The Express.
London, England, 1852-08-23 00:00:00

THE UNITED STATES

ARRIVAL OF THE EUROPA.
Shortly before ten o'clock yesterday morning, the
British and North American Royal Mail steam-ship
Europa, Captain Lane, arrived in the Mersey from
New York direct, which port she left on the 11th in-
stant. Beside the usual mail, the Europa carries 59
passengers, and 726,000 dollars in specie on freight.
The Europe passed the Canada hence for Boston
and Halifax at eight a.m., on the morning of the 15th.
The United States Mail steam-ship Pacific arrived
out at New York from Liverpool at half-past two
o'clock on the morning of the Stk.
In the United States Senate, on the 11th inst.,
the Speaker laid before the house a message from the
President of the United States, in reply to a resolu-
tion asking what has been done on the subject of the
fisheries on the coast of British North America. It
gives no new information different from that hereto-
fore communicated to the Senate. The message was
referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Referring to the fishery question, the New Turk
Herald of the 11th has the following remarks:
The difficulty with regard to the eastern fisheries has be-
come the chief topic of discussion throughout the country.
There appears to be but one voice as to the final result of
the controversy, and that is, that the American fishermen
must be protected in their just rights, let the consequences
be what they may. Indeed the affair seems to assume •
more serious aspect every day; and unless a great deal of
caution is exercised by both governments, the finale of the
flare up on the part of our provincial neighbours, may really
terminate more seriously than was at first apprehended.
We have • rumour from the fishing banks, that one
American vowel has actually been fired into, which
may se may aot be • fiCtillo. Bat, at all events, if
the stelmsest of the passenger. and craw of the American
rchooset Lien, of Brookhaven, which was seised off Prince
Edward Marl, is correct, the British are certainly carry-
ing thine raw beyond their proper limits. Thou on
boszd the Ulm at the time state that she wu becalmed, and
fully three maw tram the land. This mast be inquired
into with pesayftme, and if the story is correct, she must
be releued. eteserdhu to • derpatch from Boston, another
schooner, the Florida, was captured and taken into Char-
lottetown, on the sth instant. By the way, this subject
will be the order of the day in the United States Senate
neat Thursday, when it is to be hoped that the whole mat-
ter will undergo • full, careful, and impartial examina-
tion. Mr. Soule, of Louisiana, it is whispered, is preparing
• speech, in which he will review the recent proceedings of
Mr. Webster in a manner that will not be very flattering to
the gigantic capacity of the distinguished secretary, who re-
turned to his post yesterday.
Mr. Crampton, the British minister, has had an
interview with the president, and has informed him
that Lord Derby has taken the fishing question out
of his hands and referred it to the colonial govern-
ment.
Several vessels of the United States navy had been
put in order to protect, it wu freely circulated, the
"rights" of the American fishermen. The following is
an extract from a letter in the New York Commercial
of the 10th :

Aa experienced naval officer says that several vessels now
at the yard will be put in order immediately, and await
advice* from Washington. Ha does not anticipate any se-
rious trouble about the fisheries, but is of opinion that,
owing to the Nova Scotians' hatred of Americans, there may
be a brush with the colonial authorities. Admiral Seymour,
of the British squadron, is spoken of in the navy as a friend
to the United States, and will, no doubt, see that Judie* is
done to both parties. The Constitution is fitting out with
all possible despatch. Yesterday afternoon her masts and
rigging were being put up in order, and it is said she will
be sent to the Using ground.
It is stated that Mr. Webster and tho President
have had a pretty plain conversation, the result of
which will be the immediate withdrawal of that gen-
tleman from the cabinet. In confirmation of this,
several waggon loads of furniture left Mr. Webster's
house on the 10th inst. for Georgetown. there to be
shipped on board a Boston packet. Mr. Webster
wrote to a friend here, some days ago, that ho would
only visit Washington to wind up his business and
retire.
A despatch, dated Warrington, August 0, says,
~ Mr. 'Webster returned to this city this morning."
Commodore Penny was to have an interview with
Admiral Seymour on Saturday.
The fishing question will, in Mr. Webster's opi-
nion, be settled.
The Boston Advertiser, of the 7th, publishes a
statement of the captain of a fishing vessel arrived at
Cohaseet, to the effect that an American fishing
vessel had been fired into and sunk by a British
cruiser, for refusing to come to when ordered.
The Boston Trarisen.pt, of the 7th, says, that the
condemnation and sale of the American @chooser
Carrel had been ascertained to be wholly Maxima;
the seizure was a mistake, and intended for
In the Senate, on the 10th inst., a call was meo;
upon the President to lay before the senators all oor-
respondent* regarding the right of American vessels
to go to the Lobos Island for guano, that had taken
place between the governments of the United States
and Peru. Mr. Webster, it would seem, gave the
opinion that the Lobos islands, being more than a
marine league from the coast of Peru, the govern-
ment of that country never having heretofore ex-
ercised any control over them, vessels from the
United States had a perfect right to go there for
guano, and take it without paying any tribute to the
Peruvian government. The following is the letter
referred to as written by Mr. Webster:
Department of State,
Washington, 6th June, 1862.
Capt. Jame* C. Jewett, master of the bark Philomela—
Sir,—l have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
the 2nd inst., inquiring whether citizens of the United
States can take guano from the Lobos Islands, which are
situated near the coast of Peru, without infringing upon
the rights of the citizens, or subjects, or government of any
other nation. In reply, I have to inform you, that if those
islands should lie within the distance of a marine league
from the continent, or, if being further then that distance,
should have been discovered and occupied by Spain or by
Peru, the Peruvian government would have a right to ex-
clude therefrom the vessels and citizens of other nations,
except upon such conditions a. it may think proper to pre-
scribe. There can be no doubt that the title of Peru to the
Chinch* Islands, whence Fuss° is now chiefly taken, is
funded upon the basis of discovery and occupancy. That
article was taken from those islands, and us id as a manure
by the Peruvians anterior to the conquest of Peru by
Spain. It continued to be so taken and used throughout
the Spanish dominions in that country, and this practice has
been kept up to the present day.
Although those islands aro uninhabitable, the custom of
resorting to them from the neighbouring continent, for the
purpose of procuring guano, may be said to have condi.
toted such an occupancy of them as to give the sovereign of
the continent a right of dominion over them under the law
of nations. This department, h"wever, i. not aware that
the Lobes islands were either discovered or occupied by
Spain, or by Peru, or that the guano on them hes ever been
used fur manure on the adjacent coast or elsewhere. It is
census that the distance from the contincia is five or six
met greater than is necessary to male them a dependency
thereof, pursuant to public law.
Oa the other hand, it is quite probable that Benjamin
Morrell, junior, who, as master of the schooner Wasp, of

