Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1900-09-06

men, through Jefferson. the
great West beyond the Mississippi
was acquired, when largely through
the instrnmentality OF jackson
Florida was added to the Union.
the new provinces, with their In
dian populations. were governed
precisely and exactly on the theory
under which the Philippines are
nov governed. President Jefferson
secured the Louisiana purchase Just
a. President Mckinley secured the
Philippines, and Andrew jackson
warred against the Seminoles, when
We had acquired Florida from Spain
Just as General Macarthur is nov
warning against the brigands among
the Tagals in Luzon unless we are
willing to deprive Jefferson and
jackson Of the meed of honor
which has been held to be particu-
larly theirs, we cannot deny the
same high praise to President Nc
Kinley."
Now, what are the historical
facts? When we acquired Louisi-
ana and when we acquired Florida,
not only did the treaties provide
that the new territory should be an
integral part of our Republic, and
that the inhabitants Of the new
territory should be citizens of our
Republic, to which they did not
object. but the territory in each
case was at once made part of the
Republic and the inhabitants at
once became citizens of the Repub-
lie. And the same is true in the
case Of Texas, in the case Of Cali
fornia. 1t was in harmony with
the Declaration of independence,
it was extending its blessings to
more people it was giving the ben
eft Of free institutions to more of
the inhabitants of the earth. 1t
was expansion, it was growth, it
was development, it was statesman
ship. We were true to our high
mission in each of these cases. But
in negotiating the treaty with Spain,
the Administration carefully omit
ted from the treaty the provision
that the new territory should be-
come an integral part of on: Re-
public, and that the inhabitants
of the territory should become cit
izens Of the Republic.
Hanna On Hand.
When this treaty came up for
ratification in the Senate of the
United States on February 6. 1899,
the administration forces, led by
Mark Hanna. got the Senate to
adopt a resolution declaring that
the Philippine Islands should not
become an integral part Of this Re-
public, and that the inhabitants of
said islands should not become Cit
izens of this Republic. On the
same day Senator Bacon introduced
q resolution in the Senate which
provided that whenever the people
Of the Philippine Islands should
establish a stable government,
which in the opinion of our Gov
ernment, was worthy of recogni-
ton, that then we would withdraw
from the islands on such terms as
might be just, and leave the peo-
pie Of the islands to govern them
selves.
You will notice that this resolu-
tion proposed to keep matters In
our hands it proposed that when
they should establish a government
which, in our judgment, was a
good one that then we would give
them their independence. Let me
ask you if the Philippine people
should establish government which
in our Judgment was good gov
ernment, are they not entitled to
their independence just as much
as we are entitled to ours ?
Yet, reasonable as this resolution
seemed, the administration forces,
led by Mark Hanna, marshaled all
their strength against this resolu-
ton and had it defeated. Conse-
quently, on that day the Admins
tration served notice on the Philip
pine people that their country
could not be 9 part Of this Repub-
lie; that they could not become
citizens of this Republic that
they could not have the benefit of
the Declaration Of Independence ;
that they could no! have the bless
ings of the free institutions under
which we lived, and it further serv-