WARLIKE TALK

Punch magazine cartoon. President Cleveland "twisting  the tail of the British lion."

Cortland Evening Standard, Thursday, December 19, 1895.

WARLIKE TALK

Widespread Discussion of the President's Action.

CONGRESS BACKS HIM UP.

House Passes a Bill In Conformity With His Suggestion.

Measures Introduced In Both Homes of Congress Looking to the Strengthening of Our National Defenses—The North Atlantic Squadron to Abandon Its Manoeuvres and Will Be Held In Readiness For Feasible Trouble—Enthusiasm In All Parts of the Country Runs High, and the President's Attitude Finds Almost Universal Favor—Avalanche of Criticism From Europe Provoked—Foreigners Seem Unitedly of the Opinion That Cleveland Is Merely Twisting the Lion's Tail as a Piece of Political Pyrotechnics—Great Britain and Canada Loud In Their Hostile Declarations.

Generally Believed That War Will Be Averted.

   WASHINGTON, Dec. 19.—There was an eager demand from congressmen and public officials for copies of the full Venezuelan message and correspondence as contained in The Congressional Record. President Cleveland had many callers, mostly senators and representatives, who came to congratulate him upon the attitude he had assumed in his message. The telegrams which began to come in yesterday, commending his course, were supplemented by letters coming through the mails.

   Secretary Olney also had his share of callers, among others Justice Harlan and Mr. Scruggs, ex-minister to Venezuela, who had no hesitation in stamping the secretary's famous letter of last July as the ablest statement of the Monroe doctrine ever put on record.

   It is proper here to note the fact that while up to the beginning of last spring the United States had never gone further in the Venezuelan matter than to tender our good offices at that point, Mr. Olney, for the first time initiated a new and important phase of the controversy by boldly taking the ground that Great Britain's course was in violation of the Monroe doctrine.

   Although there is nowhere a suggestion of any abatement of our claims, and indeed it is generally recognized that by announcing his determination to hold Great Britain outside of the boundary to be defined by our own commission, the president has left no avenue for retreat, it is still confidently believed here that the difficulty can and will be settled peaceably and with honor to all parties concerned.

   This belief is based upon the expectation that Great Britain, as Lord Salisbury has indicated in his last note, will re-establish diplomatic relations with Venezuela.

   As the revolution in that country has been quelled, and the internal peace Lord Salisbury demanded as a condition to a resumption of Venezuelan negotiations is restored, he will treat the subject, it is believed, and as he promises in his note, in a more compliant spirit than the British government has exhibited heretofore in the negotiations, and thus speedily reach an arrangement satisfactory to Great Britain and Venezuela and so, as a natural result, acceptable to the United States.

   One source of present danger which gives some apprehension to the element that looks for a peaceful solution of the problem lies with the Venezuelans themselves, as it is feared that, carried away by the enthusiasm aroused by President Cleveland's message and Secretary Olney's note of July last, they may be led to attack the British outposts on the Yuruan without awaiting the findings of the United States commissioners as to the real boundary line, or may reject reasonable British overtures for a peaceful settlement of the boundary dispute.

   Although the North Atlantic squadron was scheduled to sail from Hampton Roads next Saturday on a cruise of evolution in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea it is doubtful at present whether that program will be followed to the letter.

   Certainly the squadron will not sail until further orders are received from Secretary Herbert, who is at present in New York and may be absent until the end of the week.

   Admiral Bunce, commanding the squadron, is now in Hampton Roads with his flagship, the New York, waiting for the vessels of his squadron to assemble. He will come to Washington to confer with the departmental officials before proceeding to execute his orders.

   As the North Atlantic squadron corresponds to the British channel squadron in being charged with the defense of our most important coast line, it may be that the authorities will take the view that prudence would seem to necessitate the abandonment of the proposed evolution cruise, which would take the ships away from home, and leave the coast defenseless and also would cut them off from their base of supplies in the event of trouble, the principal coal ports in the waters where the drills were to have taken place being in British hands. The plans for the squadron, however, will not be fixed until Secretary Herbert returns to Washington.

