The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1900-03-27

find fault with the result? Those
who seek to impose upon them
an unreasonable standard Of ex-
cellence in self-government, do
not seriously wish to let them
govern themselves at all. You
may take it as general rule that
he who wants to reign over 9TH
ers is solemnly convinced that
they are quite unable to govern
themselves.
Now, what objection is there
to the policy dictated by our fun
damental principles and our good
faith ? I hear the the angry cry
"What ? Surrender to Aguinal-
do ? Will not the world ridicule
and despise us for such a confes-
sion of our incompetency to deal
with so feeble a foe =? What will
become of our prestige No,
we shall not surrender to Aguin-
aldo. In giving up a criminal
aggression, we shall surrender
only to our own consciences, to
our own sense of right and JUS
tice, to our own understanding
of our own true interests and to
the vital principles of our own
republic. Nobody will laugh at
us whose good opinion we have
reason to cherish. There will,
of course, be an cutlery of dis
appointment in England. But
from whom will it come ? From
such men as James Bryce or John
Morley or any one of those true
friends of this republic who un-
derstand and admire and wish to
perpetuate and spread the funda-
mental principles of its vitality
No, not from them. But the out
cry will come from those in Eng
land who long to see us entangl-
ed in complications apt to gmake
this American republic depend
ent upon British aid and thus
subservient to British interests.
They, indeed, will be quite angry.
But the less we mind their dis
pleasure as we'll as their flattery,
the better for the safety as well
as the honor of our country.
The true friends of this repub-
lie in England, and, indeed, all
over the world, who are now
grieving to see us go astray, will
rejoice, and their hearts will be
uplifted with new confidence in
our honesty, in our wisdom, and
in the virtue of democratic insti-
buttons when they behold the
American people throwing aside
all the puerilities of false pride,
and returning to the path of their
true duty. The world knows how
strong we are. 1t knows full
we'll that if the American people
chose to put forth their strength,
they could quickly overcome a
foe infinitely more powerful than
the Filipinos, and that, if we.
possessing the strength of the
giant, do not use the giant
strength against this feeble foe
it is from the noblest of motives
our love of liberty, our sense
of justice and our respect for the
rights of others-the respect of
the strong for the weak. The
moral prestige which, in fact, we
have lost, will be restored, while
our prestige or physical prowess
and power will certainly not be
lessened by showing that we
have not only soldiers, guns.
ships and money, but also con-
science.
Therefore, the cry is childish,
that, unless we take and keep the
Philippines, some other power
will promptly grab them. Manv
a time this cry has been raised
to stampede the American people
into policy of annexation-in
the San Domingo case, twenty.
eight years ago, and more recent.
ly in the case of Hawaii-and in
neither case was there the slight.
est danger-not that there were
no foreign powers that would
II - II. Il