Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



275 



THE ETHICS OF MR. ROOSEVELT. 



As Illustrated bv the Story of Panama. 

 A VERY scathing attack upon President Roosevelt's 

 [)olicy with regard to the Panama Canal is published 

 in the February nurhber of the North Aiiien'ajn Revinv 

 by -Mr. Leander T. Chamberlain. The contrast between 

 Mr. Roosevelt's view of his own policy and the facts 

 as they appear to Mr. Chamberlain may be gathered 

 irom the following e.xtracts. 



that good man ROOSfiVELX! 



.Mr. Chamberlain opens his attack by quoting 

 Mr. Roosevelt's own words in praise of his own action. 

 He says : — 



In a recent public statement ex-President Roosevelt declares : 

 " It must be a matter of pride to every honest .American proud 

 of the good name of his country, that the acquisition of the 

 [Panama] canal in all its details was as free from scandal as the 

 public acts of Georye Washington or Abraham Lincoln." " The 

 interests of the American people demanded that I should act 

 exactly .as I did act." " Every action taken was not merely 

 proper, but was carried out in accordance with the highest, 

 fmest, and nicest 'standards of public and governmental ethics." 

 " The [1903] orders to the American naval ofticers were to 

 maintain free and uninterrupted transit across the Isthmus and, 

 with that purpose, to prevent the landing of armed forces with 

 hostile intent at any point within fifty miles of Panama. These 

 orders were precisely such as had been issued again and again 

 in preceding years, 1900, 1901, and 1902, for instance." 

 " Every man who at any stage has opposed or condemned the 

 action actually taken in acquiring the right to dig the canal has 

 really been the opponent of any and every etiort that could ever 

 have l>ecn made to dig the canal." " Not only was the course 

 followed as regards Panama right in every detail and at every 

 point, but there could have been no variation from this course 

 except for the worse. We not only did what was technically 

 justifiable, but what we did was demanded by every ethical con- 

 sideration, national and international." " We did harm to no 

 one, save as harm is done to a bandit by a policeman who 

 deprives him of his chance for blackmail." "The United 

 .States has many honourable chapters in its history, but no more 

 honourable chapter than that which tells of the way in which 

 our light to dig the Panama Canal w.as secured, and of the 

 manner in which the work has been carried out." 



WHAT ROOSEVELT REALLY DID. 



Mr. Chamberlain subjects this Pecksniffian self- 

 praise to a coldly cruel examination. He points out 

 that the President's policy was the exact reverse of 

 all that he pretends it to have been. It began by a 

 cynical violation of treaty faith, it was continued 

 by an unprecedented illegal intervention in the alTairs 

 i)t a friendly State whose independence the United 

 States had undertaken to respect, and crowned by 

 the immediate recognition of an American-fostered 

 revolution which severed Panama from the Republic 

 of Coloml)ia. In describing Mr. Roosevelt's panegyric 

 upon himself, .Mr. Chamberlain bitterly exclaims : — 



The raid -jn defenceless Colnmbi.i, in the interest of a swift 

 indomitable construction of an Isthmian waterway, m.ide 

 to vie with the heroic settlement of a new continent, in the 

 interest of civil ami religious freedom I The " fifty-mile order " 

 and its congener of the following day, foredooming a " guaran- 

 teed " ally to defeat by secession, ranked with the proclamation 

 which gave freedom to enslaved millions 1 The coddled 

 Panama " uprising," insured in advance, set in the illustrious 

 category of Lexington and Uunker Hill, S'allcy l'"orge and 

 Vorktown ! The recognition of a new sovereignty, after one 



day, seventeen hours, and forty-one minutes of pampered, flimsy 

 independence, favourably compared with an independence 

 which was won by years of ceaseless conflict and the saciifice of 

 treasures untold ! 



A CASE FOR THE HAGUE ? 



Mr. Chamberlain maintains that the question is one 

 which justifies Colombia in appealing to the Hague 

 Tribunal for just and ample redress for this high- 

 handed wrong. The Republic of Colombia has asked 

 for arbitration, but, as the Colombia Minister at 

 Washington complains, Uncle Sam does not deign to 

 reply to the demand. Hence last month there was 

 a brief sensation occasioned by the public declaration 

 that Mr. Secretary Knox had much better not pay 

 his contemplated visit to Bogota until this old sore 

 had been healed b}- the acceptance of the proposed 

 arbitration. 



INDIAN AND ENGLISH NOBLES COMPARED. 



The nobility of India and England are compared in 

 the Rajpul Herald, and the contrast drawn is somewhat 

 instructive : — 



The nobleman of England claims superiority on the strength 

 of his birth, without fulfilling the conditions of his order as 

 required by society to which he belongs. On the other hand, 

 the superiority of the Rajpul — the Indian aristocrat — in his 

 country is not only placed in his hereditary aspect as an 

 aristocrat, but in the fulfilment of the conditions and other 

 details demanded of him as an aristocrat. The one, whether 

 he abides by rules and regulations enacted by society or goes 

 against them consciously, is entitled to the term nobleman and 

 poses himself as such. lie even forces recognition in others 

 as such. Put the Rajput, the very instant he fails to follow 

 the enactments of society, falls far short of his vocation as a 

 R.ijput, sinks beneath the level of a nobleman, and is not 

 recognised as such. An English nobleman, the representative 

 of the hereditary aristocracy of England, lacks in qualities 

 which an average Rajput possesses. 



The writer thinks that the nobleman is not made, 

 but born. So soon as .Mr. So-and-so, nurtured among 

 common surroundings, becomes a Lord So-and-so, 

 '• the air is contaminated, the purity of the soil is lost." 

 The writer proceeds : — 



With the solitary exception of Barons of Magna Charia, there 

 has not been a single nobleman who has aided and assisted the 

 people in the restoration of iheir liberties, who has sacrificed 

 ills life for the happiness of the nation. If the liberties of 

 Kngland were vindicated it was not by a Lord X, V or Z, but 

 liv a Mr. Pym or .Mr. Hampden. 



He even goes on to say, " We find to-day the zenith 

 of corruption parading the ranks." The Rajput has a 

 very dilTerent conception of its duty ; — 



The Rajput is not born to lord over all. He does not want 

 to lord over the universe. He wants, by his simplicity, truth- 

 fulness, self-sacrifice, devotion and love, to serve the weak, 

 downtrodden and the depressed. 



The British aristocracy perhaps expects to be 

 criticised by the democracy ; but critiiisni of the kind 

 quoted above from the ancient nobility of India may 

 prove as .salutary as it is sur|)rising. 



The ruins of Pcrscpolis, the ancient capital of Persia, 

 are described with pho'ographic pictures in the March 

 Pall Mall by Mr. John Home. 



