New-York tribune., 1900-01-13
to play ducks and brakes with the flower OF the
British army
A roo GLOOMY VIEW.

In a pamphlet copy of the paper which was
read at the recent annual meeting OF the Ma
tional Civil Service Reform League by Mr..
Charles ]. Bonaparte of Baltimore. we find an
allusion to an editorial article printed in The
Tribune on September 24, 1898 In which we dis
sented from views concerning National expansion
shortly before expressed by Mr.. Bonaparte in
THE Baltimore News He had said that the
acquisition of the Philippines by the United
States would produce a variety of amentable
consequences. chiefly because we should prOba-
bly, send out to rule the islands spOsmen
wholly unfit for a task SO onerous and delicate.
In opposition TO that respondent announce
ment we declared the belief, founded ex-
perience, as we then thought and still think,
that this Nation was both capable and DESTROYS
of performing its obligations to itself and
the world We said that history seemed to us
to Justify the conviction that the people and
institutions of the United States would prove
fully equal not only to all the duties and the
opportunities which could be expected to con-
front us in the Far East, but to any unforeseen
emergency which might arise; and that we
could reasonably hope to find both material and
moral recompense in a sober and resOlute adop-
ton of the course which events had clearly pre-
scribed.
In his recent address Mr. Bonaparte recur
ring to the subject, cites our treatment of the
Indians and the reconstruction period as
justification of his belief that our rule in the
Philippines will be profigate and disgraceful,
and then reviews the experience Of England in
India for the purpose of showing the indis-
pensable necessity and the benefcent operation
of a rigid merit system In the Civil Service, and
especially in the government of dependencies.
He is unquestionably right in attributing the
results of British rule in India largely to that
principle of administration, and we fully agree
with him that the United States cannot hope
to avoid misfortune and dscredit If it tolerates
different methods q lower standard. Nor,
assuredly, can any impartial man pretend to
doubt either that during many years COM
mitted lamentable faults and errors in dealing
with our Indian wards, or that in the refaShion-
ing OF civil and social conditions at the South
after the war folly and corruption wrought in
calculable mischief. But in the fervOr Of his
opposition to the policy of territorial expansion
which, 10 his honor be it said. has never be-
trayed him into dslOyal acts or utterances, Mr..
Bonaparte rather strangely OverlOoks an ex-
tremely important and gratifying fact, which
on other occasions he has often gratefully ac-
knowledged. The Civil Service Reform League,
Of which he is one of the most patriotic, saga
cious, upright, useful ard respected members,
meets annually to celebrate as well to pro-
mote the advancement Of the cause which on
the whole it has faithfully though not always
wisely served, and the censure which it sol
emnly and sometimes harshly applies TO par
ticular violations of the merit system is in effect
a proof of the fidelity with which the system is
generally administered 1t is the simple truth
to say that the Nation has made astonishing
progress on this line during the last twenty
years and there is reason not merely to hope
but to expect that its conduct of affairs in the
Philippines following the example already set
in Cuba and in Puerto Rico will both illustrate
and complete the publication of the Civil