The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-04
Amnesty for Our FiIipinos.

Amnesty for Our Filipinos.
Since. Notwithstanding his many de-
ceits. lies. treaoheEies. and crimes, Agui-
naldo has been allowed to swear allie
glance to the United States, and so TO
escape from the status of a rebel de-
serving death for treason, we feel i'm
PEELED to urge upon the President both
the benignity and propriety of permit
ting Aguinaldo's deIuded followers in
this country also to swear themselves
in. We are unwillingiy bound to admit
that they are equally guilty with their
leader and idol; but they are not more
so. and. since he has been or will be
forgiven. they, too, should have the ben
eft of the amnesty.
We are emotionally impressed by the
long headed kindness which MIR. Nc
Kinley is displaying toward Aguinaldo,
and, incidentally, through him, to his
American associates and coparceners.
The Chief Magistrate inclines to the
mercifuI view that the latter are mere
ly- cranks too harmless to confine in a
sanitarium, notwithstanding their sue
cess in encouraging the Tagals to think
that resistance to American sovereign
ty represented by men like Macarthur,
Wheaton, and Funston, would be as
easy as when Otis was on the vice regal
throne in the palace at Manila. If the
opposite view were taken, and Aguinal-
do were to be held to full responsibility
under the law he has defied, then his
conviction would seem almost certain to
g
Filipinos as accomplices and accessories
before. after, and in the middle of
the fact. Obviously, the President does
not desire such a painful denouement.
and We are justified in assuming that,
since the lamp holds out to burn for
the presiding genius of the Tagalo- Bos-
tonese combination, its lesser members
will find an open door to forgiveness.
somewhere among the back basement
entrances to the White House
While we honor him for his charita-
BILE disposition toward the erring, it is
perhaps timely to warn the President
and his advisers that it is not safer to
allow Tagal agents or sympathizers
and orators to hide out in the woods of
Massachusetts and issue proclamations
and collect funds for a Filipino propa-
ganda than it would have been wise to
leave Aguinaldo in the peaceful retire
melt of his picturesque retreat in the |
mountains at Palanan. Providence |
placed wonderful instrument for good I
in Mr. McKinley's- hand, in the person !
of General Funston. That same daring 4
advance agent of civilization might be .
used again at home in the execution of |
plan similar 10 that which resulted in !
the capture Of the insurgent chief I'm
less the necessity for drastic measures
should be ot1viated by the voluntary |
surrender of the Boston junta, it is not
impossible that the Administration
should consider II desirable to recall
Funston and employ him to entrap and
bag Aguinaldo's late main source of
hope for the dictatorship Of the Philip
pines.
We trust, however. that It may not
become necessary to proceed to such an
extremity. Since 1t has become plain
that the leader Of the cause has de-
serted it. and has consented to be gov
erned. perhaps his friends down East
may be induced to come in and submit
without waiting for the application of
force. In other words, a great feeling
Of satisfaction would be excited
throughout the country if George Fris-
bic Hoar SiXto Lopez. Erving winsIow,
old Mr.. Boutwell,. George Fred Will
llams. and two or three more, who con-
stitute the Filipino element in the
United States, could realize the hope
lessness Of the rebellion. and. upon their
own initiative. present themselves be-
fore the nearest court Of record and
take the oath Of allegiance
From all We can gather. they repre-
sent about all that is left Of the move
ment FOR Philippine independence" in
GLIDING the enslavement of lightweight
per cent of the island population by the
Tagal twelve per cent. With their sub
mission we think we should be justified
in saying that the rebellion was at an
end, and that the Government might at
once begin to reduce its military and
naval forces in and around the archi-
pelaso. and to prepare to endow our
rich Asiatic possessions with the bless
ings Of civil administration. either un-
der the Constitution of the United
States or under the imperial system
erected in spite of it by the Fifty-slxth
Congress, accordingly as the Supreme
Court may decide