Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-06-04

uuuer n emergency, we sooner ~ Is de
stF6yed fhe bette, s itcan oniybe an in.
strument- Of harm instead of good If out
side interference Is necessary 10 put dowr
rebellion, il will be necessary, hereafter, L
preserve order and the United States woult
henceforth be q dependency upon It's pro
tector. The less we permit foreign Govern
ments TO interfere in our domestic affair
the better; let our contemporaries remembeI
the effect Of a bad precedent.
but itfs urged that England should q
least sy mpathize. with the Government. W,
suppose the people Of England are like thos'
Of any other free nation they will sym.
pathize with whom they please; and, I'M
doubleday, a large majority domost ardently
hope success will attend the General Govern.
ment. But tits a matter for each individual
to decide for himself; sentiments are value.
less aets must he strictly neutral.
This 10 nominalIy the American doctrine,
but II can hardly DO said to be American
practice; for In every instance in which
there has been q contest between a govern
ment and its people, the latter have had the
sy~mpathy-often the active sympathy OF
our people, and sometimes Of our Govern.
ment.
A very cursory glance at history Is sufH-
Gent to demonstrate this; the French Revo-
luton was acknowledged even before IL was
fully established, by the cautious aud con-
servstive Washington; and in 1903, when
Spain was convulsed with the wars which
ensued from the attempt to unsest the estab-
lished dynasty, and substitute the Bonapart-
lists, the Americans resolved to remain
neutral until one or the other obtained the
sscendancy. There was no inquiry into the
legal right of one or the other Of the rival
sovereigns to occupy the throne.
But the contest between Spain and her
Colonies, on this Continent, which COM
menced in 1910, and continued, with more or
less vigor, and with varied success, for IF
teen years, affords an example more directly
to the point. The La Platan Revolution was
commenced in 1910; the Columbian in 1911
the Gillian in 1885, the Peruvian about
1878, and the Mexican some time previously.
These States were torn by internal factions,
and the people were dividing their time be-
tween a frstricidal war-resching every
town and villsge-and a war against Spain,
which was still putting forth all the efforts
in its power to maintain its authority on the
Western Continent. During the years 1915
and 1916, agents from the revolutionists
were entertained in a friendly manner at
Washington; and although they did not
claim to be ambassadors, in the strict use of
the term, yet official communication was
always kept up with them; and in June
1917, Messrs. Rodney, Graham and Bland
were sent, not as secret, but public agents,
to the South American Provinces, at q
salary of $4,000 per snnum each, and in the
language of Mr.. Clay, they departed with
all the paraphernslia Of public Ministers"
and during the following March, President
Monroe recommended an appropriation Of
$4,000 ITO defray the expenses of the mis-.
sion. Their commission permitted them, if
they saw proper, to proceed as far as Chilli,
which State had not yet declared its indie
pendence, nor taken any open preliminary
steps in that direction.
President Monroe, in his annual message
of 1917, says: Through every stage of
the conflict the United States have main
tanned an impartial neutrality, giving aid to
neither OF the parties in men, money, ships
or munitions of war. They have regarded
the contest, not in the light of an ordinary
insurrection or rebellion, but as a civil war
between parties nearly equal, and having,
| ne ,au4roI noucaro aoual riohte ~
Mr.. Monroe here makes o distinction be.
tween a "eivil war and an ordinary insur-
reetiop;' and so, doubtless, would the Gov
eminent Of Great Britain; and had our
troubles partaken of the nature of the latter,
no notice would have been taken of them;
the proclamation was only issued because
they evidently belonged to the former cat.
Ogory. 1
In March, 1922, after the subject had been
discussed frequently in both Houses of Con-
gress, the independence of all the Spanish
Continental Colonies was formally recog-
nized, although their war of independence
had not been terminated; and though the
mother country did not relinquish its claim
10 them till some time afterward.
In 1919 and 1920, Texas, then belonging to
the United States, was transferred TO Spaina as
apartial compensation for Florida, and as soon
as the notifications Of the treaty were ex-
changed, which did not occur for some time,
the Government at Washington aeknowl-
edged the independence of Mexico, inciud-
ing Texas. In 1885, the Texan revolution
was initiated, and in 1896 the independence
of that province was Acknowledged, despite
the remonstranees of Mexico. In that con-
test it will hardly do to assume that the SYM
pathies of our people were with the mother
country.
Another instance Of the course usually
pursued in such cases by the United States,
is found in the Canadian rebellion of 1887;
the President proclaimed our policy to the
strict neutrality, and General Scott was
ordered to the border to maintain peace; but
Notwithstanding this, hundreds of people
"crossed the lines" carrying with them arms
Stolen from the public srsenals of the New
England States, Northern Ohio, and Michi-
gan.
The "Patriots," as they were called, had
the sympathy of the American press, of
American statesmen, and of the American
masses. Nearly all the funds the revolution
izers ever possessed was furnished volun-
tarily by "sympathizers" in the United
States. Yet the Canadian Rebellion was of
a local character-con6ned to only a portion
Of the PrOvInces-snd the patriots never had
an established government, while the Amer
lean Revolution of 1851 extends over ten
States and a hall, and one or two more may
yet join in the movement. They have had
the form Of a government, and for several
months they Displayed more Yigor than the
Administration at Washington. A large ma
iOrity of all political parties In the North had
been reconeiled previously to the attack on