The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-08
OUR FOREIGN POLICY.
GrOm the New York sun-Rep.)

Grom the New York Suu-Rep)
The treaty which will make the diplo-
macy Of President McKinleys admnistra
ton forever memorable in history is the
Treaty of Paris. It recorded the results
OF an astonishingly brilliant and success
tul war and il marked the beginning Of a
new and wonderful chapter OF modern
American progress.
Ii was a treaty of gain. not loss: Of ac-
QUESTION. not surrender.
Since the Hon. John Hay succeeded the
Hon. William r. Day as Secretary of State
several treaties of ambitious conception
have been negotiated and somewhat pre-
tentiously announced In advance from the
State Department new triumphs of
American diplomacy. 1t will be profitable
to pass them rapidly in review.
First came the treaty for the partition
of Samoa, Germany taking the principal
share, England yielding her interests to
Germany apparently for the sake of con-
siderations elsewhere which the British
Government regarded as a desirable equiv
alent. and the United States Government
contenting itself with what was prac-
ticdlly already our own.
The Samoan settlement was heralded
from the State Department ante-rOoms as
a most skillful and highly satisfactory So
luton of a difficult and embarrassing ques-
ton When the character of the solution
became known a good many Americans
grtted their teeth. Under other circum
stances the treaty would have been de-
nounced and resisted as q gratuitOus sur
render of a position which this country
formerly would have gone even to war to
maintain. Yet the Senate ratified it. and
scarcely a murmur was heard. We were
told in substance that the State Depart
ments diplomacy had bigger FISH to fry;
that il was great accommodation to Eng
land, enabling her to turn to advantage
the disproportonate sentimental impor-
lance which the German Government at
tached to the triumph of it's audaciously
persistent policy in Samoa: that we owed
this much to England for valuable favors
rendered during our Spanish war, and,
moreover, that any little give-away on our
part in Samoa was only a single move in
the larger game OF American diplomacy
playing for splendid results which would
become apparent later. So Americans
stopped gritting their teeth about Samoa
and consented to wait
Then came the Hay-Pauncefote convea-
ton. proclaimed in advance to be all that
the most exacting patriotism could DESIRE
Turn back to the semi-oficial leakages of
information about this treaty, before the
text was published. II "abrogated" the
troublesome old Clayton-Bulwer skeleton.
II solved at one stroke the difficulties
which had tied the hands of previous
Secretaries of State for half a century
back. 1t assured us an interOceanic canal.
American in every sense Of the word. II
was a new and most gratifying proof Of
Englands good will. 1t was a surrender
on her part. procured, il is true with
mastery skill by our negCtiatOr, but not
the less testifying to a warm. enduring love
and trust of the American nation; and so
on.
The proposed treaty was published, and
a howl of disgust went UP from the Ameri-
can people which is still heard without
dimnution. The country at once per-
ceived on which side the surrender was;
where the warm. trustful affection came
in. The Hay-PauncefOte convention re-
wives the Clayton Bulwer Treaty and re-
nOunces forever the right of this Govern
ment to control the interoceanic waterway
which it agrees to construct for the worlds
benefit
Next come the reciprocity treaties ne
gOtiatei with France, the British West
Indies. and Argentina. The exact contents
of these latest triumphs Of diplomacy are
not yet the subject of public discussion.
An idea Of the nature Of the triumph may
be derived from the remarks Of Senator
AIdrirh who is familiar with the provi-
sous OF the reciprocity treaties. He is
reported as describing them as entirely
one-sided." That is to say, the United
States by their terms give everything and
get nothing" Nevertheless. the country
Will wait and see for itself
Has the Hon. John Hay. whom the ma
ton highly esteems as a minor poet. any
more diplomatic victories in store2
A few more such victories and We shall
be undone.