CHAPTER VII

THE AWAKENING

SLOWLY it dawned on the minds of men that a change had come over the nation. We were a new America, and the Pacific a new Pacific. While the old remained, certain unfamiliar elements had introduced themselves; fresh intelligence had come into the commonwealth, with bright hopes pointing to broader fields of usefulness. The fact was upon us that a free nation can be successfully evolved upon principles of equity and humanity.

And like all the evolutions of civilization, this change had come of its own inherent force, and not through any extrinsic effort. Men talk now about what should be the policy of the nation. The nation had no policy in the year of Ninetyeight. The president had no policy further than to do his duty, according to the best of his ability, each day as it came to him. There is no harm in such discussion, but while statesmen are laying down the law of the matter, a higher law steps in and settles it. Was there a preconcerted plan in the beginning that we should stir up Spain, liberate Cuba, get possession of the Philippine islands, and blossom into empire? No. And no more can men make plans for progress to work itself out on in the future than they could have done in the past. The destinies of nations are not governed by acts of parliament. But howsoever or by whatsoever agency it came, whether by man's volition or from the mysterious unfoldings of the great unknown, the change is upon us, positive and palpable. We are different from what we were, and we shall always be different; we cannot go back if we would. A higher intelligence and a stronger power than our own has moved us from our former course into a way better perhaps I or worse, but into another way. The nation awakes to a realization of the progress that has been made, of the difference

not only between the strength and resources of the present republic as compared with the republic of a hundred years ago, but the difference in the century of advance made by the United States as compared with that of any other nation. The American people awoke to find that they have taken a step out of their beaten path, a step into the dark or into the light, and they found themselves in a new position, surrounded by new and strange conditions. They put forth their hands to strangle a monster, and behold they grasped empire!

Clearly it is not of our own creation; no one can lay claim to the invention of the year of Ninety-eight, or of any part of it. It is destiny; and in it all we thankfully recognize a power preeminent in all the principles of greatness. Said President Tucker, of Dartmouth, "The supreme outcome of the war is a new consciousness in the American people." There was a quickening of thought throughout the land, and a stimulation of inquiry, not only in the halls of education and legislation, but in the shops and farm-houses, in the marts of commerce and manufactures. New forces came into play; new and untried issues were thrust upon us which were destined to affect the future of the world, and we must meet them. Success, which had come to us so suddenly, so overwhelmingly, placed our country at once in the position of guardian of justice and human rights.

As the national mind emerged from the mazes of new developments, problems one after another were thrown for solution upon the president and people by rapidly succeeding events. War had been declared; four wonderful months had passed by, and then the end. Scarcely a mistake had been made; not a single setback in Cuba, Porto Rico, or the Philippines. Large bodies of troops had been landed successfully on hostile shores. The loss of life from disease was less than had been anticipated. Every gun fired had proclaimed to the world freedom and humanity, and the powers of the world recognized the voice, and while they hated it they refrained from interference. The avowed purpose having been accomplished the war became a memory, and was laid aside as an incident; the grave issues which arose during the conflict came to the front, marking a new era in American opinion and policy.

With the new Pacific there came a new patriotism. Ameri

cans became more intensely Americans, more one and indivisible than ever before. It was a patriotism of an order different from that which finds expressions in Fourth-of-July buncombe, or in Chinese expulsion, or in negro suffrage. An intense pride of race was at once engendered, which was the primary cause of our sudden friendship for England and English-speakers every where, finding as we did so much that was despicable in the Latin race. Nor was it narrow prejudice, but rather a fuller realization of facts purchased by experience. If we are willing to admit thus suddenly falling in love with ourselves, we may at least claim that it was with the nobler part of ourselves. If we were proud of ourselves, it was not of our brutality, our cunning, our chicane, but of the better principles of humanity which had led us on to high achievement. It was a patriotism which filled us with pride for a country which bred men for such deeds, and for institutions which yielded such results. An American in Asia expressed the feelings which inspired millions of Americans in America. "When the news of Dewey's victory was confirmed", he says, "I was the biggest man in Hongkong. My chest went out a foot, and I was twenty years younger. You should have seen me strut, and every one in Hongkong touched his hat to me."

