Arizona republican., 1899-09-02
MUST KEEP ISLANDS
TdIk With Methodist Bishop
of the Philippines.
of Anfi-ExpanStoniSfS
RiddIed by One who Knows
About fhe fiIipinOS-AauInaIdo'S
HdherenfS Small r1InoriIy.

/
pal church has been spending a few
days of his vacation at his old Buckeye
home. He is we'll known as one CT the
leading evangelical missionaries OF
the world, and his present diocese in
| the Orient includes the Philippines.
Having visited these islands many
times in the last fifteen years, and
having just returned from Luzon, he
is exceptionally fitted to judge of the
existing conditions.
To the standing argument of anti
expansionists that Dewey should have
sailed away after .he battle of Manila
bay, Bishop Thoburn makes the reply
that Dewey had no sails Moreover,
he had not enough coal to cross the
Pacific and under the neutrality laws,
by which he would have been limited
to twenty-four hours in a Chinese
port, he could not then have obtained
a supply.
''S.iH another question, said he.
'.Why not, after expelling the Span
iards from the Philippines, leave the
people of the islands alone in peace?
1t seems impossible for some intelli-
gent people 10 comprehend the fact
that there are at least eighty differeH.
tribes OF races of people inhabiting the
Philippines. The class of persons
known as FTlipinos belong exclusively
to the island of Luzcn. They are by
no means popular among the other
islanders, nor has Agluinalio or any
other man ever succeeded in winning
the confidence of the islanders gen
orally. Like all MohammeSan Malays,
the people inhabiting she southern por-
tions of the archipelago are treacher-
Gus, warlike and turbulent. In tbs
more civilized stands inhabited by
the Visaya race the Filipinos const:-
tute a very small minority, and if the
parties were left % themselves in
short time a titter enmity would man
ifest itself even among the most civ
ilized portions cl5 the northern and
central islands.
CAT every hazard and at every cost
il becomes the solemn duty of the
American people, a duty from which
the civilized world will never absolve
them, to put down all warlike opposi-
ton and give peace to the islands, and
n 1C0 aT1F
throughout the whole archipelago.
after the event it is easy to be wise.
and many men can point oU,. measures
which ought to have been taken, and
other measures which ought to have
been avoided. 1t was a mistake on
the part of the American consul at
to bring Aguinaldo out of
his retirement and send him up to
Hong Kong. Is would have been
wiser if he had been kept
in mild restraint at the critical
time, when the Americans were pre-
pairing to assault the city Of Mania
1t was a mistake if, as alleged, arms
were put into the hands of the Fill
pinos before .hey had fully declared
th6ir intent. Various mistakes can be
pointed out in connection with the
plans adopted for disposing of the Fill
pino army.
But after all it will perhaps become
in the end that .he war
into which we have so strangely been
led was a necessity. No settlement
II !, iaL,I
did not involve a full and final decis-
ION of the question of ultimate au-
thor;'ty. In all Oriental lands this
should be regarded as su-
preme. Any number oG concessions !
may be made after the question of final |
has been fully settled.
while it is not my province to |
pass judgment on the military situa- !,
ton, one remark which I have felt |
constrained to make from the first |
has been that our government seemed |
to me to be overlooking the absolute
necessity of training native soldiers
under American officers without a sin
gle weeks delay. 1 am not aware thsL
anything has been done in this direc-
Jion yet, but it is not probable that
the islands can be pacified without the
aid of nimble-footed ratives of the
soil. Il Will probably be said that
such soldiers could not be trusted; all
history, however, proves the contrary,
irst in India, and in later years in all
countries held by England and France.
''In any and every case fhnrp ShOuld
De no mention of retiring from the
ield. We did not seek this great re
possibility, but it was thrust upon
Is. To retire now would be to shrink
rom a manifest duty, to make con-
essEon CT national t;midity, and to
all down upon US as a nation the
'idicufe and contempt, if not, indeed,
ne execration, of the civilized world.