The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1884-06-28

Minister Sargent's friends say he has
story to tell. They declare that the
late effort of the Arthur Administration
to kick him upstairs to Russia, was
meant to get his silence about what he
is bound to reveal. The assertion is
made that MIR. Sargent would not have
been unpopular in Germany at all If the
American department of State lad
done by him what it ought to have
done. and what one gentleman ought to
do by another.
OF course, that requires explanation
and it is this: A Minister abroad
writes two sets of letters to the Secreta-
ry of State. one for publication and the
other confidential. In the latter kind,
he is expected to write very critically,
and to give his sway down. impress
sions, as we'll as the facts which he has
gathered from secret agents and society
sources, touching the action of the Gov
eminent, to which he is accredited.
These letters are never expected to be
published. They are regarded as fami-
" matters. Secure under the guise of
secresy, Ministers who have a f0ndness
for smart writing, to whom compost
ton comes with fatal facility, write
with much freedom. minuteness, hui
NOR, wit and sarcasm and in collo1uial
form.
Mr.. Sargent wrote in this way about
that sacred subject, the American pig,
an animal emineutly superior to the
white elephant. inasmuch as the Ameri-
can pig can not get out of his own cOun-
try and the white elephant can. Either
because of laundering, or, as Mr.. Sar-
gents friends claim, to punish him for
his friendship for Blaine, the State De-
partment published the very chest of
Mr.. Sargent's private letters, which.
for purposes of publication and of max
ing things pleasant for MIR. Sargent in
Berlin, was easily the very worst one
that could be Put forth. 1t contained
personal remarks about the court, the
Kaiser. the Empress, Bismarck and the
Reichstag, and it intimated that the OPP
position to and Misrepresentation OF the
American pig were but a pretext to
spite America, because this country
drew off so many able-bodied emigrants
from Europe.
The imp of the perverse further led to
this article, when translated into Ger
man, being described as a volunteer
contribution by the American Minister
to popular American magazine. OF
course. every imperial influence at once
sent Mr.. Sargent to Coventry-all
because of his own Governments act of
mistake or malignity against him. Of
fee has been made an intolerable pill
lory to him in consequence. Mr.. Sar-
gents friends claim that the Admins
tration has never done thing TO apol-
ogizc to him, or to explain to the Ger
man Government that he had been
made the victim of misplaced conf
dence. 1t would be difficult to do the
latter. The former could have been
done.
Accepting these representations rs
true, one can understand readily how the
Administration was willing to make of
the Lasker business and of the death of
Mr.. Hunt, at St. Petersburg, bridge
to pass Mr.. Sargent over to Russia
under circumstances which would make
of his acceptance cancellation of the
grievance he had against his own State
Department. Mr.. Sargent's late nom-
ination, his unanimous confirmation,
and the neat telegram to him from Sec
rotary Frelinghuysen, all, in this light,
wear the aspect of tactical expert
ment Mr.. Sargent's declination of
the Russian mission, preceding his re-
turn home, ITO take the people into his
confidence" wears very Blaincy look.
and the Blaine papers are accenting
the matter against the Arthur Admin
| istration.
The Administration is either un-
fortunate or characteristic, in publish
ing from tho writings of its ministers
what emphaticalIy ought not to be pub
lished. 1t has given to the world the
strictly personal and private matters,
communicated to it in presumably the
closest possible confidence, by our es-
teemed townsman, Mr.. John Meredith
Read, while he was voluntarily repre-
senting his country, without pay. at the
court of Greece.
And far from Mr.. Sargent's expert
ence being q novel action by the adj
r1inistration, it is fact that on pre-
vious occasion it did the same thing.
In February, 1882, William Henry Tres
colt and Walker Blaine were in Chill as
ENJOYS from the United States, to en-
deavor to secure peace between Chill
and Peru. They went there under in
structions from Secretary Blaine, which,
after he left the department, were modi-
fed in every important particular by
Secretary Frelinghuysen. Instead Of
notifying the representatives of the
United States, by telegraph, Of this
change of instructions, Mr.. Walker
Blaine and Mr.. Trescott were humili-
ated. during an interview with Balma
Ceda, the Gillian secretary of foreign
affairs, by being informed by him that
both the original instructions. and the
instructions modifying them had been
published, and to receive from the
Chilian, official information which
should have been communicated BY the
State Department. Mr.. Prescott has
not hesitated to say, since his return to
this country. that the object of the mis-
sios was wholly defeated by the con-
duct of the Department, in publishing
matters which should have been kept