The New York Herald Newspaper, April 17, 1845, Page 1

Vol, XI, No. 106~Whole No, 4068, HIGHLY IMPORTANT INTELLIGENCE. ARRIVAL OF THE Great WESTERN. TWENTY-ONE DAYS LATER FROM EUROPE. Annexation of Texas IN ENGLAND. SENSATION PRODUCED! INTERESTING POSITION OF ALLEGHANIA WITH ENGLAND, AFFAIRS IN SWITZERLAND. STATE OF THE COTTON MARKET. INDIA, dic. de. dco. ‘The Fashion of the Atlantic Course, the Great ‘Western, Captain Matthews, arrived yes'erday morning from Liverpool. She sailed thence on the 29.h ult.,and has, therefore, brought twenty-one days later news. The intelligence is important to every Allegha- nian. The annexation of Texas—Tyler’sexpoed on the Slave Trade—Polk’s Inaugural Message—the Ore- gon feeling in Alleghania—the Alleghanian tariff — in fact, the whole policy of Alleghania, bold, origi- nal and independent as it is—has produced a great sensation in Eagland—indeed, throughout Eu- rope. The cotton market was depressed—the probable abolition of the duty, and the great crop, being | the cause. The cors trade was dull. The sugar market continued brisk. There wes not a very brisk business in Allegha- nian provisions. There was a better feeling in Alleghanian secu- rities. Pennsylvania stock was improving. Parliament adjourned over the Easter holidays. The English papers were full of Texas. Who cares? The Right of Search negociations were going on between France and England. The Queen of England will visit Paris, not in April, but towarda the month of August. Mr. Gtadstone is to re-unite himself to the go- vernment by succeeding Lord Ripon as President of the Board of Control. The Queen has appointed Robert Grigg, Esq., to be her Majésty’s consul at Mobile. 33 The packet ships Oxford, Rochester, and {ndia- na, had arrrived out. The Great Western Steamship Company have resolved to raise an additional sum for the comple- tion of the Great Britain. The Paris Presse tas a long article on the reci™ procal situations of England and Alleghania, in which it prophecies quarrels between the countries on the Oregon and Texas questions. The Russian Government has banished from Georgia all the Italian Capucine monks, because they refused to admit the supremacy of the Pa- triarch. The Universal German Gazette announces that the Prussian Government intends to lay a tax on the receipts of the Prassian railroads, but says it will be of small amount. , The government of Saxony ia about to esta- blish throughout the kingdom agricultural schools, similar to those which have been founded in Prussia. T ccounts from all parts of Germany and the northern division of Europe are most heart-rend- ing, of the sufferings of the people for the want of rovisions, the navigation and communication be- ing in many places quite interrupted. The mortal- ity, both among the people and the cattle, is quite fearful. It is said, that the government is again about to attempt to put dowa the repeal agitation—that cer- tain strong passages from the speeches of Grattan and O’Brien have been laid before the Irish Law Officers of the Crown; that in the opinion of these genilemen, there are grounds for a prosecution, if not of the association as a body, at least against some of its members; and that a communication to this effect has been forwarded to the Govern- ment in London. FatLure oF AN ALLEGHANIAN Hovss 1n GLascow. Advices from Glasgow mention the failure of J. & G, Pattison & Co.,of that place, who have a house in New York, and who have dene a large business Their debts are said to amount to upwards of £160,000, of which it is said £130,000 are owing in England, while several Scotch firms are spoken of as hkely to suffer. A meeting of the creditors was held on the 6th, at which sixty-five out of about ninety attended. There it was agreed that a committee, composed of five of their number, should be appointed to take charge of the estate until they should hear from F. Pattison, who went out in the Cambria — The creditors agreed to take whatever proposition the committee might propose, and about 183. or 15a. in the pound is ex- pected. The imports of Alleghanian agricultural produce into England, especialy lard, cheese, &c., have been the occasion of much alarm to the farming and landed interests,but without the slightest foun- dation, whilst the poorer classes in the large towns, who are the chief consumers, have been much benefitted. The commencement of the new sugar duties has gone off well, as far as the consumer is concerned, the stock in first hands being relatively #0 large that prices have fallen fully in proportion to the re- duction of the duty. Since the arrival of the Indian mail, with pretty certain accounts of the crop of indigo exceedingan average, the price of that article, so far from giving way, has been firmer, the quotations being repre- sented to range from yar to 4d. per !b. advance, compared with the January sale. fs The Great Western company have «etermined on reducing their charges in both the passenger and merchandize departments. The directors have also decided on issuing day tickets at » reduction of one-third the fares, ‘The missing packet ships, England and the Uni- ted States, form a painful topic of speculation—if speculation can be said to exist where all is hope- less. The names of the ill-fated vessels e formed an augury in the minds of persons who are disposed to similitudes. Like the unfortunate President, the last trumpet enly will bring to light the mystery which hangs over their fate. Itis a melancholy disaster, truly.; but comfort may be derived from the fact, that the success of the New York packet ships has been far beyond the average. ‘The superior build aud equipments of these really noble specimens of maritime greatness, are amonget the causes, doubtless, of their safety and success, They have dared the elements to conflict ia many a feartul scene; but something, surely, is attribu- table to the intellect and skill with which they have been guided overthe perilous deep. Perhaps a more highly polished, educated, and, in all the social relations of life, respectable and esteemed classof men cannot be found than the command- era of the New York liners. We owe them many obligations, and we deeply Jament the loss of two of their uumber—ornaments to society ; with, doubtless, many other valuable lives. A Berlin r makes an appeal to capitaliats 1e- Specting the formation of a Germano-Iberique society of steam navigation, of which the principal stations shall be Berlin and Lisbon. The chiet object ef this scheme is the exportation of German fabries. It is proposed to raise, in the first instance, 1,200,000 thalers, for the construction of five steam- ers, to be despatched twice every month from Por- tugal and Spain, and the same from Stettin and Hamburgh. == (From London Times, March 27 and 28.) The consent of Congress to the annexation of Texas is an event so long expected, that the ques- tion of its justice has gradually merged in the vie sion of ifs certainty. There wasa time when the most enlightened and thoughtful men of ihe Union could venture to entertain a strong moral objec tion against it ; and their arguments are on record. It was clear, however, that the mass ot the Union, its newest and most active elements, were in favor of the measure. Their eyes were always revert- ing to Texas. Texas unappropriated, like indepen- dent eer within sight of ji was the eye sore of the Union; not but that there are other eyesores to the ambitious gaze of that people.