Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1900-03-02

attorney genera, and secretary of state in
the second administration of President
Grover Cleveland has written an article
for the Atlantic Monthly on the "Growth
of Our Foreign Policy" Mr.. Olney's
latest expression practically places him in
the ranks of those who, while regretting
the acquisition Of the Philippine Islands,
believe they are rghtfully held and see no
course open to the United States but the
proper government of them. Porto Rico
is ours as matter of course, and Cuba,
Notwithstanding the resolution of Congress,
must become part OF United States terri
tory, he says.
D.precates Our Isolation.
The isolation policy which has hitherto
characterized the United States has, Mr..
Olney says, tended to belittle the national
character.
at has caused us to ignore the impor-
lance of sea power" he says, land to look
with equanimity upon the decay of our
navy and the ruin of our merchant marine.
II has induced in the people at
large an illberal and unintelgent attitude
toward foreigners, constantly shown in the
disparagement of other peoples, in boast
ing of our own superiority, and in sense
of complete responsibility for anything
This attitude, he says, has been reflect
ed in the utterances of public officials, the
taste and worse manners of which need
not be dwet upon. In the future, how
ever, they canno, be uttered with impunity.
He continues:
Though historians will probably assign
the abandonment Of the isolation policy of
the United States to the time when this
country and Spain went to war over Cuba,
aud though the abandonment may have
been precipitaled by that contes., the
change was inevitable, had been long pre-
| pairing, and could not have been long de-
! layed. The American people were fast
| opening their eyes TO the fact that they
were one OF the foremost powers of the
earth and should play commensurately
| great part in its affairs
Recognizing force TO be the final arbiter
| between states as between individuals, and
merit however conspicuous and well found
| ed in international law TO be of small avail
unless supported by adequate force, they
were growing dissatisfied with an unreadi-
! ness for the use of their strength which
made our representatives abroad less re-
| garded than those of many a second or
third class state. and left American lives
and property in foreign countries compar-
atively defenceless. They had come to re-
sent a policy and a condition OF things
which disabled the nation from asserting
itself beyond the bounds of the American
continents, no matter how urgently such
assertion might be demanded in the inter
ests of civilization and humanity, and no
matter how clearly selfish interests might
coincide with generous impulses and with
what might even be claimed to be moral
obligations.
an short, when our troubles with
Spain came to head, it had, it is believed,
already dawned upon the American mind
that the international policy suitable to
our infancy and our weakness was I'M
worthy of our maturity and our strength (;
that the traditional rules regulating our
relations to Europe, almost a necessity of
the conditions prevailing a century ago,
were napplicable to the changed condi-
tons Of the present day; and that both
duty and interest required us to take our
true position in the European family and
to both reap all the advantages and assume
all the burdens incident TO that position.
Cuba United states Territory.
"The Spanish war ended in the acquisi-
ton of Cuba; and while, at first blush, the
term acquisition may be thought inaccu-
rate, the objection is technical, and the ex-
preston conveys the actual truth. The
resolution of Congress on the subject was
'll-advised and futile and prejudicial TO
the interests of Cuba and the United States
alike.
1.-The spectacle now exhibited" he says,
''of President and his cabinet sitting in
Washington, with an appointee and sort
of imitation cabinet sitting in the Antilles
must have an end, the sooner the better
and will end when Congress ceases to ig-
more its functions and makes Cuba in point
of law what it is in point of fact, namely
United States territory. Were there to be
a plebiscite on the subject, such a consum-
nation would be favored by practically the
entire body of the intelligence and wealth
of the island.'
The REIMBURSEMENT of our isolation is
not due, Mr.. Oiney declares alone to the
Spanish war and the acquisition which re
suited from it. The change was due, also,
TO the "instinct and impulse in the line OF
national growth and expansion, whose alb
sence would be sure symptom of our ma
, tional deterioration"
! The Philippine Problem.
) 1.-THE United States has ceased to be a
l hermit among nations, and has suddenly
, become colonizing Power upon larg'
| scale. IL is 4 lulSldh6 W say bhal IlC LII
= ippines were acquired without our being
able to help ourselves. The Philippine
were purchased for $4,000, 900, according
f to high authority, and the right of the
, United States to purchase territory mus
! be acknowledged" Mr. Olney does no
acknowledge that there was any duty de
volved upon the United States in the car
and protection of the people after the de
struction of the Spanish sovereignty. Col
Q onies are governed primarily in the inter
Q est of the governing nation, he asserts, ant
4 whatever is done in the line of benevolenc
I and charity is simply incidental and sub
y sidiary. He brushes aside the declaration
that the United States were in homo
e bound not to leave the islands derelict, an
/ that where the flag had once been hoiste
it should not be hauled down. He point
: out that the acquisition of the Philippine
Q can be justified only by its effect in pro
Il noting our trade with the Philippines AM
China. But he does not admit that tn
results will equal the cost. He believes
coaling station was all that was necessar
y in the Philippines.
n 1.-THE islands," he says, "offer innumel
e able points of attack to any power with
5, hostile animus. Yet we must always b
l. prepared to defend each and all of them a
:, all hazards and with all our resources-th
islands are ours as much as Massachusett
and Illinois-and not to maintain the il
/" tegrlty of American soil everywhere an