Washington sentinel., 1900-06-02
HON. CARn sCHURz


In a public address delivered
few DAYS ago at Cooper Union,
New York, Hon. Carl Schurz pre-.
sented the Philippine question, our
duties and responsibilities therein,
in a mastery manner. We com
mend the following extract there
from to our readers:
have long been, and am now, firmly
convinced that, il the facts and tenden.
cies Of the imperialistic policy carried
on by our Government were well in
quired into and fully understood by the
American people, and then submitted TO
a popular vote on their own merits for
approval, that policy would be indig-
nanly spurned by the intelligence as
well as the moral sense OF an over
whelmiug majority of our citizenship.
Its defenders, well aware of :his, there
fore, make a special effort to mislead
that intelligence and moral sense by the
pretence that their opponents, the anti
Imperialists, pusilIanimously refuse to
meet the responsibilities devolved upon
us by the late Spanish war, and that
those responsibilities can be discharged
only by a virtual continuance of the
present policy.
This emphatically deny. Let US see
what our true responsibilities are, and
how they should be met. To this end
we must first remember what tlhas hap
Pened. In April, 1898, we went to war
with Spain for the sole purpose, as
Congress proclaimed TO 10 e world by
solemn resolution, Of re scuing from
oppressive mIsrule population strug'
CLING for freedom and independence.
Congress not only positively disclaimed
any Intention to annex to this republic
the territory inhabited by that popula.
ton, hut declared that the people OF
Cuba "are, and of right ought to be. free
and Independent in other words, that
Spain, by her oppressive misrule, had
not only morally but actually forfeited
her sovereignty over that country. This
was the affirmation OF a principle.
Then came Dewey's victory in Manila
bay. The case OF the Philippine
Islands IVES in all essential respects
identica with that Of Cuba. Their neo pie
had also been struggling against Spanish
oppression, like the Cubans, a nd If the
Cubans, according to the declaration Of
Congress, "were, and Of right ought to
be, free and independent" so surely
were the Philippine Islanders; and if
Spain had, according to our proclaimed
doctrine, morally and actually forfeited
her sovereignty over Cuba, SC, had she
forfeited her sovereignty over the Phil
ippiLes,
But the claim of the Philippine
Islands as to their independence was i'm
fact even much stronger than that Of the
Cu5ans. Dewey invited and brought
the chief leader OF the Philippine insur.
gents to the scene Of action. With
Dewey's aid and under his eyes that
chief organized a Filipino army of &C, 900
men, he proclaimed that Philippine
republic, hoisted the flag Of that republic
on his armed vessels, and set up civil
government which, according to the
imperialist Bauett's testimony, com.
pared in some of its important parts
favorably with that of Japan. The
Filipino army them while our land
forces were gradually arriving, quickly
cleared the interior of the country OF
the Spaniards, TAXI ng many thousands
OF them prisoners, and so hemmed in
on the land side the Spanish garrison of
Manila that il could neither receive
reiniorcements nor escape into the
interior, In other words, the FiIipinos
acted most efficiently as our allies, Grip
pling the Spanish power as we could
not have crippled it with our forces at
hand; and they were practically recog-
nized as our allies even to the extent Of
having turned over to them Spanish
prisoners taken in a cannon enterprise.
And while so prohtinE from their
action as our allies, vel DO not say
officially-promise0 them their inde.
pendence, but we did what morally
amounted to the same thing; we per-
mitted them to believe that in fighting
on the same side with US they were
!. lighting for their own independence we
permitted them to beliese this until we