OCR Text |
Show SOLDIERS OBEYED ORDERS. General Miles Writes of Cruelties in the Philippines. The Army and Navy Journal prints a letter from General Nelson A. Miles, in which the writer says he went to the Philippines not as a tourist, but in an official capacity, and that the instructions addressed to him as lieutenant lieu-tenant general commanding the army came from the highest authority, viz., the president, in which he was directed direct-ed to give special attention to "the instruction, in-struction, discipline and supplies ol the army." Coming to the subject of cruelties in the Philippines, General Miles' letter let-ter reads as follows: "It is idle to assume as-sume that campaigning in the Philippines Philip-pines has conditions that warrant resort re-sort to medieval cruelty, and that such departures as have existed should not be overlooked and condoned. "It is gratifying that the serious offenses of-fenses have not been committed by the soldiers unless they were under the direct orders of certain officers who were responsible. Soldiers have withheld fire when ordered to shoot prisoners, protested against acts of cruelty and written to relatives at home, urging them to take action to put a stop to those crimes. It will ever be one of the glories of the army that such deeds, . committed by whatever what-ever authority, are abhorrent to the American soldier. The officers who are responsible, using chiefly cruel Macabehes, do not by any means constitute con-stitute the American army." |