The times., 1898-10-26
SDunish bonds.

| a purpose best known to himself
and others responsible for the arrange
ment. Since the arrival of that mes
/ seneer he has sent daily cable dis
patch to the Washington paper under
| his control of a character which may
| perhaps explain his employment With
| the exception of his first epigrammatic
message, which sounded too much like
George Gray to be repeated with safety,
| there need he no doubt as to the ques-
! tion of authorship. Nor should there
be any question of the messengers
cheerful anxiety to earn his keep and
do whatever Mr.. Mckinley thought he
could do when he signed his commits
sion.
Nobody but The Times appears to
have noticed the thoughtful remarks of
the signed kilograms, or the wildly
adoring and explanatory editorials to
match. This fact must deeply distress
the President, for whose sake only we
consent TO break an amused silence
which otherwise would be unanimous
On the accepted theory that Mr.. Nc
Kinley's special messenger at public eX-
pense was hurried over the wave To
furnish the financial friends of the Ad-
ministration with reliable mouthpiece
through which to trumpet the proper
things from the Peace Commission, TO
placate American sentiment on the sub
jects of Philippine surrender and the
Spanish debt there may be some reason
to fear that there is disappointment in
the White House regarding results.
That some were expected is evident
from the frankness with which the ar
rangement has been advertised by the
kitchen cabinet circle. The strange
apathy shown even by the Administra-
tion press in t.:using to become excited
over the matter rather justifes the
comic opera impression that the small!
adventure appears to create in the city
where circumstances and antecedents
are best known.
We must assume that the messages
of the messenger represent TO the extent
Of his ability what he was sent to trans
nit, and hence they may be taken as
indicia of the purposes of his mission.
II will be noticed that they begin and
end with a wild declaration that the
=
rugged patriots who have been sternly
ordered by President Mckinley never to
talk or think of surrendering one inch
of Philippine territory. or of even con-
sidering the assumption of one peseta
of Spanish debt. But somewhere about
the intestinal region of these linguistic
wonders there always appears u saw
ing clause TO the effect that of course
when it comes to the question of Cuban
local or municipal debts, the Commits
sioners, out of a sense of equity and of
amiability, will doubtless see that they
are paid, presumably in cases where the
securities representing them are in the
right hands In other words, it would
be only fair to reimburse Spain-or the
Spanish bondholders-for money squan-
dered in giving the cities and provinces
a kind of government for the exist
ence of which we have driven Spain out
of the whole island.
II is plainly observable that the "mu-
nicipal" Cuban debt question has be-
come an active one in Paris only since
the special messenger delivered the dis
patches which he carried to the Com
missioners and other interested parties
on his arrival at the French capital. AS
a question, ii may be considered d neat
one. Day so regards it, or we are much
mistaken. 1t is very probable that, in
the course of his wide experience and
deep reading in connection with inter-
national affairs and law, since he left
Canton, he has discovered the very
elastic quality of the term municipal"
as treated by the writer's. Thus the
Cuban revolution was considered a
merely 'municipaI' insurrection
against constituted authority. Our
courts so held it in decisions under the
neutrality laws. 1t is an omnibus ex-
preston as used in diplomacy. Omni-
bus. because the driver and guard can
crowd any number of meanings, con-
venient to the proprietary, into it long
after the seats and standing room have
been occupied. Thus we see that while
municipal debts may be given the
meaning familiar To ordinary Ameri-
cans before the elections, ii will be easy,
later, to explain that whereas the
Cuban war, covering the entire island.
was strictly "municipaI" revolt, so il
must be plain that the debt contracted
by Spain for its suppression, and, Incl
dentally, for the butchery and exter-
mination of the Cuban people, should
be equally regarded as a municipal
debt.
A much bolder admission of Admins
tration post-election purposes. than we
can find in the return bail dispatches
from the special messenger, is con-
tanned in the Paris correspondence of
strong Administration papers in the
East, having close alliances with the
Spanish-Cuban bond syndicate. Such
organs do not appreciate or seem to
care what the effect of their frankness
may be upon the fortunes of Mr. Nc
kinley, Mr.. Hanna and others They
state openly that while the American
any idea of the assumption of Spanish
Cuban debts by the United States. they
Will give Spain to understand that. by
and by, there will be stable govern
ment' established by the American
power in Cuba, and it will be quite ap-
propriate to negotiate with that govern
ment for its assumption of the burden
incurred to crush and murder the peo-
pie it will be presumed to represent.
The hint is prophetic and significant.
The American Executive, according to
its own program will have apt;ra