ALLIANCE OF KINDRED STATES.

Otago Witness, Issue 66, 21 August 1852, Page 4

ALLIANCE OF KINDRED STATES.

(From the Times.)

In the circumstances and condition of the world there is, we apprehend, no single consideration so well calculated to inspire the people of this country with confidence as the unquestionable attachment of the United States. It is not, and it never was, in nature that America and England should be divided in policy. Properly and consistently speaking, they are the only two great countries that can pretend to be free, since, unhappily all others have hitherto failed in their endeavours to eradicate despotism from among them. But England and her mighty offspring — the giant Republic of the Far West — are determined at all hazards to preserve their chivalrous attachment to freedom,- and to fight side by side in its defence against the banded despots of the whole world.

Nor is this a vain boast or profession. Examining the matter in every possible light, consulting reason, experience, and policy, we find our researches always terminating in the conviction that Great Britain and the United States of America are not only equal to sustain a contest with the rest of the world ; but that they have every reasonable prospect of coming off victorious. We have never doubted the people of America, either in regard of their attachment to us, or of their resolution to uphold liberty against all assailants whatsoever. It has been for generations a place of refuge for all the oppressed and persecuted of the Old World ; it was to us a place of refuge from the Stuarts, and it has now, by its Republican constitution, surrounded itself with an impregnable rampart against external ambition from every quarter whatsoever.

But neither length of time, nor distance, nor fluctuating interests, nor the jealousies of trade, nor any other circumstance whatever has caused the love of the old country to burn less brightly in the breasts of the Americans. Independent of England, their affection towards her is nothing less on that account. Like a daughter who has found anew home, the transatlantic Republic is anxious to repay to the parent state the incalculable benefits she has derived from her relationship to it — her laws, her literature, her manners, her political institutions, for, modified by the circumstances of the country, the American commonwealth is neither more nor less than a reproduction of the British constitution.

And in the whole history of the civilised world we think there is nothing on record so honourable to any state as the fact of having given birth to America is to Great Britain. We may always look across the Atlantic, and feel proud as we gaze. Never did settlement thrive like that settlement — never did emigrants from any old country multiply, and grow, and flourish like the people of America ; but in their grandeur and development they have never lost sight of England. They send their great men to visit us, they cultivate our friendship, they reproduce our ideas and our system — not servilely, but with a bold and independent spirit worthy of a new and noble race. History, when it comes to review the connection between Great Britain and the United States, will show it to be unparalleled in the annals of the world.

This we say, because the day is perhaps approaching, in which it will be necessary for the two countries, uniting their resources and their arms, to make head against all the military despotism of the old world. The Continent is now thoroughly enslaved, and as it is the very nature of absolute governments to aim at the destruction of all free institutions, England will inevitably be assailed by the whole force of absolutism. When this happens, though strong in our moral character, strong in our material resources, strong in our geographical position, we shall not be left to carry on the contest alone. America will be with vs — that is to say, the greatest, the most enterprising and unquestionably the least assailable of all existing communities.

Of this we never wanted any formal assurance ; but if we did, Mr. Walker, one of her ablest and most enlightened statesmen, who was lately amongst us, gave it in glowing language at Manchester. "With a spirit worthy the citizens of the great Republic, he said : —

" I do say this, that I do not believe that it is the interest of England to ally herself with the despots of the Continent of Europe. And I say, further, that if, upon her refusal to do so, she should be assailed by those despotic powers — if maintaining her own constitutional government, her own trial by jury, her own liberty of speech and of the press, she would ask or require our aid, — I speak what I know to be the unanimous sentiment of my country, the entire American population, backed by their government, will come over as one man, and fight the battle with you, if necessary."

