The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-27 00:00:00

TILE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 27, 1845.

me by all my predecessors, but is eminently befitting the
occasion.

" The constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the
safe-guard of our federative compact, the offspring of
concession and compromise, binding together in the
bonds of peace and union this great and increasing
family of free and independent States, will be the chart
by which I shall be directed.
"It will bo my first care to administer the GeyerE.
ment in the true spirit of that instrument, and to assume
no power not expressly granted or clearly implied in
its terms. The government of the United States is one
of delegated and limited powers ; and it is by a strict
adherence to the clearly granted powers, and by abstain-
ing from the exercise of doubtful or unauthorised im-
plied powers, that we have the only sure guarantee
against the recurrence of those unfortunate collisions be-
tween the Federal and State authorities, which have
occasionally so much disturbed the harmony of our sys-
tem, and even threatened the perpetuity of our glorious
Union.

"To the States respectively, or to the people, have
been reserved the powers not delegated to the United
States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
States.' Each State is a complete sovereignty within the
sphere of its reserved powers. The government of the
Union, acting within the sphere of its delegated autho-
rity, is also a complete sovereignty. While the general
Government should abstain from the exercise of autho-
rity not clearly delegated to it, the States should be
equally careful that, in the maintenance of their rights,
they do not overstep the limits of powers reserved to
them. One of the most distinguished of my predecessors
attached deserved importance to the support of the
State governments in all their rights, as the most com-
petent administration for our domestic concerns, and the
surest bulwark against anti-republican tendencies ;' and
to the preservation of the general Government in its
whole constitutional vigour. as the sheet-anchor of our
peace at home and safety abroad.'
"To the Government of the United States has been in-
trusted the exclusive management of our foreign affairs.
Beyond that, it wields a few general enumerated powers.
It does tot force reform on the States. It leaves indi-
viduals, over whom it casts its protecting influence, en-
tirely free to improve their own condition by the legiti-
mate exercise of all their mental and physical powers. It
is a common protector of each and all the States, of every
man who lives upon our soil, whether of native or foreign
birth ; of every religious sect, in their worship of the
Almighty according to the dictates of their own con-
science ; of every shade of opinion, and the most free in-
quiry •, of every art, trade, and occupation, consistent
with the laws of the States. And we rejoice in the gene-
ral happiness, prosperity, and advancement of our coun-
try, which have been the offspring of freedom, and not of
power.
" This most admirable and wisest system of well-
regulated self-government among men, ever devised by
human minds, has been tested by its successful opera-
tion for more than half a century, and, if preserved
from the usurpations of the Federal Government on the
one hand, and the exercise by the States of powers not
reserved to them on the other, will, I fervently hope and
believe, endure for ages to come, and dispense the bles-
sings of civil and religious liberty to distant generations.
To effect objects so dear to every patriot, I shall devote
myself with anxious solicitude. It will be my desire to
hward against that most fruitful source of danger to the
armonious action of our system, which consists in
substituting the mere discretion and caprice of
the executive, or of majorities in the legislative
department of the Government, for powers which
have been withheld from the Federal Government
by the constitution. By the theory cf our Go-
vernment, majorities rule, but this right is not an arbi-
trary or unlimited one. It is a right to be exercised in
subordination to the constitution and in conformity to
it. One great object of the constitution was to restrain
majorities from oppressing minorities, or encroaching
upon their just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal
to the constitution as a shield against such oppression.
" That the blessings of liberty which our constitution
secures may be enjoyed alike by minorities and majorities,
the executive has been wisely invested with a qualified
veto upon the acts of the Legislature. It is a negative
power, and is conservative in its character. It arrests
for the time hasty, inconsiderate, or unconstitutional
legislation, invites reconsideration, and transfers ques-
tions at issue between the legislative and executive
departments to the tribunal of the people. Like all other
powers, it is subject to be abused. When judiciously
and properly exercised, the constitution itself may be
saved from infraction, and the rights of all preserved and
protected.
" The inestimable value of our federal Union is felt
and acknowledged by all. By this system of united and
confederated States, our people are permitted, collec-
tively and individually, to seek their own happiness in
their own way ; and the consequences have been most
auspicious.—Since the Union was formed, the number
of the States has increased from thirteen to 1 wenty-eight ;
two of these have taken their position as members of the
confederacy within the last week. Our population has
increased from three to twenty millions. New com-
munities and States are seeking protection under its
aegis, and multitudes from the Old World are flocking to
our shores to participate in its blessings. Beneath its
benign sway, peace and prosperity prevail. Freed
from the burdens and miseries of war, our trade
and intercourse have extended throughout the
world. Mind, no longer tasked in devising means to ac-
complish or resist schemes of ambition, usurpation, or
conquest, is devoting itself to man's true interests, in de-
veloping his faculties and powers, and the capacity of
nature to minister to his enjoyments. Genius is free to
announce its inventions and discoveries ' • and the hand
is free to accomplish whatever the head conceives, not
incompatible with the rights of a fellow- being. All dis-
tinctions of birth or of rank have been abolished. All
are entitled to equal rights and equal protection. No
union exists between Church and State, and perfect free-
dom of opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds.
" These are some of the blessings secured to our
happy land by our Federal Union. To perpetuate them,
it is our sacred duty to preserve it. Who shall assign
limits to the achievements of free minds and free hands,
under the protection of this glorious Union ? No
treason to mankind, since the organisation of society,
would be equal in atrocity to that of him who would lift
his hand to destroy it. He would overthrow the noblest
structure of human wisdom, which protects himself and
his fellow-man. He would stop the progress of free
Government, and involve his country either in anarchy
or despotism. He would extinguish the fire of liberty
which warms and animates the hearts of happy millions,
and invites all the nations of the earth to imitate our
example. If he say that error and wrong are com-
mitted in the administration of the Government, let him
remember that nothing human can be perfect ; and that
under no other system of Government revealed by
heaven, or devised by man, has reason been allowed
so free and broad a scope to combat error.
Has the sword of despots proved to be a safer or surer
instrument of reform in government than enlightened
reason ? Does he expect to find ,among the ruins of this
Union a happier abode for our swarming millions than
they now have under it ? Every lover of his country
must shudder at the thought of the possibility of its dis
solution, and will be ready to adopt the patriotic senti-
ment, 'Our Federal Union—it must be preserved.' To
preserve it, the compromises which alone enabled our
fathers to form a common constitution for the govern-
ment and protection of so many States, and distinct com-
munities, of such diversified habits, interests, and do-
mestic institution, must be sacredly and religiously ob-
served. Any attempt to disturb or destroy these com-
promises, being terms of the compact of Union, can
lead to none other than the most ruinous and disastrous
consequences.

