Page:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (Volume Three).djvu/548



HE premonitory signs of that interesting psychological condition of the American people which culminated in the war with Spain were noted by Mr. Schurz with increasing anxiety and alarm. Secretary Blaine's “vigorous” policy in respect to the Latin-American states and the Behring Sea seal fisheries contributed much to the sum total of his dislike for the Harrison administration. The peremptory suppression by Cleveland of the project for the annexation of Hawaii elicited his warm approval, though the President's cautious and guarded statement as to his attitude was hardly on the level demanded by Schurz's uncompromising hostility on principle to tropical expansion. “I do not now say,” Cleveland wrote on March 19, 1893, “that I shall hold annexation in all circumstances and at all times unwise, but I am sure we ought to stop, look and think. That is exactly what we are doing now.” In an article on “Manifest Destiny” in Harper's Magazine for October, 1893, Schurz set forth at length the grounds on which the acquisition of Hawaii ought to be definitely dropped in the interest of the national welfare.

When in December, 1895, Mr. Cleveland astonished the world by his memorable message on the Venezuelan boundary question, and the American people with impressive unanimity sustained him in defying and humbling the British government, Mr. Schurz was one of the indignant few who promptly declared that message both unwise and unnecessary, and strove