Mexico weekly ledger., 1899-02-16

"Then followed a total collapse. Icziled
In several doctors bot none could cure me.
~Hy health scanned 10 be permanently
impaired.
inhabited by savages, removed by TO-
900 miles from our seat Of government
and by 1000 miles from the remotest
confines of the republic, l am a rabid
antiexpansionist
Thomas Carlyle, the gruff old Scotch
man, once declared that there never had
been an argument advanced against the
repeal Of the English corn laws that
would not make the angels weep by
reason Of its sheer righteousness It's
really a pity that his grim spirit cannot
revisit the glimpses Of the moon long
enough to hear a Philippine expansion
list deliver a speech,
Unheeded warnings.
A man apparently sane upon every
other subject becomes mad az a March
hare the moment he touches that fatal
theme.
The wisdom Of the fathers is secuted.
Their solemn warnings are held for
naught. They are said to have been
good enough to create a government
and legislate for 10 young, feeble, in
choate states, but they had their day.
They r out Of date; they are insult
cient for the fin de steele statesmen now
on the boards, who dream Of an empire
and who are hungry for world politicsl
Consider the soaring presumption Of
the men who think hat George WASH
ington, Alexander Hamilton and old
John Adams, Thomas jefferson, John
Marshall and James Madison were ct
only for a small country In a rude age,
and in the same breath arrogate to
themselves the wisdom to legislate for
''all the nations Of the earth and the
rest of mankind. " as General Zachary
Taylor remarked in his only message
10 congress-
The entire history Of the human race,
including u WI glorious history, for
more than a century counts for abso-
lutely nothing with these far aspiring
statesmen. The safety Of the republic,
the perpetuity of our institutions, the
happiness of our posterity through all
coming time are all to be ~jeopsrdized
in a reckless venture In which we have
everything to lose and nothing-sbso-
lutely nothing-to gain,
our Present Duty.
We are tippantly told that 1t Is our
duty to carry the blessings Of liberty to
these people. 1t is not true. II Is our
duty to attend strictly 10 our own busi-
ness. Nobody commissioned us to 60
forth like Don Quixote in quest Of ven
lures. Suppose we start out on the
theory that we are TO force our ideas of
government upon all nations which we
think need improvements in their mo-
dus vivendi. Where shall we begin and
where shall we stopf Why cross the
Pacific to try our first experiment.
Why not rather ave transportation ex-
penses at least and force a stable gov
eminent upon the FIVE little, quarrel
some, revolutionary Central American
republicsf We might practice upon
them until we get our hand in, We
might force them to settle down to o
steady gait by the time our great-grand-
children are in public life. Having re-
duced our bellicose neighbors to a com
atose condition, II we are still bent on
doing political missionary work with
the rife and the bayonet we might
proceed to take the inconstant South
American republics through q course Of
sprouts. 1t would probably require
some two or three generations to thrash
them into an adequate comprehension
Of their inalienable rights to life, liber-
ty and the pursuit Of happiness. If by
that time any Of MS survive the fevers,
bullets and swords Of our South Ameri-
a friends, we might give the Rus
slams, Turks and other monarchists a
few lessons.
Our National Frontier.
Every country needs q natural from
tier. That necessity accounts for every
acquisition above mentioned except
Alaska, which, as everybody knows. was
purchased Of Russia as a matter of
gratitude to her for unfaltering friend
chip to the national government during
our titanic civil war. Russia had Alas
ka for sale, and the powers then in
Washington appeared to think that we
could do nothing less than buy that
large slice Of the polar region at Rus
sia's own price. nobody then dreaming
that it would ever be considered either
valuable OF habitable.
In passing. it may be remarked that
It has never yet been demonstrated that
Mr.. Stewards much vaunted land trans-
action has been Of the least benefit or
service to the American people or to the
u of human freedom. Some fisheries
have been established; some sealskins
have been taken some gold mines have
been discovered some corporations have
made money; but. on the other side Of
the ledger. are the lives Of some 20, 600
or so, 600 Of u young men-the very
flower of the land-who perished there
in quest of the yellow metal and who
shall compute the value Of those lives
the lives Of an army greater than that
with which Washington won the indie
pendence of his countryI
But, barring Alaska-which ought
not TO connt. and which does not count
in the minds Of reasoning people-every
foot Of the land above mentioned was
acquired for the purpose of securing a
natural frontier. When jefferson wrote
the fateful sentence, s'The Mississippi
must flow unfettered to the sea, he
was stating the natural frontier propo-
sition in a unique manner In that SEN
tence is the kernel Of our policy Of ez-
pandon up TO the new departure Of an
nexing the Hawaiian IslandA But, hay
ing acquired the aforementioned areas Of
land, we bad achieved a natural from
tier everywhere except on our northern
line, and from a day antedating the III
expedition Of Montgomery and
Arnold 10 Quebec IL has been the dream
Of a statesmen and soldiers to round
out" a geography and complete our
natural frontier by securing the North
American British possessions
A aercuriaI People.
Even the acquisition Of Cuba might
find the shadow, II not the substance, Of
OF the grounds Of 'snat-
ural frontier II we were not solemnly
by resolution Of congress not 70
grab Il Is a result Of ths war with