Evening star., 1898-05-06

assertion that "we Will return the Philip
pine Islands and ask no indemnify" To
let them pass out Of our power without
proper. compensation would be the act OF
an irreclaimable fool.
1t Is true, as Is said, that the one thing
we want is the Independence of Cuba. For
that the war with Spain was undertaken,
and will be carried on to the end. To gain
liberty for the people of that island the
people of the United States are willing to
pour out their blood and money without
stint, as long as need be. 1t was announced
in the beginning that this was not to be a
war for the expansion of our territory.
That promise holds good today, and will
hold good to the end-as to Cuba. The sole
purpose of the war was and Is to free that
island from the cruel hand of Spain and to
let its people work out ry and for them
selves the problem of self-g overnment. Had
Spain conceded that, when asked, there
would have been the end of the matter.
But she determined, on the other hand, to
let the issue be decided by the stern arbi-
trament Of war; and, having done that, she
must abide by the consequences, however
humiliatfnS they may be to her vanity, and
however costly to her purse. In regard to
the Philippine archipelago and the island
of Porto Rico no pledge was given, no
pTOiIlSe, eNpTeSSeu OF lII1plltu WdS SNSA
made. any more than as to the disposition
that would be made of ships and arms cap
tured in battle. The taking of those is
lands is in no sense and to no extent one
Of the purposes of the war. If taken, as
taken they undoubtedly will be, before the
struggle ends, their capture will be one of
the necessary consequences of the war
not its object, but one of the natural and
legitimate results of its prosecution; and
they should no more be returned to their
former owners or transferred to any other
pcwer without adequate compensation than
should other spoils Of war be restored,
without proper equivalent, to those from
whose bloody appraised hands they were
wrested.
Spain should be made to pay to US in
money large part if not the whole Of the
enormous cost OF the war which her cruel
greed made necessary. Let us turn back
few pages of history and see how other
nations have Jared under like circum-
stances. What was the price paid by
France for provoking war with Germany
in 1870? She lost the princely domains of
Alsace and Lorraine, and was compelled to
pay to her powerful adversary the enor-
nous sum of one thousand million dollars
in money besides. What was the fate of
China when she lately measured arms with
Japan? She bought peace by ceding to her
progressive and courageous little neighbor
the much-prized island of Formosa, COM
prising some fifteen thousand square miles
OF most fertile and productive land, and
paying her in addition a large indemnify
1Eg fund in cash. Even Greece in her
struggle only a few months ago with Tur-
Key was glad to make terms by a surrender
OF valuable territory and payment of money
not SO large in amount as in the other
two cases mentioned, it is true, but in
something like the same proportion, con-
sldering the length and cost of the war in
which they were engaged.
why, then, should not Spain be compelled
10 repay at least a portion of the enormous
sums which this country has necessarily
paid out, and to make good some of the
painful losses she has sustained in carry
ing ON the warfare required 10 secure the
ENDS IN view at the beginning? What is
there in the past or present history nf
spain, what is there in the nature or as
pirations of her people that should make
ner late when beaten an exception to that
VI other defeated adversaries from the he
ginning of history to the present timep