Worcester morning daily spy. (Worcester, Mass.) 1888-1898, 1898-02-04

citizens, willy-nilly, by the signatures
| of q king or q president? No; the
Danish government had declared from
| the beginning of the negotiations that
| the consent Of the islanders was sine
qua non, and stipulated that this con-
sent must be freely given, formally, and
| by ballot. Mr. Seward, the American
secretary of state, forgetting, in his
hurry to get possession Of the islands,
| that popular choice was the whole foun-
dalton of his own political system, at
| first refused to wait till the people had
been consulted. Any inhabitants who
preferred their odd allegiance, he said,
might leave the island within two years
after the annexation.
To persist in the demand for a plebis-
cite might DESTROY the chance Of ever
touching that million and half so bad
| ly needed, but the liberal premier Of
Denmark would not hear of compelling
his fellowship ects to become aliens or
| exiles. He stood firm. If the United
States government wanted the islands,
| it must ask the ISLANDERS. The Wash
ington ministers were shamed into con-
senting at last, and treaty was signed,
expressly subject to the popular sane
ton or Nisapproval. Edward CoTtensen,
formerly Danish governor on the Guinea
coast, was sent out to superintend the
voting. A clergyman, the Rev. Dr..
Hawley, was the American govern
ment's representative. According to a
lengthy statement Of the case published
| by Olive Risley Seward several years
ago, from which these details are OBJ
! tanned, DR.. Hawley's duty was simply
to give the West Indians any informa-
ton they wanted about the people de-
string their territory, and not to ex-
ercise any political influence over the
voters The merchants, Who wished to
| keep the trade of the Islands as free
as before, were definitely informed that
this could not be; that If they entered
the United States, they must submit to
the United States tariff,
| The Danish authorities, it may be
said, seem to have been sure in their
4 own mind that the people Of st. Thomas
would favor the change. Jan. 8, 1868, was
the appointed polling day. Solemn as the
event was, it was made the occasion of
a general holiday, and the voting was
carried on in the midst of great popular
/ rejoicing. The feelings that showed
! themselves so exuberantly must have
been dlscoverable and discovered before
hand. The king, in proclaiming the con-
| clusion of the treaty weeks before the
| voting, spoke thus: with sincere sor-
row do we look forward to the severance
of those ties which for many years have
united you to us and the mother coun-
| try, and never forgetting the many de-
monstrations Of loyalty and affection
| which we have received from you We
| trust that nothing has been neglected
on our side to secure the future welfare
of our beloved and faithful subjects, and
that mighty impulse, both moral and
material, will be given to the happy de-
velopment Of the Islands under the new
| sovereignty" When the votes came to
be counted it was found that only p had
been cast against annexation on st,
Thomas and not one on st. John. The
decision was practically unanimous.
How, then, does it happen that the
Danish flag still waves over St Thomas
and st. John? Simply because the Amer
lean senators laid the annexation treaty
on the shelf, without word of explana-
! ton or excuse. 1t remains to be seen
/ whether Denmark will expose herself
and her colonists to the risk of another
humiliation by reopening negotiations.