Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-02-15 00:00:00

THE 'NORTHERN TIMES, TUESDAY,' FEBRUARY ;15; • 1850

AMERICAN

AFFAIRS.

FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT,

PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS. MORE OF THE
CUBAN QUESTION : ITS INCREASED AGITA-
TION; EXCITEMENT STIRRED UP IN HAVANA
:SCHEMING LETTERS TO THE AMERICAN. PREBs
PR.ESIDENT• BDCHA.NAN , ANOTHER LOUIS
• NAPOLEON: AMERICAN.: ARGUMENTS • AGAINST
IT. ANOTHER ANNEXATION PROJECT : THE
BRITISH PROVINCES,,-' COVETED : :IRELAND,
FERHAPSi NEXT. THE SLAVE TRADE : ANO-
THER -• SUSPECTED SLAVER • INTERCEPTED.
LYNCH-LAW IN NEBRASKA. GROWING WEALTH
OF AMERICAN CITIES : ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF
CITY TAXES: THE BURNS' CENTENARY IN
THE STATES.

There is still but if any, 'politiCal interest
in the 'proceedings of Congress, - excepting, of
course,.the prc..parations,for the purchase pt Cuba,
which„ however, may .be said .to have now con=
eluded: Business of a more practical kind has
succeeded the disposal of that matter. Provision
has been made for the conveyance-. of the mails
from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast—that. is,
right across the. North American Continent. But
that great project • which would, among other
advantages, have afforded such Superior facili-
ties for this postal conveyance—that. of ,the
Pacific' . Railroad—has been . strangled by the
Senate,--at- any rate for. the present , Session. A
new Tariff Bill haabeen brought in, in the House
of Representatives; which, although still recog-
nising a:particular policy, is more!hberal than the
present one, and is expectedto increase the revenue
very. considerable
Th

are mo-ving heaven and earth,. as the

saying is, on the Cuba question. American
emissaries, it is understood, have been sent to
lla,vana,•. in order to stir up the people there to
demand annexation to the States. And the
newspapers here, in the interest of the annexation
party, are giving letters from that place--real or
imaginary—to show that the public feeling of the
Cubans is with America -not with Spain: "They
evidently come," says one of our city journalists
who is publishing them; " from persons in various
positions of society, and with great 'differences of
thouo•lit and expression ; but in one thing they are
• t?
unanimous, and that is the,completediselaiming of
the feeling of loyalty to the crown and professions
of fealty contained in the official representations
lately sent by the Captain-General. in Havana to
the. Court at Madrid. This is the first -occasion on
_ •
.ce of the people in Cuba has found
a ^ contradiction to the official

utterance

press of tiayana• is subject to .a, rigid
censorship by the GOverninent, and ' even the
expression in private of political opinions adverse
to the present rule is constructive treason, and
punishable by fine and imprisonment,' if not' by
death. These letters all tell us that they were
written under .constraint.: ,SOme Wrote at mid-
night ; another. did so with a pencil, and in a
„disguised hand, so that in case the 'letter mis-
carried, the:experts and chemists usually. called by
the Military Commission to examine the writing
and the ink might not trace the writer ;
,a few
'give us references in this oityl., that we may learn
who the writers are if we doubt the genuineness
of the letters ; and a large number Come to us
anonymously: We willingly open our columns to
give expression to the sentiments of the people._ of
Cuba, so long as our courtesy is not .misused by
endeavouring to make it the vehicle ,of personal
attacks ; and we have no wish to inquire the name
of any writer of a proper letter sent to us from
that island:" All this, of course, must be taken
with a grain of salt,—or, rather, with many grains.
The absence of all " wish to inquire the name of
any writer of them," is very convenient. In such
a case, undoubtedly, ignorance must be bliss. For
'that wish, assuredly, must be father to the:thought,
—and that thought not" only one of suspicion, but
Of a dread of being suspected. The whole thing,
however, is rather too barefaced, one would think,
to impose upon any but the weak and simple.
One of the published Havana missives says,
Much as it may be disliked by those who wish
to sustain themselves, the 'Cuban people are en-
lightened,•and aware of their rights. 'They desire
to throw_off the odious yoke which oppresses them,
which 'degrades them, which seizes the fruits of
their labours. They desire their liborty ; but as
this cannot be accomnlishedhy the Cubans them-
selves, by reason of the, contrary elements which
encompass theth, and the syBtem of society which
exists. among them, -they 'will bless Ahe'powerful
.hand which.- may. extricate ;them from their
anomalous situation." :
Another says,---" Who is there that feels Within
himself that he has 'a right to liberty; who would
prefer, to remain subjected to despotism and
tyranny, and who would not rather" hail with
g, hidness and bless the hand which is generously
stretched out to him 'by a nation which has, raised
itself above
.the age,, and is more .exalted than
any other people ?
And. then tlic

