THE ST. JUAN OUTRAGE. [from The Saturday Review."]

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVII, Issue 1285, 6 January 1860, Page 3

THE ST. JUAN OUTRAGE. [from The Saturday Review."]

The insult recently offered to the English nation by a petty force of American soldiers may lead to serious consequences, if the good sense of both nations does not inteiprene. Every other year we seem to be on the verge of w»r with the UnitedStateS. American* are so touchy, 10 sensitive, and, if truthmust be spoken, occasionally so intemperate, that it ii difficult to keep on good terms with them. For the sake of preserving peace, we frequently have to repress little rising fits of indignation at their cavalier way of treating us. We are quite prepared to make allowances for a high-spirited people, and in diplomatic disputes to give the benefit of the doubt, if there be a doubt, to America. At the same time, there are limits to national forbearance. On the present occasion our kinsmen are so clearly in the wrong, and the outrage committed against us is so unprovoked, that it ii impossible for Englishmen to submit in silence. There cannot be two, opinions on the point. A foolish and hectoring official at St. Juan has grossly affronted us. > It is difficult to conceive how the Government at Washington can, for a single moment, sanction his proceeding*, and it is certain that all generous Americans will view with indignation and contempt an act of vulgar and offensive bravado. The .island which has been forcibly occupied by American' troops lies between Vancouver's Island and the continent, in the Gulf of Georgia, through whose waters the Oregon frontier line was intended by the Treaty of 1846 to pass. It was stipulated in that treaty that tiie boundary of the United States should coincide with an imaginary line running through the middle of the gulf channel to the Pacific Ocean.' As the Gulf of Georgia, happens, however, to be parted into more than one channel by a cluster of islands, of which St. Juan is ttfe-c|4«f; the-jletter of the treaty i» a little ambiguous, tl w«^chinnel meant the Canal de Haro, which is ; tne.pMsige] 'nearest to Vancouver's Island on the west o¥tb.p.'group T . 80 say-the Americans, and assert their I right to St. J[uan. accordingly. Does the treaty allude to &c 'great! Eo»ario Strait on the American side, of the jgulfiflp^jpnly regular channel in use at the date of the n«goti»tions of 1840 t Ii so, St. Juan Mid it« sisters

islands belong executively, m hitherto, to vi. For thirteen years\the controversy had gone on between fie two nations. Boundary Comminaioners hud been appointed in an amicable spirit, and strict order* given by both - Government! to the local authorities to avoid every act calculated to provoke a conflict. The difficulty wa» not one of title or of right, but of mere interpretation. It ,wm perfectly immaterial which of ut was in present possession of the ground. All tbot we wanted to know was to what channel the description in the treaty of 1846 was most applicable. The great men of "the greatest nation upon earth" have their own peculiar way of deciding controversies. Diplomacy might have been still weaving her meshes round the important question but for the appearance of a notable personage on the scene. General Harney, leader of the forces of the United States upon the coast, resolved, as Alexander did, to cut the Gordianknot which Commissioners were vainly endeavouring to disentangle. The dispute was, it is true, a friendly one. But the General was relentless, and had got his eye upon glory. The dispute was a geographical «ne "Generalis sum Americanus et super geographicam," thought General -Harney. Pacific envoy* had been balancing the conflicting claims of their respective countries long enough. Like Brennus of old — who, as far as benighted heathen could be, was himself a Filibuster — the General determined to throw his sword into the scale. Bent on a terrible campaign, he led oft, conformably to all the principles of strategy, with zrute de guerre. There is nothing like lulling an enemy into false security. The General opened hostilities against the Governor of Vancouver's Island with an afternoon call — pacem duello miscuit. The manoeuvre, though a daring one for times of peace, was happily effected without loss of life. He w*b asked to dinner, and like a second Alfred in the Danish camp,~passed a convivial evening with the unsuspecting Englishmen, who perhaps little knew the " heroic soul of the Harney with whom he sat. Next morning he retired to his own head-quarters, and forged a thunderbolt of war. Sixty-three man, three cannon, a drummer, two constables, and a custom-house officer, were suddenly landed under his direction on St. Juan, in the teeth of and English judge, and under a severe cannonade of interrogatories from the astonished squatters. Their duty was — so ran the orders of Harney the Audacious — to capture an inferior, to fight an equal, and to protest against a superior force. The sixty-six soldiers pitched their tents and beat about for an unseen force to capture or to fight. The custom-house official levied a tremendous tax on all exports or imports, and issued proclamations to an imaginary population. "Constables Smith and Higgings" assumed the badges of their dignity, and made arrangements for taking the entire British army, could it only be discovered, into custody. It was a proud moment for each member of that daring band. Ajax, son of Oileus, defied the lightning, when his blood was up. Mrs. Partington, of immortal memory, was once known to attack the Atlantic with a mop. General Harney was now at war with the British Empire. Fortunately for the General and his sixty-six fellow patriots, the Governor of British Columbia was a man of sense. Had be an American colonel, or a candidate for the President's Chair, or the eidtor of a Washington newspaper, he would have bombarded the intruder's camp, or put all the occupants, including the two . special constables, to the sword, and the war between General Harney and Great Britain would have become international. As he was only an English gentleman, he contented himself with despatching an overwhelming force to protect the few British settlers on St. Juan, and treated the General— no doubt to that hero's great disgust — as a monomaniac who had disobeyed the orders of his own Government. Aa a matter of form he protested against the occupation of the island, and sent home for further instructions. Deprived of the pleasure of capturing or being captured, General Harney was compelled to wait and see whether his acts found favour in the eyes of the United States executive. By this time the adventurous warrior's suspence is probably over. Unless some evil chance has brought about a collision between his troops and ours, not much mischief, we trust, will have been done. The little island of St. Juan is chiefly important to England as commanding the entrance by sea to her possessions on the Fraser River, which are rising in value every day. To the Americans it is no importance whatever, except, it may be/as a military outpost against the hordes of Indians who hang upon the frontiers. The plain sense of the treaty of 1846 seemingly with us, though the diplomatists of the United States profess to have cogent arguments on their side. We are not in the least anxious to squabble over debateable ground, or to strain a syllable of the most unintelligible document in the world beyond what is fair ; but Englishmen are not inclined to bate an inch of their pretensions at the bidding of some,obscure military bully. They would sooner resign a questionable claim than go to war ; but they would sooner go to war a hundred times than be hectored out of a single rood of land. The quarrel, in such a case would not be whether or no we were to have St. Juan, but whether it was to be taken from us/wideiite lite, by an American Filibuster. General Harney is good enough, nodonbt, against Mexicans and Central Republicans — he had better not meddle with Enlishmen. Unless we over-estimate the manliness and courtesy of Americans, he will not succeed in establishing anything but an unenviable reputation among his countrymen. The United States and England are natural allies, destined, sooner or later, to become fast and tried friends. The first element of friendship is mutual respect, and it never will be wanting as far as England can contribute to it. Free-handed and out-spoken nations will sometimes aot and speak roughly towards one another. It is for the public opinion and the Government of each to prevent chance irritation rankling into a sore, and hot temper assuming the form of deliberate insult. — o

