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Write a traditional newspaper story about imperialism during the year 1898
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HEADLINE: Year of Empire — Nations of Europe and the New Republic Extend Their Sway; Cuba, the Philippines and Distant Lands the Prize of Arms and Diplomacy
Dateline: New York, Dec. 20, 1898
The year 1898 will stand in the annals of history as one of those brief, brilliant seasons in which the map of the world is altered by the violence of arms and the craft of cabinets. From the tropics of the Caribbean to the deserts of the Upper Nile, from the harbors of the China coast to the islands of the Pacific, the rivalries of states for dominion, commerce and security have broken into action and left behind new facts.
In the Western Hemisphere the treaty signed last week at the capital of Madrid completes the most startling episode of this year’s contest for empire. By the terms agreed to between Spain and the United States, Spain abandons her long possession of Cuba (to be made formally independent), and cedes to the United States the island of Puerto Rico and the island of Guam in the Pacific. The Spanish sovereign likewise agrees to transfer the Philippine archipelago to this Government for a money consideration of twenty million dollars. The transaction, which grows out of the war that began in April with the destruction of the Spanish fleet at Manila and the naval disaster in Havana harbor accompanying the explosion of the armored cruiser Maine in February, has produced intense debate in the Senate and throughout the country.
Commodore George Dewey’s victory at Manila Bay on May 1 and the subsequent occupation of the city by American forces in August were decisive steps in the overthrow of Spain’s rule in the Orient. In Cuba, after fierce fighting at San Juan Heights and Santiago, the Spanish forces were compelled to sue for an armistice in August. The conclusion of hostilities, and now the signature of the treaty, marks an abrupt and significant enlargement of American responsibility overseas and has given the United States a position among the great colonial powers which many citizens and statesmen regard with pride and others view with grave misgivings.
Across the Atlantic the impulses of empire have been no less active. In the Egyptian Sudan the British expedition under Lord Kitchener routed the forces of the Mahdist state at Omdurman on September 2, reestablishing control over a region that secures the approaches to the Suez Canal and British communications with the East. Simultaneously, the meeting in the summer at the headwaters of the Nile between British and French patrols at Fashoda revealed how near the Old World had come to a dangerous collision. French officers under Major Marchand and the British under Sir Herbert Kitchener faced one another at the little Nile village, and for the moment diplomacy alone prevented an armed clash between these two great military peoples. The episode has deepened anxieties in all courts that the rivalry for African territory may yet produce grave consequences.
Nearer still to the Orient, the last twelve months have shown the steadily increasing pressure of Western powers upon China. The German occupation of a bay at Kiaochow and the erection of an outpost there, the demand for concessions on the Chinese littoral by Russia and France, and the closer watch of Britain upon her Hong Kong and treaty ports have given color to the oft-repeated phrase, “the partition of China.” Russia has also taken measures in Manchuria and secured, by treaty and by presence of troops, positions which strengthen her hold upon interests on the Pacific. The situation in the Far East reveals a contest not only for territory but for commercial privilege and strategic advantage.
Japan, whose rapid growth as a modern State since her war with China in 1894–95 has been watched with interest, has not been idle. Her conduct marks the advent of an Asian power into the competition that formerly seemed the exclusive province of European cabinets. The rising influence of Japan will be one of the most notable features to follow in the years that open with the new century.
At home, the sudden enlargement of our responsibilities has produced a lively and earnest controversy. Within months of the opening of the war an Anti-Imperialist League was formed in Boston, and similar organizations and opinions have vocalized in other cities. Gentlemen of the highest learning and character, including practical merchants, writers and statesmen, have declared that American tradition—its faith in self-government and in the consent of the governed—stands opposed to the maintenance of dependencies not attached to the body politic. Opposed to them are those who urge that possession of islands and ports is necessary to secure our commerce, to protect our citizens abroad, and to extend civilization and Christianity to peoples whom Providence and strength have placed within our reach.
Senate debates upon the ratification of the treaty with Spain have been stormy and eloquent. Senators and representatives have argued questions of finance and policy, of national honor and of international duty. It is now for the American people, by their chosen agents, to decide whether the republic shall accept the burdens and responsibilities that the events of this year have placed upon it.
Public opinion in Europe, likewise, is divided between pride of national expansion and foreboding. In France and England official declarations insist that recent measures were taken for the safety of commerce and the maintenance of interests; in Germany and Russia the enlargement of stations and of territory is proclaimed as necessary to keep pace with the necessities of modern power.
Commercial men watch the movement of flags with a trader’s eye. New markets may be opened; old routes may be made more secure. Missionaries and charitable societies, whom the drama of last year sent to distant shores, speak of opportunities to instruct and uplift. The men of arms and of diplomacy report that the task of administration and of pacification of newly acquired peoples will be exacting and costly.
Thus the end of 1898 finds the nations of the world drawn yet closer in contest and in concert. The century that opened with the march of industry into every field now completes, with a new fervor of colonial endeavor, its transformation of remote lands into appendages of European and American civilization. Whether this change will bring peace and prosperity to the subject peoples and secure new safeguards for commerce, or whether it will kindle jealousies and conflicts in which the people will be the sufferers, is a question which the coming years alone can resolve. For the present, the flags are planted, the treaties are signed, and the men of affairs must meet the problem which force and diplomacy have set before them.
