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this mistrust are as transparent , in the very statement , as we know them to be false in fact . We are told , says a wr iter in Kew York , the " own correspondent" of a morning paper , that * the people of the United States are reluctantly coming to the opinion that neither the President nor his Cabinet were fully qualified to undertake the administration of the affairs of the nation ;" and then causes are given . The President , we are condescendingly informed , " had indeed been some time in public life , but he had never , by his official duties
, been made familiar with international affairs . The sphere in which he had moved was altogether too narrow to prepare him for the serious engagements with which he is now obliged to grapple . " Then " at no period of our history has any new Administration so long deferred the consideration of our foreign affairs . " And the writer " does not believe that General Pierce , or his Cabinet , have yet settled upon any definitive policy or purpose , in respect to the important question that has just arisen , "
in regard to Mexico . Now , the presumption ' based upon these premises is about the least proper to be rested upon them of any that could have been selected . That General Pierce has not yet made any statement of his views is a fact which , to most observers knowing his past career , would have indicated not a want of purpose , but distinctness of purpose and strong self-possession . It is only the man who is not quite sure of himself , or does not suffice to himself , that rushes into the ear of his neighbour , with all his plans , and purposes , and
little projects- The man who is sufficient to himself is content if he knows his own mind ; and all who were acquainted with the past career of General Pierce , know that it has been remarkable for modest quiet , for efficiency in action , and for unfailing energy . As to his " sphere of action , " it has always been expanding , and has never been too large for him to fill it . The man who attained to the position of a president of his state senate , at a very early age , and who , while still in the flower of youth , entered the senate of the United States , cannot have been a man with
faculties suited only to a narrow sphere . The man . who entered the army , as a volunteer , to handle a brown musket , and returned home as the General , to receive the thanks of Congress , cannot be a man with insufficiency of purpose or vigour . But General Pierce did not tell the friends of his youthful recreations that he intended to establish himself in the Senate of the Union ; he did not proclaim , through the barrel of his musket , as a speaking trumpet , that he aimed at being General of the forces . The proclamation of his purpose has , in past times , been
made by the achievement of his acts , and we may , at his years , expect that such a man is likely to persevere in that self-possessed manner . But the very examples advanced of his public acts prove that he is not without decision . Even on this very question of Mexico , the same writer complains , indeed , that his choice of ambassadors has been too marked . He has chosen Mr . 'S . oule ' . aB ambassador for Spain , "the most obnoxious man that could have been chosen to represent us ft Madrid . " He liaa chosen as
Secretary of State , Mr . Marcy , who has the objectionable attribute ia the eyes of the writer , that Santa Anna , who has subsequently returned to be Dictator in Mexico , hates Mr . Marcy , " as he hates the Americans , and as the Americans hato him . " It appears to us , then , that Mr . Marcy and the American people must bo in tuno together ; and that Mr . Marcy at least must bo a man of decided feelings , which , indeed , wo knew before . But do those selections indicate indisposition or inability P Quito tho reverse . To us they indicate , if not settled purpose , settled principle . , Let us go back to General Pierco ' s position ri
before ho was called from the retirement of pvate lifje to bo President . Ilia last public act was to receive the thanks of his country for victorious services , after entering upon tho career of a soldier only as a private citizen bound to perform his duty . But upon what occasion was it that Franklin Piorco took up arms P It was for the purpose of adding ono more musket to tho army which was destined to chastise Mexico , and to annex a ne « v territory to tho United States . Whom has h , © chosen as Score tarv of State P Mr . Marcy , who , in dealing with tho npw Dictator of Mexico , is meeting that " old enemy , " Santa Ana * j Santa Aiwa being also tho enemy
of that Herrera who heads the Annexation party in Mexico . Spain has had some wild dreams , not only of retaining Cuba , but of recovering Mexico . - And whom does Franklin Pierce select to represent his Government in Madrid P Mr . Soule , reputed to have some connexion , as he has an undisguised sympathy , with the Order of the Lone Star , and noted for having proposed to place 5 , 000 , 000 of dollars at the . command of General Pierce , in case of emergencies . . The writer appears to differ from the policy that may be inferred from these facts , and his moral
