Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1869-05-01
WHOLE NUMBER 1909.

hlt'Iy ~ WIS HnpOtelUIe tO ethlc tncm.
The mass OF a mountain can not be
measured At its base. The observer
must occupy certain distance, and this
rule Of perspective is justly applicable
to damages which are vast beyond pre-
cedent. ..at trr
y few dates will show the progress Of
the controversy and how the case en-
largcd. tioing as tar back as the goth
OF November, 1862, we find our Minister
IN London, Mr.. Adams, calling for re-
dress from the British Government on
account Of the Alabama. This was the
mid beginning. On the 23d of Octo-
Der, 1858, IN another communication the
same Minister suggested TO the British
Government "any iaIr and equitable
form of arbitrament or reference" This
proposition slunbered IN the British
Forci5n Office Tor nearly two years.
during which the Alabama was pursuing
her pratical career, when, on the 30th
August, 1865, il was awakened by Lord
Russell only to bc knoeked down in these
words:
"ln your letter Of October 20, 1868, you were
pleased 10 sny that the Government of the
Cnlicd states Is ready TO agree to any form Of
arbitration" "Her Maiestys Gov
crnment must, therefore, decline either 10 make
reputation and compensation lor the captures
made by the Alabama, or To- refer the question
10 any foreign State
Such was our rcpulse from EngInnd,
having at least lhe merit of frankness, If
nothing else. On 18th October, 1865,
our Minister informed Lord Russell that
the United States had finally resolved to
make no effort for arbitration. Again
| ,he whole question slumbeTed until 27th
August, 1865, when Mr.. Seward pre-
sented a list of individual claims on ac-
count of the pirate Alabama. From
shat time negotiation has continued, with
nps and downs, until at last the pending
treaty was signed. Had the early over
lures OF our Government been promptly
accepted, or had there been at any time
just recognition OF the wrong done,
doubt not that this great question would
have been settled; but the rejection of
our very moderate propositions and the
| protracted delay, which afforded an op-
portunity to review the case in its differ
ent bearings, have awakened the people
to the magnitude of the interests in
volyed. If our demands are larger now
than at our first call, it is not the only
time in history where such a rise has
occurred. The story of the Sibyl is re-
peated, and England is tie Roman
king.
Shall these claims be liquidated and
Cancelled promptly, or allowed to slum-
Der until called into activity by some
future exigency? There are many among
us who, taking counsel of sense of ma
tional wrong, would leave theW to rest
] tNlf - 4rr nseh
precedent for retaliation.in kind, should
England find herself al war. There are
many in England who, taking counsel of
a perverse political bigotry, have spurned
them absolutely; and there are others
who, invoking the point OF honor, assert
that England can not entertain them
without compromising her homer. Thus
there is peril from both sides. 1t is not
difficult to imagine one of our country
men saying with Shakspeare's Jew, ''The
villainy you teach me i shall execute,
|. and it shall go hard, hut will better the
Instruction." nor is it cifficult to i'm
agiue an Englishman firm in his conceit
. that no apology can be made and nothing
paid. can not syEpathise with either
{ side. Be the claims more or less, they
are honestly presented, with the convic-
tion that they are just, and they should
be considered candidly, so that they shall
no longer lower like cloud ready to
burst upon two nations, which, according
TO their incllnations, can do each other
, such infinite injury or such infinite good.
know 1t is sometimes said that war be-
tween us must come sooner or later. |
do not believe it. But if it must come,
, let it be later, and then am sure it will
, never come. Meanwhile, good men will
unite TO make it impossible.
Again say, this debate is not of my
seeking. 1t is not tempting, for it COM
{ tpels criticism of foreign power with
more even than concord. But it can not
he avoided. The truth must be told,
+ not in anger, but in sadness. England
has done TO the United States an injury
most difficult to measure. Considering
when it was done and in what compile
ity, it is most unaccountable. AT a great
epoch of history, not less momentous
than that of the French Revolution or
that of the Reformation, when civiliza-
; iion was lighting last battle with slave
!. nv, England gave her name, her infu-
i ence, her material resources to the wicked
! cause, and flung sword into the scale
, with slavery. Here was portentous
: mistake. Strange that the land of Will
berforce, after spending millions for
emancipation, after proclaiming every
f where the truths of liberty, and ascend
ing to glorious primacy in the sublime
movement for the universal abolition of
slavery, could do this thing! Like every
departure from the rule OF justice and
. good neighborhood, her condact was per
nicious in proportion to the scale of
operations, affecting individuals, corpo-
ations, communities, and the nation it.
self And yet down to this day there is
no acknowledgment of this wrong; not
single word. Such generous expires.
: sion would be the beginning of just
settlement, and the best assurance of that
harmony between two great and kindred
|, nations which all must desire.
Congressman Bingham is described by
n