The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-04-04
Prom tb< Illustrated London News, Jan ISL
State Of our Relations with
America.

America.
There il not within the range of likelihood any
/ calamity which this country has 30 many reasons
for dreading as q war with the United States of
America. No other nation has the same power
Of closing with US for n mortal struggle-DOne
tie like. or anything approaching the ike, facili-
ties of shifting cur most vital and least desensible
interests. One need not contemplate the possible
issue Of an armed and deadly struggle between the
two Powers; for II would matter little In effect
whether we retired from it victorious OF beaten
The struggle itself, cOme OF il what might, il
what we have most reason 10 apprchend It's i'm
mcnse waste. it, certain losses, its effect upon our
national institutions, the paralysis with which il
would strike our worldwide commerce, and the
severity with which IL would search the seams and
joints Of the integrity Of our doniniOns are inevi-
table evils hardly second 10 the contingency Of
defeat. Happily for us, happily for our Trnsat-
lantic kinsfOlk, and happily Tor humanity nc large.
there II no immediate probability of the differ
enccs between the Governments of the two coun-
tries being pushed To this extremity The people
on both side- NAV be credited with sufficient good
sense and selfrestraint 10 prevent this calamity
for some time tai come, at least.
Still the bare possibility of such an event in
the future should make US most anxious To- clear
away IA speedily and as effectually as possible. es-
pecially when il can be done consistently with
our national honour, every real cause Of injured
or angry feeling between the two States. = long
a. one such cause shall be allowed 10 remain, it
will more or less rankle and produce an increas-
ed infaInmability in the public mind. OF course,
If we are wanronly assailed, we shall know how
% put out our whole strength in repelling the as
sault. This, however, we need not anticipate.
Our sole danger lies in the ~haggling of diplomacy
over points which really have very little but an
Official Importance, but u refusal to settle which
may be used a n nest-egg for future quarrels.
For .his reason we view with regret the unsatis-
factory close of the correspondence between Lord
Stanley and Mr.. Seward relative 10 the alleged
grievances inflicted by England on america dur
ing tie civil war.
The matter. we believe. stands thus :-Claim
were made by the Washington Cabinet upon that
Of st. James for compensation 10 American citi-
zens for Losses sustained by them by the cruise of
the Alabama and other vessels Of her class which
had elandestinely stolen out of one Of our ports
and preyed to 4 serious extent upon American
ommerce These claims we first of all somewhat
contemptuously poOh-pOohcd, and to Mr.. Sew
ard proposal 10 refer them to arbitration pleaded
that we could not consent to submit to the judg-
ment OF a third party the question whether our
own municipal laws had been broken or not.
This answer stood for a while-lOng enough to
excite among the people of the United States q
feeling of iH-wil which might easily have been
cxasperated into passionate resentment. On re-
Election, we were ourselves dissatisfied with it,
and ayailed ourselves of n change Of Ministry To
reopen negotiations with a view to settle the dis
pute by arbitration. We may fairly regret, but
hA@HN bO1 OI sui = Ni'tN vi W lOOh iu-
vantage of our diplomatic Incivility, and greatly
enlarged the scope of reference to be made to ar
biters. lie maintained that the cause of injuries
done by the Alabama, and by cruisers of Il like
origin, Was 10 be sought in our alleged premature
recognition of the belligcrent rights of the South
eTn COniedelacy, and required that the United
States should be at liberty to lay this before the
party of reference, not in order that any decision
should be taken on its merits, but rs an element
for consideration. This Lord Stanley declined
acedcdinS TO, and the negotiations consequently
came to an end.
For the present we shall not ~eriticisc the dis
catches of either of the Ministers, nor shall we
say anything OF the substantial merits of the dis
pute. Each Secretary of State has, no doubt,
pretty accurately represented the prevailing opin-
ION Of his own cOuEtrymcn. But there can be no
harm IL surveying the position IN which the two
nations are left relatively t. each other. Amcri-
ca has wat she considers to be an unrcdrcssed
grievance, or rather q cluster OF grievances. She
has offered ID submit the whole of them, but not
apart from a main plea which, as she thinks, ap-
plies 10 them, 10 a court of arbitration for dcci-
sion, IN the first place, whether the grounds of
complaint are just, and, If just, what compeIlsa-
tiOn Is due u her. We have refused the offer,
and the grievance will remain unrcmOved. 1t is
not likely that America will make it n easus 6eM
under existing circumstances. Ii is even less
that she will finally abandon her claim.
She will put it by for "A w,.ilc, to be carefully
forward at a fitting opportunity. Pre-
-ently, il may be, she will lind us either involved
in, or helplessly drifting ON towards, u European
war-perhaps in fulflment of some treaty en-
just rs we, when her hands were full,
the unwarranted aggression Of one of
her naval captains upon our marine rights, and
dispatched troops To Canada simultaneously with
Dur demand upon her for satisfaction, SO. we may
will she catch us in our first serious inter
trouble, and once more present her Ala
Jama and other claims, but this time without any
ecUmpanying offer of arbitration and just as she
cit herself obliged 10 submit, so, III all prObabili-
s., IN similar circumstances and under similar
stress of necessity, shall We. We shall either
iGbnit or sbe will take us at disadvantage and
rcat OuT refusal as u oGsuS beHi.
This, however, il not the only, not the princi-
risk u which VIC become exposed by the ter
ninatiOn of this correspondence liz happens that
treat Britain may almost any day be placed in u
lOsitiOn analogous 10 that of the Northern States
# America when we recognised the belligcrent
OF the Southern COniedeTacy. y Sc
iOus instruction in Ireland for the establishment
It an Irish Republic might present IN occasion
OF the Government of the President to follow the
PRECEDENT created by the Government of her Ma
esty. America, insisting, as England has done,
hat she alone is the proper Judge of the time and
node IN which 1t becomes her To declare her neu-
rality, might instantly recognise the claims of
'enians to belligerent rights, and convi-e at-or
any rate, fail to preyent-the escape from her
,Orts of scores of Alabamas to wOrry and despoil
commerce on the high seas, and might subse-
Iuently shelter them in her ports. Are We pre-
AIRED TO admit that such acts would he consistent
the prOiessed friendliness of her internation-
] relations to US? In one world, is it our pur-
use To give n final sanction to n claim of right
Or ourselves which, If turned against us, might
nsed Us a fatal weapon against our most pre-
ious national interests?
If, now that we can look back upon the situa-
ion with the additional breadth of view we have
aimed by experience, we are convinced that We
rred ON the side of precipitancy, albeit we erred
ess IN intention than from Ignorance, and that
america really suffered damage in consequence of
error, would it not be most dignifed frankly
y admit A. much. and cnnseut IN Iaix such cum