The Indianapolis journal., 1898-12-01
TERRITORIAL EXPANSIONS.
Past FOrebOdings Not Realized, and
These of the Present May Not He.

To the Editor OF the indianapolis Journal;
Ever since the formation Of the Union,
territorial expansions have been going on
upon an enormous scale, each in turn dep
recated and opposed by many of our most
thoughtful statesmen as sure to result in
national ruin, and each in turn accepted
and approved by the verdict of posterity.
When, therefore, listened, a few days ago,
to a despairing prediction Of the downfall
of republican institutions to result from
the annexation of the Hawaiian islands and
Porto Rico, and responsible supervision
of the affairs of Cuba. and the Philippines
a prediction made by Mr.. Gamaliel Brad
ford to the New England Women's Club-I
consoled myself with the reelection that
similar forebodings have been expressed on
several previous occasions, and, as events
have proved, without foundation.
Eighty-eight years ago Hon. Josiah Quin-
cy, afterwards president of Harvard Col
lege, and first mayor of Boston, great
grandfather Of our present mayor, repre-
sented Massachusetts in the national House
of Representatives He was a COOL conserv-
ative man. not likely to take extreme views
Yet when the bill to purchase and annex
the Louisiana Territory was under consid-
GRAFTON, he deliberately declared that it's
passage would break up the Union, and
would make it the right and duty of Mas
saHhusetts to secede. Here are a few salient
passages from his speech on that occasion
made Jan. H. 1911:
Il address you, sir with anxiety and dis
tress OF mind wholly unprecedented. TO me
IT appears that it would justify a revolution
Of time II mary arod aa Inat IN 40 sIeaT b bIenst9
contemplated lays ruin at the feet Of all our
hopes. IL is my deliberate opinion that, IL
this Dill passes, the bonds of this Union are
virtually dissolved; that the States which
compose 1t are free from their moral obli-
cations, and that, as it will be the right of
ali, SO II VIII be the duty OF some, TO pre-
pare definitely for q separation-amicably,
If they can; violently, if they must.
D., Inc Inc Cohstl5utlon IS poltlcai compact
by whom and about what? 1t is we, the
people of the United States, for ourselves
ana our posterity; not for the people Of
9nislaa e9ns d Of nor Ior the people r 3t New Or
contemplated is settled by the treaty Of
leace, ana is included within the Atlantic
ocean, the St. CroiX the lakes, and "a line
drawn through the middle of the Misss-
sippi river, until it intersects the northern
most part of the thirty-hrst degree Of north
latllude thenee within line drawn due
east TO the Atlantic ocean. >
rms Constitution was never constructed to
form covering for the inhabitants of Mis-
souri, and Red river country, and whenever
II Is attempted to be stretched over these
1t VIII be rent asunder Why, sir,
nave already heard of six States, and some
say, at no great distance OF time, more /
have also heard that the mouth of the Ohio
VIII be far to the east of the center of the
contemplated empire. 1t was not for these
men that our fathers fought. II was not
for them this Constitution was adopted
You have no authority to throw the rights
ana liberties and property OF these people
into hotchpot with the wild men on the Mis-
souri,. nor with the mixed though more re-
spectacle race of Anglo o-Hispano-Gallo-
Americans who bask on the sands at the
mouth of the Mississippi IT would be a
virtual dissolution Of the Union. When you
throw the weight of Louisiana into the scale
you destroy the political equipoise contem-
plated at the time CT forming the compact
Do you suppose the people Of the
Northern or Atlantic States will, or ought
to look with patience and see representa-
tives and senator's from the Red river and
the Missouri pouring themselves upon this
and the other floor. managing The concerns
Of a seaboard 1900 miles at least from their
residence, and having & prcpOnderancy in
councils into which. constitutionally. they