Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1898 — PEACE PACT SIGNED. [ARTICLE]

PEACE PACT SIGNED.

LABORS OF COMMISSIONERS ARE AT AN END. American* Happy at the Successful Conclusion of I heir Mission, and Spaniard* Assume Pleasant Faces— Sudden Death of Gen. Garcia. The treaty of peace between the United States and Spain was signed in Paris Saturday evening. The momentous scene in the historic drama of the nations was impressively simple in all of its details. A group-of gentlemen gathered about a table in a room overlooking the Seine and signed their names to duplicate copies of a document which transfers the colonial empire of one of the oldest countries of Europe to the youngest adult member of the family of nations. ■There was no ceremony expressive of the momentous significance of the occasion. The plain, undramatic record may be set down in a few words. It was the twenty-second session of the peace commission, whose labors had covered just ten weeks. Its members gathered tardily at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Before all of them had assembled, in addition to the us-« ual thirteen, several of the attaches of each commission came to witness the execution of the treaty drafted under so many difficulties. It was known that the engrossing of the treaty was still unfinished, but the commissioners, after being photographed with doubtful success, occupied an hour in revising and signing each protocol, which is the diplomatic name for such records. Then, as it was known that the engrossing was still unfinished, half an hour was spent in chatting and taking tea. About 5:30 p. m. word came that at least an hour more would be necessary to complete the Spanish copy of the treaty, so a recess was taken until 7:30 o’clock. It was nearly 8 o’clock before the imposing parchments were finally placed upon the large table around which the commissioners sat in their usual order, the Spaniards on one side and the Americans on the other. Each copy of the document consisted of seventeen articles, in both English and Spanish, in parallel columns. Interpreter Ferguson read aloud the text of the treaty. The only difference between the two copies was that the Spanish copy, in the usual preamble, set forth first the names of the Spanish commissioners, with a list of their titles and the past and present offices they have held following each, and then the names of the American commissioners. The American copy gave first the plain names of William R. Day, Cushman K. Davis, William P. Frye, George Gray and Whitelaw Reid, describing them simply as “citizens of the United States.” Then followed the names of the Spanish commissioners, with all of their titles and offices.

The reading of the treaty was interrupted only once, when it was found that in the article about the release of the Spanish prisoners who are to be returned to their homes, the English version used the words, “Cuba, Porto Rico and the Island of Guam and-the Philippines.” The Spanish translation had it “or” instead of “of,” and there was a slight delay while this trifling inaccuracy was corrected. The American copy was handed to Judge Day and the Spanish cofey to Senor Montero Rios, and the two presidents signed their names simurtaneously. The two treaties were then passed quickly down the respective' sides of the table. Senator Davis followed Judge Day, and Senators Frye and Gray and Mr. Reid signed afterward in the order named. After Mr. Reid had signed Mr. Ferguson took the American copy to Senor Rios and brought back the Spanish copy to Judge Day, when the documents were passed down the table again, the Americans signing beneath the English version and the Spaniards beneath the Spanish version in each case. The secretaries then prepared the seals and each commissioner affixed one opposite his name. The whole operation occupied only about fifteen minutes. Senor Montero Rios said a few words expressive of his personal esteem of the Americans and thanks on behalf of his colleagues for the Americans’ courtesy, and Judge Day responded in two or three cordial sentences. The commissioners then shook hands and the work of the Spanish-American peace conference was finished.