Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1898-04-29
OFFICIAL PAPER BURLEIGH co,
THE GROUNDS FOR A

Iuc Oultel otdtcs Is IloI gong 10 WAL
with Spain because of the destruction
of the battleship Maine. True, that
catastrophe may have served a purpose
in bringing to the attention of the world
the fact that Spain was unable to pro-
tect lives and property in her domains
in Cuba. But the United States, while
it has just grounds for rctribution upon
Spain in the disaster to the Maine, will
90 to war for Il cause which is justified
by every dictate OF humanity and must
be approved by every civilized nation.
President Cleveland, in his last annual
message to congress, indicated the true
grounds of the intervention which he
then deemed well-nigh inevitable, as
follows:
When the inability of Spain to deal
successfully with the Instruction has
become manifest and it is demonstrated
that her sovereignty is extinct in Cuba
for all purposes of its rightful existence,
and when IL hopeless struggle for it's re-
establishment has degenerated into a
strife which means nothing more than
the useless sacrifice of human life and
the utter destruction of the very subject
matter of the conflict, Il situation will
be presented in which our obligations to
the sovereignty of Spain will be super
seeded by higher obligations which we
can hardly hesitate to recognize and
discharge"
President Mckinley, in his first an
nual message to congress, restated the
same principle, thus:
The near future will demonstrate
whether the indispensable condition
of a righteous peace, just alike to the
Cubans and to Spain, as we'll as equit-
able to all our interests so intimately
involved in the welfare of Cuba, is likely
to be attained. If not, the exigency of
further and other action by the United
States will remain to be taken. When
that time omes that action will be de-
termined in the line of indisputable
right and duty. 1t will be faced, with
out misgiving or hesitancy, in the light
of the obligation this government owes
to itself, to the people who have con-
fdcd to it the protection of their inter-
ests and honor, and to humanity. Sure
of the right, keeping free of all offence
ourselves, actuated only by upright and
patriotic considerations, moved neither
by passion or selfishness, the govern
ment will continue it's watchful career
over the rights and property of Ameri-
can citizens, and will abate none of it's
efforts to bring about by peaceful
agencies a peace which shall be honor
able and enduring. If it shall hereafter
appear to be a duty imposed by our obi
cations to ourselves, to civilization and
to humanity to intervene with force, it
shall be without fault on our part and
only because the necessity for such
action will be SO clear as to command
and approval Of the civilized world.
Those authoritative utterances were
made, the one more than fourteen
months, the other more than two
months, before the destruction of the
Maine. Nor has the ground been shift
ed since. In his last message, of Mon
day last, nearly two months after the
destruction of the Maine, President Nc
Kinley said:
The long trial has proved that the
object for which Spain has waged the
wal cannot be attained. The fire of in
surrection may flame or may shoulder
with varying reasons, but it has not
been, and it is plain that 1t cannot be-,
eXtinguished by present methods. The
only hope of relief and repose from a
condition which can no longer be en-
dured is the enforced pacification of
Cuba. In the name Of humanity, in
the name of civilization, in behalf of
endangered American interests which
give is the right and the duty to speak
and to act, the wal in Cuba must stop.
In view of these facts and of these con
siderations l ask the congress to author
iZe aud empower the president to take
measures to secure a full and final ter
mination Of hostilities between the gov
eminent of Spain and the people of
Cuba, and to secure in the island the
establishment of a stable government
capable of maintaining order and observ-
ing it's international obligations, insur-
ing peace and tranquility and the secur-
ity of its citizens as we'll as our own, and
to use the military and naval forces of
the United States may be as necessary
for these purposes.
That, of course, does not mean that
the MAINE is 10 be forgotten. In any
case, even if we had not felt bound to
intervene in the present struggle we
should have exacted full and exemplary
satisfaction for what we believe the
treacherous destruction of the noble
battleship in a peaceful harbor. No;
the Maine is to be remembered to the
bitter end, and is to be fully atoned for.
From that determination there is to be
no recession. But that is not the cause
of Intervention. The latter is to be
based on these other and antecedent
grounds which we have recalled from
the state papers of two presidents and
upon which we ear go forward without
fear and without reproach, assured of