The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-12-14
PEACE is A FACT.
Americans and Spaniards Sign
the Treaty.
Many Diplomatic FOrmalitles Attend-
ed the Final Session of the Conn
missions = DOnS Were De-
pressed In Spirit, While
the Americans Were
Quite Happy.
Quite Happy.

Quite Happy.
Paris, Dec. 12.-The treaty of peace
was signed Saturday evening.
z The treaty as signed consists of II
articles, it having been found advis-
able to sub-divide two or three of the
articles in the draft agreed upon at
the last meeting. The commissioners
OF the two nations wrote their sigma
lures on two copies of the treaty, one
copy being for the archives. The doc
ument was prepared by Secretary
Moore in behalf of the United States
commission and by Villarutia for
Spain.
Each copy contained the English
and Spanish texts of the treaty in
parallel columns. The wording had
been approved previously by the COM
missions without joint meeting. The
signing of the treaty would have af-
forded a subject for great historical
painting The group gathered about
the table in the stately chamber of the
foreign Office was impressive in itself.
There was theatrical contrast be-
tween the black-clothed actors and
the scenery. To the Americans it was
a happy ending of the war, for the
Spaniards it was plainly bitter trag-
edy, none the less painful because long
foreseen. They sat silently as though
almost crushed, and none could with
hold sympathy from Montero Rios,
the president of the Spanish commits
sion, who, coming from his bed, was
bundled in a great overcoat, though
logs were burning in the fireplace
near by.
Although the commissions met at
$3.50 expecting to finish their work in
half an hour, the engrossing of the
treaty in parchment was found to be
so troublesome that it delayed the
signing of the document until $50.
Clerk Martin, of the American COM
mission, worked all day without even
stopping to eat. When he came into
the chamber at 1880 with the docu-
ment he found the commissioners
waiting. The Spanish copy had ar
rived half an hour earlier. Arthur
Ferguson then read first the English
and after that the Spanish version of
the treaty. This finished, two copies
were passed around the table, the
commissioners signing them in the
order of their rank: W. r. Day, Sen
ator Davis, Senator Frye, Whitelaw
Reid and Senator Gray; Seniors Mon
tero Rios, Abarzuza, Garnica, Villa
rutia and Cecero Saons, each commits
sion signing its opponents treaty.
The last seal being impressed, the
commissioners rose and each member
shook the hands of all his antagon-
lists and exchanged assurances of sin
cere personal esteem. The Spaniards
afterwards commented acridly upon
what they termed the bad taste of the
Americans in mastering a crowd of
Iattaches to gloat over the consumma-
ton of their downfall and to scramble
Y for relics.
Several members of the United
States commission we're inclined at
first to publish the text of the treaty,
but Senator Frye made a strong plea
for the observance of courtesy toward
the United States senate, and his ar
guments prevailed. Further details,
however, have been learned as to the
wording of the treaty, which provides
that Cuba is to be relinquished and
that Porto Rico and the Philippines
are to be ceded. The Americans are
to pay for the repatriation of the
Spanish troops from all the colonies.
The Spaniards are to return all pris-
oners held by them. They are to re-
tain possession of all military stores
and munitions of war in the Philip
pines and of such ships as have not
been captured. The commercial treat
les between the two nations, which
the war ruptured, are to be renewed
at the convenience of the two nations.