New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-04-27
NO CAUSE EOR ALARM.

There is no occasion for any warscare or
business panic over the Venezuelan question.
Various more or less dlsquieting rlmors have
recently been put forth to the effect that there
Is little hope Of amicable settlement. Their pur
pose is not easy to discern, though their possible
effect Is patent They may serve as political
"feelers." They may affect the stock market
They may make the just and honorable settle
ment of the dispute more difficult Yet it Is
scarcely conceivable that these were the inten-
tons and desires Of those who ser them afOat
What good purpose they have served or can
serve does not yet appear. 1t is. Of course, with
in the range Of possibilities that they may In
the end be verified. If so. that result will GER
tainly not be to the liking Of the American peo-
pie; nor will the average good citizen consider
1t at all probable until its imminence Is far more
direct than at present.
Neither does there appear any justification or
provOcaton for the storm Of wild and whirlng
words which Is filling the English air with dis
cordant menace. One journal, which Is usual
ly seriOus-'The ST. Jamess Gazette"-rages
against what 1t calls "the American demand
that the United States shall decide our Brit
'ish) quarrels and settle our Britsh) frontiers"
1t would be interesting to know where this en-
terprisng journal got Its news Of such de-
mand. Can 1t be that 1t has correspondent in
Bedlam? Surely from no other source could
such criminal madness proceed America makes,
has made and will make no such prepOsterous
demand. "Our position" to quote and to apply
to the United States the very words 1.-THE St.
James's Gazette" utters concerning Great Brit
ain, rs simply that British frontier questions
"are matters for negotiation only with the par
tiles concerned" More than that this country
does not claim. But 1t does claim, partly by
virtue Of the doctrine which the foremost Brit
sh statesman Of his age suggested to President
Monroe, partly by virtue Of the precept and
| practice Of Great Britain herself for the last
hundred years, and partly by virtue Of that great
| law of representation which Is elemental and
paramount In the affairs Of States as well as of
| individuals, that 1t Is one Of the parties con-
cerned in this and every boundary dispute that
verges upon It's own borders and that affects It's
| own security and peace
Still more deplorable, II that be possible, Is
THE London Daily News's" expression of re
| "gret that the United States Government IL not
liable to agree to Great Britain's proposed treaty
| "of arbitration" One would be glad to believe
the cable had perpetrated a CHASTITY joke In send
Ing such stuff over but, unhappily, there is only
too good reason to believe that paper really did
print 1t. Yet, CT course. even Macaulay's school
boy knows 1t is the United States that has pro-
posed and urged arbitration, and Great Britain
that has refused 1t. One British Government
did indeed agree to arbitration. But before II
could execute Its just designs that Ministry went
out OF Office and Its successor, with an amazing
disregard OF the precedents Of British policy
and Of simple equity. repudiated its agreement
and refused to proceed with arbitration. The
{! statesman who effected that reversal Of policy
and breach Of contract Is now Prime Minister
Of England.
] It y unfortunate. It y most regrettable. that