The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1897-04-24


peal to city or state or nation for Z
place to work. But how many men in
high place in city, and state, and ma
ton, are at their wits end to know
what to do, when for some. places there
are ten applicants and for others hun
dred, Perplexities arise from the fact
that citizens sign petitions without
reference to the qualifications Of the
applicant for the places applied for.
You sign the application because the
applicant is your friend. People some
times want that for which they have
no qualification, as We hear peo-
pie sing, Il want to be an
angel" when they offer the poorest
material possible for angelhood. Doors
waiting to be sent to foreign places "a
ambassadors, and men without any
business qualification waiting to be
consuls to foreign ports, and litter
ates. capable in one letter of wrecking
all the laws of photography and SYM
tax, desiring to be put into positions
where most Of the work is done by
correspondence. If Divine help is need
ed in any place in the world it is In
those places where patronage is dis
tributed. In years gone by awful mis-
takes have been made. Only God, who
made the world out of chaos, could,
out of the crowded pigeon-holes OF
public men, develop symmetrical re-
suits. For this reason pray Almighty
/ God for all those in authority.
Then there are the vaster perplexi-
ties of our relations with foreign gov
ernments. For directions in such af-
fairs the God Of atoms should be i'm
plored. The demand of the people is
sometimes so heated, so unwise, that it
must not be needed. Hark 10 the boom
of that gun which sends from the
American steamer San Jacinto shot
across the bow of the British merchant
steamer Trent, November S, 1861. Two
distinguished southerners, with their
secretaries and families, are on the
way to England and France to official
" enlist them for the southern confed-
eracy. After much protest the COM
nissioners. who had embarked for
England and France. surrendered, and
were taken to Fort Warren, near Bos-
ton. The capture was a plain invasion
of the laws of nations, and antagonis-
tic to principle for the establishment
of which the United States govern
ment had fought in other days. How
ever, SO great was the excitement that
the secretary of the United States navy
wrote an applauditory letter to Capt
Wilkes, commander of the San Jacinto,
for his prompt and decisive action"
and the house Of representatives passed
a resolution of thanks for brave,
adroit and patriotic conduct and the
millions of the north went wild with
enthusiasm. and all the newspapers
and churches joined in the huzza. En-
gland and France protested, the for
mer demanding that unless the dis
tinguished prisoners should be surren-
dered and apology made for insult to the
British flag within ten days Lord Lyons
must return to London. taking all
the archives of the British legation.
War with England and France seemed
inevitable, and war with England and
France at that time would have made
a restored American nation impossible
for long while, if not forever. Then
God came to the rescue and helped the
president and secretary of state.
Against the almost unanimous senti-
ment of the people of the north the
distinguished confederates were sur
rendered. the law of nations was kept
inviolate. the lions paw was not lifted
to strike the eagles beak. and perhaps
the worst disaster of centuries was
avoided.
There came another crisis within the
last two years when millions of
people demanded that American
war vessels sail into Turkish wa
tiers and stop the atrocities
against the Armenians. The people at
large have no idea of the pressure
brought upon our government to do this
thing. Missionaries and other promi-
nent Americans in and around Constan-
! tinople assembled at the Office of the
American legation and demanded that
our minister plenipotentiary cable to
/ Washington for United States ships of
war and they suggested the words of
( the cablegram. Had our ships gone
/ into those waters the guns of foreign
nations, everlastingly jealous of us,
would have been turned against our
shipping, and our navy, within few
years become respectable in power,
would have crawled backward in dis
grace. The proposition to do what
could not be done was mercifully with
drawn.
There will not be year between
now and the next twenty years when
those who are in authority will not
need the guidance Of the God of Ma
tons. God only can tell the right
time for nations to do the right thing
To do the right thing at the wrong
time is as bad as to do the wrong thing
at any time. Cuba will one day be
free, but it will be after she has shown
herself capable of free government
To acknowledge Cuban independ
ence now would be to acknowl
edge what does not exist. The
time may come when the Hawaiian is
! lands may be part of our government
but it will be when they have decided
; ly expressed the desire for annexation
, In all national affairs there is clock
The hands of that clock are not Away:
seen by human eyes. But God see.
I A. - =