The New York Herald Newspaper, August 27, 1858, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERALD, FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 1868. NT, SESS NEW YORK HERALD. 4428 GORDON BENUETT, EMYOR AND PROPRIETOR. OFICa MN. W. CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU OTS. TRR AN mah tn eters THE DAILY HERALD too conta anmem. THE WEEKLY Levey every at ix Ran ha wer. ‘annvin' the European Bition, W6 per avai, sar of Great Breiain, or $6 to any part of the Continent, "rum PaMiLy HERALD. cwory Wodneoday, a1 four ents par PoLUNTAnT OORRESPON DENCE, dompuortant Proms ang quarier of tha wartar owt wil be tine ~ c ake Pa- for. Ch reget ag m9 ‘8 per ANUBEMENTS THI8 EVENING. BTRLO‘S GAMDEN, Brosdway—LoveCu i +y—Scuoor rox Bicappa WERY THKATRE, Aowery—Twe Trarrsts- Reo Bou ano Reorane Jowarwan. WALLAOK’S TABAYKE. Grosdway—How to Gut Ov! or LAURA KWENE'S THEATRE, 6X Broadway—Tue Wit- 1ew Corea—Dancina, ane apt Boonie tinorence Tas OF ART, OB ABT maran Womp—Ovmiomras, ke. WOOD'e BUILD», 661 ana 665 Broadway—Btunorian Boras, Dimoss, de.—Ou, Boss! —Buvants’ Minsrmais PBOH A NUOB’ HALL. 612 Broadway, pot Ben RDEN, Fourteenth sireet aad Sixth .venus— EALAOR GARDES, Fo The News, Tho first despatch of general news passed over the Attantic telegraph cable on Wednesday, and is pub. lished in today’s Henaip. Itis of a highly impor- tant character. The war between the Allies and China isatan end. A treaty of peace has been concluded between the English and French plen po- tentiaries and the Imperial Commissioner. It con- tedes all the demavds of the allies, including the petablishment of embassies at the Court of Pekin, mod indemnity forthe expenseso’ the war. Nothing Sssaid of the movements of the Russian and American diplomats, but of course both Russia and the United Btates will participate in the advantages that will accrue to commerce from the re-establishment of peace anda more extended intercourse, politically and commercially, with the Celestial empire. News from India to the 19th of July had reached Kagiand. It appears that, notwithstanding the un- favorable season of the year for military operations, the robellidy was being rapidly quelled. The deepatch containing the foregoing important news would have appeared in yesterday morning's paper but from the circumstance that the Nova Sootia telegraphic operators closed their offices at an warly hour in the evening. When the ocean tele- graph is regularly opened for business the land lines ‘will, we are assured, be kept open night and day for the eccommodation of the public. The European matis to the 1dth inst., brought by ‘tho steamship Canada, reached this city last night from Boston, and will be ready for distribntion at ‘the Post Office at the usual hour this morning. Our files by this arrival do not contain anything of Im- portance that was not given in our telegraphic sum- mary of the news. The steamship Aric! arrived at this port yesterday from Southampton, with London papers dated on | the 11th instant. Her advices were anticipated by | the AngloSaxon and Canads. We publish to-day a | very interesting report of the cruise of the Agamem- | mon when engaged in laying her end of the Atlantic | cable, with some important notices of the proposed | extension of British submarine telegraphs in Europe, Asia, and Australia. The Joint Committee of the Common Counef! on | ‘tthe celebration of the cable met yesterday and dis | posed of considerable business. Telegraphic des- patches were received from the bishops of St. John and Newfoondland, expressing regret that thoy | cannot be present at the spproaching celebration. The , Committee agreed to have the programme of arrange. | ments pablished next Monday. They also agreed to have a special messenger appointed to wait on | tho President and his Cabinet and invite them to be | present in New York on the great occasion. Briga- } dier General Yates came before the committee and | amunounced his intention of accepting the position of | Grand Marghal. | There was a meeting of the Freemasons last | evening to consider the propriety of turning out to celebrate the laying of the Atlantic cable. By a ‘vote of the lodges it was decided that there will be ‘no pnblic demonstration made by the Tree masons in honor of the event, The Niagara was visited yesterday by a large | number of persons, but the crowd was not as groat } aa it was on Wednesday. The noble frigate having | gone out of commission yesterday, the officers and | sullors had deserted her, so that the visiters had a | better opportunity of seeing the vossel than at any ! previons period. The Navy Yard was thronged | during the day by the mev attached to the Niagara, | who were “ paid off” for discharging their part of | the most stapendous undertaking of this or any other | contury—tho linkiazg of the Old and New World | | together. Letters from Laguayta to the 10th inst. state