The times., 1898-02-27
ECHOES FROM ABROAD.

| The banquet at the American legation
! in Madrid Thursday night. which has
been reported all over the world as a sort
! of peace guarantee, was not indicative OF
concord at all. Gen. .Woodford and other
foreign diplomats were the only paci-
hcos present. The banquet was essen
tally an official affair, and served to
demonstrate in very marked fashion
the boycott to which the United States
mission is subject by Madrid society. The
majority of the guests were members of
the foreign diplomatic corps here, while
or the cabinet only three members at
tended, namely. Premier Sagasta,, Senior
Moret, head of the colonial department
and Minister of Foreign Affairs GulIon
who. by virtue of his position, could not
absent himself.
The queens two ladies, the Countess of
Santiago and the Duchess of San Carlos
had received her majesty's commands to
attend, and had taken the precaution to
make the fact known among their friends
and acquaintances in order TO explain
theif presence at the banquet. The same
may be said of the royal chamberlains,
Marquis Waldo Iglesias. while the Duke of
entertained by the United States Gov
ernment at the time of the Columbian
Exposition. in consequence Of his being
hneal descendant of Christopher Column
buS. could not in common decency afford
10 remain away
Moret and Sagasta. il must be borne
IN mind. are the two members of the
cabinet who still are with the Queen
Regent in hesitating about declaring war
10 tai faf ~
of the war members of the cabinet who
constitute the ma ajority of the adminiStra-
uon, saw mt to respond I'm the affirmative
10 Gen Woodford's invitation, the minis
ters of war and navy being conspicuous
by their absence. The entertainment in
fact. has done nothing to improve the re-
lations between the two countries and
has merely served to show once more
the extent TO which they are strained.
Meanwhile, The Times cable dispa tches
Indicate that there is no abatement i'm the
popular demand for an immediate decla-
ration of war against the United States.
and the Impartial. one of the most infiu-
entail semi-official organs takes the cab
met severely to task for its Strange ap-
athJ. as contrasting with the wave of pa
triOtism that is sweeping over the eou1I-
Inc declares tfldt the
President of the United States. while ca
joling Spain with words, sharpens his
dagger 10 stab her from behind and
winds up by asking, How long will the
agOniZed nation tolerate the inconceiya-
bic apathy of the government?
1t must be remembered that this is an
organ. not of the opposition, but of the
administration, and that ii voices the
opinion not only of the Spanish people al
1lf -.
members of the cabinet itself, who are
doing what they can TO force the hand
OF the Queen Regent and of Senors Sa-
gasta and Moret AT any rate, the min
isters of war and of the navy are deter
mined to waste no time. and in addition TO
the transatlantic steamer Ciudad Caldia.
which has been transformed into cruis-
er and fitted with ten guns is now
due at Havana with a torpedo boat
fiotilla. which it is conveying. there are
several other passenger liners now being
converted into cruisers rapidly in the
same manner.
Nor is the announcement by the Bank
of Madrid 10 the effect that il will only
take the April coupons with recourse.
which practically means that the coupons
Will not be met, at any rate integraIly.
without ominOus significance. For. i'm
poverished as Spain is it was shown two
months ago that she had ample means in
hand to pay the April coupons, and if she
fails to do so it is merely because she
wishes to retain the money in her hands
for use in connection with the war with
the United States. knowing full we'll that.
with this war either imminent or In prog
ress ii is hopeless to dream of obtaining
any loan abroad. 1t may be remembered
that Greece did precisely the same thing
just before her war with the porte. She
declined to pay more than 50 per cent of
the coupons of her debt, which X held al
most entirely in Germany. in order 10
have sufficient money in hand to fight the
Turks That. indeed. was the chief source
of the bitterness on the part of Germany
toward Greece throughout the struggle.