The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1898-07-30


of the Question of the Disposition of the
Islands to Any Concert or Individual
Action by Outside Powers and No Sus-
pension of Military or Naval Operations
Until Spain Agrees to the Terms Pro
posed.
sf
Washington, July 3O.-Nearly five
hours earnest discussion by the presi-
dent and his constitutional advisers of
the nature of the response to be made
by the government to the Spanish over
ture for peace brought no conclusion,
and the subject necessarily was post
poned for further consideration at an
other meeting of the cabinet to be held
today. Such was the formal statement
of the situation made at the conclusion
of yesterdays work by each member Of
the cabinet who was questioned upon
the subject. A final conclusion, how
ever is much nearer than this state
ment would seem to indicate, and in
deed there is little reason to doubt that
an agreement has been reached upon
all the substantial points at issue and
to smooth away inequalities and adjust
some very minor points of difference
before making the answer expected by
NJ. Cambon, which will probably be
given before night.
The point under discussion during the
greater part of the meeting was what
disposition should be made of the Phil
ippines. On the other Issues unanimity
tn ha
dence demanded for Cuba; Porto Rico
was to be ceded to the United States;
coaling stations were to be acquired at
Guam, in the Ladrone Islands, and one
In the Caroline islands. These proposi-
tions were disposed of quietly, but
when 1t came to the Philippines some
diversity of opinion was revealed. AS
near as can be gathered this did not
relate mainly to the retention of the
islands; on that proposition a majority
of the cabinet was speedily recorded In
the negative.
But accepting the broad proposition
| that Spain was to be allowed to keep
these possessions, other questions of
| Importance developed, and it was felt
| that these must be answered definitely
| before the subject could be disposed of
| There was no question as to the pro-
priety of demanding the coaling sta
| tion in the Philippines and, while there
reasonably might be a difference of
| opinion of the location and extent OF
! this station, little difficulty was ex-
| pected to be encountered In solving
! that problem, because the matter coulC
be referred to the naval board who are
| competent to deal with the subject Tho
! perplexlnR problem was what form OF
government should be instituted In the
| Philippines, and what should be the
nature of the guarantee required OF
Spain that the new government should
be liberal and autonomous in char.
acter.
These two questions hinged on the
primary decision to interfere at all in
prescribing a change In the conditions
in the Philippines. Some members OF
the cabinet felt that the insurgents
under Aguinaldo having acted Inde-
pendently Of the United States from the
very beginning of the insurrectior
movement, and having lately shown
disposition to make trouble for us, haC
no moral claim upon the United State,
in the settlement of the terms of peace
On the other hand 1t was urged tina
our government should lose no op
portunity to extend its principles
throughout the world, and that thi
would be done best in the present cas-
by requiring Spain to extend genuln,
autonomy to the Philippines. 1t wal
upon Just such points as this that tn,
discussion proceeded all day
A point which was quickly establish
ed was that there should be no ref
erence Of any phase of the question O
the disposition of the islands to any
concert or lividual action by out
side powers. Another point that wa
settled, though there was no forma
action on il, was that no protest agaIns
the continuance Of military or nava
operations pending the peace negotia
tions would avail in the slightest; tina
there would be no armlstice, no sus
pension of operations nor any modif
cation whatever Of present plans unit
the Spanish government had agreed
to the terms proposed.
Incident to the cession of Porto Ric,
and the recognition Of Cuban indepen
dence by Spain was the decision tina
every vestige Of Spanish governmen
and authority I'm the caribbean an
West Indian waters must he removed
effecting a material acquisition of mum
erous islands over which the Spanis
flag flies. one of the most importan
OF which is the Isle Of Pines. Further
more, this sweeping change of author
ity from Spain to the United States 1
our nearby waters is to be effective ais
as quit claim of all indebtedness as
sumed by the Spanish government an
charged by her to those islands, so ia
as the United States is concerned, an
all commercial treaties now existin
between the Spanish government an
her possessions there and outside pow
ers are extingulshed.
Some discussion was had as to tn
a probability of Spanish acceptance {
A our terms. The views differed, thoug
| 1t can be stated that several of tn
0 more influential members of the cab
net believed that the terms substan
TALLY agreed on would not be accepte
by Spain at once. Others took tn
ground that there was every indicatio
that she had decided TO make terms
0 and that what now proposed woul
soon be acceded to to avoid furthe
disaster.
=, II was stated today in high diplC
. matte quarter in such manner as I