land. There the title of Costa Rica is assumed to be a fixed and determined fact, and upon it are grounded her pretensions to claim a modification of the treaty with Nicaragua, which has not yet been ratified by the United States' senate.

These facts make England's object perfectly clear, and her present insulting demand intelligible. She seeks to control the projected canal at the Atlantic mouth in virtue of her Mosquito juggle: and at the other mouth, through the claim of Costa Rica, which for that purpose she shamelessly abets. Costa Rica is under her protection and in her power: and the claim of that State to the northern bank of the river and northern shore of the lake, is England's claim, and her's alone. If she should succeed in establishing the unwashed majesty of Mosquito, she need not trouble herself about the Costa Rica claim. Then, probably, it would become her interest to protect Costa Rica by insisting on a slice of her territory beyond the San Juan, the imaginary claim to which Mr. Chatfield "took the precaution" to indicate in his protocol. But should that impudent farce fail her, she will have to rely on a more equivocal robbery committee in the name of her "good ally, Costa Rica."

Thus has England obtained the power which she is now preparing further to abuse. She starts from this point: "Nicaragua has guaranteed to give to the United States what Nicaragua had not the power to bestow. She has granted a right of passage through territory not hers, and over a lake which is only her boundary." This is the language of her journals and pamphlets: her diplomatists hold another, but with precisely the same object. In order that this object may appear in its true light, it is necessary to consider the articles of the Nicaraguan and Clayton treaties which Mr. Bulwer alleges to be incompatible.

The Nicaraguan arrangement, be it remembered, was negotiated prior to the Clayton treaty; its stipulations are therefore entitled to prior consideration in this review.

Mr. Squier, the American negotiator, had express instructions from the Secretary of State. They were based upon a formal and full recognition of the rights of Nicaragua. He was directed to exclude from his consideration altogether and absolutely the violent and unjustifiable seizure of San Juan, and the ridiculous pretences of the Mosquito King, and to act precisely as if that robbery had not been committed, and that potentate never heard of. On this basis he was further advised so to conduct his negotiation as not to involve his country in the difficulties with other nations that now beset the government of Nicaragua. That government anxiously and earnestly sought to have the protection guaranteed to the canal extended over the nation; but Mr. Squier, in obedience to his instructions, declined to accede to the proposal.

The obligations to which he pledged the United States, admit of no misconception or mistake. They are explicit and perfect. That they are not exclusive or narrow; that they monopolize no special advantages for this empire, from which any other nation is precluded, is amply attested by the subjoined article, which Mr. Squier had inserted in the covenant of agreement between the American Ship Canal Company and the Nicaraguan government.

ARTICLE 36. It is expressly stipulated that the citizens, vessels, products and manufactures of all nations, shall be permitted to pass upon the proposed canal

through the territories of Nicaragua, subject to no other nor higher duties, charges or taxes, than shall be imposed on those of the United States; provided always, that such nations shall first enter into the same treaty stipulations and guarantees respecting said canal, as may be entered into between the State of Nicaragua and the United States.

Here is a broad engagement on behalf of mankind, by which the republic voluntarily and irrevocably binds herself. On the occasion of entering into it, America stood alone and uncontrolled. The will of Nicaragua was at her disposal. She might construct the canal through that state at her pleasure. That she has resources adequate to its completion, and unquestioned strength to defend it against England, no sane Englishman can seriously deny. Any stipulations she chose to enter into with a sovereign state recognized by the nations of this hemisphere, are beyond the sphere of European diplomacy. But diplomatic contest would be idle if she chose to unfurl her flag over the mouth of the canal. She has, perhaps, done better in giving this great lesson of forbearance. To permit its terms to be abused is another thing. Against this her honor is staked by the great principle on which her national existence is based.

We subjoin the provisions of the Nicaraguan treaty to which Mr. Bulwer objects:

“Art. 2d. And inasmuch as a contract was entered into on the twenty-seventh day of August, 1849, between the Republic of Nicaragua and a company of citizens of the United States, styled the "American Atlantic and Pacific-Ship Canal Company," and in order to secure the construction and permanence of the great work thereby contemplated, both high contracting parties do severally and jointly agree to protect and defend the above named company, in the full and perfect enjoyment of said work from its inception to its completion, and after its completion from any acts of invasion, forfeiture, or violence, from whatever quarter the same may proceed; and to give full effect to the stipulations here made, and to secure for the benefit of mankind the uninterrupted advantages of such communication from sea to sea, the United States distinctly recognizes the rights of sovereignty and property which the state of Nicaragua possesses in and over the line of said canal, and for the same reason guarantees positively and efficaciously the entire neutrality of the same, so long as it shall remain under the control of citizens of the United States, and so long as the United States shall enjoy the privileges secured to them in the preceding section of this article." "Art. 4th. And it is also agreed on the part of the Republic of Nicaragua, that none of the rights, privileges, and immunities guaranteed, and by the preceding articles, but especially by the first section of this article, conceded to the United States and its citizens, shall accrue to any other nation, or to its citizens, except such nation shall first enter into the same treaty stipulations for the defence and protection of the proposed great inter-oceanic canal, which have been entered into by the United States, in terms the same with those embraced in section 2d of this article."

