The Press.
London, England, 1854-04-29 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

out-of-doors was that you could not have too
much competition—that the greater the hosti-
lity between neighbouring and connected
lines, the better security had passengers
against exorbitant charges. Suddenly a new
light dawned on the popular understanding.
It came to be discovered that competition had
its inconveniences as well as its merits—that
oompanies perpetually at war were not likely
to act together harmoniously—that quarrels
between them caused delay, difficulty of
transit, sometimes danger—and that to these
evils a speedy remedy must be applied. But
what remedy ? It was too late to recur to the
plan proposed in 1845, by which England was
to be mapped out into districts, each assigned
to a separate company. The time when mo
nopoly was possible had gone by. Every
great town—almost every county—had already
its rival lines. Therefore, unable to check
competition, yet recognising it as the scurce
of the abuses complained of, tho committee
hesitated to recommend any decisive step.
Mr. CARDWELL, however, thinks some such
step necessary ; and certainly his proviso has
the merit of originality. The substance of his
bill, stated in few words, is this : that when-
ever, in any single instance, a company shall be
proved before any court of law (even a County
Court) to have failed in providing sufficient
accommodation for goods or passengers using
its line, or even (as we interpret the bill) with-
out such previous conviction, but on the bare
ex parte assertion of any petitioner to that
effect, the Court of Chancery may interpose—
take into its own hands the whole arrange-
ments of the line, regulate the starting and
arrival of trains—in short, construct the time
tables, and conduct the traffic of the company.
Why the Court of Chancery should be selected
for these functions—why not the Archbishop of
CANTERBURY, or the Prime Minister for the
time being, or the Commander-in Chief—for all
these high functionaries have as much to do
with railroads as the Lord Chancellor—we are
not told, and cannot conceive. And the ab
surdity of the thing becomes greater when we
remember that the business of a law court is
" jut: dieere," not " jug dare"—to say what is law,
not to make it; whereas, in Mr. CARDWELL'S •
project, the decisions given must be without
rule, or precedent, or code, to guide them.
But the plan is not so merely and harmlessly
extravagant as it seems at first sight. In the
rejected Bouverie clauses a somewhat similar
provision existed, with this significant differ
ence—that the Board of Trade there stood in
lieu of the Court of Chancery. In the bill it is
just hinted that the Court may act with the
assistance and advice of the Board. All the
world knows what that means. Just as Mr.
BOUVERIE was put forward in the first debate
to screen Mr. CARDWELL, so here the venerable
person of the Lord Chancellor is called in to
give dignity and plausibility to an usurped
authority, which in practice will be exercised
by some small subordinate of a governmental
department. If this kind of bureaucracy is to
receive the sanction of Parliament, we might
as well live in Prussia. Some legislation is
doubtless needed, but not legislation in this
sense.

THE " DESTINY" OF AMERICA AND
CUBA.
IT is not many months since Mr. EVERETT,
after he had ceased to hold office, addressed
to Lord JOHN RUSSELL a letter in reference to
American progress in general, and especially
in the direction of Cuba, the " lone star " of
the Carrib Sea. In that letter, which was
lengthy, measured even by the standard of
American state papers, Mr. Evtatrr expressed
"wonder" that the nations of Europe, instead
of viewing with admiration " the beautiful"
extension and expansion of American power
now in the course of development by annexa-
tion, should regard it rather with an eye of
jealousy. This process, which Mr. EVERETT
looks upon as the gradual fulfilment of mani-
fest " destiny," has certainly more charms for
the Americas than the European spectator—
than the Sovereign of Spain, for example.
Still Mr. EvsaErx need neither be angry nor

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SATURDAY,

alarmed; far, as the great FREDERICK said,
" Fortune favours large battalions," so " Des-
tiny" will declare on the strongest side. That
our transatlantic cousins have shown patience
and a long-suffering endurance of wrong none
can deny ; for the injuries and indignities
systematically heaped upon them by the
Cuban authorities are positively countless.
There was the violent deaths of General LOPEZ
and many of his followers, while the liberation
of the survivors from imprisonment was only
procured after several months' endurance of
that " hope deferred" which is so galling to
the spirit of the brave and the free. Then
there was poor SMITH, the steward of the
steamer Crescent City, the authorities would
not allow him to land, and he always wished
to go on shore ; and this was " a difficulty"
which was constantly recurring, for the
steamer plied between New Orleans and
Havannah. We suppose the prohibition must
have inflamed his desire to an extent which
was injurious to health, for a paragraph lately
went the round of the papers stating that
" SMITH, the steward of the Crescent City, was
" dead." Peace be to his ashes ! It was not
written in the roll of " Destiny" that the
enforcement of his right of way over the
island, at the cannon's mouth, was to be a
step in the " beautiful development" of the
process of annexation.
Again, there was the proposal by France
and England that America should enter into
a tripartite treaty with them, for the purpose
of preventing any power wresting the island
from Spain, and this was certainly a direct
provocation to its seizure ; for nothing is
more likely to incite a spirited nation to
instant aggression than an intimation that it
will be vigorously resisted. Even this pro-
vocation America withstood, and those indigni-
ties were endured, if not iu absolute silence,
at least without active retaliation.
But now at this particular juncture a variety
of combinations seem to point to a path along
which patience may march to reap its reward.
" A difficulty" exeeeding all the others in
magnitude and complexity has recently oc-
curred between the two Governments. An
American vessel called the Black Warrior
was detained by the Spanish authorities at
Havannah, for an alleged violation of the
regulations of the port. As soon as the news
reached Washington the President by in-
spiration (there was not time for the receipt
of accurate information) knew that it was an
outrage of the gravest nature calling for large
reparation, to obtain, which he resorted to
instant action. Directions were hastily issued
to equip a naval force, and the American
Minister at Madrid was ordered to demand
ample satisfaction for the wrong. How M.SouLE
was likely to discharge such a mission it would
require no wizard to predict, after his duels
and strange misconduct in society. Of course,
he commenced by naming a sum sufficient to
cover all demands in full, viz., 60,0001. sterling,
and couched the preposterous demand in
terms so insulting that even in its fallen state
the ancient pride of Castile for a moment was
roused, reared its head, and a befitting an-
swer was returned.
Here for the present the affair rests, but a
hundred and fifty years ago something not un-
like it occurred. It is recorded in a certain
" History of John Bull" that John, Nick Frog,
and Lewis Baboon, treated old Lord Strutt
and commenced surveying his park before he
was dead, for the purpose of dividing it
amongst themselves afterwards ; but the
alliance turned out badly for all parties, and
we trust the respectable portion of America
will learn wisdom from the fact, and will not
alloy themselves with the Loco-focos, or what-
ever the extreme democrats, who are so aptly
and ably represented by M. SOULE, are called,
to perpetrate a great wrong on a decaying
nation. The possession of Cuba, even if it
were peaceably acquired, might itself be a
" difficulty" greater than that of the Black
Warrior. The very name is ominous. America
may one day have millions of " black warriors"
within her bounds.