   Commodore Dewey, president of the naval inspection board, called upon Acting Secretary McAdoo and reported that the big armored cruiser Maine had been thoroughly examined by the board and found to be in condition for instant service. He pronounced her to be one of the finest ships [afloat].

   Acting Secretary McAdoo therefore attached the ship at once to the North Atlantic squadron and it was ordered to proceed from Newport to Hampton Roads and report to Admiral Bunce.

   The message of President Cleveland on the Venezuelan boundary dispute, which is destined to be one of the most important of our state papers, was prepared with remarkable rapidity, considering the length of the document and the importance of the subjects treated. The president wrote every line of it without having recourse to dictation.

   Returning to Washington Sunday afternoon, he had a conference with Secretaries Olney and Lamont that night, and then sitting down to his task he worked unremittingly until nearly 4 o'clock Monday morning. The result was 15 pages of manuscript in the president's peculiarly small hand, and it was all in print before 11 o'clock that same morning, and was on its way to congress shortly after noon.

  

FOREIGN PRESS COMMENT.

Sentiments of British, German and French on the Monroe Doctrine.

   LONDON, Dee. 19.—The Pall Mall Gazette ridicules the whole matter, saying: "It flashed across us at first that President Cleveland was mad, and, second, that he was hypnotized by Mr. Olney, who in turn was hypnotized by Mr. Lodge. But we conclude that it is only an election address and we advise President Cleveland to appeal to the country immediately before the Americans have time to study the Olney doctrine."

   The Globe remarks: "No self-respecting nation would for a moment entertain such pretensions, and no one doubts that President Cleveland's heroics are due to the necessities of politics."

   The Evening Standard states that: "It seems impossible for any public man to issue a document in such offensive terms."

   The Press Association says: "Neither the foreign office nor the colonial office officials have anything to say about President Cleveland's message to congress, which, however, does not appear, officially, to be regarded with alarm."

   A dispatch to the Press Association from Liverpool says that one of the largest wheat merchants there said: "President Cleveland's message has had no effect upon trade. The matter it treated as an absurdity. In the event of war America would suffer the most in the grain trade."

  

Expressions From Canada.

   TORONTO, Dec. 19.—Regarding Cleveland's message, The Evening Star says, editorially:

   "Canada is intensely interested in the result. The question involves the right of Great Britain to its own in America. Canada is a part of her possessions in the Western world, and so long as the old flag flies and sunshine and free governments exist Canada will remain a portion of Great Britain, or at least an ally of the mother nation, and if she has war with the United States every able-bodied man in the Dominion will feel inclined to do his part.

   "No one can regard even the remote prospect of war with anything but horror, yet should the prospect become a certainty it will be with a certain amount of grim satisfaction that Canada will prepare for the worst. If the neighbors to the south of us imagine they will get any sentiment or assistance in Canada they make a huge mistake.

   "They may be able to make us suffer, but until the bottomless pit is frozen over they cannot make us yield."

   OTTAWA, Dec. 19.—The gravity of the international situation is fully realized here, but the cabinet ministers decline to talk for publication. The Evening Journal takes an almost alarmist view of the situation. It says:

   "Trouble seems to be coming and Canada should be thinking of her own safety. Common sense calls for preparations at once to make the most we can of our resources for defense. The government should decide at once on measures to increase the number and efficiency of our militia. There is so strong a probability of war that we would be foolish not to prepare for self-defense."

Germany Indorses England.

   BERLIN, Dec. 19.—A representative of the press has had an interview on the subject of President Cleveland's message to congress on the Venezuelan question with a high government official. He said:

   "Europe has never acquiesced in the Monroe doctrine. Mr. Cleveland's threatened interference in a quarrel between two other nations is not seriously interpreted here."

   Count Von Kanitz, the Agrarian leader and the author of the famous grain monopoly scheme, remarked: "The United States seems to be spoiling for a fight. She might get her hands full."

   Herr Richter, the People's party leader, said: "I suppose it is an election trick of President Cleveland's. But it is doubtful if England will back down."

   Herr Von Puttkamer expressed the opinion that: "The whole thing looks like an American practical joke."

   Herr Von Koeller, who recently resigned the portfolio of Prussian minister of the Interior, made the following statement:

   "Germany does not see any reason for taking sides in this quarrel."

