The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-07-30
OUR PEACE
DEMANDS
Cuban independence Is the
First Demand. :, %.-.. -.
..hFF,ss,,s:ssss .hFs,s:ssssssssssias
PORTO RICO MUST BE OURS.
Doaling Stations in the Ladronea,
d, , Philippines and Carolinss.

Toaling Stations in the Ladrones
, Philippines and Carolines.
AUTONOMY FOR THE PHlLIPPI.:E.
..s1s1Fn1Rr1sss
There Will Be No Reference of ANY Phas,
Of the Question of the Disposition Of the
Islands to Any Concert or Individual
Action by Outside Powers and No sus.
pension Of Military OF Naval Operations
Until Spain Agrees to the Terms Pro.
posed.
Washington, July 3O.-Nearly five
hours earnest discussion by the presi-
dent and his constitutional advisers of
the nature Of the response to be made
by the government to the Spanish over
ture for peace brought no conclusion,
and the subject necessarily was post
poned for further consideration at an
other meeting of the cabinet to be held
today. Such was the formal statement
OF the situation made at the conclusion
OF yesterdays work by each member of
the cabinet who was questioned upon
the subject. A final conclusion, how
ever, ts much nearer than this state
j mentS would seem TO indicate. and in
deed there is little reason to doubt that
an agreement has been reached upon
oil the substantial points at issue, and
that what remains to be done Is rather
to smooth away inequalities and adjust
some very minor points of difference
before making the answer expected by
II. Cambon. which will probably be
Eyen before night.
1.-THE point under discussion during the
greater part Of the meeting was what
disposition should be made Of the Phil
ippines. On the other ISSUES unanimity
developed. There was to be indepen-
dence demanded for Cuba; Porto Rico
was to be ceded to the United States;
coaling stations were to be acquired at
Guam, in the Ladrone islands, and one
in the Caroline Islands. These PROPOSE
tions were disposed of quietly. but
when 1t came to the Philippines some
diversity of opinion was revealed. As
near as can be gathered this did not
relate mainly to the retention of the
Islands: on that proposition a majority
Of the cabinet was speedy recorded in
the negative.
But accepting the broad proposition
that Spain was to be allowed to keep
these possessions. other questions of
Importance developed. and it was felt
that these must be answered definitely
before the subject could be disposed of.
There was no question as to the pro-
priety of demanding the coaling sta
tion in the Philippines and, while there
reasonably might be a difference rf
opinion of the location and extent of
this station, little difficulty was ex-
pected to be encountered in solving
Chat problem. because the matter could
be referred to the naval board, who are
competent to deal with the subject The
perplexing problem was what form of
government should be instituted in the
philippines, and what should be the
nature of the guarantee required of
Spain that the new government should
be liberal and autonomous in char
acter
1hcSc tWo quSSlloIlS hinged OH the
primary decision to interfere at all in
prescribing a change in the conditions
In the Philippines. Some members of
the cabinet felt that the insurgents
under Aguinaldo having acted indc-
pendently Of the United States from the
very beginning Of the insurrection
movement, and having lately shown a
disposition to make trouble for US. had
no moral claim upon the United States
In the settlement of the terms of peace.
On the other hand it was urged that
our government should lose no op-
portunity to extend its principle.
throughout the world and that this
would be done best in the present case
BY requiring Spain to extend genuine
autonomy to the Philippines. 1t was
upon Just such points as this that the |
discussion proceeded all day.
A point which was quickly establish |
ed was that there should be no ref |
erence of any phase Of the question of |
the disposition of the islands to any |
concert or individual action by out
side powers. Another point that was
settled, though there was no formal |
action on 1t, was that no protest agai t
operations pending the peace negotia-
tions would avail In the slightest; that
there would be no armistce no sus-
pension Of operations nor any modif-
cation whatever Of present plans until
the Spanish government had agreed
to the terms proposed.
Incident to the cession of Porto Rico
and the recognition of Cuban indepen-
dence by Spain was the decision that
every vestige of Spanish government
and authority in the Caribbean and
West Indian waters must be removed,
affecting material acquisition of num-
erous islands over which the Spanish
nag flies, one of the most important
Of which is the Isle of Pines. Further
more this sweeping change of author
lty from Spain to the United States in
Dur nearby waters Is to be effective also |
ID quit claim of all Indebtedness as
Iumed by the Spanish government and
charged by her to those islands SO far
ID the United States Is concerned, and
Rll commercial treaties now existing
the Spanish government and
her possessions there and outside pow-
ers are extinguished.
Some discussion was had as to the
probability Of Spanish acceptance of
BUR terms. The views differed, though
It can be stated that several of the
more influential members of the cabi-
net believed that the terms substan-
|ially agreed on would not be accepted
BY Spain at once Others took the
yround that there was every indication
hat she had decided to make terms,
Ind that what now proposed would
Ioon be acceded to to avoid further
disaster.
It was stated today in a high diplo-
natic quarter In such manner as to