Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1898-12-11

Inc AmcTlCduS SuOOh uduuo Win
the Spaniards when the latter entered
the conference hall. The faces of the
representatives of Spain were exceed
ugly solemn. Apparently they regard
ed the occasion as a funereal one.
The treaty, which was not completed.
was brought in sections in the hands
of the engrossers, while the commits
sion was sitting.
After being photographed the COM
missioners listened to the reading OF
the treaty until Sis, at which hour
they took recess until o'clock While
awaiting the arrival of the last sections
of the treaty.
The long session this afternoon and
the subsequent recess were due only
to the fact that each article of the
treaty had to be carefully read and
compared in Spanish and English and
to the fact that the engrossing Of the
last article in Spanish was incomplete.
There has been grea. contest among
the families and friends of the Ameri-
can commissioners for possession of
the pens with which the signatures to
the treaty were written. Some It the
Americans were provided with hand
some pens purchased Tor the purpose.
The Spaniards appeared to be unaf-
fected by the souvenir craze and con-
tented themselves with the ordinary
quill pens strewn on the table.
Arthur Ferguson, the interpreter CT
the American commission, requested
Senior Montero Rios to give him his
pen, saying: Have you any desire to
preserve the pen with which you will
sign?"
\ .sNot in the slightest" said the Span
hard, with a courtly bow.
The treaty as signed consists OF ~
ARTICLES, it having been found advisable
to sub-divide two or three Of the arti-
cles in the draft agreed upon at the
last meeting.
The commissioners of the two ma
tons wrote their signatures on two
copies of the treaty, one copy being for
the archives.
The document was prepared by Sec
rotary Moore in behalf of the United
States commission, and by Senior Villa
rutia, for Spain, on account of the con-
tinued illness of Secretary Ojeda, of
the Spanish commission.
Each copy contained the English and
Spanish texts of the treaty in parallel
columns. The wording had been ap-
proved previously by the commissions
without joint meeting, so there was
no controversy on this subject.
The signing of the treaty tonight
would have afforded a subject for a
great historical painting. The group,
gathered about the table in the stately
S chamber of the foreign Office, was i'm
pressive in itself, while the fact that
the sense of the momentousness of the
issue which the act decided was deeply
felt by all the participants, gave an
impressive and solemn tone to the
scene.
Around the great mahogany table
sat ten arbiters of the destines of an
old and a young nation. Ranged,
standing behind them, were numerous
attaches of the American commission.
The jets from the crystal chandeliers
above the heads of those present mag
nified the brilliant green AID scarlet
of the upholsterings into gaudiness.
There was a theatrical contrast be-
scenery. To the Americans it was a
happy ending of the epilogue of war;
for the Spaniards it was plainly bit
ter tragedy, none the less painful be-
cause long foreseen. They sat silent
as though almost crushed, and none
could withhold sympathy from Senior
Montero Rios, the president of the
Spanish commission, who, coming from
his bed, was bundled in great over
coat, though logs were burning in the
firs place near by.
The spirits of the two bodies were
symbolized by the clothes worn by the
members of the commissions, for the
Americans were attired in evening
dress for the dinner given them imme-
diately after the meeting by the Due
de Loubat, and the Spaniards wore
black frock coats
Although the commissions met at
half-past three o'clock, expecting to
finish their work in half an hour, the
engrossment of the treaty on parch-
ment was found to be SO troublesome
that 1t delayed the signing of the docu
ment until $40. Clerk Martin, of the
American commission, worked all day
without even stopping to eat. When he
came into the chamber at 7:30 with
the document he found the commission
ers waiting The Spanish copy had ar
rived q half hour earlier. Mr.. Arthur
Ferguson then proceeded to read first