Dateline: New York, Dec. 20, 1898
The year 1898 will stand in the annals of history as one of those brief, brilliant seasons in which the map of the world is altered by the violence of arms and the craft of cabinets. From the tropics of the Caribbean to the deserts of the Upper Nile, from the harbors of the China coast to the islands of the Pacific, the rivalries of states for dominion, commerce and security have broken into action and left behind new facts.
In the Western Hemisphere the treaty signed last week at the capital of Madrid completes the most startling episode of this year’s contest for empire. By the terms agreed to between Spain and the United States, Spain abandons her long possession of Cuba (to be made formally independent), and cedes to the United States the island of Puerto Rico and the island of Guam in the Pacific. The Spanish sovereign likewise agrees to transfer the Philippine archipelago to this Government for a money consideration of twenty million dollars. The transaction, which grows out of the war that began in April with the destruction of the Spanish fleet at Manila and the naval disaster in Havana harbor accompanying the explosion of the armored cruiser Maine in February, has produced intense debate in the Senate and throughout the country.
Commodore George Dewey’s victory at Manila Bay on May 1 and the subsequent occupation of the city by American forces in August were decisive steps in the overthrow of Spain’s rule in the Orient. In Cuba, after fierce fighting at San Juan Heights and Santiago, the Spanish forces were compelled to sue for an armistice in August. The conclusion of hostilities, and now the signature of the treaty, marks an abrupt and significant enlargement of American responsibility overseas and has given the United States a position among the great colonial powers which many citizens and statesmen regard with pride and others view with grave misgivings.
Across the Atlantic the impulses of empire have been no less active. In the Egyptian Sudan the British expedition under Lord Kitchener routed the forces of the Mahdist state at Omdurman on September 2, reestablishing control over a region that secures the approaches to the Suez Canal and British communications with the East. Simultaneously, the meeting in the summer at the headwaters of the Nile between British and French patrols at Fashoda revealed how near the Old World had come to a dangerous collision. French officers under Major Marchand and the British under Sir Herbert Kitchener faced one another at the little Nile village, and for the moment diplomacy alone prevented an armed clash between these two great military peoples. The episode has deepened anxieties in all courts that the rivalry for African territory may yet produce grave consequences.
Nearer still to the Orient, the last twelve months have shown the steadily increasing pressure of Western powers upon China. The German occupation of a bay at Kiaochow and the erection of an outpost there, the demand for concessions on the Chinese littoral by Russia and France, and the closer watch of Britain upon her Hong Kong and treaty ports have given color to the oft-repeated phrase, “the partition of China.” Russia has also taken measures in Manchuria and secured, by treaty and by presence of troops, positions which strengthen her hold upon interests on the Pacific. The situation in the Far East reveals a contest not only for territory but for commercial privilege and strategic advantage.
Japan, whose rapid growth as a modern State since her war with China in 1894–95 has been watched with interest, has not been idle. Her conduct marks the advent of an Asian power into the competition that formerly seemed the exclusive province of European cabinets. The rising influence of Japan will be one of the most notable features to follow in the years that open with the new century.
At home, the sudden enlargement of our responsibilities has produced a lively and earnest controversy. Within months of the opening of the war an Anti-Imperialist League was formed in Boston, and similar organizations and opinions have vocalized in other cities. Gentlemen of the highest learning and character, including practical merchants, writers and statesmen, have declared that American tradition—its faith in self-government and in the consent of the governed—stands opposed to the maintenance of dependencies not attached to the body politic. Opposed to them are those who urge that possession of islands and ports is necessary to secure our commerce, to protect our citizens abroad, and to extend civilization and Christianity to peoples whom Providence and strength have placed within our reach.
Senate debates upon the ratification of the treaty with Spain have been stormy and eloquent. Senators and representatives have argued questions of finance and policy, of national honor and of international duty. It is now for the American people, by their chosen agents, to decide whether the republic shall accept the burdens and responsibilities that the events of this year have placed upon it.
Public opinion in Europe, likewise, is divided between pride of national expansion and foreboding. In France and England official declarations insist that recent measures were taken for the safety of commerce and the maintenance of interests; in Germany and Russia the enlargement of stations and of territory is proclaimed as necessary to keep pace with the necessities of modern power.
Commercial men watch the movement of flags with a trader’s eye. New markets may be opened; old routes may be made more secure. Missionaries and charitable societies, whom the drama of last year sent to distant shores, speak of opportunities to instruct and uplift. The men of arms and of diplomacy report that the task of administration and of pacification of newly acquired peoples will be exacting and costly.
Thus the end of 1898 finds the nations of the world drawn yet closer in contest and in concert. The century that opened with the march of industry into every field now completes, with a new fervor of colonial endeavor, its transformation of remote lands into appendages of European and American civilization. Whether this change will bring peace and prosperity to the subject peoples and secure new safeguards for commerce, or whether it will kindle jealousies and conflicts in which the people will be the sufferers, is a question which the coming years alone can resolve. For the present, the flags are planted, the treaties are signed, and the men of affairs must meet the problem which force and diplomacy have set before them.
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