Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1899-04-24
WASHINGTON LETTER.
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE MONITOR. j
Washinoto7,. AprI I7th., 1899.

bension that the trouble on the Sa-
moan islands will lead to information
al complications of serious nature,
but he is fully determined that the
Com mission, repl esentating theUnit-
ed States, Great Britain and Germany
which will sail from San Francisco, on
the 25th. on the u. S. auxiliary cruiser
Badger, shall fix the responsibility for
all mischief done over there, including
the ambuscading of the force of
American and British marines, result
ing in the killing of two American Of
ficers and two privates, and one Brit
ish officer and two privates. In order
that he may fully comprehend his in
structions, Hon. BARTLETT Trip, the
American commissioner has been
summoned to Washington by tele-
graph, to confer with the President
and Secretary Hay. Baron Won Stern
berg, the German Commissioner, call
ed at the Navy Department and
thanked Secretary Long, in the name
of his government, for having placed
a vessel at the disposal of the Com
mission.
Spain has been notified, through the
French Ambassador, that the $50, OOO,-
600 called for by the treaty of peace,
will be paid on demand, in New York,
in U. S. gold coin, or in gold bars, as
may De preferred. This is anticipa-
tory, as this government has the right
under the treaty, to defer the pay
dot
of the exchange of copies of the
treaty.
Sc nator Hanna denies most positive
ly the report that he came East from
Thomasville for the purpose of calling
a meeting of the Executive Commit
tee of the Republican National Com
mittee, and adds that he sees no ne
cessity, at this time, for meeting of
the Executive Committee to consider
preliminaries for the Presidential Cam
paign, as there will be plenty of time
to look after those matters later.
Secretary Alger, who has just re-
turned to Washington and resumed
his duties, after a tour of Cuba and
Porto Rico, for the the purpose of
m aking a personal inspection of our
military Government on those islands,
said: 81 return to Washington with
rem ewed faith. All that I had ever
imagined has been more than realiz-
ed. Under no circumstances would 1
now consent to the surrender of Por-
to Rico, which is now our territory,
nor would place the slightest check
upon the great work which is being
done in Cuba. The duty we have taken
upon ourselves, of holding Cuba in
trust for civilization, is a noble one.
Every cent of money, every hour of
time, which we are expanding, is be-
ing wisely invested. The army officers
have entered upon their work with
earnestness and industry, and the
good results of their labors are already
apparent" The Secretary also stated
for the third time that he had no idea
of resigning.
The only reason why the instruc-
tons given tho u. S. commissioners
to the Czar's disarmament conference
have not been made public is that it
would not be proper to state the Of
fetal attitude of this government on
the matters to be considered at the
conference in advance of it's meeting.
There are reasons for the belief that
arbitration fills a large part in the in
structions.
1t is not likely that any official notice
will be taken of the demand of Gov.
Lee of South Dakota, that the volun
teers from that State, now in the
Philippines, should be at once mus
tered out of service and sent home,
because notice is not considered ne
cessary. The whole matter of muster
ing out the volunteers in the Philip
pines was placed at the discretion of
Gen. Otis weeks ago-March Is to be
exact-no positive order being issued
to him by the War Department ex-
cept that whatever the exigency, no
individual who had good reason for
wishing his discharge, should be kept
in the service. Had he cared to have
information on the subject, before
writing demand which struck most
men as being silly, to the President,
Gov. Lee could easily has ascertained
that no volunteer in the Philippines
from South Dakota or any other state
is being kept there against his will.
But he wanted the notoriety he got by
writing his open letter to the Presi-
dent, or rather by signing letter be-
Ieved to have been prepared by Sen
ator Pettigrew, with the hope that it
would be embarrassing to President
Mckinley; hope that was not real