The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-12-24

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devolves on that great power which Providence has
made The centre of unity and source OF order 10 ths
whole peninsula. Britain, which now holds Tho
sceptre successfully welded by so many barbarou'
conquerors, is the pac6er, the uniterin word thu
supreme governor of Hndostan."
This, we suppose, may be considered as "th'
British dodge" in accordance with which it would
be ''the necessity, if not the duty, which now de-
wolves on that great power which Providence has
made the centre of unity and of order TO tho
whole Of North .anerica 10 seal the fate of Meaeo
for land If this be good law iur Great Britain, II Is
good law for the United Sates) ,rhers state caano
gorern itself |, must be gorTntd by Us nsighbors The
interests of humanity at stake. Without an eff
cient government, territory soon becomes public
nuisance, the nursery OF revolutions and wars, en-
failing its neighbors the necessity of nconvenleni
and expensive precautions, involving large stand
ing army, and much interference with the liberties and
immunities of peace. Such is the present condition
of Mexico Bloody revolutions, an insolent and
rebeious soldiery, a ruined and distracted people
keep the southern part of this continent in continual
alarm. And the same has been the condition and
may again be the condition Of Canada. Does the
law of seipreserpaion call us "to abate the nu-
sance !" If SO, then, truly, in the language of the
Times to be Gas modifed) much more justly adopt
ed by us: "The federal government is the pacifer
the UNITER, of America"
Now and then, glimmering Of the truth in this
matter, seems to break in upon the selfcompacent
OF the Enpllsn mlHu ne DpeCtdtof
"inciines! to deny the right Of any state to make
the internal conduct of another casus beii, TO
wage war on any such Quxotic plea, disputed
titles and wroDged sovereigns.o Most modest of all
inclinations! The English sneer at what they con-
consider the ignorance Of international law the
part of American statesmen; forgetting that the only
books ever written on this subject in the English
language were written by an American. We should
be glad to know in what textbook ofthe law Of ma
tons any counenance is given to the English asser-
ton OF right to intervene in the affairs of every ter
rtory which happens for the time being to lie "with-
out an efficient government" or in what textbook
room is left for inclination to deny this right
And we suppose the Spectator would "incline to
deny'' the right Of England to conclude fraudu-
lent treaty with the Emirs Of Sindh, in the express
purpose, as admitted by her agents, of placing "a
bomb" in the midst of the Emirs to blow them up
for the Spectator proceeds with extreme naireie to
affirm, that "the adoption of the puppet Shah Shoo-
iah againt Dost Mahommed, whom we had acknowl-
edged, was one of the most impudent and naked lies
in the annals Of diplomacy" and then touches the
very point--rem acu--in saying
"Mr. Thornton seems to have adopted Sir Robert
Pees notion, that political morality is matter of geo.
graphy; that the laws Of right depend upon latitude
and longitude; and that in the East Indies they al
together suspended IN taror Of the company"
Ay, that is the evil; the political functions Of the
East India Company. England is full Of great and
good men; none greater none better, are to be found
in Christendom Though British statesmen, Brit.
ish lawyers and British critics, have neglected the
study of the law of nations to degree which it is
difficult to conceive of,so that nearly all they have
written on the subject, consists of mere party
phamphlets and though their chief diplomatic con
tensions in Europe and America have been efforts to
iaterpoate in the law of nations new doctrines OF
blockade, search, capture, and prize, which doc
trnes England will be the first TO deny, the day,
not far distant perhaps, when they come to be APP
,I,aI az al
mind is deeply mbued with religious and ethical
principles and with sincere love Of fair play at least,
il not of abstract right But the British mind in
sular and insulated and therefore, in all information
al questions, sefshly and intensely British. And
her very government is in the nature of close cor
poraton; which fact has always produced delete
rious influence on the conduct of the British Other
wise, in past times, she would not have engaged
and persevered so long in the Of the Succession
and even cxiled Bolingbroke for terminating it by
the treaty of Utrecht-of which one Of the greatest
of modern historians says, truly:
"The evil thus done to humanity by the victories
of Britain was immense but the nation did not see
it; and even while she was rveting the chains of
Italy and Germany, and endeavoring to impose on
Spain sovereign it abhorred, she fatiered herself
with the, idea that she was combating for liberty
nay she continued talk still of the European bal
anee Of power, atthe very moment when the contin-
uaton of the war could have no other effect but TO
subject all Europe to the odious yoke of Austria -
(Sismondi.)
And otherwise---that is but for the egoism of her
public pocy-Enghnd could never have been ready
to plunge into war with SPAIN at more recent Pc
Rod, on so absurd pretext as that of defending
Meares at Nootka sound, he being an Englishman
to be sure, but adventurer in the service of the
Portuguese, commanding Portuguese merchant
ship, fitted out by Portuguese merchants at Macao,
and entitled, against Spaiy Tin that particular ad-
venture, J to the protection of Portugal alone
But Great Britain sees what is for her own inter-
est too clearly and strongly to have any distinct per-
cepon either of the rights Of others or the wrong
involved in the qualification Of her public and
private ambition. And when importunate con-
science will now and then bring before her minds
eye the picture of the hecatombs Of distant Asiatcs
slaughtered on the altar of cupdy and lust of pow
err, she hugs herself in the pleasant reflection that
all this niquity is the act Of the East India Compa-
ny. Else, how were it possible for her TO remember
with still fresh resentment, the suerings Of the
hundred and twenty-five Englishmen put to death
by the caprice or neglect of Surajee-ud-Dow
century ago, and to forget the myriads of Hindus
slaughtered with more of justice or right by her
self Else, how were it possible for her to exhibit so
much righteous Indignation in view of the alleged
wrongs inflicted by Russia on Shamyl and his eau
casians, regardless of the far greater and less paabe
wrongs inflicted by her on the Afghans' Else how
were It possible for her to denounce the razzias of
the French in Agers, when she herself has not yet
finished dividing among her troops the plate and
jewels plundered from the dethroned Emrs of
Sindh and their subjects Else how were it posi-
BILE for her to indulge in such transports of (pre-
tended) morality on account Of the annexation of
Texas to the United States,-the most rghteously
acquired accession of territory, both in form and
substance, of which modern history affords any ex-
ample, because accomplished by the free consent of
the people Of the smaller tate,how were it possi-
BILE for England to reproach the United States for
imputed lust Of dominion account of this, at the
very moment when she is Wrestling the mosquito
shore from Central America, cutting up the troops
of Gwalior, Selling on Borneo, preparing to retain
Chusan, and about to invade the Puniabi This
extraordinary blindness Of Great Britain to the
al quality her own public acts, this her self-com
placent assumption of the functions of religious
missionary in her intercourse with Europe and the
United States, would never have existed probably,
tit is not conceivable that human effrontery could
ever have gone so far,) if the East India Company
did not stand between her and all the acts Of wanton
invasion, Of violent conquests, of graspng ambition
and of utter disregard of the rights Of men and of
nations which characterize her stupendous career Of