"It a source of deep regret that, in some sections
of our country, misguided persons have occasionally in-
dulged in schemes and agitations, whose object is the
destruction of domestic institutions existing in other
sections—institutions which existed at the adoption of
the constitution, and were recognised and protected by
it. All must see that if it were possible for them to be
successful in attaining their object, the dissolution of the
Union, and the consequent destruction of our happy form
of Government must speedily follow.
" I am happy to believe that at every period of our
existence as a nation, there has existed, and continues to
exist, among the great mass of our people, a devotion to
the Union of the States, which will shield and protect it
against the moral treason of any who would seriously
contemplate its destruction. To secure a continuance
of that devotion, the compromises of the constitution
must not only be preserved, but sectional jealousies and
heart-burnings must be discountenanced ; and all should
remember that they are members of the same political
family, having a common destiny. To increase the at-
tachment of our people to the Union, our laws should
be just. Any policy which shall tend to favor monopo-
lies, or the peculiar interests of sections or classes, must
operate to the prejudice of the interests of their fellow.
citizens, and should be avoided. If the compromises of
the Constitution be preserved—if sectional jealousies and
heart-burnings be discountenanced—if our laws be just
and the government be practically administered strictly
within the limits of power prescribed to it—we may dis-
card all apprehensions for the safety of the Union.
" With these views of the nature, character, and objects
of the Government, and the value of the Union, I shall
steadily oppose the creation of those institutions and sys-
tems which, in their nature, tend to pervert it from its
legitimate purposes, and make it the instrument of sec-
tions, classes, and individuals. We need no national
banks, or other extraneous institutions, planted around
the Government to control or strengthen it in opposition
to the will of its authors. Experience has taught us how
unnecessary they are as auxiliaries of the public authori-
ties, how impotent for good, and how powerful for
mischief.

