The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-08-09

aHitIidNt tdTlI has value. anu HutL Iudl
earth is nodded by the Divine hand and
stamped with the likeness of the Gre
ator 1t becomes fixture and passes with
the soil? If governments derive their just
powers from the consent of the governed
it is impossible to secure title to people,
either by force or by purchase. We could
extinguish SPANS title by treaty, but if
We hold title we must hold il by some
method consistent with our ideas of gov
eminent. When we made allies of the
Fniptnos and armed them to fight against
Spain. We disputed SPANS title. If we
buy SPANS title, we are not innocent pur-
chasers. But even If we had not disputed
SPANS title, she could transfer no great
err title than she had, and her title was
based on force alone. We cannot defend
such title, but as Spain gave us a quit
claim deed, We can honorably turn the
property over to the party in possession.
Whether any American official gave the
Fiipinos moral assurance of independence
is not material. There can be no
doubt that we accepted and
utilized the services of the Filipinos
and that when we did so we had full
knowledge that they were fighting for
their independence. and submit that mis-
tory furnishes no example of turpitude
baser than ours if we now substitute our
yoke for the Spanish yoke.
Let us consider briefly the reasons which
alistic policy. They say that it is our
duty to hold the Philippine Islands But
duty is not IAN argument; it is a conclu-
sion To ascertain what our duty is in
any emergency we must apply well set
tied and generally accepted principles. 1t
is our duty to avoid stealing, no matter
whether the thing to be stolen is of great
or little value. 1t is our duty to avoid
killing human being, no matter where
the human being lives or to what race or
class he belongs. Everyone recognizes the
obligation imposed upon individuals
10 observe both the human and
moral Jaw, but as some deny
the application of those laws to nations,
it may not be out of place to quote the
opinion of others. Jefferson. than whom
there is no higher political authority,
said:
Il know of but one code of morality for
men, whether acting singly or collective
~"
Franklin, whose learning wisdom and
virtue are part of the priceless legacy
bequeathed to us from the revolutionary
days, expressed the same idea in even
stronger language when he said:
l Justice is as strictly due between
nelghbor nations as between neghbor cit
liens. A highwayman is as much robber
when he plumbers in a gang as when
singly; and the nation that makes an
unjust war is only great gang
Men may dare to do in crowds what
they would rot dare to do as individuals,
but the moral character of an act is not
determined by the number of those who
join in it. Force can defend right, but
force has never yet created a right. If
1t was true, as declared in the resolution
of intervention, that the Cubans ARE and
of right ought TO be free and independent"
language taken from the Declaration of
Independence it is equally true that the
Filipinos ARE and of right ought to be
free and independent" The right of the
Cubans to freedom was not based upon
their proximity to the United States, nor
upon the language which they spoke, nor
yet upon the race or races to which they
belonged. Congress by a practically unan-
imous vote Gee AIRED that the principles
enunciated at Philadelphia in 1776 were
still alive and applicable to the Cubans.
Cubans and FiIipinos.
Who will draw line between the nat
ural rights of the Cubans and the Fill
pinos? Who will say that the former have
a right to libtr,y and the latter have no
rights which we are bound to respect?
And, if the Fiipinos ARE and of right
| ought to be free and independent" what
right have we 10 force our government
upon them without their consent? Before
our duty can be ascertained, and when
their rights are once determined, it is as
much our duty to respect those rights as
it WAS the duty of Spain to respect the
rights of the people of Cuba, or the duty
of England TO respect the rights of the
American coonists. Rights never con-
f1ict; duties never clash. Can 1t be our
duty to usurp political rights which be-
long to others? Can it be our duty to kill
those who, following the example of our
forefathers, love liberty well enough to
fight fer it?
- Some poet has described the terror
which overcame a soldier who, in the
midst of battle, discovered that he had
slain his brother. 1t is written: "All We
are brethren" Let us hope for the COM
ing of the day when human life-which
when once destroyed cannot be restored
will be so sacred that it will never be
taken except when necessary to punish
a crime already committed, or to prevent
a crime about to be committed.
If it is said that we have assumed be-
fore the world obligations which make it
necessary for us to permanently main
tain a government in the Philippine ISL
ands l reply, first. that the highest OBJ
legation of this nation l. 10 be true TO
itself. No obligation to any particular
nation or to all nations combined. can re-
quire the abandonment of our theory of
government and the substitution of doc
trines against which our whole national
life has been a protest. And, second, that
our obligations to the Filipinos, who in
habit the islands, are greater than any
| obligations which we can owe to foreign
ers who have a temporary residence in
the Philippines or desire TO trade there.
1t is argued by some that the Filipinos
are incapable of elf-government and that
therefore we owe ii 10 the world to take
control of them. Admiral Dewey in an
official report to the Navy Department,
declared the Filipinos more capable of
self-government than the Cubans, and said
that he based his opinion upon knowl-
edge of both races. But l will not rest
the case upon the relative advancement of
the Filipinos. Henry Clay. in defending
the rights of the people of South Amer
lea to self-government said:
1T is the doctrine of thrones that man
is too ignorant to govern himself Their
partisans assert his incapacity i'm reference
to all nations; II they cannot command
universal consent to the proposition, IL
is then remanded to particular nations
and our pride and our presumption too
often make converts Of us. contend
that IT is to arraign the disposition of
Providence Himself, 10 suppose that He
has created beings incapable of governing
themselves and to be trampled on by
kings Self government is the natural
government of man."
Clay was right. There are degrees of
! .gs - H.. - 1lr