The Express.
London, England, 1851-12-19 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19.

---
le the American news we pubished yesterday them
is one point requiring very serious consideration.
There is, we believe, no rational Englishman who
lies paid attention to the proceedings of our diplo-
matic agents and naval officers in Central America,—
whether we the Pacific or Atlantic side, -but feels die-
posed to blush and change the subject whenever that
country is named. A still deeper sense of regret will
lse awakened should anything occurring in that scene
of our tellies be allowed to interrupt the liclings ut
amity which prevail, and ought to prevail, between
Great Britain and the United States. We wait,
therefure, with considerable anxiety for more full and
authentic information respecting the apparently un-
warrantable and inexplicable conduct of the corn-
mender of a !Selfish mewed-war in firing upon an
American steamer off the harbour of Grey town.
Before commenting mote in detail on the transac-
tion, see far as it is yet known, it may not be amiss to
remind our readers of what Central America in
general, and the kingdom of Mosquitia, as some
afli et to cull it. are.
Central America is the designation by which is known
the large tract of country at the northern extremity
of the great American isthmus, which constituted the
viceroyalty of Guatemala under the Spanish demi-
nien. When the- Spanish American colonies threw
alt the yoke o'S the mother country, the provinces in-
cluded in this viecroyalty attempted to form them-
selves into a federal re-public. The attempt signally
fail( 1, and the cause of failure is sufficiently devious.
All dase s of the inhabitants were in a condition of
childish ignorance. Systematically excluded from
'Aims under government, they had had no means of
acquieeig manly habits or practical skill in basilicas;
and editeation being entirely in the hauls of the
polo -te, they were, with few exceptions, lett in the
grossest ignorance. To sold to the evi', the natives
preponderated in the population in the ratio of three
to one, and of the so-celled whites, a very considerable
numbee were hi reality mixed castes. Oleetever the
Mt:lVl.4 of that pmt of America may have been
be lire the arrival of the Steed trek they are now ra-
nges in the strictest acceptation of tlw word -chil-
dren of a large growth, with the passions and sinews
of men, and taw intellects of infants. The history of
the provinces since the era of what is called indepen-
dence has been exactly what might have been ex-
p. chit from, a society so constituted. One American
chary." //././eoitee sent to them, hunted the whole land
from Itan to lksershabc for a government, and could
nowhere tinil one. A Mlet144:41011 of savage and eon-
temptildi civil seals; abortive attempts to organise u
general government, or a number of provincial go-
vernmetite ; revolutions as incessant and as puny as
the firing of squibs by selioul-boys on the night of a
king's birthday in the olden time—such is the history
of Central America tar the last $0 years.
In this n-gion, on the shores of the Caribbean sea,
between the etatee of Iliinclurfue and New Grenada,
ie a tenet of sea coast °coupled nimint exelusivtly by
Indigos who maintain that they have always heen
independent of the Speoliarile, but whose country is
claimed by the state of Nicaragua. It certainly dues
not dearly appear that emy settled government has
ever been established in this territory by Europeans ;
or that the old S,innieli governmi lit veer expressly
attributed it to any of the adjoining provinces, now
called State*. But that Spaiu regarded this territory
as part of its doluinionis—just us the government of
the United Staters lays similar claims to the Indian
hunting grounds within its frontiers, or Great
Britain to theme pets of Australia which arc not yet
occupied, or even explored, there can he no doubt.
It is, therefore, with an exceedingly had grace that
Englund, which calls the Orange River sovereignty
in South Africa its own, disputes the claims of the
Spanish-American republics to the Mosquito coast.
And the way in which the British government
disputes these claims is still more unaccountable.
Aloent t h.• middle of the last century it asserted a right
to the territory. Some time later it waved its Pre-
tensions; and again it renewed them iu a modified
form. The Mosquito coaet is alleged to belong to a
King of the Mosquitos. who is under the protection
of (treat Britain. This king is the savage chief of
a tribe whose original seats are near Cape Grades
do 1).o& The Moekos (so the tribe is called) have,
from time immemorial, been in the habit of making
piratical excursions along the coasts, and landing
and plendering the other Indians. This it pleased
the English authorities to call an exercise of the
rights of sovereignty, and levying of tribute. The
chief of the Moskos was therefore recognised us the
king. and the coast, as far as the visits of his pirati-
cal canoes extended, was called the Mosquito coast.
A few irregular stragglers from the neighbouriug
British colonies have always been accustomed to trade
to this country, and sonic of them have occasionally
"squatted" on the comet. Some of the inure shrewd
of these have acquired an influence in the king's
councils and of late years this has bees carried so
far that a clique or coterie of them have actually car-
ried on the government in the name of the- king. A
speculative and ambitious settler at Berbice—the late
Mr. \'. %Lk ER —who at onetime- held no less than eight
official appointments in that settlement, n-solved to
turn this state of affairs to his own account, and con-
trived to get himself nominated British consul, or
protector of trade. in the denwenes of his alosquitian
majesty. Since that time the country has been ruled
is the name of the king by a knot of English
squatters" (persons, at least, calling themselves
Brinell subjects), with the English protector of trade
at their head. And the British government have been
drawn into all the petty broils and contemptible in-
trigues of this precious government, and obliged to
be at the-expense of fighting their battles.
It would be wearying the patience of our readers
to no purpose, to recapitulate all the costly follies and
degrading negotiations into which our rulers have
been led in the attempt to make the so-called king-
dom of Mosquitia au English colony in disguise. Mr.
Cievre testis war with the little republic of San
Salvador; the occupation of Tiger Island; the
expedition up the San Juan River (in which Mr.
WALKER, the prime mover of these absurdities, was
accidentally drowned). the officer in command on the
occasion being re warded with the Order of the Bath ;
the compensation of a ministerial supporter in par-
liament (fur his losses in buying a borough, which a
t-ummittec took out of his *hands) by the appoint-
ment of President at the court of Mosquitia;—ell
these may not set be forgotten. The crop of
jobs which has sprung up in the fertile soil of
this disreputable connexion has cost JOHN BULL
a pretty penny. These, however, are topics for
another occasion; our present theme is the colli-
sion between H.M.S. Express and the American stea-
mer Prometheus; this affair also had its origin in our
Central American "policy."
One prominent characteristic in the North Ameri-
can is, that he cannot by any means be brought to
submit to, or affect respect for, " shams." 'fhe pinch-
beck majesty of Mosquitia has in consequence been
un object of unmitigated scorn to all Anwrieans fre-
quenting the coast. And hence bad blood has arisen
between most of them on the one side, and such
British authorities as have been playing a part in
the farce, and the "squatters" for whose benefit it is
played. on the other. The dignity of these " viceroys
over" the King of Mosquitia has been so offended
in the course of such broils, that a detachment of
Jamaica police has been placed in garrison at Grey-
town, and English men-of-war have been stationed
off the harbour, to compel saucy Yankees to perform
the Ku-too before these magnates and to make
them pay their harbour dues. This was a movement
pretty certain at nu distant date to lead to collisions
between .kmericans and the English policemen or the
English naval officers. But the mischief has been
accelerated by a new element of discord.
Greytown (San Juan deNicaragua) is the terminus
on the Caribbean sea of one of the most promising
lines for a railway or ship-canal across the Isthmus.
It is situated where the territories of Costa Rica
border on those claimed by the state of Ni
and also by the government of his Mosquitirgr
Ma-
jesty. The canal or railroad, if it is ever formed,
must run through the Gaeta Rica territory, or that
claimed by the other two "powers." English and