of union to them, yet we cannot but feel a deep interest /
in seeing the States meet their public liabilties, and pay I
off their just debts, at the earliest practical period. That
they will do so, as soon as it can be done without im-
posing too heavy burdens on their citizens, there is no
reason to doubt. The sound, moral and honourable
feeling of the people of the indebted States, cannot be
questioned ; and wo are happy to perceive a settled dis-
position on their part, as their ability returns after a sea- I
son of unexampled pecuniary embarrassment, to pay off
all just demands, and to acquiesce in any reasonable
measures to accomplish that object.
"One of the difficulties which we had to encounter in
the practical administration of the Government, consists
in the adjustment of our revenue laws, and the levy of
the taxes necessary for the support of Government. In
the general proposition that no more money shall be col-
lected than the necessities of an economical administra-
tion shall require, all parties seem to acquiesce. Nor
does there seem to be any material difference of opinion
as to the absence of right in the Government to tax one
section of country, or one class of citizens, or one occu-
pation, for the mere profit of another. ' Justice and sound
policy forbid the Federal Government to foster one branch
of industry to the detriment of another, or to cherish the
interest of one portion to the injury of another portion
of our common country.' I have heretofore declared to
my fellow citizens that, in my judgment, it is the duty
of the Government to extend, as far as it may be prac-
ticable to do so, by its revenue laws, and all other means
within its power, fair and just protection to all the great
interests of the whole Union, embracing agriculture,
manufactures, the mechanic arts, commerce, and naviga-
tion.' I have also declared my opinion to be in favour
of a tariff for revenue,' and that, in adjusting the de-
tails of such a tariff, I have sanctioned such moderate
discriminating duties as would produce the amount of
revenue needed, and, at the same time, afford reasonable
incidental protection to our home industry,' and that I
was opposed to a tariff for protection merely, and not
fir revenue.'
" The power to lay and collect taxes, duties, im-
posts, and excises,' was an indispensable one to be con-
icrred on the Federal Government, which, without it,
would possess no means of providing for its own sup-
port. In executing this power, by levying a tariff of
duties for the support of Government, the raising of re-
venue should be the object, and protection the incident.
To reverse this principle, and make protection the object,
and revenue the incident, would be to inflict manifest
injustice upon all other than the protected interests. In
levying duties for revenue, it is deubticss proper to
make such discriminations within the revenue principle,
as will afford incidental protection to our home interests.
Within the revenue limit, there is a discretion to discri-
minate ; beyond that limit, the rightful exercise of the
power is not conceded. The incidental protection
afforded to our home interests by discrimina-
tions within tho revenue range, it is believed will
be ample. In making discriminations, all our home in-
terests should, as far as practicable, be equally protected.
The largest portion of our people arc agriculturists.
Others are employed in manufactures, commerce, navi-
gation, and the mechanical arts, engaged in their re-
spective pursuits, and their joint labours constitute the
national or home industry. To tax one branch of this
home industry for the benefit of another would bo un-
just. No ono of these interests can rightfully claim an
advantage over the others, or be enriched by impoverish-
ing the others. All are equally entitled to the fostering
care and protection of the Government. In exercising a
sound discretion in levying discriminating duties within
the limit prescribed, care should be taken that it be
done in a manner not to benefit the wealthy few, at
the expense of the toiling millions, by taxing lowest the
luxuries of life, or articles of superior quality and high
price, which can only be consumed by the wealthy ;
and highest the necessaries of life, or articles of coarse
quality and low price, which the poor and great mass of
our people must consume. The burdens of government
should, as far as practicable, be distributed justly and
equally among all classes of our population. These
general views, long entertained on this subject, I have
deemed it proper to reiterate. It is a subject upon which
conflicting interests of sections and occupations are sup-
posed to exist, and a spirit of mutual concession and
compromise in adjusting its details should be cherished
by every part of our wide-spread country, as the only
means of preserving harmony and a cheerful acquies-
cence of all in the operation of our revenue laws. Our
patriotic citizens in every part of the Union will readily
submit to the payment of such taxes as shall be needed
for the support of their Government, whether in peace or
in war, if they are so levied as to distribute tho burdens
as equally as possible among them.
" The Republic of Texas has made known her desire
to come into our Union, to form a part of our confede-
racy, and enjoy with us the blessings of liberty secured
and guaranteed by our Constitution. Texas was once a
part of our country—was unwisely ceded away to a
foreign Power—is now independent, and possesses an
undoubted right to dispose of a part or the whole of
her territory, and to merge her sovereignty, as a separate
and independent State, in ours. I congratulate my
country that, by an Act of the late Congress of the
United States, the assent of this Government has been
given to the re-union ; and it only remains for the two
countries to agree upon the terms, to consummate an
object so important to both.
" I regard the question of annexation as belonging ex-
clusively to the United States and Texas. They are in-
dependent Powers, competent to contract ; and foreign
nations have no right to interfere with them, or to take
exceptions to their re-union. Foreign Powers do not
seem to appreciate the true character of our Govern-
ment. Our Union is a confederation of independent
States, whose policy is peace with each other and all the
world. To enlarge its limits, is to extend the dominion
of peace over additional territories and increasing mil-
lions. The world has nothing to fear from military am-
bition in our Government. While the chief magistrate
and the popular branch of Congress Are elected for
short terms by the suffrages of those millions who must,
in their own persons, bear all' the burdens and
miseries of war, our Government cannot be otherwise
than pacific. Foreign Powers should, therefore, look
on the annexation of Texas to the United States,
not as the conquest of a nation seeking to extend
and
ever-increasing a
her dominions by arms and violence, but as the
peaceful acquisition of a territery once her own, by add-
ing another member to our confederation, with the con-
osent
aorf,
d ope
tahnat mening to m n
mber—tliheorebyd n inish ing te
f w
e
markets for their products.
" To Texas the re-union is important ; because the
strong protecting arm of our Government would be ex-
tended over her, and the vast resources of her fertile soil
and genial climate would be speedily developed ; while
the safety of New Orleans and of our whole south-
western frontier, against hostile aggression, as well as
the interests of the whole Uuion, would be promoted
by it.
"In the earlier stages of our national existence, the
nd not operate some,suc-
cessfully that our system
idl ed with
States
could
over an extended territory, and serious ' opinionc ofedperreavtae
ob-
jections have, at different times, been made
to the enlargement of our boundaries. These
objections were earnestly urged when we acquired
Louisiana. Experience has shown that they were not
well founded. The title of numerous Indian tribes to I
vast tracts of country has been extinguished. New States
have been admitted into the Union ; new territories have
been created, and jurisdiction and laws extended over
them. As our population has expanded, the Union has
been cemented and strengthened ' • as our boundaries
have been enlarged, and our agricultural population has
been spread over a large surface, our federative system
has acquired additional strength and security. It may
well be doubted whether it would not be in greater
danger of overthrow, if our present population were con-
fined to the comparatively narrow limits of the original
thirteen States, than it is now that they are sparsely
settled over a more expanded territory. It is confidently
believed that our system may be safely extended to the
utmost bounds of our territorial limits ; and that, as it
shall be extended, the bonds of our Union, so far from
being weakened, will become stronger.
" None can fail to see the danger to our safety and
future peace, if Texas remains an. independent State, or
becomes an ally or dependency of some foreign nation
more powerful than herself. Is there one among our
citizens who would not prefer perpetual peace with
Texas, to occasional wars, which so often occur between
bordering independent nations ? Is there one who
would not prefer free intercourse with her, to high duties
on all our products and manufactures which enter her
ports or cross her frontiers? Is there one who would
not prefer an unrestricted communication with her citi-
zens, to the frontier obstructions which must occur if

