New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-06-23
TO DEMOCRATS OF CHARACTER.


compel upright and patriotic citizens TO review
their opinions with the utmost candOr and care.
The worthy men in each political party always
recognize the fact that in the other there are
also worthy men. When they see that the
course deliberately chosen by the representa-
tives of one great political party is not only
adopted with a high degree of unanimty, but
upon actual rollcan by the affirmative vote OF
every delegate voting, 1t is time for them to
give the fact some weight 1t can no longer
be claimed that sincere and conscientious dis
sent is suppressed in order to bring about a
degree of unanimity which could only he in
tended to produce false impression. The men
who would consent thus to falsify their own
candid doubts or hesitating reluctances are not
the worthy men, The most sincere, the most
upright the most faithful in their adherence
to their convictions. are not the men who can
ever be induced to sit in silence for the purpose
of having the entire absence of dissent made
the basis of untruthful argument
It has to he admitted that the best and worth
lest men in the Republican party, whose judg-
ments have most weight with the worthiest
and best Of their opponents have arrived ut the
deliberate conclusion that patriotic duty leaves
open to them absolutely no alternative except
Il hearty and unreserved approval of the course
taken by the President and the party in power.
This admitted. ii becomes an imperative duty
for men OF similOr character in every other
party TO review their own position with more
than ordinary care. For the question at issue Is
really the gravest that can confront man of
genuine patriotism. His right TO oppose the
course of a hostile party is all the time limited
by the possibility that acts and words of hos
tility can at any time become expressions of aid
and comfort to enemies of the Nation. At
sidered The Nations Government is at all
times compelled to express the will of the ma
jority What it can possibly do, with the sup
port of that majority, is at every juncture the
only thing that can stand between the people
and a triumph of foes in arms. To resist their
efforts beyond a certain point, not always easy
to fix becomes of necessity an act of disloyalty.
The charge is not made by the wanton III speech
and Eighty in thought, but if made at all it is
by the most sober, earnest, conservative and
worthy of those who support the Adminstra-
ton 1t is made without personal violence of
speech, but with all the force and emphasis
which recital of conclusive facts can have.
There are many thousand supporters of the
Democratic party, under ordinary conditions,
who cannot in the forum of their own con-
sciences treat lightly the fact that their con-
duct is gravely pronounced diSloyal by those
whose character gives the charge peculiar
weight They are not able under such an accu-
sation, to pretend that nothing but partisan
prejudice or spite can prompt such arraign-
ment On the contrary, they find themselves
compelled to take up the question in their own
minds with all the candor they can bring to it.
They are forced to ask themselves whether it is
the fact that their own utterances and others
like them are widely circulated among armed
insurgents against the authority of the United
States Printed documents which have been
distributed by the thousand prove beyond ques-
ton that those who are most influential in
fOmenting and supporting the instruction in
the Philippines have full belief that the feelings
and acts of Tagal insurgents will in this way be
strongly Influenced. If those leaders. who know
better than anybody else the temper of the peo-
pie with whom they have to deal. actually be-
lieve that utterances by prominent Democrats
and other opponents of the Administration help
TO increase and prolOng opposition to United
States authority, in what way can the accusa-
ton of dslOyalty be met? The worthiest and
best Of the Democrats are aware that it is no
answer whatever if they are able to say
with perfect truth that they have not intended
to produce that effect. 1t was. all the same the
most natural and obvious influence OF their as
saults upon the Government of the United
States. The crime of murder is committed by
him who aims at one but hits another victim
If thousands of the worthiest and ablest men
in the Democratic party are forced to admit in
their own cOnScienceS that their utterances as
partsans have in fact given aid and comfort to
rebels in arms against the United States and
will Of necessity have that influence while the
armed resistance lasts. 1t becomes for them a
most practical question whether they are not
bound as citizens to stop acts of dislOyalty. TO
stop countenancing any journals or party lead
ers guilty of such acts, and to refuse from this
hour TO play the part of disoyalists They
have the question to settle in their own con-
sciences Nobody can help them much It will
not help them in after life TO reflect that they
did this thing In passion or hatred blinded TO
the real nature of their acts. Men who carry
with them TO their graves the sting of CON
scious dislOyalty can testify whether it is con-
ducvc TO their happiness. If prolonged rebel
lion in the Philippines costs the life of only one
more loyal soldier from the United States
which of the Democrats will be pleased in
later life TO think of himself as the murderer
Of that brave man?
---%------
The Americans who won the revolver match
their French rivals maintained the title OF