The Peace

That the peace treaty will bring peace is no doubt the nation. From vanquished

Treaty hope of the Spain there is little likelihood of further trouble; from her former colonial subjects, especially in the Philippines, the likelihood of renewed fighting would appear, however, to be a certainty. In the quarter indicated, Dewey's victory-however much we may properly boast of it-is likely to cost us dear, aside from the twenty millions we are pledged to pay for the doubtful possession of the islands. This is the price of war and the risks the nations run in gratifying the lust of conquest and the desire of their people's hearts for navies and armaments. To the thoughtful as well as to the patriot mind the situation is an embarrassing one; and we can well understand that to President McKinley it is full of anxieties and perplexities. It is this, however, as the result of his own action and that of his cabinet, who are manifestly responsible for the terms of the peace treaty, which the Senate is expected shortly to ratify. And yet it would appear that the President still wavers and halts between two opinions over the Philippine matter, in spite of the trend of Republican sentiment towards imperialism and territorial expansion. In the South, the other day, his talk was of "duty and destiny" guiding the country in its relations to the Philippines, and he interrogatively exclaimed, "Now that our flag has been raised over the islands, who will haul it down?" Since then Senator Foraker of Ohio has been heard from, and, though he probably has no authority to speak for the President, it is inferred that he in some measure expressed views which Mr. McKinley is supposed now to hold. These views would seem to indicate, as we have hinted, a change in the President's mind, since, instead of declaring that it was the purpose of the Government to "assimilate" the Filipinos "benevolently," he is believed to indorse the view that the Administration intends to hold the islands only provisionally, and until their inhabitants are ready for and capable of self

government." This entirely new attitude, if the surmise is a correct one, seems to be confirmed by the utterance of a more important personage even than Senator Foraker. We refer to Senator George Gray, one of the five peace commissioners, who has just returned from the conference at Paris. The Senator from Delaware, at a banquet in his honor at Wilmington, Del., on the 14th ultimo, publicly stated, with reference to the Filipinos, that the President "is committed to no policy calculated to discourage, much less strike down, the aspirations of liberty-loving people all over the world." He further stated that though this country is now the possessor of the Philippines, "it does not follow that we are committed to a colonial policy, or to a violation of those great principles of liberty and self-government which must always remain American ideals if our own free institutions are to endure." The inference from this—if Senator Gray unofficially speaks for the President, as there is reason to believe that he does-is that the Administration contemplates dealing with the Philippines as it is pledged, when practicable, to do with Cuba, and looks to provisional and not to permanent rule over the islands. If the conclusion is sound, we confess to a feeling of positive relief, and we congratulate the country that it is to be saved from the risks and burdens involved in the incorporation of such dubious possessions into the national system, and the violence their retention would do to our conceptions and traditional ideas of self-government.

What remains, if this is the solution of the problem, is to give effect to the peace treaty, which the Senate will, no doubt, presently do, and address ourselves to the task, first of pacification, and then of education for autonomy, under such safeguards as will conserve all interests which we are committed to protect, and be beneficial in the highest and most lasting degree to the people of the islands. On the other hand, to reject the treaty and refuse to implement the bargain with Spain, would be to stultify the nation, break the

truce, and bring upon the country the calamity of renewed war. Should this act of folly be committed, of which we can hardly conceive, its result would be the abandonment of the Philippines to anarchy, or to submission to another and possibly rival power, with the probable sacrifice of all we have gained for humanity and anticipated good government in Spain's late possessions in the Antilles. Moreover, were the contest reopened, Spain would certainly secure an ally in one or other of the European nations, and, if we continued the war, we should have two or more nations to fight, with unspeakable moral loss to us in the way of respect and sympathy. Than this, it would be better to take the chances even of permanent retention of the Philippines, and trust Heaven for its countenance in our questionable acceptance of imperialistic counsels in the rash direction of socalled "duty and destiny."

