The Worcester spy., 1899-09-06
Ex-Gov. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL,.

made their strongest statements, and
save for few cries there was nothing
TO mark the audience as being any 9TH
er than all on the side of the speakers
The distinct surprise Of the evening
came, when at the close of Mr.. Bout
wells address, a motion was made that
committee be appointed to further
the organization of a local society of
anti-imperialists to be called ''The
Connecticut Valley Patriots The mo-
ton was carried with but little dissent
the opposition not caring to make itself
appreciably known.
The evening opened with a medley Of
patriotic airs, in which Hail to the
Chief, intended as a compliment to ex-
Gov. Boutwell,, was prominent. The
ex-governor was greeted with three
cheers while two-thirds of the audience
stood up. Ex-Gov. Boutwell, said in
part:
The continuance of the war means
more men and more money. The IN
crease of the army for service in the
tropics means longer death-roll, and
that without reference to the losses in
the held. With men, and the frequent
renewal of the supply of men. we can
overrun the territory, we can DESTROY
the property, we can lay waste the ev-
idences of civilization, we may blast
the prospects of youth and dim the
hopes of age, we may make misery the
general condition of millions of human
beings and the inheritance of those vet
TO be born, but there are two enemies
IN the Philippines that we cannot van
qulSh. The climatic diseases of the tro-
pics gloat upon numbers, and prosper
with every addition. When you double
or tfeble the army in the east, you
lengthen the death-roll and increase
a ~ faV,a !.
IN the United States in the same pro-
portion.
Our other enemy is the elmbittered
hostlllty of the people, which war may
aggravate, but can never remove.
1t is wild suggestion to say that IL
Gen. Otis had had $4,000 men in his
command in January last, his condition
today would not be better than it now
is, while his record of death losses
WoulG be much worse?
He might have penetrated the island
TO distance of 100 miles, but the spec
tacle would have been the same. and
the necessity for a retreat the same I'M
on the approach Of the rainy season.
The invasion of territory is NOT
conquest. Conquest requires permanent
occupation of territory and continuing
local government, and finally the abiect
SUBMISSION, or the general approval of
possible in the Philippines.
An army Of 10000 men NAV nenetrate
the island of Luzon at it's pleasure in
the winter season. and an army of inn
200 men will perish in the swamps and
rice fields of the interior. or II will seel.
re1uge N the mountains, or it win re-
treat TO the seacoast, when the rainy
season comes on. as in this year 1899
What MacaulaY said of Snain ;s
If
easiest of all lands to overrun and the
hardest to conquer" We have overrun
territory in Luzon as large as the
state Of Rhode Island, and we have NOT
gained peaceful jurisdiction of an acre
of ground.
Hostile populations, numbering mill
ions, cannot be charmed by neace em-
hassies, nor cajoled by Veneered nro-
clamations. nor by force of armies can
they be converted into patriotic citizens.
1t is the history of popular rebellons
that they succeed--it is in the nature
of things that they should succeed-es-
pecially when the rebels have lust
cause and ample territory to which they
may flee for refuge and for reorganiza-
ton. We have examples not in the
United States only, but in Hayti and in
the states of Central and South Amer
ica from Mexico to Argentine republic.
No exception In two continents. and the
Philippines will not be an exception.
We declared war against Spain in the
belief-a belief in which had no share
that the sufferings of the patriotic
Cubans were such as to Justify and re-
quire our Intervention upon grounds of
humanity. The country was deceived
and misled, and we entered at once upon
a war of aggression and conquest, first
in Porto Rico and Cuba, then and now
| in the Philippine Islands, with hints
| that the interests of trade and the mis-