The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1860-01-17 00:00:00

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.

About this period in each recurring year it becomes
our duty (says the Times) to make some remarks on the
message of the American President. Though these
documents are often read with less immediate interest
by English politicians than the manifesto of some second-
rate European potentate, yet those who have time to
peruse them in all their immoderate length will gene-
rally receive instruction. The American political style,
though often tedious, is seldom empty or vapid, and any
one who desires a fairly written pamphlet on the affairs
of the United States for the current year will generally
find it in the President Message, which fills more than
six columns of the Times. The present Message relates
a good deal to external politics, but its first paragraphs
are devoted to the incident which has been so much dis-
cussed on both sides of the Atlantic—the attempt at
Harper's Ferry. On this subject the President's opi-
nions may be easily divined. Like the great mass of
Americans, lie postpones every consideration to the
safety of the Union. Without sharing in the 'lmre-
hensious entertained in some quarters, he entreats his
countrymen to exercise constant vigilance for its preser-
vation, "to cultivate the ancient feelings of mutual Cir-
. .

" beau% nce and good will towards each other, and strive
" to allay the demon pint of sectional hatred and strife
"now alive in the land." With respect to the exhorta-
tions of the Abolitionists, which led Brown and his
friends to their terrible fate, he says, " Every rational
" creature must be presumed to intend the natural con-
" sequences of his own teachings. 'Those who announce
"abstract doctrines subversive of the Constitution and
"the Union must not be surprised should their heated
" partisans advance one step further, and attempt hr
" violence to carry those doctrines into practical effect.'

Nothing has been more remarkable 'of late than the
tone of American politicians in speaking of the coloured
race and the institution of slavery. The " Deed Scott
decision," itself the sign of • great reaction against the
claims of the Negro, has been followed to its logical con-
clusion in • manner which may well make the philan-
thropist despair. The malts of Americans have
answered the New England agitators by asserting in the
plainest and most uncompromising manner the political
reprobation, to use • Calvinistic term, of the African
race. They seem to take • pleasure in the most offensive
and cynical enunciation of their new dogma. A few
days ago • correspondence was published in which • free
co:oured woman WWI denied the rota of the American
Legation on the ground that she was not—that it was
impossible she could be, a citizen; and now we find
President Buchanan congratulating the lTnion on the
settlement lay the Supreme Court of the United States
of the question of slavery in the Territories, and spoak-
ing of the holding property in slaves as • vested right of
the American citizen, which "neither Congress nor ter-
" ritorial Legislature, nor any human power" has au-
thority to annul or impair. " Now," he says, " emi•
" grants from the North and the South, the East and
"the West, will meet in the Territories on • common
"platform, having brought with them that species of
"property best adapted ix their stem opinion to promote
"their welfare." These principles "are manifestly just
"in themselves, and well calculated to promote peace
"and harmony among the States."
With respect to the Island of San Juan, Mr. Bucha-
nan's language is reasonable enough. He says that he
has no doubt as to the validity of the American claiui,
excuses the acts of General Harney on the ground that
the Hudson's Bay Company or the British authorities
had attempted oppressive interference with the rights of
American citizens, and owns that the English Admiral
on the station exercised a wise discretion in avoiding •
collision. So much has already been said and written
on this subject that it is useless to dwell 011 it here, and
we may turn to one of more prominent importance—the
situation of Mexico. American citizens, says the Presi-
dent, have been injured, and there is no redress. While
the authority of the Constitutional Government is
recognized at Vera Crux and the more important parts
of the Republic, its power does not extend to the city of
Mexico and the St.ites in the vicinity of the capital. To
obtain redress the hest plata would be to send an army
to act in concert with the Constitutional Government ;
but, if that cannot be done, the army ioust act without
any such concert. Mr. Buchanan then recommends
Congress to pass a law authorising the President to
employ sufficient military force to enter Mexico and
obtain indemnity for the past anal security for the
future. Volunteers may be raised among those who
sympathise with, the sufferings of their fellow•citixens in
Mexico. " Such an access to the forces of the Cuusti-
" tutional Government would enable it soon to reach
'the city of Mexico, and extend its power over the
" whole Republic." The meaning of all this is
clear enough. Before lung another Mexican war will
sever new provinces from the unhappy Spanish Repub-
lic, and give them to the Anglo-Saxon race. In one
sense this is • gain to humanity. Beautiful and fertile
regions, now desert, will pass under the bands of the
cultivator, mines sill be worked, harbours will be filled
with shipping, and a new life will animate that vast
region. It is not likely, however, that the Americans
will seek to annex the whole Republic. The Mexicans
are not the stuff to be made citizens of, and another
generation of discord and decay must elapse before their
time collies to be improved off the face of the earth.
Although we have not the slightest wish to interfere
with the Americans, it is but right that an adequate
force should be at hand to protect British interests in
those quarters.
To the purchase of Cuba the President shortly alludes.
Whether Cuba will pan into the hands of the Ameri•
04112 in our time we cannot Nay ; but, if one event more
than another is likely to hasten the change of possession,
at is such • crusade as that in which Spain is now In-
dulging. To keep fifty thousand u.en month after
month in an enemy's country costa money, as we know
to our own oust ; and, though Spain is now prosperous
enough, yet the time may come when the dollars of
President Buchanan will be a sore temptation tottlie
O'Donnell Ministry. To our thinking the glory of beat-
ing a few African barbarians, and even the profit of
occupying • fortress or two on the coast will be dearly
purchased with the revenues of the richest and most
patient of colonies.