The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-04-03

IDENTIFY expressed at the seat Of power.
After war. devastation and bribery, peace
and its blessings are expected. No one can
deny that dark has been the way to this
hour. And what now? If Great Britain
held Kruger. she would straightway send
him to St. Helena TO keep company with
the Boer prisoners there. So we shall no
doubt, in the end. dispatch Aguinaldo To
distant Guam, after the rejoicing over his
capture has died down and the imperial au-
thorities of the United States have duly de-
liberated and decided, with perhaps some
preliminary experiment in the way of try
ing to win him TO aid the Americans.
THE MALAY WASHINGTON.
1t is often said when a historic character
dies, around whose personality the tenn
pests of controversy have ragged, that the
time has not arrived for a final and judi
cial estimate of his career. Emilio Agui-
naldo is not dead. but his capture by the
American troops. through the treachery of
one of his own men. probably brings his ac-
tive career TO a close. II is extremely
doubtful that ne will ever regain his free
DOM. The greatest of Malays evidently has
run his course. That i'm this hour of the
conquorer's triumph he will be generally
gwen his due. on this side of the Pacific.
as a man or a leader of men, is not TO be
expected. On the one hand. there is the
flush of bitter resentment against the lead
er who for over two years has conducted
war against the richest and most powerful
Nation on earth. On the other. there is the
honest sympathy for Aguinaldo which is
based on the conviction of the general
righteousness and purity of his struggle
Tor the Independence of his country against
q conquering and alien race from across
the seas. Denunciation from the one side
and euloSy from the other may be equal
ly extreme. The perfect mean of truth.
IL ever attainable. must be left TO the ar
bitration of times less impassioned than
these.
Whatever the ultimate verdict on this
man may be. our own view is that Agui-
naldo is an extraordinary character. who
was accepted by his people as their cham
pion. and who fought a cause that, I'm other
times and under other conditions. has made
Its leaders immortal as the heroes of strug-
Cling humanity. Emilio Aguinaldo is not
a rebel. but a patriot; he is not a savage.
but a civilized man. He is now thirty-two
years OF age, q pure-bred native of the
Philippines and of true Malay blood. The
story that he is a Chinese half-breed has
no basis In fact, nor Is 1t true that his IA
Their was a captain In the Spanish army.
when the Instruction against Spain
broke out in 1896 the
Aguinaldo quickly became its foremost
spirit. When 1t is considered how destitute
the natives were in military training and
the material of war, their achievement in
prolonging the contest for about a year and
a half, and then extorting from Span
ia~ds the treaty of Biak-na-bato which
promised many radical reforms I'm govern
ment and the religious life of the islands.
besides cOvenanting TO pay a large sum of
money TO the insurgent general-when all
- ~ ~ VIII DdN W De conceded
that Aguinaldo achieved a remarkable sue
cess. The money which was promised him.
and which in part was paid over by Spain.
has been described by Aguinaldo's enemies
as a "bribe." but In reality 1t was a war in.
demnity which he forced Spain TO pay.
we do not propose to review the history
Of the past three years in the Phnippines.
although those are the three most impor-
tant years in Emilio Aguinaldo's life. Hav-
Ing TO do with his wonderful rally of the
Filipinos against Spain after Dewey's naval
victory; his actual conquest from the Span
ish army of practically the entire Philip
pine archipelago outside of Manila: his gov
eminent of the islands for many months
before and after the fall of Manila, when
he kept order and protected life and prop
erty; and finally his leadership I'm the for
lorn war for independence against all the
might of the United States-these points
or the history are too familiar to require
rehearsal. The war with the United States
began two years ago last February. and
the fact that so long "a time has already
neen spent in coping with the native re-
s~istance, which has been steadily directed
down TO the hour OF his capture by this
man with irreconciliable zeal, this alone
Is an evidence OF Aguinaldo's inherent ca
pacity for leadership in great undertake
lngs among his own people. Not so intel
lectual and subtle as Mabina, nor so high
ly educated as Sixto Lopez, Aguinaldo re-
Vealed a power of leadership and a gift for
organization which stamp him as the great
est man yet produced by the Malay race
ana the greatest Oriental of the time out
SIDE or Japan and China.