The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-17
PRESIDENT TALKS OF POLICY.


/ 1tEA1t.o IT'S DyAt4'io anu tAfNNa - N~-N--+SN
/ ana responsibilities The President can.
/ direct the movements of soldiers on the
| field and fleets upon the sea, but ne can
| not foresee the. close of such Hlovments
| and prescribe, their limits. He cannot an
| ticipate or avoid the consequences, but
| he must meet them. No accurate map OF
| nations engaged in war can be traced un-
| til the war is over. nor can the measure OF
responsibility be fixed until the last gun
! is fired and the verdict embodied in the
stpulations Of peace.
Our Duty to the FilipinOs.
I'VE hear no complaint of the relations
created by the war between this govern
| ment ana the Islands of cuba and Porto
| RICO. There are some. however, who re-
gard the Philippines as in a different re-
latiOn; but whatever variety of views
there may be on this phase of the ques-
ton, there IS universal agreement that the
Philippines shall not be turned back 10
Spain. No true American consents to that
Even If unwilling to accept them ourselves
II would have been a weak evasion Of
manly dutyrto require Spain to transfer
them to some other power or powers and
thus shirk our own responsibility. Even
IL we had had, as We did not have. the
power TO cotnpe! such a transfer. it could
not have been made without the most
serious International complications. Such'
a course could not be thought of. And
yet had we refused to accept the cessiou
of them, we should have had no power
over them. even for their own good. We
could not discharge the responsibilities up
on us unul these islands became ours
either by conquest or treaty. There was
but one alternative, and that was either
Spain or the United States in the Philip
pines.
"The other suggestion-hrst, that they
Should be tossed into the arena of con-
tention for the strife of nations or, sec+
ond, be left to the anarchy and chaos of
no prOtectorate at all, were too shameful
TO be considered. The treaty gave them
to the United States. Could We have ac-
quired less and done our duty. Could We,
after freeing the Filipinos from the doml-
nation of Spain have left them without
government and without power to protect
life and property, or to perform the inter-
national obligations essential to an indie
pendent state? Could we have left them
in a state of anarchy and justified our
selves in our own conscience or before the
tribunal of mankind? Could we have done
that in the sight of God and man?
Gould Not Ask Their Consent.
@Our concern was not for territory or
trade or empire but for the people whose
interests and destiny without our willing
it, had been put In our hands 1t was with
this feeling that from the first day to the
last one, not one word or line went from
the executive in Washington to our mill
tary and naval commanders at Manila or
to our peace commissioners at Paris that
did not put as the sole purpose to be kept
in mind first, after the success of our
arms and the maintenance of our own
honor, the welfare and happiness and the
rights of the inhabitants of the Philippine
Islands. Did we need their consent to- per
form a great act for humanity? We had
it in every aspiration of their minds, IN
every nope of their hearts. Was IL neces-
sary to ask their consent to capture Ma
Mia, the capital of their islands? Did we
ask their consent 20 liberate them from
Spanish sovereignty or to enter Manila
Bay and destroy the Spanish sea power
there? We did not ask these; we were
obeying a higher moral obligation which
rested on US and which did not require
anybody's consent We were doing our
duty by them with the consent of our own
| conseiences and with the approval of civ
ilization. Every present obligation has been
met and fulfilled in the expulsion of the
| Spanish sovereignty from their islands and
while the war that destroyed 1t was in
progress we could not ask their views. Nor
can we ask their consent.
Shooting Down Their Rescuers.
Indeed, can any one tell me in what
form it could be marshalled, and aseer-
tanned until peace and order, so necessary
to a reign of reason, shall be secured and
| established? A reign of terror is not the
| kind of rule under which right action and
| deliberate judgment are possible. It is not
good time for the liberator to submit i'm
| portant questions concerning liberty and
| government to the liberated while they are
| engaged in shooting down their rescuers?
| 1--WE have now ended the war with Spain.
| The treaty has been ratified by more than
| two-thirds of the Senate of the United
States and by the judgment of nine-tenths
of its people. No nation was ever more
| fortunate in war or more honorable in ne
| gotiations in peace. Spain Is now elmi-
mated from the problem. 1t remains to ask
| what we shall do now. / do not intrude
upon the duties of Congress or seek TO an
ticipate or forestall its action. 1 only say
| that the treaty. of peace, honorably secured
| having been ratified by the United States
| and as we confidently expect, shortly TO be
ratified in Spain, Congress win have the
power and am sure the purpose TO dc
| what in good morals is right and just and
humane Tor these peoples in distant seas
Future OF the Philippines.
1.-THE future of the Philippine Islands is
| now IN the hdnuS Oh tle american pSOpiS.
| Until the treaty was ratified or rejected.
the executive department of this govern
ment could only preserve the peace and
protect life and property. That treaty
now commits the free and enfranchised
Filipinos to the guiding hand and the lib
Grating influences, the generous sympa-
thies, the uplifting education, not of their
American masters, but of their American
| emancipators No one man can tell to-day
what is best for them or for us. ! know
no one at this hour who is wise enough or
sufficiently informed to determine what
| form of government will best subserve
their interests and our interests. their and
our vell-being. If we knew everything by
| intuition-and I sometimes think there are
those who believe that if we do not they
DOVE should not need information; but
unfortunately most of us are not in that
happy stale. The whole subject is now
with Congress, and Congress is the voice
the conscience and the judgment of the
American people. Upon their judgment
and conscience can We not rely l believe
in them, l trust them. know of no bet