New-York tribune., 1899-02-12

land. and happier TO find that the Treaty IS
accepted by the Senate and the people as one that
guards the honor and protects the interests OF our
country Only so should Nation like ours make
peace at all
Come Peace not like n mourner bowed
For honor lost and dear ones wasted:
But proud to meet people proud,
With eyes that tell OF triumph tasted
shall make no apology-now that the Senate mas
unsealed lips-for speaking brleny oi 'i's "O'N
lust happily completed
The only complaint one hears about " is that we
did our duty too wel-that in fact we made peace
on terms too favorable to our own Country. IN a"
the pendinC discussion there seems to be no other
complaint. on no other point Is the treaty s''u
by any ore TO he seriously defective
II ovally carried out the attitude OF congress nv
70 cuba. II enforced the remuneration OF spanish
sovereignty there hut in spite of the most earnest
Snanish efforts II refused 10 accept American SOW
ereignty It loaded neither ourselves nor the 'u-
hans with the so-called Cuban debts. incurred pS
Spain in the efforts to subdue them. IL IN
voved us In no complications. either IN 'he
West Indies or In the East. as to con-
tracts or claims or religious establishments.
II dealt literally with fallen foe, giving
him n generous lump sum that more thah coNe.e"
any legitimate debts or expenditures Tor pacinc
improvements: assuming the burden or Just claii'S
against him by own people; carrying pack 'ne
armies surrendered the other side OF the "or'u
~ our own cost; returning their arms; even restor-
ing them their artillery. including heaVy oruhan'c
in field fortiications, munitions or war anu '"e
very cattle that dragged their caissons IL seculeu
alike for Cubans and Filipinos the release OF poi"-
cal prisoners 1t scrupulously reserved for
the power Of determining the political status OF 'he
,nbabitants of our new possessions 1t declared on
behalf Of the most protectionist country IN 'he
world for the policy of the open door withih the
Asiatic sphere Of its influence.
THE SENATE AND THE COUNTRY SEEMED
CONTENT.
With all this the Senate and the country seemed
content But the treaty refused to return 10 SPan-
ish rule one foot OF territory which that RUE
had been broken by the triumphs OF our arms.
Were we to he reproached for that? Should the
Senate have told us "You overdld this business you
looked after the interests Of your own country 100
thoroughlv You ought TO have abandoned the
great archipelago which the fortunes or war h'd
placed al your countrys disposal You are not
exactly unfaithful servants; you are too blndly,
unsweryingly faithful. You haven't seized an op-
portunitv TO run away from some distant results
OF the war into which Congress plunged the coun-
trv before dreaming how far It might spread You
haven't lodged for the responsibilities we IN
Cured"
That IS true When Admiral Dewey sunk the
Spanish fleet and General Merritt captured the
Spanish Army that alone maintained the Spanish
hold on the Philippines the Spanish power there
was gone: and the civilization and the common
sense and the Christianity OF the world looked 10
the Power that succeeded 1t to accept its responsi
bilities So we took the Philippines. HOW coulu
men representing this country Jealous of its honor
or with an adequate comprehension either OF lis
duty it's rights. do otherwise?
A nation at war over disputed boundary OF
some other materla interest might properly stop
when that interest was secured. and give PACK 10
the enemy all else that had been taken from MN
But this was not a war for any material interest
T. was q war 10 put down a rule over an allen peo-
ple which we declared so wicked and oarparouS
that we could no longer tolerate It, How coud we
consent 10 secure peace after we had broken GOWN
this wicked and barbarous rule In two archipelagos
bv agreeing that one Of them should be forced pack
under II?
rbere was certainly another alternative. After
hreaking down the only organized government IN
the archipelago, the only security LOT Hie anu
nroperty native and foreign. in great comH'ercI"i
centres Ike Manila Iloo and Cebu. against horoeS
Of uncvilized pagans and Mahome'ah HaH'
should we then scuttle out and leave them 10
+beir fate? A band OF old-time Morse pirates
used 10 swooping down capital, capturing us
rulers selling its treasure, burning the to"'
abandoning the people to domestic dlsoroer anu
foreign spoaton. and promptly sailing Oh LOT an
other p.ratical foray; band OF pirates, uSeu 10
that sort of thing might. no doubt nave leit
Manila TO he sacked by the insurgents. and might
have fed from the Philippines We did not think
. self-respecting civilized. responsible Christian
Power could
ANOTHER SIDE TO IT
There was another side to it. In conflict TO
which fifty years of steadily increasing provocation
had driven us we had lost 266 sailors, reacherousy
murdered on the Maine: had lost at Santiago and
elsewhere uncounted victims Of Spanish guns and
tronical climates and had spent in this war over
500 0 900 without counting the pensions that must
stil accrue under laws existing when II began.
Where was the indemnity which under such circum-
stances Il is the duty of the victorious nation To eN-
act not only in its interest but in the Interest OF
CHRISTIAN civilization and the tendencies OF modern
International law which require that nation pro-
voking unjust war shall smart for II, not merely
while II lasts but by paying the cost When IL Is
ended? Spain had no money even to pay her own
soldiers. No indemnity was possible. save IN Ter
ritorv. Well we once wanted to buy Cuba, before
IL had been desolated by twelve years OF war and
decmated by the barbarian Weyler; yet our utter
most offer for it, our highest valuation even then.
was $4,000 O0-less than half the cost OF our war.
But now we preciuded from taking CuDa.
Porto Rico immeasuraby less important to us, ana
eight hundred miles further away from our coast.
is only one-twelfth the size OF Cuba Were the
representatives of the United States. charged with
,he duty Of protecting not only its honor. but It's
interests in arranging terms OF peace, TO content
themselves with little Porto Rico. away OF, third
of the way TO Spain. and the petty reef OF GUAM
in the middle Of the Pacific, as Indemnity for an
unprovoked war that had cost ana was 10 cost
their country $500 100000?
But some one exclaims. the Philippines are al
readv giving us more trouble than they are worth.
1t is natural TO say just now. and it Is partly
true What they are worth and likely to be worth
to this country in the race for commercial suprem-
acv on the Pacifc.-that Is 10 say for supremacy
I'm the great development Of trade In the Twen-
tieth Century,-s question too large to be
30 summarily decided. or TO be entered on
at the close Of dinner and under the
irritation Of Malay haif-breed's folly.
But nobody ever doubted that they would
give us trouble That is the price nations must pay
for eoine to war even in a just cause was not
one Of those who were eager 10 begin TINS war WIN
Spain but protest against any atempt 10 e'auc