The times., 1898-10-29
SATURDAY, OCTOBER %, 1898.
The Mask Thrown OF.

At length it is made plain to the most
incredulous citizen that disreputabie
deal is being pushed TO consummation
in Paris. in connection with the peace
negotiations Anyone now can under
stand the object of all the noisy asser-
uons regarding our determination never
To assume a penny of Spanish-Cuban
debt. which have been growing more
and more vigorous and blatant ever
since the Paris end of the bond syndi-
cate received its final instructions from
Washington ten days or more ago by
the hand of Mr.. Hanna's special mes
senger
The cat is out of the bag. and no
doubt is possible as to its sex, breed or
state Of manginess. The gallery play
reached its climax yesterday in the dis
patches from Paris to the American
press generally. and in the Hanna mes
senger's cable TO his Washington paper.
Spain surrenders all her contention as
to the Spanish Cuban bonds. strictly in
accordance with the ante-prot9col
trade. and great is the glory of Day and
Gray in consequence. But Spain does
this with significant reservation, also
part of the secret Edmunds-Ireland
treaty. Surrender as TO the debt OF
Cuba is made contingent upon a settle
ment of the Philippine question salts
factory to Spain. In the event of dis
satisfaction. the Spanish Commission
ers retain the right to reopen the West
Indian issue, renew their original de-
mands. and break off negotiations If
they are not conceded. In this position
the complete game which has been
going on between the Administration,
for account OF the bond shark syndi-
cate. and the people in control Of the
Spanish government. completely devel-
cally.
The argument upon which the Ad-
ministration seeks to carry out the pur-
poses of its contract is an obvious and
a plausible one The United States de-
liberately undertook to drive Spain out
of the Western Hemisphere in the In
terests of humanity. Spain. therefore,
was on notice not to expect any conces-
sions from us in that quarter. But ii
was for unselfish ends and not for con-
quest that we drew the sword. The
Philippine Islands were not included in
our ante bellum punitive program. To
take them by mere right of the strong
er. and leave the fallen enemy a hope
lessly bankrupt state. would expose us
to the accusation of being a predatory
nation, and hence we should lose the
record we claim Of having acted as the
disinterested agent of civilization in de-
stroying the power for mischief OF
bloody, prosecuting Spain. That is the
moral view of the question that will be
REINFORCED by the precedent of our pur-
chase of California from Mexico, after
We had reduced that republic to a posi-
ton in which it was compelled to ac-
cept whatever terms we might impose
A shrewd and practical argument is
added. The American people will be
urged to reflect that as their bona
fides in the matter would otherwise be
open to suspicion, it would be at once
sensible and economical to assume the
Philippine debt of forty or fifty millions
or whatever sum in addition may be
still under the bush in one guise oil
another, rather than to risk a collapse
Of the peace negotiations and once more
plunge the nation into the horrors OF
war.
There is something in the appeal to