The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-04-26

Auo washington cOITobPonoonoo VI soo
HERALD yesterday and today indicates tho
existence Of q singular stato Of afhirs at tho
national capital In connection with our present
complications with England. It seems that q
powerful lobby hns concentrated itself at
Washington with tho unoonoeolod purpose Of
forcing our government to abandon tho
American case as submitted to the Geneva
Conference. This lobby, We ore told, Is
peculiarly constituted" being composed Of
gentlemen interested In foreign securities and
in the employment Of foreign capital In this
country; bankers, who ore Offering American
investments on the London market;
projectors of railroad and telegraph lines
and others with fortunes dependent upon
the maintenance Of peaceful relations
between the two great English-speaking
nations whose hands now meet in
friendly grasp across three thousand miles Of
ocean. These representatives of the wealth
and enterprise of the country have become
alarmed at the sudden suspension of our bust
ness transactions with England occasioned by
the unfortunate hitch in the settlement of the
Alabama claims. To be sure, the country is
so prosperous, business is SO brisk and money
SO plentiful that the people generally have not
discovered the deplorable condition into which
England has plunged us; but a New York
banking house has offered first mortgage
gold bond of Western railroad to the London
capitalists and, despite our amiable conduct
in the matter of the Erie Railway they have
buttoned up their pockets and refused bid;
the Northern Pacific loans have been sent q |
begging; private enterprises, although backed
by the strongest houses are dead; Ameri-
cans cannot sell bond to Englishmen;
and, to crown our misfortunes, MIR. Boutwells |
funding policy Is arrested. so far us England
is concerned, and if the misunderstanding
continues the Secretary of the Treasury will
be compelled to ''fall back on Germany" To
an ordinary observer there may seem nothing
very alarming In all this. It may be supposed
that if Capel Court refuses to buy sound
railroad mortgage bond bearing interest in
gold Wall street will be ready to make the in
vestment; that Northern Pacifcs will fetch what
they are worth in some other markets if not in
London; that private enterprises Of the right
sort may find supporters enough at home, and
that Germany is not SO bad source to rely upon
for financial aid after all. But the Washington
Alabama lobby has keener sense Of
the Importance Of British capital, and
hence it has undertaken the work of patching
up compromise between the two nations and
is engaged in sounding both sides to ascertain
whether its proposition is agreeable to both
parties to the controversy. One gentleman
takes Secretary Fish in hand, and with ''most
doleful accounts of the anger and mortifca-
ton of England, urges upon the too willing
Minister ON absolute withdrawal Of our case.
Another 'friend of the administration"
breaches the subject informally to Sir Edward
Thornton, the British representative at Wash
ington, who generously expresses his 'hearty
acquiescence" in any proposition contemplate
ing o settlement of the difficulty at the ex-
pense of America, and has no doubt of the
consent of his government to such an ar
rangement. A third indirect friendly source
employs the cable to feel the pulse Of the
English Cabinet on the question of the pro-
posed compromise in case it should take an
official shape. Thus half dozen fingers are
thrust into the political dish at the same
teaches us that too many cooks spoil the
broth.
It will probably occur to most of our read
ers that interested parties outside the govern
ment, however respectable in character and
position, are not exactly the proper persons
to attempt the settlement Of o grave national
complication. The people will find it difficult
to recognize any difference in principle be-
tween the Washington Treaty lobby and the
lobby that has been busy at the national capt.
tai all the winter endeavoring to force through
| CONGRESS- grants and subsidies for railroads
and steamship lines. The one is ct least as
patriotic in its professions as the other The
one avows its object to be the building up of
American commerce, urges the importance Of
On American mercantile marine as the basis Of
o strong naval force, and grows eloquent in
lamentations over the absence Of our flag from