The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-16 00:00:00

PAOTAIIITIII4

LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 16, 1846.

The American Congress, after a discussion of more than
four months, remarkable alike for the length and number of
the orations delivered by senators and representatives, have
at last adopted a moderate and indeed unobjectionable reso-
lution on the Oregon question. We can see little or no dif-
ference between the joint resolution and that adopted
by the Senate. They both contain the main points that
affect this country, and not only omit every offensive
term and insinuation, but, with commendable prudence,
recommend a speedy and an amicable settlement of
the pending differences. The resolution, as amended, is in
these words (we omit the expletive terms) :—" With a view
that steps be taken for the abrogation of the convention of
the 6th August, 1827, and that the attention cf the Govern-
ments of both countries may be more earnestly directed to
the adoption of all proper measures for the speedy and
amicable adjustment of the difficulties and disputes in respect
to the Oregon territory, be it resolved,- That the PRESI-
DENT of the United States be, and he is hereby authorised,
at his discretion, to give to the British Government the notice
required by its second article for the abrogation of the
convention of the 6th of August, 1827." The PRESIDENT,
who has been all along bent en giving the notice, will, of
course, use the authority thus conferred on him without de-
lay. By the month of May, 1847, therefore, the joint occu-
pancy will cease, and, unless a settlement is made previously,
a Collision between the Hudson's Bay men, and the
Americans settled in that quarter, becomes in-
evitable. At present, we believe, the feeling be-
tween the parties is anything but good, and considering
the numbers and courage of the British settlers, with the
support they would receive from the natives, who hate the
Americans, there could be no doubt about the first onset.
The American Legislature, however, is evidently preparing
for such an occurrence, and is passing a Bill for encouraging
emigration to Oregon, and virtually for the occupation of the
whole territory. Such a mode of commencing a war,
we trust, will be avoided. It could decide nothing,
and only needlessly inflict sufferings on the in-
nocent, and add to the irritation of both nations
England will act a more noble part, and formally demand,
for the last time, a " speedy and amicable adjustment of the
difficulties and disputes." She has already given in her ul-
timatum. Mr. &MA-NAN, the agent of Pour, announced
in the last conferences, that he would never consent to sign a
treaty having less the•.; the 49th degree of latitude for its
basis, and, on that announcement, Mr. PAKENHAM de-
clined all further correspondence. The American PRE-
SIDENT knows well that the Government of England
cannot accede to this new and insolent demand
he may also know, if he reads English journals, that neither
the Government, nor the Legislature, nor the people, will ac-
cept any settlement which shall not include the free naviga-
tion (at least for a certain extent) of the river Columbia for
British vessels ; and that the surrender of the Columbia is,
to all intents and purposes, the surrender of the whole ter-
ritory. Mr. BuciLLNAN is aware that England can neither
accept his terms nor the slightest modification of
them short of her last claims. Any proposition for
renewing the conferences must come from America, else
events must take their natural course. In fact, England has
yielded too much already ; she has paid a deference to par-
ties in the United States to which they are not entitled ;
she has humoured and cajoled the mob orators, rather than
confronted them in that attitude which she was entitled to
assume, and the consequence is that, not only on the
Oregon question, but on others (and they are many) which are
yet to be settled, POLK and his party have risen, and will rise
in their demands, without the slightest regard to principle,
or to the most solemn admissions made by former negotia-
tors. England has just saved her honour by taking up a
position from which she never can recede, and which was
duly announced and accepted unanimously by both Houses
of Parliament. " She has rights in Oregon, and she is pre-
pared to maintain them." It becomes her turn
now, therefore, to act ; and, unless Pons offers
to give up his claims, which he so unequivocally
made to the "whole of Oregon," and to act like a reason-
able being, England must prepare to defend the territory to
which she has just claims—claims, too, admitted by every
journalist in France, and by nearly all the intelligent and
all the honest citizens throughout the Union. But, as we
have repeatedly said, the Oregon question is one of a very
secondary consideration. A storm is ready to burst forth in
the south which is pregnant with momentous events.
A war between Mexico and America may be regarded
as certain—they are alike inclined to hostilities. The one
impelled by shame and indignation, for having been duped
and robbed, and the other by an unquenchable tbirst for
the conquest of her weak neighbour. The Americans them-
selves seem to anticipate such a conquest as immediate, and
we fear the Mexicans can do little or nothing to atop them.
One of the New York journals, rather distinguished too
for its moderation, thus adverts to a Mexican
war :—" A defeat of the American army on the
Rio Grande would almost cause an immediate
and voluntary invasion of Mexico; thousands of the western
riflemen would rush to the Rio Grande and probably to
Mexico." Nothing indeed is more probable except the fact
that peace would not be granted by the United States with-
out the concession of California and Vera Cruz. The
interests of England can suffer no more annexations in that
quarter, and it would, therefore, be as well for Lord ABER-
DEEN and Lord ELIENBOROUGH to be prepared far the worst.-1

