13 ■ ksz 19co E 713 .K52 Copy 1 ( .,^V2H90O PATRIOTISM VERSUS PARTISANSHIP. HORATIO C. KING. CJOMrtTMENTe OP HORATTO C. King, S75 Fulton at, Bwo^J«^ '\f. HORATIO C. KING. PATRIOTISM VS. PARTISANSHIP BY HORATIO C. KING ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE NATIONAL CIVIC CLUB BROOKLYN. NEW YORK CITY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19th, 1899 PRINTED BY REQUEST FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION NEW YORK MACGOWAN & SUPPER, PRINTERS, 30 BEEKMAN STREET 1900 Er7/3 p. Patriotism vs. Partisanship. HORATIO C. KING. The safety and perpetuity of a republic rest upon the morality of its people. Said Washington in his immortal farewell address : " Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to sub- vert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest proofs of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it sim- ply be asked, where is the security for prosperity, for repu- tation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without re- ligion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education in minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religion." In the election of 1896, morality and religion joined hands to save the nation from lasting disgrace and hu- miliation. The echoes of the Divine edict thundered from Sinai, " Thou shaft not steal," have reverberated through the ages, and woe to that nation which, under political, eco- nomical or other subterfuge, shall dare to disregard them ! Three years are but a small space in the life of an indi- vidual, and still less in the life of a nation ; yet, in that brief period, a strange forgetiulness appears to have fallen upon some who were most vehement and eloquent in their denunciation of the Chicago platform, and who now prefer to accept the vicious precepts it inculcates to risk- ing the remotely possible evils which so-called Imperial- ism may produce. Perhaps it is well here to refresh the memory a little by recalling the obnoxious features of that remarkable document which so aroused public sentiment and rallied that great army of sound money democrats who placed country above party and saved the land they loved from discredit and disgrace. I venture to assert that no grander body of men ever convened in a political conven- tion than that which assembled in Indianapolis in the Fall of 1896. The delegates to that convention were not sup- pliants for, nor expectants of, political favor or patron- age. The ofifice-holder and the office-seeker were con- spicuous by their absence. There was a sobriety and solemnity there which I have never witnessed in any other political gathering, and I have seen many. It was the solemnity of men about to go into action, with the full knowledge of the dangers of personal sacrifice — a sacrifice of all political ambition. But as in the great war millions were ready and willing to lay down their lives if only the nation might live, so this Old Guard of the Democratic party, true to the principles upon which this republic was founded ; true to the teachings of morality and religion ; honest, not because honesty is the best policy, but because it is right ; brave and unselfish, enunciated that noble platform that rallied to its support a grand army of equally unselfish followers and defeated the purpose of that undemocratic mob which, crazed by the blasphemous metaphor of a Populist orator, nomi- nated William J. Bryan for President. Mr. Bryan's penchant for irreverence is exhibited in this extract from an interview printed in a New York paper this morning. Here it is : " The keynote of the President's policy is to be found in the assertion that Providence has brought the Philippines within our jurisdiction. It is to be re- gretted that the President did not explain whether he received this information direct from the Almighty, or, if at second hand, what Republican endowed with the gift of prophecy has revealed it. As the President him- self is responsible for every act upon which authority in the Philippines is based, he ought to be able to defend his course by argument, or else give conclusive proof of his inspiration." These words and this reference would not be necessary now were it not that the men in whose hands is the machinery of the Democratic party still proclaim their adhesion to this Chicago platform and present no other candidate for their suffrage than the one who was defeated in 1896, and has learned nothing from that defeat. It appears to have been overlooked by some that the money question was not the only obnoxious fulmination of the Chicago platform. It is probable that the ratio of 16 to I made a stronger impression than any other plank because it struck right at the foundations of honesty and morality. But there were others which smacked of anarchy and resistance to law, and threatened the orderly administration of justice. The two planks to which I especially refer, which are as odious to me to-day as they were when first promulgated, are : First, " We are un- alterably opposed to monometalism, which has locked fast the prosperity of an industrial people in the paralysis of hard times. Gold monometalism is a British policy, and its adoption has brought other nations into financial servitude to London. It is not only un-American, but anti- American, and it can be fastened on the United 8 States only by the stifling of that indomitable spirit and love of Hberty which proclaimed our poHtical independ- ence in 1776, and won it in the war of the revolution. We demand the free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver at the present legal ratio of 16 to i, without waiting for the aid or consent of any other nation. We demand that the standard silver dollar shall be a full legal tender, equally