The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-03
President McKinley's Message to
Spain.

Gen. WooDFoRD has arrived at San Sebas-
tian, the summer capital of Spain, and
within the next ten days, very probably,
the Spanish Government will be in posses
sion Of part, IL not all, of the views and
purposes of President MCKINLEY's Admin
gistration with respect of the island of Cuba.
The instructions which Minister WOOD
FORD has received from the State Depart
ment are among the most important ever
framed by the executive branch of the Gov
eminent, and the message he has to deliver
in all the accepted forms of polite and
punctilious diplomacy is without doubt
one of the gravest which the New World
has ever sent to the nation that was once
the master of more than half the
continent. Placed in even the most
favorable light, so far as Spain is
concerned, it will be an unwelcome
communication for her to receive, deroga-
tory to her dignity, humbling to her pride,
wounding to her self-esteem, but in our de-
fence and justification as the head of the
American system of States and in the in
terests of outraged humanity we had no
alternative but to send it. To remain
any longer insensible to the suffer
ings Of q heroic people, struggling for
liberty, to persist in keeping our eyes closed
N the scenes of almost savage butchery,
perpetrated daily on an island nearly
within sight Of our shores, would be to
place ourselves on the same level of inhu-
manity with the brutal WEYLER, and to
consent to share in the infamy he has
earned as one of the most bloodthirsty
tyrants of all time.
Our diplomatic relations with Spain have
been, as q rule, of a tempestuous character.
We had scarcely begun our life as a nation
when the Government of that country, in
its traditional greed of power and ommer-
cial monopoly, sought to encroach upon our
territory and to deny our just right to the
free navigation of the Mississippi River
except on conditions that would have
been onerous and oppressive on our trade.
So grievous were the wrongs then inflicted
on a portion of the colonies that they were
almost forced to submit to the tyrannical
claims of Spain and to abandon the navi-
cation of the great river for a period of
twenty-five or thirty years. The PROPOSE
tion almost divided the colonies into two
considerations, with the New England
States, New York, Pennsylvania, and New
Jersey on one side and Virginia, North
and South Carolina, Maryland, Georgia,
and What was then vaguely called the
.s Western country on the other. 1t was the
first serious conflict of rival interests
among the colonies and put their union I'M
der the confederation In the gravest peril.
The question was still open and irri.
tating when WASHINGTON became Pres,
- ident. Spain, In the in~solence of her
power. had yielded nothing and refused to
e. vaabA INV ropcaaaipp a~oart nv bn. o,u,
terms. To THOMAS JEFFERSON, as Score.
taRy Of State, fell the task of maintaining
the American side of the controversy, and
che splendid ability with which he present,
cd the case in his luminous letter of instruc,
tionsto Messrs. CARMICHAEL and SHORT. our
Commissioner to negotiate a treaty with
= Spain, is a monument OF his learning and
craftsmanship. But before Spain entered
" 1nto'a satisfactory arrangement with us on
= that important question. involving the prog
4 ress. the security, and perhaps even the
fidelity OF the Western part of the Union
"a~7JEFFERsoN was compelled thus to present
the mailed hand to the Spanish King:
I'VE love and We value peace, we know Its bless
2 ings from experienced; unmeddling with tho AFFAIRS Of
other nations, we had hoped that our distance anC
dispositions would have left us free. In the OK
epple and Indulgence OF peace with all tn,
world. We had with sincere and particular dis
positions. courted and cultivated the friendship
OF Spain. Cherishing the same sentiments, W,
have chosen to sscribe the unfrlendIy insinu
A'ions OF the Spanish Commissioners, In thei
Intercourse with the Government OF the Unite,
states' to the peculiar character OF the writer's, an,
to remove the cause from them To their sovereign, Il
whose Justice and love OF peace wo have confidence
II We are disappointed In this appeal, II we are to b
Forced Into a contrary order OF things, on
'nind Ia made up. we shall meet It with nrn
ness. The necessity OF our position will SUMO,
sede all appeal TO calculation now. as It has don
- hsEstofose- We 0Onnds In our own strength