p. 8 | ANOTHER WAR by C. M. S.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 15, 1899

ANOTHER WAR.

By C. M. S.

THE strained relations existing in the Philippines between the American forces and those of the Filipinos have culminated in war. So acute had the situation become that it needed but a sentry's challenge to precipitate hostilities. The challenge was given on the night of February 4 by an American sentry. It was ignored by three Filipinos. The sentry's rifle spoke, and was defiantly answered by a Filipino field-piece. The Filipinos charged, and the reports placed their losses at 2,000 killed, 3,500 wounded, and 5,000 taken prisoners. What this really means may be faintly realized by reading the following extract from a report written by an eyewitness:—

"Your correspondent went over the fighting ground yesterday afternoon to make an examination of the position that had been held by the enemy, and from which they had been driven with great slaughter. There is no denying the fact that the Filipinos will stand fire. The ground in every direction bore evidence of this. On all sides were lying dead natives, their bodies, in some instances, being full of bullet holes. A majority of the dead were lying with their heads toward the line of the American advance, showing that they had fallen fighting desperately.

"To the north and south of the city, where the shells of the Charleston, Callao, and Monadnock reached the flanks of the Filipinos, the slaughter was sickening. I saw a number of bodies which had been literally torn into shreds by the fire from the war ships. In some places the shells had torn great holes in the earth, and around these were scattered dead bodies. On all sides the scene was one of terrible desolation, and what on Saturday had been a smiling landscape was now marked with the ravages of war.

"I went to Santa Mesa, San Juan del Monte, Santa Ana, San Pedro Macati, and Lomas, and other places, from which our troops had driven the enemy, and the scene in and around each was identical. The great number of dead showed that the little natives were not lacking in courage, but no courage could have withstood the terrible rain of death that fell upon the Filipinos as the Americans approached their positions."

No sadder picture than this has been painted during the war. The pitiable spectacle, and all it means, is beyond the power of words to portray. And the saddest part of it is that professed liberty-loving and liberty-giving Americans have turned their guns upon liberty-loving and liberty-seeking children of oppression in a foreign land. Whatever may be the government's design in regard to the liberties which shall be bestowed upon that people, there are at least 2,000 of them who will never experience liberty except that which they have found in death.

While it is not the Christian's province to be a censor over the acts of Caesar, he can not help regretting that Caesar did not condescend to break his imperialistic silence toward an inferior people long enough to assure them of their ultimate freedom when order had been restored. Such assurance would, without doubt, have quieted the nervousness of that struggling people and averted the great loss of life on both sides which the opposite policy has now occasioned. C. M. S.