with gold, for all debts, public and private, and we favor such legislation as will prevent for the future the demonetization of any kind of legal tender money by private contract." What has occurred since 1896 to palliate or render less hateful this dishonest proposition ? Has not the history of the past three years disclosed that Mr. Bryan's con- stantly iterated statement that silver and grain would travel hand in hand in relative increase or depression is fallacious? Wheat has marched to a dollar while silver has sullenly lingered in the rear at little variation from the price it held when its advocates circulated that fal- lacy. If the 16 to I proposition was dishonest then, is it less dishonest now? If it threatened the stability of our credit then, is it any the less dangerous now ? Is it more moral to pay one's debts in the near future, if this sentiment is to prevail— which may God forbid — at fifty cents on the dollar than it was in 1896? Are patriotic Americans content to emblazon repudiation on their national ensign, and receive and merit the contempt of all other civilized nations on the globe ? I do not, 1 will not believe it. The American people are a God-fearing, truth-loving, and an honest people. They do not believe in the odious politi- cal war-cry of " Regularity — my party, right or wrong ; " they repudiate, also, that other seductive and dangerous aphorism, " Principles, not men;" and in the face of this issue they will rise en masse to exclude from power the party that advocates such a doctrine until it learns wis- dom, and honesty and true patriotism. Without dwelling upon the platform's contemptuous attack upon the Supreme Court of the United States, the very palladium of liberty and order, let me recite the sec- ond of the most obnoxious clauses of the Chicago plat- form, known as Altgeld's anti-Cleveland plank — Altgeld, who, as Governor of Illinois, shocked the entire land by his pardon of the Chicago Anarchists : " We denounce arbitrary interference by Federal autho- rities in local affairs as a violation of the Constitution ot the United States and a crime against free institutions, and we especially object to government by injunction as a new and highly dangerous form of oppression by which Federal judges, in contempt of the laws of the States and rights of citizens, become at once legislators, judges and executioners, and we approve the bill passed at the last session of the United States Senate, and now pending in the House of Representatives, relative to contempts in Federal courts and providing for trials by jury in certain cases of contempt." Says Washington, " The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presup- poses the duty of every individual to obey the estab- lished government. All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under what- ever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle and of fatal tendency." The nation in 1896 knew that this plank was a direct attack upon the Federal government's right to protect interstate commerce, to prevent the obstruction of the mails and the wanton destruction of the property not of the people of the State of Illinois only, but of the whole country. It was a reassertion of the sovereignty of the State, a dogma which, it is believed, was satisfactorily dis- posed of by the great war. The occasion for this plank must not be forgotten. Chicago was in a turmoil approaching anarchy by reason of the railroad strikes and riots. Through the imbecil- ity, or worse, of the then Governor, the railroads were lO obstructed, interstate commerce was hindered, the mails were delayed, and inconceivable annoyance and loss spread over the whole country. The State miHtia was lukewarm and inefficient. Millions of property were de- stroyed and millions more were placed in jeopardy. Yet no call was made by the Executive of lUinois upon the President of the United States to aid in restoring order. Remembering his oath to see that the laws should be faithfully executed. President Cleveland promptly grasped the situation and ordered the regular army to the rescue of the city from riot and disorder. To the remonstrance of the Governor of lUinois that it was a State affair wath which the Federal government had no concern until in- vited to intervene by the State authorities, the President made no reply save that he would perform the duty which the Constitution and laws required of him. Order was almost immediately restored. It is to the credit of the people of Ilhnois that the apologist for anarchists and the belated advocate of State sovereignty was retired to private life at the next election. Are these tenets of the Chicago platform, w^hich the party and its leader insist are to be reiterated at the next mis-called Democratic Convention, any less dangerous to the peace and prosperity of the nation now than they were in 1896? Is defiance of law to be encouraged any more now than then ; is morality in statecraft any less imperative now than then ? Are we to continue to hold up our heads in the presence of the whole world because we love order and honesty and truth, or shall we abandon these virtues which are the very foundation of our pros- perity and power, because another issue has arisen which may portend some very remote calamity to the nation ? And this leads me to the senseless cry of IMPERIALISM. But before entering upon this subject let me take issue with those who make active war on the administration in II its effort to put down the rebellion in the Philippines. It is not necessary here to determine which side provoked the conflict. My own opinion is that the blame for the collision lies primarily with those who delayed the con- firmation of the treaty of peace with Spain. No intelli- gent man outside