The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-18
Rios Rails Against the Upstart Con-
querOrS' Cruelty.
UNKINDEST CUT OF ALL
AMERICAS REFUSAL TO ARBI-
TRATE MAINE OUTRAGE.
Spanish Commissioner Admits That
the Spaniards Are Hot-tempered
and Cruel, But They Protest Their
National Honor = Insists That
Philippines Are Not Conquered.


text Of the interview between Senior
Montero Rios. president of the Spanish
peace commission, and NJ de Blowitz,
the Paris correspondent OF the London
Times, published in that paper today.
Senior Montero Rios is quoted as say
ing:
We have fulfilled here a very painSdl
mission the result of which it was i'm
possible to dream of looking forward
! 10 with any satisfaction but that of
doing our duty. We depart without
other consolation than the exclalla ton,
Tout est Perdu Saul rhonneUr' all is
lost but honor.
We knew in advance that we should
have to deal with an implacable con-
querer, who would in no way concern
himself with any pre- existing interna-
! uona1 law, but whose sole object was
to reap from victory the largest posi-
| bic advantage. This conception of in
! ternationa1 law is absolutely new. 1t
is no longer a case OF might against
right, but of might without right. AS
/ Tor us, we had only 20 protect our
selves against the abasement which it
! was desired to inflict upon us and to
prove, in spite OF our plumbers ana mis-
takes, that we had not compromised
! the proverbiaI loyalty to the Castnlian
fatherland.
aMisfortune also has grandeur. The
Americans have acted as vain ueurs
pervenus' (upstart conquerers). They
! 90 not yet know the misfortune of de-
feat, but there are things which the
most fortunate nations cannot escape
later on-when they, too will have had
! reverses. When they will have become
! homogeneous and are no longer obliged
! to satisfy the eXigencies of political
/ parties, they, too, will form, like all
/ other nations with past, a code of in
ternational rights and duties, and be
| less inf1exible towards those who have
suffered defeat. They will better I'M
! derstand that a strict observance of
| conditions agreed to, even in the thick
of a fight, is guarantee and a protec-
| ton for all concerned, for the conquerer
as well as the vanGuished.
I'VE signed on Aug. u a. protocol sus-
! pending hostilities, and it was on the
18th that the American general de-
handed the surrender of Manila The
| fate of the Philippines remained unde-
| termined and Spain's sovereignty was
! still in force, since we. were still wag-
| ing war with considerable force to sup
press the insurgents
But after a journey across a por-
ton of the United States President Nc
! Kinley changed his policy and decided
upon claiming the Philippines by. right
! of conquest. Yet, 1 repeat, the Philip
! pines, even now, are still unconquered.
The two chief islands, thestWo richest
! -Mindanao and 1uzon-are not won.
AIindanaO and the island of the great
lake contain population of half
! breeds, half Malay and half Spanish
| constituting a military oligarchy which
runs the rest of the islands and occu-
! pies the richest portion of the territory
\ on the shores of the lake. They are
| proud, strong and warlilSe, and not only
! are they unconquered, but their con-
quest viii not be accomplished quickly.
( Yet the United States claimed them, as
we'll as the other islands. as though
! their conquest was completed.
] But what most pains me is that in
/ this great whirlwind in which we have
lost all, lost our last armada, there has
! been an attempt to deprive US of our
\ honor as we'll
'On Dec. 1, proposed to the Ameri-
/ cans to appoint q technical commits
/ sion to examine the question of the
! Maine. We said America. will appoint
an American, an Englishman and a
|, Frenchman, and we viii appoint a
/ SpaniaTd, an Englishman and
/ Frenchman, oil specialists, and that the
| commission or the TWO governments APP
/ point a German, and that these seven.
/ men bring in a verdict. II they declare
| Spain innocent, the president of the
! United States viii address a message
/ to the senate, declaring Spanish honor
| intact and that Spain was falsely ac-
! cused OF having betrayed the laws of
| hospitality by blowing up a vessel at
! anchor in one of her ports. If Spain is
! declared guilty, a Spanish ship will go
! to America, salute the United States
flag, and Spain win pay the costs.
This is the proposal we made on
| Dec. L. On Dec. >, in his message to
| congress, the president made no allu-
| sion to our proposal, but described the
| blowing up of the Maine as a suspicious
| event. On Dec. 6, the American COM
! missioners declared they refused to
/ discuss the question. This is what spe-
/ cially irritated US. We have great de-
] fects-our hot temper and cruelties,
/ even. But our national honor is dear
to US. Yet to that honor the Americans
wished to deal the rudest blow. Wen,
we are now going home to help Spain
/ TO staunch the wound. We have, hap
| PLY, at our head e woman whose vir-
/ tues, courage and intelligence are our
/ strength and hope, who is beloved and
/ esteemed by all parties. who henceforth
/ has the heart of a Spaniard.
THE latest news from the frontier
/ is that all is pretty quiet. There are,
I moreover, no Carlists but the priests,
! who recall the gloOmiest period in our
history. Don Carlos himself is no Carl
/ list. He has lived too long in the most
! advanced countries to be retrograde.
and the Carlist and fanaticism have
/ disappeared. Nor are there any longer
men who want q republic. CASTELAR,,
| Piuy, Margal and Salmeron are loyal
opponents. Spain has ceased to be
! great Spain, but we shall abide by our
traditions Of honor and sobriety. Per
/ haps by the time our young king, who
! has been brought up in the school Of
! adversely under the eye of a noble wo-
man, attains his majority. we Will see
! days of peace and prosperity return"
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