Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-22
The ANGLO-ITALO-C TREATIES.

Great Britain, which
United States challenges the favored
Concerned. situation Of the United
States in Cuba. Such q
| convention indeed is q manifest violation OF
| the spirit If not the letter Of the treaty be-
| tween the United States and Cuba, pro-
| claimed July 2 1904. which says:
| Article 1.-The government OF Cuba shall
never enter Into any treaty or other COM
| pact with any foreign power or powers
| which will impair or tend to impair the in
dependence of Cuba, nor In any manner
| authorize or permit any foreign power or
powers to obtain by colonization or for mil
itary or naval purposes. or otherwise lodg-
ment in or control over any portion Of said
| island"
| Now articles VIII, x and XII of the
| pending treaty grant special privileges to
British warships and merchant vessels OF
Great Britain and to her subjects such
freedom as indicate possible Judgment In
! or control over said island"
The Washington correspondent OF the
| New York Herald of the 9th instant says
| OF the ANGLO Cuban treaty:
1t Is evident the first serious test of the
relations between the United States and
Cuba since the adoption of the Platt
amendment has come over the treaty now
pending In the Cuban senate between the
| island republic and Great Britain. 1t is a
story OF apparent indifference by this gov
eminent until the time in which to make
adequate protest had almost expired and
Of persistent work by British diplomacy to
undermine American influence in Cuba.
The British minister in Havana, when the
Platt amendment was pending. did much
| ment by Cuba. The State Department was
| notified more than two years ago that
Great Britain was moving for the negotia-
| ton OF treaty of friendship. commerce
and navigation. with Cuba that might be
/ detrimental to American. interests. = .
The treaty was negotiated in the spring of
1905. It IS said It was In the possession of
Minister Squfers fully twenty days before
any attention was paid to 1t by this gov
eminent. The United States objected to
the treaty late In the spring or early in the
summer. and there the matter rested, and
| meanwhile, the treaty went to the Cuban
senate for ratification
The gravity of this unexpected difference
with Cuba is aggravated by the fact that
Cuba concluded treaty of
announcer amity, commerce and navigation
Delay. with Italy, December 90, 1908,
and which appears in cold print
! In the United States Foreign Relations for
| 1Stt, page <Oi. MI. JacOD sleeper, lNen
| United States minister, communicated a
| copy of the treaty to the State Department
under date of January 8, 1904. Surely there
| Is something in the soporific influence of a
name. The treaty was permitted to sleep
uEdisturbed, for fact, in some desk at
l. the State Department.
| The Washington correspondent of the
New York Tribune of the 11th instant says
on that head:
Secretary Root, at the outset of his
career. has hard nut to crack in determin-
ing this governments attitude toward the
treaty-making powers of Cuba. The ques-
ton is forced to the front in connection
with the Anglo-Cuban commercial conven-
| ton now landing in the Cuban congress-
which contains clauses regarded as jeopar-
dizing American interests. The italian
| treaty. which has hitherto escaped the at
| tention of the State Department was rati-
|, fed May 5, 1904.
| 1T is effective for ten years. and there is
no way for the United States to get around
it Practically. In commerce, navigation
| colonization and immigration Cubas treaty
| with Italy specifically regards that king
dom as a most favored nation, and gives
to Italy every advantage that the United
States may acquire in the future. ~
The editorial column of the Tribune rs
disposed in the optimistic spirit of DR.
Liebnitz to conclude that Everything Is for
| the best In the best of worlds possible but
| like the man about to be executed and
told that 1.-The operation was not painful"
he nevertheless lacked confidence"
The writer in this connection may recall
that several years ago he was journalistic
ally roasted in the editorial columns of the
Tribune in an article entitled Chronic
Suspcousness" and because he had de-
clared that Great Brftain's declarations
and solemn assurances-that she was In
Egypt temporarily, and would soon evacu-
ate that country-were Elusive and de-
ceptive and that Great Britain was IN
Egypt with the fixed intention of remain
inc nd britain after the 1anSe of
twenty-five years, is still in Egypt, and will
remain there until Lord Cromer, through
the intermediary of his subordinate, Sir
Harry Johnston, and others, shall have re-
written the history of Egypt and cstab-
lished the proposition that Rameses was
British subject. and by deduction Lord
| Cromer was his rightful successor to the
Glory of Britain.
4
Now. the moral of this apparent di-
vergence is plain. Great Britain rarely, or
never mixes in the affairs
England and of others tothers? there are
uothers." no others: Great Britain is
the sun, moon and stars
combined) for the vainglory of such I'M
mixtion, but for a well-defned and mate
rial purpose. 1t is significant that Italy has
been planted in Cuba, where for TACT, she
has no commercial interest, and where only
one may be created for her prospective emil
grants, and possibly to more advantage than
in the United States. This situation COM
pels allusion to the fact that when Great
Britain was extending the sphere of her
influence from Egypt to Africa she took
Italy by the hand and planted her at Mas
souah The reader need not be reminded
of events that followed. and how Italy was
made to bear the burden Of war with
Abyssinia, which was as disastrous to her
as that In the Roerland to England, where
she was obliged in default of another to
receive the punishment all alone. The
drama enacted in Abyssinia in which The
writer's intimate friend, the distinguished
Gen Baratieri. was made the scapegoat
for the ambition of Crispi should serve
italy as a reminder of the cost of serving
as a yfdette to British ambitions in Cuba
far more dangerous than Abyssinia. But
Massouah was a cloak behind which Zeilah,
Berberak, Kismayu, Kassala and Uganda,
Egyptian territories, were seized and pos
sessed by England in violation of existing
treaties
The minister of the United States, Mr..
Jacob Sleeper. communicates a copy of the
treaty with Italy which he found published
in La Discussion, the semi-of1icial organ
of the Cuban government. dated Havana.
January 9. 1904