Editing A Defence of General Funston

{{Short description|Satirical piece written by Mark Twain}}
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"'''A Defence of General Funston'''" is a satirical piece written by [[Mark Twain]] lampooning [[US Army]] General and [[expansionism]] advocate [[Frederick Funston]]. Funston had been a colonel during the [[Spanish–American War|Spanish–American]] and [[Philippine–American War]]s, and Twain had been an outspoken critic of these wars, as immoral ventures of the [[United States|American]] state into the [[imperialism|imperialist]] subjugation of foreign peoples and territories.

In the piece, Twain essentially excoriates Funston as a scoundrel for the tactics he employed in capturing the [[Philippines|Filipino]] president [[Emilio Aguinaldo]],<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKo6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA631 |title=Mark Twain on Funston |journal=[[Review of Reviews]] |editor=William Thomas Stead |volume=25 |page=631 |date=January–June 1902 |accessdate=March 4, 2015}}</ref> while at the same time facetiously arguing that Funston is not responsible for any of his actions since it was not Funston himself but his "inborn disposition" that determined his actions for him.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V-kqAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA217 |title=Gillete's Social Redemption |last=Severy |first=Melvin Linwood |chapter=Malevolent Assimilation |publisher=H. B. Turner & Company |page=217 |year=1907 |accessdate=March 4, 2015}}</ref> As this is the only ground upon which Twain makes his "defence", the overall effect is to ironically and comically emphasize Twain's view that Funston's actions were completely indefensible.
<!-- in the German edition A Defence of General Funston together with King Leopold's Soliloquy ist included in König Leopolds Selbstgespräch -->

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{librivox book |title=A Defence of General Funston| author=Mark Twain}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Defence of General Funston}}
[[Category:American political satire]]
[[Category:Essays by Mark Twain]]
[[Category:Philippine–American War]]
[[Category:Spanish–American War]]
[[Category:Satirical essays]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of American people]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of military officers]]
[[Category:Military humor]]

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