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We have treated the people of the two countries aa belonging to the same family though divided ; as governed politically by the same principles , though differently developed ; as having the same objects in public and private life , though modified by geographical distinctions and local circumstances ; and us having a common interest against the disturbing interests of individuals or cabinets . In all questions of dispute we have been guided by these principles . When the differences arose respecting the efforts of certain persons to obtain recruits in the United
States for the British forces , we firmly pointed out , not only the gross breach of law in that illegal proceeding , but the circumstance that the enterprise was suggested by individuals , coldly sanctioned by the British Government , and only maintained on this side from some notion of the " consistency" in supporting representatives abroad , and of not Vielding to " intimidation . " "What course did the Trader take ? We sought to enlist public opinion against the spirit of discord , by showing that neither the American nor English public could differ about the . facts when once they were distinctly and candidly explained . What was theresult ? " The result
was that the recruiting enterprise was discontinued ; that the character of the subordinate agents , who had taken the scheme out of the hands of the worthy gentleman that suggested it , were exposed ; that our Government withdrew from the position to which it had been committed without its knowledge by its representatives ^ and that although it remained in some dudgeon after Mr . Crampton and the five consuls had been withdrawn from the United States , it at last tacitly abandoned that attitude of sulks , appointed its representative , and renewed complete friendly intercourse . There certainly was no triumph on the other side ; there was no necessity to feel humiliated on our own . side . The ultimate results
were in perfect accordance with public opinion , and 1 he people of the republic as little looked down on the English as the real English people hare looked down on the Republicans . The Clayton-Bulwer treaty attained to no ultimate results , because it was a compromise where each side endeavoured to make reserves . Xhe Britislr representative in particular strove to maintain privileges which this country had never strictly acquired , without either openly asserting these privileges or frankly compromising tliem . " While the quarrel was in issue , we sought to explain that
the treaty was defective : it has been necessarily dropped , and the agents of the two countries have to begin again , if we are to establish a thorough understanding in Central America . . During the recent dispute , without advancing any cluim on the side of the Republic , we have simply endeavoured to explain in what manner British officers have exceeded their duty , and most probably their instructions . Without abandoning any lights which this country has acquired , the present Government has confessed the fact that , in all probribility ,. duty and instructions have been exceeded .
It has offered redress where injury shall be established , and the dispute only awaits settlement in detail . Officials or officers would now lie under a very serious responsibility if they were to drag the two countries into dispute , for the general merits of the question are understood on both sides . Public opinion is watching the progress of events , and administrative responsibility is morally secured . Dangerous , and to a certain extent heated , as the discussion has been , on the most recent of these questions , the sequel may be generally advantageous to both countries . Most minds in England and
A . merica are equally adverse to any extension or even perpetuation of Slavery , for any race or in any form . The difficulties of the sudden abolition of an institution which we planted on the Western shore of the Atlantic are more present to an American experience than to English , and it is we English who have been most impatient to consummate emancipation for our neighbours as well as ourselves . In proportion , however , as commercial intercourse between all parts of tlie- world has increased , as our armed cruisers , like the slavers that thev nursue .
cross the paths of regular commerce , the conflict hus become entangled with the movements of trade : mistakes have been commensurately embarrassing . Our own eudcavours to replace the labour abstracted from our colonies by free emigrants have been parodied b y France and Spain , and strangely enough it is the United States who stand out against the adoption of that plan , as being counter to the spirit and letter of existing treaties as well as the law of the Union . The lesson has not been lost upon the people of this country . Wo have discovered that we ctumot legislate and administer for h ,. .-.: ...
foreign countries without committing ourselves to consequences that we < lo not anticipate , and liabilities that we do not iutend . A more modest view of our duty has thus been forced upon us , and it does seem probable that recent experiences will prove to have taught England the policy of seeking to promote negro emancipation by such moral means , such peaceful influences as may obtain the full concurrence of our American relatives . If so , instead of having encountered a rebuff through the check given to our cruisers on the coast of America or Africa , we have only rectified a mistake , which was not in itself disgraceful to this country , and have
secured a new progress in a broader path towards emancipation . We have obtained experiences not less satisfactory ; on any appeal to the public of the two countries , there has been evinced an irresistible tendency to active co-operation ; it is shown on every occasion . Officials may differ , may quarrel , may indulge in arroganee or petulance , but the great public of either country secures respect for itself by showing respect for the other . Never did one nation evince this desire for international companionship more distinctly than the Americans b y their hearty co-operation in the Franklin search ; never was there a more tasteful present than that made by the Republicans to the British Commonwealth through its Queen in the Resolute . While ships of the two countries are engaged in linkiner
the two together by the electric telegraph , we have confessed to each other the immense stake which we have in N : niutual peace and prosperity through an enormous joint trade . The public of the two countries has discovered that the indiscretion of officials may inflict an injury which no bureaux could repair ; the results have justified our constant and direct appeal to public opinion ; for by that opinion has been maintained the peace of the two countries , the truth and the dignity of both nations ; by that appeal they have been prevented from arraying the twr > most powerful communities against each other , have forced their Governments to continue in partnership , for the benefit of mankind , and have preserved unimpaired the opportunity of the two great Anglo-Saxon families to direct the future of the civilized world .
