Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-06-30
CLaRk'S LETTER
Discusses the Expansion
of Territory.
OUR LIBERTY THREATENED.
Annexation of Hawaii Will Be
an Unmixed Evil.
no NEED FOB THE PHILIPPINES.

Requirements OF Naval s~trstegy-Our
System of Government Would BE Weak
ened BY the Admission of o Horde Of
AAiatio savages-Duty Made Clear.
Especial Washington Letter.I
At last the house of representatives
Of the Fifty-ifth congress has actually
had reasonable time to debate n great
questionable annexation Of Hawaii.
We had four days and N night of de-
bate. Perhaps we would not have OBJ
tanned that much time except for the
fact that Speaker Reed wa opposed to
the annexation job-the most oreditable
thing to his account.
In opening my speech I said:
Mr.. Speaker, I this day speak for the
integrity, the honor, the perpetuity of
the American republic.
Hear me for my cause" your cause,
our country's cause, the cause of repre-
sentative government-aye, the cause of
humanity itself.
Since that Hateful shot was fired at
Sumter, which was heard round the
world, q greater question has not been
| debated in the American congress-
No such privileges opportunities and
immunities as ours have ever been
| vouchsafed to any other of tho children
Of men.
Into our keeping has been committed
the ark Of the c%onvenant of human lib
erty. To preserve it free from contami-
nation, not only for ourselves but for all
peoples and kindred and tongues, is the
stupendous task set by the fathers for
our accomplishment. We cannot, we
Will not, we must not we dare not,
prove recreant to this momentous trust.
Should we shrink from our high des-
tiny, should we shirk this paramount
duty 10 u country and our kind,
should We wantonly or foolishly jeopar-
die u birthright Of freedom bought
with the treasure, the suffering, the
heroism, the blood and the lives Of our
Revolutionary sires, we will not only
receive but will richly deserve the exc
Grafton of posterity and of the world
till tho last syllable Of recorded time
Jobs momentous question, eff q man
die, shall he live again?' has been an
swered in the affirmative with prac-
tical unanimity by all wearing the hu-
man form divine except 1.-The fool who
hath said in his heart, There is no
God"
But to that other important query,
eff q nation die, shall it live again?"
the history Of our race for 5000 years
gives for response o melancholy but en-
phatic "NoI'
Annexationists appear 10 labor under
the delusion that In the twinkling of
an eye any sort of o human being, no
matter how ignorant, vicious or degrad-
ed, q be- made worthy Of American
citizenship by a simple act Of congress.
Not SO, however. Fitness for that ex-
allied privilege can be obtained only by
having the right sort of natural qualifi-
cations to build on ardsthen by being
educated for centuries in the hard
school of experience.
Confidence is said to be a plant of
slow growth. So is human liberty. 1t
is marvellous to remember at what q
O4A0AA . RhCOS "1bh "uhb Dk11I1O1 6ttDSy
we have advanced from barbarism TO
self government
Martyrs For Freedom.
It is precisely !, 900 years since AL.
fred the Great died, yet he is universal
ly recognized as one Of the founders of
u system of Jurisprudence and one of
the authors Of u freedom. But back
Of him, extending to the dawn Of civili-
zation in the woods Of Germany, were
thousands of humber friends of liberty
working with feeble lights, but with
stout hearts, whose very names have
persisted from the memory Of the living.
Magma Charta, trial by jury, the bill
Of rights, the petition Of right, the long
parliament, the commonwealth, the
right Of the writ of habeas corpus, the
American Revolution, the Declaration
Of Independence, the old articles of con-
federation, the constitution of the Unit
ed States-these are only the luminous
mileposts ON the long, tedious, hazard
Gus and triumphal road by which we
have travelled to the proud position
which we occupy this hour.
All the aspirations, all the efforts,
all the sacrifices of all the English
speaking patriots who have lived and
wrought and fought and bled and died
in the sacred cause of liberty since the
unlettered barons wrenched the great
charter from the feeble hands of a
John at Runnymede have found their
perfect contamination in the American
republic
That we might be free great Oliver
charged the feudal lords of Britain at
Naseby, Marston Moor and Dunbar, be-
headed the king in front of his own
banqueting house and made royalty
throughout the ends Of the earth trem-
bic at the mere mention of his name.
For us John Hampton died at Chal.
grove, John Milton was reduced to beg.
gary, and Algernon Sidney went to ig-
nominious death upon the scaffold.
To secure this fair heritage the elder
Pitt wore away his mighty energies and
Wolfe assembled to immortal glory from
the plains of Abraham.
For us English lovers of freedom had
their ears cut off, their noses slit,
were attained, whipped at the CARTS
tan, transported, broken on the wheel,
burned at the stake, hanged upon the
gibbet, buried at the crossroads with
Rev. Robbins, of Macon City, a
brother of Corporal 81. P. Robbins,
viii make application to become chap
lain of the Sixth Missouri Regiment