— Whatever they see they love, whatever they love they covet, whatever they covet they expect, and endeavor to obtain. But Texas wes the first thing in their way, and formed the bold foreground ot their hopes, Texas adjacent, revolted, indepen- dent, still menaced and molested by the weak and impolitic rulers whose yoke it had broken, already peopled and governed by the citizensof the Union, or adventurers of the same language and princi- ples, was an acquisition absolutely necessary, not so much to the happinese, as to the very comfort, the ease, the sleep, the digestion, of certainly more than halt the republic. —_ 4 ‘The only part of the business,therefore,on which there coul4 be any surprise, would be the particu- Jar time and manner in which republican wisdom and taste would select for the acquisition. To an European understanaing there is something quite grotesque in the time and manner actually adopt- ed. The Congress comes to this momentous de- cision in the ve: int of time between the two presidentships. Mr. Tyler completes his career with a determination which he cannot have the smallest share in carrying out, and Mr. Polk will be engaged throughout the whole term in the ar- duous execution of a project imposed upon him at the firet moment of his official existence. The former President, as he approaches his end, seems horror-struck at the thought of leaving his four yeara a blank in bis country’s annals. He must do someihing before he dies, though he leaves a legacy of trouble to his successor. Yet why defer it toeuch auhour? Was it as Constantine put off his baptism to his death bed, that he might enjoy the unimpaired benefit, without the arduous res- sibility consequent on the rite? Mr. Tyler, a President rather by misadventure than by popular intention, and not reciprocating to his office the dignity it conferred on him, procures admission to the line of American heroes by an act which will entail upon him neither trouble nor risk. Should it even plunge the nation in war, should it rend the Union, should it finally upset that equilibrium of forces by which the federation is now maintained against so great a diversity of s-parate interests, Mr. Tyler is clear of all that responsibility. It at- taches to those to whom th: constitution commits his new-born measure 4 The fit of action seems to have seized the whole expiring body. First the President, as soon as he finds he must needs quit the scene, urges the deed. Then the House of Representatives, about to dissolve, eagerly embraces its last opportunity, and, like the silk-worm, having laid its eggs, im- mediately dies. The Senate hus just time to pro- nounce. This it does on the 27th of February, and on the Ist of March a new President addresses the whole: population on the proceedings of the late Congress. The interval could be but a few hours, but there was time enough, it seems, for the late President to use the powers given to him by the amended resolution of the Congress, for the liberty of negotiation. Already had he sent off envoys and instructions to Texas. Such is the avidity for grasping a personal share in public ac- tions, which a democracy has always been found to generate. : The new President, however, is far from quar- relling with his heredjtary task. His only com- plaint probably 1s, that he was not allowed to ini- tiate as well as to carry on. One could almost fear from the tone of his address that he minded to make up for this wrong by starting a project or two of hisown. The tone of a President must needs be lofty. He must assume a dignity which is not conceded, and he would only be misunderstood and despised by his fellow-citizens, if he adopted the conventional courtesies and humiliations of European Potentates. His office is the most honor. able in the earth ; his responsibility is the great To disturb the unanimity of the Federal Union, even for an imagined object of morality, is the most stupendous crime of which human nature can be guilty. To extend that Union, indefinitely, in all directions, is the citizen’s first and noblest in stinct ; to be comprehended in it, the greatest felicity that ean happen to any race of men. It is the only security for peace. All this may mean much or little, but in the old world it is the lan- guage cf men who are not conducting, but found- ing an empire. e > ‘e in the old world have long since chastised one another’s desires to at least the language of modesty and mutual deference. The President is not overawed by the presence of one sovereign power in the length and breadth of his continent. Hence he feels no indecency in expressing, in glo rifying, every aggressive impulse of the heart. The citizen, he sys, Must rejoice when a frontier line is removed, when he can communicate freely, com- mercially and politically, with his neighbors, with out the restrictions of trade, or the interference of foreign claims, and foreign politics and morals.— When such rejoicings ate arguments, then we may reasonablyfear for the invid-ous frontier lines ofthe St. Lawrence, not to speak of that other on the westward of the rea! Mountains. But other difficulties will arise before that day. Neither de- mocracy nor federation can solve the great problem of society. Government is not so easy a task.— The creature of a mob election, addressing his creators, may talk in the same breath of clustering all nations in a constitutional unity, and interdict- ing moral and religious interference between the inhabitants of adjacent valleys; but human nature has assigned Jess to system, and more tospiritual in- fluences. She will soon detect the holiowness of union without unity, and of a political combination that aims to embrace the world, while it is afraid to interfere with the grossest social corruptions in its own bosom. 