him upon the rock of the recognition of the national character of the Cuban faction that had monopolized the functions of the ancient Spanish Junta system, and the notorious Key West bureau of misinformation. The President was greatly wise in this, and in referring the Philippine question to the sober second thought of the people of the United States. He did not exert to the utmost the expression of his tremendous power, for that might have been mistaken for imperialism. He followed the high and holy traditions of our form of republicanism, and has been the faithful embodiment of the will of the people; and more than that, he has sought to know their will. He had faith in the people of Cuba, taught in schools of sorrow to take their part in a system of self-government, but he has not confounded the Cubans in the United States engaged in finance with credit based upon the ashes of the conflagration kindled by Gomez with the people of Cuba, who would restore the opulent industries of the island. A people of Cuba exist, and they are not entirely or principally those who have appeared in the phantom armies that ambuscaded and terrorized the Spanish columns with agility and mystery. The people of Cuba are not those who, after applying the torch to the cane fields and the tobacco leaves, that come visible wealth from the red and black soil and the indigo sky of the island, have mustered under the banner of the torch of San Domingo, ready for the American pay-roll, and also to make war for the poor plunder the island affords after the visitation of fire, that impoverished Cuba rather than the Peninsula of Spain. It is true that the deliberation of the President and people of the United States and the characteristic delays associated with the dignities of the Senate, allowed the Tagalos of Luzon to strike for a rule despotic and superstitious dictatorship of their own under a man who may be a soldier but is not a statesman; and this is in harmony with the stated courses of the methods of the people who do govern themselves. It would have been happy if the Senate had ratified at once the splendid treaty with Spain, the fitting crown of a war of triumphs, but time is needed for obtaining the consensus of a multitude of wills trained in the individualities of free politics under popular dominion. The delay was mischievous, but the recompense is in the greater strength that comes at last, indicating one of the primary and grander truths of republicanism, that it is stronger than the imperialism that rests upon despots and dynasties that are degenerate. The country is indebted no less to the military energy of General Merritt than to the brilliant ability and tenacity of Admiral Dewey, for the victories in which but little of the blood of the victors was spilled, for our possession of the capital of the Philippine Archipelago. General Merritt forced the fight, and Admiral Dewey smashed the defense by the seaside of Manila so that the storming of the town became a spectacle rather than a combat, and he was just in time. Neither the Spanish nor the American Commission seemed to have been perfectly informed or quite ingenuous in their information and use of the cable, the disability of which at one time caused delay, and at another hastened conclusion. The cable was cut by Dewey after the Spaniards had refused to neutralize its service, and a piece was taken out of it, the operators were scattered and the instruments gone, so that if both sides had been agreed some time must have elapsed before resumption of business. And things that might readily have happened would have vastly changed the Philippine situation-if Dewey had departed after destroying the Spanish fleet, and if Merritt had not rushed the American army, the smaller of the three forces in and about the city, so that he had the Spanish army captives in the walled city, and the Filipino forces relegated to the country, before the peace Protocol was announced. The Spanish Commissioners' solemn sentences became grotesque touching this phase of the subject, and the American people took their time and way to find their sovereign will and pleasure, as to the disposition of the Philippines, and their commandments will henceforth be executed both in the East and the West Indies. CEREMONIES CONCLUDING THE WAR WITH SPAIN. Actually, the war with Spain that began with the battle of the bay of Manila, May 1, concluded August 13, with the capitulation of the city of Manila, the Protocol of Peace having been signed in Washington two days before, the fact, in the broken condition of the cable, not being known in the Philippines until transmitted in dispatch boat from Hongkong. The declaration of war by the United States was on the 21st of April. The official close of the war was on April 11, the period of a legal state of hostilities lacking ten days of a year. The importance of fixing the date is in the effect the formal end of the war has upon the terms of enlistment of our volunteers. The ceremony of the restoration of a state of peace under the law was the exchange of ratifications in the reception room of the White House. The exact time was April 11, 3 p. m. Among the witnesses attracted by the historic character of the event were many members of the Cabinet and officials prominent in the Administration gathered at the White House. These included Secretaries Hay, Wilson and Hitchcock; Senator Davis, one of the Peace Commissioners who negotiated the treaty; Assistant Secretaries Hill, Adee and Cridler, of the State Department; Acting-Secretary of War Meikeljohn, Adjutant-General Corbin, Solicitor-General Richards, Hon. Wayne MacVeagh, and Mr. Sidney Smith, Chief of the Bureau of Diplomatic Correspondence, State Department, who had prepared the American copy of the treaty. A few minutes in advance the French Ambassador, M. Cambon, arrived, in company with M. Thiebaut, the First Secretary of the Embassy, the latter bearing the Spanish copy of the peace treaty. Mr. McKinley cordially greeted the Ambassador, and, after a brief exchange of well-wishes, the formal ceremony began. The President stood back of the large desk presented to the government by Queen Victoria, while Secretary Hay and Ambassador Cambon occupied places at the desk. Around this central group were ranged the Cabinet officers and others, and officials of the household. The powers of M. Cambon and Secretary Hay were examined, a protocol concerning the day's ceremony signed, and other formalities concluded. These preliminaries took some time, so that it was nearly 3: 30 before the actual exchange began. The signing of the protocol of exchange occurred at 3: 28 p. m., Ambassador Cambon signing for Spain, and Secretary Hay for the United States. The protocol was in French, and briefly recited the circumstances leading up to the exchange. This cleared the way for the exchange itself, constituting the final act. The President took from the desk the American copy of the treaty, handsomely engrossed, bound in dark blue morocco, and encased in a black morocco portfolio, and handed it to M. Cambon. At the same time M. Cambon handed to the President the Spanish copy of the treaty, also engrossed, bound in morocco and encased in a marooncolored morocco box. There were deferential bows as each received from the other this final pledge of peace. This exchange of ratifications occurred at 3:35 p. m. The President was the first to speak. "Mr. Ambassador," said he, "I will issue my proclamation at once." M. Cambon thanked the President for the promptness with which the proclamation followed. This ended the ceremony, and after brief felicitations |