   Herr Dohnah-Schlodien, a member of the reichstag, said:

   "It is time to bring about an international definition of the oft quoted Monroe doctrine, and the present occasion may accomplish it."

   The Berlin Post, during the course of an editorial, has this to say:

   "We must not forget that a presidential election campaign is near, and in America the means resorted to on such occasions cannot be too drastic."

   The Vossische Zeitung admits that: "The president's demands are such as to attract the attention of other powers besides Great Britain."

   The Koelnische Zeitung says: "President Cleveland, to our great surprise, has allowed himself to be hurried into taking steps which would have been thought impossible. He has thereby diminished the credit of his second administration in the eyes of history, and has prepared for his country troubles with England, merely in order to catch a few votes of Democrats.

   "Great Britain has the fullest moral and material right to bravely stand her ground and to continue the struggle so passionately commenced against her."

THE SECOND EVENING.

Still Larger Audience to Hear and See "Mikado."

   The second presentation of the tuneful opera "Mikado" drew a still larger audience than the first evening. Scarcely a seat remained vacant on the lower floor and the gallery was well filled. In some respects the rendering was even more pleasing than on the former occasion. The [local, amateur] actors were a little more familiar with the stage and with the ''business'' and, if possible, threw themselves more heartily than before into the spirit of the opera. The choruses were conceded to be rather better than the first night, and the principals were just as funny and just as charming, as the case may be, as on the first evening.

   A matinee was given this afternoon and a fourth and last performance will occur this evening at 8 o'clock at popular prices, the highest price seat being fifty cents. A very good sale of seats for the evening has already been made. Every one should turn out and hear this for the last time.

Small Fire in Marathon.

   At the noon hour Tuesday fire was discovered in the dry room of the Marathon Steam laundry. Mr. Brooks promptly began to deluge the flames from the large storage tank in the building, and held the fire back considerably, until the hand engine was set. Two streams were thrown on the fire, one on the interior and the other outside, and in five minutes the fire was out. The contents of the room, about twenty shirts and a large number of collars and cuffs were destroyed. The damage to the building was settled by S.  B. Pierce, agent for the Lloyds, in which it was insured at $25, inside of an hour from the time he was informed of the fire. Work of repairing was promptly begun, and the laundry is now running as usual. The fire caught from the heater in the dryroom.—Marathon Independent.

BREVITIES.

   —The time of the funeral of Mr. George W. Galpin cannot be determined until to-morrow morning when certain friends from away are expected to arrive.

   —The Digby Bell Opera Co., of which Miss Clara Aline Jewell of Homer was a leading member, succumbed to hard times last week at Terre Haute, Ind.

   —A regular meeting of the W. C. T. U. will be held at the rooms on Saturday, Dec. 21, at 3 o'clock. Members will note the change of time of the meeting.

   —The funeral of Rensselaer Tripp who suicided yesterday by shooting will be held from his late residence at 11 o'clock A. M. to-morrow. Interment in Cortland Rural cemetery.

   —Mr. Jason P. Bump, who was hurt yesterday in the E., C. & N. car shops and was taken to the hospital, is so much better to-day as to be able to be removed in Finn's cab to his home, 224 Tompkins St.

   —An informal reception will be given the Rev. and Mrs. H. W. Carr on Friday evening, Dec. 20, in the parlors of the Universalist church. A most cordial invitation is extended to all friends to be present.

   —The auction of Daniels' livery stable is in progress to-day. Whips, harnesses, robes, blankets and a few horses were sold this morning, and more horses, carriages and sleighs are going this afternoon. Prices are pretty low, but there is a big crowd in attendance.

   —Attention is called to the proposed legislative bill for paving in Cortland which will to-day be found on the seventh page. Every one is urged to read and study it that he may be able to discuss it intelligently at the public meetings soon to be called to consider any improvements or amendments to it.

   —Ithaca, too, is beginning to realize what it is to be a city. The supervisors have increased its valuation by $270,270, a very symmetrical combination of figures, it will be observed. The valuation of every town in the county was increased.—Utica Herald. Those who are anxious to secure a city charter for Cortland without delay can judge by this what would be likely to happen to us in such an event.