Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-02-06
WASHINGTON LETTER.

WUSn1ugLOD, jan. OOIU, 1899.
President Mckinley will not receive
the fin ding of the Eagan court mar
tial for several days yet, as it is Gus
tomary for the secretary of war to
refer the finding of the court
to the judge advocate general for a
legal review before forwarding it to the
finding was guilty on,both counts. This
finding may be approved, set aside,
or mitigated in the Judgment of the
president, and the general impression
is that it will be mitigated. While the
opinion that Eagan deserves punish
ment is general, there are few who
think, in view of his long and honor
able service, that it should be as Sc
we're as dismissal from the army.
There has been a decided change in
the attitude of the "aunties" since
the senate agreed to vote on the treaty
Feb. 9Th. Instead of talking of ex-
pecting to reject the treaty of peace,
as they were doing week ago, they
are now begging the supporters of the
treaty to let them down easy, by hav-
ing the senate adopt a meaningless
resolution declaring that the treaty
does not bind the U. s. to permanent
retention of the Philippines, some
thing that everybody already knows.
There would be as much sense in
adopting a resolution declaring that
hind RI HoH
Spain again. The treaty will be rati-
fed. That is now considered to be an
absolute certainty.
There is not the slightest founda-
ton for the sensational reports sent
from Washington about the admins
tration being worried over the antics
of Agoncillo, the agent of Aguinaldo,
in Washington, who has been doing
some fool talking, in the newspapers
and elsewhere. Secretary Hay is
authority for the statement that
Agoncillo;s name had never been
called at a cabinet meeting, and that
President Mckinley has never even
had his attention called to the pres
ence of the little Filipino in Wash
ington, except by the newspapers.
Representative Cousins, of Iowa,
in a speech in favor of the Hull army
bill, which will be voted upon and
passed, tomorrow, by the house, paid
his respects to those who have ex-
pressed so much fear of the neces-
sary increase in the regular army.
He said: 81 have not lived long
enough to learn of anything in the
history of the exploits of American
soldiery or of their service, to justify
that suspicion which is cast upon the
Institution known as the regular
army of the United States, by the
imputation that it could ever be used |
as a menace to the liberties of Ameri-
can citizenship. Does the history of
Valor and glory in the revolution
prompt the gentlemen of the minori
America against American soldiery? |
Does the record of the regulars, led |
by Gen. Jackson, at New Orleans, fill |
the hearts of the gentlemen with fear |
or apprehension for the safety of our
citizens? Does Chepultepec send
warning even into modern Washing
ton? Did there ever issue from the
lips, now closed in everlasting love
end fame in that silent mausoleum
by the Hudson, any word of menace
to a future citizen, any thought save
peace, any oracle save liberty and
union? Go dspare a grateful country
and an admiring world from any
doubt about the matchless magnami-
ty of Appomattox. In all the years of
toll and strife and victory that make
the history of our republic great, the
regular army has been it's shield and
buckler."
No speech made on the Philippine
question has contained more common
sense or palmer statement of the
actual situation than that made by
Senator Platt, of New York, the first
he has made during his first term in
the senate. His arraignment of the
senators who are largely responsible
for Aguinaldo's bumptious position |
follows: ''There are reasons why |
the natives of those islands, after
their experience with Spanish mis-
rule, should misunderstood the pres
ence at Manila of an American army, |
but there is no reason why an Amer
lean senator should misunderstood it, |
and no justification of his course in |
disappearing it. He knows that |
there is no American in all this broad |
land who wishes any other fate to airy |
single native of the Philippine Islands |