The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-19 00:00:00

legal difficulty in the way of the course recommended ;
and, as it was his intention to consult the law officers
of the Crown, till he received their report he could not
6tate!what course would be pursued. •
THE AMERICAN DIFFICULTY.

Mr. BRIGHT rose to put a question to the Under-
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on the subject of
the proceedings of the English squadron engaged in the
suppression of the slave trade, and with respect to our
relations with the United States. He said—l do not
wish at all to enter on the discussion of this question,
just now exciting so much interest, for I understand that
before long an hon. member is likely to submit the whole
subject to the consideration of the House of Commons. I
must say, my own opinion has always been very much
adverse to the position of the armed squadron by which it
is attempted to suppress the slave trade, and if such
motion as I have alluded to is brought forward I will
give it my support. I wish to ask whether the Govern-
ment has received any information as to this matter
which can be laid before the house, to put the house and
the country in possession of the position in which we
stand, and also give information relative to the appre-
hensions that exist in this country-and on the other side
of the Atlantic, for the influence of any statement by
the Government will be felt here and felt there. I think
this is one of the cases in which great frankness and
openness will be advantageous. There may be a few
persons in America and here also who do not object to
something like a quarrel, but I think that the great
bulk of the people in both countries would take a diffe-
rent view, and would regret that anything should occur
to cause discord between the two countries. (Hear,
hear.) Perhaps the noble lord will say how many ves-
sels have been sent out, whether the number has in-
creased or decreased since last year? Lord Aberdeen
had referred, in the House of Lords, to instructions
issued in 184 et, and said that if those instructions had been
adhered to no difficulty could have arisen. Ido not know
whether any fresh instructions have gone out, but
I hardly thiuk that the officers on the station would have
committed—l will not say the outrages—but the acts
cemplained of. I beg to ask the question now, as the
steamer leaves Liverpool to-morrow, and anything that
may be said to-night will go out to the United States
with the least possible delay.
Mr. S. FITZGERALD, who was very indistinctly
heard, was understood to say—The hon. member for
Birmingham (Kr. Bright), and the hon. member for
King's County (Mr. P. O'Brien), have deprecated any
minute discussion on this subject, which certainly is one
of a delicate nature, and, though I cannot say it has
produced alarm, has caus,cl anxiety. I will therefore
make a direct statement upon the matter. The
honourable member for Birmingham asks me whether
I have received any more specific information as to
what has occurred. On a former occasion I took an
opportunity of saying that the information which had
arrived was not official ; and now I say that we have
not received such information as will enable me to
give a satisfactory answer to that question.. This, how-
ever, at least I may sey, that there have been such a
c mtinued course of pr ,ceeoing on the part of our agents
there, that I cannot but think that over-zsal may in
some instances have led them beyond their instructions.
I can only say if that is so, that there will be on the part
of the Goverument the must anxious wish if wrong has
been done, to meet that wrong with the most candid
acknowledgment that it kas been don.. I hope that the
time is far distant when this country will give up any
right which it conceives itself justly entitled to. But I
hope that the time is equally distant when this coun•
try from any false pride will refuse to acknowledge when
she is in the wrong. (Hear, hear.) As to the question
whether I have received any additional information, I
trust that the statement I have made will be so far satis-
factory. There is one other point on which I will make
one or two observations ; and I will du so principally
because I think it will justify not only the hope I ex-
press, but the coefidence that these circumstances, which
have hitherto had this anxious character, will be satis-
factorily arranged. I wish to state this in justice to our
officers aliroad, that, though there may have been in-
stances of over zeal which have led officers to exceed
the bounds of discretion, yet it is obvious from all that
has come to our knowledge, that it is perfec ly clear that
those statements of what have been termed British out-
rages have been most grossly exaggerated. I will not
at this period of the evening enter Into an explanation
of the circumstances that induce me to hold that opi-
nion, but I will say that in the last pubLcation of one of
the New York papers, and which have been copied into
every journal in this kingdom, there appears this state-
ment, that 32 American vessels had been detained and
searched ; and these proceedings go under the name of
British outrages. I may state what this outrage turned
out to be. The brig C. F. O'Brien which was said to
have been outraged, " was boarded on the 2.1 of May in
the harbour of Segue la Grande, by an armed boat from
a British steamer. The boat pulled alongside without
hailing, and boarded without asking permission to do so.
The usual questions as to the name, ownership, and de-
stination of the vessel were asked and answered, and the
captain was requested to produce his papers, These,
he informed the officers, were at the office of the Ameri-
can Consulate: He made no further search of the ves-
sel, and having satisfied his curiosity, departed. His
behaviour was civil, and no threat or intimidation was
suggested. This is only one ; and as to the Escort, and
as to another vessel, there is a similar statement —" Shp
EBC irt, from Havre to New Orleans, when off the south
side of Cuba, the wind being quite light, a British
steamer ranged alongside, and her commander said that
he wished to communicate with the ship if her captain
had no objection. (Haar, hear.) Captain Bryant said
