Show IS THE WAR OVER before the protocol was subscribed mr mckinley had only to demand the whole philippine archipelago in the same peremptory terms with which he called for the surrender of the spanish An and both cessions sessions ces would have been made in the face of glands En I 1 friendly attitude towards the united states no outside power would have protested and spain could have been easily coerced either by the threat of requiring a large money indemnity or by the despatch of watsons squadron to the canaries and the mediterranean As it is the president has deliberately relegated the disposition of the philippines to a joint commission in which he has given spain an equal voice even if the greatest are care be taken to select plenipotentiaries who can be trusted to carry out the wishes of their countrymen the utmost that we can hope for is an equal division of the commission on the question whether we shall be permitted to retain the philippines or even the island of luzon should moreover the negotiations result after months of delay and consequent expenditure in a deadlock we shall be left in an unfortunate moral position before the bar of the european opinion why it will be asked if you intended to stand out for the philippines or at least for the island of luzon did you not announce your determination beforehand as you did in the case of the spanish antilles and make your demand a martof the irre minimum defined in your protocol what was the use of keeping yourselves and forcing spain to keep herself on a war footing during many months of negotiations which it might have been foreseen were destined to be abortive how could the president justify in the eyes of foreign powers the extra financial burden unnecessarily imposed on spain and how could lie he justify in the eyes of american citizens the additional financial burden needlessly imposed on ourselves provided tle the joint commission should after months of fruitless discussion result in a deadlock it is manifest that the adminis tra tion when it indicated to spain the bases of the protocol had not yet made up its mind concerning the philippines not having yet had time to ascertain the judgment of the country in the matter at present the judgment of the country Is distinctly known and before october it will have been declared with irresistible emphasis pha the practical question therefore for the administration to answer at an early date will be how can it remedy its omission to make betimes a peremptory demand for all the philippines or at least for the island of luzon to answer that question it has but to recall the course pursued by bv the polk administration in 1848 before the end of 1847 the polk administration adminis had become the unchallenged master of the mexican republic and might have annexed the whole of it by right of conquest it desired ho however waver to conciliate the whig members of the senate and therefore retrained refrained from seizing an inch of land by force it acquired from mexico the region comprising california novada nevada arizona utah and new mexico not by conquest but by purchase giving the sum of an amount derisory indeed compared with the subsequently discovered value off the acquisition but nevertheless most moat welcome at the time to the mexican central government in its straitened condition biti mi even thus framed the treaty of peace barely obtained ratification in bp be senate had three more senators voted against it the treaty would have been rejected spina is suffering from the same financial embarrassments embarrass ments whick which then weakened mexico and would gladly sell to us those islands in the far east bast which the president has refrained from signifying a determination to lo keep but why it may be asked should we buy what we could have bave got ft for nothing that is a quest loto or pw state department to answer crotti the roe moment that the protocol was slab it became practically impossible to the philippines for nothing if we WW w them we either have to fight aw them through a renewal of war or shall have to secure them by pur purchase chaa meanwhile no man who has a thorough understanding of the situation created by the protocol will take for granted apt rt he war Is over until a definite treaty of peace has been signed and ratified colliers weekly |