The times., 1898-04-14

Inc "aihe aHa1r NlN1dly Portrayed
| In his handling of the Maine affair
| Senator Foraker was at his best. Here
! IT was he did some of his finest word
| painting. The audience was with him.
and frequently attested its approval by
manifestations of applause which were
not suppressed by the presiding officer.
| Describing the destruction of that mag
| niticent ship. Mr.. Foraker pointed out
| the laws regulating the possession of ex-
| plosives in Havana and showed that it
would have been impossible for any pri-
| vate citizen to have been possessed of
! submarine mine such as blew up the
Maine. 1t was government property and
| under governmental control just as
much as were the guns of Moro Castle
Would anyone have questioned the re-
! sponsibility of Spain, had the Maine been
sent to the bottom by a shot from the
| guns of that fort?" asked Mr.. Foraker
He asserted that it would have been an
act of war, but not more an act of war
than was the destruction of the Maine
| through another agency under control
of the government of Spain. The senator
/ that great ship in words that burned into
the hearts of his hearers, and, in proving
| the case he was making against Spain
| upon an indictment that could not be
quashed, he brought vividly before the
Senate the condition of the keel plates of
| the vessel, bent upwards, forcd through
thirty feet of steel and wood until they
stood four feet above the water and
thirty-four feet above where they belong
ed. Such a condition of affairs could not,
Mr.. Foraker said, have been caused by
any internal explosion. unless the
laws of nature had been reversed and the
laws of nature We're the same today they
were on the night of the 18th of February
last.
Remarkable Outburst of Patriotism.
The peroration of the speech abounded
| in patriotism and aroused the enthusiasm
Of those whose sensibilities have not been
| duled by too frequent contact with the
influences that prevail at the White
House and shed themselves in great
chunks in the cloak rooms of the Senate
when Mr. Hanna and Mr.. Elkins are
around. Mr.. Foraker knows the horror
Of war from actual contact with war, but
he asserted that nothing but a maudlin
sentmentality would permit an Ameri
| can in the face of existing conditions to
appeal to the horrors of war as an ex-
| cuse for further delay and continued III
plomatic negotiations. He waved the
doubling, the hesitaing and the timid to
the rear and called upon broad minded
| patriotic Americans to take up the flag
of their country and carry 1t to the front
and wipe out the insult that had been
heaped upon it; avenge the death of
American sailors murdered in the harbor
of Havana, and free a people struggling
for that which was now the dearest
possession of the people of the United
States.
A Wave of Applause.
AS Senator Foraker concluded a tre-
mendous wave of applause swept through
the galleries and the echo was ken up
on the floor. Senator's and members
| crowded around and warmly grasped him
by the hand and congratulated him upon
the great speech he had just made. Dur
ing all the time he was on the floor not a
senator moved; the stiffness. save for the
| periods of applause, was intense so eager
were the crowd to drink in every word
but as he finished there gathered about
him men of note in the national body
anxious TO shake the hand of the man
who had had the courage to say what
they themselves believed to be the solemn
truth The Vice President was compelled
TO sharply call for order a number of
times before this impromptu ovation
could be stopped and the proceedings con-
tinued. II was moment in winch man
even of Senator Foraker's ability might
well feel proud
Senator Lodge followed in a speech ad-
vocaung the policy suggested by the Ad-
ministration and he, in turn, was fol-
lowed by Mr.. Lindsay who argued in
favor of the recognition of the present
Republic OF Cuba.
The resolutions will come up today and
vote on them may be reached
Proceedings in Detail.
Senator Davis was the first man on
his feet yesterday morning at the opening
Of the Senate He held in his hand the
! report of the Committee on Foreign Re
lations in reference to the Presidents
message and the Maine-Spanish-C Cuban
question. He said:
81 am directed by the Committee on
Foreign Relations to report the follow
ing resolutions with n report on the same
and ] ask that they be read"
After the reading Of the resolutions,
which are printed elsewhere, and report
which took considerable time Mr. For
aker obtained the floor. He was request
ed by Mr.. TuTpie TO yield for moment
while he submitted a supplementary re-
port of the minority of the committee
Mr.. Hoar then arose and said he want
ed to know what was before the Senate
On being informed by the Vice President
that the report of the Foreign Relations
Committee was before the Senate Mr.
Hoar demanded that it go over for a
day according to the rules
Mr.. TurDie: AS a minority report l
offer the following:
The undersigned members OF the said
committee concur in the report made on
the Cuban resolution, but we favor the
/ immediate recognition of the Republic
of Cuba as now organized in that island
as full. Independent and sovereign
power. and to be recognized as such
throughout the world and that the
United States hereby recognizes the Re
publican government of Cuba as the true
and lawful government Of that island
This report was signed by Senators
Foraker, Turpie, Mills and Daniel
Mr. Foraker here attempted to speak,