The Opelousas courier., 1895-03-23
Washington Letter.
From our Regular Correspondent.

WASHINGTON, March 18, 1895.
President Cleveland got back from
his little outing in splendid condition,
aud he lost no time in jumping into the
pile of work which had accumulated
during his absence. One of the first
official things he did after his return
was to familiarize himself with the inn
portant diplomatic occurrences of the
last few days, and the next was to in
dorse the strong letter sent to Spain by
Secretary Gresham, demanding an apol-
ogy for the firing at the U. S. mail
steamer Alliance by a Spanish war ves-
gel ard the of such orders by
Spain as will make it impossible for u
also serving notice that this government
demanded and would enforce the right
OF it's mercantile vessels to use the reg
ular channels of commerce regardless
of their nearness to Cuba, without mo-
lestatiOn from Spanish warships. Sec
reraIy Gresham's position in this matter
ls generally endorsed, although repub-
licans qualify their endorsement by say
ing that ii he had waited the apology
would have come without any demand
for it. That may be true, but it does
not lessen the importance of Secretary
Gresham's letter. The apology is a
| 6lloAl Lu0gJOA COLupdICu Will lilo uOUfC0
that q mail steamers shall not be shut
out of the use of the regular channels
OF commerce every time Spain declares
martial law in Cuba because of a revolt.
There is some talk of a severance of di-
plomatic relations between the United
States and Spain. The Spanish minis
ter has by his foOl-talk, criticising Sec,
rotary Gresham through the newspapers,
furnished ample excuse for giving him
his passports, but it will hardly be done,
unless Spain starts the ball by sending
Minister Taylor home.
Gov. Oates, of Ala, was known dur
ing his extended Congressional career
as a man who always kept in touch with
the rank and file of the democratic par
ty of this section; hence his opinion on
both interesting and valuable. He said,
while in Washington lin my opinion
the South will not split on the silver
question. know that great differences
exist both III the south and west, but
those differences are very largely the
result Of a failure to understand the fl
nancial question. There is one thing
in connection with this question that
has been seemingly overlooked by some
people. The people of the south favor
silver, but they do not favor a single
SliVer
1t is always just as we'll to wait until
fully Informed on any matter before ex-
pressing opinions. A case in point is
the opening of the Baltic and North sea
canal by the Emperor of Germany, next
June. When the United States accept
ed an invitation to send naval vessels
to take part IN the ceremonies, which
are to be held at KEEL, Secretary Her.
bert said he would send the San Fran
cisco and the Marblehead. Straightway
the friends of naval officers who wish to
go to Kiel raised a howl about the dig
nifty of the q. S. being lowered by such
an Insignificant showing, etc., taking it
for granted that only tile San Francisco
and Marblehead were to go. Now Sec
rotary Herbert eve said that only
those two vessels would be sent. As a
matter OF fact, which might easily have
been aecertained by his critics, Secre-
tary Herbert will not determine how
many U. S. ships shall be sent to Kiel
until Informed Of the number other ma
tons will send.
There has been much talk about the
unusual action of the Italian ambassa-
dor, in writing to the Colorado State
officials concerning the recent killing of
Italians in that State, instead of leaving
the matter with the State Department.,
but there is NC probability that any Off
cial notice will be taken of the imperti-
nenee-that's the only name for it-of
the ambassador.