THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. [From the Morning Chronicle, January 10.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 516, 13 July 1850, Page 3

THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. [From the Morning Chronicle, January 10.]

President Taylors long-looked-for Message is at last before us. It is favourably distinguished from many of its predecessors, not only by the merit of comparative brevity, but by a certain dignified reserve of tone which we have not noted of late years in these Presidential manifestoes. The preliminary patriotic flourish,prescribed by custom is abridged by good taste ; and after a few of the familiar allusions, which perhaps could not have been, prudently omitted, to such topics as " empire of free men," " derided predictions of evil prophets, 9 ' and " the most stable and permanent government on earth" — followed by a becoming recognition of Divine bounties and chastisements — the President proceeds to the usual summary of the foreign and domestic affairs of the Union. As regards those portions of the document in which the British Government and people are more immediately interested, we have pleasure in acknowledging that Mr. Taylors language is evidently dictated rather by a sense of the responsibilities of statesmanship, than by those party exigencies, which might have tempted a less scrupulous and upright man into manufacturing political capital by a dexterous use of certain exciting topics. "Our relations with Great Britain are, he says "of the most friendly character" — an announcement which appears in suggestive jux- <■ taposition to the mention of "the recent alteration in the British Navigation Acts," and of the anticipated " benefits to both countries" from mutual free trade in shipping. The Tigre Island affair is not named ; and although there is a suspicious looking paragraph in which " the great American power" assumes a sort of quasi Protectorate over her lesser neighbours, " in the event of any collision between them and any European nation," there is no indication of any actual intention to make an offensive use of this very unquestionable pretension. At all events, the Honduras controversy is tacitly reserved for diplomatic tieatment; and it seems to be the general purpose of President Taylor to keep combustible materials as far as possible out of the sight and reach of the extreme parties in Congress. With reference to the Nicaragua business, likewise, this commendable temper is manifested. Whatever may be thought of the legal point which has been raised respecting the alleged rights of Lord Palmerston's friend, the Mosquito King — a question which we do not feel concerned to discuss, — there cannot be two opinions as to the wise and honest policy which, with every appearance of good faith, is indicated in the following paragraph of the Message : — "A contract having been concluded with the State of Nicaragua, by a company composed .of American citizens, for the purpose of constructing a ship canal through the territory of that State, to connect the Atlantic and Pacific I Oceans, I have directed the negotiation of a tteaty with Nicaragua, pledging both governments to protect those who shall engage in and perfect the work. All other nations are invited by the State of Nicaragua to enter | into the same treaty stipulated with her ; and the benefit to be derived by each from such an arrangement, will be the protection of this great inner oceanic communication against any power which might seek to obstruct it, or to monopolise its advantages. All States entering iuto such a treaty will enjoy the right of passage through the canal on payment of the same tolls. The work, if constructed under these guarantees, will become a bond of peace, instead of a subject of contention and strife between the nations of the earth. Should the great maritime states of Europe consent to this arrangement (and we have no reason to suppose that a proposition so fair and honourable will be opposed by-any,) the energies of their people and ours will cooperate in promoting the success of the^enlerprise."

This needs no comment, beyond the sfraple expression of an earnest hope that no difficulty will arise, in any quarter, to the completion of a work in which commerce, civilisation, and humanity, are so deeply interested. The other topics of foreign policy touched upon in the Message do not call for much remark. The President announces the satisfactory adjustment of the recent diplomatic tiff 1 with France ; and a " grave and serious" difference with Portugal, on the debtor and creditor question, is adverted to in terms j which will, it may be hoped, facilitate an early settlement. There is, perhaps, more frankness than decorum in the broadly hinted regret that the Austrian Empire has escaped dismemberment; and the official announcement that an agent had been expressly commissioned by the United States Government to take the very first opportunity of " welcoming independent Hungary into the family of nations," scarcely seems calculated to promote the maintenance of " our accustomed amicable relations" with the legitimate sovereign of that country. With this exception, however, we are bound to say that the language of President Taylors Message is that of a ruler who understands and respects the obligations of international law and the proprieties of international usage. With reference both to the attempted equipment at New York, of a " German Empire" war steamer for service against Denmark, and to the nefarious project of a Cuban expedition, he talks of " executing the law of the United States, and maintaining the faith of treaties," in a style which is highly satisfactory. Even mere phrases are not quite valueless when they indicate the turn of a man's mind, and the habitual bent of his character ; and we own that it gives us real pleasure to see a United States President harping on such topics as •'law of nations," *' honour of America," "sacred obligations of the constitution," and " policy of Washington,' ' The new President's known opinions as a Whig candidate will of course have prepared our readers for a certain amount of Protectionism in his Message to Congress. The most notable feature in this portion of the document is perhaps its well-guarded and carefully-balanced moderation. Oddly enough he puts "augmentation of the revenue," in the front of his Protectionist' scheme of "specific duties" — a mode of stating the question which, to those who know that "Revenue Tariff" has long been the very shibboleth of the American Free-trade party, will at once suggest that Mr. Taylor must be, to say the least, an exceedingly mild Protectionist. We shall be better able to appreciate the force and iutensity of the " reaction" when the subject comes regularly before Congress. In the mean time all we really know about the matter is that the Protectionist President conceives his best chance of gaining a modicum of "encouragement to domestic industry" to lie in a skilful use of the Free-traders' watchword. Whether sincere or insincere, this adoption of your opponent's political vocabulary may always be taken as a significant homage to their power and importance. The Slavery question is, as might have been expected, smoothed over with a deprecatory protest against the introduction of "exciting topics of a sectional character.;" but it is hardly necessary to hint that cautions of this kind are apt to be the least efficacious where they are most called for. A very few weeks will suffice to inform us whether the spirit of compromise and mutual concession which has hitherto adjourned, from generation to generation, the political difficulties involved in this terrible social controversy, still exists in sufficient force to prolong yet further the truce between North and South. For our own part, we think far more highly of the power of the Union to endure and survive the angry agitation of " exciting topics ot a sectional character," than we do of the efficacy of the Presidential " solemn warning" against all agitation whatever. The chief remaining topic of the Message, possessing prominent interest, i» the state of the Union's finances. The believers in human perfectability under Republican institutions will be shocked to find how very closely the Model Republic is treading in the steps of the Old-world monarchies and aristocracies. Our Transatlantic friends have had their "little war," like less enlightened nations, and now they are busy about meeting their little bill for the same. A deficit, estimated at upwards of 16 millions of dollars for the peiiod of two financial years ending Ist July, 1851, is announced in the Message before us — and the President proposes to fill this unpleasant hiatus between income and expenditure by the very old fashioned expedient of a loan. And, worse still, the " national defence" question is troubling our Republican relation, in the shape of a "great length of frontier" which calls for a more efficient " military establishment." Thus a war deficit, a loan, more soldiers, and more taxes,

are the most recent financial developments of United States' politics. We trust that the American people will be warned "by this little piece of experience, and will proceed no further in the dangerous and downward palb ; and in the hope of their timely repentance, we venture to intercede on their behalf with the great Peace Apostle, and to entreat that he will not, on this occasion, call a public meeting to denounce the sin of subscribing to a "war loan."