Nr. 11980. justment, if possible, by direct negotiation, or || II. Advise those governments Vereinigte to submit it to an arbitration, in which the true sense of Articles III and VI Staaten und Spanien, shall be determined. 21. Nov.1898. To the first of these proposals it is sufficient to reply that both governments have by the solemn engagement of the Protocol committed to their direct representative here assembled the duty of concluding a definitive treaty of peace which shall determine the destiny of the archipelago. That these representatives shall, after weeks of patient investigation and interchange of views in oral discussion and written argument, surrender their task unaccomplished to other representatives of the same Governments, is a suggestion which cannot be seriously entertained. Indeed, the memorandum of the Spanish Commissioners frankly admits that in the event of a new disagreement the situation would be the same as that which now confronts the Paris conference. It is equally futile now to invite arbitration as to the meaning of terms plainly expressed in the Protocol. "To avoid misunderstanding," as the United States declared in its note of the 10th of August, the precise agreement of the two Governments was put into a concise and simple form. Shall it be said that this Joint Commission is incapable of interpreting the very compact under which it has assembled? The principle of international arbitration can have no application to such a case. To avoid war no government, it is believed, will do or suffer more than the one which the American Commissioners have the honor to represent in this conference. Unfortunately no way for arbitration was opened before the actual conflict began. Arbitration, as we have had occasion heretofore to observe, precedes war, to avoid its horrors; it does not come after the trial by battle to enable either party to escape its consequences. || The American Commissioners, feeling that this body must accept the responsibility of reaching conclusions, must decline to ask the assistance of an arbitrator. It is true that the very constitution of a joint commission like the present presupposes a possible irreconcilable difference of opinion of representatives of one nation opposed to others of equal number and authority. In such an event, nothing remains but for one of the contesting parties to yield its opinions in order that a peaceful solution may be reached. In the present case the American Commissioners have determined to make concessions to the extent embodied in the proposals which will conclude this memorandum. The United States is accussed by the Spanish Commissioners of harsh and severe measures in dealing with a discomfited enemy. In the light of events which led to and characterized the war, no less than of historical precedents which might be cited, this charge is found to be entirely groundless. For half a century the attempts of the Cubans to overthrow the sovereignty of Spain over the island, within a hundred miles of the shores of the United States, have produced serious disturbances in that country, grave and constant interference with its commerce, and frequent danger of the rupture of Staaten 21. Nov.1898. friendly relations with Spain. How could the conditions existing in the island Nr. 11580. be otherwise than of vital concern to us? The Cubans were our neighbors, Vereinigte with whom our relations were necessarily intimate and extensive; and they und Spanier. had been engaged in a struggle for independence with stronger reasons than existed in our own case when we rebelled against the mother country. The revolution of 1895, like the prior attempts at independence, entailed upon us heavy burdens. It made it necessary to patrol our coasts, to tax both civil and military resources in order to detect and prevent expeditions from our shores in the interests of the insurgents, and to repress the natural sympathy of our citizens, while we remained passive witnesses of misery, bloodshed and starvation in a land of plenty almost within sight of our borders. At length came the destruction of the battleship Maine in the harbor of Havana, with the loss of 266 of her crew. While we may not attribute this catastrophe to the direct act of a Spanish official, it betrayed, in the opinion of the United States, such neglect or inability on the part of Spain to secure the safety of the ship of a friendly nation in the principal harbor of the island as to induce Congress to recite it as an outgrowth of conditions which required our intervention. || War ensued; and in less than four months nearly all the ports of Cuba were blockaded, Santiago was taken, the Spanish fleets in the West Indies and the Philippines destroyed, Porto Rico was about to surrender, Manila was on the point of capitulating, and all the colonies of Spain lay practically at the mercy of the United States. This recital is made, not in an unbecoming spirit of triumph, but because it exhibits the conditions that existed, and the advantages that the United States enjoyed, when, preferring peace to war, it agreed to the Protocol. in their memorandum have in diplomatic words our want of magnanimity to a defeated country. in the light of what has been stated? We might have demanded from Spain indemnity in