l metropolis by the
violation of flags of truce, treachery to the living, and mutilation of
the dead which have marked its recent wanton rising against the Power
that was trying to help it!

If running away from troublesome responsibility and duty is our role,
why did we not long ago take the opportunity, in our early feebleness,
to turn over Tallahassee and St. Augustine to the Seminoles, instead of
sending Andrew Jackson to protect the settlements and subdue the
savages? Why, at the first Apache outbreak after the Gadsden Purchase,
did we not hasten to turn over New Mexico and Arizona to _their_
inhabitants? Or why, in years within the memory of most of you, when
the Sioux and Chippewas rose on our Northwestern frontier, did we not
invite them to retain possession of St. Cloud, and even come down, if
they liked, to St. Paul and Minneapolis?

Unless I am mistaken in regarding all these suggestions as too unworthy
to be entertained by self-respecting citizens of a powerful and
self-respecting nation, we have now reached two conclusions that ought
to clear the air and simplify the problem that remains: First, we have
ample constitutional power to acquire and govern new territory
absolutely at will, according to our sense of right and duty, whether
as dependencies, as colonies, or as a protectorate. Secondly, as the
legitimate and necessary consequence of our own previous acts, it has
become our national and international duty to do it.

[Sidenote: The Policy for our Dependencies]

How shall we set about it? What shall be the policy with which, when
order has been inexorably restored, we begin our dealings with the new
wards of the Nation? Certainly we must mark our disapproval of the
treachery and barbarities of the present contest. As certainly the
oppression of other tribes by the Tagals must be ended, or the
oppression of any tribe by any other within the sphere of our active
control. Wars between the tribes must be discouraged and prevented. We
must seek to suppress crimes of violence and private vengeance, secure
individual liberty, protect individual property, and promote the study
of the arts of peace. Above all, we must give and enforce justice; and
for the rest, as far as possible, leave them alone. By all means let us
avoid a fussy meddling with their customs, manners, prejudices, and
beliefs. Give them order and justice, and trust to these to win them in
other regards to our ways. All this points directly