The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-05-12

pie. and have mental and physical traits that distinguish them as a no- ble community; but they are not and cannot be powerful nation.
 When the war with Spain was fla grlnt there was not such distress and starvation in any country of the earth, and there was no help for them except charity. The right to exist was then the main question, and the right to govern as a sovereign and independent nation, on a footing with the great powers, of the earth, was not then con- templated by them or by Congress or by any other people. That question was settled in Congress by voting down propositions that included such possi- ble results, in the proceedings that ended in the declaration of war with Spain. That is an end of ali such pre- tensions. and so the matter stands; and the situation has not been changed. 2 But the people of Cuba were looked upon by Congress as forming the con- stituency of possible State when their destiny should be left in our keeping after the Spanish power should be ex- peiled from the island; and the United States determined not to stand in the way of so desirable result. In our government we have sovereign States,
 
 pendent nations. all of which are States" that are capable of civil self government, but can have no interna- tional relations. Our sovereign States are free and independent of all other States. and the Federal Government is their interstate and internatfUt4&I agent. None of them can declare war, against any other State, or against the United States. or against any foreign government. Nor can they enter into treaty obligations with each other, or with any other Government. r
 It cannot be that Congress intended that Cuba should be redeemed from Spanish subjection and lifted to that higher degree of international sover- eighty and independence forbidden to our States; for that would give her the power to levy war against them, under the laws of nations, after the people of Cuba should have been declared to be sovereign and independent. If such construction could be placed upon that declaration it would be political parricide on the part of Cuba to oe- mand 1t.
 Moreover, it was then distinctly un- derstood by all intelligent Cubans that the United States desired the ultim1te annexation of Cuba, with the free and voluntary consent of that people. ard that ehe great body of the Cubans also desired it whenever the dominion of Spain could be removed
 The time has not been and will never be when the United States could con- sent that Cuba should belong to any foreign power, either American or transoceanic, after the dominion of Spain had ceased; and all statesmen in this country have concurred in that declaration when they have spoken by authority of our government They have equally insisted that annexation should not take place by compulsion when the people of Cuba could have the right to vote on the proposition. But these apparently conflicting prop ositions are necessarily subject to the qualification that the safety of the Uni ted States and the vital interests of 75.000,0oe of people should not be put in jeopardy by the whim or caprice of 1.500000 people whose geographical po- sition gives them the power, if permit ted. to become dangerous or intracta- ble obstacle to the commercial growth or the military security of the United States.
 In all the acquisitions of territory that have been made by the United States. or that will ever be made whether by conquest, purchase, or vol untary annexation-our government has never been moved by the purpose of territorial aggrandizement or the subjugation of peoples to our national authority. In every such case the mo- tive has been to enable the people who are brought within our Jurisdiction to acquire all the rights and privileges of citizenship of the United States, and to participate in the benefits of self government. Our plan of territorial expansion and government has never been designed and cannot be used to subject any people to a provincial con- dition as tributaries to the United States. but from the beginning was in- tended to secure to them, through the operation of laws, the benefits of the principles and provisions of our Con stitution, which are expressed in this mandate: That the United States shall guarantee to every State in this
 Union a republican form of govern ment."
 In this we differ from all other coun- tries. No colonial system of any cOun- try has given this pledge to peoples who come within their jurisdiction. Under this organic law thirty-two States have been added to the Union, formed by the original thirteen States and built up in many instances from ToRlOIS IIldl were OuIy IcCchLly lIlHdp- ited, and by a mixed population.
 It was these high privileges that Con- gress anticipated would be theirs in the declaration that the people of Cuba are and of right ought to be free and independ ant. It was the same proud attitude that the United States assum- ed and won for themselves from the crown of Great Britain and upon which they based the sovereignty that Great Britain and all other nations afterward recognized. We had the help of other nations. as the States of South America had; but when the British power was expelled we had the inherent strength to establish independence.
 The States of the American Union present, .sevcrally and collectively, the highest form of sovereignty, freedom and independence that Congress could guarantee; and when Congress declared such freedom and independence to be our hope and aspiration for Cuba there was nothing beyond this left to be de- sired. and there is still nothing beyond that Congress can promise or secure to the people of Cuba to make them freer or more independent or more complete ly sovereign than they would be in a State of the American Union. If Cuba have aspirations, still more romantic, for a sphere of action less re- stricted she cannot find warrant for them in any declaration Congress has made or could make or will ever make to those people, with deference to a proper self-respect. or with justice to | our own institutions of Government. | Congress will never provide for diplo-