money for the cost of the war, which, even if no unforeseen contingencies occur, will have amounted to $ 240,000,000, at the close of the present calendar year, to say nothing of further expenses which will be required under the laws of the United States existing at the outbreak of the war. We might have required compensation for our injuries and losses, national as well as individual, prior to the outbreak of the war. Yet we have asked for no money. From the relinquishment of Spanish sovereignty in Cuba we derive no compensation. Porto Rico, Guam and the Philippines will bring burdens as well as benefits, and, regarded simply as indemnity, will be grossly inadequate to compensate the United States for the mere pecuniary cost of the war; and yet, in spite of all this, for the sake of peace, we propose to make to Spain liberal concessions. Can we be justly charged with abuse of our opportunities, or with taking undue advantage of the misfortunes. of an adversary? The American Commissioners can perceive no ground for such a charge. On the contrary, they think that the Spanish Commissioners. The Spanish Commissioners Nr. 11980. should accept our terms at once, and restore peace between the two countries. Vereinigte Staaten und Spanien. 21. Nov.1898. Even if the United States were disposed to permit Spanish sovereignty to remain over the Philippines, and to leave to Spain the restoration of peace and order in the islands, could it now in honor do so? The Spanish Commissioners have, themselves, in an earlier stage of the negotiations, spoken of the Filipinos as our allies. Thit is not a relation which the Government of the United Staates intended to establish; but it must at least be admitted that the insurgent chiefs returned and resumed their activity with the consent of our military and naval commanders, who permitted them to arm with weapons which we had captured from the Spaniards, and assured them of fair treatment and justice. Should we be justified in now surrendering these people to the Government of Spain, even under a promise of amnesty, which we know they would not accept? If, on the other hand, the United States should be content to retain Luzón alone, could anything but trouble be expected from the division of the group? Would not contrasts in government, in modes of administration, and in the burdens of taxation, in different islands lying so closely together, but largely inhabited by kindred peoples, produce discontent among the inhabitants? If the natives of the islands that remained under Spanish roule should, as doubtless would be the case, continue in insurrection, would not the natives of the American islands endeavor to help them, by fitting out hostile expeditions and furnishing arms and supplies? Would not complaints then be made by one Government against the other, leading to crimination and recrimination and probably in the end to another international war? || The situation that has arisen in the Philippines was neither foreseen nor desired by the United States, but, since it exists, that Government does not shirk responsibilities growing out of it; and the American Commissioners now make to the Spanish Commissioners, in the light of those responsibilities, a final proposition. || The proposal presented by the American Commissioners in behalf of their Government to the cession of the Philippines to the United States having been rejected by the Spanish Commissioners, and the counter-proposal of the latter for the withdrawal of the American forces from the islands and the payment of an indemnity by the United States to Spain having been rejected by the American Commissioners, the American Commissioners, deeming it essential that the present negotiations, which have already been greatly protracted, should be brought to an early and definite conclusion, beg now to present a new proposition embodying the concessions which, for the sake of immediate peace, their Government is under the circumstances willing to tender. || The Government of the United States is unable to modify the proposal heretofore made for the cession of the entire archipelago of the Philippines, but the American Commissioners are authorized to offer to Spain, in case the cession should be agreed to, the sum of twenty million dollars ($ 20,000,000) to be paid in accordance with the terms to be 21. Nov.1898. fixed in the treaty of peace. || And it being the policy of the United States Nr. 11980. Vereinigte to maintain in the Philippines an open door to the world's commerce, the Staaten American Commissioners are prepared to insert in the treaty now in contempla- und Spanien. tion a stipulation to the effect that, for a term of years, Spanish ships and merchandise shall be admitted into the ports of the Philippine Islands on the same terms as American ships and merchandise. || The American Commissioners are also authorized and prepared to insert in the treaty, in connection with the cessions of territory by Spain to the United States, a provision for the mutual relinquishment of all claims for indemnity, national and individual, of every kind, of the United States against Spain and of Spain against the United States that may have arisen since the beginning of the late insurrection in Cuba and prior to the conclusion of a