The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-04-14
SENATE PROCEEDINGS.


dents message.
SENATE PROCEEDINGS.
Washington, ID. c., April 13.-War be-
tween two powerful nations was the sole
topic of discussion in the Senate to-
day.
Such excitement. suppressed though
it was: such feeling that the country
was on the verge of events that would
maks history for all time to come; such
eloquent and impassioned oratory; and
such keen and brilliant repartee have
not been known in the Senate since the
exciting days when the country was
convulsed by the greatest war of mod
ern times.
4 full quarter of an hour before the
Senate was to convene, Mr.. Davis. Chain
man of the Foreign Relations Commit
toe, entered the chamber and quietly
went to his scat in the center of the
Republican side He carefully placed
on his desk a bulky package which all
intuitively knew to be the fateful reso
luti0n and report from his committee
upon which peace or war might hinge.
The chamber filled rapidly and when
the Eice-President's gavel fell, nearly
every Senator was at his desk Scarcely
five minutes had elapsed after the ses-
sion convened before the yice-President
recognized Mr.. Davis.
Mr.. Davis presented to the Senate
the resolution and report from his com
mittee and requested that they be read.
, The report was Il terrific arraignment OF
Spain and her policies, yet so eager
were all TO hear every word that not TIE
| slightest demonstration occurred
throughout the reading.
THE RESOLUTION OFFERED.
! The resolutions and report are us fol-
ows:
/ 'Whereas. the abhorrent conditions
] which have existed for more than three
years in the island of Cuba. so near
our own borders have shocked the moral
sense of the people of the United States,
have been disgraca to christian civilian
ton, eliminating. as they have, in the
destruction of United States battleship,
with two hundred and sixty-six of its
officers and crew, while on friendly
visit in the harbor of Havana, and can
not longer be endured, as mas been set
forth by the President of the United
| States in his meS.sage to Congress on
| April IL. 1898. upon which the action
| Resolved, First-That the people of
| the island of Cuba are, and of right
| ought to be free and independent.
.Second-That it is the duty of the
| United States to demand and the gov
! ernment Of the United States does here
| by demand that the government of Spain
ut once reinquish its authority and gov
ernment in the island Of Cuba, and with
{ a.
ba and Cuban waters.
j Third That the President Of the
! United States be. and he hereby is, di-
1 rected and empowered TO use the entire
naval forces of the United States. and
: to call into actual service Of the United
4 States the militia Of the several States,
! to such extent as may be necessary to
{ carry these resolutions into effect"
The report of the Senate Committee
+ on Foreign Relations on the Cuban situ-
alton was made by Senator Davis, Chair
man of that committee, and was a very
thorough review of thep entire situation,
and strong presentation of the facts
which has led the committee to its con
clusions. The report takes up the Maine
dimsaster as the leading topic for con
sideration, and plunges into that question
III IpS hTSI SENTENCE Nilicl Is dS Ioi-
lows:
THE destruction of the United States
battleship Maine. of two of her officers
and 264 of her crew, in the habor OF
Havana, on the night of February 10
1898, excited to-an unprecedented degree
the. compassion and resentment OF tho
American people
Continuing, the report says:
Manifestations of that resentment
were suspended, although the feeling
was not allayed, by the self restraint OF
our people, who determined to hold their
Judgment in suspense concerning their
ultimate action until an official investiga-
ton should disclose the cause of that
great disaster. and enable them by direct
or cimcumstantial testimony TO impute
the responsibility therefor.
THAT investigation has been made. Il
was conducted with judicial thorough
/ ness and delberation. The difficulty "f
demonstrating by conclusive proof the
efficient personal cause of that sinister
es1ent was the usual one of exposing
plotted and mysterious crimes No such
difficulty. however, obscures its official
and responsible cause"
The cOmmittan Say that the explosion