Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-12-15

careful survey of the new conditions that
nfront us.
i The poor showing made by the Spainards
with their army and navy has enabled US
to accomplish mere with q small expense
Of blood aud treasure than we would have
believed possible 10 the beginning
Indeed, nobody was quite so much aston
ished at the ease which the in as done
as we were ourselves.
Il At the Ontset some of the leading
English newspapers express surprise that a
war with third rate power like Spain
should be taken so seriously by the
American people, and it was freely pointed
out that the contest would necessarily be a
very short aud one sided affair.
There were many features in the war
that parlo0k more OF the nature opera
honffe han actual warfare.
1 Geo Breckenridge admits that when the
demand was made for the surrender of
San iago the American troops were in an
untenable position, and the summons to
surrender was merely a colossal bluff made
to hide their ow n weakness.
Gen. Skater has told of his astonish-
ment when he learned that the Spanish
commander was surrendering the whole
province of Santiago, with superior force
instead of merely the city and garrison,
which was all that had been demanded. A
force of 1000 Spanish troops fought their
way through superior number of Insur
gents to the American camp to make their
surrender, and the Spanish forces in Porto
Rico yielded to Gen. Miles without strik-
ing blow.
The commander at Manila agreed to
surrender to Gen. Merritt without blood
Icho ho mo on hrnr, IL
the form of an assault, merely to satisfy
Spanish honor, and this agreement would
have been carried out to the letter had not
the appearance OF the Insurgents upon the
field, aroused the suspicious Of the Spanish
troops, and led them to FIRE upon the assault
ing forces contrary to orders.
Admiral Cervera came with the flower
of the Spanish navy to the West Indies,
and without making any attempt to infict
damage upon the Americans, he steamed
into the harbor of Santiago where he
remained until Sampson and Schley had
concentrated their fleets at the mouth of
harbor, and made escape impossible.
Then be came out in broad daylight
against superiorforce expecting defeat, and
kept his vessels together, thus making it
possible for the Americans to destroy
them all.
Upon the whole, the Spanish seem to
have fatnously done everything they could
to make the path of victory easy for their
opponents and to ensure their own defeat
While there was some severe fighting
and the American soldiers and sailors
showed theirsuperbd sh and courage when
ever opportunity offered, as they always do;
the whole thing was ridicnlously easy
and the results SO disporportionate to the
outlay that the American people are, in
consequence thereof, suffering from severe
attack of swelled head. To add to this
we have dictated our own terms of peace
to the defeated nation,in European capitol,
practically stripping that country of colon
ial possessions, and none of the great
powers has interfered.
Scarcely does the century afford another |
example of sim lar forbearance on the par |
of the warlike nations of Europe.
Usually they have compelled the victor
ious nation to modify its terms to the |
vanished, and have taken the lions share
of the spoils for themselves, but in this |
case, with the exception of tentative
effort at the outset to avert hostilities, they |
have kept hands off.
All of This seems to have encouraged the |
lingo spirit, always rampant among con- |
siderable portion of our people, until it |
seems certain now that the traditional
policy of the American people is to be |
abandoned, and we are to embark upon the
tempestuous sea of Imperialism and
Colonial expansion.
When Congress declared war last Spring |
it was announced to the world that the |
object of the United States was merely to |
put stop to Spanish misrule and blood |
shed in Cuba, and assist Cubans in their |
long continued efforts to gain political
independence.
The idea of conquest and territorial |
aggrandizement was explicitly disayowed, |
and it was given out that we were entering |
upon the war through motives of phiIan- |
throphy.
During the progress of the war we were
not a little put out because European |
newspapers sneered at our benel client pre-
tensions, and did not hesitate to attribute |
onr action to territorial greed. We were
somewhat comforted, however, by the |
reflection that these papers could not be |
expected to understand our higher |
motives, seeing that their own govern
ments were not accustomed to act from |
such motives.
But it appears that these carping critics |
were right after all, and instead of liberat |
ing the oppressed we were simply grab |
bling territory regardless of the rights and |
wishes of the inhabitants.
By annexipg the islands that we have |
wrested from Spain we are squarely |
repudiating the principles upon which |
American government is founded.
No one claims that the inhabitants are |
to be allowed to take an equal part in our
system of government In fact. we pro- |
pose to govern them because they are not |
capable of governing themselves
Therefore we repudiate onr Declaration |
of Independ which asserts that :-"All |
men are created equal; that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain |
inalienable rights; that among these are |
life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness |
That, to secure these rights, governments |
are instituted among men, deriving their |
just powers from the consent of the |
governed"
We fought the Revolutionary War |
because we held that there should be no |
taxation without representation and we |
repudiate that doctrine, and admit that |
our Revolution was upjusti6able the |
instant that we extend our customs laws |
to our new dependencies.
Ever Sluc0 Tue uays OF James MOurOe, we |
have maintained that European govern |
ments should leave the people in this |
hemisphere alone to work out their own |
destiny, and have declared that it was not |
our policy to interfere with existing colo !
MES or dependencies Of any European |
power.
At the close of the rebellion we prepared |
to fight France to uphold this doctrine, and |
compelled her to Withdraw from Mexico; |
and only three years ago we were ready
to fight with England if we found that |
she was violating the Monroe doctrine in |
Venezeula.
Now, we are about to repudiate the |
whole thing, and give up our unquestioned |
supremacy on one half of the earth's sur |
face in order that we may take part with |
European nations in regulating affsirs of |
both hemispheres.
Washington's farewell address has
always been regarded a model of political |
wisdom, and by adhering to the advice |
contained therein we have avoided disas. |
trous foreign wars. and have become the |
richest nation on the face of the earth |
Now, we are about. to abandon its precepts, |
and Take our rightful place in the family
of nations
1t is the beginning Of the end All the |
great nations of antiquity have travelled |
the same fatal path
First comes the period of healthy |
national growth, during which the peOnIe |