The record-union., 1899-03-02

ulilpplHeS D6.OTe uuu1TtdklHS tIC
task of setting up a form Of stable
government for them that it is bad taste,
smacks of copperheadisn and STEPS.
dangerously near 20 treason 20 impede
the Administration ard throw obstacles
in the way Of our military officials
abroad.
Let men consider who are crying out
that we are shooting down poor. IN
offensive foreigners struggling for lib
erty," that We are vantonly, unjdstifi-
ably and mercilessly prosecuting con-
quest and slavery of people who have
harmed us not at all nor Offended,
whether they are playing the part Of
good citizenship; whether some of the
blood spilled upon the steaming soil
of Luzonj is not smelled upon their gar
ments. The right to entertain opinion
adverse to the policy Of the Admins
tration is, of course, not questioned;
the right to hold that we are in error
in our Philippine course is ,:ndenied;
but there is raised the question whether
the men of the stripe of Mr.. johnson
OF Indiana, Mr.. IIoar of massachusetts,
IIr. Vest Of Missouri and others whose
voices are heard from official station
are not digging graves for patriotic
soldiers Of America, and filing them
rapidly
What would these people have; what
WO1I1d 10
oppose and doubt and sheer and roar
that We are destroying the nation have?
Retire from the Philippines at once,
sail away and leave our compact with
Spain unfulilled? Leave the Spanish
prisoners we are bound to see safely
to their homes to be butchered by the
savage hordes Of Aguinaldo? Abandon
the American interests in the Archi-
pelago and open the door for the prowl-
ing and ready nations of Europe to
enter in promptly, re-enslave the Fill
pfnos and occupy the whole land to our
shame and discontinue?
Wherein have we done wrong against
the Filipinos that so much salt water
should be shed over their woes? We
have simply forbidden them to Loot
Manila. We have refused to deal with
them as nation We have declined
to consult with them concerning the
government of the islands until we have
fulfilled to the last item our contract
With Spain. We have refused to bring
infamy UPON the American name by
abandoning the Spanish people in the
Philippines to loot and massacre by the
Ftiipinos, and the naked tribes they
have enlisted in their murderous war
fare.
The United States has manifested no
disposition to enslave the Filipinos, or
to refuse them the privileges of home
rule wherever they are capable of self
government. 1t has not denied them
a single human right. On the contrary
we have freed them from Spanish
chains and priestly enslavement. We
seconded their protest and gave them
arms as our allies in the war against
Spain. We did not go to the Philip
pines in their interest, but to protect
our coasts from ravage, by destroying
the Spanish fleet We thereby assumed
obligations the natural sequence of
war, of which We cannot on the in
slant dispossess ourselves
We find in our hands as the result
of war prosecuted humanely and
justly, and a treaty we'll considered
but not yet ratified by Spain, a territory
for the peace of which and justice in
which we are responsible, until at least
the capacity Of the native population for
self-government is demonstrated.
That is the situation against which
ultra sentimental Americans, disap-
pointed politicians and mistaken philan-
thropists are exclaiming in way and
tone that gives encouragement to the
insurgents to shoot down our men,
nachete them in the trenches, and dis
member their bodies on the field.
The question is becoming a serious
one. who are true Americans in these
days?" The noisy opposition to the
President is deceiving the Filipino lead
ers and prolonging bloody struggle
and the leaders in turn are deceiving
the semi-savage followers of their ban
ners. We have been accustomed to
treat with peoples intelligent and re-
sponsible, capable of carrying out their
agreements and of maintaining their
compacts. In this case we are con-
fronted by a people who have no sense
of natural responsibility Because we
have been forbearing towards them,
patient under their annoying threats
and premature demands, our leniency
has been mistaken for weakness and
cowardice.
What then remains for us? Nothing
possible under the sun but assertion
OF character that will convince the
mistaken and ill-advised people of the
Philippines of their error. We must
be firmly severe that we may be the
more kind and generous. We must slay
in battle that we may not be made
responsible for slaughter in massacre
Had the Filipinos waited decent time
all would have been we'll for them.
Their folly and impatience has changed
all. Assuredly it has been FASTENED
by the whining, moaning and vitupera-
ton against the Administration at
home
When the accounting is made for the
blood let from American veins by hot
and foolish Eilininos the INDICTMENT of