New-York tribune., 1897-12-08

cOmDensatlOu 1Or MS luJuEico' Inc
to him has not been judicially Determined. AZ
first 10000 was demanded; at last S2O.oOo was
accented. Was the original claim unjusty
large? Or Is the man now content with less
than what he should justly get? These are
questions which should be answered, unless the
world is to return to the age Of violence III
which every man took what he could. without
regard to the law Of mine and thine. II herr
Lueders had been In prison. suffering lhoisni-
ties, or in danger of death, there would nave
been reason for peremptory demands for his re-
lease or prompt trial, backed up. II necessary
with all the force OF the German Empire But
since he was out Of trouble and at ease ana
comfort. and since Hayti was anchored fast
and not able to abscond and avoid payment OF
inst claims. II certainly seems that Germany
might better have gone about the matter IN
fashion sayoring somewhat less Of your money
or your life"
The real import Of Germany's conduct may
host no perceived by supposing the offender to
have been not Haytl, but some great Power. IL
n German subject were arrested and imprisoned
In NewYork. and Germany deemed such action
unjust would the imperial Government assess
damages against the United States according
n IT'S own pleasure and send warships to bom-
hard this city II full satisfaction were not given
within so many houcs? 1t Is simply Inconceiva-
BILE. No nation rushes into war In that rasnlOn
There would be diplomatic negotiations, an
earnest attempt to reach just conclusion, and,
II necessary. reference to an impartial tribunal
of arbitration. Why should not Haytl have
been treated In the same way? For no other
conceivable reason than that Hayt Is not a
great Power, and is not able to resist the force
Germany can send against her. There Is no
use in saying that such controversies could
not arise between two great Powers, and that
II is only the small ones that thus offend. Not
a year passes In which they do not arise be-
tween great Powers Some Italians were mur-
dercd by n New Orleans mob, but Italy did not
send warshlps to collect self-assessed lndem-
nity IungarIans were killed by Sherif's
posse in Pennsylvania, but no cruisers came
hthcr from Trieste. The cnly conclusion to
be drawn Is that great Powers deal In one way
with each other and in another way with every
one else: that there is one international law for
the strong and another for the weak.
That system Is radically unjust 1t works,
and may continue TO work for q time Euro
pean Powers may despse the "half-breed" and
.'nlgger" republics OF Central and South Amer
lea, Just MS In ante bellum days every pro-sla-
very argument ended with well, damn tho
Niger anyhow But the line between great
Powers and small Is not TO be mathcmatically
defined. II injustice can be meted out to the
smallest State. why not to the one next larger?
And II so, where Is the process 10 stop? There
must be a reign Of law all the way to the bot
tom OF the scale, or n reign OF brute force all
the way to the top. In the end the former will
be found not only the NOR. honorable, but the
moro safe and profitable. even for so mighty
Power as Germany. The Haytan incident Is
closed on the surface. But neither ii nor any
such will ever be perfectly concluded until
the possibility Of such violent settlements IS
done away with. AT the very moment when
the German guns were being made ready 10
train on Port au Prince the President OF the
United States was declaring that "the best
sentiment OF the civilized world Is moving
toward the settlement OF differences between
nations without resortlng 10 the horrors OF
war" II is impossible not to believe that the
words OF the American statesman were more
creditabc than the mission OF the German
warships.