The sun., 1899-06-13

inalienable by the law, aud there was no in
tention on the part Of the revolutlonlsts to
grant any. People without the requisite
property qualification were shut out from
| voting and thereby made distinctly un-
| equal Slavery existed and was protected
| by law. and IL continued to exist for nearly a
| century afterward and was only abolished
incidentally to the civil war and purely as
n war measure.
The reference in the petition to the Decla-
ration Of Independence, accordingly Is with
out pertinence, and II comes with the less
reason from women, for they are still
debarred from Joining in the consent
Of the governed" They have no say
on the subject, are not consulted. but
are compelled to submit to govern
ment without their consent at the dicta-
tlon OF men. Those eternal truths" OF
which Miss ApBor's petition speaks, there
fore, have no application to her. She must
submit to be governed whether she consents
or dssents. The Declaration OF Indepen-
dencc does not recognize her existence
among those from whose consent the Just
powers" OF government are derived. 1t
ignores her altogether as a factor OF the
problem and treats her simply as q crea-
ture to he governed in the way men think
best We do not deny the expedency Of
this rule OF masculine government, but as
It shuts out women from the "inalienable
rights" it would seem to he reasonable for
Miss ABBOT and her "anti-imperialist" "
sisters to leave to the men "anti-imperial-
lists" the attempt to justify treason by the
generalization Of the Declaration OF In
dependence.
It is the obvious duty of the United States
to provide tho Philippine Islands with a
good and secure government, for they are
now under our authority and we are respon-
sble for them to civilization. Exactly what
form that government will take must be de-
termined by time and experience: that it
will eventually be in strict accordance with
American political principles IS as newt
able as that meantime and afterward it will
conducc to the liberty and welfare of the
inhabitants to an infinitely greater degree
than has done any other which they
have ever had. But before just and Or
derly government for the Philippines can
he established it Is manifestly necessary
that armed resistance by an unrepresenta-
tive band OF the natives shall be suhdued.
First of all, there must be peace and order,
and the sole purpose OF our military opera
tions is to compel such tranquility by put
ting down the lawless effort Of this band
to obtain despOtic control OF territory be-
longing to the United States.
The men and women "anti-imperiallsts'
are practically assisting this barbarously re-
bellious band in woundlng and killing Amer
ican soldiers, their own countrymen, who
are heroically obeying the orders Of their
Government in a campaign as great In nat
ural difficulties as it is distinguished In the
high moral qualities displayed and mill
tary ability demonstrated The enterprise
of Miss ABBOT and her men assistants is
reasonable, infamous. We should as soon
think Of assisting miscreants to poison the
wells from which our soldiers in the Philip
pines drink as Of giving any aid or coun-
tenance to this Boston plot to subject them
to their Filipino enemies. Alas that an
American woman should have been deluded
into abetting such treacheryl