Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1899-05-12
SPIRIT OF H PRESS
FACTS AND :OPlNlONS GATHERED
FROM CONTEMPORARIES.
WESTERN MISUNDERSTANDING sENTl

WESTERN ANTi-lMPERlALISTIC SENT
MENT.
Opposition to civilian McKinley's
War" and to "Government by Procla-
nation" is not confined to the Boston
league. 1t exists and Is growing IN in
tensity at the West and South.
On Dewey day MAY y in Chicago a
mass-meeting was held, filling one of
the largest hall, in the city, to protest
against the policy of American agrees
sion in the Orient" There were seven
speakers, all men of high standing,
every one of whom voted for Mckinley
for president. Among them were Bishop
Spalding, Prof. j. Lawrence Laughlin OF
the Chicago university, Henry Wade
Rogers, Rev. j. Lloyd Jones, Edwin
Burritt Smith and Sigmund Zeigler.
The speaking lasted for three hours and
was loudly applauded.
The resolutions adopted declared that
The frank expression of honest convic-
tons upon great questions of public policy
is vital to the health and even to the preser-
walton of representative government. Such
exp ession is therefore the sacred duty of
American citizens.
We hold that the policy known as imperial
ism is hostile to liberty and tends toward
militarism-an evil from which II has been
our glory to be free. We regret that it is
now necessary in the land of Washingt n
and Lincoln to reaf1irm that all men, of
whatever race or color, are entitled to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We
still maintain that governments derive their
just powers from the consent of the governed.
We insist that forcible subjugatlon Of a pur-
chased people is "criminal aggression" and
open disloyalty to the distinctive principles
of our government.
We honor our soldiers and sailors in the
Philippine Islands for their unquestioned
bravery, and we mourn with the whole ma
ton for the American lives that have been
sacrificed. Their duty was obedience to
orders; our duty is diligent inquiry and
fearless protest. We hold that our govern
ment created the conditions which have
brought about the sacrifice.
Our government should at once announce
to the Filipinos its purpose to grant them,
under proper guarantees of order, the indie.
pendence for which they have so long
fought, and should seek by diplomatic meth
DDS to secure this independence by the com
nor consent of nations. 1t is today rs true
of the Filipinos as it was Il year ago of the
Cubans that they care and of right ought to
be free and independent"
The speeches were of a high order.
President Rogers said
The international lawyer knows that we
are engaged in n war of conquest. We can.
not rid ourselves of that character in the
eyes of the world and in the eyes of the in
ternational law by any high sounding
phrases about these people being our wards
and about the obligations We are under to
civilization. The greatest service we can
render to civilization is to show that we
respect the rights of man. A war of con
quest is a ar of criminal aggression.
In reply to the question 'What can
we dO?' Mr.. Rogers answered:
We cannot return the Philippines to Spain.
We cannot surrender them to any European
or Asiatic state or allow them to be treated
as a football among nations. But the United
States can put an end to the war of conquest
by suspending hostilities, by DECLARING to
the nations that it assumes a protectorate of
the Philippine Islands against foreign ag
gressiOn, and by calling upon the natives to
establish their own internal government.
When that ex pertinent has failed, If fail it
should. it will be time enough 10 consider
what should then be done.
This Chicago meeting was the weight
lest protest yet made against the un.
authorized, unnecessary and un-Ameri-
can war of conquest in the Philippines.
d, New York World.