The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-01-24
WI the President Force War


Some months ago Prof. C. A. Totem. Of
Yale College, expressed the opinion in one
Of his lectures that a great war In the near
future was inevitable; the political paths Of
the nation ell converged toward one point,
and that point was conflict OF arms, such
as the world has never seen. The opinion
was founded on facts which the professor
net forth and explained. He could not sp-
proximate the time Of the commencement
of hosrilities; Il might be years or decades;
but he was sure Of i Is ultimate coming, and
that it would be precipitated by some minor
quarrel In which the great powers Of
Europe would be drawn by force Of circum-
stances.
II is 8 notorious fact that in the interns-
tional situation there are hundreds OF
Questions" set up on end like row Of
dominoes, so that il any one is thrown down
it Is likely TO knock the others over, from
one end Of the line to the other, and each
power Is watching its domino with army
organized and magazines loaded And it
is just probable that one end Of the line OF
little ivory squares is in Chile, voting for
the yankee boy to thump 1t and start the
! row.
Time and again the newspapers have
published cables from London asserting
that the Salisbury government had given
Chile to understand that she would bs seen
safely through war with the United States;
and Chile evidently believes it, and puts her
| faith in receiving such assistance as would
be needed. Should opportunity arise and
England violate strict neutrality, Russian
minister is authority for the statement that
his government would at once move across
the German frontier, and force an entrance
to the Black Sea. This done, the whole Of
Europe would be plunged in horrid war.
Without detail or enlargement, mention is
made Of the facts above merely for the pur-
pose of showing how disastrous and far
reaching a war between Chile and this
government might be. And, from present
indications, it appears that there is ground
to apprehend such q conflict. All the news
papers are full OF it; editorial columns TEEN
with war talk, news columns bristle with
interviews with prominent men for the
purpose Of feeling the public pulse" and
the subject is under discussion daily by the
President of the United States and bis cabI-
net ministers. Naval preparations are going
on. the ships Of the several squadrons are
being ordered where they can be handily
communicated with. naval construction is
being rushed" dynamite and pow
der factories are filing immense
orders for the government, and
last, but not least, as indicating the current
Of events, men are being enlisted in New
York and Missouri for the publicly declared
purpose of fighting Chile.
| In the midst of all this it is sent out as an
open secret In Washington that President
Harrison is determined that Chile shall
apologize or fight, and will press the matter
| to a crisis unless Chile shows some
disposition to make an apology in accord
ance with the demands of this government.
The other side OF the open secret is that Mr..
Blaine is using every means he can to pre-
vent the Presidents committing a rash act,
and holding that the Chilean government
has already made apology to the United
States. On at least two occasions Minister
MoDtt visited the Secretary Of State at the
state department and expressed in person,
in behalf Of the Chilean government, sincere
regrets for the occurrences IN the streets OF
Valparaiso three months ago. Mr.. Blaine
Is disposed to believe and hold these apolo-
gies as sufficient and satisfactory, but Presi-
dent Harrison will not have itso.
Mr.. Blaine must be given the credit of
pursuing the wiser course. 1t may not be
satisfactory to let Mr.. Months personal re-
grets stand for the apology of the govern
ment he represents, but it is wise and COM
mendable to do all possible to avert war
even il it is necessary to grow suddenly i'll
in order TO be taken away from a cabinet
meeting. Il is not desirable to sacrifice
national honor, nor could such thing be
thought of; but there is no necessity for
that. On that point the newspaper and
political demagogues harp, blindly seeing
no way to save the national honor without
shedding blood. Do men settle questions of
personal honor that way now9 Dueling is
universally condemned in the United
States. and where one of tho
principals in duel is killed, the other
principal and the seconds are held for
murder, and all persons who had cognizance
Of the impending fight and made no effort
to stop it are held responsible to the law
In one or two states even the sending or
bearing Of challenge disfranchisss a man
takes away every civil right. These laws
are regarded as just and needtul; yet these
malcontents would rush two nations-and
maybe the world-to duel in which thou
sands OF women would be widowed, millions
of money wasted and numerous lives lost,
for the purpose of maintaining honor that
might be probably as honorably main
tanned by arbitration.
The Garza Revolution.
The Cara revolution il not ended vet. 1t