The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1919-09-19
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4 THE OBSERVATORY +
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chairman of the foreign relations COM
mittee in the senate, and so in sense
the leader of his party, should be in
such conflict with the president and
most other Republicans in and out of
congress. The reason was of course
known to many at that time; but l
have never seen it till | found it in
this remarkable book "The Education
q Henry Adams" If the. public gen.
erally has known, it has escaped me.
I have known that Sumner was natur-
ally a very conceifed man, and after
the brutal assault on him by Brooks
of South Carolina in the senate cham
her his natural traits of character were
Intensified; where before he had been
w;Ilful he afterwards became narrow
and obstinate.
When a lad l used to hear much
about the political fusion in Massa-
chusetts by which the Wings were
routed and the hungry Democrats
given the state government and the
new. ambitious, conscientious, Free
Sellers given the u. S. senatorship,
which fell to Charles Sumner by just
one vote after many ballots. He was
a born Boston aristocrat, with fine
mind, highly developed, and had won
a great reputation as an orator, but
adopting Free Soil opinions, against
slavery, financial Boston, which was
all Wing, shut him out. But the
coalition put him to the fore; and as
the Republican party was formed in
the country Sumner ~radually became
4 national leader. Natural traits, and
long practice as political leader in
congress, had brought him to time
in his life when he must have his way
or something would break.
Needed Naval Bases.
Our experience during the civil war
had shown the desirability of our
possessing as many of the West In
dia islands as possible for naval
bases; and with that idea in mind it
had become a party policy to secure
any good bargains that might be Of
fered, and in course of time Denmark
offered US St. Thomas, which could
then be bought for mere trifle COM
pared with the price we have just paid
tor it. But when that and similar pro-
posals were made Senator Sumner
opposed with all his might, and de-
feated the plan, which led to breach
between him and President Grant
Fish, and Sumner became their bitter
enemy and of all who sided with them.
What was the cause? During the
civil war England had made the great
mistake of abandoning her anti
slavery principles and of sympathizing
with the Southern Confederacy, and
allowing vessels of war to be built and
fitted out in her ports to prey on our
commerce which was fiercely done.
We had great grievance with her
and big bill for damages, which she
knew she must settle, and we all know
how the great meeting in Geneva ar
ranged it, and she paid US vast sum
in liquidation. At that time much
was said about Consequential dam
ages;" that she should pay for more
than actual losses; that she should be
well fined for the losses we suffered
because of the actual ones. Sumner
was an earnest advocate of this plan;
and sought out every known or sup
posed loss of ours, with the avowed
purpose to make the bill for damages
just as large as possible against Eng
land, beyond her ability to pay 1t IN
money.
What then? It was his plan tina,
she should be compelled to cede Can
ada to US or fight 1t almost takes
my breath away at this day to think OF
the audacity and folly of such plan
He could not have been well acquaint-
ed with Canadians; multitudes of them
were the grandsons and great-grand-
sons of the Tories who had been
driven out of our country. during the
Revolutionary war and their hatred
had been famed to another flame BY
the attempted rebellion in Canada IN
1888, which was aided to some extent
from our side of the line. Canada
would as soon think of going back te
France as being ,ceded to US in pay
ment of the mother countrys debt
The great have their weaknesses, ane
certainly Sumner had his.
Then listen to what John Hay sax
about the Spanish treaty in 1872: =
treaty of peace in any normal state q. o
things ought to be ratified Will
unanimity in "a hours. They lthe Y
S. Senate) wasted six weeks in wrang
ling over this one, and ratified It witt
one vote to spare. To sucl
monstrous shape has the original mis-
take of the Constitution grown In tn
evolution Of politics. You must un
derstand,. that it is not merely M
solution the senate will reject. The!
will reject, for instance, any treaty
whatever, on any subject, with Eng
land. The recalcitrant thir,
would be on hand. So that the rea
duties of a secretary of state seem &
be three: to fight claims upon US b.
other states; to press more or les
fraudulent claims Of our own citizen
upon other countries; to find office
for the friends of senators when Their
are none" -
History Again Repeats
And there you have very goo
picture of the present struggle in tn
sepate at Washington. They are no