The Indianapolis journal., 1899-02-16

Oh our pIOBEeSS- II Is not an lnIeTQlcL 10
our destiny. 1t is not a treatise on geogra-
ply. Let the flag advance; the word re
treat is not in the Constitution. Let the
republic govern as conditions demand; the
Constitution does not benumb its brain nor
palsy its hand.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
''The Declaration Of Independence applies
only to peoples capable of self-government.
Otherwise how dared we administer the af-
fairs Of the Indians? How dare we con-
tinUe to govern them to-day? Precedent
does not impair natural and inalienable
rights. And how IS the world to be pre-
pared for elf-government? Savagery can
not prepare itself. Barbarism must be as
sisted toward the light Assuming that these
people can be made capable Of self-govern-
ment, shall we have no part in this sacred
and glorious cause?
And if self-government is not possible
for them. shall we leave them to them
selves? Shall tribal wars scourge them, dis
ease waste them. Savagery brutalize them
low, their forests rot, their mines remain
sealed, and all the purposes and possibilities
govern them, rather than the kindest and
most merciful of the worlds great race Of
administrators, the people of the American
Republic? Who lifted from US the judgment
keepers?
rninistration of orderly government is not
denial Of liberty. The administration OF
equal JUSTICE is not the denial Of liberty.
Teaching the habits Of industry Is not de-
NAL Of liberty Development Of the wealth
of the land is not denial of liberty. If they
are. then civilization itself is denial of lib
erty. Denial Of liberty to whom? There
are twelve million people in the Philippines,
divided into thirty tribes. Aguinaldo is Of
the Tagal tribe Of two million souls, and he
fifty thousand of those. To deliver these
Islands to him and his crew would be to
establlsh an autocracy OF barbarism 1t
would be TO license spohation. 1t would be
to plant the republic of piracy, for such a
government could not prevent that crime in
piracy's natural home. 1t would be to make
war certain among the powers Of earth, who
would dispute with arms, each others pos
session of a Pacific empire from which that
is but drop to that which would flow if
America would desert it's post in the Pacific.
And the blood already spilled was poured
out upon she altar Of the worlds regenera-
ton. Manila IS as noble as Omdurman and
both are holier than Jericho. Retreat from
the Philippines on any preteXt would be the
master cowardice Of history. It would be
the betrayal Of trust as sacred as human
ity. 1t would be a crime against Christian
CIVILIZATION and would mark the beginning
OF the decadence of our race. And so, thank
COD, the Republic never retreats.
AWAKENING OF THE PEOPLE.
''The fervent moral resolve throughout the
Republic is not a fever Of expansion 1t is
a tremendous awakening of the people like
that Of Elizabethan England. 1t is no fever,
but the hot blood of the most magnificent
young manhood of all tine-a manhood be-
gotten while yet the splendid moral passion
of the war for national life filled the thought
of all the land with ideals worth dying for
and charged its very atmosphere Win noble
purposes and a courage which dared put
destiny to the touch; manhood which con-
ta1nS million Roosevelts, Woods, hobsons
OuDOCGS,
may not so ConSpicuously serve their coun-
try, civilization and mankind. Indeed, these
heroes are great because they are typical.
American manhood to-day contains the
master administrators OF the world And
tney go forth Tor the healing of the nations.
lhey go forth in the cause of civilization.
Ihey go forth for the betterment of men.
they go forth and the word on their lips
IS Christ and His peace, not conquest and
Its plliage. They go forth to prepare the peo-
pie through decades and may be centuries
OF patient effort for the great gift of Ameri-
can institutions. They go forth not for i'm
perlallSn, but Tor the greater republic.
Imperialism is not the word for our vast
work imperialism as used by the opposers
OF national greatness means oppression, and
opposers of national destiny means mon
archy, and the days of monarchy are spent.
Imperialism as used by the opposerS OF ma
uonaI progress is a word to frighten the
faint or heart, and so is pOwerless with the
fearless American people. Who honestly be-
neVeS that the liberties of $1,000 OU0 AIneri-
cans viii be destroyed because the Republic
administers civilization in the Philippines?
Who honestly believes that free institutions
are stricken unto death because the Kepub-
lie, under God, takes its place as the first
power OF the world? Who honestly believes
that we plunge to our doom when we march
forward IN the path OF Quty prepared by
higher wisdom than our own? Those who so
believe have lost their faith in the immor-
tality of liberty. Those who SO believe deny
the vitality of the American people. Those
who so believe are infidelS to the proVi-
dence of God. Those who so believe have
lost the reckoning of events and think it
sunset When 1t is IN truth only the breaking
of another day-the day OF the greater re-
public dawning as dawns the twentieth
century.
The Republic never retreats. It's flag is
the only flag that has never known defeat
Where that flag leads we follow for we
know that the hand that bears it onward
IS the unseen hand of God. We follow the
flag and independence is ours. We follow
the flag and nationality is ours. We follow
the flag and oceans are ruled. We follow
the flag and in Occident and Orient tyranny
falls and barbarism is subdued. We follow
the flag at Trenton and Valley Forge, at
Saratoga and upon the crimson seas, at
Buena Vista and Chapultepec, at GettyS-
burg and Mission Ridge at Santiago and
Manila, and everywhere and always it
means larger liberty, nobler opportunity and
greater human happiness, for everywhere
and always it means the blessings of the
greater republic. And so God leads, we fol-
low the flag and the Republic never re-
treats"
AT the conclusion of his address Mr.. Bev-
eridge was given three hearty cheers and
the assembly rushed forward to congratulate
the speaker. Mr.. Beveridge left for New
York this afternoon, but will return to-mor-
row in time to attend dinner given in his
honor by President Darlington, of the Union
League Club. There will also be a reception
at the University of Pennsylvania, at which
the distinguished Indianian will be the CEN