The Conservative * 9
The senior sen-
SENATOR tm. frolu Massn.
GEORGE F. I10AK. , , , . ,
chusetts has long
been distinguished as a very pronounced
typo of radical republicanism. His abil
ity has been conceded by all his col
leagues iu the United States senate.
His training and inclination would lead
him to support any republican adminis
tration in any measure or policy which
it might initiate and also to oppose and
denounce any measure or policy of a
non-republican administration.
But ho has without reservation re
cently declared himself opposed to the
policy of expansion by the absorption of
insular territory acquired by conquest.
Senator Hoar is a puritan in some re
spects and ho occassionally proclaims
himself a patriot and not a partisan.
At present he holds that no foreign terri
tory can bo brought into the United
States government without the consent
and approval of the United States senate
in the exercise of its treaty-making
power. He holds that in a government
like that of the American Republic no
people can be brought within its juris
diction except by their own free will
and consent.
The Roman Gic-
SEA I'OAVER. , , , , .
ere loft among his
writings the opinion expressed that
"whosoever is master of the sea will ob
tain the supreme power. "
This doctrine he accredits to one of
the old-timers of his day , Themistocles
of Athens ; so that it was 110 new thing
to the British statesmen of Elizabeth's
time. Lord Bacon , in commenting on
it , speaks as follows : "Thus much is
certain ; ho that commands the sea is at
great libertyand may take as much and
as little of the war as he will ; whereas
those that be strongest by land are many
times , nevertheless , in great straits. "
We of this generation in America ,
however , have just been introduced to
such questions , first by some books
written by a retired captain in our navy ,
and next by some performances afloat of
certain others of our captains , who are
still of a lighting age. And wo of the
interior , with many a two-cent mile
lying between us and any body of water
that will float more than a duck-boat ,
have very little knowledge of , and con
sequently not much sympathy with af
fairs of deep-sea navigation ; though
this matter has been to some extent
remedied by the exhibits of the Chicago
and Omaha fairs , and by the kindness of
Eastern editors , who have sent men to
photograph things for our information
during the past summer.
Another class of us again , who in
habit the lands bordering 011 the Great
Lakes , are as familiar with maritime
matters as any dwellers on the Atlantic
coast , and as well aware of the advan
tage of sea-powor in a controversy.
There wore two partners in northern
Micnigan , some years ago , who dis-
agreed about the management of a saw
mill that stood on the wooded shore of
Lake Huron , and then presently about
the ownership of it ; but ho who was in
possession was commonly counted the
lucky man. Early in the spring , how
ever , before navigation was well open
to any save the bold , there appeared one
clay the other partner sailing up to the
dock in a sufficient ship , the crew of
which ho caused to land and sot to work
without temporizing at all , at tearing
down the mill in question.
The first partner had unquestionably
control of the land , having all the coxirts
of the commonwealth of Michigan at
his back ; but they wore a little too far
back , and he found himself , as Lord
Bacon had predicted , in great straits ;
the county court-house being at a con
siderable distance , in the depths of a ro
mantic pine-wood some 800 miles across ,
and the roads leading to it lacking even
the simple pavement of good intentions ,
which we concede to some less desirable
residence-sections than northern Michi-
iii. So that the result was , that by the
time the land-commander got his force
of lawyers , sheriffs , quo warrantos ,
mandamuses , injunctions and other
necessaries assembled , he who held the
maritime supremacy had got the saw
mill from the to the
, steam-nigger gas-
pipe whistle , loaded on board his flag
ship , and sailed away with it to the
neighboring kingdom of Great Britain.
In connection with the well-known
fact that our army officers are gentle
men , while the rest of us are something
less ( gents , for instance ) let us consider
this saying of a very wise man wise
enough , as Mr. Donnelly of Minnesota
thinks , to have written Shakespeare' ?
plays : "Let states that aim at great
ness take heed how their nobility ant
gentlemen do multiply too fast ; for that
maketh the common subject grow to
be a peasant and base swain , driven out
of heart , and in effect but the gentle
' . "
man's labourer.
JEFFERSON ON EXPANSION.
Jefferson aspired beyond the ambition
of a nationality , and embraced in his
view the whole future of man. That
the United States should become a na
tion like Franco , England or Russia ;
should conquer the world like Rome , or
develop a typical race like the Chinese ,
was no part of his scheme. He wished
to begin a new era. Hoping for a time
when the world's ruling interests should
cease to bo local and should become
universal ; when questions of boundary
and nationality should become insignifi
cant ; when armies and navies should bo
reduced to the work of police , and poli
tics should consist only in nonintervention
tion , ho set himself to the task of gov
erning , with this golden age in view.
Few men have dared to legislate as
though eternal peace were at hand , in a
world torn by wars and convulsions ,
and drowned in blood ; but this was
what Jefferson aspired to do. Even
in such dangers , ho believed that
Americans might safely set an example
which the Christian world should be led
by interest to respect and at length to
imitate. As he conceived a true Ameri
can policy , war was a blunder , an un
necessary risk ; and ev.en in case of rob
bery and aggression the United States ,
ho believed , had only to stand on the
defensive in order to obtain justice in
the end. He would not consent to build
up a now nationality merely to create
more navies and armies , to perpetuate
the crimes and follies of Europe ; the
central government at Washington should
not be permitted to inditlye in the miser
able ambitions thai hud made the Old
World a hell , and frustrated the hopes of
humanity. Henry Adams , History of
the United States , vol. i , p. 146.
Nebraska is rich
DISAPPEARING beyond its o w n
DISCONTENT.
opulent precedents
in every element of the true wealth
which belongs to peace and plenty. No
people working with their heads and
hands for comfortable , and even luxuri
ous living , and for every added thing
which civilization bestows upon men
and women , was ever more blessed than
are the people of this commonwealth.
Discontent has disappeared from our
broad , borders like hazy mists before the
morning sun. Disappearing discontent
which political demagogues are power
less to revive is one of the most grateful
signs of the period , and it is not confined
to any particular state or section of our
common country.
Nobody will
GOA'ERNMENT IIY
GUNPOAVDER. claim for the semi-
savages of the
Philippine islands ability to either create
or maintain even a semblance of popu
lar government. The fact that these
people are incapable of self-government
is known and conceded by all men. The
only rule that it would be in the power
of this , or any other civilized nation , to
give to them would be that of gun
powder and the bayonet , a rule of force.
The only argument which is entitled to
the least respect in support of this policy
is that the government of the United
States , having the power , if not the
right , to rob Spain , shall go out from
our own continent six or seven thousand
miles and undertake the missionary bus
iness in the name of God and humanity ,
as the peculiarly pious and notoriously
humane Thurston might put it , to up
lift the savage millions of the Philip
pines and teach them in the beauties of
republican government by the Christian
process of extermination , as has been
done with the Indian of our own coun
try , as will surely bo done , in the
long run , with the negro , and as is being
done with the plundered natives of the
Sandwich islands.