The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-02-02
To the Senate of the United States.

To the Senate OF the United States.
A treaty Of peace with Spain lies upon
your table. On Monday, Feb. 6, at 3 o'clock
IN the afternoon, you will vote upon 1t.
The war which this treaty brings to an
end was one Of unbroken Victory, and the
treaty accords with the war. On this state
nient alone 1t would seem that the r%atilca-
than a form, and that not a single vote
could possibly be given against II by any
Senator. Such. however. marvellous as IL
i. may appear, is not the case. There IA
opposition to this treaty, an opposition
violent, passionate, extremely vocal, and,
rad to say, with votes behind the voices.
Treaties OF peace in the past have often
called out opposition, discomfort and critl-
cism on the winning side, but always upon
the ground that they have not been COM
nlensurate with the deserts Of the victor.
This treaty has the unique distinction Of
meeting with opposition among the repre-
Rentatives OF the victor nation because IL lie
too triumphant and has taken too much
from the vanquished. No objection is made,
or can be made, TO the instrument itself.
The treaty Is drawn with the utmost skill;
II grants every American demand and CON-
mits the United States to nothing. 1t is as
creditable to American diplomacy as the
battles by sea and land were to the sailors
and soldiers Of the United States. 1t is as
sailed solely on the ground that it is too
successful and matches too completely the
work OF the American army and navy.
The position OF the opponents OF the
treaty and the diatribes with which they
sustain it are difficult to comprehend. In
genuity has been strained to show that the
Constitution limits the ordinary powers
which pertain to every sovereign and indie
pendent nation, and to invent every kline OF
possible and impossible situation as a bar
rier to constitutional action. The Declare
ton OF Independence has been pressed into
the service and made to do duty as a state
ment OF organic law to be construed like a
statute, in a manner which would make the
author and signers OF that greatest OF
revolutionary manifestoes start with
Rmazement and surprise. And all this
heated invocation OF the Declaration and
the Constitution Is beside the mark and
without any relation to the question in
kAn1 AZ tho Ioot ~ 10 onoJnn,fo nra -
the worst It is insulting to the American
people, for it implies that they are not to
betrusted TO live up to the principles they
have themselves enunciated and to inter-
pref Alright the Constitution which they
reverence and for which in past time they
have given their lives and spent their
treasure.
Once OFF the ground OF the Constitution
and the Declaration OF Independence, the
opponents Of the treaty depart entirely
from the practical question and plunge
into a future which they cannot read, and
fill that future with chimeras dire and with
the vain things OF overheated imaginations.
All thcy say can be summed up in one short
sentence, that the American people are not
to be trusted with the fate Of the Philip
pines, and are too feeble, too dishonest, too
brutal to undertake the task.
~ The Senate debate has not brought out n
single argument or one valid objection to
the ratification Of the treaty. In fact, it Is
\ difficult to take seriously anything said by
Wis opponents, and it is impossible to an
swer them, for there is nothing to which n
reasonable mind can make reply. But II
the arguments are futile and without bear
ing on the case, the situation created by the
opposition and the votes they profess TO
have are serious in the extreme. They
have already produced much mischief, have
already injured the United States In the
eyes OF the world, and II successful in pre-
venting ratification next Monday would
do an amount OF harm Ia our standing
4As a nation, 20 oar relations with other
powers, to the people OF the Philippine
Islands, and 10 our vast and fourishing
business interests, which i; would be hard
TO estimate or measure.
The senate OF the United States is the
most powerful single chumbeg in any rep
resentative Government III tho world. its
adjustment is the only thing in the Constl-
tuition which cannot he changed except with
1.-The assent OF every state. Amendments
may come and go, but they cannot change
the representation Of the States in the SEN
ate. Nothing but a complete revolution ran
touch that great provision. The comblna-
ton OF legislative and executive powers car
trles the authority o! the Senate into every
branch OF the Government, and by The mis-
takes and shortsightedness OF the House OF