The Hawaiian gazette., 1901-09-03
.SED|T|ON
OF S|XTO
he Says FiIipinos
Will Keep on
Fighting.

Sixto Lopez, the Filipino representa-
tive who came to Honolulu on. the
Sonoma, will leave tomorrow on the
Gaelic. He goes first to Japan where
he will remain a couple Of weeks, then
proceed to China, where after a visit Of
a few days he will take steamer tc
Manila.
What he will do on his arrival in the
Philippines, Lopez will not say. though
he has program mapped out, and one
which 1t is strongly suspected might not
meet altogether with the approval OF
the United States government.
Il have my program all mapped on
when I get to the Philippines" said r.
t. an Advertiser reporter yesterday.
What 1t will be I cannot tell you. You
will learn the result, however, in a short
time after I get there. No. do not
know whether I will see Aguinaldo or
not"
when I was in the States sent a
cable to Aguinaldo urging him to come
| to the United States, If he was permit
ted, but I received no reply. I can't tell
whether he got the message or not. 1t
would be a good thing If he was al
lowed to go to Washington. He is
much misunderstood, / think, and if he
was allowed to go to the States he could
explain many things to the satisfaction
of the American people, which they need
to know"
Il have not been in communication
with Aguinaldo since leaving Manila, as
was in America as a private citizen,
and consequently could not keep up
correspondence with him. | have how
ever been receiving letters from prom
inent Filipinos, not those in the field,
but citizens who are neutral. but who
write that they still hope some day to
attain independence.
mo, we cannot hope to defeat the
American armies, but we can defend our
country against the invaders That Is
what we call the Americans and the
Filipino will fight for his home to the
last.
II see what the papers say here. The
people here no doubt are all annex
at onists; they want the trade from the
Philippines, I suppose In the United
States the Filipnos have some friends
in Chicago and the East. Here they are
all eXpansionists.
I'VE do not want a proteCtorate or to
become Il territory, all we want is our
independence. What does the American
know about our government? That Is
question we should be left to decide
There is an old Spanish saying, some
thing like this "A fool in his own home
knows more than a wise stranger You
believe in the wise stranger; then you
hal in, hn Twin. rio of
kings. For that is what America is
! surely coming to, If independence is
denied the Filipino.
You say we are not capable of self
government Who is to decide that, you
or ;;.e people who should be allowed -
say what they want? The Fiipnos as
sisted in the government when the
| Spaniards had control. They are able
| to govern themselves. What your peo-
pie fought for. was mo taxation with
out representation We do not intend
| to be governed without our consent.
THE capture of Aguinaldo will not
affect the fight for liberty. Would the
death of Washington have affected your
American revolution? Aguinaldo, your
papers said, was great and good man,
while he was assisting in the war
against Spaniards. He was a born
Washington, n hero and patriot. Then
v hen he took up arms against the in
vaders. he became bandit: he was
treacherous and barbarous and not to
be trusted. Has Aguinaldo changed or
has it been the American people? Hos
tilities were not opened by the Filipinos
as the American press has claimed. II
perhaps one or two natives happene1 to
go through the lines and were shot, that
was no need for a general outbreak OF
hostilities. / believe the outbreak was
pure accident. AS to the Interior
motives, IL such existed, which induced
the American soldiers to fire the frst
shot and shed the first blood, / will ex-
press no opinion. But I am firmly con-
WINGED that II the commander of the
American forces had adopted the policy
pursued by the Philippine army, of sim
ply arresting those who ignorantly or
unwittingly crossed the lines of the
respective forces. the conflict would not
nave occurred.
We have ten million people, and are
five thousand miles away. A govern
ment by the United States is clearly i'm
practicable so far away. and we do not
want government of the United States
under any circumstances. What we
want Is liberty government of our
own, and the Filipinos will keep fighting
until they get It,"
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Returning toward town the officers
found the men hiding in the bushes