, 1900-01-13

cess of 300 years Of superstition in re-
ligion, dishonesty in dealing, disorder
in hapits Of industry and cruelty,
caprice and corruption in government.
1t is barely possible that 1000 men in
all the archipelago are capable of self
government in the Anglo-Saxon sense.
My only belief is hal there are not 100
men among them who comprehend
what AnglO-SaNon self-goyernment
even means; and there are over 5000
600 people to be governed. | know
many clever and highly educated men
among them, burt there are only three
commanding intellects and characters
-ArellanO, Mabini and AguinaldO. Ar
court, is a profound lawyer, and a
brave and inCOrruptibIe man. Mabini
Is the highest type of subtlety and the
most constructive mind that race has
yet produced. AguinaldO is a clever
popular leader, able, brave. resourceful.
cunning. ambitious. INSCRIPTIONS and
masterful. He Is full of decision, mi
tatiye and authority, and had the conf
dence of the masses. He is a natural
dictator. His ideas OF government are
absolute orders, implicit obedience or
immediate death. lie understands the
character Of his ro]untrymcn. He is a
Malay SylIa, not a Filipino Washing
ton.
q o . p
Our mistake has not been cruelty;
it has been kindness. 1t has been the
application to Spanish Malays of meth
DDS appropriate to New England. Ev-
cry device of mercy, every method OF
Cancellation has been employed by the
p"acc-loying president of the Ameri-
can republic to the amazcmcnt of ma
tions experienced in Oriental revolt.
Before the outbreak our military gov
ernor of the islands appointed a COM
mission to make som arrangement
with the natives mutually agreeable, |
know the members Of the commission
well-G"neral Hughes. Colonel Crow
der and General Smith-modcrate.
kindly, taCtful men of the world-an
ideal body for such negotiation. 1t was
treated with contempt. We smiled at
intOlerabIe insult until the lips of
every native in Manila were curling in
ridiCule for the COwaTdly Americans.
We refrained from all violence until
their armed braves crossed the lines
in violation Of agreement. Then our
sentry shot the offender, and he should
have been court-martialed had he fail
ed to shoot. That shot was the most
fortunate of the war. For Aguinaldo
had planned the attack upon us for two
nights later; Il sentry's shot brought
this attack pr"maturely on. He had
arranged for an uprising in Manila to
massacre all Americans, the plans for
which, in Sandico's handwriting, are in
our possession; this shot made that aw-
full scene impossible. We did not strike
till they attacked us in force, without
provocation; this left us no alternative
but war or evacuation.
: =
MIR. President, reluctantly and only
from a sense of duty am l forced to say
that American opposition to the war
has been the chief fattor in prolonging
1t. Had Aguinaldo not understood that
in America, even in the American con-
| gress, even here in the senate, he and
his cause were supported; had he not
known that it was proclaimed on the
stump and in the press of a faction of
the United States, that every shot his
misguided followers fired into the
breasts of American soldiers was like
IN" vollcys fired by Washington's men
against the soldiers of King George.
his instruction would have dissolved
before it entirely Crystalized. The ut
lerances Of American opponents of the
wal are read to the ignorant soldiers
# A~guInaldo, and repeated in exagger-
ated forms among the common people.
Arms and ammunition were Skinned
from Asiatic points by wretches
,laiming American citizenship; and
hese acts of infamy were coupled by
the Malays with American assaults on
our at home. The Fill
limos do not understand free sneech
md therefore our tolerance of American
assaults on the American president and
he American government. means to
hon, tb.t n,,. rr,.;l.,, l., i, IL. -.