Clemson University - Taps Yearbook (Clemson, SC)

Page 32 text:

n $s • ' O THE C LEMSON COLLEGE CHRONICLE sacred right. It was in behalf of this right that Patrick Henry declared, ' ' Give me liberty, or give me death. When Monroe said to the European governments in 1803, You shall not colonize any more of the territory of the Western Hemisphere, he said it in behalf of the American people. Alas! how different our ideas are from what they were a hundred years ago! Then we protected liberty. Now we are endeavoring to crush it. The love of liberty, the aspirations for freedom, are nat- ural passions of the human heart. In all ages of the world, in all lands and climes, these passions have lived. They have defied the edict of kings. They have paid the last full measure of devotion at the stake. They have shed undying lustre upon countless fields of battle in all the dark and gloomy past. They are pouring out the life-blood of an unfortunate people upon the thirsty ground of the Philip- pine Islands. How long shall this be allowed to continue? How long will the people of the United States permit the subjugation of those islanders? The shades of our fore- fathers, of Patrick Henry, of George Washington, say, ' ' Stop it now ! ' I am not alarmed by the statements of any one who says that we are bound in honor to remain in the Philippines. Listen to him as he appeals to the nation ' s pride: Would you pull down our honored flag from the ramparts of Ma- nila after it has been placed there by our brave soldiers? Would you flee from the face of the enemy? The Ameri- can soldier has never before run from an enemy, though ever so formidable; would you have us flee from a small body t Filipinos? I can conceive of no greater service done in be- half of my country than to pull down its flag from where it has ceased to represenl the sentiments of its first defenders. Better a thousand times that our flag in the Philippines give way to a flag representing self-government than that it should become the emblem of an empire.

Page 31 text:

THE CLEMSON COLLEGE CHRONICLE 387 Manila is fanciful. That port is not on the route of ships from our Pacific coast ; in fact, it is a thousand miles from the line of travel of those steamships, that line passing by and within two hundred miles of the Aleutian Islands. If we want the trade of China we must seek it at the great sea- board cities of the empire. The American consul at Canton says that for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars we can obtain a concession across the river from that place. Such a concession would be ample enough for all our trade and manufacturing purposes. The third is : that the colonial system of government has proved in nearly every instance a miserable failure. The business of governing the world has largely for the last cen- tury devolved upon Great Britain, and I call your attention to the fact that Ireland, one of her oldest colonies, presents the only example of a civilized nation of the world declining in population, that the government in India is a government of tyranny and robbery from beginning to end. Look, if you please, at the miserable condition of Cuba and the Philip- pines, themselves, under the Spanish rule. The cruelties and atrocities perpetrated in those islands under the name of government are unparalleled in the history of the world. I do not believe that under American rule such crimes would be permitted. I believe that of all nations of the world the United States would exercise the most lenient form of col- onial government. But history teaches us that a long dis- tance government has always been a detriment to the people so governed. The fourth is : That a policy of colonization is a departure from our former practice. We, as a nation, have stood heretofore as a brilliant example to every people struggling for national independence. For seven long years we waged a war against Great Britain for libertv. For one hundred and twenty-five years we have posed as the guardians of that

Page 33 text:

THE CLEMSON COLLEGE CHRONICLE 389 The fifth and last fact to which I wish to call your atten- tion is this : That a colonial system of government will pro- duce an empire at home. I take it that there is not a man or woman in this house who would say, Let us make the Fili- pino citizens. They are a people, alien to us in blood, tradi- tions, religion, race and character, and we cannot hope to make them an integral part of our citizenship. Then we must treat them as subjects and govern them as possessions. This is imperialism. The advocates of the colonial policy, conscious of the weakness of their cause, seek to confuse expansion with imperialism. The forcible annexation of territory to be governed by an arbitrary power differs as much from the acquisition of territory to be built up into States as a monarchy differs from democracv. ' The acqui- sition of Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and other tracts which have been secured from time to time, enlarged the republic and the Constitution followed the flag into the new territory. It is now proposed to seize upon distant territory and to force upon the inhabitants a form of government for which there is no warrant either in our Constitution or in our laws. A continual violation by a nation of the fundamental prin- ciples of its government cannot but soon result in a radical change in its government. We cannot have a republican government for ourselves and an imperialistic government for our colonies. Sooner or later republican government must extend over the colonies or imperialistic government over the States. Why? Because there must of necessity arise two schools of politics — the one claiming the equality of all men and the other advocating the power of some to rule others. The first will contain the humble citizens. The second, the Imperial school, will contain the people of wealth and their dependents. These two schools will battle not only for a recognition of their principles, but for an extension of the same ; and it is one of the saddest lessons in the history