Nc.‘v York editor is flattered—or
flatters himself—with the assurance,—" All admire
the truthful manner in which .you have exposed
the servile, obedience and submission 'to 'elcinnd
antiquated customs under which our country, is
kept enslaved. How different is our situation from
that of your country, where • the individual Who
occupies the presidential chair gives.e.very year in
a friendly way hiS views' with • respect ,to the
different relations existing.between your country
and the other nations of. the world! 7 .

, . .
And thus are their intelligent-diseernments and
feelings glaringly expressed -on. their own. behalf,

rhe—Cuban.peolile know that, incorporated
into the American :Union, they will be a soverign
State, free and indepedent ; that they will regulate
their. expenditures, vote their taxes,-.giVe them-
selves laws, and. govern themselves `in the same
Way as any of the other States which form the
Union. The Cub±n people feel in their hearts the
surety of all these benefits,_ and they, know that
the Word sale Means redeMption, and not onslave-
meat, as this government pretends in the famous
representations which it has caused to be signed
by the, slavish Ayuntamientos and municipal
bodies of this island."

All this, I say, is so thoroaghly Yankee, in its
phraseology, as well as in its sentiment, and in its
desire, that he must credulous indged who receives
it, and can digest it as gene-ine.,

Then the President himself is duly flattered in
the matter. He and Louis Napoleon are set, down as ,
the two great luminaries of ;the age-7--shining in
different hemispheres, "yet combining to enlighten
the world, " while a new state of affairs," they
declare, " is being established in Europe by Louis
Napoleon, an equally great statesman is initiating
a policy in America equally in consonance with
the popular developerdent of the age, and destined to
produce a like fruitful change. Mr. Buchanan, is
laying the foundations of' a policy for our govern-
ment that be felt long after he shall have
pasied away.". No doubt it will. But how felt ?
A much truer, juster, and soberer view of the
subject is taken • by journalists of another class—
those which represent more of the real re-
spectability of the community. The Boston .
Advertiser, for instance, ,thus argues against the
President's assumptions :—" Upon what grounds
these assumptions are based, we are 'at a' loss to
understand.' 'lf Cuba is in fact the property of
Spain, as the proposition to pUrchase concedes,
then the usual rights, and obligations attach to
her ownership. If the Spanish Government fails,
to develope the resources of the island, to pro-
mote its prosperity, or to fulfil in general. those
duties which the relatiryn of- parent state and
colon impgseg upon it,. then it is responsilile
to the people bf Cuba, and not to us,
for sueb tamp': re of duty. The English
Government ' failed in its duty to these •
States when they were its colonies, but had France
tikeretriion interfer-edUnd claimed to take possession
of enem, because she could' make U. better'USe of
tliem, the patriots of
.the revolution would have
denied the logic and resisted the interference at
the point of the bayonet, And even if we admit
that the acquisition. of. Cuba would. materially
assist in the growth and strengthen the position,
of the United, • States, indispensable to ,our
growth and, security, it cannot be, as ao2y
experiPwo and observation nay 41?---§til..1 this'

confers no right upon us, and imposes' no duty
upon Spain. In fact, the principle which is_ in-
volved in the supposition that the importance of
Cuba to, our interests can by itself give us any
right to the island is one which no honest man

will for an instant admit, when it is set forth in its
true colours in a question of
,private property, and
private rights. And it is only by the delusive
glitter of a supposed destiny, that men are deceived
as to its abominable character, when it is applied
to public rights."
This is most refreshing, after the maudlin, yet
mischevious Sophistry and mendacity indulged in
On the'other side. •

