New Iberia enterprise. (New Iberia, La.) 1885-1902, 1900-10-20

7 ont in the history Of any republi
since the world stands Il single ac
surprising in treacherous villain,
this thing done in the name of tn
! great republic sprung from tn
Z declaration of independence-th
republic of George Washington ant
Abraham Lincoln. Where is tn,
American, having the honor Of hi!
country truly at heart, who viii
not hang his head in shame an(
contrite humiliation at this deer
disgrace?
1t is said that if we withdraw oul
forces from the Philippines the
Filipinos would at once drop into
anarchy, loot their cities and cut
one another's troat. What evidence
is there to support this slanderous
assumption? None. They have
carried on their war humanely, fal
more humanely than some European
troops have carried on their war in
China They have, perhaps few
cases excepted, treated their prison
ers kindly. They have had oppor-
tunties for looting their cities. What
did they do? The Spaniards sur
rendered to them Iloilo, the second
city Of the archipelago in CONNER
cial Importance. General M. P.
Miller of our army, was sent before
that city to take it. AS he himself
has publicly stated, he received a
letter from the business people of
Iloilo, principally foreigners, stat
ing that good order was being
maintained, life and property being
protected, and requesting him not
to attack at present. But soon he
did attack to restore order and
to prevent anarchy; and it was our
army that brought bloodshed and
devastation into that community.
It sounds almost like CHASTITY jest
that we should have killed 10000
of those people for the purpose of
preventing them from killing each
other. No anarchy in the Philip
pines would shed one half as much
blood as we have already shed. 1t
may be true that the guerrilla war;
fare has brought forth some cruel
excesses. All guerrilla warfare
does. But who caused that irregu-
lar guerrilla warfare' We did by
breaking up their government and
regular army.
Let me impress it upon your
minds. The more successful we are
in making the Filipinos our subjects
by force of arms, the more will our
triumph corrupt our morals, tarnish
our honor and undermine our free
institutions of government. 1t is
war not merely against the Fill
pinos, but war against our own
republic-a war against the princi-
Piles, the ideals, the beliefs and the
conservative influences which hold
this democracy together, a war
against ourselves as free people.
Never was there a truer word spoken
than that of James Russell Lowell
"a wise man-when he said that
this republic would endure only so
long as it faithfully adhered to the
principles Of those who had founded
it. What he meant was that. if
our people ever ceased to respect
and to believe in the high ideals of
right, justice and liberty, set up by
the fathers Of the republic and ex-
pressed in the declaration of inde-
pendence, our democracy would
lose the element of conservative
poise necessary for it's stability,
and the republic, while perhaps re-
naming republic in name, would
not remain one in essence. Without
popular reverence for those ideals,
without popular belief in those high
principles to appeal to democracy
will inevitably be ruled by greed
and selfish ambition, and the pow
ers of the government will be more
and more grasped and used to serve
the ignoblest impulses and passions
of human nature.
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