the highest character against this construction. In the Convention of the State of Virginia which met on June 2, 1788, to consider the question of the ratification of the Federal Constitution, an amendment was proposed which provided as follows:

"No treaty ceding, contracting, restraining or suspending the territorial rights or claims of the United States, or any of them shall

be made, but in cases of the most urgent and extreme necessity, nor shall any such treaty be ratified without the concurrence of threefourths of the whole number of members of both Houses respectively."

Governor Edmund Randolph, who, as already noticed, had headed the Virginia delegation in the Convention and presented the Virginia resolutions, opposed this proposed amendment, saying:

"Of all the amendments, this is the most destructive, which requires the consent of three-fourths of both Houses to treaties ceding or restraining territorial rights. There is no power in the Constitution to cede any part of the United States. But this amendment admits, in the fullest latitude, that Congress have a right to dismember the Empire."

The amendment proposed by Virginia was not adopted, and the Constitution of the United States as then ratified, and as now effective, does not empower Congress-by a three-fourths vote or otherwise-to make any promises as to the future status of the Philippines binding upon the American people, or "to dismember the Empire" through a sale or surrender of American sovereignty over such islands to other interests.

That the Philippines to-day form an integral part of the United States, and do not occupy some nebulous relation to the Union which permits Congress to alienate them at will, was clearly laid down in principle by Chief Justice Marshall in the case of Loughborough v. Blake (5 Wheaton 317), decided in 1820. The point at issue involved construction of the first paragraph of Art. 8 of the Constitution, which provides that-"all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States." The Court said:

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The power then to lay and collect duties, imposts and excises, may be exercised and must be exercised throughout the United States. Does this term designate the whole or any particular portion of the American empire? Certainly this question can admit of but one answer. It is the name given to our great republic, which is composed of States and territories. The District of Columbia, or the territory west of the Missouri, is not less within the United States than Maryland or Pennsylvania.

This "territory west of the Missouri," held by Chief Justice Marshall to be no less a part of the American empire than Maryland or Pennsylvania, was acquired through no different treaty procedure than the Philippine archipelago, nor was such territory held in 1820 under any firmer title or completer sovereignty than applies to-day to the territory of the Philippines, organized and operating by virtue of laws enacted by the Government of the United States.

If the foregoing argument as to the political experience and stability of the Philippine people be waived, however, as also the matter of constitutional power in Congress to alienate sovereignty, it is increasingly apparent, as time passes, that responsible Filipino sentiment is steadily veering from absolute independence in favour of some tie or connection whereby the continued protection and guidance of the United States will be guaranteed. Whatever their belief as to "political capacity," many of the clearer-sighted and more patriotic Filipino leaders now see looming back of their independence ideal the specter of economic unpreparedness, with its grisly train of tariff walls, a fiat and debased currency, trade depression, depleted revenues, army and navy expenditures, civil strife, foreign intervention, and those other multiplied ills which ever wait upon a feeble, impoverished, and bankrupt people. Certainly the existence and recognition of some

bond between the islands and the United States which would lay this damning vision, and insure to Filipinos the same liberties, and the same rights, privileges and opportunities, at home and abroad, that are to-day enjoyed by any American, would be the part of wisdom and could well be advocated and encouraged by every Filipino interested in the welfare of his country and people.

The efforts and energies of the two peoples, therefore, American and Filipino, should be directed to devising some arrangement whereby they could join forces and work together in union and harmony to the mutual profit and satisfaction of both. Whether such arrangement should be modelled after the present British Commonwealths, or take other form, is a matter of detail offering no difficulties if approached in the proper spirit. Whatever the form, however, the Filipinos would be assured, and increasingly receive, every measure of local autonomy consistent with the welfare of their people and the interests of all.

The United States has many big problems engaging its attention, and this matter of the Philippines and their disposition may seem unimportant in comparison. If we vision the long future, however, and the steadily increasing part which the securing and conserving of natural resources are taking in the economy of nations, it is doubtful if any problem more vitally affects the destiny of the American people than does this question of our relations to the Philippines and the Far East. Involved in whatever action we take, and of equal bearing upon the conscience of all Americans, is the fate of a promising but largely helpless people, for whose future welfare and happiness we stand responsible before the world.