•
And that a principle of . that " abominable
character" is in operation; and,, will not, if ever it
succeeds, be content with its application to labour,
maybe gathered from
.the fact, that , already' the
question has been broached in 'Congress, Mr.
Faruworth (of Illinois) having asked leave. to offer
a long preamble setting -forth the importance of
ourpossessinq all the British American provinces,
concluding with a resolution instructing the corn-
mittee on' Foreign Affairs to inquire into the ex:-
-pedieney of initiating measures to secure theni by
honourable treaty. The resolution was objected
to, as. a suspected satire upon , "the Cuba
thu . million proposition. "' "But what objection
can there be," asks the _Yew. Ybrk.; Herald; f' to
the annexation of all British North America, if it
can be bought? It would soon pay for itself from
the public lands, fisheries, &c., which would thus
be secured, and the Fugitive Slave law might
thus be brought within reach of some thousands
of runaway slaves on the other side Of the
Canadian boundary. With the Southern • annexa-
tions of Cuba and MexicO, the North will doubt-
less insist upon the • acquisition of the Canadas,
New Bium§wick, Nova Scotia, &c.; and what
harm. would. there be in sounding the British
government.in advance ? " There: is, in short, no
end to the " annexation " process, if once it goes
a-head. Ireland is in the Atlantic, directly
opposite to America, and would make an excellent
Botany Bay for Yankee convicts—if, nothing
else ! So they may come to think ; and, of course, •,
if Spain is to give 3:lp Cuba, so must England

surrender Ireland, whenever " a lopg preamble

• -
shall be adopted by Congress, setting, forth. its
importance!,
The slave trade, cannot, it seems, be all at once
put down, since it has been allowed to be revived,
—that is to say, since the remissness if not the
connivance, of those who were bound to look after
it, has permitted it •to be at least re-attempted.
Another suspected slaver—the fifth or sixth within
the last five months has been discovered; and on
this occasion, strange to say, when „one might have
thought that the prevalence of an anti-slavery feel-
ing might have discouraged such a thing,—viz., in

the.NeN-v E agland State of Connecticut. The princi.
pal, ;fact of the case is, that the barque Laurens
of New London, Conn., has been seized byorder
of the :Collector of that port, oii suspicion of beinc

a slaver, and is now in the custody of the United
States Marshal, where she.will remain until a ju-
dicial investigation can be had at the next term of
the United States District Court. It appears that
she_is an old whaling ship, of about 400 tons burthen,

built at.Keunebunk, iii'Slainq, about twent

years since

voyages noun irom uom apring and bag Harbour.
On her last-voy.age,'she was run away with by the
captain and Went into Rio. She was subsequently
seized •as a slaVer, it' is said, on' the coast of
Africa, brought into the port of New York, and
sold by the United States Marshal. She has since
got into the hands of those who are still dabbling
in slave traffic, and who had sent her to Now
Louden to get ready for a trip to the ,coast of
Africa, under th• pretence of preparing her for a
whaling voyage. The case is one that will . pro-
bably go far to prove, that the iniquitous traffic in
negroes is still carried on by American 'ships. Nor
will it ever be thoroughly put down until the laws
relating to its suppression are better administered.
A-
terrible instance of that love of Lynch-law
which pervades the American mind wherever
there is an. opportunity for' indulging to the
full the licence of a vaunted free-citizenship,.,Eas
just occurred at Omaba, in Nebraska Territory.
Yt appears that two horse thieves were arrested in
lowa for depredations committed in Washington
county, and brought to the °lnaba, jail, to meet
their trial. But they had not been there many.
days, when a company of men from Florence and
Washington county assembled at the jail in this
city, entered it, and carried off the prisoners, the
sheriff being absent from the bUilding at the time ;
and next day the prisoners were' discovered in the
neighbourhood suspended' from a tree: they were
hanging back 'to back upon the same limb, with
their irons still on. Great indignation, it is said,
pervades this community. against the perpetrators
of this: revolting outrage, as . well as a firm deter-
mination to bring those concerned in it to punish-
ment. A coroner's jury have held an inquest ;
four.of the ringleaders have been arrested. But it
is doubtful that anything will be done with them.
Some idea may be formed' of the growing
'wealth of American cities, from the estimates just
made of theproperty of each of those two great
commercial centres, New York and Boston, Which
are stated to amount to eight hundred millions of
dollars—New York having. fA525,000,006 ; Boston

