The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—It has been plain from the beginning of
the American war that the assumptions of the Fede-
ral naval commanders will be limited only by the
resistance of the British Government. With a
Welles at the Navy Department and a Wilkes at
era, the British trader must expect to endure every-
thing that his own Government can be brought to
tolerate. It may be that the Washington politicians
think that John Bull's irritability was relieved
and his vanity gratified by the conclusion of the
Trent affair, and that now, with many of his ships
paid off and his mind bent on neutrality, he will shut
his eyes to.any high-handed proceedings on their
part, and pretend to think that every merchant
vessel which is seized and carried off by the Federal
cruisers has only met with its deserts. But in this,
we think, they will find themselves as much mis-
taken as they have been in many other things
since the war began. There are limits to the for -
bearance which even a great nation can exercise
towards a struggling but still petulant and presum-
ing Government. In the case of the Peterhoff these
limits have been passed, and the spirit of Commo-
dore Wilkes's proceedings gives but too much rea-
son to think that this violation of international law
and common justice will not long stand alone. It
is extraordinary that a Government whose self-
esteem has received so many severe lessons should
thus persist in these petty aggressions on a nation
which has shown such a desire for peace, and yet
such preparedness for war, as our own. While the
United States' Minister in London, forgetful of
the immense purehases of warlike munitions made
by his own Government, is lecturing Earl Russell
on the duty of preventing British traders from at-
tempting to run the blockade; while he is striving
to interpret a breach of a purely domestic Act
of Parliament as an offence against interna-
tional law, and appealing to the friendship
and sense of honour of England to give his country
aid against her rebels, the naval officers of that
country are setting an illegal police over the seas,
establishing a blockade of British ports, and for-
bidding our trade with the neutral Republic of
Mexico. Now, the hostility of words we may
despise, and even the discourtesy which seems in-
born in the American nature we may pass over,
however irritating may be sometimes the, display
of it. But an actual invasion of our rights it is
impossible to disregard, and it is in the interest of
peace that we would urge on the Fed( ral. Govern-
ment a closer supervision of its naval com-
mander's proceedings on' the West India station.
General Butler, the " representative man" of the
dominant faction at the North, may think that the
time has come to make the English Government eat
dirt for its conduct in the Trent affair, but the
leaders of the party at Washington must, we pre-
sume, be prudent enough to restrain for. the present
the desire of Commodore Wilkes to avenge the in-
dignity which he may think was then put on him.
That the utmost caution and discretion ought to be
shown in the seizure of neutral traders is a proposi-
tion too obvious to need argument. The restraints
to which a neutral nation's commerce is subjected
by a belligerent are grievous enough, We cannot
trade with the South; our manufacturers cannot
buy their great staple of the Confederates, nor
supply them with the multitude of articles which
a purely agricultural community requires. But
when it is further urged on the part of one of
these belligerents that necessity has no law, and
that for the purpose of reconquering their rebels
they will assume the right of putting an end to
commerce between the neutral ports of England
and Mexico, then it is time to interpose with firm-
ness and resolve. That such claims have been
made by Federal officers, apparently under instruc-
tions from Washington, appears from some papers
just presented to Parliament. Last summer the Bri-
tish steamer Adele, bound from Liverpool to Nassau,
was captured by the United States' cruiser Quaker
City. Every kind of illegality seems to have been
concentrated in this seizure.. The Adele was cap-
tured near the British island of Abaco; the Ameri-
can vessel showed no colours, but chased her and
fired at her several times ; she was seized before the
result of any actual search could have proved that
contraband of war was on board, and finally the act
was done. She was sailing from one British port
to another. But what made the matter of most im-
portance was the statement of the flag-officer that
the Federal cruisers had orders to seize "any
British vessels whose names were forwarded to
them from the Government at Washington ; that
being bound from one British port to another
would not prevent the United States' officers from
carrying out these orders ;" and, further, " that
such were the definite orders that they were, when
and where met with, to seize British steamers or
vessels of which official information had been sent
them." This statement, our readers will agree, is
somewhat startling ; but there can be little doubt
that it was true, for Mr. Seward, in the subsequent
transactions, though he superseded the instructions
which had no doubt emanated from Mr. Gideon
Welles, does not deny that they had been really
given. Sir A. Milne of course communicated with
Mr. Stuart at 'Washington, very justly urging that
though the captains of her Majesty's ships had
orders to show all respect and consideration to the
belligerent rights of the Federals, yet "if British
ships lawfully cleared out from and bound to British
ports, without the slightest indication of their deviat-
ing from their route, are to be subjected to seizure
wherever found, simply because their names ate on a
list furnished to United States' cruisers, I cannot but
fear that a collison between our ships of war and
those of the Federal Government may be the result."
