rTsna stfX F 1786 CUBA MUST BE FREE. .T542 [Let the men whose loyalty is to the dollar stand aside, while tho men whose Copy 1 .oyalty is to the flag come to the front. The time for action has come. Ko greater reason for it can'exist to-moriow ihan exists to-day. Every hour's delay only adds another chapter to the awful Btory of misery and death. ******* We can not intervene and save Cuba without the exercise of force, and force means war; war means blood. The lowly Nazarene on the shores of Galilee , preached the divine doctrine of love, "Peace on earth, good will toward men." Not peace on earth at the expense of liberty and humanity. 2STot good will toward men who despoil, enslave, degrade, and starve to death their fellow-meu... I believe in the doctrine of Christ. I believe in the doctrine of peace; but, 2\Ir. President, men must have liberty before there can come abiding peace.] SPEECHES HON. JOHN M. THURSTON, OW NEBRASKA, SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, Thursday, March 24, 1898, Saturday, April 16, 1898, and Wednesday, April 20, 1898. SHI^G-XOJST. 1898. •rd v^* SPEECH *y op * •fiW. JOHN M. THUKSTON. S FFAIRS IN CUBA. Mr. THURSTON.^ Mr. President, I am here by command of silent lips to speak once and for all upon the Cuban situation. I trust that no one has expected anything sensational from me. God forbid that the bitterness of a personal loss should induce me to color in the slightest degree the statement that I feel it my duty to make. I shall endeavor to be honest, conservative, and just. I have no purpose to stir the public passion to any action not necessary and imperative to meet the duties and necessities of American re- sponsibility, Christian humanity, and national honor. I would shirk this task if I could, but I dare not. I can not satisfy my conscience except by speaking, and speaking now. ^ Some three weeks since, three Senators and two Representatives in Congress accepted the invitation of a great metropolitan news- paper to make a trip to Cuba and personally investigate and re- port upon the situation there\ Our invitation was from a news- paper whose political teachings I have never failed to antagonize and denounce, and whose journalism I have considered decidedly sensational. Bu; let me say, for the credit of the proprietor of the paper in question, that I believe the invitation extended to us was inspired by his patriotic desire to have the actual condition of affairs in Cuba brought to the attention of the American peo- ple in such a way that the facts would no longer remain in con- troversy or dispute. "We were not asked to become the representatives of the paper; no conditions or restrictions were imposed upon us;^we were left free to conduct the investigation in our own way, make our own plans, pursue our own methods, take our own time, and decide for ourselves upon the best manner of laying the result of our labors before the American people\ For myself I went to Cuba firmly believing that the conditionof affairs there had been greatly exag- gerated by the press, and my own efforts were directed in the first instance to the attempted exposure of these supposed exaggera- 3165 /-jrp£S~ / Mr. President, there has undoubtedly been much sensationalism in the journalism of the time, but as to the condition of affairs in Cuba there has been no exaggeration, because exaggeration has been impossible. I have read the careful statement of the junior Senator from Vermont [Mr. Proctor], and I find that he has anticipated me in almost every detail. From my own personal knowledge of the situation, I adopt every word of his concise, conservative, specific presentation as my own; nay, more, I am convinced, that he has, in a measure, understated the facts. I absolutely agree with him in the following conclusions: After three years of warfare and the use of 225,000 Spanish troops, Spain has lost control of every foot of Cubanot surrounded by an actual intrenchment and protected by a fortified picket line. She holds possession with her armies of the fortified seaboard towns, not because the insurgents could not capture many of them, but because they are under the virtual protection of Spanish war ships, with which the revolutionists can not cope. The revolutionists are in absolute and almost peaceful posses- sion of nearly one-half of the island , including the eastern provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Puerto Principe. In those provinces they have an established form of government, levy and collect taxes, maintain armies, and generally levy a tax or tribute upon the principal plantations in the other provinces, and, as is com- monly believed, upon the entire railway system of the island. in the four so-called Spanish provinces there is neither cultiva- tion nor railway operation except under strong Spanish military protection or by consent of the revolutionists in consideration of tribute paid. SUFFERINGS OF THE COUNTRY PEOPLE. Under the inhuman policy of Weyler not less than 400,000 self- supporting, simple, peaceable, defenseless country people were driven from their homes in the agricultural portions of the Span- ish provinces to the cities and imprisoned upon the barren waste outside the residence portions of these cities and within the lines of intrenchment established a little way beyond. Their humble homes were burned, their fields laid waste, their implements of husbandry destroyed, their live stock and food supplies for the most part confiscated. Most of these people were old men, women, ana children. They were thus placed in hopeless imprisonment, without shelter or food. There was no work for them in the cities to which they were driven. They were left there with noth- ing to depend upon except the scanty charity of the inhabitants of the cities and with slow starvation their inevitable fate. It is conceded upon the best ascertainable authority, and those who have had access to the public records do not hesitate to state, that upward of 210,000 of these people have already perished, all from starvation or from diseases incident to starvation. 