3 In the inaugural address delivered by the new President on the 4th of March, we find ay re-produced all the worst characteristics of the A! leghanian statesmen who have been in power since the withdrawal of Mr. Webster from the Cabinet of Washington. If Mr. Polk was chosen as the thorough representative of the party which makes slavery, {repudiation, and foreign aggression its claims to distinction, we are bound to acknow- ledge that he has not swerved from the intentions of his constituents. His language on all these sub- jects has the same unblushing impudence which belonged to his heme and which we haa fondly imagined that no one else could rival; but in his mouth it has this very serious aggravation, that it convinces us he is prepared to begin where the othera leave off We had carefully guarded ourselves against any preconceptions hostile to Mr. Polk ; and we had endeavored to persuade our- selves that we should find more moderation in his own conduct than in that of his adherents; but the indulgent illusion ompletely dispelled by the firet words he utters; and the anxiety which was incessantly awakened by Mr. Tyler's strange and incongruous efforts, is rendered ey greater by declarations from the new President of at least equal violence, and, we fear, much more signifi- cance. One of the first sentiments uttered by Mr. Polk. after an exordium, in which “ the most admirable and wisest system of well-regulated self-govern- ment among men ever devised by human minds” receives a yey, able panegyric, is that of ‘* deep regret at the schemes and agitations of mieguided persons, whose object is the destruction of domes- tic institutions existing in other sections of the country.” Amonget other nations the expression * domestic institutions” designates all that is most sacred among men ; in Alleghania it expresses that state of bondage which is most abhorred by the free—that system of slavery which other countries have practised, which some have renounced, which all deplore, but which the politicians of Alleghania have alone the couiage to eulogize and defend. Mr. Polk reserves his compassion, however, for other objects. ‘‘ Happy would it be,” says he, “for indebted States if they were freed from their liabilities, many of which Were incautiously con- tracted.” That sentiment will, indeed, find an echo in erere debtors’ gaol ull over the world! We who feel for slaves more than for slave-owners, are hag to think unpaid creditorseven more to be pitied than profligate debtors; but in the New World these things are reversed. “The sound, moral, and honorable feeling of the people of the indebted States cannot be questioned,” says the President; but, whilst sympathies and eulogies are showered upon them, what, with one recent ex- ception, is become of their unpaid dividends ? After two such paragraphs as these, our readers will not be surprised at anything that may follow, more especially with reference to the foreign re- lations of the Union. A lie repeated after it has been contradicted, and Fate de all well inform. ed and honest men, is @ lie raised to a higher pow- er—the equare of a Mr. fe intimated in a message some time ago, that doubts were enter. by eome whether Texas had not ee NEW YORK, THURSDAY MORNiNG, APRIL 17 lll > English Opinions of Mr. Polk’s Inaugural, formed part of the territory of Alleghania, and been Jmipeonerly alienated from it; but Mr. Polk resolutely affirme, that “Texas was ence a part of our country, was unwisely ceded away to a foreign power, is now independent, aad possesses an un- doubted right. to merge her Sovereignty ia ours.” The whole assertion is utterly groundless—first, because Texas formed no part ot Louisiana when sold by France ; and, secondly, because the bound- ary treaty with Spain, concluded in 1819, defini- tively wiped but all such equivecal claims for ever. But in this discussion no argument is practicable ; a Olt is resolved en seizing his prey, and it sig- nifies but little that the lamb stoo i pepe tae Ble tond drinking lower Mr. Polk holds somewhat similar. precise, language, as to the Oregon territ y. He pledges himself at the very outset of career, and with the full knowledge that negotiations are actually going on between his Cabinet and Great Britain, that the Alleghanian title to the country of the Oregon 1s clear and unquestionable. But it may spare time ,likely to be consumed in a very unprofitable discassion, if we express an opinion, at least ue decided as his own, that in spite of his marauders, and what he terms his constitutional rights, the territory of the Oregon will never be wrested from the British Crown, to which it be- longs, but by war. Mr. Polk avers, that to enlarge the limits of the Union is to extend the dominion cf peace over additional territories and increasing millions ; but he will find that when they are so far extended as to include the rightful possessions of the British Empire, they will encounter the hos- tility and the resolution of a people not inferior to the populace of Alleghania in spirit or in resources. [From London Post, March 28,] Whatever may be thought of the message of President Polk, asa bold adaptation of Ralipeas ing address to the audacious views of the ultra-de- mocratic party, it is in other respects but a poor performance. tis very boastful, and yet so un- skilfully constructed, that the reader is allowed to ery the nakedness cf the land through the chinks of the triumphant covering of words which the Pre-ident would cast upon it. He begins by de- scribing his new office as ‘the most honorable and responsible on earth.” Presently afterwards he states that he isa young man. He need scarcely have made the announcement. Such bombast sufliciently indicates that he is young indeed in ae appreciation of the true dignity of a high posi- ‘ion. In the next paragraph he admits the political per- plexities and difficulties which beset Alleghania.— He avows that, at the present time, “great diversi- ty of opinion prevails in regard to the principles and policy which should characterise the administra- tion of the government.” This looks|ike an honest confession ; but in a few paragraphs more the mes- sage writer jumps off into a very different view of the matter. He boasts of the plainly written con- stitution of Alleghania, ‘‘ which binds together, in ihe bonds of peace and union, the areatand increas- ing family of free and independent States.” The man who writes in this way must either be dis- honest,'or be the victim of contusion of mind.— And to make the matter still more palpable, he re- turns, in the very next paragraph, to his first view, and speaks of a certaintmode of interpretation of the constitution, as ‘‘the only sure guarantee against the recurrence of those unfortunate collisions be- tween the Federal and State authorities. though less There is a distinction between the beauty of politice] theory, and Es poasibility of political prac- tice, which Mr. Polk will perhaps discover hereaf- ter. His present excuse is that he is the youngest man that ever filled the President’s chair. The government of Alleghania—that is, the su- preme government—has been intrusted, as he says, with the exclusive management of foreign affairs. Yea ; to each State is confided the exclusive care of its own interests, and thege may, ina very particu- larand almost exclusive manner, be affected by the Management of foreign affairs. The northern States may see advantage in a war with Great Bri- tain, and the southern see little else than ruin.