The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-07-01
BLoCKADING OF PORTS,
Something Rather Irregular Goiuu
On in the Philippines.

on In the Philippines
To the Editor of the Globe:
-FOUR article, All Is Well" suggests
IorcioIy the manner in which truth sbo,lt
Itie Fhihpp1hes is cozing out by degrees
IL appears from news items in the sauna
issue that Gen. Otis has straisad +be
blockade of those few ports occupied bv
our troops since the war began. and also
lhat sunooats are to be provided for the
purpose of protecting vessels which visit
tnese ports against confscatfon bv the
flllplnos Now the average newspaper
reader IS not expected to know: but, of
course, Gen. Otis and President Mckinley
do know that a nation cannot hIocIroC 81
It's own ports. Blockade is a war meas.
ure. To blockade the ports held by rebels
Is 10 admit that they are under a beIIiper-
ent government de facto whose comnu,
nication with the sea gives it the quasi
diplomatic relation of consular inter.
course with all civilized nations If Otis
mas bIockaded Philippine ports and I'm.
blOckaded them, he has recognized +ha
belligerency Of the Philippine republic.
The demand for gunboats to protect the
trade OF those ports we have occupied ia
also very significant. 1t means that the
Ffltpinos profess to blockade some Of
those ports which are actually in our
possession. Most likely their blockade Is
a paper one; but no gunboats would he
needed if there were not Filipino war yes
sells making at least some show of main
tanning 1t. No gunboats were EMPLOYED
to prevent Confederate war vessels from
confiscating foreign ships bound for New
York, although the Confederacy did have
war vessels looking out for our own mer-
chantmen upon the high seas
The inference is plain The FiItninoc
though perhaps inferior to the Confeder-
acy in power on the high seas, are more
powerful, relatively to ourselves, in Phil
ippine waters than the Confederacy ever
was in America. If the Filipinos, more
over, though not actually able to block
ade our newly acquired ports, should. I'M
der pretense of doing so, confscate for.
eign' vessels bound for those ports, what
would happen? The very thing we have
most to fear from-foreign interference
First, the aggrievad foreign power makes
demand for redress not on US, but the
Filipinos as England did the other day
She gets her redress, Of course; and the
Ffl1ptnos score, so much recognition for
them. If that sort of thing becomes mo-
notonouS, as it soon must, the foreign
powers will tell us, as they have told
many a nation under like circumstances.
that our troubles, though alleged to be
domestic, have become a common null
sance, and must STOP They will tell us so
with the less scruple, because our troubles
are very evidently not domestic In fact
rebels is absurd. A rebel is one who
takes up arms against the actually exist
ing government Of his own country. Our
government was never actually estab-
lished over an acre of Philippine soil, ex-
cept what we have conquered since the
war began. Meanwhile, we have come
down for months from offensive war to
defensive, abandoning a large part of the
not large territory which we had tempo
rarily overrun. 1t will be apt to strike
the most rapaciouS lingo, on reflection,
that such results are not due those trait
ors who believe, like certain other Amer
lean traitors about a hundred and twenty
years ago, that governments derive their
just powers from the consent of the gov
erned," but, on the contrary, are due the
Encouragement of President Mckinley
and his agents IN stirring up a bigger
hornets nest than they had provided
means to souse. C. L. James.
Eau Claire, Wis, June %.