Evening star., 1897-02-01
THE ARBITRATION TREATY
Reasons Why 1t Should Be Carefully Con-
sidered.
Decision of the Venezuelan Commits
AiOn Not Yet known-SOme Things
Are Worse Than War.
10 the Editor of The Evening Star:

| ceed with the utmost deliberaton and eau
| ton in their examination of this treaty are
| ample and cogent. The Venezuelan COM
| mission has not yet, after something like a
years delberation, given a decision upon
| the matters referred to 1t. Whilst, now,
when one of the most important treaties
| ever laid before the Senate. has been scarce
| a week under consideration, there comes a
| clamor as surprising as it is mistaken, de-
manding immediate action and approval
| If ever the Old Latin maxim. Make haste
| slowly, had pertinence, is 1t here and now.
| II 1t would be a calamity to mankind to
| have the treaty fail of approval at this
| time, it would be double calamity to have
| it adopted and then fail through its own
| impotency or its unacceptability.
When our ambassadors to England. in
! their post-prandial effusions. set forth
Shakespeare and Addison and Westmin-
| ster Abbey, and the unparalleled affection
| of the mother country for the daughter be
! yond the sea, it is pathetic and altogether
| subduing. but when it comes to American
| commerce, shipping or the territorial ques-
| tion, we meet an altogether different
! Briton. man that is outspoken, aggressive
and defiant who comedies nothing until he
| meets his match: and yields nothing but
under compulsion. With such an antagon-
| ist We may well remember that "Hasty
promises give leisure repentance.
That eminent Briton, Lord Bacon. sug-
gests that When one is about to engage
| with adversary, 1T is prudent, first, to
weigh yourself. and, secondly, to weigh
your adversary In the light of this lat
| ter suggestion, so many indicative circum-
| stances have fallen under my observation,
| during a series of years as to leave little
question touching the general status of
| the average Englishman toward the Ameri-
| can or his policy, Industrial or foreign.
Concerning English opinion, l think it
| may be assumed that there is no class of
| British subjects whose views more ac-
| curately reflect the general sentiments of
| the people than their marine commanders.
They know every country upon the face
| of the globe and what it is worth to Eng
/ land. And, whatever it is worth. that they
| propose to have. and, if one may rely upon
! their own words, quite regardless.
| | recall a few instances and interviews
| that seem eminently pertinent and sug-
! gestive at the present moment. Making
| the passage of the Atlantic some years
| since under the American flag. the captain
| remarked that. in making port, he had to
exercise the greatest caution, as, if he
| should in the least overstep the port laws,
! there was not an English steamer in sight
| that would not run him down in ten min
| utes. l took this to be, of course, some
what nautical in its eXaggeration. | was
wiser. later on. Afterward. making the
! passage under the British flag. we had the
! misfortune of a collision, which nothing
| but the prompt and sagacious action of one
| OF the commanders prevented from result
| ing in an appalling catastrophe. The steam
| ers had each four five hundred persons
| on board One steamer passing directly
as if 1t would be cut directly through. Both
were much injured but no lives were lost.
| Some time later, speaking with the captain
| of one of the colliding steamers, he said:
Nothing in the wide world prevented me
| from going straight through that ship but
| the fact that it was steamer of our own
| line. If ii had been the ship of any other
| line | would have sent her to the bottom. ~
Upon my mildly demonstrating at such a
| holocaust, he replied: But it was my duty.
| The law was on my side That is, it was
no question of humanity, or of utterly need
| less slaughter, it was a question simply of
a few thousand dollars under British law.
| This led me to reflect that, possibly. the
| American captain knew the average Briton
better than | did
| With another captain, the conversation
turning upon the steamer route to India,
| l asked how the British acquired the island
| at the mouth of the Red sea. l could re-
| call how they obtained possession of Glib
| raltar, of Malta. of Cyprus and of Alex
| andria. He prompely replied: We heard
| the Frenchman was negotiating for it, and
we went and took it. Do you suppose we
| were going to let the Frenchman have
| that iSland?
| With another captain. referring to the
Geneva award. he said. Nothing more hui
initiating to England has occurred IN the
! last half century than the Submission to
| the Geneva award by the English govern
| ment." l am not distinctly clear whether
| he said English gove.nmcnt' or English
people.
Some little time before The recent Japa-
| nese-Chinese war, it was understood that
/ China was about to enter upon extensive
/ railroad construction Being in St Feters-
| burg, on the day when the public press an
| ncunced that the Chinese emperor had
| awarded to an American firm the contract
| for all the locomotives, l chancad 10 meet
| an Englishman, just arrived from China
| on his way to London. Reference being
made to the American contract, he replied
| Il have seen the statement that the con-
! tract has been awarded to an American
| hrm but it will not be. We shall not let
| such contract go to the Americans" Two
| weeks later, or so, the papers announced
| that the American contract had been an
| nulled. 1t evident he spoke not from
| any definite knowledge of this specific con-
! tract, but from a general understanding OF
| British antagonism to any American en-
| terprise
! This gentleman further remarked There
| Is one thing | don't ike; wherever you 60
| nowadays. everywhere, you meet d Ger
| man. l should like to kGow what business
| German has anywhere out Of Germany?
| few months since. England was So freely
| spoken of throughout Europe as the "erea
| land grabber," that the London press lei;
| called upon to repel .lscrc iita BILE a
| charge. Since then have occurred the
| Venezuelan aggression and The Transvaa
| raid two as rank attempts at piracy as
| ever graced the Spanish main
There is not a nation on the face of the
globe today. should it take a single steI
| outside its three-marine-nile limit to bet.
| find there an enemy TO impede its progress
and challenge its rights-eve- ana always
| the same-the Englisnman.
| II there is trouble about the seal fisheries
| about Hawaii about the Nicaraguar
canal, it is John Bull. If there is "lant
| grabbing in Alaska, or Venezuela, or the
| Transvaal, it is John Bull.
If Anne. lea would reinstate her commerce
or secure a strategic point island fol
| safety or defense, John Bull Is there, a.
| ready and as willing to sweep our shippin,
on the seas. as he was thirty years ago
Indeed, the English sometimes see them
selves as they are. A London paper, re
| ferrfng to a brutal affray in LIVERPOOL
said, Th, re is no use In denying II. be
meath the thin varnish of civilizat ton, tn.
Anslo-Saxon blood is natively savage ane
brutal"
These facts. patent 70. all mankind. al
SHOW the same spirit, the same purpose
which l. would be folly Tor us to ignore
that. so far as pertains to the "territoria
| question:, whatever may he the solemn as
surances or lofty protestations, We have al
the same, to deal with an open, fiat adyer
sary-it is hardly too much to say enc NY
who. when he has discovered anywber,
upon earth whatever he may desire, will
| take IL, lawfully If British law will rer