The particular stipulations he demands the modification of, are marked in italics. He alleges that they are inconsistent with the Clayton Treaty. Even if this were true, so impudent an assumption is not to be found in international history. It is peculiarly English, nor could it be more appropriately advanced than by the man who yet smarts under the scorn of the nation his impertinence had insulted. But it is not true. Every word of the above is framed from Mr. Clayton's express directions. We cite one passage:

"Will other nations interested in a free passage to and from the Pacific by the river San Juan and Lake Nicaragua, tamely allow that interest to be thwarted by the pretensions of Great Britain? As regards the United States, the ques tion may be confidently answered in the negative."

Evidently the Ex-Secretary here refers to the occupation of San Juan. Evidently San Juan is the "fortification," which England guaranteed by that treaty not to hold. Otherwise Mr. Clayton would not alone be a fool and a knave, but the suicide of his own character. There is no doubt he understood it so; the Senate understood it so; the whig party understood it so, and the whig press boasted of it as such. Mr. Bulwer knew it to be so understood by them all. He uttered no remonstrance or remark, and was therefore a party to the general belief of the American Congress, press and people. If he contrived by any juggle to have words inserted which are now relied on to justify a different construction, the sooner he is given to understand that the American people reject all stipulations conceived in perfidy and executed in fraud, the better. The construction England now puts on the Clayton Treaty is simply a lie; and unless she speedily withdraws it, and all pretensions founded upon it, the American people must prepare to redeem the pledge given by Mr. Clayton, on the faith of which the Nicaraguan Treaty was negotiated. Between its fulfilment and absolute cowardice, there is no middle place.

It will be remembered, that previous to the treaty, was published Mr. Bulwer's famous, or infamous, epistle to Mr. Chatfield, in which the spirit of British diplomacy was pretty clearly indicated. Done into plain English, that letter would read thus:

"You know the people you are dealing with. In one sense they are swindlers, and in another cowards. Be you therefore cautious, cunning, and double-tongued. Bluster and lie as far as it is safe, but do not go too far, lest you may be taken at your word. In all your negotiations the ultimate argument of force must be kept in view."

While issuing these instructions his excellency was no doubt meditating how he could carry them out himself through the medium of protocols. The same Mr. Chatfield now impudently announces his success. In a despatch to the Government of Nicaragua, here is what that worthy and most modest diplomatist says:

"It is impossible that Nicaragua should be ignorant of Her Britannic Majesty's relation to the Mosquito question, as it has before it the letter of Viscount Palmerston, of the date of the 15th of April last, in which he declares, in the most clear and direct terms, the utter impossibility of acceding to the pretensions of Nicaragua. On the other hand, the treaty of Messrs. Clayton and Bulwer, about which you have so much to say, and in which you express so much confidence, expressly recognizes the Mosquito Kingdom, and sets aside the rights which you pretend Nicaragua has on that coast. The true policy for Nicaragua is to undeceive herself in this respect, and to put no further confidence in the protestations or assurances of pretended friends. It will be far better for her to come to an understanding without delay with Great Britain, on which nation depends not only the welfare and commerce of the state, but also the probability of accomplishing anything positive concerning inter-oceanic communication through her territories, because it is only in London that the necessary capital for such an enterprise can be found."

As long as Mr. Clayton was in office, it was not thought convenient to avow this premeditated fraud and outrage. But now that the same office is filled by one supposed to be more accommodating to England, it is un

blushingly put forward. That it is accompanied by insult and insolence, is of no actual import, one way or another. Happily, America can afford to laugh at the sneer imputing to her poverty, weakness and falsehood. The question she has to settle with herself, with Nicaragua and with the world, is, shall she maintain her own faith? If ever pledge was irrevocable, hers to maintain to Nicaragua the uninterrupted dominion of the territory through which the canal passes, is so. Shrink from or evade it, she can not, without shame everlasting. Its abandonment would involve, not alone the violation of a solemn pact, but a coward and treacherous relinquishment of those lofty and defiant principles to which her earliest statesmen-her noblest, wisest and best, laid claim. What becomes of Washington's, Jefferson's, Monroe's and Polk's defiance to Europe, while the British flag floats over San Juan? When France contested the right of Texan annexation, what said James K. Polk? France was then supposed to be omnipotent. She was governed, it was said, by the wisest head and firmest heart in Europe. The President's answer was, "right or wrong, you have no business to interfere, and you shall not."

