The San Francisco call., 1895-12-19
MAYOR sUTKo's OPINION.
ne Declares That England Will Not
- Fight a Strong Nation.

!: England cannot be kicked into fight
ing" said Mayor Sutro yesterday in dis
:cusslrg the prospects of trouble with
:.Great Britain over the Venezuelan boundary
Question.
The lions tail could be twisted until it
. cracked and he would not turn" he con-
: 'tlnued, "and while We may feel the thrill
OF patriotism while talking of the cues
ton, IN my opinion we will never feel the
horrors OF war, at least not during this
=. century. There are many reasons for this,
chief among them being that England dare
not fight with any really great power, and
particularly with the United States.
Much has been said and written about
England as warlike power, but, as a mat
= ter OF fact, Der greatness comes far more
from her commercial strength than from
her immense armies and navies. 1t takes
great armies and navies to maintain this
commercial greatness and to keep foreign
hands off her colonies and foreign inter
"ests.
."Her weakness lies in the very vastness
of her interests, and no one is more alive
to the fact than the English statesmen who
controls the destinies of Queen Victoria's S
domains.
- "As long as England confines her aggres-
sions to savage countries. where compar-
atIvely small force of men will suffice to
carry on the war and where other powers
:: do not care to interfere, she is safe, but
when measuring strength with powers
such as this great American Nation, the
result can only be too apparent to those
:. who are not blinded by prejudice.
"The instant war is declared Russia will
move on India and Turkey, and France
will overrun Egypt and other English
possessions, and Great Britain Will be at
tackled on all sides. No; England cannot
afford to fight and will probably back
down gracefully and accept the terms of
the United States.
LAS to President Cleveland's message,
look on that as bombast and somewhat of
= play upon the sentiment OF the American
people, who are, without question, clam
.oring for more backbone on the part of the
National officials. No better time for such
"a play could have been chosen than at the
present, when war clouds hover black over
+: Europe, and all the powers seem to need
is an opening to begin flying at each others
.throats.
The most sensible part of the message
= :tration is the highest art OF the century,
and the nation that possesses it to the
greatest degree will be the successful one
:. in controversies such as this. As usual
: thing the United States comes out first
best in matters submitted to boards of
u: arbitration, and doubtless if arbitration is
selected to settle the Venezuelan question,
the attitude of the Government and the
: Monroe doctrine will be fully upheld.
'One thing, however, 1 would like to see
:: and that would be fairer settlement than
was had With England in the Alabama
affair. The total claims against England
footed up S5,ooUooO, and yet England had
10 pay $15,oO0,00O. The magnanimous
thing to have done would have been to
. have said to England when the amount of
:. the claims was finally ascertalned: Here,
~ take back this $4,000 00O-it belongs to
: you Such an action would have been
worth five times as many millions to the
country"