The times., 1898-02-13
AN ULT|MATUM TO SPAIN
CONTINUED from First Page.)
not end it, by stopping it with the ma
val and military force Of the United

| not end it, by stopping it with the ma
val and military force of the United
States.
1.-THE -battleship Maine" said this
Senator, could have ended the war
in Cuba in twenty-four hours. 1t is
well known that the provisions in Ha-
vana are not sufficient to last a week.
The Spanish army cannot get sufficient
food to keep it in fighting trim, and
even the officers are underfed. The
blockade of the harbor of Havana by
the Maine and other vessels and the
notice that no more supplies could be
brought into the island would have
brought the government officials to
realizing sense of their position.
Now that this opportunity has been
let go by, the Administration will be
compelled to wait some other act OF
offense by Spain, and even in such a
contingency it is not certain that the
President will do anything. There is a
good deal of commotion at the depart
ment and apparently desire 10 do
something, but no one seems to know
what to do or how it should be done.
Everybody there is afraid of war. while
the whole American people would pre-
fer war to trucking TO Spain such as
has been witnessed for the past few
months"
Secretary of State Sherman, through
all this discussion, has been ignored.
No longer ago than yesterday he WIS
asked by one of his prominent visitors
what he thought Of the situation. and
the Secretary replied that inasmuch as
the Spanish minister denied the letter
that was the end of the whole thing.
Judge Cay has been conducting the
correspondence and il is he who con-
fers with the President The present
situation has made plain the fact that
the present Secretary of State is not
equal to an emergency when il arises.
Another thing that developed yester-
day was the fact that the official re-
ports of Gen. Lee show to the depart
ment that autonomy is a failure and
has been from the start; that there has
never been an honest effort TO insti-
tute genuine autonomy. Minister DE
Lone in his letter admitted that au-
tonomy was but a preteXt to gain time,
and that admission, coupled with the
reports of Gen. Lee, should have been
enough TO have compelled the Presl-
dent to act in accordance with the
tenor of his message to Congress-
The President has said that the hand
of the United States was staid because
Spain had offered autonomy and was
about to inaugurate it; until it had
been given a fair trial the United
States could not interfere. especially in
view of the fact that that autonomy
was the result of the friendly sugges-
tons of this Government. In his mes
sage, however, he intimated if it should
fail, and if the war was not brought
to an end and peace restored, the
United States would be compelled to
Interfere. 1t looks To the average
statesman that the De Lone letter was
ample proof that all the predictions
with respect to Cuba had failed. and
the hour had come for the United
States to deliver ii. TIE failure of the
President TO do this is disappointing to
his own party, and TO the whole coun-
try.
The next move on the board viii be
awaited with more than usual interest
Spain viii disavow De Lome's letter
and any protest this Government might
see lit to make would be neutralized.