Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1897-12-11

should such q step be now taken when
Il 6 apparant that 8 hopeful change
has surerveaed GA the policy of Spain
toward Cnba7 a new Eove anment has
taken Office In the mother country. II
is pledged iu advance To the declaration
that all the effort ln the world cannot
suffice TO maintain peace Ia Cuba by the
bayonet that vague promises 81 reform
after subiugation affected no solution
Of the insular problem, that with a
substitution so commanders must come
a change 81 the past system Of warfare
for one III harmony with a new policy
which shall no longer aim TO drive the
Cubans to the horrible alternative Of
taking to the thloket or succumbiug in
misery"
The first acts Of the new government
lie in these honorable paths. The policy
OF cruel rapine and determination that
so long shocked the universal sentiment
Of humanity has been reversed. Under
the new military comma nder a broad
clemency is pronered. Measures have
already been set en- foot to relieve the
horrors Of starvation. The power Of
the Spanish armies, Il is asserted. is TO
be urged not to spread ruin and desc
lation. but 70 protect the resumption
Of peaceful agricultural pursuits and
productive industries. That past meth
DDS are futile to force a peace by sub
jugation Is freely admitted, and that
ruin without Cancellation must In
evitably fail to win for Spain the fidei-
ity of a contented dependency
The president then details the scheme
Of autonomy for Cuba proposed BY the
Sagasta cabinet. declares that 1.-The
government Of Sagasta has entered
upon a course from which recession
with honor Is impossible" and de-
clares further:
GIVE SPAIN A CHANCE.
shall not impugn its sincerity nor
should Impotence be suffered to en-
barrass it in the task it has undertaken.
1t is honestly due to Spain and to our
friendly relations with Spain that she
should be given a reasonable chance
to realize her executions and to prove
the asserted efficacy of the new order
of things, to which she stands irrevo-
cably committed. She has recalled the
commander whose brutal orders in
famed the American mind and shocked
the civilized world She has modified
the horrible order of concentration and
has undertaken to care for the helpless
and permit those who desire to resume
the cultivation OF their fields to do so
and assures them the protection of the
Spanish government in their lawful
occupations. She has just released the
competitor prisoners heretofore SEN
fenced to death ana who have been the
subject of repeated diplomatic CORE
spondenee during both this and the
preceding administration.
/ Not a single American citizen is now
/ in arrest or confinement in Cuba of
whom this government has any knowl-
edge. The near future will demonstrate
whether the indispensable condition of
a righteous peace, just alike to the
/ Cubans and to Spain, as we'll as equita-
/ Bile to all our interests, SO intimately in
voIved in the welfare of Cuba, is likely
to be attained. If not, the exigeney of
| further and other action by the United
States will remain to be taken. When
that times comes that action will be de-
termined in line of indisDutable right
and duty. 1t will be faced, without
nisgiving or hesitancy.
/ Sure of the right, keeping free from
/ I'll offense ourselves, actuated only by
/ upright and patriotic considerations.
.loyed neither by passion nor SELFISH
ness, the government viii continue it's
watchful care over the rights and
property of American citizens and will
abate none of its efforts to bring about
by peaceful agencies a peace which
shall be honorable and enduring. If
it shall hereafter appear to be duty
imposed by our obligations to ourselves,
to civilization and humanity to inter-
vene with force, it shall be without
fault on our part, and only because the
necessity for such action viii be so
clear as to command the support and
approval of the civilized world,
HAWAIIAN ANNEXATION
BY a special message dated the 18th
day of June last l laid before the SEN
ate treay signed that day by the
plenipotentiaries of the United States
and of the republic Of Hawaii, having
for its purpose the Incorporation of the
Hawaiian Island as an integral part
of the United states and under its
sovereignty. The senate having re-
moved the injunction of secrecy, al
though the treaty is still pending before
that body. the subject may be properly
referred to in this message, because
the necessary action OIL the congress Is
required to determine by legislation
many details of the eventual union
should the fact of annexation be ac-
complished, as l believe it should be.
While consistently disayowing from
very early period any aggressive
policy of ABSORPTION in regard to the
Hawaiian group, a large series of dec
larations through three-quarters of a
century has proclaimed the vital in
terest of the United States in the in
dependent life of the islands and their
intimate commercial dependence upon
this country At the same time 1t has
been repeatedly asserted that in no
event could the entity of Hawaiian
statehood cease by the passage of the
islands under the domination or in
fiuence of another power than the
United States Under these circum-
stances the logic of events required
that annexation, heretofore offered but
declined, should in the ripeness of time
come about as the natural result of the
strengthening ties that bind us to those
islands and be realized by the free will
of the Hawaiian state
That treaty was unanimously rati-
fed without amendment by the senate
and president of the republic Of Ha-