New-York tribune., 1899-02-15
OCCUPYING THE IISAfAS.

The capture Of Iloilo by our forces without
loss 70 themselves IS an incident OF happy omen.
That place is the second city and port OF the
whole Philippine Archipelago. and as n sugar
mort surnasscs even Manila itself. II has been.
moreover. the headquarters of the fantastic or
oonization known as the Government of the Vi
sovon Federation n cabal whose relations with
,quiuoldos Government at Malolos are not cX-
actlv defined but may be assumed to be sympa-
thetic If will be remembered that lloilo was re-
cently surrendered by the Spaniards 10 the ma
tive marauders in circumstances which aroused
some suspicions of bad faith. or at least of read
mess to embarrass the American authorities as
much rs poSsiblc Those suspicious may have
been i'll founded We trust they We're. But GER
toinly no ADEQUATE reason for the surrender has
vet been disclosed, and in the absence OF one re-
sponsibility for what has since occurred there
must be charged against the Spaniards. Had
they not turned over the city to the brigands
tberc vould have been no need of the lombard
men, of Saturday last. and there would have
been no such destruction of property as is now
reported. Others may have TO bear the loss.
The moral responsibility Is fixed upon Spain.
Let that pass however as spilled milk over
which il is Improbable to lament The next
salient fact is that the natives malcious!y set
fire TO the city before fleeing from It. That was
q savage act which corroborates former teStl-
monv 10 the unhtncss of those people TO estah-
lish and maintain civilized government The
nresumDton IS that these "Visayan patriots are
.ouDosed partly OF the MOnteses Of Panay.
lnwless mountain tribe who practise human sac
rjace and other Infamous rites. and partly of
the "TulsaneS." or professional outlaws and
..1,, I'm n0
archipelago. forming in some places large com
munities of their own. with which the Spanish
authorities never ntcrfcrrd. 1t has been OBJ
served that the Spanish officials whose duty 1t
was TO suppress these criminals. and who invari-
ably neglected TO do so. grew rich N rate far
beyond the compass of their legitimate incomes.
That the Srariards should thus have connivcd
at the lawlessness Of these criminals was, in
deed. ONLY natural and fitting. seeing that they
were themselves largely responsible for the cx-
istcncc or the character. of the latter. In all
parts of the islands Spanish rule was bad. In
panay. Guimaras and Negros it reached its
worst II was there that the tax-gatherers initi-
atcd for their own profit, the system of recon
centration." They could tax people more heav-
ily in town than in the open country. and collect
the taxes more easily. So they drove them in
by the simple process of burning their huts and
cabins about their ears and ordering them to re-
build in town. 1t was there. too that deln-
ouent taxpayers were fogged with thorn-yincs
and were tied TO trees and worried by savage
dogs These were the habitual practices. not
Of the days of the early ConquiStadores. but of
the last half-dozcn years before Dewey went TO
Manila No wonder the natives are savage.
With both Manila and Iloilo in our hands. the
occupation Of IN" islands is technically effected
and admirable bases are provided for speedily
completing their actual occupation There can
bc now no backward steps and no hating. For
the sake OF the islands and Of the well-diSpoSed
natives themselves the outlaws and marauders
must be suppressed and decent government
established. Dewey and Otis seem to have
AguinaldoS rabbc ION the run in Luzon. Mil
Ter is doing the same with the "Nisayan Govern
ment' in Panay II will not take long at this
rate to establish order and TO leave nothing Of
The rebel dospcradoes but Aguinaldo at Malolos
and Aconcio at Montreal. swapping Munchau-
sensms at long range and thus promoting the
gayety Of nations