g
things until he had gathered the fruits of victory? No, there was a
protocol, and that was a treaty in fact! France had been the medium of
negotiation. Spain had sued for peace, and terms were granted. Cuba
was surrendered. Porto Rico was ceded to us. The Spaniards claimed
that they had given up Manila after peace was settled, and they
must repossess it. But Merritt was ashore was he not, and going to
stay? Dewey had not given up anything, had he? Surely not! But there
was to be a conference, a meeting of joint commissioners held at Paris
to provide a treaty, that was to say the details--all the important
points were fixed irrevocably except the fate of the Philippines! At
this point the news of the morning gave out, all except the particulars
of the seige, the high claims of the Spaniards, the dissatisfaction
of the insurgents. It was some days before the realization of the
situation was perfected. The full terms of the protocol were not made
known at once. Spain gave up the West Indies and a Ladrone island,
and the United States was to hold the city, bay and harbor of Manila
pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace which should determine the
control, disposition and government of the Philippines. Certainly this
was the conclusive surrender of Spain! General Merritt was ordered to
Paris, and there represented the army of the United States, and its
faith and honor and glory. Our Peace Commissioners were Wm. R. Day,
Cushman K. Davis, William P. Frye, George Gray and Whitelaw Reid,
who started for Paris September 18. The Spanish Commissioners made a
long struggle, and protracted their unhappy task for more than two
months, using all arts of procrastination and persuasion, claiming
that the United States should pay the Cuban debt, and striving for
allowances of indemnity, yielding at last to the inevitable. The text
of the treaty is in seventeen articles as follows:

Article I.--Spain renounces all right of sovereignty over Cuba. Whereas
said isle when evacuated by Spain is to be occupied by the United
States, the United States, while the occupation continues, shall
take upon themselves and fulfill the obligations which, by the fact
of occupation, international law imposes on them for the protection
of life and property.

Article II.--Spain cedes to the United States the Island of Porto Rico
and the other islands now under her sovereignty in the West Indies
and the Isle of Guam in the archipelago of the Marianas or