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APRIL 29, 1854.

CATHOLIC EXAGGERATIONS, OR THE
IRISH CATHOLIC DECLARATION.
AFTER considerable delays, and with great
flourish of trumpets, the " Declaration of the
Catholics of Ireland" with respect to Conven-
tual Intitutions has made its appearance. The
document is written in a bold style of com-
position, and bears marks upon it of the pens
of lawyers, and of its being drawn up for Irish
circulation. We feel assured that many of
the statements in it would not be endorsed by
the English Roman Catholics. For example,
the declaration commences with the state-
ment—" It is our earnest wish and obvious
" interest to be identified with our fellow-sub-
"jects " ? An excellent sentiment, truly ; but
has the conduct of the Irish Catholics since
the Relief Bill illustrated that sound prin-
ciple ? Was " Repeal of the Union" likely to
identify her Majesty's subjects in England and
Ireland ? Were " Young Ireland," the mon-
ster meetings, and perpetual assurances that
"England's difficulty was Ireland's oppor-
" tunity," intended to prosecute social con
cord ? These are questions which we leave to
the Roman Catholics of England to answer.
Recollecting the virulence of the invectives
which Mr. O'Costiztt was accustomed to dis-
charge at the Catholics of this country, be-
cause they shamed his disorganising societies,
we feel assured that English Catholics will
admit that this " Declaration" has much Hiber-
nian exaggeration in its assertions.
Nor can we think it very discreet for the
subscribers of this declaration to announce, in
reference to conventual institutions, that they
" thankfully admit their conventual institu-
" tions to be most efficient instruments for pre-
serving and propagating the Catholic religion."
We cannot forget that the " Catholic Claims"
were conceded without securities being given.
Mr. GRATTAN was the most zealous advocate
the Catholics ever had, and in 1817 he cau-
tioned Parliament against yielding without
securities, " because in that case you will
" have the Catholics discorporated from Eng-
" laud." The Duke of WELLINGTON and Sir
ROBERT PEEL refused" Catholic Emancipation"
in a moderate shape, and they gave to O'CON-
NELL what neither Fox, BURKE, GRATTAN, or
others would have advised. Well, what is the
state of the case now ? Here, in this very
document before us, we have the Romish
hierarchy in Ireland, with several official
Catholics, judges, Queen's counsel, and others,
boasting, with ill-dissembled pride, that they
have such " efficient instruments for the
" propagation " of their creed. We doubt
whether the Protestants of the empire will
acquiesce in the conclusion that a conventual
artillery, noxious in proportion to its being noise-
less, is to be allowed to discharge its de-
structive volleys against the faith of the English
people.
It is of a piece with the exaggeration that
runs through this declaration for its subscribers
to complain of the "vexatious and virulent iu-
" tolerance" to which they have been subjected.
We would ask the more candid amongst them
whether the complaint does not smac of that
humour which is so " racy of the soil" in Ire-
land? Only think of PAUL CULLEN and the
" Lion of the Fold of Judah" condescending to
roar against "vexatious intolerance," while
they are allowed to disport themselves under
Queen VICTORIA in a manner which no ruler of
our allies, from Lours XIV. to the present Em-
peror of the FRENCH, would allow ! Then we
are treated to a paragraph which was probably
concocted by some of the sergeants-at-law.
The Protestants of the empire are railed
at as "wishing to exclude the Catholics from
" all advancement." The charge carries its own
rerutation, for it smacks of the Four Courts'
style of forensic overstrlement. Not a tenth
of the Irish Bar is Roman Catholic ; yet within
the last few years there have been appointed
from it, a Master of the Rolls, two Chief Ba-
rons, a Chief Justice of the Common Pleas,
and a Puisne Judge. We observe, also, the
name of " JOHN HOWLEY, First Sergeant-at-
Law," amongst the subscribers, a gentleman
w;io attained his promotion under a Conser-
,..4tive Ministry some years since.