The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1899-11-25
THAT IRON-CLAD FRIENDSHIP.

JoSCpll IL. SllOdtc, TIE american I'M
pcria ambassador to England, was the
principal orator at the recent anniver-
sary celebration OF Sir Walter Scott in
Edinburgh. What he said OF the great
Scottish novelist and his literary work,
the British correspondents OF the Amer
lean papers do not report. That seems
to have been OF minor Importance. In
stead OF showing how the great Wiz
ard OF the North" had enriched British
literature by his marvellous genius. and
how he compared with Thackeray,
Dickens and other writer's OF fiction,
MIR. Choate let literature ego to the
dogs and turned his attention to the
international relations between Great
Britain and the United States. He
evidently went to Edinburgh for the
purpose OF making political speech,
and he made it. Salisbury had made
one in London the day before, at the
Lord Mayors banquet, in which he said:
And | will say that l have noted, us
one OF the cheering symptoms of the
present time, the happy relations exist
ing between the United States and our
selvcs-(cllcers)-and the sympathy
with which we watch their approach To-
ward the same great problems that we
ourselves have had to solve" That is
to say, the British government and the
Mckinley administration are engaged
in the solution OF the SAME problem
that OF subjugating weak nations by
lyddltc and thoritc shells,-the one in
Africa and the other in Asia, to de-
privc the Beers and the Filpinos of
scli-govcrnincs,t in the interest OF hu-
mainly and civilization!
MIR. Choatc considered it his duty 10
rcciprocatc by saying that Lord Sails
bury's generous and cordial words will
meet with a quick and hearty response
beyond the Atantic'; and he added:
The ironcad friendship that now pre-
walls between the two nations means
peace not merely between your country
and mine. but among all the nations OF
the earth. 1t tends by advancing civil
cation to promote the prosperity and
welfare not alone OF the Anglo Saxon
race, but OF the whole human race"
His object in speaking thus was to
impress the European powers with the
idea that England can rely on the Unit
ed States 'ironclad friendship" in the
event OF a continental coalition against
the robber Of the nations. His words
were so understood by Berlin paper,
which said that 1T will be a sight for the
gods in the future when the Anglo
Saxon nations, now outwardly friendly
fly at each others tfroats'; and that
then the navics OF Germany, France
and Russia will get on top
There is no doubt whatever OF the TACT
that a secret understanding exists be-
tween England and the United States al
the present time. They are both en-
gagged in the same kind OF civilization
and "a fellow feeling makes them won,
drous kind to each other and unite:
them in bonds OF ''ironclad friendship
on the ocean. That the friendship o
England is simulated and selfish goe:
without saying She is at present
"splendidly isolated and has no all,
among the nations OF the earth. 1t i:
therefore to her interest to cultivate tho
ironclad friendship OF this country, ans
she is doing it to the intense delight O
the Anglomaniacs who iondly call hc1
the dear mother country
Much has been said OF her friendship
during the Spanisl-American war.whicl
is entirely devoid OF iotndation. Til,
following interview with J. w. Smell
OF Toledo, Ohio, in Whitelaw Reid
New York Tribune, will show what thu
feelings OF the English people were a
the beginning OF the war, and why the,
subsequently changed:
! Il was in London in April, 1893, afte