New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-12-23
THE PRESIDENT ABROAD.
A TIMID FORECAST OF WHAT MAY HAPPEN
WHEN PRESIDENT CLEVELAND
COMES TO LONDON.

ox TUE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT THE TRIBUNE
London, December a.
President Cleveland, say American teleerams'
means to come 70 Europe next summer ana make
an extended tour. whether Mrs Cleveland comes
with him we are not told, but we venture 10 nope
60. Whether be intends to inclnde London III MS
extended tour is left equally in DOUBT oy Vno
brief dispatch which gives us all me news VIC
how ~ his Mans. That, too we may peNnaps
assume, il Mr. Patrick Collins does not pun W.
an IL He would be received with cIvllty, though
certainly with less cordiality than If he haa hoo
s.nt Lord SackviIe his passports in what is mere
.ttIl thoupht an unceremonious fashion. The fat
CoIlins story. true or not, has made its way 10
London. There are people here who beleVe til"U
the President had no intention of dismlsSihg 'nc
British Minister until the Irish Statesman rom
Boston and his colleagues put an lrresisUDle
pressure upon him. They resent the act OF DIS
missai and they resent the doing OF 1t at Hlsh
dictation Mr.. Cleveland must make up his nina
10 meet this feeling and even to see or near
now and then among the more outspoken OF tne
English some expression OF 1t.
There are papers in this country capable Of re-
yerting to the topic. 1 don't think the eS-rreSi-
dent would hear of ID in private-not in good So
rietv certainly If any resentment were 10 DC
shown. it would be shown by silence, or by acts
able that some houses which, in ordinary clrcum-
stances would have opened their doors to him
may keep them shut; or may open them less
widely. Once inside, he has nothing 70 lear
II is not the custom here TO ask people In ORDER
TO lecture them. 1t is most improbable that the
ex- president would meet under any Engllsh ROOF
any guest so forgetful Of conventlonahues as 10
introduce an unpleasant subject of conversation
That would be altogether alien from hnghsh no
tons Of hospitality The sacredness OF the guese
is recognized in this country not less expncluy
than in the East itself; though In different way.
l am taking it for granted that when MIR. CleVe-
land comes to London he will wish TO see some
thing of the real London something OF the people
who make London; of the best people, something
Of the inside as well as the outside he may,
of course, be content to come as a tourist, ana
devote his days to the British Museum, ana the
Tower. and TO Madame Tussauds. where he would
find himself in distinguished company, and,
believe sec himself Others see him, In wax
But hope he means TO do more than that
II people in London bcthought themselves Of any
publio act OF word of President Cleveland, they
would prefer to call to mind his free-trade mes
sage. Their gratitude to him for that
has survived his subsequent eocentricities
The gospel of free trade touched their pockets
would have filled them full of Ameri-
can gold had it but converted the
country to which it was vainly preached Inc
subsequent ecoentricities did but affect their
sensibilities and the emotions reused by the
Ssckvile incident seem evanescent. Gratitude TO
the American President who would have handed
over American markets to British manufacturers
must be more permanent feeling. de may De
hailed, for aught know, as benefactor or, az
l..st nc a would-baye-been benefactor. The
Golden Club may ask him to dinner. Liverpool
may offer him a banquet, and Sheffield gift and
Manchester itself substantial tribute. These,
however, would be recognitions OF a KIND more
public than those merely social attentions which,
In his capacity Of visitor TO London our PRESIDENT
may be presumed 10 have in view. NO one can
predict with accuracy what would happen Ac-
curacy is not the differentiating note OF predic-
lions in general, and when they relate TO the
course Of events in London society, prophesles
would be even more rash than usual Who can
foresee the caprices of fashion, or look into the
minds of the half-dozen people who would prac-
tically determine the nature Of President CIeve-
lands reception In Mayfair and Belgravia? They
do not know their own minds or do not yet know
them II may be a good or a bad season for lions,
and the author Of the December message OF 1887
must be too devout an economist to find fault with
the law of supply and demand. There are social
laws not less stringent and not less universally
operative than those politco- economical dogmas
which Mr. Gladstone himself has, on occasion, denied
and defed and banished for the time being from
this kingdom to the planet Saturn. To them even
an ex-President must submit They are, however,
Incapable Of being defined with that precision on
which the doctrinaires Of free trade insist.
Let us suppose-it is not probable, but it is pos
sible-that the German Emperor should so time
his visit TO London to find 1t conceded with that
Of the American ex-Presdent in the summer OF
1889. The social resources Of London would be
taxed to do honor to the young ruler Of the
Teuton forty millions Mr.. Cleveland would see
London in period of splendor, but he would not
himself be the chief luminary of the period lie
would often find himself in the same drawing
room with the Emperor, but the Emperor and not
the exPresident would be the centre of attraction
The comparison suggests one Of those perpleMtes
of etiquette which made themselves felt when
General Grant was in London. Mr. Pierrepont
then American Minister raised at once in his be-
hall and in the most peremptory form the question
Of precedence He desired that ex-President Grant
should be treated a sovereign who had retired
from business. He endeavored so to arrange mat
tiers that English Dukes and Foreign Ambassadors
should yield their priority of place TO this emf
nent American citizen. He was willng-l do not
mean to abate any claim he put forward at that
difficult moment but l think / am right in say
ing that he was willing-that members of the Royal
family should retain their precedence; all else was
to give way before the Republican soldier who
had spent eight Of the least useful years Of bis
life at the White House in Washington
Well what happenedP Mr. Pierrepont was able
TO settle TO his liking the order in which his
own guests General Grant included, under his
own roof, and in his own drawing-room in
Csvendish Square, should march down to the
dining-room. Even this he only managed by
diplomacy of a very strenuous kind. In other
houses ne could settle nothing. No rule pre-
vailed In some, General Grant was awarded
those privileges which conceded by courtesy
70 nersanaces of distinctlnn In ntheEs his