The St. Johns herald., 1898-04-16
WASHINGTON LETTER.
The War at Hand-FafIure of
 the BOndhOIders.
From Our Regular Correspondent
 NY v0riI fl II


 WASHINGTON, April 4, 1898.
 Vengeance is at hand. There is to be no more dilly-dallying with lying Span ish diplomats. Uncle Sam is going tc take Spain across his knee and give il the thrashing it has so long deserved al our hands, and the cowardly and das- tardly massacre of our sailors and the destruction of our battleship is to be avenged. Even Mir. Mckinley is now convinced that Spain has been playing him Automatically for no other purpose than to gain time MT. Mckinley ac- knowledged his failure to secure the in- dependence of Cuba by diplomacy, and now it is the turn of congress, which this week will either declare war against Spain or adopt legislation that will be equivalent to a declaration of war, A last frantic attempt is being made by the bondholding element to muzzle con- gress, but there is no possibility of it's succeeding. Congress knows that the end Of the patience Of the people of the country who place national honor and patriotism aDcvs the stock ticker of Wall street h@- been reached ..4 thai the time of action is at hand, and it will at; and it's action will mean war, which the country is now in a position to fight to victorious end in short order, if it only has Spain to contend with, and is determined to win regardless of what it has to contend with.
 Every man who believes in honest and above board dealing between na- tions as well as between individuals, can appreciate the feeling of the man who, after listening to lot of roundabout rot about how We could make the Spaniards open hostilities without our declaring war against them, got excited and said : "They blew up our war-ship; they mur- dered our sailors. That is why we want to punish them." That is just exactly the truth. Incidentally we shall be glad to free Cuba and to relieve t. suffering on the unfortunate island, but the word that is mlrrored upon the average American heart is neither sympathy nor humanitarianism, but Revenge, for the treacherous assassination of our sailors and the blowing up of our bat tleship.
 There has been more or less specula- tion concerning resolution offered in the house by Representative Flemmer, of Georgia, directing the secretary of the navy to inform the house if the doc ument printed by the senate as the presidents message and evidence on the Maine incident, contained all the evi- dence embraced in inc report of the naval court of inquiry now on file in the navy department, and if not, to trans- nit to the house 8 copy of ts4 omitted evidence.
 The French ambassador Q the United S..,os As.s ..eAou Vno stato ueparUIueuU whether there was any obiec- tion to his looking after the interests of Spanish subjects in the United States alter the departure of the Spanish min- ister, and has been informed that there would be none. This action is regarded as being significant of the intention of France to remain neutral in the war. notwithstanding many assertions to the contrary. It was added to by cable gram from Madrid saying that both the French and British ambassadors had rendered General Woodford, United States minister to Spain, offers to care for American interests after his depart ure from Madrid.
 Few men possess the all around com mon sense equipment and temperament needed to prevent the man who fills the position of secretary to the president the man who stands between the presi- dent and his callers, and either makes him lots of enemies or additional himself 8 double-ba reled ass. Dan Lamont was one of the few. MT. J. Addison Porter, the gentle man who now fills the position, is not. He has made himself the laughing. stock of Washington by his frantic ap. peal to the editor of the Hartford