The Saint Paul globe., 1897-06-27
TWO EPISODES IN DIPLOMACY.

AHO EfFSODES IN DIPLOMACY.
Upon no feature of Mr. Cleveiand's
administration was Republican com
ment so severe as upon it's foreign pol
icy Men ordinarily sober in their judg-
ments rushed out into public places
foaming at the mouth over the alleged
inability of Mr.. Cleveland and Mr.. Oh
ney to sustain the honor Of the Amer
lean name and uphold the glory of the
American flag. When the Republicans
came into power, we were told, there
would be a new order of things; and,
verify, there has. A contrast between
two episodes shows the difference of at
titude between Mr.. Cleveland and Mr..
Olney on one side and Mr.. Mckinley
and Mr.. Sherman on the other When
President Cleveland made up his mind
on the Venezuelan question, he spoke it
in no uncertain terms He sent TO
congress message so emphatic and so
1mbued with the American spirit that
the whole country rang with acclaim
over the modern extension and enforce
ment Of the Monroe doctrine
The objector in this case was proba-
bly, the most powerful and dangerous
nation with which we might clash. Yet
there were no eQuivocations or loopholes
for escape nor paltering with words in
with the British government Secretary
Olney burned his bridges behind him
He laid down the American interpreta-
ton Of the Monroe doctrine as If will
stand forever, unless overturned by
Weakened Republican administration
He forced from Great Britain acoui-
escence In that to which she had said
she would ne'er consent; and he settled
the Venezuelan question, and all other
questions likely to arise on the Amer
lean continent, in consonance with ma
tional dignity, national honor and ma
t1onal safety. This episode is closed, and
it marks the crowning triumph of the
Cleveland administrations foreign pol
icy. Had not a vindictive and dotard
senate interfered to prevent the rati6-
cation Of the arbitration treaty. the
work of this administration in the
field of our foreign relations would
have been incomparably the most mag
nificent in the history Of the repub1ic
We now come to another episode
summing up the attitude and the abil-
ity Of an administration not vet four
he fnn Jot
stroke of policy. 1t was not confronted
by an emergency like the Venezuelan
case, but it decided to manufacture one
for the sake of public effect. The an
nexation treaty was signed by the rep
resentatives Of Hawaii and of the
United States, and was sent to the SEN
ate. 1t, too, provoked a protest; not in
this case, from formidable competi-
tor, but from nation inferior in mate
rial resources, and, in other respects.
one that we are wont to consider as
just emerging from barbarism. How
is that met? In way that makes us
realize once more that 'thrice is he
armed who has his quarrel just" The
Washington administration, knowing
that it is in the wrong having no
moral support within for it's course.
knucl1les to the first note of remon-
STRANGE. The protest from Japan, we
learn from Washington, sis considered
in more serious light than was at
first made apparent" The senate COM
mittee on foreign relations feels that
the entire matter should be handled
with the utmost circumspection, as the
only way in which complications of a
serious nature can be avoided" So the
matter is to go over until another ses-
sion, with a committee to inquire into
the details and act with great delib-
Grafton and special care"
The administration is in the wrong,
and it knows it. 1t is not the men nor
the battleships Of Japan that smite re-
soundingly upon the doors of con-
science, but the knowledge that we
have provoked, causelessly, the slight
difference which it has aroused, and
which may grow into a portentous