The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-05-17
The Memorial OF the Chamber OF
! COmmerce-The Three Tailors OF

Tooley Street Revived.
The Chamber of Commerce is, no doubt,
highly respectable institution, and its mem
bers are probably very honorable and unques.
tionably very wealthy men. To be sure they
are apt to NEEDLE too much with politics and
have an uncomfortable itching after notoriety,
so that their meetings and resolutions have
not as much weight and Importance in the
eyes of the people as in their own estimation.
An impression prevails that their heads are
not as well furnished as their pockets: and that
outside of their own interests tlsy know very
little of the wants and wishes of the people
When they speak for the country, which they
frequently assume to do, the public mind is
irresistbly carried back to the familiar
story of the three tailors of Irooley
street. Whether the professional goose has
anything to do with this involuntary mental
association Of the politico-commercial repre-
sentatives of the two nations may be matter
of opinion; but their connection is probably
mainly attributable to the prevalent belief that
the thirty merchants of William street, New
York, have about as much right to make an
oracular utterance for the people of the United
States as had the three tailors of Tooley street,
London, for the people Of England Indeed,
although the former might claim an advantage
in point Of numbers and wealth, the latter
could, no doubt, have boasted closer
affinity and sympathy with those for
whom they assumed to speak. Of course
the gentlemen who are accustomed to
practice rhetoric in the long room
of the Chamber of Commerce have a
right to talk as much as they please and to av-
press their opinions as freely as they think
proper. This is free country. The Tooleiv
street artists enjoyed similar privilege, al,
though the British monarchy is not SO free as
the American republic. But when the trio Of
tailors drew up their famous protest against
the English government, grandiloquent as was
its language, it represented, after all, only the
sentiments Of three respectable mechanics, and
whena squad Of the members of the Chamber
of Commerce present a memorial to the
United States Senate, although it affects to
speak for the whole country, it represents, after
all, only the sentiments Of some thirty respect
able merchants.
We desire to call these facts to the attention
of our Senators at Washington, in order that
they may place its due value, and no more
upon the request made to them by the Cham
Der of Commerce memorialists to sign the
dishonorable capitulation in our Geneva case
attempted to be forced upon us by the British
government. The Senate will observe that
this notable document is very carefully
worded, and that the advice it proffers to that
body is Of non-committal character. The
signers "would not urge anything which the
government Of the United States cannot
honorably accept they do not ask the con-
frmation Of Lord Granville's unconditional
surrender rule; they only suggest an addi-
tional article to the Treaty Of Washington
which will settle the question of neutrals
liability to belligerent for consequential
damages. Some of those whose names
are attached to the memorial are shrewed
politicians, and they refuse to commit
they secretly desire the Senators to perform
Indeed, they would be very likely to repudiate
the Granville supplemental rule should it be
accepted by the Senate, and to pretend that
their memorial never contemplated so dis
graceful o surrender on the part of our govern
ment. They know that the abandonment Of
our case would excite the indignation Of the
American people, and while they are willing
enough to see the country Inundated in order
to protect their own pecuniary interests,
they are not anxious to share the odium
that must attach to those who thus dishonor
the nation. They would entrap the Senate
into an act the responsibility of which they
themselves evade. If the memorial had not
been drawn as cautiously as it is it would not
have received dozen signatures. Even in its
present shape some of the most prominent
merchants in the city refused to append thei,
names to it, and we have the personal
assurance Of many Of the signers that
they do not understand it to recommend
the acceptance of Lord Granville's humili-
ating proposition, but only to urge on attemp,
to compromise by foregoing a money verdict
while leaving the question of the validity OF
our present claim for indirect damages still
before the Geneva Tribunal
The Senate will thus see that while unde,
any circumstances, these memorialists, like
the ToQley street tailors, only speak for them
selves and their own interests they dc
not even stand squarely by the act they
desire that body to perform. They are will
ing that the Senators shall monopolizt
the unpopularity Of yielding to the arrogant
demands of the British, goysgnmeat while
they themselves pocket the profits to be made
out Of . settlement of the pending controversy.
From this the Senate will easily understand
that the sentiment Of the great mass of the
people of the country is hostile TO the degrade
ton of the republic by disgraceful abandon
ment Of the position we have heretofore SC
firmly maintained namely our right to