New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-09-05

studied law in that State, and removed u
Indiana in 1852, where he was admitted t.
the bar; in 1856 he was elected to the Legis
lature of Indiana; was subsequently engages
in the banking business; served one year a
an officer in the war for the Union, and il
1864 was elected Representative to thu
Thirty Ninth Congress- To this must b'
added the fact that Colonel Stilwell was thu
first Republican Representative 10 sposta
tie in Andy Johnson's interest ; that he wa
defeated for re election, aud was then re
warded by A. j. with the post of ministel
resident at Venezuela. He served till Presi
dent Grant recalled him, and is now, quite
naturally, pronounced supporter of Horace
Greeley.
But to return to Mr.. Summers ''muddle. :
Colonel Stilwell sat on the commission. II,
called in a broiherin-law as counsel for the
American claimants. The awards were
made. The amount required to be paic
by Venezuela is 81 1858, 3l0.3O. Venezuela
paid one installment about the beginning
of the present Administration, and then
stopped. General Grant then took meas
ures, after a reasonable time had elapsed, tc
enforce our dues, and an American navaI
force was ordered to Central America
What followed? The Venezuelan govern.
ment made explanations, charging and prov
ing that the awards had been fraudulently
manipulated by Minister Stilweli and his
brother,in law Murray, so that the American
claimants had been s!backmailed' and the
Venezuelan government cheated. That
government, and the claimants also, asked
that this Government co two things: first,
pay no money out to any Of the claimants
second, agree to the appointment OF new
commission, so that the whole matter might
be reopened and justice done. This was the
''muddle," to the righting Of which the
Administration consented, "by and with the
advice and consent Of Congress''-a law
being required to enable the Secretary of
State to do what was needed These, in the
main, are the facts. as set forth in an elabo-
rate report unanimously made by the House
Committee on Foreign Affairs, of which
General Banks is chairman, through Hon.
Jasper Packard, Of Indiana, during the last
session of Congress. What should be a can.
did estimate of rhetorical falsehood like
Mr.. Summers, when he was in possession of
the report, as we'll as all his colleagues?. If
we are to deal justly between nations. we
can afford, when wrong is done, to have
more of Grants muddes in order to right
them. Now for
THE RUSSIAN MIDDLE.
A meddlesome and dishonest Russo,
Greek diplomat, of small capacity, except
in cunning and intrigue, got promoted as the
minister plehipoten,iary to this Govern
ment. When here, initiating his friend, Mr.
Sumner, he engaged himself in circulating
slanderous and spitsful criticisms he heard
at the dinner table and in the study of the
Senator against the President
and his Cabinet. In doing this bis method
violated all the decencies and overstcpped
the immunities of his diplomatic position +;
his recall was properly asked, and the Presi-
dent, whom he had basely slandered, refused,
As did the Secretary of State, to hold per-
sonal intercourse. This fellow, Catacazy,
had the audacity to charge corrupt motives
against Grant and Fish, in the matter of the
famous Perkins claim, which had been in
part arbitrated against Russia. The foolish.
ness of Catacazy's charge can be seen by the
fact that Mr.. Fish only sustained prior opin
ons Of
SECRETARIES MARCY, CAss, AND SEWARD.
Catacazy left in disgrace, was disgraced
at St. Petersburg, banished in disgrace to
Paris on a small allowance, and has since
forfeited that in disgrace, by publishing a
scurrlous pamphlet on his American cerera.
In that document he appeals to Mr.. Sumner
for verifcation Of alleged facts, and shows
in variety of ways that the Senator was ac-
lively aiding to create 'muddle,' which
has never existed, then or now, with Russia.
The Corean charge must be dismissed as
unworthy notice, or if there be any peg for
adverse criticism to hang upon, point as an
offset to the proud position our diplomacy
hat of friendship and justice holds in the
estimation of Japan.
SPAIN IS TIE NEXT MIDDLE
Mr.. Sumner charges against Grant, but
which is, more than any other instance, an
apt illustration Of the Senator'S banefu in.
auence in this department. 1.-THE writer
then argues that Mr.. Sumner was "poten-
lial' in shaping the earlier Cuban policy of
the State Department Mr.. Sumner was
friendly then, and Mr.. Fish naturally held
his views in great respect. From the begin
ming Mr.. Sumner has been openly and posi-
lively against the Cuban patriots, and his
course was of more value to Spain than a
large army lighting the insurres,ion. Mr..
Summers denunciation Of the Cubans as false
to the cause of emancipation, made most
notably at the Massachusetts Republican
State Convention, held at Worcester in Sep
TENDER, 1869, without doubt broke that full
tide of sympathy which was rising here in
their behalf. Before that Mr.. Sumner illus.
trated the ideas that
GOVERN ms FOREIGN POLICY
by an accident of which am personally cog
infant. When Queen Isabella was driven
from Spain, and Prim and Serrano set up a
provisional government, the outcome OF
which for q time seemed uncertain, Mr.
Sumner introduced resolutions into The Sen
ate, congratulating Spain on the revolution,
al urging her to establish 'liberal'' inst.
buttons, etc. Persons here and in New York,
who understood what delusion the word
"liberal' was in European politics, urged
upon Mr.. Sumner, directly and by letter,
that he modify his resolution either by strik.