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Show WARNING TO CUBANS. In view of our country's history Secretary Lansing 's note to the Cuban people, telling them that the United States will recognize no government which is established by revolution, will seem peculiar. The secretary is merely enunciating a principle which President "Wilson sought to apply in the case of Mexico and which he proclaimed as a rule for the countries of this hemisphere. His purpose was to discourage the habit of revolution in Latin American countries coun-tries and to promote stable governments. The president's purpose was' praiseworthy, praise-worthy, but he seemed to say that the American people were abandoning the principles of their fathers and were no lunger in favor of revolutions under any circumstances. This, of course, could not have been the president's iutention, for Americans have not changed their ; views since the days of the Boston tea party and the declaration of independence. indepen-dence. We still believe, in revolution as the ultimate appeal of oppressed peo-Pies. peo-Pies. Two great wars have been fought by Americans in accordance with the revolutionary revo-lutionary principle the war of independence indepen-dence and the war between the states. The southern states asserted the right , to separate themselves from the govem-' govem-' meat of tho United States just as the olonisUs asserted tyheir right to separate, the thirteen colonies from the sovereignly sovereign-ly of the British government. Only those whose mortal frames are j tormented with the souls of anarchists look with delight upon revolutions, and yet there must be certain ethical sanctions sanc-tions of particular revolutions if the principle of revolution is right all. . Americans believe that the general principle prin-ciple is sound, but they are little inclined in-clined to apply tlie principle. Our own declaration of independence seeks to establish tho philosophic basis of revolutions iu the following passage: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable unalien-able rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. hap-piness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent ot the governed. That ' whenever auy form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers iu such form, as to them E-hall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments govern-ments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience experi-ence hah shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable. than to right themselves them-selves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same objects, evinces a design to reduce re-duce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains con-strains them to alter their former systems of government. It is patent that affairs in Cuba have not reached the stage defined in the declaration of independence. The revo: lution is the result of a disputed election. Charges of grave injustice havo been made as in the case of the llayes-Tildeu A election in this country. There is, we presume, an intimation that the present pres-ent government intends to ma in tain itself in power permanently by fair means or foul, that it never can be voted out but must b,e driven out. The recurring revolutions in Cuba are signs that the revolutionary spirit does nut need much fuel to set it blazing. YVe know that there has been no extended period of oppression such as marked the days of the revolts against Spain. It is fairly certain that the trouble is for the most part a political squabble and that the ultimate appeal of revolution is not justified. |