The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-01-17
Behind CLOSED DOORS
The Senate Disposes of an Amend
ment to the Hoar Resolution.
Mr.. PettiErcw'S Motion to Have the
Senate Placed in Possession of the
instructions Issued to the Paris
Peace Commission Laid on the
Table - Mr.. Vests Gloomy views.

! Peace Commission Laid on the
Table - Mr.. Vests Gloomy views
| The Senate at the close OF the routine
| business yesterday took up the resolution
| by Mr.. Hoar requesting copies OF CON-
muncations received by the President from
| Aguinaldo or any other person undertaking
| to represent the people in arms against the
| United States, together with the amend
| ment offered by Mr.. Lodge, extending the
! field of enquiry.
Mr.. Pettigrew moved to amend the reso-
luton by adding a request for the instruc-
tions issued to the United States Peace
Commissioners at Paris.
Mr.. Davis said there was nothing in these
instructions which he feared to have dis
closed, but that he thought that the mat
tire should be discussed behind closed doors.
The Senate according went into executive
session, but ten minutes later the doors
were opened and vote was taken or a
motion of Mr.. Davis to lay Mr.. Pettigrew's S
amendment on the table, the motion being
agreed to by vote OF Il to 20, as follows;
Yeas-Aldrich, Allison, Baker. Burrows. Carter.
Chandler, CulIom. Davis. Dep y, Fairbanks, fos-
ter. Frye. Gallinger, Hale, II nsbrough. ilawley.
kean. Kyle. Lindsay. Lodge, Mcbride, Mcl.aurin,
Mcmillan. Nelson. Perkins, Pettus. Platt of Con-
necticut, Platt Of New York, Prtchard, Proctor,
Quarles, Ross, Scott. Sewell Shoup, Simon.
spooner, Stewart, Thurston, Wetmore, Wolcott.
Ill.
Clay, Cockrell, Culberson, Ieitteld. Hoar. Jones
Of Arkansas Martin, Money. Pettigrew. Talia-
ierro, Teller, Tillmsn, Vest, Wellington.-2O.
Mr.. Teller said he had voted NO be-
cause it was in the power of the President
(if the amendment had been agreed tol to
transmit the papers in secret or to decline
to send them at all. He believed, he said.
that all attempts to keep from the people
any information that they ought to have
had a tendency to create suspicion that
something which they ought to know was
being withheld.
Mr.. Hoar remarked that the resolution
left to the Presidents sole and undis-
puted judgment whether the information
asked for could be given without detri-
ment to the public service. and that 1t
struck him that the vote TO lG., the amend
ment on the table was an extraordinary
transaction.
Mr.. Spooner said that he had voted to lay
1t on the table because he knew. as every
Senator knew, that to all the corre-
spondence asked for the President had
been as frank with the Senate as he pos
sibly could be. He added that he could
see no reason why the amendment should
be offered unless 1t were an attempt to
put the President in an attitude OF con-
cealing something. I'm the present sensi-
tive condition of public relations said
Mr.. Spooner, "it might do harm for the
~
ate in open session when he did not regard
it as being for the public interest to send
the correspondence asked for"
Mr.. Hale said that he doubted whether
1t would be good policy for the Senate to
say to the President nov that IL desired
all the correspondence which took place
between him and the American Peace Com
missioners at Paris and that he had there
fore voted to lay the amendment on the
table. He stated that he did not know
what the correspondence was but that he
thought that the result OF it was calamit-
GUS He had voted against the treaty
and had never seen the day since that he
regretted his vote. but it did not follow
that he would vote in favor Of ransacking
the correspondence at that time.
Mr.. Teller disclaimed any desire to put
the President in an unfriendly position or
to intimate any lack OF confidence in him
and he gave notice that in the Philippine
matter he was likely to act with the Re-
publicans.
Mr. Vest said that IL seemed most uu-
fortunate that nothing could be said about
the Philippine war without improper mo-
tives being ascribed. The friends OF the
President land he was not his enemy as
sumed that any remark coming from those
who opposed the Paris Treaty was an at
tack on the President personally and on
his advisors II seemed to him that the
friends OF the Administration should desire
the whole OF that correspondence to be
placed before the American people. As
the matter now stood. the President had
first instructed the Commissioners before
they left Washington to acquire or take
the Island of Luzon; and afterward he had
repeatedly said that he was an instrument
in the hands of Providence.
"If 1t be true that the President wss
willing to take Luzon. what was to become
Of the rest of the archipelago? / hardly
know in what language to characterize
these continued imputations that there are
friends of Aguinaldo on this floor giving
aid and comfort TO the public enemy. None
OF us has ever made any statement on III
floor so strong as that made by the Senator
from New Jersey tMT. SewelD whose 10y
atty no one will question. That Senator
declared in open session that after the de-
struction Of the Spanish feet In Manila
Bay he had gone to the President and said
For Gods sake MIR. President, withdraw
Dewey and let those islands alone Was
he an enemy TO mis- country and friend to
Aguiuaidog This whole Philippine question
is a nebulous and cloudy condition which
befogs the public mind ard the councils
even Of the leaders of public opinion in the
dominant party.
IL nm sorry that our foreign relations
are in the condition in which we find them
today: vet all the world knows that so far
we have been very unfortunate. With
bubnnic plague added to leprosy in Ha-
wall: with unrest in Porto Rico; with
want in Cuba. and with indefinite war in
the Philippines, is IL treason to make these
or must we who opposed that
treaty and predicted the disasters that
have come and will, come. to be so coward
ly and recreant as to sit here for fear Of
vitriolic denanciatiun, and to decline to
discharge our duty as the fearless repre-
sentatives of a great people? IL is said
that this war must continue. | have no
argument against it. | said after the
treaty was confirmed. that to pass reso-
lutions and to make solemn declarations
was like sending for ilrst-class physician
after the patient was dead. Every man
who voted for that treaty knew that
he voted for a war. Every Senator
knew that We were paying twenty mil
lions for war in the archipelago. !
the end of which may come in a month !
or may not come in ten years. (
have nothing else to say, and am very
sure that what have said will be miscon- |
strued, because it seems the policy 10 |
brand every man who does not give his |
unqualified assent to all that is done in the I
Philippine war as unworthy the confidence /
Of the country. That is all.
These last sentences were uttered in n |