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Cbc Conservative * 11
everything which does not like us. But
what dignity or glory is to bo had from
"desperate fights" which after four
hours give us one man killed and ten
wounded ? And can we forget Burko's
shrewd criticism on "dignity ? "
"They tell you , sir that your dignity
is tied to it. I know not how it happens ,
but this dignity of yours is n terrible en-
cumbrnuco to you ; for it has of late
been over at war with your interest ,
your pquity , and every idea of your
policy. Show the thing you contend forte
to be reason , show it to be common
sense , show it to be the moans of attain
ing some useful end , and then I am con
tent to allow it what dignity you please.
But what dignity is derived from the
perseverance in absurdity is more than
ever I could discern. "
The great thing for a Christian people -
plo , the unum ncccssuriuin , is not to be
"dignified , " but to do right , to help to
educate nud elevate your fellow-man ,
and not to destroy him except under
stern necessity. New York Evening
Post.
MASSACHUSETTS VOJCKS.
In Protest Against the Wiir of Conquest
In the
The following are extracts from the
speeches at the anti-imperialist meeting
in Boston oil Tuesday night , April 4
Ex-Attorney-General Pillsbury said :
"Who , then , were the aggressors ?
Tried by the high declaration with
which we began the war ogaiusc Spain ,
who were the aggressors ? Forcible an
nexation was declared to be not only
aggression , but criminal aggression. It
is said that wo are not guilty of such
criminal aggression , because wo ac
quired the islands by purchase. Who
sold them to us ? The inhabitants have
never sold them. We acquired from
Spain only such title as she had , a title
which never rested on anything but
force. We took it such as it was , with
full notice that it was disputed , and not
only disputed , but broken.
"Tho headlines call the Filipinos
'rebels. ' Why rebels ? What alleg
iance have they over owed to us ? We
have not even the paper authority ol
international law for claiming their al
legiance. We know , before we set fool
on the islands , that they denied alleg
iance to Spain , aud wo took full advant
age of this fact. Our $20,000,000 paid
to Spain did not purchase their alleg
iance , and much less did it pay for a
drop of their blood. Do they owe move
allegiance to us than the Cubans owed
to Spain ?
"Wo began the war with a declaration
of both houses of congress that 'the
people of Cuba are , aud of right ough
to be , free and independent , ' expressly
disclaiming any purpose to acquire
sovereignty over thorn. What single
title had'tho Cubans to freedom and in
dependence , or to possession of their owi
country , that the Filipinos do not pos-
ess today ? Not one. Was our declar
ation , then , a lie the declaration which
alone reconciled the people of the United
States to invoke , in the cause of liberty ,
ho horrors and calamities of war ? A
few imperialists are candid enough to
avow that it was a Ho , and was never
meant to bo anything else. But that
leclaration was made in the nnmo of
lie American people , and no less author-
ty than theirs can recall it or depart
from it , and they meau that it shall be
made good , not only toward Cuba , but
oward the world. "
Ex-Governor Boutwell said :
"The president occupies the position
in reference to the Philippines that Rus
sia occupies in regard to Poland , and a
position kindred to the position that.
Austria occupied to Hungary in 1848 ,
when Kossuth was carrying on a con
test in behalf of self-government , in
which all America sympathized.
"Tho president abandons the dcclunv
tion of independence , and sets aside the
immortal words , 'Governments are in
stituted among men , deriving their just
powers from the consent of the gov
erned. ' He is now using an army of
American citizens to overcome an ob
stacle the opinion of the inhabitants of
the Philippine islands , that they Jmve a
natural and inalienable right to govern
themselves. In the presence of the
proclamation of January 5 , the conjec
ture even is impossible that the presi
dent contemplates a time when the in
habitants of the Philippines will be per
mitted to govern themselves.
"Ho is now engaged in carrying on a
war for the purpose , as ho alleges , of
'bestowing the blessings of good and
stable government upon the people ol
the Philippine islands , under the free
flag of the United States. ' Thus does
the president avow a purpose through
war to undertake the 'bestowal of the
blessings of good and stable government
under the free flag of the United States'
upon unwilling peoples. What is the
meaning of this declaration , when it is
stripped of its rhetoric ? Only this wo
are to enter upon wars of conquest. , auc
to govern the conquered by force. The
flag which to us is a free flag would bo
to them only an emblem of tyranny. "
Judge Duubar said :
"Tho Filipinos have boon subject to
shameful oppression , aud our duty
towards them , if wo owed them any
duty , was to give them such justice as
to enable them to free themselves from
the oppression of Spain and leave
them , to carry on their government ii
their own way. There is time to cor
rect this mistake in part. There is time
for us to revert from evil , and to learn
to do right ; to follow the history of ou
traditions , the sound American doctrine
not the doctriuo that leads us to colon
i/at ion. And if wo do this , we sha ]
lot pursue a course of war and blood-
hod. "
State Senator Parsons said :
"Let mo ask whether the people hero
assembled believe that when this ques-
ion does come to its solution they are
oing to bo guided by the great lights
by which this nation has thus far pro
ceeded ? Do they propose to follow
Tames Monroe ? Do they propose to fol-
ow Abraham Lincoln , or do they pro
pose to follow Stephen Douglas ? Do
they propose to follow U. S. Grant , who
said , 'Lot us Imvo peace , ' or Shatter ,
who says , 'Lot's sweep half the peoph-
off the face of the earth , in order to
lave peace for the remaining half ? '
We have no doubt us to what course
the American people will take. I be
lieve that when we settle this question
t will be but a n w and st.rong demon
stration of that wi'll-phrnsed truth the
desertion of duty i.s not an American
habit. "
The World-
spicuous for hav
ing been a protectionist of very earnest.
convictions and likewise for having en
tertained gold standard views of a very
rugged type.
And this journal kindly digs up and
republishes a carefully written letter of
the editor of THE CONSERVATIVE which
was printed iirst in November , 1890.
That letter proposed a getting together
of nil the elements of opposition to repub
licanism in Nebraska. The straight
democrats had just won a signal victory
by electing Hon. James E. Boyd gov
ernor. In the hour of victory it was
therefore proper to propose taking into
the democratic fold all voters outside of
the republican ranks. It was not pro
posed to surrender either the principles
or the organization of the domo'craoy of
Nebraska to populism. It was the in
tention to swallow the alliance and pop-
ulipt parties of this state and make them
and the commonwealth democratic.
Since then principles , organization ,
traditions and name too have been sur
rendered to populism by democracy in
Nebraska. Insioml of buing swallower
it is the swnlloweo.
Foam and froth on the surface are
sometimes mistaken for the force and
volume of the current.
The boaster is not dangerous. Justice
moves silently. Justice travels with a
leaden heel ; but it strikes with an iron
hand.
Sir Walter Raleigh said very truly :
"Tho shallows murmur , but the deeps
are still. " This accounts for the mis
takes of practical politicians. They con
strue the boisterous avowals of the
to be
unthinking rag-tag-and-bob-tail
public sentiment.