Supposing these two nations united to land an army on any part of the Continent, the

question we ask is this — and it may be worth while for the despots to consider it — what would be the number of the disaffected who would flock to the standard of the invaders ? Suppose they were to show themselves in Italy, how many men in that peninsula would remain voluntarily under the flag of Austria ? Suppose they were to land in Provence, not, it may - be well understood, with any views of conquest, but simply to provide the red men of the old world with a rallying-point, how long would Louis Napoleon be dictator of France ? Suppose they were to select a more northerly point, and encamp for a single week in Russian Finland, what would become of the Czar ? It is not our wish to cry havoc, and let loose on the Continent the dogs of war ; but in self-defence it may become necessary for Great Britain and America to constitute themselves the patrons of revolution all over the world, and should they be driven to this extremity, we suspect it would not be very long before the struggle between the principles of democracy absolutism would be finally decided. The time is coming when we shall have to enter on this contest, and every Englishman will proudly acknowledge that he looks for support throughout its whole duration to his dearest kindred from beyond the Atlantic. The men of freedom will speak the same language, and though the members of the Mountain employ a different dialect, they also will combat under the same flag.

High Life. — We find the following true picture of high life in the "Memoirs of the Duchess of St. Alban's :" — " Few persons have seen so much of the various aspects — I may say extremes — of life as myself; and few, therefore, can be better judges of the difference between great poverty and great wealth; but, after all, this does not by any means constitute the chief and most important distinction between the high and low states. No ; the signal, the striking contrast, is not in the external circumstances, but in the totally opposite minds of the two classes as to their respective enjoyment of existence. The society in which I formerly moved was all cheerfulness, all high spirits, all fun, frolic, and vivacity. They cared for nothing, thought of nothing, beyond the pleasures of present hour ; and to those they gave themselves up with the keenest relish. Look at the circles in which I now move. Can any thing be more ' weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable' than their whole course of life ? Why, one might as well be in the tread-mill as toiling in the stupid, monotonous round of what they call pleasures, but which is, in fact, very cheerless and heavy work. Pleasures, indeed ! when all hilarity, all indulgence of our natural emotion, if they be of a joyous nature, are declared to be vulgar. There can be no cordiality where is so much exclusiveness and primness. No ; all is coldness, reserve, and universal ennui, even where this starchness of manner is unaccompanied by any very ' strict rigour in matters of conduct. Look, for instance, at those quadrille dancers in the other room : they have been supping ; they have been drinking as much champagne as they liked ; the band is capital ; the men are young, and the girls are pretty ; and yet, did you ever see such crawling movements, such solemn looks, as if they were all dragging themselves through the most irksome task in the world. Oh ! what a different thing was a country dance in my young days !"

The Attorney and the Tax Collector. — A limb of the law in this town was lately waited upon, at rather an early hour in the morning, by a collector of church rates. The lawyer made his appearance at the door minus several of his upper garments, but he very politely invited the collector to walk in and take a seat. He protested that a man who does not pay his taxes must be looked upon with great suspicion, apologised for being so often out when the collector called, and expressed a hope that no one saw the taxman enter the house. The collector replied that he believed no one had seen him. This assurance appeared for a time to relieve the mind of the lawyer, who retired to an adjoining room. He soon reappeared with a fine razor and strop in his hand, and continued for some seconds to sharpen the instrument. He seemed a little nervous, and after a few questions and answers had passed between him and the collector, the lawyer said, " Are you sure no one saw you come in ?" The collector, who began not to like the looks of the man with legal attainments, replied, " Oh, I'm quite sure no one saw me come in." " Then," said the lawyer, drawing the razor across the strop more savagely, " I'll take good care no one sees you go out." The collector became alarmed, and looked about for a way of retreat. " Stop till I get a bucket," said the attorney ; " I'll not have any dirt here, but I'll soon put you from going out." As he spoke the lawyer retired, and began to shout to his servant to bring a bucket. The collector was

in despair, and as soon as his supposed assailant turned his back, he rushed out of the door, and never again troubled the lawyer for church rates. — Ln erpool .Mercury.

