The Portland daily press., 1900-09-10

it is considered useless until the arrival /
OF sufficient United States forces to re-
tain possession. In the report of the /
first philippine comImjs siOn, submitted /
on November 2, 1899,
ADMIRAL DEWEY
one of its members, said:
'No ALLEGIANCE of any kind was entered
into with Aguinaldo nor was any prom
ise of independence made to him at any
tims.''
Gen. Merritt arrived In the Philippines
on July %, 1888, and dispatch from
Admiral Dewey to the government at
Washington, said: MERRITT arrived yes
terday Situation is most critfcalEat
Manila. The Spanish may surrender at
any moment. Merritt most difficult
problem VIII be how to deal with the IN
surgents under AguinaldO, who have be-
come aggressive and even threatening to-
ward our army" Here is revealed the
spirit of the insurgents as early as
July, 1888, before the protocol was
signed, while we were still engaged IN
active war with Spain. Even then the
insurgents were threatening our army.
On August Is, Manila was captured
and of this and subsequent events the
Philippine commission says: when the
city of Manila was taken August Is, the
F1ipinos took no part in the attack,
but came following in with q view to
footing the city and were only preVeIt7
from doing so by our forces proven ting
them from entering. AguinaldO claimed
that he had the right to occupy the city /;
he demanded of Gen. Merritt the palace
I OF A1alacanan for himself and the cessIon
of all the churches of Manila, also that
a part of the money taken from the
/ Spaniards as spOils Of war should be
/ given up. and above all that he should
1 be given the arms of the Spanish prison
ers. All these demands were refused
Generals Merritt Greene and Ander-
10 - q ~ff Hera-
ginning OF our occupation, and until the
/ surrender OF Manila, state that there
was no alliance with the insurgents
and no promise to them of Independence
On August II, 1898, Gen. Merritt was
Instructed that there must be
NO JOINT OCCUPATION.
of Manila with the insurgents. Gen. An
derson, under date of February 10, 1900,
says that he was present at the inter
view between Admiral Dewey and the
insurgent leader and that in this inter
view Admiral Dewey made no promises
? whatever He adds: HE (Aguinaldo)
asked me if my government was going
3 to recognize his government. 1 answered
9 that l was there simply in military ca
pacity, that L could not acknowledge MS
. government because mad no auUhOf1Oy
t to do 500
= Would not our adversaries have sent
u Dewey's fleet to Manila to capture and
o destroy the Spanish sea power there, or
e dispatching it there, would they have
g Withdrawn it after the destruction of the
Spanish fleet; and il the latter, whittier
B. would they have directed 1t to SAIL
r Where could it have gone? What port III
S the Orient was opened to itY DO our ad-
versaries condemn the expedition under
the command OF General Merritt to
strengthen Dewey In the distan5 ocean
? and assist ia our triumph over spain,
Oft
l it not our highest duty to strike Spain at
every vulnerable poi Mt, that the war
might be successfully concluded at uhe
earliest practicable mOment2
And was it not our duty to protect the
lives and property of those who came
5 within our control by the fortunes OF
war? Could we have come away at any
time between May 1, 1898, and the con-
cIusion of peace without stain upon
our good name2
Gould we have come away without
dishOnOr at any time after the ratification
OF the peace treaty by the Senate OF the
United StatesY
There has been no tie since the destruc-
ton of the eneny's fleet when we could
OR SHOULD HAVE LEFT
} the Philippine Archipelago. After the
treaty Of peace was ratified no power but
Congress could surrender our sovereignty
or ALLEVIATE a foot of the territory thus
acquired. The Congress has not seen tit
to do the one or the other, and the Presi-
dent had no authority to do either, if he
had been so inclined, which he was not.
{ So long as the sovereignty remains in us
t it Is the duty of the executive, whoever
he may be, to uphold that sovereignty
= and If it be attacked to suppress it's as
saiIants. Would our political adYersar1es
4 1T has been asserted that there would
/ ffrrb4 in, DbilinnfnoS
If CONGRESS had declared It's purpose TO
: give independence to the Iagal insur
gents. The insurgents did not wait Iol
The action of Congress. They assumed 1ne
offensive. they opened lire on our army
Those who assert our responsibility Tor
the beginning of the conflict have forgot
ten that before the treaty was ratlned III
the Senate and while 1t was being ue-
bated in that body, and while the Bacon
resolution was under discussion, on Hep-
ruary L. 1899, the insurgents attacked the
American army, after being previously
advised that the American forces were
under orders not to fire upon them except
in defence. The papers found in the re-
GENTLY captured archives OF the 1nsur
rents demonstrate that this attack hao
been carefully planned for weeks before
1t occurred. Their upproyoKed assaul5
upon our soldiers at a time when the
Senate was celebrating upon the treaty
shows that no action on our parU eXcepO
surrender and abandonment would nave
prevented bu6 u&ubiu5 anu 4O0efO9 ~AO
doubt IN any fair mind OF where the re-
sDonsibinty rests for the shedding of
American blood,
with all the exaggerated phrase max
ing OF this electoral contest, we are In
danger OF being diverted from the real
contention
We are in agreement with all Of those
who supported the war with Spain, and
also with those VINO counseIed the ratlI-
cation of the treaty OF peace Upon these
two great essential steps there can be no
issue, and out of these came all OF our re-
sDonsibil1ties. If others would shirk the