Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 6.djvu/317

Rh cannot give or even promise the Philippines independence. But what he might do is to declare that he is in favor of independence, and that he will as soon as possible send a message to Congress recommending that Congress pass a joint resolution or an act embodying the explicit pledge that the Philippines shall be treated substantially as Cuba has been treated.

Such a public declaration would undoubtedly have the following effects:

1. It would be received by a large majority of the American people, and even a large majority of the Republican party, with a sense of relief,—indeed with profound satisfaction; for it is certain that the people at large are heartily tired of the Philippine business and wish to be rid of it. Indeed, Senator Hoar wrote me, a considerable number of Republican Senators had privately confessed to him that they regretted very much to have voted for the ratification of the treaty of Paris.

2. It would at once and altogether take the Philippine question out of politics, which would be a great blessing.

3. It would—and it is perhaps the only thing that would—take the sting out of the disgrace that has been brought upon the country by the barbarous cruelties that have happened on our side in the Philippine war. The importance of this point cannot be exaggerated. Only think of it: In the name of the United States, of the Republic sprung from the Declaration of Independence, the Republic of Washington and Lincoln, atrocities have been committed which remind one of Djenquis Khan and Tamerlane; torture has been used to extort testimony just as it was done by the Spanish Inquisition; a system of “concentration” has been carried on quite like that of General Weyler's,—one of the things which, as we want the world to understand, drove us into the war against Spain. Whenever the Turkish Sultan again indulges himself in