that 8 telegraphic despatch of that morning from Cara. as announced that the Freorh and Huglish minie ters had conceded a reepite to the government until ‘the next day at noon, for ity determination in regard to the Monagas question. Senors Migne! Mujica, Manuel Paez, Gen. José Austria and Pedro J. Rojas, | had been named commissioners to come to the | United States and invite (en. Paez to return to the | republic. We have files from Mauritins dated on the 10th of July. The Commercial Gazette of that day has the following: The old crop of sugar is creop- | ling up to rather nbove the figure we anticipated, and | will nearly reach that of the last, aay 110,000 tons. | Immigrants have arrived in large numbers, and food, | notwithstanding its reported pcarcity in India, has | been received in considerable quantity. The few | parcels of the new crop of sugar that have arrived | for sale have been readily purchased for England | and Anstralia at our quotations, which are a shade lower than last month. A large parcel, 9,000 bags, | of ordinary vacuum of the old crop, hax been | Uiaposed of at $7. Present quotations are no guide | %o the prices that will rule when a larger supply | comes inte town, as porchases are now made to be the first of the new crop at their destination. The Jest sale of good Ceylon coftee was at $17. The scarcity of Caloutta, Coringhy and American leaf tobacco is felt by sear makers, and the last parcela ‘of these descriptions which were in first hands have realized very high quotations. The opening of the Quekake Railroad, Pennsyl- wania, took place on Wednesday, in the presence of a large oumber of distinguished personages. This new line extends from ® point near Weatherly, thir teen miles above Mauch Chank, on the Boaver Meadow Railroad, to the kine of the Catawissa Rail rood, uniting therewith at the junction, about nine miles above Tamaqua, forming the only throagh railroad connection between the valley of the Sus. quehanna and Lehigh rivers. It also opens the first «ommunication by a direct railroad route from this city to the interior of Pennaylvania, while at the frame time it affords a new outlet from Philadelphia via the North Pennsylvania Railroad to the Sax)ne- hanna, aod by way of the Williamsport and Elmira Railroad to the State of New York and the great Nowth woat. ‘The corner stone of a new Methodist Episcopal church, located in Rightyeixth steset, between “hurd and Pourth avenucs, waa laid yosterday with Sppropriete ceremonies. A report will be found elnowhere, A row ot frame dwelling houses, ocenpied by “er- men people, was destroyed by fire yesterday after- noon in Fifty second street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues. Some twenty families were turned into the street by the accident. The fire, it seems, wus caused by gome children at play by @ stable, The telegraph Cespatch from Exgiand, recived poster. Gay by the atlantic cable, asnoucing the conclusion of Peace with China, bad the effect of tmparting grenisr Drmness to the cotton mariet, and the sales embraced about 2,000 bales, closing tif on the basis of i2%Xc. for middling upiands, The four market was Leavy, azd rather lower om some descriptions. Rejected brands wore duil and tended to lower prices. Wheat was ir. regular, and prices for comneca qualities rather easior, whule sales embraced about 50,000 Dashols, at rates given fm ancther coleman, Cora scldtoafair exteat. Unvount and poor qualitivs were rather easier, while prime lets were scarce and Girm. Pork was cather Grmer, with salce of meee, chiefly a $17 26, and of prime at $14 85. Beet wasfirm. Sugars were unchanged, while the sales om braced about 700 bhds. Cuba muncevede, Coffee was quiet. Freighte continued to rule dull, while engage ments were light, ‘Tee First Finsh from Europe—Inauguration P Cf the Traxsivien Period throughout tan Worte. _ Ttis a good omen that the first flesh of news from Europe through the Atlantic cabie briags tidings of peace. A treaty has been concluded by the ambassadors of England and France with the Emperer of China, by which the doors of that populous region are opened still wider to commerce, and the diplomacy of civilization has secured ita establishment at the Court of Pekin. Tho mutiny in India, too, id being rapidly quelled, and peace—the great promoter of the arts, sciences, commerce and civiliza- tion—dawns in the East. The cable has demon- etrated its own success, and bas to-day given us the first ;ulsation of a revolution in the mate- rial and intellectual world that has hed no equal since the laying of the primary forma- tion of geology. 