The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-01-30

now demands what so years ago could
be safely dispensed with, and, second.
that the National honor is now some
thing different from what it was from
| lS4O down to 1895, or that it at least
imposes other and, vastly greater obliga-
lions upon the Nation. Will either
proposition bear examination?
=, The change wrought by time within
the last % years in regard to what
solicitude for their self-preservation re-
quires of the United States has indeed
been great; enough territory to carve two
or three empires has been added to the
National domain. the population has
grown from 100000 to 70,O00,000, the
material wealth has increased almost be-
yond calculation and the Union has
ceased to be "a house divided against it
self"
1t is, therefore, surely more than odd to
hear at this late day the plea of self
preservation entered by our government
in connection with this question. Even
in the 40's the very schoolboys would have
hooted it down as a ridiculous absurdity
and resented it as a gross insult if it had
been suggested by England as the proper
ground for us to take. The reasoning
by. which the secretary of state supports
this plea of self-preservation isl dis
claim all personal disrespect in saying il
-palpably self-contradictory and spe-
cious in the extreme. He begs the ques-
ton when he asks me through Mr.. Well
| man whether l do not admit that society
must guard against .'the principle of
stealing" irrespective of the value of
what is stolen, for, as the president says,
in, SO many words, we do not know
whether England is not entitled to all
she claims and a fortiori we have no
right to assume that she proposes TO
steal anything.
He again begs the question by fulmi-
mating for European non-intervention
in American affairs" for this Venezuelan
dispute is not merely an American but
also most legtimately an English affair,
British Guiana, with it's uncertain boun-
dairy being legitimate English posses
sion antedating the PRONUNCIATION of the
Monroe doctrine.
lie again begs the question when he
says that our superiority would be i'm
periled IF the principle be admitted that
european powers may convert American
states into colonies or provinces of their
own" for neither does England attempt TO
40 that nor does anybody propose to ad-
NIT this principle.
lie again begs the question when he de-
cares what one power was permitted to
30 could not be denied to another" for
II the United States were to conclude
that 1t is not to their interest to interfere
IN this question that would not diminish
by one jot the right they have in common
with every sovereign State to pursue in
every International question whatever
policy they deem meet. He substitutes
for the logic of the statesman reasoning
upon the facts, the logic of the schoolman
reasoning in the face of all the facts upon
abstract possibilities when he writes.
1T Is not inconceivable that the struggle
now going Oh for the acquisition of Ar
rlca might be transferred to South Amer
lea. If it were, the weaker countries
would unquestionably be soon absorbed
Whlle the ultimate result might be the
partition of all South America between
the various European powers" With
!he exception of Patagonia, South Amer
ica consists of States with a recognized
international entity, while vast part of
Africa is still deemed terra nullius. and
above all there is the tremendous fact of
the existence of the United States with
the lncontestable and uncontested right
I-MOnroe doctrine or no Monroe doctrine
In every given case to act as they see
fit. '''
TRANSCENDS NAPOLEON IN Az.
THORITY.
1t would be easy thus to 20 on for u
long time. but on this head of "self-pres
ervatlon' Mr.. Olney has refuted himself
so effectually that his opponents need moi
take any notice of the details of his orgu.
ment. SO long as yes is not no and no is
not yes, ms astounding assertion that "thc
United States is today practically soy.
efelgn on this continent and its fiat is
law" can not be made to tally with the
assumption that anything England conId
do III regard to the Venezuelan boundary
can subject the United States to the pres
sure OF the supreme law of self-preseryo-
ton.
10 launch forth such declaration
which is not equalled by anything the
nrst Napoleon dared to say when i'm the
zenith OF his power, and at the same time
gravely to aver that our Safety" "the
| integrity of OUR free institutions" and
the tranquil maintenance of our dis
tlnctlve form of government are in ieop-
ardy, II we do not compel England to ter
inmate this squabble in manner we
thinK falr, that is Il proceeding to which
tull justice can not be done in parlia-
mentary language
Paul Marat proposed to have dictator
appointed over France and to have
heavy iron balls chained to his legs. If
would seem that the United States is
u sui more sclf-cOntradictory political
monStroslty than this ingenious conceD-
ton of the apostle of the despotism of
liberty; so powerful that they Law down
the law to the whole continent at their
sovereign pleasure and so frail that their
safety is gone and their institutions i'm
danger of topping down if in some nook
OF the continent, at a great distance from
their own borders. one or two contestants
in comparatively petty boundary dis
pute dating back ever so far should be
suffered to lay himself open to the sus-
picon of some sharp practice
If McssrS. Cleveland and Olney have
proved anything by the way in which
they have treated the Venezuelan ques-
ton, then it is that they are the two last
men in the country who are to be taken
seriously when they set up ''self-preser-
vatiOn," Integrity of our free institu-
tons and 'the maintenance of our dis
tinctive form of government as props
to rest our plain policy of "America for
Americans upon. Though it is most
certainly not true-and heaven be
thanked for it--that the United States
is practically sovereign on this continent
and their fiat is law the times are past
and past forever, when either of those
four things depended on the Monroe doc
trine, or any other doctrine, or on any
thing European powers might feel tempt
ed to do in South America. There is not
an American who is not as sure of this
| ms of his own existence and never has