The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-02-21
The Important Message OF the President
The Intercceanic Canadian Engiish Az
lance.


tho Central An,crican difficulties The vo' .an.
tary surrender Of territory is new fea'' ore in
British policy John Bull seldom r,i,nou;sbes
what he can by amy possibility retain. Ever
since Great Britain had navy, territorial ag-
grTndisement has been he peculiar characters
tic. She has swallowed islands and peninsusas,
lortresses and seaports, with Unsuitable voracity
Kingdoms have beer. swept into her nav, with
out affecting her digestion. and whofc CONT
nents have bec'I thrust with impunity into her
capacious eupet. More land more forts on
which The union jack" may float, has ever
been the cry Of her people; with the terrors ef
lepleuop before their eyes, and while Colony
after colony has been dissolying from It's sheer
magnitude, still are hungry Beitons heard to
cry for more. The last fifty years alone nave
added nearly quarter of million square
miles Of territory to tie empire; and these enor-
nous acquisitions seem tie have stimulated
instead Of quitting the appetite of the British
lion. British troops are inpatiently awaiting
orders to march northwarl and westward from
/ Peshawar, General CeIwin is only pre-
| vented ny the mud or the lrawaddy from
/ overrunsliug 3irnlah. A barren soil, in
tested with pestilensal vapors, wild beasts,
and venonious reptiles, cannot }prevent Gen.
| Cathcart from extewing the frontiers of the
! British possessions o. the Cape Deserts, preg-
nant with future agT icultural am. present mine
raj wealth, are being wrested from the abort
| gines of Australia A paon of triumph is sum
in London at the establishment of new British
colony on the Spanish Main. So deeply rooted,
in fact is this abstract desire for territory in the
British heart that if an English sailor lifhts
| upon an ice-girt rock in the Arctic seas, so
| utterly desolate that none but polar bears and
seals can possibly inhabit its frozen surface, he
atraightway plants the red cross in a snow drift,
assumes possession in the name of Queen Vic
toria, and christens the spot Muggin's Island or
| Shocks Cape
In very striking contrast to this policy is the
recent communication from Mr.. Champion to
Mr.. Everett Nothing could be more civil or
eonciliatory than the tone of the British minis
ter. We object to the British Protectorate of
the Mosquito king, and he assures us that his
government is ready to shake hands with his
Majesty, and leave him to his own resources.
We should oblige Great Britain by cooperating
with her in carrying out her promise Of protec-
ton to the Mosquito Indians: but even this will
not be insisted on and if we are obstinate, the
point will be given up. We are anxious to set
tie the existing difficulties respecting the sove-
reignty of Greytown; and Mr.. Champion pro-
poses to erect it into a free port over which
England could not, and we necessarily
| should, exercise very material control;
at the same time, much uneasiness is created
in London by the debate in the Senate on the
Clayton-Bnlwer treaty; and though General
Cas-, as matter of course is severely handled,
a semi-official acquiescence in his views is SUE
fered to transpire. The press contrasts the
value Of the British possessions in Honduras
with the advantages to be derived from an inter-
oceanic canal, and even exaggerates the COM
parative worthlessness of the former With
characteristic ingenuity, the London Times.
while affecting TO defend Great Britain's claim
10 these settlements, contrives to place the de-
fects Of her title in so strong light that the
public viii not murmur if they are surrendered
On the main issue, the sentiments of Great
Britain are expressed without disguise if it be
necessary to relinquish Honduras, in order to
carry out the interoccanic canal project, Great
Britain will unhesitatingly renounce her claims.
II we couple with these facts the anxiety dis
played by the British government to settle the
fishery disputes to our satisfaction unusual
attentions which have been paid to our Minister
in England, and the very friendly tone of the
British press towards this country. and the new
administration--we shall have before Us a large
mass of evidence in support Of the notion that
Great Britainis aiming at an alliance, offensive
and defensive with the United States On no
other theory can the facts we have enumerated
be explained. For no other object would Great
Britain do violence to her aggrandzing
propensities. No less temptation than thi.
would have Induced the press Of England TO
assail the American abolitionists. Great Bri-
tain, we honestly believe. is actuated in great
measure by selfish motives in cultivatiug
friendly relations with America.
There ought to be no difference or opinion
here on the mode of receiving her adj, anccs.
We cannot for the present. enter into en-
tangling alliances with European powers.
Our energies are al required at home. If Eng
land for her private ends. solicits an alliance,
We. ior our private ends, decline the offer We
conceive that all the gain of such an arrange
ment would be Engands. and all the loss ours.
and we naturally beg to he excused Tor the
present
But il matters little to the people of this
country what astutc designs may be formed by
the opponents ofpubic opinion in England Oar
feelings towards Great Britain will not b,
swayed by suspicion Of interested motives
on The part of her government orh press. Oar
sympathy with her people rests on too high |
grounds to BE- shaken by the detection Of di-
plomatic attempt 10 oyerreach US Not that w |
attach much weight 70 the higll-sounding appeals |
so often made 70 our common orr rim orr common |