Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1899-03-04

49,
stitutional objection. But they who
resist the Republics career in the
name Of the Constitution are not to
be endured. They are jugglers Of
words. Their counsel is the wisdom
of verbiage. They deal not with reali.
ties. neither give heed to vital things.
The most magnificent fact in history
is the mighty movement and mission
of our race, and the most splendid
phase of that world redeeming move
ment is the entrance Of the American
PEOPLE as the greatest force in all the
earth to do their part in administer
ing civilization among mankind.
And they are not to be halted by a
ruck of words called constitutional
arguments. Pretenders to legal learn
ing have always denounced all virile
interpretations Of the Constitution.
The so-called constitutional lawyers
in Marshall's day said that he could
not understand the Constitution be-
cause he looked. not at its single syl-
tables, but surveyed the whole instru-
ment and beheld, in its profound
meaning and infinite scope the SUBJ
lime human processes of which it is
the expression. The Constitution Is
not a prohibition OF III process. 1t
is not an interdict to our destiny. It
is not a treatise on geography. Let
the Flag advance; the word retreat"
is not in TIE Constitution. Let the
Republic govern as conditions de-
mand; the Constitution does not be-
numb its brain nor palsy its hand.
The Declaration OF Independence
applied only to peoples capable Of
self government. Otherwise how
dare we administer the affairs Of the
Indians. How dare we to continue to
govern them today; precedent does not
impair natural and unalienable rights.
And how is the world to be prepared
for self government? Savagery can.
not prepare itself. Barbarism must
be assisted toward the light. Assume
ing that these peoples can be made
capable of self. government, shall we
have no part in this sacred aud glori-
Gus cause?
And if self-government is not posi-
BILE for them. shall we leave them to
themselves Shall tribal wars scourge
them. disease waste them, savagery
b~rutalize them more and more2 Shall
their fields lie fallow, their forests rot.
their minds remain sealed, and all the
purposes and possibilities OF nature
nullifieda If not, who shall govern
them, rather than the kindest and
most merciful of the worlds great
race OF administrators, the people of
the American Republic1 Who lifted
from us the Judgment which makes
men OF our blood our brothers. keep
ers?
We do not deny them liberty. The
administration of orderly government
is not denial of liberty. The admin
istration of equal justice is not the
denial OF liberties. Teaching the hab-
its of industry is not denial of liberty.
Development of the wealth of the land
is not denial OF liberty. If they are,
then civilization itself is a denial of
liberty. Denial of liberty to whomi
There are twelve million people in the
Philippines, divided into thirty tribes.
Aguinaldo is of the Tagal tribe, Of
two million souls. and he has an in
termittent authority I'VE less than
fifty thousand Of these. To deliver
these continental islands to him and
his crew would be to establish an
autocracy of barbarism. 1t would be
to license spoliation. 1t would be to
plan the republic of piracy, for such a
government could not prevent that
crime in piracy's natural home. 1t
would be to make war certain among
the powers of earth, who would dis
pute, with arms, each others posses
sion Of a Pacific empire from which
that ocean can be ruled. The blood
already shed is but a drop to that
which would flow If America should
desert its post in the Pacific. And
the blood already spilled was poured
out upon the altar of the worlds re-
generation. Manila is as noble as
Omdurman. and both are holier than
Jericho. Retreat from the Philippines
on any pretext would be the master
cowardice of history. 1t would be
the betrayal of a trust as sacred as
humanity. 1t would be a crime
against Christian civilization. and
would mark the beginning Of the de-
cadence Of our race. And so. thank
God. the Republic never retreats.
The fervent moral resolve through
out the Republic is not a fever of ex-
pansion. 1t Is a tremendous awaken
ing Of the people. like that of Eliza
bethar England. 1t is no fever, but
the hot blood of the most magnificent
young manhood of all time, a man
hood begotten while vet the splendid
moral passion Of the war for national
life filled the thought of all the land
with ideals worth dying for, and
charged its very atmosphere with no.
BILE purposes. and a courage which
dared put destiny to the touch; a man
hood which contains a million Roose.
velfc Woods Hahqous Duhocrec