Year: 1872

the realities which words represent,
will for the most part, we doubt not,
accept the action of the Senate on the
supplemental article of the treaty as an
action worthy of that distinguished as


sembly and creditable to the national
, character. The mistake made in the
presentation of the claim for cOnse-
quential losses is almost universally adj
mitted, as, indeed, there could hardly


in the long run be much differenceOf
opinion touching so plain a matter
among persons of sufficient knowledge
and reflection to form judgment on
the case. As it was, or at any rate
ought TO have been, generally known
that England never would or could
submit the claim to arbitration, its
mere insertion in the case would have
looked like an attempt on our part
either to over-reach our opponent in
the great arbitration, or to arrest the
Process of peaceful settlement arranged
in the Treaty, at the same time throw
ing upon the other party the odium of
withdrawal. But the claim was not
merely made; it was made in the most
irritating and offensive manner, and
thus seemed doubly adapted to pro-
drce an impression discreditable TO our
national character and injurious to our
material interests. 1t was, however,
not intended to produce these effects;
it was really blunder-an endeavor
to establish rule which would be ru-
inous to ourselves as a neutral nation.
This was the other day expressly affirm
ed by the American Minister in Eng
land. To plain common sense and good
feeling it would surely appear no very
difficult thing to correct so manifest
mistake. 1t was the blunder of only
two or three persons, for whose action
the American people are not willing to
be held responsible. Their sentiments
have undergone no change since they
rejoiced in the conclusion of the treaty,
and the Senate, in surrendering the in
direct claim, and in thus rectifying a
mischievous mistake, has acted in ac-
cordance with the statesmanlike and
conciliatory feeling in which the Treaty
of Washington originated. With this
feeling the introduction of the indirect
claim was utterly incongruous and ont
Of harmony, and the recent step of the
Senate is merely a return to the spirit of
the Treaty, or rather q formal dcclara-
ton of the fact that by the American
people the spirit of the Treaty has never
been departed from.


1t is impossible. to believe. that the
most valorous clamor of some newspa-
pers about the dishonor incurred by
the action of the Senate and about the |
chastisement inflicted on us by Eng
land, will make much impression upon
intelligent Americans. The intellect
ual calibre and moral senssibility of the
most earnest of these organs of opinion
are sufficiently patent from the position





tionable claim got into the case It ought
to be kept there. We venture to say
that one of the forcible-feeble leading
articles referred to, read in Europe, and
accepted as a specimen of the best
American thought and feeling on the
subject, would do more to discredit the |
American name than fifty such surren-
ders as that of Mr.. Bancroft Davis |
claim. The truth is that the withdraw
al of our claim will be understood and |
interpreted not only in Great Britain,
but on the continent of Europe, in 4
sense favorable to the American char
acter. In England there is no DISPOSE
ton to bully us or to eXult over our
alleged humiliation. Well informed
Englishmen familiar with our power
and growth, feel that they must either
fear us, or have our decided good will.
The treaty, with its astounding apology,
was the result of resolution by Eng
land at almost any cost to establish
friendly relations between the two
countries, and much of the eXaspera-
ton over there caused by the indirect
claim, was due to the discovery, as it
seemed, that the English spirit of con-
ciliation had been misinterpreted in
in this country. In the correction of
this mistake on their part by the cor
rectiOn of our own blunder, English
men will see only cause for joy and for
the continuance of their friendly poll
cy. But the fact is that in the old world |
generally American reputation for
courage, public spirit and patriotism is
too well established to De injuriously
affected by any single act even of SEEM
ing submission to dictation on the part
of England. Our reputation for mod
Grafton, fairness and good faith, how
ever, is not so distinguished as it ought
to be, and we doubt not that our with
drawal on; the. grounds of truth and
justice as well as self-interest from our
false position in this Treaty business
will much rebound to the credit of the
American name as we'll as of popular
government. This, we predict, will
be the case, despite the asslduous efforts
of prominent metropolitan Journals to
misrepresent both the American posi-
ton and the motives of American
statesmen.


But the policy of saving the Treaty
at the expense of punctilio is recon-
mended by other considerations as well
as those above suggested. The failure
of the Treaty would not leave our re-
lations with England in the compara-
lively favorable condition in which
they stood even when it was negotiated.
By the blunder which all acknowledge
and regret, the American side of the
prolonged controversy between the two
nations has been seriously damaged in
the public opinion of the world. If the
treaty failed, old discussions would be
revived, and old grounds of exaspera-
ton renewed, and even if war should


not be the final result, the entire world


of finance and commerce would be in
juriously affected for years. Those
writers who with so much confidence
assure their readers of the impossibili-
ty of war as consequence of the fail


ure of the treaty, if they believe what