Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-10-11
GRANTS LONG SPEECH.
In Which He Explains About the
Geneva Award, and His Part IN
the Matter.
What the United States VIII Do with That Eight
Million Surplus

A grand banquet was given to Gen.
Grant by the lord provost at GLASGOW,
at which some interesting and i'm
portant speeches were made. Mr..
Anderson, M. p, said that the United
States had gained victory over
Great Britain in the creation of the
Geneva arbitration. In view of this,
and the fact that the United States
had completed the distribution of the
award, and had some S8,000,000 left
after all claims had been satisfied, he
would be pleased to see the govern
ment return that amount in the inter-
csts of concord and thorough amity.
This was said in half-earnest, half
joking way, but was met with "Hear,
hear" all along the table.
General Grant, in reply, said he
had had great deal TO do with the
negotiations concerning the Washing
ton treaty, and he had always felt
that our government had yielded too
much to Great Britain in the matter.
lie was determined from the first
that, if possible, the experiment of
peaceful arbitration should prevail. 1t
was his ambition to live to see all ma
tional disputes settled in this way.
81 am called man of war;" said he,
"but never was man of war.
Though entered the army at an ear
ly age, got out of it whenever /
fOund q ohapca ~ ID GO oraI;fob ty
| was always man of peace, and /
shall always continue of that mind.
Though l may not live to see the
general settlement of national dis
putes by arbitration, it will not be
very many years before. that system
of settlement will be adopted, and
the immense standing armies that are
depressing Europe by their great ex-
pense will be disbanded and the arts
of war almost forgotten in the gener-
al devotion of the people to the de-
velopment OF peaceful industries. /
want to see, and | believe / will,
Great Britain, the United States and
Canada joined with common purpose
in the advance of civilization, an in.
vincible community of Engllsh-speak-
ing nations that all the world beside
could not conquer. There was one
point in connection with that matter
which l was glad was yielded. That
was the indirect damage claim. 7
was always opposed to it, because /
feared the future consequences of
such demand. In any future arbi-
tration we would have been placed at
a great disadvantage by its allow.
ance. After that was settled we made
our other demands. You made yours.
1t was long time before the joint
high commission came together, but
each side yielded, here a bit and
there bit, until about as good a
treaty as we could expect to get was
completed. Mr.. Anderson says many
of the people of Great Britain believe
we got the best of the bargain. / can
assure you we did not come out of the
discussion as much benefited as we
could have been. Many of our peo-
pie were quite incensed, and fought
the confirmation of the treaty, claim
ing that its terms were not broad
enough to cover the losses of local
interests, but a very large majority
determined to stand by it in the In
terests of peace and manly dealing
with friends.
We yielded more than we intended
to yield, but had got so far into the
business of doing what we advocat-
ed that nine-tenths of our people had
no desire to recede. We did not
want war, or even new arbitration
We had been satisfied with the for
mer, and the latter meant delay. We
wanted the question settled peaceful
ly, at once and forever" Gen. Grant
explained as to
THE EIGHT MILLION SURPLUS,
and said: Congress will legislate
further in the matter, and the money
will be distributed to rightful claim
ants, so that it will not be necessary
to discuss the question of returning it
to Great Britain" This speech was
loudly applauded, by no one more
than Mr.. Anderson.