Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-10-13
"wnn. Ara rncy aolnr 70 DO win u.qo


The craze for annexation, for the |
of distant territory, is
sweeping through the United States.
The appetite that was whetted by the
Hawaiian folly has been made fairly
ravenous by our war with Spain, and
now the demand goes up for Cuba,
Porto Rico, the Philippines and for
every other colonial possession lately
held by the government of Spain.
Those who find themselves being
carried away with the glamor Of this
imperialistic policy, would do well to
pause and ask the question: What
will we do with these undesirable and
distant foreign possessionsH OF what
benefit will they prove to the United
States?''
Hard enough will it be to satisfac-
torily answer these questions, but
Bishop Potter of New York, the emf
nent and learned ecclesiast, goes
further and propounds the query:
"What are they going to do with us9"
This question was asked during the
course of an address delivered to the
Gle 'gy and laity at the annual CON
vention of the Protestant Episcopal
Diocese of New York, in the course of
which Bishop Potter said:
"The nation has had much during
the past few months to blind and in
toxicate it. 1t has won an easy
victory over an effete and decrepit adj
versary, in which no splendors Of in
dividual heroism, nor triumph Of naval
skill and in these we may indulge
just pride--ought to, blind our eyes to
the fact that we have had very easy
task against a very feeble foe. And
now, with unexpected fruits of victory
in our hands, what-men are asking
are we going to do with them2
NAY, rather" the Bishop proceeds,
"the solemn question is, What are
they going to do with us? Upon what
wild course of so-called Imperialism
are they going to launch q people,
many of whom are already dizzy with
the dream Of colonial gains, and who
expect to repeat in distant islands
some such history as our conquered
enemy wrote long ago, in blood and
| plumber, in her colonies here and in
South America. At such time, as
never before, the Church of God is
called upon, in the pulpit and by
every agency at her command, to speak
| the words of truth and soberness and
to reason Of Righteousness, temperance
and a judgment to come-a judgment
for nations as well as individual
impetuosity is sobered and chastened
and until people in peril of being
| wrecked upon an untried sea can be
made to pause and think. The things
that this community and this nation
alike Supremacy need are not more ter
ritory, more avenues of trade, more
places for place-hunters, more pensions
for idlers, more subject races to prey
upon--but dawning consciousness of
what, in individual and in national
life, are peoples Indispensable mora
foundations, those great spiritual forces
in which alone men or nations are
built"
These are sound words, and shoult
serve to call a halt ppon the irresponsi
BILE promoters of the spirit of acquisi
ton. Surely, this country has enough
serious problems at home awaiting
settlement, without dividing its mint
and thought and weakening its physi
cal powers in the experiment of pro
viding governments for distant islands
peopled by those who are not onl.
unfamiliar with but innately hostil
to our free institutions. 1t becomes
as Bishop Potter we'll says, question
of "What s-e they going to do will
usY" as seriously as of what We will d
with them.