3165 The Government of Spain lias never contributed one dollar to house, shelter, feed, or provide medical attention for these its own citizens. Such a spectacle exceeds the scenes of the Inferno as painted by Dante. There has been no amelioration of the situation except through the charity of the people of the United States. There has been no diminution in the death rate among these reconcentrados except as the death supply is constantly diminished. There can be no relief and no hope except through the continued charity of the American people until peace shall be fully restored in the island and until a humane government shall return these people to their homes and provide for them anew the means with which to begin gain the cultivation of the soil. Spain can not put an end to the existing condition. She can not conquer the insurgents. She can not reestablish her sover- eignty over any considerable portion of the interior of the island. The revolutionists, while able to maintain themselves, can not drive the Spanish army from the fortified seacoast towns. The situation, then, is not war as we understand it, but a chaos of devastation and depopulation of undefined duration, whose end no man can see. I will cite but a few facts that came under my personal observa- tion, all tending to fully substantiate the absolute truth of the foregoing propositions. I could detail incidents by the hour and by the day, but the Senator from Vermont has absolutely covered the case. I have no desire to deal in horrors. If I had my way, I would shield the American public even from the photographic reproductions of the awful scenes that I viewed in all their original ghastliness. SPAIN'S FORCES IN CUBA. Spain has sent to Cuba more than 225,000 soldiers to subdue the island, whose entire male population capable of bearing arms did not exceed at the beginning that number. These soldiers were mostly boys, conscripts from the Spanish hills. They are well armed, but otherwise seem to be absolutely unprovided for. They have been without tents and practically without any of the neces- sary supplies and equipment for service in the field. They have been put in barracks, in warehouses, and old buildings in the cities where all sanitary surroundings have been of the worst pos- sible character. They have seen but little discipline, and I could not ascertain that such a thing as a drill had taken place in the island. There are less than 60,000 now available for duty. The balance are dead or sick in hospitals, or have been sent back to Spain as incapacitated for further service. It is currently stated that there are now 37,000 sick in hospital. I do not believe that the entire 3105 Spanish array in Cuba could stand an engagement in the open field against 20,000 well-disciplined American soldiers. As an instance of the discipline among them I cite the fact that I bought the machete of a Spanish soldier on duty at the wharf in Matanzas. on his offer, for ,$3 in Spanish silver. He also seemed desirous of selling me his only remaining arm. a revolver. The Spanish soldiers have not been paid for some months, and in my judgment they, of all the people on the earth, will most gladly welcome any result which would permit them to return to their /onaes in Spain. The pictures in the American newspapers of the starving re- concentrados are true. They can all be duplicated by the thou- sands. I never saw. and please God I may never again see, so deplorable a sight as the reconcentrados in the suburbs of Matan- zas. I can never forget to my flying day the hopeless anguish in their despairing eyes. Huddled about their little bark huts, they raised no voice of appeal to us for alms as we went among them. There was almost no begging by the reconcentrados themselves. The streets of the cities are full of beggars of all ages and all con- ditions, but they are almost wholly of the residents of the cities and largely of the professional-beggar class. The reconcentra- dos — men, women, and children — stand silent, famishing with hunger. Their only appeal comes from their sad eyes, through which one looks as through an open window into their agonizing souls. The present autonomist governor or Matanzas (who speaks ex- cellent English) was inaugurated in November last. His records disclose that at the city of Matanzas there were 1.200 deaths in November, 1,200 in December, 700 in January, and 500 in Febru- ary — 3,600 in four months, and those four months under the ad- ministration of a governor whom I believe to be a truly humane man. He stated to me that on the day of hisinauguration. which I think was the 12th of last November, to his personal knowl- edge 15 persons died in the public