The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-06-28
Barrett on SeditiOn.

Hon. John Barrett, one of President
Clevelands eastern diplomatic APP
pointees, before returning to the Un-
tied States, spent several months in The
Philippines, observing the course OF
events and taking note of the situation
in and around Manila. Mr.. Barrett
recently spoke before the Boston
Chamber of Commerce, and by his tes-
timony confirmed the general judg-
ment that Mr.. Hoar and his fellow
anti-imperialists, in Congress and
elsewhere, are in a large measure re-
sponsible for the bloodshed in the
Philippines.
Mr.. Hoar's duty in the matter of the
ratification of the treaty with Span
was clear. If his judgment and his
conscience moved him to oppose the
treaty, the same monitors should have
warned him to employ temperance, hu-
manity and patriotism in enforcing his
objections. But the Senator was in.
cendiary, seditious, in speech and man
ner, in his opposition, and it has borne
bloody fruit and "cost good American
lives' in the Philippines. The Sena-
tor has companions in responsibility in
Congress and in private life and among
the newspaper press. He is simply
somewhat prominent type of an oppo-
sition to the policy of his government
that overstepped the bounds of reason
and propriety and patriotism, and en-
tered the domain of treason, as did his
predecessors in the North during the
civil war, in their attempts to thwart
the governments efforts to preserve
the Union of the States.
Mr.. Barrett testi6es, as the result of
his personal observation in the Philip
pines, that the attempt of Mr.. Hoar and
his fellow conspirators against the gov
ernment, to defeat or delay the treaty
in the Senate was followed by the up
rising of Aguinaldo. "The injury"
he said, "was not done in hindering
our men in their efforts on the field of
battle, but in squirting on and giving
new life to their enemies. On the bat
tlefeld, along the firing line, and in
the camps and hospitals, heard the
rank and file of our brave soldiers in
Weigh against the effect of this agita-
ton on the enemy" 1t aroused only
indignation among the troops, but it
was "the most encouraging influence
for the Filipinos in fighting u.s." This
was the judgment Mr.. Barrett heard
expressed from Admiral Dewey, from
the general officers and scores of 9TH
ers in command. The anti-imperial.
lists, of all sorts, we're responsible for
"the spreading of the sentiment and
notion through the ranks of the Fill
Pine army and among the masses of
the natives that our occupation of the
islands was unwarranted, the war un-
provoked, our army and navy unsup-
ported by our people, and our country
about to demand the withdrawal of our
forces from the islands, the hauling
down of the flag and our complete and
ignominious withdrawal from our re-
sponsibilities."
This is strong testimony and the
man against whom it is delivered, as
the representative of body of men
who cared more for the triumph of
their individual opinions, or prejudices,
or crotchets than for the supremacy OF
their government and the lives and
we fare of the brave men who were
maintaining that governments author
ity, will have to answer to the terrible
indictment the American people have
brought against him and them.