Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-06-08
Filipino Responsibility.

the causes leading up to hostilitir'
with the Filipino insurgents make:
very interesting reading. 1t show;
that the Filipinos were directly and
wholly responsible for the present war
They were the aggressors. and provoked
an armed conflict with the American
forces only after they had made the
most careful preparations, and per-
suaded themselves that they would be
as easily victorious over the troops OF
General Otis as they had been over
those of his Spanish predecessor in the
command at Manila. As soon as they
had discovered their mistake, which
they speedily did after actual fighting
had commenced, Aguinaldo and his
associates undertook to Justify their
of falsehood They even had the nerve
to assert that the Americans were the
aggressors, and had deliberately
planned to provoke hostilities for pur-
poses of conquest and plumber. In
making such absurd charges they fail
ed to appreciate the fact that the civil
lied world was far too we'll acquainted
with the true character and purposes
of the United States to be seriously
misled by any such connections of the
vivid TagaI imagination. The report
of General Macarthur simply furnishes
incontestable proof of the insolence
and treachery of the Filipinos, and of
the arrogant lengths to which they
went when, as they supposed, they
We're in readiness to win a victory, in
order to force a crisis. 1t appears that
the forces of Aguinaldo treated the
necessary regulations of the military
control at Manila with the strutting
contempt characteristic of the Tagal
character. The attention of the Tagal
commander was called by General
Macarthur to the violation of military
rules, and acts of marked discourtesy
on the part of members of the Filipino
true purpose Of the Tagal forces. The
charges of General Macarthur were
practically admitted, and it was con-
ceded that the American general would
be entirely justified in resort to eX-
IRENE measures if the F'ilipinos per
sisted in crossing the American lines
at will, and otherwise committing in
tolerable offences against established
rules. Immediately following
this correspondence the Filipino forces
We're carefully stationed for an attack.
and the offences complained Of were
promptly renewed in a manner more
offensive than ever But one cOnclu-
sion can be drawn from these facts.
Aguinaldo and his forces. inflated with
an enlarged sense Of their own prowess
and Importance, were confident of their
ability to defeat the Americans, and
were determined for this purpose to
force hostilities. In this lat
ter purpose they were finally
successful, although as we read
the official reports we can but marvel
at the patience and self-restraint ex-
ercised by the American forces under
the most aggravating conditions.
These are the facts now officially
given TO the American people and they
will be accepted as conclusive save
possibly by small cOterie of rear
traitors of the Atkinson calibre. who
regard it an evidence Of moral and in
tellectual superiority to view patriot
ism as crime. Such people will never
be satisfied with the plain facts of his
tory, and. as one of our exchanges
suggests. will probably contend TO
their dying day that General Mac
Arthur forged Colonel San Miguers
letter, and that he wantonly ordered
our troops TO begin the fighting in Or
der to replenish his private larder with
pate de foie gras made of Tagal chill
dren's livers." 4~>
The cause pursued by the Filipino
forces affords an interesting evidence
of the absolute treachery and unrelia-
bility of the Tagal character. There
was nothing direct or honest in their
dealings with the American forces.
They professed to acquese in a friend
iy spirit in the status quo, but made
the enforcement of it a pretext for an
attack upon our troops. Their whole
course has conspicuously demonstrated
their unfitness for self-government,
and their immediate responsibility for
the trouble in Luzon.
The chairman of the Ohio Democratic