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ANNEXATION OF THE PHILIPPINES.
[ By John .T. Valentine , President of Wells ,
Fargo A ; Co. , Sun Francisco , California. ]
It is the fad of the hour to condemn
Spain niul everything Spanish in season
and out of season. Before Peter was
summoned to Joppa to minister to the
Centurion Cornelius , an object lesson
was presented to him out of Heaven in
in order to overcome certain of his race
prejudices he saw a vision , the moral
of which , as told by a supernatural
voice , was sulJicient intimation to him
that such discrimination was reprehen
sible. Shakespeare , in "As You Like
It , " makes Orlando say that he will
chide no breather in the world , save
himself , of whom ho knew most faults.
I have journeyed much and in many
lands , and can truthfully say that , so
far as I have met them , I have never
known more worthy gentlemen or more
admirable women than ( ho Spaniards ,
Mexicans , and descendants of those who
originally colonized California , and I
am proud to believe that I can number
amongst those good people hosts of whole
hearted , chivalrous friends. As to the
place of the Spanish-American people in
the history of America , I am in accord
Mr. Chas. F. Lunimis' views as ex
pressed in his charming book , "The
awakening of a Nation" Mexico. Mr.
Lummis says :
"The seal o Spain is upon all things
that she has ever touched. To the
thoughtful , few side-lights in history
are more striking than this vital individ
uality of the Spaniard. "Whatever page
he opened in the New "World , he wrote
across it his racial autograph in a hand
so virile and so characteristic that
neither time nor change can efface it.
Three centuries and a half of contin
uous evolution have not availed to
make that rubric illegible or mistakablo.
He mastered every country between us
and Patagonia ; and there is no laud in
which he ever sat down which does not
to this last day bear in its very marrow
the heritage of his religion , his language
and his social creed. His Marca is
upon the faces , the laws , the very laud-
scapes.
' 'How significant this is we may bet
ter judge when we remember that the
Saxon , masterful though he is , has never
anywhere achieved these results. He
has filled new lauds with his speech and
his faith ( or his lack of it ) , but only by
filling them with his own blood ( or
that of his victims ) never by changing
the native. The United States , for in
stance , is of his speech ; but what In
dian tribe ever spoke English ? In the
vastly greater area of Spanish-America
every Indian tribe speaks Spanish , and
has done so for centuries. The Saxon
has never impressed his language or his
religion upon the people he has overrun.
Something of his face goes to the half-
breeds ho begets and will not father ;
bufc even this physical impress is less
J
marked than in the case of his Latin pre
decessor ; for ho himself , of course , is a
less fixed typo. "
Of the 14 million of population in
Mexico , the musses to the number of 10
million are chiefly Indian , and the pres
ence in their daily life of the most at
tractive qualities of human kind are
notable. Let me hero apply some words
of Mr. Hopkinsou Smith , in the "White
Umbrella in Mexico : "
"A distinct and peculiar people. An
unselfish , patient , tender-hearted people
ple , of great personal beauty , courage ,
and refinement. A people offering in
stantly to the stranger and wayfarer on
the very threshold of their homes a hos-
pitalit } " so generous , accompanied by a
courtesy so exquisite , that one stops at
the next doorway to ro-enjoy the lux
ury. "
"My memory went back to my three
friends of the morning , standing in the
sunlight , their sombreros in the dust ; to
the garrulous old gardener bending over
his flowers ; to the girl selling pottery ;
to the tender courtesy and gentleness of
these people , their unchanging serenity
of temper , their marvelous patience ,
their innate taste , skill , " etc.
At the beginning of the war craze in
the United States , Professor Morse of
Massachusetts , one of the most distin
guished evolutionists among American
scientific men , made the following ob
servation upon the midsummer madness
of the American people :
"It has taken our race a million years to
climb up from the beast to the man ; it takes just ,
fifteen minutes for a man to go back to the
beast again. "
On my return trip in June last from
the Orient , whither I had gone before
war was declared , I wrote from on board
the steamer Coptic as follows :
"Tuesday , June 28. Last night at
1:30 : a. m. , I was awakened by three
sharp blasts of our ship's whistle salut
ing the passing transports to Manila.
Alas ! alas ! and alas ! enthusiasm now ,
but later on sickness , suffering , misery ,
squalid death under the pitiless sun of a
tropical sky in an alien land. And later
on for those who remain at homo , taxes !
taxes ! taxes ! Such is the glory and
cost of war. When all the burdens of
it are settled on the backs of the people ,
then look out for political and social
revolutions at home. As the war has
been repeatedly referred to by my cor
respondents , I will say I'm no jingo ;
don't believe in the doctrines of island
expansion , annexation or conquest , but
fear that the American people are lend
ing a willing ear to the suggestions of
pride , ambition and avarice , rather than
to the sober and wholesome dictates of
wisdom , prudence and justice. Spain's
colonies have ruined hex * . "
The events affecting this question
have confirmed and intensified my op
position to the policy pursued by the
United States government during the
past twelve mouths. I have never be
lieved that the war was necessary , and
my convictions have been strengthened
by the averment of Mr. John Sherman ,
secretary of state up to less than a year
ago , who is responsible for the disclos
ure , since his retirement , that the state
department had , prior to the declaration
of war , reached a point in diplomatic
regulations with Spain at which the latter
expressed a readiness to part with Cuba
for 200 million dollars. I am further
confirmed thoreiu by the statement of
General Woodford , the then minister to
Spain , who is credited with saying sub
stantially as follows :
That when in Madrid conducting negotia
tions he had progressed to a point at which
Spain conceded every demand wo made , and
that when the government of Spain drafted the
scheme of autonomy to bo put in force in Cu
ba , it comprehended all that wo had demanded ;
and that if the congress of the United States
had lot the question alone , ho believed would
have established a stable government in the
isle of Cuba , and that within three to six
months thereafter the flag of Spain would have
peaceably como down.
Thus verify ing the say ing of Euripides ,
that
* * * "tho force of words
Can do whate'er is done by conquering swords. "
This however , seems like generalizing ;
therefore let me be specific :
First Spain had never infringed or
encroached upon any American rights.
Oa the contrary , she had at all times
exhibited the utmost deference and
courtesy toward the United States ; she
had yielded to our every demand.
Second The Spanish government
had released all Americans caught in
the act of aiding the Cuban insurgents ,
though under the operation of martial
law such persons were punishable by
death.
Third The cruel Weyler had been
recalled , and in his stead the merciful
Blanco had been made governor-general.
Fourth Autonomy , or home rule
self-government had been granted to
Cuba , and a Cuban legislature had been
elected.
Fifth The Spanish government had
stopped the war by the declaration of an
armistice in accordance with the request
of President McKinley.
Sixth The reconcentradoes had re
ceived permission to return to their
homes.
Seventh The Spanish government
had appropriated funds for the relief of
the recoucentradoes.
Eighth Permission had been given
to the Americans to feed the recoucen
tradoes.
It was said we could no more have
averted the war than we could stay the
progress of Muir Glacier. That is the
unspeakably sad part of it. Marcus
Aurelius saw the decadence of Rome ,
but was powerless to prevent it. New
York harbor has Barcholdi'a statue
