The critic. (Washington, D.C.) 1890-1891, 1891-02-17
AT THE CAPITOL.
PROCEEDINGS IN BOTH BRANCHES OF
CONGRESS TODAY.
The Senate Dcvotes Itself to Consider.
ing the Diplomatic Appropriation
Bill--senator- Elect PETERS Creden-
tials Presented.


SENATE.
Tn the Senate to-day the credentials of
William ii. PETER as Senator-elect from
Kansas for the term beginning March
next were presented by Mr.. Ingalls, and
placed on file.
Also by Mr.. Turpie the credentials of
Mr.. Voorhees, amended so that the Gov
ernor, instead of using the word 'com-
sicns,' uses the word "certities.n
The conference report on the bill grant.
ing right of way to the Junction City an
Foit Riley Street Railway Company
through the Fort Riley military reserva-
ton was agreed to.
The Diplomatic and Consular Appro-
priation bill was taken up--the pending
mcnt to increase the salary of the Minister
to Portugal from $4,000 TO $4,000.
Mr.. Hoar spoke of the necessity of the
United States conforming TO the diplo-
matte usages of other nations. Everybody
understood that the custom of nations
established for centuries in their diplo-
matte relation with each other placed the
Government and citizens Of the United
States at continuous disadvantage. For
eign governments treated each other not
according to their rank or Importance
but solely with reference to the question Of
diplomatic position. A minister Of the
United States having to discuss matter
lister of England or of France would be
kept waiting until ambassadors from such
countries as Siam or Hayti or Servia had
had their audiences.
II was question of the common law
of civilization of nations which no single
nation.could put down or depart from,
except to its own detriment. To show
how the matter worked, Mr.. Hoar sent to
the clerks desk and had read u letter from
Mr.. Smalley, the London correspondent
of the New York Tribune, describing how
Mr.. Phelps, the American Minister, would
see the backs of twenty-three ministers
and seven ambassadors before he could
enter the audience room of the British
Premier.
Mr.. Plumb intimated that Mr.. Hoar
had not strengthened his position by
quoting from a person who had I'M
Americanized himself, who could hardly
speak the American language and who
was q professional snob. What had hap
pened, he asked, when Franklin was at
the Court of France at time when names
were not things?
Had any one degraded Franklin because
he was a simple citizen of a struggling
people seeking to emerge from their
original condition? Or had any one spoken
of Mr.. Charles Francis Adams, when he
was Minister TO London during the civil
war, as less entitled to consideration than
the Ambassador from some 'pumpen-
nickel" country in Europe?
The interests of the United States, Mr..
Plumb said did not depend upon consid-
erations of that kind. The men who ex-
latriated themselves rs newspaper CORE
spt ndents did were not the class of people
WI o fixed the policy of legislation FOR
the American Congress. Public sentiment
no longer rested in the Eastern corner of
the country. 1t was going to be fixed
IN the interior among the people who, as
I. III a. -
speeches, resided at the sources of the
great waters. The letter which had been
read to the Senate reminded him of u
society column in the Washington Star.
Mr.. Hoar thought that Mr.. Smalley's
letter was pretty good specimen of racy
idio,matic, sparkling English, as it is
NEST as good English as that spoken by
the Senator from Kansas, and that was
saying good deal. But the fact was just
this land it could not be rubbed out or
answered by sneers at the So
talk about the dignity of the
right to say in what order its business
should be considered at foreign courts.
When the United States used the word
Envoy or minister ii was just AS II
it had said: "This man whom we send
to you is to rank No. so in his title to have
business considered"
But If il used the word Ambassador"
(even though the pay was not raised or
the man changed) that meant we think
that our business is of importance enough
that our Minister Is to be considered in
France or England as No. l or No.
according to seniority. And that was
all there was in the question.
In the course of further discussion Mr.
Hoar suggested the idea OF Western
DIPLOMATIC representative appearing at a