A New Era for Cuba

At the opening of the year this country formally entered upon its jurisdiction in Cuba and set in motion the machinery of what we trust will be good government. The conditions in the ceded island are such that the administration must at present perhaps be military, rather than civil; though this, no doubt, is fortunate, since it will probably keep politics from intruding its sinister designs, at least until we have a trained administrative service available for the government of our transmarine possessions. At Havana and Santiago we have, happily, begun well, by securing able officers for the responsible duties of governing. In General Brooke, the Governor in Chief, in General Wood at Santiago, and in Generals Fitzhugh Lee and Ludlow in Havana and the west of the island, the country has obtained perhaps the best possible men for their respective commands. It is earnestly hoped that, if they prove efficient for their duties, they will encounter as little interference as possible from Congress, so that they may be perfectly untrammelled in the onerous work that lies before them, and inspired by a fit sense of their full responsibilities.

Already the regenerating work begins to appear, and at Santiago, under General Wood, a condition of prosperity has even now been brought about which goes far to indorse and justify intervention. The work will doubtless be more serious at

Havana, and is rendered increasingly difficult by the distress which has been severely acute there and throughout the western end of the island, as well as by the antagonisms of race and the insanitary condition of the capital. But peace, protection, freedom from the Spanish yoke, with opportunities for orderly local development, may be hopefully looked to in brightening the prospects and accomplishing great things in the way of regeneration. Much, obviously, will depend upon the Cubans themselves in wisely taking advantage of the new era opened for them. They should be made to recognize that they are on their trial as to their fitness for self-government; and the sooner they give assurances of that and of their single devotion to the well-being of the community, the sooner they are likely to attain autonomy. It should also be distinctly impressed upon those who represent the United States in Cuba that we are in the country as trustees rather than as proprietors, and that our design, primarily, is pacification and the restoration and maintenance of good order. When these have been secured, the era of good feeling among the diverse races and sections of the country will follow; and if the virus of politics is kept from doing its evil work in addition to the other maladies of the island, our obligations to Cuba and its people will have been fulfilled.

Philippine

If Destiny is to be credited Insurgency with prompting the United States, or with making use of its impelling force, to extend its acquisitions to the Philippines, she has played the nation a scurvy trick. Dewey's confronting and demolishing the Spanish fleet on the memorable May morn at Cavité was a legitimate, because precautionary, act, if in the war with Spain our California coast was to be made secure from aggression. The misfortune was in our admiral's remaining at the Philippines and making the later conquest of Manila, which changed the whole aspect of affairs and committed us to assume a protectorate over the islands when we had driven out Spanish power from the control of and responsibility for them. It is easy, of course, to see this now and to trace the consequences of the act in the trouble it has entailed with the Philippine insurgents. That trouble, it appears at present, is grave enough, and

is likely to be graver still if Aguinaldo maintains his contumacious and defiant attitude and we have to proceed to extremes with him and his fellow-insurgents to compel them to submit to reason and authority. But we cannot have the luxury of war without having to pay for it, and what the Philippines are to cost us, in reducing insurgency to subjection and in protecting our vulnerability when we have established control over the islands, it would take a Zadkiel to say. The twenty millions we are to pay Spain for the troubled proprietorship may ere long be but a moiety of our expenditure in reducing native cupidity and semi-savagery to contentment, with other entailed outlays for the maintenance of fleets, armies, commissariat and medical equipment, and all the costs of distant transportation and the burdens of military and civil government.

But to the expansionists the cost is as nothing to the glory. Equally alluring is the prospect to the office-seeker and placeman, who see visions of fat berths and infinite spoils ahead, even at the risk of shattered health and the demolition some day of their realized office by an earthquake. To such it is fatuous to talk of the serious aspects of the case and of what the acquisition of the islands means for this country. To apply the argument from precedent, and advance constitutional objections to the United States acquiring territory which it cannot admit to statehood, or incorporating into our polity millions to whom we hardly dare give the rights of freemen, would be an utter waste of words. They are absorbed in the prospect of loot; and if they bring their minds to reflect at all on the difficulties of the position, it is only to make light of them in presence of the might of the United States, now become, as they fondly boast, a great world power.

