The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-07-28

The Secretary Of State, Mr.. Fish, on the
22d inst. addressed an official despatch to the
Prussian Minister, Baron Gerolt, at Washing
ton, in which he says that he has the honor to
acknowledge the receipt OF q letter from the
Baron, Communicating to this government the
text of a despatch from Count Bismarck, to the
effect that private property on the high seas
will be exempt from seizure by the ships Of his
Majesty the King Of Prussia, without regard
to reciprocity;" that 'it is now nearly GEN.
fury since, says Mr.. Fish, ''the United States,
through Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Frank
lin and John Adams, their plenipotentiaries,
and under the guidance of the great Frederick
of Prussia, entered into treaty of amity and
commerce, to be In force for ten years from
its date" &C., and that ''the government of
the United States receives with great pleasure
this renewed adherence Of the great and en-
lightened German government to the princi-
pies temporarily established by the treaty Of
1885, and since then advocated by this gov
eminent whenever an opportunity has offered"
The Secretary of State, then, after reciting
these several efforts Of the United States,
| from time to time down to the treaty of Paris
of 1856, to get this important proposition Of the
exemption In war Of private property from
seizure acknowledged as the law of the great
Powers of the earth. closes by saying that the
present decision of Prussia on this subject
''gives reason to hope that the government and
people of the United States may soon be
gratiaed by seeing it (the principle) recognized
as another restraining and humanizing in
| huence imposed by modern civilization upon
the art Of war" The Secretary speaks in a
tone of regret of ''the war which has now I'M
happily broken out" between Prussia and
France, bis object clearly being to leave the
| impression upon the mind of the reader that
the position of General Grants administration
| in this war is that of careful and conscien-
tious neutrality.
Among our democratic copperhead contem-
poraries, however, tho discovery has been
made that in this courteous and inoffensive
letter to the representative of friendly
nation General Grant has weakly decided TO
abet Prussia in the present war; that such
letter Sat this conjuncture is go gratutous that
1t can have no other object than to express the
sympathy of our government with the Prussian
side, which is quite inconsistent with our posi-
ton of neutrality" that Prussia is entitled to
no credit for adopting, then or now, the human
izing principles embraced in her treaty of 1885,
and that ''our government acts without judg-
ment or dignity" in oomplimenting her course
upon this subject.
Now, if the obligations of neutrality were
such as to restrain our government, pending a
war between two nations with which we are at
peace, from the expression of a generous
approval of any act on either side looking to
the mitigation of the horrors of war, then it
might be said that our government, in the
letter of Mr.. Secretary Fish, has acted
''without judgment or dignity" But, as
no restraint of the kind suggested is
involved among the duties of neutrality, we
dare say that General Grant will not be called
by Louis Napoleon to explain this compliment
tary despatch to Baron Gerolt. Nor do we
apprehend that our imprudent copperhead
contemporaries, in becoming partisans on the
one side in this European war, will be able to
entangle General Grant on the other side. .
From the day in 1868 that he proclaimed him
self candidate for the Presidency his motto
has been, 'Let US, have peace" and it has
been peace in view of his paramount objects,
the lessening Of our burden of taxation and the
of the public debt
Hence, Notwithstanding bis personal inclina-
tons in regard to the Cuban question and the
overwhelming public sentiment of
the country in favor of decisive Intervention
on his part in behalf of the independence of
Cuba, and in view of the annexation of that rich,
convenient and desirable island, we have
seen General Grant persistently declin-
ing to take any step calculated to dis
turb our peaceful relations with Spain. And
yet again, he could have justified himself in
urging the occupation and annexation of Mex
leo on the general plea of Napoleon's expert |
General Grant has actually been assisting
Juarez in his futile efforts TO establish law and
order under Mexican self-government. II
General Grant has s'worked like beaver" to
secure the annexation Of the large, beautiful
and productive West India island of St.
Domingo, beginning with the republic Of
Dominica, it has been because the scheme en-
braced the advantages of splendid bargain
and no possible dangers of any hostile compli-
cations. We have not been able to fathom the
profound objections Of Senator Sumner to this
project but we suppose that he saw in it
some impediments to his Alabama claims
which were invisible to the administration.
At all events the policy of General Grant in
this enterprise was the policy of peace, ma
tional progress and prosperity.
We may then safely conclude that If General
Grant has persistently declined to enter into
any enterprises of manifest destiny" in the