The Hickman courier., 1872-02-17
THE WAR wITu EyCTAN0
Eniort 10 Pe.pnlarIze Grant.

: Inc excitement produced both in this
country and England, by the announce
meDt that the British Government in.
tended receding from the Washington
treaty, is now some what on the wane.
though certain Of the Daily papers still
indulge in flaming head lines on the sub
iect. The COURIER now predicts that
there will be no war, and that the heads
of tse United States Government well
rlFsnoE that there viii not be; and that the
present. complication is only an ingeni-
ousForkiug to popularize Grants ad-
mini ftration, and to corner up and hide
.honR dereliotions and corruptions amid
the ay of foreign war. Both England
and e United States would necessarily
lose mrsOh aud gain but little by aco4-
fiet.
For the benefit of those readers of the
COURIER who have lost sight of the
causes 'f the controversy between the
United States and England, we make the
following resume: The United States
Government claims damages off of the
British Government for the depreciation
of the Alabama and other Confederate
war-ships during the late war.
The oint High Commission, which
assembled in Washington the past year,
it was generally supposed by the Ameri-
can people, was empowered to decide
definitely all questions growing out Of
the claims of the United States for dam
ages sustained by reason of the fitting
out of cruisers ~ the Confederate ser
vice during the late war. The treaty of
Washington was agreed upon by the COM
missioners, with all the facts before them.
A board of arbitration wassto be estab-
Iished at Geneva, before which board |
these claims were to be preferred, and |
which was fully empowered to decide
upon them.
In view of this settlement the present
attitude of our trans Atlantic brethren,
It first blush, seems surprising. Not
,nly have the newspapers sounded the
lote of retrogression, but the Queen, in
Ter speech to Parliament on the 9th IN
taut, declared that in the case submit
ed by the United States large claims are
which are not in the province
f the arbiuators and, in the British
'arliament on the same day, Mr.. Dis
aeii the leader Of the opposition, an
ounced that these claims were "prepos>
srous and impracticable, and if admit
ID would be fatal to the power and hon
T of England % and Gladstone, the
Ministerial leader, in reply, referred to
le .greqQsteroua character Qf the Amer /
,an demands as such that no people in {
he last extremity of war, or in the low
S. depths of national misfortune, with
he spirit of the people Of England in
leir hearts, could ever submit to, sig I
ifcantly adding that "the Government q
ou,d maintain the position It had taken,
lough in a friendly manner"
Now, if john Bull were aware of the Z
bject with which the American case ]
as gotten up, perhaps he would neither
e SO perturbod in spiritnor soindignant. :
he ease was prepared with a special c
lew to Grants popularity in the ap n
Presidential contest. As the
nal action of the Geneva Conference {
'uld not be promulgated before the =
election it was deemed by c
rant and his friends that creditable Il
ID popular thing could be done for his :
Iministration by this maneuver, as the +
lmbug would not be seen through un- "
after the popular verdict had been Il
ven. tC