The motion to which we alluded in our columns of
Thursday, for a Select Committee to consider the petitions of
Mr. TOULMIN SMITH, and the papers presented to the
House relative to the case stated in those petitions, was that
e
evening. brought forward by Mr. SPOONER, and was nega-
tived by a majority of nine, there being for the motion 125,
and against it 134.
The principal safeguard of British liberty has evo p
utii efrtbhe
pudic
indignationxcited
found in the feelings of
inthe
er
one
at-
mind whenever an
tack -has been made or attemptedtuticinal
or despotic
n
fellow-subjects. Each man makes the caseimagines what his feelings and his conduct would his own
placed in similar circumstances; he sympathises with the
heh
sufferer, and loudly demands redress for the injuries inflicted,te
and that such laws may be enacted that for the future there
can be no possibility of the recurrence of a like outrage.
Many of our most valuable'laws have had their origin in
private injuries, and we consider it a duty which every man
owes tO society to bring prominently forward, and to spare
no labour, time, or expense, in obtaining the fullest
publicity for his grievances, if they are in their nature such
as to affect the community at large. We do not think Mr.
SMITH could have patiently submitted to the indignity by
which he was assailed; he has acted as becomes si-man of
spirit'and intelligence, and there is no part of the entire pro-
ceedings, or of the debate, which we deprecate more strongly
than the imputations which have been attempted against his
character and conduct in the transaction. Must insult
be ever added to injustice, in order to make it complete?
Mr. SPOONEE'S motion was brought forward avowedly for
the purpose of calling the attention of the House to the
state of the law respecting searches made by the Excise,
with a view to its amendment, and the Honourable
Member proceeded to instance, in the very facts which
Accounts from represent the.
had occurred in the case of Mr. Smrrir, such anomalies be-
tween the existing state of the law and the boasted privi- Piedmont
and
Lombardy
position of affairs in the north of Italy as calculated to
who, as Prince DE C King
o
leges of the Constitution, as would seem sufficient, had they
even stood alone and without parallel, to indicate to the Le- 1
gislature the absolute necessity, if for consistency sake alone, great uneasiness to the Austrian Government. The glvef
of amending the law, so as to make it conformable to the con- AmoNAN,
stitutional privileges of the subject, or of making known to Sardinia (CARL* ALBERTO),
was in 1820 one of the Liberal leaders of Italy, if not a pro-
the community that, since the days of BucKirrosE, they had fussed Carbonaro, but who subsequently betrayed the Liberal
gone on in dreamy error in supposing that the sanctity and cause, is, it would appear. exhibiting a tendency to revert to
privacy of their nvrecia were sacred and inviolate from the his former opinions. The following letter, dated Genoa, 6th
prying espionage of 1a... magistrate, the police,
or the excise, though acting solely ceder the authority of, I "A great excitement prevails
.in this city and throughout
May, appears in the Constitutionnel:—
ev several circumstances
mayhap, a malicious and lying informer, 01, -* least, as in Itendency the
the present case, under no better sanction than that in - false I tending..er to provehaas liberal
the whole of the Sardinian dominions. s
arisen between Sardinia and Austria, eaikilladvae
and anonymous intimation. We do not presume to imputv , o,!;trenernicsee which
to hopes in the minds not only of the inhabitants
to the collective wisdom of the nation a want of due con- 1 ofYl"' kingdom, but of the other Italian States."
sideration for those national privileges of which they ought to Letters 1.-
Pr9T, Ownwalys4 00 jegm plow.; 6i4 IT ppy foie)! attended Malt •.. the Nalci Qt tht garxii94 9f Tillip, tin
in Turin state that, on the announcement of an

The Universal German Gazette, on the authority of a letter
from Rome, dated April 27, contradicts the announcement
lately made in one of the German papers, that the POPE
Wk s about to nominate eight Polish bishops. The relations
of the PontificialCourt with Russia are,on the contrary,to be
placed on the same footing as two years back.

A. letter from Soleure, published in the Zurich Gazette,
states that all the elections for the Grand Council had, with
one exception, terminated in favour of the Liberal party.

The following news from the Caucasus appears in the St.
Petersburgh Journal. The letter is dated 29th March :
" It may be remembered that the powerful and warlike
tribe of the Abadsek, formerly so hostile to the Russians,
snbmitted to the Government in the beginning of the pre-
sent year. A deputation of this tribe is shortly to arrive at
St. Petersburgb, to lay at the foot of the throne the expres-
sion of their devotedness. Lately several Abadseks arrived
at Tiflis, to present themselves to the General-in-
Chief. They were the elders Djabatourof and Den-
zoubovef, the Effendi Abdul-Gamid, and the re-
presentative of the young warriors of the tribe
Hadji-Zoukof. They were much feted, and ap-
peared greatly delighted with their visit, this being the first
time that they had entered a large city. The submission of
the Abadseks already exercises a marked influence en the
independent tribes of the neighbourhood. On March 10th,
the Princes Marcheniew, elders of the Bachilbeis, and Ma-
homet-Guirei-Sidof, celebrated for his acts of robbery and
violence, arrived at Stavropol. They demanded leave to
submit themselves unconditionally, and to be received
amongst the subjects of Russia, with permission to transport
tuemselves to the neighbourhood of the sources of the Ou-
rOnp, a locality which they had formerly inhabited."