The Power of the Pence : a True Manchester Stort. — The Rev. J. B. Owen, M.A., of Bilston, in the course of a lecture delivered' in the Liverpool Concert-Hall, in connection with the Church of England Institution, upon "Popular Insurance," related an anecdote strikingly illustrative of the power which lies in the hands of the working men to promote their own social comfort and independence, if they would only exert it. A Manchester caliooprinter was, on his wedding day, persuaded by his wife to allow her two half-pints of ale a day as her share. He rather winced under the bargain ; for, though a drinker himself, he would have preferred a perfectly sober wife. They both worked hard ; and he, poor man, was seldom out of the public-house as soon as the factory closed. The wife and husband saw little of each other except at breakfast ; but as she kept things tidy about her, and made her stinted, and even selfish, allowance for housekeeping meet the demands upon her, he never complained. She had her daily pint, and he, perhaps, had his two or three quarts j and neither interfered with the other, except at odd time 3 she succeeded, by dint of one little artifice or another, to win him home an hour or two earlier at night, and now and then to spend an entire evening in his own house. But these were rare occasions. They had been married a year ; and, on the morning of their wedding anniversary, the husband looked askance at her neat and comely person with some shade of remorse as he observed, " Mary, wen had no holliday sin J we were wed; and only that I haven't a penny i' the world, we'd take a jauntto the village to see thee mother." " Would'st like to go, John ?" asked she, softly, between a smile and a tear, to hear him speak kindly as in old times. "If thee'd like to go, John, I'll stand treat." « Thou stand treat ?" said he, with half a sneer ; " hast got a fortun', wench ?" " Nay," said she, " but In gotten the pint o' ale." " Gotten what ?" said he. " The pint o' ale !" was the reply. John still didn't understand her, till the faithful creature reached down an old stocking from under a loose brick up the chimney, and counting out her daily pint of ale in the shape of 365 threepences (i.e. £4 11s. 3d.) put it into his hand, exclaiming, " Thee shall have thy holliday, John." John was ashamed, astonished, conscience-smitten, and charmed. He wouldn't touch it. " Hasn't thee had thy share ? Then I'll ha' no more," he said. They kept their wedding-day with the old dame ; and the wife's little capital was the nucleus of a series of investments that ultimately swelled into a shop, factory, warehouse, country seat, a carriage, and, for aught, Mr. Owen knew, John was mayor of his native borough at last.

The Commercial Ports of England. — A return has just been made by order of Parliament, which shows that Liverpool is now the greatest port in the British empire in the value of its exports, and the extent of its foreign commerce. Being the first port in the British empire, it is the first port in the world. New York is the only place out of Britain which can at all compare with the extent of its commerce. New York is the Liverpool of America, as Liverpool "is the New York of Europe. The trade of those two ports is reciprocal. The raw produce of America, shipped in New York, forms the mass of the imports of Liverpool ; the manufactures of England, shipped at Liverpool, formed the mass of the imports of New York. The two ports are, together, the gates or doors of entry between the Old World and the New. On examining the return just made, it appears that the value of the exports of Liverpool in the year 1850 amounted to nearly £45,000,000 sterling, (£34,891,847) or considerably more than one half of the total value of the exports of the three kingdoms for that year. This wonderful export trade of Liverpool is partly the result of the great mineral riches of Lancashire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and the West Riding of Yorkshire, partly of the matchless ingenuity and untiring industry of the populations of those counties, partly of a multitude of canals and railways, spreading from Liverpool to all parts of England and the richest parts of Wales ; partly to Liverpool being the commercial centre of the three kingdoms, and partly to the fact that very nearly twelve millions of money have been expended in Liverpool, and more than twelve millions on the river Mersey, in converting a stormy estuary and unsafe anchorage into the most perfect port ever formed by the skill of man. On comparing the respective amounts of the tonnage of Liverpool and London, it appears at first impossible to account for the fact that the shipping of Liverpool is rather less than that of London, while its export trade is much more than twice as great. The explanation of the