square in front of the executive mansion. Thinkof it, oh. my countrymen! Fifteen human beings dying from starvation in the public square, in the shade of the palm trees, and amid the beautiful flowers, in sight of the open windows of the executive mansion! The governor of Matanzas told us that for the most part the peo- ple of the city of Matanzas had done all they could for the recon- centrados: and after studying the situation over I believe his state- ment is true. He said the condition of affairs in the island had destroyed the trade, the commerce, and the business of the city; that most of the people who had the means assisted the reconcen- trados with food just as long as they could, but he said to us that there we?e thousands of the people living in fine houses on mar- 3165 6 ble floors who were in deep need themselves and who did not know from one day to the other where their food supply was coming from. SPAIN'S SELFISHNESS A STENCH IN THE NOSTRILS OF CIVILIZED NATIONS. The ability of the people of Matanzas to aid is practically ex- hausted. The governor told us that he had expended all of his salary and all that he could possibly afford of his private means in relief work. He is willing that the reconcentrados shall repass the picket line and go back to seek work in the interior of the island. He expresses his willingness to give them passes for that purpose, but they are no longer physically able to take advantage of that offer. They have no homes to return to; their fields have grown up to weeds; they have no oxen, no implements of hus- bandry with which to begin anew the cultivation of the soil. Their only hope is to remain where they are, to live as long as they can on an insufficient charity, and then die. What is true at Matanzas is true at all the other cities where these reconcen- trados have been gathered. The Government of Spain has not and will not appropriate one dollar to save these people. They are now being attended and nursed and administered to by the charity of the United States. Think of the spectacle! We are feeding these citizens of Spain; we are nursing their sick; we are saving such as can be saved, and yet there are those who still say it is right for us to send food, but we must keep hands off. I say that the time has come when mus- kets ought to go with the food. We asked the governor if he knew of any relief for these people except through the charity of the United States. He did not. We then asked him, li Can you see any end to this condition of affairs?" He could not. We asked him, " When do you think the time will come that these people can be placed in a position of self-support?" He replied to us, with deep feeling, " Only the good God or the great Government of the United States can answer that question." I hope and believe that the good God by the great Government of the United States will answer that question. I shall refer to these horrible things no further. They are there. God pity me; I have seen them; they will remain in my mind for- ever — and this is almost the twentieth century. Christ died nine- teen hundred years ago, and Spain is a Christian nation. She has set up more crosses in more lands, beneath more skies, and under them has butchered more people than all the other nations of the earth combined. Europe may tolerate her existence as long as the people of the Old World wish. God grant that before another Christmas morn- 3165 ing the last vestige of Spanish tyranny and oppression will have vanished from the Western Hemisphere. Mr. President, the distinguished Senator from Vermont has seen all these things; he knows all these things; he has described all these things; hut after describing them he says he has nothing to propose, no remedy to suggest. I have. I tun only an humble unit in the great Government of the United States, but I should feel myself a traitor did I remain silent now. SILENCE AND MODERATION NO LONGER TOLERABLE. I counseled silence and moderation from this floor when the passion of the nation seemed at white heat over the destruction of the Maine; but it seems to me the time for action has now come. Not action in the Maine case! I hope and trust tnat this Government will take action on the Cuban situation entirely out- side of the Maine case. When the Maine report is received, if it be found that our ship and sailors were blown up by some outside explosive, we will have ample reparation without quibble or de- lay; and if the explosion can be traced to Spanish official sources there will be such swift and terrible punishment adjudged as will remain a warning to the world forever. What shall the United States do, Mr. President? I am a Republican, and I turn to the last platform of my party and I read: From the hour of achieving their own independence the people of the United States have regarded with sympathy the struggles of other American people to free themselves from European domination. "We watch with deep and abiding interest the heroic battle of the Cuban patriots against cruelty and oppression, and our best hopes go out for the full success of their determined contest for liberty. The Government of Spain, having lost control of Cuba and being unable to protect the property or lives of resident American citizens, or to comply with its treaty obligations, we believe that the Government of the United States should actively use its influence and good