stunt watchfulness. Equal and exact justice should •
characterise all our intercourse with foreign countries.
All alliances having a tendency to jeopard the welfare
and honour of our country, or sacrifice any one of the
national interests, will be studiously avoided, and yet
no opportunity will be lost to cultivate a favourable un-
derstanding with foreign Governments, by which our
navigation and commerce may be extended, and the
ample products of our fertile soil, as well as the manu-
factures of our skilful artisans, find a ready market and
remunerating prices in foreign countries.
"In taking care that the laws be faithfully ex-
ecuted,' strict performance of duty will be exacted from
all public officers. From those officers, especially, who
are charged with the collection and disbursement of the
public revenue, will prompt and rigid accountability be re-
quired. Any culpable failure or delay on their part to
account for the moneys intrusted to them, at the times
and in the manner required by law, will, in every in-
stance, terminate the official connexion of such default-
ing officer with the government.
" Although, in our country, the chief magistrate must ,
almost of necessity be chosen by a party, and stand
pledged to its principles and measures, yet, in his official
action, he should not be the President of a part only, but
of the whole people of the United States. While he ex-
ecutes the laws with an impartial hand, shrinks from
no proper responsibility, and faithfully carries out in the
Executive department of the Government the principles
and policy of those who have chosen him, he should not
be unmindful that cur fellow citizens who have differed
with him in opinion are entitled to the full and free ex-
ercise of their opinions and judgments, and that the
rights of all are entitled to respect and regard.
" Confidently relying upon the aid and assistance of
the co-ordinate departments of the Government in con-
ducting our public affairs, I enter upon the discharge of
the high duties which have been assigned me by the
people, again humbly supplicating that Divine Being
who has watched over and protected our beloved country
from its infancy to the present hour, to continue His
gracious benedictions upon us, that we may continue to
be a prosperous and happy people."
The following extracts from the New York herald
give the prevailing rumours as to the formation of
the new Cabinet : _

