Star.
London, England, 1818-01-16 00:00:00

THE EVENING STAR.

LONDON.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 1818.
THE FUNDS.
TIME Of ewers TIM DAT AT TWZLIIII O'CLOCC
Reduced 81fi-8 per Cent. Cons. 80}
Cons. for opg. 81H-4 per Cent. 98;
Navy 105-I}—lndia Bonds 107 108 pr.
Exchequer Bills 19 30 pr.

The circumstance of. an armed force having been
dispatched from the United States for the purpose ofl
taking possession of Amelia Island, has encountered
less of jealous observation than we should have ex-
pected from an act of so doubtful a character. Thel,
right of the United States to suppress any piratical
establishment which may be formed in its vicinity,
to the annoyance and injury of their commerce, we
do not dispute—we consider such a right to be in
accordance with some of the best established princi-
ples of national law—but then it is a right which
ought to be exercised in agreement with, and under
proper explanations, to such other Powers as may
either directly or remotely be affected by any change
of territorial position on the side of the party, exer-
cising the right—in a word, the occupation of the
Island ought to be distinctly shewn to he for the
purpose of suppressing the piratical annoyance alone,
and not with any view to a permanent territorial ac-
g. addition. Has this been done ? We do not know
that it has—we see, on the contrary, many things
which would lead us to form a very opposite ink-
rence, and in confirmation of our doubts we would
only quote the following observations in an American
Journal lately reseived on the subject, which Mill
show how little the p:etence of piratical annoyance
is regarded among the Americans themselves :

" The Island of Amelia was a Spanish possession.
The South Americans want thither to occupy and
wrest it from Spain, their public enemy ; and to hold
it for and in the name of the Republics of New Gre-
nada, Venezuela, and Mexico: It has been seized
upon by persons acting in the name of Powers which
the United States have recognized as entitled to the
respect of neutrality ; and contrary to what is very
singularly alleged by the Message, that it was not
taken by an adequate force, without considering how
far the circumstance of the numbers by which it was
seized, can settle a point of legitimacy, the fact ap-
pears on the very face of it to contradict the presi-
dental assertion. The numbers, whatever they were,
were adequate, for they seized upon and occupied the
island, and more than seizing and occupying, they met
and defeated and expelled from the island the greatest
force which the Spanish Governor at St. Augustine
sent to dispossess them, and drove them from the
island, although the Spanish Governor had among
the interposers agents acting as spies and hired to
sow sedition in his pay, who co-operated with ►he
military force sent by the Spanish authority. An in-
vasion by the troops of the United States, would be
an act of war ; and what the effect of that act o:
war on our part would be, not merely in the eyes of.
mankind, but what comes closer to the nerves of our
shifting and twisting political ethics—what would be
the effect on our maritime interests ?

" We are well aware of the answer that would be
given—what shall our navy that has met the British
and made them ours, shall we be frightened by the
paltry c mixers of South America?
" To this we would put in a more serious answer :
Do not tarnish by an ignoble service the source of
your present renown and future protection ; stain not
the flag of the only free nation by employing it in the
cause of Slavery.
" Alas ! Who can foresee to what an extremity
such folly may lead !
" It is not the energy and superiority of our naval
heroes that we question: on that point we have no
dispute. Our naval heroes know that their futnre
glory and fortune are not to be acquired by fighting
against men desirous of being, like ourselves, free,
sovereign, and independent, but by fighting, ifat all,
alongside opium, and in the common cause of repub-
lican liberty.,

" But has our Government, in making this scan-
dalous war—for it is most scandalous and dishonour-
able—have they calulated on the consequences to
those numerous Indiamen who are traversing the seas
on both sides of the African Cape? have they had
the precautionto send convoys to protect them against
reprisals."