The New York herald., 1872-11-07

European Powers with which they are concerned.
II, after advancing to the borders OF India, Russia
| were at war with England and obtained some tenn
the sses Of Indian
mutiny might be sown, germinate, and shoot into
| leaf with inconceivable rapidity.
IL Ii not that, wherever attacked, We might not
hope to win. We might subduc another mutiny In
India at even less cost than subdued the last
| and keep open our maritime access to British CO.
| lombia. What presses on rs is the thought that,
to dangers 50 great and nas aSy
call upon us seems more severe. Austria has lately
a'fa squesss sa In ss w
the washington Treaty. urged that in return
we should acquesce IN a new rnle securing pri-
| advantage OF the present rule, which permits u.s.
while our supremacy at remains at once to sc.
| Ing trade OF our enemies. But it becomes every
day greater task to assure the safety OF car
% vS
and we are now Che ocean carriers Of the world.
TO retain this On w9cn 50 large
oS the second order tax severely s1 the strength
preparing to meet the dangers that are pressing
on us. and that Is by keeping on foot q navy OF
laid out BY England as that devoted to navy which
| Will place our supremacy at seq beyond question.
We cannot AFFORD to abandon 2 single advantage
| must say "Nop" in very plain manner to our
| Spanish friends when they ask us to give up the
key OF the Mediterranean. No one denies that
| the Spaniarts have In our retention Of Gibraltar
| sentimental grievance. We know how we
land that commanded our seas. We are sorry to
| have to keep Gibraltar, but our surrow does not
in the least diminish our intention OF keeping It.
We cannot afford to let 1t pass into other hands
We keep 1t as the Germans keep Metz, not because
| II is any more pleasant to us to keep Spanish
but because we are emo not u prepared to oreso the
| possession OF q stronghold which offers enormous
Sw sS make sr Gsss Gaae
the nursery OF her southern navy, we are
going to throw away our Chief means Of keep
occupation a very dinerent thing to spaniards
Metz is to Frenchmen, the occupation Of Gibraltar
is In one way more calling, because It is not us
HSe FsSs naSe a least
the satisfaction OF thinking that 1T is fear Of them
excuse Of the sort. We cannot pretend to be IN
the slightest fear Of Spain, and we hold Gibraltar
probably have nothing to do Our justification is,
that we have wars to fear in which the possession
asa win the s
vantage; and therefore, having good title by the
law Of nations to Gibraltar, we mean to stick to
| from the Economist
The tone OF querulOus disc0ntent with which the
award In the San Juan case has been received in
| this country Is both unbusiness-like and unworthy
! and will be seen to be both the moment the facts
ARE carefully ses the Treaty tna Of 10Th
and English governments that the line Of boundary
should be forty ninth parallel Of north latitude
| q somewhat rough method OF demarcation often
adopted in America when surveys are still in
| complete, and accepted In England out OF ignOr-
this parallel oug an
and as o division Of authority in an island is in
convenient, Lord Aberdeen asked for on alteration
| and the government OF washington agreed to one.
Island, was to be ''continued westward, along the
fnrtu ninth nj nfl lnttf ttA
the channel which separates the Continent from
| vancouver's Island; and thence southerly, through
Straits, to the Pacific Ocean," The geographical
ignorance ignorance Of our Foreign Cdlce still left the
usually called San Juan. The British Commis. C
relying tnai xocn
magnificent harbors were ours; while the Ameri-
cans relying on their impression that the new
couver's Island, claimed them for their own.
So high did feeling run upon the subject that
m @ ssnas Julian Of
but that President Buchanan, fun Of the internal
troubles of his country. consented to postpone a
islands, which has ever since continued When,
however, we had resolved to make up all quarres
was taken up again, and it was agreed that the
right OF property In the islands should be referred
bound to decide in favor Of one &c cnannel or the
other, and not OF any medium course. His Majesty,
after consulting experts. mas now decided that the
the United States, which will accordingly take pos
session Of them.
We can see nothing whatever in this decision to
call for any hostile comment 1t Is quite clear that
Lord Aberdeen's motive In asking for revision
by the award and quite clear, ALSO that the EN-
peror, who Is statesman rather than lawyer,
may have considered Lord Aberdeen's despatch
explaining his motive the best guide to the mean
ing Of q somewhat obscure phrase. 1t is true that
had Lord Aberdeen known the facts he would have
rIAdC
ernment nor the German Emperor are responsible
for his ignorance, or bound to interpret his agents
action as intended to secure any result except the
one avowed, which is by this decision finally se-
cured. 1t is also true that the possession OF san
Juan BY the americans m might IN time Of war
difficult, and that our access to British Colombia
is much hampered; but 80 also does the possession
| OF the Channel Islands render the defence OF
St. Malo dif1icult, while our rights over Gibraltar
are intended to hamper access to the Mediter-
navigating the channels, and the decision there
| fore will In no way affect trade Even, however
II it did, we referred the matter to arbitration Of
objectors is that we should not have referred it.
What then should we have done We should
the time had arrived when the United States
wished for cause OF quarrel, or an ambitious
| President wished to become popular, and then have
fought for it, In other words we ought to have pre-
ferred great war for an object OF which most men
10 ta st
like, or even commonly moralY II the Americans
had seized the island by violence 1t would, OF
| course, have been right to fight because nations
which submit to violent wrong injure their national
character; but the Americans did nothing OF the
kind. They agreed to the reference and they
would. had II gone against them. have retired, as
we must do. The language of the New York papers
upon that point is, OF course, most injurious and
unpleasant; but the new lesson nations have to
| learn is indifference to newspaper comment, how.
| ever annoying or unfair. Peace could not be pre-
served for an hour anywhere II 1t could be dis
| turbed whenever an unscrupuous journalist chose
| to create sensation by preaching war. In
the present instance the motive Of all this bitter
ness in the HERALD is sufficiently apparent. Presi-
| dent Grant has made reconciliation with Britain
part OF his policy, and any event which seems to
throw dscredit upon that policy throws discredt
upon him. The statement that we were resisting
the award by prepOsterOus personal intrigue was
eminen tly calculated to discredlt him, and II was
therefore made with that Indifference to facts
which distinguishes eleCtiOneerinQ campaipns