The Irish standard., 1903-05-16

acQuleSee, are utterly SnOrt-Slgnted-
worthy of the craftsmanship at West.
minister that, in these last days, de.
parting from. its high traditions, con,
ceived and persisted in the war against
the Boer-and all unworthy of the ell
lightened citizens of free republic.
The attitude that many Americans
lately assume toward England on the
one hand and France on the other is
one of the lesser evils of the dissemin-
alton of this pernicious notion. Indeed
it has been made clear that the whole
thing is an English propaganda, indus
triously and sedulously advocated
there, preached persstently to us, and
more or less unconsciously accepted
here. 1t is all very we'll, and there may
be sound reason enough for England
to dislike and fear her neighbor across
the channel; but it carries it too far
for her to attempt to teach us, or moral
ly or intellectually dragon us, to SYM
pathiZe with her in that fear and that
dislike. There is absolutely nothing in
common between England and the
United States in their several relations
to France. SO far is it from the truth
that because England hates France we
ought to do so, the fact is that her
measure of antipathy should be our
measure of friendlincss. From the be-
ginning England has been the enemy
Of our country. No matter what her
present protestations, history cannot be
blottcu out. In our short lifetime we
have been compelled to fight two wars
with her in order to establish our ma
tional status. Within the memory Of
living men, her armies have invaded
our territory and burned our capital
city. At every great crisis in our exist
ence us an independent people, we have
found her in our path, and have had
her to resist and push aside. What she
inflicted upon us in our weakness, and
what she is now inilicting upon other
people less formidable than we, might
well be apprchcntled today, but for our
strength. We too have gold mines.
Moreover, under the present cOndi-
tons, England is today o,ir only great
rival and competitor. If we are to be
great world-poWcr, even Oh only one
side of the globe, she is most in our
way. Our commercial and territorial
interests clash ut Il hundred points, and
the chances of friction with her are
for us, us against any other nation, as
twenty to one. \ shallow school of
politicians, winking TO the altiuuary to
say nothing, are preaching to us the
amazing doctrine that war between the
United States and England is essential
ly unthillkable for the future by reason
of our racial oneness. In fact we are
more likely to have war with England
in the hear future than with any other
nation OH earth, taking fair account OF
the reason for which people usually so
to war. The British possessions i'll
North America constitute for the mo-
ment the surest and the only substan-
tial guaranty Of peace between the two
countries. English statesmen know as
we'll as we do that Great Britain is OH
this continent at sulfcrancr, and that,
in the event of war with us, the
chances arc we should not in the out
come leave her us much us Il cOalng
stating from Panama to the Pole. This
consideration may not iatter her i'm
perial pride but ii is the only guaranty
worth Il fig that England can ever have
against war with us.
Nothing more clearly suggests the
hollowness of their whole scheme Of
so-cllled Imperialism than this fact.
England sitting tight on her little is
land would be one thing, but spread
out over the earth as an empire is quite
another. Her possessions are every
weakness instead of strength, except
so long us She can keep the peace with
her powerful neighbUrS. her states
men have taken good care to do this
ever since they set up in the business
of empire building. Her colonies
which have her more than she them
so far from strengthening her as
against the rest of the world, put her
III the power Of her rivals. They are
her hostages to fortune, and they make
her positions in the world very much
like that of railway built through the
Granger States by Eastern capital.
Spread out to the ends Of the earth
she is obliged, in order to prevent dis
Indignation, to submit with the grace
she can muster to our dictation at Pam
anna and in Venezuela, to Russia in
China, to France in Turkey and Egypt,
and even to Germany in Persia, and so
oil around the circle, wherever any
serious conflict ariscS-;n inevitable but
inglorious prelicament for an Imper-
ial Power The plague Of it for her
is that even the small politician at
burg, or where else you please, not
needing to content himself With twist
ing the lions tail in Il diplomatic way,
can pinch his ears and poke into his
ribs for. sheer amusement, and the lion
must perforce be compliment Oh penal
ty. He may growl Il little and blustel
a bit, but nothing more.
1t is this embarrassing and absurd