Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-01-22
British Government Irritated By Delay of Sweitenham 10
 Give Any Explanation
WHAT WILL HE SAY
Every London Paper But One Con- demns Governor of Jamaica and Standard Says Letter to Ad-
 miral Davis Was Insult.

London, Jan 22-The British gov.
 ernment and nation, having shown
 the strongest reproduction of the at-
 titude of Governor Swettenham. or
 Jamaica, in bringing about the with'
 drawal of the American warships un-
 der the command of Rear Admiral
 Davis from Kingston. the chief ill.,
 terest now centers in the governor
 long deferred reply to the British
 governments urgent demand for an
 explanation of his conduct, as this will give the first adequate means or
 determining the governments tiual
 course in repudiating or condemnlng the governors action. This explana-
 tion had not been received during the
 early hours of the day, although q dispatch reached here from Swetten- ham setting forth the progress of the relief work, without any mention Or the incident which cause the Ameri- cans to withdraw from the island. This dispatch was not dated. indicat- ing that 1t was sent before he re- ceived the governments request for an explanation. Swettenham has been markedly lax in keeping the I'm perial authorities informed regarding the situation at Kingston and the present delay causes much irritation here. The prompt recognition in America that Swettenham's letter was the act of an individual Is much appreciated here. Public opinion con- tinues to strongly denOunce the gov- ernor of Jamaica, although small element takes the ground that he should have fair chance of defend- ing himself. The Evening Standard concisely sums up the prevailing sentiment as follows:
 "Sir Alexander Swettenham com. mitted the gross and unparlonable blunder of writing letter to Admiral Davis which was nothing more or less than m insult and bore all the appearance of carefully studied in- suit. Even If lie received vexntlous provocation from the Americans no shred of Justification can be urged for the letter. The only course it leaves open to him and to his coun- trymen Is to apologize to the nation to whose officer It was directed"
 Among the newspapers the Globe alone, In Its customary anti-Ameri- can way, persists In "applauding the firmness with which Swettenham ax- serted the rights of his sovereign and flag In position of peculiar difficult ty."
 As the Globe represents the most Linguistic and anti-government eIe- ments In the country its statements in no way voice the prevailing opinion of the nation.
 Boston, Jan 22.-The action of s.. Aiexander Swettenham, governor of Jamaica, In requesting the withdraw al or the American naval force under Rear Admiral Davis, is characterized us an unwarranted and inexcusable | Iapse rom decency" by Prof F. c. De oumicnrast of Harvard university and | president of the Victorian club. one | or the leading British Organizations In this city. in a letter made public to-day. Prof Sumichrast says in tbe | course of his communication: "No Brfton can read the paraerapbs or Sir Alexander's letter, after the f,rst without feeling of profound indie. nation. The governor may have ex- pressed his own feelings, but this he had absolutely no right to do; and most certainly he has wholly misrep- resented the feelings of every right thinking Briton. He has done an in- calculable amount of mischief and strained the respect which one nat urally desires to entertain for persons placed Tn positions of authority, and therefore of responsibility.
 But l do earnestly beg our Amer lean friends to believe that the indig- nation they feel is exceeded by that which nils every British breast at this wholly unwarranted and inex- eusable lapse from decency."