The Press. — London, England, 1856-07-05 00:00:00

irl' ' . - • , *-#4"g IP i .... ... ..* ..... .. . • - ‘ lO9l .- Th I .ip rto64, I. • . \ • • 11 • t . ( LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 5, 1856. our agents ; that their conduct was that of a spy and informer who watches in silence the movements of parties whom he designs as his victims, who pounces on them at a disadvan tage, and then suborns wretches to support by perjury a charge founded in the deceitfulness of his own discreditable proceeding. How different, he exclaims, would have been the conduct of the British Government : Why, if any foreign agent in this country were supposed to be acting at variance with British law, does any man suppose that our Minister for Foreign Affairs would not send to him the very nett day after receiving such infor mation, ask him for explanations, sift the matter to the bottom, and allow no misunderstanding to exist? Is that the conduct of the American Government ? No. Blackening the conduct of the United States' Government to the utmost extent of his power, he asserts that, inasmuch as her Majesty's Government did not think it expedient to dismiss Mr DALLAS, " the question which has " arisen between the two countries has been " terminated, so far as the two Governments "are concerned, in a manner deemed satisfac " tory to both." According to his representation, the gentle men on the Opposition side of the House alone prevent a cordial reconciliation with ;he United States. His language is all amicable ; theirs is all bellicose. Only through their absurd notion that England has been treated with contumely is a feeling of irritation kept up ! In what sense is the extraordinary as sertion true, that the question id dispute " has been terminated in a manner- satisfae-1 " tory to both Governments"? The British; Government is still without an Envoy at Washington, and is still without Consuls at the chief ports of the Union. The inconveni ence of such an exceptional state of thing!" is obvious. Suppose any circumstance occurs on one side. of the Atlantic or the other which in the opinion of the United States' Govern ment requires that prompt explanation which in all cases of international misunderstanding Lord PALMERSTON insists is so desirable—the American Administration will he unable to receive authentic assurances from the British Legation. It will have to wait for informa tion, on perhaps the most urgent matters, until despatches can bo sent to and fro. And in critical cases, what fire may not blaze forth in the interval? While the question of dismissing Mr. DALLAS was in suspense, we had not the least doubt that Lord PALMERSTON'S Administration, hold ing the opinions it did on the unjustifiable conduct of the United States' Government, should have resorted to measures of retaliation, or should have left to other hands the task of composing the quarrel. For why is the ac ceptance of the dismissal of Mr. CRAJLPTON and the British Consuls felt to be humiliating to this country? Not from the act itself, apart from all considerations connected with it, but because our Government, which the Premier declares is the country in such cases, main tains that the dismissal was undeserved and unjust. In what position, then, does England stand? She submits to injustice without an attempt to retaliate. She pockets a gross affront, and in the face of the world sees her agents disgraced while declanng that they are disgraced undeservedly. Who submits to undeserved wrong but the coward who dares not, or the wretch who cannot, resent it? It is this which really humiliates England, which places her in a false position towards the United States, and which will be attended imply vengeance, reproof beti insult • or, the United cause for offence and that, therefore, pension of orlinary between the' is to decide, ty'sAdr^:- ` 4 • ; r. .":1, . , . ~:: I. • ; • rfl ~~ STAMPED STXPENCI. UNSTAMPED..FIVEPENCI. at no distant date with bitter and mortify ing consequences. That party in the State which has uniformly held that the Foreign Enlistment Act was an error—that it was im possible to carry it into effect without giving just cause of offence to foreign Governments— that the difficulties which have resulted in the United States were, without any fault on the part of our agents, inevitable from the very nature of the Att—might have given to the United States* Government satisfactory assurances without compromising, thethe national honour. But Lord PALmErts•ros's Administration could not du so. Retaining its place as the head of the country, and retaining all its opinions, it receives with sullen submission the disgrace of its officers—.rut daring to support, not ven turing to disavow them ; and revenges itself for its degradation by taunting and insulting that Government whose superiority it has reluctantly been compelled to acknowledge. We know what the result of this policy must be. It must lead to further estrangement. The open quarrel produced by the dismissal of Mr. DALLAS might have led both countries to re flection—might have inspired alarm, and