Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-04
THE LESSON,

JH6 V6WI ~ EIH L6OCVWs |
The final settlement Of the trouble owe
the Venezuela boundary, on a basis that
gives to Great Britain nearly all that was !
originally demanded by that nation.
teaches a lesson which the average AM
erican citizen may ponder with profit. 1t
is considered the proper thing to poke
fun at mercurial France, and talk learn
edly Of the abnormal excitability of it's
people, yet a few short We airs ago ninety
five per cent of the American voters APP
plauded Grover Cleveland when he twist
ed the tail of the British lion on account
of the Venezuela question.
There has been no change in the real
merits of that question from that day to
this. and a calm, thorough, impartial, and
perfectly fair. investigation into the nler-
it's Of the case, by the Paris tribunal,
demonstrates the righteousness of the
original claims made by the British gov
eminent. Yet the American people We're
willing to back up a war which would
ave been unjustly precipitated by a
Britain, in the parlance of the day,
knocked the chip off Grover Cleveland's
shoulder.
The attitude assumed by the admins
~tration would have led to war under or
binary circumstances, and to England
alone is due the credit for a continuation
Resting on the merits Of his claim, and
knowing that time would accord him his
rights in the premises, the British lion
calmly permitted. the ambitious demo-
cratic executive to twist his tail until
the novelty of that exerci Sc had worn off.
To say nothing of the unpreparedness
of this country for war, at that time, and
the likelihood of severe punishment had
it been undertaken, the retrospective
consciousness of engaging in a contro-
versy of tina kind on an unjust basis
cannot be too seriously considered. The
findings of the Paris tribunal conclusively
show that had the democratic admins
~tration plunged this country into war
with England, over the Venezuela bound
airy dispute, this nation would have COM
mitted a crime against modern civiliza-
ton.
The readiness of the American people
to ngage in war in defense Of what they
l-J.- - ~ H. I,,o O.A;.a :.
not so much a matter for retrospectiv
criticism as is the administration tina
led them up to the verge of an awfu
{ crisis in the history of our country. I
was the duty of the de mocratic admin
t istration to fully acquatn MT itself with al
f the facts involved in the claims of Grea
Britain before it assumed to interfer
, with the exercise of what has since beel
l shown to be the legitimate rights o
that nation. The thoug htlessness will
which an ambitious bourbon presiden
. would nave plunged this country int
a destructive war, when grossly ignoran
of the facts upon which the ~controvers,
:. would have been based, and the willing
ness of the people to sustain him whei
they believed a vital principle to be in
lvolved. is a picture in history that stand
out in marked contrast with the n pre-
scented today-a picture where the coun
: try has been drawn into a war that wa
t not of it's own seeking, where environ
t ment has made a defe nse Of it's homo
and it's flag an imperative duty, an
where the political party tina was repre-
e scented by Cleveland in the Venezuel
mistake refuses to give it's support to tn
national administration. Verify. the lei
sons of history can be learned wit
r profit