Gilpin observer., 1900-09-13

come Besides, IL we cannot establish
any government of our own without
the consent of the governed, as our op-
ponents contend, then we could not es-'
tablish a stable government for them
or make ours a protectOrate without
the like consent, and neither the major
ity Of the people nor minority have in
vited us to assume 1t. We could not
maintain Il protectorate even with the
consent of the governed without giving
provocation for conflicts and possibly
costly wars. Our rights in the Philip
pines are now free from outside inter
ference, and will continue so in our
present relation. They would not be
thus free in any other relation. We
will now give up our own to guarantee
another sovereignty. Our title is good.
Our peace commissioners believed they
We're receiving n good title when they
concluded the treaty. The executive
believed it was a good title when he
submitted it to the Senate of the Unit
ed States for it's ratification. The Sen
ate believed it was a god title when it
gave it their constitutional assent, and
the Congress seems not to have doubt
ed its completeness when they appro-
priated $2O,0O0,OOO provided by the
treaty. If any who favored its ratiti-
cation believed it gave us n bad title.
they We're not sincere. Our title is
practically identical with that under
which we hold our territory acquired
since the beginning of the government
and under which we have exercised
full sovereignty and established gov
ernment for the inhabitants.
"Those who profess to distrust the
liberal and honorable purpose of the
administration in its treatment of the
Philippines are not justified. Imperial
ism has no place in its creed or coli
duct. Freedom is the rock upon which
the Republican party was builded and
now rests. Liberty is the great Repub-
lican doctrine for which the people
went to war, and for which 100000
lives We're offered and billions of dol
lars expended to make it the lawful
legacy of all without the consent of
the master or slave. There is strain
of ill-concealed hypocrisy in the anX-
iety to extend the constitutional guar
antees to the people of the Philippines,
while their notification is openly ad-
vocated at home. Our opponents may
distrust themselves, but they have no
right to discredit the good faith and
patriotism of the majority of the peo-
fear the worst form of Imperialism
hands; but if they do, it is because
they have parted with the spirit and
faith of the fathers and have lost the
virility of the founders of the party
which they profess to represent.
'The Republican party does not have
to assert its devotion to the declara-
tion of independence. That immortal
instrument of the fathers remained un-
executed until the people under the
lead of the Republican party in the
awful clash of battle turned its prom
ises into fulfillment. 1t wrote into the
constitution the amendments guaran-
teeing political equality to American
citizens, and it has never broken them
or counselled others in breaking them
1t will not be guided in its conduct by
one set of principles at home and an
other set in the new territory belonging
to the United States.
''If our opponents would only prac-
tice as well as preach the doctrines of
Abraham Lincoln there would be no
fear for the safety of our institutions
at home or their rightful influence in
any territory over which our flag
floats.
Empire has been expelled from Por-
to Rico and the Philippines by Ameri-
can freemen. The flag of the Republic
now floats over these islands as an em-
blem of rightful sovereignty. VIII the
Republic stay and dispense to their in
habitants the blessings of liberty. edu-
cation and free institutions, or steal
away, leving them to anarchy or I'M
perialism?
"The American question is between
duty and desertion-the American ver-
dict will be for duty and against de
sertion, for the Republic against both
anarchy and Imperialism.
civilian MCKINLEY"