offices to restore peace and give independence to the island. Mr. President, when that declaration was read before the St. Louis convention, over which I had the distinguished honor to preside, it was greeted with a mighty shout which seemed to lilt the very roof of that great convention hall, and it was adopted as a part of the platform of the Republican party by unanimous vote. On the 29th day of June, 1896, William McKinley, standing upon his vine-clad porch at Canton, Ohio, in accepting the nomination then officially tendered him, said: The platform adopted by the Republican national convention has received my careful consideration and has my unqualified approval. It is a matter of gratification to me, as I am sure it must be to you and Republicans every- where and to all our people, that the expressions of its declaration of principles are so direct, clear, and emphatic. They are too plain and positive to leave any chance for doubt or question as to their purport and meaning. 3165 That platform of the Republican party, that indorsement by its nominee for President, was ratified by more than 7,000,000 Amer- ican voters. That platform has marked my path of duty from the hour of its adoption up to the present time. RECORD OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN KEEPING ITS PLEDGES. It is an honored boast of the Republican party that it always keeps its promises and that its platform declarations are always carried out by its Administrations. I have no reason to doubt, I have every reason to believe, that the present Chief Magistrate of the United States still stands upon the platform of the Repub- lican party. I have no reason to doubt, I have every reason to believe, that he will make its fulfillment a part of the glorious history of the world. Mr. President, that platform was adopted almost two years ago. Has there been any such change in the Cuban situation as to re- lieve the Republican party from its obligations? None whatever. There has been no change except such as to strengthen the force of our platform assertion that Spain has lost control of the island. Twice within the last two years I have voted for a resolution ac- cording the rights of belligerents to the Cuban revolutionists. I believed at those times, I still believe, that such a recognition on our part would have enabled the Cuban patriots to have achieved independence for themselves; that it would have given them such a standing in the money markets of the world, such rights on the sea, such flag on the land, that ere this the independence of Cuba would have been secured, and that without cost or loss of blood or treasure to the people of the United States. But that time has passed; it is too late to talk about resolutions according belligerent rights; and mere resolutions recognizing the independence of the Cuban Republic would avail but little. Our platform demands that the United States shall actively use its influence for the inde- pendence of the island. I am not here to criticise the present Administration. I yield to no man living in my respect, my admiration for, and my con- fidence in the judgment, the wisdom, the patriotism, the Amer- icanism of William McKinley. When he entered upon his Ad- ministration he faced a difficult situation. It was his duty to proceed with care and caution. At the first available opportunity he addressed a note to Spain, in which he gave that Government notice, as set forth in his message to the Congress of the United States, that the United States — could be required to wait only a reasonable time for the mother country to establish its authority and restore peace and order within the borders of the island; that we could not contemplate an indefinite period for the accom- plishment of this result. 3165 The President further advised us: This Government has never in any way abrogated its sovereign preroga- tive of reserving to itself the determination of its policy and course accord- ing to its own high sense of right and in consonance with the dearest interests and convictions of our own people should the prolongation of the strife so demand. This was the proper, the statesmanlike beginning of the per- formance of the promise of the Republican platform. It was in accordance with the diplomatic usages and customs of civilized nations. In the meantime the whole situation apparently changed. In Spain the liberal ministry of Sagasta succeeded that of Cano- vas; the cruel and inhuman Weyler was recalled, and succeeded by the humane Blanco, who, u..der the Sagasta ministry, has un- questionably made every effort to bring about peace in the island of Cuba under the promise of autonomy— a decided advance be- yond any proposition ever before made for the participation of the Cubans in their own domestic affairs. It was the plain duty of the President of the United States to give to the liberal ministry of Spain a reasonable time in which to test its proposed autonomy. That time has been given. Au- tonomy is conceded tbe wide world over to be a conspicuous fail- ure. The situation in Cuba has only changed for the worse. Sagasta is powerless; Blanco is powerless to put an end to the con- flict, to rehabilitate the island, or to relieve the suffering, starva- tion, and distress. TIME FOR ACTION NOW. The time for action has, then, come. No greater reason for it can exist to-morrow than exists to-day. Every