THE MEANING OF AMERICAN IMPERIALISM.
THE fact that this American republic is breaking away from its established foundations should alarm every one who thinks soberly about the situation. That immortal document, the Declaration of Independence, says: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." The very corner-stone in the foundation of a free government is the principle that "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" are among our "unalienable rights;" and, further more, that governments are instituted not to give these rights, but to "secure" them. And of equal importance is the sound American doctrine that governments derive "their just powers from the consent of the governed." The doctrine of tyranny affirms that certain favored ones are born to govern. They rule by "divine right." But wherever the doctrine of the "divine right of kings" has been fully practised it has resulted in tyranny. The king's word is law, and, no matter what his whims or caprices, they must be indulged to the fullest extent, regardless of the wishes or pleasure and best interests of his subjects. The claim of the "divine right of kings" resulted in the aristocracies that established the notion that certain families of so-called "noble birth" are born to be served, while all the rest of mankind are born expressly to serve them. The natural working out of such a system gave all the privileges to the nobility and all the slavish, menial work to the common people. The nobility enjoyed all the advantages of education, and no luxury was considered too good or too expensive for their enjoyment or gratification, while the great mass of the people were chained in ignorance and slavish work and groveling service. At the beginning of the sixteenth century the world was made up of kings and the nobles of both Church and State on the one hand, and the vassal people on the other. If a noble thought that it would be for his interest to have any of the common people about him put to death, all he had to do was to say the word and their heads would come off, and none dared to find fault with his conduct, lest they might suffer a like fate. But the great mental and spiritual awakening that came as the result of the Reformation, set the common men to thinking for themselves. At the risk of their lives, and even many times at the sacrifice of life, the people asserted themselves against this tyranny. And the tyranny was not alone in the State, but Church and State were combined in holding the people in the most abject servitude. There was the strong determination on the part of the people to break the shackles of their tyranny, and the nobles and the clergy were united to hold them down. They were determined that no new doctrines should enter either the field of politics or religion. This struggle was fierce, and the people, particularly in England, were gradually winning their way to the front. But it was against fearful odds, and the final outcome seemed to be trembling in the balances, with the awful possibility that the world would be swung back into the midnight of the Dark Ages. But divine Providence had foreseen this difficulty and prepared a way of escape. A continent had been discovered, and the oppressed people of the Old World fled to the New for refuge. That spirit of tyranny, however, followed them to America and sought to oppress them here the same as it had in the countries from which they fled. But there was a successful revolt against the degrading rule of despotism, and a new kind of government was founded. A government was established here that recognized that "all men," not a few but "all men, are created equal," and endowed with unalienable rights, and that these rights are secured by governments that derive "their just powers from the consent of the governed." When this government was being established, the French Revolution was passing through its various stages of heated discussions, riots, and Reign of Terror. All the crowned heads of Europe recognized that the struggle in France was not simply a French question but a European question. For the revolt in France was against the tyranny of kings, nobles, and bishops. They were determined to plant a republic upon European soil. The crowns of the various powers in Europe saw danger to themselves in this, and resolved to fight it. And hence Napoleon Bonaparte, at the head of the armies of the rising French Republic, was combated by England, Germany, Austria, and Russia, the "great powers" of Europe at that time, until he went down before them at Waterloo. This revolt against tyranny had its storm center in France. It raged the most furiously there. But all the other nations were filled with discontented people who were longing to break the yoke of their oppression. And there is no telling what would have been the outcome of it had there not been an outlet here in America for all of that dissatisfied element. They flocked by the thousands to these shores. They established here "a State without a king and a church without a pope." Europe looked on in amazement while this work in America was going on. The French Revolution failed to establish a stable and pure republic. But the United States had succeeded in planting the most perfect freedom in the bosom of an ideal republic. Many who held to the old ideas that there must be both nobles and commoners began to modify their notions of things, and the new nation in the New World was an interesting object lesson to the old nations across the sea. And if this government had remained perfectly true to its principles, there is no estimate that can be placed upon the marvelous reforms that would have been worked out all over the world. The work might have progressed until the rights of mankind to both civil and religious freedom would have been recognized and received the world over. But corruptions, particularly the corruptions of wealth, have entered the government of this new and hitherto most noble republic. She has been swung by an evil genius away from her moorings. She crosses the seas to enforce her laws and her customs upon others, whether they are willing to receive them or not. The voice is beginning to be heard in the land saying that our fathers were mistaken when they said that governments derived "their just powers from the consent of the governed." Now all this means that a tide of corrupting influences is rolling in and that the sweeping tendency is toward the aristocracy and the ruling by "divine right" as it was in the Dark Ages. But there is this difference in the problem: then the people were chained down by ignorance and superstition; now they enjoy all the advantages of keen intellectual development, and stand ready to give expression to their discontent by riots and revolutions. But where is the asylum now for this discontented element to find shelter in? And then it may seriously be asked whether or not the corrupting influences have not gone so deep and spread so wide that the discontent of to-day does not stand on the foundation of pure principle, as was the case with the founders of this republic. The situation is certainly dark if viewed simply from the common human standpoint. Europe has been on the brink of general wars and revolutions for much of the time during the past century. But America has been an asylum and a beacon of hope. But with the political institutions of this country corrupted, and with men turning away from the solid rock of American governmental principles, there is nothing left but universal chaos. There are plenty of men to laugh at these facts, and to say that there is no danger. But neither the sneers nor the sophistries of those whose sensibilities are bewildered by the entanglements of the backward tendencies of these times should cause us to falter. This old world is tumbling headlong into destruction, and the voice of warning must be raised, even if need be at the hazard of life, as well as the unpleasantness of derision. T.