The Press.
London, England, 1853-08-13 00:00:00

CUBA.

THE designs of the American Republic against
Cuba are scarcely concealed, and a parlia-
mentary paper recently delivered furnishes
more conclusive evidence respecting them
than any which has yet been made public.
It is already known to readers of the PRESS
that, among the many instances of complete
concord existing between the French and
English Governments while Lord MALatEs-
BURY presided at the Foreign Office, not the
least important was a proposed tripartite re-
nunciation of all iutention, present or pros-
pective, to assume the sovereignty of that
island, in which the United States should be
the third concurring power. It is known also
that this proposition was rejected by the
American Government on the avowed ground
that such a pledge might inconveniently ham-
per their operations at some future period.
the entire correspondence is now in our
hands, and a more remarkable series of diplo
matic documents has not often engaged the
attention of Parliament. _

Nothing can be inure simple or straightfor-
ward than the terms in which Lord MALMES.
BURY authorises Mr. CRAMPTON to open the ne-
gotiation. " Cuba," he argues, " has been
" more than once attacked, or threatened, by
" bands of adventurers acting in defiance both
"of their own and of international law. The
" tendency of such attacks is to compromise
" the character of the American Government
" and endanger the peace of the world. That
" Government has distinctly repudiated all
" participation in the aggression, or sympathy
" with the aggressors. France and England
" both agree in disclaiming all designs upon
" the island. It is the interest, and ostensibly
" the wish, of all three nations, that Spain
" should retain possession of its colony. Why
" not, then, enter into a convention to that
" effect, and thus discourage attempts which
" would certainly not be made but for a belief,
" however ill founded, that they will meet with
" sympathy and support front the Cabinet of
" Washington ?"
Such was the project of the British Minis-
ter. Spain thanked him—France concurred—
Mr. WEBSTER, then American Secretary of
State, entertained, or affected to entertain, the
idea with favour ; by his death, negotiations
were interrupted, delay ensued—the offer had
been communicated in April 32, December
had arrived before a reply was returned ; at
last it came—a refusal—and on what grounds?
Mr. EVERETT states them with sufficient clear-
ness, and with something of the national pro-
lixity. " The President" (we quote his words)
" does not covet the acquisition of Cuba for
" the United States. At the same time he
" considers the condition of Cuba as mainly
" an American question, and to a limited ex-
" tent only an European question." In plain
English, "It does not suit us to take Cuba
" just now, but whenever we do choose to
" take it we shall do so; and our decision is
"no business of yours." Mr. EVERETT then
proceeds to enumerate objections of form—
the possible reluctance of the Senate—the
traditional caution with which America regards
" entangling alliances "—and the impossibility
of any nation binding itself effectually as re-
gards the future. He discourses in a very
significant tone on the possible value of the
island to America, and finally adds that " the
" conclusion of such a treaty, instead of put-
" ting a stop to these lawless proceedings,
" would give a new and powerful impulse to
" them. It would strike a deathblow to the
" conservative policy hitherto pursued in this
" country towards Cuba."
The purport of this letter was communicated
to the Senate. and its substance there debated.
Very fiery speeches were delivered--Messrs.
CASS and MssoN being foremost in protesting
against the suggested convention ; both on

AIIGCST 13, 1853.

the ground that Cuba must ultimately become
American. Nothing more has passed ; but a
spirited reply from Lord J. RUSSELL aptly
doses the dispute. The convention, says
Lord JOHN, is effectual for the purpose for
"which it intended—that of barring the
ion of Cuba by any European
possible acquisib.

state :-
7'nited States.
But if it is intended, on the part of ihti lis•••• • .
to maintain that- Great Britain and France have no I►NFreat
in the maintenance of the present atalus quo in Cuba, and
that the United States have alone a right- to a voiee in that
matter, her Majesty's Government at once refuse to admit
such a claim. Her Majesty's possessions in the West
Indies alone, without insisting on the importanee to Mezieo
and other friendly States of the present distribution of
power, give her Majesty an interest in this question which
she cannot forego.
The possessions of France in the American seas give a
similar interest to France, which, no doubt, will be put
forward by her Government. Nor is this tight at all in•
validated by the argument of Mr. Everett. that Cuba is to
the United States as an island at the mouth of the Thames
or the Seine would be to England or France.
The distance of ettba front thu nearest part of the trial.
tory of the United States, viz., from the southernmost part
of Florida, is 110 sriles.. - .

