Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-12-27
JUSTICE VS.. IMPERIALISM.
Some Reasons Against the Acquisi-
ton OF Remote Territory.


To the Editor of the Dispatch:
The American people have come to the
parting of the ways. on the left is the
road leading 10 Imperialism and national
decay; to the right stretches the broad
and safe way OF justice. Warning us
away from the road to Imperialism
stands the spirit of jefferson, telling US
that Just governments derive their power
from the consent OF the governed"
OF late years we have heard the cry:
America Tor the Americans" The Fill
pinos demand the Philippines Tor the flll-
pinos. OF all people on earth the Ameri-
cans should be the last TO turn dear ear
to that demand. I'VE have bought them
from SPAIN" we are told. They were not
Spain's to sell. We are not in the posi-
ton Of the innocent purchaser. I'VE took
them from Spain by force OF arms" We
are told again Then why has the admin
istration gone intO the pockets or the
American people for S2J,OOO,OO TO pay Tor
something We have by right OF conquest!
1--WE have freed them from Spanish ms
rule" we hear. IN the first place they
could and would have freed themselves
while We were freeing Cuba. IN the Sc
cond place they did not ask US to Tree
them. Thirdly, Dewey did not so TO Ma
Mia to free the Filipinos, but to destroy
Spanish war vessels. The war made TO
free Cuba was not entered into with any
idea Of freeing other Spanish colonies:
But we will give them the blessings Oh
good government" we are told. Ihey
can give themselves good government IL
we take our foot of their necks. "Ihey
are not yet capable of self-goyernment'
is the reply. Give them what they de-
mand, independence and liberty, and see
whether or not they are capable OF sell
government.
Hardly more than century ago IL was
predicted that the American colonists
were incapable OF self-goyernment.
Ii the Philippines are TO play the role
of Poland TO our Russia, those people
will never DO capable Of selt-goVernmehl'
They have many educated ana patrloIc
men. who yearn for liberty and know the
meaning OF the word. From all history
they can learn the lesson and draw IN
spiration. They have read that liberty
came 70 q. race of slaves covering under
Egyptian whips, filed them with the de-
sires that man alone can know, led them
out of the house of bondage, hardened
them in the desert, and made OF them
race of conduerors Liberty touched the
shields of German warriors, and Augustus
went for his broken legions. she held up
a beacon-ight to Greece, marble TOOK
forms Of ideal beauty, great thinkers
taught a philosophy that still lives, words
became the instruments OF profound anu
subtle thought, and against the scanty
militia. free men of free cities, the hither-
IN victorious countless hosts OF the Great
King broke like surges against rocks. FER
hans Pharaoh thought the Hebrews IN
capable Of self-goyernment; Augustus
doubtless thought the Germans needed MS
fatherly protection, and XerXes looked
upon the Grecians as barbarians.
Were the belted barons, lead by an
archbishop. who demanded and got Mag
M Charta more civilized than the edu-
Gated Filipinos? Were the common people
OF England more capable or selt-SOVerh-
ment at that time than the tlllplnos are
now? The child Of liberty, born or Magma
Charta, won Crecy and AgIncourt ana
going on with unfaltering step has made
England mistress OF the seas. 1t was the
revival OF liberty from the despotism or
the Tudors that glorified the age of Eliza
beth. May not Philippine liberty, rescued
from the despotism of Spain, glorify all
the future of those people If we but treat
them as human. beings and not as chat~
tells? They are not fit for liberty, they
have no right 10 liberty who would deny
liberty to others. We have honored liberty
i'm name and in form; we have set up sta
tues TO her, and have sounded her praises.
In the harbor Of our greatest city is the
statue OF Liberty Enlightening the
World" Yet under the very shadow of
that statue a Democratic paper appeals
10 the American people to "own" the
PHILIPPINES and their God-given country
and rights. And when we have "owned"
those people. and deprived them Of their
right 10 liberty and independence, how
can we further denounce the encroach-
ments Of trusts?
When we, by right Of might, have ''an-
neyed" the Philippines, we have aban-
doned the cardinal American doctrine of
selr-government. Can it be true that in
Western Hemisphere governments de-
rive their Just powers from the consent
OF the governed" while I'm the Eastern
Hemisphere governments derive their Just
powers by reason Of the largest ships and
heaviest guns?
The imperialistic Pharisees tell US that
1--WE are going to give the Fflipinos good
government. civiliZe and make them
happyv Save the mark Why not give
the American people some good govern
ment, and make them happy? In the
legislative majority that proposes TO play
good angel 10 those people are Mark Han
ma, NJ. 5. Quay, I. Il. Reed, Nelson Ding
ley. ana William Mckinley, with the inn
Jortant addition OF II. A. Alger Imagine
this crew sailing away to distant islands
on mission OF mercy and liberty! 1t
would be paraleled only by Captain Kidd
a distressed merchantmen on the
high seas He would relieve the ship,
crew. and passengers OF their valuables.
and that is what Captain Hanna's crew
will do with the Philippines. IL Is true
that the Filipinos have no twenty-story
buildinga no trusts, no national banks,
no Dlngleyism, and other evidences OF
top-rung civilization; but they have no
tramps, no industrial cannibals, no army
of the unemployed. They do not regular
ly raise money TO send missionaries to
the heathen but their young women do
not SILVER as they sew for bread nor do
able bodied men steal In order to be COM