The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-05-13
Is IT TREASON z

Mr. Atkinson or boston IS uH"IoS
and unpatriotic in the opinion or many
in sending papers and pamphlets TO the
officers of the army in Manila in order
to convince them that the Philippine
war ought not to be prosecuted. Inc
dispatches state that the admlnlstra-
tion feels badly about it, and WouId
like to muzzle Mr.. Atkinson. Even II
it is admitted that he is unwise. and
impoitic, he is simply using his legal
and constitutional right Of free speech,
and only the proclamation OF Martial
law will authorize the Government to
disturb him.
consists only in levying war against
them (the United States) or in adher-
ing to their enemies, giving them aid
and comfort" The statutes also pro-
vide for the punishment of offenders.
But the aid and comfort must be ex-
pressed in an overt act. The dog
may bark, but must not bite. You
may talk about sending guns and pow
der to the enemy, but there is no trea-
son in it, unless you attempt to deliv-
er guns and powder to the enemy. The
palladium of liberty in America is the
right to perpetually wag the tongue.
1t is the theory that political nonsense,
like bad smell in the open air, will
soon dissipate itself, and the more you
try to confine it, the longer it will last
and more offensive it will be.
During the Civil war, Secretary
Stanton made some shocking blunders
in trying to curb the right of free
speech
When Gen. Mcclellan was the Dem
ocratic candidate for the Presidency in
1864, and during the Civil war, with
Lincoln as the opposing candidate for
reelection, the policy of the Demo-
cratic party was in opposition to the
prosecution of the war. The Demo-
cratic journals and orators did then
just what Mr.. Atkinson is charged
with doing now. They sent large
large quantities of redhot reading ma
terial to the men of the army camped
on the battlefelds, with the intention
of securing their votes against Lin
coins policy. As the soldiers had the
the right to read and hear Lincoln's
majority was only 407 ,342 votes.
Not the least attempt was made by
the administration to stop the circula-
tion of what was called ''treasonable
matter" simply because it could not
be done legally. OF course, there was
the usual crowd of earnest patriots
and partisan journals that wanted all
"copperheads' to be put in irons and
chained to the floors Of deep dun
geons, and the "copperheads" were ex-
tremely irritating to the loyal men.
But it is the glory of Anglo-Saxon
political life that when the real test
OF their principles is made, there is al
ways a Saving majority who keep
the ship of state on an even keel, and
hold down the excited crowd that
madly rushes from one side Of the deck
to the other, so that at times the tat
helmsman and tries to get the tiller
out. of his hands. These people really
belong to the South American repub-
lies. where free speech is held to be
rather a dangerous article, and must
be kept under lock and key by the
Government
Mr.. Atkinson can do no harm to the
cause of expansion even if he sends
carloads of opposition literature to the
officers and soldiers in Manila. We
have no place in our political system,
like that of Russia, where the good po-
litical papa cuts out of the newspa-
pers, before handing them to the chill
dren, all literature '.calculated' to make
the children feel uneasy and become
disconnected. !, If the American soldier
has not sense enough to answer Mr..
Atkinson's arguments, he belongs to
Aguinaldo's forces and ought to have
no place in the American lines.