Omaha daily bee., 1896-02-16
MAY EVENTUALLY be AaBrrRArEp.
Some Signs that Salisbury is Chang
ing His Attitude on Venezuela.


| Copyright, 1896, by Press Publishing Company)
LONDON, Feb. 15.--(New York World
Cablegram-Special Telegram.)-Mr. Snalley
has been cabling this week long and daily
letters to the Times, declaring in effect that
there is serious danger In the United States
of an outbreak Of war feeling in case the
general impression there that the British
government is prepared to accept arbitration
on the general question Of the Venezuelan
frontier, is disappointed by Lord Sasbury's
ultimate decision to the contrary. Mr.
Smalleys warning, iterated day by day.
shows how serious he considers the situation
And the fact that the Times publishes his
| letters prominently and apparently without
| amendation, although the tone is almost hos
tile to Lord Salisburys delay In giving some
| definite expression of his policy can only be
| accepted as very significant The Times, as
l understand, gives its trusted correspond
ents great latitude, but the absence from the
editorial columns on the subject of Mr.
Smalleys letters. whereas formerly the ed
| itor had taken almost extreme ground against
any surrender Of Lord salisbury's first con-
tention in Ambassador Pauncefote's dis
patches, may indicate radical change in the
attitude Of the semi-official ministerial organ
curacy of the Times correspondents rehec-
tion Of American sentiment, but the World 8
Sunday correspondence has for weeks shown
what danger there may lie in English mis-
apprehension, and particularly in the prime
| minister's msinformaticn concerning the
feeling in the United States on the question.
Up to within week at least and to this
time, unless his opinion has been altered by
fha Tt,pa a; tola
| determined upon sustaining his contention
last Autumn-that is, he had been forced to
admit by later developments that the
| Schomburgk line was no longer to be re-
garded as an irreducible boundary but he
was still prepared to maintain that all bona
fide settlements Of Englishmen should not in
any contingency be subject to arbitration.
l state the fact as upon what believe to
| be very direct information from the foreign
office. Whatever may be its importance in
the United States, some curiosity may be
| felt there as to the reason why Mr.. Chamber
! lain, to whose department the Anglo Vene-
zuelan question belongs, quite as much as
the Transvaal's relations to England's South
African colonies, has apparently taken no
| share in this discussion. It is often said
here that if he had control of the matter
rather than Lord Salisbury, he would speedily
arrange settlement to the satisfaction of
| every one concerned.
The fact is that Venezuela, having sus-
pended diplomatic relations with Great Brit
ain and the latter transactng all business
| with Venezuela through the German legation
in Caracas, the foreign Office here has ex-
| elusive jurisdiction. I may add that Lord
| Salisbury's shock at the idea OF surrender
| ing British residents in the disputed terri
tory to foreign jurisdiction may be regarded
as inconsistent in view Of his own very re-
cent exchange of Hellgoland, with it's 1000
population, for certain territory in South
Africa. He surrendered >ethe English -citi-
zens to compulsory military service in Ger
many. But then Englands magnificent
| colonial empire is perhaps a direct result of
just such advantageous inconsistencies.
BALLARD SMITH.