from China for the injuries inflicted upon their citizens by the Boxers; but the United States, finding the sum awarded in excess of the legitimate claims, returned the balance in the form of a fund to be applied to the education of Chinese students in American universities.  “I would rather be, I think,” said Mr. Hay, “the dupe of China than the chum of the Kaiser.”  By pursuing a liberal policy, he strengthened the hold of the United States upon the affections of the Chinese people and, in the long run, as he remarked himself, safeguarded “our great commercial interests in that Empire.”

=Imperialism in the Presidential Campaign of 1900.=—­It is not strange that the policy pursued by the Republican administration in disposing of the questions raised by the Spanish War became one of the first issues in the presidential campaign of 1900.  Anticipating attacks from every quarter, the Republicans, in renominating McKinley, set forth their position in clear and ringing phrases:  “In accepting by the treaty of Paris the just responsibility of our victories in the Spanish War the President and Senate won the undoubted approval of the American people.  No other course was possible than to destroy Spain’s sovereignty throughout the West Indies and in the Philippine Islands.  That course created our responsibility, before the world and with the unorganized population whom our intervention had freed from Spain, to provide for the maintenance of law and order, and for the establishment of good government and for the performance of international obligations.  Our authority could not be less than our responsibility, and wherever sovereign rights were extended it became the high duty of the government to maintain its authority, to put down armed insurrection, and to confer the blessings of liberty and civilization upon all the rescued peoples.  The largest measure of self-government consistent with their welfare and our duties shall be secured to them by law.”  To give more strength to their ticket, the Republican convention, in a whirlwind of enthusiasm, nominated for the vice presidency, against his protest, Theodore Roosevelt, the governor of New York and the hero of the Rough Riders, so popular on account of their Cuban campaign.

The Democrats, as expected, picked up the gauntlet thrown down with such defiance by the Republicans.  Mr. Bryan, whom they selected as their candidate, still clung to the currency issue; but the main emphasis, both of the platform and the appeal for votes, was on the “imperialistic program” of the Republican administration.  The Democrats denounced the treatment of Cuba and Porto Rico and condemned the Philippine policy in sharp and vigorous terms.  “As we are not willing,” ran the platform, “to surrender our civilization or to convert the Republic into an empire, we favor an immediate declaration of the Nation’s purpose to give to the Filipinos, first, a stable form of government; second, independence; third, protection from outside