The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-08-05

The Geneva Arbitration and Our
Own Finances-A Hint for Secretary
| boutwell,.
| Since the commencement of the Presiden-
tial campaign we have received every second
or third day q stereotyped paragraph from
Washington announcing that everything is
going on we'll at Geneva and that the result Of
the arbitration will be quite satisfactory.
There is not much to interest the people in
this announcement, which is repeated this
morning. and we would suggest to the gentle
men who are responsible for the political
coloring of the official dispatches from the no
tional capital that it would DO as well to say as
little as possible just now about the Alabama
claims and the Geneva Conference. The un-
savory business of the Treaty of Washington is
ovor, 80 far as the American people are con-
cerned and the less they hear about it the better.
The only parties any longer interested in the
deliberations of the highly respectable arbitra-
tors are those who have claims against England
for direct losses incurred through the depreda-
tions of the Anglo-rebel privateers, and it ap-
pears tolerably certain that they will not be SO
well satisfied with the result of the arbitration
-. as the Washington diplomats appear deter
mined TO be-. In the cases of several of the
England has already been pronounced nom
liable, and in those instances in which her liza
biity is maintained there will be such q sharp
scrutiny of the claims that their sum is likely
to be seriously reduced. In fact, this glorious
settlement of all our difficulties and discussions
with Great Britain; of which we have heard
so much from the State Department., has
degenerated into mere squaring up of a few
open accounts in lawyer-ike manner, with
keen, suspicious men searching into every item
and ferreting out every flaw or informally,
and with the chances strongly against the
claimants. The objection to the Johnson
Clarendon Convention on the Alabama claims
was that it only sought hard-cash settlement
with England, and left the national grievances
untouched and the national honor unsatisfed.
Our Geneva chaffering and haggling is worse
than the Johnson Clarendon Treaty, inasmuch
as it has only reached the same end after the
nation has been disgraced and Inundated.
statesmen to turn their attention to our own
financial condition and to let the people I'M
derstand something about that, instead of de-
voting their attention to the progress made in
the settlement of the claims of O few men who
lost ships or property by the acts of the pirate
vessels fitted out in English ports during our
war. Mr.. Boutwell's policy begins to be seri-
ously attacked in quarters hitherto apparently
well satisfied with his vagaries, and an uneasy
desire exists to learn exactly what the resources
Of our government are The statements of
balances at the Treasury Department are
openly charged to be fictitious and as not
truthfully representing our financial condition.
The reserves in the banks are materially less
than they were this time last year. We appear
to be just awakening to the fact that high
pressure speed in decreasing the national
debt may hurry us into serious difficulties.
The country is rich enough to take care
Of itself, and its wealth must increase
every year with the swelling tide Of
emigration and the development Of
our vast resources But in the mean
time. Boutwel's theory of finance may
throw the business of the country into mex
tricable confusion and cause great amount of
evil He had better watch the gold market
and look sharply after his balances, and let the
claims of the few persons now interested in the
Geneva Tribunal take care Of themselves.
The people have no further concern in the
Treaty Of Washington, since it has failed in its
great object of removing all bitterness and
heartburning between the two nations. After
the sharp legal quibbling at Geneva shall have
ceased, and the Alabama direct claimants shall
have pocketed the money and discharged their
obligations to the lobby, it will be found that
the real Alabama claims have not been settled
at all, and that as bond of good will between
the two nations the famous treaty is not worth
the paper on which it is written.
Pulpit Platitudes.
Tho Dow n d C,,,,,kI, x,l,o