The future of the colonies that were once German will
be decided hereafter, and the Dominions will have a word to say in the matter. Meanwhile we may reflect that, before the war, so little were the British Government actuated by envy of Germany's progress that they were on the point of concluding an agreement to facilitate German schemes in Asiatic Turkey, and, it is said, in Africa as well. President Lowell's advice reminds us that after the wax with Spain America displayed no weak sentimentality in dealing with the Spanish colonies in the West Indies and the Far East. Spain was deprived of them all. America retained Porto Rico, gave Cuba to the Cubans, and held the Philippines in trust for the Filipinos. She was not influenced by the plea that a defeated and regenerated Spain might in future govern the colonies better. America knew that she herself could guide the destinies of their inhabitants more wisely and impartially than Spain.
Previous page
