The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-04-12

grand results of her experience.
 ing the American national Red Cross and the religious and business elements of the community The efforts of that committee have been untiring, and have accomplished much. Arrangements for free transportation to Cuba have greatly aided the charitable work. The president of the American Red Cross and representatives of other contribut- ory organizations have generously vis- ited Cuba and co-operated with the consul general and the local authori- ties to make effective distribution of the relief collected through the efforts of the central committee.
 Nearly s200,000 in money and supplies has already reached the sufferers and more is forthcoming The supplies are admitted duty free and transportation | to the interior has been arranged so | that the relief, at first necessarily con | fined to Havana and the large cities is now extended through most, if not all, | of the towns where the suffering ex- | ists.
 Necessity of Change. Thousands of lives have already been 1 saved. The necessity for a change in l the condition of the reconcentrados is | recognized by the Spanish government. | Within a few days past the orders of | General Weyler have been revoked, | the reconcentrados, it Is said, are to be 1 permitted to return to their homes and l aided to resume the self supporting pursuits of peace; public works have been ordered to give them employment and sum of $600,000 has been appro- | priated for their relief
 The war in Cuba is of such a nature | that, short of subjugation or extermin- ation, final military victory for either side seems impraetcable The alterna- tive lies in the physical exhaustion of the one or the other party, or perhaps of both--a condition which in effect ended the ten years war by the truce of Zanjoa.
 The prospect of such 8 protraction and conclusion of the present strife is contingency hardly to be contemplat- ed with equanimity by the civilized world, and least of all by the United States, affected and injured as we are deeply and intimately by it's very ex- istence.
 Our Duty to Intervene.
 Realizing this, it appeared to be my duty in a spirit of true friendliness, no less to Spain than to the Cubans who have so much to lose by the prologa- tion of the struggle, to seek to bring about an immediate termination of the war. To this end I submitted on the 27th ult., as result of much represen- tation and correspondence through the United States minister at Madrid, propositions to the Spanish govern ment looking to an armistice until De- tober 1 for the negotiations of peace with the good offices of the president.
 In addition, asked the immediate re- vocation of the order of reconcentra- ton, so as to permit the people to re- turn to their farms and the needy to be relieved with provisions and supplies from the United States, cooperating with the Spanish authorities, so as to afford full relief.
 The reply of the Spanish cabinet was received on the night of the 31st ulto. It offers, as the means to bring about peace in Cuba, to confide the prepara- tion thereof to the insular parliament | ludSilluCIl etS l1lc COICuIItuCS Ol Ilsil body would be necessary to reach a fin- al result, it being, however, understood that the powers reserved by the consti- tuition to the central government are not lessened nor diminished.
 As the Cuban parliament does not meet until the 4th of May next, the Spanish government would not object for it's part to accept at once a sus- pension of hostilities if asked for by the insurgents from the general-in- chief, to whom it would pertain in such case, to determine the duration and conditions of the armistce.
 The propositions submitted by General Woodford and the reply of the Spanish government were both in the form of brief memoranda, the text of which are before me, and are substantially in the language above given.
 The function of the Cuban parlia- ment in the matter of preparing peace and the manner of it's doing so are not expressed in the Spanish mem- orandum; but from General Wood lords explanatory reports of prelimi- nary discussions preceding the final conference, it is understood that the Spanish government stands ready to give the insular congress full power to settle the terms of peace with the in- surgents-whether by direct negotia- ton or indirectly by means of legisla- tion does not appear.
 With this last overture in the direc- tion of immediate peace and it's disap- pointing reception by Spain, the exec utive was brought to the end of his effort.
 In my annual message of December last, I said:
 "Of the untried measures there re- main only: Recognition of the in- surgents as belligerents; recognition