OUR AMERICAN LETTER. (From Our Own Corresppndent.) San Francisco, April 2,

Otago Witness, Issue 2203, 21 May 1896, Page 54

OUR AMERICAN LETTER. (From Our Own Corresppndent.) San Francisco, April 2,

THE CUBAN QUESTION has bjen the chief topic of discussion in both Houses of Congress during the past month. The nature of the speeches delivered has, from a Spanish standpoint, been of a peculiarly irritating character ; so much so, in fact, that the Ambassador from Spain to this country took occasion to spuafe his mind a little nondiplomatically to some reporters. This natural but rare courae precipitated anothr-r fiery debate in the Senate, and fierce demands were made that the offending gentleman be given hia passports. It was " iufamous" that the wol\l of Senators was to be questioned ia thin manner ; a pretty pass this great country h*s como to, truly, when the freedom »f debate is to be interfered with, aud Senators who make rash a'fiertions run the risk of having those assertions corrected by parties who know whereof they speak ! However, everything ia going along very smoothly now, and no passports have Leen handed to anybody. But meanwhile debates have been going on, conferences held between the two Houses, resolutions upon which both might agree have been considered, and most threatening Unguage indulged in as to the policy of Spain, hsr statesmen, her generals, aud h* r men. At this hour of writing it is reported that an agreement b^s been arrived at by the representatives of the Senate a-nd the Lower House, and futther, that the resolution finally accepted by them will, if approved by Congre-is, ba supported by the President, who is (xp^cted promptly to send a message recognising the belligerent rights of the insurgents as soon as he is officially informed of the outcome of the discussion. How Spain will submit to such an open expression of sympathy with those whom she has classed as bandits and ravishers it is — if we pub on one side the pasuouatecries of partisanship — most hazardous to guess, but there seems little dcubt that the Cubans have got the island virtually at their mercy, and will soon have Spain either on her knees or frantically wasting more blood and treasure. - The great drawback to the Cub ins hitherto has been lack of arms, and ammunition. These they are now obtaining, and with these the rebellion commences in dead earnest. THK VENEZUELAN " INCIDENT " is, in diplomatic language, " closed." The groat public ha 9 had its fling, the papers have had their say, the patriots have aired their eloquence, and the few philosophers have quietly smiled when it was announced to the world that the " incident was doaed." I suppose it will be a moot point as to which country or statesman has won a great diplomatic victory. The Americans claim they have brought England to ta.sk, inasmuch aa Salisbury declined to consider the question as one appropriate to arbitration ; but sgainsb this is the assertion that certain portions of the country — upon which England claims there never has been, nor can be, any dispute, but which Venezuela at first insisted should be arbitrated upon — have been taken out; of the matter under discussion, and therefore EogUnd in turn may claim a " great diplomatic victory." The question of compensation to the British official who was imprisoned by the Venezuelan authorities, and which is known as the Yumanui incident, has likewise been separated from the boundary question, thus still further facilitating a near approach to an amicable settlement of the whole case, as well as bearing out the contention of the British that the two matters had nothing in common with each other. There seems to be some little secrecy manifest among the officials of the State department here, but the press declares that Venezuela has committed the care of all her interests t> the United States, and that Sir Julian Pauacefote haa been vested by his Government with full plenipotentiary powers to act with Secretary. Olcey, and as thin information is two weeks old and there has been no denial, and no one seems to know anything whatever about the question, and as we are busy fighting, Spain, and England is busy upsetting b-aIE the Governments in Europe, I take it that we are justified in considering the Venezuelan incident is "closed." AMBASSADOR BAYARD received his Congressional rap over the knuckles on the 20th March, 180 members, as against 71, favouring the resolution censuring the ambassador to the Court of Sb. James for unpatriotic utterances and diplomatic improprieties, and 191 members to 59 voted for the further resolution condemning all displays of partisanship by diplomatic representatives of the United States. It is unnecessary to say the vote ia casb, -with six exceptions, upon strict party lines, and is, therefore, almost wholly in the nature of a political attack. The opportunity, however, afforded by Bayard's forgetfulness wai too good a chance to be lost in these Presidential campaign times, and the most has beea made out of it that can possibly bo made. Bayard's condemnation of the policy of Protection, hia assertions and denunciations as to its pernicious effects upon the social, commercial, political, and moral well-being of the people, raited just the right kind of effigy for the Republican orators to fire away at. The greatness of the country, its magnificent resources, its limitless this, its unparalleled that, aud its sublime the other were trotted out in all forms and shapes and postare3, and all claimed aa a result of that policy one " Thomas F. Bayard, Ambassador of the United States to Great Britain," had so outrageously and indecently denounced. So it was, with one eye on the nation's honour and the other upon the month of November, our Republican friends carried the resolutions through with a shout. As for its effect upon Bayard, rumours to the contrary notwithstanding, it is and will be absolutely nil. Everybody understands that kind of business hero. THK PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN is now in full awing, especially so far as the Republican party is concerned. There is very little being heard from the Democratic side of the country, mainly owing, I presume, to the widely-admitted belief that, unless the very unexpected happens, as it sometimes doe 3, the next President of the United States will be nominated in June next by the National Republican Convention in the City of St. Louis. It is, therefore, hardly a matter of surprise that the prees of all shades of political belief and misbelief is devoting more attention to the Republican aspirants for the Presidential nomination than to those from the Democratic party. Of course the number of candidates for the high honour is large, but few are lef fc when a thorough gifting of their chances is made. Four names only of national and international importance figure in the probable candidates with a ghost of a show, aud these are Governor Morton (of New York), Senator Allison (of Iowa), Speaker Reed (of Main), and Major M'Kinley. Of these the last is undoubtedly the favourite ; the others have ealj