7 Man has mede for himeelf a new starting point in civilization, upon which a new order of things must grow up. As the earth itself grew upon the primary formation, with its accre- tions and dissolutions of matter, and all its sub- sequent layers of different periods of time, eo the moral world must now change its whole face, under the direction of the new maeter spirit of the age and of universal power. The old relation of man to space has been annihilated. The span of human life has been virtually extended ; and in receiving a power to do what it could not do before, the duty and the relations of humanity to each other and to outward things have been elevated and ennobled. The separate systems of civilization, thought and developement, which have been hitherto revolving each in its separate and limited ephere, must now come together and form one great and harmonious whole. The abysses of the ocean bave been annibilated, and the anti- podes have cessed to exist. The thought of man haa become ubiquitous; for, mounting upon the wings of the lightning, it can carry itself in ® moment to the utmost confines of the earth. The great divisions of the mighty army | of human progress, which hitherto have beon divided from each other by longer or shorter j spaces of time, will soon be brought into in- stantaneous communication—quickened by the same thought, and guided by the same know- ledge, at the same moment of time—and the future march of the world will be hastened to a speed of which we of to-day can form no con- ception. This revolution will not be instantaneous, but it will be a silent and arapid one. The exist- ing forms of intercourse, trade, and ocon- tact between men and nations, will cram- ble away, to be succeeded by others, as the primary, secondary, and tertiary forma- tions of geology gave place to each other. The moral world now entera upon its tran- sition period. All this is in the essence of things to be. Man will eoon accustom him- self to use the new power at his command, and to apply it to his benefit, and to iaorease his happiness. Practice will beget confidence, and confidence will soon contrive a thousand uses for it of which we to-day have no conception. Commerce will, no doubt, be the first to avail itself of its advantages, for it is qaick to know the springs of profit, See to-day the effect of the news from China! Last night it was known from Moecow to New Orleans that peace bad been made there! Lvery merchant or trader interested in tea or silk, knows that the causes which interfered with his trade have ' been removed! The Russian caravans across the steppes of Asia, the English fleets from the British isles, and the swift messengers from the shored of America, all start this morning for the newly re-opened scene of their tra‘tic, animated with the same ides, and impelled by the same knowledge! Under the new era which has been inauga- rated, nations lose their separate identity, and become, in fact, but simple members of the great buman family. Cabinets must ohange their policy, and diplomacy cease to be the art of hiding thought. The statesmen of the world will find themselves impelled by the knowledge of evente which the telegraph will spread everywhere, and forced to guide their acts by the impuleos which affect the whole world, rather than by those confined to their own limited locality. Great wars will cease; for the faculty of instantaneous intelligence brings men neerer together, makea them to know each other, and removes the pos sibility of those errors upon which war is founded. Among men new habits will be acquired, new practices grow up, new usages eupersede old ones, with the new era of Inetan- taneous world-wide intelligence, Every region of the earth must be bound in the folde of the telegraph. As soon as the Atlantic cable is thrown open to the public, and Europe and America come to be quickened by its current, thore counteies that are not yet included ia the electric system willseem to be out of the new and more advanced world that has boen brought ito existence, Them every man will feel that we must have e cable to South Ame rica, to Australis, to China, and to the farthest confines of the Pacific, These will soon be laid. Movements aro already ou foot to biud ingia and Australia to Europe, through the Red See; and vow that peace with Chins is made, and its court. opened to foreign em- Lassles, we must have a telograph to Pekia, fhe Troubles ef the Opposition—The Coalt Mon Queeticn and Me DiMoulti-s We tranefer to our columns this morsing » obapter of extracts from various opposition journals on the embarrassing queation of a cos ‘itron of the opposition clements of the country, Nortb and South, for this fail and for the next Presid: ocy. From these extracts, representing the principles and views of the Northern repub- icen party, of the Northera Know Nothiogs ard Southern Know Nothings, the reader will obtain a pretty distinct and comprehensive view of the aimost insuperable difficulties which He in the way to s general amalgamation of the diverse snd confiicting muteriais of the opposition camps. First, the Leaisville Journal, after a review of the political field and of the heavy opposi- tion