The record-union., 1896-03-18


and people anywhere.
Morgan said he had not proposed to
notice that position Of Sherman, but
now that it had been brought forward,
he would say that he did not agree with
Sherman on that subject. He would
| now place against Mr. De Lome's state
ment that of Mr.. Quesada, the repre-
sentative of the Cuban Republic at
| Washington, who sent the case in be-
| half Of Cuba to the Department of
State-which statement the Secretary
| of State sent to the Committee on
Foreign Relations.
strip Mr.. De Lome," said Morgan,
'of his royal commission and put him
on his Spanish blood, on his character
and his history (of which know moth
| ing). Then bring Mr.. Quesada here on
| his history and Spanish blood and
! character (of which 1 know nothing),
and confront them as they are con-
| fronted through the newspapers, and
let them both speak"
Morgan sent to the Clerks desk and
had read Quesada's letter to a Wash
| ington paper describing several horri-
bic atrocities alleged to have been per-
petrated in Cuba during the last re-
bellion, in which General Weyler is
represented as having had ladies strip
! ped naked, whipped and given up to
| the lust of his troops.
The reading was interrupted by
Chandler (Rep) of New Hampshire on
the ground that the statements were
! too indecent for public rehearsal, but
Hale insisted that the reading should
| be proceeded with, in order to show
| how utterly unworthy of credit the
| statements were.
Then Morgan had sent to the Clerk $
| desk and read a story from the New
! York 'Tribune"-high authority, he
said, on account of its anti-Cuban sem
! timent-as to the execution of seven
| students in Havana in 1878 on suspi-
cion of having desecrated the grave of
| Spanish General in the cemetery.
Hale inquired what name was signed
to the article, and was told that there
was no name signed to it. He said
| that he thought that some authority
should be given for such statements.
Morgan disagreed with him on that
point 1t was like a statement in any
public history. The Tribune" was the
historian in the case 1t selected ex-
tracts with the view of informing the
| people of the United States, and it
would not publish such a letter unless
it was clearly authentic.
Morgan read other communications
charging barbarities by the Spanish
troops during the last rebellion; also an
interview with General Daniel E. Sick
les, who was at that time United States
Minister to Spain, recently published
in the New York "Sun," and which
Morgan admitted had been politely sent
to him by General Sickles.
Morgan said he might have rested
the whole case on that interview with
General Sickles. He did not choose to
cucumber the Record" with more of
these statements, further than to show
that a state of open, horrid war existed
in Cuba, war involving the property,
rights, liberties and lives of American
citizens who happen to be there. The
line of action for Congress to take was
to declare that open war exists in Cuba,
and that the laws of war shall apply
to it.
He had expected to have an oppor-
tunity to answer some of the filings
thrown at the Committee on Asoreign
Relations by the Senators from Maine
and Massachusetts (Hale and Hoar)
but the occasion was one of too great
| solemnity and too great Importance to
permit him to thrust himself into the
debate, either personally or as a mem
Der of the Committee on Foreign Rela-
tions. The committee had most faith
fully and attentively examined into the
| great mass of petitions referred to it,
and had undertaken to conform its
opinion to that expressed by the great
body of American citizens.
In winding up his speech, Morgan
was very severe on american emigres
in the great cities of Europe" (who
owned or controlled newspapers in
London, Paris and New York, and who
| flared up when the Senate uttered a
word of sympathy for Cuba), and he
referred contemptuously to "the recent
| fiasco' of publishing an alleged dis
patch from the Spanish Premier He
would commend to the Spanish Premier
the proverb about the f1eas which tor
ment those who would consort with the
canine race. He stated without hesi-
| fancy that the appeal of Cuba for JUS
| tice, humanity and mercy had lin his
case) fallen on dumb ears and hardened
heart
| He suffered the taunts which he had
received in communications with the
North as to his sympathy with negro
! insurgents in Cuba, and lie declared
! that he would rather be in the Cabinet
| OF Government with a Gomez and a
| Maceo than in a Cabinet of a Govern
ment with a Valmazda, and Weyler. He
! preferred, and the American people de-
manded, that Spain should not deprive
| Americans in Cuba of their property.
| If neither party to the struggle in Cuba
could defend the rights and property
! of American citizens who were there
/ then he proposed that the Government
4 Of the United States should intervene
1 to protect them at the risk of shocking
/ the refined sense of propriety with
which some Senators seemed to be
/ troubled. While the American people and
! Congress had expressed their opinion
in a way which was practically unan-
! imous. if the President did not inter
fere he would have to assume the re-
sponsibility.
! Now that Spain was engaged in a war
with Cuba that was perfectly hopeless,
| he thought that Congress might be
pardoned for expressing the opinion
| that war prevailed there; that the Gu
/ buans were entitled to the rights of
belligerents, and that the people of the
United States We're entitled to the OPP
portunities and duties of neutrality.
He did not want to give such an ap-
| parent ground for criticism; but if
that fanatic and deluded monarchy
committed acts of hostility against the
United States, then the United States
would be compelled to take up the gage
/ of war.