The Fury of a Just Indignation not Understood by Spain When the indignation of the people forced the Government of the United States into a foreign war, the people were ready to fight it out, regardless of cost in treasure or blood, to the bitter end. They offered themselves for service in the army and navy in hundreds of thousands. When they went into battle it was with a fury that was terrible. Righteous indignation, in a just cause, has made the hardest fighters and the most sympathetic conquerors in all history. Spain was incapable of understanding either the force with which we gave her battle or the kindness with which we treated her defeated armies. The Peace Commission The Meeting in Paris CHAPTER XII The Results HE Peace Commission met in Paris at the begin THE ning of October. The American Commissioners were the Hon. William O. Day, of Ohio, who had just resigned the office of Secretary of State; Senator Cushman K. Davis, of Minnesota, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Senate; Senator William P. Frye, of Maine; Senator George Gray, of Delaware; and the Hon. Whitelaw Reid, of New York. Spain was represented by an equal number of eminent statesmen. The proceedings of this Commission were marked with a distinguished dignity and courtesy. The basis of the deliberations was the protocol of peace, which was given on pages 145, 146. The Spaniards, however, prolonged the discussions from day to day by raising objections, and by trying to prove by ancient precedents that the American demands were unusual; they also sought to induce other powers to exert diplomatic influence upon the Americans to swerve them from their purpose. But our Commissioners had definite instructions and they followed them without deviation; they were courteous but firm. This straightforward American diplomacy was a sur Straightforward American Diplomacy Substance of the Treaty prise both to the Spaniards and to other European diplomatists, who were not accustomed to the simple and direct methods of the Americans in saying precisely what they meant and holding to it. Finally, after many weeks of discussion, a treaty of peace was arranged, which received the signatures of all the Commissioners. This treaty, which was then carried back to the two respective Governments for ratification, was in brief as follows: Spain relinquished all title and sovereignty to Cuba. Spain ceded to the United States Puerto Rico and other Spanish possessions in the West Indies, excepting Cuba, together with the island of Guam in the Ladrones. Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States on the payment of $20,000,000 by our Government, as indemnity for actual improvements. Spain agreed to release prisoners held for political offenses in Cuba and in the Philippines. Spain agreed to guarantee religious freedom in the Caroline Islands, assuring the rights of American missionaries there. The United States agreed to send the Spanish troops, who were evacuating the Philippines, back to Spain. The United States pledged to preserve order in the Philippines pending the ratification of the treaty. Both Governments agreed to release all military prisoners and to relinquish indemnity claims. Spanish Disappointment Justice of American Demands Certain proposals by the United States as to the acquisition of territory in the Caroline Islands were left for future negotiations, after friendly relations had been resumed. The United States agreed to inaugurate in the Philippines a generous commercial policy towards Spain. These were the chief provisions. There were no demands made by the Americans which were not clearly defined or involved in the protocol, to which both Governments had previously agreed; yet the Spaniards had allowed themselves to hope that easier terms might be obtained through personal influence and arguments, and were accordingly disappointed at the firmness of the Americans. But when the cause and purpose of the war and its accomplishment are fully held in mind, the demands. of the United States seem neither large nor unjust. The United States commenced war to liberate Cuba. The serious and unprecedented step was taken because of the natural sympathy of a free people with neighbors struggling for liberty. That sympathy was stronger because of the character Spain had borne among the nations. Yet no nation before had ever gone to war for the sole purpose of helping another people; so there were both deliberation and hesitation. The destruction of an American battleship, on a visit of peace, causing the death of more than two hundred and fifty American sailors, in the harbor of a people believed to be capable of treachery, was a definite summons to the nation to investigate seriously the whole situation at |