The Express.
London, England, 1861-11-29 00:00:00

THE FRENCH PRESS AND THE

TRENT STEAMER.

The Debate of to-day observes that the question of
the Trent is not so simple as some have appeared to
suppose. "It is generally admitted,"says the Paris
journal, " that neutrals ought not to mix either di-
rectly or indirectly in war operations ; that they
expose themselves to lawful seizure when they
carry for either of the belligerents contraband of
war, troops, officers, known spies, or other
agents belonging to the service of the armies.
It is very natural that the Americans should watch
narrowly the waters of the Isle of Cuba, and that
they should challenge all that leaves Havannah,
whence it is so easy to gain the coast of Florida.
As the Trent is but a merchant vessel, and as it
was not sufficiently removed from the American
coast to escape all suspicion, the Federal cruiser bad
the right to stop it, and to examine what wason board.
The whole discussion between President Lincolu
and England will turn upon the real character
which must be attributed to Messrs. Mason and
Slidell. President Lincoln will doubtless allege
that the arrested commissioners were going to
Europe for war purposes, and that the maritine
code of civilised nations, in expressly stipulating
for transports, has specified no similar
privilege for vessels which perform the
postal service. It may be that the contents of the
despatches which Mr. Mason and his colleagues
were to communicate to one or several European
cabinets are of such • nature as to throw a light
on this grave and intricate question. Unfortu-
nately for Mr. Lincoln, Commander Wilka has not
seized those despatches, which have arrived in Eng-
land by the L Plata, and if they include anything
which may legitimatise the act of the American
cruiser, or mitigate its character, it is not very
likely that the only diplomatic agent of the
Southern States who is at present in London
will be in any hurry to publish them."
The Paris Presee and the Indepenclance contain a
letter from a correspondent who was on board the
Trent at the time of the seizure, and who seems
to have shared in the indignation which that pro-
ceeding excited. One statement in his letter is
that the commander of the San Jacinto, when on
the deck of the Trent, more than once used the
words that he would have the Confederate agents,
"dead or alive."

The Pattie says that "it has been informed,
from a private source, that Rear-Admiral Milne
(Sir Alexander Milne, K. 0.8.), Commander-in-
Chief on the North American and West Indies
station, had, on hearing of the outrage committed
on the Trent, sent three steam-frigates to the
Inland of Cuba to escort, until new orders, the
steamer which plies between the Ravannah and
St. Thomas."

"It appears," says La Patric, " that informa-
tion has been reoeived at Washington by the
American government that important personages
of the Southern States were continually taking that
route, and that the expedition of the Ban Jacinto
would be renewed. To prevent such a repetition
Admiral Milue sent the frigates in question."
La Patric, commenting upon this affair, in an
article signed by M. Cucheval de Clarigny, says :
The pretext that KM. Mason and Slidell were seised
as "contraband of war" could only be admitted If the
envoys of the South had washed to make use of the Trent
to introduce arms or ammunition into America ; but they
were, on the contrary, leaving America for Europe, and
there were no OM= on board the steamer. The swientries
or agente of a government have never been regarded as
"contraband of war." Consequently, there bas been •
manifest violation of the English Bag, and it is to be
feared that it was ordered by the Cabinet at Washington
in its desire to seise, at all risks, the despatches of which
the envoys of the South were the bearers.
Under any circumstances, the British government can-
not dispense with exacting as a reparation the dismiaael of
the officers of the San Jacinto, the liberation of the passen-
gers taken from the Trent, and an ildemnity for them,
Will the cabinet at Washington be able to make all there
concessions in fine of the state of '•citation "i which the
peer of the North keeps the population against England?
It is, therefore, to be feared that complications of the most
serious nature may arise between England and the United
States, and we perfectly underatand the impression the
BOWS produced on the London Block Exchange. Reinforce-
meets for Canada were already in formation, and they
have bees ordered by the English government to sa" forth-
with.
The Constittitionnel says :

The angst of en English mail steamer by an American
vessel of war is so senorita fact, that we may be justified
in believing that the officer who committed the act did so
upon his own responsibility, or that, if he was obeying
instructions from the cabinet of Washington, the latter had
not sufficiently weighed the consequences.
In either case we hope that the American government
will make a reparation sod satisfy the claims of England.
We count upon it doing so in its own interests, which have
always served as a guide to its policy.
In fret, it is impossible that the Americans should not
understand how irregular is the arrest of MM. Slidell end
Mason on board the Trent ; how contrary it is to the law of
nations ; and bow prejudicial the consequences of this act
would bs to themselves.

