Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1866-01-06

our ilng over the enterprise or our
| fellow citizons. We receive from
/ the powers in that region assuran.
oes Of good will and IL is worthy
of note that splocial envoy has
brought us messages Of coincidence
on the death OF our late Chief Mag
istratc from tho Bay OF Tunis,
whose rule includes the old domm-
ions OF Carthage, on the African
coast
Our domestic contest, now hap
PLY ended, has left some traces in
our relations with one Mt least of
the great maratimo Powers, The
formal accordance of belligerent
rights to the insurgent States was
unprecedented, and has not been
justified by the ISSUE, But in the
systems OF neutrality pursued by
the Powers which made that conces-
sion, there was Il marked difference,
The materials of war for the insur-
gent States were furnished, in II
great measure, from tho workshops
of Great Britain and British ships,
manned by British subjects, and
prepared for receiving British arm
aments, sailed from the ports Of
Great Britain TO make war on
American commerce, under the
shelter Of n commission from the
insurgent States. These ships,
having once escaped from British
ports, ever afterwards entered them
in every part Of the world, to refit,
and so to renew their depredations.
The consequences OF this conduct
were most disastrous to the States
then in rebellion, increasing their
desolation and misery by the pro-
longation of our civil contest. 1t
had, moreover the effect, to q great
extent, to drive the American flag
from the sea, and to transfer much
of our shipping and our commerce
to the very power whose subjects
had created the necessity for such II
change. These events took place
before | was called to the admins
tration Of the Government The
sincere desire for peace by which |
am animated led me to approve the
proposal, already made, to submit
the questions which had thus arisen
between the countries to arbitra-
ton. These questions are of such
moment that they must have COM
mandcd the attention Of the great
Powers, and are so interviewer with
the peace and interests of every
one Of them as TO have insured. an
impartial decision. ! regret to in
form you that Great Britain declin-
ed the arbitrament, but, on the 9th
er hand, invited us to the formation
of Joint commission to settle mu-
tual claims between the two coun-
tries, from which those for the dep
relations before mentioned should
be excluded. The proposition, in
that very unsatisfactory form, has
been declined.
The United States did not pres
ent the subject as an impeachment of
the good faith Of a Power which
was protesting the most friendly
dispositions, but as involving qucs-
tions Of public law, of which the
settlement is essential to the peace
of nations; and, though pecuniary
PREPARATION to their injured citizens
would have followed incidentally
on decision against Great Britain,
such compensation was not their
primary object. They had a high
er motive, and it was in the inter
ests of peace and justice to estab-
lish important principles of inter-
national law. The correspondence
will be placed before you. The
ground on which the British Minis
ter rests his justification is, substan-
TALLY, that the municipal law of a
nation, and tho domestic interpre-
tations of that law, are the meas
ure of it's duty as a neutral; and |
feel bound to declare my opinion,
before you and before the world,
that that justification cannot be sus-
tanned before the tribunal of ma
tions. At the same time / do not
advise to any present attempt at
redress by acts of legislation. For
the future, friendship between the
two countries must rest on the ba-
sis of mutual justice.
From the moment of the estab-
lishment of our free Constitution,
the civilized world has been con-
vulsed by revolutions in the inter-
ests of democracy or Of monarchy /;
but through all these revolutions
the United States have wisely and
firmly refused to become propagan-
dists of republicanism. 1t is the
only government suited to our con-
dition; but we have never sought
to impose it on others and we have
consistently followed the advice of
Washington to recommend it only
by the careful preservation and pru-
dent use of the blessing. During all
the intervening period the policy of
European powers and of the United
States has, on the whole, been har-
monious. Twice, indeed, runors of