The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-04-03
MIR. PhcIps and ".Jingoism."


t. Department, in which he talked som'
ut curious stuff for So able a man abou
y the Venezuelan dispute and the Cuban
question, the lingo sentiment ane
tho Monroe doctrine rs he called it,
which, he declared, ''has nearly
% plunged us in war with Great Brit.
3 ain, is now bringing us nearer to Il
. war with Spain, has operated to
. paralyze business, and bring loss
which no arithmetic can compute "
He laid down the proposition that the
n Monroe doctrine is ''only one of self
. defense and goes only so far rs that
necessity does and:
I Can there be such Il thing as policy
where there is no interest? i LII we
want to quarrel with Great Britain we
ought to get about something that
will do us some good. What
, evidence is there that Great Britain is
, wrong?
The cx- ministers speech must have
been written for delivery several
months ago. Now when England has
practically admitted the justice OF our
} whole contention and agreed TO do
what Uc asked, it is absurdly out of
time. There never was any question
of war unless Great Britain should
choose to force one rather than do
what was right We simply asked her
to arbitratc the dispute ratherSthan
violate historic principle by seizing
what she claimed without determine
ton of right. The best and most en-
lishtened statesmen of England .4havo
admitted that the demand wasl only |
reasonable, the public sentimcntsaof
England has compelled the government
to accede to it. and i, naturally be-
comes Il little tiresomc now to,!Ihcar
American citizens keep rciterating a
British claim, which Britain herself
has virtually abandoned. s@y
As to the Cuban matter ''war Stalk"
is even more ridiculous. The question
simply is whether we shall, by recognize
ing belligerency, do for the Cubans,
after they have maintained war for
over year, what Spain FASTENED TO do
for our rebels before they had been
fighting 30 days, whether we shall do I,
for men battling for the cause of hui
man rights against the most cruel and
corrupt despotsm of the whole Cauca i
sian race, what Spain did for the cause =
no rla ahD1, ,nu !,
government on earth. That question i
is whether we shall admit legal stand l
ing so far as we are concerned. to the =
patent fact that war exists i'll Cuba, 6
Such an admission on our part would o
not give Spain the shadow of cause !
for war. Such thing was never :
thought of when Spain recognized the
of our confedcrates The
.alll about war being involved in it is p
he very acme OF national cowardice. o.
No war could possibly come from it II
mless Spain forced it without reason q
y cause or precedent in international u
aw. There would be Just as much al
cnsc in saying that a man shouldn t b
cad his family Bible in his own house ii
or fear an ugly atheistic neghbor ~ ~
night want to fight him for it, as h,
here is in arguing that our conduct II
hould be guided on this question OF az
,uban belligerency by fear o, a war p,
18th Spain. III
Mr.. Phelps has only this description gu
the patriot cause of Cuba: IN
uho., h,,,;o,, .h ..,,oI,;,,, feI
banditti rebellion which has no
rganized government, rebellion of
i:lage and arson and murder. r,
To apply his own words in England's th
ise where they had no application no
hatever. - what evidence" has he : ~
II such statement as this. As W.
-eat lawyer, it won't take him over un
ilf a minute when he comes to form. tl'
tie it to realize that he has mono w. NO.
orthy of the name, none except the sh,
osest and vaguest and most often-c con wo
addicted statements of the Spanish ne
Ithorities. So far as information is v.o
.cessible it indicates that the Cuban OBJ
bells are conducting their war on mo
Imane principles, to a remarkable eX- e ti,.
Mt considering the provocation they zor
Dor under. As 10 the banditti state thi
emf We have the testimony of no less tul
man than MARTINEZ Campos that the ri
belion has the support or bee
mpathy Of nearly the whole pop hin
alton of the island, to such mu
extent that he was unable I Ha
get guides for military operations. isir
le larson and pillage'' accounts con yot
It merely of the fact that the rebel an an
iicS Is 10 des'Foy sugar cane from wit
itch Spain's revenue is derived, a nat
, ,,,,,s =, ,r,, h.ns. - . b. MAJ
the very day that Mr.. Phelps made mo,
use statements, with the addition graz
out mo organized government, o., %
could have read proclamation by Poo
president Of the Spanish republic, yea
nted in the New York papers, en- unit
p;,,, ,bo obso-,,.,,,co IN ,,,,o,l ro;,h &c his
agreements of the military chiefs, edit
!, liberation and kind treatment of j.. /
soners, &C.. that effectively answer viii
the whole of them. Indeed when a i anu
r which Spain has not only been
able to conquer in year with 1876, L
al. ~,