Washington sentinel., 1898-08-06
Dld England Help US at the ont.
break or the War?

We have repeatedly advised
those who desire to learn some
thin9 of the intentions Of the Brit
Ish Government, says the New
York SIN, to read carefully tn,
leading article entitled Episode.
OF the Month";" which is a regular
feature OF the London Nahona
ReVteaO. We have done this be.
cause we know that the editor has
access to official sources of infor
nation which are closed to the
public. We now invite attention
to a disclosure Of particular inn
Portance made in the July number con-
cerning the service rendered to us lust
before the outbreak Of the war with
Spain, when the Madrid Government
spared no effort to induce the great
martins powers of Europe to make the
disposition Of Cuba matter of Interna-
tional concern. Such, it will be remen-
bered, had previously been the status of
the Cuban question, both England aud
France havlne firmly refused to acoui.
esce IN the American assertion that only
the United States and Spain had a right
to determine the fate OF the island,
The editor OF the National Review
begins with the remark that he considers
himself at liberty to divulge a chap
ter OF recent diplomatic history, for the
reason that misrepresentation of the
facts are now circulated by the agents
OF certain continental powers whose
anti-AmerIcan designs were foiIed by
English opposition. The revelation OF
the truth is regarded as the more neces.
sarY because the attemptto form a COM
bination against the United States,
which England was once able to defeat,
may ce at any time renewed. He goes
on to say that when the Cuban crisis
came to a head and it at last became
manifesto to the statesmen Of Continental
Europe that a war between this country
and Spain was imminent, they resolved
to make a European question Of Cuba;
that is, to deal with it as they dealt with
Crete, and to treat the United States as
they had treated Greece. Had the
powers carried out this resolution, we
ourselves should have been subjected to
profound humiliation, and the Cubans
would have been as far from gaining
peace, order and civil liberty as are the
Cretau Christians from achieving their
independence.
For time, the success OF the anti
American league was believed TO be
assured. In the preliminary parleys
France took the lead. eagerly second ed
by Austria, and, according to the
National ReOisW. followed in this in
stance by her Russian ally. The French
Foreign Office was impelled not only by
a feeling Of racial sympathy for the
Spanish people and by the close political
relations existing between the Paris and
Madrid Governments, but also by the
fact that Spanish securities we're held in
France 10 the extent of $500, 900, 900, or
four-fifths of the huge indemnity paid to
Germany after the Franco-German war.
1t must also be borne in mind that the
Madrid Government could exercise
pressure on the French Foreign Office,
for if Spain were to join the Triple ALI.
ance, step she has been invited to
take, she would compel the French
Republic to keep several army corps
strung along the Pyrenees, as it does
along the Italian frontier. Italy, it is
pleasant for Americans to hear, re.
mained outside Of the Cuban concert"
at all events she had made no overt
move in the matter up to the time when
it collapsed.
The accession OF Germany to the pro-
posed anti American coalition was
made contingent on the the co-opera.
tion of Great Britain, a condition which
the promoters of the concert took for
granted would not endanger the project.
They recalled England's traditional
attitude with regard to Cuba, and they
assumed that the relations between the
British and American Governments
must be more or less strained by. the
Venezuela busine IS and Dy the desire
for the annexation of Canada openly
expressed in the United States. Not
only did they deem it reasonable to
demand British concurrence, but they
held such concurrence OF vital moment,
inasmuch as John Bull by reason Of his
irresistible navy and strategic coigns Of
vantage as Halifax. Bermuda. St. Lucia
and Esqulmal, would be the very man
10 bell the cat.
Now let us see how the ,Iot tailed
We told by the editor Of the National
.SeVseV that at the time when the anti
American combination was first mooted
in London, Lord Salisbury was abroad
and the acting Secretary for Foreign
Affairs was Mr.. A. ]. Balfour, whose
cordial liking for the United States rein
forced a far seeing solicItude for British
interests. Aside from his personal
uuwilllngness to see the great American
republic subjected to humiliation. he
recognized that the new situation in the
Far East, which was drawing the United
States and England together, rendered
It advisable that an English speaking
people should acquire control OF the
island of Cuba, which, strstegically.
would dominate the proposed Nicaragua
Canal. He accordingly assumed, and
instructed Sir Julian Pauncefote to
assume toward the engineers OF the
Cuban concert" an attitude which
distinctly indicated that under no cir.
cumstances would Great Britain be a
party to anything that might be even