The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-12-10

ally have been supplied via London, and
hence, have arrived somewhat tinged by
the famous smoke of that city. that we
have come TO regard the diplomacy OF
Russia as dark. deep, and satanic, and tha
of Great Britain as comparatively disin-
terested and benevolent. OF course, w
ought to have known better. Our own ex-
perience as nation should teach us never
to believe in the honesty or good faith o.
anything British in a Governmental way
From the Convention of 1894 down to the
present time. in the Treaty of Client. in
the Elgin Treaty. in the Treaty of Wash
ington. and markedly in the two infamies
the Clayton-Bulwer and Hay Pauncefote
Treaties. Great Britain has never omit
ted TO secure undue and unfair advantage
of us, and more often than otherwise
with complete success due TO Anglo
mania, incompetency, or corruption or
the part of our representatives. The
dose has not been sweetened to any grea
extent by the SNUG hypocrisy with which
the Mother Country" invariably poses n.
our benefactor, while laughing at US il
secret. as Lord Elgin did and Sir Henri.
Bulwer, and a succession of British nego
tiators did. who have won fame and for.
tune at home by oyerreaching us.
We are led to indulge these reflections
by reading, in our foreign dispatches and
cable letters, of the interest that is
being excited in England by the pres
ent fight OF the Mckinley Admini35ra
tfon to force the United States Sen
ale into ratifying the Hay Pauncefote
convention. From these reports we gather
that there is little popular liberation of
the idea Of an amended treaty. nor does
II appear probable. in view of domestic
political conditions in the United King
dom. that Lord Salisbury's Government
would care TO risk hostile lingo senti-
nent by conceding anything beyond what
the Foreign Office has always declared 10
BE- its last word On the isthmian canal
question. namely, the text of the proposed
treaty as originally agreed upon by NJ.
Hay and Lord Pauncefote A high author
ity,' identified with the Salisbury Cabi-
net. is quoted as saying:
'.Wc would not have abrogated the Oayt.n-
treaty Tor other nation the world
nlcss all the traditions OF British foreign p.;j.y
are misleading. ] fail TO see how We can afford to
e'Fe away any more advantages, even to America -
Another highly placed British official is
reported as asserting that, if the Hay
Pauncefote Treaty is not ratified without
any change whatever, Her Majesty's Coy
eminent will drop the matter and fail
back upon the Clayton Bulwer Treaty.
This statement, il sincere, ought to be
satisfactory to the people of the United
States; but We are dubious concerning its
absolute sincerity. The Hay-Pauncefote
agreement, which is Haunted in our faces
a. evidence of Great Britain's love for
US and willingness to abrogate an old
convention obnoxious to public sentiment
in this country, was and is nothing more
than device born of low diplomatic cum
ming, to re-enact the intolerablc features
of the Clayton Bulwer convention. with
full knowledge that if that instrument
ever possessed binding force, 1t lost
1t at least as far back as 1862, when
its vital terms were openly violated by
Great Britain in the creation OF The
Crown Colony of British Honduras.
III Lord Salisbury had not thoroughly
recognized the impossibility of enforc-
ing any claim to the right of participa-
ton or Interference with us in our canal
project in Central America, under the
Clayton Bulwer Treaty, we should never
have heard of the Hay-Pauncefote con-
vention. So, should the British Govern
ment reject that arrangement in a mucn
"a fa1
sumo to rest upon its old contention that
the former treaty is still in force. IL
would find itself landed on a tabula rass.
We have SO frequently presented the I'M
answerable reasons why the Clayton Bal
wer Treaty must be considered as dead
and buried more than a generation ego.
that il is not worth while to discuss them
gain at this time. They cannot be gain
said, and because that is true We are
strong in the belief that Mr.. McKinley's
able and discreet ally in the end Will
shcw himself anxious enough to take the
half loaf OF whatever may be left of
British advantage in the Hay Pauncefote
Treaty after the Senate gets done with
it. rather than be forced TO the mo bread"
OF an old contract completely and noto-
rlously violated and destroyed through
British perfdy.
We should be sorry to sec even the con-
cession TO Great Britain of an amended
treaty. No agreement of the Hay Paunca-
iote kind is necessary to our freedom of
action in Central America, and any would
certainly hamper us. The Senate will
show as much wisdom as patriotism in |
first amending the Hay Pauncefote Treaty. |
and then rejecting it. With the treaty out
of our way there is nothing in the path of
the Nicaragua Canal, considered as an ex-
American work, to be construct
ed owned operated, fortified, and defend |
I'd by this Republic. Passage of the Hep !
urn-Morgan bill will complete all neces- |
land chooses to make herself unpleasant |
lbout it that fact need not create the
snr 80. uneasiness on this side of the
England dare not go TO war
Aith the United States at present, nor is
I reasonably probable that she could
,lace herself in a position to do SO before
ne had the canal completed, in running
rider, and adequately protected. The
srftish Government took characteristic
ldyantage OF US in 1862, when We were
'reoccupied by terrible sectional war,
nd violated Its treaty obligations to us
y gaining a foothold in Central America
'hich IL had made solemn pledge not to