Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-06-21 00:00:00

PECTS OF GOOD UNDERSTANDING

POSITION OF MEXICO ITS DEBTS: OPPORTUNIT4

FOR A FURTHER ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY TO
THE UNITED STATES. CHESS EXCITEMENT AT
BOSTON : ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION OF A CHESS
CHAMPION. THE NICARAGUAN DISPUTE : ITS
IMMEDIATE SETTLEMENT.

Among other excitements which the war in
Europe has -been producing in the United States,
may be mentioned that on the question of the Right
of Search. It appears that some observations, made
by Count de Sartiges, the French minister, in a
private conversation, and variously reported, have
occasioned some apprehensions, lest France might
undertaKe to enforce rights against the United
States as a neutral Power, which the Government
would feel bound to resist. I see it stated that the
observations of M. de Sartiges were simply to this
effect,—" That the war would doubtless open :1
wider field for American shipping in the Mediterra-
nean, but that our shipmasters must be careful not
to forget that the doctrine now established, and
principally in consequence of the determination of
France, that the neutral flag shall cover the goods,'
does not at all invalidate the necessary war-privilege
of searching for contraband of war. Our vessels
may carry all sorts of cargoes to the Adriatic, but
they must not risk concealing munitions of war.
These remarks were the merest matter of course ;
the really important bearing of the French minister's
language being the intimation which it threw out of
the now completed good understanding between
the great\maritime Powers on the general question
of •the right of search." Now the reference here
made to the belligerent right of search for contra-
band of war, does not involve the assertion of any
doctrine contrary to that maintained by the United
States Government, and still less does anything in
the above extract bear upon the right of visitation,
of which so' much was heard last year, and which
created so much bad feeling throughout the Union.
The opinion of Chancellor Kent has been quoted,
which thus describes the right of search for contra-
band of war :
"In order to enforce the rights of belligerent nations
against the delinquencies of neutrals, and to ascertain the
real as well as assumed character of all vessels on the high
seas, the law of nations arms them with the practical
power of visitation and search. The- duty of self-preserva-
tion gives to belligerent nations this right. It is founded
upon necessity, and is strictly and exclusively a war right,
and does not rightfully exist in time of peace, unless
conceded by treaty. All writers upon the law of nations,
and the highest authorities, acknowledge the right in time
of war as resting on sound principles of public jurisprudence,
and upon the institutes and practice of all great maritime
Powers. And if, upon making the search, the vessel be
found employed in contraband trade, or in carrying enemy's
property, or troops, or despatches, she is liable to be taken,
and brought in for adjudication before a prize court."
It is thus a clearly defined right ; and the United
States have repeatedly admitted its existence. Its
exercise, therefore, by either of the present belli-
gerent Powers need not, with -common discretion and
forbearance, occasion any difficulty. Excess or
imprndence in its assertion, or misapprehension as to
its necessity, or as to its extent, on the one hand ;
and the extreme sensitiveness of American seamen,
on the other ; might, it is true, give rise to misunder-
standing and resistance ; but care must be taken
that all parties be rightly informed as to their duties
respectively, and be strictly enjoined to act accord-

in
In connection with the question of the Right of
Search, as to articles contraband of war, there has
been some discussion respecting the present position
of the question as to the immunity of goods under
kb, nova* vol 11ct$. It ~;11 I,v vamorrihnrod ," Gaya
one of the better informed of the public journals
which have taken up the subject, " that the
Congress of Paris in 1856 drew up a declaratiOn of
maritime rights, embodying four great propositions
of international law, to be observed between all
Powers which should subscribe to the declaration
without reservation. Privateering is abolished by
that declaration ; enemy's goods, not contraband,
under the neutral flag, are declared free ; neutral
goads, not contraband, under enemy's flag, are
declared free ; and blockades 'to be binding must be
Maintained by an effective force. All of these
propositions, except the first, have been claimed by
the United States from a very early period ;
especially the second has been the subject of very
earnest discussion at times, and has, in connection
with the third, been embodied. in treaties with
various powers, It has, however, been steadily
resisted by England, and can hardly be deemed a
principle of the law of nations, independent of
special agreement by convention and treaty." This
resistance of England, if persisted in, might, in the
not perhaps altogether improbable event of her
becoming involved in the war, occasion unpleasant
consequences. But it is believed that England has
now signified her concurrence in the proposition.
And. it is remarked that " if this should be accepted,
it would lead to a similar movement by the other
parties to the Paris declaration, and there is some
reason to suppose that Count de Sartiges, the
French minister at Washington, took measures to
aid this conclusion before leaving his mission ;
but it is said that the settlement is delayed by the
U. S. government, by a demand for further con-
cessions in relation to blockades, which renders
the issue somewhat doubtful." It is certainly
most important, for the peace of the world, that all
causes of hostile collisions on the high seas, and all
risks, or international misunderstandings, should
be taken away ; and it must be gratifying to the
friends of peace to find that there' is now so general
an anxiety on the subject on both 'sides of the
Atlantic.
I lately adverted to' the still ,critical position of
Mexico, which continues to engage the anxious
attention of the United States Government. The
debt of the republic is such, that, were there nothing
else, it would be quite sufficient, in its present
insecure position, to render some re-arrangement
indispensable. The public debt of Mexico, I find, is
divided into two classes—interior and exterior. The
interior debt is understood to be that arising out of
obligations contracted under the Viceroyalty, and
after the independence while the exterior debt con-
sists of loans contracted in London in 1823 and 1824.
The British debt, which is a stock bearing interest
at 3 per cent., with the six dividends due since
February, 1853, to December, 1855, amounts to
$55,816,991. The interior debt is estimated to have
amounted on the 31st December, 1850, to $40,000,000.
Other claims against the government now bring up
the amount to $61,950,030, so that the whole pulic
debt of Mexico is $117,767,021,—0r upwards of
twenty-three millions of pounds sterling—a sum
which, for such a country, would seem to render it's
case a hopeless one, as it stands at present. It is
not supposed that the United States government
would take any unfair advantage of this state of
things. But, as I see it remarked, " although there
is no immediate war of conquest in view, it is certain
that our government has not shut its eyes to the
opportunities which now offer for obtaining a cession
of territory upon easy terms, and that the restless
adventurers, who have for years made our name
odious to our Central American neighbours, are as
little disposed to neglect the chance of carrying their
often. defeated schemes into effect. There is little
reason to doubt, that through our late minister, Mr.
Forsyth, and through Mr. M'Larie, our present
representative in Mexico, our government has sought
to negociate a settlement of certain claims of our
citizens, of more than doubtful validity, by obtaining
a cession of Mexican territory, a payment of money
being made by the United States to balance the
account. In the present state of Mexican politics,
such a prospect of an immediate supply of funds
would be a strong temptation to either part- '