of the Senate entertained the belief that the treaty could or would be rejected. The country was in no mood to reopen and continue the conflict. That Senators should seize this opportunity to air their views and gain cheap political capital does not speak well for their statesmanship or sound common sense. One cannot help at times in agreeing with ex-Speaker Reed that " a statesman is a politican who is dead." But it was not always so. We have had men who were equal to every occasion and stood pre-eminent as men of wis- dom and power. Aguinaldo, whom the anti-expansionists would have us believe is a modern Washington, was en- couraged by this apparent division of opinion to strike a blow for independence before he could know what policy the government intended to pursue. And it cannot be gainsaid that the continued agitation by the minority in this country has emboldened him to persevere until now his army is scattered and he himself is a fugitive from merited punishment. But 1 need not dwell upon this subject. As I have said elsewhere, *' In the war of the rebellion the magnificent armies at the front never fal- tered or were dismayed ; and, though defeat followed defeat, there was never a moment when the men who bared their breasts to a brave and honorable foe ever thought of peace, save with the restoration of the Union. The men who opposed them with bellowing guns and smoking muskets had less terrors for them than the cow- ardly carping critics or the secret traitorous minority in their rear. The visible enemy in line of battle won their respect because they had the courage of their opinions ; the Copperheads, destitute of this quality, had their pro- found contempt. In a great emergency there is no room for political division on the question of maintaining the 12 honor of the flag. Lack of unanimity means aid and com- fort to the Filipinos who are in rebellion." There may be a difference now in degree, but from my standpoint there is no difTerence in kind. THE BUGABOO OF IMPERIALISM. At the outbreak of the Civil War the regular army numbered about twenty thousand men — a wholly inade- quate force even to our then population of thirty millions. The nation has swelled to approximately seventy millions, and yet at the declaration of war with Spain the regular army numbered about twenty-five thousand, practically the same as in 1861. The necessity for an increased force is manifest. We are no longer a hermit nation and must, nolens volens, take the position allotted us by Divine Providence among the most influential nations of the earth. To maintain this position we must have an ade- quate army and navy. The best security for peace is ample preparation for war. The era of universal peace is not within the perspective of the youngest living to- day. The graceful convocation of a Peace Conference at the Hague (this is not to be confused with the Colonel Hague conference at Plymouth Church) by the Czar of the least advanced in liberty of thought, speech, and action of all the great nations is followed by a bloody and seemingly avoidable war provoked by the Boers. While political revolutions continue to disgrace South American republics, the millenium is still an iridescent dream. The old man Adam still holds sway both in individuals and nations, and the thoughtful man is wont to agree with Mr. Greeley, who, when approached for a subscription and met with the query, " Do you not wish to save souls from hell ? " testily replied, " No, there are not enough go there now." The greater part of Europe to-day is in watchful expectancy of a general collision, and no one can predict how soon the spark may ignite the train and produce a general conflagration. Might not the present Boer war 13 furnish a pretext to embroil the whole of Europe were it not for the unwritten but none the less powerful moral alliance between England and the United States which guarantees peace ? The Spanish-American War, in its speedy results, is one of the most remarkable in history. But what would we have done at Santiago without the regular army ? Let those who Avere in the fight on San Juan Hill answer that question, and not the noisy newspaper correspondents who for the most part had little to say about the regular army which did not go out of its way to seek notoriety or cultivate publicity. The cry of imperialism is by no means new^ It was heard during the great war. The apprehension of a dictatorship was not uncommon, and reached even the Presidential office. Some of my hearers will recall it and the manner in which it was treated. General Burnside had been defeated with fearful slaughter at Fredericks- burg and he w-as replaced by General Hooker, to whom the immortal Lincoln wrote : " I have placed 3'ou at the head of the Army of the Potomac. Of course I have done this upon w^hat appears to me to be sufficient reasons, and yet I think it best for you to know that there are some things in regard to which I am not quite satisfied with you. I believe you to be a brave and skillful soldier, which, of course, I like. I also believe you do not mix politics with your profession, in which you are right. You have confidence in yourself, which is a valuable, if not an indispensable quality. You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does good rather than harm ; but I think that during General Burnside's command you have taken counsel of your ambition and thwarted him as much as you could, in which you did a great wrong to the country and to a most meritorious and honorable brother officer. I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of you recently saying that both the army and the government needed a dictator. Of course, it was not for this but in spite of it that I have given you the command. 