Red Lodge picket. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1889-1907, 1898-04-16
PRESIDENT 5 MESSAGE
ISSUE IS NOW WITH CONGRESS.

ISSUE IS NOW WITH CONGRESS
The Only Hope for Relief From :
Condition Which Can No Longer
he Endured Is the Enforced Pac
ifcati0n of the ISIand-Spnin', ;,
UTer Of Arbitration.
Washington. April President Nc
kinlcy sent his Cuban message to con
2resS today. After reviewing the hstol,
of the war Ill Cuba the president SAYS:
The war in Cuba is Of such a nature
that short of subiuSation or extermina
ton, a final military victory for either
side seems impractcable. The alterna
tive lies III the physical exhaustion Of one
or the other party or perhaps both, a con.
dition which. in effect ended the 10 years
way by the truce Of Zan Jon. The pros
pect OF such a protracton and confusion
OF the present strife is a contingency
hardly TO be contemplated with eql,anim-
ity by the civilized world and least of all
by the United States. affected and iniur-
ed as we are. deeply and intimately, by
its very existence.
Asked for an ArmiStice
Realizing this, it appeared to be my
duty. in a spirit of true friendliness nc
less to Spain than to those Cubans who
have so much to lose by the prolonsa-
tion of the struggle, to seek to bring
about an immediate termina ton of the
war To this end I submitted on the
9th ultimo, a result of much represen-
tation and correspondence through the
+.1 toe mi NI,J Jr; ,,,;
tions to the Spanish government looking
to an armiStce until October ! for the
negotiation of peace with the good Off
ces of the president.
In addition, / asked the immediate re-
vocation of the order Of reconcentra ton
so as to permit he people TO return to
their farms and the needy to be relieved
with provisions and supplies by the Unit
ed States cooperating with the Spanish
authorities 50 as to afford full relief.
The 'reply of the Spanish cabinet was
received on the 3lst ult. 1t offers as the
means to bring about peace in Cuba to
confiie the preparation thereof to the in
sular parliament, inasmuch as the con
currence of that body would be necessary
to establish a final result; it being how
ever understood that the powers reserved
by the constitution to the central govern
rlent are not lessened or diminished AS
the Cuban parliament does not meet un-
til the fourth of May next the Spanish
government would not object for its part
to accept at once a suspension of hos
tiIities if asked for by the insurgents
from the general-in-chief, to whom it
would pertain in such case to determine
the duration and condition of the armiS-
tire.
The function Of the Cuban parliament
in the matter of preparing" peace and
the manner of doing so are not expressed
in the Spanish memorandum, but from
General Woodfords explanatory reports
of preliminary discussions preceding the
final conferences it is understood that the
Spanish government stands ready to give
the insular congress full power to settle
the terms of peace with the insurgents,
whether by direct negotiations or indi-
rectly by means of legislation does not
appear.
The End of the Effort.
With this last overture in the direction
of immediate peace and its disappointing
reception by Spain, the executive was
brought to the end of his effort.
In my annual message Of last Decem-
Der l said ''Of the untried measures
there remain recognition of the insur-
gents as beligerents, recognition of the
independence of Cuba and Intervention to
end the war by imposing rational COM
promise between the contestants and in
tervention in favor of one or the other
party. | speak not of forcible annexa-
ton for that can not be thought of. That
by our code of morality would be GRIM
inal aggression"
Thereupon | reviewed these alterna-
tives in the light of President Grants
message in the words uttered in 1875
when, after seven years of Sanguinary,
destructive and cruel barbarites in Cuba,
bei hf
milton of the independence of Cuba was
bic and indefensible and that
the recognition of belligerence was not
warranted by the facts according to the
texts of public law.
| commented especially upon this phase
Of the question, pointing out the incon-
veniences and positive dangers Of recogni-
tlOn of beligerence, which, while adding
to the already onerous burdens Of neu-
trality within our own jurisdiction, could
not in any way extend our influence or
effective office in the territory of hostil-
tiles.
Nothing has since occurred to change
my view in this regard and [ recognize
as fuzzy now as then that the issuance
of proclamation Of neutrality, by which
process the so-called recognition of bel
lgerency is published, could, Of itself and
unattended by other action, accomplish
nothing toward the end for which we Ia
bor the instant pacification of Cuba and
the cessation of the misery that affiicts
the island.
Against Recognizing Independence.
Turning to the question of recognizing
at this time the independence of the pres
ent nsurgent movement in Cuba We find
safe precedents in our history from an
early day. They are well summed up in
President Jackson's message to congress
December q, 1885, the subject of the
of the independence OIL lex
as, when he said
"In all the contests that have arisen out
of the revolutions Of France, out Of dis
putes relating to Portugal and Spain, out
of the separation of the American pos |
sessions of both from the European gov
and out of the numerous and
occurring struggles for domin- |
ion in Spanish states, so wisely
with our just principles has
been the action of our government that
we have, under the most critical circum-
stances, avoided all censure and encoun-
tered no other evil than that produced by
a transient re-estrangement of good will
in those against whom we have been,
by force of evidence, compelled to de-
eide.
1T has thus been made known to the
world that the uniform policy and practice
ference in disputes which merely relate
to the internal government OF other ma
tons and eventually to recognize the au-
thority Of the prevailing party without
reference to our particular interests and
views or to the merits of the original con-
troverSy.
but in this, as in every other occas-
ion, safety is to be found in a rigid adher-
ence to principles. In the contest be
tween Spain and the revolving colonies we
stood aoof and waited not only until the
ability Of the new states to protect them I
selves was fully established, but until +
danger of their being again subjugated
had entirely passed away. Then and not
until then, were they recognized.
Such was our course in regard to Mex
leo herself 1t is true that with regard i
to Texas, the civil authorities of Mexico |
had been expelled, its invading army de-
feated, the chief of the republic himself
captured and all present power to control
the newly organized government OF Tex