American speculators have in all these states been
trying to obtain the exclusive privilegeof making the
canal or railway. In Nicaragua the Americans have
' obtained the concession; in ('osta Rica the English-
men; - and in the country, claimed and occupied in the
name of the King of the Mosquitos, Englishmen are
of course in the ascendant. While the English
speculators have been talking, the American specula-
tors have been doing. They have actually organised
a system of transit for goods and passengers across
the isthmus on that route, and have placed
steamers on the San Juan, and the lake of
Nicaragua. Since this has been done, the English
couteillors, who act as dry-nurses to the King of
Mosquitia, have been sulky and savage, and doing
all in their power to thwart the American company.
Tic English government has wisely listened to the
representations of the cabinet at Washington, and
agreed to make Greytown a free port. But the
lirmiers yt'w,rtvir of Mosquitia have pleaded for a
o.tponement of the carrying of this arrangement
Into effect, until their lease of the customs duties
shall expire; and in the meantime they have been
levying their tolls with a high hand. The exact
merits of the case, in which they have been so
‘igorously backed by the Express, are yet un-
known, - but it is unfortunately but too certain, that
a spirit of nationality has rendered the British
officers on the station too ready to lend an ear to the
interested misrepresentations of the Mosquitian cus-

tom-house officers.
Now, without any special reference to the case of
the Prometheus, we put it to the common sense of
our readers—ls it creditable for a great empire like
ours to allow itself to be mixed up in such miserable
tracasseries ? Is it consistent with the honour of
Great Britain, r,s• its reputation for sanity, to place
its ships and ,oldiers at the disposal of some dozen
of " squatters. who keep a savage chief
withing stnngs ? Are we to go to loggerheads our
blood-relations,—with the only state to which we can
look for sympathy or succour in the event of a quar-
rel with European despotism, in such a disreputable
quarrel ? Were the Mosquito coast our own, it
would not be worth the powder and shot it would
cost to maintain it ' • but it is not opt my and avow-
edly ours. Did the duties exacted at Grcytown
flow into our national coffers, it would be bad policy
to levy them but they arc pocketed by private
adventurers, whose title to them is, in the eye of the
law of nations, worse than dou'atful. The sooner
this country stokes off the Mosjuitian coancxion
the better it will be for its reputation.
As to the firing upon the American steamer, for
which Mr. Wn.tstiat has instructed the American
ambassador in this country to demand explanation
or rs.sln:44, it would be unfair to an English officer to
condemn him before he has had an opportunity. to
tell his own story in his own way. But the transaction,
as far as at present known, has, it must be contes.sed,
' an ugly look. We will not believe that he really
intended to hit the steamer—but even the show of
iolence was an insult to the American flag. We have
no doubt the story may be found susceptible of a
I satisfrtury explanation. And at all events we hope
that the communications between our government
• and that of Washington on this subject will be con-
k ducted in such a manner as to prevent even any cool-
• lass between England and its most natural and most
s desirable ally.

