The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-06-17
TWISTING THE LIONS TAIL.
Astonishing Talk by Don Dickinson
Grover Cieyeiand's Friend.


wen as Republicans last night by twist
ing the British Hons tai. He not Only
twasied y hard, but outdid the very best
eroFtss that Richeheu Robinson used 70
give 10 thai work. That q Cuckoo OF the
Csckoos, and the chief Cuckoo Of all
Snoald nave done this has made every one
WONDER II Grover Cleveland has a solitary
political friend left outside the' cabinet
me tan twisting was done al the Loyal
Legion banquet a. the Russell house.
Mr.. Dickinson responded 20 the toast
our Neterans-Can they hear a bugle
ca!i With impetuous eloquence he
pointed 10 what he considered the menac-
ing attitude Of England toward this coun-
Try. Mingled with denunciatians OF the
mother country were strong appeals for
increased military forces IN this country
Mr.. Dickinson is regarded here as Pres!-
dent Cleyeland's most intimate political
friend. being frequently summoned to
" ashington City as an adviser in matters
great and small Mr.. Dickinson had lust
returned from Washington City and from
consultation with the president. lie said
In part:
"Optimists and some doctrinaires tell
US tnaf the age OF war is forever past. The
evidence does not sustain the proposition
ne people az the whole world. excepting
America only, are either under arms or
on war footing. Intrgues and war. and
conquest, and massacre. and false pre-
lenses, ana treachery. are means TO this
ehd IN use by the great competing cour-
tries or the old world in the strife It IL
the part OF wisdom to consider these
Things, and in our vigilant guard of orr
oountrys welfare it is our patriotic duty
10 weigh all international after-dinner
sentiment and friendly professions IN he
saltec and stock phrases of diplomacy.
In the present conditions we may in
oulse IN reciprocity of polite pflrasin z
and post prandaal exuberance, If our alert
Waterman viii meantime keep an eve on
our good friends across the Atlantic, es-
peclaliy when, having appropriated Afri-
ca, the islands, and even the rocks OF the
sea, wherever else force or intrigue may
gain a footing. they begin TO take an IN
terest. not altogether born of curiosity or
Of purely Outstanding spirit, in this
hemisphere
"One cannot be so innocent as to be-
heve that the sentiment OF rela tionship or
friendship of England 10 the United
States would stand In the way of the set
tied policy of Great Britain to make En-
gltshmen richer and her power greater
evea at our cost. Her unvarying policy
is. first and last and always, TO advance
British interests and retain British SUI
premacy-to retain and add 10 British
wealth. Her purposes are ma terial. Who
ever gets in the way of that is the enemy
of England, and will be so treated
whether 1t be the United States as
great commercial rival who may be In
trigued against and encroached upon
and even crippled in some time OF her dis
tress, or when off-guard or by tribe of
black men in Africa, in the way of her
colonization scheme. who may be safely
massacred with machine guns. The cor
rupion of continental cabinets. the treat
ment of Napoleon after his surrender, the
acquisition and history of India, the
shameful support OF the Turk in Europe
10 this day. the treatment Of Greece in
her struggle for independence, the cruel
massacre of Afghan tribes. the occupa-
ton of Egypt. the ruth. IS slaughter Of
blacks in Africa the unspeakable treat
ment of Ireland, and the chivalry of the
mighty toward the weak, as exemplified
in Venezuela and Nicaragua, are few OF
the subjects to be treated Of and charac-
terized by the fair historian OF the next
century when he shah set down the facts
of this one.
But they are subjects worth consider
ing now because we should study Well
the conditions surrounding our future
and should know something of the charac-
ter and purpose and policies of that power
which the telegraph and the greyhounds
of the sea, with and without guns, armor-
ed and unarmored, have made our near
neighbor: a neighbor who has recently
completed on the island OF st. Lucia, in
the West Indies, one of the strongest
fortresses in the world, and has been
careful not to mention 1t nor 70 permit 1t
to be described in print.
Against what power OF the Ola world
Is this fertilization to defend? what fleet
is II supposed will rendezvous under Its
guns, and against what nation Is that
feet 10 be sent? The fortress al Nassau,
off the Atlantic seaboard, has been re-
Gently strengthened and greatly added 10,
and vet ii served very well during the
war 10 protect the violators OF the block
ade. and the ships of war that preyeo up
on our commerce found refuge under It's
guns. There is a fortihcatlon or great
strength at Halifax, on our northeast Dor
der recently added TO and greatly
strengthened.
since the beginning Of the year CON
gross has passed an act, which was signed
ny the president. expressing the deep IN
terest Of the American people in an Amer
can canal across the American isthmus'
which viii he the highway or hhshy
commerce between the two oceans Si-
mllltaneouSly We have had the most eA-
rraordinarv claims and movements OF
Eneland an Nicaragua We have. too, the
covert suggestion from her foreign Office
that the CLAYTON Bulwer treaty. long since
treated as abrogated in England ana
therefore abrogated at our election Is sun
In force
II think You will agree with me that
ia triotism and good statesmanship ankle
applaud the increase In our navy ana de-
r1and its further increase; demand a larg-
o. standing army and adequate coast de-
lenses so that We may have peace with
d'cnftv ln those later DAYS and extend
md hold tho world wide commerce which