— The exclusive management of foreign affairs by the supreme io becomes in such a case rather a ticklish matter. The southern States may find their duty to themselves the first thing to be attended to. Mr. Polk’s task is easy enough while he has only to gratify the ascendant party which brought him into pewer. The government of Alleg- hamia, however, requires something more than this, as he will find. His troubles are but begin- ning. (From London Chronicle, March 27.) We confess we are much more mortified than surprised to find this question terminated, like all others in which the Tory administration had to combat the arts or the ambition of foreign and of rival powers—that is, by the total discomfiture of British interests and views, whether dictated by feelings of justice, of security, or of humanity The question of the independence or absorption of Texas was handed over to the Tory Government as a fair field for the exertion of their diplomatic ekill, and of the huadred means at a goveinment’s disposal for the ARIS out of its ends. In these the Tory Gevernment has most miserably failed. The Alleghanian Government have decided upon the annexation of this immense country, containing 300,000 square miles, and are about to establish over that region their system of lave cultivation. It was, indeed, a question of life and death to Alleghanian slavery, which, if confined to its own exhausted soils, must have decliued, and met a natural death at no incalculable interval of time, but which now, having secured to it most ample room and root, cannot be expected to pause till it fills the whole territory to the Peeific, ad deluges the New World, from “hich it had been partly stayed or driven, with its flood of misery and crime. Ba The result of such a communication is,as regards slavery and the slave trade, deplorable. Not only is the interchange of manacled human flesh be- tweenCuba and the mainland rendered permanent, but the right of search, secured by our treaty with Texas, is ot course torn asunder. It isthe fashion, however, to abandon rights of search, so we wili not dwell upon that. But a consideration as serious is the effect of this measure on the Alleghanian Union itself. There the fundamental law is, that the South must not out vote the North. Yet here are two Florida statez, and heaven knows how many Texan ones, conte into the Union. The North, which has been unable to prevent this, must at least have the balance redressed. It must an- nex, too, inselfdeteace. It must create new States. 1t must stretch to Oregon and encroach upon Cana- da. So that in giving up the Mexican frontier, we are actually necessitating invasion upon our owr. Numbers of New York people voted for Polk and Texas annexation, because they were told it was a step to Canada and the Oregon. Mr. Polk him- selt admits this in the inaugural addrees which he has just delivered. Having at some length vindi- cated, after his fashion, the annexation of Texas, he thus proceeds: * * * * ‘There is, indeed, one glimpse of hore) however faint, and that is the restetance by the Texans,who might reckon in the present state of Mexico on a recognition by that power, But the independent feeling of the 70,000 white citizens of Texas is, we ear, not proof against the augmentation of value which their lands and property would instantly gain by annexation te so powerful an empire. And espe- cially as Lord Aberdeen or his envoy are to be the sole prompters and supporters of this independent feeling, there can be emall grounds for its main- tenance or triumph. I is painful, indeed, to be thus driven to despair; paintul to behold, without a struggle, slavery,which we have so long and so extensively, and not effec. tually combated, thus regain what it has lost, and sweep, like a huge rea in uncontrolled devastation, over a surface of such vast extent. Deplorable as is such a prospect, God grant we may not have to contemplate something worse. [From London Globe, March 27. Frugality, freedom from debt, and universal e the three general heads on which most jaid by President Polk, in his inaugural Itis a shrewd remark that men general- ly most vaunt themselves of the virtues, or the mrerers they possess least of. Is this the case with President Polk’s panegyric on the government of his country? In the firat place, whatis the go- vernment of that country? According to Presi- dent Polk’statatement of it, it is “a confederation of independent States.” Now, here is the thim- blerig—we are sorry to use so trivial an expression; but it is the only appropriate one. In order to make President Polk’s assertions true regarding the States, the pea must be under one thimble—in order to make them true regarding the Union, it must be under the other. Imprimis, then, as re- gards frugality aud freedom from debt. These as- sertions, if applied to that abstraction, the Union, may be true. That is to say, a government, which is not a government to most intents and purposes, does not incurdebts for purposes which it does not fulfil. Butif the Union, instead of bei Mg 8 sort of ab» straction, or fictitious entity—if the President, in- stead of being, where deeds, not words, are con- cerned, on most occasions a man of straw—or, to refine the phrase—a man of figure and bp tion—were, the one, a whole, of which the States were component parts; the other, the executive arm, wielding the power of that whole to assert ite law—in ol ‘ort, if national unity were, any consistent sense, predicable of the Union, Presi- dent Polk’s frugality and solvency:vaunts would be untrue. They are untrue, in any sense which can satisfy moral beings. The head has no right to disclaim responsibility for the members. So far as the States have been lavish, and are indebted, the vaunt of the Union of frugal freedom from debt isa trick of thimblerig. This verbal thimblerig j consists in boasting, in one breath, of the pros- | perity of the States, as an attribute of the Union, | an States, as things the Union has no part in.