constructing and redeeming nations of the earth, and that to stand aside while events march on is a surrender of our interests, a betrayal of our duty, as blind as it is base. Craven, indeed, is the heart that fears to perform a work so golden and so noble; that dares not win a glory so immortal.

The Philippines are ours forever. We will not repudiate our duty in the archipelago. We will not abandon our opportunity in the Orient. We will not renounce our part in the mission of our race, trustee, under God, of the civilization of the world. And we will move forward to our work, not howling our regrets, like slaves whipped to their burdens, but with gratitude for a task worthy of our strength, and thanksgiving to Almighty God that He has marked us as His chosen people, henceforth to lead in the regeneration of the world.

This island empire is the last land left in all the oceans. If it should prove a mistake to abandon it, the blunder once made would be irretrievable. If it proves a mistake to hold it, the error can be corrected when we will; every other progressive nation stands ready to relieve us.

even for Even our Why are if

Do you tell me that it will cost us money? When did Americans ever measure duty by financial standards? Do you tell me of the tremendous toil required to overcome the vast difficulties of our task? What mighty work for the world, for humanity, ourselves, has ever been done with ease? bread must we eat by the sweat of our faces. we charged with power such as no people ever knew, we are not to use it in a work such as no people ever wrought? Who will dispute the divine meaning of the fable of the talents? Do you remind me of the precious blood that must be shed, the lives that must be given, the broken hearts of loved ones for their slain? And this is indeed a heavier price than all combined.

And yet, as a nation, every historic duty we have done, every achievement we have accomplished, has been by the sacrifice of our noblest sons. Every holy memory that glorifies the flag is of those heroes who have died that its onward march might not be stayed. It is the nation's dearest lives yielded for the flag that makes it dear to us; it is the nation's most precious blood poured out for it that makes it precious to us. That flag is woven of heroism and grief, of the bravery of men and women's tears, of righteousness and battle, of sacrifice and anguish, of triumph and of glory. It is these which make our flag a holy thing. Who would tear from that sacred banner the glorious legends of a single battle where it has waved on land or sea? What son of a soldier of the flag, whose father fell beneath it on any field, would surrender that proud record for the heraldry of a king.

In the cause of civilization, in the service of the Republic anywhere on earth, Americans consider wounds the noblest decorations man can win, and count the giving of their lives a glad and precious duty. Pray God that spirit may never fail. Pray God that the time may never come when mammon and the love of ease shall so debase our blood that we will fear to shed it for the flag and its imperial destiny. Pray God the time may never come when American heroism is but a legend, like the story of the Cid, American faith in our mission and our might a dream dissolved, and the glory of our mighty race departed. And that time will never come. We will renew our youth at the fountain of new and glorious deeds. We will exalt our reverence for the flag by carrying it to a noble future as well as by remembering its ineffable past. Its immortality will not pass, because everywhere and always we will acknowledge and discharge the solemn responsibilities our sacred flag in its deepest meaning puts upon us.

Mr. President and Senators, adopt the resolution

offered that peace may quickly come and that we may begin our saving, regenerating, and uplifting work. Adopt it, and this bloodshed will cease when these deluded children of our islands learn that this is the final action of the representatives of the American people in Congress assembled. Reject it, and the world, history, and the American people will know where to forever fix the awful responsibility for the consequences that will surely follow such failure to do our manifest duty. How dare we delay when our soldiers' blood is flowing?

WILLIAM J. BRYAN

ANNEXATION

[Delivered before the Duckworth Club, Cincinnati, O., January 6, 1899.]

THE sentiment of the people upon any great question must be measured during the days of deliberation and not during the hours of excitement. A good man will sometimes be engaged in a fight, but it is not reasonable to expect a judicial opinion from him until he has had time to wash the blood off his face. I have seen a herd of mild-eyed, gentle kine transformed into infuriated beasts by the sight and scent of blood, and I have seen the same animals quiet and peaceful again in a few hours. We have much of the animal in us still, in spite of our civilizing processes. It is not unnatural that our people should be more sanguinary immediately after a battle than they were before, but it is only a question of time when reflection will restore the conditions which existed before this nation became engaged in the war with Spain. When men are excited they talk about what they can do; when they are calm they talk about what they ought to do. If the President rightly interpreted the feelings of the people when they were intoxicated by a military triumph, we shall appeal from "Philip drunk to Philip sober."

The forcible annexation of the Philippine Islands would violate a principle of American public law so deeply embedded in the American mind that, until a year ago, no public man would have suggested it. It is

difficult to overestimate the influence which such a change in our national policy would produce on the character of our people. Our opponents ask: Is our nation not great enough to do what England, Germany, and Holland are doing? They inquire: Can we not govern colonies as well as they? Whether we can govern colonies as well as other countries can is not material; the real question is whether we can, in one hemisphere, develop the theory that governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed, and at the same time inaugurate, support, and defend, in the other hemisphere, a government which derives its authority entirely from superior force.

And if these two ideas of government cannot live together, which one shall we choose? To defend forcible annexation on the ground that we are carrying out a religious duty is worse than absurd. The Bible teaches us that it is more blessed to give than to receive, while the colonial policy is based upon the doctrine that it is more blessed to take than to leave. Annexation cannot be defended upon the ground that we shall find a pecuniary profit in the policy. The advantage which may come to a few individuals who hold the offices or who secure valuable franchises cannot properly be weighed against the money expended in governing the Philippines, because the money expended will be paid by those who pay the taxes.

We are not yet in position to determine whether the people of the United States, as a whole, will bring back from the Philippines as much as they send there. There is an old saying that it is not profitable to buy a lawsuit. Our nation may learn by experience that it is not wise to purchase the right to conquer a people. Spain under compulsion gives us a quitclaim to the Philippines in return for $20,000,000, but she does not agree to warrant and defend our title as against the Filipinos. To buy land is one thing, to buy people is