Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-07-28

do us part. Let MS all ~fervently hope
and pray that it will prove a blessing
and not a curse. In closing my speech
against annexation I said as to ''mani-
fest destiny"
1--WE hear much of manifest des-
tiny That is a charming phrase. 1t
tickles the ears of men, it panders to
human vanity, it feeds the lurid flames
Of III ambition, it whets the sword of
conquest, it is an anodyne for the trou.
bled conscience, but it lureth to de-
struction. At the last it biteth like q
serpent and stingeth like an adder. 1t
is, however, nc new doctrine. 1t is as
old as the hills, rock ribbed and an.
cient as the SUM- Years and years ago,
stripped of all DISCUSSES and adorn-
ments, it was formulated by that emf
nent annexationist, Rob Roy, in this
plain, blunt language:
18th good old rule, the simple plan,
That they should take who have the power
And they should keep who can.
"Moses placedshis veto on this con.
venient theory of manifest destiny
when with inspired pen on tables Of
stone he wrote this stern command:
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours
lands Even in this presence I beg
leave to suggest that the ~decalogue is a
moral code lot for the temporary and
exclusive use of the disgruntled chill
dren of Israel, footsore and weary with
wandering in the wilderness, but is ap.
plioable to all persons in all countries
and at all times, for the principles of
right and wrong are eternal and do not
change with latitude and longitude or
with the lapsing years or with the
various tongues of men.
A Spacious Plea.
"'Manifest destiny has been the
specious plea of every robber and free
booter since the world began and will
continue to be until the elements shall
melt with fervent heat.
cit was manifest destiny which led
Lot to overreach his uncle, Abraham,
in selecting the rich lands Of the valley,
and you remember the weird story of
Sodom and Gomorrah.
"The manifest destiny of Jacob en-
abled him to appropriate the birthright
of his luckless brother, Esau.
manifest destiny led Philips in
vincible son across the sea, across the
Granicus, even to farthest Ind to build
up an immense empire, which Erumbled
to pieces at his death.
Manifest destiny sent the Roman
emperors to the burning sands of Afri-
ca, to the woods of Gaul, to the noun
tains of Asia, to the boys of England,
and at last put up the imperial crown
for sale at auction to the highest bidder.
manifest destiny caused Bajazet
to desolate the fairest portions of Asia,
and he ended by being hauled around
IN an iron cage as a ravening wild
beast, which he was.
Manifest destiny impelled Mad
Charles of Sweden to put northern Eu-
rope to the sword until he met his Mem
esis in Peter the Great at Poltava.
Manifest destiny was Napoleon's
gauzy justification for all the bones
bleaching from Toulon to Mount st.
Jean. He was always prating about his
star, but it disappeared forever in the
sunken road of Ohaiu, and he wandered
from the stricken field the immense
s~omnambulist of a shattered Dream
Manifest destiny makes England
the great bully of the world, depressing
the weak, toadying TO the strong, laying
up wrath against that day of wrath,
that dies irae, which is as sure to come
for her as that a just God reigns on
high.
"Oh, yes! Manifest destiny is a Sc
ductive thing. 1t is the beautiful, the
irresistible, the wicked Gree reckoning
us on to our undoing. The entire path
way Of man since the day when Adam
was driven from Eden with flaming
swords is black with the wrecks of ma
tions who hardened to the siren song of
manifest destiny and the epitaph
but they are not
Tempting Fate
Hitherto we have been the ~fayorites
Of heaven, but let us not tempt fate too
far, or destiny will grow weary of part
nership with us, as she did with Napo-
leon at Waterloo.
Hawaii is a blind for our eyes, q
snare for our feet, a bait for our cupid
ty, the will-o'-the-wisp which will lead
us into the sloughs of despond, the be-
witching, scheming, ~treacherous Delilah
destined to shear our Samson of his
leonine locks and to deliver him, bound
hand and foot, into the power of the
Philistines.
Hawaii is the fly which will make
our whole pot Of ointment stink in the
nostrils of the civilized world.
"Let us put away this supreme temp
tation from before our faces, and gener-
ations yet unborn will bless us for this
act Of wisdom, self abnegation and
patriotism.
Mature has set bounds to this mag.
nificent republic beyond which sha
should not go-the Atlantic on the east,
the gulf of Mexico and the Rio GrandG
on the south, the Pacific Oh the west,
and, in the fullness of time, without the
expenditure of a dollar or the splitting
of one drop of blood or the shedding Of
a single tear, the frozen ocean on the
north.
within those wide, extended limits
we will live and grow and flourish, the
happiest, the richest, the most puissant,
the most intelligent, the securest people
on the whole face of the earth.
but depart from the plan of justice,
of wisdom and of moderation, go chas-
ing the ignis fatuus Of manifest des-
tiny over land and over sea, and some
day Macaulay's artistic New Zealander,
after finishing his picture Of the ruins
of St. Paul's, will sit on a broken arch
of the Long bridge and sketch the
ruins of this capitol. Before you con-
summate this monstrous folly I say to
you, in the language of Galgacus to the
ancient Britons, Think of your forefa-
theirs; think of your posterityP
NZukM