The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1899-09-07

with such an armed force within can
non range of them, ard ignore war
which was going on between the two
countries represented by the feet in
the harbor and the soldiers on shore.
1t ought to be clear to the und erstand
ing Of any child that hostile proceed
ngs were inevita Die under the circum-
stanc9. II Admiral Dewey had been
supported by land forces he would un-
doubtedly have thought it his duty to
capture the city of Manila the day af-
ter destroying the fleet, and the whole
world would have condemned him II
he had failed to do so.
'It thus becomes clearly evident that
the embarrassing situation in which 1
the Americans found themselves placed
at Manila was inevitable from the
very hour that war was declared
against Spain. They could not have
done less than they did do. and 1t
is morally certain that II they had pur-
sued the extraordinary course which
their critics now advocate, and re-
Trained from any hostile proceedings,
the very men who now find fault with
them would probably have been the
first to censure them for their inac-
tivity.
"a still more extraordinary ques-
tion is asked, even by men who are
sometimes called statesmen: "Why did
the United States insist that the Phil
ippine islands should be ceded to the
American government when peace was
made with Spain? Why did they not
leave the islands in charge of Spain
and let her settle her troubles as best
she could?"
''It seems unreasonable that such an
unreasonable question should be ask
ed by intelligent men, but there are
those-and they are not few in num-
ber-who persist in assuming that the
United States had an option in this
matter.
"The Americans had gone to war to
remedy grievous state of things in
Cuba, which had it's parallel in the
Philippines. and they would simply
have stultified themselves before the
world, If, while delivering the people
of an island in the West Indies from
unspeakable tyranny and misery, they
had at the same time left much
larger population in the East Indies in
state of social and political misery
| equally deplorable with that which ex-
listed in the west. To have pursued
| such course as is advocated by oppo-
| nents of the present war would have
been not only politically inconsistent
and unwise to the last degree, but NOR
ally wrong from every point of view.
The people Of the Philippines had as
much claim upon the Americans as
the people of Cuba had, the only differ
ence being that one people were near
at hand and the others removed to the
other side of the globe.
"Still another question Is asked:
Why not, after expelling the Span
iards from the Philippines, leave the
people of the islands alone in peace
Why meddle with them further? Why
deprive them of the liberty of choice
which belongs to every people on
earth? In other words. why not let
them organize government of their
own and live under it's protection"
"These questions involve several i'm
| possibilities. To leave the people OF
the Philippine islands to themselves
would be to proclaim general anarchy
for years and generations to come,
and had such an attempt been made
the confusion which would have re-
suited, with all of it's attendant blood
shed and misery, would have created
such spectacle that the whole civ
ilized world would have execrated US
"A great many extraordinary mis-
takes are made by writer's and speak
ers when discussing this subject, owing
to the very limited knowledge which
the outside world possesses concern.
ing the actual status of the people oi
the islands. 1t seems impossible fol-
many intelligent persons to compre-
hend the fact that there are at least
80 different tribes or races of people
inhabiting the Philippines. The is.
lands as whole have never been sub.
jugated by Spain. Her title to many
of the more southern islands has beer
only nominal.
"The class of persons known as the
Filipinos belong almost exclusively tc
the Island of Luzon. They are by IN
means popular among the other is.
lands, nor has Aguinaldo or any othel
man ever succeeded in winning the
confidence of the islanders generally
Like all Mohammedan Malays, the
people inhabiting the southern por.
tons of the archipelago are treacher.
Gus, warlike and turbulent. In thu
more civilized islands inhabited by the
Visaya race, the Filipinos constitute
very small minority, and If the par
ties were left to themselves in a shor
tine bitter enmity would NANTES
itself even among the most civilized
portions of the northern and ceptra
islands. At every hazard and every
cost it becomes the solemn duty of thu