The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-03-09
rx .rurrsG SEA TROUBLE.

| Three facts stare US IA VI"
ton with this matter
"T 80, The Congress of the United States
.,on,v wears ago enacted statute assert
;n, tbe United States exclusive right 10
p.br;rg sea and forbidding all persons
o. catch seals therein without permis-
o;on Of this Government. Two years ago
braggart Blaine boldly proclaimed to the
world that the United States would enforce
this statute, and make it good against all
| corners.
"a. In the summer Of 1890 Lord Salisbury
notified this Government that If an attempt
was made to enforce this statute by iurther
| seizure of Canadian vessels the attempt would
be resisted with all the power of the British
| Government.
Sd. The sealing season is about 10 open
and Lord Salisbury refuses to agree TO the
n,odus Uicendi of last year.
We are therefore brought face TO lace with
this question: Will we enforce the act Oh
Congress with the certainty of war Win
Great Britain as consequence. or VIII we
recede from position which the Government
ought never 10 have taken: We have no hes
tion in saying that the latter IS the cahuiu'
manly and honorable course IL 10 undouDt
edv. to some extent Illuminating for Gov
eminent TO have to abandon position deilo-
erately taken. and acted on for twenty years
under a threat from another Government
But whatever humiliation this may entail 1t
had better be endured. than that we should
attempt to make good by force CLAIM that
we cannot establish as Just.
The New York press. without exception. IS
disposed TO treat this matter from stand
point wholly unworthy of its dignity or Its
seriousness. Such journals as the Herald
and Times look on 1t as troublesome COM
plication that will adjust itself somehow. and
they think the less said about it will be SOON
est mended. Such papers as these think that
Lord Salisbury is playing few pranks with
Mr.. Blaine in the way Of giving HIM some OF
his own lingo methods. and that he will come
into an agreement for q mOdns riccn0' ABOUT
the first of May, in time to stop the poachers,
after he has sufficiently treated Mr.. Blame 10
the cat and the mouse method. ms Is 10
assume that very serious statesman IS max
ing sport of very serious subject The sug-
gestion is inadmissble and may be dismissed
with q statement of 1t.
The Tribune we'll known TO be Mr.. Blaines
personal organ. fully admits the serious ma
ture Of the crisis. but has q perfectly charac-
terstc Blaine method for solving tie diff
Guilty In its latest editorial utterance it in
sists that Behring sea and Behring sea seals
belong TO the United States. 1t says that Mr.
Harrison may count upon the nation support
ing him If he goes to war with England over
the matter but it does not advise that 1t
advises that we submit to the poachers dep
redatng upon our property and that Mr..
Harrison make Great Britain feel his conse-
quence by Withdrawing from Canadian rail-
ways the special privileges granted them by
this Government, upon which they really live.
This is Blaine all Oyer-a combination of the
philosophy of the Quaker and the Comanche.
Fall out with your neighbor over valuable
right. When you find your neighbor will
fight before he will abandon his claim, give it
up yourself and get even with him by throw
ing mud on his back gate What contemp-
tibe and pitable position to place this Gov
eminent in. IL the sea and the seals are ours,
let us maintain our rights at all hazards. The
sea and the seals are no more ours than they
are Great Britains, Let US then march up
like men and admit that we made a mistake
in claiming them.
The manner in which information of this
serious crisis has been allowed TO get before
the public is one Of the most disgraceful feat
ures connected with it, The State Depart
ment received Lord Salisbury's refusal of a
modus vivendi on Tuesday. the lst Of March.
All that this meant was perfectly appreciated
at the Department of State as soon as the
notice was received. Was it at once given
out to the country! BY no means. Blalne's
foot was in too deep for the facts to come out
except as the public mind was worked up to
and prepared for them. No announcement of
the refusal WAS made at all until the following
Friday. and then the announcement appeared
exclusively in the New York Tribune.
Blaine's personal organ. And how did it
appear As an announcement from our state
Department? BY no means IL appeared as a
cable TO the Tribune from London as though
the English foreign Office took the New York
Tribune into a confidence that il shared with
no other newspaper whatever. But mmedi-
stely beneath the London telegraph was Il
Washington telegraph. giving Blaine's view
of the situation and endeayoring to put
color on the affair that would extenuate
Blaine and put England in the wrong. 1t is
perfectly plain that the Tribune received no
cable from London. but that It's London
cable and the explanatory Washington dis
patch were both prepared in the State Office
at Washington. and inserted inthe Tribune as
a method of leading the public mind up by
degrees to approving of Blaine and his policy.
The trickery of such business is too con-
temptible for endurance.
ABOLITION OF POVERTY.