Evening journal., 1900-03-02
STRONG PLEA FOR PEACE.
MR.. WELSH ON EVENTS LEAD
ING UP TO THE WAR.

CHIEF JUSTICE LORE, IN AN IN
TRoDUCToRY ADDRESS. SAID
ENGLAND AND THE UNITED
STATES HAVE SLIPPED FROM
THE ORBIT OF ADVANCED cIvI-
LIzATIoN
Herbert Welsh, editor Of the City and
State, Of Philadelphia, addressed a
large audience in the Friends Meeting
House. at Ninth and West streets, last
night on the subject, Our Philippine
War-A Plea for Peace" The lecture
was given under the auspices Of the
Delaware Peace Society.
The meeting was opened by Chief
Justice Lore, who, in a brief address,
said: I'VE are engaged in a desolatng
foreign war; a war Of aggression and
conquest, seeking to force our Saxon
civilization upon the Malayan race,
while we frankly admit the race to be
incapable of receiving il. We are in
the Philippine Islands unlimited;
against the will of the people; under
/ the frank and brutal admission Of Sem
ator Lodge that we bought them from
| their Spanish master, when, in fact,
those masters had never subdued them
and did not own them. 1t is 2 war
of conquest and determination. waged
under the guise Of humanity, by the
most advanced of Christian nations.
strip this war Of the lust of con-
quest, the greed of commerce, and the
pride of dominion, we have left only
the sham pretense of the promotion OF
Christianity and civilization, using as
its instruments the sword, the bayonet,
gatling guns, death-dealing shot and
shell.
England and the United States
seem both to have slipped from the
orbit of advanced civilization. Both are
waging bloody wars and have retro
graded to the arbitrament Of blood"
In Mr.. Welsh's discussion he said:
From the Christian and American
points of view; that Christ interpreted
the law that duty towards others was
as we would expect them to treat us.
and the statement in the Declaration OF
independence that all men are created
free and equal and government to be
true and just must be by consent He
spoke of the similarity Of both ideas,
and said the moment we leave them we
are giving the lie to Christianity, and
leaving that which is the essence and
| spirit of the American constitution.
THE main power in the Philippine
5 Islands was the orders Of friars. They
E had the power to make or unmake the
: Spanish government, and unmade 1t
r Prior to the appearance of Dewey al
/ Manila harbor a condition existed thai
81 was common all over Europe, and es'
D pecially in Spain before the reforma'
!, ton. This was the grinding tyranny
r under which the people suffered. Th'
p Spaniards were beside themselves will
= terror, and with a monk at their head
. instituted a horrible system Of repres
= sion. Filipinos were thrown into dun
d geons and suffered the tortures Of thu
a inQuisition. Out of these conditions
= sprung the desire for independence
born in the hearts OF the Filipinos. How
could they have any other idea than o
liberty and independence"
Mr.. Welsh reviewed in detail tn
1 events leading up to the war, batter
ling down the arguments of the expan
sionists with facts which, he said, wer
= undeniable. Aguinaldo is of simple
:. true and sincere character, whicl
: stands out strong and clear. He spok
, lof Aguinaldo interviews with a Unite
1. States commander representing AID
= y miral Dewey. and with United State
&c Consul e. Spencer Pratt at Singapore
lAguinaldo said he would be contente
for himself and people with the term
given Cuba, specifying independence
D He dealt severely with the manner q
tt the government in dealing with tn
le Filipinos, and said war was brough
le about by determination to ignore tn
lei eiFilipinos and break down thei
" government, and the gov
,e ernment began to act before it had
10 constitutional right for so doing. 9TH
As most shameful of all this shamefI
e business" said the speaker "is ths
le these people have been trod upon wit
an iron heel when, instead, we shoul
-lhave grasped and nourished and thanl
- ed God for this promising little repul
V. lic"
s. Referring to the situation in Port
r Rico, he said: I'VE are starving thoI
't people with benevolent assimilation
tn The tariff bill means that they are
be held in subjection as subjected pro
inces. Congress has passed a. a
sanctioning that starvation"