Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1896-02-08
OUR FOREIGN FRIENDS.
Continued from first page

sions of the British crown, that we
should take it under our protection
and incorporate it with our empire,
4 though the honor of such request
would be highly appreciated, 1 think
the responsibility would be declined
by every British statesman to whom
4 IL could possibly be made.
q Well, then, If we are absolutely at
one both with President Monroe and
with the great body of opinion in the
. United States Of America upon this
subject, you will ask me what is the
quarrel about, and 1 do not know
llaughter) that l should be able to
give you very clear or ineligible
answer as to exactly what IL was that
was objected to in our course by the
government of the United States.
But, then, / will say that our con-
troversy with Venezuela is, as have
told you, controversy of very old
standing. II has come before govern
ment after government drawn from
both political parties, and extending
over generation after generation, and
the documents connected with IL are,
therefore, necessarily voluminous.
We have presented to the country in
dispatch which is in the hands, or
all who desire it the general heads of
our view Of the case, but we are now
j mean the foreign ofiice-actively
engaged In the labor of compiling and
OF bringing together every document
OF importance bearing upon the case,
and as soon as that can be done IL
shall be laid before parliament and
before the country. (Hear, hear) 1
understand from the ordinary sources
OF information that the government
of the United States have appointed
a commission to investigate the same
subject, and surely with all this mass
OF material before the public of both
countries IL will be hard indeed II the
common sense Of the Anglo-Saxon
race (hear, hear is not able TO settle
any point in dispute without the
arbitrament OF war. (Cheers.)
But should not be consulting my
own feelings in this matter were TO
avoid touching upon another aspect OF
this controversy with America, which
confess, comes nearer TO my heart
than any technicalities with regard to
the Venezuelan boundary or the
Interpretation of President Monroe's
Doctrine. l have been deeply and
painfully impressed by the different
attitude, the different mode in which
we on this side of the Atlantic look
at the question Of war from that
which appears TO be taken by some
sections of the American population
upon the other side. To us--I speak
for myself, and think / speak for
those whom l am addressing-th
idea of war with the United States OF
America carries with it something Of
the unnatural horror Of civil war
(Hear, hear.) War with any nation is
contingency to be avoided at almost
all costs, except the cost of dishonor,
but war with the United States APP
K pears TO have an additional horror Of
It's own, born OF the fact'that those
whom we should be fighting are our
flesh and blood (hear, hear, speaking
our own language, sharing our own
civilization. (Cheers.l feel, so far
as can speak for my countrymen,
that our pride in the race to which
we belong is a pride which includes
every English-speaking community in
Il the world. (Hear, hear.l We have a
domestic patriotism as Scotchmen or
as Englishmen or as Irishmen, or
what you will. We have an Imperial
patriotism as citizens of the British
Empire. But surely, in addition to
that, we have also an Anglo-SaXon
patriotism which embraces within its
ample folds the whole of that great
race which has done so much in every
branch of human effort, and above all
in that branch OF human effort which
has produced free institutions and
free communities. lCheers.l have
sorrowfully TO admit that this view
does not seem as yet TO be shared by
the English-speaking people in the
United States OF America. Large
sections OF them, at all events, il l
may Judge from the reports in the
newspapers-which is all that / have
to Judge by-large sections OF them