Omaha daily bee., 1899-02-12
DEWEY'S PLANS.
The AdmiraFs Guidance Ignored with
Fatal Results.

| Buffalo Express
! III was the pran of Admiral Dewey when
ne gave passage to Aguinaldo on a United
States ship to treat him as a virtual arv,
| III much the same way that the United States
treated the Cuban insurgents. The correct
ness OF this inference is supported by the
following dispatch, which was sent by Ad-
miral Dewey to the secretary of the navy
on June 27:
Have received your telegram OF the 14th.
Aguinaldo, the insurgent chief, with thir-
teen other chiefs, arrived the 10Th of Nav
at Cavite, with my permission on board
a man-of- war He established himself at
Cavite outside the arsenal. under the pro-
| lection of our cannon, and organized his
army. l had with him several conferences.
| and generally OF personal nature | have
| abstalned from pFedging myself to help him
| IN any way in these conferences which |
nave had, and on several occasions have de-
| cllned his requests to help us, telling him
| that / cannot do anything until the Amer
! lean troops arrive. At the same time have
| given the insurgents to understand that |
consider them as friends, because we oppose
mutual enemy. He Is going to organize
| an assembly Of insurgent chiefs for the pur-
pose of creating a civil government. Agui-
naldo has perceived the independence of the
!,
which is splendid. ] have permitted him to
receive recruits, arms and ammunition by
water and TO take from the arsenal OF the
Spaniards all the armament and ammun-
tion which ! (do noD need / have rec
commended him in friendly way to make
war with humanity, and in that way he has
always done SO. My relation with him Is
friendly, but have not his confidence The
United States has not compromised itself
to help the insurgents in any way, and / do
not think that Aguinaldo has promised to
help us. believe that Aguinado expects
to capture Manila without our help, but |
doubt that he can do 1t, because he has not
cannon sufficient, My opinion is that these
people are superior and more intelligent and
better capacitated to govern themselves
than the Indians of Cuba, and am familiar
with the character of both races"
The judgment of the man who was bet
ter qualified to pass an opinion on this sub
ject than any other American seems to have
been strangely overlooked by the imperial
lists. But the worst of 1t is that the gov
ernment allowed the course OF the United
States to be directed, not according to the
views of this broad minded, world schooled
Dewey, but by the narrow military preiu-
dlces and ambitions OF Merritt. whose ideas
of other than white races had been gained
almost wholly from his contact with IN
dians.
1t was a fatal blunder thus to set aside
the guidance of Admiral Dewey. His course,
as described in this dispatch, was at least
an implied promise to the Filipnos that they
should have tacit recognplon, ii nothing
more. Dewey is not a man such as Miles,
who permits himself to air his grievances
while still in the government service. But
when he is in position to tell all that has
been in his mind, we venture TO predict that
II will be found the virtual population of
his plans and implied promises has ranked
within him; that when circumstances forced
him to turn his guns upon the misguided
people whom he had invited to take up arms
for independence, he felt It TO be the hardest
duty he was ever called upon to perform.