Washington sentinel., 1898-07-16

Why is it that the European
powers eVinLe a leverish anxiety
to see the present war brought to
a closer With the exception Of
Austro- Hungary, the sovereign OF
which may be presumed to feel
some personal sympathy tor his
second cousin, the Queen Regent
Christina, the great European
States regard the contest between
our country and Spain very much
as they regarded the contest be-
tween Turkey and Greece. They
shudder at the appalling conse-
quences Of the next general war,
so colossal are the existing aTma-
ments and to such pitch OF deadly
perfection have firearms been
brought. Thev know, too, that a
general war may grow at any hour
out of a local one, seeing that,
by the telegraph wires which gir-
die it, the globe has been con-
verted into bundle of nerves that,
receiving a shock at one point, feel
a responsive thrill in every cell
and flament. The determination
evinced by the great powers to
encyst and stifle the war in Thes-
sally was prompted by the same
dire experience that has taught
farmers on the prairie to smother
a FIRE at its inception. Now it will
be easy to show that, by our inter-
position in Cuba, we have signally
promoted the desire OF the Euro
pean Governments to extinguish
as quickly as possible all sporadic
outbreaks Of fame that might lead
to widespread conAagration; and
that.the work OF fire insurance. so
far as we can further it, will only
be rounded out when all the Span
ish colonies shall have been turned
over to US.
For three years the state OF things
In Cuba had been a reproach to
civilization and a menace to the
peace of the world. We say a
menace to the peace of the world
because we could not have per-
sisted much longer in dog-in-the-
manger policy and forbidden the
desperate insurgents to invoke the
aid OF some European power. No
one Of the European powers, how
ever, could have come forward to
rescue the Cubans without provok-
ing the jealousy and enmity OF the
rest. The only interfei ence with
Cuba which, since the time of Can
ming, statesmen on both sides OF
the Atlantic had learned to regard
with equanimity was that OF the
United States. 1t had come to
pass that we held species Of COM
mission to keep the peace in Cuba,
and, had we neglected to discharge
1t, the duty Of delivering the
Cubans from horrible oppression
would have fallen to European
hands, and the supersession oi
Spain by a strong European
power in the Spanish Antilles
would have led. soon or late, to a
partition Of Spanish America, We
alone could upset Spain's colonial
rule without exciting an uncOn-
trollable outburst of envy and
greed in Europe and occasionine
a general scramble for the spoils
Of the New World.
What is true OF Cuba is true o.
Porto Rico; that Spain should keer
il was not conductive to the col.
lective safety. So long as she ex
ercised any power there, that islanc
also would be drebrand, which
when not aAame, would be smoul
dering. The situation of the Phil
ippines even more plainly wa
fraught with danger to the peace o
Christendom. Not only would th'
atrocious treatment of the Philip
Dinos and Tagals in Luzon lead t
periodical revolts, in the course o
which some foreign power woul'
be implored to succor the insur
gents, but response to that ap
peal would have peculiarly grsv
results, because the acquisition Q