he would he happy to receive any communications the
steamer pleased to make. The ship was not re-
quested to heave to, but the steamer ranged a-head of
tee ship and dropped a beat cvnich came aloags de. An
officer fruits her went on hoard, asked where the ship was
from and bound, but made no request to see her papers.
He stated that the steamer was from Port Royal, Ja-
maica. and wai then under sealed orders, to be opened
off Cape May. The officer asked if he could reader the
ship any service, and being thanked retnrned to his
boat. Caytain Bryant states that from first to last the
conduct of tee steamer, her officers, and men was
friendly. He states, moreover, that the ship's hold
might have been filled with negroes for aught the officer
seemed to care. His visit was not prying in any tense..
Captain Bryai.t could not call to mind the name of the
steamer a i.hout referring to the ship's log. The brig
Pulaski, Captain Hawthorn, from Cienfuegos, arrived
here la -t evening, and reports that on the 11th inst., in
lat. 23 deg. 21 mite, long. 83 deg. 34 min., she was
hailed from a British war steamer, barque-rigged, and
asked where she was from and hound, but was not re-
quested to heave to, nor was she boarded, nor did the
steamer fire at her. Captain Hawthorn, says the com-
mander of the steamer, conducted himself just as any
decent shipmaster would when speaking ano.ner vessel
at sea."
" Tue brig Eliza Merrithew, Captain Gordon, from
Sagua la Grande, arrived here yesterday afternoon.
While at Sagua her captain says she was not troubled by
the British, and he believes that two-thirds of the stories
in cireulatiou about outrages, &c., are male out of old
cloth."
Übe next statement I wish to refer to is by Captain
Coins, boarding officer of the Merchant Exchange at Bos-
ton. He says that he has conversed freely with the mas-
ter and crew of every vessel that has arrived, and not
ate of thetn has been damaged to the amount of one
cent; and in two cases where ve-sels aro said to have
been fired at, neither the crew nor the mates knew any-
thing about it. (A laugh.) It is further stated that the
British officers appeared moat auxi ,us to avoid giving
offence. Ido not wish to throw doubts on the bona
fides of the American government, cr to doubt for one
moment that they thought that they had grounds for
the representations which they have made; but I only
want to put this before the house in justice to the officers
a hose conduct is impegned, and to show the reason
I have for the confident hope that this menacing
state of circumstances may be equitably and justly ar-
reriged. Another circumstance is, that from the docu-
ments laid before the Congress by the American Govern-
ment it would appear that. the abuse of the American
flag hair been great. (Hear.) What I mean is, that the
American flag has been made use of by those who are
not Americans, and who have no right to use it, and
that it has been prostitwed in the vilest manner. (Hear )
I cannot help thinking that when these circumstances
are brought to the knowledge of the American Govern-
ment, and when they find that this Government is dis-
posed to act in a conciliatory spirit, they on the other
side of the water will meet us in -a similar spirt. As to
the right of search, it has always been a constant source
f irritation between the two countries ; the right has
never been admitted Ly the Americans, and consequently
it became our duty, in the face c f circumstances so se-
rious as those brought before us, to ascertain exactly
what were our rights ; if we had rights, that we might
be prepared to stem' by them, and if not, that we might
acknowledge our error. Consequently we took the ad-
vice of the law efficient of the Crown, and it is their de-
cided opinion that by international law in tine of peace
we have to right of search, and that being the case, It
would be unbecoming to delay acknowledging this for
one moment to the American Government. It would,
however, be wrong that we should be called on at once
to cease our efforts to put down the slave trade. The
course taken by the English Government is what has
been lad do en by Gen. Cass, who says :
" A merchant vessel upon the high seas is protected by
her national character. He who forc.bly enters her does so
upon his own responsibility. Undoubtedly, if a vessel as-
sume a national ci erecter to which she is not entitled, and
is sailing under false colours, she cannot be protected. by
the assumption of a nationality to which sho has no clean?.
As the identity of a person must bedetermined by the offi•
cor bearing a process for his arrest, and determined at the
risk of such officer, so must the national identity of a vessel
be detertninecl at the like hazard to him who, doubting the
flag she displays, searches her to ascertain her true charac-
ter. There, no doubt, may be circumstances which would
go far to modify the complaints a nation weald have a
tight to make for such a violation of its sovereignty. If
the boerdiae officer had just grounds for suspicion, and
de-
ported himself with propriety in the performance of
fhis
task, doing no injury, a d peaceably retiring when sa
fied of his error, no nation would make such an act the

subject of serious reclamations."
That is the position we are entitled to take by inter-
national law ; it is that which this American gentleman
has him ielf acknowledged, and that is the course which
it will be the duty of our ciui,ers in those seas to pur-
sue for the future. Tie hon. gentleman has asked me
whether any addition has been male to our fleet in the
Cuban waters ? During the time that this government
has been in (Ace there has been no increase of the fleet
it those waters, and I may say further that it has come
under the consideration of the government whether the
continuance a this squadron in the Cuba❑ waters has
answered the objet which we have in view, and whether
there were not attached to the continuance of that fleet

in the Cuban waters other objections of a different kind ?
The maintaining a squadro❑ on the coast of Africa is a
differ,nt question to that of maintaining a squadron on
the Coast of Cuba. The squadron off Cuba iq in the
highway of American commerce, and there would always