The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1899-02-11
Leading Citizens Petition the Senate
Regarding the Treaty.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST EXPANSION.
They Suggest That Treaty lie Not Rat
ifed without Insertion Of Agree
mentNot to Annex Islands With
out Free Consent of People.

the treasury; John G.. Carlisle, eX-secre-
tary OF the treasury; Andrew Carnegie;
Grover Cleveland. eX-presldent OF the
United States; Theodore l.. Cuyler; Charles
w. Eliot, president OF Harvard university;
Samuel Gompers, president of the Ameri-
can Federation OF Labor: John Il. Hender-
son, ex-United States senator from Mis-
souri,; William IL. Hornblower; w. IL.
Palmer, president of the Rio Grande West
ern railway: Wheeler III. Peckham: Shcr-
man $. Rogers. Buffalo; Carl SchurZ. ex-
secretary of the interior; Edward N. Shep-
ard; Edwin Burritt Smith, Chicago: Moor
field Story. Boston: William G. Sumner,
Yale university; Rev. Henry Vandyke;
l Herman Won Hoist, University of Chicago;
William l.. Wilson, X-postmaster-general
now president of Washington and Lee uni
versity, Virginia; Theodore S. Woolsey, of
Yale university; Henry c. Potter. bishop
OF New York
The Petition.
N'1To the Senate of the United States: The
undersigned respectfully submit that the
treaty between the United States and the
/ kingdom of Spain, now before your hon
cradle body, ought not to be ratified until
! provision shall be inserted, rs part of its
text, 10 the effect that the United States
shall not annex the Philippine islands or
! Porto Rico, or permit their inhabitants to
4 become citizens, or compel them to become
4 subjects of the United States without their
! free consent and the further and express
! authority of congress. There seems to he
no reason to- doubt the entire willingness
I of Spain to modify the treaty in these re-
4 spects, or to suppose that the delay OF its
ratification for this purpose involves the
| slightest renewal of hostilties.C
I'VE submit that every Constitutional
treaty when ratified becomes part of the
I Supreme law of the land CONSTITUTION,
article g. If the United States accept alb
solute cesson of the Philippines and Porto
Rico under the treaty. IL viii be claimed
4 with force perhaps Irresistible that the
I acceptance will of itself make the territory
ceded a part of the United States and give
to their inhabitants (who shall not elect TO
retain Spanish citizenship and to their
descendants the rights OF American citi-
zens.
/ War Not for Foreign Conquest.
1--WE submit that the treaty unless modi-
/ fed, will Introduce changes OF far-reach-
! ing character into both the foreign and do
/ nestle policy of this republic. The late
! war was undertaken with our distinct as
! surance that we did not look toward for
! eign conquest or the acquisition of terri
tory. 1t was undertaken, and to this we
. plighted the honor Of the American nation,
in the cause of humanity and liberty and
/ for no other purpose
! las a result of the war, Cuba, Porto Rico
| and the many hundred islands near the
! coast of Asia, known as the Philippines
! have fallen more or less under the control
| of this country. Spain abandons her SOW
/ ereignty over all of them. But in addition
! the treaty purposes that, as TO the Philip
! pines and Porto Rico, an absolute cession
! shall be made to and accepted by the United
| States. over the Philippines and Porto
! Rico, therefore, should the treaty be con-
| flrmed the United States will acquire pre-
cisely the sovereignty which Spain has en-
| joyed The president has on various occa-
| sions indicated disposition on the part of
| the executive to hold the Philippines and
| Porto Rico as u part of the United States,
| and. as has been pointed out, that may well
| be the effect of the treaty in its present
| form. Such, at any rate. is the intention
| OF most of those who are now crowding
upon us the plan of expansion.
Public Sentiment Opposed.
1.-THE public sentiment of our country Is
not ready to endure the concession of
American citizenship to the Fi!ipinos and
| Porto Ricans. But the effect will, for a
! time at least, no doubt, be to hold their is
lands under revenue, tariff. navigation and
other laws very different from those in the
| United States. The Philippines and Porto
Rico would at least at the outset, be
separate dependencies under an extractor
| ritorial and extra-constitutional sover-
| eighty not provided for In the constitution
of the United States and grossly incon-
sistent with its entire spirit and intent.
| That this sovereignty in the case of tho
Philippines is extra-terrtorial Is the more
| apparent from the fact that the constitu-
tlon was established for the United States
of America and not for the United States of
America and Asia. That the transfer pro-
posed Is transfer of sovereignty is OBJ
vious from the fact that the consent of the
people of the Philippines and Porto Rico is
ignored in their transfer from Spain TO the
United States, and Is hereafter 10 be con-
sidered only so far as the United States
| shall see tit TO give 1t consideration.
Have No Precedent.
1--WE further submit, that in the history
Of our nation there Is no precedent for an
acquisition of this sort-of the territory Of
distant nationality, peopled by other
races and belonging to another continent.
In the case of Louisiana, President Jeffer-
son expressed the opinion that the annexa-
tion was unconstitutional and needed the
authority of constitutional amendment.
The resolution annexing Texas did not pass
without the well-known protest against It's
constitutionality made In the senate by
Daniel Webster. IL the exigencies under
which the Louisiana and Texas annexation
were made caused the question of their
constututionality to be ignored, II was be-
cause those territorties were Immediately
contiguous to the United States, were stu
ated in the same latitude were practically
uninhabited and contained vast area of
virgin territory which inevitably had to be
settled by Americans who had already ex-
ploIed 1t and had begun to overflow It's
boundaries. With neither Louisiana
Florida nor California, was 1t the case, nor
until now has II been thought possible un-
der our form of government, that a perma-
nent extra-territorial and extra onstitu-
tional sovereignty should be established by
the United States over dependencies not
intended hereafter to be made states, or to
be governed by laws In common with the
United States or as part thereof What il
now proposed Is wholly new departure.
full of menace TO the integrity and perma-
nence of American institutions
Would lie Criminal.
1--WE, respectfully submit that, according
to the principles upon which our republic
was founded, we are In duty bound to
recognize the rights OF the Inhabitants of
the Philippines and OF Porto Rico to in
dependence and self-government, precisely
as we have recognized that right in the
case OF the Inhabitants of Cuba; that II, as
President Mckinley declared, 'forcibie an
nexation cannot be thought Of In the case
of Cuba because 1t would, by our code of
morals, be criminal aggression the forci-
BILE annexation of the Philippines will be no
less criminal aggression according TO the
same code of morals. The Philippines have
n more settled government and a control
of their islands more extensive than the
Cubans when we took up arms In their be-
half. But we declared as to Cuba that II Is
and of n right ought To be free n nd inde-