No. 21.]

FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1842.

[SIXPENCE."

OFFICE REMOVED FROM 320, STRAND, TO 198, STRAND.

OUR RELATIONS WITH AMERICA.

The relations of this country with the United States have as- sumed an aspect that cannot be regarded otherwise than with gra- tification by every lover of peace. The horizon is fairly cleared, and the sunshine of friendship and goodwill is already shedding its warm and gentle influences upon the hearts of both nations. Their hands are joined, and the grasp of cordiality is given with an earnestness and sincerity which it would be almost dishonour- able to doubt. There is, however, a portion of the press cavilling not only at the nature of the secured tranquillity, but over all the items of the friendly treaty by which it has beer consummated; and the malice of party, in its effort to disturb the public mind, has spat so much of venomous misrepresentation in the face of society, that it is almost incumbent upon the honest public jour- nalist to put the question before his readers in a true and intelli- gent light.

One of the most important features of the news of the week in the daily papers has been the publication of an elaborate report of a banquet given by the citizens of New York in honour of Lord Ashburton, our English plenipotentiary to the United States. At this banquet were elicted from persons of influence and authority in the American city the strongest expressions of regard for the people of this country, the warmest rejoicings over the prospects of an enduring alliance with us, the most fervent aspirations for lasting concord, and the most gratulating compliments to Lord Ash- burton-upon the success with which his mission had been accom- plished-a success which they very properly declared to be honour- able and advantageous to both the high contracting powers, and in its spirit conciliatory without humiliation-a triumph of peace without a sacrifice of justice. And so it is, in spite of the ravings of men who, because they hate the party that has achieved it, have not the integrity to bestow their approval upon the act itself. It is of no avail that benefits which may almost become blessings are prominent among its results: it is of no avail that it is the firm and stringent bandage to a wound which it has now closed for ever it is of no avail that, in confirming it, we are kissing the hands of commerce and folding the wings of war it is of no avail, in a word, that a permanent good is done to two great nations none of these considerations serve to satisfy the unnatural rancour of these rabid politicians, who forget truth, patriotism, and generosity in the rage of opposition, and yet, in the matter of their invective, are not less silly than unjust. Nobody shall accuse us rightfully of being either Whig or Tory, or of giving to any party a support that shall not be in every instance qualified by our sense or knowledge of what is right. We oppose the Income Tax on the ground of its injustice, the Poor Law for its cruelty, and every other act of domestic policy on the part of the Government in which we discover a sacrifice of principle or a single germ of what is unvirtuous and wrong. But we cannot be lured into the hue and cry of party upon such a question as we are now discussing. We will not consent to prostitute even the humble intellect which God has given us for the mere purpose of slurring a treaty or baffling a minister. We will not, in a word, for considerations of policy cast shame where we feel honour to be due: and it is only a source of humiliation to us to find that there exist public writers who will. Among these the Morning Chronicle has taken the lead, and in a series of articles, of which, although perverted into falsehood, the information is well derived, has opened all the annoying points of the boundary question, and discussed its settlement with a malignity of design which has for its un- manly purpose the fixing of cowardice and dishonour upon the Eng- lish name. There are two or three brawling Sunday journals that have also followed in its wake, but as they are of that class which can only circulate without influence, abuse without talent, and report without truth, we need not condescend to name them in the category with the daily champion of the anti-ministerial press. We are not going into an argument with the Chronicle upon the abstract Boundary Question, but only to vindicate the extreme value of its settlement. For the purpose of obtaining that settle- ment we have ceded a certain portion of wild territory which we might have claimed, and admitted a geographical position which we might have resisted and for this cession, and for this admis- sion, we have (besides having in our turn something ceded and ad- mitted too) closed the avenue to a war, opened sources of commerce, and quenched a dangerous spirit of hostility upon our Canadian frontier, which was fostering rebellious disaffection among the subjects of the English crown. About the acres of territory yielded we do not believe there is one man in England who cares a doit: and, if the truth is told, perhaps not one in America either they were only held to be important in the event of certain political con- tingencies which the settlement of their dispute has almost rendered impossible to arise and as for the navigation, or partial naviga- tion, of the St. John's River, the Americans are welcome to it in peace, and we should like to know how they would maintain it in war. It is unquestionable that the great object of British diplo- macy was not the amount of territory, or the nicety of the line of demarcation, but the final settlement of the whole dispute. That it has remained so long unsettled was the great reproach of Lord Palmerston by diplomatists of all ranks during his administration. It was held that the Foreign Secretary was bound to see it brought to a termination, and shame and blame were cast vehemently upon him for neglecting the opportunity when the King of Holland made his award. There was always impoliey in keeping open a dispute which left at any time to another power the choice of a war-which left it in fact to pick its own war-when it might best suit its own pur- pose, and be most destructive to the strength and interests of Great Britain. This was never more felt than when our Canadas were in rebellion, and when the course of our Eastern policy was doubtful, and it was uncertain, both upon French and Turkish questions, how soon we might be plunged into an European war. America could then have taken advantage of the general dilemma, and aided it by a war of her own, plucked at a moment's notice out of the Boundary dispute. But civilization has now progressed too far for nations to make war upon each other without strong pretext or reason and from America, by the Ashburton treaty, both pretext and reason are emphatically taken away. Under any circumstances we should not be alarmed at the consequences of any war in which we might find our country justly engaged ; but these are times when the advocates of the peace of the world are most properly honoured and we hold it to be a crime in any minister who permits any road to national commotion to remain open, or any natural avenue to the temple of Concord to be closed, so long as he can control the chances of the one, and ensure the foundation of the other.

Depend upon it, therefore, that the new Boundary Treaty is one upon which we may fairly congratulate both England and America. The peaceful relations already springing out of it are full of fruitful promise of good : a large amount of irritation is already allayed- a cordial spirit of goodwill has suddenly sprung up between the two people-and the banquet given at New York to our able and excellent Minister has set the seal of friendship upon the bond of peace.

THE ORATION AT CHRIST'S HOSPITAL.

SECURE