The Portland daily press., 1892-02-06


at the Capitalize Was Lucky for Us
That We Had Better Navy Than We
Had Ten Years Ago.
Especial Correspondence
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4.-There IS very
little gossip in the capital which does
not pertain to the CHILEAN episode. Every
one is congratulating every one else on
the happy outcome Of that affair, which
at one time threatened to involve the
United States in its first foreign war for
half century. Some of the public men
in Washington believe Chill had from
the first intended to do what was right,
and that we clustered a good deal and
worked ourselves into a state OF excite
ment somewhat unnecessarily. But this
is not the general view. Among the
great majority of public men familiar
with the affair the belief is strong that
Chill '.came down." not only because we
threatened to shoot, but because we had
the great guns and big ships to do the
shooting with.
Ten years ago, it will be remembered,
there was some danger of war between
the United States and Chilli over our al
legged interference in the trouble be-
tween Chill and Peru Then the Chilians
believed, and believed rightly, that they
had San Francisco and other American
seaboard cities at their mercy, Their
navy was then much superior to ours,
and in all probability if war had been
declared the cities of the Pacific coast,
and possibly some of those on the At
lantic seaboard, would have found them
selves some fine morning threatened by
CHILEAN guns and forced to pay over
hundreds of millions of dollars or suffer
bonbardment. Because we did not fight
then, and because we have talked SO
much about peace and the fellowship of
man and all that sort of thing, the Chill
ians were unable to believe we would
fight now This belief on their part has
largely retarded the negotiations for
peace, and at various stages of the con-
troversy increased the danger of war
Secretary Tracy, whose matchless en-
ergy put our navy in fighting trim in an
incredibly short time, has more than
once told me he believed, and the presi-
dent believed, there was but one way to
bring the Chilians to an honorable and
peaceable settlement, and that was bold
ly to demand. of them reparation and
back up the demand with unmistakable
preparations to enforce our demand with
shot and shell. Two months ago this be-
came the definite policy Of the admins
tration, and it was pursued with yigor
and pertinacity, and with what success
the world already knows.
In the Judgment of men familiar with
all the circumstances and with Gillian
character, the simultaneous appearance
in southern waters of three squadrons
of American cruisers with the presenta-
ton at Santiago of the demands Of this
government, and the certainty that the
president would in a few days lay the
facts before congress. are the agencies
to which must be attributed the change
of heart in Chill which led to peaceful
adjustment OF the difficulty.
Lucky for the United States that she
had feet of fighting ships. Had this
trouble arisen ten years ago, when the
new navy existed only on paper, we
should have had war on our hands.
Diplomacy is nothing without physical
force behind it. Three years ago, when
he came to Washington to become secre-
tary of state under President Harrison,
Mr. Blaine told me that the first duty Of
Americans was to create great navy.
"Without the ability to fight" he said,
1--WE shall not be able to prevent war.
Diplomacy without men-of-war armed
with modern high power guns is mock
cry. We must not longer depend on our
isolation, upon our own good intentions,
for continuous maintenance of peace.
Our diplomacy may be alert and skill
full, but without physical force on the
high seas we shall be under the necessi-
ty of making bad bargains, of suffering
humiliations.
The prophetic nature of Mr.. Blaine's
words is shown by the events of the past
sixty days.
This reminds me of conversation |
had few days ago with Mr.. Hit, of
Illinois, now member and the former
chairman of the foreign affairs commit
tee of the house. We were congratulate
ing the country on the fact that at last
the United States had navy, a fighting
navy, to support its diplomacy.
"When was in Paris some years
ago." said Mr.. Hit, "as secretary of
legation. M. Waddington, the French
minister of foreign affairs, went to Ber-
lin to attend the great Berlin confer
ence That conference of the powers of
Europe had been called because Russia
had with her mighty armies overrun
Turkey and taken possession of about
all the Ottoman empire on this side the
Bosphorus, except the city of CONSTANT
nople, and at that moment had its ar
mics camped in the suburbs of that city
while the Russian authorities were dis
cussing among themselves whether they
should not take Constantinople ALSO
From the published reports of the pro-
ceedings of the conference we had gath
cred that only two men had much to
T.