14 Only those generals who gain successes can set up as dic- tators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship." The American people are not of the stuff which de- mands or accepts dictatorship or trembles at the shadow of imperialism. There was one occasion during the war when, if ever, the army might have been in the mood to resist the orders of the Commander-in-Chief. It was after Antietam when McClellan was relieved a second time and finally from the command of the Army of the Potomac. McClel- lan was the idol of his men. As I have written before, no commander of prominence ever had more completely the dev^oted affection of his army. It was the magnetic influ- ence which Napoleon exercised, and which gave to McClellan the loving sobriquet with which he was always mentioned, " Little Mac." It accompanied him through all the vicissitudes of his active command ; it followed him into retirement and throughout his life ; and when the sudden summons came, taps were sounded and the the lights were out, no man of that great army who served under him but dropped a tear for " Little Mac," the brave commander, the thoughtful friend and the Christian gen- tleman. The defeat of Pope left the Federal authorities in a state of wild excitement and fear. McClellan alone was the man for the hour. He accepted the responsibility. In two weeks he fought the battle of Antietam and drove the invading army back into Virginia. After refitting his troops, McClellan by a skillful movement placed them at Warrenton, completely severing the Confederate Army. He was about to attack each wing in detail when the order came from Washington relieving him from command. No reason was assigned, and the order fell like a thunderbolt upon the troops, who loved this com- mander as they never loved one before or after. The scene was memorable and characteristic of the man. It is related that Burnside was in McClellan's tent when the 15 order was received. McClellan opened the despatch, and, reading it, passed it quickly and without any mani- festation of emotion to Burnside, saying-, " Well, Burn- side, you are to command the army." Burnside, who felt his inabiHty and shrank from the responsibility, was almost overcome with emotion. But I have no space to prolong the interview. McClellan withdrew in a few days, and his active career as a soldier was ended. Of this sudden and arbitrary removal Swinton, in his history of the Army of the Potomac, says : " Having accom- plished his work of expelling Lee from Maryland he en- tered, after a brief repose, on a new campaign of invasion, and it was in the midst of this and on the eve of a decisive blow that he was suddenly removed. The moment chosen was an inopportune and ungracious one, for never had McClellan acted with such vigor and rapidity, never had he shown so much confidence in himself or the army in him. And it is a notable fact that not only was the whole body of the army, rank and file as well as officers, enthusi- astic in their affection for his person, but that the very general appointed as his successor was the strongest op- ponent of his removal." In any other nation I firmly believe that the army would have held to their commander and defied higher authority. So also at the close of the great war, many people were filled with nervous apprehension that the disband- ment of nearly a million men, and their sudden return to civil life, would be fraught with great disorder, and pos- sible anarchy. But that vast army which had struggled for four long and bloody years to preserve the integrity of the Union, melted back into the body politic without the slightest ripple, save that of gratitude to those who stood by the nation in its hour of peril and of which nation each was a component and vitally interested part. In a republic where universal suffrage prevails, im- perialism can never take root. It is a will-o'-the-wisp — a high sounding phrase to produce night-mares in timid i6 people. It is the veriest nonsense ; a scarecrow and a humbug. ANTI-EXPANSION. Upon the subject of expansion there is opportunity for wide and honest difference of opinion. The theory that all men are created free and equal and have the same right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, has the sanction of the Declaration of Independence, but not of practical experience. All men are not created free and equal. They are hampered by physical and mental limi- tations and local surroundings. The right of a people to govern themselves, seemingly inherent, is also subject to conditions and to the law of progress. In the abstract, the little remnants of Indian tribes in this country are the legal inheritors and owners of our vast domain. The Louisiana purchase was a fraud upon its population, which was not consulted in the transaction ; the acquisi- tion of Florida, New Mexico and California was an op- pression against their unconsidered inhabitants ; the pur- chase of Alaska has no sanction in morality ; the coup d'etat in Hawaii was a bold theft ; the subjugation of India a monumental steal ; the opening of South Africa to civilization a violation of the natural rights of the mil- lions of barbarians and savages who had occupied the land for centuries. By the same reasoning, the occupa- tion of the Philippines is an unwarranted invasion and an unrighteous destruction of vested rights and privileges. It must not be forgotten that the problem thus thrust upon us was not of our own seeking. The accident of war made these islands ours by virtue of conquest. It was not necessary to pay to Spain $20,000,000 for this territory to make it any more our own. It was ours by the laws of war, and our dut}' to determine through Congress what policy should be pursued in respect to it. The question seems to me too grave