( '< iNdKKSS. (TiiE VENEZUELAN- BOUNDARY COXTROVERSY.) 



167 



Cleveland, but lately the great apostle of English 

 principles of American tarilT reform and the idol of 

 the British aristocracy, the British manufacturers, 

 and British financiers, is to-day, in a conference of 

 British bankers in London, pronounced insane. If 

 no one will further interrupt me I will iinish this 

 article : 



" Mi ist of those present refused to believe that the 

 American people seriously indorse his action.' 



Mr. President, I propose that the .Senate of the 

 United States to-day give an emphatic utterance of 

 indorsement of his action. I say that any hesita- 

 tion whatever, any failure to pass the bill now, will 

 be an indorsement of the insult to the President 

 and the attack upon the national credit which the 

 money lenders and the bankers of Great Britain 

 have made, feeling themselves able, by threats and 

 bullying, to frighten the people of the United 

 States."" 



Senator Tillman asked Senator Chandler whether 

 he would vote for the bill if he knew the result 

 would be that the gold reserve would disappear and 

 we should get to a silver basis, as is threatened. 



Mr. Chandler : " There is the same tendency of our 

 Populist friends to mix up questions." 



Mr. Tillman: "I beg the Senator's pardon. I 

 thought the Senator understood that I am not a 

 Populist. If I am not a Democrat there are no 

 Democrats here." 



Mr. Chandler : '" I did not hear the Senator. What 

 are the Senator's politics, may I ask s 1 " 



Mr. Tillman : " They are those which I learned 

 from Jefferson and Calhoun and Lincoln. ]\Iy pol- 

 itics are American. The Senator from Xew Hamp- 

 shire does not answer the question, however." 



Mr. Chandler : ' I will say to the Senator from 

 South Carolina, first that we are all of that politics 

 now." 



Mr. Tillman: "Would the Senator from Xew 

 Hampshire still vote for the bill if he knew that 

 the gold reserve would disappear ; that Wall Street 

 would swallow it up f " 



Mr. Chandler : " I will answer the Senator from 

 South Carolina by saying that I will vote for any 

 sacrifice, even for the resolution of the Senator 

 from Nebraska, which is the concrete absurdity of 

 all his schemes for financial blundering. I will vote 

 for that, if it is necessary to defend the national 

 honor." 



Mr. Tillman : " We join hands." 



Senator Turpie, of Indiana, spoke in favor of the 

 amendments. In reference to the construction of 

 the Monroe doctrine, he said : " The Monroe doc- 

 trine has been enforced over seventy years. Xo 

 legislative definition of it has ever been made. 

 There is no reason why it should be. All Ameri- 

 cans understand what 'it is. What is meant by it f 

 Like many cases in the courts that concern specific 

 performance, those concerning the quieting of titles 

 the courts refuse to define, to make any definition, 

 but at the same time they do not hesitate to apply 

 the doctrine whenever a proper case is presented. 



" Xow, Mr. President, it may be asked and has 

 often been asked, will the Government of the 

 United States then assume the guardianship over 

 all the republics of the American Continent ? Xo, 

 Mr. President, we do not assume any such guard- 

 ianship. The guardianship has been cast upon us. 

 It has come to us by the force of political gravita- 

 tion, and by reason of our primacy among the re- 

 publics of the American hemisphere and among 

 the governments of the world. Our primacy is de- 

 termined first by the great victory of the American 

 Revolution, the 'seniority of this Government to all 

 other existing republics except one ; next, by the 

 wealth, the resources, and the territorial extent of 

 the United States; third, by her accredited and 



proved naval and military strength. It is thi* 

 which has drawn to us the guardianship of the 

 other republics upon this hemisphere. We can not 

 avoid it. We can not evade it. It belongs to that 

 ^f duties indicated in private life by the max- 

 im ' Xoblesse oblige.' \Ve are bound by this con- 

 dition to maintain that supremacy, and, as master 

 of the situation, as leader in the line of liberty, to 

 repel every assault, from whatever quarter, which 

 shall interfere with governments by the people es- 

 tablished on this continent." 



Senator Call, of Florida, did not see the neces- 

 sity for a commission, but believed that if such 

 were to be appointed it should be approved by the 

 Senate. He said : 



" What are they to do, Mr. President? They can 

 not decide this question of the boundary. If" they 

 do decide it, will the Congress of the United States 

 respect that opinion ? And. should they respect it, 

 is it not. an abrogation of the functions of this 

 body? Are they merely to collect information i N 

 there, then, no established method by which that 

 can be done ? Why shall we appoint commissioners 

 to get documents from abroad, to examine wit- 

 nesses? Is it not within the competency of this 

 body and the other House to obtain any documents 

 that may be required, and will not the action of 

 Congress be embarrassed if these gentlemen, either 

 three or more, shall declare that Great Britain is 

 right, and that the boundary line named by her is 

 the proper boundary line ? 



"The Senator from Indiana says that it is not 

 desired to have the opinion of these commissioners 

 upon the law, but simply as to the facts. Suppose 

 they say that the facts of the case are that the 

 boundary line is as claimed by Great Britain, what 

 is to be the action of Congress i Are we to adopt 

 that report or not : and if we are not to adopt it. 

 will it not be an embarrassment to the Congress of 

 the United States in ascertaining the proposition 

 laid down by the Senator from Indiana that we de- 

 clare that it is our concern what is the boundary 

 line and what is not when we appoint a commission 

 to report facts here, and that report is not to be 

 binding upon the Congress of the United Stat' 



" As to the appointment of three commissioners, or 

 any number of them, to do that which it is the duty 

 of the Congress of the United States to do not to 

 express an opinion, not to decide this question but 

 to gather information. What kind of information i 

 Information already obtainable, documentary in- 

 formation, facts of history to be obtained in differ- 

 ent portions of the world. What necessity is there 

 for it ? What will we derive from the opinion and 

 judgment of these gentlemen, however eminent 

 they may be, that the boundary line is at this place 

 or the other place or that the facts relating to it 

 are of this character or the other? The Senate of 

 the United States and the House of Representatives 

 speak with an authority in conjunction with the 

 President, which no commission can do, and I fail 

 to see the practical necessity of it." 



Senator Teller, of Colorado, opposed the amend- 

 ment. He read another extract from the article 

 cited by Senator Chandler, as follows : 



" Most of those present refused to believe that the 

 American people would seriously indorse his action. 

 They opposed any suggestion of financial retaliation 

 against American interests on the magnanimous 

 ground that it would be unfair to punish the whole 

 nation on account of the conduct of its deluded 

 Chief Magistrate. Xo one believes that any actual 

 danger of war is included in the present situation. 



- The meeting finally resolved with practical 

 unanimity, to postpone any action until it became 

 clear to what extent the President's course repre- 

 sented the will of the American people.' 