It would be the °melioration of the "right of search,"
against which they have always protested, and which was
one of the chief omega d She war they themselves waged
with England in 1812—a right of search exercised not
only on commercial vessels but on ships of war, for the
nail steamers are royal vowels, having on board a Routs.
cant of the Royal Navy, and their odious wear the net.
form of the British Navy. -

By declaring contraband of war simple gnawers wite
or without a diplomatic mission the Americans strike a
mortal blow against the privileges of neutral States, which
it is to their interest more than anyone else to me re-
spected.
The Opinion Nationale says :
We perfectly understand the deep sensation this event
has caused iu London ; for if the French flag had received
such an insult the whole country would have risen u use
man to demand striking satisfaction. We have, in fact,
always proclaimed respect for a neutral hag, and the national
dignity would invincibly make us exact from others the
same 'aspect we should pay to them. We must, however,
admit that the question is not quite so simple as regards
England. Great Britain hes always been opposed to the
' rights of neutrals, and if in 1856 she made a concession
from her old principles, it wee solely because she toned an
ample compensation in the abolition of letters of marque.
England, as regards Dentrah, is folly bound towards
us and all the powers that adhered to the convention
of the 15th of April, 1856. But the United States were
not of the number. The Washington Cabinet refused to
admit the new maxims proclaimed by the P►ris Congress,
because the Western governments would not go the whole
length in the path of commercial liberty by decreeing the
complete emancipation of trading viands in time of war.
It results from this double situation that England and
the United States have remained, in their reciprocal rola-
Buns, under the empire of the ancient maritime law.

POLAND.
The Brea/au Gazette contains the following letter

from the Polish frontier :
Throughout the kingdom war is being made on the tele-

Nam '29.2V
&mamma 29.351
Gum j111.331
IUWIO& 129.32•
AILDROSIAB ,ea.ss
PORTRObiI 213.22'
3/112L14 .20.79
GALWAY •
IIoARBOIMION 42111
(41111111.003.
Vataarru
gozuvrome
.•
• 211.71
LOND011!?Dill
Dorn 81
P 011.111100311 19.87'
PearLuso
PLIMOCITII ? V.75'
29.86.

5.1.4.

B.
LW.
W.R.W.
LW.
S.W.
LW.
&W.
LW.
LW.
LW.
B.W.
LW.
B.S.W.

EXPLANATION.
B.—Barometer corrected and reduced to 32 deg. at mean ma
level each 10 feet, of vertical rise, causing about one-hundredth
of an Inch diminution : end each 10 deg., above 32 deg., causing
nearly three-hundredths increase. E.—Exposed thermometer
in shade. M.—Moistened bulb (foe evaporation and dew
point). I.l.—DirecUon of wind (tnie—two points kit of mag-
netic). 11..—Force (1 to 111—esUrnatod). C.—Cloud (I Co 9). I.—
Initials b, blue sky :c. clouds (detached) ; f, fog ; h, hall
lightning; m, misty (ham) ; o, overcast (dell) : r. rein s, MOW
t. thunder. B.—beis disturbance (1 M 9). E.—Cahn.

PONTIOVI TO TIOII IMPORT. TIOZADIA 11110111 MONDAY.
'N. Britain—N.W. to SAW.— &S.W. to W. and N.W.—
&rout, some rola. Strong, with rain, to a gait.
Irtland—N.N.W. to IL—Motto. 8. to N.W.—Stintlar.
rate to strong, and rainy,
Coast—N. W. to S.W. and 8. to W.N.W.—Strong. Ms/.
B.S.L—Fresh to strong, with
rain.

& Nnland—& to N.W. and S. 8.8. W. to N.W.—Gale, rainy,
—From moderato sod Sue to then fresh and clear.
• gale, with rain.

graph, and long pieces of wire are carried off. During the ims I Admiralty orders were received at Chatham yea-
h,/ days some 600 feet have been stolen from the line be. Malay dine:tins the Resolute, one of the Arctic exploring
tweed Warsaw and the Prussian frontier, and lamely s , ships, which, after being abandoned, was discovered and pro.
the damage repaired at one Point when it is renewed : seated to the Admiralty by the United States Government,
at another ; so that it hu been resolved at last to have Ito be fitted as • naval trannpmt, to WE, the Place of the
the wine watched by military patrols. It appears i Diligence. The Resolute, on being received from the Ameri.
certain that a movement is contemplated ia the approaching save itoreramont, wee dismantled in Chatham harbour,
spring, for considerable depots of arms are famed as where she has over Man bees lying in ordinary.
various places. The other day a young wan who was The Nationalible states that the Abbd Pomaglis
travelling as a merchant between KOlllllO sad Wanaw, has boos appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy at the
took to the latter city five waggons lades, as he maid, Uaiversity of Turin, in the place of Profaner Beni, elected
with atereimadire. It was found that the.. magas won reporter to the Council of State.