The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-12-30
Tie Proposed European Conference.
From the ". Y. Herald.

The Eastern question still continues to form
the most important element in our daily cable
budget of news from Europe. Our dispatches
of yesterday morning show that the Porte
maintains an attitude of frmness, while
Greece is more disposed to adopt policy of
conciliation. From Berlin we learn that the
granting of autonomy to Gambia is regarded
by some as the only possible method of tenn
pOrarily solving the difficulty. In London,
while il is believed that a congress will grow
out of the present negotiations, no great or
permanent results are expected.
One of the most important items in con-
nection with this department of news is the
suggestion that in the event of congress
being held the Government Of the United
States should be represented. We have no
means of knowing whether this suggestion be
a mere rumor or a fact. So far as we know,
the announcement has, with q single excep-
tion, been unheeded in this country. The
Government has been silent regarding it.
Only one journal has alluded to the matter,
and the allusion is of kind which indicates a
gross misconceptiOn of the altered and rapidly
altering relations of nations under the new
conditions of the later years of the nine
teenth century. According to this journal,
we have nothing to do with the affairs of
Europe. 1t is the advice of this journal that
If any such proposal be made to our Govern
ment, the answer should be that, as the settle
ment of the Eastern question is no effair of
ours, we cannot in any shape interfere. This,
we know, is in perfect harmony with the
hereditary policy of this country. The
policy of the founders of this Republic-a
policy which has been religiously followed up
until the present time-was America for the
Americans, and the rest of the. world for
itself 1t is not for a moment to be doubted that
the proposal to which we have alluded, if seri-
ously raised, will be rejected, not, perhaps, by
ALL but certainly by the majority of the Euro
pean powers. They are not willing that We
should interfere with them, and hitherto we
have not interfered. We have not bsen will
ing that they should interfere with us, but
on more than one occasion they have inter
fered, and interfered very unnecessarily. Some
of us remember the interference OF Great Bri
tain in the affairs of South America and how
Canning hoped to rectify the balance of power
in the Old World by creating counterpoise in
the New. We have none of us forgotten what
was attempted on this continent when our
hands were tied by our recent civil war. The
ofense of Europe was not the less that France
failed in Mexico and that English assistance
was Intellectual in the South. The fact is that
interference, wherever interference promised
any advantage, whether on this continent or
elsewhere, has been a leading characteristic
of European diplomacy. If we have been
more cautious in this matter, that is no
sufficient reason why this caution should con-
tinue.
All these things, however, aside, why
| should any species of international policy be
| eternal and unchapgeable! Why should
policy specially adapted to one age and one
| set of conditions be the best for another age
and an entirely new set of conditions In the
interests of civilization Europe has for some
| generations enjoyed what we may call mo-
popoly of the control of both hemispheres.
| The great powers have been looked to as the
| protectors Of civilization, and the smaller
! powers have followed in their wake or sub
mitted to their dictation. We are not called
upon to say that the European powers have
done their work badly. But if another civil
! lized power has sprung into existence, if that
| power, by the extent of its territory, the num-
bers and rapid growth of its population, the
| magnitude and the success of its undertakings,
commands the attention and the respect of
the nations generally, and induces some
| of them to sue for its aid and pro-
lection, as little as we are called upon to
say that in the interests OF civilization the
cooperation of this power should not be
| heartily welcomed. The United States is that
power. What other nation on the face of the
earth is contributing more than ours to the
general welfare of mankind Not only are
we giving an impulse to trade and commerce
all over the world; we are providing homes
and country for the outcast and the needy
of all lands. Our central position, in fact,
standing as we do between two great seas and
| two great continents, marks us out not merely
as the great arbitrator, but as the great con-
troller of the future. the Burlingame mis-
sion is a striking illustration OF the light in
which We begin to be regarded by all the
nations OF the earth. In many important re-
spects we have a greater interest in all lands
and in all peoples than any OF the so-called
great powers of Europe, and this Interest will
grow and intensity with the advancing years
So far as We can see, there Is no good reason
why We should not and many good reasons
why We should take our place at once among
the great powers and share With them the
duties and responsibilities which belong to
the position.
r. In any conference of the great powers it is
competent to us to take part and our assist
snce might be invaluable. The peculiaritisS
of the Eastern question might be more sue
cessfully dealt with by American intellec
thon by the logic of worn out Old World
diplomacy. There is nothing insOluble in the
difficulty. The real difficulty in the case ii
that 10 one can, or rather no one dare, pro
pose anything new. European conference
have been failures all through. They hav'
never successfully grappled with the Difficult
ties Of any great international question. They
meet and discuss and patch up an agreemen
and leave the question as they found it. Thi
has been specially true OF all congresses which
have attempted to settle the Eastern question
As il has been with former congresses so will /
be with this one. The powers at varianc
, will be temporarily reconciled; but the ques
tion at issue will be left as unsettled as ever
The time has come when the Turk SHOULD
) retire from Europe, when the provinces soutl
( of the Balkan should be given to Greece an
the provinces north of the Balkan consoli
Co..