Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1884-07-10
POLITICAL.
Blaine's Short Term as Secre-
retary OfoState-SOme In
ternatiOnal Papers.
Organization of Irish Blaine Clubs in
Chicago.
Blaine on Diplomacy.

Albany Evening Journal.
The conduct Of our Diplomatic rela-
tions with England during the brief in
cumbency of Secretary Blaine forms
one of the most creditable chapters in
the recent history of the department of
state. No one can examine the record
and fail to perceive how thoroughly Mr..
Blaine had mastered his subject. Un-
fortunately there has been growing in
the public mind sentiment that the
United States has no business with di-
plomacy, and that she has no rights
which England, or any other nation, is
bound to respect. StrOngholds of An
glomania are found in Boston and New
York, where numerous class of idle
youngsters, idiotically aping English
manners, accent and dress, play whist
for shilling points and affect to despise
their native country. Mention of this
class might properly be regarded as tri-
fling with q serious subject were it not
for the fact that it is the extreme illus
tration of much larger and more re-
spectacle element which appears to hold
that for the United States to endeavor
to occupy any other position toward
England than that of acknowledged in
feriOrity in all respects, is hopeless and
not desirable. A sturdy, self-respecting
American in the chair of state would
become to such persons at once an OBJ
ject of dislike and vituperation. He
would naturally be made the target of
superciliOus criticism by AHglomaniac
Gterati and their numerous following.
Let us see in what ways Secretary
Blaine has offended. In the first place
he stOutly defended the rights of nat
uralized American citizens subjected to
arbitrary arrest under the so-called
British coercion act" Under this act
American citizens might be arrested
without specific charges preferred
against them, and might be indefinitely
restrained in prison upon mere ''sus-
picion." Secretary Blaine's position
may best be stated in his own language.
In letter Of June 2, 1881, to our minis
ter in London, he says:
If Am erican citizens, while within British jur-
isdctiOn, offend against British laws, the govern
ment will not seek to shield them from the conse-
Quences Of their acts; but it must insist upon the
application to their cases of those common prin
ciples of criminal jurisprudence which, in the
United States, secure to every man who ofendS
against its laws whether he be an American cltl-
zen or foreign subject, those incidents to Grim
inal prosecution which affords the best safeguard
to personal liberty and the strongest protection
against oppression under the forms OF law which
might otherwise be practiced through excessive
zeal.
The same conservative and patriotic
tone runs through all his correspond ence
upon that subject.
In the second place, our farmers an d
business men will remember with what
zeal and knowledge of detail Secretary
Blaine endeavOred to counteract the
effect upon foreign governments, as to
the importation of American cattle and
swine. produced by exaggerated con-
sular reports as to prevalence of diseases
in those animals. They will remember
how the growing fear of American
competitor n in the markets of England,
France and Germany gave dOule force
to a senseless panic, which led to the
indiscriminate slaughter of American
cattle Immediately upon their arrival in
foreign ports, and absolute prohibition
against importation Of American pork.
To indolent and supercilious sneerers,
this yeoman service of cur American
Secretary seemed, no doubt, to be ex-
tremely vulgar and undignifed. Their
sneers will seem to be of little cOnse-
quence, however, when the business
aen and farmers vote next November.
The third and NEST important feature
of Secretary Blaine's correspondence Ia
our relations with England relates to
the proposed mutual abrogation of the
Clayton Bulwer treaty. Under the
treaty England claims to have gained
with the United States joint political
control of any interoceanic canal that
might be constructed upon the Amerl-
can Tsthmus. In his circular note OF
June, 1881, Secretary Blaine notified
our own foreign representatives that
The United States of America, viii insist upon
her right to take all needful precautions against
the possibility of the 18th transit being IN any
event used extensively against her interests upon
the land or upon the sea.
He was then writing about the Panama
Canal, and emphasizing the prior
obligations of our treaty of 18A6 with
COlum sia over the later convention of
1850 with England, commonly known
as the ClaytOn-Bulwer treaty. He sup
ports his position with invincible rea-
sOning, based upon the natural rights of
the United States and the tenor of her
diplomatic declarations in the past. In
a war to which the United States is
party, we could not tolerate the passage
Of hostile war vessels through the canal
at Panama any more than
that of hostile armies over
the Pacific railroads. In time of
peace we seek no exclusive commercial
advantage for the United States. 1t is
only when our safety Is threatened by
war that we should feel compelled to
exercise the same rights in the Ahaeri-
can Isthmus that England assumes in
the Suez, rights which she would not
share for a single moment with the
United States, even though her interests
there are far less than ours would be in
any American canal He therefore
calls for mutual abrogation of the Clay
ton-Bulwer treaty, SO far as it relates to
an American canal
In relation TO that treaty, President