Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 12.djvu/504

484 •484 HARVARD LAW REVIEW. And now let me very briefly and very summarily speak of our policy and of our duty. I will not enlarge here. 1. In the first place, we must face and take up the new and unavoidable duties of the new colonial administration, however un- welcome they may be, handsomely and firmly. There is no ques- tion now of any choice as to whether we will have a colonial policy. 2. The case of Hawaii should await the settlement of the general problems now coming into view, arising out of these new dependencies. The case of all the islands will be in many respects the same. They should all be dealt with together. 3. We should ratify the treaty; and then determine the fate of the Philippines after very full and careful consideration. The treaty simply detaches these islands from Spain and secures for us the opportunity to do this. As things now stand, the policy of throwing them back upon Spain or upon themselves, merely be- cause we individually do not want them, and because it is easier to defeat the treaty than it is to accomplish afterwards a particular disposition of them that one may himself prefer, seems to me un- worthy of the nation and of the subject in hand. It is dealing too hastily with a great and serious problem ; and it is discrediting our own capacity to handle it with wise deliberation. 4. Having ratified the treaty, let us be in no hurry to close the grave questions that will present themselves as to the permanent status of the islands. These should all continue, for the present, to be governed under executive and military control ; and meantime with the utmost possible care we should study the true settlement of these questions. 5. Let us beware, at every step, promising to the islands, not excepting Hawaii, any place in the Union. Here, as elsewhere, we shall find England's sensible policy our best guide. We can- not imagine Great Britain's letting in her colonies to share the responsibility of governing the home country and all the rest of the empire. In France, indeed, that mistake has partly been com- mitted ; but we are hearing now the solemn warnings of the French against such a policy. Never should we admit any extra- continental State into the Union ; it is an intolerable suggestion. I am glad to observe that it is proposed in Congress to insert in the statute for the settlement of the Hawaiian government the express declaration that it is not to be admitted into the Union. The same thing should be done with all the other islands. The remark attributed to a judge of the Supreme Court of the United