The times., 1898-01-22
SATURDAY, JANUARY %. 1898.
rhe Administration Policy,

1t is not often that an American ad-
ministration will go to the length of
aiscrediting the Chairman of the For
eign Affairs Committee in the House of
Representative. That official is pre-
sumed to hold the key to the foreign
policy of the day, and when he chooses
TO speak the country assumes that he
speaks by authority. But Judge Day.
who represents Mr.. Mckinley in the
State Department, is reported as de-
claring that the speech of Mr.. Hit on
"Wednesday did not represent the views
OF the Administration, but only those
oi Mr.. Hit We pass by the grave af-
front put upon the Administration ;
spokesman in the House. Probably he
can stand it. 1t has come to be a rule
in the Republican organization that
whenever a man tells tales out of
school he is sat down upon and pun
ished.
Judge Day asserts that the Spanish
sentiments of Mr.. Johnson of Indiana
represent the Administration view
This is satisfactory and refreshing. The
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Com
mittee is construcuvely and practically
degraded from his office. and, as far as
the Executive is concerned, it is passed
over to Mr.. Johnson of Indiana. Mr..
Hit may probably submit. Submis-
sion To bossism is virtue which we
find very rife among the Republicans
OF the House.
: The real facts of the Administration
itorial published in the Washington or
gan Of Senior Dupuy de LONE. That
they are elucidated at second hand.
through him, does not much matter
That only demonstrates the close re-
semblance of the Hanna policy to
that Of Spain, and also that the power
of the spanish interest TO subsidize has
not been entirely lost.
The Spanish minister. speaking
through his local organ, warns us that
if the Democratic minority in the
House had its way, we should be
plunged in q condition resembling that
OF the reconcentrados manufactured by
his friend Weyler. Thirty days after
Fort Sumter was fired upon Spain rec
ognized the belligerency of the Con-
federatc States. and to the end of the
civil war Havana was the naval base
in Western waters for the insurgent'
cruisers. We were not, thereby, re-
duced to any horrible condition, and
Spain had no reason to complain, be-
inS able 10 make a lot of money out of
the operation. Why the recognition of
Cuban belligerency should involve us in
national disaster and collapse is diff
cult to see. The recognition of bellig-
erency is bat a declaration of neutral
ity.
But suppose that Spain were to in
sanely regard such action as
casus belli. What have we to
consider? A dirty little fifth
rate power, dying Of it's own
rottenness and mercilessly whipped
and routed every time it goes outside
of its Notifications in Cuba! What
nonsense.
But Senor Dupuy de Lone, through |
his organ, makes plea for delay. 1t |
is the same old autonomy hypocrisy. |
lie begs us to give ii q chance. 1t |
never had one. II was illegal and not |
binding on the Spanish government. 1t 1
has been resented and rejected as well /
by the spaniards in Cuba. as by the
government, army and people of the /
Cuban Republic. The dominant party |
an Spain today is taunting the Sagasta |
with its illegality, and calling
for the election Of the Cortes to pass
upon il.
However. we may conclude that the 1
appeal of Senor Dupuy de LONE, |
through the editorial columns of his /
Washington organ, fairly represents |
the position of the Hanna Administra- |
tion. IL is simply that the Spanish |
Cuban bondholders and the Anglo l
American sugar estate syndicate viii /
not tolerate anything that would tend /
10 Cuban independence, and that In |
some way the Spanish debt must be \
permanently saddled on the island /
Senor Duruy d. LONE may have some
other views in the premises. but that
a. what the Administration is striving |
FOR aud what the American people re
sent and win ovcrturn at the first con-
aenieni opportunity.
NaR England and .Iapan Fiuhfe