American tyranny in the Philippines. I

DOCTRINE OF DESTINY

I think I may safely assert that it is not the duty of any individual
or nation to attempt an impossible task, or to attempt a task
difficult in the extreme unless it is to be followed by great good. We
have attempted that task, sometimes under the pretense that it was to
bring a commercial advantage to us, sometimes under the pretense that
destiny or Providence had imposed the duty on us. I do not know what
men mean when they tell us that destiny has required us to do a
certain thing. Do they mean, in the case of the Philippines, that the
Omnipotent has decreed that we shall enter upon a period of spoliation
and war, and that with blood and bayonets, and swords, and the
thundering of cannon we shall force upon the people of the Philippine
Islands that which we think is good for them and that which they think
they know is not good for them? If I had such conceptions of Deity, I
should have to change every sentiment of my heart, and I do not
believe it is much less than sacrilege to say that the Almighty
demands this sacrifice of us.



Title: The problem in the Philippines. Speech of Hon. Henry M. Teller,
of Colorado, in the Senate of the United States ... February 11, 12,
and 13, 1902.
Author: Teller, Henry Moore, 1830-1914.