$275,000,000, or ,a little more than one half that
of New. York. The property of Boston is one
hundred millions more than that of the city of
Philadelphia, and nearly three times that of

Baltimore. It is said that Boston has more property,
per capital than any other city in the world. Of course
the city revenues are in proportion, and taxation is
heavy enough. The city taxes of New York alone
amount' to nearly nine millions of dollars a-year ;
and the sum total of 'taxes for the year paid into
the Receiver'S Office up to Christmas. day in New
YO k, was seven, and a quarter millions of dollars,
leaving yet unpaid
.one million three hundred and
seventy thousand.
The Burns' Centenary has been commemorated
with great enthusiasm in most of the principal
cities. There was evidently a very warm, and a
very discriminating appreciation of the poems of
Scotia's Bard ; but•rather ludicrous 'notoris of him
were here and there 'expressed, as to his social
position, and as to his. polities. He was, they
thought, a thorough Ainerican. Republican! And
they quaked (at Boston) one of his. letters which
says, "I have three sons, who, I see. already, have
brought into the world souls il qualified to inhabit
the bodies of slaves," to show,.as.•they imagined,
that he thought they could never live under a
monarchy. And yet all the. three have been
brouohtup' and been enabled to occupy afar, very
far higher and happier social positions than their
poor father did, in the immediate and active ser-
vice of the British morirchy,r—one in its civil,
and ' two in its Military 'service! "Facts are
stubborn things"—every where, you will perhaps
say, but in. America I;

THE. laNIAN. ISLANDS

The Times publishes voluminous documents con-
nected. with the reforms, proposed by Mr. Glad-
stone, He went in state to the lonian assembly, and,
presented her Majesty's reply to the addresses in.
favour of union with Greece. Her Majesty tells
the lonians. she can ivither consent to abandon. the .
obligations 'she has undertaken, nor can eonvey, '
nor permit any application to any other power,
their wishes, as she is the sole organ of the lonian
States in the councils of Europe. She. will enforce
obedience to the laws, but has adopted the measures
she deems most conducive. to the good of the
lonian people, and she awaits the enlightened co-
operation of their parliament. Mr. Gladstone
then in a speech; propounded the. reforms alluded
to. They comprise a new constitutional act which
extenda the sphere of the lonian, and counteracts
the agency of 'the Tirltish element, establishes mi-
nisterial respouaility, and gives to the Assembly
power of the purse., The Lord High Commissioner
cannot be made responsible to lonian authority,
.but provision is made for increasing his responsi-
bility to Her Majesty. The weight and
intlependenee of the Senate arc to be increased
by extending the tenure of their seats and
ITmhoediffuynincdnitheentpalrepsernotponsiitoidoensofofelteheteinfoSrdenantoiygsli.
1 .bCeomacieneispstieodneorr;
rejectedw hieh ainretpntou:neTrohuse ,
pmreussitdeenitt,heorr
- e Assembly prorised• MI early reply.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

TIOrSZ OF. LORDS,—,MaNnAy

Lord Wodehouse demanded that inquiry be made
respecting • the •diplomatic correspondence .between the
Government of this country and the United States
respecting the .right of search, which had led to its
abandonment.

The Earl of 11.1almesbury replied, that no principle halo
been abandoned,only a practice given up,

•
Further remarks were made by the Earl of Clarendon,
the Earl of Aberdeen, the Earl of Derby, the Earl of
-Carlisle,' and Lord Brougham, after which the matter
dropped. • • -
The. Law of, Property and Trustees' ,Relief Bills, as
amended, were reported, and ordered to stand for third
reading.

The-House' theU adjOurned

HOUSE %OF COMMONS.—MoNruv
The Speaker-took the. Chair at Four o'clock

THE REFORM BILL.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer gave notice that on
Monday, the 23th, he' should ask leave to introduce a
Bill to amend the representation in England and Wales.
and to facilitate the registration and voting at electiona.
This announcement was received with loud cheers from
both sides of the house.

ItERRNSENTATION OF SCOTLAND

Subsepently, in reply to Sir J. Ogilvie,. '
The Chancellor of the Exchequer said it was .his in-
tention to bring in a bill to amend the representation of
Scotland, but he could not then fix the day.