Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 7).djvu/226

184 inquire if peace negotiations might be opened. President McKinley replied to the note on the 30th, stating the preliminary conditions that the United States would insist upon as a basis of ne- gotiations. These were, in brief, that Spain must relinquish all claim of sovereignty over or title to the island of Cuba, and must evacuate it immedi- ately ; that Puerto Rico, the other Spanish island in the West Indies, and an island in the Ladrone group must be ceded to the United States; and that the United States would hold the city, bay, and harbor of Manila pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace, which should deternune the control, dis- position, and government of the Philippines. A protocol of agreement was signed on 12 Aug. bv Secretary Day and Ambassador Carabon. in which the above stipulations were embodied in six arti- cles, fixing, besides, a term of evacution for the West India islands, and settling 1 Oct. following as tlie date of meeting of commissioners to settle the terms of peace between this country and Spain. Now that the war was practically over it became necessary to withdraw as many of the U. S. troops as possible from the unhealthy situation in Cuba.

A camp was hastily provided at Montauk Point, Long Island, and hither the troops were hurried from Cuba. Suffering could not be avoided, of course, and fron) Camp Wikoff at MontauU Point, and from the twelve other main army camps as well as the smaller ones, went up a cry that the troops were not receiving the careful attention they deserved. Presiilent McKinley made a per- sonal tour of observation in August to satisfy him- self as to the actual state of affairs. In September he appointed a commission to investigate the charges of criminal neglect of the soldiers in camp, (ield, hospital, and transport, and to exam- ine the administration of the war department in all its liranches. The commission met first on 27 Sept., sat in many places, and heard witnesses in city and camp. Gen. Miles, in his testimony, de- scribed the beef furnished the troops as "em- balmed," and in re|)ly on 13 .Jan., 1899, Com- missary-Gen. Kagan denied the charge, and made such a bitter personal attack upon Gen. Miles that the president ordered his trial by court-martial, with the result that he was found guilty of con- duet unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, and sentenced to dismissal from the army. This was commuted by the president on 7 Feb. to suspen- sion for six years. The commission made its re- port on 8 Feb., but this was not deemed satisfac- tory, and on 9 Feb. an army court of iufpiiry was ap- pointed by the president to investigate the charges of Gen. Miles in relation to the beef-supply. On 26 Aug. President McKinley appointed Wil- liam R. Day, Cushman K. Davis, William P. Prye, Whitelaw Reid, and Kdward D. White as peace commissioners. Justice White declined to serve, and on 9 Sept. George Gray was appointed in his place. The commissioners met the Spanish com- missioners in Paris on 1 Oct. Negotiations con- tinued until 10 Dec, when the treaty was signed. It provided for the relinquishment by Spain of all claim of sovereignty over and title to Cuba ; the cession of all other Spanish West India islands, and of Guam in the Ladrone group; the cession of the Philippines to the United States, and the pavment to Spain by the United States of |30,00.000 within three months after the exchange of ratifications of the treaty ; Spanish soldiers were to be repatriated at the expense of the United States. Ot her details settling property rights, the status of the church, etc., were also included ; ratifications were to be ex- changed at Washington within six months, or ear- lier, if possible. The commissioners returned to the United States late in December, and submitted the official text of the treaty to the president, who re- tained it for consideration until 4 Jan., 1899, and then transmitted it to the senate, where it was at once referred to the committee on foreign rela- tions. In his animal message to congress on 5 Dec. the president had contented himself largely with a simple narrative of events that led up to the war, suggesting his own theory as to its causes, and deferring all discussion of the future govern- ment of the new territories until after the ratifica- tion of the treaty of peace. He recommended also careful consideration of the provisions suggested by Secretary Alger and Mr. Hull, chairman of the house committee on military affairs, for the en- largement of the regular army. In his message the president had not made a party question of the policy of expansion, but had carefully insisted that it was a question for the whole nation, irre- spective of party lines. He was given opportunity to impress this view upon the country less form- ally, but none the less effectively, in his speeches and addresses on his tour in the south to visit the Atlanta peace jubilee during December, 1898. Nevertheless, there were anxious weeks of waiting after the treaty had been given to the senate for consideration, weeks in which little was certain, except that there was a strong, forceful opposition in that body to its ratification, urged on by various motives, but nevertheless united sufficiently to make the friends of the treaty anxious for its fate. At length, on 6 Feb. the question came to a vote, and, to the relief of the president and the country, the treaty was duly ratified. It is not probable that the warin the Philippines, precipitated by the night attacks of the insurgents upon the L'. S. forces on 4 Feb., had any great weight in influenc- ing the voting upon the treaty; there can be little doubt, however, that the insurgent leaders, igno- rant of the real feelings of the people at large, did draw encouragement for themselves from the re- ports of opposition to the treaty.

The question of peace with Spain once settled, the outbreak in the Philippines opened a new problem to the president. Anxious for informa- tion on the situation in those islands he had ap- pointed in January a commission of five, consist- ing of Admiral Dewey, Gen. Otis, President J. G. Schurmann, of Cornell, Prof. Dean C. Worcester, of the University of Michigan, and Col. (Charles Denby, sometime U. S. minister to China, to study the general situation in the Philippines and to act in an advisory capacity. In this step the president had shown his desire to act only upon ample information. When actual hostilities broke out, however, there was left to him but one thing to do: the insurrection must be put down before any negotiations were entered into with the insurgent leaders. For this reason he gave Gen. Otis, in his policy of vigorous action, all the support possible. Another difficulty for his solution arose in the condition of affairs in the Samoan islands. After the death in 1898 of Malietoa, King of Samoa, a struggle for the succession took place in the islands between the followers of Mataafa and of young Malietoa. For ten years Germany. Great Britain, and the United States had exercised joint control over the islands. In this new struggle it was found that the interests of Germany seemed to urge her to support Mataafa in opposition to Great Britain and the United States. This position of the three powers, coupled with the continuous fighting among the natives, seemed to promise a knotty question for the president, but by perfect