The Republican., 1899-04-20

/ who consider the acquisition of terri
tory embraced in the Philippine archi-
pelago as a violation of the funda-
mental principles of our government
Our Declaration of Independence is
| quoted: I'VE hold these truths as
! self-evident, that all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by their
| Creator with certain inalienable
rights; that among these are life, lib
erty and the pursuit of happiness
To secure these rights, governments
are instituted among men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of
the governed" Washington's advice
ito avoid all foreign entanglements
or alliances" is forcibly brought to
| the front.
Thomas Jefferson is appealed to
and the following extract from his
letter written to Mr. Routledge it is
claimed sustains the warning voiced
| by the Father of his Country: 81
have ever deemed it fundamental for
the United States never to take part
in the quarrels of Europe; their DO
litical interests are entirely distinct
from ours; their mutual jealousies,
their balance of power, their compli-
Gated alliances, their forms and prin
ciples of government are all foreign to
us. They are nations of eternal war
| On our part never had a people so
favorable an opportunity of trying
the opposite system of peace and
fraternity with mankil d, and the
direction of all our means and facul-
ties to the purposes of improvement
instead of destruction" Our consti-
tuition makes no provision for the
government of colonial dependencies
The maintenance of the Monroe dOc-
I tY{ne forbids our attempt in any way
to secure territorial possessions in the
old world, and again the warning of
jefferson is heard THE day is not
far distant when we may formally
acquire a meridian Of partition
| through the ocean which separates
! the two hemispheres, on the hither
side of which no European gun shall
ever be heard, or an American Oh the
| other
Surely there is food for thought and
serious thought in these extracts from
the words of those great men who
| laid the keel and fashioned our gallant
Ship of State.
Leading journals are as much divi-
ded on these questions as are the
political leaders. What say the ad-
vocates of expansion when replying
to these objections? They bow in
reverence at the foot stool of these
sages of the past, and acknowledge
the force and wisdom of the advice as
applicable to the nation and the time
when it was given.
We were then, they say, weak
nation, just starting upon separate
existence with a small population and
a vast territory to develop, and it was
| requisite that all attention, that every
| energy should be directed to build
sOlidly the foundation of our young
republic. That conditions exist to-
day not dreamed of by our fOrefath-
ers-that steam and electricity have
annihilated distance, and that the
Philippine islands are nearer to us to-
day than was Great Britain at the
close of the Revolutionary War; that
laws proper and governing then are
not applicable after the lapse of a
hundred years; that all the other
leading nations are driving and striv-
ing for commercial supremacy, and
we must push to the front or be left in
the race. That the chances of war in
the destruction of the Spanish fleet
in the harbor Of Manila gave us the
right to claim these islands, and in
justification of our claims to these
possessions no nation has raised a
voice in protest.
That vast field for commercial
expansion opens up to us. that these
islands under Spanish rule have never
been stimulated to productive devel-
opment; that under our benign and
salutary rule the Filipinos will soon
discern that a new era has dawned
upon them and that vast wealth and
prosperity await the enterprise Of