The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-01-01

Had Armenia been in the British Chan
mel, England would have acted toward
1t just as we did in the case of Cuba.
Intervention was justifiable in either
case. But his wonder is that we did
not annex Cuba years ago Our more
cultured classes. however held the coun-
TRY aloof from that as! they oppose it
now. but he, quotes the words of an
American he met in Egypt when the
news of the destruction of the Maine
was received there: "The game is up;
we must now go to war"
The President and the anti-war party
up to that time were strong enough to
hold the nation level, but with that
event their hands were forced, and they
had no option but to obey the national
voice. Even if expansion was behind
the movement. as has been charged,
Mr. Dicey sees in that only Inheritance
OF English instinct, for he has been ar
guing all through his paper that despite
all that may be said to the contrary,
while there is no warrn cordiality be-
tween the English and Americans, no
real blood tie, there is q community Of
interests, language, customs and man
ners, which irresistibly impel the two
nations in the same direction and in
movements harmonious to each other.
1t is an Anglo-Saxon instinct for ex-
pansion in each and it is the law of
self-interest which operates upon each,
sentiment being. according to Mr..
Dicey, the least of factors in the ques-
ton. AT that time, October, Mr. Dicey
predicted precisely what has come to
pass. namely, that we would demand
and receive the possessions ceded by
the treaty with Spain. He adds, how
ever, a possible strong protectorate
over the Philippines rather than at
tempts at colonization on our part, as
the outcome. He does not believe that
| any formal alliance between Great
Britain and the United States is proba-
BILE or desirable. The platitudes about
blood being thicker than water, and
about cousinship. he. gives no value.
remarking that cousinship is a dis
tant relationship that rather sharpens
than softens, and often results in war
between relatives and between nations.
But the abandonment by America OF
the policy of isolation cannot fail. he
declares, to bring together more closely
the two kindred nations whose ideas,
institutions and ambitions, are almost
as identical as their language. Alex
ander Dumas was asked Of what work
he felt proudest, and he responded,
pointing to his son, ''of that" In much
the same way the English think Of
America, and in saying this Mr.. Dicey
declares he expresses the sentiment Of
the great mass Of his fellow country
| men.
He congratulates the United States
upon it's new position, declares that it
is in line with its instincts and the
impelling forces Of its destiny, and that
it will compel us to confront and treat
questions with other powers as other
nations do. He sketches at great
Great Britain. it's successes and It's
failures, under the development of the
same instinct, to show that the condi
lions and motives with US are not dis
similar to those under which England
| proceeded in its expansive movement.
He recites that many years ago he
said in public in this country that in
order to understand England one must
study America, and that his study and
observation since then have convinced
him Of the soundness of that assertion
| since, according to his view, Great
Britain and America are the compile
| ments of one another, despite the nota-
BILE differences between the two great
branches of the Anglo-Saxon race. He
| believes because of common tongue,
| common ties and memories, common
kinship and common interests which
| they do not and cannot possess with
| the world outside of their own fami-
| lies, that in the long run the centripi-
| tai forces in their case will be stronger
| than the centrifugal.
| That there is a large admixture of
, foreign blood on our side makes no
| difference with his doctrine, since he
| finds that in two generations at far
| thest, the descendants of that blood
become as thoroughly American as the
descendants Of the native Americans.
He therefore concludes that Americans
as a whole are actuated by much the
| same motives, ideas, instincts and
| modes Of thought as their kinsmen on
| the other side of the water and hence
our system and action in the matter
| of expansion will lead us in the same
directions, and to follow much the same
| methods common with Great Britain.
In short. Mr.. Dicey's idea is that the
| instinct of ruling race impels US and
that it is irresistible.
HAVE THEY THE POWER?
The county is but a convenient polit-
ical division Of the State. The State