Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1911-06-09

of the Philippines. 1t was forcefu
and logical address. and the audience
was moved not only by the message, but
by the speakers ability to express him
self in clear English after a residence of
only year and half in this country
George l.. Durham presided and the
service opened with a selection by the
band, followed by scripture reading and
prayer by Rev. f. @. S. Osgood of the
Unitarian church. Judge T.. w. Gibson
| then introduced Senior Quezon in brief
address as follows:
"ThntCen years ago, when the wires
delivered the news that the American
squadron obeying orders, had captured
or sunk the entire Spanish fleet in the
harbor of Manila, each one of us in
stnctiVely asked our neighbor, What,
and where are the Philippine Islands?
since that memorable May morning
time has enlightned all of us, and we now
realize that those islands of the Orient
are In many respects of older civil
ton than ours; that when our fore
fathers were landing upon a bleak New
England coast, some of these people were
so far advanced that they had schools
| and were establishing "A great university
| of learning, and materially adding to the
| worlds store-house of knowledge and
| experience.
Il have said that all have been enlight-
| eneu. nat statement should be quail
| fled, for only a few months ago when the
| speaker whom | am about to introduce
| was on a visit to New England some
| people of a city not far distant met the
| train which brought him, to see if he
actually came half clad and wearing
| rings in his ears and bells on his feet.
| You may imagine the amazement of
those same people on the evening of
| that same day when in an intellectual
duel around the banquet table this same
man they had fancied to be half savage
proved "A match for the best product of
| New England training
But you wish to know something of
the speaker. He is the son of an officer
In the Spanish army. Enlisting at the
age or II years, he. with his brother
| fought under the banner of Aguinaldo in
the revolution against Spanish rule, and
the brother sacrificed his life because of
his faith that the Philippine people
ought to be free and Independent. He
fought in the army of his leader for four
years and, being captured, spent six
months in military prison. Released,
the first thing he did was to complete
his education, which included a course in
law, and he became country lawyer. He
was appointed prosecuting officer for the
province of Mindoro and later was trans
ferred to his home province of Tabayas.
lie was elected Governor of that pro-
vince and served with such conspicuous
ability that he was afterward elected to
the Philippine Assembly where he served
two years. He was then elected as one OF
the resident commissioners of the Philip
pines to the Congress of the United
states. At the age of 32 years he is the
idol of the Filipino people and
representative here of 1O,0O0O0O constlt-
uents. $500 900 of whom are Christians
Il am informed that his address viii
be an appeal for the independence of his
| peODlp What he in =.
than that he should so speak in Vermont?
1t was our Dewey who ended three
centuries of Spanish rule when he mar
shalled his ships in battle array of
Cavite. 1t was our Dewey, our Worces-
ter our Ide and our Taft, members of
the Philippine commission our Bates
and our Stone, as judge and educator
who helped lead the people of the Philip
pines from the civilization of Spain to
that of America
I'm Vermont the spirit of liberty has
ever run strong in the hearts of the
people. When the Continental Congress
refused to receive us into the confed-
GRAFTON of states we declared ourselves
free and Independent of any and every
| power on earth and maintained an in
dependant republic for 10 years. If it is
a God given inspiration for the spirit of
liberty to rule the hearts of the Anglo
Saxon under the shadow of the green
|
consonance of human affairs that 1t
should burn with fervor in the hearts OF
those born within the tropics.
| And what could be more appropriat e
than that our speaker should come to
Windhan county, within the borders OF
which the first blood of that great
struggle for our independence was shed
and where the people ever strong
to their desire to be free and in
dependant, set up and maintained the
Independent republic of Gulford against
the domination of any other power
ON this occasion, amid these beautiful.
surroundings and in the light of Our
history, | feel like saying, Welcome
tenor, to the original cradle of American
liberty,
II Rave the distinguished honor o.
presenting the Honorable Manuel l..
Quezon of the Philippine Islands"
At the beginning of his address Senior
Quezon said he should speak from the
bottom of his heart, and the large audi
ence was convinced of his sincerity. He
told OF the many ways In which the
Islands had been generously favored by
Nature and of their discovery and pecu-
liar characteristics but he said their
Ideas of right and wrong were the same
as other Christian countries He then
showed how an erroneous impression of
the islands and the people had been Great
ed by the exhibition of things and people
which were not representative of the
islands as whole. great mistake
was made. he said, in allowing the Igor
ottes to be exhibited at the worlds fair
in st, Louis as they gave the impression
that they were representative of the peo-
|