The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-07-16
DISPUTED QUESTIONS
Which viii Be Solved BY the
.... Commissioners
FOR sAsr1Alao1's SURRENDER.

It Cannot BE Possible That There
win He Failure III Completing
Arrankennents-fhe Transportation
Problen.
Washington, July 16.-There was a
long and anxious wait yesterday to
hear further news from the. commits
sioners who had been charged to make
arrangements for the surrender of the
Spanish army at Santiago. It was
thought the cable had been interrupted.
but on inquiry Of General Greedy. chief
signal officer, he gave assurance that
the cable was frtaet. A dispatch from
Lieutenant Jones. military censor at
Playa Del Este, reported that a mes
sage from the secretary OF war to
General Shafter was only six minutes
In passing from Washington to Playa.
In the afternoon dispatches from
General Miles and General Shafter be-
gan to arrive. They were not given out
in full. but such portions as were made
public showed that the negotiations
were still in progress and that the
Spaniards had raised some rather un-
expected questions. Most important of
these was an insistance that the Span
ish troops should retain their arms
when they returned to Spain. There
was entire willingness on the part of
General Toral to turn over the arms
to General Shafter at the time Of sur
render, but with this was to be the I'M
Outstanding that the arms were to be
returned to the Spanish troops when
Spanish soil was reached. This was
condition which had not been antici-
pated. The authorities here did not
regard 1t as serious, or as likely to
overcome final settlement. as 1t was
attributed to the Spanish sensitiveness
against the humiliation involved In the
laying down Of their arms. At the
same time it was a point on which
neither appeared to be ready to yield.
One of the dispatches from the front,
after specifying that this difference
had arisen. added that it was believed
a settlement would soon be reached.
General Shafter himself summed up
the situation by saying: 1T cannot be
possible that there will be failure in
completing arrangements" No ques-
tion whatever has been raised as to
the surrender itself. Not only has Gen.
eral Toral agreed to 1t, but this agree
ment has been ratified by General
Blanco at Havana and by the Spanish
authorities at Madrid.
The perpexing problem now to be
solved is how to carry out the pledge
made by General Shafter to remove the
Spanish soldiers who surrender to
Spain. 1t would have been no easy
undertaking to remove the $4,000 men
across the Atlantic under the best con-
ditions. but the reports that indicated
the existence of yellow fever among
the Spaniards threatened all kinds of
difficulties. After all. it was decided to
be only matter of money, and If the
price offered is large enough steamship
lines can doubtless be found to UNDER
take the transportation.
AT the best several weeks will be re-
quired to remove the Scaniards so
that it will be necessary to maintain a
considerable proportion Of the Ameri-
can army in the neighborhood for some
time. Still, being under no care to pro-
tect themselves against the foe, the
American troops can be so disposed
as to make themselves very comfort
able in comparison with what they
have undergone, and by removing them
into the hills just in the rear of San
tiago, it is believed that the danger Of
an extension of the yellow fever will he
reduced so far that 1t will not long be
cause for grave apprehension. The
surgeons reports describe the disease
as of mild type, and it is said that
this will readily yield to change Of
location into higher and cooler ground.