Evening journal., 1898-07-13
THE CABINET CRISIS
Sagasta May Be Forced to
Remain at the Helm.
PUBLIC SENTIMENT FAVORS PEACE.
Influential Journals Urge the Government
TO Ask For Conditions of Surrender.
Military Circles Only Advocate
Further Resistance.

LONDON, July 13.-The Madrid cor
respondent Of The Times says:
THE crisis hangs fire. The ministers
still meet In couDcil and the difficulties
Of retirement Seem even greater than
the difficulties of remaining in office.
The Conservatives are not prepared to
accept office and II is hard TO imagine
a Liberal cabinet without an undisputed
Liberal leader. The logical conclusion
Is that Senor Sagasta must accept the
responsibility of deciding whether or not
to open peace negotiations.
What is required is that he should
make up his mind on that essential
point If he resolutely adopts q peace
policy, nearly all his colleagues will
support him. and for those who do not
substitutes can be found If, on the
contrary, he decides to continue the
struggle, he must largely remodel the
cabinet. For the moment he appears
to hesitate between the two courses.
perceiving clearly no doubt. by the light
OF his long experience of political life,
the dangers of both.
"On the one hand general public opin.
ion seems now decidedly in favor OF
peace. Nearly an the influential pa
pers recognize that the supplies in Cuba
are not, nearly so great as was sup
posed; that Porto Rico could not long
resist a formidable attack; that since
America has now obtained undsputed
command Of the sea Spain cannot longer
assist her colonies in their efforts
against a powerful invader and that
she will obtain better conditions now
than when her powers of resistance are
completely exhausted. on the Other
hand. military circles still favor holding
out and are beginning to use very vio.
lent war language. The three chief mill.
tary organs all publish articles urging
resistance to the uttermost and en-
ploylng against the partisans of peace
terms of invective which / refrain from
reproducing.
IF they represent faithfully the gen.
eral state of feeling i'm the army I car
understand Mt least one Of the reasons
why Senior Sagasta hesitates to adopt o
resolute peace policy.
I'm the course of his long political life
Sagasta has lived under all kinds OF
governments. from repressive absolut.
ism 10 anarchical republicanism, and he
has taken an active part i'm more thar
one revolution. No man Is more capa-
BILE OF gauglng accurately the real i'm.
pOrtance OF any current Of public opin.
ion and of weighing accurately interna
against external dangers. His hesita.
tion. however. cannot continue much
longer, for a majority OF his colleagues
insist upon some decision being taker
without further delay.
"The newspapers quote long extracts
from an important work on Cuba pub.
lished by General Polavieja. who spent
20 years there, rising from the RANK OF
sublieutenant to be captain general, be.
sides filling with distinction several i'm.
portant civil posts, including the gov.
ernor generalShip. It is rather surpris.
ing to find from his correspondence thai
his political views differed radically
from those OF official circles In Madrid.
"At a comparatively early period Gen.
eral Polavieja arrived at the conclusion
that Cuba could not remain permanent.
ly a Spanish colony, and when this con.
viction ripened. he wrote endless letters
to private and official friends urging the
necessity of making timely preparations
for an amicable separation In 1879
when governor of Puerto Principe, he
wrote General Blanco, explaining thai
the Cubans would never abandon theii
efforts for independence and the United
States never relax its schemes for an
neXation He argued. therefore, tha
Spain ought to prepare to grant inde
pendence in order to avoid being eject
ed violently with loss to the nationa
interests and stain to the nationa
honor
when he became governor general
Polavieja, perceiving the ever CROWNS
danger Of an American attack. urgeC
the government to build six cruisers
and 20 floating batteries for the protec
tion of the Cuban coast His policy il
short was to grant friendly independ
ence as soon as possible. but so long al
Spain retained the island to be stronl
enough to suppress insurrection and {,
resist foreign invasion"
The Madrid correspondent of Thl
Daily Mail says: "Senor Sagasta. OF
being asked whether a decision hat
been taken regarding peace. replied
No but what remedy can there be bu
TO make peaceY
THE Ministerialists assert that tn
regular army in Cuba does not object {,
a conclusion Of peace. but that the 26. OO
volunteers are determined to continu
the war"