The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-06-21


before. Up to this time we have rath-
er withdrawn from participation in the
politics of other nations. We have
concentrated on our own affairs that
attention which in several other coun-
tries is bestowed upon international
matters. mo entanglng alliance" has
been our motto, and, while we have
steadily upheld the right of the United
States to prevent the extension OF the
European system on this side the At
lantic, we have been consistent In that
we have refrained from meddling with
the affairs of Europe. In other words,
we have minded our own business, and
intimated to other nations that they
should do the same.
1t is plainly evident that this policy
is now a thing of the past. We shall be
compelled, by sheer force of circum-
stances, to take a wider interest in the
worlds affairs than we have ever DONE
The necessity of protecting our COM
merce on the Pacific compelled us to
attack the Philippine Islands, and now
they are practically within our posses
sion. An equal necessity has obliged
us to attack Porto Rico, and we shall
NC iOlSSd W llOltl eill iLdI we iloNC az
quired in both the Atlantic and the Pa
cific until the end of the war, and pos
sibly longer. The possession of the
Philippines will necessitate our taking
a direct interest in the eastern ques-
ton, for whatever the destiny of these
| islands, they will not go back to Spain,
| and if retained by us we shall natural
| ly feel an interest in our neighbors, and
will be compelled in self-defence to en-
| ter the conferences Of the European
| states on the future Of China and the
eastern shores of Asia. The time is
| probably not far distant when there
will be seventh representative at the
council board Of the powers, when the
| minister from the United States will
| take part in their deliberations and his
voice will be as authoritative as that
| of any beribboned and gold braided
nobleman who represents a European
| sovereign.
Leaving out of consideration the par
| ticular phases of the subject which
| most concern our own country, the
| war between the United States and
Spain Is only one incident in the con-
| test between the Germanic and the
| Latin races, a contest which has been
going on for more than twenty centur-
! les, a contest in which wars and battle,
strife for commerce and business, eff
forts to found and maintain colonies,
| political struggles and entanglements
are all but incidents. Almost from the
| time authentic history began the leu
| ton and the Latin have been engaged
| in q struggle for supremacy, too fire.
| quentiy taking the form of war. It is
| struggle which was forced upon both
by their proximity in Europe, strug-
| gle which neither Stunned, and which,
after every round found the Teuton a
| little stronger, the Latin little weak
| err.
Germany has always been a human
| beehive. From the northern center of
Europe swarms of nations have issued
in every direction to people new quar-
tiers of the earth, to conquer territory
| which the weakened hands of a degra-
ded civilization could not hold to seek
| other lands and there plant the seeds
Of future nations. Among the earliest
| records of the Latin race are stories of
invasions by German hosts, of the ter
ror of German arms, for in the army of
Brennus the majority were Germans
and the tide of German invasion rolled
on into Greece, and even into Asia Mi
nor, for the Ga1atia to whose church
Paul wrote one of his most stirring
4 epistles was so-called because Of the
Gauls, who settled in the province and
even to this day remain distinct from
the Asiatic populations by whom they
are surrounded.
Even in the time of Julius Caesar
there was a considerable admixture OF
the Teutonic element among the people
of Gaul; indeed, a third part of Gaze
sar's province was inhabited by mer
who in all essential particulars were
Teutons. The passage of the Rhine
and the invasion of Germany by the
great commander were the first aggres.
sive steps Rome took against the Teu-
tonic hosts of the north. Up to thai
time the republic had contented itself
with resisting German invasion. Ro.
man statesmen long before the days OF
!, Tacitus recognized the "barbarians' Oh
| bearded men, of the north as a men.
ace to the state, and the treatise OF
Tacitus seems to have been writer
, with a view to informing his fellow cit
, liens of the kind of people who lived
beyond the Rhine, and thus putting the
Romans on their guard against enc
mics who might prove exceedingly for.
| midable Caesar determined to removs
the menace to the state by conquerins
. the Germans. His effort was failure
for he never succeeded in obtaining
more than nominal control of the ma
lions beyond the Rhine, and the annihi
lation of the army of Varus, fifty year!
after, put an end forever to the at
tempts of the Romans to conquer tn,
blond warriors of the German forests
A century later all thought of makins
any attempt at the conquest of Ger
| many was abandoned, and Trajan ant
Probus built long walls, high ant
strong. with forts at frequent intervals
: and manned them with good men ant
: true to keep out the German hosts
Even strong walls are no defence to
degenerate state; the Germans took tn
aggressive, and what are called tn
: barbarian invasions of Rome were real
l ly the swarming of the German tribes
! become too numerous for their nativ
soil, over into territory the men o
which were too weak to hold their own
1t is customary among historians
; philosophers and relgionists to bewai
the downfall of the Roman empire a