It is becoming a serious question whether the British Government
should not ask that of Washington to aid in sup- pressing these villains, by signing a Treaty binding both nations to make conspiracy to injure foreign cities, or incite- ments thereto, highly penal offences. If English desperadoes were plotting or advising fire-raising in New York, the Ameri- cans would expect our Government to help them ; and why is the obligation not reciprocal ? We are quite aware that Con- gress cannot compel the State of New York to alter its laws, but it can sanction a Treaty, and a Treaty takes, under the Constitution, precedence of municipal laws. Americans and Englishmen are in perfect friendship, and American reputation
is endangered by these monstrous villainies. The dynamitards, moreover, are endangering American lives, for these cakes of Atlas dynamite are all sent across in steamers, and may blow up on board. Are we to wait till the sudden destruction of a hundred " leading " Americans and their wives excites a burst of fury in New York, before we can hope for the most ordinary offices of friendship ?
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