The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-01-10


United States to carry into effect the
policy Of expansion.
The leading speaker was Mr.. Hoal
! (Rep., Mass.), who delivered a speech
in support of the resolution introduced
| by Mr.. Vest (Dem., Mo-, declaring il
to be in opposition to the constitution
for this country to acquire foreign ter
ritory to be governed permanently as
| colonies.
Although Mr.. Hoar occupied the time
| of the senate for more than two hours,
| he was accorded the unusual compli-
ment of close and undivided attention
| by his colleagues on the floor and a
large audience in the galleries. He con-
| fined himself closely to his manuscript,
but his address was delivered with all
| the fire, earnestnesS and animation of
! the orator that he is.
Mr.. Hoar is a master Of the subtletieS
of the English language, and rhetor-
| ician of notable ability, and his keen
! sarcasm and wit were thoroughly en-
| joyed by his auditors. His speech was
in answer to that recently delivered by
! Plat (Rep., Comm, and had been most
carefully prepared. He took strong
/ ground against the position assumed by
! the Connecticut senator, maintaining
that it was in violation of the consti-
tuition and the Declaration Of indie
! pendence, the great eXpOunder of the
constitution, for this country to ac-
quire foreign territory to be held and
| governed as colonies.
Without adverting to the proposed
policy of the United States entering
upon an expansion of its territory, eX-
cept in a. general and indirect manner,
Mr.. Hoar entered upon a discussion of
! the constitutional phase of the question
! involved in the resolution under conSid-
GRAFTON, prefacing his argument with a
! statement of his personal position on
| the subject. He said:
Il am one Of those men who believe
that little that is great or good or per-
manent for a free people can be ac-
complished without the fundamentally
of party. And l have believed relig-
iOusly and from my soul, for half a
century, in the great doctrines and
principles Of the Republican party.
stood in a humble capacity by its era
die. / do not mean, if I can help it, to
follow its hearse. am sure 1 render it
a service, l am sure 1 help to protect
and to prolong the life of that great
organization if 1 can say or do any
thing to keep it from foTsaking the
great principles and doctrines in which
alone it must live.
LESSONS OF HISTORY.
Mr.. Hoar said that our fathers who
framed the constitution had studied an
Gent history and had learned that
while there is little else that a democ-
racy cannot accomplish, it cannot rule
over VasSal states or subject peoples
without bringing the elements of death
into its own constitution. He quoted
Professor Cleary as saying, in his
Fifteen Decisive Battles of the
World:
There has never been a republic yet
in history that acquired dominion over
another nation that did not rule it sell
fishly and Oppressively. There is no
single exception to this rule, either in
ancient or modern times''
Mr.. HOar believed, he said, this coun-
try to be q sovereign nation. He De-
heved congress possessed all the powers
necessary to accomplish the great OBJ
jects the trainers of the constitution in
tended should be accomplished. But he
denied that il possessed the "astonish-
ing" and "extravagant" powers under
the constitution which the senator from
Connecticut (Mr. PlahD attributed
to it,
Mr.. Hoar affirmed that every prin-
c1pal power is limited to the one su-
P1eme and controlling power declared
in the constitution itself. In order to
form a more perfect union. establish
,.
provide for the common defense. pro-
mote the general welfare of the people
and secure the blessings of liberty to
ourselves and TO our :Dosterity''
when the senator from Connecti-
cut undertakes to declare" said Mr..
Hoar, that we may do such things,
not for the perfect union. the common
defense, the general welfare of the peo-
pie or the securing of liberty to our
selves and cur children. but for any
fancied or real obligation to take care
of distant peoples, beyond our bound
aries, not people of the United States,
then 1 deny his proposition and tell him
he can find nothing either in the text
Of the constitution or the exposition of
the fathers or the judgments of courts
from that day to this to warrant or
support his doctrine.
We have heard of limited monarch
les, constitutional monar2hies. despot-
isms tempered by assassination but
the logic of the senator from Connecti-
cut makes a pure, unlimited untem-
pered desDotism, without any relief
from assissins.''
CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED.
He said while Mr.. Platt had admitted
that governments derive their just
powers from the consent of some of
the governed" he did not understand
that in subjugating and governing the
Filipinos, Mr.. Plat proposed to get the
consent of any of them.
Mr.. Hoar was inclined to ridicule
those who favor expansion and the rati-
fication Of the treaty of Paris without
amendment. Their arguments. he said,
were Three cheers for the flag Who
will dare to haul it down? Hold on to
everything you can geti America has
outgrown AmericanismI''
In general the friends of what is
called Imperialism or expansion content
themselves with declaring that the
flag, which is taken down every night
and put UP again every morning over
the roof of this senate chamber. where
it is in its rightful place. must never
be taken down if it has once foated
whether that be the rightful place or
not-a doctrine which is not only with
out justification in international law.
but if il were implanted there would
make of every war between civilized
and powerful nations a war of exter-
mination or a war Of dishonor to one
o--.v or the other"
Mr.. Hoar then entered upon a critical
analysis Of Mr.. Platts speech. After
summarizing the argument, he said:
The constitutional argument for siav-
cry was ten times as strong as the ar
said he owned men for their good The
senator from Connecticut proposed to
own nations for their good.
The sovereignty which can be ex-