The times., 1899-03-31
HOAR DEFENDS REBELLION.
Startling Endorsement of Axuinal-
dos Trcncherx hy a Sennfnr

do's ircachery by n Senator.
The substance of gle letter which Sena-
tor Hoar has sent to the gentlemen who
proposed dinner in his honor, was pri-
vately telegraphsd o several of his friends
in Washington lSst hight, and it is moder-
ate to say that Iey5were shocked During
the last days of the Fifty-fifth Congress
people in this city who had admired Mr..
Hoar for generation or more were panied
to observe in the press OF the capital and
the country at large suggestions that he
was entangled in relations with the enc
mics of the United States of character
which public suspicion seemed TO regard
as little short of treason. His open and
even defiant support of the Tagal spy,
Agoncillo. when that creature was in
Washington, was considered serious sur
render of the patriotic principles which
ought to underly the conduct of a public
officer. When it became notorious that
Agoncillo had communicated with his fe.-
low-rebels, and urged them to inaugurate
reign of massacre and terror in Ma
Mia, on the strength OF backing which he
assumed had been promised them by Sem
ators and other influential Americans, it
was believed that Mr.. Hoar would take
the earliest opportunity TO disavow the
spy and the bIoodthirsty cause he repre-
sented. That the Massachusetts Senator
refrained from doing anything of the kind
naturally placed upon him the onus of
the position he had apparently assumed,
and has led to a popular belief that he
and few of his coadjutors are largely
biamable for the blood that has been shed
in the Philippines
But there has been a tendency among
public men to give George Frisbie Hoar
the benefit of the doubt as to his moral
responsibility and to ascribe to mixture
of vanity and senility actions which in
another and younger man would be charac-
terized more vigorously. The letter. in sub
stance of which we reproduce below. is
evidence that charity has been wasted upon
this hoary New England Tory. but it tells
its own story of infamy and does not re-
quire further explanation. Senator Hoar,
in part, writes:
An attempt has been made TO persuade the
American people that the resistance 10 our arms
by the people of the Philippine Islands has been
due to those who oppose the attempt to subju-
gate them and who opposed the ratification OF the
Treaty by which sovereignty over them was pur-
chased and paid for as an article of merchandise.
There was never n unfounded a more
foolish calumny. Strict military censorship was
exercised over the cable TO the Philippine Isl
ands during the whole period i have in my pos
session one of the original circulars Of the cable
company warning all persons that dispatch
would be transmitted having the least relation to
politics without the assent of the military au-
thorities Of the United States.
4 gentleman of high standing OF Hongkong
undertook 10 send TO the Philippine Islands an
abstract OF the remarks made by Inc in the Senate
Of the United States on the sth day OF January
and its Transmission was refused All that the
leaders OF that people knew of public sentiment in
the United StatesAoss et the attitude Of our Gov
ernment that Ss insisted that the language of
the Treaty relating to them should be different
from that relating TO Cuba, showing that our
Government had a different purpose in dealing
with them, and that while we accepted their mill
tary assistance and our State Department had in
formed NJ. Cambon shat the Spanish troops were
hemned in in Manila by the Filipinos on the
side OF the land and by navy the side OF
the we had thereafter refused 10 recognize
their authorities, 10 hold any communication with
them, and had demanded their absolute surrender
Senator Hoar goes on to discuss the sit
uation then and now. Was there ever a
brave people on earth that, under such cir
cumstances, would not have resorted to
arms in defence of their liberties?" says
he. rs there an imperialist in the coun-
try so reckless so wicked, so far forgetful
of his own ancestry and the teachings of
his country's history as 10 say, under the
he would not have done
exactly what has been done by Aguinaldo
and the brave men under his commando