The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-01-10
WAR CLOUDS IN THE FAR EAST

unlimited and untempered depotism, with
out any relief from assassins
Hoar maintained that the PROPOSE
lions advanced by Platt were not sus-
tanned by single one of his authori-
ties. He held that the powers of the
United States must be aff1rrnatively
delegated or they do not exhibit" in
other words the implied powers" re-
ferred to by Platt-the power to govern
territory acquired through War-did
not exist. The power which Mr.. Plat
maintains this Government possesses
is one" said Hoar, that our fathers
and their descendants have ever loathed
and abhorred, and they believed that
no sovereign on earth could rightfully
exercise it" He said while Platt had
admitted that governments derived
their just powers from the consent of
some of the governed" he did not I'M
derstand that in subjugating and gov
erning the Filipinos Plat proposed to
get the consent Of any of them.
Hoar was inclined TO ridicuIe those
who favored expansion and the ratifica-
ton of the treaty Of Paris without
amendment. Their arguments, he said,
were, Three cheers for the flag! Who
will dare haul it down? Hold on to
everything you can get! America has
outgrown Americanism." Continuing
he said:
IN general, the friends Of what is called
Imperialism or expansion content them
selves 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 1t is in its rightful
place, must never be taken down from
any place where it has once f1oated, wheth-
er that be the rightful place or not-a doc
ton, but If it were planted there would
make Of every war between civilized and
powerful nations a war Of determination
or a war OF dishonor to one party or the
other.
Hoar then entered upon a critical
analysis Of Platt's speech. After sum-
marking the argument he said:
The constitutional argument for slavery
was ten times as strong as the argument
of Mr. Plat The slave master said he
owned them for their good. The Senator
from Connecticut proposes TO own nations
for their good
He set forth his own constitutional
doctrine, which he desired to oppose to
that Of Platt He declared that the
people of this country had not deposited
all sovereignty anywhere and had used
no agent Of theirs to exercise. all SOW
ereignty unlimited and uncontrolled,
and further said:
The powers not delegated to the United
States are reserved to the States reSpec-
which can be exercised by the nation as
a unit is only that which is necessary for
accomplishing the purposes Of the ad-
ministration, and must be expressly
TENT in the judgment Of Congress to &C
complish the purposes therein expressly
declared. All other sovereignty is re-
served to the States or the people
The power to conquer alien peoples and
hold them in subjugation is nowhere ex-
pressly granted. The power to conquer
alien peoples and hold them in subjuga-
ton is nowhere implied as necessary for
the accomplishment Of the purposes de-
clared by the constitution.
not to be exercised by anybody-one that
the trainers Of the constitution thought
because il is immoral and wicked in it
self and because 1t is expressly denied
in the Declaration Of Independence, the
great interpreter and expounder Of the
constitution, which owes its origin TO the
same generation and largely 10 the same
men.
fit to be exercised by anybody in nu-
merous instances by contemporary State
constitutions and by contemp9q.raneeous
who express the opinion of the American
people in that generation VINO adopted
the constitution. as Well as the men VINO
framed it.
In discussing how territory may be
acquired constitutionally by the United
States Hoar said: 1T may also acquire
adjoining or outlying territory, dis
pose of it. make rules and regula-
lions for 1t for the purposes of national
security and defense, as in the case OF
Hawaii. although 1t may not be ex-
pected that the territory so acquired,
held and disposed of shall ever come
into the Union as a State" However,
Immediately following this statement
Hoar set the Philippines against Ha-
wall in this declaration:
Mr.. President, you are not now propos-
ing to acquire or own property in the
Philippines with dominion as necessary
incident; you are not TO own loot OF
land there. You propose TO acquire do
minion and legislative power ana nothing
else. Where in the constitution is the
grant of power TO exercise sovereignty
where we have no property.
In support of his Interpretation Of the
constitution Hoar cited various author
tiles. among them Charles Sumner and
Justice Matthews. He appealed to Sen
ators who are hesitating as to what
their action upon the question of ex-
mansion may be-"the greatest question
that has ever been or ever Will be put
TO them in their lives, the question not
of a year or of a century, not Of
generation. but a question pertaining
rather to the great period of national
Ufe"-not TO commit themselves in
principle TO such a policy by support
ing the peace treaty and then TO say
thew will consider hereafter how they
will act under it. In the course of his
appeal to Senators Hoar said:
When you raise the flag over the Phil
tppines as an emblem of domain and &C
duisition, you take 1t down from hide
pendence Hall.
He extolled the statement Of Louis
NAPOLEON, made in 1854 that the time
of conquest is past, never to return, for
II is not by extending the boundaries of
its territory that a nation can hence
forward be honored and powerful, but
by placing itself at the head of gener-
oIIs ideas and spreading everywhere
the empire of right and Justice" and
added:
NAPOLEON forgot what he had said when
he grew a little stronger. He saw his OPP
norfunfty in Mexico as our friends think
thew see ours in the Philippines. But the
sure and terrible feet of destiny overlook
him in the midst of his pride and power.
Our Commissioners come back from
paris. bringing with them the caston
clothing of this pinchbeck Napoleon and
ask US, who have seen his fate. to discard
for them the spotless robes in which our
fathers arrayed the beautiful genius of