The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-06-03

what a br 1tish Editor. who Is on the
scene. Says of the Wan; of Policy Of
the administration His Views ON
the Political Phases Of the Situation.
Washington Post.)

Daily Chronicle, whose letters from this
city during the Venezuelan boundary dis
pute attracted such wide attention, is in
Washington again as war correspondent
Of his paper. Last night he cabled the
following to The Chronicle, and through
his courtesy the Associa ted Press is able
to present the matter from this side:
Since my arrival I have sought dill
gently in all quarters for sone outline or
suggestion Of the policy to be pursued by
the United States in the immediate flu
ture. The result Of the war is a fore
gone conclusion. Each days news has,
therefore, only al incidental interest. But
wholly without intention on the part of
the administration, the country IS rapidly
approaching a situation where a decision
more mOmentous than any for a century
past must be taken. The results of this
decision will affect European nations
hardly less than America itself. Upon
such matter I have been unwilling to say
a word until convinced it was based upon
solid facts. l nave conversed with al
most every man, beginning with the high
est, whose authority Will mold the issue,
and with many old friends and new ac-
Qudintances, representative of all shades
of opinion. The inquiry has been like the
search for a needle in a hayStaGk, and /
have now reached the conclusion that in
this particular stack there is no needle
at all.
MERELY AWAITING DEVELOP
MENTS.
Il mean that neither in the White
house nor the state department is there
any definite conviction or determination
concerning the future direction of the
national policy with regard to the disposal
OF those oversee possessions over which
the American flag will be flying when the
war is over. This may sound like a hos
tile criticism. Nothing is further from
my mind. The United States has drifted
steadily towards its new fate. If the
Maine had not been blown up war would
not exist today. The neutrality of Eng
land forced Admiral DeWey'S squadron to
sea. To smash the Spanish-Asiatic squad
ron and seize Manila was his only course.
This accomplished, it became instantly
imperative to send him re-enforcements,
and these had to be strong enough to de-
feat twenty Spanish regiments and oc-
cupy the principal islands. The same is
true of the Atlantic. When war was de-
clared it was believed that the insur-
gents were capable of taking the field
against the Spanish if supplied with
arms, ammunition and food. 1t is now
known they are wholly incapable of this,
and the military authorities have be-
come deeply aVerse to any cooperation
with the insurgents. holding the view
that the American army should act with
complete independence, so as to be free
to face whatever situation may arise
after the Spanish are expelled. To Pres
ident Mckinley alone is due the escape
" liAo ooAANA - IN u"
recognizing the insurgents as belliger-
ents, and for this every thinking Ameri-
a today is profoundly grateful.
RESULT OF DEWEY'S VICTORY.
Again there was originally no inten-
tiOn of bombarding or Selling Porto Rico
Admiral SIMPSONS bombardment was a
failure; it should have been sooner and
final or not at all. That mistake is not
ITO be repeated, and the second Spanish
fleet viii not find a base there. Moreover,
nobody could have foreseen the extraor-
binary change of public OpeniOn after Adj
miral Dewey7s vistory. Between April Both
and May 1st a revolution took place. On
one day the idea Of keeping the Philip
pines had not occurred to anybody; on
the next, few people thought of giving
them up. Now, also, it is appreciated
that it is impossible to dispose of them
to any other power without the gravest
complications. while public sentiment is
intolerant of the idea of restoring them
to Spanish rule. Thus in every direc-
ton events have moved the admlnistra-
'tion has followed. In Ambassador Hays
words: Tt has been a case of the imposi-
tion of invisible hands. The moving fin
ger has written, and it cannot be lured
back to cancel half a line
WHAT OF THE FUTURE?
1.-The question is, will the United States,
when peace is signed, withdraw within
its own limits, abide by it's old traditions,
and resist the temptation of empire; or
will it accept boldly VIA the fortunes of
wal Ib obSI oIiu Lulh 10 AbSS "
wards a new destiny? The struggle viii
be long and bitter. From Mr.. Henry
Litchfeld West. in The Washington Post.
I quote the following striking expression
upon the one side:
Suddenly a new power has appeared
in the east. The greatest republic in the
world, a peaceIloving, unaggressive ma
ton, with a standing army no larger
than a cO~nstabulary force, and with
scarcely ships enough to be counted a
navy, has in a few hours, secured more
, Ary; 4Dr1v IN tlMO nrinr Z hno,n that MESSAGES
ed by any other foreign power, the
French alone excepted. England, with all
her planning; Germany, with all her ra-
pacity: Russia, with all her necessities
squirting on to conqueSt-nOt one of these
has been able to secure, much less hold,
so large a territory. What other nations
have failed to accomplish Through years
of preparation and scheming, the United
States has achieved in a few brief but
momentous hours.
Witt the Stars and Stripes floating
over Cavfte arsenal, the sun never sets
upon our flag.
1t rs a mysterious law which turns the
minds Of men to the west; which inspir-
ed Columbus and the pilgrims, and push
ed the outposts of civilization across a
trackless continent nearer and nearer the
setting sun. Even now the time has como
when we stand on the shores of the Pa
cific and look stin further to the west
to the west which, inturn, becomes the
east. Hawaii and the Philippines becko1
and allure. They attract with a wonder
full, al in~explicable magnetism. They will
be ours through the uncomfortable intlu-
enceS of destiny. 1t is the onward re-
s~istless sweep Of western civilization. 1t
in fate
HAWAIIAN ANNEXATION.
Here is an example of the opposite,
from The New York Herald's plea for
Pearl Harbor as a naval base instead OF
Hawaiian
" Shall we annex all of the Hawaiian
islands, pay the debts of the Dole oil
garchy, keep the serfs of the Dole oligar-
chy in order, and provide fat jobs, con-
tracts, etc, for hungry carpet baggers?
" Shall We build and maintain a navy to
occupy itself solely with the defence of
the stands Shall We take another rot
ten-DorOugh state into the union, with
two rotten-borough senators and three
rottef-borough presidential e1ectors?'
The opponents of annexation urge that
the constitution permits no territory to
be Incorporated in the union which can
not become a state. 1t is replied that
A o~;a -o,x-t nh 1--ra~ Lot any~rn yNnch-