The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-05-04
IL Was Time to Hold Them Up.

IL Was Time to Hold Them Up.
The PostmastcrLGcncral, in directing the
Postmaster at San Francisco to retain the
pamphlets addressed to Manila by EDWARD
ATKINSON OF Boston, has acted in accord
ance with n wise and %salutary decision by
the Administration This man ATKINSON
Is lntrinsically II person Of no conse-
quence, shallow and imprrtincnt always,
but rs an agent Of II little clique which calls
itself the "Anti-Impcrialist League" his
manifest purpose in posting these PAM
phlets to Manila Is to incitr our troops In
the Philippines to mutiny. 1t is, therefore,
u seditious effort, and renders him liable to
the penalties prescribed by the Revised
Statutes for that most III of crimes,
that is, imprisonment for not more than
ten years, or u. fine Of not more $4,000, or
both, together with permanent disqualified
ton for Office under the United States.
ATKINSON undertakes to defend his use Of
the United States mails for the dissemina-
ton of the gangs seditious literature among
the troops by saying that his pamphlets are
merely compilations from Senate docu-
ments but the material selected was chosen
and arranged solely with a view to melting
rebellion against the military authority OF
the United States. Moreover, the treason
able gang for which the compilations were
made gave to them titles that, under the
circumstances and conditions, were dis
tinctly and fiagrantly seditious Criminal
Aggression by whom q The Cost of a Ma
tional Crime" and The He'll OF War and
Its Penalties" Being towards as well as
traitors, these fellows did not dare to go in
maroon IN pplnnynr IN ip,ifn Tho trpnnc tN
mutiny by word Of mouth, but their enter
prise was none the less flagitious because
they plotted to accomplish it in n round
about way by the circulation of such litera-
ture among our soldiers.
1t was a part and an incident of a more
comprehensive. reasonable scheme devised
by them, in the execution Of which they
have been engaged for months past with
tireless industry. 1t has consisted in exag-
gerating grossly superficial and transitory
and unavoidable defects in the military adj
minlstration in efforts to aggravate the
natural but captious discomfort among
some Of the volunteers; in provoking Gov
ernors of States to demand the immediate
return OF their troops, without regard to
the imperative necessities Of the military
situation in the Philippines in publications,
newspaper and others, designed to detract
from the dignity and glory Of the war with
Spain and degrade it into a vile display
OF national greed; In circulating false re-
ports OF barbaritles and atrocities COM
mitted by our troops; in extolllng the
treacherOus and pestilent AGUINALDo as a
noble patriot against whom American arms
were foully used, and in defaming the Adj
ministration as the corrupt instrument OF
a grasping syndicate" The gang has
had the willing assistance in this seditious
enterprise OF certain newspapers, the
Evening Post OF this city, for example, and
individuals in sympathy with it have not
hesitated to declare openly their and it's
hope that overwhelming disaster would
overtake our troops.
That Is, it has been and is an infamous
conspiracy, which would b. serious IL it
were not for the insignilcancc OF the paltry
crew Of vain and petty and malignant
spirits who are engaged in it. They have
no followers, for their very presence in
any public undertaking drives away all
reasonable and self-rcspecting men. This
fellow, ATKINSON, is a type of the lot-a gro
tesque creature whom nobody except him
self and the few like unto him take at all
seriously. He is a clown always so greedy
OF notoriety that now, when the Govern
ment has taken Indirect notice of him, he is
only nattcred by the infamous distinctions;
yet he is nothing more than n superser-
viceable tool Of the gang.
1t WIS time, however, that the Govern
mnnt should stamp ont the miserable con-
spiracy, for the snditious proceedings were
carried to the extreme OF plotting to incite
nvtlny among the troops in the Philip
pines and were in distinct violation Of law
essential to the preservation OF the author
ity OF the State. The conspiracy was also
against the public prosperity. The news
papers included in it have attacked bust
ness interests, sought to foment social dis
order, and tried in all base ways to destroy
popular respect for the Government and to
stltle or pervcrt the s~alutary impulse
OF patriotism in the people; and they have
been growing steadily more scditious in
their tone, in the vain and ignoblc hope Of
turning the national movement toward
wholesome expansion into n rotrOgrade
movement, which would make the valor,
the victory, the sacrifice Of life and treas
ure in the war with Spain a wanton and dis
graceful waste. If they had been allowed
to go on with their reasonable conspiracy
without rebuke they would have regarded
their immunity as an evidence OF fear
Of their malice by the Government, and
would have felt encouraged to proceed to a
further and moro Infamous extreme OF sedi-
ton. II they were not grotesque and con-
temptible creatures, they ought to have
been behind bars long ago.