The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1903-05-08

asserted h. some ot his political
enemies that lac did not witness what
hcrelates and the facts made public
are, in a nature, hearsay testimony,
and that the perpetrators OF the
acts of cruelty of which he describes
have been punished. Something has
also been limited about the bird that
befouls its own nest. 1t would be
rather embarrassing for the censors
of General Miles to tell how many
perpetrators of outrages inflicted
upon the natives have met with
adequate punishment, and how many
have entirely escaped or have been
dismissed with slight fine or repri-
mand. The former they can count
on the fingers Of one hand while the
archieves of the War Department
bear ample evidence of the latter.
There is one thing in this report that
is not new and that is his account
of military conditions in the Philip
pines. Have not his critics ever
heard before of the General freely
commenting upon the morale of the
troops under his command, or upon
anything elese that he might deem
necessary for the information of his
Government or his country? In his
Commentaries upon the war in Gaul,
Caesar spoke pretty plainly of some
of his soldiers, but it has never been
said that therefore he was befouling
his own nest.
The report confirms the position
so eloquently maintained by Senator
Hoar in his speech on the conditions
in the Philippines in thelast Congress.
1t has been offered as an excuse that
mankind has not yet become so
angelic or armies so thoroughly dis
ciplined that excuses in war are not
committed by some of the soldiers.
1t has been the universal experience
that the armies of every people who
have fought against natives in the
tropics have brought reproaches in
even a greater degree than those of
our own troops. The enervating
and exasperating effect ofthc tropical
climate upon northern soldiers as
we'll as conditions of native warfare
serve to account for excuses and
outrages that would not have been
committed i'll other fields.
But moralists or, as they are
termed, anti-imperialists yet fail to
see what good can possibly come
out of this empire greed. It'has not
been shown to the satisfaction of
many of us that the United States,
great as it is, can by any possible
manner of means add to her already
we'll earned glory, by slaughtering
lot of innocent savages who do not
wish to be ruled by our republican
form of Government, and who have
made every endeavor in their own
weak way to cast off foreign inter-
ference so that they might have a
republic of their own. This has been
the history of the Philippines for the
past four hundred years. Spain's
title to these islands had never been
satisfactorily settled, and when this
doubtful title was purchased by the
United States it is easy to understand
that they would resist the invasion
much more fercely than they did the
attempted domination of those who
had held nominal control for the
past centuries.
Appropos to this, the administra-
ton adherents are calling particular
attention to the Louisiana Purchase,
made during the time President
Jefferson occupied the White House.
But the conditions are thoroughly
dissimilar. The land acquired at
that time was contiguous territory.
1t was peopled by those, which, if
not ofour own flesh, were closely allied
by the Caucasian blood that flowed
within their veins. They courted
annexation, believing that thereby
they had much to gain. Time has
proven that this is correct, but to
any reasonable person it is not a
ottillSiShL Jl SSSuSlL " SOlidOLiS IoA
the bloodshed and famine that has
has been caused by our Government
in a foreign country where the native
tongues almost unknown and whose
inhabitants belong to a race peculiar
to a less civilized portion ofthe world.
The United States claims to lead
the civilization of the world, but the
outrages committed in the Philip
pine Islands will be blot upon our
fair reputation, which we believe will
require centuries to thoroughly
eradicate. England in South Africa
has placed herself in almosta similar
position with heexception that they
were shedding richer and purer blood
to Stake the empire thirst. The Re-
publican party, which seems to be an
organization peculiarly warlike, has
brought into dispute the term
humanity" when applied to the un-