The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1899-05-09
Mr.. LOuthan Replies to Dr. Broad
dus.
Madison o. H., May 8, 1899.

Madison o. H. May 8, 1899.
To The / go Lance:
With your permission | will, as brief
ly as circumstances permit, fer 20
an article, published in your paper on
Saturday. April %. from the pen Of
Dr. A Broaddus This, do not pro-
pose to do with the expectation Of
changing the views Of so learned a
gentleman and 80 able writer as DIR.
BrOaddus is, by all, known 10 be. | do
80 for the reason as the name of yOur
excellent paper indicates that you do
not interpOse objections TO the precen-
tation. through your columns, of views
on both sides of questions Of public
interest. Indeed as I uuderstaud the
history Of The Free Lance. its most
distinguishing feature has been to en-
courage temperate and dignified dis
cussion Of all questions involving the
interests Of our government, aud the
people who live under It.
Without designing to flItter you, !
may be permitted to say that. in pur-
suing the course indicated, you have
struck the key note Of the highest or
der of progressive journalism. That
take it, is the prevailing reason
for the popularity and acceptable
ity Of your paper. Without, in the
smallest degree, compromising your
own views. your tolerance and even en-
couragement Of the expression Of the
views Of others, have lifted The Free
Lance high above the low plane Of
prejudice placing it. as before init
mated among the most thoughtful and
| Influential papers in Virginia.
The subject Of the letter of DR.. Broad
dus, so justly regarded as the sage Of
Caroline, is one IN which the Amori-
can people are deeply interested.
As an original proposition, it will be
admitted, by all, that, when the Span
| ish- American war commenced, there
was not the slightest idea that ques.
tions, such IS now confront us, in the
Orient. would arise We all know, and
appreciate, the determination Of Pres
| ident Mckinley to avoid war If posi-
BILE. SO we'll understood was his posi-
| tion that many, who did not know
| him, attributed TO the President, alb
.ence of courage to emphasize what
| they conceived to be demanded by the
honor and dignity of great republic.
| To say that they were mistaken, in the
character of the man. need now simply
TO be mentioned to be recognized as a
fact President Mckinley knew some
thing of the horrors Of war. He had
seen its sorrows written in blood
Ashes, gloom, desolation. death, had
marked its PROCESS of woe, filling our
fair and happy land with the cries Of
the widows and orphans That the
brave heart Of Mckinley should hesi
tate yea, should counsel against pre-
cipitation, before the leap that would
plunge the country into the awful
chlsm, will ever be regarded, by his
grateful c0untrymen, as the highest
evidence Of courage.
Up to this point, there is no reason
for divergence between the opinion Of
Dr. Broaddus and the public OF the
President. 1t is clear. from the article
of DR. d that he was opposed to the war.
In that position, he was sustained by
nine tenths of the rejecting people Of
the country, including the President.
| Therefore the doctor, the people and
the President, when the war, with its
horrors, is brought in review before the
country can truly say: "Shake not thy
CORY locks at me thou canst not say |
did it, "
Congress is the war-declaring power.
Congress declared war against Spain at
a time when the people and the Presi-
dent were hoping and praying that it
could be averted. Thousands in the
country believe today. if the counsels
of the President had prevailed =,
war would not have come. But the
counsels Of the President did
not prevail, the war came. the country
was thrilled. The heart Of the Presi-
dent, that shrank from the shadows
cast by the clouds Of war, was as brave
as that Of Richard Of the lion heart
when the storm broke in its terror War
is not child's play. 1t strikes a blow
wherever it finds an enemy. Dewey
found a Spanish fleet at Manila. Nc
Kinley ordered him to capture or sink
it. He sank il. The world was filled
with the fame Of Dewey and those gal
liant men who floated the American fog
over the broken power OF Spain
Bagley and Sampson and Hobson and
Wheeler and Schley and Roosevelt and
Shafter and our own gallant Lee, with
the thousands of soldiers and sailors
that encompassed the defeat of Spain,
on Cuban land and in Cuban waters,
prepared the way for the treaty OF. peace
that was ratified without respect to
party. by more than two-thirds Of the
u s. Senate.
BY that treaty the Philippines were
ceded by Spain to the United States
The Americans, having destroyed