The times., 1898-12-22
AMERICAS NEW EMPIRE
Advice From Friendly British
(From the london Spectator. J

| great tropical dominion the Philippine
Archipelago has. in addition to Porto Ri
co and Hawaii and possibly Cuba, passed
| into the hands of America. What will
she do with her new empire? Will she so
| occupy and rule IT as to increase the hap
piness of the races that dwell within it.
and to develop and improve her own
\ polity. or will she make the first grand
| failure of the Anglo-Saxon race in the
| government of inferior races? Will she,
| that Is. apply herself earnestly and with
| inSle-mndedness to her great task, or
| Will She through mixture of moral IT,
| midity, self-distrust and blindness to her
| true destiny half refuse. and so wholly
| spoil, the great opportunity thus pre-
sented to her? These are questions that
| the thinking part of the other half of
| the Anglo-Saxon race are asking with
the deepest interest and concern. Eng
lishmen trust and believe that America
will in the end choose the true path but
they are necessarily most anxious that at
| this the critical moment. the amount of
the first step. America should make no
| false start
We do not seriously fear that Britain's
anxiety lest America shall neglect to take
up her responsibilities is in any great dam
| ger of being misunderstood In the States
| Stili. lest our attitude should by chance
be misrepresented;le let us state clearly that
II we thought merely of England's own
selfish interests, rather than of those of
the race. We should wish America to
shrink from. and so miss, the opportunity
presented to her. A Machiavelian British
statesman would most certainly wish
America first to make an unsuccessful at
tempt to govern, and then to abandon
her oversee possessions. II America
falied, as the Continental Powers have
tailed, TO rule tropical possessions, the
gain from narrow, selfish standpoint
| would be ours. But we are glad TO think
| that no such feeling exists here. and that
there Is no section of British opinion
| which does not desire that America shall
succeed in the development of her new
empire. We ask, then, the people of
America to believe that the advice and
| encouragement so eagerly and strongly
pressed upon them from this side are alb
solutely genuine and sincere. leading
statesman and leading English political
thinker have lately urged on America the
need of starting her new empire on sound
and strong lines.
/ Mr.. Chamberlain in his powerful article
in the Christmas number of Scribner- $
points out 10 the people of the United
States how their new empire. instead of
proving burden on those who care most
I for the welfare Of the commonwealth.
may prove a source OF strength and of
public virtue. Mr. Benjamin Kidd, in mis-
little book, THE Control of the Tropics. So
just published by the Macmillan Compa-
ny. takes up the same theme, with the
utmost lucidity and power and lays down
the true principles upon which a Western
people should deal with tropical depen-
cies. These two articles-Mr Chamber
lain. ii may be noted, quotes largely from
Mr.. Kidd-taken together, may be saic
to constitute Englands appeal TO Amer
lea. 1t is an appeal neither selfish nor
interested. and II It fails out disappOint-
ment will be not that this country has
suffered but that our own flesh and
blood have preferred the SNUG safety of
their vast parish TO the responsibilities
and duties OF a wider outlook. moral and
political.
The main, the essential principle which
the Americans must pursue in establishing
their sway over their new empire is that
in every case the government set up must
be for the benefit of the peoples governed
| They must give the Philippines. that is,
not the government which will appear to
conduce most to the benefit of the Unit
ed States. nor, again. the government
which some fraction of the people of the
Philippines seem to demand. To do so
would be TO make capital error in the
imperial art. What the Americans must
will be most productive Of happiness 10 the
races governed. The government of
subject race is a trust, and the rulers of
the protecting and controlling people must
never forget that they are in the position
of trustees and bound, like trustees, 10
! think first of the interests of the subject
of the trust. They must not, because at
home they believe in representative gov
ernment and elective institutions. rush to
. ,,
| liar powers. They must rather consider.
not whether voting is good in the alb
/ stract, but whether an electoral system is
| likely or not to be conducive TO the pros
periry, moral and physical, of the Philip
| pines.
| More important still is 1t that America
I should not look TO making any direct
| gain out OF her possessions. II seems a
natural thing for a nation which believes
in protection to include the Philippines
| in its tariff. G., to shut out the rest of
the world. and to make the Philippines
| get all they want from America. But
| this is in fact TO make the Philippines a
| close preserve for the American manu-
| facturer-i. e., 10 set up the old colonial
| system the system which We once had
| and which France has to this day. Yet.
| reasonable as this may seem to a people
accustomed as are the Americans to pro-
lection, it means ruin in the case of a de-
| pendency. Spain governed her colonis S
| on that principle, and look at the result.
| They were destroyed CONNER cial Y BY
| their dependencies on the mother coun-
| try. If America seeks to make her new
| empire her tied customer she viii infal.i-
| bly, ruin her tropical possessions. We say
| this not because We want an open mar
ket in the Philippines. America need
not. and ought not to, think for a mo-
| ment about our susceptibiities-we shall
do very well whatever policy she ADOPTS.
| What America must think of alone is
! what will suit the Philippines-what will
make them prosperous. But that is not
| making them tied house and re-estab-
| fishing the old colonial system. The in
| terest of the governed that alone must
| be her guide. not any desire TO benefit
her own merchants, or. again, to do this
country a good turn
| Curiously enough. the ideal principle OF
| colonial government was never better
stated for popular use than by a great
| American. Gen. Grant. Mr.. Chamberlain
quotes from Gen. Grant striking pas
| sage which, while describing our system
of governing dependencies lays down the
| true system: England governs her owl
colonies, and particularly those embracing
| the people of different races from hel
| own better than those of any other ma
ton. She is just 10 the conquered, but
| rigid. She makes them self-supporring
but gives the benefit of the labor TO the
laborer. She does not seem to look upor
the colonies as outside possessions which
she is at liberty to work for the support
and aggrandizement of'the home govern
| ment.'' Grant, in fact, saw that Eng
land succeeds, and. we should add only
| succeeds, because she has an ethical basis
for her empire. No doubt the people OF
England do not realize this consciously