Evening star., 1898-12-05


forming all international obligations and
which shall encourage thrift, industry and
prosperity. and promote peace and good
will among all of the Inhabitants what
ever may have been their relations in the
past. Neither revenge nor passion should
have place in the new government. Until
there is complete tranquility in the Island
and a stable government inaugurated mill
tary occupation will be continued.
With the one exception of the rupture
with Spain the Intercourse of the United
States with the great family of nations
has been marked with cordiality, and the
close of the eventful year finds most of the
issues that necessarily arise in the complex
relations of sovereign states adjusted or
presenting no serious obstacle to just and
honorable solution by amicable agreement
OTHER FOREIGN RELATIONS.
A long unsettled dispute as to the ex-
tended boundary between the Argentine
Republic and Chile, stretching along the
Andean crests from the southern border of
the Atacama Desert to Magellan Straits,
nearly third of the length of the South
American continent, assumed an acute
stage in the early part of the year, and af-
forded to this Government occasion to ex-
press the hope that the resort to arbitra-
ton, already contemplated by existing con-
ventions between the parties, might prevail
despite the grave difficulties arising in its
application. l am happy to say that ar
rangements to this end have been perfected,
the questions of fact upon which the re-
spective commissioners were unable to
agree being in course of reference to Her
Britannia Majesty for determination. A
residual difference touching the northern
boundary line across the Atacama Desert,
for which existing treaties provided no ade-
quate adjustment, bids fair to be settled in
like manner by joint commission, upon
which the United States Minister at Buenos
Aires has been invited to serve as umpire
in the last resort.
l have found occasion to approach the
Argentine Government with view to re-
moving differences of rate charges imposed
upon the cables of an American corporation
in the transmission between Buenos Aires
and the cities of Uruguay and Brazil of
through messages passing from and to the
United States. Although the matter is COM
plicated by exclusive concessions by Uru-
quay and Brazil to foreign companies, there
is strong hope that a good understanding g
will be reached ana that the important
tween the United States and the Atlantic
cities of South America may be freed from
an almost prohibitory discrimination.
In this relation. | may be permitted to
express my sense of the fitness of an inter
national agreement whereby the inter-
change of messages over connecting cables
may be regulated on a fair basis of uni
formity. The world has seen the postal
system developed from congeries Of inde-
pendent and exclusive services into q we'll
ordered union, of which all countries enjoy
the manifold benefits II would be strange
We're the nations not in time brought to
realize that modern civilization, which
owes so much of its progress to the ami
hilation of space by the electric force, de-
mands that this all-important means of
COmmunica ton be heritage of all peoples
to be administered and regulated in their
common behoof. step in this direction
was taken when the International Conven-
tion of 1884 FOR the protection of submarine
cables was signed, and the day is, ] trust,
not far distant when this medium for the
transmission of thought from land to land
may be brought within the domain of in
ternational concert as completely as is the
material carriage of commerce and cor
respondence upon the face of the waters
that divide them.
The claim of Thomas Jefferson Page
against Argentina, which has been pending
many years, has been adjusted The sum
awarded by the Congress of Argentina was
s4,2l2.35.
The sympathy of the American people has
justly been offered to the Ruler and the
people of Austria-Hungary by reason of
the afflictiOn that has lately befallen them
in the assassination of the Empress-Queen
of that historic realm
On the 10th OF September 1897 conflict
took place at Lattimer. Pa, between a body
OF striking miners and the sheriff of Lu-
zerne county and his deputies. in which -
miners were killed and A wounded, of
whom 10 of the killed and L. of the wound
ed We're Austrian and Hungarian subjects.
This deplorable event naturally aroused the
solicitude of the Austro- Hungarian Govern
ment, which, on the assumption that the
killing and woundng involved the unjusti-
fable misuse of authority, claimed repara-
ton for the sufferers Apart from the
searching investigation and peremptory ac-
ton of the authorities of Pennsylvania the
Federal Executive took appropriate steps
to learn the merits of the case, in order to
be in a position to meet the urgent COM
his deputies, having been indicted for mur-
der, were tried, and acquitted after pro-
tracted proceedings and the hearing of hun
dreds OF witnesses on the ground that the
killing was in the line of their official duty
to uphold law and preserve public order in
the State. A representative of the Depart
ment of Justice attended the trial and re-
ported its course fully. With all the facts
in its possession, this government expects
10 reach harmonious understanding on
the subject with that of Austria Hungary
Notwithstanding the renewed claim of the
latter after learning the result of the trial
for indemnity for its injured subjects.
Despite the brief time allotted for prepa-
ration, the exhibits of this country at the
Universal Exposition at Brussels In 1897 en-
Joyed the singular distinction Of larger
proportion of awards, having regard to the
number and classes of articles entered, than
those of other countries. The worth of such
a result IN making known our national ca
pacity to supply the worlds markets is
obvious.
Exhibitions of this international charac-
ter are becoming more frequent as the ex-
changes of commercial countries grow more
intimate and varied. Hardly year passes
that this Government is not invited to ma
tional participation at some important for