Gardnerville record. (Gardnerville, Nev.) 1898-1902, 1898-09-27
Control Of The Philippines
What The Peace Commission
May Do.

What The Peace Commission
May Do.
WASHINGTON ID. c., SEPT. 16, 1895
From our regular correspondent.)
A busy week for the administration
closed with the departure of the Ameri
can Peace Commissioners, who will sal
from New York tomorrow. The Who'll,
matter has been gone over carefully ant
decision reached as to what this gov
ernment intends to do regarding th'
Philippines, and the Peace Commission
ers have been instructed accordingly
These instructions have not been pu'
upon paper, but were given to the Com
missioners verbally by the President
As matter OF course nearly every cor
respondent in Washington has sent wha'
purports to be an abstract of these in
structions, but as q matter of fact onl,
the President, the members Of the Cab
met, all of whom except Secretary Algel
were summoned to Washington to con.
slider them, and the Peace Commissioners
know what those instructions are. 1t is
known in general way that members OF
the Cabinet have expressed opinions, and
even the President at times dropped
hints as to his attitude. Putting these
together and drawing deductions there
from is about the process by which the
,,l,I;.l,aJ ,oetr,,otiopo xuara ayo1yo1
1t is certain that we are to have the is
land of Luzon, of which Manila is the
principal city, but there the certainty
ends. 1t is probable hat Spain will
have to give up its authority over the
other islands, and that they will either be
given an independent government under
American protection or become abso-
lutely our property, although there are
reasons for the belief that the instruc-
tions so far as they relate TO the islands
other than Luzon are somewhat elastic,
and that il Spain will furnish proper
guarantees and will offer certain trade
concessions to us she may be allowed to
maintain nominal if not an actual, con-
troll over them.
Two important diplomatic moves we're
made by this government this week,
which have received less public attention
than they deserve. The first was COM
munication sent to the Gar OF Russia
expressing sympathy with his PROPOSE
ton for the holding of an international
convention for the purpose of arranging
for the partial disarmament of the ma
on war footing all the time, and a
willingness on the part Of the United
States to take part in such convention
The other was = Communication tn the
Sultan of turkey, informing him in po-
lite but plain language that the United
States did not intend to allow him to
escape paying for the property of Ameri-
can missionaries destroyed by Turkish
nobs in Armenia, under his plea of non
responsibility, recently put forward,
There is no desire on the part of the Ad-
ministration to bully Turkey, but this
claim is just one and it intends to re
Turkey pay it, if it is necessary to make
naval demonstration in order to do it.
Hon. Chas DENLY, who was for more
than thirteen years U. s. Minister to Chi
ma, and who is consequently well posted
upon the commerce of the east and the
part that the PHILIPPINE Islands can be
made to play therein, has been in Wash
ington this week, and his businesslike ar
guments in favor of retaining control of
all the islands have convinced many
whose minds had not been entirely made
up, that the U. S. should certainly retain
control, if not absolute ownership, OF all
the islands. Mr.. DENLY has had several
extended conferences with the President
and with members of the Cabinet, and
his knowledge of the situation has doubt
less been an important factor in deter
mining the instructions given to the
American Peace Commissioners. After
giving his reasons why we should control
the PHILIPPINES, Mr.. DENLY, said: IF we
withdraw now, we throw away this great
opportunity, which has been opened and
accepted as the manifest destiny of this
nation. We shut the door, and close it
so that it will never open to us again.
We shut the far east from our influence
and do it deliberately. We can never re-
cons der such step; and if we take it,
it would have been far better for our
trade and our influence, commercial and
religious, if Admiral Dewey had never
gone near the PHILIPPINES"
Ex- Secretary Sherman may be too old
to make satisfactory Secretary OF State,
but he still has the use Of his reasoning
faculties, and was the first man to point
out the weak spot in the proposed CON-
mission to investigate the conduct Of the
war-its want of legal status, and its con.
sequent inability to compel witnesses to
testify. Since Mr.. Sherman pointed out
that defect, which is now generally ac
knowledged to exist, the proposed inves
tigation is not as popular as it was. I il
likely also that the lack Of legal statuI
influenced some of the prominent gentle
men who have declined to serve on thu
commission.
&ee<>-s
Night School.