Cbc Conservative.
IMPERIALISM.
A Lecture by "Win. M. Saltcr , before the So
ciety for Ethical Culture of Chicago , in Steinway -
way Hall , February 12,1809.
Three Issues.
Three great issues have been before
the American people within the last
twelve months. The first was whether
this nation should put an end to Spanish
oppression in Cuba and set the island
free. The second was whether , having
broken the Spanish power in the Philip
pines , the nation should thereafter re
turn the islands to Spain or turn them
ever to some other power or leave them
to themselves , in any case washing its
own hands of them ; or whether it
should assume some manner of respon
sibility for them. The third issue is
now before us. We have freed Cuba ,
we have accepted responsibility for the
Philippines and the question now is ,
how shall we discharge that responsi
bility , in what spirit shall wo act , do we
really wish to own the Philippines or do
we wish to make them free ?
Each one of these issues has tried , or
is trying , keenly the temper of the pee
ple. Some thought in the first place
that Cuba was no concern of ours
abhorred the war altogether. Later ,
many believed that we should do any
thing rather than charge ourselves with
the Philippines some , like Professor
Norton , even advocating leaving them
to Spain. But the main body of the
people was moved in both instances by
humaner , more generous thoughts. The
nation has acted on the assumption that
we were our brother's keeper and oven
to islands in distant peas we have
stretched out the friendly hand. The
nation has assumed responsibility and
has even agreed to pay Spain $20,000,000
for a quit-claim deed to the islands.
From a legal point of view the Philip
pines are in our hands.
And now an issue has arisen that en
tirely overshadows the earlier ones. It
has not stood out clearly till now.
"When men have urged keeping control
of the Philippines , they have been called
imperialistsor in any case expansionists.
But it may be that they were , and it
may be that they were not. It is pos
sible to approve of both the war and the
Paris treaty , and yet to bo opposed to
imperialism or expansion. Imperialism
now first has a distinct signification I
mean as related to a practical issue.
Imperialism was not the issue a year
ago ; it was not the issue when the
treaty was signed in Paris. Now it is
the issue do we believe in forcible ex
pansion or not ? For that is the mean
ing of imperialism , and that is the ques
tion now confronting the American
people.
Humiliating.
The events of the past week have been
shocking ; they have been humiliating
to anyone who loved old-fashioned
American ideas. But they have only
brought homo to everybody what the
thoughtful and discerning already
know. This is that the Filipinos want
freedom , just as the Cubans did , and
the question is , have wo broken the
Spanish power over them to set them
free , or to give them a new master ? A
people that does not care for freedom , is
perhaps not worth freeing , but the Filipinos
pines have cared enough for freedom to
make several unaided attempts at it
during the century. Twelves times , de
spairing of a peaceful redress of griev
ances , they have risen in insurrection.
They are naturally peaceful ; according
to General Merritt they are not natural
and pertinacious fighters , like our In
dians , but docile and amiable. Far
away as they have been , wo have known
or heard little of them , but of the last
revolutionary uprising in 1896 wo have
distinct information. It had six separ
ate objects :
1. The expulsion of the monastic
orders , who , even Catholic authorities
admit , practiced fearful abuses.
2. The abolition of the governor-
general's arbitrary power to banish
without accusation , trial or sentence.
8. Restoration to the natives of lauds
held by the religious orders.
4. A limitation of the arbitrary
powers of the civil guard.
5. No arrest without judge's warrant.
G. Abolition of the fifteen days per
annum compulsory labor.
Hardly liarbarlc.
These were hardly the demands of
savages , either in moral or mind. The
Filipinos are evidently human beings ,
in some respects not unlike ourselves.
Indeed , while the bulk of them ( I have
in mind , particularly , Luzon , where are
five out of the seven or eight million ,
making up the population of the islands )
are uneducated and half-civilized , they
have some of the marks of a superior
people. They wish education. They
are cleanly , are hospitable and obliging.
They have a pleasing family life.
Wives have an amount of liberty hardly
equaled in any other Eastern country ,
and they seldom abuse it. The men are
self-respecting and self-restrain ing to a
remarkable degree. The climate allows
them to be indolent , yet they possess
many fine branches of industry ( mak
ing beautiful mats and elegant linen
fabrics ) , and they imitate such
branches of European industry as ship
building , leather dressing and carriage
building , with great success. With
their patriarchal system of living , they
have not learned the art of forming a
state and are commonly supposed to be
destitute of the capacity of governing
themselves ; yet the stress of circum
stances has developed leaders among
them and during the past year an at
tempt has been made to organize a gov
ernment. For three centuries they have
been subject to Spanish rule , and it is
absurd to deny the existence of capaci
ties that have not been allowed to grow.
What their capabilities are is shown in
the nature and personnel and working
of the extempore government they now
have and which makes so much a part
of the gravity of the present situation
that I must give a few details.
The Capital.
Its seat is in Malolos , forty miles from
Manila. There the Philippine congress
sits in an old Spanish church. It had
eighty-three members when it declared
the republic on the 10th of September
last ; more have since been added. Of
these eighty-three , seventeen were grad
uates of European universities. The
president studied at Madrid and Sala
manca , taking degrees in theology and
law , and is an author , his works on the
life and manners of the inhabitants G
Luzon having been translated into Ger
man. The head proper of the govern
ment is a man who had been , under
Spanish rule , a petty governor of his
native town , a landed proprietor and by
no means an adventurer with all to gain
and nothing to lose Aguinaldo. Agui-
naldo was the leader of the insurrection
of 1896 , and yet when the Spanish gov
ernment agreed to make concessions and
to pay the wages of the insurgent troops ,
he counseled peace and his counsel pre
vailed. ( I may add that the insurgents
disbanded and kept their agreement to
the letter , while the Spanish government
did nothing in the way of reforms and
only paid a third of the money promised ,
and that the payment of this to Agui-
ualdo , the recognized representative of
the insurgents * constitutes the only
basis I have been able to discover for
the charge which our papers are making
that he was a blackmailer and a bandit. )
According to a writer in The Keview of
Reviews , who knew him , "friends and
enemies agree that he is intelligent ,
ambitious , far-sighted , brave , self-con
trolled , honest , moral , vindictive and at
times cruel. " His cruelty has been kept
well in check , however , during the past
year , for all accounts agree that he has
been temperate in the use of his power
and that his soldiers have treated their
Spanish prisoners more humanely than
the Spaniards used to treat the Filipinos
who fell into their hands. His extra
ordinary ability as a military organizer
is commonly admitted. Encouraged
in port by our own representatives , he
came from Hong Kong ( where he had
been since the insurrection of 1896) ) to
Luzon , organized a native revolutionary
army , was of incalculable advantage to
our own military forces , captured some
thing like 15,000 Spaniards , raised large
sums of money ranging as high as $200 ,
000 a mouth , and under his leadership
the Spanish dominion was practically
confined to two towns , Manila in Luzon
and Iloilo in Panay , Iloilo itself being
* See Koviow of Reviews , Feb. ' 09 , p. 108.