The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-09-19

DeeV COuCluSlNely ulSDTONeu, uOJ Only
by their own statements, but by the
speech of the late Governor General
Reverb in the Spanish senate, June IL,
1S9S"
A War of Conquest.
The principle of government,
however, is wholly Independent of
Aguinaldo He may have been as false
as Benedict Arnold, and yet the cause
of the Filipino people may be as just
as that of our Revolutionary forefath-
ers. His conduct, whether right or
wrong, certainly can not justify us in
discarding the political tenets to which
we have now held consistently for
over 100 years. In justice it should
be suggested, too, that Aguinaldo is
not by any means the only prominent
man whose character has been as
sailed and whose motives have been
impugned by personal and political
enemies. There is one automatic truth
also which should be remembered in
this connection, to-wit: 1t can be no
greater offense morally to sell people
for Spanish gold than to buy people
with American gold, as we attempted
to do at Paris. wrong to sell, it
must be wrong t. Juy.
2. 1t is affirmed by the imperialsts
that the Filipino forces rendered no
dSSlSJduC6 JO JUb AIueIlCdu army III
the capture of Manila
General Whittier, who was not only
present at the capture of Manila, but
had abundant opportunity to obtain
reliable information with respect to
occurrences in the immediate vicinity
Of that city, in speaking of the serv-
ices of the Filipinos in driving the
Spaniards from Caveite, 20 odd miles
to the defenses of Manila" said: (See
Senate Document 62, page 499) "All
the success was on the natives side,
and the Spanards surrendered be-
tween 1000 and 5000 men armed,
plenty of ammunition, and in good
physical condition. The excuse of the
latter may be that their enemy was in
small bands; but they never captured
one of these, and the small bands
drove them to their walls"
The effect of this courage, activity
and vigilance on the part of the Fill
pino army was to render the city of
Manila untenable, and hence it was
that without even a serious effort on
the part Of the Spaniards in the way
of defense, it was surrendered to the
American forces.
8. The charge is made that the Fill
pinos are responsible for beginning the
war now in progress.
Up to the time of the capture of
Manila, the American forces and the
Filipino army were on terms of the
utmost friendliness. Aguinaldo, to use
his own words, had absolute conf
dence in the history and traditions of
q nation which struggled for its indie
pendence and for the abolition of slav-
cry" AS to what occurred subsequent
to this time to develop bitterness of
feeling between those who should al
ways have continued friendly, / can
not do better than present the state
ment of Rev. Clay MacCauley, a Re-
publican in politics, a Union soldier
during the civil war for a time an
inmate Of Libby prison, and now
missionary of Tokyo, Japan. Mr.. Mac
Cauley spent some time at Manila in
January. In a letter to the Boston
Transcript under date of June 8 he
says:
Obeyed Washington's Mandate.
apparently, from the downfall OF
Manila, the principle that guided the
American administration was that the
only party. to treat with in the settle
ment of the Philippine problem was
SPAIN that the Fiipinos should be
wholly passive to American dictation,
or suffer such consequences as are
meted out to rebels. During |
the summer and autumn the Filipinos
yielded position after position in front |
of Manila to our regiments. Gradu- |
ally a line Of American soldiers was
drawn around the captured city. The |
FilipinOs were left outside our mill |
tary circuit, as an army once our |
"allies," but at last become only an |
embarrassing crowd supplanted, re- |
pulsed and, as soldiers, ignored. This |
changed relation of the two forces was |
not the result, so | was told, of the |
wishes Of cur own soldiers.
The American officers had but |
obeyed commands sent them from |
Washington. One of my friends de- |
clared, These people seem to have no |
existence of their own, so far as Wash |
ington is concerned. No one there |
seems to care bit for what they think |
or wish Was it any wonder then
that as the FilipinOs were again and |
again ordered to fall back as they |
saw the American inclosure of Manila |
completed; as they saw the American |
feet and army increase week after |
week and as they were made to under
stand more fully their exclusion from |
social and official intercourse with |
their former friends, they began to look |
upon the doings of the Americans as
aggressive against themselves, and as |
threatening an assumption of political |
sovereignty over tnenI Naturally |
their protests against the repeated de- |
mands made upon them to fall back |
began to arouse them to antagonism. |
They insisted upon their rights as our
allies, and as the people of the Phil
ippines. They lost their idealization |
of their American 'emancipators' with |
great unwillingness, but in the end |
they accepted the fact that they were |
dealing with would-be masters"
These extracts from Mr. MacCau- |
ley's letter suggest the strained rela- |
tions existing between the two armies |
at the time when the first needless |
unmilitary and brutal shot was fired |
which brought on the war But, be-
fore proceeding any further, it may be |
well to give an extract from q note |
which General Macarthur sent to the |
commander of the Filipino troops in |
his immediate front, and that officers |
reply thereto:
"Sir: The line between your COM
mand and my command" General Nc |
Arthur wrote, has long been estab-
lished and is we'll understood by your
self and myself. An armed party
a