The age-herald., 1900-08-09


 and passes with the soil. If governments | derive their just powers froms the consent of the governed it Is impossible to secure | title to people either by force or by treaty. | We could extinguish Spains title by treaty, 1 but if we hold title, we must hold it by 1 some method consistent with our ideas of government. When we made allies of the Filipinos and armed them to fight against | Spain we disputed Spain's title. Not Innocent Purchase If we buy Spains title we are not in- nocent purchasers. But even if we had not disputed Span's title, she could trans- fer no greater title than she had and her title was based on force alone. We can
 not defend such a title, but as Spain gave us a quit claim deed, we can honorably turn the property over to the party in pos
 session. Whether any American official gave the Filipinos moral assurance of inde- pendence 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 own independence, and submit that history furnishes no ex- ample of turpitude baser if we now substi- ute our yoke for the SpT nish yoke. Let us consider briefly tho 4easons which have been given in support of an imperial istic policy. Some say that it is our duty to hold the Philippine Islands But duty is not an argument. It is a conclusion. To ascertain what our duty is, in any emer- gency, we must apply well settled and generally accepted principles. It Is our duty to avoid stealing, no matter whether the thing to be stolen is of great or small value. It is duty to avoid killing a human being no matter where the human being lives, or to what race or class he belongs. Every one recognizes the obl- gation imposed upon individuals to observe both the human and moral law, but as some only observe 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:
 ''I know of but code o. morality for
 man, whether acting singly or collectively" Frankl n, whose learning, wisdom and vir- tue are a part of the priceless legacy be- queathed to us from the revolutionary days, expressed the same idea in even stronger language when he said:
 Justice is as strictly due between neigh Dor nations as between neighbor citizens. highwayman is as much a robber when ne piunders in gang as when singly; and | the nation that makes an unjust war is 1 only great gang
 | Men may dare to do in crowds what they | would not dare to do individuals, but | the moral character of an act is not deter mined by the number of those who join | in 1t. Force can defend a right, but force | has never created a right. If it was true, as eHDOuleu III the resolution or lnterVen- ton, that the CubanS and of right ought to be free and independent language
 taken from the Declaration of Indepcnd- r ence). it is equally true that the F'ilipinos "are and of right ought to be free and in- dependent The right of the Cubans to freedom was not based upon their prox-
 unity to the United States, nor upon the
 language which they spoke, yet upon the race or races to which they belonged.
 Congress by practically unanimous vote d9-!dred that the principles enunciated at 1 Philadelphia in 17l6 were still alive and applicable to the Cubans.
 Filipin;s snd Cubans
 Who will draw line between the natural rights of the Cubans and the Filpinos?
 Who will say that the former have a right to liberty and the latter have no rights which we are bound to respect? And if the Flipinos "are and of right ought to be free and independent" what right have we to force our government upon them without
 their consent? Before our duty can be as- certained, and when their rights are once determined, it is as much our duty to spect those rights as 1t was the duty of Spain, to respect the rights of the people of Cuba, or the duty of England to re-
 spect the rights of American colonists.
 Rights never conflict; duties never clash
 Can it be our duty to usurp political rights
 which belCSg to others? Can it be our duty
 to kill thoS who following the example of
 
 to fight for it?
 Some poet has described the terror which
 overcame soldier who, in the midst of
 battle, discovered that he had slain his brother. It is written: "All yet are brethren" Let us hope for the coming of
 the day when human life, which when once destroyed cannot be restored, will be so sacred that it will never be taken
 cept when necessary to punish a crime all
 ready committed, or to prevent a crime about to be committed
 If it is said that we have assumed before the world obligations which make it neces-
 sary for us to permanently maintain a gov
 ernment in the Philippine islands, I reply,
 first that the highest obligation of this na-
 ton is to be true to itself. No obliga ton to any particular nation, or to all nations
 combined can require the abandonment of
 our theory of government and the substi-
 tuition of doctrines against which our whole
 national life has been a protest. And, sec
 ond, that our obligations to the Filipinos,
 who inhabit the islands, are greater than
 any obligation which we owe to for
 eigners who have a temporary residence in
 the Philippines or desire to trade there.
 Capable of e f-Govcrnment
 It is argued by some that the Filipinos
 are incapable of self-government, and that
 therefore we owe it to the world to take
 control of them. Admiral Dewey, in an of
 fcial report to the navy department de-
 clared the Filipnos more capable of self
 government than the Cubans, and said that
 he based his opinion upon a knowledge of
 both races. But 1 will not rest the case
 upon the relative advancement of the Fiii-
 pinos. Henry Clay, in defending the rights
 of the people of South America to self
 government, said:
 Tt is the doctrine of thrones that man
 is too ignorant to govern himself. Their
 partisans assert his incapacity in reference
 to all nations; if they cannot command
 pixrnr al to ha flrn
 then remanded to particular nations; and
 pride and our presumption too often
 make converts of us. l contend that it
 is to arraign the disposition of Providence
 Himself to suppose that he has created
 beings incapable of governing themselves,
 and to be trampled on by Kings. Self-gov
 ernment is the natural government of
 man."
 Clay was right. There are degrees of pro-
 
 lCAntinnad 2auanth