to be decided on the spur of the moment. It calls for the wisest statesmanship 17 — after the insurgents have laid down their arms and sub- mitted to the temporary authority of the conquerors. How little was known of these islands prior to the war, and how little more is known now, my hearers fully ap- preciate. It may not be amiss, therefore, to present a brief account of them as recently prepared by me. Until Admiral Dewey plowed his way unharmed over the mines in Manila Bay, destroyed the Spanish fleet and added a new territory to the United States of America, few in this country had any knowledge of the Philippine Islands, save the meager description given in our school geographies. Of course the intelligent merchant knew that there was such a port as Manila, from which great quantities of jute were shipped, but as to the general characteristics of the land — of its extent, its population, its products and resources, and its possibilities — the general public was wofully ignorant. Nor has there been very much disclosed since. By right of conquest and the ex- penditure of twenty millions, as I have said, we have now the legal right to call the islands our own. But although acres of paper have been utilized to tell of the prowess of our arms in this remote region, comparatively little has been written concerning the soil and people, and knowl- edge has been confined to a few seacoast towns and cities accessible to the commerce of the world. In 1898, appeared in this country the first important work on this subject, written by Dean C. Worcester, Assistant Professor of Zoology in the University of Michigan, a volume of over five hundred pages, quite out of the reach of the great mass of readers. In the in- terest of science he made two extended visits to and through the archipelago, once in 1887 and again in 1890. On the first trip he worked in Palawan, Mindanao, Basi- lan, Guimaras, Panay, Negros, Siquijor, Cebu, Bohol, Semar, Leyte, Masbate, Mavinduque, Mindoro and Lu- zon ; and on the second trip in Luzon, Panay, Guimaras, Negros, Siquijor, Cebu, Mindoro, Mindanao, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi Tawi, Palawan, Culion, Busuauga, Samar, MMM Romblon, Tablas, Sibuyan and Masbate. In this latter excursion he had the advantage of official recognition by the Spanish authorities, and went among all classes, from the highest to the wildest savages. With his most inter- esting book as a basis, I purpose to present some facts which may be both interesting and instructive. There are about 1,200 islands in all, and the important ones, with their area in square miles, are Luzon 41,000, Mindanao 37,500, Samar 53,000, Panay 4,600, Palawan 4,150, Mindoro 4,050, Leyte 3,090, Negros 2,300, Cebu 1,650, Masbate 1,315, Bohol 925 and Catanduaues 450, while Basilan, Basuauga, Culion, Mavinduque, Tablu, Dinagat, Sulu, Guimaras, Tawi Tawi, Siquijor, Balabac, Sibuyan, Panaon, Camigoin, Romblon, Tico, Burias, Bili- ran, Siargao and Polilo contain from 150 to 250 square miles. These are approximate figures only, based on Spanish official estimates. The entire land area is about 1 14,000 square miles, of which Luzon and Mindanao em- brace more than half. Evidences of earthquakes and ex- tinct volcanoes everywhere exist, and several peaks are still in active operation. The land is exceedingly moun- tainous, and vast areas of the islands are covered with virgin forests of woods valuable for export. Mineral products, lignite, silver, gold, copper, iron and lead are found, though poorly developed because of Spanish re- strictions. Petroleum has been found in Cebu. Agricul- ture is in a primitive state and cheap labor difficult to procure. There is but one railwa}^ that from Manila to Dagupan, 120 miles, which our soldiers have been busy in destroying and repairing, as the exigencies of war re- quired. Communication between the several principal ports is by steamboat, but inland transportation is mainly by sledges and carts drawn by buffaloes or bullocks. The population of the islands is estimated at 8,000,000, but of many of them little is known of the interior, as there are no roads and no means of reaching the unex- plored regions where the wild tribes abound. The sea- sons the Spanish subdivide into six months of mud, six 19 months of dust and six months of everything. Typhoons of incredible force are common. The PhiHppines lie wholly within the tropics, and the mean temperature in Manila, where records are alone kept, is 80 degrees, rare- ly rising over 100 in the shade or falling below 60. Much of the time the atmosphere is heavily charged with moist- vire, making it exceedingly trying to foreigners. Malaria prevails in Mindoro, Balabac and portions of Palawan, Mindanao and Luzon, while other localities are exempt. The extreme point of Luzon, the principal island, is about 200 miles from the Island of Formosa. Manila, the capital and the chief city of the entire group, is 630 miles from Hong Kong, and contains a population of about 300,000, embracing in round numbers 200,000 natives, 5",- 000 Chinese half-castes, 40,000 Chinese, 5,000 Spaniards and Spanish Creoles, 4,000 Spanish half-castes and 300 white foreigners other than Spanish. These are the fig- ures before the arrival of the American contingent. Save the cathedral and a few churches, the buildings are not imposing ; for this is a land of earthquakes, with a number of slight shocks annualh^ and occasionally a great one, as in 1863, when 400 people were killed, 2,000 wounded, 46 public buildings and 1,100 private houses injured or destroyed, involving a property loss of about $8,000,000. In modern improvements the city is greatly deficient. The Island of Luzon is the most highly developed, and includes more than a third of the whole land area