The sun., 1895-02-28

the British Minister at Washington last
April requested the Issue of proclamation In
this country adopting that date Having
regard, " he said, to slc paramount import
ance of securing International agreement
with regard to these regulations, | am
instructed to express hope that the same
course will he adopted rs that determined on
by her Majcsty's Government, in order that
the rules may become law in both countries
on the same day" But what Is particularly
noticeable is the statement OF the British
representative that no time ought to I've lost
in carrying these rulesinto effect, innsmuch
as they had already received careful con
sideration " and wide spread approval;
"fn this form the regulations have received the
general approval Of the several foreign maritime pow
ers, and her Mnjcsty's Government consider that no
time should be lost In taking steps to carry them
into effect, and they propose, after careful con.
sderation. to enforce the regulations shown In the
enclosed paper and from the Is; Of March, 1893"
In accordance with this request the Prcsi-
dent issued proclamation on July 13,
1894. fixing the date in question for March
/, iS05. Then the Government proceeded
led the new rules, in order to give them the
widest publicity. But after this was done,
and in fact only on Jan. 1G last, about six
weeks before the date thus agreed upon for
carrying them into effect, the British Gov
ernment announced that 1t must wait until
Parliament had been consulted. Meanwhile
it earnestly requested our Government to
postpone the date already announced.
1t is not strange that the Senate, in pass
ing an act to comply with this request, let
its opinion on the subject be understood.
The preamble of the bill itself puts on record
that the British Government has with
drawn from the position that no time
should he lost in carrying those regulations
into effect" Mr. FRYE declared that "in
this matter Great Britain has pursued her
usual entirely selfish course. She has disre-
gardcd entirely every nation but herself
What makes the case more peculiar is that the
diplomatic correspondence shows that Bel
GUM was apprsed last year by England
that the rules would not take effect on
March /, 1898, although her request to our
Government came so much later.
OF course, France which shares so largely
with England the navigation of the British
tnHnHeI, COull nOJ duOru W nave lNO ullltT-
ing rules of the road prevail there, and
hence, although she also had issued her
proclamation fixing the date of March 1,
1895, she was forced to withdraw it, The re-
suit Is, as Mr.. FRYE said, that we are com
PEELED today simply on account of Great
Britain's utter disregard of anybody in the
world but herself, to enact this measure
into law to save human life. If no human
life were in danger, l. for one, never would
consent to any such performance Mr..
WHITE took the same ground, saying that,
life and property being involved it only
remained to pass the bill although if Great
Britain had acted in good faith, there would
have been no such need.
Two practical questions have now come
up for consideration. One is that of notify
ing American ships everywhere that the
Presidents proclamation of last July must
be ignored, and the new rules not followed
until further notice. The bill was concurred
in by the House last Friday, approved the
next day, and on Monday new proclama-
tion was issued. Cable messages have pre-
sumably already gone to foreign ports, noti
flying our war ships of the change, and every
precaution will doubtless be taken to avoid
disaster from this cause.
The second question is as to whether the
postponement indicates a defeat of the
rules. AS to that, about a fortnight ago a
motion hostile to them was made in the
House of Commons. Mr.. BRYCE, Presi
dent of the Board Of Trade, replied that
since most other countries had agreed to the
rules it was desirable that England should
conform to them, although he was willing
that special committee should examine
the objections. Accordingly the remainder
of the world will wait until Great Britain,
after urging other countries to lose no time
in adopting the rules, has decided whether
she will assent to them herself