Manchester, it will be se...
The Times, 1824-06-21T00:00:00

Manchester, itWjll 'be seen, has followed, although it might have*nt ust.i5ed in auticipating, the declaratjopp of other great commercial comwunitieg iR,favour of an ac- knowledgment of South American iudependence. Wepre- sume that it is a point of ofcial form oily, wwhich delays a momeint longer this recognition on the part of- the lkNi's Governmient. Mr. CANNING; indeed, appears to us-to have pledgedl himself, in one of,his.despatclhes, wxitten for com- municatiobn0 the C6urt bf Spain, tomake the recognition of the new States contingent on the reports sent home by the commissioners now in America. "tAs to any further "step to be tal;en by His MAJESTY towards the acknow- ledgrnentof the de facto Governments of America, the "decision must (as has already been stated more than once "to Spain and to other Powers) depend 'ponxvarious cir- -> tts - nmOD otherszip7-tz eo:-hc '"te British Government may receive of the actual state "of affairs in the several American provinces." Until the arrival of this body of documents, therefore, we are- willing [to rely upon the general spirit anad bearing of tbe Foreign Secretary, as collected both 'from his diplomatic papers, and from Ihis verbal communications to Parliament. Nor do we feel mueh serious alarm at the manner in which the consequences of a " recognition" were defined and limited throughout the course of a late discussion. It is true that much mischief might result from imagining that the acknowledgment of an independent sovereigaty must compel us to the formation of treaties or alliances with the Sovereign so acknowledged: but no rational person can labour under such a confusion of mind. England is in no wise bound to assist the South Americans in any war with Spain, because she chooses to record her admission that they are no longer Spanish subjects. But, on the other hadl, if this measure confers, as Sir JAIIES MACINTOSH has fairly enough expressed it, " no new rights" upon the infant republics, it unquestionably does ascertain and establish in one sense, the rights and obliga- tions of England herself. This country could not, it must be acknowledged, consistently with the laws of friendship and good neighbourhood, openlv conclude an alliance or a comnmercial treaty with the colonies of another State, while she acknowledged the relation to subsist between them of parent state and colony. WVhen, however. she leels herself justified in announcing to the world that circumstances have dissolved that relation, and actually does so announce to the parties interested that such is her view of the fact, she is then no longer chargeable with an inconsistency between her practice and her professions. She may negotiate with the new;tate for any purpose acknowledged to be lawful between inmd- pendent societies, without administering to the mother country any just cause of provocation or resentment against berself. She defines and vintlicates the animus of her own policy, that in cultivating reciprocal interests with a friend she is ntut fomenting the insurgent spirit of a rebel. There is yet another benefit to be drawn from this consummation of the policy professed by Mr. CANNING-namely, that it will promote the ends of Justice between man and nman: for, as is well hinted at by the Manchester resolutions, there is something quite preposterous in the gravity with which Lord ELDON denies the existence of those very Governments, whose subjects are carrying on the most extensive commerce, and mingling the most valuable interests with those of Great Britain. We look, therefore, for the next despatches from South America, not as the means of imposing upon Mfr. CANNIiXG the fulfilment of an obligation to which he is averse, but as releasing him from fetters in which the forms of office and previous engagements have bound him. The petition from Manchester will be presented to-night by Sir James Macintosh.