Omaha daily bee., 1898-06-26
MAcAULAy ON COLONIES.
Lessons Drawn by the Historian from
Il Experience OF Great Britain.

1t Is u true but melancholy saying of Col
eridge, that experience is like the stern
light of 4 ship, which only iliumines the path
already travelled" From the speeches and
writings of the advocates of the new land
grab policy, it might be inferred that for
eign colonies had always been sources of
boundloss profit, and that this country had
now "A chance for securing unprecedented
prosperity if it could only secure the owner
ship of a few islands here and there in the
gulf of Mexico or the Pacific ocean.
The fact that the people of the tropics
can seldom be induced TO work long enough
Or hard enough to coysr their nakedness is
quietly ignored, and the imagination is al
lowed to run riot in speculations as to the
prosperity which is TO follow the annexation
of countries without capital, without in
dustry, without anything to sell, and
without money to pay for anything they wish
to buy. Even Cuba has been unable, since
the abolition of slavery, to compete with
France or Germany in the cultivation of
sugar. and the Hawaiian islands are only
able to p oarte b: the aid of Coolie labor;
but 1t is useless to particularize when the
lesson OF Spain herself stares us in the face.
For the last ten years her colonies have
entailed constant expense, and her present
bankruptcy is largely due to the heavy drain
upon her resources from Cuba and the Phil
ippines. Nor is there anything novel in this
statement. The experience of England has
not been much more fortunate. At the pres
ent day the question of how to deal with
Jamaica is one of the most troublesome puz-
2les which confront the English statesmen.
The planter in that island, with everything
in his favor, is reduced to bankruptcy, and
nothing but a system of bounties can save
him. The great decline in the price of sugar,
caused, be it remembered, by competition in
Europe and not in the tropics, has ruined
the ETglisfmen IN lalnllra, as it did tie
Spaniard in Cuba; but even in former years,
when large fortunes We're still made by in
dividuals. the West Indies were not profit
able possessions for England.
1t will be entertaining, If not profitable,
to turn from the frothy declarations of the
congressman of today, to the weighty words
of one who was a great statesman, as well as
a great historian. In his essay on the West
Indies Essays, vol. vi, PIP. 1924, ct seq,
Lord Macaulay said:
There are some who assert that in a mil
itary and political point of view the West
Indies are of great Importance to this cOun-
try. This is a common but a monstrouS
Misrepresentation. We venture to say that
the colonial empire has been one of the
greatest curses of modern Europe. What ma
zion has it ever strengthened? What ma
ton has 1t ever enriched? What have been
- / I " olo " SId 'hNS anu
immense cost, fettered trade, lavish eXpen-
ditures, clashing jurisdiction, corruption in
governments and Indulgence among the
peoples. What have Mexico and Peru done
for Spain, the Brazils for Portugal, Batavia
for Holland? Or If the experience of others
is lost upon us, shall we not profit by our
own? What have We not sacrificed to our
4, infatuated passion for transatlantic COMM
5 ion? This it is that has so often led us to
, risk our own smiling gardens and dear fire.
sides for some snowy desert or infectious
, morass on the other side of the globe. This
inspired us with the project of conquerlng
= America. This induced us to resign all the
4 advantages of our insular situation-to en-
O broil ourselves in the intrigues and fight the
4 battles of half the continent-to form coal-
lions which were instantly broken and to
give subsidies which We're never earned.
This gave birth to the lratrlcldal war
| against American liberty, with all its dis
graceful defeats and all its barren victories
r and all the massacTes OF the indian hdIcnet
q and all the bloody contracts OF the fiesslah
slaughter house. This it was which In the
war against the French republic Induced us
g to send thousands and tens OF thousands Oh
I our bravest troops to die IN West lhulan
S HOSPITALS, while the armies OF our enemies
were porting over the Rhine and the Alps
a When a colonial acquisition has been IN
/, prospect we have thought no expenditure too
eXtravagant, no interference LOO peflIous'
Gold has been TO us as dust ana Dloou a.
water. Shall we ever learn WISDOM! onai
we never cease to prosecute a pursuit wilder
It than the widst dreams of alchemy, with all
n the credulity and all the pTofusion OF Sli
Epicure Mamman?
Those who maintain that settlements Sc
remote conduce to the military or maritime
power OF nations, fly in the face OF history
ID The colonies of Spain were far more eN'
IL teusiye and populous than ours, Has SPAN
at apy time within the last two centuries
IT been a match for England either by land OF
y By sea? Fifty years ago our colonial 40
st minions in America were far larger ah'
more prosperous than those which we a
present possess. Have we since that TIM
experienced any decay in our political lnliu
ence, in our opulence, or in our security
In Or shall we say that Virginia was a les
is valuable possession than Jamaica, or Massa
IN chusetts than Barbados?
m Such is the lesson Macaulay drew fror
Mt the experience of Great Britain, althoug
its skill in governing foreign Dependence
~ has never been approached by any othe
or people, ancient or modern. Is 1t posslbl
ra that we shall be rash enough to run tn
risk CT corrupting our politics, and destroy
d. ing our institutions by trying an experiment
he in which every other nation has reaped onl
mt disaster?
liz 49,. Tnn lnaI