Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-04-19

national mission, with five hundred men ant
nine alert newspaper reporters on board, wa
as much lost to the world for the long perioc
OF thlrty-thrce days as though she had beer
} navigating in the open Polar sea. exhibits il
the strongest light the absence of trade anC
ships IN the route to Samana. and also it
useless remOteness as harbor for US or any
other nation. The bay, too shallow fol
shlps even of the second class, like the Ten
nessee, to approach within three miles of tho
shores to receive coal, and prov erbiaIly un-
healthy, offers no protection whatever IN
American shipping interests. Whc never
those interests may need protection, it will
De only IN time Of war, ald none but active
cruisers, ships of war not afraid to venture
torth out OF harbors, would there be of any
service navy cOOped up in the bav OF
Samana and defended by powerful shore bat
teries, might be out OF the reach of an enc
my, but 1t would be of no value to anv ex-
posed commerce. Vessels Of war 20 forth To
fight, not to seek shelter
Can it be pretended that we need Sarnapa
Tor the purpose of national defence. when
we have nothing there, unless we first place
It there, to q efend? Who is to attack Us ?
W hO threatens in the background? ? Nobody Z
II Great Britain may rely upon the security
! that the - streak of silver sea - affords We
know that for the United States the broad
Atlantic is much more impossible bulwark
| But in order to make Samana defensive
! point we have first to 20 twQ t. ousand miles
/ TO iortlty It, and then 90 there 10 be defend
ed. We leave places Of safety to fin shelter
where weaker nations are our equals. where
many naval powers are our superiors, and
where the climate gives the sick man very
little quarter, and the white man none a all
/ Mr. Morrill's argument upon this point
| seems to be complete. After noticing the
condition of the people Of Dominica, he adds
people wholly without education, led in
| factions by unprincipled and desperate chief.
destitute of all ambition which a high civil
Izatlon inspires, reeking in filth and laziness.
regardless OF marriage OF its binding power.
who never invented anything nor compre-
hcnded the use 0 f the nvontions Of Others
whose virtue is Indexed bv a priesthood eIc-
waited by no scrap oflearning and wretchedly
debauehed IN morals, would prove a seri-
Gus political and moral as well as financial in
cumDrance 1t cannot be reckoned statesman
ship TO add TO the complications OF the hour
by going abroad after fresh elements Of in
evltable yexatIon and discOrd. Bv any tire itv
Santo Domingo must be permitted to come
INTO our system on an equal footing nth Other
Territories 10 be admitted IN due time as a
State or if admitted by Joint resolution it
Z III
must have Representatives and Senators in
due time. OF at once
We cannot have even the poor privilege Of
starting a plan of government with a mill
tary satrap at its head clothed with such
prerogatlyes as might be necessary to control
a people, if not barbaric, at least unaccus-
toned to a free Government or a free religion
and wholly illiterate and superstitious
Whether we were to permit such a popula-
ton, wholly incapable OF governing them
selves, 10 share IN governing US, and we have
no constitutional prccedents for anything
else, nor viii anything else be authorized, or
whether we alone were TO govern them. it
would be found equally Objectionable and
unharmOnious. We cannot afford to dilate
the aggregate intelligence Of our own people
below its present STANDARD while we are
striving to elevate that standard nor ought
We to embark IN a wild scheme of planting
colonial governors around the world, in an
age when they haze almost ceased to be tOlc-
rated Let US educate and train the four
million pupils which Providence has recently
placed in our charge, before we take up a
much more hopeless class, that Is to say, the
ragged school Of Dominica. Honor most
clearly does not lie in pushing American in
stitutIOns in the direction Of the equator,
where even freedom 5 purest metal yields to
the fervent heat Even the American Re
public cannot - lie immortal in the arms Of
fire
no ANNEXATION ToLERABLE EXCEPT EORTHWARD
But let for a moment turn our eyes from
a land congenial to monkeys and parrots to
something of more substantial value. Let
US fOregO the seductiOns of sugar and coffee
plantations, rising so luxurIantly in some
tropical Imaginations, though scarcely to be
found now even in the narrow eul-de-sac they
once filed and face the uorth.
''The blood more stirs
" To rouse lion than to start a hare
At the north there is a country interlocked
and dovetaied to our northern boundary
throughout it's whole magnificent extent,
with a people Of ndred stock and tongue
which, without money. and without price
and with their own consent, Will as some
time surely show, perhaps in the second term
Of General Grant, that they are ready to Join
and improve their fortunes by going hand in
hand and abreast with the great Republic
Let them do this, and their Advancement Will
be assured, while our own will not be retard-
ed, but perhaps made more complete. This
would reflect honor upon all parties, Danish
Fenianism, and blot out the name of the
Alabama.
The British provinces are Of age, and
Great Britain daily hints to the bashful
Youngsters that, although she will not forbid
will lot wholly cease the great baby perqui-
sites of soft caresses, yet she feels chagrined
that they have not discovered it to be quite
time for them to shift for themselves and to
cease teasing her for bonbons and pocket
money. She does not tell them in plain
words, as Isaac told Jacob, where and when
to 90 and wed, for she is altogether too cley-
er not to know what alliance has been fore
ordained and determined. What the laws
of the universe Join together cannot be put
asunder. 1t will not be runaway match,
for there is shame and need be no secrecy
about it; but some fine morning, the last of
the Queens Own" having departed, the
New OminiOn will muster its manhood and
pop the question. After that, Toronto, Mon
ureal, Halifax, and Quebec, we shall hear
from more than four million throats, q Hail
Columbia . Here is the true field of hon
or. But, if we show an indiscriminate and
prOmiscuous desire to annex anything and
everything, even a slice of tropical island,
a match of the cheapest and most dubious
character, how can we expect our proud and
fastidious Anglo Saxon neighbors on the
north, ripe in experience and liberal culture,
with their solid and expensive patrimony, to
Join such union with any alacrty or atec
tion2
THE sEwARD BATCH OF TREATIES ALL BAD.
The present Administration was so unfor
tunate as to receive a legacy from the late
versatile Secretary of State, Mr.. Seward, a
series of great Treaties for petty annexation
and petty reciprocity, which contributed,
perhaps, more to the self-satlsfactIcn OF the
Secretary than they appear destined to CON
tribute to that OF the country he officially
represented Not one of these infelicitOus
treaties had its origin with the present Ad- !
ministration, which owes TO them no original
fealty whatsoever. That with Denmark, for
the annexatinn of ST Thnmas-in close nrOx- |