popular msjority which was thrown sway between two candidates in the last Presidential election, says, “there can be no doubt of the fact tbat four-fifths of the American and repub- lican parties are former whiga,” and that “the most eimple and facile mode of combining this opposition migbt, therefore, scem to be to many minds the revival of the old whig party.” But oar Louisville co- temporary bimself appears to attach no epecial value to this suggestion, for he follows it with the more direct alternative “of the dis- bandieg of the American and republioan par- ties, and the fusion of all the best elements of the two into one great national party,” which shalt have for its objects retrenchment and reform, a new naturalization law, a protective tariff, harbor and river improvements, and a surpension of the slavery agitation. Briefly, the al!-heating panacea of the Louisville /our- nal is the absclute sinking of the republican party name, principles, niggers and all—and the union of the opposition forces upon a mixed pisttorm of old whig and modera Know Nothing ideas. “The New York Tribune, on the other hand, takes a somewhat different view of the necessi- ties of the case. Our Philosopher Greeley is evidently disposed to go all reasonable lengths to secure the support of the Know Nothings who are anxiously asking “ where are we to go: but they must not ask too much. He strikes bands with them upon the subject of a reg'stry law; he agrees that our present natu- ralization laws acd practices of admitting ailens to vote call for a vast amount of purification ana reform; but he holds fast to his great fundamental notion that “the slavery question is paramount ;” that “it vivifies and shapes all other questions;” that “the slaveholders comprehend this thoroughly, and will make you act accord- ingly, whether you also comprehend it or not;”’ and finally, that “whoever acts with the repub- Jicans this fall may as well (on account of slavery) make ap his mind to exclusion hence- forth from the counsels or sympathies of their antagonists.” This is the ultimatum of Greeley. He desires a fusion between therepublicans and Americans on our State ticket in November; but, apon a pinch, he thinks the State can be carried by the republicans without the aid of the dark lantern, “provided that no action of the Republican Convention ehall give the pro-slavery wing of the American party that excuse for going over, bag and baggage, to the slave democracy, which they manifestly eeck.” “Pro slavery wing of the American party!” The idea is suggestive of hot work at Syracuse. But the “little vil- lains” of the Zimes go further than Greeley in their advice to the bearers of the dark lantern. The Time says to these anti Popish abstraction- iste that if they want to come into the republican synagogue, “they must be content to tuck away in some side pocket of their last year’s eurtout all those distinctive dogmas which are the soul of the order,” and that “no fact is plainer than that the views of the party are imposeible, so long as the Buchanan demo- cracy control the federal government.” Thos, then, stands the case. The Know Nothings will not coalesce with the republicans unless eternal hostility to the Pope of Rome, Irish Catholics, and allens generally, shall be adopted as part of the creed of the coalition, while, on the other hand, the republicans will have nothing to do with “those distinctive dog- mas which are the soul of the order” of the Gark lantern; nor do the republicans care to waste their time in idle negotiations with any ect of tricketers who cannot or will not believe that the “slavery queetion is paramoant,” and “vivifies and shapes all other questions.” Can uch contradictory clementa be amalgamated upen any platform that can be compounded by the wit of man? No. It is utterly Imposeible for all the party quack doo- tors of the country to mix a tion from the principles of Know Nothingism, black republicanism and old whiggery, of anti- Popery, anti-slavery, protective tarifls and in- terne] improvements, that will be palatable to the most of the Know Nothings, black re- publicans, or old line whigs, North and South. What then? While republican and Know Nothing cliques, councils and organs are con- cocting their little echemes of fusion, which all can see are utterly impracticable, the question recurs, what then? If these factions of the oppotition, which command in the aggregate an overwhelming majority of the popular vote of the Union, cannot be united upon any com- mon party platform, how can they be united’ We answer, upon a man—a populer national man—whose history, public services and public ebaracter will eerve all the purposes of a na- tional platform. In this way the eweoping elec tion of 1840 was carried—the leading old whig meneure of a national baak being abscdoaed to the practical necessities of the oaimpaiyn, as an “obsolete idea.” And as