The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-05-21
g0LDUJN SMITH ON THE ALABAMA
QUESTION.

NopowERPtrI nation on the globe is more anxious
to avert a gigantic war than the United States.
The rallying cry of the last Presidential cam
poign was, 'l.et us have peace The American
people are strangely misunderstood by superb
cia observers 1t requires years of provocation
to drag them into active hostilites. They fight
the Indians only because they cannot cultivate
their fields and extend their settlements without
driving off the savages They fought Great
Britain in 1776 and 1872 mainly because shc
warred against their industrial interests. The
late war arose from desire in the South to
perpetuate an antiquated and infamous labor
system, and the North reluctantly took up arms
because the existence of the Republic was
imperied. Orators may fume in the Senate or
out of il, for years, without gun being fired or
a drop of blood being spilled But when IRON
tier settler is massacred. and his neighbors be-
come alarmed by the fear that they too, will in
turn be assailed, the red men must beware
When an overt act follows long train OF
insults and injuries heaped upon patient pco-
pie, the slumbering spirit of the nation bursts
out, as it did in the Revolutionary period, after
Lexington; in the second war with Great
Britain, after the search and seizure
of our vessels; and in the North,
after the Rebel batteries were opened on
than fair chance to work, without being
assailcd or oppressed, or insulted, or wrongcd.
They are not lured away by vain dreams of
foreign conquest. nor prone to enter upon wars
of revenge or propagandism. They have reso-
utely refrained from interfering in the affairs of
other countries and ask only to be allowed to
attend to their own business. They set up no
pretensiOns like those arrOgated by Great
Britain to rule the seas, and to greedily clutch
possessions in all distant portions of the world
with one hand, while, with the other, they are
setting bounds to the progress of their neghbors.
They never estimated more highly the blessings
of peace than at the present moment, while the
recollection of the late war, with all its attend
ant horrors is still fresh, and while the burdens
of the debt are still pressing heavily upon every
taxpayer. And yet the whole Eng
lish press is teeming with endless discus
sons of the probabilities and prospects of a war
with the United States because, forsooth the
insulting and ridiculous Alabama treaty was
rejected, and because an American Senator an
nounced that we did not intend to be humbuggcd
by piece of roast-beef and plumb pudding
diplomacy. Even Goldwin Smith, who, residing
among u.s. should have known better, has fol-
lowed the cue of the London alarmists and fur
nished a new current to their tempest in a tea
pot by writing from Boston to the British metro
polls that he holds himself prepared for turn
of affairs which would oblige English residents
to leave this country" And, not satisfied with
this exhibition of timidity, he has recently de-
livered a speech at Ithaca in which he gave
utterance to the foreboding that even now 1.-THE
Angel of Death may be setting his mark, with
unseen hand, on the door OF many an American
and English home"
=, os,l l, -
thing still more contemplate, an attempt to pre-
vent by British bluster the newly-appointed
American Minister at the Court of st. James,
Mr.. Motley, from entering into calm and
statesmaulike discussion of the existing dispute.
The Alabama claims have so long remained un-
adjusted that further delay is matter of COM
paratvely little importance to us; and if Great
Britain can afford to allow the question to re-
main open, and to permit her own conduct du-
ring the Rebellion to become an established pre-
cedent for our imitation when John Bulls OK
happens to be gored, there is little necessity
for any further discussion of the subject
For wears our Alabama claims were
secuted by the British Ministry. 1t wa,
only when the Fenian movement showed how
easily the weapons turned against us in the houl
of our calamity could be employed for the cap
ture of Canada or the liberation of Ireland, tina
British statesmen were seized, not with rcmorsC
or regret, or desire to do us justice, but with
fear that the day might be near at hand wher
they would be imperilled by their own dcstruc
tive devices. They could well afford to pay lis .
few millions-ay, hundreds of millions-tC
balance the old account, and to restrain us for
ever from doing for the rebels against Grea
Britain the kind service they rendered to tn
rebels against the United States. This countr
has sought no war; and will seek none. 1t re
mains with Great Britain to close the presen
controversy or to suffer it to remain open.
her action was right and her conduct ire
proachable, she has nothing to fear for at tn
worst we will only follow her own rule. But
she was wrong, and is sincerely anxious to aton
for her iniquity, let it be accurately measured
If your crown is cracked, and your adversar
proposes to heal your wounds by giving you
farthing as damages, to prevent retaliation,
adds insult to injury, and you sacrifice your sci
respect by accepting his paltry cOmpensatio
You should either play the part of the GOO
Christian and forgive him freely, or if Il
quarrel is, as in the present inst nce, an o
one. bear the grudge in mind and keep yoursC
free to settle it in your own way at your ov
convenience The latter policy is precisely VIII
Great Britain fears, and her journals and orato
are annoyed only because we have shown o
unwillingness to accept her paltry shilling.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES