486 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-III 



culties from which our country suffers most namely, that 

 easy-going facility in slander which is certain to be de 

 veloped in the absence of any effective legal responsibility 

 for one s utterances. At the time referred to there was 

 present an Englishman eminent in parliamentary and 

 business circles. I sat next him, and near us sat a gentle 

 man who had held a subordinate position in the United 

 States navy, but who was out of employment, and appar 

 ently for some reason which made him sore. On being 

 asked by the Englishman why the famous American Col 

 lins Line of transatlantic steamers had not succeeded, this 

 American burst into a tirade, declaring that it was all due 

 to the fact that the Collins company had been obliged to 

 waste its entire capital in bribing members of Congress 

 to obtain subsidies ; that it had sunk all its funds in doing 

 this, and so had become bankrupt. This I could not bear, 

 and indignantly interposed, stating the simple facts 

 namely, that the ships of the company were built in the 

 most expensive manner, without any sufficient data as to 

 their chances of success; that the competition of the Cu- 

 nard company had been destructive to them ; that, to cap 

 the climax, two out of their fleet of five had been, at an early 

 period in the history of the company, lost at sea; and I 

 expressed my complete disbelief in any cause of failure 

 like that which had been named. As a matter of fact, the 

 Collins company, in their pride at the beauty of their 

 first ship, had sent it up the Potomac to Washington and 

 given a collation upon it to members of Congress; but 

 beyond this there was not the slightest evidence of any 

 thing of the sort which the slanderer of his country had 

 brought forward. 



As regards the Santo Domingo question, I must confess 

 that Mr. Sumner s speeches did not give me much light; 

 they seemed to me simply academic orations tinged by 

 anger. 



Far different was it with the speeches made on the same 

 side by Senator Carl Schurz. In them was a restrained 

 strength of argument and a philosophic dealing with the 