— Jf it has part in the one, it has part in the other. If it is entitled mightily to magnify these commu- nities, as its own, it cannot be entitled to repudi- ate their obligations, as not its own. it canuot be entitled to contrast their lot with the “melancholy condition” of those European nations which have debts to pay, and which pay their debts, and to ea- ult in the contrast—“"We have no debts to pay” —~ when compelled to subjoin, in the very next breath —‘Happy would it be tor the indebted States, it they were freed from their liabilities, many of which were incautiously contracted.” Frugal folks do not contract debts incautiously—honest folks pay those they have contracted. [t isa high pitch of effrontery in the chief magistrate of a na- tion which includes thoge States, to affect pity for the nations of Europe, whose solvency shows they have preserved the idea of national honor. Pre- sident Polk’s idea of nations in a ‘‘melancholy condition,” is the idea of nations enslaved—by their word and bond. It is the idea of ancient Pistol—base is the slave who pays. The preten- sion of cultivating universal peace has something of the same equivogue about.t. Like the hedghog, which the saake had pore shelter to in its hole, it only expands its prickly surface on all sides, to its own comfort and convenience. If others are in- convenienced, it feels itself, for its own part, per- fectly comfortable. ‘The title of numerous Indian tribes (the old aboriginal snake) to vast tracks of courtry, has been extinguished. New States have been admitted into the Union; new territories have been created, and our jurisdiction and laws extended over them.” The ‘re-annexation (!) of Texas to our Union at the earliest possible period” —“Our title to the country of Oregon is clear and unquestionable.” Well bristled, hedghog. Presi- dent Polk observes that “foreign powers do not seem to appreciate the true character of our go- vernment.” We submit that this may possibl) fe from the continual duplicity of position whica President Polk and his predecessors have assumed as its mouth-piece. The States, however, if they take a cy to hangan Irish- man, or lynch an abolitionist, are, in such case, acting simply as ‘independent States.” Avain, ‘* Ours was intended to be a plain and fru- gal government”—bnt, if every one of the State governments think proper, on the contrary, to be lavish and jobbing, or wildly speculative, * our government” knows nothing about it. The Union cultivates universal peace ; but, it any State should prefer border war, the irruptions of its citizens upon friendly neighbors would noways concern the Union. bili * As regards the Oregon, (to say nothing, at present, of Texas) the language of this address, notwithstanding the saving clause for ‘* obligations imposed by treaty,” is too similar to everyt ie ciate Alleghanian popular politicians have put forth, and too fully deserves the animad- version on former such language bestowed by Mr. Falconer, in his excellent little volume on “ The Mississippi aud the Oregon.” “Tt is greatly to be lamented,” observes Mr. Fal- coner, “that in Alleghania it should have been the interest of dishonest and violent politicians to have adopted a tone of discussion upon the subject oppo- sed to its fair settlement. It is not honorable,while the title to the territory is undetermined between the respective governments, to urge measures to populate it with Alleghanian. citizens, in order to ‘ive facilities for its occupation at a future period. Such recommendaticns do not indicate a convic- tion of the validity of the claim insisted on. Alleg- hania, 8 well as Great Britain, has an interest in the establishment of a settled government in that part of the world—in marking out the limits of le- gal possession—and in rearing a population which, however they may differ respecting the system of goverument which they may prefer, shall look to the future, as bringing the fruits of a peaceful, generous, and civilized intercourse.” [From Liverpool Mail, March 29} The sentiments expressed in tne inaugural ad- dress of the Alleghanian President, Mr. Polk, are merely an echo of those acted upon by his prede- cessor, Mr. Tyler. Texas, by this gentieman’s ac- count, formerly belonged to the United States, but when he does not condescend to explain. Alleghe nian institutions are so ancient, and her territoria! tights so extensive,that the safer way is to date the former from the call of Abraham, and admit the latter from Cape Horn to the North Pole. He takes for granted that no foreign power whatever hasany right to object to the aunexation of Texas to the federative Union, at the head of which he has the honor to be placed. With respect to the Oregon territory, he disposes of it in a paragraph. He says that it belongs toA lleghania; is occupied bythe wives and children of citizens; and, consequently,it must and shall be governed by republican institutions.— Ihe claims of England are not so much as alluded to He has apparently reconciled himself to the complacency of rejecting all advice on the subject, and refuses to hear any evidence. As they say in the law courts, Mr. Justice Polk has stopped the case and discharged the jury. __ How the British government will treat these im- ortant proceedings remains to be explained.— hile Texas remained independent, her position was advantageous to Great Britain; but in the hands of the Alleghanians she will increase the monopoly of the cotton districts adversely to the interests of this country. If we lose Texas, then, what are we to gain in return. This is by far the most important question as con- cerns England. The superb island of Cuba in our possession would be some equivalent, A wants money, we nave no doubt that the pure! of that property could be made on available agreeable terms. Cuba, annexed to England, is quite as expedient as that of Texasto Alleghania; and if this were oe cas the aggressive and aggrandising power of the republic would, in some measure, be checked. The Union is already too extensive. National power is like steam, the more formidable the more it is condensed. E square mile added to Alleghania is an additional weak- ness—a progressive advancement towards dissolu tion. But that 1s the business of the citizens.— Cuba would be of more value to England than ‘Texas multiplied by all the slaves hereafter to be employed 1n cultivating it. Stave Trapg—ANnBxaTION oF Texas—PorK’s InaveuraL.—The conduct of the Alleghanian Le- gislative bodies is a marvel and a mystery to the politicians of Europe. It passes comprehension, defies calculation, upsets all preconceived notions of organization. Every one saw, in the resuft of the last contest for the Presidency, that Texas would be annexed; but that the Whig Senate should be a consenting party has produced aston ishment, and rendered the news which came to hand this week from the western world, not only novel but stariling. The Senate is regarded, o this side the water, as a very conservative body— a drag upon the more headstrong resolves of the other House ; and,the dignity of its bearing, com- mands, withfthe general wisdom of its decisions, ths reepect even of those who are not prone to eulogise republican institutions. Hence the surprise which has been created. But the ye of politics is evi- dently the same all the world over—a series of skil- ful moves and countermoves, ard the most skilful player is he who puzzles, checkmates,and triumphs over his fellows. _ With the intelligence of the Annexation Bill ha- ving passed Congress, hos come to hand the inau- gural address ot President Polk, a document upon which much criticism, not over-friendly, has been spent, The verbose state documents of Alieghania are li tle relished in