hour's delay only adds another chapter to the awful story of misery and death. Only one power can intervene — the United States of America. Ours is the one great nation of the New World, the mother of American republics. > She holds a position of trust and responsi- bility toward the peoples and the affairs of the whole Western Hemisphere. It was her glorious example which inspired the patriots of Cuba to raise the flag of liberty in her eternal hills. We can not refuse to accept this responsibility which the God of the universe has placed upon us as the one great power in the New World. We must act! What shall our action be? Some say the acknowledg- ment of the belligerency of the revolutionists. As I have already shown, the hour and the opportunity for that have passed away. Others say, Let us by resolution or official proclamation recog- nize the independence of the Cubans. It is too late even for such recognition to be of great avail. Others say, Annexation to the United States. God forbid! I would oppose annexation with my latest breath. The people of Cuba are not our people; they' 3165 10 can not assimilate with us; and beyond all that I am utterly and unalterably opposed to any departure from the declared policy of the fathers which would start this Republic for the first time upon a career of conquest and dominion utterly at variance with the avowed purposes and the manifest destiny of popular gov- ernment. "■J Let the world understand that the United States does not pro- pose to annex Cuba, that it is not seeking a foot of Cuban soil or a dollar of Spanish treasure. Others say, Let us intervene for the pacification of the island, giving to its people the greatest measure of autonomy consistent with the continued sovereignty of Spain. Such a result is no longer possible. It is enough to say that it would be resisted by all classes of the Cuban population, and its attempt would simply transfer the putting down of the revolution and the subjugation of the Cuban patriots to the armies of the United States. There is also said to be a syndicate organization in this country, representing the holders of Spanish bonds, who are urging that the intervention of the United States shall be for the purchase of the island or for the guaranteeing of the Spanish debt incurred in the attempted subjugation of the Cuban revolutionists. Mr. President, it is idle to think for a single moment of such a plan. The American people will never consent to the payment of one dollar, to the guaranteeing of one bond, as the price paid to Spain for her relinquishment of the island she has so wantonly outraged and devastated. INTERVENTION FOR INDEPENDENCE. 4 Mr. President, there is only one action possible, if any is taken; that is, intervention for the independence of the island; interven- tion that means the landing of an American army on Cuban soil, the deploying of an American fleet off Habana; interven- tion which says to Spain, Leave the island, withdraw your soldiers, leave the Cubans, these brothers of ours in the New World, to form and carry on government for themselves. Such intervention on our part would not of itself be war. It would un- doubtedly lead to war. But if war came it would come by act of Spain in resistance of the liberty and the independence of the Cuban people J| Some say these Cubans are incapable of self-government; that they can not be trusted to set up a republic. Will they ever be- come better qualified under Spanish rule than they are to-day? Sometime or other the dominion of kings must cease on the West- ern Continent. The Senator from Vermont has done full justice to the native population of Cuba. He has studied them, and he knows that of all the people on the island they are the best qualified and fitted for 3165 11 government. Certainly any government by the Cuban people would be better than the tyranny of Spain. Mr. President, there was a time when "jingoism" was abroad in the land; when sensationalism prevailed, and when there was a distinct effort to inflame the passions and prejudices of the American people and precipitate a war with Spain. That time has passed away. ' ' Jingoism " is long since dead. The American people have waited and waited and waited in patience; yea, in patience and confidence — confidence in the belief that decisive action would be taken in due season and in a proper way. To-day all over this land the appeal comes up to us; it reaches us from every section and from every class. That appeal i3 now for action. In an interview of yesterday, the senior Senator from Maine [Mr. Hale] is reported as saying: Events have crowded on too rapidly, and the President has been carried off his feet. I know of no warrant for such an assertion, but I do know this, that unless Congress acts promptly, meeting this grave crisis as it should be met, we will be swept away, and we ought to be swept away, by the tidal wave of American indignation. The President has not been carried off his feet. The Administration has been doing its whole duty. With rare foresight and statesmanship it has hastened to make every possi- ble preparation for any emergency. If it be true that the report in the Maine case has been delayed, it has been delayed in order that we might be prepared at all points for defensive and offen- sive action. There are some who say, but they are mostly those ' who have procrastinated from the beginning