The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-22

!
form of government, which does not
write large upon its banners, and maintain
with its arms, the golden rule of justice,
moderation, and mercy, to all men, can
hope to survive long the convulsions
which gave it birth. Men pallate inordi-
nate patriotism. patriotism which gives
| loose rein TO its passions, patriotism which
is so fierce that il will not pause to dis
| crimina te between right and wrong. They
! forget that the rule of use and not abuse
should be applied to this, as 70 every fact,
objective or subjective, in the range of hui
man experience. In vindication of my ar
| Sument, l would call attention TO one of
the most painful things which the con-
scientous historian Will have to record
| when the annals of these times shall be
| written. There is no more corrective in
! fluence in the world, for a nation, than
the scalpet of the conscientious historian,
which lays bare every wound and blemish
in our polity.
We have presented to the world at large
the spectacle, sad yet not unheroic, of
chief executive standing alone, almost, in
the midst of a turmoil of dissatisfaction
| and villification, not unprecedented in our
history when questions of domestic rel.l-
tons were concerned, but not the less
Illuminating to a sound conception OF 10y
atty to government and flag. Almost sin
| gle-handed he has confronted and striven
against and conquered, by sheer perse-
| verance, forces within his own dorlinions
| more formidable than any Spanish armada
which that corrupt nation could launch
against us, even IL to-day, as Of old, her
fleets dominated the high seas. and her
residential flag fioated from the Gulf OF
Mexico to the stormy headland of Cape
/ Horn For weeks it has been wilhn the
power of one plain, unostentatiops Ameriv
can citizen, of equal birth with us all, by,
yielding to the very weakness OF which
ne has been accused, to precipitote great
and noble-hearted people inio che I'M
known Vicissitudes the unimaginable ca
lamities of a modern warfare. the far
reaching influences, tremendous horrors
and devastation of which the w,sest Of
men can only prognosticate, inasmuch as
the implements of modern warfare have
never yet to an adequate degree, been
subjected 10 the crucial test which comes
only in the heat of battle. If three weeks,
a month, or two months ago Mr. McKn-
ley (as has been pointed ouD had yielded
to the temptation, had thrown his intu-
ence and his efforts inio the cause Of
y those who have antagoniZed him, lie
would, for a time al least, have heen
popular idol; ne would have been the demi-
god of The yellow journals, the jln9oes
would have canonized him, every paltry
little country paper in the land would
have showered undesirable encomiums up
on Undesirable? Yea, for since when
have the tributes of fool been the desire
of a sage? The head and front Of his
offending has been that he inclined his ear
to the voice of wisdom; he refused to be
unduly FASTENED in the consideration Of
grave questions of nationaI policy he
shrank from squandering the lives OF his
countrymen until satisfied that those lives
were really demanded as ransom for his
countrys honor, and that that honor could
not be preserved intact and inviolate with
out the sacrihces he has, Furthermore, APP
preciated The force of the benign conten-
ton that, amid all her cruelges, SDain Is
a government which, as far as legal sta
tus is concerned, Is on parity in the eyes
of the world with our own government
with rights not to be altogether ignored =;
he has recognized the fact that we are SUI
perior to SPAIN that in making the de-
mands upon her that we have made, we
have asked her to do something tTat FEW
nations have ever been called upon to 90,
and fewer nations have ever done without
armed compulsion; he generously conceded
that the government of Spain was placed
in a terrible predicment, between awful
alternatives he wisely appreciated that
our own government was open TO the mn
plication of bullying. Therefore, ne wait
| ed as long as il was possible or disnltifl
to wait. for answer to his demands and
then. and only then, he presented to Con-
gress a document which was assaied from
an sides as the highest evidence, the very
incarnation and embodiment OF the weak
ness and duplicity of which he had been
accused, but which, mirabie dictu, was
afterwards almost unanimously sustanea
by both houses of Congress!
AS 1 have implied elsewhere, as far as
the present situation Is concerned, the die
mas been cast. and 1t behooves as as good
citizens to stand by the result In the be-
ginning there was ample ground for diver
gence of opinion as to the wisdom or the
right OF interference in Cuban affairs. The
heat of sentiment, whether right or wrong,
has long since hurried US over mat
ground; further consideration OF that view
, az the question has been closed to US. II
would nav us, however. to ponder well the
thoughts which naturally present them
selves when we revert, individually to that
stage of the movement. Let us not delude
, ourselves; let us follow ne false prophets
: let us remember the refrain of Klpling s
, virile stanzas:
7 Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet.
Lest we forget, lest we forget
Behind us lies the prestige Of unconquered
! and conauering arms, a record Of glory
sufficient for the needs and inspiration OF
: any nation. Let not the mere sense OF We
tories won initiate our pride; let us look be-
5 hind our victories. Victories shorn OF
, their circumstances, are not siorles, nol
, is conquest justification. Napoleon added
no lustre TO his fame by his Turkish afro
! cities; in the clearer light of Christian civ
/ nization England herself great mother OF
Z us all, would fain wipe out many acts done
. in her Eastern campaigns; the butcheries
: Of the Alva, Valasquez, and Pizarro are
. pages which even Spain would expungC
I from her records, were IL not that her his
= tory. like all history, is written ineffacea-
4 bly, upon the hearts and brains. of her sub
! iects and colors all their lives with the re.
e iex hue Of treachery and cruelty. Behind
G every battle of which m American should
= Justly be proud we can discern the. impell-
! ing forces Of liberty. truth. justice. The
= ruler. the nation, waging war upon
: grounds not properly established, shall
= have his or its name written IN terms Of
. unmistakable condemnation upon tn,
' pages OF history. Thrice armed rs he thai
: hath his quarrel just" The patience e
, discriminate between right ana wrong. The
r long-sunering TO endure the bltterest OBJ
= loquy for his country's sake, the determi
= nation 20 Justify every act before perform
l "a 10 nfrIrf" t4fttI af1.a