The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-06-28
Our Position Towards Spain.

Our Position Towards Spain.
There have been vague rumors afloat
during the past few days that Spain
has been suing or intending to sue for
which this country was supposed to
take peace proposals into consideration
have been published There is not the
slightest reason to believe that these
Hypothetical conditions cmbody the
policy of the administration or that
they would be accepted by Spain if
they did. Spain has no intention of
suing for peace, Just now at all events.
She is apparently resolved to spend
her last pesetl and sink her last ship
in the hopeless struggle which she is
carrying on. Those who speak of
Spain as being desirous of peace or
suing for peace, know little of Span
ish history or the fatalism of tthe
Spanish character. We have been
trying to remove this ugly neigh
bor from any part in the control Of the
Western hemisphere during the great
er part of a century and we do not
suppose that this final and supreme eff
fort on our part wil be rendered any
easier by indulging in illusions Of the
pacific intentions of the enemy.
The merchants of Barcelona desire
peace on any conditions. They are
aware of the ruin that is overtaking
their country and the financial and
economical prOstration in which it will
be after the war is over. But the
Crandees of Spain in whose hands the
political power largely rests are of n
different opinion. They talk of hon
or" and pride" and of the resources
of the peninsula" as if they We're liv-
ing in the halcyon days of Ferdinand
and Isabella. Spain can. undoubtedly,
carry on the war for a time on her
internal credit. She can issue ire
deemable paper money and force it's
acceptance on the soldiers and peas
antry who are the chief sufferers.
After all neither the one nor the
other know or care what this war is
about. They are driven to support it
in the one instance and to participate
in it actively in the other, in blind
obedience TO an egotistcai presumptu-
Gus aristoCracy. If the alternative of
peace or continuance of the war rest
ed with the merchants and manufac-
turers of northern Spain. they would
submit, as they said. to the amputation
of the Cuban limb rather than have
modification set i'm in the whole body.
Cuba has been a rich and valuable
possession to the mercantile classes Of
Spain, and if any part of the people
beside the corrupt official class had
reason to regret its severance from the
mother country, it was the Society Of
the Friends of Peace of Barcelona.
The dispatch of Camaras fleet to the
Philippines is a move which sets all
thoughts of immediate peace out Of
the range of serious consideration. 1t
is now a question how soon our fleet will
sail across the Atlantic, take the Ca
nary Islands, and ing the war home
to insular Spain The sooner we un-
dertake the accomplishment of this
brought to a close. The rebellion in
Cuba has famliariZed the Spaniards
with war at a distance. War with this
country is a question to them more or
less of increased cost and stricter en-
forcement Of the Conscription laws. 1t
has not taken them unawares, if it has
found them unprepared. The capture
of the administration flying squadron
that ought to be able to steam across
the Atlantic and bring home to the
Spaniards in their own country what
our gunners a s marksmen can make of
their fortificatOns as targets. They
Will be no longer deluded by the
apocryphal reports of Blanco from
Havana. They will be in a position TO
see for themselves and correctly esti-
mate the work of the yankee pigs"
on Yankee ships If one of our admir-
ais or generals takes up his quarters
at the Escurial it would he an object
lesson not altogether without its value
At any rate we must rush this war as
war was never rushed before. Spain $
only hope is in dilatoriness.
The lessons of the battle Of La Oua-
Sina prDbablV haya bao,, yL...,.,..