for their cause and a hope that they may succeed in their momentous contest,

Resolved (if the senate concur), That we participate in the deep interest which is felt for the success of the people of Cuba in their struggle to establish their liberty and independence.

Resolved, That the President and Congress of the United States be, and they are hereby, petitioned to extend to the insurgents of Cuba a formal recog nition of their rights as belligerents.

Resolved, That copies of this resolution be duly certified by the clerk and forwarded to the President and presiding officer of the United States Senate and House of Representatives.

By order of the assembly.

A. E. BAXTER, Clerk.

Mr. HILL. It does not seem to have done so.

Mr. MORGAN. It reads, "By order of the assembly."

Mr. HILL. I will state that the legislature is composed of the assembly and the senate. The senate does not seem to have concurred.

Mr. MORGAN. This is a memorial of the house of representatives.

Mr. HILL. Of the assembly.

Mr. MORGAN. That means the house of representatives.

Mr. HILL. It would be analogous to the house of representatives; but there is a senate and an assembly.

Mr. MORGAN. They are the direct representatives of the people.

Mr. HILL. Both are elected at the same time.

Mr. MORGAN. Both are elected at the same time and comprise one general body of legislative authority. The people, therefore, of the great State of New York, which has the control-I might say the domination-of the commercial and financial power of the whole United States in a certain sense, and perhaps of the whole Western Hemisphere in a pretty large sense, have disrobed themselves of their fears and apprehensions. They have stepped forward in answer to this plea of the people of Cuba for independence and for recognition and for justice, and have expressed themselves in that State through at least one of the housesthrough the popular house-in favor of the attitude that a great many gentlemen in the House and the Senate of the Congress of the United States think ought to be taken-that is to say, direct, immediate recognition of the independence of Cuba.

Following that come some memorials from a mass meeting of citizens of Pawtucket, R. I., favoring the recognition of the belligerency of Cuba; a memorial from a public meeting held in Delaware, without any indication of the number of persons who were assembled, to the same effect; a letter from the secretary of the St. Louis Merchants' Exchange, favoring Cuba's belligerency; a memorial from the American Protective Association, favoring the acknowledgment of the independence of Cuba; a memorial from Joe Hooker Post, No. 21, Grand Army of the Republic, Mount Vernon, Ohio, in favor of granting belligerent rights to Cuba; resolutions of the Merchants' Exchange of St. Louis, Mo., asking Congress to grant belligerent rights to the people of Cuba, now struggling for their freedom; a petition of the Trades and Labor Assembly of Colorado, in favor of the Cuban insurgents; a resolution of the Board of Trade of La Crosse, Wis., urging the recognition of Cuban belligerency; a resolution of the Rutland Board of Trade, of Vermont, urging Congress to recognize the belligerency of Cuba; a resolution of the Board of Trade of Kansas City, Mo., favoring the recognition by

Congress of Cuba; a resolution from the Board of Trade of Kansas City, favoring the granting of belligerent rights to the people of Cuba; another resolution from the Board of Trade of Kansas City, requesting Congress to grant belligerent rights to the people of Cuba, largely signed; a resolution of the Board of Trade of Indianapolis, in favor of Cuban independence; a resolution favoring the recognition of Cuban insurgents, which was offered in the Senate by the Senator from Nebraska; a memorial from the A. P. A. of Nebraska, favoring the granting of belligerent rights to the Cuban patriots; resolutions indorsing the cause of Cuba passed by the Ministerial Association of Harrisburg, Pa. I shall read that for the purpose of getting before the Senate some idea of the sentiment of the religionists of this country on this subject. It is as follows:

Resolutions indorsing the Cuban cause, passed by the Ministerial Association of Harrisburg, Pa., Monday, October 28, 1895.

Whereas life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are the essentials for the maintenance of all that appertains to man; and

Whereas the monarchical tendencies of European powers have always tended to persecute and enslave America and Americans; and

Whereas, for the complete emancipation of American institutions guaranteeing the freedom and permanent establishment of a government "for the people, of the people, and by the people," our fathers were forced to have recourse to arms to break the yoke of British tyranny; and

Whereas the Monroe doctrine proclaims an edict dear to every American heart, "America for Americans; " and

Whereas the patriotic sons of Cuba find themselves to-day in the identical position which actuated our forefathers to strike for liberty; and

Whereas the despotism, the oppression, and the excessive burdens forced upon Cuba by Spain to maintain an oligarchy in Europe and an extravagant, expensive, and unnecessary retinue in Cuba, to the detriment and political enslavement of a liberty-loving people, we find the stroke for liberty by the Cuban people to be patriotic and praiseworthy in every way; and

Whereas the Spanish authorities have not been able to crush out what was called a band of robbers, but have been taxed to their utmost ability by placing thousands of troops in the field and marshaling the aid of all other countries to deprive the Cuban patriots of the necessary resources to contend successfully with them; and

Whereas in the face of all these difficulties the patriots have been able to increase their armies, organize and maintain a provisional government, and defeat the enemy upon many battlefields, they are entitled to belligerent rights under the usage and customs of international courtesies: Therefore, Be it resolved, That this ministerial association indorse and extend our sympathies to the Cuban cause, and hereby petition to the President and Congress of the United States to grant to Cuba belligerent rights and the recognition of her provisional government, thereby emphasizing the spirit and the letter of the Monroe doctrine, and that every American be allowed, without let or hindrance, to have commercial intercourse with the Cuban patriots, furnishing commodities or munitions of war without being subjected to the espionage and arrest by our officials or the military or naval despotism on the part of Spain.

