Year: 1873




Spain upon which the country cannot look with
satisfaction is likely to pass out of the public
thought for time at least. Already other
occurrences have crowded it away, and public
attention, always turning toward the latest
event. has scarcely remembered the murdered
sailors at Santiago de Cuba in its sympathy
with the distress of the Vile du Havre catas-
trophe, while the perennial theme Of political
misdoings at Washington has had its share in
casting an oblivion, very grateful, no doubt,
to the Secretary of State. over his deplorable
diplomatic fasco But the case OF the Vir-
ginius is yet sufficiently kept in view for the
people to get full impression Of the fact
| that the surrender has been made in
such way as to deprive it OF
the greater part Of its effect as q reparation to
us, and of the whole Of its effect as a humili-
alton to those persons from whose outspoken
and declared contempt for this nation the out
rage came Contrast for moment the scene,
the tone, the style of the capture with the
manner of the surrender. Seized on the open
sea in defiance of her flag, the virginius was
taken into Santiago de Cuba with noisy
fclat, which seemed to call the world to wit
ness the event as one more of the glories of
Spanish valor, and which especially insisted
that the world should take notice of the fact
that in the capture of the ship the Spaniards
had violated the protection the colors of this
country gave her and had defed and insulted
the emblem of our sovereignty. Such was the
spirit and meaning of the first fact and then
the killing Of the men found on the ship gave
to this fact the dreadful emphasis Of a butchery
of which only Spaniards among the nominally
civilized nations are capable AS if this were
not sufficient the ship was taken to Havana
and her reception there was demonstration
against this country, and the whole population
turned out to glorify themselves in the out
rage and insult that the Spanish heroes had
put upon the Yankees. Two months pass
away and the ship is returned to us but here


it is all in bated BREATH lest Spanish suscep-
tibilities should be offended, we agree not to
raise our voices above whisper; and in
order that the effect upon Havana of the tri-
umph over us shall not be taken away we
agree that the insult and the outrage shall
stand valid until it can be atoned for in an out
of-the-way corner, and that then it shall be
kept a secret if possible.


In all this it should be remembered what
kind of people we are dealing with. Coarse
brutal, ignorant, the people in Havana who
gloated over the seizure of the Virginius are
capable Of comprehending only coarse facts;
and our failure to ram the insult down their
fbroafs no ccac with fbano ne lie modification IN
the fullest possible degree. Had the naval
power of some civilized nation inadvertently
cast an indignity upon Us We can conceive
that the acceptance of their apology in way
contrived to deprive the event of its unpleas-
ant features, and not to leave ranking re-
membrance, might be wise and noble minded;
but it is mistaken generosity to act thus with
people who will and can only attribute to
cowardice or incapacity our failure to force
them to apologize on their knees. And Mr..
Fish's neglect to consider in his negotiations
the character of his adversary is one of the
great blunders of this transaction, bat not the
greatest; for his disregard of the character of
the persons with whom he is dealing is trivial
by comparison with his misconception of
the functions of his department. If the
Secretary of State were the representative
OF the country only as small attorney is the
representative OF his client, it would, perhaps,
have been sufficient for him to have recovered
the poor remnant of the stolen property, and
he has practically acted as if that were the
sum of his obligation. To such case, as
viewed from the small attorneys standpoint,
there is no element that cannot be measured
by possible indemnity and no occasion to
provide for the safety of the future, because if
We guard against trouble in the future there
will be no need for the assistance Of the small
attorney. From the result of this negotiation
it is impossible to draw any lesson calculated
to deter the Spaniards from the repetition of
the offence against us. On the contrary, they
find cur ships at their mercy with no effective
defence, and if they choose to capture them
the utmost they need fear is the bare posi-
bility that as the result of a tedious litigation
they may have to pay damages to plundered
owners or to the relatives Of murdered soldiers.
There are owners and heirs to settle
with; there is no nation. There is in
demnity for ship and cargo, and blood
money if you like; but the rag at the
masthead is not worth thought. There are
lawyers to face, but there is no government to
declare and to sustain the declaration that its
sovereignty must be respected. And if
diplomatic at Madrid. acting on the better
notion of our position as people, does declare
for the sovereignty of the country what is the
sentiment his course awakens at Washington?
Eagerness to repudiate his action uneasy
anxiety lest the Spaniards should take offence;
solicitude to assure them over the head of the
too jealous diplomatic that the violation of our
sovereignty is a thing we do not take unkindly.


But the story Of the virginius is only an
incident in the larger story of our relations