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    12 TflE IiHADEB. [No. S54, Saturday,

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    THE ANGLO-AMERICAN ALLIANCE. An American...

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    Tice Last And The Nex.Ttee Last Year Ope...

    official opinion of Paris , moderation , dignity , fait h , were attributed to the Emperor Alik-A 1 TDEB——violence , rapacity , and a desire to degrade the public enemy were , by implication , imputed to ^ Lord Pai / merston . A French spirit presided at the Conferences , an English spirit began to revive at home . Mean while , however , Parliament had assembled in London , and some faint efforts at

    political opposition were made . Mr . Dis-EAEiii broke down in an attempt to place his own principles of foreign policy in favourable contrast with those of the Premier ; Lord Clabendon repressed the disaffection in th e House of Peers ; Lord Paxmebston caught upon his buckler the darts of the Tory and independent benches , and tossed them with fanciful ease ; even Mr- Koebtjck was baffled and disconcerted . Onlv Mr .

    Bkightsucceeded in rousing a brief debate ; but his arguments were unpopular , and , thougTi they left their mark , the Administration succeeded in silencing all discussion , and protecting the Conferences from that most illegitimate of English influences , the influence of Parliament . Little excitement followed the announcement of the treaty . "While the French were delighted to be relieved from a war in which their interests

    had never been engaged , the English accepted the peace with ' a contented sort of discontent , ' and took the illuminations as a palliative . Then , for one night , London-wore aglory ; and while the holiday multitude glowed to see the pearl fire and the red rockets , there was many a "wistful notion uttered as to the hypothetical results of One More Campaign . However , Peace had heen signed , and it was necessary to make the best of it ; so the Guards were dined—badly in London , but sumptuously in Edinburgh and Dublin—and England went once more her accustomed way .

    What was the year bringing for Prance , exhausted by the Bussian war ? The article in the Moniteur against the English press , the revelations of Cayenne , dear lodgings , scanty food , the bull-victories of Bayoiine , the blue and gold pavilion of Biarritz , the Imperial infant , and the masquerade hunts of Compiegne . Not one imperial concession to liberty , not one liberal adhesion to the Empire . Discontent among the working classes , financial embarrassments , the penalties of public gambling , France liable , by the accident of any day , to find herself in the midst of a revolution . So in Austria . Her Italian

    provinces are devastated by jthe tax-gatherer . The Emperor is received in silence at Venice , and dares not visit Milan . Prom Naples , he hears that his Bourbon brother has received a bayonet-stab from one of his military children , and he receives a hint on the art of government , illustrated by eight hours of torture , inflicted upon a man with whom every just nrind sympathizes deeply . "What a contrast between the . soldier and the Icing !—the ' assasBin , ' first agonized "by Iroquois torments ,

    j j bmtallv P ^ Uo death , and the tyrant , guarded by mercenaries , haunted by a terror which will some day change into remorse and living in the midst of daggers , many of which do not strike him only , because they cannot penetrate his pretori . an . enclosure ! A sovereign of another quality , in Berlin , prepares to . make war by ri < rht divine . ¦ R ™*!!^

    from Neufcb & teJ , chiefly for violating the conditions of his tenure , this preacher of p & ace makes ready for an invasion of Switzerland , J" <> ugh he were about to hunt down a wolf . Should hia armies ever arrive , at the Swiss frontier — -which is exceedingly doubtful , owing to the protest of Wurfcemberg , and the attitude of the neutral Powers—they will encounter such a reception ns may Btartlo the moony pedant from his dreams of divinity No

    doubt he and his kindred on the thrones of Europe anticipated a large increase ^ of their prerogative over the smaller constitutional Powers , from the dispute between Great Britain and America . As if Kuatan , Belize , the Mosquito Indians , or all the logwood , coffee , cocoa , or sugar plantations in Central America were worth one blow struck between Captain Seymour and Captain Habsteinj

    the American and British navies personified on the deck of the [ Resolute ! Happily , that cloud has drifted away j we find ourselves in cordial amity with the XTnited States ; we are looking round for a Minister to represent us at New York ; and , instead of being called on to assist in the obsequies of the Union , we see James ~ Bv chanajt laying the foundations of domestic tranquillity throughout the Northern continent of America .

    In the west and east of Asia we have two difficulties—a Persian war , and a collision with China . Both , perhaps , have been partially actuated by a belief which is entertained by the Q-ovemment , that , as the Russian war somewhat impaired our prestige in Asia , it is judicious to insure the deference of the Asiatic population by maintaining a vigorous line of policy from the Persian G-ulf to the Yellow Sea . In "the case of

    Persia , however , our quarrel is clearly just ; while at Canton , so far as the circumstances have yet been explained , no blame is attributable to Sir John Bowaiisra or Admiral Setmiour . A retrospect at home shows little progress in legislation , or the purity of social manners .

    Two or three commercial reforms , a county police bill , a reformatory movement , and some powerful pleas in favour of education , are to be balanced against the mighty swindles of Middlesex and Tipperary , the Kugeley , Leeds , Dublin , and metropolitan murders , and the utter bewilderment of our jurists in search of penalties for offenders .

