The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-01-30
NO LACK OF PATRIOTISM
Mr.. TiIlman's Position on the Phil
ippine Insurreclion.
He Dcprecatcs the Conflict and De-
cinres There Was No Necessity for
it-tn Apotbeosis of Abraham Lin
coin-fiis sympathy for the Bocrs
In Their Struggle With England.

! MIR. Tillman of South Carolina. in ac-
cordance with a notice given by him last
thursday, asked recognition Tor speech
on the Philippine question at the close OF
| the routine business in the Senate yestsr-
| day.
In some preliminary skirmishirg. Mr..
Chandler remarked with bitter sarcasm
| that everybody wanted to hear the Senator
from South Carolina begin his speech. be-
cause the sooner he began the sooner "a
would get through.
IF the Senator from New Hampshire
viii keep his seat" Mr. Tillman retorted.
he will laugh on the other side Of his
mouth before 1 am through
Being recognized by the chair. Mr.. Till
man spoke in part as follows:
MIR. President, l now approach phase
OF this question which is very unpleasant.
because it deals with the personality of
men. and 1 would not willingly wound the
sensibilities of any OF those who. like my
self, arc charged here with governmental
responsibility. Those of US who from the
very beginning have opposed this policy
have appealed and argued for what we
conceive TO be right, that our Government
should pursue the only course which to our
minds was honorable and just. have been
met with accusations of treason, have been
charged with lack of patriotism, and the
Senator from Indiana has rot even hesi-
tated to tell US 10 our faces that we are
responsible for the war and its conse-
quences.
impugn no mans motives: have
no proofs and l want none: but whether
the President be most to blame or whether
the crime rests on his dupes and subserv-
lent party DEFENDANTS I say, with all the
emphasizes of my nature, that / and none
OF those who voted against the treaty are
responsible for the spiIling OF one drop of
this innocent blood that has been shed,
aud | will not endure patiently and with
out resentment any such accusation. With
the ratification OF the treaty Spain's rights,
whatever they were, passed to US, and as
the President had determined six weeks
before that the islands should be brought
under the rule OF our Government and is
sued his proclamation to that effect with
historian will declare that he is primarily
responsible for the war. responsible for
the lives of our soldiers. responsible for
the inhuman and devastating conflict that
has followed, and that he obtained the
permission which was necessary through
the cowardice. venaiity. or weakness of
men in this chamber. His hands wsre tied
until then.
Therefore l say to the Senator from
Indiana:
shake not your CORY locks at me;
Thou canst not say i did it.
Il stand by the record as 1t has been
presented in this Senate, in the docu-
ments sent us by the President himself.
and in the report OF General Otis The |
record OF speeches made in this chamber
viii sustain every assertion / have made,
and the American people cannot be Se-
ceived any longer unless they want to be. |
was only boy of thirteen when the |
great civil war began: but who can forget, |
even though child. the angry outbursts, |
the battle cries that had led up to the |
bloody contest? Amid the storm Of pas |
sion, who was the man. the embodiment |
of all that was best and nobIest in North |
ern civilization. and even in American |
who stood as the great apostle |
Of liberty? Whose words of fervid elo- |
quence marshaled the Northern hosts? |
Whose high moral purpose. whose grand |
eur OF character and greatness of soul !
sustained those hosts in adversely and de- |
feat? Who stood like a colossus towering !
above the smaller. meaner men who sur |
rounded him. and who must ever stan.i |
above them. commanding the admiration |
and love of all true men everywhere? |
Who? Abraham Lincoln.
Whatever motives may be attributed to |
others, whatever OF seIishness or ambi |
ton that entered into the calculation OF |
others. I here declare il is my belief that |
he never had thought in connection with |
he whole subject. nor uttered Il word that /
lid not have its inspiration in the purest /
patriotism and the noblest aspiration for /
And now what have we as a |
people gained? What has the conflict left |
10 US? Although this city is filled with /
monuments erected TO the brave men who
1ared their bosoms to the storms of shot
md shell from Confederate rifles and cam
lou, although the Thirteenth. Fourteenth.
md Fifteenth amendments 10 the Consti-
ution were declared to be necessary to se-
'ure the fruits OF tEis victory for liberty
n the Union although no honest man will
leny that the words of Webster. Liberty
md unicn. one and inseparabie. now and
had been the inspiration which
He'd the Northern armies and under Lin
oin's leadership won the fight. although
re now have a nation whose States are
emented together with blood 1t is Union
My. the spirit. the vitaIiziug essence.
owe of liberty appears to have died and
title remains of Webster's and Lincoln's
ieals.'
Referring to the war IN the Transvaal
nd to the remarks made by Mr.. Mason
elative to the statements reported to have
cen made by the English Consul at New !
'rleans. Mr. Tillman said: F..
This war presents the spectacle of a
,epublc of 100000 people fighting for
IS life with an empire OF 100000, 900, and
is quite natural that the Senator from /, i,
linois should have his sympathies strongly :
TIRED. But after all. the Senate is part
( the diplomatic power of the United L
tates. | have myself. hoped that the
me would come when. in this Boer war. 1
ither the expression of our Government
r the opinion of the people of the United
tatss Calmly and mOdestly made knownl :
-ould have its effect on the coutending ,
lrties and bring about peace-peace with
lstice and with liberty. without which |
here can be no permanent peace. {
81 suppose that the attitude of the peo- c
lie CT the United states generally toward {
treat Britain is ne OF warm, cordial |
lltHuSHtp-l iuitisit siiu''Se StiFt 'u dtLiAuic
attachment and lcve-and that. when q
fe think her in the wrong, as we pretty S
ften have had occasion to do, and as some
our people now do. we have the same c
ceiling which patriotic Englishmen have
Dward their own government when they 5
hink it is in the wrong and the same q
ceiling which patriotic Americans have to- $
ard their own Government when they d
hink II in the wrong. 1 do not believe
hat any considerable number of Ameri- /,
NJ, ,.nnis arcauf tho Jnefrfna--tOur c,un |