Senator Albert J. Beveridge. Speech to
56th Congress, Congressional Record. 1900.
The
Philippines are ours forever. And just beyond the Philippines are China's
illimitable markets. We will not retreat from either. We will not repudiate our
duty in the archipelago. We will not abandon our opportunity in the Orient. We
will not renounce our part in the mission of our race, trustee, under God, of
the civilization of the world. And we will move forward to our work with
gratitude and thanksgiving to Almighty God that He has marked us as His chosen
people, henceforth to lead in the regeneration of the world.
Our
largest trade henceforth must be with Asia. The Pacific is our ocean. . . . And
the Pacific is the ocean of the commerce of the future. . . . The power that
rules the Pacific, therefore, is the power that rules the world. And, with the
Philippines, that power is and will forever be the American Republic.