The times., 1899-05-28
SUNDAY. MAY 2S. 1899.
The High pi-jointed Commission


On general principles it is to be regret
ted that the boundary and other differences
between the United States and Great Brit
ain. or her colonies. could not be disposed
of through the work of the High Joint
Commission, from which so much was ex-
pected al one time. but which now seems
certain TO fan In pieces. The people of the
two imperial Anglo-Saxon nations were
never before on as friendly terms. and
Americans cannot easily forget the cordial
sympathy and moral support extended to
US in the war with Spain. at the beginning
of which it is notorious that all of Cont
mental Europe, with the exception of Rus
sis, was against US and, as a rule, openly
favorable to our enemy.
This natural and proper feeling Of graf
itude makes 1t the more disappointing to
think that there are points of disagreement
between America and England that seem
almost impossible of friendly adjustment.
Yet the situation as disclosed by the dead
lock to which the High Joint Commission
has come does not, as far as We can see,
justify any other conclusion.
Canada is. no doubt largely to blame
for this unhappy condition of things, but
there are points of insistence in the Brit
ish position equally obnoxious TO American
views and interests. The Alaskan boun-
dairy trouble illustrates this. There is not
a scinulla of doubt as to our right to all
that country according to the clear terms
of our purchase from Russia. The line
which separates it from Canada is a per-
fectly straight one, recognized for more
than half century at least by England
and everyone else. True, it has not been
fully or accurately surveyed. but that is
matter of engineering and not of inter
national politics. No question Of its posi-
tion would ever have been raised but for
the discovery Of gold in the Klondike re-
gion The Canadians came in there from
their side OF the line and made develop
ments. Whether they crossed over and
occupied American territory or not is not
important to the present argument. That
is something which an honest survey would
settle out of hand. But an honest survey
is not what they want. What they insist
upon is a surrender of enough American
territory to give them an Alaskan port,
which is about as cold blooded a bit of
colonial impotence as the annals of inter
national relations can produce
Whether from policy or otherwise. this
impossible contention has been backed by
the imperial Government, and as a sop to
the Western Cerberus it has been willing
TO treat for abrogation of the Clayton Bull
wer treaty by way OF recompense The
rather affrontlng feature Of this amia-
ability consists in the fact that England
long ago violated and by violating, va
Gated the Clayton Bulwer treaty in effect
ing permanent settlement on the Mos
quito coast Of Central America. 1t is true
that we may be said to have been derelict
in not making prompt and stern protest,
but We did not need to. since, until OF re-
cent years, our interests in the waters Of
the Caribbean were indefinite and the pros
poets Of a Nicaraguan Canal more or less
vague. II the two powers had been on any
thing like the parity OF Importance in 1851
or 1850 that they are in 1899. England
would not calmly have ignored the Clay
. ton-Bulwer treaty. which she had pur-
chased cheap for cash to the destruction Of
an American concession just previously
granted. and would not have made the per-
manent settlement on the Mosquito coast
which vacated and nullifed It without first
arriving at an understanding with the
United States. To resurrect that old docu
mentary evidence of British chicanery and
American official corruption at this late
day~is, to say the least, not promotiye Of
the new and fraternal relations that. in a
general way, subsist and ought to subsist
between States and peoples having the
common civilization and humanitarian
ideas that characterize the English and
ourselves
Having said all this in a spirit Of sur
prise that our cousins should so far forgef
the golden rule in their treatment OF the
Alaskan boundary and Nicaraguan oues-
tions. we may add that the whole matter
OF our differences. perhaps, might have
been settled amicably and equltably by
means of a compromise which would not
have sntagonized American national pride
or interests, II We. on our side. were moi
tied hand and foot 10 the milestone Of the
Republican fiscal policy. and through that
10 the Michigan and Wisconsin timber
and lumber monopoly. We have put a
prohibitive tariff on Canadian timber and
lumber. not for any purpose of revenue or
TO protect any infant Industry. but to place
rasarned millions in the pockets Of class