Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-12-20
Hliseellaasous &eadins.
INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCES.
How the United States Has Been and NJ

How the United States Has Been and MAY
BE Mixed Up With Other Nations.
Written for the Yorkville Enquirer.
The recent war with Spain, result
ing in American occupation of the
Philippines, and the questions growing
out of these developments, have awak-
ened more or less interest in d matter
which is, 10 many readers of The EN-
QUIRER. an entirely new phase of oui
national life. l refer especially to the
matter of diplomatic relations between
the United States aud foreign govern
ments, which is the general subject o.
this article, intended 10 assist those
who do not know any more about the
matter than do myself.
The great minority of the people who
read this will be people who do moi
really need line of it. They are peo
pie who have read and studied enough
aud who have common sense enough
to know that as it is with individuals
in every day intercourse, business and
social, so it is with nations, only on d
larger scale. They ure more or les'
familiar with the diplomatic history o
this country, and they will not find il,
this article single item Of information
that they did not already possess
With due apologies then for occupying
space which might have been utilized
to the better advantage of these read
ers. l willgive, as my only excuse, the
fact that l am persuaded that there
are great many people to whom this
subject is entirely new, and who ma!
gather some ideas even from what
may he able to tell them.
For instance, l have heard people
say, "What business have we got fool
ing with foreign nations. We have
enough to do 10 attend 10 our own af
fairs, without mixing up with the af
fairs of other countries" This same
sentiment is expressed frequently and
by as good people as we have in ,hi:
country. l do not mean by as wei
Informed people; hut by good substan
tial men who produce their share o
the general wealth, who obey the laws
who pay their debts, and who contrib
ute as literally as any of their fellows
TO the support of all our best institu
tions. Aud sentinentally, the obser
walton, if not exsclly right, has some
capital backing. For instance, so greaI
a statesman rs Thomas Jefferson once
said that he was almost tempted tt
wish that an ocean of fire rolled be-
tween the new world and the old, by
that meaning that he would desire
entire isolation. But this same TnOm
rs Jefferson recognized the impractica
bility of his wish, he was tempted tc
make, and realized that when we Gun
not get thingsas we wish them, we mus
take them as they are. He even lait
down for the future guidance of hi:
counlrymen proposition like this: so
all foreign nations, we should most as
siduously cultivate Great Britain, for
with us, she can do us the most good
and against us, the most HARM" de
not quote exact words, not at this time
having them before me. There is still
much force in what Jefferson sale
then but, of course, it does not neces
sarily follow that this advice hold:
good after a hundred years. Never
theless, since that ocean of fire does mo-
exist; but on the contrary, since ar
old world nation can now cross IL witt
a casus bell in one second, and will
a feet of wurships in one week, tha
most fe!icitous state of attending tt
our own business while we leave othe1
nations to attend to theirs, is much
further from realization than it wa'
in the day of Jefferson.
But this matter of foreign alliance
presents nothing new. The independ
ence of the United States was the off
spring of an alliance with France
against Great Britain. Without such
an alliance there is no probability tha
the status of the world would have
been anything like what it is today
From the day our independence wa:
acknowledged by Great Britain, ant
the United States began to send am
bassadors to foreign countries, We have
been attending TO the business Of Other
nations as much as other nations have
been attending to our business. The
same condition must necessarily exist
for all time 10 come. The peerless
Jefferson told us 10 avoid "entangling'
alliances with foreign nations. Be
tween "alliance" and "entanglng ALI
ance" there is an important distinction
Illustrating, the arrangement whereby
France, in the furtherance Of her OWL
ends, gave her assistance against
Great Britain, was simple "alliance.
An arrangement whereby we would
agree 10 help any foreign nation in
any of its quarrels on condition that ii
would help us in any of our quarre!s
would be an "entangling alliance" in
the sense the term was used ny Jetfer
son. In his recent message President
Mckinley quoted Jefferson's doctrine
as TO enlangling alliances; hut threw
down the bars by adding, sin matters
not of our direct concern" As Il
whether Jefferson would endorse that
proposition under changed conditions
is a matter in which there is room fol
difference Of opinion.
Many people have suspected for sew
eral years past that this country has
nm "entangling alliance" with Great
Britain. 1t has only been a short while
since the executive departments of tht
two governments negotiated remarka
bile treaty. There was nothing in the
treaty that even suggested an offensive
and defensive alliance. But, after all