WasniNoTos, Mlncn I.—Texas is triumphant, and Mr.
Polk has already determined on at least two of his Cabinet.
Mr. Calhoun retires to South Carolina to cultivate cotton
and philosophy, having accomplished the work ho un-
dertook, that is,—finished the Texas question, and put
the Oregon in a proper train of settlement. The two
Cabinet Ministers thus far determined on are—

James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of State.
Robert J. Walker, of Mississippi, Secretary of the
Treasury.
MAncri 3.—The new Cabinet was unofficially given
out to-day, and a prodigious excitement has been pro-
duced in both the old cliques or factions. The friends of
Mr. Van Buren and those of Mr. Calhoun are equally
savage. The following is the list:—
James Buchanan, Secretary of State.
Robert J. Walker, Secretary of the Treasury.
William L. Marcy, Secretary of \Var.
George Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy.
Cave Johnson, Postmaster-General.
Mr. Saunders, Attorney-General.
These names are admitted generally to be the Pro-
gramme, and the discontent among the cliques is very
great. Benton, Allen, Tappan, and all those of that ilk
denounce it, particularly the nomination of Marcy, ho
being a Conservative of 1840, and everything but a
friend of Van Buren and Silas Wright in New York.
On the other hand the Southern Calhoun men denounce
it as an ultra high tariff, and hostile to Mr. Calhoun.
The Conservatives of New York and all the Tyler office-
holders there and elsewhere aro delighted. It is now
said that few removals will take place, and that neither
the old Van Buren nor Calhoun men can have any influ-
ence or power.
The most amusing state of things is produced, and
many laughable demonstrations aro already taking place.
I predict a hot and bitter war upon Mr. Polk's Adminis-
tration from large sections of his own party. The Whigs
are quietly looking on and preparing for Is4B, with their
two rival candidates, John M`Lean and General Scott.
Mr. Polk has treated Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Van Buren
in the like cavalier way. He did not ask Mr. Calhoun
to stay a day in the Cabinet, and Mr. Van Buren's re-
quest to put in Flagg or Cambreleng has been put aside
without notice. In fact, Mr. Polk means to be Mr.
Polk. The inaugural address is now printing at the Globe
office.

_
MARCH 4.—The following is the latest information re-
specting the formation of the Cabinet:—
Secretary of State, Senator Buchanan, of Pennsylvania.
Secretary of Treasury, Senator Walker, of Mississippi.
Secretary of Navy, George Bancroft, of Massachusetts.
Secretary of War, Governor Marcy, of New York.
Postmaster-General, Cave Johnson, of Tennessee.
Attorney-General, Mr. Mason, late Secretary of the
Navy, who is said to have had this offered to him, and to
have refused it ; and it is now said that J. W. Jones,
late Speaker of the House of Representatives, will be the
incumbent, but it is also said that this post remains un-
filled, and that it is the only one that is so.
President Tyler last night nominated Judge Wilkins,
the Secretary of War, Associate Judge of the Supreme
Court for Pennsylvania. The Senate refused to go into
executive session, and left all the appointments for tho
action of President Polk and the new Senate.

President Tyler has also saved Mr. Polk all trouble
in making any election as to the mode of admission of
Texas into the Union, for on Saturday one of his
nephews, Mr. Waggaman, was dispatched by ex-
press as special messenger, bearing the llousclresolutions
to the Government of Texas, and therefore, as it is fully
expected, Texas will gimmediately accede to the terms of
those resolutions, President Polk has no trouble in the
matter.

NEW YORK MONEY MARKET, MARCEL 5.
$5OO New York City Sevens 's3 113
8,000 Ohio Sixes 'so 98
5,000 Kentucky Sixes lOl
5,000 Illinois Sixes '7o 40
5,000 Pennsylvania Fives 74
80 Shares National Bank 9B,
50 Vicksburg Bank
50 Morris Canal
25 Canton Co.
50 Farmers' Tr
100 E Boston Co.
70 Erie RR
10 Aub and Roth lO6
50 L Island RR BO,
25 Mohawk RR 65
50 Stonington RR 43
700 Nor and Wore 73
200 Reading RR......

