第46章 The Close Of The War (3)

Immediately afterwards the British commander, Captain Chichester, moved his vessels toward the city and took a position between our fleet and the German squadron.The foreign vessels made no interference, but the Filipinos were more restless.Eagerly watching the American assault, they rushed forward when they saw it successful, and began firing on the Spaniards just as the latter hoisted the white flag.They were quieted, though with difficulty, and by nightfall the city was under the Stars and Stripes, with American troops occupying the outworks facing the forces of Aguinaldo, who were neither friends nor foes.

While the dispatch of Commodore Watson's fleet to Spain was still being threatened and delayed, while General Miles was rapidly approaching the capital of Porto Rico, and on the same day that Admiral Dewey and General Merritt captured Manila, Spain yielded.

On the 18th of July Spain had taken the first step toward peace by asking for the good offices of the French Government.On the 26th of July, M.Cambon, the French Ambassador at Washington, opened negotiations with the United States.On the 12th of August, a protocol was signed, but, owing to the difference in time on the opposite side of the globe, to say nothing of the absence of cable communication, not in time to prevent Dewey's capture of Manila.This protocol provided for the meeting of peace commissioners at Paris not later than the 1st of October.

Spain agreed immediately to evacuate and relinquish all claim to Cuba; to cede to the United States ultimately all other islands in the West Indies, and one in the Ladrones; and to permit the United States to "occupy and hold the city, bay, and harbor of Manila pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace which shall determine the control, disposition, and government of the Philippines."President McKinley appointed the Secretary of State, William R.

Day, as president of the peace commission, and summoned John Hay home from England to take his place.The other commissioners were Senators Cushman K.Davis and William P.Frye, Republicans, Senator George Gray, Democrat, and Whitelaw Reid, the editor of the New York "Tribune".The secretary of the commission was the distinguished student of international law, John Bassett Moore.

On most points there was general agreement as to what they were to do.Cuba, of course, must be free.It was, moreover, too obvious to need much argument that Spanish rule on the American continent must come altogether to an end.As there was no organized local movement in Porto Rico to take over the government, its cession to the United States was universally recognized as inevitable.Nevertheless when the two commissions met in Paris, there proved to be two exciting subjects of controversy, and at moments it seemed possible that the attempt to arrange a peace would prove unsuccessful.However reassured the people were by the successful termination of the war, for those in authority the period of anxiety had not yet entirely passed.

The first of these points was raised by the Spanish commissioners.They maintained that the separation of Cuba from Spain involved the rending of the Empire, and that Cuba should therefore take responsibilities as well as freedom.The specific question was that of debts contracted by Spain, for the security of which Cuban revenues had been pledged.There was a manifest lack of equity in this claim, for Cuba had not been party to the contracting of the obligations, and the money had been spent in stifling her own desire to be free rather than on the development of her resources.Nevertheless the Spanish commissioners could feel the support of a sustaining public opinion about them, for the bulk of these obligations were held in France and investors were doubtful of the ability of Spain, if bereft of her colonies, to carry her enormous financial burdens.The point, then, was stoutly urged, but the American commissioners as stoutly defended the interests of their clients, the Cubans, and held their ground.Thanks to their efforts, the Cuban republic was born free of debt.