Conservative *
ous doctrine to bo accepted by a self-
governing people. Senator Foraker has
told s that wo are not to keep the
Philippines longer than is necessary
to teach the people self-government.
How one man can tell what wo aie to
do before the constitutional authorities
have decided it , I do not know. Per
haps it is a detail of our now method of
self-government. If his assurances are
to bo trusted , wo are paying $20,000,000
for the privilege of tutoring the Tagals
up to liberty and self-government. I do
not believe that , if the United States un
dertakes to govern the islands , it will
over give them tip except to superior
force , but the weakening of imperialism
shown by this gentleman's assurances ,
after a few days of mild debate in the
senate , shows that agitation of the sub
ject is not yet in vain. Then again , if
wo have done anything , especially if wo
have acted precipitately , it is a well-
recognized cours-e of prudent behavior
to find out where \ve are , what wo have
done , and what the new situation is into
which wo have come. Then , too , we
must remember that when the states
man lays a thing down the historian
takes it up , and ho will group it with
historical parallels and contrasts.
There is a set of men who have always
been referred to , in our Northern states ,
, , , , for the last thirty
T f
iUorul Cowurdh.
North ami south , pars , with especial -
ial disapproval.
They are those Southerners who , in
1801 , did not believe in secession , but , as
they said , "went with their states. "
They have been condemned for moral
cowardice. Yet within a year it has
become almost a doctrine with us that
patriotism requires that wo should hold
our tongues while our interests , our in
stitutions , our most sacred traditions ,
and our best established maxims have
been trampled under foot. There is no
doubt that moral courage is the virtue
which is more needed than any other in
the modern democratic state , and that
truckling to popularity is the worst po
litical vice. The press , the platform ,
and the pulpit have all fallen under this
vice , and there is evidence that the uni
versity also , which ought to bo the last
citadel of truth , is succumbing to it
likowiso. I have no doubt that the con
servative classes of this country will yet
look back with great regret to their ac
quiescence in the events of 1898 , and
the doctrines and precedents which
have been silently established. Let us
be well assured that self-government is
not a matter of flags and Fourth of
July orations , nor yet of strife to got
offices. Eternal vigilance is the price of
that as of every other political good.
The perpetuity of self-government de
pends on the sound political sense of the
people , and sound political sense is a
matter of habit and practice. Wo can
give it up , and we can take instead
pomp and glory.- That is what Spain
did. She had as much self-government
as any country in Europe at the begin
ning of the sixteenth century. The
union of the smaller states into one big
one gave an impulse to her national
feeling and national development. The
discovery of America put into her hands
the control of immense territories. Na
tional pride and ambition were stimu
lated. Then came the struggle with
France for world-dominion , which re
sulted in absolute monarchy and bank
ruptcy for Spain. She lost self-govern
ment and saw her resources spent on
interests which were foreign to her , but
she could talk about an empire on which
the sun never set , and bonst of her col
onies , her gold mines , her fleets and
armies , and debts. She had glory and
pride , mixed , of course , with defeat and
disaster , such as must be experienced by
any nation on that course of policy , and
she grew weaker in'her industry and
commerc'o , and poorer in the status of
the population all the time. She has
never been able to recover real self-gov
ernment yot. If wo Americans believe
in self-government why do wo lot it
slip away from us ? Why do we barter
it away for militarj' glory as Spain did ?
There is not a civilized nation which
does not talk about its civilizing mist -
. . , , sion just as grand-
t lt
. . _
Xutloiml Vanity. , ,
ly as wo do. The
English , who i-eally have more to boast
of in this respect than anybody else ,
talk least about it , but the Phariseeism
with which they correct and instruct
other people has made them hated all
over the globe. The French believe
themselves the guardians of the highest
and purest culture , and that the
eyes of all mankind are fixed on Paris ,
whence they expect oracles of thought
and taste. The Germans regard them
selves as charged with a mission , es
pecially to us Americans , to save us
from egoism and materialism. The Rus
sians , in their books and newspapers ,
talk about the civilizing mission of
Russia in language that might be trans
lated from some of the finest paragraphs
in our imperialistic newspapers. The
first principle of Mohammedanism is
that we Christians are dogs and infidels ,
fit only to be enslaved or butchered by
Moslems. It is a corollary that wher
ever Mohammedanism extends , it car
ries , in the belief of its votaries , the
highest blessings , and that the whole
human race would be enormously ele
vated if Mohammedanism should sup
plant Christianity everywhere. To
come last to Spain , the Spaniards have ,
for centuries , considered themselves the
most zealous and self-sacrificing Christ
ians , especially charged by the Almighty ,
on this account , to spread true religion
and civilization over the globe. They
think themselves free and noble , leaders
in refinements and the sentiments of
personal honor , and they despise us as
sordid money-grabbers and heretics.
I could bring you passages from penin
sular authors of the first rank about the
grand role of Spnin and Portugal in
spreading freedom and truth.
Now each nation laughs at all the
others when it observes these manifesta
tions of national
International
vanity. You may
rely upon it that
they are all ridiculous by virtue of these
pretensions , including ourselves. The
point is that each of them repudiates
the standards of the others , and the out
lying nations , which are to be civilized ,
hate all the standards of civilized men.
Wo assume that what wo like and prac
tise , and what wo think better , must
come as a welcome blessing to Spanish-
Americans and Filipinos. This is gross
ly and obvioxisly untrue. They hate
our ways. They are hostile to our ideas.
Our religion , language , institutions and
manners offend them. Thoj * like their
own ways , and if we appear among
them as rulers , there will bo social dis
cord on all the great departments of
social interest. The most important
thing which wo shall inherit from the
Spaniards will bo the task of suppres
sing rebellious. If the United States
takes out of the hands of Spain her mis
sion , on the ground that Spain is not ex
ecuting it well , and if this nation , in its
turn , attempts to bo schoolmistress to
others , it will shrivel up into the same
vanity and self-conceit of which Spain
now presents an example. To read our
current literature one would think that
we were already well on the way to it.
Now , the great reason why all these en
terprises which begin by saying to sonie-
bodjr else : We know what is good for
you , better than yon know yourself ,
and wo are going to make yon do it , are
false and wrong , is that they violate
liberty ; or , to turn the same statement
into other words : the reason why lib
erty , of which wo Americans talk so
much , is a good thing , is that it means
leaving people to live out their own
lives in their own way , while we do the
same. If we believe in liberty , as an
American principle , why do wo not
stand by it ? Why are we going to
throw it away to enter upon a Spanish
policy of dominion and regulation ?
The United States connot bo a col
onizing nation for a long time yet.
We have only
Population to the twonty.fchroe .
por.
Squiiro JHHo. . , ,
sons to the square
mile in the United States without
Alaska. The country can multiply its
population by thirteen , that is , the
population could rise above a billion ,
before the whole country would bo as
densely populated as Rhode Island is
now. There is , therefore , no pressure
of population , which is the first condi
tion of rational expansion , unless we
could buy another territory like the Mis
sissippi with no civilized population in
it. If we could do that it would post
pone the day of over-population still fur
ther , and make easier conditions for our
people in the next generations. In the
f r
