Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-02-09
rHE ArPnEnENDED WAR swrrn


GREAT BRITAIN.
The telegraph reports from New York
and Washington, with which our columns
have been crowded for the past week, would
be sufficiently alarming if they were little
more explicit in their nature. There is
q haziness about them which gives them
the color Of sensational reports. With a
very slight foundation in facts, great deal
Of belligerent nonsense has been written,
and the people have unnecessarily been
worked up into war spirit The origin
of the whole sensation seems to have been
with the British press. The London Morn
ing Post discovered the fact that
the United States claimed damages
direct andindirect, to an amount exceeding
the indemnity paid by France to Germany,
and Immediately sounded the alarm. Its
neighbors took up the cry, and ever since,
the whole island of Great Britain has been
resounding with the cackling of the fright
ened press. Cable dispatches to this coun-
try did, not mend matters, and the infectious
sensation spread among the New York pa
pers. The Herald, of course, led off with
tremendously bellicose leaders, and the
Boanerges editors on its staff
have been grinding out diluted thunder
by the yard ever since. Excepting couple
of indiscreet speeches in Congress the other
day, however, there has been no sound of
war in the only places where it can origi-
nate. In Great Britain there has not been
solitary official announcement on the sub
ject. The Queens speech delivered the
other day is conspicuous for the very slight
reference which she makes to the Alabama
treaty. Whatever our claims maybe, there
is no doubt they viii be submitted to the
Geneva Conference and decided upon in
due course of time on their merits. It is
hardly probablethat either theBritish govern
ment or our own will be induced to with
draw from the treaty by mere temporary
popular excitement, fed by venal organs
and INSCRIPTIONS men for selfish purposes.
There is good ground for suspicion that the
intensely beIligerent fulminations of
some of the leading New York papers
can be traced to Wall street, where
their effect will be soonest felt. A few
Wall street gamblers have taken advantage
of the momentary excitement in Great
Britain to stir up hostile spirit here. 1t is
matter for regret that journals which claim
to lead the public mind can be purchased to
further the nef4rious schemes of such IN
scrupulOus men.
Unless there is better ground for the
popular excitement than has yet been made
public, there is no prospect of
war. The claim of our government may
be and no doubt is excessive, but that is no
reason why the British Government
should withdraw from the conference.
That court will decide whether our claim
is admissible oInot. lift is, Great Britain
cannot be benefited by hasty Withdrawal;
if it is not, the United States will occupy
most unenviable position before
the world. If our Government has
seen fit to present untenable claims,
the responsibility rests with it. 1t
has been charged against the administra-
ton that this question has been maEfptI-
lated with view to influencing the ap-
preaching Presidential election. 1t is
claimed that nothing would contribute
more TO Grants reelection than war cry,
and especially against Great Britain.
Whether there is any foundation for such
surmise, it would be impossible to say at
this early stage in the difficulty. One
thing, however, is very evidsnt-the
United States are not in a condition to
goto war with any powerful nation.
Thanks to the incapacity of the Grant ad-
ministration, our navy is inferior to that Of
Spain, and immeasurably weaker than
that of Great Britain.
1t is idle to speculate on the probable re-
suits of such a contest, since there is no im-
mediate probability that it viii, occur. 1t
isvery evident, however, that whatever dam
age we might infict on the British territory
on this continent, would be more than coun-
terbalanced by the utter destruction of our
foreign commerce, the ruin of our seaboard
cities, and, worst of all, the check which it
would insict on the growth of our popula-
ton through immigration from Europe.
Under the circumstances, it is highly i'm
probable that there will be any war with
Great Britain. Even the reelection of Grant
would not repay the Radicals for the loss it
would infict on the Northern States.