The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-01-16
oUIxor1c OPPOSITION.
The Feeble, Vain and Sentimental Cutlery
Against Destiny in the Senate.

on the Dreu scott decision, denying the powel
of the United States to acquire territory exccp
for the purpose OF conversion into States fo
admission into the Union. .
II there Is any ono decision OF the Suprem,
Court that has been reprobated and repudiateC
by the American people il is the bred Scott de
cision. That decision destroyed the greates'
party thai has ever dominated this country. il
disrupted tho Democracy, driving Northern
and Western Democrats 10 the support
OF squntte" sovereignty. undor the LEAD
OF Stephen A. Douglas. aud was the 20
tent cause Of tho election of a Republican
President. and Of the war that followed. The
result OF that war swept away the foundation
OF the bred Scott decision. and the Fourteenth
Amendment to the Constitution recorded its
formal reputation. Since that time, as de.
clared by Justice Miller. 1t has been only m
incumbranco on tho reports Of the Supreme
Court For thirty years II has been moulder-
Ing In Its dusty plgeonhole. The venerable
Senator from Missouri now drags It forth and
brandishes IL as q potent weapon In the
struggle Of the obstructionists against inevi-
table destiny. It is II pathetic performance
that reminds us Of poor old Rip Van Wrinkle
emerging from the wilderness. with his rusty
frelock, after his twenty years nap.
Following Mr.. Vest. Senator Gallery has made
three eloquent attempts to convince the Senate
that the Constitution was made for tho benefit
not OF the people OF tho United States. but for
the benefit of those Inhabitants OF tho Philip
pine Islands. whose leader. Aguinaldo, having
sold out once to Spain, has now set up at the
old stand in tho hope Of selling out again to
the rich Americans.
Then there Is that fine old gentleman. Sen
ator Hoar. who has dug out of the Declaration
OF Independence that somewhat familiar au-
nouncement that Governments derive their
Just powers from the consent OF the governed"
Thirty years ago Mr.. Hoar apparently did
not hold to this doctrine. He then snw
no improperly In imposing uron the
Southern States n military government
until they could be reconstructed in nc
cordanro with the political PRINCIPLES
that had been established by the war. That
was all right for the people OF the South then.
but when it is now proposed to amply the same
treatment temporarily to the semi-civilized
inhabitants OF the Philippines, Senator IIoar
raises his hands In holy horror at the great
outrage and invokes the Declaration OF indie
pendence.
The fact is. as we all know. that this famous
phrase was put into the Declaration as n mere
rhetorical flourish. There is neither truth nor
sense in it. as all history and all experience
demonstrate. and nobody knew this better than
Thomas jefferson and his colleagues. At the
very time when he penned the clause Jefferson
held some hundred or more slaves in bondage
in Virginia; and Of the thirteen State Govern
ments that were declared independent, not one
was founded on the consent of the governed.
To-day when what we call univa-s al s,Traga
Is recognized in practically all NJ tha Stotes
the voter bears the ratio OF about one 70 five Of
the population. The non.votinq fonr- hftbs ara
governed bv the voting one-6rb At tho time
OF the Revolution the right Of suffrage wns
much more limited than II ia now and tho
voting or poverninp cIoss bore n n,cb am.lIo,.
ratio TO the non-yotinp class
There never was a State whose Govarnmapt
derived its mowers from tbo coneent ~ tho GOV
erned. and there never will he untiI woman
and children arc a,lowed to voto
There ia only one wov to ra,d tbis ol,,,so :, +ho
Declaration and that is tbe wav +bat is ,don+od
nv all courts in tbe copstruction If oul.ws wo
must make sense and reason ont of II ~ vn
can. and II we cant we must Law II oside ne
senseless and unreasonable That 10 what tho
franars of tho Constitution ,moro ,hon,
Washington and franklin and Hamilton and
Madison-did when thew come 70 mako tho
fundamental lav under which wa 1.-Two Tbov
simpIv ipnored .JofYarson,s rhetor;o ard want
on TO provide a practical government that
would "estoblisb iustice insuro domestto
TRANQUILITY provide for the common defanoo
promote the general weIfar e and sacnre tho
blessings of liberty TO ourselves and am. noste.-
itvn MARX the italicized words Tbev did NOT
undertoka to secure tho hIasainos ~ i;har+r ~
the whole world. They we're NOT nolitical non
Ouixotes embarking on n crusade in heholr ~
the captiye damsels or oppressed neonIes NJ
the world They were onIy sensibIo seIasb
n~atriotic Americans who were lacking ont ror |
themselves and their nosteritv and Ian wing
the rest of the world TO look ont for itself
That wac tho ohioct NJ tho Copst;trtior tbot a.
its spirit and letter, and that is the burden Of
that famous Farewell Message that George
gave to his countrymen as a chart
to guide them safely through the unknown sea |
that lay before them.
Whatever, then, tends to establish ,ustice |
to insure domestic mot foreign) tranquility Ia
provide for the common defence. to promote
the general welfare. or to secure the blessings
liberty to ourselves and our postcrity. il
comprehended in the SCOPE of the Constitution
and that we may copstitutiopally do.
II the Senate believes that il will nromote
tho peneral welrar e If tbc noonlo NJ tbis oorn