The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1899-08-25

r. D. LANDER, Editor.
A QUESTION OF NATIONAL HONOR.

A QUESTION OF NATIONAL HONOR.
1t Is a common falling among men
and nations to trump up some ex-
cuse to gloss over their villainy, or
to appeal to some blind force or
other in justification of their un-
righteous conduct.
When we started into this war
with Spain, we did 80 upon the
noblest principles, to help a neigh
boring people in their struggle for
freedom from the most cruel and
bligbting despotism and In our reso-
luton declaring war, we declared
that nothing but the noblest, purest
and most unselfish motives actuated
us; that we did not intend to take
Cuba; that we did not intend to APP
propriate anything to our own use.
And when the war was ended, our
agents negotiated treaty in which
we agreed to pay Spain twenty mil
lion dollars to cede her sovereignty
in the Philippines-to US? No, not
to us, but we were to pay Spain that
handsome sum just to relinquish all
claim to the islands, and when this
treaty came up in the Senate for
confirmation, so jealous were the
Senators of the national honor that
x,yAY1l confirm tha ofxy
without first declaring the unselfish
purpose of this government, as ex-
pressed in the following extract
from the McEnery resolution that
passed the Senate on February IA,
1899, and that too, by the vote of the
administration party:
Resolved, etc., THAT in the rati-
fication of the treaty of peace with
Spain, it is not intended to incor-
porate the inhabitants of the Philip
pine Islands into citizenship of the
United States, nor Is it intended to
permanently annex said islands as
an integral part of the territory of
the United States"
We had accepted Aguinaldo as an
ally; as the head and front of the
Philippine rebellion against Span
ish tyranny, he joined his cause and
united his force with ours at our in
vitation. He rendered most efficient
service in driving the Spaniards to
surrender.
But the prospect of booty changed
us in the twinkling of an eye. We
lost sight of our good resolutions; ;
we became dull to every sense of
moral and national obligation; we
turned our arms against our friends
and allies, and are now preparing to
rob them of their liberty and of their
Inheritance.
The spectacle of a small country
battling for freedom from grinding
tyranny claimed our sympathy and
enlisted our activity, but now the
prospect of little territory has ex-
cited our criminal cupidity, and we
seek to justify our course of
"criminal aggression" by the plea Of
"manifest destiny"
"This is the excellent foppery of
the world that, when we are sick
in fortune, (often the surfeit of our
own behavior,) we make guilty of
No hn anA
stars; as If we were Williams on nee
essity fools by heavenly compulsion ;
knaves, thieves, and treachers, by
spherical predominance; drunkards,
liars, and adulterers, by an enforced
obedience Of planetary influence,
and all that we are evil in, by di-
vine thrusting on"
An admirable evasion of our moral
duties and responsibilities! Thus it
is, we would sugar DER the very
devil himself.
But while this may satisfy the
conscience of Mckinley and those
empty headed, light hearted Ameri-
cans that pirate about manifest
destiny" such course will not
commend itself to the conscience of
the great mass of honest and thought
full American citizens. Neither the
glory or our navy, nor the glittering
bait of foreign conquest, will tempt
them from the path of honor, nor
blind them to their moral and politi-
cal obligations, but when the day of
reckoning comes we confidently be-
lieve that the American people will
condemn and reject those unworthy
servants who have dishonored the
nation and prostituted its power.
SECRETARY Roof evidently does