The times., 1898-04-12
Charges rloderate, Medicine Included
Gen. Lee to which he made the reply that

was used.
The most that the President brings him
self to say in the message proper is that
the war should stop, and that Congress
should give hiEa the authority to stop it
with armed intervention. He follows this
with the reference to the armistice propo-
sition of Spain and suggests that if
Spain will stop fighting (at some time in
the future, not mentioned) this is all the
United States can desire. This is another
direct plea for time and the most fragrant
yet made. Congress is to wait until this
latest ruse of Spain has been tried and
proven a failure, not only to Congress
but to Spain and the President "Armis-
tice' is another word which, translated
into Spanish, means "manana" tomor-
row.
This is the message that was TO thrill
the world by its fierce patriotism and
make every American glad that he lived
| in this generation when Mckinley was
/ President
Spain's Ally to the Last.
The meaning ascribed to the document
by nearly every one is that the President
is perfectly willing that Spain shall hold
| her dominion over Cuba. He has sug-
gested nothing else in any word. Spain.
on the other hand, has very positively
stated even in the armistice proposition.
! that Mr.. Mckinley hopes so much from,
that she will give the Cubans liberal
autonomy" Spain, in all her utterances,
/ has refused utterly to consider the pro-
position of giving up the island.
The corollary meaning to the message
is that the welfare of the Spanish bonds
is at this time as entirely the ruling mo-
| tive in all that the Administration does
/ as it ever has been 1t is the Spanish
! bonds that the President wishes to save
from destruction and not the Cuban re-
/ concentrates or the honor of America
! With the independence of Cuba will go the
value of the Spanish bonds And so the
Administration has never considered the
independence of Cuba as among the
! possibilities
The Maine.
| As to the Maine At last after six
weeks of silence. the President has said
that the death of the American seamen
who went down with the Maine was
| grievous thing He does nothing further,
however. He still considers the death
| of these men an incident" There is
no suggestion of the positive belief in
every Americans heart that Spain blew
| up the Maine officially. There is no hint
! that the Maine crew were murdered by
Spanish officers, or that the American
honor was grossly insulted, or the Amer
lean flag trampled on. There is no decla-
ration that state of war has existed be-
tween Spain and the United States since
February Is.
If the President had left the Maine out
of the message entirely he would have
made a better showing for himself and
! his own honor, but of course not for
| peace. His attitude again reiterates to
| the world that the United States does not
consider the Maine matter a cause of
war. 1t is the third positive and unmis
| taxable assumption that he has made.
In the message to Congress regarding the
Maine he said that Spain's friendliness
and sense of honor and justice would un-
/ dOubtedly cause her to do the right thing.
! In his note to the powers he specifically
mentioned the conditions in Cuba as the
cause for the strained relations between
the two countries. Yesterday he called
the Maine an incident
Played Into EurOpe's Hand.
Whether the powers forcibIy intervene
to prevent the United States from max
ing war on Spain or not from the Eu-
rOpean standpoint, undoubtedly the
! United States is now in the wrong If any
! further steps are taken until Spain has
| been given ample opportunity to try her
armistice proposition.
1t is the opinion of a great many people
! that the only way the country can now
make its position clear before the world
is by a very straightout declaration of
war with Spain because Spain blew up
! the Maine" This would involve the repu-
diation of the President.