The Conservative.
THE LIVING SEA.
How like the city is unto the seal
The mighty wave of commerce breaks and
beats
In restless surges through the city streets ,
Swayed by the master tide of energy.
How many derelicts , long morn to morn ,
Drift at the mercy of the wind and wave
The lloteam and the jetsam of the
pave
Deserted , rudderless and tempest-torn !
Here move great argosies with gold and
bales-
Stanch ships that dare the cunning current's
might
And through their long procession dart the
light ,
Swift pleasure craft with sun-emblazoned
sails.
Yet am I minded only of one thing :
How much how much these smiling waters
drown ,
Dear God , what wrecks this very day went
down ,
Unhailed , unsignaled and unsignaling !
Theodosia Garrison , in Ainslee's Magazine.
TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
The Anti-Imperialist Leagues of the
United States have been silent since the
presidential election , but not because
they have less faith in their cause or be
lieve the battle lost. They had hoped
that those who voted for Mr. McKinley ,
while disapproving his policy in the
West Indies and the Philippines , would
see that their votes were misinterpreted ,
and would make their disapproval
known and felt. They had hoped that
congress would claim , its place in our
government , and would insist that the
principles of human freedom must be
recognized and applied wherever our
country holds sway. They had hoped
that the supreme court would with no
uncertain voice , declare that 110 human
being under our control could be with
out the rights secured by our constitu
tion , and that neither president nor
congress , nor both together , could exer
cise absolute power over men entitled to
the protection of our flag.
These hopes have not been realized.
Where Benjamin Harrison nobly led ,
too few have had courage to follow. The
war in the Philippines has been prose
cuted with unrelenting cruelty until the
resistance of the unhappy * islanders
seems to have been crushed. Many
thousands of their bravest men have
been killed , or have died of disease ,
during the contest ; and today the presi
dent exercises a power as despotic as
the Czar's over the whole Filipino na
tion. Congress abdicated its function ,
gave these people into the president's
hands , and adjourned without attempt
ing to deal with the questions presented
by the islands. Already it has learned
that free government is hard and abso
lutism easy a dangerous lesson in a re
public.
Three years ago congress by joint resolution
elution , declared "that the people of the
island of Cuba are , and of right ought
to be free and independent" that they
were then independent , and were justly
entitled to be independent. This coun
try intervened to establish their inde
pendence , and by the same resolution
promised not to exercise "sovereignty ,
jurisdiction or control over said island ,
except for the pacification thereof. " To
day the president is the absolute ruler
of Cuba. He spends the revenues of the
island as he pleases. No constitution ,
no law , fetters his power. At his in
stance congress has violated the nation's
pledge. The "independent" Cuban
people were told that they would not be
allowed to establish any government in
their own land , unless they surrendered
in part the control of their finances ; un
less they gave to this country the pos
session of strategic points on their ter
ritory ; and unless in addition they gave
to it the right to intervene in their do
mestic affairs whenever in the judgment
of our authorities the occasion should
demand such intervention. They were
offered no option to refuse these de
mands , backed by the presence of Ameri
can troops on their soil. Thus to the
whole world our course has become an
example of national perfidy. The en
forced submission of the Cubans to
these unjust requirements has made the
stain on our national record indelible.
The supreme court has spoken , but has
left the law in doubt. Some of its
members have given their countenance
"to views urged by the administration , of
which their associate Mr. Justice Har-
lan , a republican by conviction , says :
"If the principles thus announced
should ever receive the sanction of a
majority of this court , a radical and
mischievous change in our system of
government will be the result. We will
in that event pass from the era of con
stitutional liberty , guarded and pro
tected by a written constitution , into an
era of legislative absolutism. "
Where such a revolution is threatened ,
and when congress and the supreme
court both fail , there is no help save in
the people. If they would avert the
impending calamity they must help
themselves. Let us not be misled by
names. Imperialism is not a question
of crowns and sceptres , of names and
titles. It is a system of government.
Where a man or a body of men , an em
peror , a president , a congress , or a na
tion , claims the absolute right to rule
the people , to compel the submission of
that people by brute force , to decide
what rights they shall have , what taxes
they shall pay , what judges shall ad
minister their laws , what men shall
govern them , all without responsibility
to the people thus governed this is im
perialism , the antithesis of free govern
ment. As Mr. Justice Harlan says :
"The idea that this country may ac
quire territories anywhere upon the
earth , by conquest or treaty , and hold
them as mere colonies or provinces , and
the people inhabiting them to enjoy
only such rights as congress chooses to
accord them , is wholly inconsistent
with the spirit and genius as well as
with the words of the constitution. "
In organized society there is no liber
ty that is not constitutional liberty.
Even in America , where we have only
to fear the abuse of power by our own
fellow-citizens , we all rely on. constitu
tions , national and state , to protect our
rights. We cannot conceive an Ameri
can community without these safe
guards. Do not the inhabitants of Luzon
zen need against us , the protection that
we need against ourselves ? It has ever
been the American method to incorpo
rate acquired territory with representa
tion ; it is now proposed to revert to the
Roman method , and hold conquered ter
ritory by force without representation.
This policy which we oppose gives to
the Filipinos and Porto Bicaus no con
stitutional rights , no American citizen
ship , no hope of statehood , no voice in
the congress which rules them ; it leaves
them without a country , the subjects of
a republic. This policy , to believers in
free government , is monstrous.
"Let it be remembered , " said the continental - '
tinental congress , "that it has ever been
the pride and boast of America that the
rights for which she contended were the
rights of human nature. " When this
country denies to millions of men the
rights which we have ever claimed , not
only for ourselves but for all men , its
policy is suicidal. As Lincoln said :
"Those who deny liberty to others de
serve it not themselves , and under a
just God cannot long retain it. " Indif
ference to liberty anywhere breeds in
difference to liberty everywhere. No
man can defend despotic methods abroad
and long retain his loyalty to democracy
at home. The common speech of those
who support our new policy gives us
daily examples of this truth. We can
not have citizens and subjects under the ,
same flag. "A house divided against
itself cannot stand. " For
"Laws of changeless justice bind oppressor
with oppressed ,
"And close as sin and suffering joined we
march to fate abreast. "
We insist that constitutional liberty
shall be the inalienable right of every
man who owes allegiance to our flag ,
that freedom shall belong to man and
not to place , that our constitution shall
be no respecter of persons , colors , or
races , but that it shall recognize the
equal rights of all. Ours is the policy of
liberty. Ours is the cause for which the
American revolution was fought and
which triumphed again in the civil war.
It is the cause of human freedom now
threatened in the house of its friends.
It makes little difference under what
name we rally to its support.
With Benjamin Harrison , we are
"unable to rejoice in the acquisition of
lands and forests and mines and com
merce , at the cost of the abandonment