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to the President of the United States, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives as our prayer in behalf of the independence of Cuba.

Further be it resolved, That a copy be sent to the Cuban junta of New York, to be forwarded to the pesident of the provisional government, showing our appreciation and support in behalf of their noble cause.

H. C. C. ASTWOOD, Chairman.
W. H. MARSHALL.
WM. P. LAWRENCE.

In that memorial, which comes from that body of ministers of the Christian gospel, there is presented in a condensed form nearly all that can be said on this subject so far as our rights, duties, and sympathies coincide in moving us to action. It contains also a statement in concise form of those facts which are undeniable to the whole American intelligence, a denial of which would shame any man who seeks to make it.

Resolutions were presented also from the city council of St. Augustine, Fla., favoring a recognition of Cuba; resolutions in the nature of a memorial of the city council of West Tampa, Fla., favoring recognition of the independence of Cuba; resolutions of sympathy with Cuba adopted by citizens of Quincy, Ill.; memorial from the city council of Tampa, Fla., favoring the recognition of Cuba; resolutions of a mass meeting of citizens of the city of Des Moines, Iowa, praying Congress to recognize the freedom of the people of Cuba; resolutions of George A. McCall Post, No. 31, Grand Army of the Republic, of West Chester, Pa., favoring the recognition by this country of belligerent rights to Cuba; resolutions adopted by the city council of Jacksonville, Fla., in favor of the recognition of the Cuban revolutionists as belligerents; resolutions of Nassau Camp, No. 104, United Confederate Veterans, of Fernandina, Fla., favoring the recognition by the United States of the Cuban revolutionists as belligerents; resolutions of the Ohio Normal University, expressing sympathy for the Cuban insurgents; resolutions of the students and teachers of the Normal University of Ada, Ohio-the same place, I suppose-in favor of Cuba, and signed by other persons; resolutions of the Board of Trade of Kansas City, Mo., requesting Congress to recognize the belligerent rights of Cuba; resolutions of 149 citizens of Fairfield, Iowa, praying for the recognition of the Cuban revolutionists; resolutions of citizens of Newark, N. J., expressing for Cubans who are struggling for independence their sympathy. These resolutions were passed by a mass meeting assembled in Newark on the 13th of December, 1895.

Then follows a memorial of citizens of Pueblo, Colo., expressing sympathy for the Cuban insurgents. A large mass meeting seems to have been held for the purpose of getting up that expression. Then follow a petition of citizens of Fremont, Nebr., asking recognition of Cuban belligerents; resolutions adopted at Providence, R. I., December 20, 1895, asking Congress to recognize now the belligerent rights of the Cuban revolutionists; resolutions of citizens of Akron, Ohio, in favor of the recognition of Cuban belligerents; resolutions adopted at a mass meeting held at Kansas City November 20, 1895, favoring recognition of Cuban belligerents; petition of the Houston Typographical Union, No. 87, favoring recognition of Cuban insurgents; memorial of the students and teachers of the Ohio Normal University, at Ada, Ohio-an additional one; resolutions of the National Grange of Patrons of Husbandry, favoring the acknowledgment of Cuban belligerency and extending sympathy to the Cuban cause; petitions of citizens of Madison, S. Dak., praying the Congress of the United States to grant to the Cubans belligerent rights; resolutions of a mass meeting of the people of Newark, N. J., recommending that belligerent rights be accorded to Cuba; petition from the Twenty-eighth Ward of the city of Philadelphia, praying for a speedy recognition as belligerents of the Cuban patriots in their struggle for freedom; resolutions of sympathy with Cuban insurgents from the Federation of Labor.

Here are petitions from the people of Florida demanding belligerent rights to Cuba, largely signed; here is a petition from citizens of Minerva, Ohio, to the same effect, largely signed, headed by the question, "Shall Cuba be free?"; here are memorials from citizens of Florida, urging the Government of the United States to grant the Cuban combatants the rights of belligerents; a petition of citizens of Ashland County, Ohio, in favor of the recogni

tion of Cuban independence; a petition praying for a speedy recognition of belligerency in favor of the Cuban patriots in their struggle for freedom by the citizens of Hobart, N. Y.; a petition of the citizens of Oregon, favoring the recognition of the independence of Cuba, extensively signed; a petition of citizens of Chicago, Ill., praying for the speedy recognition as belligerents of the Cuban patriots in their struggle for liberty, largely signed; a petition of sundry citizens of Akron, Ohio, in addition to those heretofore submitted; the petition of Amethyst Council, No. 40, of Amethyst, Colo., A. P. A., for the recognition of the Cubans as belligerents.

