New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-06-05
AMERICAN DIPLOMACY.
HOW LOOKS list NOW ABROAD.


mo+;c world II has TO be said that the dispatches
from, the American Secretary of State on the lrisn
American suspect business have made Dau ilnpies
s,on and none of them worse than the ia'es. ~ "
tboucht there are few examples OF dlpiomato 0'
resnondence of such rOItefdce as the respcc,ao,o
Ar FreInchuvsen here executes. Lord Granvliies
onotat;ons from MIR. Seward disposed, for all argu
mentative purposes, of the claim lately pun lor
ward that Irish Americans in Ireland should Do ex
empt from the operation of the Coercion act oaiu
Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons in October 1851:
ain every case subjects of her Majesty residing
in the United States and under their protecton'are
treated during the present trouble in the same man
ner and with no greater or less rgor than American
citizens" ~
Confronted with this American precedent Mr.
Frelinghuysen is reduced to the necessity OF plead
ing that it was an "extreme POSITION, taken IN 1no
cheat of conflict won't stop to comment on the
cynical proAigacy of such plea. II amounts 10
saving that American views of international la" arc
based not on principle, but on expediehcy' MI
Seward found it convenient TO assert cerVAiii
doctrine. which Mr.. Frelinghuysen repudlates as
soon rs he finds 1t inconvenient. 1t is not by such
diminishing as this that nation establishes ABROAD
a renown for just and honorable dealing. Seldom
indeed in great affairs does the " smart attorney
stvle succeed still more seldom does it rebound to
the honor of the nation which permits its business
TO be conducted by person of that description L
am far from SAYING or limiting that Mr. trellng-
huysen is a smart attorney. If there be anybody
near him who answers to such title. Will refer to
him later.
But Mr.. Seward did not adhere to this doctrine
taken in the heat of conflict, continues Mr. trellng-
huysen What we know of Mr. frehnghnysens
contention we know from Geographic summary,
and one is permitted TO hope that Mr. Frelinghuysen
did not say quite this He must have had before
him the text of Lord Granvlle's note of April g.
That note embodies another quotation from MI
Seward, who wrote thus:
Americans, whether native-born or naturalized
oye submission to the same laws in Great Britain
as British subjects, while residing there and ENJOY
ing the protection of that Government. We applied
the converse of the principle to British subjects who
were sojournlng or travelling in the United States
during the late rebellion.
That was not written in the cheat of conflict ,
1t was not written the first passage was, to check
British complaints of the arrest of British citizens
in America, the denial of the habeas corpus to
them and their detention without trial. The tables
had even then been turned. The habeas corpus had
been suspended in Ireland. lr1sh Americans were
then as they are now claiming American protection
And Mr.. Seward with honorable consistency, ad
hercd to the principle he had laid down in wholly
different set of circumstances The passage last
quoted is from dispatch by Mr.. Seward to Mr..
Adams United States Minister 10 England. 1t bears
date March 10 1866. The over, the heat
of conflict had cooled. But the principle which MIR.
Seward had affirmed In time of war to support
arbitrary arrests of British subjects, he realirned
in time Of peace conclusive reason for acquiesc-
ing in the arbitrary arrests" of Irish Americans
What have been saying about English opinion
in tins matter is based in part only on what has ap-
peared in the press. But the press has spoken
plainly enough; witness such a sentence as this
from the leading organ of English Conservatism:
1T is pitable spectacle TO witness the Foreign
Office of the nation TO which Story. Wheaton and
Kent belonged repudiating the elementary prin-
ciples of international law at the bidding of few
| Irish rowdies and New-YoTk electioneerlng wire
| pullers."
So it would be. But there appears to be
| some hope that the chief spirit of the
American Department of State will be content with
| a theoretical repudatlon. He has been abroad lie
had opportunity to learn something OF the diplo-
| matte world. He knows, might have known,
what European diplomacy thinks permissible and
honorable in diplomatic controversy. II he does
| not choose to apply this knowledge to his own
practice so much the worse for But he is quite
| capable of picturmg to himself the expression OF
face with which old-world dpOmatlss read his last
performance had rather not repeat what they
say. He can imagine it for himself
| Mr.. Frelinghuyscn's name appears TO be signed to
this last dispatch but it may he permissible to
lecture that tho real author Oft not the Socrc-
| tary of state The American Foreign Office enjoys
the services of an official 10 whom controversy with
the Foreign Office of Great Britain is not new. His
| tory in her severer mood will hand Mr.. Bancroft
| Davis's name down TO pOserty az the inventor Of
| the Indirect Claims. He was responsible for the
only rebuff, the only important defeat, the United
States had to endure i'll the matter of the Alabama
| Arbitration. 1t Is natural enough that he ShouId
resent his misfortune and seek to avenge upon Others
the discredlt brought upon himself and due to HIM
self But it is doubtful whether it be for the inter
| est of the United States that its correspondence
| with Great Britain should be conducted by an
agent who has a grudge to satisfy. The author OF
the indirect claims and of the present doctrine OF
diplomatic reputation has perhaps done as mucl
for his country abroad as could be expected of any
one individual His very considerable abilities
might possibly be put to for the future III some
post of which he should not avail himself as al
outlet for his rancOr against England.
| Ii is worth remembering that the Irish in Amerca
| at the time when Mr.. Seward writing assalled
Mr Adams just they assail Mr. Lowell now. with the
same unceasing hatred and the same imputatiOn Of
base motives the same sneors at his personal rela
| latOns with the governing classes. Ihey Wantec
to make Mr.. Adams the tool of Fenianism, just "a
they want TO make Mr. Lowell the tool of the Lane
| League and of the conspracies which are
| supersedlng tho Land League. They clamored fol-
| Alr. Adams's recall just as they clamor for Mr
| Lowells. Mr. Adams had been appointed by Presl
dent Lincoln IN 1861 lie not recalled by
| President johnson.
Twoyeariafter the date of Mr. Stewards dispatch
| in SGs ma rpsiOued having DerfOruel services Il
his country greater perhaps than those of any Othe