The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-01-16
Senator GraY's View.

Good reading at this time is the
speech of Senator Gray of Delaware,
Saturday night at Wilmington to the
fellow citizens who gave "a banquet in
honor of his service as member of
the Paris peace commission. Senator
Gray went on this mission a stout
hearted anti-cXpansionist: the frame
of mind in which he returns may best
be described in his own words. Said
he:
1--WE are now in a crisis of our ma
tional history, and your hearts and
mine. as patriotic citizens OF this great
country, are full of anxiety as to n
proper settlement of the momentous is
sues which have resulted from the war
with Spain. The acquisition of terri
tory by the United States was not one
of the Objccrs of the war, and we SOL
cmnly declared in the resolutions OF
congress that our only object in de-
manding the REIMBURSEMENT of the Sow
ercignty of Cuba by Spain was not To
hold it ourselves, except that we might
pacify it and fit it for self government
by its own people. But in this as in
all else. Man proposes and God dis
poses ] ardently desired that we
might escape the necessity of taking
the Philippine Islands, and assuming
the burden that their taking will inn
pose upon us, and l know that the
president of the United States was
equally anxious to the same end. But
it became apparent that without our
seeking. unexpected conditions had
been created and out of those condi-
tions unquestionable duties had sprung,
| which could not be avoided or evaded
by the United States.
| Commodore Dewey had brought
Aguinaldo back to Luzon, and by his
| leadership and the encouragement of
the American fleet, the embers of the
| insurrectior which had died out were
| rckindled into a flame, and the assist
| ancc of the insurgent forces was gladly
| availcd of by our commodore. 1t then
came to the thought that in our set
tlemcnt with Spain we could not hon
orably leave the inhabitants of those
| islands TO the tender mercies Of their
| Spanish oppressors. I know that that
| situation appealed to the heart of your
president and that he believed he was
representing American manhood and
| American character when he said, as
| finally he did, that whatever became of
those islands and those people, it was
not in cur blood to hand them back to
| Spain. 1t was a feeling of this kind,
know, that animated the government
of Mr.. Mckinley in coming to this i'm
portant conclusion.
He said, and l know he felt, that
whatever else might be the fate of
these islands and of this people, he
could not put our country in the at
titude of deserting those whom we had
placed in new position of antagonism
to their rulers. on the other hand, if
American sentiment did not justify the
return of those islands to Spain, no
more could it justify leaving them
dcreict in the Eastern ocean, the prey
of the first occupant and of European
rapacity. 1t was thought best by the
president and his advisers to take the
cession of their sovereignty from Spain
and hold it in trust, to be administered
in conformity to those high ideals and
liberty-loving traditions which animate
and glorify the history of our coun-
try. That / sought in Paris by all hon
oTable means to escape this RESPONSE
bility does not matter now. It came to
a point at last that we must either
leave the islands to Spain take them
as we did, or break off negotiations and
come home without a treaty of peace"
Further along in his speech the SEN
ator from Delaware said: Without
assuming for a moment any right ia
speak for the president, l think that !
can assure you that he is committed to
no politics, calculated to discourage
much less strike down the liberty-lov-
ing people all over the world. / belong
to a different political party, but |
would be false to my sense of justice
and to that pride which l feel as an
American, IL l did not declare my con-
hdence in the patriotism and purity of
principles of William Mckinley. He
: is no usurper of power no stranger ia
American institutions. But the solu.
ton of the problems which confront us
is not with the president. When the
treaty is ratified, no policy can bt
adopted without the sanction of con.
gress and the whole American people