The herald., 1898-04-15

of the present navigation laws. The lawl
as they are at present, 1t is said, would
prevent our merchant vessels from sail
ing under a foreign flag, while every Span
ish merchantmen would be under the
French flag, Our ships would therefore
be proved upon by Spanish privateers.
Hale said the question raised was one
a most serious one. He said he thought
II would be mortifying and humiliating to
this country for its vessels engaged In COM
merce to fly the flag Of any other country
than our own. He asked that the memorial
he referred to the committee on commerce.
which he hoped would give it thoughtful
consideration.
| Penrose of Pennsylvania presented q
telegram from Philadelphia which was
road. as follows: "House resolution dish
water. Davis resolutions satisfactory. Re-
| member the Maine"
A message was received from the house
transmitting to the senate the Cuban res
olution passed by the house.
BY unanimous consent, at the request
of Davis, chairman Of the foreign relations
committee, the resolution yesterday re-
ported by the foreign relations committee
was laid before the senate.
Turner of Washington began a speech
in which he sharply criticised the admins
tration for the "vacillating and irresoiute,
cowardly and pusillanimous policy pur-
sued by it in the Cuban question" he
said that the developments of the past two
weeks had shaken his faith in those VINO
held the presidents ear and confidence.
Turner declared himself strongly in IA
vor of the resolution presented by the
minority OF the committee on foreign rela-
tions. and for so doing he needed no 1ur-
ther justification than the magnificent state
paper which accompanied the majority re-
mort. He declared, however, that the same
malevolent influences which have paralyzeo
the executive and almost caused the peopie
TO revolt were still at work. If these lnfiu-
ences should succeed, the whole country
would know the disgraceful story and the
nation would be shamed.
Turner maintained that congress could
not delegate to the president the power to
make war.
"The congress of the United States is the
organized conscience of the country, he
said, land it is the only power which can
take the dread step of war" After vehe-
mently attacking the president for the de-
laws which had occurred in the sending OF
his message to congress, Turner declared
that the delay last week was not due to the
request of Gen. Lee, but to the fact that
Archbishop Ireland had cabled to the vati-
can in the hope that the pope might be able
to bring about peaceful solution of the
difficulty The president was waiting upon
the pope's action, taken to secure that
which American diplomacy had failed to
obtain.
Turner ridiculed the diplomatic negotia-
tions of the administration, and demanded
to know whether congressfwanted, ,moreiof
it, He declared the state department, even
with the support of the department of JUS
tice, was weak and unavailing. At the
Spanish end of our diplomatic line We had
as minister man whose desire for peace
was SO strong that he refused to obey the
plain instructions of his superiors.
Turner declared with bitter sarcasm that, |
with such diplomatic agents representing
the United States, the Madrid government |
might eventually, for a suitable indemnity,
absolve this country for blocking the har-
Dor of Havana with the shattered hull of
the Maine. The flashing sword of the !
United States must be drawn for Cuban in |
dependence, and 1t would be welded by an
IL
should never be lowered until Spain was
driven from the western hemisphere. He
read several kilograms from prominent cit
izens of Washington to show the drift of
sentiment in that state. One from the
governor declared that Intervention with
out recognition would be utterly unsatis-
Another from the colonel of the
First regiment, Uniformed Rank knights |
1,.,r1 Il 81, 80 :,
dent it's services in case of war, directed |
him to withdraw the offer, as it had been |
made under the impression that they would |
De called upon to fight Spaniards, not Gu
bans.
Hoar Replies
When Hoar, the venerable senator from
arose to follow Turner |
there was a visible stir in the audience The
senator from ssachusetts said that he |
wanted to make few observations, quiet |
ly, calmly and in the matter of a court deal |
ing with the great problem of public well
fare and public honor. He thought it was
not the time for impassioned rhetoric, loud |
defamation. the clapping of hands and the
stamping of feet, but rather it was the posi- |
ton of absolute deliberation that should |
sion. He then argued that the report of |
cruelty and oppression in the island of Cuba |
warranted some measure that |
would bring peace. but he doubted the wis |
dom of rushing headlong into war until
every other diplomatic effort had been
made to bring about an honorable cessation |
of hostilities. Senator Hoar argued that |
the attacks upon the president were ILL |
advised and most ill-timed; that, instead of |
of the policy of the execu-
tive, the country and the congress should |
the president in his efforts max |
ing for peace so long as peace could be had |
with honor. Then, after presenting trib- |
ute to the president, the senator said that |
the men who suffered by modern wars were |
not the men who provoked them. and that |
the men who reaped the benefits of the |
wars were a few officers and the stock |
iobbers. He said that war meant the ad- |
dition of untold millions to the public debt
of the country, the piling of pensions noun
tain high, and would bring woe and desola-
ton to thousands of homes.
"To recognize the insurgents" said the
"would be to ignore our whole his
tory, and we cannot recognize that inde-
pendence without flying in the face of the
whole history of the world. We need the
sympathy of the civilized world IN the
struggle which seems so near to us, and we
can only keep it by recognizing the law of
nations"
Hoar said the Cuban insurgents had a
great title to the sympathies of this coun.
try. They We're struggling for freedom
they were brave and resolute.