Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1881 — FOREIGN RELATIONS. [ARTICLE]

FOREIGN RELATIONS.

Secretary RlaineS Letter to Minister Lowell—A Document IVliicli Made the Kritiwli Lion Lasb His Tail. The letter of Secretary Blaine to Minister Lowell, explaining the position of this Government iu reference to a modification of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, dated at tlio State De* partment, Nov. 19, 1881, and transmitted to Congress by the President ou the 15th inst., in response to a resolution of the Senate, is, a lengthy aud comprehensive document. It is couched in plain, straightforward language, with but lLtlo of the flavor of diplomacy about it. It was intended solely for the instruction of Minister Lowell and not for the public eye, and Mr. Lowell is expressly notified that, unless requested to do so by Lord Granville, the British Minister of Foreign Affairs, he is not to furnish him with a copy, the reason being that the foreign policy of Great Britain is discussed iu it in a manner not altogether complimentary. In the ietter Mr. Blaine declares that the conditions under which the Clayton-Bulwer treaty were made have long since ceased to exist, and can never bo reproduced. The development of the Pacific States has created new duties and responsibilities for our Government, and to the proper discharge of those duties a modification of the treaty is necessary. In reference to the Panama canal, it says that it would be no more unreasonable for the United States to demand a share in the Suez canal fortifications, or their neutralization, than for England to make demand for tnc perpetual neutralization of the Panama canal. Mr. Blaine takes occasion to reaffirm the Monroe doctrine, and suggests the following modifications in the Clayton-Bulwer treaty: That every part which forbids the United States fortifying the, canal and holding political control over it m connection with the United States of Colombia be canceled; that every part in which Great Britain and the United States agreed to make no acquisition of territory in Central America shall remain in force; that the United States will not object to maintain the clause referring to the establishment of a free port at each end of the canal, if England desires that provision retained; and that the provision by which the two Governments agree to a joint protectorate of whatever railroad or canal may be constructed be considered obsolete. The letter closes with the statement that the United States will make joint proclamation with the country in which the canal is located that it shall be open in time of peace to the commerce of every country, but in time of war will be impartially closed to war-vessels of all nations.