it wae in 1840, :0 it must be in 1960, if the opposition would concentrate the whole weight of their forces upon a single ticket, Ail their rickety anti-slavery avd anti-Popery, sectional and sectarian kinks and crotohets mourt be thrown aside, and they most consent to try their fortunes upon the platform of a na- tional Union maa, and upon the general issue of a change in “the powers that be.” And General Scott, in this view, is the man; and according to all present appearances, the only men epen whom the opposition oaa fuse. Chiques, factions and seotiouslisms bave killed off Seward, Fillmore, Fremoat, Crittenden, Dell, Banka, &¢., and Genoral Soot alone stands above the bitter, sectional, personal aud fac tious grudges which have growa up within the last four years in reference to ali those other Presidential candidates, The same personal, fectious and cectioan! apimosities, jealousies aud cross purposes have killed off, within the same interval, a hoat ot proviously available democratio aspirants, such us Douglas, Wise and Huuter ; and at this mo ment we know of no man in tho deincoratio camp cepable of ratlying the broken ranks of the party togetber, except the oalm, firm, steady and self poeseracd statesman now at the head of the goverrmest. When a party is broken down and broken up inte factions and cliqaes, ov queations of principle and nice abstractions, nothing but a great name can reunite it and lift it from the dust. Jackeon, in his day, was the life and soul of the democratic party, as Clay was of the whig pacty. As they withdrew, each from bis commanding position, the democratic party began to decline, and the whi party died e violent death. With Mr. Buchanan now at the dead of affairs, the democracy, however, have the man, and their only maa; for tho crisis, The opposition forces, without a head, will remain scattered aud divided until they shall bave sppointed a chief and a champion, upon whom, and for whom, they can rally and stand toge- ther. Gen Scott is their maa; and if they have avother who will meet the necessities of the day, we ehould like to know bis name, Party platforms ore stuff and rabbish—party principles are mere ciaptrap in these later days. The people have been humbugged upon them until they can be humbugged no longer. The Presidential candidate of this or that party must embody in himself and im his history the platform of his party, and that will suffice. All the reat may be cast out. And thus, while the democracy can only be reorganized and re- united upon Mr. Buchanan’s administration, the opposition can only be consolidated upon a his- torical man like Gea. Scott, who in himself will cover all the requirements of o natlonal conso- lidation. Ovr Munician Exxcrton—Tuk Ficurs or vax Facrions—The various political parties of this State and city were never in a more beautiful condition of disorder aud disorgani- ztion than they are at the present moment. Wirepullers may strive to get them into some sort of manageable condition, but their efforts will hardly prove successful. Of late years there has been growing up a sort of contempt for, and disregard of party ties and obligations; and every political event tends to show the wide-spread growth of that healthy, indepen- dent feeling. When it becomes so strong as to be able to eupersede caucusses and conventions, then, and ‘not before, we may expect to see the right sort of men elected to public office. As we have recently shown, there is quite an appreciable distinction between the political system that goverus State aud county elections and that which governs our municipal elections. The spoils that reward the vietors in the State and county contests are insignificant and con- temptible as compared with those that fall into the hands of the succersful party in our city contests, In the former case there are a few eoore of petty offices—State and national—to be distributed among the hangers-on of the party; in the latter case there are the rich spoils re- sulting from the pilferings out of an annual ex- penditure of eight or ten millions of dollars to be gathered. It is no wonder, therefore, that our city politicians have learned to look with such carelessness and unconcern on all that pertains to theelection of State and county officers, while in all that per- tains to the election of municipal officers they are quite on the alert, and leave no stone un- turned to secure the success of their favorites. So it was that while, last year, our democratic politicians had no difficulty in uniting In the support of the nominees for State officers, they could not coalesce in regard to the candidates for county and municipal officera. The faction that had the inside of Tammany Hall sent ite delegates to the State Convention at Syracuse last year, and the several factions that had the outside of Tammany combined and sent their delegates; and the Convention compromised