Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-09-29

No treaty of peace has ever been
framed-at least none that marked
the termination of great war-which
did not require the services of a
small army of major and minor dip
lomats So with the treaty that is
about to be closed between Spain and
the United States
In the first place three languages
will be required, French, English and
Spanish, with translators for each
The conference will be conducted in
French, but when it comes to the
technicalities of diplomacy the COM
missioners will not trust themselves
with any Language but their own
and SO every speech and every docu-
ment will of necessity appear in
Spanish, French and English This
alone means an army of clerks.
But even the Boring sea arbitra-
ton commission numbered we'll over
a hundred, counting in all the minor
officials who in one way or another
were necessary to the settlement of
the controversy. And that was a
lesser dispute compared to the great
American-Spanish commission.
The Catholic church will have its
interests in the colonies to look af-
ter, and so an army of clericals is
already going to Paris to see that
the church does not suffer the loss of
its vast properties
The juntas of the Philippines, Cuba
ic0 Jryil Al,o ~ oil ho,
represented, especially the first named,
whose struggle for emancipation from
Spanish misrule will be most deter
mined.
Counsellors will be there for every
interest, to construe or to miscon-
strue, as the occasion may warrant,
and so, on the whole, it is fair to
presume that the commission will
hold it's sessions deep into the winter,
and possibly into the new year.
The American commissioners are
men of diplomatic ability, Senator
Davis ranking perhaps foremost
among Americas interpreters of in
ternational law. Senators Frye and
Gray have had long experience on the
only recently resigned from the
Bering sea commission, where his
knowledge of international law proved
exceedingly valuable. Whitelaw
Reid has gained his experience in our
foreign diplomatic field, and Secretary
Day. with his thorough knowledge of
the details leading up to and the data
of the war, will be no mean opponent
to the willy diplomats of Spain.
Other Treaties.
As a matter of fact, we nave in
the government archives at Wash
ington but three treaties of peace with
foreign nations. The first was hat
which terminated the war of indie
pendence, the second was that which
ended the war of 1912, and the last
was the treaty with Mexico in 1S4S.
In the latter the diplomat whose tai
ents were applied to the new problems
of that period was Nicholas P. Twist
and it is to him we owe the very val
liable treaty of Guadalupe HidalgO.
This was the one signed at Guadalupe
in Mexico on February 2, 184S. The
war had been caused by the annexa-
ton of Texas in 1916, and the con-
flicting claims about Texas southwest
ern boundary, Texas putting it at the
Rio Grande, and Mexico contending it
was at the Nueces, a river farther
east. At ton the United
States adopted Texas claim and in
maintaining it war was caused.
Through it's victories in the war the
United Sta es made good its claim,
and in tn treaty of peace the Rio
Grande was made the boundary. The
treaty also gave New Mexico and Cal
ifornia to the United States, and this