The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-04-14
WAR DECLARATION
IN =|t SENATE
Terrific Ars 5 ment of SPANS
~ Policy
HER RULE Is ONE OF RAPINE
Aer Duplicity, Cruelty and PePiidy Dem.
OnStrated In the Cuban War.
FORAKER, IN IMPRESSED WORDS,
Asks That an End Be Put to This
Slaughter of lnnocents.
THE DEAD MARTYRS OF THE MAINE
Cry Aloud That Their Most Foul and Inhu.
man Murder Be Avenged Most Re-
markable Day Seen In tho Sem
ate in Thirty Years.
THE DEAD MARTYRS OF THE MAINE

Washington, April 13.-War between two
powerful nations was the sole topic of dis
cussion in the senate today.
Such excitement, suppressed though IL
was; such feeling that the country was
on the verge of events that would mako
history for all time to Gomez 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 modern times.
A full quarter of an hour before the sen,
ate was to convene Mr.. Davis, chairman Of
the foreign relations committee, entered the
chamber and quietly went to his seat in
the center of the republican side. He care
fully placed on his desk bulky package
which all intuitivey knew to be the fate
full resolution and report from his commits
tee upon which peace or war might hinge.
The chamber filled rapidly, and when the
vice-president's gavel fell nearly every sem
ator was at his desk. Scarcely five minutes
had elapsed after the session convened be-
fore the vice-president recognized Mr.,
Davis. Il
Mr.. Davis presented to the senate the
resolution and report from his committee,
and requested that they be read. The re-
port was terTiUc arrangement OF SPAN
and her policies, yet so eager were all to
hear every word that not the slightest
demonstration occurred throughout the
reading
The resolutions and report are as follows:
Resolution and Report
Whereas, The abhorrent conditions which
have existed for more than three years In
the island of Cuba, SO near our own bor-
ders, have shocked the moral sense of the
IT, AAI 4at1
disgrace to Christian civilization, culmin-
ating, as they have, in the destruction of
a United States battleship with 266 of it's
officers and crew, while on a friendly visit
in the harvor of Havana and cannot long
er be endured, as has been set forth by the
president of the United States in his mes
sage to congress of April IL, 1898, upon
which the action of congress was invited;
therefore
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 government of
the United States does hereby demand that
the government of Spain at once relin-
quish its authority and government in the
island of Cuba and withdraw it's land and
naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters.
Third, That the president of the United
States be and he hereby is directed ana
empowered to use the entire land and naval
forces OF the united states ana TO call INTO
actual services of the United States the
militia of the several states to such exc
tent as may be necessary to carry these
resolutions into effect.
Maine Disaster Leading Topic
The report of the committee was also
read by Senator Davis. 1t takes up the
Maine disaster as the leading topic for cons
sideration and plunges into that question
in its first sentence, which is as follows:
''The destruction of the United States
battleship Maine, of two of her officers and
264 of her crew in the harbor of Havana,
on the night of Feb. 15 1885, excited to an
unprecedented degree the compassion and
resentment of the American people"
Continuing, the report says:
Manifestations of that resentment were
suspended, although the feeling was not al
layed by the self restraint of our people,
who determined to hold their own ju6g-
ment in suspense concerning their ultimate
action until an official investigation should
disclose the cause Of that great disaster
and enable then by direct or circumstant.ai
testimony to impute the responsibility
therefor.
was conducted with judicial thoroughness
and deliberation. The difficulty of demon,
strating by conclusive proof the efficient
personal cause of that sinister event was
the usual of exposing plotted and myste-
rious crime. No such difficulty however,
obscures its official and responsible caused
The committee says that the explosion of
the Maine was linked with series of pre-
cedent transactions, (which cannot In rear
son be disconnected from It"
spain's Animus Apparent
with animus by Spain SO plainly appars
ent that no one can even pausibly denN
it's existence, It is merely one reason fon
the conclusion to which the Investigating
tContinued on Second Page.