The times., 1898-09-18
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER is, 1898.
The Peace Commission.


The Peace Commission is on its way
70 Paris. We are unable to say what
the Administration expects of it when
Ii gets there, since that has been sur
rounded with dark and wholly unnec-
essary mystery. But neither President
Mckinley nor the members of the au-
gust delegation need entertain the
smallest doubt as TO what the Ameri-
can people, and practically all of them.
expect the Commission to do. The
country looks for a solution that can
be described in a very few words:
The Stars and Stripes must not be
hauled down in any place where, today,
they float over conquered territory.
This means that the nation will not
tolerate the slightest indication of a
desire on the part of the Administra-
ton to surrender to Spain any part of
the Philippine archipelago. Mr. Nc
Kinley and the gentlemen whom he has
sent abroad to act as superfiuous inter-
mediaries in the matter should not
need to be told that, in the present and
increasing z determination of our people.
TO hold the great Oriental possession
which has come To US through Dewey's
victory in Manila Bay, it is highly i'm
probable that a treaty providing for
anything less would be ratified by the
Senate.
In saying this we do not lose sight of
significant statements privately made
hz- faadfpor q dr-oo..a- &c ta,.,.;, -,.;,1 -,-..
render TO Spain. Some of these per-
sons hug the opinion that, if only the
President viii support their views and
commit the executive branch of the
Government to the Edmunds- Ireland
plan of relinquishing most of our Phil
ippine holdings, the Senate may be
fixed" 1t must be remembered, of
course, that the sugar element, as well
as one or two others, in Republican
politics, is most anxious to rob
the American people of the fruits of
the war in the Far East. In the pres
ent instance, however, We are unable
TO believe that any amount of stock
market rigging, or of financial. social.
or religious influence would be found
effective to control senatorial action.
IN defiance Of a popular sentiment
which is not only universal but deeply
resentful toward those who are schem-
ing TO serve the interests of Spain, and
Spain's creditors, at the expense of
American commercial opportunity and
honor
It is a pity that Mr. Mckinley should
have been oyer-persuaded by disingen-
uous advisers to leave any room for
doubt and suspicion as to his motives
or intentions in connection with the
peace preliminaries. The Peace Com
mission in the form it was given in the
protocol was an unfortunate mistake.
1t justified expectations on the part of
Spain that the American people would
not think of allowing to be fulfilled.
1t was a kind of organization entirely
unnecessary to the proper handling of
the situation. If it Esas intended mere
ly to waste time until after the Novem-
Der elections, its existence may be ac
counted for Otherwise it appears to
US 70 be very useless thing.
Ii did not require an expensive dele
CATION, sitting in the foreign office of
nation unfriendly TO American views
and interests in the connection, to tell
Spain that the Philippines as we'll as
Cuba and Porto Rico must be surren-
dered. That could have been done
more effectively, conclusively, and eco
nomically by half a dozen Jacksonian
words from the mouth of the Presi-
dent When Spain had acceded to the
demand, then it would have been in
order, Of course, to appoint commits
sioners to take over the property.
Nowhere is there any question about
the commercial or political advantages
TO be gained by our full possession and