Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-19 00:00:00

AMERICAN AFFAIRS.

FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.

CENTRAL AMERICA EXCITEMENT AT WASHINGTON.
THE TRIAL OF THE HON. D. E. SICKLES FOR THE
MURDER OF THE SEDUCER OF HIS WIFE : INTENSE
EXCITEMENT. APPREHENSION OF A DISRUPTION
OF THE UNION BY THE SLAVE STATES : MAGNI-
TUDE AND. MAGNIFICENCE OF THE DESIGN ; To
'EMBRACE THE CENTRAL AMERICAN STATES, CUBA;
ALLIANCE WITH FILIBUSTERS ; GRAND ANTICIPA-
TIONS OF THE SCHEME. IMPATIENCE FOR ACQUI-
;SITION OF CUBA ; REPORT OF ANOTHER FILIBUS-
TERING EXPEDITION TO THAT POSSESSION ; EN-
COURAGEMENTS TO SO DESPERATE AN ENTERPRISE.
EXPERIMENTS ON TRIAL. IN THE REPUBLIC; PRI-
SON DISCIPLINE; RETURN TO THE EMPLOYMENT
OF THE WHIP. REMARKABLE CASE OF IMPOS-
TURE, AS TO LIVING WITHOUT FOOD, EXPOSED.

-A breeze has sprung up at Washington, rather
suddenly, on the Central American question. It has
for some time been whispered that Sir Gore Ousely
was too much for the President and his Cabinet; and
to he the case.

it. now seems that, this is ti
-But the present trouble is
under what. they call th
whose recent cond
most offensive
sent out with desnaicl
most positive el

about Nicaragua,
A Agin-French alliance,
s considered to' have been
k special messenger has just been
to General Lamar of the
They instruct him to de-
mand from Nicaragua an annlo7,y, restitution and
indemnity, on -a faqure to comply with which he is
to ask for his passports. The Home squadron, it is
said, will be strengthened ; and the vessels placed
at the disposal of General Lamar, to use them for
the defence of American citizens, their property and
vested rights. The despatches to flag-officers
McCluney and Long, commanding respectively the
Ho-ne and Pacific squadrons, are to obey the orders
of -General Lamar. Failing to receive them, they
are to exercise a.latitudinous d;scretion. The usual
diplomatic course has been pursued in informing the
foreign relations of the intentions of this government.
All this smells strongly of gunpowder, it must be
confessed.

The trial of the Hon. D. E. Sickles for the murder
of Mr. Barton Key in the streets of Washington, is
the great, almost the all-absorbing topic of the day
just now; and a very celebrated trial it will no
doubt turn out to he. The proceedings have com-
menced, and the reports of them are being eagerly
devoured by all classes of the community. The
defence amounts to justifiable homicide. on the plea
that the murdered man had inflicted the most
grievous injury which one man could inflict upon
another--namely, the seduction of his wife. It is
populaqy remarked, with reference to this print.
that "the law does not, to be sure, specify this as
one of the things for which homicide is justifiable,
bUt public opinion does : and where such provocation
is shown to have been given, no jury can be found
in Allis country, or perhaps in any other, to declare
that the man who takes full retribution on him who
has thus stabbed him in his most vital part his
honour—is a murderer." But then, in this case, they
intend to bring forward, it is said. testimony that
will reveal, if not mitigating circumstances on the
part of the seducer, vet circumstances which will
show that the husband was not without fiult - not
alfogether free from blame for the cond:iet of his
wife. It is stated that " the prosecution, has been
instituting inquiries into the antecedents of the
parties, with the view, if possible, of overthrowing,
or, at least weakening, the fabric of. ustification,"—
and that "the District Attorney is understood to have
received all the information he expected from New
York in that respect." These circumstances add in
no slight degree to the interest and excitement of
the trial, which is expected to occupy several days.
There is reason, it would seem, to apprehend, that
an idea is entertained among the Southerners, and
that steps are actually being taken to give practical
effect to it, of making the Slave States an indepen-
dent Federal Union of their own, so that they may
be enabled to pursue their own course, whether as
respects slavery or the slave trade. The recent
interference, by the laws of the United States, with
the attempts that have been made to carry on the
traffic in African negroes, and the opposition to
slaYery generally. which is so strongly displayed
throughout the Northern and Eastern States, are
not unreasonably...considered to be the more imme-
diate inducements to this course of disruption. .We
are told by that portion of the Press which is I
believed to have the confidence of the Southern
confederates, that "the general programme compre-
hended in this movement is of the most magnificent
dimensions. It embraces first, the secession of the
cotton States from the Union, through the violent
animosities of the slavery agitation, inflamed, as it
will be, to the highest pitch, between the efforts of
this. new Southern party to 're-establish, and the
efforts of the government to suppress, this African
traffic ; secondly, the general plan comprehends the
absorption of Mexico, the Central American States,
and the island of Cuba ; and thirdly, tbe establish-
ment over all this aggregation of old States, new
States, Territories and islands .of that great tropical
industrial institution,, the African slave trade."
That annexation must have something to do with
the scheme, might be suspected from the fact of the
great filibustering chief " General" Walker, having,
it is understood, been its principal originator. There
is no doubt that he has for some time past been in
pretty close league with what are called the
Southern ultras, as also, indeed, have Pierre Soule,
Senor Goicuria, and other Cuban malcontents ; and it is ,
probable that they and their confederates are I

persuaded that such a proceeding would be the
most certain means of taking Cuba. " Nor can it be
denied," we are told, "that the inducements and
temptations in the premises are very powerful and
fascinating. Establish an independent Southern
confederacy, including our cotton States, and spread
over all of them the industrial resources which the
African slave trade will furnish, and, within twenty
years, this Southern confederacy will monopolise the

-- -
markets of the world in the articles of cotton, su,g

coffee. tobacco, rice, indigo, coc

hineal, &c.

to say

T mines of Mexico