The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-08
HANNIS TAYLOR STILL HOT.
SPANISH OFFER OF REFORM IN Gu
BA DECLARED A SHAM.

Claim Made That Premier Sagnstn's
scheme COntempIates CircumVent-
ing the Hostility of the COrtes by
the Assumption That the Legisla-
tive Power of the Spanish King
dom Is Vested in the Crown Alone.
MIR. Taylor Satisfied 1t Is Doomed
to Defeat and Would Prove a
Fraud If Adopted.
Mobile Ala, Dec. 7-Ex-M Minister to
| Spain, Hon. Hannis Taylor gives out the
| following: "The Associated Press has re-
quested me to express my views as to
that part of the Presidents message which
relates to the Cuban question. Putting
aside the irrelevant matter by which it is
| encumbered, the substance of the only rec
ommendation actually made by the eXecu-
! tive to congress upon that subject is that
this government cannot venture to do any.
thing to put an end to the inhuman strife
which during the last three years has re-
| duced the island almost to a desert be-
cause there is the prospect of a settle.
ment between the combatants upon the
basis of so-called plan of autonomy late
ly put forth by the Sagasta ministry. 1
believe that congress should finally and
| scornfully reject such a policy of irresolu-
tion and non-action, because the assump-
| ton upon which it is founded is an empty
| illusion. The vital question at issue has
| not been touched by the revolutionary ef-
fort of Sagasta to end the war by means
| of a craftily incomplete proposition that
| carries with it no constitutional guaran.
| tee whatever All who are familiar with
| the Spanish constitution know that valid
n colonial
| involves not only the repeal of all existing
| laws upon that subject but also the trans
| fer of the control of the large part of the
! national revenues of Spain to a cOlonin
| legislature, cannot be made except by an
act passed by both houses of the Cortes,
| and approved by the queen regent. The
| effort just made to secure that result by
! a mere royal decree unsupported by par
! liamentary action, has, therefore, been
| justly denied by Romero Robledo, the late
| minister of justice, as purely revolution
| airy proceeding in defiance of the consti-
| tuition
Under such circumstances Castillo
| thought it eXpedient for circumventing the
| legislature by assuming that the entire
/ legislative power of the Spanish kingdom
| is vested in the crown alone.
| "Sagasta, confronted by the same diff
| Guilty. has in like manner resorted to the
| unconstitutional attempts to legislate by
| royal decree. Knowing that the nation is
| against him he does not dare to state his
| proposals clearly upon the main question;
| and it is known that if he should assert
| even his incomplete scheme to the pres
ent cortes, it would be renounced entirely,
| or so amended as to deprive it of all vi
tality. Until the Sagasta plan has first
been enacted into law by the cortes it can
not rise TO the dignity of a proposal; from
| a legal and constitutional point of view it
| is only so much waste water. In one par
ticular the cabinets at Washington and
Madrid are in identically the same situa-
ton. Both are striving with all their
| might either to defy or circumvent the ma
tional will as embodied in their respective
| legislatures.
But even if the Sagasta plan possessed
| constitutional validity a careful inspection
of its artful terms must reveal the fact
that like the pretentious sham put forth
| by CanoVas 1t contains two cardinal pro-
| visos that woud enable the home govern
ment to reduce the whole scheme at any
| moment to zero. The autocrat of Cuba
! has ever been the government general,
! continuance as such with full power to
| crush by veto any and every act of the
! colonial legislature. The following are the
| terms of the provision in question: The
| supreme authorities shall be vested in the
| governor general acting for the crown, to
| which he shall swear allegiance. AS a
| representative of the home government he
/
! and shall act as delegate of the depart
ments of state, war navy and the colo
nies. He is empowered to suspend the
! publication of national laws should he
! deem such publication inadvisable. AS ex-
ecutive of the insular government it shall
| be his duty to sanction and proclaim the
| colonial statutes.
Should he consider an enactment of the
| insuar parliament liable to endanger the
national constitution, or Spains sovereign
| interests in the colony he is authorized to
| forward said enactment before his approV-
| al to the council of ministers of the king
! dom, who will decide within two months.
| Should the home government fail to decide
within the above specified time the govern
or general shall sanction and proclaim the
act of the insular parliament?
In plain language the governor general
can destroy any act of the insular parlia-
| ment by refusing to sanction and pro-
claim it,, or he can have it destroyed by
the ministry at Madrid, of which he is the
| mere agent. The fact that the members
| of such an impotent assembly are to be
elected is of no Importance whatever.
| Il have attempted to demonstrate else
where that the primary cause of the end
less conflict is economic; and that diff
| Guilty can never be removed until Cuba is
independent or possessed of an insular
| parliamentary body that can regulate alb
! solutely her own tariffs. Nothing could
| be more disingenous than the device en-
ployed to obscure the fact that no such
! concession is contemplated. A Cuban par
lament is to be given the power to form
its own tariff, fixing both import and ex-
| port duties, provided the assent of the
home government can be obtained there
to- In case of a disagreement the point
in dispute shall be submitted to a COM
mittee Of members of the cortes, consist
ing of an equal number of peninsulars and
| Cubans.'
Everybody knows that the Cuban dep
uties in the cortes at Madrid are mere
men of straw returned by the governor
! general Even If they were independent,
no change could ever be made in existing
tariffs without the consent of the penin-
sula Spaniards who would never listen
| to such a thing.
"At the end of three years OF whole
sale destruction, provoked by Spain
through unprecedented political and eco
nomic oppression that has brought death
and famine to hundreds Of thousands, the
Spanish crown at last confesses that the
Cubans are right ana that their wrongs
should now be redressed by a generous and