The New York herald., 1876-01-19
Our plmeultles wtth spain.


ing to Cuba published, encourage a hope that
the mask may soon be lifted and the country
! put in possession Of all the facts. Enough
has already been disclosed to vindicate the
! correctness of the HERALD and expose the
subterfuges of the administration. The first
knowledge of the facts, which are now, at
last, confessed, came to the public through
HERALD despatch from Vienna several weeks
ago. The truth of that despatch was denied
until denial was vain. When this burrow-
ing diplomacy was tracked out, and
movement begun in Washington
was dragged forth to light in the
distant capital of Austria by the alertness
and penetration of the HERALD the fact was
at first met by positive contradiction from
( sources in Washington supposed to be in
direct communication with the government.
What excuse can the administration make
! for its persistent efforts to deceive the pub
lic2 What moral justification can there be
for its attempt to discredit despatch which
| it all the while knew to be true, and which
it now substantiates by its own confessions
All the contradictions which the administra-
! ton authorized or inspired were founded on
quibble. 1t continued for weeks to deny
/ that any such note had been sent to all the
| European Powers, on the slender foundation
! that the note was not addressed In form TO
| the foreign governments, but to Mr. Cushing
at Madrid, and that mere copies Of 1T were
sent to our representatives at other
courts, with instructions to read it to
IL II
What high toned exhibition of candor and
sincerity The American people have been
trifed with and practised upon what was
I true in substance has been denied because it
was slightly inaccurate in a minor detail
half grain of truth has been made to do the
Office OF stupendous, deliberate lie The
HERALD's Vienna despatch is proved and
acknowledged to have been authentic, and
when we get the text of the document we
shall have the means of exposing other
misrepresentation inspired by the admins
tration. There is no knowing how long this
! diplomatic transaction might have burrowed
in the dark if the enterprise of the HERALD
had not forced it into publicity.
The administration has been put on the
| defensive and is trying to justify its appeal
to foreign Powers by precedent. 1t has put
in circulation statement which was thus
reported yesterday by our special correspond
ent at Washington "a curious fact comes
out here to-day, in conversation on this sub
ject-namely, that in 1924, only year after
the announcement of what is known as the
Monroe doctrine the United States asked
the mediation of Russia with Spain to pro-
cure a cessation of the war which Spain was
then making against her South American
colonies. This precedent has, it is believed,
been strictly followed by Secretary Fish in
his note of November. The main fact
here stated is correct, although the date is
inaccurate it was in 1926, not 1924, that the
application was made to Russia. It's value
as precedent" will disappear as soon as
it is examined, and the public can then
Judge whether it has been ''strictly fol-
| lowed"
There is only one point in which there is
even an appearance of analogy between the
two transactions, and that appearance is
superficial and deceptive 1t is true that an
application was made to Russia for her good
offices with Spain within two years after the
Monroe declaration but, so far as relates to
the Monroe doctrine the cases are not paral-
lei Mr.. Clays application to Count Nessel-
rode was in strict pursuance of the Monroe
doctrine and intended to give it effect The
occasion of that celebrated declaration was a
suspected purpose of the combination of
European sovereigns called the Holy Alli-
ance to assist Spain in recovering her re-
volted American colonies. The warming that
this would not be tolerated by the United
States was given on secret under
standing with Mr.. Canning who had as
sured Mr.. Monroe of the support of
the British government The application
to Russia was in pursuance of the very
same object as the Monroe declaration-
namely, the permanent independence of the
Spanish American States The Monroe
declaration warned the allied sovereigns
that they must not interfere on the side of
Spain, and Mr.. Clay's note to Russia was a
request to one of those sovereigns to inter
cede with Spain to stop the war and recog-
nize the independence of her colonies. The
Monroe declaration and Mr.. Clay's note had,
therefore, precisely the same purpose, since
both aimed to sunder forever the political
connection between Spain and the American
continent Assuredly President Grant can
not pretend that he is inviting European
intercession to sunder the political connec-
ton between Spain and the West India
Islands; and if this be not his object his
movement has totally different relation to
the Monroe doctrine from that of President
Adams. His defence, accordingly, breaks
down in it's main point as soon as it is
| touched.