The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-04-06
THE CAPTURE OF AGu1NAlDo.

THE CAPTURE OF AGUINALDO.
After escaping capture for two years
Emclio Aguinaldo is ut last Il prisoner.
by Il daring Stratagem General Funs-
tonan,! a small party Of Americans fer
retcd out the Filipino chieftain i'll his
where he now lies in durancc vile UNI
der lock and key. What the Mckinley
! o1igarchy will do with him is not yet
known. Some imperialists suggest
that he be transported to the island of
Guam to keep company with other
natives banishcd from their country
for opposing the foreign invaders; but
il Ire has taken the oath of allegiance
to the emperor Of the Philippines and
shows Il repentant disposition for the
crime of loving his country and fight
ing for its independence from foreign
control he may be lcniently dealt With
10y the magnanimous potentate of the
White House.
AguinaldO is only a prisoner of war.
though Mckinley and his adhercnts
deny there is any war in the Philip
pines ut all. They call it revolt or
an instruction and designate the na-
tives "rchcls," notwithstanding the
fact that they never owed any alleg-
lance to the United States. They may
properly be styled "rebels" by Spain
but not by this republic. George
Washington was n "rebel' to the au-
thority of George III. in the American
colonies, but Emelio Aguinaldo has
never been "rebel' to the authority
of William Mckinley in the land of
his nativity.
We believe Aguinaldo will be treated
humanely by his captors.and that Nc
Kinley and his subordinates at Manila
will do him no bodily harm. The talk
of trying him for treason is ridiculous
Being a man of commanding influence
With his race every induccment will
be offered to him to help the admins
tration in the work Of a peaceable con-
quest of the islands, But Aguinaldo
must be naturally suspicious of Ameri-
cans and will probably pay no attcn-
ton to verbal promises from the ennis
saries of the administration. The
Americans deceived him before and
why should he believe them now? In
1898 the late Consul Wildman said to
him:
lido not forget that the United
States undertook this war for the sole
purpose of relieving the Cubans from
the cruelties under which they were
suffering, and not for the love Of con-
quest or the hope Of gain. Whatever
the final disposition of the conquered
territory may be you can trust the
United States that justice and honor
will control all their dealings with
you. The first thing is to throw off
the Spanish yoke" That was written
by the man recently drowned in the
Golden Gate, in answer to what he
calls Childish letters" from Aguinaldo.
Again, the Filipino chieftain was
imposed upon by General T. M. An
dcrson in command of the first expe-
dictionary land force from the United
States to the Philippine Islands. In
the North American Review for Feb
ruary, 1900, General Anderson SAYS of
Aguinaldo:
He did not answer, but asked if
we, the North Americans, as he called
us, intended to hold the Philippines as
dependencies. l said 1 could not an
swer that, but that in one hundred
and twenty years we had established
no colonies. He then made this re-
markable statement: Il have studied
attentively the constitution of the
United States, and find in it no author
ity for colonies and 1 have no fear
1t may seem that my answer was
somewhat evasive, but 1 was at the
time trying to contract with the Fill
pinos for horses, carts, fuel, and for
! age
The Filipinos had every reason to
believe that the Americans had gone
to thu island rs liberators and not as
conquerors, and it is with that under
standing they fought as our allies