It is perhaps churlish, however, to dwell on the dark side of the acquisition question; though, as we write, the treaty with Spain is not yet ratified and we are therefore at the critical stage before being compelled to take the irrevocable step. There is much, morever, which we cannot now alter, for having taken one false step we seem bound to take another. Besides, there is justification for the misgivings which many feel as to the near as well as to the distant future, should we close with Spain and strip her of her last important colonial possession. And yet it may be

argued that, in acquiring the Philippines, we are only giving effect to the professed humanity which prompted us to intervene in Cuba. What Spain has done badly, in attempting to govern subject peoples abroad, we may, fortunately, do well. The argument has force if we have faith in the practical governing faculties of the American people and can trust democracy not to take harm from imperial rule.

Governor Roose- It will be worth our readvelt's Inauers' while, if interested in gural State or municipal administration, to peruse the inaugural message of Governor Roosevelt, transmitted to the New York State legislature on the 4th of January last. Apart from the interest which attaches to the man by reason of his high personal character and independence, and the prominent part he played in the late war, there is much in the document he has addressed to the Albany legislature, dealing with the problems of State government, which will repay careful reading. The topics dealt with are those that generally belong to the administration of a great State, including civil service reform, labor interests, the canals, prisons, charities, and similar themes. Besides these matters, the Governor deals in a thoughtful and practical way with the National Guard and the naval militia of the State; and on these questions the ex-colonel of the "Rough Riders » brought to their discussion the experience he has had as a military man and a close observer of the uses, equipment, and needs of these auxiliary branches of the country's protective and defensive force. But the chief value of the message lies in the manifest and earnest purpose of the writer to treat topics of moment to the community in the spirit of large-mindedness, coupled with high intelligence and a scrupulous desire to follow the path of rectitude and moral as well as legal right. In what he has to say to the legislature, the Governor, while direct and outspoken, is careful and measured in his words, and nowhere appeals either to passion or to prejudice. The message is that of a statesman, as well as of a straightforward and honorable public man, feeling the responsibilities of his position. and actuated by a sincere desire to be helpful in the solution of problems within the sphere of State government, and to discuss them judicially and in the character of an upright and high-minded official.

On the important question of State taxation, which Governor Roosevelt confesses is at present in utter confusion and full of queer anomalies, he has some weighty words which are worthy of being noted by other States than that of New York. He properly condemns what is too often a "tax upon honesty," and, while taking a line that discourages the building up of non-taxable interests, he reproves the policy which, by unwise imposts and inquisitorial methods, drives profitable industries out of the State. On other matters he speaks with wisdom and much suggestiveness, and forecasts a policy which can hardly fail to be an inspiration to the great State of which he is the administrative head.

The New Am- As we ventured to predict bassadorships last month, the plum of the English ambassadorship falls to Mr. Joseph H. Choate, of New York. The President's nomination is an excellent one and we confidently look for its confirmation by the Senate. The office is, perhaps, the most important of all diplomatic posts, and though Mr. Choate has had no previous training as a diplomat, and we believe has never held political office, we feel assured that he will acquit himself well in the one for which he has just been named, will uphold its high traditions, and prove himself a worthy successor of the distinguished men who have hitherto filled the position. Mr. Choate inherits a renowned name, is of New England origin and birth, a graduate of Harvard, and a leader of the New York bar. He has the additional merit of being a well-read jurist, an able constitutional lawyer, and an attractive and accomplished public speaker. As president of the American Bar Association and a man of fine social qualities, he will certainly commend himself to the political and social leaders in London, as well as to the eminent men there of his own profession. The English press has already bade him welcome, in expectation of his appointment as successor to Colonel Hay, while the cordial relations between the two countries are sure to increase the fervor of his reception at the Court of St. James.

