New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1863-08-13

perty against the depredations of British pirates

perty against the depredations Of British pirates
like tho Alabama, or shielding ih dislOyal
owners from the punishment due for
q" giving aid and comfort to Southern trail
tors. In either view, these repeated interPo-
sitions and protestations of British officials in
this country are unseemly and offensive. These
gentlemen are pungent and even eloquent. in
their denunciatons of these unwarrantable
restrictions upon trade" If the property in
question really belongs to British subjects
then for the officials Of nation which fol
thirty years has preached and canted to Amer
lea about the sin of Slavery to attempt Il
thwart our legitimate efforts TO prevent 'heI
merchants and seamen from supplying ships
and goods to aid Rebellion got up solely il
the interest of Slavery is to the last degree
hypocrtical and unfriendly. If, on the con-
trary, the contraband property ia actually
owned by Americans, and subjects of Great
Britain have merely lent their names as cover
to conceal its real character, then tho British
Minister and her Majestys Consuls, BY their
interference. add to tho guilt of hypocrisy the
crime of fraud, for which this Government
should seek some redress.
We will say here, rather by way Of episode,
though relating to the subject, that for CEN
fury past the general drift Of British diplo-
macy has flowed in the channels Of "filthy
ucre," and therefore has been groveling and
mercenary. 1t has rarely been employed IN
the defense of great principles or the elucida-
ton of lofty ideas, but has rather been bus
tering babbe about the right of Eugshmen to
peddle pins and penknives, and dicker in calico
and codfsh all tao world over. 1t has meas
ured everything by the ysrdstick; weighed
everything by the pound sterling; tested every.
thing by the standard Of the Stock Exchange.
Edmund Burke poured contempt upon the
policy which Pitt pursued toward Napoleon BY
declaring that Pitt treated the great European
convulsion az if 1t were q contest between two
rival counting houses, the one displaying the
sign of the Fleur do Lis, aud the other that
OF the Red Lion. Napoleon echoed this sar-
casn of the great orator aud statesman when
u
keepers" HurkssoD, Peel, and their eoadju-
tors, following out the policy of Pitt, have so
materialized the ideas and aspirations OF the
British people that they deserve to be called
the tin peddlers OF Cbristendom. The loitest
notion to which the great majority Of these
shopkeepers" seem capable Of attaining con-
corning the struggle for representative govern
ment and free institutions that now shakes
this continent is, that fer tho time being 1t
deprive. Manchester and Birmingham Leeds
and Sheffield, Of the privilege of selling small
quantity Of cloth and cutlery in the Slavehold'
ing States of America.
But--to resume the thread Of our subject
will not Great Britain, asks some tlmid soul,
90 TO war with US if we continue to place re-
strictions upon her trade with the Rebels BY
the way of Bermuda, st. John, Nassau and
Matamorasi There are calamities worse than
war. A loss of National character, dignity
and independence is one OF them. But En-
gland will never fight US 50 long as her craft
can creep through the creyc-s in our South
ern coast, and supply the Rebels with goods,
wares and merchandise. John Bull will
buster against 4" restrictions upon trade but
he will think long and talk and write much
before he will wage war, on such q pretext,
against u people that buy more at his count
ers than any other nation, and whose prl-
vatecrs, in the first year of the contest, would
sweep his commerce from the seas and whose
manufacturers. supplying all home needs,
would drive his artisans to beggary, ending
probably IN revolution that would tumble
the throne Of tho G1elphs into ST. George :
CbaLnel.
But, while these revenue restrictions are of
value in preventing illicit shipments from
American ports, the most effective way 10
stop blockade running is to enlarge our coast
squadron and supply it with small vessels
adapted to navigate shallow waters, and to
direct our tars u dispatch OH all possible oc-
casions such swift winged missiyes on board
these pratcal cruisers as will send them, aud
their carg0cs and crews, straight to tho bot
tom. This is sort Of restriction upon
trade" the validity and force Of which stick
lers for international law can comprehend, and
British and American buccaneers cannot eyadc.
Mr. William L. Powell, Is Beekman street,
is raising recruits among his colored brethren