New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-06-08

meIfts-One OF those things WHICH "iiO"e ".
tions. as among individuals, must emu I'LL
friendly discussion. 1t was not allowed TO re-
main dormant very long. The British CABINET
carly took its position-to insist that the lndl-
root Claims were excluded by the Treaty, and
70 leave the inference open that they were
d;sbonestlv presented This formed the animus
~ tbo sneecbes of Mr.. Gladstone and of Lord
Granville in Parliament. But as the discus
sion grew more heated, it became Impossible
TO withhold the formal accusation Oh uii-
veracity. This was made in direct terms by
Sir Stafford Northcote in a speech at Exeter,
in which he asserted that the English High
Commissioners understood that the Americans
had expressly waived those claims. This he
repeated in Parliament, and on Thursday, for
the third time in letter to the Earl OF Derby,
read by the latter in the House of Lords, he
declared positively that the Commissioners
did understand that promise was gwen
" that the claims for indirect damages would
abe withdrawn"
We are not at this moment discussing the
Indirect CLAIMS nor the propriety or expediency
of putting them into our Case We have done
this at great length, and may go back to 1t
hereafter. But to-day we are showing just
what the British Government has done to ours
They definitely, categorically accused Mr.
Grants Cabinet of falsehood and trickery and
demanded that they should admit the charge.
by Withdrawing the Indirect Claims. On no
other terms, they said, should the Arbitration
proceed.
Our Government properly regarded TINS as
| impossible. 1t so informed the Engllsh Cabi-
I. IA ho 70
que the matter and so drifted away from the
vital fact in question. The clamor of England
| powerfully impressed Gen. Schenck, and the
momentary anxiety of Wall street produced
the same effect upon Mr.. Fish and the President.
They attached a wholly unreasonable import
ance to the failure of the Treaty. They ap-
| peared to fall into a sort of panic, where they
were ready to accept anything to save the
| Treaty. In this frame of mind they allowed
! Lord Granville to dictate his own terms.
| These were unconditional surrender. The
English of the supplemental article is, ave
"say you are swindlers. You say you are
mot. Therefore, you withdraw your attempt
"to swindle us, and we will agree never to
"swindle YOU, in that way" This preposter-
ous proposition was submitted to the Senate,
and in spite of the protest OF almost every
| leading newspaper in the country IN spite OF
| the opposition of the half-dOzen Senators
who know something about diplomatic mat
tiers, it was pronounced acceptable, with GER
tain unimportant amendments, which are as
yet concealed from the public.
But the cup was not yet full. We were to
be punished still farther for having such a
President and Secretary of State. The British
| Government were not satisfied with the verbal
alterations. They could see no particular
harm in them, but they had gotten by this
time to regard our Government with such
mingled distrust and contempt, that they
would accept nothing coming from Washing
ton. They wanted the Treaty amended back
to Granvilles draft. Mr.. Fish knew this
could not be DONE At this moment the mat
ter came up in Parliament again, and if it be
a good thing to see ourselves through hostile
glasses, we ought to derive great edifcation
from the recent debates in both Houses. We
could then learn that every prominent English
man who spoke regarded us as tricky and
cowardly. They ali seemed to think we were
trying to cheat them again in this Supplementary
Article. They said there must be no more
understandings" When Mr.. Gladstone
attempted to stem the tide by saying that
Gen. Schenck had given him satisfactory as
surances that the true meaning of the Supple
mental Article was an absolute withdrawal OF
the National claims, he was stopped by o
member asking him whether that assurance
was given in writing. The word Of Gen.
Schenck, the word of Gen. Grant, was not
enough for the House of Commons. And in
the House of Lords Earl Russell said, amid
cheers which showed he spoke for the entire
body of the governing class of England,
that the United States must be treated as
"they were treated in the Trent case"
We said then, aud repeat now, that we do
not believe these gentlemen rightly cOmpre-
hended the people of the United States when
they said these bitter things of them. But
we are sorry to-, say they understood Gen.
Grant and Mr.. Fish better than we did. They
took the right course to gain their point.
When these speeches were reported in Wash
ington. the Cabinet ordered Nr. Schenck to
give to Lord Granville, in writing, the assur-
ances required. On Thursday night Lord
Granville read our ENJOYS letter to the angry
peers, and disarmed them instantly. Lord
Derby said the debate had better stop. Lord
Russell withdrew his motion. Peace is
secured, until the next time. The arbitration
will go on.
There are public men who will approve all
these successive steps, merely because the
President has ordered them. There are jour
nails which say there is no humiliation in this
attitude of our Government and which de-
nounce THE TRIBUNE for its persistent efforts
to set the matter in its true light before the
country. With such persons all reasoning is