secured, with any degree of certainty, their own Staie delegation to the National Convention with doubtful promises of one or two others. Bab M'Kinley seems to be carrying State after Sbate if the figures aenb forth oan be accepted as reliable. The west haa joined with the east and the south with the north, and each with the other to leaven that man of destiny, Napoleon M'Kinley. Newspapers have co'ught to gain some degree of certaiuty as to^ the " man to be " next June, and each has beeif" surprised at the apparently overwhelming response — M'Kinley. Sfcata convention upon State convention has instructed its delegates to St. Louis to vote for M'Kinley for first choice, and when in some conventiens — Taxas, for example — tbere has been any rather formidable opposition displayed the M'Kinleyites have rushed the p'.atlorni, knocked down theiropponents, derided the chairman, and carried their men in spite of anything to the contrary. All kinds of slurp practices are being resorted to by the rival candidates aud their supporters, angcy words are uttered and bibber charges made, but as the prize is a high one these, perhaps, are pardonable. Keeu "politics," as here uuderstood, is (he order of procedure by each aspirant. For instance, -M'Kialey sent a special i messenger all across the continenb to bhe State of Arizona, there to interview Whitelaw Reid, editor of the New York Tribune and ambassador to Paris under Harrison, and offer him the ambassadorship at the Court of St. Jamss if Reid would covertly attack Morton, the Republican Governor of New York and a presidential candidate, through the columns of his p»per. Of course there are many " ifs " before Reid could be appointed to St. James's, or anywhere else, but the offer will teotify to tbe methods employed lo make a friend and stab a foe. Should M'Kiuloy be nominated and elected, and tha two branches oE Cougres3 be iv harmony with him, then the world will witness another example of the pig returniug to defile itsplf in its own mire._ It would leeoi as though nothing would ever induce the majority to see the fallacies underlying, overlapping, and all embracing a policy which has created millionaires aud combines and paupers. Times are bad, we cry P What has mide them P Pauper labour and ifc* cheap products is the außwer. How can we avoid them, again we ask, in our agony. By voting for me, says M'Kinley, and so we are all going to do it. The other possible element of disunion in the Republican party is bhe question of free silver. Matiy of the present members of th» p*rty who are Senators aud Congressmen inßist upon the free coinage of silver being made a plank in the party's platform, aad if this is done where will M'Kinley be, he having repeatedly declared against any euoh business ? i Raed ia for and Morton against free silver so ! thab the prospect for a united party is not ! completely assured. Nor should it be forgotten that i-he history of political conventiens in this ! couubry often shows that the mo»b popular public nvn is not the one finally selected to bear bhe standard. Men like M'Kinley and Blame start off with a great vote on the first bailoc, but before the work is through some quiet, almost unknown, man looms up from his obsourifcy— as did Gai field when he re&'ived tho nomination, — and bhe candidate who started with four vobes or less, secures bhe prize ».mid the acclamations of the delegates and citizen?, and history may repeat ibaelf nexb June. Kentucky's legislature adjourned on the 17th March, according to the words of bhe member moving tbe motion, " everlastingly, eternally, and for ever." It is one of tbe m<>sb remarkable legislative sessions on record. Piiraarily called together for providing ways and m«ans to conduct the business of *;he State and to pa-s laws for the betterment or otherwiseof the people generally,it adjourned, after a two-monthg' sitting, without making a single law, voting a single revenue bill, or doing anything that could in the remotest degree relitva ib from being a blot upon the escutcheon of Kentucky. The entire period was devobed to the election of a senabor to represent the Sbitte in the Unibed Sfcabea Senate, and for all these weary weeks did tha people's aunoinbed keep at it booth an 4 nail, fist and foot, knife and pistol, and then— adjourned sine die without electing a senator after all ! This desirable consumtnaUou was arrived at in this manner. United States senators are elected on the joint ballot of the two Houses of the State Legislature, and wheu, as in Keutucky, the joint ballot shows an even divisiou | of power, then it requires an awful amount of "work" to make something "give way" in order that one or the other party may elect its nominee. ! In this particular contest the Republicans had 1 a majority of s''x in tha House of R pregentabive and the Democrats a majority of six in the Senate. Clearly, thwrefere, ib w»g a case of the J irresistible and the irremovable, and how to i make the one overcome bhe other was the order of the day and night as long as the session lasted. Both parties bried to unseat each other's numbers ; both. tried bribery, both tried to seat somebody other than the member who had alre<dy taken the seat, both resorted to oaths, blows, fin/8, lricks, kniveo, pistols, duels. AH the animalism in bhe healed partisans of either candidate raged tumultuously. Threats, curses, imprecations, diabolical and insane mouthings. Then the Governor of the State tenk a hand aud called out the troops, marshalling them around and in the Seu&te Houss and presenting to the civilised world a practical exposition of the superiority of our electoral aud political institutions to those of any obher land. Under the Bedabive, somnolent, and purgative influence of Gatling guns, grey coats, and bayonets out legislators got to work promptly and, more promptly, did the first bib of work in two months. As above narrated they adjourned sine die.