Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1900-08-29
JEFFERSON AND EXPANSION.
The Great Statesmen Would Meet Nine.
teenth Century issues as Re-
pubLicans Do.


Mr.. Bryan, in a letter published on
the 18th inst, concerning the atti-
tude OF Jefferson on the question Of
territorial expansion, gives another
illustration OF his inveterate habit
vi pouring new wine into old bottles
that Is OF endeavoring to make an
Client opinions fit new circumstances.
He quotes n letter written by Jeffer-
M to William Short In 1871 lin the
middle Of Washington's first term /,
wherein the former says that "if there
be one principle more deeply written
than any other In the mind OF every
American, 1t is that we should have
nothing to do with conquest" This
utterance wrested from the age and
circumstances under which it was
Is now made to do duty as voicing a
condemnation by Jefferson Of the ac-
QUESTION by the United States, of
Porto Rico and the Philippines. Be-
cause Jefferson deemed that the
American nation, then consisting Of
a mere fringe ofsettlements along the
Atlantic, should not at that hour
start out upon schemes Of foreign
conquest. Bryan would have us be-
lieve that one hundred and nine years
later the same nation, grown to the
proportions of n world power and
surrounded by a wholly different set
OF circumstances, should accept the
Jeffersonian dictum as n law for its
present.
Jefferson himself allowed no pride
OF consistency to interpose the bar
riers OF his own ~utterances, at n
date, against needed action at an
other. II 1t was wrong to ''have
anything to do with conquest" it
was wrong to accept the fruits Of
conquest, as he did, in the acquisi-
ton Of Louisiana. The only title
Napoleon had to that vast territory
was that of the conqueror Of Spain.
To maintain our right to it after our
purchase from Spain, Jefferson had
himself to assume the arms OF the
c%onqueror and send military forces
to New Orleans and st. Louis to
hold possession OF the country. At
New Orleans the American forces
were received as conquerers, with
tears and lamentations as the flag
of monarchy was pulled down and
the flag OF our republic was run up.
At st. Louis there was so much de-
lay in making the agreed-on transfer
and i'm the withdrawal of the Franco
Spanish garrison. that fears were at
one time entertained Of armed resist
ance to American occupancy. Still
further, Jefferson, while secretary OF
state to Washington, while y%ice-pres-
ident under Adams, and during his
own administration afterward, gave
full c0untenance to and energctically
pushed the various wars OF conquest
in which the United States engaged
with the Indians. Some OF the To-
calities in which these latter con-
quests were pushed were at that
time more distant in point of time,
and more inaccessible than are the
Philippines today.
Against the hasty expression ofJef-
ferson in the line or two quoted by
Bryan from a private letter, readers
may place Jeifersun's own deliberate
course, covering n later period Of
about thirty-fve years. Clearly
Bryan will gain little, in the estima-
tiol Of any one familiar with Ameri-
can history, by citing Jefferson as
opposed to legitimate and honorable
territorial ''conquests. "-MinneapO-
lis Journal.