Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1901-03-22
WASHINGTON LETTER.
(From our Regular Correspondent

(From our Regular Correspondent
Washington. March Is Secretary
Hay was given an impossible task
when he was told by Mr.. Mckinley to
negotiate a new treaty with England
to take the place of the rejected treaty
that will represent the views of two
thirds of the Senate. What the Sena-
tors would agree to would not be agreed
to by the British Ambassador. In
fact, Senators who ought to know have
declared that if the treaty just reject.
ed by England. were to he accepted
just as it was, by Secretary Hay and
the British Ambassador, and again
sent to the Senate, it would fail of
ratification, until it had been amend
ed. Many Senators are thoroughly
satisfied that England has been tricky
in It's efforts to head off the construc-
tion of the Nicaragua Canal by this
government, and some of them do not
hesitate to express the belief that the
administration has been a party to
some of the trickery. Whether in the
face of this knowledge of Senatorial
sentiment. Secretary Hay will try to
carry out his orders as to tho negOtia.
tion of the new treaty, is not known,
but it sseems absolutely certain that
any treaty acceptable to England will
fail in the Senate, if negotiated. Even
if the administration could control the
votes of all the Republican Senator's,
which it cannot. it would be six votes
short of two-thirds, and it may be set
down as sure, that those six votes can
not, under any circumstances, be had
from the Democrats, to ratify treaty
that gives England even as much say
IN the construction of the Nicaragua
Canal as was given by the rejected
Hav-Pauncefote treaty. That's why
Mr.. Hays task is an impossible one,
When one is rewarded for having
turned ones political coat, the size OF
the reward is apt to be regarded as
the value put upon the services of the
turncoat by the other side. Upon that
theory, Hon. Irvine DUNCAN, who was
| sent to Congress few years ago by
the DemOcraes of the thirteenth Ohio
| district, and who turned his political
coat during the last campaign and took
the stump for Mckinley, must be very
small. senator Hanna has just had
Mr.. DUNCAN appointed to a 81, 200
| clerkship in the Treasury Department.
The friends of Mr.. Meiklejohn, late
| Assistant Secretary of War, the pres
ent candidate for the q. 8. Senate, be-
fore the Nebraska legislation, are say.
| ing publicly that he retired from the
| War Department voluntarily, while
in private they are saying unprintable
things about Secretary Root, for push
ing Meiklejohn out, which they fear
| will queer whatever chances he had
for election to the Senate. Secretary
| Root was doubtless actuated largely
by seltishness in getting an assistant
secretary who would perform the work
OF that office--during the past six
months Meiklejohn has been away
from Washington practically all of the
| time, but has regularly drawn his sal
| airy.
There is growing suspicion that
there is a close connection between the
opposition of some of the big syndi.
Gates operating in several lines of
Cuban industry against the withdrawal
of American authority from the is.
land and the report that the Cubans
are going to refuse to comply with the
conditions imposed by Congress fol-
American withdrawal, and that if a
close investigation were made, II
would be found that these syndicates
were using money to influence the
Cubans, just as agents for those syndi.
Gates brought influence to bear upon
Mr.. Mckinley for the purpose of per.
suading him to take no steps toward
carrying out the pledge of Congress
that our authority should be with
drawn as soon as the Cubans were in q
position to govern themselves. Pub.
lie sentiment was SO strongly in favor
of keeping our pledge that Mr.. Nc
| Kinley would not be persuaded. If
the Cubans refuse to fill the conditions
American authority will continue I'M
til Congress sees fit to change the con.
ditions, which 1t might not do at all.