New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-05-31
ham Lincoln when you. my hearers, were
fighting the Union.

beyond what is called for by need Our enemies
in the Philippines have not merely violated eV-
cry rule of war, but have made Of these VIOLA
lions their only method OF carrying on the war
We would have been justified by Abraham Lin
coins rules of war in infinitely greater severity
than has been shown.
WAR OF UNEXAMPLED HUMANITY.
The fact really is that our warfare i'm the
Philippines has been carried On with sim
guIar humanity. For every act of cruelty
by there have been innumernbie
acts OF forbearaHee, magnanimity and gen
erous kindness. These are the qualities
which have characterized the war ns IA
whole. The crueIties have been wholly eN-
ceBtionaI part.
The guilty TO he punished; but in pun
fishing them. those ~ sit at
home who walk deIicateIy and live in the
soft places of the earth. remember also 10
do them common Justice. Let not the effort
less and tie attempted rail overmuch nt
strong men who with blood and sweat face
years OF toll and days and nights of agony.
and at need lay down their lives in remote
tropie iungies To bring the light of cfviiiza-
ton into the worlds dark places
The warfare that has extended the boundaries
OF civilization at the expense OF barbarism and
saYagery has been for centuries one of the most
potent factors in the progress of humanity. Yet
from its very nature IL has always and every
where been liable to dark abuses.
NO FLINCHING FROM THE TASK
III behooves us TO keep a yieIiant watch to
prevent these abuses and to punish those
who commit them; but if because of them
we finch from finishing the task on which
we have entered, we show ourselves cravens
and weakiings, unworthy of the sires from
whose loins we sprang.
There We're abuses and TO spare in the Civil
War Your false friends then called Grant
butcher" and spoke of you who listening
to me mercenaTies, "Lincoln's hirelings"
Your open foes-as in the resolution passed by
the Confederate Congress in October, 1Sj2-ac-
cused you at great length and with much par
tiGUlarltE of 'cOntempIuOuS disregard OF the
usages of civilized war; of subjecting women
and children to "banshment. Imprisonment and
death; Of murder. Of 'rapine,' of 'outrages
on women" of 'lawess cruelty" of ''perpe-
trating atrocities which would be disgraceful to
sayages"; and Abraham Lincoln was singled out
for especial attack because of his spirit of bar
barous ferocity.'
Verify, these who thus fouIIy Sian
dered You have their heirs 10 day I'm those
who traduce armies in the Philippines.
who fin their eyes ON individual deeds of
wrong keenIy that at last they become
blind TO the great work of peace and free
dom that has already been accomplished.
FIGHTING FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM.
Peace and freedom-are there two better
objects for which "a soldier can fight: Well.
these precisely the objects for which our
soldiers fighting i'm the Philippines.
When there is talk of the cruelties committed
in the Philippines remember always that by far
the greater proportion of these crueties have
been committed by the insurgents against their
and that not only the surest but the only et-
fectual way of stopping them is by the progress
OF the American arms The victories of the
American army have been the really effective
means Of putting stop to cruelty in the Phil
ippiHes Wherever these victories have been
compete-and such is now the case throughout
the greater part of the islands-all crueltes have
ceased, and the native is secure in his life, ms
liberty and his pursuit of happiness. Where
the insurFection still shoulders there Is always
chance for cruelty 10 show itself.
RESULT OF AMERICAN VICTORIES.
Cur soldiers conquer; and what is the object
for which they conquer? To establish mill
Iary government? No. The laws we are now
endeaYoring TO enact for the government of the
Philippines are TO increase the power and DO
main of the civil at the expense Of the military
authorities. and TO render even more difficult
than in the past the chance of oppression.
The military power is used TO secure peace,
I'm order that il may itself he supplanted by
the civil government The progress of the
American arms means the abolition of cruel
AHy, the brfn ging of peace, and the rule of law
stdnd order under the civil government Other
gratiens have conquered TO create irresponsi-
sSIe military rule. We conquer 10 bring just
isnd responsible civil government to the con-
s4aered.
ARMIES BRINGING FREEDOM.
Bat armies do than bring peace,
do more than bring order. They bring free
dom.
Remember always that the independence Of
<yribe or community may. and often does have
Ifothing whatever 10 do with the freedom OF the
fndvidual in that tribe community. There
- are in Asia and Africa scores Of despotic
monarchies, each of which is independent and
in no one of which is there the slightest vestge
OF freedom for the individual Scant in
deed is the gain to mankind from the "inde-
pendence" of a bioodstained tyrant who rules
abject and brutazed slaves. But great
is the gain humanity which follows the
steady though slow INTRODUCTION OF the orderly
liberty, the laWabiding freedom OF the indiVid-
ual which is the only sure foundation upon
which national independence can be built.
Wherever the Philippines the insurrec-
tion been definitely and firmly put down,
there the individual Filipino already enjoys
such freedom, such personal liberty, under
rule, he could never even dream OF
under the rule OF "independent" AEui-
naldian oIisarchy.
The slowly learned and difficult art of self
government, an art which people have
taught themselves by the labor Of a thousand
years. cannot be grasped in day by people
only just emerging from conditions OF life which
our ancestors left behind them in the dim years
before history daWned.
We believe that we can rapidly teach the
people the Philippine Islands only
how enjoy but how tn make good of
their freedom; and with their growing
knowledge their growth in seIf-aovernment
shall keep stendy pace. when they have
thus shown their capacity for real freedom
by their power of seIf-govern ment. then,
and not till then, Will il be possible to de-
eide whether they are TO exist independently
of be knit To by ties of common
friendship and interest. When that day Will
come Ii is not I'm human wisdom TO
foretefi All that sse can with certainty
fs thaf "a would he put back imm
abie distance IL should yield the coun-
sells of unmanIy weakness and loose
the islands, victorious
butcher with revolving cruelty our betrayed
friends, and shed the blood of the most
humane, the most enlightened. the most
peaceful, the wisest and the best of their
own number-for these the cInsses who