The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT of th© PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE EVENING PAFERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—Frugality, freedom from debt, and univer-
sal peace, are the three general heads on which most
stress is laid by President Polk in his Inaugural Address.
It is a shrewd remark that men generally most N aunt
themselves of the virtues, or the properties, they possess
least of. Is this the case with President's Polk's
. panegyric on the Government of his country ? In
the first place, what is the Government of that
country ? According to President Polk's statement of
it ,is " a confederation of independent States." Now
here is the thimblerig—we are sorry to use so trivial
an expression ; but ib is the only appropriate one. In
order to make President Polk's assertions true regard-
ing the Rates, the pea must be under one thimble—in
order to make them true regarding the Union it must
be under the other. Imprimis, then, as regards fru-
gality and freedom from debt. These assertions, if
applied to that abstraction, the Union, may be
true. That is to say, a government, which is not
a government to most intents and purposes, does
not incur debts for purposes which it does not fulfil.
But if the Union, instead of being a sort of
abstraction, or fictitious entity—if the President, in-
stead of being, where deeds, not words, are concerned,
on most occasions a man of straw, or, to reline the
phrase—a man of figure and representation—were, the
one, a whole, of which the States were component parts ;
the other, the executive arm, wielding the power of
that whole to assert its law—in short, if national unity
were, in any consistent sense, predicable of the Union,
President Polk's frugality and solvency vaunts would
be untrue. They are untrue, in any sense which
can satisfy moral beings. The head has no right
to disclaim responsibility for the members. So far
the States have been lavish, and are indebted, the
AlUnt of the Union of frugal freedom from debt is a
trick of thinsblerig. This verbal thimblerig consists in
boasting, in one breath, of the prosperity of the States,
as attribute of the Union, and shirking in the next,
bM involvements of the States, as things the Union has
no part in. If it has part in the one, it has part in the
other. If it is entitled mightily to magnify these
communities, ae its own, it cannot be entitled to repu-
diate their obligations, as not its own. It cannot bo
entitled to contrast their lot with the " melanchly
. eonditon" of those European nations which have
debts to pay, and which pay their debts, and
to exult in the contrast—" We have no debts to
pay"—when compelled to subjoin, in the very next
breath—" Happy would it be for the indebted States,
if they were freed from their liabilities, many of which
were incautiously contracted." Frugal folks do not
contract debts incautiously—honest folks pay those they
have contracted. It is a high pitch of effrontery in the
chief magistrate of a nation which includes those States
to affect pity for the nations of Europe whose solvency
shows that they have preserved the idea of national
honour. President Polk's idea of a nation in a " melan-
choly condition" is the idea of nations enslaved—by their
word and bond. It is the idea of Ancient Pistol—Base is
the slave who pays ! The pretension of cultivesting uni-
versal peace has something of the same equivoque about
it. Like the hedgehog, which the snake had given
shelter to in its hole, it only expands its prickly surface
on all sides, to its own comfort and convenience. If
others are inconvenienced, it feels itself, for its own part,
perfectly comfortable. " The title of numerous Indian
tribes (the old aboriginal snake) to vast tracts of country
has been extinguished. New States have been admitted
into the Union ; new territories have been created, and
our jurisdiction and laws extended over them." The
" re-annexation (!) of Texas to our Union at the earliest
possible period."—" Our title to the country of the
Or eon is clear and unquestionable." Well bristled,
he 'hog. President Polk observes that " Foreign
Powers do not seem to appreciate the true character of
our Government." We submit that this may possibly be
from the continual duplicity of position which President
Polk and his predecessors have assumed, as its mouth-
pieces. It is the sublimest acme of irresponsible govern
ment ever exhibited in this world. The federal Govern-
ment, according to President Polk, " is a common pro-
tector of each and all the States ; of every man who lives
upon our soil. whether of native or foreign birth."
The States, however, if they take a fancy to hang
an Irishman, or lynch an Abolitionist, are in such case,
acting simply as " independent States." Again, " Ours
was intended to be a plain and frugal Government"—
but, if every one of the State governments think proper,
on the contrary, to be lavish and jobbing, or wildly
speculative, " our Government" knows nothing about it.
The Union cultivates universal peace ; but, if any state
should prefer border war, the irruptions of its citizens
upon friendly neighbours would noways concern the
Union. We do not mean to write the satire of American in-
stitutions; and we do not know whether any other would
have suited them in gristle, and incomplete growth. We
only say they do not justify this annual boasting;
and they do not exhibit, on the part of their verbal
representatives, that moral dignity which expositions
so elaborate can only owe to truth in facts, and
to fairness in conclusions. As regards the Oregon (to
say nothing, at present, of Texas), the language of this
Address, notwithstanding the saving clause for " obliga-
tions imposed by treaty,', is too similar to everything else
American popular politicians have put forth, and too
fully deserves the animadversion on former such lan-
guage bestowed by Mr. Falconer, in his excellent little
volume on the "Mississippi and the Oregon." "It is
greatly to be lamented," observes Mr. Falconer,
