Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1916-01-25
Senator Chiltoa's Speech on the Phil
iDDiDeS.

lpplllCS.
Mr.. Chiffon Mr.. President, | have
listened with great deal of interest
to this discussion, and | would now say
nothing but for the TACT that l think
there are some things which we have
done in the past, which will help US on
this occasion to do the hardest thing
for mankind to do, and that is to put
himself in the other mans place and
judge from the other mans standpoint
rather than from his own possibly sell
fish standpoint. For instance, Mr..
President, the phrase Iron hand" has
been used in this discussion 1t is said
that the people of America are incapa-
BILE OF using the iron hand upon another
people. Let US remember that in the
not so very dim and distant past tn
people of enlightened New England
governed themselves by "blue laws
and governed the Indian with the flint
lock and the sword. Let US not forget
that the people of Virginia not so long
ago governed themselves by that same
high standard expressed in the bill of
rights of that state, but it was not I'M
til about 1880 that the people of Vir.
ginia repealed the law upon her stat
ute books, making it unlawful to kill
an Indian on Sunday; AMI yet people
with that kind of record are fooling
| themselves in the belief that they can
use despotism upon another people and
not use it just as every other people
on earth have used power against
another people when it was in their
hands.
Mr. President, just before the people
of the United States declared their in
dependence and fought for it, certain
things went forward in the British
Parliament, even as we are now con-
sidering the rights of other people.
Then, as now. people who had met and
declared themselves superior in wisdom
and morals to another people and had
elected themselves to be the rulers of
that other people. expressed themsel
YES as to what was then the great
American character and the great
American civi .lzation. even as we are
now expressing ourselves of the Flip |
mos. 1t is very interesting to observe
what the lords in the House of Lords |
and the great men in the House of |
Commons in England thought in the |
years l774 and 1776 of the American
Peep e and of our civilization. 1t was |
for the purpose of putting those |
thoughts an comments into the Rec |
ord that arose. 1t seems to me most |
pertinent now that we should know /
what our rulers in ante-revolutionary
days thought of our ambitions and eff |
forts to obtain self government. 1t is
instructive to US in getting correct
bearings on that most difficulty of prob
lens, to wit, putting ones self in the
other fellows place. read from the
English parliamentary debates,
The Earl of Sandwich said this in the
year ITS:
The Earl of Sandwich The noble
lord mentions the lmprac ticabiIIty of
conquering America; cannot think the
noble lord can be serious on this mat
ter. Suppose the colonies do abound
In men, what does that signify? They
are raw, undicipined, cowaroly men.
| wish that instead of 10000 or $4,000
of these brave fellows they would pro
duce in the field at least 200, 000 the
more the better, the easier would be
the conquest; if they did not run away,
they would starve themselves into COM
plIance with our measures. | Will tell
your lordships an anecdote that hap
pened at the siege of Louisburgn: Sir
Peter Warren told me that, in order to
try the courage of the Americans, he
ordered great number of them to be
placed in the front of the army; the
Americans pretended st first to be
very much elated at this mark of dis |
JUNCTION, and boosted what mighty |
feats they would do upon the scene of |
action; however, when the moment |
came to put in execution this boasted |
courage, behold, every one Of them
ran from the front to the rear of the |
army, with as much expedition as their |
feet could carry them, and threatened
| 10 GO off entirely if the commander Of
Tered TO make them shield to protect
| the British soldiers at the expense of
their blood; they did not understand
such usage. Sir Peter finding what
egregious towards they were, and
knowing of what Importance such mum
Der must be to lntimldatc the French
| by their appearance, told these Ameri-
| can heroes that his orders had been
| misunderstood; that he always intend
| ed to keep them in the rear of the ar.
my to make the great push; that it
was the custom of generals to preserve
the best troops to the last; that this
was always the Roman custom, and as
| the Americans resembled the Romans
| IN every particular, especially in cour-
age and love of their country, he should
make no scruple of following the Ro
man custom. and made no doubt but
| the modern Romans would show acts
IF bravery equal to any in ancient
Rome. BY such discourses as these,
said Sir Peter Warren, | made a shift
| to keep them with US, though | took
| good care they should be pushed for
| ward in no dangerous conflict. Now
can tell the noble lord that this is ex-
actly the situation of all the heroes IN
North America; they are all Romans,
and are these the men to fright US
| from the post of honor? Believe me.
| my lords. the very sound of cannon
would carry them off, in Sir Peters
words, as fast as their feet could carry
them. This is too tri6ing a part of the
argument to detain your lordships any
Longer. The noble earl then went on
to abuse the Americans for not paying
their debts; he made no doubt that
the real motive of their associations
was to defraud their creditors. That
the Congress, on witch the noble lord
had passed high encomiums, was a Sc
ditious and reasonable meeting of per-
sons assembled to resist the legal and
just authority of the supreme legisla-
L