The Holland Society of New York - Yearbook (New York, NY)

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39 We believed our true destiny was to avoid en- tanglements with the affairs of other nations. Al- though for hundreds of years England and Spain and 'Portugal and Holland and France, and lately Germany, had been gaining in colonial possessions, we had none, and boasted that we wanted nothing. Yet we have leaped right into the midst of the possession of, and responsibility for, colonial de- pendencies in a way that must, in the nature of the case, revolutionize our whole conduct and change our national course in the future. I am not one of those who are alarmed at this. Our nation has done so many surprising things, and done them so surprisinglywell, that I have faith in the power of Americans to do yet another thing well. But this is what has happened to us: At the opening of theyear 1898 England led, and'Spain closely followed her, as the largest owner and governor -of colonial possessions. This year Eng- land still leads, but Spain has dropped out of the list of governments with important colonial pos- sessions, and the- United States has moved up to second place among the nations. lNow, shall we perform our self-assumed task well or badly? Wel1? Of course we will. If we do not lose our head' and think we know it all at once, we will gain union and glory and wealth by the change, I feel well assured. You have all known instances of people getting into new enter- prises and thinking that they know all about 'them until they find out the contrary, and coming out of them very much crestfallen. Some years ago, When, at the end of the civil strife, the South was reduced to the condition of unreconstructed territories, the

Page 67 text:

41' contempt for actual conditions and for the knowl- edge of the natives, humble though they be. We have placed upon us now the responsibili- ties of these colonies. It behooves us not only to acquaint ourselves with the characteristics and capabilities of their people, but to study the methods employed by other nations who have suc- ceeded in dealing with their colonial possessions. Before we advance onestep further we must as- sure ourselves that we make no mistake in the way in which we organize our new possessions. If we look at what other nations have done we shall see much to guide us. For example, while England has in many respects been very successful in deal- ing with her colonies, she has attempted in many places to make Englishmen of them and failed. She has learned that she 'cannot put brown spats on the barefooted savages, or make them wear. monocles and carry heavy walking-sticks like London cads. We have the benefit of her fail- ures when she tried fantastic notions about ele- vating savages and teaching them her religion, or making them adopt her method of life. We have the benefit of Spain's experience, and have seen her by tyranny and lack of sympathy and a grasp- ing policy lose all her colonies. When we turn to Holland, we see that in the government of the islands of java and Celebesshe has given us an example of wise, conservative government, under which her colonies have grown from five to twenty- Eve millions of people in seventy years. How has she accomplished it? Simply by the CXC1'CiSC of sound common sense, and from the fact that the Dutch have never thought that they knew more than they did or could accomplish miracles. They