New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-12-18
A MESSAGE THAT MEANS BUSINESS.

A MESSAGE THAT MEANS BUSINESS.
/ The President speaks with no uncertain sound.
/ There can be no installing the purport OF his
latest Message 1t will not be welcome 10 the
peace-atany-price Cuckoos who have been clam
Oring that the Monroe Doctrine is a myth. and
that we have no business to NEEDLE with affairs
between Great Britain and Venezuela Nor will
ii be reshed by those discriminating sages who
saw in the Presidents annual Message, two
weeks ago, no reference to the Monroe Doctrine
but instead the enuncatiOn of a new "Cleve-
land Doctrine" No wonder Mr.. Cleveland
FASTENED to the Southern swamps to get away
from such insensae babbling OF his fool friends
AS The Tribune said at that time and every
one able to read the Presidents English should
have known, he in that Message and in the note
TO the British Government four months before
committed himself explicitly to the maintenance
of the Monroe Doctrine, and to the application
of II to the Venezuela Guiana boundary dispute.
In the present Message he confirms our inter
probation Of the former one in the most circum
stantial and emphatic manner We do not know
that any lingo Senator or Representative has
'reaffirmed the Monroe Doctrine" in more direct
and unmistakable terms.
Nor is the Presidents logic less sound than
the doctrine on which i, is based. We need not
here review in detail Lord Salisburys beated
arguments Mr.. Cleveland does 50 sufficiently
In his not overlong Message. The first British
point. apparently. is that the Monroe Doctrine
is obsolete. That is offered with i'll grace by
Government of whose foreign policy the keynote
Is continuity Next if it be not obsolete, it does
not apply to this case WHY not? Seizure by
Great Britain Of one square mile of territory
! tf,,1Ix holo pip IN iS r.. Of
oppression, forbidden by that doctrine, just as
much as the seizure Of the whole republic would
be To argue otherwise would be to say that
while the forgery Of check Is crime, the
raising Of the amount Of a check is not. Such
/ logic will not help the British cause nor over
throw the Monroe Doctrine. Nor is the Oft
repeated reminder, that the Monroe Doctrine
is not recognized as international law, conclu-
sive AS Mr. Cleveland well says The Mon
roe Doctrine finds its recognition In principles
"of international law which are based upon the
theory that every nation shall have its rights
protected and its just claims cnforced'
Finally, Monroe Doctrine or no Monroe Doc
trine Great Britain refuses to submit TO arbra-
ton the title to any land east Of the Schomburgl
line That, after all, is the cIux Of the whole
business. 1t is just as though at Geneva the
600, 900 without debate, and been willing to sub
nit to arbitration only the question Of damages
beyond that sum. Great Britain has no more
right to fix the Schomburgk line as the limit Of
arbitration than the NeneZuelans have thus TO
fix the Essequibo River. The very basic prin-
ciple of arbitration requires that in such a case
all the disputed territory shall be considered.
The Schomburgk line Is not fetch. 1t is not
.toh has IN nv
British agent, without the cooperation or assent
of Venezuela. 1t was repudiated by its own
maker Two years after it was run the British
Government explicitly assured Venezuela that
1t was merely tentative and disclaimed any
purpose to occupy the land up to it, Ten years
after it was run Great Britain again solemnly
agreed mot to occupy any part Of the unoccupied
territory in dispute" until the boundary ques-
ton should be settled. So the matter rested until
1880, forty years after the Schomburgk survey.
when Great Britain claimed, on the strength
Of ancient treaties and original rights. own
ership OF all territory up to the Schomburgk
line and O great tract far beyond it. And now
she declines 10 submit the ownership Of that
territory to arbitration, because Of Original
rights which apparently did not exist in 1912,
and because she has for ten years actually occu-
pied the very territory which in 1880 she prom
, ised not TO occupy.
That is the case as The Tribune presented il,
long ago and first Of all American papers. That
is the case as Mr.. Cleveland now sees it and
officially presents ii 10 the consideration Of Con-
gress Since Great Britain declines our good
offices and refuses arbitration, there is, in the
Presidents view only one honorable course left
open to this Government. That Is to send
commission to the scene Of controversy. without
delay. to ascertain 10 its satisfaction the facts
in the case and TO report them TO the President,
and through him to Congress and the people. If
that report shall show Great Britain to be OPP
pressing Venezuela and violating the Monroe
Doctrine. then it VIII. says Mr.. Cleveland. "be
1.-The duty Of the United States TO resist, by every
means in its power" such conduct on the part
Of Great Britain
That is the gist Of Mr. Clevelands Message,
and of his recommendations TO Congress. 1t is
IA serious matter 1t means business" We do
not say it means war. We do not believe it does
But the President does not in the least exag-
gerate the gravity Of the responsibility to be
incurred by the course of action lie recommends
and of "the consequences that may follow"
Congress will be wise to consider that course
with unusual care and deberatlon The APP
polntment of such a commission as the Presi-
dent recommends at first blush appears need
lessly offensive 10 friendly nation, and Con-
gress may prefer some other mode of deter
mining the equities in the case But on the
general question Of the Monroe Doctrine and
its application TO the Venezuelan dispute. there
will be no difference Of opinion among patriotic