England; and a moment’s con- sideration will show the reason. The British Pre- mier’s place is Parliament, where he personally answers questions,defends his conduct,or assails his antagonist. The President of Alleghania,on the con- trary, is shut out of Congress. Inatead of addressing that assembly, and through it the nation, viva voce, on the events of the day, when the interest is high and the subject exciting, he waits until anxiety cools or has entirely evaporated, and then, in a for- mal manner, traces, in a message, with tedious prolixity, what everybody knows. % ° The portion of the message which has given most offence, inasmuch as it denotes a “‘foregon conclusion,” is his allusion to the Oregon territo- ry. The Woe of Alleghania to that territory is as- sumed by the new President as a matter beyond dispute, at the very momeut that the subject forms an anxious and protracted controversy between the two governments. People naturally say, “Can the new official have a proper sense of the deep ,res- ponsibiiity of his office, when he thus commits himself at the very threshold 1” . That Mr. Polk is correct in his assumption may beestablished hereafter, or it may not. But there isa palpable vi on of good taste in so formal a committal on the question. Mr. Polk’s predecessor was not happy in imparting dignity to the office, It isto be hoped that the mantle of Washington , 1845, will sit more gracefully on the shoulders on which it has now descended—but the commencement is perilous. ‘ Connected with this topic may be mentioned the notice which Mr. Tyler’s message on the slave trade has commanded in the House of Commons. Sir Robert Peel, it will be seen, pointedly referred to it, some one having conveniently put a question to him on the subject, the better to enable him to correct ihe ex-President’s errors in that document. | Mr. Tyler blundered sadly in the matter of the | free blacks taken to the West Indies; but there is are correct respecting British capital being com. | bined with Alleghamian ingenuity in carrying out slavery through the medium of the Brazils. The | Duke de Broglie has arrived in London, and the | conference is now sitting which is to decide the | future policy of England and France. It is under- | stood, on ali hands, that the substitute for the right of search which he proposes, is a blockade of the | Ri coast of Africa by the two powers, joined, of | course, to the squadron of Alleghania aneaay there for that purpose. The right of searc in its most obnoxious form is thus given up; but the substitute, inadequate as the former system was, promises to be still more inefficient. The saints stir not while the right of search is thus thrown to the winds before their eyes—the best proof, we suspect, ot their belief in its failure as a preventive. To the sagacity and firmness of the Alleghanian Government, every credit is due for refusing to join the other powers in asystem which is thus so unceremoniously surrendered after all the pother it created, the jealousy it exci- ted, and the ill-blood which it produced.— Wil- mer’s Times, March 29. Priee fwo Cents: British Parliament. Hovsz or Lorps, March 28—Tanivy or AutEGuanta.—The Earl of Cuargnpon inquired what means had been taken to obtain redress for ‘tain merchants who complained, as he con- ceived justly, of the loss inflicted upon them by a change made some time ago in the tarifi of Alleghania. Under the 26th section of the new tariff, agreed to on the 25th of August, 1842, goods coming from England, which were shipped betore the imposition of new duties was known, were exposed to ruinous duties, to the extent of 90 or shirking, in the next, the involvents of the | too much reason to apprehend that his statements | 100 per cent en silk gocds and 120 per cent on cot- ton goods. Goods that had come from the east- ward of the Cape were subjected to much lower duties. Now, this he considered to be an int tion of the treaty with Alleghania, which vided, among other things, that no duty should be imposed on goods {rom England higher than was imposed on goods coming from any other country. v the change a single house in Glasgow had lost £3,000, and the total loes by the British merchants 1s estimated at £200,000. The Alleghanians ap- pear fully alive to the importance of the treaty wherever it is in their favor; tor they have insisted on the repayment of the amount of duties levied on their rice by us in excess of that levied on the nice from the coast of Africa The Earl of Anerpgen replied, that the case had the attention of Government; but neither the re- presentations of Mr. Fox, the late Minister at ashington, nor of Mr. Pakenham, his successor, had as yet met with the attention they deserve. Hovsz or Commons—Orneon—Mr. Regsucx asked whether Government had any objection to lay before the House the negotiations between thiscountry and Alleghania on the subject of the Iron Trape.—We copy the following from the Wolverhampton Chronicle of March 12:—‘The recent rapid advances in the price of iron are bringing about their natural effect ; and although the present position of the trade, taken generally, is a cause of congratulation, yet perplexities of no ordinary kind, have attended the great and sudden variations of price which have lately occurred.— The rapidity of the rise is beyond all precedent and has disarranged the plans and calculations o| many of the most prudent and far-sighted men in the trade. As an instance we may mention that a heavy contract for rails. to be delivered at Hull, is now in course of fulfilment at 6/. 5s. per ton, while in another instance 12/. per ton is the con- tract price for the same article. More cases than one of these low contracts have been mentioned tous, and these facts must fo a good way to di minish the advantages generally supposed to be de- rived in this district, from the high price now pay- ing for iron. We have endeavored, but without success, to ascertain the selling prices of the com- inodity in its different branches. Nothing like a fixed or general price can be quoted ; 5, 5l. 5s. and 5l. 10s, being asked for pig iron, but sales, except in small quantities, at the first figure, to persons in want of the material, could not be ascertained.— The price of bar iron may be taken to be from 100. to 10/. 10s. per ton. Some degree of surprise is felt in this neghborhood at the quotations of Scotch pig iron, both at Liverpool and Glasgow, the cur- rent price being stated at 5/. 10s.,and 6/. demanded Generally, Scotch pigs rule from 10s. to 15s. per ton below Staffordshire pigs, and this price is looked upon here as the effect of speculation. A further advance is by many persons in this neighborhood, thought unlikely, but quite as many think the price has not attained its limit. In all the works the greatest activity prevails, checked in some in- stances, however, by a short supply of coal. The wages of all the working classes connected with the trade may be stated at about thirty per cent higher, and employment, ot course, is easily ob- tained. Foreign orders, as might be expected, have received a check: merchants and factors in only a very few instances venturing to buy, or be- half of customers unacquainted with the rise in price, at existing rates.” Bartish ALLEGHANIAN Lanp Company.