The country should begin to notice the telegrams about Nicaragua.
Lord Kimberley is endeavouring to obtain from that little State an apology and a small indemnity for out- rages committed against the British Consul and certain British citizens. The facts are not contested; but the Nicaraguan Government refuses justice, apparently in re- liance upon the readiness of the United States to protect any American Power however much in the wrong. The tone of Washington is not yet certain, as there are contradictions in the telegrams; but according to the most recent, Washing. ton is laying down conditions with a certain imperiousness. The British Government is not to annex anything, is not to land troops, is not to bombard, and in short, is to confine itself to praying in a futile way to sneering enemies. If the American Government wishes to control Nicaragua for the sake of the future canal, let it control Nicaragua, but then it must compel Nicaragua to be decent. It has no right to power without responsibility, and even under the Monroe doctrine its alleged position is indefensible. Under that doctrine Europe is forbidden to acquire any new possession on the American Continent, but it is not forbidden to demand reparation from an offending State. It is absolutely im- possible to yield to such a pretension, and we trust the negotiations will be carefully observed.
