The San Francisco call., 1898-04-11

c NEW YORK, April 10.-The C c Herald's Washington correspon- U c dent sends the following: Si- C . simultaneously with the promul- . c gation of the Queens decree . . granting an armistice as sug- C c gested in the note of the United . c States on March 29 last and C c urged by the powers and the C c Pope, comes an appeal from the C c Madrid Government for reopen . c ing negotiations with a view . c of a peaceful settlement of the U c general Cuban question, and all . c points of difference between the c c United States and Spain. Mani . c festly, Spain is playing her last U c diplomatic card to avert war U c with the United States. U
 It is now a desperate move through the medium of diplomacy for peace. Will it succeed? The verdict certainly ought to come this week. It has been promised often before, but 1t looks now as if the real crisis was at hand. On the verge of action by the President, Spain has assumed a new attitude, which has materially complicated the situation, and has caused great embar- rassment to the Administration.
 No one can tell what the outcome will be- The President has not altered his determination to send his message to Congress favoring forcible intervention as the only means of ending the war and establishing peace and order in Cuba. The only change, 1 am told. which will be made in the message, which has already been accurately out lined in the Herald, is the addition of recent developments concerning the is Suance of the Queens decree proclaim ing an armistice, and the new prGposi- tion made by Minister de Bernab be to- day for a settlement of the trouble some question. These additions will be made to the message without comment. They will be referred to as important, but it will be left to Congress to decide as to whether it will immediately adopt the recommendations of the President for armed intervention or to delay ac- ton until it is seen whether or not the Cubans accept the request of Spain for an armiStice.
 The administration authorities are not unwilling that Congress should delay final action for few days, until it is seen what effect the Queens proc l2mation may have upon the lnSur- gents. No statement to this effect, however, will be made in the message.
 The President makes it clear that he wants authority to forcibly intervene; that such intervention is solely for the purpose of maintaining law and order until a satisfactory form of govern ment can be organized and that there is no intention of recognizing the in dependence of a new government until there is a stable government to recog- nize. There is little doubt that Spain's latest proposition will complicate mat ters in Congress. as it has embarrassed the administration. The indications tonight are that it will tend to pro- yoke discussion and thereby delay ac- tion.
 Much will depend upon the naval and military movements of Spain. If her torpedo flotilla continues to move in this direction there is likely to be action at once in the line of the Presi- dents recommendations. If, on the other hand, Spain keeps her vessels where they are now, and shows that she is really sincere in the determina- tion to arrange terms of peace satis- factory to the United States, the con- servative element in Congress, partic- ularly the peace-at-any-pric men, may be able to Stave off action for some days. And herein lies the possi- bility of renewed negotiations ending in a peaceful outcome.
 The peace men will exert every ef- fort to secure delay. It is not likely that Spain's new proposition will be any more satisfactory to Congress than to the President, but it may cause de- lay with the legislative branch which it did not with the executive. But even if Congress should act at once on the Presidents intervention plan, the au- thorities consider that Spain may yet be forced to yield to all our demands without the plans being put into effect The resolution which the President wants Congress to pass is to authorize and direct the President to use the mil itary and naval forces. if necessary, to end the war It is not assumed that Congress will name a date on which the President is to act, so that 1t will still be discretionary with him as to the time of putting the act into force With Congress and the executive united in favor of forcible intervention Spain will then have the alternative of abandoning the island or being forced to do so.
 Concerning the developments of the day, a member of the Cabinet made this official statement to me tonight after the last of the two Cabinet meet ings held to-day:
 The President invited the Cabinet to come to the White House tonight to read over the message in it's completed form. There is no change in the tone or character of the message, and to- days developments will have no mate. rial effect upon the policy of the ad. ministration or attitude of the country toward Spain. There were several yer bal amendments here and there, such as changing an adjective or an expres. sion. but the notifications or amend ments do not alter the general scope of the message nor detract from its force in the slightest particular. The President made no change in his rec dot, ,A,1 lnt 1lte~ should intervene and end the insuffer. able conditions which prevail in Cuba The United States will adhere to its original proposition that the island o1 Cuba must have a definite form o1 government and hostilities must cease Nothing short of the ultimate freedom of Cuba from Spanish domination will be accepta ble to the United Statas