Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-10-27

give you something else.
to-day several other replies, which speak
for themselves below:
FROM EX-GOV. AND CONGRESSMAN
STEWART.
Mddlebury, Vt, October, 1898. /
Hon &. G.. Benedict:
TO the several questions In your circu- /
lar letter touching the Imperial" policy, I
so-called. l answer most emphaticlly-
no.
We shall have quite enough indigcstible
and unassimlable raw material by the
Incorporation into our body polite. Of the
heterogeneous peoples of Hawaii and Por-
to Rico.
We cannot run two irrcconcllabc sys-
tens of government at the same time,
without shpwreck.
For this reason we must hold Porto R!co
and Hawaii as territories for the time
being with the ultimate purpose of adj
mission into the sisterhood of States. For
reasons have no space to state, would
have excluded both. But with whatever
consequences, good or il-we have them.
Here | would draw the line absolutely.
The idea of taking the hundreds of tho
tropical Philippine Islands with their mil
lions of lncongruous heather, or any ono
of them, with view to their ultimate in
corporation into our system as an integ-
raj part thereof, is to me into'erable, and
indeed unthinkablc. We sent Dewey to
Manila solely for the purpose OF destroy
ing the Spanish fleet known to be In tnat
hdrbor. because the destruction Of the
naval powe~ of Spain was n necessary
step in securing the only declared rur
pose of the war, towit the liberation Ct
Cuba. How magnihcently Dewey did the
work so assigned the world knows. But
] deny that we as nation owe the inhab-
itants of those islands anything Our
great paramount duty is to guard the
rights and interests of the sevcnty-hve
millions of our own people, and to pre-
serve and maintain intact, the vital prin-
ciples upon which our own and all popu-
lar government rests.
Our government rests upon the free
choice Of the people. Llnculn's definition
is complete 1t is II government "of the
people, by the people for the people" In
the case of Hawaii and Porto Rico we
have given denial to this principle. The
people of the latter have not been con-
suited in the matter Of their transfer
Nor have the great body of the people in
HAWAII been given the right of free
choice
Our true mission as Il nation Is one of
peace Our missionary Efforts are best
and will prove, in the future as in the
past, most effective. by our demonstration
to the peoples elsewhere. of wise, peace
full ard benelicelt administration OF
great, free government. based upon the
! FREQ choice Of its people without the ex-
ercise of external force as expressed in the
burden of a great standing army and a
great navy.
The proposed expansion means endless
and veXing foreign complications; vast
expenditures on Notifications; large in
crease of army and navy; great waste Of
life and treasure; dangerous increment OF
political corruption in the foolish effort
to engraft colonial policy upon our sys-
TEN and enormously increased taxation.
Yours truly,
JOHN w. STEWART.
FROM EX-GCV. CARROLL PAGE.
Hon. G. G.. Benedict:
Dear Sir: ! answer your inquiries SER
iatim
!. Ought the United States to adopt the
Imperial theory and practice of selling
and holding all the territory 1t can ac-
quire in all quarters OF the globe? No.
2 Is It a part of our mission to con-
quer, colonize and civlize savage and
half-civllzed races on the other side of
our planet, No.
3. Ought we, having captured the city
of Manila, to take tho rest of the island
OF Luzon at IL probable cost of war with
the Philippine insurgents" Yes,
4. If we take that island by force or
peaceful surrender, ought we to annex it
to the United States?
The details are comparatively homes
sental. They can be arranged later.
/ 8. Having annexed one island ought we
we to overfun and annex The remaining
four hundred islands of the Philippine
group? No.
q. Can we gain by annexation anything
of value that could not he secured by con-
finng our demands to coaiing station
and satisfactory traffic arrangements with
the Philippines? Yes.
Marila and the island of Luzon are val
liable to us. We are entitled to them as
q partial indemnity for the expense OF the
war with Spain. If they fairly belong TO
us, and II they are valuable. and believe
they are. know of no reason why the
United States should shrink from hssum-
ing the responsibilities and duties imposed
by this new acquisition.
The United States is fast becoming one
of the foremost commercial nations OF
the world. We are progressive In every
thing except oYr foreign commerce.. We
shall soon sIeams our rightful position