The Express.
London, England, 1855-03-06 00:00:00

XIITIS.)

AMERICAN AFFAIR&

(PROs T lIPSOLAIL

Mt DAILY

NEW YORK, Pas. 21.
The steam-ship Black Warrior, which arrived at
the port of New Orleans the day before yesterday,
brought news from Havannah op to the 15th inst.
The whole island bad been declared in a state of
siege, and all the porta in a state of blockade. A prc-
elaniation had been issued, ordering the enlistment
of all volunteers between the ages of eighteen and
fifty capable of bearing arms. A military commis-
sion had been created for the eastern portion of the
island, and General Concha was said to have sent to
Porto Rico for more troops. The British rear-admiral
reviewed the troops with General Concha on the 12th
instant. A decree was being enforced, prohibiting
the sale of firearms and ammunition. From these
land other reports and rumours which reach us, it is
evident that the authorities of Cuba have become
eariously alarmed in reference to the apprehended
Insurrection in the island, or the landing of filibus-
tering expeditions from the United States. We can
hardly believe that the captain-general is deliberately
attempting to hoax the world. He has arrested
some of the most illustrious, opulent, and hitherto
unsuspected men in Cuba, and all his measures indi-
cate the extremest alarm. He evidently believes that
the Kinney expedition, which has been got up
ostensibly tor the purpose of colonising a portion of
the Mosquito coast, to which claim is laid by
Nicaragua and Costa Rica, is on the point
of making a descent upon Cuba, in connection
with one or more secret filibustering expeditions.
'the common belief, however, is that the captain-ge-
neral has been successfully duped by parties in the
United States or in Cuba, who have resorted to this
new trick for inflaming agitation in that island.
There is a manifest and growing disfavour of all fili-
bustering schemes among the American people.
We have something more reliable and positive,
and far more interesting, in regard to the present
state of Mexico. There, things are coming to a
crisis. It is reported and believed that Santa Anna's
reign is about over—that Alvarez has possession of
nearly or quite all the Mexican coast on the Pacific—
that Santa Anna's funds are exhausted, and that in
his poverty and desperation he is resorting to the
last expedient at hand, and has proposed to the Ame-
rican Minister to sell another portion of Mexico to
the United States. But there is no probability that
even Gen. Pierce's administration would entertain
the idea of purchasing another province from
Mexico. None but speculators and those who
had an immediate interest in the purchase of the
Mullis, Valley, now look with any lavour upon the
Gadsden treaty of 1854; and it is everywhere alleged
in the clearest language, that we have done quite
enough to sustain a despot in the usurpation of abso-
lute power, and that we have extended our territory
in that direction far enough, at least for the present.
Mexico is in a distracted, revolutionary, and perhaps
• hopeless state. Nearly all the social and political
ties which bind men, communities, and states to-
gether, are there dismembered. There are but three
powers in Mexico that are respected or feared. The
first is the power of the bayonets of a military chief-
tain. The second is the terror inspired by lawless
revolutionists, thieves, and plunderers. The third,
and incontestibly the greatest authority, is that of the
priesthood ; and it is safe to say that the catholic
priests of Mexico are the most ignorant, degraded,
and unprincipled body of ecclesias.ica to be found in
the world. So great, however, is the sway they bear,
that Santa Anna himself, during the emergencies of
his dictatorship, has not dared to provoke the indig-
nation of the church by laying his hand upon its
treasures. He has from the beginning been obliged
to court the favour of the priesthood, he hu had the
Jesuits on his side, and his sister has just entered a
convent for life. There is something exceedingly
lamentable in contemplating the condition of
the old Spanish provinces in North and South
America. They are for the most part, and have
long been, in a state of revolution and decay. Never
endowed with those vital energies which sustain the
Norman and Saxon race, oppressed by the mighty
incubus of priestly domination and religion bigotry,
robbed and impoverished by viceroys, governors, and
captain-generals—rendered impatient and discon-
tented by the perpetual contrast which they offer to
our own republic—subjected to constant incursions
and barbarities on the part of the injured savage
tribes—destitute of popular education, and iosensible
to motives of probity, honour, or truth, these ancient
provinces of Spain are fast going to decay, The
process of decadence seems to be hastened by the
electric movements and elements of our times

Mexico especially has lost the little nationality which
she once possessed; and Providence seems to have
reserved for her no fate except utter ruin or ultimate
annexation to the United States. It is not doubted
that, at the present hour, the best and most intelli-
gent pottions of the population of Mexico and the
live states of Central America would decide almost
unanimously for immediate annexation to our re-
public. That this will be their ultimate destiny can
hardly admit of a doubt ; but it is believed on all
hands that such au event should not be precipitated,
but be allowed to transpire in the ordinary course of
human affairs.

To glance at our own affairs. This country has
witnessed no such winter for many years. Towards
the close of January, a great snowstorm struck our
coast from the north east, and whitened the conti-
nent almost to the isthmus. Before that terrible
,storm had passed, it had covered the United States,
through the northern and central regions, with a
winding-sheet of frost and snow, from the coast of
Maine to the shores of the Pacific. The intensest,
the most wide-spread, and protracted cold was every-
where experienced. The railroads of the west were
snowed in. All regular channels of communication
were broken up. Railroad trains were stopped in
crossing the prairies, and hundreds of passengers so
completely blockaded from all intercourse with the
rest of mankind, that they were reduced to the verge
of starvation, with nothing but dogs to eat; while
thiy were obliged, in some instances, to break the
ods to pieces to get fuel to keep shivering women
and children from freezing. During this terrific
season it would have touched the sensibilities of
Englishmen to hear the universal expression of sym-
pathy for the English army in the Crimea. It is the
commonly-received opinion that each extreme severity
of weather does not often come upon Europe and
America together; but, daring those ice-bound days,
the American people, in conversations and through
their newspapers, were continually speaking of the
sufferings of the English army before Sebastopol;
and in the places of worship, where religious assem-
blies gathered on the Sabbath, it was by no means
unexpected when they heard the soldiers of England
remembered in the prayers of the preachers of the
Gospel that, in addition to pestilence and other suf-
ferings, the British army might not be visited by the
desolations of our polar winter.
Serious apprehensions have for some time been
felt in reference to the fate of Dr. Kane, and
his companions in the American exploring expedi-
tion that was sent out in search of Sir John Franklin.
A law has been passed by the United States Con-
gress authorising another expedition to be despatched
in search of Dr. Kane, and the Secretary of the Navy
has been instructed forthwith to despatch steam
vessels for this purpose. A commission has been ap-
pointed to select the steam propellers to be used, and
they will get under way with all possible despatch.
It is cheering to the friends of humanity to see the
noble services of such men as Franklin and Bane ap-
preciated by their countrymen, and by mankind; but
has not the time arrived when England and America
can well afford to give over this fruitless battle with
eternal frost? Are not the objects which have thus
been accomplished, secured by too enormous a
sacrifice P
The day before yesterday the Pacific Railroad Bill
passed the Senate of the United States. This bill
provides for the construction of three roads across
the continent, and grants twelve sections of land per
mile in aid thereof. But there is no probability that
three railroads to the Pacific will ever be built. The
expedition we have had during the
-present winter
dasonstestes the utter folly of atteniptnig te construct
' any Minted whatever across this continent an a
I higher Minis than 32 dogma. The government
has esadessveral thorough surveys for rest's, and
theme germs have resulted a obtaining. a vast
mount d useful information. But they all go to
'how that it is utterly out of the question to think of
building a road north of the central portico of
Texas. This is by far the shortest, the easiest, and