the matter by admitting half of the one and half of the other. By this means they secured without difficulty the united support of the democratic factions for the State officers put in nomination by that Convention, and thus en- sured the success of the State ticket. But the election of county and city officers was quite another matter. There the factions declined to fuse, and ran separate sets of candidates. Tam- many Hall within its walls, was ranged against Tammany Hall without Its walls; and the most highly exciting scenes of the battle were those in which the factions were thus ranged in hos- tile array. Circumstances indicate that the main featares of this year’s election will be repetitions of good deal upon the views of the candidate in reference to the policy of the administration. As to the county and municipal offices, how- ever, there is little chance of harmonions action ‘on the part of the inside and outside factions of Tammany Ilall. The last municipal contest faflicted wounds which are still open and irri- tating, and which are not likely to be soon healed. There will be no harmony, no union, no between the factions in the coming city elections. They wil! probably ran their separate sets of candidates. The black republicans will probably do the same, and so will the Know Nothings, There will be thus fonr dlrtinet seta of candidates in the field, in- dependent of (hore of the taxpayers’ party. If thie latter party be managed with tact and dis- cretion {t will have the game fn ite own bande. All that it haa to do fe to walt till the candi- dates of all the other parties and factions are trotted out, and then make up from among all a sort of eclectic ticket, taking the best men from the others, regofdless of their political complexion. Let them do that, and onr citi zone will have the satiefaction of upsotting all the eohomes and calculations of anprincipted wirepullers od corragt politicians, and we will bave @ chance, at length, of eeeing our munivipal affairs aduinistered. by honest and competent banda. Tard Aberdeen end the Right of Bearch— Hovéonto Keveletions and Diplematte Dir etadias Tn the debate which took place fa the House of Lords on the 26th ultimo, respecting tho question of the right of visit, a statemont was made by Lord Aberdeva with regard to the dis- cussions which tovk place on that subject be- tween the goverome ute of Great Britain and of the United States in 1542-43, whiok caanot bai arrest the attention of the American reader. Lord Aberdeen, it will be recollected, was the Engliech Secretary for Foreign Afuirs at that teme, and was largely engaged in the discussions of this much vexed question, Mr. Webster was, at the enme time, the American Secretary of State, under the administration of Mr. Tyler. It was Lord Aberdeen who, in a letter of 20th December, 1841, to Mr. Everett, then American Miniater at Londoa, while disavowing the right :¥0 search American vessels, as such, in timo of ,peace, re-neserted: the absolute claim of the :Britich government, in all oases of reasonable tecpioion, to board veasels bearing the American flag, in order to be catisfied of their nationality, He not only announced this pretension to the American Minister, but communicated to him the instructions which bad beea given to her Majesty’s cruisers as to the maan:r of boardiug apd bringing to euepected vessels under the Amerioan flag. About the date of this letter Lord Ashbarton arrived in this country, commissioned to treat of all questions then in controversy between the two governments. His mission terminated by tbe conclusion of the treaty of Washington, in August, 1842. It was in reference to the com- munications which passed between Lord Ash- burton and Mr. Webeter, pending that negotia- tion, that Lord Aberdeen makes the remarkable statement alluded to above. He is represented to have said:— picien and the vexatians exercise of powert Slave trading, especially, had been declared piracy by the concurrent legislation both of the United States and of England; and the Preei- dent himvelf, in a recent meseage to Congress, (of the 9th January, 1843,) in auswer to a reso- lution of the Senate, expresely affirmed thers was no differereuce practically between piraey by etatute and piracy by the common law of nations, so far as the immanities due to the American flag were concerned. On the 2d day of Marcb, 1843, the bill for carrying the treaty of Washingion into effeot being before the Senate, Mc. Rives, of Virginia, who was Chairman of the Committee of Foreign Relations ia that body when the treaty was negotiated, and as such had takes an active part in the discutsions upon it, rose aud pro- tested against the dootrines of maritime law at forth in the Presideni’s meesage ¢o0 the House of Representatives three days before. He cor- sidered thoce doctrines as the eurrender of a great pricciple which had been hitherto inva- ‘| riably