disapprobation appears to blind him to the real meaning or weight of the very facts he states . Let us not be misunderstood , or contribute to any misinterpretation of President Pierce ' s position . It would be a very hasty , and , therefore , a very wrong conclusion , to presume that he has decreed the annexation of Mexico , or of Cuba . That any man in his position has the power of decreeing those conquests we believe . He could evoke the necessary strength from his own country ; he could find more than enough of willingness in Mexico and Cuba to bring them into the Union . He could in the West defy any power of the East , and win glory by resisting any force that could be brought against him . These
things we believe ; but we also believe that the Government at Washington will be ruled strictly by the sense of justice inherent in the mind of man , by the broad principles of international law . The interests of the Union , the principles towards which she must incline , the propagation of her doctrines and her influence , are objects which must be elevated as standards to mark the goal for President Pierce ; and that he will approach them by any unworthy means is as little to be inferred from his character as it is from his acts . It is only proper that European politicians should learn to estimate the qualities of a man who has been appointed to a post and a mission so conspicuous as those of the American President .
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A CLEABING HOUSE FOE PARLIAMENTARY PECCADILLOES . The Durham Election Committee supplies us with a further insight into the manner in which the principle of the set-off has been worked by the gentlemen who create the House of Commons , —the Parliamentary Agents . Mr . Atherton , one of the unseated Members , Mr . Bentinck , a member of the committee , Mr . Coppock , of European celebrity , and Mr . Browne , tne Conservative agent , have carried on something like
a conversation before the reporters , which acquaints us with the whole matter ; Mr . Coppock still being the man who holds the key of the position . When Mr . Atherton found that a petition was presented against his return , on charges of riot and premature closing of the poll , he reflected that such grounds affected both members , —Mr . Granger's return as well as his own ; and he accordingly caused a petition to be presented against the deceased Member ' s return . He was told by Sir Alexander Cockburn that the petition would be of no effect if he did not pray J ? iZ . «„ ~ -A _ n » -k /^ -f / -V ftll ^ l + liO nP /» At 3 QlfTT f \ P Y \ l * Ck ¥ T *» T * vi j / x u . v *
± [ jr Vlttj dC ? t * i / / C * IJ . * -i . vu XUAJJ . * . a / - ** . * - * «* wwu « . n ^ y . ) he accordingly " prayed for the seat , " which would naturally have fallen to Lord Adolphus Vane . Mr . Atherton ' s object was to atop the issue of the writ , which would have let in Lord Adolphus , and thus to make it wortn \ tho while of Lord AdolphuB ' s friends to agree to withdraw both petitions . But Mr . Coppock , though admiring the coup , viewed it in a more professional manner . He had conversations with Mr . Browne and Mr . Bentinck , and other Sersons interested in . those transactions , and ho raws nice distinctions between a " bona . fide " Jjetition , and a petition " to sccuro a quiet return or Lord Adolphus Vano , " or a third , " to place Mr . Athorton and Lord Adolphus on equal terms ; " but then " tho bona fide petition was presented to got rid of that bona ndo petition which unaoated Lord Adolphus Vano a few days ago . " Thus , Members found an office in which seat could bo spt against seat , vacancy against vacancy advantage against advantage , flaw againatTiaw ; and by this process of setting ono against tho other , with comparatively little trouble and expense , ono could arrive at tho not result . It is tho perfection of a clearing-house for tho balanoe of parliamentary accounts . But why should this convenience be limited to parliamentary petitions ? Wo remember an advertisement of some eligible premises in Tottenham Court-road , which were suitable for a hair-dreflser ' B , a confectioners , an iroumongor e ,
or an oyster dealer ' s , and a sort of postscript announced them to be " susceptible also of the chop line . " Mr . Coppock ' s office appears to us to be susceptible of the " affair of honour" line . The Keogh . affair is a sort of cross fire , to retaliate and counterbalance the " W . B ., " the Admiralty , and other peccadilloes of the late administration . Now it would save a great deal of debating and bother , if two parties
possessing such easily constructed cases against each other , could refer them , not to the House of Commons , but to Mr . Coppock ; strike a balance , and bring only the net amount before the House . Mr . Keogh , it is asserted , preached Bibbandism , andphysically trampled ontheEcclesiasticalTitles Bill ; Mr . Augustus Stafford converted Admiralty patronage to election purposes , and made statements for which it would have been difficult to
have produced the corresponding facts . Mr . Sadleir and Mr . Monsell accepted office under a Conservative-Liberal Administration , — a formidable offence ; and " W . B . " suborned voters at Derby by an alien agent . Clearly , instead of troubling the House of Commons about these matters , they might have been referred to Mr . Coppock , who should have cast up in a Dr . and Cr . account ; and then onl y the balance that remained should have been brought forward in the House .