    The last year casts its shadows over the next . No one will be astonished by the recurrence , at any moment , of the convulsions of 1848 . That one truth indicates the kind and the degree of progress tbat has been made abroad . At home , what is our task ? It seems hopeless to obtain a reform of our foreign policy , which is , by turns , the prerogative of a Whig or Tory minister . But the nation is gradually educating itself to a

    familiarity with the affairs of tlie Continent , and our diplomatic relations with the great Powers . Knowledge of this kind is useless unless applied in the form of direct pressure upon the Administration . In other respects , the paramount necessity of the new year is a great change in our parliamentary institutions ; for Parliament , as it exists , is the machine of corrupt parties , and the constituencies are hotbeds of venality .

    12 Tfle Iihadeb. [No. S54, Saturday,

    12 TflE IiHADEB . [ No . S 54 , Saturday ,

    The Anglo-American Alliance. An American...

    THE ANGLO-AMERICAN ALLIANCE . An American officer has just struck his flag to an English , naval commander , surrendering hia shi p , and yet the act was a deed of victory . Captain Haetstein struck his flag on board the Resolute , on Tuesday , and gave up the ship to Captain Seymour , of the British navy . He did so , ho said , " with a pride totally at variance with our professional ldpas , " and the pride of the officer can be well understood . Many thoughts must have crowded into Captain Hahtstein's mind at that moment . It is comparatively but a short time since this country , after making a treaty with the United States to guarantee tlio neutrality of a passage across the American isthmus , first endeavoured to back out ot that compact , and then , to cover its own bad faith , endeavoured to establish against the statesmen of the Union tno most treacherous purpose in framing

    the treaty . Failing in this crooked endea . your ,, our Government yielded up the island in dispute , and the whole points of the con . test ; still , however , unhandsomel y accom . panying the really humiliating concession with a continued charge of sharp practice against the Union . What was the reply of the American Government ? "Firm in exacting a compliance with its just demands , in the matter both of Central America and the Enlistment quarrel , the American Government continued a perfectly frank conduct towards our own ; and when the opportunitv

    offered , in the drifting of the Resolute to American hands , it seized the occasion for a touching testimony of sympathy , of good feeling towards the whole people of this country , and of respect even for the national Government . It may be Baid that the United States , with a peculiar grace and generosity , returned good for evil in making that handsome present of the Resolute to the English nation through Queen Yictoeia . ; and in striking his flag to Captain Seymottb , Captain Hjlbtstein was actually crowning that victory .

    If , indeed , Englishmen will but understand themselves and their relation to their Government , there will be no further chance of disputation between the American Bepubiic and our Commonwealth . It was this idea which inspired the brief address of Mr . Cbosskby at the Portsmouth dinner on Monday , last week . " Although , " he said , " it had fallen to the happy lot of America to inaugurate this auspicious event in the annals of nations , he had no doubt that had the relative positions of the two countries been changed ,

    England -would have done just as they ( the Americans ) had done ( Jcyud cheers ) ; and she had no greater wish than for some opportunity to occur -wherein she could prove that she was not to be excelled ia such acts even by her first-bora daughter , America . { Cheers . ' ) England must rejoice in America ' s prosperity , even as America rejoiced when she heard of the increase of British prosperity and the extension of the British empire in legitimate directions . The world was large enough for both nations to fulfil their respective destinies without coming into conflict with each other . { Prolonged cheering . The East seemed peculiarly England ' s sphere of action , while tlie West would appear to be the sphere in which

    America , rather than England , should exercise the iafluence -which the Anglo-Saxon race had never failed to exercise among a semi-barbarous people or over undeveloped countries . At all everts , it was their duty to cherish the present kindly feelings existing between them , to avoid all talk of war , and to be chary of each other ' s honour and feelings as they would of their own , for hard words too often led to hard blows . { Cheers . ) When he heard the possibility of a war between the two countries , the idea appeared to him to be so unnatu ral that he found himself repeating , with the transposition of a few words , an old nursery rhyme , as familiar on their side of the Atlantic as on this , and it might not be inappropriate on tho present occasion to repeat the lines :

    " Let dogs delight to bark and bite , For God bath made thorn so : Let Turks and Russians growl and fight , For tis their nature to . * But Anglo-Saxons should not lot Their anpry passions rise , Their great big hands were never mado To tear each other ' s eyes . ' { Cheers and laughter . ) Ho ( Mr . Crosskey ) recommended both English and American mothers to adopt tliis version in teaching their children , as a war between England and America would bo bo dire a catastrophe that it would be execrated by all lovers of their kind ; it would le > a violation of the first principles of nature , and in disobedience of the law ftf the Great Ruler of the Universe . " { Cheers . )

    Those who sat round the table would observe that in the reports of Mr . Cbosbket ' s speech one clause was omitted . If wo mistake not , while speaking of the support winch England would always receive when she needed it , he alluded more especially to the support which tho Americans would give if England wore sustaining the cause of Liberalism in Europe . This is exactly whnt wo have always said , and it gives us pride and satisfaction to have the testimony of Mr . Cjiosskey to the samo effect . What man could better understand the relation of tlie two countries than that American who ia

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 3, 1857, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03011857/page/12/