Evening star., 1901-10-29

NSkAAt0p sSAAiA 80
and Gray.
The doctrine of i'm
mediate and inevi-
table Incorporation
of annexed territory
as an integral part
of the United States
amounts to q denial
of the right to ac-
Quire by discovery.
ITO concede to the
government of the
! United States the
right to acquire and
to strip it of all pow
er to protect the
birthright of its own
citizens and to pro-
vide for the we'll
being of the acquired
territory by such en-
actments as may in
view Of its condition
be essential, is, in
effect, to say that
the United States is
helpless in the fam
lily of nations, and
does not possess that
authority which has
at all times been
treated as an Incl
dent of the right to
acquire. Let me il
lustrate the accuracy
of this statement.
Take a case Of dis
covery, Citizens of
the United States
discover an unknown
island peopled with
an unciviliZed race,
yet rich in soil and
valuable to the Uni
ted States for COM
mercial and strategic
reasons. Clearly, by
the law of nations,
the right to ratify
such acquisition and
thus to acquire the
territory would per-
tain to the govern
ment of the United
States. Can 1t be de-
MED that such right
could not be practi-
cally exercised il the
result would be to
endow the inhabi-
tants with citizen
ship of the United
States and to SUBJ
ject them not only
to local but also to
an equal proportion
of national taxes,
even although the
consequence would
be to entail ruin on
the discovered terri
tory and to inf1ict
grave detriment on
the United States to
arise both from the
dislocatfon of its fis-
cal system and the
immediate bestowal
Of citizenship on
those absolutely un-
fit to receive it?"
1t would forbid ma
tional acquisitions by
conquest also, even
as indemnity in Just
war, eff the effect
of occupation was to
necessarily incorpo-
rate an alien and
hostile people into
the United States"
"If the treaty-mak-
ing power can abso-
lutely, without the
consent of Congress,
Incorporates territory,
and If that power
may not insert con-
ditions against in
corporation, it must
f OIL low that the
treaty-making pow
er is endowed by the
Constitution with the
most unlimited right,
susceptible of de-
stroying every other
provision of the Con-
stitution; that is, it
may wreck our in
stitutions. If the
proposition be true,
then millions of in
habitants Of alien
territory, if acquired
by treaty, can, with
out the desire or
consent of the peo-
pie of the United
S t a t e s speaking
through Congress, be
Immediately and ir-
revocably incorpo-
rated into the United
States and the whole
structure of the gov
ernment be over
thrown. 80
1.-THE general rule
of the law of nations
by which the acquir-
ing government fixes
the status Of ac-
quired territory, 1t Is
urged, does not apply
to the government of
the United States
because 1t Is incom-
patible with the Con-
stitution that that
government should
hold territory under
a cession and ad-
minister it as a de-
tendency, without it's
becoming incorpo-
rated. This claim, I
have previously said,
rests on the errone-
Gus assumption that
the United States
under the Constitu-
ton is stripped Of
those powers which
are absolutely in
herent in and essen
tial to national ex-
istence."
rfson Of the formally
the members of the
demonstrate it's opin-
follows the
saying goes, in the
: separated from the
not follow so far be-
Sc connection with 1t,
not rush in front Of
stumbling block in its
|ucing 1t to helpless
lived by the Supreme
Constitution follows
and gets in