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clumsy parts of the machine will immediately work for evil while the- more finished parts are working for good , and that the very next session will be one of extensive repairs . Accepting Lord Stanley ' s plan , therefore , with the modifications that appear inevitable , it is unquestionably an immense improvement upon that of Lord Ellenborough , whose retirement the Lord Chancellor touclnngly respects , but who has suffered some hard hits from bis successor at the Board of Control . Many of his complications have been set
INDIA BILL KUMBER THREE . Tub Government has not too much confidence in the second India Bill . It submits some of the clauses in the expectation that Parliament will reject them , and the whole measure in the full belief that it is no more than provisional . If the pceseRt session is really to bear Indian fruit , we shall certainly have an "unripe reform ; but the Legislature appears to have set its mind upon doing something , and the latest plea of the Cabinet is that , defective as their scheme may be , it will serve a temporary purpose . Mr . Bright fixes the year 1863 as that in which a fresh Bill will be drawn ; but without rashness , we may assume that the
aside , especially his mixed constituencies , made up from all sorts of places—from Cheltenham to the Strand , from cool verandahs in Canara to fierce outposts on the North-West frontier , and hidden bungalows in Assam . In fact , the new bill is not an absurdity , and that is what we have gained by restoring Lord EUenborough to independence and irresponsibility . The Council , however , as constituted by Lord Stanley , will surprise us if it works well . It is too large . Twelve advisers would have been sufficient to facilitate a minister of the Crown in the
discharge of Ins duties . Lord Stanley objects that there will lie a prodigious accumulation of business ; but the Council is not an executive , and the argument used by the President of the Board of Control , added to his explanations , points to that which will prove , we fear , the radical vice ol ' the reformed system . The government of India is still to be a government of despatches . Six committees , each with its clerk , will be incessantly originating " correspondence , " to be laid before the Secretary of State , and , if necessary , before the
whole Council . But the Minister will be the final judge in every case , the mass of writing imposing no despotism upon him . Lord Stanley believes that lie will not abuse his prerogative , but that he will lean , to a reasonable—and even unreasonable—extent , upon his Council . That depends altogether upon individual character . With Lord EUenborough and Lord Broughton the tendency would have been the other way . AH ambitious men desire to concentrate intlieir own hands as much power as possible . But
to tins we can have no objection . Hold the minister responsible , and vest him with full discretion , wnile he remains at his post . Why , however , leave it optional with him whether or not to appoint a secret committee in wlich he , with two or more councillors , perhaps his creatures and favourites , may " deal with certain matters on his own responsibility ? " We very much regret the obvious inclination of the Government to copy tlie procedure of the East India Company , and to establish an administration of minutes and letters
circulating through five hands before— -if finally adopted—tliey start for India . This regret is increased by the fact that the bill does not declare what the duties of tlie Council or the Secretary of State are to be . What is to be the future position of the Governor-General ? What are to be his duties and responsibilities ? How far is he to hold his hand in matters of administration until instructed from home ? We shall have a Council at Calcutta and a Council in London . What are to be their relations , and where will be the privilege of initiation and supremacy ? The bill leaves a total blank . With the army it professes
not to deal , but it might have been expected to arrange fox the actual administrationsof India in any sense . Eor example , should a scheme be proposed for supplanting the village settlement in one set of provinces by zemindary—what body will determine the controversy ? Is a measure to be introduced into Parliament , read three times and passed , or defeated ? Is the Secretary of State in Council at home to regulate the revenue system ? or is the Govern 6 r-General in Council to do as he pleases ? We are to have a new ¦ government for India , but what it is practically to
be no one has the most remote conception Parliament is legislating in a hurry ,, and for the sake of an India Bill carrying credit to toe session of 1858 , it is likely to multiply rather that to diminish embarrassnients . Of course , it'is fair to suppose that many improvements will be introduced as the measure passes throu gh committee 5 but , we repeat , this India Bill , if passed , will be but a temporary measure—the groundwork of future legislation—for if Parliament intends to frame permanent laws for the interests of our vast Indian Empire , it must be upon principles far more comprehensive , and , at the same time , far more precise .
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OUR POSITION IN CHINA . From the private correspondence we have published , dated Hong-Kong , our readers will have perceived that European affairs in China are by no means in a satisfactory condition . We are in a state neither of peace nor of war in that country . Our merchants are afraid to speculate , our commanders are doing nothing , ou . plenipotentiary wavers between Canton and the capital ; the troops are at Canton , the gunboats in the Pearl river ; the small force working its way northwards is scarcely more than a bodyguard for Lord Elgin ; and our diplomacy , like our squadron , appears to hang fire . In . the meantime , the British community at Honpr-Konir are at a loss
to conceive what the British policy is , and representations are sent home to the effect that trade at the five ports is all but suspended , because no one comprehends the actual state of European relations with the Chinese Empire . It would almost seem that , having obtained possession of Canton , we are perplexed to know not only how to- turn the capture to advantage , but how to order the government of the city while it remains upon our liands . The native authorities , according to
most accounts , still exercise the jurisdiction of savages over the people ; and the Pilikwai has seized and tortured a number of the British Coolie corps . Thus there aro two administrations at Cantonthe civil , retained by the Cliineac , the military , assumed by the allied troops in occupation ; and in spite of this twofold pressure , tlie population chafes and conspires , with , there is little reason to doubt , the connivance of the Mantchu officials . The truth is , that the French aud British arc not in exclusive possession of the town ; they hold a
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No ; 431 , June 26 , 1858 >] T U E irB A . D E R . 61 B
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 26, 1858, page 613, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2248/page/13/
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