New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-01-08
MP CLEVELAND on EXPANSION.


Mr.. Cleveland's latest remarks on the SUD-
ject OF annexation and expansion are u'S"P
pointing 1t was to be expected OF COURSE
that he would dlsapprove the policy OF ,he
Government There can be no quarrei WIN
him for so doing. He is ms much ehti''eu u
oppose expansion as any one else Is 10 ia'oi
IT, But the train OF argument with winch ne
inveighs against it Is. with all que respect ~
Its author surprising In an ex-Presdent OF 'ne
Tinted States. Satire. or indeed any form or
humor. has never been employed by MI 'ie'e-
land with conspicuous success. and 1t has never
been less happily essayed by him than ID 'ae
nrcsent instance. TravestyIng n century-old
policy of the National Government. ana rioi-
culnr even In polysyables the motives ana
purposes Of the chief servlnts or the Na'lon'
including Mr.. Cleveand's immediate successor
in the Presidency, do not make pieasan' in'-
preston upon the public MIND
Mr.. Cleveland speaks. with what doup'iess
seems to him airy persifage, of the prospect
give necessity of destroying few thousand or
~ few hundred thousand Filipinos." That, he
assumes. is the necessity before the PRESIDENT
and he sarcastcally urges the President not 10
shrink from such a task. At the same moment
OF time the President himself procams that
confidence. respect and affection OF the IN
"habtants Of the Philippines by assuring 10
"them in every possible way that full measure
"of individual rights and liberties which is the
"herltage of free peoples, and by proving 10
"them that the mission OF the United States is
zone Of benevolent assimilation, substituting
"thc mild sway Of justice and right Tor arpi-
"trarv rule, And. while insisting in the strong
A., Tho of
maintained to repress disturbance and insure
tho sunremocy of law and order he declares
that it should be done with frmness If need
"be. but without severity so far as may DE
possible" The contrast between the two ut
terances is ample comment upon them Doth.
The "Tu ououue" argument is not always
conclusive. But it is conceivable that Mr..
Cleveland would scarcely enjoy the application
of it In this case. An adaptation OF his own
words to his own deeds when he was President
would do him gross injustice, but not greater
Injustice than his words now do his successor
II will be remembered that in the summer OF
1894 there was a serious revolt against the law
ful rule OF the United States in the state OF
Illinois. A mischievous agtator set himself up
rs president" and demanded from his follow
orc ALLEGIANCE superior to that which they gave
N
countenapced the movement, and strongly OBJ
iected to any Federal interference But MI
Cleveland ordered Federal troops 10 inc scene
and commanded them to use all necessary
force to suppress the revolt and to bring all
men there within the lawful rule OF the oh'.eu
States. We believed at that time, and we be-
lieve now, that he was right in so DONG we
said so in the plainest possible terms. but
there were not few, including some WHOSE
oninjons usually command respectful consld-
Grafton, who thought he acted WITHOUT war
rant and committed n crime. Suppose some
one had said that the misguided inhabitants
Of our federated territory who preferred some
tbino different from the plan for their con-
troll which Mr.. Cleveland proposed or who
onnosnd his designs in their behalf, should
he slaughtered; that the killing of people had
hoon q feature of government since govern
ment began. and Mr.. Cleveland's enthusiasm
| Gov law and order should not be checked by
the prospective necessity Of destroying rev
hrndrod or few hundred thousand Chicago
| ,ortmen. and that this should be regarded
| as only an incident And suppose the direct
| ond unm;stakable intimation had been that
srch a nolicy of slaughter was contemplated
nv Mr.. Cleveland Would not such utterance
hovo heen deemed unjust by Mr.. Cleveland
himself. and by his friends, and indeed by all
right thinking men-in fact, would 1t not nave
been considered positive perversion OF truth
Yet that. all but verbatim, Is the way IN
which Mr.. Cleveland, from the serene heights
Of his honorable retirement, comments upon a
great measure Of State policy which mas Deeh
adopted by the President and Is approved by
tho Nation The memory of having done so
will not, in future years, be one IN whch he
will take much pleasure.
| or.rr DrTJCTOUS CONFERENCE.