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

|. IL is justly considered one OF the great
deeds of the authors of the constitution
that they consigned constructive treason
| forever to the monstrosities of the past.
Is this generation to lay down the law
unto itself and unto those who are to
come after it that the people of the United
States must jump at the worst scOurge
| humankind is subject to, paying with the
| fruit of their toll and the blood of their
sons for the vindication of constructive
principle, though the alleged violation of
it occurred i'll never so remote nook or
corner of the continent, neither of conse-
quence to them nor subject to their con-
troll except by virtue of this constructive
principle? Lowell has frequently been
quoted as authority for the sentiment that
| the one thing more to be dreaded than a
war with England would be to be afraid
| of it. Whether this be so or not there is
certainly one thing that would be a still
greater calamity. Not to be afraid of a
| war without cause be it with England
or with any other power.
| While such war is the greatest crime
a government and a nation can be guilty
| Of a threat of war without cause adj
dressed to an equally powerful and proud
State is the worst blunder government
can commit. If the sole object of the ad-
ministration was to bring about the set
Element of the dispute by arbitration
| and that we must assume so long as no
I positive proof to the contrary is fur
| nished-then the proper thing for it to
do was to build Il royal road to enable
| England to travel as smoothly as posi-
BILE over her reluctance to yield to the
urgencies of the United States.
To speak in the harsh accents of COM
mand, as an authority which is entitled
to obedience and will compel it, was to
make compliance well-nigh impossible.
| What would our answer have been, if
| England, nay, if all the combined powers
| of Europe had presumed to address such
| language to us on any subject whatever?
1t is in international relations no more
than in private life either fair or wise to
think exclusively of oneself and to leave
wholly out of account how the other side
will and must necessarily feel Who can
| in candOr gainsay that the administration
and the majority of the American people
| have been guilty of this?
| ANOTHER GRAVE BLUNDER.
| Needlessly TO provoke resentment by
tone and form was all the more grave
| blunder, because no recognized principle
of right, but only might could be adduced
in support of the substance of the claims
set up by the administration ON behalf of
the United States. The assertion that
they are practically sovereign on this con-
tinent and their fiat is law virtually pro-
claims them the suzerain of the whole
continent to the extent they may at any
moment be pleased to claim and exercise
suzerainty. That the claim is introduced
under the taking name of balance of
power" does not abate in the least its
| monstrOsity; on the contrary, it only
makes it all the more fragrant, for the
name fits the thing no more than q sledge-
hammer is the proper tool to mend a
chronometer. BY weighing several
things against each other they are bal
anced.
The so-called balance of power in Eu
rope is the principle that none of the
great powers shall attain an undue supe
riOrity and that to secure this they are
among other things, jointly to exercise
| a certain influence on the minor States
so far as these are or become co-deter
mining factors in regard to the mainten
ance of the political equilibrium. 1t is
a vague unwritten code of internationa
checks, lessening the danger of resort
| to force in the international relations by
the voluntary subsection of the prepon
derating powers to the moral restraint OF
the idea of mutual control in the inter
est of all.
The claim set up for the United States
as to America is. therefore. the very an
tithesis of what in Europe is understood
by balance of power. Here there is t.
be no balance for it is asserted that the
United States is in fact and of right the
only determining weight on this cont
nent. The frailties of human nature
however. renders checks and controls by
others the Indispensable prerequisite t
secure not only justice to all, but ever
happiness to oneself. The critics of the
administration maintain that this holds
good as much in international relations
as in National and private life. There
fore they are of the opinion that it would
tax the ingenuity of the worst enemy OF
the United States to the utmost to devise
a more pernicious present for them thar
this alleged sovereignty over the whole
continent would be. They could not ex
ercise the right without assuming the
corresponding duties and that would in
volve a responsibility the weight OF
which would be absolutely crushing even
If every American were a George Wash.
ington. The mere business of drawing
boundary lines, in which we have now
engaged, with the further duty of even.
tually having to whip the parties into ac-
cepting them, would be an unbearable
burden, even if we were to take care in
| future not to undertake the impossible
| task ito determine the. true divisional
| line" where the whole historical evolu-
ton renders it palpable that no such true
divisional line ever existed and that all
| that, in the nature of the case. can be
| done is to trace a fair and equitable line
| CONSEQUENCES OF CONTINENT
tai SOVEREIGNTY.
And what would the advantages be
which the people of the United States
would derive from charging themselves
as sovereign and supreme iawgiver with
| the affairs of the whole continent? Let
the answer be given by the consequences
| of the first step toward the realization of
the wild dream. Our reputation for
sobriety. righteousness. moderation is
seriously impaired; England has few
| friends and yet not in Il single country of
Europe does public opinion indOrse our
attitude, and though no European gov
eminent has officially expressed an
| opinion, it is n certainty that everyone
| of them considers sur claims unwarrant-
ed and inadmissablc: the solution of ur-
gent and most momentous problems of
| internal policy. which seemed to be well
under way, has been grievously disturbed
and thrown back for nobody knows how
| long time; enormous losses have been
| incurred in consequence of the alarm
| created by the unexpected ringing of the
tocsin; though the apprehension of war
has nearly vanished. the uncertainty of
what it will all come to continues to lie