The war with all its victories had come upon the American people like a whirlwind, and we had now before us the bewildering consequences. In the first flush of success we paused, standing in awe of ourselves, of our prowess. Wonderingly we beheld our work, and deemed it great, and ourselves great. We had but leaned against the pillars of this Peninsula, and lo! it had crumbled to dust. Spain was a mighty nation, old as christianity, once owner of half the world; how easily we had conquered her! Then we reflected; the Spaniards are a people of many to-morrows; old age brings decrepitude; with their second rate ships, and antiquated guns, and poor marksmen, two thousand of them being unable to kill a single man of us in open fight,-perhaps it was not so brilliant an achievement as we had thought; and if we are a world power, then the other powers of the world are not so potential after all.

War is an evil, though not always or altogether evil. All wars are brutal, but not all are base. As a rule war is de

moralizing, because as a rule it is waged on one side or on both sides in an ignoble cause. The last Franco-German war was wholly base on both sides, born of hatred and jealousy, without principle and without one redeeming feature. What were nine-tenths of all the wars of history but displays of bloody fanaticism, and the lust of gain and glory. Wars for national independence, for national integrity, for the cause of humanity are not, in the outcome, however they may be in the action, demoralizing, but ennobling to a people, and that throughout all time. There is not an American, who can truly be called a man, who is not morally better and stronger by reason of our war with Spain. For he is one of a nation that has uplifted all the nations in setting higher than ever before the standards of international morality. The apprehension expressed by Professor Bryce that the conquering spirit may be developed by our late acquisitions loses somewhat of its force when we remember that this was not a war of conquest, that territory came as an incident and not as an object. There are surely no signs at present apparent on the part of the people of a serious accession to the war spirit.

The only unjust war our country ever waged, the only war for territory, so wrought upon the national conscience and the popular mind as to create a strong aversion to fighting or looting our neighbors; and that too after paying Mexico $15,000,000 hush money. The two were wholly different in the inception, the war with Mexico and the war with Spain. The former grew out of the desire of Polk and his politicians for more slave territory; the sole purpose of the latter was to right a great wrong, and deliver our borders from the curse of Spanish medievalism. Additional domain came in both instances; yet there are no signs of our coveting more; the American people now as hitherto seem to know when they have enough. Another fear expressed is that we will become a military nation. For that matter we have always been military enough to wage successful war when we deemed war necessary; we are now military enough to put such men and machinery in the field as to accomplish any purpose we are likely to undertake. It is not bad to be able to fight; it is only bad to fight in a bad cause. To reasonably increase and render more efficient our navy; to have military schools of

high efficiency turning out graduates enough properly to officer and drill a million or two of volunteer troops in any emergency, will not tax the resources of the nation very severely. As for a large standing army or a too cumbersome navy, they are not necessary in the United States, where the people are an army and navy unto themselves, as has in every instance been amply proved.

A good navy, however, during the present era of dismemberments, and the seizure and appropriation of half the world by the other half, is a good thing, though it is a question if it is wise for England and France to put all their money into warships. It may come to this, however; for in going forth to fight the world it is best to be the best armed; so when England adds fifty to her five hundred ships France must add a hundred, while Russia stands by figuring it up, and makes 1000 ships matched against 1000 equivalent to fifty matched against fifty, and so proposes to the powers, "Let us limit ourselves to fifty fighting ships each ", which of course reduces the whole thing to an absurdity. For if by convention the fighting powers of each nation is limited to a certain standard or grade, why not as well each lay aside all his strength as a part of it, and so stop fighting altogether, which indeed were the wiser course.

Our few warships were found of service in the late misunderstanding with Spain. The general opinion after the war was that the army and navy should both be increased, the former perhaps to 100,000 men, and the latter by twenty to fifty ships. The fighting potentiality of the United States rests not so much upon a standing army as upon the navy. The popularity of the cause is more than either; for if the cause be sufficiently popular as to unite in opinion the several sections and classes of the republic, the necessary millions of men and money will always be forthcoming. In a cause which inspires his enthusiasm, and properly officered, the United States volunteer is an effective fighter,-courageous, cool, and obedient to discipline. The navy has so lately spoken for itself that it needs no praise from me. In numbers of ships and men, England's navy comes first in the world; after that in the order named the navies of France, Russia, and Germany. With the completion of the ships now building, the United States will be fourth in ships and men, be