Washington sentinel., 1900-08-25
Cbe Evolution
OF a policy OF
1nfamp.
Written Toy the
Sentinel BY
Pref M
FreliHgHEySsR.

The Treaty of Paris ysicb provided
Tor the cession OF Spain to the United
States for the sum OF $40, 600, 900 revealed
the full. .baseness OF the transaction.
Much has been said about the effect of
this treaty, AS a matter of fact it was a
mere nullity except as far as the ex
tinguishment of SPain's title is con
cerned. Puff=ndorf affirms that in the
alienation of part of sovereignty, "the
consent OF the p eople is required" and
he is sustained BY Grotius and Vattel
and BY all writers since that time And
this even when the ceding power has
full sovereignty over the part ceded.
But there is another we'll settled
principle OF law that State is sovereign
only when it has the supreme power
over its citizens or subjects, This control
Spain did not have outside OF Manila,
and that city the FiliDinos could have
taken at any time, and would have
taken but for the treacherous directions
of Mckinley and Hay to the command.
ing officers at Manila to dissuade them.
And there is still another legal principle
that he who has nothing cannot give
anything, So that as legal proposition.
Americas title is utterly worthless
But even five had title, the supreme
Court has decided that there IS no
power in the Constitution to establish
or maintain co opies. In the case Of
Fleming VS., Page, that Court said:
"a war declared by Congress can
never be presumed to be waged for the
purpose of conquest or the acquisition
of territory, Nor does the law declaring
the war imply an authority to the
President to enlarge the limits of the
United States by subjugating the
enemy's country"
And there Is not a ripple in the wave
Of decisions to the same effect, The
Constitution is no respecter of persons
and treason to it may be IN the White
House as we'll as elsewhere.
The moral right goes with, or rather
precedes, the legal right. And as "piety
and patriotism" are said to go together,
I invite the serious attention OF the
President to the doom pronounced by
Elijah on Ahab for killing Naboth and
taking possession of his vineyard: "Hast
thou" SAID the prophet, "killed and
also taken possession? In the place
where the dogs licked the blood of
Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even
there Behold l will bring evil upon
thee and will take away thy prosperity"
AS to who commenced this unfortunate
war the proof is clear and irreiutable.
On April Otis reported "tiring upon
the Filipinos, and the killing Of one Of
them by the Americans" lust think Of
it. A few Of our recent allies, ignorant
Of our language, enter our lines, and are
fired on, and one shot. What next?
Aguinaldo sends an envoy to say that the
fighting had begun accidentally and was
unauthorized. and be desired it stopped.
To this Otis replied that 1.-THE fighting
having once begun must go on to the
grim end" The plain fact OF the matter
is, OTIS had been directed from the
White House to pick a quarrel at the
proper time, and continue the fight with
or without pretense OF reason. Il WIS
the old story Of the vol and the lamb.
Treachery, duplicity. deceit, at every
turn, And who are these people on
whom we commenced to wage a ruthless
war; Admiral Dewey described them
in his dispatches to the Paris Commits
sion as far superior in Intelligence to the
Cubans, and more capable of self gov.
ernment. And General Wheeler said
before the same commission that with
every Justification to revenge he had
never heard of an instance Of torture,
revenge or brutality, and had never seen
a drunken Filipino.
We have heard much claptrap about
restoring order and then bestowing the
blessings OF self government, We COM
menced the disorder, and there has
never been a report Of any disorder
other than those caused by our troops
or within our lines. The volunteers
who enlisted TO fight Tor humanity, and
were detained in a war for conquest,
created very serious disorder in the
effort to be returned TO their homes.
The retention OF these volunteers was