Evening star., 1898-08-08

two weeks ago. Porto Rico will be COM
pletely in our possession within a very
short time, whether Spain yields or not;
we are prepared 10 take Manila and to de-
stroy the last vestige of Spanish sover-
eighty in the Philippines; and even if the
climatic conditions in Cuba render military
operations there inexpedient for month
or more, the island alone will suffer from
the delay. and inaction there will in no
way retard military operations in quarters
where far greater injury can be done to
Spain herself and in manner to make the
Spanish people realize the horrors of war
much more than they do in contemplating
the helplessness of their armies in Cuba,
Porto Rico and at Manila.
1t is hoped that there will be no occa-
sion for a further prosecution of the war;
and it is hardly conceivable that Spain
could so misunderstood the very plain
statements of the President in his terms of
peace ard in his talk with the French am
bassador as to lead her into committing the
folly of attempting to juggle in her terms
of acceptance but If the Interpretation of
the reply conveyed in the press dispatches
from Madrid is correct it will not prove
satisfactory.
At the French Embassy.
The French ambassador and staff had
awaited 1t until late hour last night, and
thel, concluded that 1t would be here early
today. But its non-arrival made it appar-
ent that a number of formalities of trans
mission had not been accomplished last
night There are no less than five transla-
tions, four of them cipher, in the transmits
sion between Madrid and Washington.
After the Spanish cabinet meeting last
Night the response was reduced TO the
Spanish cipher and then sent to the Span
ish ambassador at Paris, Senior Leon Cas-
tillo. Then it was to be deciphered and
translated into French after which Senior
Castillo would deliver it to the French for
eign office, to be reduced to the French
cipher, for transmission to the French am
bassador here. These moves, including
work on the cipher code, calls by Castillo
on the foreign office at Paris and time re-
quired for cabling, take, it is calculated,
eight or ten hours.
4 Lengthy Communication.
The impression is growing in official quar-
ters that the Spanish answer, while in the
nature of a concession of the American de-
mand, is not brief and simple acceptance
without reservation or condition. There is
no direct official advice on this point, and
Yet all the advices from Madrid indicate
that the response is a document of consid-
cradle length, prepared with laborious care
and that it implies several features which
may not appear in the conditions presented
by the United States
Whether an acceptance of this character
will be regarded by the authorities here as
sufhciently responsive to the American de-
mands is matter exciting much conjec-
ture today. In some quarters it is being
urged that SO long Spain accepts the es-
senuaI principle required by the United
States, the disposition here will be to deal
with he defeated enemy in a generous
spirit On minor details. 1t is probable that
this VIII be the view presented by the
French ambassador in case the Spanish
reply is not simple, categorical accept
ance G. the American terms. On the other
hand < is believed that response which
opens up diplomatic controversy, and gives
the conditions much broader scope than
as originally framed at Washington, may
not meet with approval here. In one re-
spect, for instance, the Madrid advices
seem to imply that the answer is based on
an immediate cessation of hostilities But
the view among officials here is that hos
tilittes will not cease on the submission of
a conditional response, but that they will
progress steadily until the American condi-
tions advance entirely beyond the stage Ct
possible diplomatic complication over de-
tails. There is strong disposition in some
influential quarters to have hostilities con-
tfnue until the actual evacuation Of Cuba
and Porto Rico begin by the embarkatfon
of Spanish troops. 1t is probable that the
Spanish reply will be in the hands of the
government in time for consideration at the
regular cabinet meeting tomorrow morn
ing, when the sufficiency OF insufficiency
of the response can be determined