The Red Cloud chief., 1898-09-16
PEACE IN SIXTY DAYS
n PHILIPPINE QUESTION TO
BE CONSIDERED.
American Commission Instructed to De.
nand the Island of iuzon-secretary
Day Expects to Celebrate tho signing
Thanksgiving Day.

WASHINGTON, Sept. li.-Prcsident
Mckinley proposes to instruct our
peace commissioners to demand the
ccssion OF the island OF Luzon from
h Spanish commissioners Mt Paris.
leaving the rest of the Philippines to
Spain, with guarantees against their
alienation without our consent and for
thcir good government and for com
mcrcial privileges to America. This
is the substance of the rough draft of
the instructions prepared by Secretary
Day under the Presidents direction.
for submission at the regular cabinet
meeting to-day. all the abscntecs hav.
ing been tclcyraphcd to return because
of the Importance OF the final decision
OF the Philippine question. Secretary
Day, who will not end his service in
b State department until Thursday.
had had n long conference with the
President over the Philippine i~nstruc.
tions.
Tho peace commissioners will as.
semblc here Wednesday and will sail
Saturday in the Campania, except.
possibly, Senator Gray. who may not
sail until next Tuesday.
In form, the instructions will leave
much to the discretion of the commits.
s%ioners, but in fact. the commissioners
will simply carry out the purpose of
the President, who intrusts to them
his share of the trcnty-making power
for the occasion, and will Ice in con
slant communication with them after
they get to work at Paris. In gen.
eral, it may be said that the Presi
dents representatives in the making
of the treaty OF Paris will be instruct.
cd to confine. and will ~con.inc. the de.
alterations to IN question reserved in
the peace protocol for settlement, dc.
scribed by Secretary Day rs 1.-The ron.
troll, disposition and government OF
the Philippines"
The United States will claim the
island OF Luzon, with the understand
ing that the remaining islands OF the
archipelago will go back under Span
ish sovereignty nominnlly, with the
proviso that Spain shall maintain for
them u civilized, stable government;
and with the further irrevocablc un-
Outstanding that the islands cannot be
sold or coded to any other country,
nor any part Of them, without the com.
plete and cordial approval of thu
United States.
GUAM IN THE LADRONES.
Under the protocol the United States
must select the particular island in the
Ladrones to be ceded by the treaty, to-
gcther with Porto Rico and other
E.,,.,b ,.l,.J, &. IT. N..t I-l,o. -
the United States but this involves
no disputation, for our representatives
will simply o That the United
States has selected, as has been de-
cided by President Mckinley, the
island of Guam, which we have already
seized and occupied.
II Senior Sagasta instructs his COM
missioners to raise extraneous ques-
tons, such as that of the Cuban debt.
the American commissioners will de-
cline to consider them, and insist upon
an early disposition of the only issue
they will recognize as open for settle
ment.
1t Is not likely that the question of
American claims for property de-
stroyed in Cuba will be brought up by
our commissioners for settlement
under the treaty, and Congress will
have to make provision for sitting and
satisfying such claims on our " ac-
count since Spain Is VIGOROUSLY un.
able to meet such demands.
1t seems strange That there should
be NO much apprehension, even among
public men, rs to the subject to be con.
sidercd by the treaty makers at Paris
when it is we'll understood here that
only one question remains to be settled
there, all the others having been
settled by Secretary Day IN the proto.
col, which he SO cleverly compelled
Spain to accept. There is, therefore,
no ground for the apprehension that
the proceedings OF the commissioners
at Paris will be protracted beyond a
month or six wee ks. They will begin,
under the protocol, by the first of DC.
tober, and Secretary Day expects to
bring the treaty homo before the first
of December, and probably by Nov EN-
Thanksgiving day.
TO PERMIT NO LONG DELAY.
The Spanish commissioners will bC
treated with proper courtesy and con
alteration, but their procrastinatinp
methods will not be permitted to delay
the negotiations unrcasonably. 1t IL
certain that they will accept whatever
the United States government pro
poses as TO the Philippines after 4
certain AMOUNT OF protest and palaver,
and as soon as possible they will be
given the Presidents ultlmatum ant
held firmly to an carly acceptance o.
its terms.
Officially and formally, the negotia-
lions will be free to end in any way
hut actually and practically, they will
be free to end only in n way--tha'
foreordained by the United States gov
eminent.