The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-02-08
To the senate OF the United States.

treaty of peace with Spain on Monday,
the day fixed for the vote on that in.
strument. "There is opposition to this
treaty." says the Sun, IAN opposition
violent, passionate, extremely vocal,
and, sad to say, with votes behind the
voices" The treaty sis assailed solely
on the ground that it is too successful,
and matches too completely the work
OF the American army and navy" The
Declaration of Independence 'has
been pressed into service and made to
do duty as statement of organic law
to be construed like statute, in man.
ner that would make the author and
signers OF that greatest of revolution
airy manifestoes start with amazement
aud SURPRISE" All the heated invoca-
ton of the Declaration and the Consti-
tuition sat the best is academic, and at
the worst it is insulting to the Ameri-
can people," Once off the ground of
the Constitution and the Declaration
the Sun, with characteristic force and
vigor truthfully declares that "the OPP
ponents of the treaty depart entirely
from the practical question and plunge
into future which they cannot read,
and I'll that future with chimeras dire
and with the vain things Of overheated
imaginations. All they say can be
summed up in one short sentence, that
the American people are not to be
trusted with the fate of the Philippines,
and are too feeble, too dishonest, too
brutal to undertake the task"
The Sun speaks of the Senate as the
most powerful single chamber in any
representative government in the world.
Its adjustment is the only thing in the
Constitution that cannot be changed
except by the consent of every State in
the Union. Amendments to the Con-
stitution may come and go, but they
cannot change the representation of
the States in the Senate. Nothing but
complete revolution can meet that
great provision. Continuing the Sun
says:
Foremost among the great powers con-
ferred upon the Senate is that which asso.
ciates it with the Executive in the making
Of treaties. With the memory OF days when
the influence Of French ministers was felt
strongly, and, perhaps, corruptly, in the
Continental Congress fresh in their minds,
the trainers of the Constitution made a two
thirds vote OF the Senate necessary to the
ratification Of treaty. Uppermost in the
thoughts Of men whose politics had been
part Of those OF Europe was the desire to
guard as strenuously as possible against the
peril of entangling alliances and dishonor.
ing agreements brought about by foreign
influence and foreign corruption. To us
such reasoning seems impossible. In 1887
it was real and valid. But in this effort to
protect the United States from foreign in
trigue the trainers of the Constitution in
volved themselves in strange contradic-
ton. They gave to a majority OF Congress
the power to declare war, and they enabled
one.third OF the Senate to prevent peace
and continue war once entered upon. 1t
probably never occurred to the trainers OF
the Constitution that one-third of any Sem
ate could ever be found to refuse to ratify a
treaty Of peace in opposition to the wishes
of the country, Of the President, and OF the
majority of both houses. Such PROPOSE
ton would have been deemed by them too
monstrous and too fantastic TO be considered
as serious objection to the purposes they
were seeking to carry out. They would not
have believed, II the idea had been sug-
gested to them, that such an abuse of the
treaty-making power of the Senate could
ever be attempted; yet the wisest of men
cannot foresee every possibility of human
nature,i and it is that very abuse of the
treaty-making power of the Senate which
menaces the country to-day"
The Sun sets forth the circumstances
of the war and the conclusion of peace
with Spain by the President 1t sum-
marizes the grave dangers delay to rat.
ify the treaty of peace is breeding, the
responsibilities the United States has
inevitably assumed in throwing down
the government of Spain in the islands
of the West Indies and in the East,
and the imperative duty to replace the
departed sovereignty with an authority
that shall not permit anarchy and desc
lation to spring from the victories we
have won. SPY the treaty, and the
treaty alone, can we reach position
in which we can fulfill these high du'
ties and meet these solemn obligs.
TONS" Refusal to ratify on Monday
means delay, delay means encourage
ment to the adventurous Aguinaldo
and his bands, and shedding the blood
of the natives and the American sol
diers in the Philippines. These dire
full results will be due to the opposi
ton in the Senate, and the opponents
personally, and the party furnishing
most of the opposing votes will sinh
under the red burden"
"Peace or war;" concludes the Sur
that is the issue, and the only issue in