The record-union., 1899-02-06
Sets Forth Reasons For Amending tho
Treaty.
They Do Not Want it Ratified on-
less a Clause is Inserted ny
Which Porto Rico and the Phil
ippines will Be Placed on the
Same Footing as Cuba in Re-
lation to the United States and
Assured of Their Freedom.

petition. signed by twenty-four cltlZens
of the United States, and addressed ~
1.-The Senate of the United states, was
made public tonight. The signers are:
Charles Francis Adams, Boston; re-
lix Adler. George S. Boutwell,, ex-See-
rotary of the Treasury John e. car
Isle. ex-Seeretary of the Treasury; An
drew Carnegie, Grover Cleveland, Tneo-
dore l.. Cuyler, Charles H. Elliott, Pres
ident of Harvard University; Samuel
Gompers. President of the American
Federation of Labor; John B. Hender-
SON. ex-senator from Missouri; William
3. Hornblower, w. B. Palmer, Presl-
dent of the Rio Grande Western Rail-
way. Wheeler H. Peckham, Sherman s
Rogers. Buffalo: Carl Schurz, ex-Secre-
tary of the Interior; Edward Burritt
Smith. Chicago; Moorfield Storey, Bos-
ton; William G. Sumner, Yale Univer-
sity; Rev. Henry Van Dyke, Herman
Won Hist, University of Chicago; Will
lam l.. Wilson, ex-Postmaster Genera,
now President of Washington and
Lee University; Theodore s. Woolsey'
Henry c. Potter, Bishop of New YORK.
ssTo the Senate of the United States:
The undersigned respectfully submit
that the treaty between the United
States and the Kingdom of Spain now
before your honorable body ought not
to be ratified until provision shall be
inserted. as part of its text, to the Ell
feet that the United States shall not
annex the Philippine Islands or Porto
Rico. or permit their inhabitants to be-
come subjects of the United states
without their free consent and the fur-
Their and express authority of Congress
There seems to be no reason to doubt
the entire Willingness of Spain to mod
ify the treaty in these respects, or to
suppose that the delay of its ratifica-
ton for this purpose involves the
slightest renewal of hostilities.
I'VE submit that the treaty, unless
modified. will introduce changes Of
far-reaching character into both the
foreign and domestic policy of this re-
public The late war was undertaken
with our distinct assurance that we did
not look toward foreign conquest or
the acquisition of territory. 1t was un-
dertaken, and to this we plighte1 the
honor of the American nation, in The
cause of humanity and liberty, and for
no other purpose.
THE public sentiment of our country
is not ready to endure the concession
of American citizenship to the Filipinos
and Porto Ricans. But the effort viii.
for the time at least, no doubt, BE- to
hold their islands under revenue, tariff,
navigation and other laws very differ
ent from those in the United States.
The Philippines and Porto Rico would,
at least at the outset, be separate de-
tendencies under an extra territorial
and extra constitutional sovereignty
not provided for in the Constitution of
the United States. and grossly incon-
sistent with its entire spirit and inten-
ton. That this sovereignty in the case
of the Philippines is extra territorial
is the more apparent from the fact that
the Constitution was established for the
United States of America. and not for
the United States of America AMI Asia
That the transfer proposed is trans
fer of sovereignty is obvious from the
fact that the consent of the people of
the Philippines and Porto Rico is ig-
nored in their transfer from Spain 10
the United States, and is hereafter 10
be considered only as far as the United
States shall see fit to give it considera-
ton
w z LUZ tHcI SUBMIT tHdI III the MS
tory of our nation there is no precedent
for an acquisition of this sort Of the
territory of a distant nationality, peo-
pied by other races and belonging to
another continent
I'VE respectfully submit that ac-
cording to the principles upon which
our republic was founded, we are in
duty bound to recognize the rights of
the inhabitants of the Philippines and
OF Porto Rico to Independence and self
government. precisely as we have rec
ognized that right in the case of the
inhabitants of Cuba; that if. as Presi-
dent Mckinley declared sforcible an
nexation cannot be thought of in the
case of Cuba because it would. by orr
code of morals, be criminal aggression
then forcible annexation of the Philip
pines will be no less criminal agrees
sion. according to the code of morals.
We submit. in conclusion, that the
sober second thought of the American
people will support your honorable
body in a refusal to ratify the Spanish
treaty. until its text shall be so modi-
fed that it will. beyond constitutional
doubt. assure independence to the
Philippines and Porto Rico and protect
our own republic from any danger that
they shall become American States, or
that their inhabitants shall become
American citizens
IT'S DEATH nTnvu