Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1916-07-28


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navy, and Napoleon ordered the seiz-
ure and confiscation of American ships
wherever found. Our shipping rotted
at every French and British port, our
crews were cast into prison and left
,, to die of abuse and neglect. The Brit
| ish ship Leopard fired upon the Amer
lean cruiser Chesapeake i'm American
waters, killed and wounded several of
our sailors, took three native born
Americans off the Chesapeake, and
hanged one of them in Halifax.
But We didn't go to war. Jefferson
settled our troubles by negotiation
just rs the President of the United
States is trying to do today.
When Adams Was President.
When Adams was President France
preyed upon our commerce. She OK
tended her seizure, searches. and con-
fiscations to the very waters of the
| United States themselves until she
had piled up in our State Depart
of ncutrality's law. American am
bassadors who sought to adjus these
wrongs were refused recognition and
openly insulted at the French court
President Washington called Wash
ington out of retirement To head the
Army, he created the Navy depart
mcnt and he built - battlcships.
But we didn't 20 To war. Adam,
| settled our troubles by negotiation
just as the President of the United
States is trying To do today.
When Washington Was President.
When Washington was President
and, neutrality" first declared, war
convulscd Europe, our ships Jared not
put out to sea, commerce was paralyH-
ed, and business depressed. Amcri-
can passengers and American crews
were thown into prison and depriv-
cd of legal rights. Genet, the min
| lister from Frnncc, fitted out priva-
teers in our harbors, tloutcd our of
fcials, and tried to rally this country
to the support of France in return
for the help France gave us in the
| revolutionary war. England and
| France seized 400 of our ships and
conliscatcd millions of dollars worth
of property and up in Quebec Lord
Dorchester promised Canadian Indians
the pleasure Of burning American
homes and scalping American citi
2cnS.
But we didn't go to war. Wash
ingtOn settled our troubles by ncg0iia-
! tion just as the President of the
United States is trying To do today.
Are Republicans Willing TO Read
Harrison. and Blaine, Lincoln md
Grant out of their party?
In the face of this record do Re
publicans realize that when they nr-
raign the policy of the President of
the United States today they arraign
the policy of llarrisson, of Blaine,
Of Lincoln, and of Grant? For the
pleasure of criticising II Democratic
President, are they willing To read
out of the Republican party the great
est men the Republican party ever
had? Are they willing to si.y that
the Republican party of today con
demns what Hamilton did in rcvolu
tionary days, what Lincoln did in Civ
| il War days, and what Grant and
Blnin and Harrison did but yesterday?
In this policy Of peaceful ncgotin
ed States follows the example set him
ocratic party and the greatest prcsi-
dents the Republican party excr gave
the nation.
| bO lHt vi lilt lltStul utlulll-
istration believe that Lincoln should
have risked national disaster by us
| ing the sword rather than the pen in
pressing the Alabama claims? Are
they willing to brand Grant ms II cow
ard because he kept us ut peace with
Spain?
Yet no incident of the present war
shows so gross violation of our ncu-
| trail rights as IIngland's action in
building navy to prey upon our com
mcrcc, no submarine attack surpass-
es in horror the butchcry of Ameri-
can citizens by that Spanish firing
| squad in Santiago when Grant was in
the Presidential chair.
In this, as in all the other big qucs-
tions of life, the more we understand
| the past the better we shall Judge
the present. Where il took ten years
to secure adequate compensation for
the Alabama claim, the present nd
ministration has already secured in
the case of Il single claimant rcpnra-
ton greater than all the Alabama
claims combined. Where, in other ad-
ministrations during great foreign
wars, the American flag was merely
an invitation to plumber, today that
flag is the best protection of all who
desire to be safe upon the seas.
Where Washington vainly pleaded
for recognition of our neutral rights,
where Jefferson sought in vain TO pro
tcct our shipping, where Lincoln fail
ed to gain us the freedom of the seas,
the man who now sits in the Presidcn-
tial chair has secured from every
warning power, from every Empire
under the sun. the formal and definite
assurance that the neutral rights Of
America shall be respected and OBJ
served.
We challenge our critics TO deny n
single fact in record. We defy them
to show single point at which the
helsman who has safely piloted us
through Europe's storm has depart
ed from the course laid down by those
who established Americas foreign
polio.
| (NOTE-Furthcr quotations from