New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-12-02
TrTERyAr1oYAL ARBITRATION.


Of peace, British man-of-war fred into a
American vessel, killed three and wound
ed eighteen Of her crew, boarded an
took from her unresisting commando
three American citizens, subjected the1
to trial and sentenced them to death a
deserters, the sole atonement made b
England was disavowal of the attack
without return of the American citizen
torn from beneath the shadow Of thei
own flag. In our civil war England i
found to have violated her neutrality o.
the one side while she kept alive falls
hopes on the other. She made none,
out of both sides and was sincere in he
friendship for neither. A monarch.
always rejoices in the dissensions of I
republic. The nightly prayer Of kings il
to be deli vered from republic at hom'
and abroad. Since the demonstrated
unity and indivisibility Of the American
republic, now older than almost any dy
nasty ruling in Europe, the tone of Eng
land and of other powers has changed
Even the devils of despotism "believt
and tremble' before the miracles Of re-
publican freedom.
But the danger is to commence. With
an immense influx Of foreign sentiment,
| with the attraction offered to our tourists
by the polish and pleasures of European
society, comes the changed tone Of foreign
| diplomacy. For arrogance it has substi.
tuted adulation. For naughty exclusion
from its councils it offers an intimate as
ISOLATION in our afairs. 1t has introduced
the principle of referring all our differ
ences, whether Of money or of honor, to
the arbitration Of foreign kings. This
honest republican farmer is to submit to
sharpers the question whether his own
horse belongs to him or another?
A great many Of our citizens who
bonded their ships to the Confederate
privateers, and took shelter for lucrative
commerce under foreign flag, are de-
lighted with the money paid by England
under the Geneva arbitration. While we
are willing to leave mere questions of
money indemnity to such tribunal, we
never thought the small sum paid to indi-
viduals in this case any equivalent for the
untrammeled right of the nation to decide
the limits of its own neutral obligations.
Indeed, we have seen the national action
in the Cuban atrocity embarrassed by this
Geneva precedent and principles. The
first difficulty attributed to our national
action was, that Intervention might cost
money. This award was the first hook
put in the nose of the American leviathan.
1t was Of gold.
We have no word of censure for our
State Department in submitting questions
of national duty to foreign adjudication.
We have, however, as Republicans some
right to employ counsels of caution. We
were told by Washington to avoid entan-
Cling alliances. We were taught by Mon
roe that this continent was sacred from
the foot of kings. The diplomacy of our
earlier ministers was so frank as greatly
to simplify the endless pleadings of inter-
national law, as practiced by those diplo-
matte attorneys. Our policy was candid,
and it was successful To the extent that
we depart from the original principle
that there must be an American policy for
the American continent, we run risk of
evil complications. 1t is for the United
States to dictate the relations of the re-
publican States of this continent toward
the powers of the continent of Europe.
This is the mission committed to our gov
We shall look forward with |
anxiety to any departure from ancestral |
principles. Like the prudent Trojan, we
listrust the gifts of our enemies. Nor can
We anticipate any good from proposal to
submit the peculiar duties of a republic
oward its own citizens to those govern
nents which recognize no rights in their
ubjects.
History tells us Of an early treaty in
which the rights Of American citizens
we're SO far disregarded as to compel them
o pay anew British debt, in many in
tances paid into the colonial war treasury;
D all cases paid hundred fold in the
Of an unjust war The admin
stration Of Washington could barely
tand the indignation Of the people for
hat which was deemed an improper
'ansfer of private right to diplomatic ex-
ediency. There are features in the ques-
ons reported for submission to European
ecision that seem wholly impossible of
ference or appeal. We adjure the State
apartment to exercise extreme caution.
S action may involve high responsibility
} the country, upon those who placed
I'D maintain it in power. The pledged
18th to the cause of emancipation, the
,cordance of the rights of humanity to a
publican people struggling not only for
ght, but to escape the butohery ordered
r them by the inhuman Hannah, whose
rocious orders have filed the world
18th horror. Not impossibly the United
ates, which goes into monarchical ar
tration, may find the blood of its slain
tizens to be compensated in money. The
ars Of the widow may be dried, the ,
ayers Of the orphan answered and the ,
aims on the American flag efaced by a :
W miserable bags of gold, delivered with
g shrug and grimace of some astute and ,
comphshed diplomat from Madrid.
lis may not satisfy the American people. ,