8 13be Conservative.
rcscntntives nro prowling into Manila
from Hong Kong and Singapore. No
vember and December last witnessed a
veritable Klondikau rush to the former
Spanish capital. As a result , Manila is
becoming a den of vice. The Escolta ,
the leading street , is facetiously referred
to as the "Yankee beer chute , " resem
bles somewhat a midway , and is all bnt
literally lined with saloons. I counted
four hundred in a little over a mile.
These are mostljT kept by Americans.
The largest cafe , known as the Alhambra -
bra , has frequently closed its bar at four
in the afternoon because its stock of li
quor was exhausted. Do the Filipinos
form the larger complement of their
patrons ? Not at all , our own boys are
their customers , and many of them boys ,
who prior to their arrival at Manila ,
had not , I venture to Fay , ever touched
a glass of intoxicating liquor.
"The young man without capital has no
business in these islands. Until order
is brought out of chaos , the situation
becomes more stable , the clouds lift ,
and the necessity of maintaining a large
force to hold in check the native popu
lation , the best place for our young men
is at home , and oven under the most
favorable conditions had I a son , I
would feel somewhat as though I was
consigning him to almost certain de
struction did I permit him to take up
residence in the Orient , when necessity
did not compel his passing beyond our
shores. "
From this and the fact that 1,100 coffins
have been ordered from a lumber estab
lishment in San Francisco , doubters
will see that increased consumption does
enliven business at Manila. This
is glory this is expansion this is "im
perial democracy ! "
Permit mo to call the attention of the
expansionist clergy , these who seem to
think that latter day ideas of political
liberty and the Protestant religion can ,
by quick-firing cannon and Krag-Jor-
geuson rifles , bo shot into struggling
peoples aspiring to freedom , to the pic
tures hero presented of the refining and
elevating influences that are reaching
Manila through the medium of war.
Yet these gentlemen tell us that wo are
going abroad in the interests of Chris
tian civilization.
"Ah , there is woo when war's red banners
rise ,
Woo when rapine's Humes mount to the sorrowing
rowing skies. "
The truth is that the moral progress
made in Oriental colonies has been t
reflex of the moral advance of the homo
government not an expanded mora
sense on the part of the exploiters , e. y.
witness the arraignment , though futile
of Lord Clivo and Warren Hastings
Nor have wo to go abroad or delve into
the past for examples of official wrong
doing. Apart from corruption in our
municipal , state and national govern
inont , the army has been , in the brie :
interval of the post year , fruitful o
cases , of venality and insubordination.
And the nioro islands wo plunder the
nero corruption wo shall suffer at home.
In 1 ho appendix to Pope's translation
of the Oclj'ssoy appears a Greek composi-
iion entitled "A Prayer to Apollo , "
vherein is recited the jealousy of Juno
at what ehe deems the slights of Jove ,
and because of which she proposes to
bring forth of her own volition and
power a son that shall surpass all other
ncn. The fruit of this abnormal con
ception was a monster called Typhon ,
vhom Juno entrusted for rearing to a
dragoness on earth , and the two were
prolific sources of woe to the sous of
nen relentless creatures who , as the
author relates :
"Did oppress
"With many a misery to maintain the excess
Of that inhuman monster , all the race
Of men that were of all the world the grace. "
"Imperial democracy , " as the outcome
of righteous democratic republican gov
ernment would be a prodigy as evil and
icrnicious as the misbegotten whelp of
Juno.
Is this revolting ? If so , take heed of
the following : On November 22 , 1898 ,
Hon. C. A. Sulloway , a member of the
United States congress from New Hamp
shire , said : "China is succumbing to
the inevitable , and the United States , if
she would not retire to the background ,
must advance along the line with the
other great nations. She must acquire
new territory , providing now markets
over which she must maintain control.
The Anglo-Saxon advances into the new
regions with a Bible in one hand and a
shotgun iu the other. The inhabitants
of those regions that he cannot convert
with the aid of the Bible and bring into
liis markets , ho gets rid of with the shot
gun. It is but another demonstration of
the survival of the fittest. " This is
science and materialism gone mad.
Iu. other words , like a jackal , we select
a point of vantage and watch the dis
memberment of a carcass by lions await
ing our opportunity to seize a few frag
ments.
In the language of a British statesman ,
uttered in an hour of stress :
" Como the eleventh plague rather than this
should bo ;
Come sink us rather in the sea ;
Come , rather , pestilence , and reap us down
Come God's sword , rather than our own.
Let rather Roman come again ,
Or Saxon , Norman , or the Dane.
In all the bonds wo over bore ,
Wo yrfevcil , wo siyhetl , wo wept ; wo novel
blushed before. " *
'
However , my opposition is not basec
upon commercial , constitutional , legal
or technical grounds alone , but also upoi
the doctrine of human riff hts , and coinmoi
sense. The assumed analogy between
England and America is a fallacy , auc
strikes at the very root of our govern
mental foundations. England's iustitu
tions have been formed on the doctrine
* lLini8 ; by old Abraham Cowloy , used by Si
Robert Peel in repelling an attack of Win. Co
bott in the British parliament , 18WJ ) .
of inequality ( as are those of all mon
archical governments ) ; America's on the
leclaied principle of equality before the
aw. It may without exaggeration be
aid of the North American people that ,
'rom the beginning down to this year
ust ended , its development has been
one long protest against , and divergence
from , Old "World methods and ideals.
Referring to the denial of his "inalien
able rights" to the African , Thomas
Fefferson declared : ' 'I tremble for my
country , when I reflect that God is
ust. " And Abraham Lincoln said ,
'The assertion that all men are created
equal was of no practical use in effect-
ng our separation from Great Britain ,
and it was placed in the declaration , not
'or that , but for future use. Its author
meant it to be , as , thank God , it is now
Droving itself , a stumbling block to all
these who , in after times , might seek to
turn a free people back into the paths of
despotism. They knew the pronencss of
irosperity to breed li/rants , and they meant ,
vlien suclt sJiouhl reappear in this fair
land , and commence their vocation , they
should find left for them at least one hard
nut to crack.11
If we are now to abandon the declar
ation of independence , the constitu
tion of tho'United States and American
democracy for British imperialism it is
meet and right that wo should make the
amende honorable to King George the
Third , of gracious ( ? ) memory , and
publicly confess to the world at large
and to England in particular , that the
masked rioters who threw the tea over
board in Boston harbor , and the scat
tering mob of ranchers who caused tu
mult and bloodshed at Lexington , Con
cord and Bunker Hill were in reality
"Lewd fellows of the baser sort" bent
on the subversion of law and order ; and
that they and their aiders and abbettors
deserved condign punishment at the
hands of British red coats , and that
their memories bo now execrated. Nay
more , should we not go to Washington
City , take down the portrait of the re
puted Father of our Country and substi
tute therefor that of good ( ? ) King
George the Third ?
And when we have done all this lot us
exclaim , Ichabod ! Our glory has departed -
parted !
Of all wo loved and honored , naught
Save power remains
A fallen angel's pride of thought ,
Still strong in chains.
All else is gone , from these great eyes
The soul has lied :
When faith is lost , when honor dies ,
The man is dead !
Seventy-five years ago John Quiucy
Adams , in a Fourth of July address , de
livered at Washington , in referring to
the "Mission of America , " as a member
of the great family of nations , with a
remarkable foresight of the political
heresies and philanthropic neouisms of
today , raised a warning voice in fervid
tone against a departure from the spirit
of our institutions , which was prophetic
