Show A TROUBLOUS TASK ats ZI ai ahls tb be or not to be recorded in 1 as the last day of the peace missions joint assembly it is S not own n at this hour but it seems hard probable that the first of the prop alons is the one that will prevail t sa elusive gre are apparently forested determinations these days that most bet that anything of the kind ants ts to to lb mere conjecture espee ts the case when spanish evasion and procrastination are confronted with yankee forbearance forbearance and good nature it is now given out dut that the spanish members of the commission dare not sign a treaty of peace particularly one giving spain no indemnity or a merely nominal one because doing so would not only end their political career but might we are to infer end their mortal career as well besides being somewhat in the nature of an incentive to revolution through the carlista Car lists who are more than ever on the alert and only awaiting a favorable opportunity to pounce down upon the denuded and crippled government this is all very sad when men presumably invested with plenary power to conclude peace within certain lines axe are made to bd understand toward the last when all the terms have been placed before them that if they concur they will have trouble at home that cannot be easily disposed of it shows a bad state of affairs it is bad for us too boo but still it is a lesson which with all our smartness was apparently needed it has shown us that in dealing on equal terms with a power which possesses no stability and whose plent pleni potent aries laries are simply so many jumping jacks the strings upon which are held in madrid and pulled at the dictation of an ignorant and a priest ridden populace we get only what we bargained for and consented to when it all falls it also shows us that in concluding a business transaction especially one in which nations are the parties it is a serious matter to leave a feature of it especially when this happens to be the most important feature to what in the present lights can properly be called a game of hazard it ought to be and doubtless from this time on will be understood that war is war and that no other term defines it it is by no means a pastime or anything to be encouraged or desired it is the last argument to which nations are presumed to resort and when it comes it comes with thunderbolts earthquakes blackened skies emitting fierce and merciless and groaning volcanoes belching forth consuming flames it means destruction rapine suffering sorrow and distress the loser in such a monstrous convulsion of animate nature has nothing to hope for but what the winner sees fit to granit and this Is anso understood spain was crushed into helplessness and a suppliant for mercy at our feet if we had then acted upon our understanding olf of what war amounts to and made it truly the last of the arguments in the case all would doubtless have ended months ago and both nations be now profoundly at peace witie no disturbing rumors from paris or elsewhere to ito mar the serenity of the situ situation lation then the terms merciful and just as coming fromi americans american s they would have been w would have met with an appreciative welcome as being just so much more man any other great power have extended and go 40 mulch more than the vanquished had any right to expect it was another mistake to t 0 suppose the spanish were st much unlike the raees race preceding them out of which they grew and between whom and the advanced peoples of the present day they form the connecting link the roman only wanted to get his hand band within an enclosure to soon have his entire person therein to ito set his foot upon forbidden wll soil to all at ontee stamp a force of men out of the ground and vake possession to concede Is to encourage to smite and blast and subjugate Is to make seo nife but why enlarge upon this theme teme tt the wrong is done and it seems tg t look as if it ft were a case such as that defined by hallat when he ha takes his hia first murderous step thus bad begins and worse remains behind spain now seems to bo think she has under a strict construction of lional law a right ito toe be restored to her former pos possessions ions at the other side of the pacific and that if the united states takes them it must be in the mme ame way that tt it would obtain territory from fram any other nation by purchase they have been encouraged into this that is they have received no discouragement since hostilities ceased and this with the latin races Is generally construed as encouragement As AB a result we have what at this writing seems to be the fruitless bicke rings of rt a com commission mission for three months a com met to reopen and resettle a question which was in the judgment of all the nat nations ionis in the world spain included practically settled fut ait santiago so more ships and more men are wanted at manila perhaps also some be sent to the other side of the atlantic before beafore tt 1 t la Is all over |