!New York, visited those Islands in September,
1823, may
, justly claim to have been their discoverer. Ile gives a
ro.ll account of them in his narrative, published in Naw
Vick in 1832. Under these circumstances, it may be con-
staved to; duty of the government to protect citizens of
the United &loos who may visit the Lobos islands fur the
purpose of obta.sing guano. This duty will be more ap-
parent, when it is considered that the consumers of
Chincha island guano In this country might probably
obtain it for half the pnit:o they now pay, were it not fur
the charges of the Peruvimi government. I shall conse-
quently communicate a copy of that letter to the litcretsry
of the Navy, and suggest that a vessel of war be ordered to
repair to the Lobes islands fur tbe.purpose of protecting from
molestation any of our citizens who may wish to take guano
from them. .

I se, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
(Signed) DANIEL WEBSTiIi.
P.B.—lt is considered important that this letter should
not be made public at present.
On the subject of this important letter we have
the following items of news and retnarks from the
:Veto York Ilerald :
Under the guaranty of this letter of Mr. Webster, some
thirty vessels from the United States--principally from New
Enghsnd and New York—almost immediately sailed fur the j
Lobos Island', it being well understood that, under Mr.
Webster's recommendation, the secretary of the navy had I
ordered a vessel of war, under Commodore McAuley, of the
Pacific station, to be on the ground. It appears, also, that
information of the views and decision of our cabinet having
reached London, through a leak in the house of Baring
and Co., the Peruvian bonds, which had risen to 106, de-
elined to 99 per cent.
Now we are on the eve of bringing this matter bathe same
crisis u the Nova Scotia fishery question. We learn that
the government of Pi ru has a steam-frigate and a brig.ot
war stationed at the Lobos islands, to enforce her monopoly
in conjunction with England, upon all other nations; and
that our vessels destined to the gums grounds arc in the
same danger of seizure and confiscation as our Yankee fishing
smacks on tho banks of Newfoundland. The probabilities
of a collision with the Peruvians arc even more imminent
than with the British colonial coast-guard of the fishing-
grounds; fur, if we are correctly informed, at least one of
our trading vessels his gone to the Lobos islands, armed
and equipped suMeently to cope with a Peruvian man-of-
war, and ready to fight it out upon sufficient provocation.
Here, then, we have another •p., of war. Mr. Webster
is right upon the guano question, as he is upon the codfish
question. Ile will doubtless be sustained by Congress upon
both question, whatever the imbeei ity of the l'resident
may sink to, and upon both the British government must
recede, or upon either it imperils the peace between the
two countries. Peru is but the catepaw of England, in the
seizure of the Lobes Islands. The profits of the guano re-
vert to the English bondholders, and it is surprising that
Mr. Lawrence had not the sagacity to see it. Nor is this
guano trade a contemptible matter in a financial view. The
exports to England last year amounted in value to some
ten millions of dollars. The imports into the United States
exceeded two millions, 700,000 dols. of which entered the
port of New York.
But, great or small, the assumption of the sovereignty of
the Lobos Islands by Peru, and of the monopoly of their
guano, under the direction and support of England and her
bondholders, has raised a direct issue with the government
and Milieu of the United States. Our cabinet his decided
that the guano of those islands is the " common property "
of all nations—that our vessels must be protected, and in-
structions have been issued to protect tnem accordingly.
Peru has her vessels of war upon the ground, sustained
by the interested concessions of England. She may,
therefore, have the temerity to attempt the coercion of
our traders to her demands of forty five dollars per ton for
the guano, for the benefit of her British bondholders. The
consequenoe will be war at once between the United
States and l'eru. la that event, England must recede,
and intercede with l'eru to abindon the Lobos Islands, or
become a party to the rupture. The law as laid down by
Mr. Webster, will unquestionably be maintained by our go-
vernment in all its branches, but especially in both houses
of Congress.
In the extradition cue of Thomas Keine the
writ of habeas corpus which wu pending in the
i Superior Court, before Judge Bosworth, has been
dismissed, and the writ issued by Judge Nelson was
to be returnable before him on the 12th inst., at
Cooperstown, when it is expected that ho will, in se-
cordanoo with the decision, send the case for final
adjudication to the Supreme Court, at Washington.
Ile wreck of the Henry Clay has been taken
completely out of the water. Nothing has been
found among the cinders, which resembles human
remains. Stair rods, metal sheathing, and copper
cents were melted by the intense heat of the burn-
ing boat. Portions of the machinery, of considerable
size and weight, wore bent and twisted by the heat.
The value of the hull, boilers, and articles of any
worth, saved, will amount to 0,000 dots. The value
of the Henry Clay issaid to have been 45,000 dole. Cap-
tain Tallman entered into sureties on Saturday fore-
noon on the chargeof manslaughter preferred against
him.

