Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1898-12-15
THE TREATY SIGNED
Signatures Affixed to the Document
Closing the War with Spain.
THE PROSPECTS FOR RATIFICATION.
The President viii Send the Treaty to the
Senate Soon After the Holidays and
the Outlook Is That 1t VIII
Go Through.

Go Through.
Paris, Dec. 10. Last week was an
eventful one in Paris and, from an
American point of view, the most inn
portant of all the incidents was the
signature, late Saturday evening, at
the French ministry of foreign affairs
of the treaty of peace, which brings to
close the war between Spain and the
United States and adds to the territory
of the latter the Philippines, Guam in
the Ladrones, the Sulu islands and
Porto Rico, while 1t marks the final
termination of the oppressive thraldom
which Spain has yielded over Cuba for
close upon four centuries. The Amer
leans are to pay for the repatriation Of
the Spanish troops from all the col
onies. The Spaniards are to return all
prisoners held by them. They are to
retain possession of all military stores
and munitions of war in the Philip
pines and of such ships as have not
been captured. The commercial trea-
ties between the two nations which
the war ruptured are to be renewed at
the convenience of the two nations.
The protocol makes nearly 900 type
written pages.
There were two sessions of the COM
mittee Saturday, one lasting from $3.50
p. IN. to 5:l5 p. m. and the other open
ing at seven p m. The treaty was
signed at 8:45 p. m. To the Americans
it was happy ending of the epilogue
of war; for the Spaniards it was plain
ly a bitter tragedy, none the less pain
full because long foreseen. They sat
silently, as though almost crushed,
and none could withhold sympathy
for Senior Montero Rios, the president
of the Spanish commission, who, COM
ing from his bed, was bundled in a
great overcoat, though logs were burn
ing in the fireplace near by.
The treaty as signed consists of II
articles, 1T having been found advisa-
BILE to subdivide two or three of the
articles in the draft agreed upon at
the last meeting. The commissioners
of the two nations wrote their sigma
lures on two copies of the treaty, one
copy being for the archives The docu-
ment was prepared by Secretary Moore
in behalf of the United States COM
mission, and by Senior Villaruita for
Spain, on account of the continued ILL
ness of Secretary Oleada, of the Span
ish commission. Each copy contains
the English and Spanish text of the
treaty in parallel columns. The word
ing had been approved previously by
the commissions without joint meet
ing, so there is no controversy on this
subject
Now that the treaty is signed, the
next step will be to have it ratified by
the cortes, which is to meet for the
purpose early in January, after which
an appeal will probably be made to
the country in the shape of general
election. The ratification will be a
pure formality, as the commissioners
have already received from the present
cortes full power to sign and to seal
the treaty.
THE PROSPECTS FOR RATIFICATION.
Washington, Dec. IA cable dis
patch from Judge Day reached the
white house Saturday, informing the
president that the peace treaty had
been signed. This piece of good news
has been so thoroughly discounted
that it caused very little excitement.
The president received it with an ex'
preston of satisfaction. The official
document will come to the president
in the form of a Christmas present.
According to conditional arrange
lnents the American commissioners
will sail next Saturday. They will have
to make a speedy passage and to be
expeditions upon their arrival in order
to put the results of their labors in the
hands of the president by the 95th,
but they may do it.
The assurances which the president
has received FROM senators-republic-
ans, democrats and populists-leave
little room to doubt that ratification
of the treaty, without change, will
take place this session. The DISPOSE
ton, even on the part of those sena-
tors who are opposing annexation, is
to let the treaty go through. Presi'
dent Mckinley will send the treaty to
the senate soon after the holidays.
In the course of couple of weeks the
committee on foreign relations will
report it back to the senate in secret
session, with recommendation fol
ratification. The report of the com
mittee will be almost unanimous.
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