of the Philippines. The soil is productive, raising sugar, hemp, coffee, cocoa and rice. The population is estimated at 5,000,000. The Tagalos and Ilocanos are the most im- portant and are civilized. The Nequitos, Altasanes, Ap- ayaos and the Gaddanes are barbarians, and will be as perpetual a source of annoyance as the American Indians in their palmy days. Palawan is the westernmost of the larger islands, and its capital is fairly prosperous. Its known wealth is in its forests, including ebony, logwood and ipil, a hardwood, 20 which can be had in logs eighty and ninety feet long. Voluntary immigration to this island was so slight, a penal settlement was established and hard labor exacted of the convicts. Law and justice are at a very low ebb, and this is true of the archipelago generally. The na- tives are for the most part in a most primitive state of degradation. Balabac is extremely unhealthful, virulent fever and berri berri being very common. Cagayan is a small vol- canic island, inhabited by Moros inimical to the whites, who are few in number. Mindanao is nearly as large as Luzon. It contains twenty-four distinct tribes, seventeen of which are Pagan, six Mohammedan and the rest Chris- tian Visayan immigrants from the northern islands. The wild tribes are of Malayan origin. Jesuit priests have done much to explore the interior, though there are no roads and Spanish authority has not extended beyond the coast line. Grand forests abound, and gutta-percha is found in large quantities in some localities. The island is well watered by lakes and rivers, as is also Luzon. The soil is very productive, and gold is known to exist in pay- ing quantities. Zamboanga is a considerable seaport town, large and clean, but with little commerce, due largely to trade restrictions. Sulu is under Mohamme- dan rule and with a Sultan who has accepted American authority. The population hate Christians, and white men are not safe there. Tawi Tawi has several settle- ments of piratical slave-hunting Moros on the south coast, with no habitation on the north coast save a little at Tat- uan. Timber and wild hogs are its staple products. The slave dealers sell their captures readily to the Dutch planters in Borneo. Panay, with its capital, Iloilo, has been brought under American control. Iloilo is the sec- ond city of importance in the archipelago, but foul and unhealthy. Guimaras is healthful, being rough and hilly, with abundant cocoanut palms, from which great quan- tities of tuba are extracted. Unfermented it is a pleasant drink, and fermented a mild intoxicant. Panay is de- 21 nuded of forests and of population except some wild men in the high mountains. The soil is fertile, and is produc- tive of sugar, and large quantities of alcohol can be ob- tained by tapping the nupa palms. Concepcion and Ca- piz are considerable towns, the latter claiming 25,000 in- habitants. Dumaguate is the chief town in Negros. It has 8,000 population, and shops are kept by Chinese mer- chants. The soil is fertile and the people apparently prosperous. It is the richest island of its size in the archi- pelago, tobacco and sugar forming the principal crops. The forests are peopled with wild Malays or Negritos. Cebu, on the island of the same name, was once next in importance to Manila until bombarded and nearly de- stroyed by the Spaniards. It has a population of about io,ooo. Corn grows well and sugar cane is abundant. But time forbids a further enumeration. Enough has been given, however, to show the general character of the new possessions in respect to race, religion, civiliza- tion, fertility and prospective value. The Christain pop- ulation is almost wholly Roman Catholic, that church only having received the moral and financial support of the Spanish Government. This is a country over which we are unexpectedly called to assume control ; these are the peoples, civilized, barbarous and savage for whose destinies we are in a measure, at least, responsible. The car of progress for centuries past has moved and will continue to move with irresistible force. To those who believe in an over-ruling Providence, this law of progress is the law of God. Upon the enlightened rests the responsibility for the enlightment of the ignorant and the debased. Before this Government could fully declare its fixed pur- pose, Aguinaldo, who represented one province, and that only in part, rose in rebellion. The intelligent and non- partisan commission sent by the Government to Manila had scarcely begun their work of restoration of peace and order, when this self-constituted leader declared open and 22 armed resistance. The rebellion was not a national movement. Even " in the remaining provinces of Luzon," says the Commission, the " Tagalog rebellion was viewed at first with indifference and later with fear. Through- out the archipelago at large there was trouble at those points only to which armed Tagalogs had been sent in considerable numbers. In general, such machinery of government as existed served only for plundering the people under the pretext of levying war contributions, while many of the insurgent officials were rapidly accu- mulating wealth. The administration oi justice was par- alyzed and crime of all sorts was rampant. Might was the only law. Never in the worst days of Spanish mis- rule had the people been so overtaxed or so badly gov- erned. In many provinces there was absolute anarchy, and from all sides came petitions for protection and help, which we were unable to give, as troops could not be spared." It seems to me that no one can read the report of the Commission composed of such men as J. G. Schurman, President of Cornell University, who had publicly op- posed _ annexation prior to his appointment ; George Dewey, Admiral of the United States