Mr. President, I also hold here a mass of petitions signed by 1,688 individual citizens from all over the United States. It would seem that almost every county in the United States is represented in this wide reach and range of petitions.

Mr. SHERMAN. If the Senator will allow me, I am authorized to say that in the House of Representatives petitions and memorials from various parts of the United States to the same effect were presented, sufficient to fill a large box. There had been presented there many times the number that have been presented in the Senate.

Mr. HALE. We are all of us familiar with the methods by which a great many of these petitions come to us and are gotten up in all parts of the country. I do not know whether it is so in this case, but I presume it will be found by anybody who looks at these petitions that they are all upon printed headings sent out from a single source and signed and returned. The spontaneity of petitions of this kind comes not from the country at large, but from New York or Washington.

I do not suppose that the Senator from Ohio had strictly the right to refer to anything that occurred in the House of Representatives, but I have no doubt that what he states is true; that this deliberate plan, this whole proceeding prepense, has gone on and that petitions have gone to the other House just as they have come here.

Mr. MORGAN. In reply to what the Senator from Maine assumes or presumes in regard to these petitions, I will hand him this package of petitions, memorials, and resolutions and let him see how many of them are written in that way.

Mr. HALE. If the Senator will send them to my desk, I shall be very glad to look at them.

Mr. MORGAN. The Senator can investigate to see whether or not anybody has been putting up a fraud on the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in this matter.

Mr. FRYE. It is just exactly as easy to get remonstrances signed as it is to get petitions signed, and they are ordinarily obtained in the same way. I should like to inquire of my colleague if he has ever heard of a remonstrance being presented to Congress against the recognition of Cuban belligerent rights?

Mr. HALE. Yes. I will tell my colleague that I have had hundreds of letters from business men all over the countryMr. FRYE. I am not talking about letters.

Mr. HALE. They are to me of much more force and effect than these cut and dried petitions. I have had—and I am glad my colleague has brought me out on that point-hundreds of letters from business men all over the country, which I did not think it worth while to put before the Senate, protesting against this whole crusade.

Mr. FRYE. But there never has been presented a remonstrance on the subject to either House of Congress by anybody.

Mr. HALE. Letters are the best form of remonstrances that can be brought before Congress-earnest expressions of opinion of business and conservative men all over the country.

Mr. MORGAN. Mr. President, it has got to be the habit, and I think it is a very evil one, too, of men who are called business menmen who own estates and property-setting themselves against Congress and against the public sentiment of the people of the United States, widely, universally, and sincerely expressed, in private communications to Congress for the purpose of keeping down any legislation that might cost them a little money or a little disturbance of their peace or their business relations. I know we are in the presence of such difficulties as that; but men who thus seek privately to influence Senatorial action and are not willing to come out with their public protests and memorials and avow what they propose to have us do and to act upon are not much in the way of an enemy, when the American people happen to have

one.

What chance, Mr. President, have the few representatives of these Cuban insurgents, who are denounced as robbers, as pirates, as mulattoes, as negroes, as Spaniards and dagos, and as a contemptible, low crowd, by the high authorities, the ministerial authorities of Spain present in this Government, to manufacture sentiment to influence the people of the United States or the Senate or the House of Representatives? None whatever. They have neither the money nor the means with which to do it. There is no indication in that mass of petitions of any false presentation of sentiment. I doubt not that every man who signed those petitions—and they are signed with pen and with pencil, and some of them signed with a cross mark-honestly expressed to the people of the United States what his convictions were. The Senator from Maine probably does not think that the legislature of New York or the legislature of Mississippi have gotten up any bogus representations here to us or have been operated upon by some spasm of indignation or patriotism to cause them to lay before us an earnest admonition and request to grant belligerent rights and also independence to the Island of Cuba.

The Committee on Foreign Relations had not supposed until this very moment that they were being dealt with improperly in the presentation of this great mass of petitions, and in all sincerity they have acted upon them as if they came voluntarily from the American people and expressed their honest views.

I brought these forward merely to show the amount of pressure that had been brought upon the Committee on Foreign Relations in the Senate, and in connection with that, to show how conservative and careful had been the action of that committee. Notwithstanding this very great pressure, and notwithstanding the gratification we could have given to hundreds and thousands, if not millions, of the people of the United States by being prompt and urgent in our response to their demands, we have gone as slowly and as patiently as it was possible for us, with a decent respect for the opinions of mankind, to the step in this direction which we have taken at last.

Not only that, but we were told in the debate the other day that the Spanish minister here had sent a paper or a memorandum of some kind before the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate which had not appeared anywhere in the papers in this case.