The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-13
THE FOREIGN POLICY OF THE ADMIN
ISTRATION.
From the y. !. Snn.

From the ". y Sun.
In his inaugural address, referring to our
foreign policy, General Grant told the coun-
try that he should deal with nations as equita-
BILE law requires individuals to deal with each
other: that he should protect native and for
eign-born citizens wherever their rights were
put in jeopardy, and wherever our flag hoated
that while respecting the rights Of all nations,
he would demand equal respect for our own;
and that if other powers should depart from
this rule, he might be compelled to follow
their precedent.
These brave words foreshadowed a bold
and vigorous policy. They received the warm
approval of our own people, irrespective OF
party, and arrested the attention and excited
the comment of foreign powers. The Eng
lish and French journals, rejecting, no
doubt the opinions of their leading States
men, tried to argue themselves into the belief
that these declarations were capable of paci-
tic construction, while they freely admitted
that they betokened a determination on the
part of the new President to conduct our
foreign affairs in a spirit more firm, decisive,
and truly American than had of late years
marked our history.
The past five months have afforded fire.
quent occasions for putting the sincerity of
| General Grants manifesto to the test. Have
the hopes it inspired at home, and the fears
| tt excited abroad, been realized? On the
contrary, have not his sonorous words turned
| out to be the merest fanfaronade? Is there
| an instance in the history of the country
| when an administration has been so subser-
Went to any foreign power as that of Grant
has been to Spain
Dur neutrality laws, more stringent than
those OF any European monarchy, are in an
| taSonlsm with the genius of our people
| Nevertheless, the most conspicuous act of the
| nd i1,iC Ctr 30
ton OF this code against an oppressed colony
whose republican patriots, nobly outstripping
every example of history, began their revolu-
ton by decreelng the abolition of slavery,
ana are still struggling to throw off the woke
OF despotlsm that has fostered the slave
trade, maintained licentious Court, and for
bade the education of the people. and is now
trying IN vain to sell its crown in the market
overt of Europe. Indeed, so busy has the
administration been in enforcing this ex-
ceptlonal code in the interests of Spanish des-
pots and Slaye-mongers, that it has not found
time to faithfully execute some of the ordi-
nary revenue laws of our own country.
And now has the administration redeemed
It's pledge to protect citizens whose rights are
not put IN jeopardy merely, but are actually
! sacllnced American citizens pine in British
prisons for words spoken on this side of the
Atlantic, and no remonstrance is heard from
our secretary of State. They are shot IN
cold blood and without trial in Cuba, and our
State Department is dumb, while one of the
national vessels stationed in the waters con-
t9uous to that ill-fated island, and which
might have afforded protection to the victims
OF Spanish cruelty, is ordered home to
convey the President and a portion OF
his Cabinet on junketing tours to Long
Branch or Newport
As to the Alabama patter, it, remains in
| Statu qU0, and its management has excited
such profound contempt in the masses of our
citizens, that it is doubtful whether the ad-
ministration would not lose rather than gam
by attempting to stir it up again Certainly;
unless it handles this stale subject with good
deal more skill and in a far loftier American
spirit than has characterized the rest OF lts
foreign policy, it had better let it alone, At
all events, we ought not to instruct our
Minister to sidle around St. James Palace
with the air of needy chapman dun
ming naughty creditor, and begging to know
when it will suit the convenience OF the
| Foreign Secretary to look over our bill.
In word, the foreign policy of this adj
ministration, proclaimed in sonorous phrases
from the steps of the Capitol in March, has
thus far proven TO be one of the most pusll-
! luminous in the history Of the country.