The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1898-04-16
FOR ARMED Intervention.
Resolutions Reported by the Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations
for Armed Intervention.
MINORITY IN FAVOR OF INDEPENDENCE.
The House, After a Stormy Session, Adopt
ed q Resolution Authorizing the Pres
ident to Intervene at Once, with Force,
In Cuba, After Voting Down the Min
GRITTY Report Favoring Recognition OF
Incependence,

at Is the opinion of your committee that
the destruction of the Maine was COM
passed either by the official act of the
Spanish authorities, or was made possible
by a negligence on their part SO willing and
gross as to be equivalent in culpabilIty to
positive criminal action Report of Sem
ate Committee on Foreign Relations.
WASHINGTON, April 14.-War be-
tween two powerful nations was the
sole topic of discussion in congress
yesterday.
III excitement, suppressed though
it was; such a feeling that the country
was on the verge of events that would
make history for all time to come; such
eloquent and imprisoned oratory; and
such keen and brilliant repartee have
not been known in the senate since the
exciting days when the country was o N
vulsed by the greatest war of modern
times.
Notwithstanding the throng in the
galleries, the great semi-circular cham
Der IA almost as silent as though it
were deserted. Conversation was con-
Quoted in low whispers, all seeming to
feel as # from the very air they
breathed that events historic and mo-
mentous were about to occur.
a null quarter of an hour before the
senate was to convene Mr.. Davis,
chairman of the foreign relations COM
mittee, entered the chamber and quiz
city went to his eat in the center of
the republican side. He carefully
placed on his desk a bulky package
which all intuitively knew to be the
fateful resolution and report from his
committee upon which peace or war
might hinge.
The chamber filed rapidly and when
the vice-presidents gavel fell nearly
every senator was at his desk. Scarcely
five minutes had elapsed after the ses-
sion convened before the vice-presi-
lent recognized Mr.. Davis. An in
slant hush fell over the chamber. Mr..
Davis presented to the senate the reso-
lutions and report from his committee
and requested that they be read. The
report was a terrific arraignment of
Spain and her policies; yet SO eager
were all to hear every word that not
the slightest demonstration occurred
throughout the reading.
The following are the majority reso-
lutions reported by Senator Davis:
The Majority Resolutions.
WHEREAS, The aOaOrrent conditions which
have existed for more Than three years in the
island or CUBA, so near our own borders, have
shocked the moral sense OF the people of the
United States, nave been u disgrace to Chris
tian civilization, eliminating, as they have,
IN the destruction of a United States battleShIp
with 26 orhc rs and crew while on q
friendly visit to the h-rbor of Havana, and can
not lon ger be endured. as has been set forth by
the president Of the United States in his mes
sage to congress of April IL. l'9S. upon which
the action OF congress was invited; therefore,
ResOired, First, That the people OF the island
are, and OF right ought TO be, free and indie
pendent.
second. That it is the duty Of the United
States to demand, an1 the government OF the
United States does hereby demand, that the
government of spain At once relinquISh its au-
thority and government in the island Of Cuba
and Withdraw It's lLnl AMI naval forces from
Cuba and Cuban waters.
Third. That the president OF the United
States be, and he hereby is, directed AMI en-
powered to use tie entIre land aaI naval forces
OF the United States, ami 10 call into actual
service Of the Un,Isd states the militia of sew
eral states, to Su:h an extent as may b. nee
eSSarry to carry these resolutions inCO effect.
The report of the senate committee
on foreign relations on the Cuban situ-
alton made by Senator PAWS, chairman
of tina committee. and accompanying
the resolutions, was a very thorough
review of the entire situation, and a
strong presentation of the facts which
had led the committee to its conclu-
sions. The report takes up the Maine
disaster as the leading topic for consid-
Grafton, and plunges INTO hat question
in its first sentence, which Is follows:
The destruction of the United States battle
ship Maine, of two of her officers and of =6i Of
her crew in the harOOr of Havana, on the night
OF February 10, Isys. excited to an uuprecedent-
ed degree the compassion and resentment of the
American people.
Continuing the report says:
Manifestations of that rcSeltm mt were SuS-
pended. aitnOugh the feeling was not aIlayed
by the self-restraint Of our people, who deter
mined to uold their judgment in suspense con-
corning their ultimate action un il AN official
Investigation should disclose the cause OF that
great disaster and enabled them by direct or
circumStaEtial testimony to impute the re-
spOnsibility therefor.
That investigation has been male. Il was
conducted with Judicial thoroughneSs and de-
liberation. The difficulty of dem Instrating by
conclusive proof the efficient personal cause of
that sinister event was the usual one OF expos
Ing plotted AMI mysterious crimes. No Such
difficulty, however, OOScureS its Official AMI re-
SponsIble cause.
The committee say that the explosion
itself of the Maine was linked with a
series of precedent transactions, which
can not in reason be disconnected from
it."
With animuS by Spain, so plainly apparent
that no oRe can even piauSiOly d.ny its exist
ence, it is merely one redSol for the
CONCLUSION TO which the investigating
mind must come in concerning the entire
subject Of the relations OF tIc United States
with that governm mt 1t is the opinionof your
committee that the destruction OF the Maine
was compa>Sei citleT by the Official act OF the
Spanish authorities or was ma re possible by q
negligence on their part 50 willing and gross as
t be equivalent in culpabiIty to positive GRIM
inal action
When property and life are Destroyed by an
act which the exercise of due diligence by the
person whose duty iG is to Use il could nave
prevented, the happening Of such an event Is
sufficient proof that diligence was not en-
pIOyed-
The time of the explosions" says
the report, must have been calculated
for the moment when the Maine should
Svinu within the dpStructiya radiuS of