Evening star., 1899-06-03
Surprise Expressed in Local Off,
ciai Circles
DESCRIPTION OF ISLANDS

through the disasters which have visited
our country, are reawakened. We must
preserve sadness in order to derive expert
ence therefrom, but the woes of our cOun-
try are of such nature that reticence and
silence avail better than complaints.
when peace with the United States was
concluded, parliamentary troubles caused
a change of cabinet. and the present cabi-
net was formed. Under the constitution it
belonged 10 to ratify the treaty by lay
! ing it before the chamber. There remained
| under our control the Carolines, Palaos and
most of the Marianne Islands. But the
! former ca abnet believed it useless for Spain
| to retain such minor appendages of our an
! cient empire. and signed with the German
Emperor a convention Offering to cede these
| territories under the law, which Will be
submitted Immediately to the chamber.
| Pope's Influence Recognized.
Our foreign relations are cordial and
| friendly. We especially owe to the pope
| recognition of the many times he has given
| us his moral support
| The most important, most urgent and
most difficult task before you is to balance
| the budget and liquidate the debts resulting
| from the war through ordinary and perma-
| nent sources of income. Thanks to the
| Verely economic policy projected, the gov
| ernment will not ask fresh sacrifices of the
| country, except such as can be equitably
| divided among all classes
| with the ordinary budget will also be
| presented schemes to diquidate the charges
created by the loss Of possessions and
| colonial campaigns" II
The Queen Regent then referred 10 the
| financial measures and expressed conf
| dence that the nationiwouid show the same
| resignation during peace as ii showed dur
| ing the war, adding: - ,r-
| For the times are CRITICAL, and it is i'm
| possible during the present session to do all
! that is necessary. But during the next ses-
| sion there Will be projects for the reorsaui
/ ZatiOn of the army and navy, based on OD-
| ligatory service; for improving the public
| services decentralizng the provincial and
| m
| the penal code and electoral laws, etc.
News Received With Surprise.
| The announcement at Madrid in the
| speech from the throne to the cortes that
| Spain had ceded the Caroline Islands and
| Palaos and the Mariannes, or the Ladrones,
to Germany was received with surprise
here The cesson marks the relinqulsh
ment of Spanish possessions in the far
east, save the Island of Fernando Po and
dependencies on the African coast.
State Department officials have been
aware for some time that the German gov
! ernment was in treaty negotiation with
Spain for the cession of the islands referred
to in the queens speech to the cortes. The
fact that this has been accomplished, how
| ever, had not been communicated to the
| authorities, and the announcement from
| Madrid therefore, was news to them. Sec
| retary Hay said that the question of ces-
sion was not one concerning which the
| United States would be consulted.
! While this government has been unad-
| vised of the cession of these groups, the
colonial policy of Emperor William has led
| the administration to expect that the Ger
| man government would lose opportunity
to stretch out its domain in the Pacific.
Administration officials do not regard the
| movement requiring any special cogni-
| Zance on the part of the United States for,
| according to one member of the cabinet.
this government has acquired all that it
| wants in that quarter. While Guam is in
the midst of the other islands of the La
drones that are ceded, that fact is giving
no concern here and this government is not
disposed to raise any question upon even
| further extension of German sovereignty
| in that section Of the globe, should Ger
many follow up the present cession with
other efforts. Most of the islands in the
neighborhood in the past have been in
tested with pirates the very name Of the
Ladrones indicating the former hotbed of
| piracy, and there are not few islands yet
where the black flag is common.
Strategic Value of the Concession.
| The strategic value of this cession to the
German interests in the Pacific Is evident
from the fact that the Ladrones and Pa
laos and even the Carolines, are in prac-
tically a direct line between Hawaii and
the Philippines, and will form excellent
points of supply for Germany. The Amer
lean peace commissioners a. Paris last De-
cember vainly sought one of the Caroline
Islands on account of Its being in q line
| with Hawaii and the Philippines and It's
adaptablity as a station for the proposed
| Pacific cable to connect the Philippines
with Hawaii and the United States Fail
ing In that, however, the American flag
/ was hoisted over Wake Island, LOO miles
| east of Guam.
Reports have been current from time to
time that Spain was fguring on a transfer
of sovereignty of the! CaEolines, and that
Germany had made ,overtures looking to
their acquisition in the extension of her
| colonial possessions.
Sovereignty over the Carolines for
maiiy adjudged by the pope in 1885 to be in
| Spain and was admittedly Germany and
Great Britain. This was after a rather
prolonged dispute, opened up by Germany
raising her flag over the Island of zap.
| Portugal first acquired the Caroline Islands,
| but Spain soon wresteS the group from her;
but until the eighties had paid little atten-
ton to the islands. German interests in
the Carolines are relatively extensive and
have been fostered by a provision of the
pope's award, he, as arbitrator, awarding
| sovereignty to Spain, but reserved to the
German government special trade facilities.
The Marianne Islands, which go with the
! Carolnes and Palaos in the cession, of
| course do not include Guam, over which
the American flag now flies Including
Guam, the Mariannes the Caroiines and
| Palaos have a total area or almost LOCO
| English square miles and combined popu-
/ lation of about As 600 people Over all this
save the American acquired Island Of
Guam, the German flag is to be kosted
The Ceded Islands.
The Marianne or Mariana Islands, also
| known as the Ladrones, are a group of
fifteen islands, of which only four are in
| habited, In the Pacific, mostly between
latitude 13 and 81 north and longitude IA
and 146 east. They are of volcanic origin,
| densely wooded comprise in all about AIT
square miles, and are very fertile They
| war; hu in,