CONGRESS. (ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY.) 



197 



again the Supreme Court has held that those were 

 not constitutional courts; that they were not or- 

 ganized under the Constitution; that they were 

 not created under the Constitution; that they 

 were created under and by the power of Con- 

 gress." 



In conclusion he said: 



" I can not understand either the sentiment or 

 the motive of those who are unwilling to concede 

 that our Government is a nation, and who fear 

 to see it clothed with every element of sovereignty 

 which a nation should possess and does possess. 



" Why should any man, why, especially, should 

 any Senator, wish to detract from, to diminish 

 or belittle the power of his Government? Why 

 strive by subtle, metaphysical, and logic-chop- 

 ping arguments to hamper its operations and cir- 

 cumscribe its province? Rather should we in 

 our national love rejoice to see it invested with 

 strength. Rather should we bid it godspeed in 

 its mission to relieve the oppressed, to right every 

 wrong, and to extend the institutions of free gov- 

 ernment. For this is the people's Government; 

 the Government of a great people, a liberty-lov- 

 ing people, a people that can be trusted to do 

 right, and to guarantee to all men who shall come 

 under its beneficent sway and be subject to its 

 jurisdiction the largest measure of liberty con- 

 sistent with good order and their general well- 

 being. 



" Rather let us have faith in the Government, 

 faith in its future. Stilled be the voice of timidity 

 and distrust, stilled be the utterances of captious 

 and carping criticism. Let us have . faith that 

 the powers of government will never be unright- 

 eously exercised. Like Lincoln, when he met the 

 contention that the Government had no power 

 adequate to its self-preservation, let us turn from 

 disputatious subtleties and ' have faith that right 

 makes might, and in that faith dare to do our 

 duty as we 'understand it.' In that faith the 

 mountains of doubt will be removed and the way 

 of duty become straight and plain. 



" Little more than a century has passed since 

 from the tower of Independence Hall in Philadel- 

 phia, when we severed our connection with Great 

 Britain, the Liberty Bell rang out the message, 

 ' Proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all 

 the inhabitants thereof.' We were small and 

 weak then. Timid doubters said there was a lion 

 in the path, but the spirit of the Constitution 

 was in that message. With that Constitution 

 came nationality and sovereignty. Under that 

 Constitution, in the name and by the power of 

 the nation, liberty has been proclaimed to regions 

 never dreamed of by the fathers. Is it for us 

 now, when we have become great and strong, 

 though timid doubters still say there are lions 

 in the path, to declare that neither in the spirit 

 of the Constitution nor by the exercise of na- 

 tional sovereignty can we proclaim liberty a rood 

 or a foot beyond our present territorial limits? 

 Oh, for the faith and the courage of the fathers! " 



Mr. Teller, of Colorado, while maintaining the 

 absolute authority of the nation over purchased 

 or conquered territory, laid stress on the moral 

 obligations that are implied in such power: 



" Now, Mr. President, we are coming to deal 

 with the greatest question, in my opinion, that 

 the American people have dealt with since the 

 contest of 1861. I am not one of those who 

 would be understood as feeling satisfied that this 

 question is not a troublesome one. I anticipate 

 much difficulty and embarrassment to us in the 

 handling of this question. From the very begin- 

 ning I have felt that this was a question that 

 would seriously embarrass the American people; 



and yet I have not felt that distrust and that 

 fear which seem to prevail in some sections of 

 the country and among some of our countrymen. 

 I have more confidence in the good sense of the 

 American people than to believe we are about to 

 adopt a policy in dealing with these countries 

 that threatens the death of the republic or even 

 great danger to it. 



" In the first place, I believe to-day that we are 

 hardly prepared to pass upon what ought to be 

 the character of government that we establish 

 over these countries. I do not think I am suf- 

 ficiently advised as to what should be the details 

 of the administration of public affairs as applied 

 to them the form of government best adapted 

 to their condition. Mr. President, I believe in 

 the principle which was enunciated in the fourth 

 clause of the joint resolution approved April 20, 

 1898: 



" ' That the United States hereby disclaims any 

 disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, 

 jurisdiction, or control over said island, except 

 for the pacification thereof, and asserts its deter- 

 mination, when that is accomplished, to leave 

 the government and control of the island to its 

 people.' 



" That is a declaration solemnly made by the 

 people of the United States when it was apparent 

 to us all that we were going to war. We said to 

 the world : ' We are not going to war for con- 

 quest; we are going to war in the interest of 

 freedom; we are going to war to relieve a people 

 laboring under the plague of bad government; 

 and when we have relieved them from this great 

 burden and have secured peace in their borders, 

 we are going to leave to them the management 

 and control of their own affairs. But not until 

 we have secured the pacification thereof are we 

 to abandon them to their own efforts.' 



" That in terms only applied to Cuba, but in 

 principle it applied to every possession of ours 

 acquired during this war. If any Senator had 

 suggested that in addition to Cuba there should 

 be added the words ' or any other possession we 

 may acquire during this war,' it would have met, 

 as this joint resolution met, I believe, the unani- 

 mous support of this body and of the other, and 

 also of the President of the United States, as is 

 suggested to me by the Senator from Massachu- 

 setts. These words would have been added to 

 the joint resolution with the approbation of all. 



" But are we any less bound to-day because we 

 did not mention this to treat these new posses- 

 sions in the Asiatic seas under the same principles 

 that we are to treat Cuba ? If we are to take that 

 position, and if the American people will say to 

 these islands, 'We intend, if you are capable of 

 self-government, to treat you as entitled to it,' 

 we will not need 50,000 men for the Philippine 

 Islands nor 50,000 men for the island of Cuba. 

 That is the only way, in my judgment/ Mr. Presi- 

 dent, that we can maintain peace and order in 

 these new possessions; it is the only way we 

 can escape the great embarrassment of maintain- 

 ing a large army on what heretofore has been 

 foreign soil, at great expense and at a great dis- 

 tance from our own land, absolutely in contra- 

 vention to the great fundamental principles of a 

 republic, that the fighting force of the nation 

 should not be a standing army, but should be 

 the militia of the country, the people themselves. 



" I am not one of those who would turn these 

 islands back to Spain; I am not one who would 

 give them up to any other nation in the world; 

 nor would I give them up to the people of those 

 countries under present conditions. I believe we 

 went into this war in the interest of human free- 