might, eventually, have brought about a cordial reconcilement. But the quarrel will now smoulder ; the elements of conflict will be kept in activity, and but a chance breath will be required to fan them into a flame. It is false—more false than any statement eve made by a British Minister in Parliament— that the question has been disposed of " in a " manner satisfactory to both Governments." The whole speech of Lord PALMERSTON shows the utter falsity of this assertion • and when that speech is read in the United States-- when it is considered by the Cabinet at Washington—the effect will be more disquiet ing than if the bolder course had been taken of declaring that Mr: DALLAS, who presented the despatch announcing the dismissal of British officers from the States, had been de clared to be an unacceptable Minister to this country. We have a few words to say to the two parties who, for the present, agree to support Lord PaLmassros in his place—the gentlemen of England and the commercial community. The first think the honour of the country safe in his hands—the second conceive that they can bind him over to keep the peace. Both are deceived. lie has sacrificed the national dig nity already, and he is surely preparing the way for such a misunderstanding between the two countries, and for the generation of such violent anianosities. as no explanation will be able to remove. He has swerved from the straight. plain path of principled statesman ship, and, of the two direct courses open to him, has combined the difficulties of both in the middle way he has chosen. Neither consistently with national honour, nor with true policy, was it possible for this country to have done otherwise than-1. To have treated the dismissal of Mr. CRAMPTON end the Consuls as an act of injustice, impera tively demanding, not retaliation, which would No. 166.—V0L. IV. 'Alt ',fuss. 4044- eance, but the calm and measured fitting a due sense of undeserved 2, a frank acknowjaalFritirthat l States Gove l iit .- € -, _ - . - 11 Afenee as dem .r. erefore, there fetnuiii 4 . ile . t: Driinary and cows: . - I 7 !two count' ies. ' • • 'llO -4 idirib w in effect, that th - ''•• • A ^ „5 it -1 , 90...- atration as to no iv ' . . . 4 e "c ..... •••• ‘ , • ..s ii" .• -_,„,- -# 4 .57 V LONDON,' SATURDAY, JULY 5, 1856. MR. MOORE'S motion has left the American question where it was. That motion was un authorised by the Opposition, and failed to command their support. The minority did not contain the names of Mr. DISRAELI, of Mr. WALPOLE, of Lord STANLEY, of Lord JOHN MANNERS, of Sir E. B. LrrvoN, or of Mr. HENLEY. When the Opposition wish to ex press their sense of the conduct of her Ma jesty's Government, they are not likely to select Mr. H. G. MOORE as their spokesman. The position of our relations with the United States' Government, as explained by the Pre mier himself, is this :—He maintains " that " the law of the United States was not " violated ;" that our Envoy at Washington and our Consuls did not afford the United States' Government any just ground of com plaint; that that Government acted unfairly and deceitially towards Mr. CIWIPrON in re- fraining to demand - explanations from him, as to the alleged violations of the law, " that " they might allow causes of complaint to ac " cumulate, in order that, when the proper " time arrived, they might take advantage of " them, and act upon them, or deal with them "as matters which did not deserve considers " tiun ;" that, in regard to the Consuls, " the " United States' Government failed to take " those steps which it was their duty to take "if they thought that foreign agents were " violating the laws of the Union ;" that, " the accusations of the United States' Govern " ment rests entirely upon the evidence of men "who are admitted on all hands to be men of " vile and infamous character, and totally un• "worthy of belief ; " that, finally, her Majesty's Government had offered an ample apology for any offence which could have been uninten tionally committed, and that the apology was not accepted. Having shown that the United States' Go vernment had been guilty of all this falsehood, unfairness, double dealing, and dereliction of duty, he turns to the Opposition, and says, if you venture to declare that England has been treated with insult and contumely, then I charge upon you the responsibility of " exciting in the people of England a spirit of " resentment against your neighbours and " kindred in the United States." After most artfully loading the United States' Govern ment with such charges of falsehood and dishonour as no Government can possibly listen to without the strongest feelings of in dignation and resentment, he stretches forth his hands and exclaims: Behold in me a Peacemaker, and in the gentlemen opposite firebrands ! According to his statements and reasoning, this country ought not to have submitted to the dismissal of our agents without retaliation, Inasmuch as the dismissal was au act of pre meditated injustice. lie insists that, con trary to good faith and fair dealing, the United States' Government formed an ambush against