The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-08-22
A LEARNED LEGAL view
Charles w. Gould Discusses
the Eastern Issue.
NO LACK OF PRECEDENT
Counselor Who VIII Probably Ac-
company the Military Commits
siOns Establishes Striking
Sf.nfle Between the Battles of
New Orleans and Manila

The statement that Charles W. Gould,
the New York lawyer, would be appointed
a member of the Cuban military commits
sion, which was published in number
of yesterdays New York newspapers,
was an error. Mr.. Gould may accom-
pany the Cuban commissioners in an adj
visory capacity. but his functions, If he is
chosen, will be those of a counselor.
Charles w. Gould comes from a family
of lawyers. His grandfather, James
Could occupied a high position on the
Connecticut bench, and two of his uncles,
George and William, were elevated to the
supreme bench of New York and Georgia,
respectively
Charles w. Gould has made a speciality
of interna tional law and has devoted
much of his time to a study of the con-
ditions of that law as applied to the Span
ism independencies
In an article in the Sunday Sun dealing
with our first territorial expansion, Mr.
Gould refers to the Louisiana purchase
as the original precedent. In this connec-
ton he writes:
1t Is most apt precedent at this mo-
ment, when it seems almost forgotten
that though we bought Louisiana from
France, the laws we found there were
Spanish, administered by Spanish officials.
and that excepting Alaska) all the land
we nave hitherto acquired has been Span
ish. With that one exception, two-thirds
of the present area of the United Sta tes
to
from San Diego TO st. Augustine; thence
along the Gulf to New Orleans; from
New Orleans to Omaha, from Omaha to
Tacoma, and return TO San Diego, always
journeying through what was once Span
ish territory"
Mr.. Gould goes on to show that the
national policy has always been one of
territorial aggrandizement up to the ac-
QUESTION of Alaska, since which time until
now there has been a period of quiescence,
or. rather. of Indifferent complaisance.
The following paragraph in Mr. Goulds
article refers 10 the effect of the Louisi-
ana acquisition:
"Our first experiment in governing an
nexed territory had been unequivocally
successful: and it's authority as to Fed
eral power 10 govern future acquisitions
became final. Whichever may be the
source whence the power is derived.
said Marshall, passing upon its subse-
quent assertion in Florida. the possess
sion of it is unquestioned.'
There is a world of significance. too, in
the following paragraph as applied to
nresent condEtions:
1T was one of the strongest grounds of
objection to the proviso for statehood in
the Louisiana treaty that before the rep
resentatives elected to one Congress from
the Pacific Northwest could take their
seats a new Congress would be in session.
and a dozen years later Ttle battle of New
Orleans was fought and won in Ignorance
of the fact that a treaty of peace had
been signed more thaa a fortnight be-
FORE
Dewey and Merritt bombarded and cap
tured Manila and received the surrender
of the Philippines some days after the
peace protocol was signed. There are peo-
pie who will draw the conclusion from
these comparisons that we are as likely
to give up the Philippines as we We're to
yield Louisiana.