Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1854-03-03
! uRopnAN COMBINATIONS.
Debate On the Senate.


from which ! will read few lines. II Is one oi
the most extraordinary declarations that has
been made in my day. What Lord Clarendon
said. Is this after speaking Of the good under
standing between England and France connect
ed with the Turkish question, he adds:
''Yoor lordship will be glad also 10 hear TINT
The union of the two governments II not confined
To the eastern question, but that the habit OF a
good ui derstnnding between them Inns become
general on all matters Of policy, and extends to
all parts of the world and that ON the question
of policy there is no part of the world, in either
hemisphere with regard TO which we IRE not en-
tirely in accord"
Now, there is no Misunderstanding that state
ment. II is intended TO be n notice to us TINT
France and England have come to an agreement
with respect 10 the schemes Of aggradizemontof
the United States, aud mean 10 stop il. II means
Cubn. II means any place where we wish to pro-
cure the acquisition Of territory.
Ii IL useless, Mr.. President for us to tamper
any longer with these questions. IL is useless
TO say that we shall not take our place among the
nations of the world, and to declare when inter
polations are made into the system of the law of
nations, regulating the powers of the world, that
we have no right to be heard. How an enlnng-
ling alliance is made by the declaration of the A
merican republic that the powers of the earth
have no right to interpolate foreign and tyrani-
cal system into the laws Of nations, cannot see.
Mr. President, we shall have 10 come 10 this
point. ! have no doubt that the President and
his cabinet nre well disposed ! have no doubt
that they will take high ground, and support it
with all the means in their power; but they want
more than that; they want the moral support of
the American Legislature; they want the moral
support of the American people, and that sup
port should be given by our declaration. The
sooner we make it the better.
Mr.. Mason. The paragraph from the speech
of Lord Clarendon, to which the honorable sena-
tor refers, had not escaped my attention. Wheth
or il is meant to Indicate Mt any time, for any
purpose, any interference with the purposes OF
this government, | do not know; but it is GER
tainly unnecessary to place any probable con-
structlon on the paragraph, SO far as Cuba Is
concerned, because this country has been dis
tnctly informed, in correspondence which took
place twelve months ago between the two minis
tiers of France and England and our then Secre-
tary Of State, when the Secretary of State de-
clined the proposition of the tripatite convention,
that the two governments of France and England
would consider themselves thereby committed to
the position which they occupied in the cores
pondence which was commenced, and gave notice
TINT whenever the occasion arrived, they would
be found united; SO that we have had fair notice.
| should say, then, 'forowarned, forearmed"
Mr.. Bell. How have we profited by that
notice
Mr.. Mason We have profted, so far as | am
informed by remaining, us we ought to remain,
silent and quiet. do not know what sort of
action the senator from Michigan proposes on
the part of the government, or on the part of the
Committee ON Foreign Relations; but | should
rather opprehend, in the present state of public
affairs this country profoundly at peace, hol-
ding her usual commercial intercourse with
the nations abroad, that if proposition of that
kind had come from any senator further south, it
would have been looked upon as II sort of lab
sraction." When the occurs in tangible
form, apprehend this government will be pre-
pared to meet il and /, for one, am prepared to
say that any inference of any description with
the action of this government upon this CONT
nent-considcring South America, and the isl
ands dependent, as n part of it feel satisfied,
from what know of the feelings of the Ameri-
can people, will be resisted by the whole powers
of the country. But at present | am not aware
of any.
Mr.. Cass The senator asked me what would
do will tell him. would pass Just such re-
solutions as these, and support them to the last
extremity. When SO many people around us are
struggling TO obtain their liberty, and when liber.
" has not "A friend in the world except this single
country, and declarations are made that set at
nought the public opinion of the world, we are
told that we must not counteract them, because
It will bo an abstraction
We might well call the Declaration of indie
pendence an abstraction. Such measure as this
is not an abstraction. To forcsee storm is to
be prepared for il. Declare your principles 10
the world. Let them know what you will dc
when the time comes to do it, That is what we
should do. We should take our position and
mnintnin it,
The honorable senator from Tennessee put a
very searching and touching question. What
good that notice had done . France and Eng
iand have said what they would do Have we even
said that we were dissatisfied What ground
have we tCken! | would let them know exactly
what we would do; that is to say, | would lei
them know what our rights are. What we would
do at a particular moment, will, and must depend
on the circumstances of the case. But would
tell them what our rights are.
Mr.. Mason. If u people do not know what
their rights are, they will not learn them from us
have as much sympathy for those who struggle
for liberty abroad as any man but if our example
does not stimulate them to attain the same results
which we have attained, our resolutions will have
no other effect in the werd, apprchend, but tc
render us ridiculous.
Mr. Badger. | wish the honorable senate,
from Virginia would explain, if he please, Il re.
mark which he made little while ago. He said
that If this proposition had come from the soutl
! II would have been pronounced an abstraction
| wish to know from him if he is so ungenerous
and unfair as TO suppose that there is any exclu-
siye right in the south to manufacture abs,rac-
tions Laughter.
Mr.. Mason. Why, Mr.. President, the honor
abe senator has not yet attained, | apprehend
sufficient age in the councils of the country, to
be aware of the fact that when he South has oe-
casionally demonstrated against what consider
aggressions from the Federal Govcrnment-re-
ally existing, tangible and palpabe to every sense
they have been, in some quarters denounced