e beginning of 1898. At the opening of 1899
we had entered into new relations with the world. The conclusion of the
war with Spain had left in our hands the island of Porto Rico in the
West Indies and the great group of the Philippines in the waters of
Asia, while the Hawaiian Islands had became ours by peaceful annexation.
What shall we do with them? is the question that follows. We have taken
hold of them in a way in which it is impossible, without defeat and
disgrace, to let go. Whatever the ethics of the question, the Philippine
problem has assumed a shape which admits of but one solution. These
islands will inevitably become ours, to hold, to develop, to control,
and to give their people an opportunity to attain civilization,
prosperity, and political manumission which they have never yet
possessed. That they will be a material benefit to us is doubtful. That
they will give us a new position among the nations of the earth is
beyond doubt. We have entered formally into that Eastern question which
in the years to come promises to be the leading question before the
world, and which can no longer be settled by the nations of Europe as an
affair of their own, with which the United States has no concern.

This new position taken by the United States promises to be succeeded by
new alliances, a grand union of the Anglo-Saxon peoples, which will give
them a dominant position among the powers of the world. In truth, it may
not cease with the union of the Anglo-Saxons. The ambition and vast
designs of Russia are forcing the other nations to combine for
protection, and a close alliance of all the Teutonic peoples is
possible, combined to resist the Slavic outgrowth, and eventually
perhaps to place the destinies of the world in the hands of these two
great races, the Teutonic and the Slavic.

All this may be looking overfar into the future. All that can be said
now is that our new possessions have placed upon us new duties and new
responsibilities, and may effectually break that policy of political
isolation which we have so long maintained, and throw us into the
caldron of world politics to take our part in shaping the future of the
uncivilized races. For this we are surely strong enough, enterprising
enough, and moral enough; and whatever our record, it is not likely to
be one of defeat, of injustice and oppression, or of forgetfulness of
the duty of nations and the rights of man.

CHARLES MORRIS.
JULY, 1899.