The Jersey City news., 1899-06-28
AGU|NALDO'S CAUSE.
Evening Post" Analyses
the Filipino Leader and
His Struggle.
[From "The Evening POST of Wednes-
edavl.


resistance to American sovereigntyS What
is his following. ana what it's char
acter2 Do the people sreally believe they
are fighting for independence and the
right to govern themselves? Is Aguinaldo
their chosen and trusted leader, or self
appointed tyrant from whose domination
the Filipinos would be glad to escapes
These are questions which great many
Americans are asking themselves now,
and we are Indebted to the Hon. John
Barrett. our former Minister to Siam, for
very full and undoubtedly authentic an
swer to all of them. Mr.. Barrett is at
present in great favor with the lmperiai-
istic press, because he is strong In the
expression of. his belief that the anti
1mperialists are responsible mainly for
the prolongation of the war, since their
utterances have encouraged the Filipinos
to continue their resistance TO our as
sumption Of sovereignty
We find in the pages of the 'Revie" OF
Reviews for July, advance sheets OF
which have been sent to the press, an
extremely interesting article by Mr.. bar
rett. upon the Philippine situation. he
reiterates therein the views, which ne
has expressed repeatedly elsewhere, ana
which we have published, concerning the
harmful influence of the anti-lmperlai-.
lists. 1t is not necessary to reproduce
those now. What is of value in his arti-
Gle is the account which he gives OF
Aguinaldo and his relations to the Ph1iip-
pine people. and this portion we quote
in full elsewhere 1t presents the most
favorable picture of Aguinaldo and his
eause that has vet been published in this
country. 1t represents him as the idol
lied popular leader, who had returned 10
his country under the protection OF the
ships of nation called America, Whlcn
had gone to war with Spain and would
give them freedom and independence at
once.'' The impression went abroad
among the masses of the people tnat
Aguinaldo had arrived to establish an
Independent government and lras Tha nene e.ae
p1e fiocked to him in such numbers tnas
he had contributions of large sums OF
money, unlimited supplies OF food, ,rIa aho
more soldiers than he could arm. Ine
..people were educated to believe that
they were to have absolute lndepen-
dence.'
ganized a government which developed
into a much more elaborate affair than
It's most ardent supporters had oT1glnany
expected" By the middle OF october,
..He had assembled at Malolos con-
gress of 100 men and would compare ~
behavior manner, dress and educatlon
with the average men of the better classes
of other Asiatic nations, possibly includ-
ing the Japanese. These men, whose ses5,
sions / repeatedly attended, conoucteo
themselves with decorum; and snoWeo
knowledge Of debate and parliamentary
law that would not compare unIavoraply
with the japanese parliament Ine e4-
ecutive portion of the government was
made up of ministry of bright men VINO
seemed to understand their respective
positions. Each general division was SUBJ
divided with reference to practical WORK.
There was large force OF un9er-seco
retaries and clerks, who appeared TO pc
kept very busy with routine labor
Does that sound like the description OF
an assemblage of savages. or OF an as
senablage of intelligent men. who knew
what they wanted-knew their rights,
and were bound to maintain them! And
now read what Barrett SAYS or the army
which Aguinaldo coliec.ea;m ,;no,do Voc
the marvel of his achievements. He had
over twenty regiments OF comparatively
well organized well drilled. and well
dressed soldiers, carrying modern rifles
and ammunition. I saw many of these
regiments executing not only regimental,
but battalion and company drill, with
precision that astonished me-. certainly
ais far as dress was concerned, the COM
parison with the uniform of our soldiers
was favorable to the Filipinos. They
were officered largely, except IN the nigh
er positions, with young men VINO We're
ambitious to win honors and We're not
merely show fighters. The people In all
the different towns took great pride IN
the army Nearly every family had
father son or, cousin IN II. wherever tney ne;
went they aroused enthusiasm for the Fill
ipino cause The impression made upon
the inhabitants of the interior by such
displays can be readily appreciated.
also made frequent visits to the principal
towns. and were received with the same
earnestness that we show in greeting q
successful President:
fishes facts like these, he does more to
discredit the war which we are carrying
forward in the Philippines than all the
utterances of the anti-lmperlaiiists, ana i
He makes an effort to show that Aguln-
aldo is culpable, because when he found
that the Americans were not going 70
withdraw and leave the Filipinos to rule
their own country, he concealed the fact
from his followers. He also endeavors to
show that while our. forces maintained
most agreeable relations. Wltn assls,.aI AgulI
Dewey was careful to avoid formal re-
cognition." But Mr.. Barrett knows very
we'll that there Is other evidence on thi,
point which establishes beyond dispute
that Aguinaldo and his followers were
led to believe that they would be helped
nv the Americans to establish their own
independence There Is the official de-
spatch of Admiral Dewey himself. sent
to the Secretary Of the Navy on june q,
1885,
"Aguinaldo. insurgent leader, with thir-
teen of his staff, arrived May 10. by permis-
sion on the Nashan. ] have CIV
en- him to understand that consider in
surgents as friends, being opposed to a
common enemy. He has gone to attend
meeting Of insurgent leaders for the pur-
pose of forming civil government.
In my opinion, these people are far SUI
perior in their intelligence and more ca
pable of self-government than the ma
tives of Cuba, and | am familiar with
both races"
A few weeks later General Thomas M.
Anderson, commanding the United States
troops at Cavite, wrote to Aguinaldo:-
II would like to have your Excellencys s
advice and cooperation, as you are best
acquainted with the resources of the
countryn Three weeks later still in SUI
preme command. he asked Aguinaldo for
assistance in transportation of American
troops, "as 1t Is to fight in the cause of
your people," That previous to this time
our consular officials, Wildman, Consul
General at Hong Kong: Pratt. Consult
General at Singapore, and Williams, Con-
sui at Manila. gave Aguinaldo the strong
est reasons for believing that the sAmeri-
can Government would help him to Sc
cure the independence of the Filipinos, IS
an established fact, the details of which
are too familiar to need repetition.
What then, are we doing in the Philip
pines today? Fighting race Of savages
1f<x1,- tY7rf Tlf,ac