AMERICAN POLITICS.

Grey River Argus, Volume VIII, Issue 537, 26 June 1869, Page 4

AMERICAN POLITICS.

The Senate of the United States has finally rejected the Alabama Treaty by a majority of all against one. Poor Mr Reverdy Johnson, whose goodwill was more conspicuous than his judgment, meanwhile has announced his retirement into private life. Mr John Lothrope Motley comes as his successor ; and his appointment gives general satisfaction. As the historian of the Netherlands he has already achieved a reputation in this country ; nor is he without experience, having held office till lately at Vienna. Professor Gold win Smith, whose American sympathies are beyond dispute, and who is now reside ut in the States while preparing a new history, has addressed a letter to the New York Nation, in which he uses his influence to remove the false impression current in America. "As one of those," he says, " who believed that the cause of English liberty was bound up with that of the Union, I jealously watched the interests of both causes, the actions of our Government. . ... . . . . And it is my firm conviction that its settled policy from the outset and throughout the struggle was strict neutrality, practical as well as legal, and if it erred (as I am myself inclined to think it did) in its choice of time for the recognition of the Confederates as belligerents, the error was the result, not of any sinister bias, but of misconception." Itremahu to be seen whether the moderate views of such a man can penetrate the thick prejudices of America. The latest proposal is that England shaU be asked to cede Britfsh Norih America as compensation for the Alabama claims. The fever of annexation seems to bewilder the judgment of our Northern cousins, and to betray them into the grossest inconsistencies. Thus the committee on foreign affairs has brought in a report authorising the President to recognise the Cuban insurgents, either as belligerents or as an independent power as soon as he. pleases ! that is, to violate the very principle which they insist on our most stringently observing. There is a rumor afloat thai; General Grant will seize Cuba, in accordance with these iosfcniciions ; and defySpain,!France, and England, if they dare to remonstrate. It sounds great to assume such a hosale contingency.