up to the present * time, "Let Congress hold its peace, adjourn, go home and leave the - President to act." I for one believe that the Congress of the United States is an equal and coordinate branch of the Federal Government, repre- senting the combined judgment and wisdom of the many. It can more safely be depended on than the individual judgment and wisdom of any one man. I am a Senator of the United States, and I will never consent to abdicate my right to participate in the determination as to what is the solemn duty of this great Republic in this momentous and fateful hour. We are not in session to hamper or cripple the President; we are here to advise and assist him. Congress can alone declare war; Congress can alone levy taxes; and to this Congress the united people of this broad land, from sea to sea, from lake to gulf, look to voice their wishes and execute their will. VOICE OF THE MONEY CHANGERS AGAINST INTERVENTION. Mr. President, against the intervention of the United States in this holy cause there is but one voice of dissent; that voice is the 31C5 12 voice of the money changers. They fear war! Not because of any Christian or ennobling sentiment against war and in favor of peace, but because they fear that a declaration of war, or the intervention which might result in war, would have a depressing effect upon the stock market. Mr. President, I do not read my duty from the ticker; I do not accept my lessons in patriotism from Wall street. I deprecate war. I hope and pray for the speedy coming of the time when the sword of the soldier will no longer leap from its scabbard to settle disputes between civilized nations. But, it is evident, looking at the cold facts, that a war with Spain would not permanently de- preciate the value of a single American stock or bond. War with Spain would increase the business and the earnings of every American railroad, it would increase the output of every American factory, it would stimulate every branch of industry and domestic commerce, it would greatly increase the demand for American labor, and in the end every certificate that represented a share in an American business enterprise would be worth more money than it is to-day. But in the meantime the specter of war would stride through the stock exchanges, and many of the gam- blers around the board would find their ill-gotten gains passing to the other side of the table. Let them go; what one man loses at the gambling table his fel- low-gambler wins. It is no concern of yours, it is no concern of mine, whether the "bulls" or the ''bears" have the best of these stock deals. They do not represent American sentiment; they do not represent American patriotism. Let them take their chances as they can. Their weal or woe is of but little importance to the liberty-loving people of the United States. They will not do the fighting; their blood will not flow; they will keep on dealing in options on human life. Let the men whose loyalty is to the dollar stand aside while the men whose loyalty is to the flag come to the front. [Applause in the galleries.] HONOR OF THE NATION ABOVE ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS. There are some who lift their voices in the land and in the open light of day insist that the Republican party will not act, for they say it sold out to the capitalists and the money changers at the last national election. It is not so. God forbid! The 7,000,000 freemen who voted for the Republican party and for William McKinley did not mortgage the honor of this nation for a cam- paign fund, and if the time ever comes when the Reptiblican party hesitates in its course of duty because of any undue anx- iety for the welfare of the accumulated wealth of the nation, then let the Republican party be swept from the face of the earth and be succeeded by some other party, by whatever name 3165 it may be called, which will represent the patriotism, the honesty, the loyalty, and the devotion that the Republican party exhibited under Abraham Lincoln in 1861. V Mr. President, there are those who say that the affairs of Cuba are not the affairs of the United States, who insist that we can stand idly by and see that island devastated and depopulated, its business interests destroyed, its commercial intercourse with us cut off, its people starved, degraded, and enslaved. It may be the iiaked legal right of the United States to stand thus idly by. r I have the legal right to pass along the street and see a helpless dog stamped into the earth under the heels of a ruffian. I can pass by and say that is not my dog. I can sit in my comfortable parlor with my loved ones gathered about me, and through my plate- glass window see a fiend outraging a helpless woman near by, and I can legally say this is no affair of mine — it is not happening on my premises; and I can turn away and take my little ones in my arms, and, with the memory of their sainted mother in my heart, look up to the motto on the wall and read, " God bless our home." ^ut if I do, I am a coward and a cur unfit to live, and, God knows, unfit to die. And yet I can not protect the dog nor save the woman without the exercise of force. / We can not intervene and save Cuba without the exercise of force, and force means war; war means blood. The lowly Naza- rene on the shores of Galilee preached the divine doctrine of love, "Peace on earth, good will toward men." Not