fact is, that the' vessels employed in carrying the million or million and a half of tons of coal used, in London appear in the London returns, while the canal and river flats (to say, nothing of the railway trains) employed in carrying the million and a quarter of tons of coal used or employed in Liverpool do not. State the case fairly, and the maritime superiority of Liverpool will be found to be as decided as is its commercial. We ought also to add, that while the Custom-House returns for 1850 give Liverpool only 3,262,253 tons of shipping, the payment of rates to the Liverpool Dock Estate in the twelve months ending June 25, 1851, gires 3,737,666 tons, or nearly 500,000 tons more. Comparing the rate of increase of the exports of Liverpool with that of other ports, it appears that Liverpool is not only the first port in the kingdom, but that it is becoming more decidedly the first every year. During the last five years the increase of the exports of Liverpool has been from 26,000,000 to nearly 35,000,000, whilst that of London has been from little less than 11,000,000 to rather more than 14,000,000. The exports of Hull, which is, undoubtedly, the third port of the kingdom, though still very large, have rather J declined, having been £10,875,870 in 1846, and not more than £10,366,610 in 1850. The exports of Glasgow, now the fourth port of the empire, show a fair increase from £3,024,343 to £3,768,646. No other port now sends out exports of the value of £2,000,000, and Cork passes £1,000,000. — Liverpool Times.

Consolation for the Distressed. — As prices have varied so little for some time past, and on the whole have rather risen than fallen, we take the liberty of suggesting that the present is a very good time for landowners to dispose of their estates, and farmers to part with the interest in their farms, if they are really dissatisfied with their position in this country. We have the less hesitation in tendering this advice, because we have before our eyes several large and respectable classes who are just now in precisely the same predicament — and who have no alternative but to change their plan of life, or put up with a very moderate scale of emolument. The County Courts and other legal reforms, it is said, have reduced the profits of the metropolitan practice to so low an ebb that several thousand persons dependent upon it must either take to some other profession, or be very poor men. Changes in the mode of conducting trade of all kinds are rendering it impossible, we are assured, to carry on a small business with security, and in London, at least, the race of small tradesmen bids fair to be extinguished. There is no alternative, however, but that every one should adapt his conduct honestly and promptly to actual circumstances. The coal trade is deserting the sea and taking to the rails. Every coal train supplants a collier, and Durham is being beaten out of the field by Yorkshire and the Midland Counties. If such is the natural course of events, there is no help for it. Parliament cannot interfere, any more than it could to give the whale fishery a monopoly against gas, sailing vessels a monopoly against steam, or stage coaches a monopoly against the rail. Change of fashion have ruined multitudes ere this. The prevalence of liberal opinions in theology has condemned thousands of clergymen brought up in the old school to languish in small rural incumbencies, and see less learned and not more earnest men rise to rectories, canonries, and bishoprics. A law of change pervades the commercial, the political, and the religious world, and there is no possible remedy for it. Each man must manage for himself, and bear with, patience what he cannot mend. — Times.

Ukiteb States.— Col. Horace L. Kinney, the great Texas landowner, had offered Kossuth and his companions 10,000 acres of land if they desired to locate in that country. — The New York papers announce the conclusion of a treaty with the Indians on the southern boundary of Oregon. The section of country purchased by this treaty is said to be equal to the Willomette Valley. It is thought that the terms are such as to secure the peace of the Indians in future. There are many fine mill streams on this tract. The whole amount of purchase is 28,500 dollars, payable in annuities, no part of which is to be paid in money. The Indians of this part of Oregon appear to have no knowledge of the value of money. They are highly pleased with the idea of receiving a large portion of the purchase in clothing, being almost naked. No treaties have been made with the Indians of the United States where they seemed so well pleased with the trade with Government. The whole cost of the tract of country is less than 1| cents per acre. The following is from a late New York paper :— " The news from Salt Lake announces that territory to be in a state of revolution. All the United States officers, judges, Indian agents, &c, have been compelled to leave the territory, and are now on their way to the States. The Secretary of the territory managed to escape with 24,000 dollars of public money, appropriated at the last session of Congress for the benefit of the county of Utah. He was pursued, overtaken, and searched by the Mormons, but they did not secure the money. All the merchants, and others not Mormons, have quitted the country. Brigham Young, the Governor, at a meeting of nearly 3000 Mormons, stated that he was not Governor by permission of the United States Government, but by a commission from God; that he acknowledged no allegiance to the United States Government, and that he would resist any attempt to exercise power over him till the death ; that all who were not Mormons were infidels or Gentiles, and unworthy of their protection or countenance." — Bell's Messenger.