33
541
40-

" Ours was intended to be a plain and frugal Govern-
meat and I shall regard it to be my duty to recommend
to Congress, and, as far as the Executive is concerned, to
enforce by all the means within my power, the strictest
economy in the expenditure of the public money, which
may be compatible with the public interests.
" A national debt has become almost an institution of
European monarchies. It is viewed, ie some of them,
as an essential prop to existing Governments. Melan-
choly is the condition of that people whose Government
can be sustained only by a system which periodically
transfers large amounts from the labour of the many to
the coffers of the few. Such a system is incompatible
with the end for which our Repub' lean Government was
instituted. Under a wise policy, the debts contracted in
our revolution, and during the war of 1812, have been
happily extinguished. By a judicious application of the
revenues not required for other necessary purposes, it is
not doubted that the debt, which has grown out of the
circumstances of the last few years, may bo speedily
paid off.
" I congratulate my fellow-citizens on the entire
restoration of the credit of the general Government of
the Union, and that of many of the States. Happy
would it be for indebted States, if they were freed
from their liabilities, many of which were incautiously
contracted. Although the Government of the Union is
neither in a legal nor a moral sense bound for the debt
of the States, and it would be a Violation of our compact

she remains out of tho Union ? Whatever is good
or evil in the local institutions of Texas, will re-
main her own, whether annexed to the United
States or not. None of the present States will be
responsible for them, any more than they are for the
local institutions of each other. They have confederated
together for certain specified objects. Upon the same
principle that they would refuse to form a perpetual
union with Texas, because of her local institutions, our
forefathers would have been prevented from forming our
present Union. Perceiving no valid objection to the
measure, and many reasons for its adoption, vitally
affecting the peace, the safety, and the prosperity of
both countries, I shall, on the broad principle which
formed the basis and produced tho adoption of our con-
stitution, and not in any narrow spirit of sectional
policy, endeavour, by all constitutional, honourable, and
appropriate means, to consummate the expressed will
of the people and government of the United States, by
the re-annexaticn of Texas to our Union at the earliest
practicable period.
" Nor will it become in a less degree my duty to assert
and maintain, by all constitutional means, lihe right of
the United States to that portion of our territory which
lies beyond the Rocky Mountains. Our title to the
country of the Oregon is ' clear and unquestionable;'
and already are our people preparing to perfect that
title by occupying it with their wives and children. But
eighty years ago our population was confined cn the
west by the ridge of the Alleghanies. Within that period
—within the life-time, I might say, of some of my hearers
—our people, increasing to many millions, have filled the
eastern valley of the Mississippi ; adventurously
as:ended the Missouri to its head springs ;
and are already engaged in establishing the
blessings of self-government in valleys, of which the
rivers flow to the Pacific. The world beholds the
peaceful triumphs of the industry of our emigrants. To
us belongs the duty of protecting them adequately,
wherever they may be upon our soil. The jurisdiction of
our laws, and the benefits of our Republican institutions,
should be extended over them in the distant regions
which they have selected for their homes. The in-
creasing facilities of intercourse will easily bring the
States, of which the formation in that part of our ter-
ritory cannot be long delayed, within the sphere of our
Federative Union. In the meantime, every obligation
imposed by treaty or conventional stipulations should be
sacredly respected.
" In the management of our foreign relations, it will
be my aim to observe a careful respect for the rights of
other nations, while our Own will be the subject of con.

The Message of President PoLyt on entering on his
office as Chief Magistrate of the United States con-
tains no information, and exhibits no feature, which
might not have been anticipated from the character
of the parties by whom he was elected, and the well-
known aggressive spirit of the great body of the
people. His language, consequently, is adapted to
their pretensions, and the principles which regulate
their conduct. These principles are to go-ahead, right
or wrong, to extend their territory by foul means or
fair, to claim Texas on the ground that it is an inde-
pendent state, though taken by violence from Mexico,
that it originally formed part of the Confederacy, and
had been unwisely ceded away to a foreign power.
" Other powers, therefore," says the pacific President,
" should look on the event not as the conquest of a nation,
seeking to extend her dominions by arms and violence,
but as the peaceful acquisition of a territory once her
own, by adding another member to the confederation,
with the consent of that member, thereby diininishin,s,
the chances of war, and opening to them new and
ever-increasing markets for their products." The
Oregon question is settled with the same self-com-
placency in these words :—" Our title to the country
of the Oregon is clear and unquestionable." So,
when the time comes, will be their title to Canada,
and all the British possessions in North America.
These form a portion of that continent which the new
republic claims as its own, and from which they anti.
cipate to be able, at no very distant day, to eject all
British authorities, as unprincipled intruders from
the old world. In fact, the Canadian territory is
necessary to round off the northern line, to create
a balance to the increase of power in the
south ; and, above all, to infuse the pure
spirit of liberty, and establish American institutions
amongt heir brethren on the other side of the Ame-
rican lakes. These are their arguments—they make
no secret of the fact, and we are ready to admit that
they have just as much right to Quebec and Montreal
as they have to Santa Fe, and Galveston, and the
River Columbia. But questions of such vast im-
portance, Mr. POLK knows well, are not to be
settled by a few peaceable words, by unautho-
rised claims, or even by occupying the territory in
order to perfect the title. Much more is required,
and to such term' neither Lord ABERDEEN, however
gentle his nature, nor Sir R. PEEL, with all his Irish
difficulties, will agree. England has a vast interest
in her West India colonies and her settlements on the
continent. A balance of power is as necessary in the
new world as in the old, and the people of the
United Kingdom will not remain satisfied or quiet
while inroads are made upon their trade and com-
merce, and the very existence of their posessions and
the independence of their countrymen are threatened
by lawless invaders.

