba will be lessened, and
employment will be found for Cubans with
military Instincts"