Revivals in Walks. — Simultaneously with the outbreak, of Revivals in Ireland religious meetings on a large scale were held in varioui part* of the principality, and the movement has since been .making con■iderable progress. The effects produced on those who attend these gatherings appear to be similar to those described in the accounts from Ireland. Some fall to the ground shrieking and crying, while others indulge in an hour or two of prayer. The addresses of the preachers are fervent and enthusiastic, and the excitement under which they labour is easily communicated to a Welsh audience. At Aberystwith the Eevivnl seemed to be dying out fast, but within the last week or two it has derived fresh strength from quite an unexpected source. A party of militia men are stationed in the town, and they have come to the determination to hold daily prayer meetings. Not satisfied with these "spiritual exercises," as they are termed, once a. day, the men now assemble every morning before parade and every evening after parade. In Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire the Revivalists say the movement is rapidly gaining ground, and preachers who have been listened to for many years by their congregations with the utmost composure now produce an extraordinary effect. No attempt, however, has yet been made to show that crime has decreased in consequence of this chasge. The inhabitants of the border counties have not been much affected by the Revivals at present, although a clergyman of the Church of England preached on the subject a fortnight ago at Newport, Monmouthshire, and expressed a hope that the " good work" would extend to his own town and his own congregation. At Tredegar, however, a revival of temperance has occurred, and this, it is said, is the fore-runner of the conversion of many. An itinerant cutler has induced 3,000 persons in this place alone to sign the pledge, and subscriptions to the amount of £2,000 have been received towards building a new temperance hall. This is a large sum of money, the fact being taken into consideration that a large proportion of those who have given it are miners. In no part of Wales have phenomena similar to those reported to have ocourred in Ireland been witnessed— no one has had "revelations," nor have any symbols been stamped on the persons of the Revivalists. The meetings, however, have occasionally been vast, and hundreds are unable to get near enough to the preacher to hear a word of his address. Prayer meetings are daily held in numerous places, and supplications offered for the spread of the Revival.

A Sham. Vessel for a Long Voyage.— The sue- ! cessful voyage recently to Bahia of the icrew steamer Little Lucy, of about 30 tonsj in spite of a »trong opinion that she was somewhMrtoo small & craft for a voyage across the Atlantic, has determined the direct' on of the Bahia and San Francisco Railway to del* patch another steamer of even smaller proportions. In compliance with this resolution, Mr. John Watson, of Parliament-street, London, the contractor for the above railway, has selected a small vessel from the shipyards on the Clyde, which is pronounoed by many experienced and practical men^who have visited her to be a beautiful yacht model. The navigation of this vessel has been intrusted to Captain Breckon, under whose able direction, after a^remariiably rapid passage, the Little Lucy wm handed over in safety 'to the company in Bahia. As in the oose of her contrast, the Great Eastern, many were the prognostications of failure in that of the Little Lucy ; happily, however, an able crew, under a skilful and energetio captain, have proved what cool heads and steady hands are able to accomplish in a small but^ well-built craft even in the face of decidedly averse weather, and we trust that in the navigation of the present vessel, the Helan Conran, these gloomy prophets, if any still exist, will be once more disappointed. As it is a favourable season for the' voyage, we hope, in due time, to hear of the safe arrival of this second little vessel«^ln>the meantime we will conclude by wishing the Hel«n i oonran"6od speed." Gtoif.MaU,