Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-11-25
AN AMERICAN PRO7EcT0AA7E.

pinos desired than to what the govern
ment Of the United States desired, in
matters directly pertaining to the closing
chapters of the Spanish-American war.
The visit of Agoncillo to this country.
in an effort to prevent the ratification
of - treaty OF peace with Spain. is
cited as a Filipino peace overture that
should have received the deferential rec
Ognition of this government. The adj
mi~nistration is censured by this copper
head contingent because it did not enter
into negotiations with a government that
did not exist-with the rebellious sub
jects of Spain-when a movement was on
foot to prevent the conditions of peace.
as agreed upon by the commissioners,
from being ratified.
At the time Agoncillo visited America,
his chief, A%guinaldo, was planning his
t~reacherous midnight attack upon the
federal troops. and had made his ar
r~angements to drive our soldiers into the
sea. Representing the one beligerent
tribe of natives. out of the entire popu-
lation of the islands, Aguinaldo was de-
termined that the transfer of that terri
tory from Spain to the United States
Agoncillo to this country, to cooperate
with such copperheads as could be en-
listed in his cause, in a supreme effort
to prevent the contamination of peace
with Spain.
Then as now, Aguinaldo was at the
head Of no government. and had no au-
thority to speak for any of the natives
of Luzon outside his immediate followers
under arms. SPANS title to the Phil
ippines was recognized as absolutely
valid by the entire world, and her right
to transfer that title to the United States
could not be disputed. AS we'll might
a Flathead chief have opposed the Loui-
siana purchase, or a Chilikat medicine
man raised an objection 70 the transfer
of Alaska.
Had the Filipinos established their in
dependence of Spain, and set up a gov
eminent of their own prior to the trans
fer of the islands to the United States.
the. situation would have been entirely
different. But Aguinaldo represented
nothing but a banditti,s in a country
owned by Spain for upwards of three
years. and no sooner We're his
soldiers armed and equipped by the AM
erican government for service against the
Spahiards, on their professions of fdel-
ity to our cause, than the plot to
massacre our troops was formulated.
At the time Agoncillo was smoothly
talking the doctrine of an American
protectorate, in order to enlist sympathy
and if possible defeat the treaty, his chief
was perfecting his arrangements to strike
a decisive midnight blow that would ex.
terminate our soldiers and drive Ameri-
can authority from Manila bay. After
the assassin attempted to execute his
plot, and the war was fairly under head
way, every copperhead sheet in this
country shouted for absolute independ-
enee for the Filipinos. None of them
at that time favored an American pro-
tectorate; none of them assumed that
SUCH was the real purpose of Asoncfllo's
visit.
To defeat the treaty was the sole aim
OF such talk. and had it been defeated
the instant demand for the remova of
the American protectorate would have
been as vigorous as was the clanor for
the withdrawal of our troops. immedi-
ately after the flag had been fired on and
our soldier boys shot down in cold blood.
TIL c~opperhead plea was that the Fill
pinos We're entitled to be let alone. and
that American jurisdiction over the
Islands should be SURRENDERED without
proviso to the George Washington of the
South Pacific.
In one breath these restless bourbon
organs now claim that they favored an
American protectorate, While in the next
they declare that the Filipinos are emf
nently qualified for self-government. If
capable of self-governrnent. if as highly
cultured as the copperhead press claim,
why should they require an American
protectorate? What is a protectorate
for? The bourbon press give the lie to
their W professions as to the political
capacity of the Fiiipiros to govern them