The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-16 00:00:00

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that not only one but all classes are suffering
trade—the reductio ad absurdum to which
'esident Fillmore does in fact lead his argument. CHRONICLE.—The Message with which President
Fillmore opened Congrel, on the 2d instant, is cereeilt
a far less interesting document than the missive whisk,
on the same day, was addressed by another krebieteus to
the people of another Republic; and, though infinitely
more prolix, it contains not a tithe of the information
conveyed in the half-dozan terse and telling sentences of
the latter. Nevertheless, to our sober English tastes, it
is immeasurably more agreeable reading; and the fact
that, even as compared with some of its own predeces-
sors, it is somewhat barren of novel and striking fea-
tures, in no way diminishes the satisfaction with which
we peruse this annual register of the progress of a great
and prosperous commonwealth, which speaks our lan-
guage and inherits our laws and liberties. For the very
reason that a Message of Mr. Fillmore's is less exciting
to Cisatlantic politicians than were those of Mr. Tyler
and Mr. Polk, it is more satisfactory to the British
reader, and more creditable to the wisdom
and integrity of American statesmanship. The
two topics of the present Message which are
more especially interesting on this side of the Atlantic
are the questions connected with the piratical Cubsn
expedition, and the suggested " modification" of the
Tariff of 1846. But on neither of these does the Presi-
dent tell us anything that is at once new and important.
His treatment of the first mainly consists in a retrospect
of events, accompanied with a firm and temperate ex-
pression of his determination to enforce that respect for
international law which has ever been the honourable
characteristic of the American Whig party; and on the
second he merely gives a faint and hesitating utterance
to wishes which he-has no power to carry into effect, and
which are utterly
immense majority in both Houses of Congress. As re-
gards the former, the
antagonistic to the convictions of an.
Fillmore's assertion of ; les of interna-
tional obligation,makesthe great principles excellent tone and. spirit of Mr.
more than
happy combination
ever that it is
only to accident that .
onl us regret
we owe the
Democratic Legislature, The President ventures to
speak of the marauding de
a Whig Executive with a
" Her Catholic Majesty"
as strong as those which inscent on the territories of
ignores any right on the part
it terms of reprobation almost
soefrves; and he explicitly
the protection of their own Grernnsent against the
Ike offenders to invoke
just penalty of their crime.
Spanish Consul at New Orleans he the
vests with " deep.
outrage of the
mortification and regret," accompanied
wi of " such idemnity" as is demanded by "
a just regard wit proposal for the honour o
ewer f the nation and the re
proposal
is due to a friendlyspect which
;" h en
diency of arming and
Executive wite h siferaltesgathl
to enforce on its citizens the better fulfil epoewxPeer;
of the
common law of nations. We dare not precliincteet
as to the probability of the recommendation finastnet:ieg.
vour with the Democratic majority ; but it is e-
fa-
events pleasant to hear an American President insirtiealgl
on the extreme desirableness of his country "maintain-
ing her respectability among the nations of the earth."
Perhaps the force of his appeal on this point may be
enhanced by the somewhat superfluous emplaasii,
with which—after alluding to the possible " abt,sew,
that might arise frem the joint determination of Great
Britain and France to prevent future buccaneering at_
tempts on Cuba—he protests his determination, " under
all circumstances, and at all hazards," to maintain the
"maritime rights of the United States." Yet we are
scarcely disposed to cavil at a harmless display of vigour
which was probably intended to ensure a more indulgent
reception for wise and moderate coups-As; and we are the
less inclined to to critical on this point, because the
President not only acquiesces, by distinct implication, in
the right of the British and French Governments to com-
bine for the suppression of piracy, but intimates his ac-
ceptance of the pledges which the two Powers have
given, that such right shall not be abased to the injury
of any nation's lawful commerce. We have only to add,
before leaving the foreign topics discussed in the Mes-
sage, that " Governor Kossuth" and his associates are
very quietly disposed of. The President makes noßeast
of the " judicious bottle-holding" of his Government—
though he certainly might have made some political ca-
pital out of the illustrious exiles, had he deemed the in-
vestment a prudent and paying one. He merely in-
forms the two Houses, with a matter-of-fact brevity
which the " sympathisers" will not, we fear, deem alto-
gether edifying, that Congress wanted to have the gen
tlemen in question—that Congrese may very shortly
expect to see them—and that it is time, therefore, for
Congress to consider what it means to do with them.
We have already alluded to that peculiarity in the pre-
sent relations of the United States Executive and Legis-
lature which deprives the President's Protectionist
leanings of all practical importance whatever. Our
agricultural readers will, we hope, quite understand this.
