The New York herald., 1873-12-01

| If we could join the jubilee shout of the ad-
ministration sheets and the administration
hangers-on over what has been variously styled
SETTLEMENT" ''peace with Spain." ''triumph
of diplomacy" &c.. &C.. weshould be rejoiced
indeed. Not one of the inconsequent fry OF
party criers should outshout us if we saw that
peace was sscured-peace with honor, peace
with dignity, peace with future security. But
what kind of lame and impotent conclusion
are we invited to celebrate2 Rose-colored
dispatches from Washington, reeking with
enthusiastic congratulations and rumpled all
over with official hand-shakings, fail to blind
us to the fact that the settlement is no set
tlement that the 'speace" is no peace. that
the triumph" is national disgrace, that
the concessions are the authorization of re-
newed insults In discussing this matter We
treat it with high impartiality; with an un-
selfshness which has no private end to sub
serve. Unfettered by anything but justice,
unhampered by Hessianism on one side or
party slavery on the other, we devote our en-
ergy to the cause of America because it is right
and because it is American. Not even the
most distempered administration organ could
lavish more praise upon the dignity, wisdom.
firmness and presence of mind of the State
Department, if an honorable peace was about
| to be secured, than we would shower upon
| him. If we condemn an official to-day
because he has shown his lack of patriot
ism or efficiency, we will praise him to-mor-
row if we find him deserving. The mere
party organs cannot comprehend the treat
ment of men and measures from the stand
point Of independence, and it seems q hopeless
task to drag them above the grovelling of
party subserviency or the mire of that pitiful
personal warfare in which the community have
no concern or interest. This latest Spanish
outrage in Cuba-one only of long series Of
outrages upon the American flag and Ameri-
can citizens-we have handled from day to
day, as the facts and developments warranted,
and always on the high, uncompromising
ground of national honor Admonished by q
past of feebleness on the part of the State De-
partment-whlch we should call inanity but
for the cunning and blatant pretence that con-
spired therein to degrade us nationally-we
expressed fear that, in the case of the Yir-
ginius, dishonor was again in store for us
by a repetition of the same begging
diplomacy We remembered the case of
the unfortunate Consul Phillips, hunted
through the streets of Santiago, with our flag
affording its officer no shelter and a mob of
bowling cutthroats at his heels, who were
backed in turn by the authorities who con-
| kafa yVa al fba Of
the shipwrecked American seamen, Speakman
and Wyeth, murdered like dogs at Santiago
because alone they were Americans. We had
in mind the case of the Lloyd Aspinwall seized
upon the high seas by Spanish man-of-war
when she was carrying government dispatches
addressed to our Consuls and Ministers abroad
Though there was not the slightest color Of
excuse for this outrage she was allowed to lie
in Cuban harbor for ninety-eight days under
Spanish guns, while the halting and paltering
diplomacy of our Secretary of State wound
its snail-ike way along. With these cases
and many others before US to illustrate
the want of courage, frmness and promptitude
in our State Department was it not reasonable
to fear that like wants would manifest them
selves in the case of the Virginius !? Was it
extravagant to warn the government that the
people would submit to no more of this dila-
toriness and ineficiency? Could we do other
than assert that such an outrage to the nation
could only be cancelled by a reparation as
swift as unnlistakable-rep such as
England demands and enforces, which Ger
many, young as q naval Power, compels? And
what have we got? Let us look dispassion-
ately at what is set down by the authorities at
Washington as the settlement.
For all the insult, all the outrage, all the
brutal bloodshed, what does the settle
ment repair? The return of the Vir-
ginius and the surviving captives This
is all There are other things muffled up in
conditions and politely choked in diplomatic
phrase. The other concessions depend on
contingencies which seem especially provided
for their evasion. If. after an Investigation
which may extend indefnitely-the Virginius
proves to be an American vessel, Spain will
salute our flag ION Christmas Day." if not
no salute. Indeed, so far from being asked
to burn gunpowder in our honor, if
the State Department declares that the vir-
ginius had no. right to carry our flag, the
protocol pledges that America will fall on its
knees before Spain, and then rise up to con-
demn the vessel and punish the surviving
captives who have been rotting in Spanish
dungeons with the fate of their murdered
brethren before their eyes and the shouts OF
the Spanish rabble in their ears. 1t is well
that the full ignominy of this condition
should be seen by the nation it dishonors.
Then, as to the murdered. Satisfaction for
them, it logically follows, must wait upon the
diplomatic adjustment OF the points above. II
the State Department, after its investigation,
decides against the nationality of the Virgin
ius, the murders must go absolutely un-