New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-06-03
OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS.

Whoever reads attentVey the recent uepa'o vi
American affairs in the House Of Lords will find 1t
difficult to detect therein any trace OF that Ill wu
toward our Government or disposition to aggravaee
our intestine troubleswhich is popularity supposed
to animate the councils of the Western European
Powers. That there are Britons high in rank and
station who would see without profound regret the
dismemberment and ruin of the Great Republic, we
cannot doubt; that kindred impulse is rife though
latent among the dignitares and courtiers OF most
monarchies, we believe; but that any of the Great
Powers is disposed likely to take any position or
step calculated to disturb our international amity
we do not credit. On the contrary, the tone OF the
debate aforesaid, and of European official utter
ances generally, is marked by eminent dignity
moderation, and anxiety to give no just cause OF
offense to our Government or People.
Has this evident desire to maintain amcable
relations with us been fairly met on this side of
the water 2 We think not In many quarters q
disposition to take Ofeuse at trihes and aggra-
vate slight differences into Of serious quar-
rel has been manifested. Some Of our valOrous
cotemporaries have seemed to think that, since
we are in for q fight anyhow, we might as well
make job of il, and polish off Great Britain,
France, Spain, and perhaps two or three others,
before we return to our plows, our anyiis, and
our gers. We dissent from this view altogether,
insisting that we shall first finish up the little
matter we have in hand, and then, if we have
other accounts to settle, proceed with them
seriatim, until the last shall have been fully
adjusted.
A good deal of not unnatural feeling has been e1.
cited among us by the language of Lord John Rus
sell importing that our Government and that OF Jef
Davis are to be accorded respectively the rights
Of 'belligerents." We do not consider his ex-
preston felcitous, and We are confident that, ii
the subject were now to come up originally, diff
ferent language would be chosen. But consider
well the circumstances under which that language
was uttered.
| The doctrine that government in fact Is TO
be regarded by foreign powers as u government
Of right is emphatically of American origin. Up
to this year, we have steadfasty commended aud
adhered to it. by virtue of it, We were among
the frat to recognize the independence Of the
South American republics, Of Mexico and of
Texas BY virtue of it, our Minister at the
French Court was the first 10 recognize the Re
public of 1549. Respect for it paralyzed the
tongues which would have gladly pleaded for
manly American protest against the bloody and
perfdiOus NapOleonic usurpatiOn Of December,
1851. In virtue of it, we gave an early aud en-
pbatic recognition to the new Kingdom of Italy,
in contrayention Of the historical rights Of the
Pope the Grand Duke Of Tuscany, and
bakers dozen of sovereign princes. BY
virtue of it, should the People of Hun
gary or of ireland at any time declare
themselves Independent and expel the officials and
the troops of their hereditary rulers, We shall
undoubtedly and promptly recognize their sepa-
ratb Nationality and sovereignty. The right and
wrong of their quarrel with those rulers ia a
matter with which we profess to have absolutely
nothing to do. We simply state the American
doctrine on this point without caring to argue
it. Having bravely and determinedly upheld ii
in the face Of the Holy Alliance and in contempt
of all the time. hOnoIed canons Of European d.
plomacy, We cannot creditaby repudiate il ut
the very first instance i'll which it is brought to
bear on ourselves, and when all the world seems
to be coming round to the position on which We
formerly stood alone.
Now look at the case in its main aspects, as it.
was known in Europe at the moment when Lords
John made his demonstration, promising that
foreign minister is not at liberty to discriminate
between the late and the present of our quadren-
NAL Administrations. He must deal with our
Government as a unit subsisting in perpetuity,
and having the sole guardianship Of its own con-
sistency.
In December last the little State of South
Carolina professed to secede from, and sever all
connection with, the American Union. She there
upon seized the Federal arms and munitions on de-
post in the Arsenal at Charleston, the Federal
custom-houses within her boundaries-whereof
that at Charleston must alone have cost several
hundred thousand dolars-the money in the Fed
eral Sub-Treasury, &C., &c.-and went to col |
lectng revenue from imports in those stolen Gus
tom houses in her own name exclusively, and Tor |
her own benefit Of the forts in Charleston bar.
Dor, she seized all but the strongest, and closely
invested that, planting battery after battery in
eyer-narrowing circles around it, and repeDing by
force the only two attempts ever made to re.
plenish its slender stock of provisions She ar
rested the U. s. Collector at Georgetown for
high treason in attempting to continue the col
ection of revenue for the Union. The Federal
Judge, Collector, &C., at Charleston re-
,ouned the service of the Union and entered
hat Of the State. AL these doings went On
openly, SYSTEMATICALLY, within two days journey,
by mail, of the Federal Metropolis, within three