maintained by the government of the United States ; and auwil’ing that they should go forth with the presumed concurrence of the other branches of the government, which might be inferred if no diasent were expressed in cither houee of the national Legislature, he proceeded to state, and enforce by reason and sathority, those maxims of public law upon which Ame- rica had hitherto stood before the world as the uncompromising champion of the freedom of the seas. He said:—- If avy principle of the maritime code had been tri- amphastiy vindicated ame upbeid by the iavors of ame- rican etatesmen it was this: (het, m i no right, ip auy Care, ou the part of a to icterrupt or detain the vesseis of santber patton ow the high seas; that the vessel of @ nat‘on on the bigh seas, ia ume of 5 g It was in 1842 or 1648 that @ long correspondence took | tory, thal any entry on Denna of exch vessel without piaco between the american Minister of that day and my- | coxesnt, is, in the eye of the law, a trespass. If a vessel, self, Mr. Webster, on the part of the American govern- | under the circumstances sy; 4 inthe message, be ment, ceclared over and over again to tho late Lord Ash- | suspected of being a pirate, a foreign cruiser may, upon burton that the matter pad been gatisfactorily settled. her responsibility, stop and examive ber, but she 6oes ee at her porii. tao suspected vensri be in resity a pirate, no harm will bave been dene; but if, om te other And again, in another par of his speech, he says:— At the time to which I allude the question was at ite It created wach more interest than It does now, acd # assumed s much more sericus charactor. I have Bo intention of renewirg @ discussion upon the subject; ‘ANG ft is the lees veceseary for mo to do so, because my last pote reccained more than & year unanswered; and Decanse the Secretary of State deciared more than omce to the British a WF that the ex- planation wes entirely satisfactory. Lord Aberdeen then stated the explanation which had been given by him of the British claim, which amounted to this: That they made no pretension to interfere with American ves- sele, knowing or believing them to be such, but maintained their right, in cases of suspicion, to go on board vessels bearing the American flag to ascertain their nationality; that if, in the exercise of this right, mistakes should be com- mitted and loss or injury be sustained by an American vessel 80 visited and detained, re- paration would be made, but ihat, under no circumstances, would the right be abandoned. The original acquiescence of Mr. Webster and Mr. Tyler in the British claim of the right of visit, thus stated by Lord Aberdeen, will, doubtless, strike most American readers with eurprise; but to those who followed the course of the discussions at the time with closeness and atteation, the revelation contains nothing new. On the contrary, the public official re- cords of our own country afford the strongest confirmation of itstruth. I was certainly very remarkable, as stated by Lord Aberdeen, that his letter of 20th December, 1841, to Mr. Everett, reasserting the British claim of the right of visit, should have remained for more than a year unanswered. But this was not all. President Tyler, in his annual message to Congress im December, 1842, had referred to the treaty of Washington, in its bearing on the British claim of the right of visit, in such terms as to induce Sir Robert Peel, then Prime Minister of England, to declare in open Parlia- ment that the British government hed not by that treaty “abandoned its claim to the right of visitation.” A despatch was, moreover, ad- dressed, on the 18th of January, 1843, by Lord Aberdeen to Mr. Fox, the British Minister at Wathington, which he was instructed to read toMr. Webster, declaring that the British go- vernment “had not receded and would not re- cede” from its claim of the right of visit, as previously laid down in the correspondence be- tween the two governments, which claim he Proceeded to refterate in the terms already cited. On the 22d of February, 1443, a resolu- tion was adopted by the House of Roprosenta- tives calling on the President for imformation ‘as to any correspondence or communication which may have been received from the British government respecting the construction of the treaty lately concluded at Washingtoa, so far as it concerned an alleged right to vielt Ameri- can vessels, In anewer to this rerolution, the President, on the 27th of February, 1843, transmitted to Con- grees the substance of the despatch just men- tigned of Lord Aberdeen to Mr. Fox, and ao- companied it with remarks, giving the views of the Executive with regard to the matters in dis- cussion and the doctrines of public law applica- ble to them. He intimated, with reference to the right of visit claimed by Groat Britain, that “the apparent difference between the two governments was one of definition