We perceive , indeed , a difficulty in this , arising from the absence of some counterpoise . There are Keogh , Sadleir , and Monsell , to be set down to the Conservative-Whig account . But then , there « xe W . B ., A . S ., Northumberland , Derby , and Heaven knows how many other culprits , on the other side , to say nothing of the comparative weight of the allegations against the fate Ministry . We do not see how Browne and Coppock could have made a fair bargain . Nevertheless , the princi p le is a good one ; and we are convinced that it would nave redounded to the credit of both parties , if they had sunk ail the peccadilloes that could be set off one against the other , at the same time that it would nave relieved the House from some of its most discreditable debates .
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USES OP THE CHOBHAM CAMPAIGN . Stbange mutation of opinion ! The furore of June , in 1851 , was the international Exposition , with a jubilee of Peace prophets : in this month of June , 1853 , it iB the Chobham Camp . Such a spectacle , indeed , has not aroused the old martial instincts of the British people since the war of giants , ending in the catastrophe of Waterloo . And , whatever the Gurneys and Cobdens may say , it is not merely the fine spectacle which
draws the thousands to the breezy heath , white with the tents of a gallant and compact little army . It is a real sympathy with our gallant champions , the protectors of our honour , the guardians of our rights all over the world . It is a latent , half conscious sense , that British honour , and British commerce , and British love of right , and the desire to keep that foremost place , so dearly and so laboriously won by our forefathers , which creates the interest in the scenes at
Chobham . With Russia trying to turn our Eastern flank—even the City , even Manchester , cannot but feel that there may be yet need for the bayonet and the cannon . Nor is the spectacle itself contemptible ; far from it . A wide heath , undulating into hill and dell , dotted with white tents ; soldiers roughing it under canvass ; and now again marching forth in tho stern array of battle , and simulating tho dreadful shock of the field ; the sturdy Highlander , the steady guardsman , the dashing lancer , the agile rifleman—all make up a scene which kindles memories that never die , and
awakens those emotions without which Ji , ngland would not be England . And no matter whether you bo republican or monarchist in creed and fooling—tho sight of Queon Victoria reviewing her soldiers—and at suclj . a moment—restores that belief in the manly stamina of tho British people , which tho maudlin preachments of the Peace party , and tho noise they made , had made bo many forget . The spirit of Cromwell is not yet extinguished by the spirit of Cobdon . Peace with honour must triumph over peace at any price .
But valuable as this miniature encapmment has proved in tosting the slumbering spirit of the nation , that \ a not tho only result of this experiment . It lias a practical character , and supplies a much needed experience both to the soldier and tho officer . Theoretically , the rawoat recruit
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Ji ^ ' ^\? 858 . ] THE LEADER . 61 $ ¦ ¦ ¦ ? ' ¦ •• ¦ , , ¦
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 25, 1853, page 613, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1992/page/13/
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