Navy ; Charles Denby, a Democrat, and for many years Consul-General at Hong Kong; and Dean C. Worcester, Professor in the University of Michigan, whom I have already quoted, without a profound impression of its truthfulness and con- clusive force. It carries with it a conviction that in the Providence of God a sublime Christain duty has been de- volved upon this country which it cannot shirk or leave to the hap-hazard of some other nation, into whose hands the Philippines will undoubtedly fall if we abandon them. Upon the question of the abihty of the various tribes to govern themselves the report recites : " The most striking and perhaps the most significant fact in the entire situation is the multiplicity of tribes in- habiting the archipelago, the diversity of their languages (which are mutually unintelligible), and the multifarious L.ofC. 23 phases of civilization, ranging all the way from the highest to the lowest, exhibited by the natives of the several pro- vinces and islands. In spite of the general use of the Spanish language by the educated classes and the consid- erable similarity of economic and social conditions prev- alent in Luzon and the Visayan Islands, the masses of the people are without a common speech and they lack the sentiment of nationality. The Filipinos are not a nation, but a variegated assemblage of different tribes and peoples, and their loyalty is still of the tribal type. As to the general intellectual capacities of the Filipinos the Commission is disposed to rate them high. But ex- cepting in a limited number of persons these capacities have not been developed by education or experience. The masses of the people are uneducated. That intelligent public opinion on which popular government rests does not exist in the Philippines. And it cannot exist until education has elevated the masses, broadened their intel- lectual horizon, and disciplined their faculty of judgment. And even then the power of self-government cannot be assumed without considerable previous training and ex- perience under the guidance and tutelage of an enlight- ened and liberal sovereign power." And in concluding the preliminary report the Commis- sion say: " Should our power by any fatality be withdrawn, the Commission believe that the government of the Philip- pines would speedily lapse into anarchy, which would ex- cuse, if it did not necessitate, the intervention of other powers, and the eventual division of the islands among them. Only through American occupation, therefore, is the idea of a free, self-governing and united Philippine commonwealth at all conceivable. And the indispensable need from the Filipino point of view of maintaining American sovereignty over the archipelago is recognized by all intelligent Filipinos and even by those insurgents who desire an American protectorate. The latter, it is true, would take the revenues and leave us the responsi- 24 bilities. Nevertheless, they recognize the indubitable fact that the Filipinos cannot stand alone. Thus the wel- fare of the Filipinos coincides with the dictates of national honor in forbidding our abandonment of the archipelago. We cannot from any point of view escape the responsi- bilities of government which our sovereignty entails; and the Commission is strongly persuaded that the perform- ance of our national duty will prove the greatest blessing to the peoples of the Philippine Islands." It should be borne in mind that the resistance to Ameri- can authority is confined to the Tagalogs, numbering a million and a half of people ; while the six million and a half, the rest of the archipelago, are passive or neutral. The Tagalogs are not the most numerous tribe, but are outnumbered by the Visayans, who aggregate two and a half millions. By what right does Aguinaldo speak for the entire eight millions or more ? I have purposely avoided any treatment of this subject from a commercial, which is necessarily a mercenary, standpoint. That the islands would open a great market for the surplus products of our prolific fields and for our industries increasing with giant strides, cannot be denied, but I prefer to view the question from the standpoint of Christian duty. The islands are ours. They came to us unsought. The responsibility was cast upon us, I be- lieve, by a higher power, and their care and development are to form a part of that manifest destiny which has placed the United States in the advance guard of the nations of the earth. We cannot recede with honor. We cannot withdraw our armies and leave these peoples to anarchy and con- fusion. To the objection that the islands are too remote, I answer that they are nearer in time than New Orleans was at the date of the Louisiana purchase, or California at the close of the Mexican war. Steam and the tele- graph have brought the whole earth into close contact. We will read the news of engagements to-day in the 25 Philippines at our breakfast tables to-morrow morning. To the objection that our laws are not constituted to carry on a colonial system, I answer that there is no pre- tense that laws cannot be enacted to meet any and every emergency. What constitutional authority was there for the creation of an Electoral Commission? The treaty with Spain placed upon us the responsibil- ity of law and order in their recent possessions. The islands came to us by surrender and transfer after more than three hundred years of ownership by the Spanish. Theirs was the only authority which had been recognized as sovereig-n, and we are bound in honor not to abandon these people to revolution, banditti and barbarism. We cannot recognize the authority of a self-appointed dicta- tor and a self-constituted congress. We must assume the great responsibility thrust upon us, whether it is the act of war or of