Joseph It Ingersoll, of Philadelphia, has been
nominated to the Senate as minister to the court of
St. James,
_in the room of Mr. Lawrence.

On the 9th instant the Irish exile, Thos. Francis
Meagher made a formal declaration to ono of the
judges of the Superior Court of his intention of be-
coming a citizen of the United States. The follow-
ing is the form of the oath to which ho subscribed:
I, Thomas Francis Meagher, do declare on oath that it is
my bossaftsis intention to become • citizen of the United
States, and to renounce for ever all allegiance and fidelity
to any foreign prince, potentate, or sovereignty whatever,
and particularly to the Queen of Oreatßritain and Ireland,
of whom I am now a subject.
Mr. J. P. Smythe, one of those who was obliged
Ito find an asylum in the United States, on account of
his participation in the revolutionary event, of Ire-
land, followed the example of Mr. Meagher, and sig-
nified his intention, in the same manner, of becoming
a citizen of this government.
Maor-General Scott returned to Washington on
the 10th inst. in much improved health, from his
visit to Old Point Comfort.

Halifaxgrfers announce the arrival there of Sir
John Ou Le Marchand, the new Lieut.-Gover-
nor, on T ursday, in the flag-ship Cumberland, from
Newfoundland.

Railway engineers from England arrived at St.
John's, New Brunswick. On Monday the directors
of the European and North American Railroad were
to meet them, and the work to commence imme-
diately.
The steamship Crescent City has arrived at New
Orleans from Havanna, with advice. to the 2nd inst.

Considerable excitement prevailed when the Crescent
City left, in consequence of the alleged discovery of
a political conspiracy, in which a number of influen-
tial persona were said to be engaged. A large num-
ber of seditious documents were reported to have
been found, and the persona accused of circulating
the were arrested.

We have late news from Texas. The inhabitants on
the frontier are still in dread of the remorseless
savages that roam the plains, and also the semi-
barbarous Mexicans, who take every advantage to
commit depredations upon defenceless Americans.
The inhabitants in those exposed sections call loudly
upon the general government for aid in their defence ;
bat their voice is drowned amid the busy huckstering
of the presidential canvass. However, we are glad
to perceive that the Governor of Texas has, according
to the most recent advice*, determined to call into
service several companies of mounted volunteers, who
are to co-operate with the United States troops under
General Smith, in exterminating the blood-thirsty
bandits.
The cotton crop throughout Texas continues to be
as promising as it possibly could be. Unless the
worm should make its appearance within a few days,
the product will greatly exceed that of any past
season. The Manon, S. C., Star, says that the crop
of cotton in that district is surpassingly good. The
army worm has made its appearance on the Missis-
sippi and the hed rivers, and already several very
valuable cotton crops have been nearly destroyed.
The ship Hector, arrived at New Bedford, reports
that the ship Ontario, of New Bedford, was lost at
Pitt's Island, Pacific Ocean, on the 24th January.
The Ontario, when lost, had over 1,700 barrels whale
oil on board, a part of which was saved.
We learn from Santa Fi• that Colonel Sumner, now
acting as the military commander, and also as the
civil governor of New Mexico, has formed treaties
with all the Indian tribes, and peace and security
were expected. The two bands of the Apaches were
the last to treat, but the establishment of forts in
their territories, and in the country of the Navajos,
has produced very favourable results. The last treaty
was concluded but a few slays before the departure
of the mail. Col. Sumner was in Santa F 6, actively
pressing forward his plans in the various sections of
the territory.
Col. Humphreys states that the Comanches were
en route to attack the fort at Phantom Hill. They
say the whites want to take their lands, and they are
determined to drive them off.