—On Thursday the annual court of proprietors in this company was held in the board-room in Bucklers- bury the deputy governor inthe chair. On account of { heath, George Robinson had sent in his re- signation as governor of the company. Mr. Cum- mina then proceeded to read the report, of which the following are some of the leading points: ‘*The sales of land, during the past year, to bona side set- tlers, have amounted to 32462) acres, for a sum of £14,106 73_1d., being an average ofabout lls. 03d per acre. The general progress of the business dur- ing the year has been of a very satisfactory charac- ter. The commissioners’ report thereon will be read at this meeting. The English shares stated to have been in arrear, and declared forfeit at the last annual meeting, have since, under the direction given to the directors, been reclaimed and fully paid up with interest, except in two cases.” Mr Gillespie then followed with the report of Mr. Galt, dated Sherbrooke, January 25, which states in sub. stance that the sales in land were less last yearthan in 1843, but that this was fully anticipated, because the returns of the previous year included all the lots occupied since 1837 by the settlers at Victoria, ond comprising upwards of 7,000 acres, and also from other causes. * The average price reaslied for the company’s land had increased from 10s. Ojd. to lls. Ojd. per acre. All the liabilities incurrea had been inet by the amount received, and there wae asurplus of £1,800 over expenditure. The ex- penses of management for the current year were estimated at £1,250. Canapa Company.—On Tuesday the half-yearly general meeting of this corporation, formed about seventeen years since, to promote emigration to, and settlement in Upper Canada, was held at the Canada House, London, for the purpose of receiv- ing a report on ihe state of the affairs of the compa- ny, for the election of a deputy governor, We. eee who had retired by rotation were re- elected. The Governor read the report of the directors for the year 1844, in which were detailed the number of acres of land sold and leased in the past twelve months, which showed the rapid extent to which settlement in Upper Canada is progressing. Mir. Franks stated, in elucidation of the affairs of the corporation, that siuce the year 1827 about one-ha!t tne lands the company originally purchased had been sold or leased under the new plan. A propo- sal had been made 'o her Majesty’s government by the directors, to manage the whole of the Crown lands in Canada, upon cheaper terms than the go- vernment could itself do it. An indirect advantage would be thus secured, as whatever tended to increase the jvalue of land generally in the colony must benefit the Canada Company. The Canadas possessed advantages over ali other British colonies for industrious small farmers. Such could obtain @ position in society there, while, if they remained at home, they would siuk into distress. As one proof of the prosperity of the comparative poorer class of settlers in ie Canada, he might state that in the last year the company had remitted to England, tree of expense, to poor trends of par- ties on the lands of the corporation, £4141 12s. 7d. in sums of £6, £7 and £9 each; the numbers of such remittances being 565. And_ in the last two months, there had been remitted for the same pur- poses, £1267 7s. 7d., in 136 remittances. Not only therefore, could the poorer but industrious class of settlers in Canada do well there, but very many of them could assist their friends at home. The Ca nada Company, in the last year, hed remitted £29,000 to the colony, as great difficulty had been experienced in obtaing money upon the oe NE of land, &c. in Canada on trust; and loans funds had been formed, from the operations of which the beet results were enticipated. The colony was alto- gether in a most prosperona state. The court was adjourned. Sprina Travers To Canapa.—The European, Albion, and James Campbell sailed from the Broomielaw for Montreal direct on Monday last, the Caledonia and Erromanga on Tuesday, to be followed in a few days by the John Brown, Favorite, and Monarch, for Quebec and Montreal, all bumper ships, some of them having short- shipped goods and large numbers of passengers Monster Gun ror ALLEGaNia.—A monster gun ust been manufactured by Forsythe and Preston of Liverpool, which is intended to replace the one that burst on board one of the Alleghanian war steamers, a short time ago, killing the Secretary of State, and several other official person- ages. It is made of malleable iron, is 12 feetlong, and weighs IL tons 4 cwt. 2 qrs. 11 Ibs. Nove. Kack.—On Good Friday a novel and un- recedented race came off at Mile-end, Newtown, Gooden, between _a pig and a pigeon, to walk one hundred yaids. - The race took place in Chureh- street, at the back of Smith’s distillery, and was won by the pig in 74 minutes, beating the pigeon by about seven yards, The animal and the bird had been for some time in training, and each was accompanied by its owner at its head. At starting, the pigeon, which was the favorite, went off at a gallant rate, the snorter losing much time by emell ing and grunting along the road, but ultimately his longer had the advantage of the shorter legs of his feathered companion. ‘Che pigeon was a common pe ood oe the pig was about 10 stone, pas, os propert two ting characters in the neigh- porhood The noveny ol the flute crew a large concourse of people disputed Oregon territory? His reason for asking was to be found in existing circumstances in Alleg- hania, though he was the last man who would de- sire to cast a slur on a great nation. He under- stood that in 1818 convention was entered into between this country and Alleghania, the purport of which was, that the territory in dispute upon the Oregon should be considered as a matter upon which no determination had been come to, and that the whele questionshould be left open. Un- der thes circumstances, the House of Represen- tatives had passed a bill for “settling” this territo- ry. The English were not, he believed, a people at all accustomed to bluster, or expressthemselves ina manner which should rouse the indignation of those with whom they conducted negotiations; but it must be apparent to every body that this was @ most extraordinary proceeding. If it arose from the weakness of the Alleghania exécutive, it be- hoved foreign nations seriously to consider the matter. Ifthe House of Representatives passed such a bill, if it were panctionnuily the Senate and urged upon the President, he might be forced to sive it the effect of law; while we, having taken no precautions, but trusting to their good faith and the comity of nations, would find ourselves di- vested of the means of protecting our own rights.