Ingalls On The Message

Lest the Argns may ba oharged with partisanship iu its oomments on the President's message, we have qnoted repnblicans' views npon it. Onr readers will uotioe the sarcasm contained in the following strong words written by ex-Senator Jobn J. Ingalls: "Throngb tbe narrativa of the dealings of tbe administration with afïairs and cunditions so well apprebended ap pears a fatal ÍDfirmity oL pnrpose, ir resolution, Metting I dare not wait np on I wonld some potent influence sin ister and nialign that bas thwartec great purposes and inipnlses tbat were bnmane and benefioent. Tbe raorality so lofty and intelligenoe so olear and penetrating sbonld be tnrned 'awry and lose tbe name of aotion' is an enigma for wbioh the message offers no solnt.inn. "Every oonnt in tbe indictment againsfc Spain seems to have been qna8hed by diploinacy. Weyler was a roousterof ferooity, but bewas recalled. Tbe concentration orders were iuhujnau, bbt at onr reqnest tbey wererevoked, aud Spain is now feeding and olothiog the viotims and fnrnisbing theiu witb seed and implemento to return to tbeir toil. "The Maine was undoubtedly destroyed tbrogb tbe negleot or complicity of Spain, but we have treated tbeeveut as a qnestion of etiquette to be left to tbe honor and sense of justioe of a friendly nation, which bas agreed to snbmit tbe destruntion of tbe sbip and tbo murder of the sailors to referees like a hog oase before a rural ínagisrate. "To bring about tbe termination of a fruitless and internecine strife the president asked Spain Maroh 27 to snspend hostilities against tbe insurgente, and by a 'P. S. ' to the message the nation learns for thefirst time that the reqnest has been granted ; that hostilities have been suspended for an indefinito period, so that war no longer exista in Cuba. Under this recHal the president turns the wbole subject over to congress, with the request for autbority to take measures to termínate hostilities tb at have oeased and secare a stable government in the island by some luetbod other tban the recognition of the Cnban Repnblio. Whether ie is to come tbrough the restoration of Spanisb anthority or by a proteotorate is not disclosed. 'On tbe case submitted in the measage nnless congress reoognizes Cuban independenoe, to whioh the president is opposed, it is the end. The recontrados are released and atwork on their farms. The Maiue bas become merely a questiou of legal liability, and hostilities have terminated at the reqnest of the United States. "In view of the disclosnres and revelatioDS of tbe message it is difficnlt to conjecture what that aot meant whicb 'fuared so lond and thundered in the index' wheo fifty millions vvere suddenly aeked and euthusiastically granted for nafcional defeases a few weeks ago. Was the equipment of fleets, the pnrchase of cannons and munitions, tbe mobiüzation of armies, tbe ontbnrst of patriotism, tbe appeal tu tbe national cbnsoienoe merely a oonp de theatre, a juggler's device to keep tbe word of pjrorn,ise to the ear and break it to the hopp. It is up to oongress. 1 "The day of dark intrigue, of hypocritical and lying diplomaoy is over and the honr of action has come. ''Spain is a blofc on the map of Enrope, and the survival of its power on the Western hemispbere is a reproach fco tbe moral universe. lts annals everywhere are an nubroken reoord of crimes agaiust tbe human race. It is a nation of brigands and assassins, wbose weapons are tbe toroh and the dagger. lts statesmansbip has been perfidy. lts wars have beeu massacres. Weyler was the legitimate successor of Torqnemada, wbo establisbed tbe inquisition; of Alva, who ravaged tbe Netherlands; of Pizarro and Cortez, who butohered millions of Peru and Mexico. The Cuban atrocities are the culminations oí tbe bloody ' monotony of fonr oenturies of tyraony and torture, unrelieved by one generous impulse, one ennobling purpose. "To invoke the sanotions of international law on behalf of these invetérate and incorrigibla eneruies of mankind is sacrilega. To appeal to their sense of justice and honor makes cynicism forgot to sneer. "To trust tbeir promises and profesRions after tbe De Lome letter and the trnoe of Zanjón would justly subject ns to the derision of history. "