It affords us pleasure to find the Times entering its
powerful protest against one of those "Inclosure
Bills" which of late years have so often challenged
our indignant reprobation. The Bill, now pending
before the House of Commons, for the inclosuro of
certain lands and common fields in the parish of St.
Mary, Nottingham, is the latest and one of the most
disgusting editions of that grasping spirit of selfish
aggrandisement which renders the large landowner or
the capitalist in so many cases the nuisance, the bane,
the curse of the district around him, instead of its
benefactor and respected patron. Where waste and
common are to be inclosed, the owner of the free•

hold of a few hundreds, nay of a few scores, of
landed estate in their vicinity, knows that in the allot-
ments to be made under the Act of Parliament neces-
sary for such purpose, he will have the option of re-
claiming and entering upon possession of an extent
of the waste, in proportion to the extent of his own
previous holding. It is greatly to be feared that this
circumstance operates as a powerful incentive to these
parties—or, if not to them, to their hungry solicitors
—to first discover the expediency of inclosing large
tracts which have been for ages, perhaps from time
immemorial, free and common to the poor of the same
locality, supplying them also with free pasturage for
their little stock, and thus enabling them to eke out
the scanty subsistence afforded them by their wages
as labourers or artisans, &c. The extent and enor-
mity of the injustice they commit on the poor man,
by ousting him of the free range and pure air, the
healthful exercise, and peaceful rambles, to which,
like his fathers before him, he has been accustomed
to resort in his snatches of leisure, or on his Sabbath
holidays, never seems to suggest itself to their minds.
The sort of equitable vested right, if such a right
there be in any human being, that the families of the
poor labourer—their toiling wives and the ruddy
children, who look freely out from the humble cottage
door, with a cheery confidence that has not yet come
into collision with the harsh and sneering discourage-
ment of the world beyond their native heath—the
equitable vested right that these families have to
retain the privilege of living on, amidst the same
scenery and associations in which their childhood or
their youth has been passed, is a right which never
crosses the memory, or disturbs the calculations of the
parties to an Inclosure Bill. The whole powers of
their ingenuity are taxed to devise the pretexts which
shall be most feasible, and may promise best, for suc-
cessful effect, with Parliament, in the business of
" soliciting" their Bill. These pretexts are usually
of the most canting, hypocritical, and yet flimsy
description. The parties to the Bill affect (and this
is the only ludicrous part of the transaction) to be
moved in the affair by consideration for the interests
of the poor, forsooth ! They gravely introduce pro-
visions for exchange of lands to be held in trust for
the poor, whose common rights and rights of waste
they are ousting ; or, when no lands can be had,
proper for this " make-believe" exchange, they create
a fund, by reserved rents or otherwise, in which
experience shows that so soon as the Bill has come
into operation, any but the parties rightfully entitled
are sure to participate; and even they obtain a nig-
gardly fractional stipend of far inferior value to the
common rights or of pasture which the poor have been
defrauded of by the Act, and which do not and cannot
make any compensation for the moral and physical
benefits arising from those healthful recreations both
for mind and body, the very "ground" for which has
been literally " removed from under them" by the
operation of the great landowner's and the rich
resident's " Inclosure Bill." The iniquitous cheat,
as well as cruelty, of this scandalous jobbing in
statutsble spoliation does not stop here. It is a
system of fraud and rapacity not one bit more ele-
vated in principle than the business of " thimble-
rigging," or any other such unblushing conspiracy,
to obtain property by deceiving its owners. In cases
where the measure of some disinterested legislator
proposes to "secure" to the poor certain other waste,
common, or other lands in exchange, you may be
perfectly sure, beforehand, that the new lands are al-
together objectionable in point of situation, and
altogether inferior in point of value. But there is
still another screw which may be turned as a further
power to ensure, after the eviction of the poor has
been accomplished from one locality, their inability
to avail themselves of the establishment which the
same Inclosure Act may profess to provide for them
in another. The substituted lands and rights can
only be entered upon and enjoyed in full legal right,
