Evening star., 1900-10-03

letter / stated 1my beaief In the righteous
ness OF the American nation. still hold
the same belief. You will therefore pardon
me IL dissent to the tfatement In your let
ter that the nation by an enormous major
ity IL in favoruof hrst arresting hosuhues
ey e force, y neosssaryJ before discussiss the
THAT would be enough to make justice
throw her scales and righteousness hide
her face. Can M be that the erstwhile ally.
whose soldiers practically fought and died
side by side with the soldiers OF the Union,
are to be subd4ed before even the form or
nature OF their irfgoveFnment is to be even
The letter. continuing. goes into rhapsody
over liberty. Comparing the attitude Of the
Fflipinos with that Of the Americans when
contend1ng for independence against George
III. and says that life is not worth having
without liberty and Independence. In this
letter use is made OF the expression 'inde-
pendence," which. DIR. Magruder says. Is
the first time independence was referred to
between them.
Some time after the receipt of this letter
DR.. Magruder sent to Lopez the speeches
Of President Mckinley; one delivered at
Pittsburg welcoming home returning SOL
diers, and the other on the occasion of the
Dewey celebration in front of the Capitol.
Lopez acknowledged the receipt of these in
1893.
On Dewey's Victory.
In this letter he says: 81 rejoice with the
people Of America in doing honor to the
gallant admiral who SO well deserves the
pr1ncely reception accorded him. But there
Is an expression in the Presidents speech
which 1 know provoked great applause
which I think, requires some explanation
There was said the President to the sd
mlral, no flaw to your victory; there will
be no faitering in maintaining it. This
surely Is confusion of two things which
diner The gallant admirals victory-over
whom? Not over the Filipinos for If his
forces had been directed against the latter
his victory could hardly be said to be flaw
less.
Then 1t must have been-it was-over the
spanish fleet. Well, then. though the vic
tory was undoubtedly fiawless. and, though
all honor ought to be given to him who was
responsive for that victory, it seems un-
necessary to declare, eighteen months after
the archaic Spanish tubs had been sunk in
Manila bay. that there VIII be no falterfng
In maintaining it. But does the President
ing been f1awless. there will be no faltering
In maintaining a yet to be achieved victory
over the friends who assisted in making
the adm1rafs victory not only fiawless, but
complete? Il here refer to the complete fall
on Manila at which the Filipinos assisted
See reports accompanying Presidents mes
sage 10 congress on treaty of peace) II
TINS was his meaning, then 1 fail to see the
Justhcation Tor the great applause. I think
| am entitled to assert, not In any spirit Of
boastfulness, that the Filipinos have abund-
antiy shown-both in their former war with
Spain and in the present most deplurable
war with the United States-that had they
become the foe instead OF the friend of
American arms, the story Of the fall of Ma
Mia might yet have remained to be written
NOW, why did they become the friends of
American arms? Because they believed
that America had come as their friend and
deifVerer, and not as their oppressor When
PRESIDENT Mckinley declared In his message
to Congress that annexation was not to be
thought Of. for that continued the Presi-
dent, by our code of morals would be
criminal aggression when the Filipipos
read that statement they accepted 1t as the
word OF one whose word Is his bond Now,
Will the Presdent-will any one in America
nave the goodness to reconcile those two
statements-the one from his speech to Ad-
mirai Dewey. the other from his message to
Congress. Hence, l fail to see the t,stifi-
catlon or the great applause.
But still l remain the apostle of peace
stiii have faith In the Righteousness Of
the American people. Time will tell whose
gauge OF the American people is the correct
Il fear my letters to you-whose Kindness
L shall always remembrance very contro-
Vertiai, and do not take overmuch Of the
nature OF friendly correspondence But l
am sure you will pardon me if l do harp ON
the one string when / tell you that that
string is attached to my heart"