The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-03-13
alsbury's Love Of Controversy Delays
the BeriHg Sea Settlement.
CANADIAN COMPLAINTS ARE uNHEEDED.
The British Public unfayorable to an Open Rupture
With the United States ever Pelagie
Sealing.
Special TO THE MORNING CALL

tn0Se VINO 90 not KNOW MS ptCutiHIllleS DIS
Foreign Minister. 1 should think Mr..
Blaine might have pretty intimate ac-
auaintance with them by this time. but the
Ieieg rams tell US that Blaine is i'll, and
some go So far as TO say that Wharton's
dispatch of March 8 was as matter of fact
written by the President. Whoever wrote
it, the tone is excellent, and the dispatch,
so far as its contents are made public here,
is Just what ought to be addressed to Lord
Salisbury.
The Foreign Minister of Great Britain is a
disputant and very able one. He mas pas
sion for controversy, possibly because he is
aware OF his own eXpertness In O contro-
versy. A subject like the Bering Sea, with
its varied historical, legal. diplomatic and
TO some extent personal intricacies, suits
him entirely well. He revels in it. He will
go on arguing with complacency Till the last
seal in the rem0test waters OF the Pacific
has been slaughtered by his marauding
clients from Canada. He will do it. that is,
if he be allowed. He will agree to nothing
from which he can plausibly dissent. His
refusal to extend or renew the modus
vivendi is only his way of expressing his
pleasure In a continued correspondence
with the State Department at Washing gton.
Preposterous Proposal.
The proposal which he makes in return
thirty-mile line. and limit of $4,000 seals
inside it's preposterous, and he probably
knows it to be preposterous. 1t Is based,
we are told, on the recommendation of the
British Commissioners Well, If the good
relations between England and America are
to depend on the Judgment, sense and
knowledge of Sir George Baden Powell,
they will not, in the opinion Of those who
know him best, last long.
SlI George has excellent intentions and
the truly British incapacity of seeing any
TACT OF forming any opinion, except from
purely British point of view. He took out
with him a large stock of ineradcabe
prejudices, and has added to them in
Canada and elsewhere. There could not be
worse adviser for the purposes OF the
amicable settlement Of question in which
large business interests are concerned and a
large spirit is needed on both sides. Sails
bury is misled in other ways and by other
people than by this Commissioner.
workings of the Foreign Office.
The English Foreign Office is, in some
respects, the best served in Europe. 1t re.
ceiyes with regularity and uses with intel
hgence much information which the other
foreign offices do not receive at all, or re-
ceive in imperfect form. All the gossip of
Washington is plgeonholed in Downing
street; every streetcar story about the re-
lationS of the President and Mr.. Blaine;
every tale which passes current IN diplO-
matte circles at the capital; all the tattie
Of the doorkeepers at the departments: all
facts due TO the inyentiyeness OF the FEM
mime niind-these and many other things
are transmitted to London and are read,
sorted, docketed, minuted and submitted in
their most condensed and mschievous form
to Salisbury, and Ii is all taken into ac-
count in forming a judgment upon the acts
and official declarations OF the Govern.
me8t
The Minister'S Bad Advisers.
1t is the Democrats and that baser form OF
Democrats, known as "Mugwumps," who
are Salisbury's best allies. 1t is they who
stand between the American Government
and that settlement to which it is entitled;
that agreement which the Government has
done its utmost TO bring about. Salisbury,
oisputaut as he Is, is disputant only TO
certain point. So long as he feels that he
has friends in the other camp be will risk
something; so long as he knows that the
American Government can be bampered by
the American position he will continue to
hold his own. So long as he sees that the
wish to score point for the coming Presi-
Dental election is stronger with the Demo-
Gratis than the wish to strengthen the Gov
ernment as against England he will con-
tinne TO correspond, coquet and invent new
difficulties and eXpend his iDexhaustlbie
intellectual dexterity in protracting nego-
tiations that ought long since to have come
to an end.
American Firmness Needed.
The essential thing is to clear Salisbury's
mind of all the diplomatic cobweb5 in which
his natural sense Is enmeshed. / know no
other way to do IL than for the President to
put his foot down, make up his mind what
be will eoncede and no more, and say So.
This ne seems in great measure to haye 6
done in the dispatch of March 8.
For my part as one who wishes for
peace, hone he will not recede an inch.
believe the demand for the renewal of the
modus vivendi is regarded here by those
who really understand the points as just.
! can imagine that even Salisbury In his
cooler moments perceiyes ii to be just and
that he will be disposed to yield to il as
soon as he is convinced that we DO not mean
ta depart from ii. Ii he does no: yield we
have still plain policy before us-namely,
TO police the seas ourselves.
Canada's Complaints Unheeded.
Something is heard over here of Canadian
complaints. Of Canadian interests injured
or imperiled, and of Canadian readiness to
bring about as many brawls as she Can on
those Pacific waters. 10 pursue her posch-
ing in Short TO the bitter end. If | thought
anybody in authority in Canada would
listen to ME l would give him a friendly
warning. or, If he does not like the word
warming" friendly hint
Canada thinks herself irres sponsible She
Is the spoilt child OF international politics.
Again and again has she done acts nn-
friendly to the United States, relying on
England to back her. All that is perfectly
comprehended, il amuses the English. who
do not all perceive in what grave perls il
may at any moment land them.
The Impending Danger.
1t is perfectly understood by Salisbury
who, of course, does not perceive what il
may lead to-. But Salisbury understand:
even better that England has no idea oil
allowing herself to be led. do not say into
war; but into a false position with reference
to the United States in order that Canads
may play al piracy or give herself the pleas.
ure of seeming 10 bully her big neighbor IL
the foolish trustfulness upon one whom SHE
thinks bigger still.
Ii the Canadians go sealing this summer
In the dis uted waters they will do SO. il
my judgment, at their own risk. They viii
be supported up 10 a certain point, p0ln
far short OF assistance on sea or land, There
is no public opinion in this country which
would warrant any Government in entering
upon a conflict with America In defense o.
Canadian claims admitted to be doubtful
There Is not sign OF anger or alarm, Of
anything that approaches anxiety, among
the English public.
Gladstone Opposed to War.
There is a strong English party which
would look upon quarrel with America al
wicked, even were the grounds of the quar-
rel much stronger than they are. There i
Gladstone to begin with. Gladstone hate
US, but he hates war more. lie has de
scribed himself as hating 1t so strongly tina
in difficulty that might lead to war he ha
ever been prone TO take tue nearest wal
out, no. the best or the most honorable
He would like nothing better than to ap
peal this motion TO the shopkeepers agains
Ministry that seemed even to consider tn
possibility of going 10 war In order that th'
Canadians might be free TO pluDder th
seals In the water 10 which America lay
claim. do not mean to speak of war as
serious possibility. / use the word only be
~cause 1t has been used by others and be
cause Salisbnry's line leads to il, argumen
taiiyely Il is because h is argument point