Mr. Fillmore can no more restore the tariff of 1142 than
than the Duke of Richmond, by his solitary vote and
interest, can restore the sliding scale of 1828; and the
future commercial legislation of the Union is to be read,
not in any Presidential homage to the prejudices of a
dwindling party, but in that overwhelming free-trade
majority in both Houses of Congress which guarantees
that the new policy shall have time to root itself in the
ideas, the habits, and the necessities of the great masa
of the people. Such being the case, it is hardly
worth while—especially after Mr. Walker's recent
masterly exposition, to Liverpool. and Manchester audi-
ences, of the triumphant success of the liberal tariff of
1846 in augmenting alike the trade and shipping, and
the revenue of his country—to dwell on the garbled
facts, the flagrant fallacies, or the suicidal logic which
Mr. Fillmore puts forward to sustain a faint and hesi-
tating protest against a system which he is impotent to
reverse. To readers who enjoy this sort of thing as an
intellectual treat, it is only necessary to point out that
the President deems it matter of complaint, if not of
astonishment, that his countrymen's exports of " bread-
stuffs" have fallen off in money value since 1847, and
that England and Europe actually take fewer dollars'
worth of American corn when they have almost enough
of their own than when they are starving. His sugges-
tion that the foreign market is not worth the American
farmer's attention couples oddly enough with the admis-
sion that American agriculture yields a progressively
increasing exportable surplus, and that the agricultural
portion of the community—already four-fifths of the
whole—is daily augenenting its numbers. And, after
this, the recommendation to Congress to establish an
"Agricultural Bureau," by way of teaching an in-
creasing agricultural population how to increase that ex-
portable surplus which is nevertheless not to be ex-
ported, is little short of downright fatuity. As for his
currency speculations, we will content oarselvea with re-
marking that we now see more precisely than we did
before why Mr. Walker ipoke the other day of "a Mr.
Newdegate." There are, it seems, at least, two of
them—she respectable War mickshire gentleman who
haunts our dreams with xightmare pamphlets on the
Balance of Trade, and the eminent Transatlantic
Whig statesman, who makes himself miserable with the
thought of " a sudden drain of the precious metals"
from California. When we add that the very same oft.-
cial document which hints at " protecting" four-tif.hs of
the community by depriving them of a foreign market
for their increasing surplus produce, and which depicts
the" disastrous consequence' of an over-exportation of
gold tram the diggings, intimates that " in the present
prosperous condition of the national finalises, it will be-
come the duty of Congress to consider the beat mode of
paying off the public debt"—we have said enough to
enable the reader to judge of Mr. Fillmore's logical con-
sistency, of the warmth and sincerity of his z.:e.l to re-
verse a policy that has borne such fruits, and of the like-
lihood of his converting his countrymen to the theory of
restriction and prohibition.

HERALD.—While some European countries are
presenting exemplifications of absolutism, lawlessness,
and the reign of military force—on which the philan-
thropist or the lover of his species cannot dwell with
pleasure or satisfaction—it is at least gratifying to the
Aot nh ge lr o
5-
iSd aQx
of
fn t
hrace
Atlanticto k
are
roefpt thathroe
is
rpt helereiogr cuasl o uawsnal
dnys on
p weuithe tiohuulet ,
and pursue the even teno
t
having rehceoluarwse. w
to exceptional
lmeraecsum, or
by totaheviAolrennecae
beyond
steamer the Message of President Fillmore, which,
though extremely long, is a very interesting dccunlent
—a document which will repay perusal even in the work-
a-day world of London. We have the satisfaction to
learn from President Fillmore that America is tit peace
with all the world, and that the present year has been
ono of prosperity and health. For these earthly bless-
ings the President of the staid, serious, and religious
people of the States piously and properly offers up praises
to Providence, and in this thanksgiving he but echoes
the general religious voice of his nation at large. The
first question treated in the Message is a delicate and
difficult one, involving questions of international law,
but it is discussed in a sincere, honest, and truthful
spirit, and is therefore handled well. W. allude to
the piratical invasion of Cuba, and on this Paints I
are bound to say that the President expresses himself
as
sr
dthisetiOneldtl neither defends
aratidiner
palliates, but, on the contrary, denounpeswtahse;anned by
expedition. Re tells his countrymen
si,tthat the leader
distinctly dascoeumldphdaetsiicrael.ly
Heail any jurist of Spain
o
certain Cubans domiciled in the S
"'tensile/a of false and
was a Spaniard—and, that
fraudulent
.representationeenn
"youngage in an enterprise at
Americans were induced to g
aaseei
and ill-informed
eL This he pronounces to have
once illegal and ill-f_
and internsuce:
in roonsiderations of cupidity aad greed
ther prompted. y
American nor any other citizens have
Neither
of gain. buccaneering schemes of this kind.
obreiegninthien Loreoir!deefawetenheiicbhlehassllowtheed
it, bat
hadalto altoge-
ther
into
a right to
They put
and the President has dime right to de-
nounce peace,
at the same time, he pledges himself
etao,_teinizard international amity
the release of
citizens as have been so ill-advised as to embark
best effortsßtit
to procure. .
in a lawless and unlawful enterprise. The Presi-
dent lays great stress on the Neutrality Acts of the
United States, and of the efforts of former Presidents,
such as Washington and Jefferson, to preserve this
Americanntoouunsee 1)IhoIl
neutrality. Such a neutrality has over tended to a re-
sult abundantly desirable to friendly relations, without
entangling alliances. These friendly relations may,
however, be compromised by the imprudence of Ame-
rican citizen., or sympathisers; and it is to guard against
this danger—a danger enhanced by the possession of
three or four thou.and miles of sea coast, that the Pre-
sident raises his voice. It should seem as if statesmenn
in America were apprehensive of further attacks upon
Cuba, and that it was with a special view to d
readers may re-
is laid on this particular topic. Our
or September,
and disapprove of this lawlessness that so -mulch stress
member that we announced, in August
New Orleans, just after
her Catholic Majesty's consul in
illegal
infraction of that a violent attack had been.nmadeon the residence of
the events at Cuba.
tells his countrymen
inter-
national and public vigorouslylawTishis
Message,
and
the
President
bassadors, envoys, and con-
that in reference to m denounced in the
ambassadors,
is defective. All foreigners
sole, their g
the different
Di 111441 .
iof ustieusi but .the
eptroote9oftion of the law
entering a foreignStiaeleisalartejanude_
_r