The record-union., 1898-04-13

| ernment at the hands of Spain because
the Queen Regent has already advised
the Administration that she has or
dered a suspension of hostilities. She
cannot order a suspension of hostilities
| by the insurgents She has not among
all her bull fighters and bulles manhood
enough to order suspension of hostili-
| ties on the insurgents. This Admins
tration, with all this vacillating policy,
which was criticised by the Chicago
| Tribune an Administration paper,
asks us to put the army and navy in
his hands to go over and punish the
Cubans, after three years of the most
heroic fighting for liberty that any peo-
pie ever made on the face of the earth.
l say it is an outrage; it is a stencil in
the nostrils of every decent American.
We shall see whether the majority side
of this House can be whipped into such
policy as that"
HEPBURN'S REPLY.
Hepburn of Iowa jumped to his feet
as Lentz sat down.
Mr. Chairman" he began some
times misstatement is SO gross that it
reaches the dignity of falsehood, and
! falsehod so gross that it becomes men,
dacity, and mendacity so foul that it
| becomes scoundrelism. l say that the
President has never said that he desires
| the use of the army and navy at the
| hands of Congress in order to establish
/ Spanish supremacy on the island OF
| Cuba. (Applause) That is not true.
| There is no man who can. with an hon
est heart and with an honest purpose,
read this message of the President and
arrive at any conclusion of that char
acter.
THE Presidents whole argument
leads up to the proposition that the
conduct of Spain in that island during
fifty years of misrule. fifty years of out
age fifty years of tyranny, has brought
about such condition that it is now in
tolerable and insupportable, and must
cease That is the language of the
President of the United States. He asks
the use of the army and navy to put a
stop to that intolerable and insufferable
condition. applause on the Republican
side) That is the argument of the
President Every sentence in that mes
sage to this House teaches that this is
his purpose, and yet gentlemen say in
view of all the language he has used,
| in view of the argument he has made
/
conduct that he has called to our atten-
/ ton, that it is the intention of the Pres
ident to become the ally of the Span
| iardS. I say that there is no word in
/ that whole message that justifies any
| honorable man in making a declaration
| of that kind upon this floor. We are
going there to fight Spain. We are
| going there to establish a stable and
permanent Government. What does
that mean?
Here we have had fifty years of
| Spanish government, not stable, not
| permanent, except in the villainy of its
outrages The character of outrage and
villainy which has become insufferable
should be suffered no longer. the Pres
| ident says, creating such an emergency
as compelS US to violate the otherwise
friendly relations that we ought to
have. and go to the extreme of war
in bringing an end to these insufferable
conditions produced through the acts
of Spain. And yet the gentleman dares
to stand here and say that that paper
advocates the use of the army and
the navy. the placing of the whole mill
tary power of the country in the hands
of the President, in order that he may
go there to perpetuate that which he
reprobates, and to continue that which
he says is not endurable. lie wants
stable and permanent republican gov
ernment. Does that mean Spanish
rule? Has any man the right to make
: that argument?'