The herald., 1896-01-24
FRIDAY. JANUARY "a. 1890
WOLCOTT'S SPEECH

Senator Wolcott's speech on the pres
ident's Venezuelan message was GER
tainly great forensic effort. About
the only defect about it is that it pre-
sented q most erroneous view of the
situation. The senator is on the wrong
side of the subject He seems to have
a rather inadequate conception of the
presidents position, if the telegraphic
synopsis of his remarks is accurate.
His assumption that the president in
his message, or in any official act SUBJ
sequent to the message implied either
hostility or Indifference to the just in
terests of England on this continent,
or showed disregard for the import
ance Of maintaining amicable relations
with Great Britain. is not sustained by
the facts. On the contrary, it will be
found on careful perusal of the mes
sage that the utmost consideration for
English rights was expressed, that the
possibility of unpleasant feeling be-
tween this country and England
was deprecated, and that disap-
POlAUDuOaJ dO l0i uodl W Ciy
the controversy between herself and
Venezuela in a court of arbitration was
plainly expressed. Mr.. Cleveland does
not belong to that small but exceed
ingly noisy tribe of idiots that
are everlastingly harping that "war
with England would be a good thing"
"popular thing" "would make the
country rich," that "the English are
our natural enemies" that "a war
would mean our financial emancipa-
tion," that ''as we can lick England
anyhow we should do it at the first
chance" and SO on through the whole
chapter of rot, slush and buncombe.
He unquestionably realizes to as full
an extent as the junior senator from
Colorado that a war between two peo-
pie having 80 much in common and SO
mutually dependent would be de-
plorable event to be avoided by any
means consistent with the maintenance
of national honor and principle. The
Recommendation that he made that
commission be appointed to examine
into the merits of Venezuela's conten-
tion in order that this country should
be absolutely certain of the rightness of
its position was in itself an expression
of the solicitude he felt about the ne
cessity of doing nothing that could
afford real cause for an international
conflict.
Mr.. Cleveland did not rest the case
of this country on the Monroe doc
trine alone. Much that Senator VOL
colt says about that doctrine and its
application by this country is pos
sessed of force and entitled to the se-
rious consideration of thoughtful
Americans. 1t is true, as he says, that
Mr.. Monroe gave utterance to the
cause of his solicitude, not for the
South American countries, but because
of that felt for his own. 1t was pol
icy dictated by the instinct OF self
preservation. This government was
then comparatively weak, and its juris-
diction limited to less than one-third
the territory it now embraces. There
was indeed good cause to then fear
European aggression. The con-
ditions are decidedly different
now, and as a self-preservative
measure the doctrine is of less import
ance to us. But nevertheless as a
general policy it is still serviceable and
will continue to be to this country.
However, Mr.. Cleveland went further
and rested his country's case on the
higher and better ground that nations
have rights. That it is good inter
national policy for nations to respect
each other in the possession of those
rights. That in the matter at issue
between Venezuela and England the
former claimed that certain rights
were threatend by the latter. The
right or the wrong of the Venezuela
contention is a question of fact and
like every question of fact can only be
determined by a consideration, i'm
partial and judicial in its nature, of
the claims of the respective parties.
In pursuance of this view Mr.. Cleve-
land asked for arbitration and not for
war.