, 1860-04-13
San Juan.

, The two following articles which we
take from the New York Herald and
Tribune, shows q singular unanimity Of
sentiment between two men who have prob
ably not agreed before on any subject for
" many a .yearn 10 us this decided Ian
guage of the Tribune is convincing that had
the San Juan embroglio led TO an open
rupture with England, the President would
have found warm supporters within the
ranks Of the Republican party.
For once, then, may the President con
graduate himself upon having performed
an act which meets with the appreciation
of Horace GREELY-ihat is, if this mag.
unanimous proposition" for settlement
continues TO be refused Oar lille is just,
and the island must be retained
The SAN JUAN QUESTION = ENGLAND's
PRoPosITIoN TO SETTLE THE MATTER-The
London Times announces that England has
made most magnaninous propositions To the
United States, which it doubts not our
government Vill at once close witlli and
settle forever the dispute about the possess
ion of the island Of San Juan. The mag
nanimity of this proposition consists in ask
ing US to give up the island Of San Juan to
England, in consideration Of her making no
claim to several other and smaller islands
near the continent, to which she has never
supposed she possessed any claim This
proposition is about as magnanimous as
would be one from Spain that England
should surrender Gibraltar to her, in con-
sideration Of her not pressing any claim to
the island Of Malta, aud we should suppose
that one proposition has just about as much
chance of being accepted as the other.
The fact is that the uession Of the island oi
San Juan to England would be to give q
to her the entire command of the two deep
channels into Vancouyer's Sound and the
outlet to the Straits of Fuca. John Bull
will have to gather some new ideas Of
magnanimity before be can lay claim to
that virtue in the San Juan dispute.
From the TriJaae.
The London Times oblgingly proposes
settlement of the San Juan difficulty, on
the very accommodating terms Of taking
that island, about which there is a dispute
in regard to title, and giving Uncle Sam
all of the rest Of the islands on the Ancr-
can side, about which there is no dispute
whatever. This proposition has At least
one merit it would settle the dispute at
once.
When The American authorities came
down, in the reign of james x. Polk, OF
immortal memory, from their claim of T" 540
40' or 6ght," to the liue Of 40 degrees and
no minutes, the last-named ling ran directly
through the island Of VANCOUVER, leaving
not quite half, but avery large portion Of
it on the American Sde Of the line. As
we were disposed to Be very accommoda
ting about that time, aud as John Bull
never yet failed Of getting what he wanted
in consequence of any extraordinary diff
dence on the part Of his wel-trained diplo-
matte corps in asking for iavors, the Ameri-
can Government unceremonously relin-
quished the southern half Of Vancouver,
and allowed the line to run in the channel
which separated that island from the main
land, and from other islands that lay con-
tiguous 10 the American coast. Consider
ing this stretch of liberality on that occa-
sion, it does seem a little cool, for the
English authorities in those parts, to step
over on to the next largest island to Van
couVer, lying wholly below the line OF 49'
and claim that as British territory. We
don't suppose anybody would think it worth
go to war about few acres OF
land on the Northwest coast, having no
special value as a military position; but We
do feel much as if our Government had
better ask Lord Palmerston To withdraw
the British occupancy from San Juan just
US soon as he can conveniently send orders
there to evacuate the premises aud we
should be very much inclined to consider a
failure to do this on Lord Palmerston's
part, as persisting in an impertinence.
-A$D~N---