The Press.
London, England, 1858-06-12 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JUNE 12, 1858.

aggrieved, almost to the pitch of war, at a
foreigner who is audacious enough to accost him
in a common road and in a common cause; who
appears to have doubts about his character, and
who interrupts him, it may be, in meditations
that have reference to that confessedly difficult
question, the slave trade. This is exactly the
state of the case between this country and
America. The American flag has been used to
cover a most nefarious traffic. A practice which
the common law of nations no less than the laws
of the United States have condemned as piratical,
bas been notoriously carried on under colour of
that flag. America, bound by treaties no less
than for her own credit's sake, is asked to pre-
vent the prostitution of her flag, and, when fail-
ing to do so, called upon to produce satisfactory
reference as to her good faith and nautical
respectability.

According to actual statistics we are in posses-
sion of, the African slave trade, now limited to
the Island of Cuba, is prosecuted mainly by the
criminal and fraudulent assumption of the
Amencan flag. The demand for slaves in Cuba
is supplied by vessels constructed, purchased, and
often possessed and fitted out in the ports of the
United States. The number of such vessels is
reported to be on the increase. When chased,
such vessels invariably hoist the American flag,
and often under that flag defy the search of our
cruisers.

Such a flag, we are informed by Lord NAPIER,
according to existing treaty, protects a slaver,
but it does not exonerate the vessel from visita-
tion. The English squadron now lying off the
western and southern portions of the Island of
Cuba, having authoritative information that a
company exists in Cuba called " The Expedition
of Africa," whose existence is avowed, which is
mainly supported by an American house, and
which has deliberately adopted the use of
American vessels And the American flag, may on
such grounds be somewhat justified for an excess
of zeal on the part of its officers, actual eye-
witnesses of the crime.

There can be little doubt that abundant
irritation may be nursed, and much political
capital made, by international seconds, out
of this question of the right of search. While
we readily concede that the aspect of a naval
police stationed within two days' sail of the
American coast does not strike either our moral
or political faculty in the most agreeable light,
and may present itself to a Transatlantic imagi•
nation in a very inflamed form, it must be re-
membered that the presence of our cruisers at all
in the Gulf of Mexico has taken place with the
consent, if not at the request, of the United
States Government. In the special cases which
have called forth the zeal of Mr. DOUGLAS, the
impetuosity of Mr. CASs, and what the New York
Herald terms the first blast of war in the Ameri-
can Senate, there may have been, on the part
of our officers, possibly a want of discretion. It
is not pleasant for peaceful merchantmen, con-
scious only of sugar and rum, to have a gun-
boat hanging on their flank, their movements
watched, and their address continually asked for.
The after-dinner period of a tropical day is also
not the most judicious time for paying inter-
national visits and making international in-
quiries.

It is even possible that the officer of the Styx
may have bitten his thumb, and that the Yankee
skipper may instinctively have been quickly
moved to take up his revolver. The petty details
and evidence which zealous American officials
have hunted up would have been unworthy of
attention; but, taken in connection with a signi-
ficant passage in the letter of Mr. Cass to the
American Minister, they illustrate sufficiently
the policy of the present United States' Govern-
ment. "Whatever may have been," says Mr.
CASS, "the true objects of the voyage of the
" Corks, if she had papers stating her American
" character, she was subject to neither search nor
" capture by the British cruiser." By what
means is the American character to be ascer-
tained ? Is there any nautical test that enables
a British cruiser to read an honest complexion in
an apparently American ship's face ? England
cares little for the right of search ; she only
desires a means of identification, and a sincerity
in enforcing her own laws on the part of the
American Government.

557

The Clarkston Mercury suggests a far easier
solution of the difficulty. It may be done in two
ways. There is, first, " the humiliating position
" in which the United States' Government have
" been put by our absurd legislation with respect
"to the African slave trade." The African
slave trade, at present, according to American
law, is piracy. If America would preserve her
self-respect and her rightful position among the
nations of the earth, " she must either deny the
" right of foreign nations to board a vessel sailing
" under her flag, to ascertain whether she is a
" pirate or not, or we must repeal the laws
" making the African slave trade with the United
" States piracy."

This solution is simple, and, it must be owned,
the admission is ingenuous ; but there is a second
mode.

Cuba is at present the chief cause of this
espionage. It was off the Cuban coast, or in an
harbour of that island, that these violent " out-
rages" upon the American flag have taken place.
Why not demand redress, amL in case of obtain-
ing sufficient redress, end the quarrel by taking
that opulent, nature-neglected, and on the whole
not undesirable island ? This, in an equally
clear and condescending tone, is the argument of
the New York Herald. We shall not pretend to
construe our Transatlantic contemporary's Eng-
lish :

"In order to save Eigland from the fear of
any unpleasant consequences, let (Congress) pass
other resolutions, showing that Spain is at the
root of the whole matter, and declar►n our in-
tention of taking possession of the Island of Cuba,
if she continues thus to permit her subjects there
to use our determination to have our flag
respected for their own nefarious practices ;
thus violating the obligations of good neigh-
bourhood."

The conclusion, though not strictly logical, is
exceedingly simple :

"With the Island of Cuba as a State in the
American Union, the slave trade would cease
there, and with it the odious claim by England
of the right of search upon the high seas would
disappear for ever. Congress owes the per-
formance of this duty to itself and to the country,
and we call upon them to perform it. They can
thus settle at once our most irritating questions
with both England and Spain."
France appears not indisposed to intermeddle—
possibly just at present may find it convenient to
encourage any growing Transatlantic irritation ;
but despotic or republican intripe must be met,
as it can only successfully be toiled, by firm yet
courteous determination on the part of the
English Government.

COMMISSION OF LUNACY ON SIR HENRY
MEUX.

A cottutsstott of lunacy was opened on Tuesday last,
at the Thatched house Tavern, St. James's•street,
by order of the Lords Justices, to inquire into the
state of mind of Sir Henry Meuz. Mr. Francis
Barlow, Master in Lunacy, conducted the inquiry.

Mr. Montagu Chambers, Mr. Bovill, and Mr.
Bodkin appeared in support of the petition ; Mr.
Montagu Smith and Mr. Quain were counsel on
behalf of Lady Smith, the sister of Sir Henry
Mein ; and the Attorney-General, Mr. Edwin James,
Mr. Wilde, and Mr. Hawkins were counsel for Lady
Men:.

The proceedings have continued through the entire
week, and being as yet unconcluded, we defer our
summary of the case till next week. Our readers
should understand that the condition of Sir Henry's
mind at the present moment is, unhappily, beyond
controversy. But the question is, whether he was
of unsound mind or not some year or so back, when
he made certain pecuniary arrangements with his
family, which in case he is shown to have been of
unsound mind at the period will of course be in-
validated. A good deal of conflicting evidence has
been elisited during the trial. General Hall said,
in relation to a shooting party in which be bad
joined with Sir Henry, that after the latter had shot
him (General Hall) " and five other men " in
the leg, he asked him whether he didn't think be
had better shoot rather less for the future. This
story Lady INleux characterized as a "fable." Her
ladyship, the daughter of Lord Ernest Bruce, is only
twenty-one years of age, and was married at nine-
teen. She has a jointure of 15,0001. a year.