perhaps, on payment of a certain quit-rent or fine, or
other payment, apparently of a very light nature,
calculated on the single acre, but amounting, in the
aggregate of any quantity equivalent to the inclosed
waste, to a considerable sum. Thus we learn, from
the Times, that a former Inclosure Bill had already
taken from the townspeople of Nottingham large
sections of common lands, some years ago, for
building purposes. The applotments remain to
this day unbuilt upon ; and the poor may enter on
the substituted lands and their appurtenant rights on
payment of a sum amounting to 1,4001. Did those
who concocted that Bill and proposed these terms ever
believe, or really expect that the poor could pay this
amount ? How is it to be done ? By public meeting ?
What would be thought of a meeting of poor owners
of common rights, convened for the collection of
1,4001. to secure those rights ? Why, there would
be half•a-dozen Assistant Poor-law Commissioners
dispatched from Somerset House to watch so porten-
tious a phenomenon; and the town union would with-
draw all out-door relief from that moment to a com-
munity of poor so unaccountably rich in reversionary
rights. The plea of taking away common lands for
building purposes betrays, after all, the true sordid
object of the promoters of such measures. They
may honestly believe that the multiplication of tene-
ments of a certain class may induce an influx of
labour and of manufacturing capital into the town ;
but they must balance the chance of increased poor-
rates by the certainty of such an increased house-
rental as shall very far indeed outweigh any addi-
tional burden on the rates. The latter can only be
distributed in minute apportionments over the whole
rate-paying community. The former will find its
way into a few landlords' pockets, whether town, cor-
poration, or individuals.
But this sort of :spoliation will presently cease.
We fearlessly predict that it will work its own cure.
The people will not, and we hope they will not, much
longer endure it. They have a right, the sacred title
of exemplary forbearance and good conduct under
accumulated privations and suffering, in addition to
their title by common :law, prescription, or usage,
to every acre of common or waste that yet remains
in that condition, and under that tenure, in the im-
mediate vicinity of large towns. It is a miserable,
peddling, fatuity on the part of a Legislature to goad
them into dissatisfaction, disgust, and resentment,
by this sort of continuous, unrelaxing aggression and
encroachment on the rights inherited by them from
their forefathers. Our Contemporary indulged in a
happy allusion to the shelter that Nottingham Forest
(within the bounds of which some of the common
lands to be inclosed under the Bill in question are
situate), afforded, in the olden time, to ROBIN HOOD
and his Saxon outlaws. It is not possible that, in
these days of centralization and organised government
such communities can ever again sustain themselves ;
but, for our parts, rather than see the healthful
wastes and sylvan glades which:the poor of England
can yet roam over, or wend through unchallenged in
their peaceful rambles, thus filched from them ; we
should not be sorry to see such stout and effective,
albeit irregular rural reformers as the bold Forester
and his Sherwood company, re-established to the
wholesome discouragement of oppression.

Madrid journals of the 19th inst. have been re-
ceived, but they bring no news. The QUEEN, it was
said, would visit Barcelona in May, passing through
Valencia or Saragossa. It is not improbable that
the journey is not without a French object, as it is
known that M. LESSEPS has been suddenly recalled
from Alexandria, and re-appointed to his former situa-
tion at Barcelona. The accounts from the Basque
Provinces are favourable. General Colima, the
Governor, had left Vittoria for Madrid. The Bourse
was closed.

The French Chamber of Deputies was engaged on
Monday, as stated yesterday, in discussing the Cus-
toms Bill, which is founded on the tariff settled by
royal ordonnance during the recess. This tariff,
which applies chiefly to Belgium and Sardinia, re-
quires the sanction of the Chamber, and the Bill,
therefore, was introduced for that purpose. The
Chamber resumed the discussion on Tuesday, and
was still occupied with the subject at the hour of
post. The debate was commenced by M. DE Ru-
miLLy, who drew a gloomy picture of the present
position of commerce in France. Each day, he said,
the amount of exports was diminishing, and that of
imports on the increase. During the five years
which elapsed from 1838 to 1843, the average of
their imports was 745 millions, or 202 millions
greater than the exports. The merchant-shipping of
the kingdom was each year falling of, in consequencq
of the treaties of 1822 and 1826, which had the
effect of taking from French vessels all freights, and