— If this case‘had been properly looked inte, they vhould at once have declered that Alleghania had no rights west of the Rocky Mountains; and if the negotiations which hed been broken up were to be recommenced, he trusted they would be put on a proper footing, and that Allegania would 65 called on to show what right they had to cross the Rocky Mountains at all. : , Sir Ropsrr Pest replied, that Mr. Roebuck had rightly described the [convention ; which was fra- med to last for ten years. It was renewed in 1827, and expired in 1838; but it was also provided that neither party should terminate the arrangement without giving a year’s notice. With respect to the negociations with the Executive Government of Alleghania, they, had not been brought to a close; and it would not be consistent with his uty to produce the correspondence to the House. Mr. Roebuck would see that our relations are not with the House of Representatives, but with the Alleghanian Executive. Sir Robert quite agreed with Mr. Roebuck that nothing could be more un- seemly than to use any language of bluster or menace; but while forbearing to do so, he hoped the House would not infer that her Majesty’s Go- vernment are not deeply sensible of the importance of this subject. Mr Diver asked whether Sir Robert Peel had seen the work of M. de Melfras on California, now publishing in Parist—in which the author, after saying that he hes examined the Oregon question, snys of the claim preferred by the Englich—Il faut avouer que cette forsla raison et le droit sontde lew cole. [M. Duflot de Mofras is a scientific gentle- men who was sent out by the French Government, and his elaborate work is published with the offi- cial eanction of Marshal Soult and M. Guizot.” Housg or Commons, March 19.—Mr. TyLEn’s Last Mrssack To Conarges.—Mr. ALpaM called Sir Robert Peel’s attention to a recent message aadressed Bence Tyler to the Senate and House of Representatives of Alleghania, in- sinuating that the treatment of liberated Afri- cans in the British Colonies is no better than it wes in the time of slavery. [This messege accompanied eeveral documents trans- mitted by Mr. Wise, the Alleghanian Minister at Krazil, who detailed advices by which both British and Alleghanian subjects evade the laws against slave-trading ; and Mr. Tyler suggested whether other means than those now existing might not be necessary to give effect to the “just and humane policy” of the Alleghanian laws.) Mr. Aldam read the following passages from the message: ‘ The slaves, when captured, [by the British] instead of being returned to their homes, are transferred to her Colonial posses- stons inthe West Indies, and made the means of swelling the amount of their products by a system of apprenticeship for a term of years.” ‘ft must be obvious, that while these large interests are enlist, ed in favor of its continuance, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to snpprees the nefarious traffic- and that its results would be in efleet but a contin- uance of the slave trede in another and more cruel iorm ; for it can be matter of little difference with the African, whether he is torn from his country and transferred to the West Indies asa elave, in the regular course of the trade, or captured by a cruiser, transported to the same place, and made to perform the same labor as an apprentice—which is at pre- sent the practical operation of the policy adopted.” Sir Resert Peer thought it was to be regretted jhat the President of Alleghania should send a tor- mal message on the subject te Congrers, without first ascertaining what wes the real condition of the slaves in the British Colonies. If the President should think fit to appoint a commission to ascer- tain the state of the liberated Africans in the Bri- tish West Indian Colonies, eo far from me king any objection, the British Government would offer eve- ty facility to the commission for carrying on the in. quiry, so that the commissioners, on their return to their own country, might present a tiue picture. As to the passage quoted, it is well known that the state ot apprenticeship has been altogether abolished in the West Indies o negro who has been captured, and liberated, and sent there, is now, or ever has been, made to serve for a time as an apprentice. He is perfectly free when he lands, and 1s entitled toail the rights of freedom. He stated the cousse pursued by government with respect to slaves captured by British cruisers—“ If they arc cap- tured on the coast of Africa, they are, gen- erally speaking taken to Sierra Leone; ard there they are perfectly at liberty to determine for them- selves whether they will go or not to the West [n- dia Colonies. They are also at perfect liberty to determine for themselves whether they will go to the country of which they may be natives. Ac- cording to the provisions of the treaties we have with Spain, in the event of the capture of a Sva- veh trading vesse! by » British erniser, the slaves so captured are to be delivered up to the country to which the capturing cruiser belongs; and we have a vessel at the Hevana, which in general receives the slaves captured in the neighborhood of Cuba. Tt istrue that individual slaves may not always be sent to Africa~it is quite impossible at all times to provide means of sending them thither; but if they are sent to the West Indies, they are subject to no compulsion, end althongh they may voluntarily en- ter into contracts, there is mo apprenticeship whatever. It is possible the mistake of the Alleghania President may have originated in this manner. sien ties ts with Spain wos entered into in 5 a nerds Nate of get an ng! 4 did exist, and the provision of the treaty was, that the cap- tured negro should be“sent to the British Colonies and placed on the same footing as an apprentice; but since 1835 the state of apprenticeship has alto- gether ceased, and no caftured negro introduced rato the Briueh Colonies is now in a condition other than thatof a free man. {n addition to the iveaty with Spain, we have a treaty with Brazil and Portugal. By treaty with Brazil it was pro- vided that the captured slaves shou'd be delivered up to the country on the coasts of which fe were captured, or to which the captured vessel belonged It was the manifest intention of the tye captared slaves should become free met ti zil insisted on keeping them in a state of slavery, and declined to keep the engagements of the treaty with respect to the future disposition of the slaves. On repeated proof that such was the case, w nified to the Government of Brazil, that the when captured should not be delivered up ve them in wee Vessel ot Rie Janes freedom;