The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-03
@-VC05@XE
P!R '1 RiF1
'pA/N'S OFFICIAL NOTE HAS
NOT BEEN RECEIVED
PRESIDENT HAS BEEN ADVISED
OF ITS CONTENTS
ARMIsTICE MAY BE DECLARED Am
AN EARLY DATE

Night Conference Mt tn. u,,
be1eved to Have Been
Heid to Discuss Reports of Cop6.
uehtiaI Agents I'm spain-Prom.
1nent Official Says the End of t
War Is Near at Hand-pr.,a
demanded From Spanish Cabinet
prompt Consideration of H.s
Note.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 2.-shorltv
oerore midnight Secretary Alger. as he
ieit the White house, after q confer
ence With the president, said thev had
no o1f1clal information that the snan
lsh government had accepted the nro-
posals of the United States. Unofficial
~ the president had been informed
that the Spanish ministry had acceded
10 the terms Of this country For /.
cessation Of the war. The unoft1cia,
Information, however, came in the
form not only of press dispatches. but
OF private dispatches from confidential
agents Of the United States govern
ment
While this government has strong
reasons to believe that its terms of
peace have been agreed to bv the
Madrid government the president takes
nothing for granted.
IN
cessful conclusion are going forward
precisely as if no negotiations for peace
had been started.
There was a conference at the White
house Of the president, Secretary A1ger
and AdJt. Gen. Corbin tonight at
which final decision was reached as
to the constitution OF the provisional
corps for Porto Rico to be commanded
by Gen. Ware. The regiments to COM
pose this corps were decided upon and
will be designated in an order to be
issued tomorrow. Secretary Alger saws
this corps will be en- route for Porto
Rico by next week.
END IS NEAR.
1NotWilnStaIluing7 these Warllke prep
arations the belief in official circles to-
night amounts almost to a conviction
| that active hostilities practically have
| been concluded A prominent official
of the administration said tonight:
"The end is near, in my opinion.
The information thus far received Is
unofficial, and means nothing, but that
it is accurate In the main we have no
reason to doubt. In fact we have
reason to believe that it is correct"
1t is understood that the reason
referred to is contained In the private
advices received by representatives Of
foreign governments at this capitol
Ambassador CanIbon, who is con-
Quoting the negotiations for the Span
ish government has not been In con-
ference, so far as can be learned. with
the president tonight, and it is probable
that the Spanish reply to the United
States terms has not been received by
him tonight. 1t will be transmitted to
| the state department. On its receipt
| the first probable step on the part of
this government will be to suspend
hostilities and to negotiate for a treaty
| Of peace on the outlined terms.
ARM1STICE PROBABLE.
According to precedent an arm
istice will be proclaimed, and
under the circumstances this means a
| practical termination Of the war. 1t is
understood that certain precedents
| have been set for the conduct of the
war and the treatment of events that
led up to it. One notable incident, in
| which recognized diplomatic p-ecadents
| were swept away, was the personal de-
mand made by Secretary Day upon
| Minister de LONE to know whether the
| Spanish minister was the author of the
letter rejecting upon the president. An
other precedent was relegated to the
past when the government decided to
return the Spanish prisoners of war
taken with the surrender of Santiago.
Precedents have been disregarded in
other instances by this government. In
view of this fact, however, precedent
may not govern absolutely in the con-
duct Of the peace negotiations. After
the proclamation of the armistice dip
lomatically, the next step would be the
designation by the president of the
commissioners to represent the United
States in the conduct of the final nego-
tiations of peace. The terms proposed
by this government provide for a joint
commission to draft a peace treaty and
to solve the difficulty relative to the
future government of the Philippines.
Again, according to the best recogniz-
ed precedents, this commission would
meet upon neutral ground. 1t has been
suggested that the commission may as
semble IN Paris, but as yet that is the
merest conjecture. The commission
Continued on Second Page.