The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-18
CLEVELAND DOLEFUL
,rpRovEs PRESENT NATIONAL
TENDENCIES.
pDUTCH CONSERVATISM.
,v MVCH NEEDED TO STEADY
TIE POPULAR IMPULSE.

-president Takes Somewhat
c,oomv view of the National Out
,ook--A strange Voyage Entered
-, without Chart or Compass.
c.o,vs satirfcaI i'm Speaking of
c.aot sritain and United States as
,,.uo,er Advocates OF Arbitration.
con,,rv VIII Never BE the Same
,pain. He Says.
Non York. Jan. 1.-THE Holland So
.,o+v held its sixteenth annual dinner at
A.. Waldorf-Astoria tonight The Rev.
m Henry Van Dyke, president of the
.ociety. presided. oh his right sat ex-
1rosident Cleveland. There were 600 per-
sons present
rvPresident Cleveland said:
Mr.. Cleveland prefaced his remarks
u,it5 an acknowledgement that on such
,ocoasions as this he was a sermoniZer,
md nleaded as an excuse the pressure of
great responsibilities in the past and the
need Of Dutch conservatism" to steady
Do,nlar impulse. He referred to this
fine Of headlong national heedlessness. ."
Mr.. cleveland said:
"The question is suggested whether in
nresent conditions this conservatism char
sc-enzes the conduct or guides the SEN
,iment of our people There can be but
one answer to this question. Conserva-
tism has in a great. degree been jauntily
cast aside. or condemned as opposed to
erln A
strange voyage has been entered upon
ri,bout count of cost. and without chart
or compass. The trend and sure founda-
tons of our liberty and national happi-
ness nave been discredlted. Reverence
for our national traditions has been re-
laxed and satisfaction with our country's
mission has been undermined. The re-
straints and limitations of our constitu
tion have become CALLING and irksome un-
der the temptations of national greed and
aggrandizement. Our old love of peace,
honor and justice has been weakened, and
frugaity and contentment are not now
traits inseparable from American charac-
ter.
War even with the worlds advanced
civilization may still be sometimes neces-
sary and justidable but. whether neces-
sary and justifiable or not, the demoral-
izstion that follows in its train can never
be evaded 1t teaches bloody instruc-
tons. which. in country whose citizens
DO the fighting, cannot fail to leave their
impress for time at least upon public
and private life in time of peace.
Thirty years after the close of the war
fog the preservation of the Union. \ treaty
of arbitration was Formulated between the
United States and Great Britain which.
Il completed, would have gone far to-
wards removing every pretext of war be-
tween the two countries. This treaty
failed =; conformation in the Senate of the
United States. Less than five years
passed and these English-speaking cham
pions OF peace and arbitration are stilI
operating on parallel lines-one in the
Philippines and the other in South Africa
-out no longer for peace and arbitration.
Both are killing natives in an effort to
possess their lands.
This indicates a sad relapse, and in
our case ii is most serious one. Ii Eng
land succeeds in her attempt in South
Africa, she will but add another to her
list OF similar 1cqusit -DEs; a brave peo-
pie VIII be suhJugated. and because of
our engagement IN a similar venture In
another quarter they will miss the eX-
pressions of American sympathy which
We are accustomed to extend to those
penderce On the other hand. with sue
cess IN our suhjn2ating effort a new, un
uied and exceedingly perilous situation
VIII be forced upon us. We can conquer
The Philippines. and after conquering
them can probably govern them. 1t is in
the strain upon our own institutions, the
Generalization of our people, the evasion
OF cur Constitutional limitations, and the
perversion of our national mission chat
cur danger lies. AS n distinguished bishop
has said: The question is not what we
snail do with the Philippines, but what
the Philippines will do to us
Our country will never be the same
esaln For veal or woe we have already
hrevocably passed beyond the old lines.
The republic will in some sort be
saved. Shall it be only in name and sem
oance. with fair external appearance,
out with the germ of decay fastened upon
Ne Nta's; or shall it, though changed,
soHi survive in such vigor and strength
icans2
lhe problem Is momentous one. In
Ule midst of reckless tumult and in the
ttontused rage of national greed and
Do'dlness' let it be proclaimed that Amer
,.p ,.en freedom and popular rule cannot per-
Nh except through the madness Of those
81 ~" liein IN their Keeping, ana Dy
~. we Cood and sacrifices of our fathers, by
. ue lotly achievements of the free insti-
.9'ohs they established. by our glorious
.,lV.orles of peace and by our reliance on
eH'e promises Of God, let Dutch conservat-
,sn enJoin upon our people a faithful dis
large Of their sacred trust
NJ andrew II, Smith spoke on Dutch
cries. and Hon. Charles W. Day
Danes.
s message was sent to Queen Wilhel-
so ua oil Holland as an address from the
teV an tho occasion of her approach
'ns marriage.