Mr. Stuart, on receiving this appeal, laid the
matter before Mr. Seward, and he was soon after
enabled to inform Earl Russell that Mr. Seward,
had read to him an instruction which "he was ad-
dressing in the name of the President to the Secre-
tary of the Navy, laying down rules for the future
guidance of United States' naval officers, which
essentially modify the instructions under which
they have been latterly supposed to be authorized
to seize certain ships irrespective of the observance
of international law." The instructions given by
Mr. Seward to Mr. Welles in the name of the Pre-
sident ire simply an enunciation of the commonest
rules of naval law. The Secretary is informed that
British vessels are not to be captured in British
waters; that they are not to be fired into without
having been signalled to stop in the usual manner ;
that they are not to be seized without a se-arch re-
sulting in a reasonable suspicion that they are car-
rying contraband, nor if it be evident that they are
trading between one neutral port and another.
These are the " instructions" which the President
of a Republic which is always parading a scrupu-
lous respect for law is compelled to address to his
own Secretary of the Navy at the instance of a
foreign representative. They are for the future
guidance of naval officers, whom it is also neces-
sary to inform that " official seals, or locks, or
fastenings of foreign authorities are in no case, nor
on any pretext to be broken, or parcels covered by
them read by any naval authorities of the United
States." This last injunction referred to the pro-
ceedings of the captain of the Quaker City, who
actually seized the mails carried by the Adele
between Liverpool, Bermuda, and Nassau, and de-
clared that he would detain the official despatches
from the British Admiral to the captain of the Grey-
hound, open them, and read them in the Prize Court.
We have called attention to these papers because
they show how utterly careless the United States'
authorities have been in observing either law or
courtesy in their dealings with us, and because the
capture of the Adela throws a light on the similar
outrage on the Peterhoff. It is quite evident that
the "instructions" of Mr. Seward, having served
their turn, are now being quietly ignored, and that
the former rule of seizing suspected vessels, "when-
ever and wherever met with," is again to be followed.
Unless a firm stand be made, there will be no end
to the indignities and losses we must endure.
HERALD.—There is nothing better for an effete
people than Government by centralisation —not
that the system is good or improving, but that
they can get on under no other. It is the
substitute for the worth that is at once active and
self-controlling, and simply means that when no-
body can be relied on for their personal deserts, we
must govern men by agencies which ask no per-
sonal deserts for their efficiency. Since the break-
down in character accomplished by the dissolute
regime of the Bourbons, and the demoralising plea-
sures of the Great Revolution, no Government has
been possible except one that included nearly the
whole vital action of the nation in a single mecha-
nism, and directed every movement under the im-
pulse given by a single spring. It has been thus
that authority has had its way against all obstacles,
and that, invading almost every function of public
or individual usefulness, the people have been
brought into a state of pupillage in which nothing
is thought possible except so far as it falls under
the patronage or wins the support of Government.
The people live, move, and have their being in the
Government, rather than the Government in them ;
and it has asked all the fever generated by com-
mercial gambling encouraged on the largest scale,
to win even the exception of the mercantile classes
from the groat rule that to be an orthodox French-
man one must he content to look upon Government
as the Providence whence is to come every boon
and whither is to directed every service. The
question now mooted, whether the police of the
City of London shall be withdrawn from under its
present control, to be handed over to the Govern-
ment, is really only another form of asking, are we
arrived at the point at which a succession of the
greatest of political calamities placed the French
people at the beginning of this century ? Have
we lost the virtues necessary to self-govern-
ment ? It is grown quite impossible for the autho-
, rities of the City of London to maintain in efficiency