SPAIN AND AMERICA.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 703, 28 April 1852, Page 4

SPAIN AND AMERICA.

[From the Times November 25.] We have already mentioned the clemency and good feeling shown by the Spanish Government in granting a free pardon to twenty-three British subject?, who had unhappily taken part in the lawless expedition of General Lopez against the ish'-d of Cuba, and were sentenced by the authorities in that island to be transported to the penal establishments of Spain for their offence. As individuals we can profess to feel nothing more than bare compassion for men who placed their own lives at the mercy of the Governor of Cuba by a wanton and piratical inroad, and who appear to have forgotten what they owed to the country of their birth when they embarked iu ti criminal adventure repudiated and condemned by the laws of all nations. Such arts cut men off from the protection to which they are entitled as British subjects in all parts of the world as long as they are engaged in lawful avocations ; and we do not think that a single voice was raised in this country to dispute the justice of their sentence and to save them horn a punishment they richly deserved. But the Spanish Government appears to have felt that the signal success of the measures taken in Cuba for the defence cf the island, and the severe punishment inflicted at once upon the first band of pirates taken with arms in their hands, were a sufficient vindication of its rights and of the law. Moreover, it has been acknowledged by the Cabinet of Madrid, that not only were the British Government and the British nation absolutely opposed to the American schemes for the acquisition of Cuba, but that instructions were sent out to the British squadron in the West Indies to co-operate with the forces of Spain and France, if necessary, for the prevention of any further expeditions against the is-

I land. We infer, therefore, that the act of cle- ; mency to which we allude is intended by the . Queen of Spain to mark her grateful sense of the support she received from Iter allies on this ocj cation ; and it is the more pleasing as it has been I granted to the representations of Lord llowden, I who had exerted himself with great alacrity and : success to render that support prompt and effeci tual. 1 The circumstances in which the Government ! of Spain finds itself placed with reference to that ■ of the United States are, however, very different (rom those which have arisen out of this occurrence between Spain and the European Powers. The American Government was, to say the least of it, guilty of great neglect in not taking earlier an 1 more effectual measures to prevent the formation and departure of the Lopez expedition from its own ports. It was evidently afraid o act up to its acknowledged duty in opposition to the popular excitement created by the misrepresentations of Lopez and liis partizans in New Oilcans. Ils own custom-house officers connived at a gross breach of the law of nations and the laws of the Union. These officers have since been removed from their post in consequence of this misconduct, but the redress thus afforded by the Cabinet of Washington was not granted until the failure of the expedition had stamped it with ridicule and disgrace. But this was not all. Upon the news of the execution of the first band of prisoners (he mob in New Orleans attacked ; the house of the Spanish Consul, trampled on the i ensigns of the Queen of Spain, and obliged the I Consul himself to flee for life, leaving the interests of his countrymen, which then most required bis protection, to the care of his colleagues, , the French and British Consuls. This was an ' act of popular violence distinct from the Cuban expedition, though arising out of it, for which the Spanish Government was entitled to require, and the American Government was bound to grant, ' the most ample reparation. A Government which cannot protect the diplomatic agents of foreign , states from insult and danger on its own terriI lories fails in one of the most essential conditions of those laws which regulate the intercourse of nations ; and though it is possible that such an occurrence as a popular riot may suddenly overpower the authorities in a large commercial city, it is more incumbent on the Government to offer the fullest compensation for an outrage it had not the force to prevent. These propositions are so obvious and elementary, and are so constantly acted upon by the most powerful States, without any derogation of their dignity, that we cannot doubt that Mr. Webster and Mr. Fillmore recognise them in the theory as fully as we do ourselves, and would feel themselves bound to act upon them if a similar insult were offered to an American Consul abroad. But it appears they have not the political strength or moral courage to act upon these principles ; and the result is a continuation and renewal of the ill feeling occasioned by the Cuban affair. The Spanish Government requires that the President of the United States should invite the Spanish Consul to return to New Orleans, consenting, however, to send thither another member of the consular service, and not the same person who was so unceremoniously expelled by the mob: that he should be received and brought in upon a national vessel ; that the Spanish llag should be saluted by the Americans ; and that the value of the properly of the Consul destroyed by the rioteis should be restored to him by the Federal Government. In the event of the rejection of these conditions, and the refusal of this satisfaction, the Spanish Minister at Washington is instructed to withdraw from his post. We learn with regret that Mr. Webster, the Secretary of State, lias thought fit to refuse these terms of accommodation, and if M. Calderon de la Barca finds himself bound to act up to the letter of his instructions, the consequence may be a more serious misunderstanding between Spain and the United States than has hitherto arisen out of these events. The case would appear to be one in which the mediation of a friendly power might settle a dispute which turns rather on a point of usages and of national feeling than on any positive interest. But the American Government has lately shown so much irritation at the slightest semblance of interference on the part of other European Powers in this affair that it is not improbable that the same feeling which prevents it from making the amende honorable to the Government of Spain would also deter it from accepting such mediation in the spirit in which it might be offered. Mr. Webster’s decision is the more to be regretted inasmuch as it was understood that although the Spaniards would not make the exercise of the prerogative of mercy the subject of diplomatic stipulation, they were disposed to release the Cuban prisoners upon the settlement of the wrongs done to their Consul in New Orleans; and ibe fact that the British prisoners have actually been pardoned suggests a comparison between the two nations which ought to have some weight in the United States. We cannot do the American Government the injustice to doubt what its real opinions are on this unfortunate affair, but the influence of popular prejudices and the excitement of popular feelings are nowhere more injuriously felt than in the foreign relations of the American democracy. It is a fact, comparatively new to the world in our own days, that whilst the whole statesmanship of Cabinets is constantly employed in averting the calamities of war, and in healing without blows the disputes that arise between nations, peace is not unlrequently threatened by the intemperance, wilfulness, or disregatd of law which arises out of popular passions or misconceptions. Acts such as no Government could attempt to palliate if it were really responsible for its conduct are screened by the assumption of popular omnipotence; aud the demagogues of the day, when they are endeavouring to plunge the world into confusion, have no more certain means of operation than to transfer the direction of international relations from cautious and responsible statesmen to an excited and irresponsible people. Unhappily the feeble Government of the United States is compelled to yield to an impulse of this sort, however repugnant it may be to the better judgment of its members. Mr. Webster's refusal of satisfaction to Spain in a case that manifestly demands something more than an apology is, in truth, a mere electioneering flourish of the Secretary of State to his parly, and it is lamentable to see the most eminent and moderate men in the United States reduced to such expedients as to court popularity even by identifying themselves witbain indefensible out-

rage. An indemnity to Spain for the rict of New Orleans would, probably, have cost Mr. Webster as dear as the Pritchard indemnity cost M. Guizot; but at least the French Government had on that occasion the courage to admit that they were in the wrong, and to abide by the terms offered for their acceptance.