Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1892-02-04
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THE SHAME OFI.

iipui Nr"eitJ. Nineteen other girls were
discharged
THE SLIME or LII.
The New York .l.vening POST on THAT
Electioueering Blast.
We presume no gentleman in the United
States Will read these remarks of Mr.
Blount, the House chairman of the com
mittee on foreign affairs, ON the Gillian
apology without hearty concurrence: al
was almost snlitten with a feeling Of pity
that people who seemed to be animated bv
such generous sentiments should be placed
In he position of making so humble an
apology" But we are sure that every gen.
tleman who agrees with Mr.. Blount will
feel something besides pity, namely,
shame over the means EMPLOYED to ex.
tract this apology. No episode nearly 50
dlscreditable is to be found in the annals
Of American diplomacy. The President is
at this moment an object of ridicule in
Congress, and in fact all over the world.
Tor having sent a war message to Congress
without waiting for the answer to an aulti-
matum,n as the warriors called it, which
he had sent to Chilli
The ultimatum was sent ON Thursday.
the list. It was not received in Santiago
till the Sd. An answer was Immediately
inade asking for two days delay in reply
ing-that is, until Monday, az President
n1chVe was nbselil III the mountains. This
ultimatuin, as is well known made per
emptory demands, compliance with which
was sure to be felt as more or less
numlliating by high-spirited and mar
tlal people. II was, in fact, the commu-
nication of a duelist asking for "satisfac-
ton" But it did not emanate from a
duellist. 1t emanated from the President
OF peaceful Christian republic, himself a
prominent church member and was adj
dressed tn litfln i.
from bloody. civil war. As Mr.. Allen
OF Mississippi pointed ont in Congress yes
terday-himself a member of a duelling
community-a duellist in his state is bound
to wait reasonable time, on pain of social
disgrace, for an answer to ',hostile mes
sage" But our President did not obey
even the duelling code. After having re-
eelved this request for brief delay on
Saturday, he deliberately sent a message
to Congress on Monday the 18th. VIZ
tualiy asking for authority to attack the
Chilians with his fleet, and bristling with
gross insults to the Gillian government.
lie gave the lie to nearly all its assertions
touching matters of fact and discredted
the decisions of its courts of law. Il was.
in fact. such communication as is never
even by duellists, except with the view Of
forcing quarrel.
More than this, he sent this wariike
message to Congress at IL o'clock on Mon
day, either knowing or not knowing that
an important communication had been
received that morning at the state depart
ment from the Gillian minister In Wash
ington, touching the matter in hand If
ne knew 1t was there, but determined not
TO wait for 1t, having his own document all
ready, his conduct deserves to be character
lied In stronger terms than we care to use.
II ne dld not know of it, and failed to
make any inquiry about it before launching
a missiye which might consign thousands
OF men TO destruction, what are we TO say
OF the way i'll which be and his Secretary
OF State conduct the business of great
nation on question of peace or war?
Think of an elder in a Christian church
getting UP on Monday morning, after
Sabbath'e reflection, and deliberately slg-
costing bloody war to Congress without
asking, up to noon whether the enemy,
from whom he was expecting to hear, had
been heard from. What are we to call this
in the United States in the year Of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and
There could hardly be stronger evidence
than this, taking in connection with
previous events, OF a determination to
force quarrel on weak antagonist. If
the management of this quarrel with Chill
had previously been gentlemanly, con-
'lderate, torbearing, it might be treated as
he blunder of small and nervous man,
brought suddenly face to face with a seri-
lus and novel crisis. But as President
Harrison's ill-luch will have IT, his mn
,eemly haste with the ultimatum is per-
ectly fitting close to the controversy as it |
has been carried on from the beginning,
we began tho process of alternating and |
irritating the Chilians by the appointment |
u Egan as our minister-in itself con- |
emptnous to the verge of insult. We CON
lnlled It by open displays of sympathy |
ylth balmaceda, during the civil war; BIZ
,ur seizure and pursuit OF the Itata, in |
disregard of the law as laid down by our
tate department; by permitting our naval
'lhcers during four months. to sneer at.
.buse, defy and threaten the Chilians with
he permission or approval of our navy
department. and the loud encouragement of
'ur government press. When the riot oc-
urred, we forced on the Chilians, with an
bsolute disregard of the decencies OF diplo-
matte intercourse, view OF governmental
for mob violence which VIC
lad ourselves a short time previously ut
erly repudiated. That all this should end
II an attempt to forestall an apology by
nap declaration of war is simply what
called for.
Inc Chllians, with the exception of
enor Malta, have acted all through as
avn Vi StIs6. lley nave
one through the agony of civil war, and
orne our insults and abuse with patient
outrage. They have promptly responded
} demand for Satisfaction in terms
'hich ought to be road with shame and
ompunction in every Presbyterian church
l the country. The exception of Malta
light not to count against them. when we
smomber that he il journalistic warrior
for of course Chill has her Journalistic
'arriors also-suddenly and for a brief
eriod put in All office, evidently too high
,r him, at the close of the civil war in a
royisional government. This indiscre-
on was promptly atoned for when il was
'nnd to have given offence And it must
remembered that the CHILEAN govern
tent has behind II martial, proud, and
Fry. ignorant population, whose suscepti-
iities in making concessions to foreign
overs have to be consulted IL would
em as II, ia exacting concessions freln il.
lie ministers of a sister republic would
ave borne this fact in mind. and have
adj chiyalry and magnanimity enough
nd sympathy enough to avoid all Lam
lage which would make its task more
tiicult. 1t is not too late for the display
these qualities now If the President
I'd Mr.. Blaine do not exactly know how I
'ntlemen settle Observation-Disclosures with
lfortunate and erring friends. they
lght to ask somebody in Washington
no has had larger and nobler expert
ice.
From Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher.