New-York tribune., 1902-05-26
FIGHTING FOR SOTEREIGNTY."

You are fighting for sovereignty" says Sen
ator Hoar That is the keynote of his arraign-
ment of his government. the gravamen of his
Indictment of his tcountry. You fighting
for sovereignty The sentence has a fine,
rhetorical tone. It'is as filling to the mouth
and may be satisfying to the mind as that
blessed word Mesoputamia' Yet it is scarcely
a charge before which the American people will
tremble and turn pale. Rather will they be in
clined TO thank the venerable Massachusetts
Senator for teaching them that word. 1t serves
them as an apt reminder that in more than one
or two wars hitherto. of which the memory is
proud and just. they their ancestors were
likewise fighting for sovereignty 1t serves
Them too. potent and convincing Assurance
of the justice and righteousness of the work in
which they are now engaged in the Philippines.
They are not fighting for conquest. or for the
imposition of tyranny or for the lust of gold.
They are fighting for sovereignty"
Does any one ask what that means: The Sen
ator himself with all the grace and fervor Of
his studied rhetoric. makes full reply. I'VE
have answered this question" he says OF some
thing else. but ii may as we'll he said of this.
"a good many times in the past Then he puts
upon the lips of the generation of the Puritan
and Pilgrim and Huguenot these words: Il
brought the torch of freedom across the sea.
''the wild beast. laid in Christian liberty and
claw the foundation Of empire What was
It but fighting for sovereignty? The great
lonial generation. according TO Senator HOar.
says Il helped humble the power of France.
Il saw the lilies go down at LouiSbourg and
Quebec I carried the cross of st. George in
triumph in Martinique and the Havana"
Fighting for sovereignty. all the time. Then
the Revolutionary generation: Il encountered
''the power of England. I declared and won
''the independence of my country" Fighting
for sovereignty again. The next: II vindicated
''the right of an American ship TO sail the seas
1.-THE wide world over without molestation."
Fighting for sovereignty, the sovereignty of our
flag on the high seas. And the next generation:
IL saved the Union. put down the Rebellion"
Fighting for sovereignty, the sovereignty of the
nation even for sovereignty over millions with
out their consent,
Yes. we are fighting for sovereignty: for the
only legitimate sovereignty the Philippines can
for the present know. We are fighting for sue
cession to the only real sovereignty they have
known for centuries. For three hundred years
before Dewey went TO Manila there had been no
question as 10 the sovereignty of those islands.
Neither by alien foe nor by domestic insurgent
had the legitimacy Of Spanish rule been seri
ously challenged. Without our wish, in the un
sought exigency of war. we were compelled 10
strike down and TO expel that Spanish SOW
eregnty. In the name of Justice and reason and
decency and common sense, what there
then for us to do but set up another and bet
ter sovereignty in the place Of the one we had
destroyed? 1t would have been an infamous
thing to destroy the only sovereignty the islands
had and then abandon them to the anarchy Of
murderous Malays or TO the spOliatOn of what
ever alien powers might covet them. There is
an ancient parable of a man from whose mind
an evil spirit was cast. but who failed to fill
the vacancy with good spirit; so presently the
evil returned with others more evil than
himself and entered in; and the last state of
that man was worse than the first. What end
less reproach would the United States have in
Cured had il dealt thus with the Philippines!
We are indeed fighting for sovereignty in
the Philippines, as we fought for sovereignty in
1920. and in 1744, and in 1776 and in 1912, and
ereignty every whit as legitimate as any for
which we fought at any of those times to which
Senator Hoar so proudly refers. We are fight
ing for sovereignty sanctioned and demanded
by international law and by the highest civic
morals We are fighting for a sovereignty
which means peace order. civilization and
vastly greater measure of freedom than those
islands have ever known. We are fighting for
a sovereignty which Is nowhere despotic
sordid. but is everywhere generous and benefi-
cent. The anarchist and the bandit may regard
sovereignty with aversion. Men who believe in
law and order and justice believe in sovereignty
as an ordinance for the welfare and the prog
ress Of the race, and they do not and will not
shrink from the record that they are fighting
for sovereignty