St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-16
A DETERRENT TUNE.


A DIFFERENT TUNE.
The contrast between the speech de-
1ivered yesterday by Mr.. Balfour at
Manchester and the communication adj
dressed to this government by Lord
Salisbury is too marked to escape
notice. The latter jeered politely at
the Monroe doctrine as distinctly
American affair, having no place in
international law, and upheld only by
an American pretension unrecognized
by the other powers Of the world. The
correspondence which was laid before
congress at the time when Mr.. Cleve-
ezuelan question was coldly Indifferent
to our rights and interests, where it
did not actually deny them. A change
has come over the spirit of the En-
glish ministry's dream. While Mr..
Balfour was not inditing an official
communication, and spoke only for the
public, yet it was an English public,
and Mr. Balfour also is an important
ii.SiiiONi IL IiiO PlSoShI SCNCil'iliSiiI.
What he declares now is that the Mon
roe doctrine is acceptable to Great
Britain and has been recognized by
her for seventy years. She would not,
he says, accept an offer of annexation
on the part of a South American re-
public; and he dilates on the horror
with which Great Britain regards the
idea of war, and on the impossibi1ity
that it should ever occur between these
two nations.
All this is very true and very inter
esting. 1t is exactly what Mr.. Olney
and Mr.. Cleveland said, and what the
patriotic American people have been
saying ever since 1t was not they
who decried and fouted the Monroe
doctrine; which, as Mr.. Balfour now
confesses, has been accepted by Great
Britain for more than seventy years.
If his government had made to ours
a reply conveying such sentiments as
those which he has incorporated in
this speech, there would have been
no talk of war, and the Venezuela diff
ficulty would have been by this time
in a fair way toward adjustment. But
we cannot restrain a smile at the real
cause Of this change of tone. 1t is not
peculiar to Mr.. Balfour. 1t has cropped
out in the columns of the great En-
glish newspapers; and those who were
denouncing us a short time ago as
nation of upstairs and braggarts, who
needed lesson, are now talking about
their cousins" on this side of the
water, and declaring that a war be-
tween two nations so connected would
be a crime unthinkable.
All the difference has been wrought
by a little utterance of the emperor
Of Germany England has seen a much
bigger cloud loom on the horizon since
the difficulty with us arose. She has
heard the threat of interference in the
Transvaal; a declaration of policy so
hostile to her interests, so detracting
from her national pride and dignity,
that to tolerate it would be impossible.
en- that point. No matter what the con-
sequences, England would not relin-
quish her control of the foreign rela-
tons of the Boer republic at the die
fight. The probability is that no such
demand will be made. But there has
been talk Of it in quarters that make
it serious. Therefore it is that Great
Britain concludes, most sapiently, that
one row on her hands at a time is
sufficient If this difference with Ger
many should prove serious, she must
have the friendship of the United
States. And she perceives easily that
bit of territory which she has been
trying to steal in South America is
trif1e as compared with her authority
in South Africa, and her prestige in
every capital of Europe
We may rely upon this incident to go
long way toward helping to secure
justice for Venezuela. The protesta-
lions Of affection which are dictated by
dence. Furthermore, it may presently
begin to dawn upon the English mind
that their nation has not as many
friends as it might wish; and that the
first appearance of really serious
quarrel with the United States would
witness encroachment and insult by
the powers that they have reason to
watch and to distrust All these con-
siderations, which Englishmen are be-
ginning to realize, account for the
marked change of tone; an Indication
we all of us hope, Of a willingness so
to deal with the Venezuelan question
that no further active interference by
this country will be required to secure
fair determination Of the right and
wrong Of it.
SAFE IN THE LAVA BEDS.