Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-08-11
END THOUGHT 70 Be NEAR.
United States Government officials
Giving Attention to the Next
Steps to be Taken.
WANT EXEMPTION FROM CUBAN DEBT.
The Spanish Note Believed to be Lengthy
Further Negotiations May be Neces-
sary-Shan the Surrendered Troops be
Allowed to Garry Their Arms-Tws
Methods of Procedure.

yet without official confirmation of the
| report from Paris that the Spanish
| government has decided to accept the
terms laid down by the United States
as essential to the negotiation of a
| treaty of peace, the officials here are
proceeding under the conviction that
the end has come and are giving atten-
ton to the steps to be taken next
In view of the delay in coming to this
conclusion, the idea was beginning to
prevail that the Spanish government
| was
About to Enter q Plea In Abatement,
and that the answer would again be
| inconclusive In this case the president
was disposed to deal firmly with the
issue, to give notice that our proposals
were withdrawn and let it be under
stood that when Spain again sued for
peace the conditions would be much
more severe than those first laid down.
If the Spanish answer should embody
an effort to secure any material change
in the conditions, it will meet with
prompt rejection.
Some reference has been made in the
dispatches of British newspapers to a
desire on the part of the Spanish gov
eminent to include in the preliminary
| agreement
Clause Exempting 1t from Liability for the
Cuban Debt.
The formal statement of the points of
| the United States note, given out from
| the White House, made no reference to
this subject, and it cannot be known
| as yet whether or not the full text
shows anything more. But presum-
| ing that no reference whatever is
made to the Cuban government, it
is possible that it may be regarded
as one that should be treated by the
peace commissioners who are to meet
later to frame the treaty.
| Based Upon Press Reports
of the progress being made at Madrid
towards returning the answer of Spain,
| it was calculated by the department
I officials that the formal note could not
have been delivered to the president
before to-day, and that was also the
belief of the French ambassador.
From the Length OF Time Consumed In its
Preparation,
the note was believed to be long, thus
entailing the consumption of much
time in forwarding it first to Paris, re-
ducing it to cipher there, transmitting
it over the cable and then retranslat-
ing it at the French embassy. In the
| case of the last note the attaches of
the embassy worked nearly all night
to prepare their communication to the
Spanish government, though the con-
ference with the president closed be-
fore five o'clock in the afternoon with
the ambassador in possession OF the
United States note.
Should the Spanish Answer be an Uncon-
ditional Acceptance
of our terms, some negotiation may be
necessary to agree upon the steps to be
taken to give effect to the agreeme
So far as can be learned it has not yet
been determined how this shall be-
There are two ways open, the first is a
military capitulation by the captain
generals of Cuba and Porto Rico, which
will Immediately place the American
military or naval commanders in tech
nical occupation of the islands and en-
able them to carry out in their own
way and in their own time the en-
barkation of the Spanish armies in the
islands.
The question as to whether they
shall be
Permitted to Garry OF Their Arms
is not now as material as it was in the
case of the surrender of Gen. Toral's
forces at Santiago, where, occurring in
the midst of the campaign, there was
a necessity for securing the moral eff
feet of compelling the Spanish soldiers
to lay down their arms. Spain having
succumbed, it might be urged that the
United States could grant a concessi on
on this point to Spanish pride without
fear of having the action attributed to
fear of the consequences of refusal.
This would not apply, however, to
the
Volunteers Who Might Elect to Remain in
Cuba,
as it would not be prudent to allow SO
large body of men to carry arms
without restraint in the days of recon
structions, when delicate and difficult
matters of internal policy are to be
settled and new methods applied to the
islands
The Second Method
by which the preliminary peace agree
ment might be formally effected would
be by protocol to be signed by the
representative of the president, proba-
bly, Secretary Day in this case, and by
NJ. Cambon in behalf of the Spanish
government It was by just such an
agreement as this, known as the Cush-
ing protocol, that war with Spain was
averted as the result of the Virginius
affair.
Arrival Of Transport M 40 fron, sapti.