New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-02-06
TIE D1Y AND TIE DEED.

The day has come. The issue Is before the
Senate. The verdict must be rendered. The
choice must he made for peace or war. There
has been deliboratiOn. at least commensurate
with the Importance of the task AT hand
There has been delay. taxing the patience of the
Nation and jeoparding its welfare and tran
ouillity. All has been said that prOfitably may
be said and there remains only 10 do that
which the Senate has itself without dissent
ing voice decrecd this day 10 do. Shall the
Treaty of Peace with Spain be ratified or re-
iccted? That is the question whose answering
is TO be the deed which will make this Febru-
ary 6 an epoch-marking date in history; not in
ours only. but in the history of the world.
That IS the question. but not that alone.
There are issues involved which far tran
scend the mere fate of negotiated treaty.
rs il peace or war; Is this Nation 10 have
q free hand TO safeguard its interests and to
work out its destiny, or is il TO be hampered,
entangled and confined? Is the blood shed Tor
freedoms sake and for humanity's TO yield
its precious fruitage or 10 be worse than
wasted? Are eight million people 10 be up
lifted and led toward that ordered self-gov-
eminent which should be the benehcent pos
session Of all lands or are they 10 be treach-
erouslv betrayed and hurled back beneath some
alien despotism or into the black depths OF
anarchy? These are the questions which the
vote upon the treaty is to answer. Let there
he no mistake no misunderstanding. vote
FOR the treaty is a vote for peace, for this Ma
lions freedom from foreign arrangements, and
for emancipation and all possible autonomy
FOR the Philippines. 4 vote against the treaty
IS \ vote for war. for the vcXing Of this Nation
k
sng the Philippines the prey Of foreign con
Quest or the victims Of intestine anarchy Be
tween those two and sole alternatives le' 'Hc
American Senate choose.
Ten months ago comparable choice lay be-
fore If. The issue then was peace or war. The
voice Of humanity. of duty and Of honor spoke
for accepting the dreadful alternative of war.
The President declared himself ready 70 exc
cute the Nations will And by a unanimous
vote the Senate like the House. placed in the
Presidents hands the whole Nations power for
war. That was ten months ago. And now the
President asks the Senate to vindicate what
II then did For he has executed his commits
sion He has waged the war which the Senate
hade him TO wage He has won a greater vic
,orv AZ a smaller cost than the most hopeful
then ventured TO expect. He has negotiated a
cerns the legitimate results Of that war And
now he asks the Senate's judgment upon his
work. Is Il conceivable that it VIII refuse an
approving verdict? Having given him the
greatest commission, it could give will 1t now
renudiate its own work and stultfy itself by
rejecting the very results for which that com
mission was given; II is not 10 be believed.
Ten months ago the choice lay between an
honorable war and n dishonOrabe peace; ana
the Senate. without one dissenting voice, de-
cded for the former. To-day the choice is just
ms clearly and Enthusiastically between an hon
orable peace and dlshonorable war; and again
ought the Senate. by unanimous vote to de-
clare itself for the former. That is the duty OF
the day. That is the deed which, II done would
make this day forever splendid in our history.
II It may not be. If there shall be some who,
lille they did not hesitate 10 vote for war In