Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-02-03
Concerning the Filipinos.
Richmond, va, January 20, 1899.
no Editor of the DISPATCH:


To the Editor of the Dispatch:
Pardon me for thus again obtruding
myself upon your generosity and the
patience Of your readers. | am simply
i'm an enduring frame Of mind to-day,
and am going to say what you know,
that wise and learned senator's insist-that
the PHILIPPINES should be free and in
dependent" without the slightest regard
for the necessities of practical politics
and in utter contempt OF all the lessons
Of history on that point.
/ had supposed that some explanation
Of this startling phenomenon would have
been supplied during the arguments upon
the treaty OF Paris, but when Senator
White. Of California, makes his plea
without reference TO this fundamental
proposition. then l feel called upon 10
ask for light in the name Of the people.
All history teaches us that the wise
legislator adapts his law to the condition
of those to whom it is given | believe it
IS now conceded that even Moses gave the
people Of Israel not the best possible law,
but the best for them at the time. Doubt
less our amendments TO the COnStltu-
ton as endorsed by jefferson have
brought that instrument nearer perfec-
ton and II may be that he would so adj
nit because no man since has seen the
evils and dangers Of slavery in clearer
light than the statesmen Of Virginia did
I'm the beginning. But the question re-
mains. how could jefferson have secured
the acceptance Of the fundamental law
that we know, and he knew, was better
than the one which was the product Of
the best brains and experience Of the
time? Certainly, there was a time then
when even we were unprepared to re-
rri,r Mnat our leaders would have ac-
cepted as a model government. and, the
truth Is, that many among the fathers
believed we were unfit for even so good a
government as they gave us. and Haml-
ton argued its early and calamtous col
lapse.
Suppose the Spanish republics Of Amer
Tea had accepted the guidance of some
able and enlightened despOt in the early
days OF the independence. Can any doubt
that generations OF turbulence and blood
shed might have been saved Mexico had
she possessed and obeyed a Diaz from
the beginning? Now are the Philippines
more capable of sef-goyernment than
the people Of Mexico and Chill and Peru
were in the beginning? Have we any
reason to believe that the mixture of
Malay blood with that Of the Latin and
Anglo-SaXon races produces a better man
than a strain Of the Aztec or the Inca.
which had proved its genius for organza-
ton and had given "A civilization 10 the
world? The supposition is preposterous,
and the assumption of the predicate by
our statesmen is not indicative of that
healthy digestion OF fact and logical edu-
cation OF political conclusion which
should accompany exalted craftsmanship
Now, are we responsible for the fact that
these political children have been de-
priyed of their legal guides? Shall we
leave them near a deep river or con-
Stunning fire without guardianship and the
control which all history and experience
teaches they must have or they perish?
Shall we plead hereafter that we were
not the keeper Of our brothers and hope
for absOuton on that account?
| confess an absolute inability TO un-
derstand the mental attitude Of those
gentlemen who profess unbounded love
for people they would leave to the mer-
cies Of eastern pirates and western greed
under the guidance of an AguinaldO.
who admits that he sold their liberties
and their blood I'm the recent past for
Spanish gold. What opinion have these
statesmen for the fathers they profess
10 revere when they liken them TO Malays
and savages that walk around in shirts
and nothing else but a knife?
JOSEPH H. SHEPHERD.