Divine Providence, and, in accordance with the treaty, we must leave to Congress the adjustment of the form of government which in their judgment seems best for the people of all the islands. For my own part, I have no fear that the final judg- ment of this nation will ever work injustice to any one. Our flag is the flag of liberty, of order, of peace, of pro- tection to life and property, and over whatever soil it floats it carries the benisons of prosperity and happiness. Christianity follows in its wake, and education and civili- zation thrive under its folds. The work before us is to prepare the inhabitants of these fertile islands, rich in un- told resources, to govern themselves ; to develop the riches so long neglected ; to raise their children out of the miserable mire of ignorance and degradation ; to fill their land with churches and school-houses ; to open the unexplored wilderness to cultivation ; to build roads and railroads— in a word, it is for us to carry to them all the blessings of civilization, of which they now have little or no conception. If this noble purpose brings wealth to our own land, who will deny to us this honorable reward ? The Filipinos will soon learn the difference between 26 Spanish tyranny and American protection ; between the banner of the stars and the red and yellow — the blood and greed for gold — of Spain. The duty before us is plain ; we cannot recede with honor. To throw obstacles in the path of the govern- ment in its efforts to restore order is not true patriotism. The blood of the noble Law ton and all our brave soldiers* sacrificed there is on the heads of those who have encour- aged Aguinaldo to resistance ; who place this purchasable adventurer on a plane with Washington ; who, by the most reprehensible methods, have led him to believe that by prolonging the unequal contest this government would recognize his authority and place him in supreme power. The world does not stand still. It is steadily advancing toward universal light and liberty. An over-ruling Providence — " Has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat ; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat ; Oh, be swift my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant, my feet ! Our God is marching on. " I repeat here the recent utterance of Col. Watterson : " No party ever threw itself across the path of its coun- try's greatness and lived to tell the tale, and no party ever can, or will, or ought." * This letter, written by General Lawton and received in this countrj- after his death by the shot of a Filipino, needs no comment: " I would to God that the truth of this whole Philippine situation could be known bj' every one in America as I know it. If the real historv', inspiration, and conditions of this insurrection, and the influences, local and external, that now encourage the enemy, as well as the actual possibilities of these islands and peoples and their relations to this great East, could be understood at home, we would hear no more talk of unjust ' shooting of government ' into the Filipinos, or of hauling down our flag in the Philippines. If the so-called anti-imperialists would honestly ascertain the truth on the ground and not in distant Am.erica, they, whom I believe to be honest men misinformed, would be convinced of the error of their statements and conclusions and of the unfortunate effect of their publications here. If I am shot b}^ a Filipino bullet, it might as well come from one of my own men, because I know from obser- vations, confirmed by captured prisoners, that the continuance of fighting is chiefly due to reports that are sent out from America. ' ' Some Interesting Figures Capital Stock of the Four Great Banks of the World, December 3i, 1899. Bank of England, - - $86,047,935 Bank of France, - - - 36,050,000 Imperial Bank of G-ermany, 28,560,000 Bank of Russia, - - - 25,714,920 Total,- - - $176,372,855 Funds held by the Mutual Life Insurance Oo. for the payment of its policies, Dec. 31, 1899, $30I,8I4,S37 Or, $125,471,682 more than the combined capital of these famous banks. The new form of policy of The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, Richard A. McCurdy, Presi- dent, provides : First— The SECURITY of $301,844,537 of assets. Second— PROFITABLE INVESTMENT. Third— LIBERAL LOANS TO THE INSURED. Extended term insurance in case of lapse. Automatic paid-up insurance without exchange of policy. Liberal surrender values. One month's grace in payment of premiums. For further information, apply to the nearest General Agency- TURNING ON THE LIGHT. A dispassionate survey of President Buchanan's adnnin- istration from I860 to its close, including Biograph- ical sketch of the Author by Horatio C. King, eight letters of Mr. Buchanan never before published and numerous miscellaneous articles by HORATIO KING, EX=POSTMASTER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES. With portrait or the author. 419 pp., octavo, cloth gilt top, uncut edges, price $2.00. ^ ^ ^ i^ ^ ^ ^ PUBLICATIONS WRITTEN AND COMPOSED BY HORATIO C. KING. ARMY OF THR POTOMAC and POEM, (Illustrated.) - - 15 cents HISTORY OF DICKINSON COLLEGE, (Illustrated.) - - 50 cents TWELVE SONGS, 8vo., 39 pp., 50 CENTS. The SanDvS o'Dee. (Kingsley). RocKABY Lullaby, (Holland). The Light in Darkness, (Knimmacher). From the Desert I Come to Thee, - - (Taylor). Song of the Camp, (Taylor). Absence, - - (Whittier). CONTENTS. Fated. - - (Jean Ingelow). Far, Far Away, &c., (Brown). We Asked Where the Magic Came from. Only to Bloom for a Little While, - (Stebbins). I AM Lonely All Alone. Father Almighty, (Raymond). TEN SONGS, (School Edition,) 10 CENTS. Address, 46 Willow Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. LiBKHKY Ul- CONljKti>b 013 744 834 8 13 ■ k sz ISteo