Where, now, are those who boast the principles of that illustrious man? If there be treason, let it not be found in their ranks. They yet com mand a majority in the Senate. If they blanch in face of this question, they are doubly traitors. God has afforded them an opportunity of protecting the empire from infamy and betrayal, and at the same time vindicating the highest principle of their party. In both they will be sustained by the people. No American will ever flinch from the banner on which is inscribed,

"We consider any attempt on the part of European nations to extend their system to any portion of the American continent, as dangerous to our peace and safety." AND SO Help us God, it shall not be.

us.

[NOTE. Since the above was in type, Mr. Clayton's explicit statement has reached He seems to be very confident. Alas! he must have been a sad match for Mr. Bulwer. He doubts the genuineness of the letter, and doubts again that England would sanction the villainy it announces. Good, easy Mr. Clayton! Hear what he states:]

"In the negotiation of the Central American treaty-to proclaim the ratification of which was the last official act of his life-he insisted on a clause, now to be found in that treaty, which denied to Great Britain any right, in future, to colonize, fortify, or assume or exercise any dominion whatever over any part of Central America or the Mosquito coast-a clause which expressly forbids to Great Britain the right to use any protectorate for the purpose of exercising dominion, and also forbids to her any right to assume dominion for the purpose of maintaining a protectorate. He himself desired to recognize the Nicaraguan title by the Nicaraguan treaty, but left the question, after submitting that treaty to the Senate, with an avowal of his willingness to ratify it, to be decided as the Senate should think proper.

..

I have seen" (said Mr. Clayton) "within a few days past, a statement purporting to embrace an official letter from Mr. Chatfield, the British Charge d'Affaires, to the Minister of Foreign Relations of Nicaragua, in which it is declared that the treaty negotiated between this Government and that of Great Britain, 'expressly recognizes the Mosquito Kingdom, as aside from the rights which you (the Nicaragua Minister) pretend Nicaragua has on the coast.' If Mr. Chatfield ever wrote such a letter, which I confess I greatly doubt, he has been guilty of a perversion of the treaty which no honorable Government could defend fer a moment, and which the British authorities, I am well satisfied, would disdain to adopt."

We shall see.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE AMERICAN UNION;

OR, THE PRINCIPLES OF ITS COHESIVENESS.

To the HON. DANIEL S. DICKINSON,

Senator in Congress from the State of New-York:

MY DEAR SIR,-I know of no person who is more likely than you to accord with me in a large part of the following political views. I much wish they had proceeded from you, or any person blessed by public station with the advantage of possessing the public ear, and thereby of effecting much public good. Numerous observations teach me painfully that we may parody holy writ and say, "though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not--" public station, the words become" as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." Still the few readers I shall be able to obtain, may, possibly, inspirit some one of our public men to elaborate more successfully than I am able, the cohesive principles of our union, and thereby diffuse a knowledge, of which our citizens seem lamentably deficient. Hoping for the best, and with the utmost confidence in the good intentions towards the union of all our citizens every where, and soliciting you to read patiently the following pages, which emanate, as you will readily believe, from only an ardent love of our political institutions, I am, with great respect,

Your friend and obedient servant,

Utica, New-York, Jan. 1, 1850.

THE AUTHOR.

THE ELEMENTS OF DISUNION.

WHOM God hath united let no man separate, is an injunction applied to man and woman in matrimony, and is founded on the correlative organization of the wedded couple. God has created each of the parties incomplete without the other, and endued each with organs, desires, intellectual tendencies and physical powers subsidiary to the social coalescence of the two. The same injunction is occasionally applied fondly to the political union of the sovereign states in our national confederacy; but we shall speak more profitably, in times like the present, if we examine less poetically the characteristics of our federal nationality, which instead of being a union that nature dictated, is a result of consummate art to unite those whom God separated, making some of them powerful and others feeble, scattering them also apart with vast intervening distances; diversifying them with great differences of climate, natural productions, social habits, industrial pursuits and capabilities, so that even a uniform tariff of imposts, which shall be compatible with the prosperity of all the States, is constantly a result of elaborately adjusted compromises between the antagonistic interests of the respective confederates. So violent were these antagonisms brought into conflict in the year 1832, by a tariff that was deemed too favorable to protection, and consequently too aggressive to the non-manufacturing States who were only consumers, that South Carolina organized a system of resistance to its collection; though a tariff is the most indispensable want of the general government, and to