Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-02-18
SATURDAY.. FEBRUARY ~, 1899
pKINLEY,s BOSTON SPEECH.

President McKinley's speech Thursday
at the banquet of the Boston Home Mar
ket Club was remarkable perform
ance. Indeed. in some respects it was
brilliant performance. In his great west
srn "swlng around" Mr.. Mckinley deyel-
oped surprising genius in the matter Of
indirectly pleading the cause of eXpan-
sion, while studiously avoiding meeting
that issue squarely. In his Boston speech
ne labored under exceptional diff
culties He was I'm an atmosphere sur
charged with the spirit Of anti-eXpansion.
The majority of the leading papers of
New England and some of the most in
nhential public men OF that section-men
who have been foremost in guiding the
fortunes of his own party-are but little
less than virulent i'm their opposition 10
the absorption Of the Philippines. The
doctrine of the very organization Of which
the President was the honOred guest was
not long ago summarized by one Of its
opponents in the vigorous declaration
that iii would be a good thing for the
United States and for the American peO-
pie If we were separated from every other
country In the world by a sea Of impas-
sable flames" on a previous occasion
Mir Mckinley had "wined and dined"
with the club and had been the chief
speaker in voicing the theories the club
was organized TO sustain. Hence, on
Thursday he was as badly handicapped in
diffusng the new light" that has dawn
ed upon him as II he had been called
upon TO reconcile his instructions TO his
commissioners at Paris, his Filipino pro-
clamation, his flag. speech, and his de-
mand for big army, with his delverance
that "forcible annexation was criminal
aggression" Echoes from his former adj
dress to the Boston club must have rung
in his ears, and the shadows of what
have been termed the contracted ma
,ionslisms" he INDUCED in on that occa-
sion must have fallen thick across the
pathway "of duty and destiny he sought
to iumine Thursday for the benefit of
his hosts in particular and New England
In general.
But taking the address Of Thursday as
q whole. the President was equal TO the
embarrassment Of the Situation. lie
rose to the height Of the argument. lie
eccentuated his claim TO the possession
Of positive genius in the matter of plead
ing indirectly a cause without stating
,he proposition. His remarks glttered
with such catch-words as liberty" EN-
sranchisement," obligations" ''responsi-
bilties," &c. They glstened with asser-
lions that we were engaged in grand
work of humanity" They rang the
changes upon the righteousness or our
mission to the point Of cant, and were
punctuated with tear-drops for both the
American soldiers who fell at Manila
and the gentle Filipinos whom we butch-
cred in the cause Of their own freedom -
tear-drops which suggest that the Presi-
dents quotation
why read We not the changeless truth
The free can conquer but 10 save
would have been more appropriate hau
It been altered as follows:
"'Why read We not the changeless truth
The free can slaughter but to save!
Then. too. the President displayed great
adroltness in abiding to imperialism
lie knows that the word stinks IN the
nostrils OF the average New Engiahoer'
and he assured his hearers that mo I'M
perial designs Turk in the American MIND
They are alien TO American sentiment
thought, and purpose" Again his genius
righteousness. and disingenuousness came
into play when he sought 10 place the
responsibility of the war upon the mass
es and affirmed that the whole subject
OF dealing with the future Of the Philip
mines "is now with Congress. and Con-
eress is the voice. the conscience, ana
The Judgment OF the American people
Oh yes; taken as a whole the speech
was treat. And II was greater In what
IL didn't say than whit 1t did say. We
look I'm vain In IL for any statement that
Mr.. Mckinley and the administration
coterie are opposed TO permanent annex
alton of the Philippines. On the contrary,
we find that II is instinct with effort TO
SOW In the New England mind the seed
OF expansion designs. which Is but an
other term for Imperial designs" We
find no acknowledgment OF the proved
fact that the majority In Congress Is
really the voice and the conscience. save
tho mark. and the judgment OF William
Mckinley and his imperiallstIc advisers.
We discover nowhere in the address any