4 'Cbe Conservative.
DKSl'OTIC I'OAVKIl V15K8US DKI.K-
( JATKI ) AUTIIOltlTY.
Mir Wit' Conicn-dtivi' bi Kdwlnlurrltt Hinitli ,
of the Cliic < ii/o liar.
"In vain wo call old notions fudge ,
And bend our conscience to our dealing ;
The ton commandments will not budge ,
And stealing will continue stealing. "
LowKi.r. .
Tin- Union , under the leadership of Abraham
Lincoln , ceased to bo divided. Shall we volun
tarily again divide it ? Shall wo permit des
potic power to be sot up at Washington , there
to compete with delegated authority for final
.supremacy ?
"We the people of the United States , in order
to form a more perfect Union , establish justice ,
insure domestic tranquillity , provide for the
common defense , promote the general welfare ,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity , do ordain and establish this
constitution of tlm United States of America. "
PUKAMIU.K.
"All persons born or naturalized in the
United States , and subject to the jurisdiction
thereof , are citizens of the United States and
of the .state wherein they reside. " Fouit-
AMK.VDMKNT.
"It was in the oath I took that I would , to the
best of my ability , presDrvo , protect , and de
fend the constitution of the United States. * * *
Nor was it my view that I might take an oath
to get power , and break the oath in using that
power. * * * I did understand * * * that my
oatli imposed upon mo the duty of preserving ,
to the best of my ability , by every indispens
able means , that government , that nation , of
which the constitution was the organic law. "
LINCOLN.
"The late M. Guizot once asked mo how long
I thought our republic would endure ? I re
plied : 'So long as the ideas of the men who
founded it continue dominant' and he as
sented. "
National expansion involves "a greater dan
ger than we have encountered since the Pil
grims landed at Plymouth the danger that we
are to bo transformed from a republic , founded
on the Declaration of Independence , guided by
the counsels of Washington , into a vulgar ,
common-place empire , founded upon physical
force. " SENATOH HOAII.
NATIONAL EXPANSION UNDER THE
CONSTITUTION.
The new policy of national expansion ,
into which we are drifting , calls for a
re-examination of the essential condi
tions of free government. What will
our new possessions do with us , not what
shall we do with them ? is , as Bishop
Potter suggests , the real question. Our
institutions rest upon the proposition
that governments derive their just pew-
el's from the consent of the governed.
This consent means more than mere ac
quiescence. It contemplates the active
participation by the governed in a gov
ernment which is their own and which
thej * alone control. Our governments ,
local , state and national , exercise only
such authority as is conferred upon them
bj' the people. None of them claims or
exercises original or arbitrary power.
All , as the agents of the governed , ex
ecute none but delegated authority.
The president and the congress of the
United states must govern all new ac
quisitions of territory under and by
virtue of the constitution , or by self-
assumed and arbitrary power. Thu con
stitution created a nation of states , "an
indissoluble union of indestructible
states. " It called into being a United
States of America , not a United States
of America and Asia. Every person
born or naturalized within its borders
was to be a citizen of the nation and of
the state of his residence. All the people
ple of the nation were to constitute a
brotherhood of citizens having equal
rights before the law , which might not
bo denied or abridged because of race or
color. There were to be no subjects ,
but only citizens. Congress might or
ganize territorial governments for the
administration of the sparsely settled
national domain outside the states ; but
the territorial form of government waste
to be but temporary and merely prepar
atory to statehood. Such was our no
ble scheme of popular government ;
such was our splendid vision ; and until
now there has been no desire among us
to have it different.
The power to acqxiiro new territory
has long since ceased to be a subject of
controversy ; but all our acquisitions
heretofore made in its exercise have bean
of contiguous and unoccupied or but
sparsely settled territory. Our people
have rushed into these empty spaces and
planted there our institutions without
let or hindrance , The widely assumed
analogy between such acquisitions and
those now proposed of distant islands ,
already occupied by half-civilized race ?
of different languages and institution ?
and having a climate in which white
men can not or will not live , is purely
fantastic. The precedent of our earlier
acquisitions has already been greatly
overworked as a justification for a pol
icy which is in fact entirely novel. If
this is not so , and the proposed acquisi
tion of the Philippines is but an incident
of an accepted national policy , it follows
that these islands are to bo acquired and
promptly admitted to statehood , as all
our prior acquisitions of sufficient
population have been ; or at least that
they shall be given temporary territorial
governments preparatory to their early
admission as states.
The power to acquire territory being
admitted , whether it shall now be exer
cised especially in the case of the Phil
ippines is for Americans the gravest
question of our time. Can these islands
be acquired without their becoming the
property , the territory , of the United
States ? If such territory , they will at
once bo subject to the constitution and
general laws of the United States. The
moment now territory is incorporated
into the national domain its inhabitants
become citizens of the United States ,
and as such "entitled to all privileges
and immunities of citizens in the several
states. " The supreme court has held
that "the provisions of the constitution
relating to trials by jury for crimes and
to criminal prosecutions apply to the
territories of the United Stntes ; " * that
congress in legislating for the territories
and District of Columbia is subject to
those fundamental limitations in favor
of personal rights which are formulated
in the'constitution and its amendments ; t
and that all citizens of the United
States have "the right to come to the
seat of government , " to have "free ac
cess to its seaports , " and to pass freely
from one part of the country to every
other part. * The supreme court has
also , as late as March last , held that
under the fourteenth amendment , which
provides that "all persons born or natur
alized in the United States , and subject
to the jurisdiction thereof , are citizens
of the United States and of the state
wherein they reside. " American born
Chinamen of alien parentage are citi
zens and free from the provisions of the
exclusion treaties and acts ; also that
congress has no authority "to restrict
the effect of birth , declared by the con
stitution to constitute a sufficient and
complete right to citizenship. " | |
The inhabitants of annexed territory
become citizens of the United States and
of the several states without naturaliza-
tion. This rule of international law has
always been accepted by us without
question until this year. The attempt
by congress to prevent its application to
Hawaii will fail. To sustain it , the supreme
premo court must hold that congress
may acquire territory conditioned that
it shall not be subject to the constitu
tion : that it may determine whether ac
quired territory shall be its private pos
session or the property of the United
States ; in a word , that it may in its dis
cretion assume and exercise arbitrary
power.
The constitutional power of congress
to "make all needful rules and regula
tions respecting the territory or other
property of the United States" thus ap
pears to have important limitations.
The few national expansionists who
seem to have considered how we shall
govern remote islands inhabitated by
mixed and half-civilized races , have too
lightly assumed that the power of con
gress to make such rules and regulations
is sufficient warrant for any kind of
administration whatever. The truth is
that the bill of rights must be applied to
all the territory of the United States.
The mere acquisition of territory renders
it subject to the constitution and
general laws of the United States.
To realize something of what this means ,
imagine the administration of the crim
inal code among the half civilized and
savage races of the Philippines by the
complex methods prescribed by the fifth
and sixth amendments.
The attempt to impose free institu
tions from without upon half-civilized
"Thompson vs. Utah , 170 U. 8. 848 , 840.
fllio American Publishing Society vs.Fisher ,
100 U. S. 404 , 400.
tCrantlall vs. Nevada , 0 Wall. , 85.
HUnited States vs. Wong Kim Ark , 100 U. 8.
640,703.