Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-12-05
GREAT BRITAIN MUST YIELD on
NICARAGUAN QUESTION.
CONTEST FOR ORIENTAL TRADE
ANGLO-SAXON UNITY WILL SOLVE
CHINESE PROBLEM.
Americn's '.Open Door" Policy in Phil.
ippines VIII Lead to General Adj
mission to All Open Chinese
Ports Waiting for
Message.

S-
| after it was learned that both Lord Sails
| bury and Mr.. Chamberlain had urged the
Prince of Wales to visit the United States
next year, your correspondent went to the
| Thanksgiving dinner of the American So
ciety and heard the lord chancellor make
| dramatic appeal for a moral alliance be-
| tween the United States and Great Brit
ain.
| A public deliverance by the lord chancel-
| lor is virtually an utterance by the house
| of lords. He seldom speaks in public. and
| when he does he speaks deliberately and
| with authority. His voice is the voice of
aristocratic England.
| AS he stood there among the flowers,
with the British and American flags draped
on the wall behind him. his eyes flashing,
| his cheeks flushed. and his clnched fist
| swung upward, the vast audience half rose
| from the tables as he said:
Il think l may say, without fear of boast
| ing, that, once united, we may defy the
world in arms Had the queen herself
said it the thing could not have come from
more responsible source.
Canal May Be Menace.
| And yet there is shadow on this white
horizon of peace, a shadow which the
keen eyes of Lord Salisbury see plainly.
While the wine cup passes and the lip
1
| British foreign Office is occupying itself in
| contemplation of the far-reachlng effect
which the building of the Nicaraguan canal
by the United States must have on British
| interests. Great Britain recognizes the fact
! that the annexation of the Philippines i'm
| poses upon the United States the immedl>
Lord Salisbury has been made aware OF
| the intention of the United States to con-
troll the canal when it is built and to ar
| range a protectorate with Nicaragua quite
| independent of British influence or British
protests.
| The necessity for haste in the completion
| or naval and commercial highway be-
tween our Atlantic coast and our new enl-
pre- IN Asia is thoroughly understood at
the foreign office. The British government
| is waiting anxiously for the inevitable
communication in which President McKin-
| ley will inform her majesty'S government
| that the Clayton.Bulwer treaty is no long
er regarded by the United States valid
or binding agreement. Under the terms of
the treaty the American government would
ce from exercising Any special
canal, would be debarred from fortifying
the entrances to the canal, and would be
shut off from any treaty in this regard
without the consent Of Great Britain.
salisbury's Difficulty.
The darkness on the horizon of internal
| tional love arises from a sudden apprehen-
sion at the foreign Office that Secretary OF
State FTeulinghuysen was not Joking when
he asked the British government: to recog-
niZe the almost indisputable fact that the
Ciayton-Bulw treaty was dead beyond all
anxious TO avoid friction. but it is said that
he will decline to assent to the proposition
that this treaty is void. Yet he knows, as
every member of his government knows.
that the moment congress authorizes the
building Of the Nicaragua canal the whole
American people will insist that the canal
shall be under exclusively American con-
troll, not only that we shall have a secure
means of swinging our armed fleets sud
that our great Atlantic ports shall have
ready access by water to the trade of the
Philippines.
No man can foresee how grave may be
the complications involved In this struggle
between the two countries on this point.
Your correspondent has taken pains to in
her position since 1Ss2 regarding the Clay
ton-Bulwer treaty The Information is that
British policy in this regard has not de-
flected SO much as the breadth OF a hair.
In view of this dangerous element exist
ing in the relation of the two nations and
the possibility that a sudden blaze of anger
to see the Importance of having as soon
possible responsible and capable Ameri-
can ambassador in England to assist in
shaping the situation before it becomes too
The stand on this point which will be
orally Understood. It means that British
ships must sail under American guns If
they are to pass through the Nicaragua
be defended and secured by American forti-
tications and American troops. 1t is this
that thrills the British kidney with pain.
Ii is real and imminent peril.
1t Is the firm belief Of her majesty's min
isters that if an outbreak of passion on the
subject of the ClaytonBulwer treaty can
be avoided, Great Britain can count upon
the active, moral and physical support of
tho United States next year in demanding
Chinese port and province to which the
Chinese admit any nation. Not only this,
but there is a growing conviction that if
this demand is resisted the United States
and Great Britain will make each a joint
or simultaneous naval demonstration in
Asiatic waters
These are not theories. but substantial
facts. Every statesman in England in or
out of Office recognizes the open door"
policy of the United States in the Philip
pine islands the first gun in battle to
be waged by the two great Anglo-SaXon
nations for equal rights to all nations in
Asia. The gigantic preparations which are
visible in every naval establishment of the
British empire all relate 10 this same hope
of joint action by the United States and
Great Britain next year.
ThOrOuChIy I'm to Date.