Evening star., 1898-02-11
Nt the White House.

The only StZtf s-ltfat mace AT the ceHCiu-
sior u the brief cabinet meeting today re-
garfiug the De LONE incident was that the
President is awaiting further advices from
General Woodford. The member of the Of
fetal family who said this much positively
declined to answer q question whether this
goverr nlrnt viii insist on the Spanish gov
ernment expressing regret at the action OF
Minister de Lone.
Summed uu briefly. however it is said.
with the probability of being correct, that
President Mckinley expects an. apology of
some kind from Spain. He will wait a
ressona bic length Of time for this apology
To ~ conveyed To this government 1t may
Genre from the SPANISH ministry throE@N
General WOodford. or il may be delayed
until the arrival "f the new minister Il Il
is not conveyed through the charge
dsftaires. II j. Eot even understood that
the Pr .sident will insist such an apology
il it i not soon forthcoming. and some of
his closest friends say that he VIII not 90
50. He believes. however. that the Spanish
government Will say something TO condemn
the Offense of De LONE. To do otherwise
would be To half way sanction his insult TO
the President
When the cabinet met this morning at
the usual hour the expectation was that it
would be of importance as bringing on
discussion of the situation. There was nc
discussion. The President made a brief
statement of the situation to date. not even
going fully or III detail into the events, as
he said he supposed the members had
caught the status Of affairs from the pa
pers. Then he wound up by saying that
further advices We're awaited. The Presi-
dent also stated that Judge Day would give
out statements AT the State Department 5
the occasion warranted
II cannot be emphaticaIly stated that the
President viii make inquiries OF Spain as
TO portions of tine De LONE letter affect
ing the policy Of Spain. but ii can be said
that many of his abiest advisers ard clos
est friends pu,tins before him the fact
hat. is11G
there are portions OF the Letter which need
expla1ati ton. These are the portions which
show that this government Is being played
in the matter OF giving trial to att
tonomy and in commercial relations. The
argument is advanced that De LONE id
not sd this in an official communication to
his government. AMI for that reason the
government of Spain cannot be questioned
the subject. buJ others argue that, as
the matter 1t ticed sufficiently to de-
mand the recall OF the Spanish representa-
tive. the letter becomes official enough for
an inquiry into some other things.
What is Urged on the President.
The President is being u-geL to ask
Spain if it is really a fact that there is
no sincerity in the plan of that government
for autonomy and that its representations
to the United States along this line have
been false. TIE next question will be as
to the commercial features which Mr.. De
Lone sneeringiy spoke of IL his letter
II is claimed that if Spain is asked to
explain these features she may be placed
in d bad position. She will have to re-
pudiate De LONE by denying what he says
as being the position of the SpaniariS, or
she will have 20 evade the questions by
diplomatic preteEses. thus admitting that
Mr.. De- LOme's sentiments really repre-
scented his government. If the President
should decide TO do this, the diplomatic
relations of the two countries miSht not
continue cordial up to this time
The PresideEI is being told tnat he ought
to 10 tits Iar many reasons and that ne
can DO 40 with perfect digaIty.
A member Of tla cabinet who asked
as L. the PROBABILITY of the situation
Stunning the foregoing phase as result Of
the letter. declined to tala OF the subject.
II struck him, however, as phase which
might become nore important than Any
yet brought To the front, even the personal
insult TO the 2residea:.
The cabinet, it can be stated. makes no
attempt 10 suggcs, a course of any Kind.
The memoerS TO this time have been
IN perfect accord with the policy of the
President, and are willing that he should
continue 10 direct affairs with Spain. They
say that he is posted on every development
in Cuba and Spain, and that he can be fully
trusted TO handle the entire matter.
Secretary Alger was present at the cabi-
net meeting for a short time today. y
good portion OF the hour and a quarter
spent in the cabinet room was in cpngratu-
lating the Secretary of War. and in nop-
ing Tor his speedy and full recovery. The
Secretary Is still weak, but shows marked
Improvement THIS was the hfst cabinet
meeting he mas attended in NOR ths. Sec
retary Gage aa1 Secretary Wilson were
both absent from the session The lack of
gravity in the situation is pointcJ; TO from
their absence Had the situation been one
q SERIOUSNESS they would have been pres
Minister Woodford's Dispatch.
A cable message from Minister Wood
ford 10 the Secretary of State received
late yesterday afternoon, confirmed the
report that the Spanish cabinet had ac-
eepted the resignation OF Minister lie
LONE. and had placed the affairs of the
legation in charge of the first secretary.
The news was Immediately co:nmunica ted
to the President. Although not exactly
what V as expected. this action is said to
be salts factory to the officers of the adj
ministration to the extent that it serves
rhe main purpose of retiring De LONE
frcm further service at Washington. The
acceptance OF his resignation removes him
entirely from the sphere of action. DE
LONE no lcrger having any official status
u entirely beyond the pale of action by
this government except as it may choose
to treat him a private citizen He is
therefore. free to remain or to 60 accord
ing to the orders of his own government
He will not linger long. however. and hay
ihs dHtauy Hldue arrangements 10 that
end. he may leave here this evening or
tomorrow morning and take the first
steamer from New York for Europe.
De LONE Personally Done With.
Assistant Secretary Day is authority for
the statement that the administration is
not specially concerned to the manner
or De Lone's retirement. whether by recall
or by the acceptance of his resignation so
long as he at once sewers his official reIa-
tons with this government. 1t was fully
expected. in view of this governments rem
reservations, however. that he would be re-
called. and there is evident disappoiptment
that the Spanish government chose to ac-
cept his resignation instead. 1t is admitted
that. as he no longer holds any official posi-
ton here. the administration is not likely
TO take any further action so far as he is
personally concerned
IL is certain that il the Spanish govern
ment had failed to act yesterday Senor de
LONE would have been given his passports
last evening and dismissed in disgrace
fhat plan Of action had been d determined
upon and would have been strictly followed
out but Tor the previous acceptance of the
ministers resigna ton.
when Spain Acted.