v
. .H
10 The Conservative.
siou" in this instance. Suppose Spain
hod won , whose work would it have
been then ? It is wonderful that mem
bers of the "brotherhood of man"
should be enthusiastic to rob American
Rachels of their sous niid deplete the
national treasury , and consider it "holy
work. " Changing the words if God
saves those who save themselves , why
not leave the business to them ? This
idea of "God's work , " "the selected son
of God , " "God's favorite son , " inflated
the egotism of the president of the
United States. It was this work of the
protestaut church militant , and the
Methodist church in particular , that
turned the president from a strong , con
servative , constitutionalist to a "man of
war. " Jehovah overruled the more
lovable Father of the nineteenth cen
tury. If it is God's work to murder
men without cause in the name of re
ligion and humanity , what value has
that expression "peace on earth and
good will among men ? " The church
militant kuoweth naught of that. It
"camenot to briug peace butasword. "
McKiuley is its nineteenth century
Goliath. Unfortunately , the Filipinos
have no David.
No Justification for tlio War.
Was the government of the United
States justified in going to war with
Spain according to the constitution ? On
the same ground , is it justified in its
present work in Cuba and the Philip
pines , and in the acquisition of those
islands , under existing conditions in the
United States ?
These questions are absorbingly inter
esting. They are profoundly important.
As the decision is right or wrong it may
be written in blood and embossed in
gold or not. Let us throw courts and
authority to the winds 1 Let us bury
traditionalism in its mouldy vault ! This
is a man's business. Men do their own
thinking. Men form nations. Men
make governments. Men unmake them
too.
Assuming the government of the
United States to be law-abiding in intent
it will find that it has paved its future
path with the proverbial pavement. It
will learn that it had no authority to go
to war ; no authority to sacrifice an
American life ; no authority to spend an
American cent ; to uphold the Cubans in
anything ; to remain in Cuba or the
Philippines ; to help either people in es
tablishing government ; to whip the
Filipinos into submissive acceptance of
its own government , or to take per
manent possession of either Cuba or the
Philippines , either according to natural
law , the Declaration of Independence or
the constitution. This is said in face of
the declaration that "to the victor be
longs the spoils. " Unless wise self-con
trol is used they often cause violent in
digestion and omesis. Might is right ,
but the mighty may not always do
right. Remember the standards of
natural law 1 Might is right only when
it weakens not , or imperils not , itself by
its acts. Who will have the effrontery
to assert that the constitutional con
ditions are as safe now in the United
States as before the war ? Congress and
the president swore to uphold the con
stitution ; have they ?
Momentous events have happened and
are taking place in the United States.
History is being made with gigantic
strides. Laws are being broken. Con
stitutions are declared antiquated. If
all that is said is true the country is in a
condition of anarchy. There is no law.
The unfitness of the ordinary repre
sentative to represent anything but his
unfltness is apparent. It is maintained
that "governments exist by the consent
of the governed is no more true. " Sup
pose the governed rise up and turn the
government out , what then ? Govern
ments , in the true sense , do not exist
with the consent of the governed. Gov
ernments exist as the deputed authority
to carry out laws or conditions agreed
upon by those who formed the national ,
state or tribal organization. They exist
so long , and in such form , as those who
formed the state and instituted the gov
ernment consent among themselves to
maintain it and no longer. Any form
of government is a usurpation. It is
a despotism. Despotisms stand only by
the sufferance of the people.
Government and Guardianaliip.
It is maintained that the argument
that taxation without representation is
tyranny , that governments derived their
just powers from the consent of the gov
erned , is true only to a limited extent.
Women , minors and imbeciles have to
undergo the burdens of our government
without any voice in its control.
No one but an imbecile would utter
such balderdash. Even a portion of the
press upholds such imbecility. Accept
ing the statement that "women , min
ors and imbeciles" belong in the same
class , is not the control of such rather
to be called a guardianship than a gov
ernment ? Certainly imbeciles can con
tribute nothing to form , support , or
maintain a government. How then can
they have any rights in or under it ?
The desperate attempts of the govern
ment to defend its policy are self-evi
dent.
If "women , minors and imbeciles" ore
incapable of self-government and there
fore could not possibly establish a gov
ernment , it is evident that if a commun
ity of such and no others could exist , it
would bo in a condition of heterogene
ous anarchy. Were the Filipinos in any
such condition even at the time of Span
ish occupation ? Has Spain successfully
established its government in all the
islands ? Is it not evident that the Fil
ipinos have been and are capable of es
tablishing a government suitable to their
conditions ? That they cannot establish
a government capable of resisting Aryo-
Germanic aggression is due to their
weakness as a people , but not to their
inability to establish and maintain a
government for themselves. The com
parison , then , of the Filipinos with
American "women , minors and imbe
ciles" falls to the ground. What absurd
ity to compare the Filipinos with the
fathers of the constitution , who forced
an independent government from George
III ! It would be as just to compare the
Cubans with the barons who forced the
Great Charter from King John. They
were men , not "women , minors and im
beciles. " They did not require a guard
ian to protect them against other nations
and anarchy. They tried to make a
government as strong as they were to
restrict them in using their might to
their own injury if they exceeded the
limits of their self-made law. How
about their sons ? Something is "rotten
in Denmark , " when the government
usurps the law as it has in the United
States. Why not let the Cubans and
Filipinos stand the test of natural law as
our fathers did , as the Britains , Ger
mans , French , Russians , Romans , Span
ish , Greeks , Turks , Hungarians and all
peoples have had to ? They assert that
to be their desire ! Will our action
change natural law ? Any government
not organised and maintained by the
people is a despotism. If the people do
not rise and put down the government
both will go under in the end.
A government cannot make a people.
Humanity cannot make either men or a
nation. Both find their origin in the
will and power of individuals. If gov
ernments do not find their just powers ,
not in the consent , but in the will of the
governed ; if the governed do not limit
the powers of the government in any
thing but a usurped despotism , then
history is wrong and everything is lim
ited to imbeciles except the congress of
the United States and some editorial
chairs. Every form of guardianship is
absolute , hence a tyranny. No one
would accept this as a government in
any sense as applied to surviving and
progressive nations.
A despotism is the very weakest form
of government. An absolute despotism
is apparently a strong government , but
the people are weak. In reality it is a
weak government. The people can over
throw it the moment they become con
scious of their massed strength. Persia ,
Macedonia and Rome were absolute des
potisms over a weak people how long
did they last ? France under Napoleon
I was a weak people under an extra
strong despot. What did he leave it ?
A weak nation not yet strong enough to
govern itself without dangerous dissen
sions. France exists by Jbhe sufferance
of Europe on the basis of that delicate
scale , the balance of power.
Colonial Government.
What kind of permanency will the
government of the United States give to
