The times., 1899-07-07
MIR. BARRETTs STATEMENT.
4 Strong Review of His Position Re-
Enrdingi lAE EuinaIdo.

Mr.. John Barrett. formerly our Minister
to Siam. having been accused, by the
New York Evening Post" of inconsist-
ency in his treatment of Aguinaldo and
the Tagal mutiny, has addressed letter
| to that Journal. which it prints. He
writes:
Il notice by clipping of your paper at
| hand that you intimate that l am incon-
sistent in my treatment of our Philippine
| policy. Permit me to take exception to
that. conclusion. Had you before you the
| entire text of my different addresses, you
would at once see that l have not teen
| in the least degree inconsistent Unfor-
tunately, some papers In America lave
| selected certain portions of my address at
Shanghai, made before the outbreak in
the Philippines, and compared what l
| have said since then without quoting those
| parts of the former which referred in plain
| terms to what my position would be if
Aguinaldo and his followers took up arms
! against the United States. after the United
States had done all in its power to pre-
vent war.
Il admit that when l delivered my
Shanghai address in January. 1898. firmly
! opposed fighting il it could be avoided,
| and, wishing to be fair, l gave Aguinaido
and his followers credit for all they had
DONE but plainly and unequivocally stated
at the Fime time that If he persisted in
| fighting I could have no more sympathy
+! for him and his cause. Later. and shortly
| before the outbreak when / saw him per-
| sonaliy for the last time told him that
| had used my influence in every way pos
| sible to prevent a conflict, and that 1t
would be far better for him to come to
| terms with General Otis and Admiral
Dewey than to fight adding that, If fight
| ing did ensue, the United States would be
| forced to carry the war through to an end,
| which would mean the complete removal
of all vestiges of insurrection-
| Since the fighting began, convinced from
personal study of the Geld that We did the
best we could to avoid a conflict. have
| taken the ground from my knowledge OF
| Malay or Filipino character that there
must be no weakening in our policy or no
cessation of hostilities unless to give us
complete control of the islands and peo-
ple-with. however, the hope that We can
| establish a government there with large
1 degree of autonomy.
| What l have said about the effect of the
so-cailed anti-imperalistic agitation in
| the Philippines has been based entirely en-
actual knowledge of the same, even to the
degree of seeing and having in my posses
| sion the circular form of certain printed
matter which was distributed in large
quantities through the Filipino army and
among their people from the Filipino
press and the Hongkong agencies OF the
| Filipino Junta. l would have you bear in
| mind that | have at no time assailed the
personal character or honesty of motive
Of any man opposing our policy in the
| Philippines, Rather have l taken particu-
| lar pains to speak highly OF the character
l of men. leading this agitation. In Boston
the other day / made no attack whatever
on the personality Of Senator Hoar. but,
on the other hand, referred in specific
/ terms to his high moral and mental stand
ards. Ny observations were confined to
| a simple statement CT fact, covering tie
use of his address in Congress by agencies
which very likely he did net control. l
described the effects of such speech upon
the Filipinos. because, again, had tan
gibie evidence thereof
My whole purpose in my different ad-
dresses in discussing this point has been
to show that the agitation has been harm
full in that it has had the direct effect of
encouraging the Filipinos to Agnt us; and
the great majority of the Army and Navy
men at Manila. particularly Admiral
Dewey and General Otis, if they could
express themselves freely, would coliirm
every word | say on this point.
In interviews, in speeches. and liz arti-
cles for magazines. have been inspired
solely with the desire 10 tell the truth;
and ra ther than be carried away by preju-
dice or excitement, ! have spoken calmly
and candidly of the strength OF Aguinaldo
and his forces and the influences which led
up to the present conflict. Because | am
thus frank and state bCth sides l am
called inconsistent where l am simply en-
deayoring to eonfine myself to truthful
descriptions of conditions.
Considering the fact that in zone of
my addresses have / called names or
descended to personalities in any shape
or form, l am surprised that certain men
and papers, in order to weaken my argu-
ments, have seen fit to make personal at
tacks on me, and in that way cast re-
Elections on the value OF my statements.
1t would seem to me that such discussions
as these. which are for the benefit OF
everybody, should be conducted without
impugning mans motive or character"
Trusts and the Tariff