The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-14

rule as we believe they do. the right OF in
PREVENTION by the United States in the pres
ent instance is indubitable.'
The balance of power and the Monroe
doctrine are both policies of Intervention,
to be effected in certain contingencies in
furtherance of national policies, and to jus
tify which no canon of international law
was ever invoked. The former has pro-
foundly affected the relations of the Euro
pean states and the independence of many
of those sovereignties. The latter has kept
the powers of Europe out of the American
continents ever since it was promulgated
1t was q distinct announcement that the
United States would intervene under Ger
tain expressed circumstances, In the al
fairs of every Central American and South
American state. The United states ola IN
tervene by threat and show of force IN the
affairs of Mexico and France. and COM
PEELED the evacuation of that republic by a
European power whose own prior interven-
ton in Mexican affairs had overthrow a
republican establishment and established
the monarchy upon the ruins. No publlcist
has ever asserted that either of these poll
cies is part of the law of nations
Further justification for intervention IN
the present case is found in the fact that
ii is the only means of eXtirpating an other
wise incurable and dangerous evil. The con-
Turkey has been pursuant to the pollcy
which impeS one nation to intervene in the
affairs of another state to stop cruelty ana
massacre and if necessary, to depoSe 1t
from sovereignty. The fact that Spain is
Christian state does not give her greater
warrant to exterminate her subjects than
Mohammedan Turkey possessed to eXtirpate
hers. The recent intervention by the Euro
pean powers in favor of Turkey and against
Greece in her endeaVor to assist the Cretan
insurgents is familiar history. So, also, is
the intervention of the same powers which
checked the advance of the armies of Tur-
key into Greece.
The committee then quote from the mes
sages of President Cleveland, of Dec Z,
1896. and from President McKinleys mes
sage of Dec. 6, 1897, in support of the COM
mttee's contention that the attitude of the
United States toward the present question
has been based on the right of intervention
and the intention to exercise it in certain
contingencies. These declarations, the
committee says, in conclusion, more than
implied that this government would inter
pose in the event of failure, within rea-
SOnable time. to conquer the insurgents or
to induce them by concessions of home rule
to lay down their arms They have not been been
subdued. The autonomy proffered was spe-
cious and illusory. 1t has been rejected by
the insurgents not because it was Speclous
and illusory but because they viii accept
nothing short of complete national indie
pendence The suggestion of a more COM
plete autonomy has also been rejected by
and Spain alike that no terms short of in
dependence. which those powers may at
tempt to prescribe to them, will be accepted.
Spain refuses to grant independence. Ihe
war then, must go on, and the misery which
has shocked the civilized world must con-
tinue and increase unless it is terminated
by the triumph of Cuba or Spain or by
the interposition of the United States.
TIME TO INTERVENE HAS COME.
1T is the jopinion of this committee that
the time to interpose has arrived; that in
tervention which will stop the and Sc
cure the national independence of Cuba
should at once take place. If under all the
circumstances Spain shall choose to regard
such action by this government as cause
of war, that consequence, however, deplor-
able, will be accepted by the American peo-
pie with all the fortitude that confidence
in the Justice of their action can inspire.
Such intervention is justifiable and neces-
sary for the following reasons: The present
situation in Cuba has become a menace to
the peace of the world, and especially to
the peace and safety of the United States.
Spain has bid for. European Intervention,
thus far apparently without success, but
the conditions which make such Intervention
possible should be removed al once.
For nearly three years the boStiltieS in
CUBA and the Spanish administration of
that island have involved this government
in per1louS relations with Spain and raised
questions of right and responsibility, of
which no prospect of settlement is appa-
rent. So long as these conditions are al
lowed to remain unsettled they will increase
an irritation which has already become in
tolerable and which will inevitably ulti-
mately require adjustment by measures
much more vigorous than now seem ade-
quate to compose existing difficulties.
Spain has failed to perform her treaty
obligations and other International duties
a
specification of these derelictions would I'M
necessarily extend this paper They are
the familiar matters of current history.
American citizens have been seized and inn
prisoned without shadow of right, and have
been proceeded against by violent and ir-
regular forms in violation of treaty obliga-
tions. The aSsinatiOn of Ruiz, an American
citizen, was the act of the Spanish officials
who held him in a custody unwarranted by
his treaty rights. No reparation has been
made for this act, although it has been de-
mdnQed by this government.
A justifiable case for intervention has
been afforded by the barbarity with which
Spain has conducted her military opera
tons; by her slaughter of captured insur-
gent soldiers. and by her determination of
Blatant subjects-men, women and children
by driving them from their homes into
places of concentration and there suffering
them to die of starvation and disease.
In 1893 there We're $50 900, 600 of property
in the island of Cuba belonging to the Cit
liens of the United States. Much of this
struction has been by the acts of SPAIN
The destruction of the remainder she has
been unable or unwilling to prevent. The
claims on file in the State Department
against Spain for indemnity for this de-
stroyed property are about $16,00O,OO0 in
amount. Her military officers have levied
the price for the preservation of their es-
tateS and the continuance OF their agricul-
tural operations. In 1893 the commerce of
the United States with Cuba had reached
the annual sum of nearly 500, 900, co., Since
that time it has been substantially annihi-
lated by the methods of Spanish military
ard civil maladministration."
Senator Turpie presented the report of
the minority committee, follows:
The undersigned members of the COM
mittee on foreign relations cordially concur
in the report made upon the Cuban resolu-
tons, but favor the immediate recog-
milton of the republic of Cuba organized
in that island a free, Independent and
sovereign power among the nations of the
world
1t was signed by Senators Turpie. Mills,
eral Lees testimony which has had an in
fluence with the more radical procuban
members of the Senate committee on for
eign relations, was to the effect that the
present Cuban government was a govern
ment on paper only. He said however, that
he had no real facts on the subject; that this
was merely an opinion. General Lee also
said that it was true that the lights in Ha-
vana went out on the night of the explosion.
The conservative Republican members of
the Senate held meeting to-day in the
room of the Senate committee on judiciary
after the close of the Cuban debate for
general discussion of the situation They
did not attempt 20 reach definite conclu-
in the present emergency. but the exchange
of views far as INDUCED in indicated
decided preference for the House resolutions
over those presented by the Senate commit
tee on foreign relations. Those present at
the meeting were Messrs. Allison, Hoar,
Plat of Connecticut. Hale, Elkns Hanna.
Mcmillan Spooner, Aldrich, Fairbanks and
Burrows.
Senator Hale's Substitute.
WASHINGTON, April 13.-The substitute
for the committee resolution on the Cuban
question, offered by Senator Hale, is in the
lanp1lape of the Presidents recommenda-