The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-31


subjecting women and children TO Danish
ment, Imprisonment and DEATH or muir
der of 'rapine Of .outrages on women women;
ties which would be disgraceful 10 saw
ages and Abraham Lincoln was singled
out for especial attack because of his spirit
OF barbarous ferocity.' Verify. these men
who thus foully slandered you have their
heirs to-day in those who traduce our
armies in the Philippines, who TX their
eyes on individual deeds of wrong so Keen
ly that at last they become blind to the
great work Of peace and freedom that has
already been accomplished.
OBJECT OF THE FIGHTING.
Peace and freedom-are there two better
objects for which a soldier can fight? Well,
these are precisely the objects for which
our soldiers are fighting in the Philippines.
When there is talk OF the cruelties COM
mitted in the Philippines, remember always
that by far the greater proportion of these
cruelties have been committed by the in
surgents 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 Amerl-
can army have been the really effective
means of putting a stop to cruelty in the
Philippines. Wherever these victories have
been cOmplete-and such is now the case
throughout the greater part of the Islands
all cruelties have ceased, and the native Is
secure in his life. his liberty, and his pur-
suit Of happiness. Where the instruction
still smolders there is always a chance for
cruelty to show itself
Our soldiers conquer; and what is the
object for which they conquer? To estab-
lish military government? No. The laws
we are now endeavOring to enact for the
government of the Philippines are to in
crease the power and domain 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 mill
tary power is used to secure peace in order
that II may itself be supplanted by the
civil government. The progress of the
American arms means the abolition of cru
city, the bringing of peace, and the rule of
! law and order under the civil government.
Other nations have conquered TO create lr-
| responsible military rule We conquer TO
bring just and responsible civil govern
ment to the conquered.
ORDER AND FREEDOM
'But our armies do more than bring
peace, do more than bring order. They bring
! freedom. Remember always that the indie
pendence Of a tribe or a community may,
and often does, have nothing whatever to
do with the freedom of the individual in
that tribe or community. There are now in
Asia and Africa scores of despotic mon
arches, each of which is Independent, and
in no one of which is there the slightest
vestige Of freedom for the individual man.
Scant. indeed. is the gain to mankind from
! the independence of blood-stained ty-
rant who rules over abject and brutalized
| slaves. But great is the gain to humanity
which follows the steady though slow intro
| ductiOn of the orderly liberty, the law
abiding freedom of the individual. which is
| the only sure foundation upon which ma
! tional independence can be built. Wher-
| ever in the Philippines the instruction
| has been definitely and finally put down,
there the individual Filipino already en-
joys such freedom. such personal liberty,
| under our rule, as he could never even
dream of under the rule Of an 'independ-
! emit Aguinaldian oligarchy.
| THE slowly-learned and difficult art of
| Self-g0Yernment an art which our people
| have taught themselves by the labor of a
| thousand years, cannot be grasped in a day
| by people only just emerging from condi-
hind 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
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-gOvern-
ment then, and not till then. will it be pos
sible to decide whether they are to exist
Independently Of us or be knit to us by
ties 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 Unreasonable distance if we should
yield TO the counsels of unmanly weakness
and turn loose the islands, to see our VIC
torious foes 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 are the
classes who have already learned to vel
come our rule.
OUR OWN INTERESTS.
''Nor, while fully acknowledging our du
ties to others, need we forget our duty tc
our own country. The Pacific seaboard i.
as much to us as the Atlantic; as we grow
in power and prosperity so our interest:
will grow in that farthest west which is tn,
immemorial east. The shadow of our des
tiny has already reached to the shores o.
Asia The might of our people alread.
looms large against the world horizon
and it will loom ever larger as the year,
go by. No statesman has a right to neg
lect the interests of our people in the Pa
cific; interests which are important to al
our people, but which are of most import
; ance to those of our people who have bull
populous and thriving States on the western
slope of our continent.
: This should no more be a party question
, than the war for the Union should hav
been a party question. At his moment tn
man in highest office In the Philippine
islands is the vice Governor, Gen. LUX
Wright, of Tennessee, who CALAMITY wor
the gray in the civil war and who is nov
|
army in the Philippines, Adna Chaffee, who
in the civil war, calamity wore the blue
Those two, and the men under them fror
the North and from the South, in civil lif
and in military life, as teachers, as ad
| illustrators as soldiers, are laborin
nightly for us who live at home. Here an
r | there black sheep are to be found anon
! them; but taken as a whole they represen
! as high a standard of public service as thi
t | country has ever seen. They are doing
5 | great work for civilization, a great wor
for the honor and the interest Of this Ma
e ton, and. above all, for the welfare OF tn
| inhabitants of the Philippine islands. A
e honor TO them; and shame thrice shame
to us if we fail TO uphold their handsr'
The applause accorded the President a
= he concluded was long and continuous. an
4 as he took his seat some one in the crow
cried out: Three cheers for our brav
= President" whereupon a mighty shout wer
n up from the threats of the thousands VIII
d had crowded into every available space
! hear him.
: General FL Torrance. commandments
e of the G.. A. r., followed the President wit
: a few remarks and then the services wer
Y brought TO a close with the playing {
y America" by the band. the choir and as
sembly joining, and benediction by Henri
e s. Stevens. department chaplain.
t Immediately after the memorial exercise
at the amphitheater the monument erecte
5 to the memory of Colonel Edgar O'Conne
v of the Second Wisconsin Regiment Wa
{ unveiled in the presence of a number {
1t Il IL - -.