The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-23
WASHINGTON LETTER
Our Correspondent Makes a
 War Talk.
From Our Regular Correspondent.

From Our Regular Correspondent
 WASHINGTON, April II, 1898.
 Congress has weightier business on
 hand than to find fault with the reasons
 which MT. Mckinley says caused him
 to ask for armed intervention in Cuba,
 and is willing to provide for the inter-
 vention and let it go at that, knowing
 that every man who fires gun in the
 war with Spain will feel the sentiment
 expressed by Colonel John A. Joyce in
 the following verse from a poem dedi-
 cated to Captain Sigshpe:
 Remember the Maine in the midst of the battle;
 Strike down to the death where black cannons rattle
 ! On ocean or mountain, on valley CT plain Remember forever, remember the Maine! To tell the truth, congress is so much
 relieved by the action of Mir. Mckinley
 in sending in at much postponed mes- | sage in favor of ar ned intervention that
 it is willing to forgive him more serious l sins, both of omission and commission,
 than saying we are not making a war of
 vengeance on the Spanards. They
 feared that instead of getting the mes
 sage they would get another excuse for another postponement, on account of ! that trick armistice that Spain has pro
 claimed in Cuba To show further that
 they have no desire to quibble because the message did not contain everything they would have liked It tp contaln, .o.- gress is going to make that intervention resolution exactly what Alr Mckinley asked 1oE-Ao more, nc less. A solid front will be presented 10 the Spanish, and all differences will be left to be set tied after the Spaniards are disposed of.
 Consul General Fitz Hugh Lee, hay ing completed the task of getting all the Americans who desired to leave out of Cuba, is now on his way to Washington to tell Mir. Mckinley and congress what he thinks is the best and quickest way to get the Spanish out of Cuba It is understood that he also brings evidence that will convince even Mir. Mckinley that we have good reasons to seek ven geance on Span. In addition to insult ing the country by refusing 10 see Gen. eral Lee on the day of his departure from Havana, General BlancO has done | some other things that General Lee will tell about when he arrives, bnt the most | important tIli.,g he will bring is the evi- ! dence making It absolutely certain that | the Ma ne was blown mp by d Spanish | official in Havana, although he will also probably bring other informD ton that he did not care to make public while there were numerous Americans in | Cuba liable to be made victim of span ish treachery.
 While not possible at this time to spe- fly the exa;t time that our big fleet of | warships at Key West will start to Cuba, they will certainly get off this week, un- less there shall he some delay on the | part of MT. McKinlev in carrying out l the authority that will he conferred | upon him by congress, or the Spanish | shall ann unce their recognition of Gu han independence and intention to evac- | nate the island. Naval officials regard | the taking of the seaports of Cuba as an ! easy task, and are impatieutly awaiting : orders to proceed.
 The so-Called army reorganization hIl.. ! which provided for increasing the regu- ullr a my. whenever in the opinion JI . ihe authorities there was an exigenCy, to 104 ,000 men, is virtually dead, the house having voted to send it back to Committee on Military Affairs, which it. It was an administration measure.
 In response to request for informa- ton on the subject by Representative ( cooper. of Texas. Secretary Alger stated that the work of fortifying the coast of Texas was being pushed rapidly to and that sufficient heavy guns had been allotted to Sabine Pass to protect that port from any attack the Spanish could make upon it.
 The democrats in congress are ready to vote the government all the money that will be needed to thoroughly thrash Spain, even to the extent of an issue of from $1OO, 100000 to $500, GOO, ,000 in coin bonds, but they have made it plain to the schemers who have been sounding on the subject hat even if every gun owned by Spain were trained upon the capitol building, in easy range they would refuse to vote for the issue of one single gold bond. Their position on this question, in which they are sup ported by all the populists and a consid erSble number of republicans, stopped all talk about the issue of gold bonds, and the bill that will be reported from the Ways and Means committee to the house, as soon as the actual fighting be- gins, will provide for three-per-cent coin bonds.
 Judge B F. Buckner, of Kentucky, who is we'll posted on Kentucky politi"s, says: "Our people are not satisfied