treaty of peace. || The American Commissioners may be permitted to express the hope that they may receive from the Spanish Commissioners, on or before Monday the 26th of the present. month, a definite and final acceptance of the proposals herein made as to the Philippine Islands, and also of the demands as to Cuba, Porto Rico and other Spanish islands in the West Indies, and Guam, in the form in which those demands have been provisionally agreed to. In this event it will be possible for the Joint Commission to continue its sessions and to proceed to the consideration and adjustment of other matters, including those which, as subsidiary and incidental to the principal provisions, should form a part of the treaty of peace. || In particular the American Commissioners desire to treat of religious freedom in the Caroline islands, as agreed to in 1886; of the release of prisoners now held by Spain for political offenses in connection with the insurrections in Cuba and the Philippines; the acquisition of the island variously known as Kusaie, Ualan, or Strong Island in the Carolines, for a naval and telegraph station, and of cable-landing rights at other places in Spanish jurisdiction; and the revival of certain treaties heretofore in force between the United States and Spain. John B. Moore. Nr. 11981. VEREINIGTE STAATEN und SPANIEN. 16. Sitzung. Antwort der Spanier auf den amerikanischen Vorschlag. 28. November 1898. Staaten The conference which was to have been held on the 23rd instant having Nr. 11981. been adjourned in consequence of the correspondence exchanged between the Vereinigte Presidents of the two Commissions, which is appended to the present protocol, und Spanien. in the shape of two letters of the President of the Spanish Commission and 28. Nov. 1898. the answers thereto of the President of the American Commission, the Joint Commission met to-day at two o'clock, p. m., when there were || Present: On the part of the United States: Messrs: Day, Davis, Frye, Gray, Reid, Staaten 28.Nov. 1898. Nr. 11981. Moore, Fergusson. || On the part of Spain: Messrs: Montero Ríos, Abarzuza, Vereinigte Garnica, Villa-Urrutia, Cerero, Ojeda. The protocol of the preceding conund Spanien. ference was read and approved. | The President of the Spanish Commission, in accordance with the agreement previously reached, presented to the American Commissioners a document containing the final answer of the Spanish Government to the proposition as to the Philippine Islands which the American Commissioners presented as final at the last session. The language of the answer is as follows: || "The Spanish Commissioners hastened to lay before their Government the proposition which, as final, was presented to them at the last session by the American Commissioners, and they are now specially authorized to give within the time designated and under the conditions expressed the reply which was requested of them by the American memorandum. || "Examined solely in the light of the legal principles which have guided the action of the Spanish Commissioners during the course of these negotiations, the latter consider the American proposition in every way inadmissible for the reason repeatedly set forth in previous documents forming a part of the Protocol. || "Neither can they consider the said propositions as a satisfactory form of agreement and compromise between two opposing principles, since the terms which by way of concession are offered to Spain do not bear a proper proportion with the sovereignty which it is endeavored to compel us to relinquish in the Philippine Archipelago. Had they borne such proportion, Spain would have at once, for the sake of peace, made the sacrifice of accepting them. The American Commission knows that the Spanish Commission endeavored, although fruitlessly, to follow this course. going so far as to propose arbitration for the settlement of the principal questions. || "Spain then having on her part exhausted all diplomatic recourses in the defence of what she considers her rights and even for an equitable compromise, the Spanish Commissioners are now asked to accept the American proposition in its entirety and without further discussion, or to reject it, in which latter case, as the American Commission understands, the peace negotiations will end and the Protocol of Washington will, consequently, be broken. The Government of Her Majesty, moved by lofty reasons of patriotism and humanity, will not assume the responsibility of again bringing upon Spain all the horrors of war. In order to avoid them it resigns itself to the painful strait of submitting to the law of the victor, however harsh it may be, and as Spain lacks material means to defend the rights she believes are hers, having recorded them, she accepts the only terms the United States offers her for the concluding of the treaty of peace." || This answer was delivered to the American Commissioners and translated by their Interpreter into English. The President of the Spanish Commission expressed the opinion that, the proposition of the American Commission having been accepted, it was in order for the Secretaries of the two Commissions to confer and agree upon the form in which the articles relating to Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philip |