An island at an equal distance from the mouth of the
Thames would be placed about ten miles north of Antwerp,
in Belgium : while an island at the same distance from
Jamaica would be placed at Manzauills, a town in Cuba.
Thus there are no grounds for saying that the possession
of Cuba by Great Britain or Fral tea would be menaeing to
the United States, but that its possession 11 the United
States would not be so to Great Britain.

There is one argument of the United States Seeretnry
of State which appears to her Majesty's Government not
only unfounded, but disquieting.
Lord Malmesbury and M. de Turgot put forward. as a
reason for entering into the proposed contract, " the at-
tacks which have lately been made on the island of Cuba
by lawless bands of adventurers from the United States,
and with the avowed design of taking possession of that
island." To this reason Mr. Everett replies in these
terms : " The President is convinced that the conclusion
of such a treaty, instead of putting a stop to these lawless
proceedings, would give a new and powerful impulse to
them."

The Government of Great Britain acknowledges with
respect the conduct of the President in disavowing and
discouraging the lawless attempts here referred to. 'l'll4l
character of those attempts, indeed, was such as to excite
Pie reprobation of every civilised state. The spectacle of
bands of men collected together in reckless disregard of
treaties, for the purpose of making from the ports of the
United States a piratical attack on the territory of a Ismer
in amity with their own State, and, when there, endeavour-
ing, by armed invasion to excite the obedient to revolt and
the tranquil to disturbance, was a sight shocking, no doubt,
to the just and honest principles of the President. But
the statement made by the President, that a convention
duly signed and ►egally ratified. engaging to respect the pre-
sent state of tiossession in all future time. would but excite
these bandsolpirates to more violent !Roadies of all the laws
of honesty and good neighbourhood. is a melancholy avowal
for the chief of a great State. Without disput i»g its truth,
her Majesty's Government may express a hope that this
state of things will not endure, and that the citizens of the
ITnited States, while they justly boast of their institutions,
will not be insensible to the value of those eternal laws of
right and wrong, of peace and friendship, and of duty to
our neighbours, which ought to guide every Christian na-
tion. Nor can a people so enlightened fail to perceive the
utility of those rules for the observance of international
relations which for centuries have been known to Europe
by the name of the Law of Nations. Among the commen-
tators on that, law, some of the most distinguished Aloe-
rican citizens have earned an enviable reputation ; and it
is difficult to suppose that the United States would set the
example of abrogating its most sacred provisions.

We have given this document almost in full.
because it furnishes another, though a tardy,
proof how the depreciators of Lord MAtmEs-
firitY have been compelled to adopt his policy,
to employ his arguments, and to follow in the
truck which he had marked out Other op-
portunities may occur tbr the consideration of
the Cuban question, especially in its relations
to slavery and the slave trade.

THE ENCUMBERED ESTATES COURT-

OUGHT IT TO CONTINUE ?
Ax ACT for the continuance, and, in reality,
for the perpetuation, of this tribunal is await-
ing the Royal assent. That bill, as proposed
to Parliament, was an attempt to make an
exceptional and anomalous institution a per-
manent branch of Irish judicature. We think
it a great mistake, and that the time had come
for stopping this machinery of confiscation,
and for committing its functions to the Irish
Court of Chancery.

We are not about to comment upon the
depreciation of property, the► individual ruin,
the forced sales, and the facilities for fraud of