Smyrna times., 1898-05-25
OUR DANGERS AND DUTIES.
DR.. Herbert Newton on the Heritages of the
Present War.

At All Souls Church, New York, the |
Rev. Dr. Herber Newton preached upon
this subject: CATER the War-Our
Dangers and Our Duties" He said:
''That evil will ensue from this war
goes without saying; it is Gods curse
upon all war. We shall be burdened
with a great debt. A recrudescence of
barbarism will have been entailed upon
us. They will prove our Nemesis for
not having been wise enough and
strong enough, for not having been
right-minded enough and unselfsh
enough to have prevented this war in
the days when it might have been pre-
vented.
''But because this war has been
gone into on the whole with
high and lofty purpose, though with
whatever clouding of vision, there will
be good flowing from it. Patriotism
seemed torpid in our midst. North
and South have been united, so that no
man henceforth may ever put them
asunder. High ideals and generous
enthusiasms have stirred in our young
men again.
cit is plain, now, that the war is to
leave us in possession of conquered
lands. The question Immediately
arises in every thoughtful mind. What
10 hn oh h -
pursue under these circumstances?
For better or for worse, the Philip
pines have fallen into our hands. We
cannot restore them freely to Spain. 1t
would be to deliver Andromeda to the
dragon. On the other hand we cannot
leave them to their own people, for, in
the strict sense of the word, there is no
such thing as a Philippine people.
| We may not invite chaos in our at
attempt to bring about order. Nor
may we sell them to any other power
or give them away; if, for no other
reason, for the obvious one that the
jealousy of the great powers of Europe,
/
East, is now so acute that no one would
be allowed by the others to enter into
this rich heritage. 1t appears to me,
now, that we may be forced into re-
tanning the Philippines, at least tenn
porarily, administering them in the in
terest of order and civilization. We
stand pledged before the world to with
draw from Cuba as soon as we can free
it and give the people of the island a
chance to determine for themselves
what they want to do with their own.
"Our old isolation practically disap-
pears. For better or for worse we will
have passed the Rubicon and entered
upon a new era of national history.
However clear in conscience we may
be from any desire to embrOil ourselves
in other peoples affairs and however
sober and sane we may be in restrain
ing ourselves from the ambition for
further power, it is clear that the dan
gers of our becoming involved in in
ternational complications will be vastly
heightened and the temptations to
such complications will be vastly in
tensifed. Already it is becoming
plain that the objections to the annex.
alton of Hawii are disappearing under
our new and strange experiences. The
logic of events moves swiftly. The
next great change will come in our re
cognition of the necessity of the Mica
ragua Canal. Out of them all will
come an absolute revolution in oul
national history. We will take oul
place among the great powers of tn
world. We will be forced to prepar
ourselves for the dangers and dutie
of great naval power, and, after that
possibly for the dangers and duties o
at least respectable military power
$50 our old-time quietude and peac
may be lost for us as a nation. An
thus the good example which we hav
set to other nations of a powerful
country able to get along without tn
burden of heavy ornaments, an
0 strong enough in self-control to kee
: free from the temptations of an arme
power this may be thrown away fC
posterity. Against these dangers W
need to be forewarned. If we are t
incur them, they will task our brai
and our conscience. If there be an
Providence shaping our destiny in tn
: strange manner, that Providence W
may we'll trust to provide way of e.
cape from these dangers if we wi
!, look to our duties. Danger incurre
in seeking noble ends, from mob
= motives, may and must be accompanie
by some way of escape.
cit has been a pleasant policy tn
of our national isolation during ol
first century, but in the world, as S,
it, no individual can attain to his ow
highest development by seekin
simply his own development. If
shuts himself in from the cares an
anxieties, the disturbances and di
is tresses of the wcrld around him,
by order that he may seek peace, he W
M. find the finest fibre of his being disi
nd tegrating. The same law which hol
re rs over individuals and over classes
st. must it not hold over nations? Is
le- not the plain duty of great power
enter into the world concert wheI
ali world wrong is being COMMITTEES
Sc, Have we any right to stand aside a
, see such deeds done and fold our han
- in the contentedness of national il
lation-which may be simply natiol
selfshness? 1t is easy to see the bei
us. fits to the world of Americas comi
out of her international isolation a
- assuming her share of the responsih
tiles of world power. There is no
ing like great responsibility to rol
will and awaken conscience and s
all the slumbering moral forces of on
,e;r nature. There is no antisepic agail
ng. the dry rot equal to that of fine
lnHR thusiasm.
cil- Zone thing seems clearly our dl
at in this new role that seem opening