peace on earth at the expense of liberty and humanity. Not good will toward men who despoil, enslave, degrade, and starve to death their fellow- men. I believe in the doctrine of Christ. I believe in the doctrine of peace; but, Mr. President, men must have lib- erty before there can come abiding peace. '..Intervention means force. Force means war. War means blood. But it will be God's force. When has a battle for human- ity and liberty ever been won except by force? What barricade of wrong, injustice, and oppression has ever been carried except by force? THE PART FORCE HAS PLAYED IN THE WORLD'S HISTORY. \j Force compelled the signature of unwilling royalty to the great Magna Charta; force put life into the Declaration of Independence and made effective the Emancipation Proclamation; force beat with naked hands upon the iron gateway of the Bastile and made reprisal in one awful hour for centuries of kingly crime: force waved the flag of revolution over Bunker Hill and marked the snows of Valley Forge with blood-stained feet; force held the broken line at Shiloh, climbed the ilame-swept hill at Chattanooga, 3165 14 and stormed the clouds on Lookout heights; force marched with Sherman to the sea, rode with Sheridan in the valley of the Shen- andoah, and gave G-rant victory at Appomattox; force saved the Union, kept the stars in the flag, made " niggers " men. The time for God's force has come again. Let the impassioned lips of American patriots once more take up the song: In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in His bosom that transfigured you and me, A.s He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, For God is marching on. Others may hesitate, others may procrastinate, others may plead for further diplomatic negotiation, which means delay, but for me, I am ready to act now, and for my action I am ready to answer to my conscience, my country, and my God. Mr. President, in the cable that moored me to life and hope the strongest strands are broken. I have but little left to offer at the altar of Freedom's sacrifice, but all I have I am glad to give. I am ready to serve my country as best I can in the Senate or in the field. My dearest wish, my most earnest prayer to God is this, that when death comes to end all, I may meet it calmly and fearlessly as did my beloved, in the cause of humanity, under the American flag. [Long continued applause in the galleries.] April 16, 1S9S. Mr. THURSTON. Mr. President, I shall vote to recognize the independence of the Cuban Republic, and quietly and dispassion- ately, in the briefest possible time, I feel it my duty to present the principal reasons that guide my action. I am a Republican and I have been urged by every considera- tion of the welfare of my party to vote against this resolution be- cause it is alleged to be of Democratic origin. No man has ever questioned my Republicanism, and no man can, but in a case of this kind I amsomething better than a Republican, I am an Ameri- can; and my duty as an American citizen places me above the clouds and the fogs of party discipline or party decision. I aim to stand in the clear sunlight of the duties and responsibilities of American citizenship. No man upon this floor or elsewhere shall outdo me in eulogium of the President of the United States. I helped to raise the stand- ard of William McKinley and I helped to carry it to success in convention and at the polls. I am ready to stand by him for the honor of my country, and I repudiate here the suggestions made to the public ear that the President of the^United States and the Congress of the United States can be divided by any mere differ- ence in the terms of resolutions that are to be adopted by the Senate and the House. 3361 15 \ There is, there can be, there will be, no division between the Congress and the President. He has advised us that he has ex- hausted his powers and responsibilities of diplomacy, and he has asked us to exercise our judgment, not his. For our judgment we answer to our own consciences, to our own high ideals of public duty. Mr. President, in the message from the President of the United States he states clearly and specifically and rightfully the three alternative forms of intervention possible in the Island of Cuba. He says: There remain the alternative forms of intervention to end the war, either as an impartial neutral by imposing a rational compromise between the con- testants or as the active ally of the one party or the other. He is right. There are but three methods of intervention possi- ble. As to the first he further properly and rightfully says: It involves, however, hostile constraint upon both the parties to the con- test as well to enforce a trnce as to guide the eventual settlement. Mr. President, I am opposed "to intervention as an impartial neutral by imposing a rational compromise between the contest- ants." We have declared that there is no compromise possible between Spain and the people of Cuba. We will declare in our resolutions that the people of that island have a right to be free, and the only action which we can sanction as a nation is the removal of the Spanish sovereignty from Cuba. Mr. President, 1 am opposed to intervention which imposes " hos- tile constraint upon both the parties to the contest as web to enforce a truce as to guide the eventual settlement. "' The dis- patches from foreign countries every