THE English law of partnership has been long felt
to be mesa unsatisfactory. Its stringency in im-
posing unlimited liability on every partner is un-
paralleled in the mercantile world. It makes each
partner answerable for the debts of the partnership
to the whole extent of his fortune; it gives an un-
paid creditor the right of suing at law each of the
partners individually for debts contracted in the
name of all ; it holds every one to be a partner who
participates in the slightest degree in the profits of
the business; it allows every partner to deal with
the common property to any extent short of
the commission of actual fraud ; and if an un-
fortunate partner has been forced by an action
at law to satisfy the claims of a creditor, or has
suffered wrong in the management of the concern,
it virtually refuses him redtrss against his fellow-
partners, hy confining his remedy to a suit in chan-
cery, to which every partner must be a party. These
onerous responsibilities can be escaped by two pro-
cesses only—act of parliament, and a charter from
the crown—but both arc so ruinously expensive and so
uncertain of attainment, that for all practical pur-
poses, limited liability is excluded by the English law.
A co: "ttri of the noose of Comieons investi-
gated this subject lust session, and resolved, " That
the law of partnership, as at present existing, view-
ing its importance in referenee to the commercial
character and rapid increase of the population and
property of the country, requires careful and immedi-
ate revision." It then recommended the appoint-
ment of "a commission, which should suggest such
changes as the altered condition of the country
should require."
Among the changes most canvassed at the present
time, and towards which public favour seems in-
clining with increasing force, is the adoption of what
our neighbour., call partnership "en cmmandite."
I Some very sterling evidence respecting it, given by
Dr. PIIILLIMOKE before the committee, appeared a
short time ago iu the columns of the Daily News.
The subject has acquired fresh interest by the grow-
ing introduction into the money market of London
of the shares of French companies organised on the
principle of partnership en amtmandite; and the
question naturally occurs, if Englishmen are attracted
to such enterprises, when protected by a foreign law
only, why their principle should not be adopted by
the English law also, and the benefits it is found to
confer diffused generally over the country.
Partnerships en commandite =carried on by n few
managers or 9.,rons, who alone have the exclusive
right of conducting the affairs of the partnership ;
but on them also the law imposes the fullest and most
unlimited liability. The rest of the partners, or
commandifahas, whose numbers arc subject to no
restriction, are answerable only to the extent of the
capital which they invest in the concern; on the
other hand, they arc interdicted from every kind of
interference with its management, possessing only a
right of access to the records of its proceedings, and
to full information on the state of the business.

It is obvious that such partnerships offer some
very considerable advantages. There is an abun-
dance of capital seeking investment, which is driven
back upon the funds and other fixed securities, be-
cause its owners, though willing. to stake a part, are
not willing to hazard all their tortune on promising
commercial enterprises. The en commandite princi-
ple would open to such capital attractive employ-
ment, in sums varying from the highest to the lowest
amounts, and many a valuable scheme which cannot
now be prosecuted from want of funds, because the
presumption of success is no equivalent against the
risk of total ruin, would quickly find the support of
many contribusers, and be carried out with great
advantage both to individuals and the community.
Many are the possessors of narrow means, who
would be eager to procure an enlargement of ease
and comfort by sharing in the profit of business;
people whose condition is now hopelessly hemmed in
between three per cent.consols, anda venture for their
whole fortune. The vast extension of savings banks,
friendly societies, and other benevolent institutions,
shows how large are the sums seeking investment
amongst the lower classes, and how difficult it is to
obtain anything above the lowest scale of interest.
To these classes, partnerships en eoffingandite would
open out a large field: and it seems hard to restrain
their liberty by the operation of artificial laws.
But more urgent still than all these reasons in
favour of the proposed alteration of the law, are con-
siderations derived from the relation now subsisting
between capital and labour. The working classes
have reached an amount of intelligence unprecedented
at any former period of history, whilst their num.
hers attach a weight to their sentiments unknown
before. Never before have artisans and operatives,
in the essential character of their thoughts and feel-
ings, approached so closely to the upper classes—
never before were they less capable of becoming the
slaves of routine employment, valuable for their
hands and the intelligence which guided them, but
undeveloped in understanding, and indifferent to the ;
pursuits which characterise intellectual beings.
Symptoms of this change abound in every country
of Europe ; its effects are sufficiently alarming—it
were well to take warning in time.
Already in France a fierce war has broken out
between capital and labour. England likewise hes
felt the shock. Vigorous intellects and vehement
passions have been enlisted in the strife. Old insti-
tutions are powerfully assailed; and who shall say
that a new era may not be at hand ? Capital is de-
nonneed as the tool of selfishness. Its interests are