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Show INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIPS. I We read, nowadays, a great deal about the friendship which one nation bears to another, I but to the thoughtful reader the conclusion is al- most irresistible that the deepest international ' I I friendships are governed by commercial Interests, I or, In some cases, the love professed by a power Is j I merely hate of another power which opposes the I first. Much is being told of Russia's friendship for I the United States in 1861 when friendships were I really valuable to our country, but it should not , I be forgotten that France and Great Britain had I entered into an agreement to act as one toward ' the United States, and France was urging Great " I Britain to interpose with her in favor of the Con- I ' j I i it' j i federate States Government, which would have i been but a preliminary step, the next being an .. , i j 1 1 offensive and defensive alliance with the Confed- H j 1 ', i j I erate Government. We believe that was checked H M J I j I by the swinging into New York bay of the entire K 1 if 1 1 Russian Atlantic fleet, and a few days later by lH I i I tne enterinS Into San Francisco bay of the Rus- m ' Li if i I sian Pacific squadron. Hi il 'r I l ..?Je flnal decision, however, was not made un- l i i lnf til" the Monitor drove back the Merrimac from H , , II I Hamptdn Roads, when even Louis Napoleon saw H1 l Ml ! Shi th n0t nly WaS th MerrimaC driven to 8nel" I I II I ter l)y the guns of the Monitor but that in effect H i I :l II 1 all the Warships of Great Britain and France were K ' I I 11 1 as g0(1 aB sunlc by that terrible new war ma- I 1 1 II I Chine B ,! 9 This country has always been grateful to Rus- H lp 1 v sia for her part at that critical time, but what i J 1 were the underlying facts which really governed? i? i The commercial classes of Great Britain wanted Id 1 the tJnited States as a great commercial nation 1 1 1 so crippled that she would again be the foremost of ocean-carrying and sea-trading nations. In II i 1859 the sea tonnage of the United States exceed- ed that of Great Britain, and the knowledge of I that fact was both humiliating and alarmnig to 1 : England. Then Napoleon had the Old World t land hunger. In his youth he had personally I ' made a survey for a canal across Nicaragua and in 1861 when striving to induce England to join with him to crush the United States, he was ne- fpl gotiating an alliance with Austria to build a if I throne in Mexico; his object being to secure the m j L J trade of that country and to expunge the Monroe III Doctrine as a tenet of the political faith of our HI t Government and people; the object of his empress II I beirig to restore the rule of her church over Mex-imi Mex-imi ico. Again, both England and France thought ilH that with the Confederacy established, it would II be free trade with that new nation; that a vast 1 8 market would be opened for their goods, that in I H return cotton would be cheaper to them. Up n H to that time the people of the United States had B B on every Fourth of July, since the surrender at n ' Yorktown, been telling of our close friendship fili with France and expatiating on the mighty help .. mWt ' she had given our country at the time that tried Imam ' men's souls." I H They found in 1861 that originally the love of j France for us was merely her hatred of England; if U that the real love of France for us was never half f W as strong as was the love of conquest in the soul ! of her emperor. J a ! Then on Russia's part, it was but five years j 1 previous that France and England had joined ft i with the unspeakable Turk, to drive her back into n 9i the fastnesses of her steppes, sinking her fleet, mm dismantling her, fortresses, slaughtering tens of ll tl?dugan'asof( her soldiers, humiliating her before II thp WorYd, .ajnd padding a double burden to her m debt. Itwa's not strange that she should feel IS kindly1 toward 'any power which France and Eng- ffifm land seemed to be preparing to despoil. Again 3H! the Czar had but just issued his emancipation H proclamation that all serfs in his empire should BIH in two years become free, and he could not con- IB ii! Mfflli sistently take the side of a so-called Government H H llwill which claimed to be founded on the divinity of ni ItnH slavery. At' that time the United States was a S I IflH long Way pfC from RussIa l)llt sinco 18G1 Russia H '1 IlwH has l)ullt her great road across Siberia, she looks B ! Illalm on the trade of the Pacific with covetous eyes, 1 I ifsil and the United States seems to be in her way. Even H E i imWA while , promising to withdraw her occupation of Bflr IxhI Manchuria, she was much offended that China, Hfll I Sal a few montbs ago, dared to make a treaty with HH ' 1 H the Unitqd, Spates opening two Manchurian ports HnH)tk all to American tips and trade, BBw 4 MaM The! conpll,sion is that international friendship bbbF 9h! 1s never strong) in the heart of any European HBw nation thftt it will not break it in a moment to BnB iiwB obtain a commercial advantage, and that the only ShKh i ilml course for -our country td pursue Is to render jus- jHHHj'i U" WCBWB tice herself and to insist upon justice from all other powers. |