morning bring to our ears the deliberate opinions of the people of those governments that through the intervention of the United States an end is to be put to the war and Cuba made free upon the condition of the guarantee- ing or assumption in some form or another of the obligation of the Spanish debt. Mr. President, God forbid. When the deed of Cuban freedom is signed by the powers of the world, let there be no stain of blood money upon it, and let it not be sealed by a dol- lar mark. Mr. President, when we intervene in Cuba we know it means war— war on the sea, war on the land. When we enter a Cuban port, when we raise our flag, when we establish a base of military movement and supply, I do not want the American youth to go down there by the hundreds and the thousands, to take the chances of fever and of disease and of bullets and of battle, unless it is ab- solutely necessary. If we recognize the Cuban Republic, if we intervene as the friend of that government, which already has an army, not one American youth will ever have to march by land upon Havana. The Cuban Republic has an army. Give it recog- nition, give it arms, give it munitions, give it a base of supply at a port held under the guns of American battle ships, and it will do the fighting. It will drive Spain into the sea. Mr. President, I am done. When the Stars and Stripes go up on Cuban soil, I want our flag to share equally the free air of Cuba with another flag that bears a single star. Under the flags of two republics, acknowledged before all the world, humanity and liberty will be safe and secure. * * * * ->:- * * April SO, 1S98. Mr. THURSTON. Mr. President, nothing ever comes from thrashing over old straw but chaff and dust. The joint resolution 3361 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS * 015 819 607 4 16 passed by the two Houses of Congress was signed by the President of the United States at 11 o'clock and 24 minutes this morning. It is now a part of the law of the land. The policy of that resolu- tion is not in whole the original policy of the Executive as disclosed by his message; it is not, as a whole, the policy of the House of Rep- resentatives as disclosed by its first action; it is not, as a whole, the policy of the Senate as disclosed by its first vote; but, Mr. President, to-day it is the policy of all the branches of this Government and of all the people of the United States. At 11 o'clock and 24 minutes to-day, Mr. President, the time for party discussion ended. I stood here on the floor of the Senate with ten Republicans and I voted just as long as there was a hope with the Democrats upon the other Bide for the recognition of the Republic of Cuba. From first to last I voted my conscience and my judgment. I deprecated any action, I deprecated any speech, that could possibly be shaded with a partisan meaning. Up to the time that this joint resolution became a law, it was a proper thing for all Senators to express their views and to criti- cise the views of others. I did regret that certain Senators on this side, Republican Senators, found it necessary on yesterday to charge from this floor the Democrats upon the other side with having voted against the joint resolution that is now the law. I also regretted the countercharge made upon the other side that certain Republicans on this side voted against the joint resolu- tion which is now the law. On the first vote that adopted those resolutions in the Senate sixty-seven Senators voted for them. Those who voted against sustaining the conference report after- wards did not thereby reverse their action on that vote, and I stand here as a Republican to say that those sixty-seven men, thus com- mitted to the resolutions which are now the law, did support them and never wavered in their support because of the vote passed on the conference report. I also say, Mr. President, and it is true, that all but two of the twenty-one Senators who first voted against those resolutions did to all intents and purposes vote for them, and made them the law of the land on the final vote upon that conference report; and t*he true record stands that the Senators on this floor. Republicans and Democrats and Populists and Free Silver Republicans, or what you please, all of them voted at one time or another for these resolutions which are now a law, except three Senators. Mr. President, we have raised the flag of the United States, and all American hands are outstretched to keep it in the sky, to bear it to victory against the enemies of our country. Let us not weaken the upholding hands by any further partisan discussion, by charges and countercharges as to which particular party has done the most to raise on high the standard of liberty and hu- manity. Mr. President, there will come a time on the hustings at the fall elections and before the people when partisan debate may be resumed.'; Let us wait until then. Until Cuba is free, until the single star of that republic takes its place in the diadem of na- tions, until the hungry women and children are fed, until Spain is driven from the Western World, for God's sake let us rally around the flag without distinction of party, stop our party quib- bles, and. be American citizens for the honor and glory of our com- mon country. 3361 Q LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 015 819 607 4 A Conservation Resources Lig-Free® Type I Ph 8.5, Buffered