As ambassador to Russia, succeeding Mr. E. A. Hitchcock, who becomes the new Secretary of the Interior, the Hon. Charlemagne Tower, of Philadelphia, has been transferred from the American em

bassy at Vienna. To succeed the latter, as minister to Austria-Hungary, Mr. Addison C. Harris, of Indianapolis, has been named. Mr. Harris is, we understand, a prominent lawyer, who served his State for a short period in the Indiana senate. The transfer of Mr. Charlemagne Tower from Vienna to St. Petersburg places a scholar and historical student, as well as a man of wealth, in a higher diplomatic post, to the duties of which the nominee of the office brings experience and ability. After graduating from Harvard in 1872, Mr. Tower spent some years in studying history and languages in Spain, France, and Germany, and he has travelled largely throughout Europe. He is by profession a lawyer, though his industrial and financial interests connect him chiefly with large iron and coal enterprises in Pennsylvania and Minnesota. He has always taken a lively interest in American history, and is the author of a scholarly work on "Lafayette and the American Revolution."

The Late

By the death at WashingMexican Pleni-ton, on December 30, of potentiary Don Matias Romero, Mexican ambassador to the United States, this country loses a staunch friend, and Mexico a loyal and useful representative. Señor Romero had for some time past been recognized as Dean of the diplomatic corps at the capital, a distinction which he had earned from his length of diplomatic service. That service extended over nearly four decades, with a break between the years 1868 and 1882, when for a while he acted as Secretary of the Treasury in the Mexican Republic, and took part in fighting the French during Maximilian's brief and unfortunate régime. Romero first came to Washington in 1859 as secretary of legation, a post which he speedily exchanged for that of chargé d'affaires, and, three years later, for the high office of minister plenipotentiary. Since 1882 he resided almost continuously at Washington, where his large information respecting Mexico and the Central American republics, and his uniform urbanity and tact, were of great service to our government and its officials. He was a hearty friend to this country and did much to promote friendly relations as well as an intelligent understanding between the United States and Mexico. The range of his information was large and accurate,

for he had travelled much and was an intimate student of books. At the same time he did much at Washington for his own country, not only in lessening the

THE LATE SENATOR MORRILL

risk of misunderstandings between the two Republics, but in contributing to an intelligent acquaintance with Mexican affairs, as well as to advantageous industrial and commercial dealings with the United States. In this respect he has well supplemented the service rendered within the country by President Diaz's devotion to Mexican interests, coupled with ability and the wisdom to use it.

The Late Sen- The Senate, since our last ator Morrill issue, has sustained a serious loss in the sudden death at Washington, on December 28 last, of Senator Justin

S. Morrill, of Vermont. It may be said that not only the Senate but the nation suffers by the passing of this notable figure from the national legislature, since Senator Morrill's wisdom was great, his judgment sound, and his acquaintance with the legislative needs of the country close and intimate. Especially useful was he on questions of revenue and finance, while as the framer of the Morrill tariff his experience was of much service both in the Chamber and on committees. We do not ourselves share his views with regard to protection, but his advocacy of that and other measures was free from all selfinterest, while he was a man to be implicitly trusted-a man of good principles, unquestioned integrity, and honorable and straightforward in all his dealings. His long career of public service and his active interest in the practical work of legislation made him widely known, while his high character, ability, and independence won him the esteem and respect of all. In the capital his memory will be long cherished for the interest he took in beautifying the city, and especially for his perseverance and public spirit in adorning it with the elaborate, monumental home of the Congressional Library. Personally he was a man to be loved. Though a forceful figure in legislation, he was a man of even temper, of great kindliness and amiability. His death occurred in his eighty-ninth year, and in the forty-fourth of uninterrupted public service in one or other branch of the national legislature.