The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-12 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1846

The accounts from Mexico brought by the last packet
from the United States are of a very alarming character,
and leave scarcely any hope that peace can be longer
maintained between the two republics. Ever since the
accession of PAREDES to the Presidency no: secret what-
ever has been made by the Mexican Government of its
hostility to the Americans, of its indignation at the
deceitful and unprincipled occupation of Texas, and of
its wish to recover a territory of such importance and so
long united to Mexico. For these reasons the President
refused to receive Mr. SLIDDELL, the American Minister
Extraordinary, sent to complete the settlement of the
Texan question, as well as to enter upon negotiations
respecting California, or some other province that had
attracted the cupidity of these friends of peace,
liberty, and justice. PAREDES had enough of pub-
lic spirit to reject such a negotiator. SLID-
DELL, of course, was obliged to return to Wash-
ington without having been allowed even to
open his dispatches or show his credentials,
and this is regarded as a grievous insult to the majesty
of the great republic. The American President must,
as a matter of course, view this contemptuous treatment
of his Ambassador as a serious offence, to be expiated
only by some new concession, some strip of territory
that lies convenient for annexation to Texas, or some
portion of California, or perhaps the port of Vera Cruz,
as a security that the Mexicans will know better
for the future how to conduct themselves to-
wards Mr. SLIDDELI: or General GREEN, now
plotting at Mexico, or any other great Genera]
that may be appointed as representative of POLK.
Preparations have evidently been made for some display
of the kind. The American army sent to protect
Texas bad been ordered to advance to the Rio del
Norte; the Mexicans were, of course, compelled to take
the same course, and the consequence is that these two
hostile forces are arranged against each other on the
opposite banks of the river, and the slightest accident
is sufficient to cause a eollision. Possibly the
Mexicans might have the advantage should a

battle ensue, but they have not the means, we

fear, to maintain their ground. They unfortunately,
too, are divided among themselves. There are Ame-
rican agents at the capital for the very purpose of sow-
ing divisions and creating anarchy in the Government.
They have no fleet, they are sadly deficient in the ma-
nagement of state affairs, and altogether Mexico at pre-

sent appears totally incapable of defending herse;

against a fifth-rate power. On the other hand, the Ame-
aicans are of one mind—at all events they will act
as a people of one mind ; the army on the Rio del
Norte will be speedily increased, plenty of emigrants
from other states will be found to offer themselves as
volunteers, on the security that they are to be remune-
rated by large grants of land in Texas, and not a few,
too, may join their ranks under the conviction that in a
few years the Americans may encamp under the very
walls of Mexico itself. The American fleet is powerful
and active, and could, if left at full liberty to carry on its
operations, bombard or occupy every seaport of Mexico,
for even the ports in the Pacific are open to the attacks
of the ships cruising at present in that quarter, and in a
very few weeks. every vessel belonging to Mexico,
whether armed or engaged in trade, would be cap-
tured, or shut up in some creek. Mexico—for the fact
cannot be disputed—is totally unable to cope with her
powerful and encroaching antagonist. When the last

accounts left Washington, it was understood that the
President would forthwith send a message to Congress
complaining of the insult offered to Mr. SLIDDELL,
the hostile spirit displayed by PAREDES in his
last proclamation, his abuse of the Americans,
and especially of those who consummated the annexa-
tion of Texas, and the general tone of hostility displayed
by the Mexican Government ever since the new Presi-
dent was elected almost by acclamation. The Congress,
no doubt, would willingly recommend the most active
and warlike measures, provided PoLx could have
induced England and France to concur with him in
his beautiful theory of non-interference, but against that
these two powers have expressed themselves in the most

decided language, and they will not suffer Mexico,

though weak and helpless, and divided against itself, to
be devoured by her unprincipled and avaricious neigh-

hour. We must wait for more precise intelligence from
those parts in order to form any conclusive opinion, but

as far as can be judged from a concurrence of circum

stances, war between the two countries is certain, and
Mexico can be saved only by the interference of

European powers.

We insert elsewhere a letter from Mr. WILLIAM H.
LE MARCHANT in reference to the article contained in
The Sun of Saturday, respecting the Channel Islands.
Mr. Lx MARCHANT impeaches the accuracy of our
statement on two grounds. He says, "it is there as-
serted that the most valuable prerogative of the Crown,
that of mercy, is practically abolished ;" and his answer
is,Sthat the sentence of a man named NICOLLE had, within
the last six weeks, been commuted from death to trans-
portation for life. Such may have been the case, and
our statement be true and correct in every particular.
That statement in substance was —" That no appeal
lay from the decision of the Court in criminal cases, that
the majority decided as to the guilt and its punish-
ment; no matter how erroneous it might be in point of
law, there was no power of revision ; that no power
existed in the island to stay the execution; none to
mitigate the punishment ; and we drew the natural
consequence of such a state of facts by adding—thus
the most valuable prerogative of the Crown, that
of mercy, is practically abolished." If he read
further, he would see that we said " True it
is, the QUEEN in Council may pardon or lessen
the punishment." Does our correspondent venture a
denial of any one of the statements? Does he show to
what tribunal the appeal lies, or in what manner the
sentence, if erroneous, can be revised? or does he refer
to the authority existing in the island by which the
execution can be stayed or the punishment mitigated?
No, he well knows that he cannot do so with truth, and
he therefore attempts to infer that we have stated what
was not the fact by showing that a sentence has re-
cently been commuted from death to banishment.
Does he :not know that the exception proves the
rule, that a total silence is better than a bad
defence? Our argument was against the extraordinary
accumulation of powers vested in the Court. Does he
attempt to show that the sentence might not havo been
carried into execution, without time having been afforded
to the criminal to apply for an extension of mercy?
Far from it. On the contrary, by his silence he prac-
tically admits the truth of those statements, which he
has not ventured to contradict.
The second ground on which Mr. LE MARCHANT
im-
pugns our statement is, that we
of we say, that no
record of any of the proceedings:
to
Court is
kept; or, if kept, it is net opert
publice in-
spection." We added, " All they
condescend a
announce in any case, civil, or criminal, is then to
con-
clusion they have arrived at, the sentence they have
pronounced." In answer to this, Mr. LE AIARCTRANT
says—" That a full record is kept of every proceeding,
and that these records are open to public inspection, at
least as much as those of any court in England." We
shall merely say that our informant is a gentle-
man of the highest character and respectability,
and that we place the most implicit confidence in
the truth of his assertion, and it will require
something more than the uncorroborated statement
of Mr. LE MARCHANT to shake oar faith in his cre-
dibility ; the result of the Commission just appointed
will satisfy the public as to which is the most trust-
worthy. We again re-assert on that authority the truth
and accuracy of the statements we have made. Having
thus disposed of the points on which a contradiction has
been attempted, let us see what remains untouched.
Has anything been said of the mode of election of
the jurats, the corrupt influences brought to bear during
such election, of the limited number of the electors,
and the total want of any qualification on the part
of the newly-elected jurat, of his prejudice in favour of
his friends and in opposition to his enemies; that t here
is no legal education of any kind—no knowledge of the
law necessary for this expounder and administrator of
the law? What answer is given to the extraordiyaary
accumulation of powers, executive, legislative, and j,udi-

cial? What to the magisterial capacity, the acting as a
police-court, and the secret investigation, we should
rather say inquisition, which takes place previous to the
public criminal trial? What to the assumed right of
making ordinances, by which laws may be enacted rind
taxation imposed without reference to any other brody
whatever? No, the champion is silent on each and every
one of these points, " Save me from my friends," is An