The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-19

of this country, as well as the friends
of the United States on yonder side of
the ocean, one of the most gratifying
utterances made by President McKin-
ley is the declaration that he would
permit no foreign power to intervene
between his government and that of
Spain with a view to the conclusion of
the war, and that any demands Tor
peace must be addressed by Spain her
self directly to Uncle Sam, without at
fording the slightest pretext to any
ruler of the Old World to act as brokes
in the matter, or to demand the usual
territorial fees for services thus rem
dered. This statement on the part OF
the president is all the more timely as,
now that the end of the conflict is in
sight, a disposition is apparent at Ber-
/ lin, ST Petersburg, Paris and In other
continental capitals to subject any de-
mands which the United States may
make upon Spain as conditions or peace
to the same shaving down process
by the great powers as that to which
SO many other treaties or peace nave
in times past been subjected In fact,
it is asserted in dispatches from Eu-
rope that an agreement has already
been entered into by France, Germany,
Russia and Austria, with view to the
gress, to meet either at Berlin or at
Paris, for the purpose of discussing and
deciding just which of the demands
made upon Spain by the United States
should be conceded to the latter. and
which rejected. The congress in queS-
ton would, it is mentioned, work on
the same lines as that which met in
1878 in the German capital TO revise
the treaty of San Stefano, which
marked the conclusion of the sanguin-
airy war between Turkey and Russia,
and the mere reference by the Euro
pean powers to this Berlin congress of
1878 in connection with the one which
they propose to summon for dealing
with the SpaniSh-American treaty of
peace constitutes a pretty trustworthy
/ indication that they look forward to
melting out the same shabby treatment
to the United States as that which fell
to the share of Russia exactly 20 years
ago.
1t is worthy of note that with the ex-
ception of the treaty of Frankfort,
which brought to a close the memoir
able struggle between Germany and
France in 1901, hardly single nation
has been permitted to enjoy the full
measure of the fruits of its victories
or to retain possession of what the de-
feated power had been willing to con-
cede in order to bring about the ter
mination of the hostilities.
The most recent instance in point is
that of Turkey, the victorious march of
whose magnificent army of nearly half
a million of men upon Athens was
stopped within a few hours distance
Of the Hellenic capital by an order
from the great powers of Europe
which has now been forced to restore
the conquered Greek province of Thes-
sally to King George, but likewise to
consent to reduction of the war in
demnity from 100000 down to s10,-
900. COO. The Greeks have not even been
called upon to give up their fleet to
Turkey, and, in fact, have practically
lost nothing save honor and glory by
their ignominious defeat at the hands
of the Turks, the war indemnity hav-
Ing been practically paid by the great
powers, who gave q joint guarantee
for the loan raised abroad for the pur-
pose of it's settlement.
The midako suffered much the same
fate as the sultan. For, as in the case
of the latter, the victorious march of
his magnificent army CT several hun
dred thousand men upon the enemy's
capital, namely Pekin, was stopped
by a combination of powers, composed
of Russia, Germany and France. Not
content with this, the triumvirate of
powers in question took upon them
selves to revise the treaty of Simono-
seki, concluded between the Japanese
and Chinese plenipotentiaries, accord
ing to the terms of which China recog-
nized Japan's rights in Korea, and in
addition to relatively moderate in
demnity Il think the amount was about
$3.50 600, 000) consented to certain terri
torial concessions to Japan on the
mainland Of China. The triumvirate
declined to permit the execution of this
SimonoseN treaty, cut down the war
indemnity by one-half, declined to adj
init Japans rights in Korea or the ter
ritorial concessions made to her by
China on the mainland, and restricted
the territorial gains of Japan in con-
nection with the war to the island of
Formosa, which, owing to the savagery
Of the native races by which 1t is in
habited, rather infested, has never
been of any use to China and has been
only source of expenditure of vast
amounts of blood and treasure to the
mikado since he obtained possession
thereof.
Had Japan received at that moment
the slightest hope of any backing from
either the United States or from Great
Britain she would certainly never have
consented to submit to such a gross
piece of injustice on the part of Rus
STA, Germany and France, who, as
shown since, had in view. not so much
the much-vaunted integrity of China,
as their own selfish interests. But find
ing himself quite alone, face to face
with this combination of powers, tn
emperor of Japan somewhat foolishly,
in the opinion of those best able to
judge, submitted to being shorn of all
the fruits of the magnificent victory,
almost losing his throne shortly after
ward in consequence of his surrender.
Still more unjust was the treatment
to which Russia herself was subjected
by the treaty of Berlin in 1873, to which
reference has been made above, and
which, according to the great powers,
is to serve as a basis for the revision of
the treaty of peace between the United
States and Spain. Russia had shed
rivers of blood to deliver the Balkan
states from Turkish thraldom. Yet
the car, was not allowed to annex any
of these states, or even to take the
place of the suzerain. The treaty
which he had concluded with Turkey
at San Stefano-that is to say, within
three hours march and within sight of
Constantinople, from the occupation
of which Russia was debarred solely by
the threats of British, Austrian and
German intervention-was subjected
by the congress to notifications most
notifying and humiliating to the Mus
covite nation, and by the treaty of
Berlin, which brought to a close the
congress of 1878, the car obtained moth
ing from Turkey except the promise of
a war indemnity of s60,000,000, which
still remains unpaid, and the province
of Bessarabia, which had belonged to
him before the C.rimean war, and
which he now receiYed at the expense,