22nd April. 'THERE can be no doubt that on the question of -Ciiba,. the: United States: Congress: represents. the feeling: of the country. No one can say that the United States have courted the war which seems to be inevitable. Months ago the-London Spectator pointed out that the: failure of Spain to suppress the rebellion in Cuba must end in a war between Spain and the United States. Spain's amour propre would never allow her to confess that she was beaten by lier insurgents in Cuba; but she: could afford to be beaten by the United States without loss of honour. There has, no doubt, been a Cuban insurgent: bureau in the Guited: States, which haa succeeded in dispatching from time to time reinforcements of men and material to the rebels in Guba, but it is impossible to sustain the charge that the States have not done their best to repress these filibustering expeditions, and the assistance the insurgents have thus secured is a mere trifle in comparison to the aid' that the Spanish authorities in the island have secured from Europe, and notwithstanding which they lave confessorily failed.
journals received by the last mail show how universally President McKinley is'siipported in the action he has taken. 'I'he people of the United States had made up their mind that a stop must be pnt to the existing conditions of misery, starvation, and bloodshed in Cuba. Nobody likes to have.a slaughter-house next door to him. As the San Francisco Zzaminer says: "It is the duty df the United States to see that an end' is put to the killing and destruction. loo much of this-las gone ow already. Humanity cries out against the slaughter of uaarmed men and women, the starvation of thousands, and the frightful misery that accompanies the attempt to prolong the Spanish occupation of the seaports." From the papers, of which there are very few, that deprecate war at all, to those which recognise it as necessary and inevitable, the tone of the U.S. Press is very moderate and almost judicial. We do not speak, of course, of the one-cent yellow papers," which infest the streets of New York, and which produce a new edition, with a uew warlike canard, every twenty minutes. 'I'he New York Nation, which is eminently conservative and peace-loving, as becomes a paper which cultivates and represents solid business interests, deprecates war with Spain. It says "Shall we plunge into the calamity of war for the sake of a few straggling bands who are hiding in mountain fortresses; burning cane-fields and sugar-mills, and stoppitig the industries' of the peaceful' inhabitants; aid: who probably represent only " minority: of: the-people of the island, and: who refuse even to consider the' offer: of autonomy which Spain has' offered them at'our instance? It' seems incredible', that snelt a step can-'be desired by any thinking person in the United: States: We believe, in fact; that itis not desired "by any. considerable: tiuniber, whether they may be' classed as think-mig or unthinking. We believe that a campaign of education and of réligion—for it is evident that the clergy of the country, both Protestant and Catholic, are almost a unit against an aggressive war—would result in an overwhelming victory for the' Administration if takes firm-ground' that' autonomy must be fairly tried before any further steps: are taken on our part." 7 We have so much respect for the Nation that we regret the line' of argniment it takes, because it goes on show that its great fear is that with the very beginning of a war the gold stan= dard will be put in jeopardy. "We might or might not drop to the silver basis, We might even go lower than that, as we did during the civil war. No man can tell what would be the financial outcome of a war, All that we know now is that, as regards our standard of value, we are.in a state of unstable equilibrium. This is the reason: why our securities tumble so easily. This is the reason why people begin to hoard money in safe-deposit boxes as soon as any dark cloud appears on. thie horizon, Experienced bankers are of the opinion that several millions have been withdrawn from the channels of circulation for hoarding purposes since the explosion on the Maing," All this may be true, but it is not the ground on which to oppose a war that is otherwise just.
It was generally understood a month ago in the States that the destruction of the fame was due to external agency, apparently. to the explosion of a mine ander her port side forward, and it is really remarkable to see how calmly the news was generally received in the States, No-one accuses the Spanish authorities of complicity in the outrage. We should not' have been surprised if the jingoes in the States had made use of the news to force Congress into an immediate declaration of war, and yet even to-day there is still a possibility, a remote one, we fear, that Spain will give way and war will be averted, But we must give x few more extracts from American papers to show the trend of public opinion, The Philadelphia Record says The danger of war arises out of the Linability of Spain to either coax the-insurgents to accept amnesty with autonomy or to conquer a peace. As intimated by. President Cleveland first; and by President McKinley afterward, the time' will come twhen not only humanity but an overbearing "necessity: growing. out! of our
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.