The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1899-1900, 1899-03-01

commissioners acquiesced.
THE proceedings after that were matter
of incident and mere form, and the result
was that on December TO- 1898, a treaty was
| concluded and signed at Paris, about seven
o'clock In the evening, which, although
perhaps 1t does not become me to say, yet
will say, 1t was the most complete diplomat
ic triumph ever received in the annals of
international negotiations.
Now, my fellow citizens, you may ex-
pect me to say why we demanded the en-
tire possession of the Philippine Islands.
Practically the entire question as to the
Philippines was left by the president Of the
United States to the judgment and discre-
tion of the American commissioners. It
was at first thought 1t would be sufficient
to take the island Of Luzon, but the best
military and naval authorities, Admiral
Dewey, Gen. Merritt and Commander
Bradbury, laid the situation before us from
a military, naval and strategic point Of
view, which made 1t perfectly obvious that
we must either take the entire archipelago
| or abandon 1t entirely; that the relation
OF those Islands to each other was such that
the acquisition of one by hostile power
holding the others would only reproduce
the conditions of Cuba as against the
United States and create perpetual sore
in the waters of the east. We were bound,
in view of the astounding development
which the Chinese sovereignty has been
subject to, to have sufficient naval sta
tion in those waters.
"Who in this audience would have ex-
pected that we would have left the Philip
pines, or any portion Of those islands, to the
ineffable and indescribable atrocities of
Spain? When Dewey set the stars of that
flag amongst the antipodal islands of the
east, he imposed upon the American people
a responsibility of which we cannot dream
and which we cannot avoid, and so 1t was
decided we should demand, and we did de-
mand and receive, the cession of the entire
archipelago of the Philippines.
'Will any American citizen, under pres
ent condition. advocate that Dewey shall
sail away from the harbor of Manila?
(Cries of mo, no.") That our troops shall
vacate that island? (Cries Of "Never.')
What would be the result? The Filipinos
are not in a present condition to govern
themselves and establish that independent
republic of which fond theorists dream.
think no man in this audience who has
read the current journals will for moment
question that they are not. We cannot en-
dure, In view Of our past and coming inter-
ests In the orient, that the Philippines shall
be dismembered by foreign powers, as they
will be the minute the United States re-
moves itself from that situation. Above
all things although they appear perhaps
dimly before us now, yet believe there Is
a profound conviction in the minds of the
American people that part of all this force
which has pushed us there and established
us there is an impetus which tells for
civilization, for better Christianity, and
that the United States as the great evan
gelist Of the nations is bound to play lead
ing part in those waters and in those is
lands.
II would treat the Filipinos in this way,
considering their present condition and
their inconsiderate actions, stimulated,
believe, by inconsiderate advice from the
United States-I would treat them with
the hand of paternal affection, wherever
possible, and by the hand of paternal
chastisement wherever necessary. And
when the time should come by the handling
and development of the people, as 1t has
come by the handling and development Of
Great Britain in the Straits Settlement, i'm
mediately opposite, that by degrees they
could be admitted to local autonomy,
would grant 1t to the fullest extent possi-
BILE, and l would rejoice that in the process
of time an island republic could be estab-
lished there in the Philippines against the
island empire Of Japan. But until that
time shall come the interest, the honor, the
security Of the American people demand
that we shall hold the Philippine islands
not only under our protection, but under
our rule.
II am not In favor of the dismembership
of the great Chinese empire. / am in favor
of retaining the integrity Of that empire,
and letting it be accessible to the civilized
world in commerce, and accordingly say
and think that it would safeguard the busi-
ness of the world In those waters for so
years If Great Britain and Japan and the
United States, as to all those waters and
lands bordering upon them north of the
equator, should declare with their united
power that there should be no dismember-
ment of that immemorial empire.
''The American peace commissioners
were taught all too painfully while we were
in Paris that we had not a friend on the
continent of Europe-not friend. / don't
want to see my country become the China
of the west. In these days when space has
been annihilated by steam, cannot view
with complacency and without apprehen-
sion the destiny of the great empire or en-
pires of dismembered China ready to de-
scend on the western coast of the United
States. 1t was to obviate that that advo-
Gated so earnestly the acquisition Of Ha-
wall.
And now, my fellow-ctizens, in the mat
ters of our foreign relations and as to what
affects our exterior interests we are all
one-one in interest. Surely in the heart
of no man can there enter in the various
diversities of opinion which involve such a
subject any desire, hope or thought that
does not conduce to the interest of his
country. We all differ; we have different
shades of opinion on all questions contin-
gent and future. The question of what we
shall do with the Philippine archipelago is
not yet upon us. We are actually now in
possession of all those islands. We own
them or shall own them when Spain ratifies
the treaty of cession and the question Isl
Shall we decide at once? Must we say now
and at once that tho territory for which we
have paid $2O,OOOOOO, for which American
blood has been shed and may be being shed
tonight or to-day, for it Is day there now,
shall by an inconsidered judgment, with
out any consideration whatever for the fu-
ture, be turned over to body of men whom
all authorities and observers agree are not
yet fit for self-government to which they
claim to aspire?"
Vagnries of nn nAnti-ExpansfOnist.
1t would seem that Andrew Carnegie
has taken theanti-eXpansionfeverhard
Ell than almost anyone else. The latest
report is to the effect that he has for
mally abandoned the republican party
in disgust with what has been done un-
der its administration. This is going
considerably further than what is ex-
pected of any other of the men in the
republican ranks who have opposed ex-
pansion. Mr.. Carnegie is charged with
colloguing with Mr.. Bryan and with
promising him aid in his present eff
forts and his contemplated campaign.
Here lis a great change, and there is
proof in it, if confirmed, of an inn