" [285]
But it happens that this was the Filipino regime. Piera's torture
occurred at the very time when, according to Blount, Aguinaldo had
"a wonderfully complete 'going concern' throughout the Philippine
archipelago."
Furthermore, it occurred in the Cagayan valley where Blount says
"perfect tranquillity and public order" were then being maintained
by "the authority of the Aguinaldo government" in a country which
Messrs. Wilcox and Sargent, who arrived on the scene of this barbarous
murder by torture four weeks later, found so "quiet and orderly."
Not only was Blount perfectly familiar with every detail of this
damnable crime, but he must of necessity have known of the torturing
of friars to extort money, which preceded and followed it.
The following statement seems to sum up his view of the whole matter:--
"It is true there were cruelties practised by the Filipinos on the
Spaniards. But they were ebullitions of revenge for three centuries of
tyranny. They do not prove unfitness for self-government. I, for one,
prefer to follow the example set by the Roosevelt amnesty of 1902,
and draw the veil over all those matters." [286]
The judge drew the veil not only over this, but, as we have seen,
over numerous other pertinent matters which occurred in this land of
"profound peace and tranquillity" just at the time Wilcox and Sargent
were making their trip.
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