"that in America it should have been the interest of
dishonest and violent politicians to have adopted a tone
of discussion upon the subject opposed to its fair settle-
ment. It is not honourable, while the title of the terri-
tory is undetermined between the respective Govern-
ments, to urge measures to populate it with American
citizens, in order to give facilities for its occupation at
a future p, rind. Such recommmendations do not indi-
cate a convietitei of the validity of the claim insisted on.
America, as well as Great Britain, has an interest in the
est Lbllshruerit of a settled Government in that part of the
world—in markirkg out the limits of legal possession—
and in rearing a population which, however they may
diffk r respocting the system of government which they
may prefer, shall look to the future, as bringing the fruits
of a peaceful, generous, and civilised intercourse."
STANDARD.—Inter, sting intelligence from the
United States has been received in pretty full measure
within the last twenty-four hours. Yesterday we
communicated the decision of the American Senate,
by a majority of 27 to 25 in favour of the
annexation of Texas. Last night we received the
re approbation of the House of Representatives to
this decision, and the ratification of the whole,
as far as the United States are concerned, by
the new President. Last night we received also Presi-
dent Polk's Message to the Congress. All this is inter-
'eating, but that is all ; for it really concerns us mate-
rially as little as the proceedings of the Celestial
Empire, with regard to any of its Tartar neighbours,
perhaps even less, in the present state ,of the
world. The United States have agreed to absorb
Texas, if Texas will submit to be absorbed.
Well and good ; but the consent of Texas is still to be
obtained as an important preliminary to the carrying
into effect the purpose of the United States, and the
consent of Mexico must be added if the purpose is to be
accomplished without an inevitable, and let us add,
an interminable war between the republics now to
be brought into immediate contact. Judging merely
from the inequality of the adverse parties as to popula •
Lion and extent, and naturally prejudiced in favour of
the superior military qualities of the Anglo-Saxon
race, we might hastily conclude the contest more
unequal than it certainly would prove in such a
difficult country, and with such a climate as would
be the scene of operation. And one thing is certain,
that a war between the United States and Mexico would
firmly bind the former " in securities to keep the peace"
with respect to all other nations. However, this is
looking a little too far until the consent of Texas to the
Union shall have been obtained, which is not yet the
case, and possibly never will be the case. If, how-
ever, the Texans, about 60,000 white inhabitants,
are desirous to incorporate themselves in the northern
union, we do not see who has either the right or the
power to hinder them—still less can we guess a motive for
interfering in the matter, for it is much better for
all parties—the United States excepted—that the south-
western territory should be open to all attacks and
reprisals provoked by the United States, than that
it should serve the purpose of the republic under
the disguise of a false independence and neutrality.
The Message is better written, and (a great merit)
shorter than the majority of such documents, and if it
says little to any practical purpose, it would be as un-
fair to criticise severely this defect in it as in " a birth-
day ode." Like the ode, it is necessarily a mere cere-
monial flourish, and for such a display Mr. Polk has se-
lected his topics with sufficiently good taste ; the address
is, in fact, a thesis upon civil government, shaped into a
panegyric upon the constitution of the United States,
with very little to give offence to these who happen
to pilfer other forms of government. From the begin-
ningTo the end there is, however, an earnest deprecation
of the possible dangers of separation, coupled with a
triumphal denial that any such dangers exist—a style of
speaking almost laughable from its inconsistency, and
which indicates in the speaker's mind a painful misgiving
that all is not quite so secure as he would represent it. Mr.
Polk speaks of the annexation of Texas as he might
be expected to speak ; and introduces an exceedingly
comical principle of compensation, which is, we be-
lieve, perfectly new in the science of political
ethics. As we are making a large acquisition,
said he. in the south-west, it becomes necessary to re-
duos the kilance by a large acquisition in the north-
west, viz., by occupying the Oregon territory. We think
we remember having adopted this principle more years
kiTe than we like to confess, when building houses of
cards--an inclination on one side called for the
interposition of a card or two, otherwise unneces-
sary for the structure, upon the other, and so the edifice
proceeded, until some unlucky shake or gust of wind
prostrated the whole. But, perhaps, Mr. Polk was rather
thinking of John Gilpin's ingenious expedient—
" A bottle hanging to each side'
To keep the balance true."
However, every body knows the fate of John Gilpin's
bottles.

DEVON AND CORNWALL
WRESTLING.

resumed and
The non of the above counties again
concluded their play on Wednesday, at the Brock-
.,
• nock Arms Tavern, Camden-town, and the attendance
was far better than on either of the preceding days, many
gentlemen of the above counties attending to witness the
science in this old English game displayed by the natives

of the West of England.
The play during the day was extremely good, parti-
cularly that of Hayman and Hodges, DeVOIIiaBS, and a
• Cornishman of the name of Bowden, displaying great
• tact in their play.
The principal bouts darnig the afternoon came off as
follows
George Bowden, of Cornwall, was opposed by Henry
Hayman, a Devonshire man, and the play displayed by
both men was extremely good, but the Cornishman