The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1898-03-18
OF. RELATIONS WITH SPAIN.

thoIgu not tuI pnniEntlCu uu!ess aesucu'
otner,yise rher wi! receive no attention.
OF. RELATIONS WITH SPAIN.
1t is useless for Us to close our eyes
to the fact that we are on the verge of
war with Spain. Preparations for
war are bs:ng rapidly pushed on all
sides by the Administration at Wash
ington. The appropriation last week
of $50, 900. 900 by Congress to be placed
at the disposal of President Mckin-
lev was a potent and practical mani
festation of the attitude of that body
which merely voiced the sentiments OF
the United American people.
The report of the Court of Inquiry
which has been investigating the
Maine disaster and the Presidents
message to Congress which will i'm
mediateiy follow that report, will III d
large measure determine whether or
not within the next few weeks we
will be engaged in actual hostilities
with Spain.
The destruction of more than $50
American seamen together with a
$4,000, 600 battle ship has given sud
den turn to the Cuban question and
to the attitude of the United States
towards Spain. The words OF Presi-
dent Cleveland in his annual message
to Congress in December 1896 are
worthy of note at this time. Discuss
ing the Cuban question he says: ut
should be added that it cannot be
reasonably assumed that the hitherto
expectant attitude of the United
States will be indefinitely mainta ned.
While we are anxious to accord all
due respect to the sovereignty OF
Spain, We cannot view the pending
conflict in ali its features, and proper
" apprehend our inevitable close re-
latiuns to it and its possible results
without considering that by the
course of events we may be drawn into
such an unusual and unprecedented
condition, as will fixa limit to over
patient waiting for Spain to end the
contest, either alone or in her own way
or with our friendly cooperation"
When the inability of Spain to
deal successfully with the insurrec
ton has become manifest, and it is
demonstrated that her sovereignty is
extinct il Cuba for all purposes of its
rightfuI existence and when a hope
less struggle for its re-establlshment
has degenerated into strife which
means nothing more than the useless
sacrifice of human life, and the utter
destruction of the very subject matter
of the conflict, situation will be
presented in which our obligations to
the sovereignty of Spain will be sup
erceGed by higher obligations which
we eau hardly hesitate to recognize
and discharge. DGferring the choice
of 2CayS and methods until the time tO1
action arriceS, 1Ce should make them de-
peHd upon the pFec Use conditions there
ecisttag; and they should not be de-
termined upon without giving care
ful heed to every consideration involv-
ing our honor aud interest on the in
terua.ioual duty we owe to Spain,
until we face the contingency sug.
gested, or the situation is by other IN
cjIents imperaticely changed, we
should continue in the line of conduct
heretofore pursued, thus i'll all circum'
stances exhibiting our obedience to
the requirements of public law and
our regard for the duty enjoined upon
US by the position we occupy in the
family OF nations"
With the Cubans starving, the
island devastate !. and the Maine at the
bottom of the Havana Harbor has
not the position ''imperatively chang
ed, and have not our obligations
to the sovereignty OF Spain" been
''superceded by higher obligatio Ms
which we can hardly hesitate to re-
cogni2e and discharge This is the
serious question that confronts the
Administration at this very time,
President Cleveland's words seem al
most prophetic at the present time, in
the light of recent events.
While the official report of the Court
OF Inquiry as 70 the cause of the de-
struction Of the Maine has not been
rendered, yet it is known almost be-
You'd d reasonable doubt that the dis
aster was not caused by an explosion
from within. 1t seems that the
''jingoes' although premature in their
conclusion as to the cause of the
Maine's destruction were not far from
wrong in those conclusions. and the
conservative papers throughout the
land, rightly refusing at first to credit
Il theory, which, if established carries
with il probable international war,
have now generally accepted the view
that the disaster was not the result
OF an accident.
y war at this time with Spain may
bring il other European powers and
ASohlt III tiiC SlOoIho , SehiS VI Ihie NC
caGe witnessing the greatest struggle
of the century. Such result cannot
be too deeply deplored. War is u
calamity at ali times and under any
circumstances, and yet it is at times
necessary and inevitable. 1t is earnest
Iy hoped that the present crisis is not
one OF these times.
From the time of the Crusades the
most dreadful and destructive COLI
fiicts have been waged within the
score OF years Immediately preceding
or succeeding the opening of new
century, and history may be prepar-
ing to repeat itself.
TROUBLE IN TIE CAMP