rather than of principle.” He announced also, as a broad principle of the law of nations, that if a vessel bearing the American flag be suspected of piracy, upon what shall seem probable cause, the seizure and detention of such a vessel by a British cruiser, though the suspicion turn out to be erroneous, would give rise to neither pub- lic responsibility nor any claim of indemnity to the owner. “The right, under euch circum. stances,” said the message, “not only to visit and detain, but to search a ship, is a perfect right, and involves neither responsibilty nor indemnity.” Such a derogation as this from the doctrine which had been hitherto invariably maintained by the government of the United States, to wit.: that the right of vis® or search wassolely a bel- ligerent right, and that in time of peace there was no right on the part of a foreign cruiser, in any oase whatever, to enter on board an Ameri- can vessel, coupled with the ominous declara- tion that the apparent difference between the two governments was one rather of definition than of principle—startled the minds of those who had derived their conceptions of maritime rights from the great oracles of American pub- lic law. To admit any exception whatever to the absolute immunity of the national tag in time of peace waa felt to be the opening of the door for unlimited abuees. The cage of the euspicion of piracy was the of public law for which the United Stutes had so long and inflexibly contended, he cited the instructions given on the 15th of April, 1813, by Mr. Monroe, under the administration of Mr. Madison, to our Plentpotentiaries for treat- laws govern im them; against tose laws are punisnabie by its tribanals bgt tS ‘& nation protects ev: i : i aes ial e 4 Mr. Rives proceeded to show that visit now asserted by Great Britain effect, to extend to the whole ocean the lete claim of sovereignty and dominion which she once arrogated to herself within the nar- row seas surrounding her own island; that if the right existed, there was a corresponding obligation on the part of the vessels of all other Powers to yield to it, and any attempt to realist or cvade it would be logically followed by the penalties of capture and confiscation; that the promise of reparation, in case of mistake and injury, should never reconcile a government, strong in the conviction of its rights, to the turrender of a great principle; that a similar Promiee was once held out to induce the gov- ernment of the United States to acquiesce in the odious claim of impressment, but it was in- stantly and unhesitatingly rejected. He finally Geclared the people of America could never be brought, either by artifice or force, to submit to the right now claimed by the British govern- ment, and he called upon the administration to return a manly and unequivocal negative to the claim as again put forward by Lord Aberdees in bis despatch to Mr. Fox, and to re-affirm, in all its integrity and truth, the ancient American doctrine of the absolute immunity of the na- tional fiag in time of peace. With this protest from the Senate chamber against the British claim as set forth by Lord Aberdeen, and against the ill-advised conces- sions of the President’s message, the session of Congrees terminated the following day—the 34 of March, 1843. On the 28th of that month the letter of Mr. Webster to Mr. Everett was written, which was the first official manifesta- tion from the State Department of any dissent from the principles and claims asserted in Lord Aberdeen’s letter of the 20th December, 1841, to Mr. Everett, and repeated in the despatch to Mr. Fox of the 18th January, 1843. This tardy letter of Mr. Webster contained, at lost, a denial of the Britieh claim, in an argu- ment distinguished by his usual ability, recar- ting to the simple and manly principle of the entire immunity of the national flag in time of peace, on which only the denial could be firmly and consistently supported, and virtually re- tracting the heresies of the Executive message of the 27th February, 184% . Mr. Wobster had not only permitted, as Lord Aberdeen says, his letter of the 20th December, 1841, to Mr. Everett, iz ts Bf answered for more than a year, but Mr. Eve- rett, it appears, from a letter addressed by him to Lord Aberdeen on the 21st February, 1942, mission, stated in the House of Lords, (Febru- ary, 1843,) with reference to the claim of the right of visit -— Undoudfediy 1 wont for the question % entiroly satiefactory. On a motion subsequently made (April, 1843), for a vote of thanks to Lord Ashburton for his services in the negotiation, reference was made to the Prosident’s message of the 27th February, 1845, in connection with the right of visit claimed by the British government, when Lord Brougham anid, “the President admits the» right?’ and Lord Lansdowne added, “ ho dooa - but not the exercise of it.” That sq eminont staggeman and jarist as Mr,