Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-05-30
NATIONS TRIBUTE.
CONTINUED from first page. ]

49,
because of them we finch from finish
ing the task on which we have entered,
we show ourselves cravens and weak.
lings, unworthy of the sires from
whose loins We sprang. There were
abuses n to spare in the civil war.
Your false friends Their called Grant a
butcher" and spoke of you who are
listening to me rs mercenaries. as
"Lincoln's hirelings." Your open foes
as in the resolution passed by the
confederate congress in October, 1862
accused you, at great length, and
with much particularly, of contempt
uous disregard of the usages of civil
lied war" of subjecting and
children to Punishment, Imprisonment
and DEATH" of murder" of "rapine,"
of "%outrages on women" of 'lawless
cruelty" of "perpetrating atrocities
which would he ~disgraceful to a v
ages" and Abraham Lincoln was sim
gled out for especial attack because of
his spirit of barbarous ferocity."
Verify, these men who thus foully SIAN
dered you have their heirs today in
those who traduce our armies in the
Philippines. who fix their eyes on indi-
vidual deeds of wrong s. keenly that
at last they become blind to the great
work of peace n freedom that has al
ready been accomplished.
Peace and Freedom.
Peace and freedom-are there two
better objects for which a soldier al
fight? Well, these are precisely the
objects for which our soldiers are fight
ing in the Philippines. When there is
talk of the cruelties committed in the
Philippines, remember always that by
far the greater proportion of these
cruelties have been committed by the
insurgents against their own people
as well as against our soldiers-and
that not only the surest but the only
effectual 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 a stop to cruelty in the Philip
pines. Wherever these victories have
been complete-and such is nov the
case throughout the greater part of the
islands-all cruelties have ceased, and
the native is secure in his life, his lib
erty. and his pursuit of happiness.
Where the insurrection still smolders
there is always a chance for cruelty to
show itself.
A Civil Government.
Our soldiers conquer; and what is
the object for which they conquer? To
establish a military government? No.
The laws we are now ~endeavoring to
enact for the government of the Phil
ippines are to increase the power and
domain of the civil at the expense of
the military authorities, Inc to render
even more difficult than in the past the
chance of oppression. The military
power is used to secure peace, in order
that it may itself be supplanted by the
civil government. The progress of the
American arms mean the abolition of
cruelty, the bringing of peace, and the
rule of law and order under the civil
government. Other nations have con-
quered to create irresponsible military
rule. We conquer to bring just and
responsible civil government to the
conquered.
But our armies do more than bring
peace, do more than bring order. They
bring freedom. Remember always that
the independence of a tribe or a COM
munity may, and often does, have moth
ing whatever to do with the freedom OF
the individual in that tribe or commu-
nifty. There are now In Asia and Africa
scores of despotic monarchies, each OF
which is independent, and in no one OF
which is there the slightest vestige of
freedom for the individual a Scant
lnOpeu is lHt gam W HduhlHu liOhi AZ |
independence" of a blood-stained ty-
rant who rules over abject and brutal
lied slaves. But great is the gain to
humanity which follows the steady
though slow introduction of the order
ly liberty, the law-abiding freedom of
the individual, which is the only sure
foundation upon which national indie
pendence can be built. Wherever in
the Philippines the instruction has
been definitely and finally put down,
there the individual F1lipinos already
enjoys such freedom, such personal lib
erty. under our rule, as he could never
even dream of under the rule of an
independent" Aguinaldian oligarchy.
Must Teach FiIipinos.
The slowly-learned and difficult art
of self-government, an art which our
people have taught themselves by the
labor of a thousand years, can not be
grasped. in a day by a 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 OF the philippine Islands not
only how to enjoy but how to make
good use of their freedom; and with
their growing knowledge their growth
in self-government shall keep steady
pace. When they have thus shown
their capacity for real freedom by their
power of self-government, then, and
not till then, will it be possible TO de-
eide whether they are to exist indie
pendently Of us or be knit to us by ues
of common friendship and interest.
When that day will come it is not in
human wisdom now to foretell. All
that we can say with certainty is that
it would be put back an i"mmeasureable
distance if we should yield 10 the coun-
sells of unmanly weakness n turn
loose the islands. to see our victorious
foes butcher with revolving cruelty our
BETRAYED friends. and shed the blood
of The most humane. the most enlight-
ened, the most peaceful, the wisest and
L. - ~ thnir nNEn nmmLGr-flr