The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-11-18

tons went to war; and in the treaty of Client
which restored peace, the question of the right
OF search was still left unsettled. To this day
England has never actually abandoned her
doctrine, and if an American commander
became convert to it she should have no
right to object.
But in the present case we are in a state OF
rebellion of a magnitude unknown in history
and our right to board private British ship on
our own coasts, known to have rebel agents
and dispatches on board in spite of the
proclamation Of neutrality by the Queen,
is clear and undoubtcd. The question
Of the right of search is not therefore
involved, but the right to make prisoners
of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, with their two Sc
cretaries. No one doubts that il they were
passing through New York, and even on board
British mail steamer in the hafbor we would
have right to arrest them, being found within
our own Jurisdiction. According TO Vattel and
Phillimorey it is competent to a belligerent to
stop, in his own territory, the ambassador of
his enemy ON his passage to a neutral govern
ment, but whether ON the high seas, on board
the neutral's vessel, is a question which we will
leave to be settled by The diplomacy of our go
verHment. Before thas is accomplished, proba-
bly, the knot win be loosed by the conclusion Of
the war. We are not aware Of any legal pre-
cedent by which it can be determined We
will only observe that ambassadors,
by the law of nations, are under the
protection Of the country TO which they
are accredited, once they reach that country;
but it will require some amount of strainingt to
show that an arrival on beard of o British
steamer is an arrival in England. The Queen
issuea'a proclamation enjoiniag strict neutrality
in thiswar on all her subjects. The proclama.
ton prohibits the carrying of officers soldiers,
dispatches, and any article deemed contraband
of war; Ii it observing strict neutrality to
aid enemy by the conveyance of his ambas-
sailors? Practically the question amounts to
nothing, unless the British government thinks
proper 10 take advantage of it. If it does not
want an excuse to 60 to war with I'D, there will
be no ho,tilities. 1t has no claim, on Messrs.
Mason and Slidell such as we formerly had on
the sailor3, fcrcibly taken out of ossr ships by
British commanders On the contrary, the
English government ought to thank rs for rid
ding it OF revolutionary nuisances, whose
mission it was to embroil Great Britain in war
with the United States. Whatever may be the
we trust our government will hold
The two arehrconspirators against the Union till
hey reap tho due reward Of their conduct.
The English press, and in minor degree
he English politicians, solemnly tell the worl d
hat the Union is dead-as dead, say they, as
The HeptarchF. We take up the pen to pro-
claim that it is not dead, but, in the language
cf,the Scriptures, only sleepeth. Ana4t is but
u temporary sleep. Had it not been, however,
feT conspiracy entered into thirty years ago
b7the aristooracy and Exster Hall party of
England to bring about the disrupticA Of this
Union by the agitation of abolition schemes
this country would never have suffered as she
IS suffering now. 1t is to them that We can
srsce the source of all our present troubles;
md what, therefore, is more natural han that
heir efforts to complete tho work tlsay so de-
ihsratcly planned and persstently executed
hauld be continued to the last, and iy the face
If that danger they strova 80, strengously to
Il aate. They. are as declared, enemies of the
Union at this day as they were, when they first
beir iabors CT Destruction and
made the fanatics of New England The instru
II ents of their moral crime. One reason Why the
.,seter Hall marty hail the ACKNOWLEDGMENT, as
hsy think, of the United States. liz because
5ho slave confederation of he South would in
-hnA event, haye y formidable and jesIors rival,
thirsting for the emancipation OF its slaves, and
continually kidnapping thsm away, us its next
noighbor, ramely--the free North; and that
svich a state-of things wo'sd not oaly prevent
the iurtleG extension OF slavery, hEl lead to its
saecdy aholitian. This is about. as selfish
and ianatlcaL u purpose - the incea Larry had in
view whciA he set fire to thc church in order to
dnstroy the altlr ornaments, which his intoler-
Sat anti-Plseyite religions views had made the
AFFECTS Of his hatred.
The motive Of the alistocracy n aiding the
efforts Of the abolitionisis Of Exeter Hall was
sake, hat fer the reason that through the agita,
tion OF that question rupturn might occur
which Vonlsa result in the destruction of the
Union itself; for we had becoEa the great COM
merc,al ana mariti ne rival sf Great Britain
and thay, as the chief governing class, graw
afraid of our incre ssing greatness, and alivato
the tSlngcT in whisa even the British possessions
in Narth America might be placed by our i'm
meass prepondemnee of power on this oon-
tinsnt.
The desired biow has at length been struck.
The South has been aggravated to rebellion
AGAINST the Month, and we are in the thaoes of
civil war. Tha aristocracy and abolitianis,s of
England are glad, and celebrate the death. as
they would make the world belieya, OF the
Union with rejoicing. But let them updeceive
themselves. Their belief, if real and not
feigned, will prove only deluson aud . snare.
The blow las fallen; but, as if struck with the
boomerang, it has been made to reeoil upon the
striker with more than its original force The