RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES.

Wellington Independent, Volume X, Issue 1314, 29 September 1858, Page 3

RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES.

la the House of Commons on Friday, the 18l)V of June, Mr. Bright rose, .pursuant to notice, tv put a question to" the Urider-Secretaiy for Foreign AiiUiis on tbe.'s'ubject of the proceedings of the' English upon the suppression of the slave trade, and with respect to our relations with the United States. His own opinion had always been adveiso to the policy of an armed squadron in the Cuban waters for th'o suppression of the slave trade. He wished to ask whether any iiilormatiim hud-been received with the view of pui.Mg: the House tiiul the country in pussossiun of.-i'ntcllji>eiiee its' - "to tlie position iv which they stood, and to'allay the apprehensions excited on-either side of the Atlantic on the subject. He (Ait.. Bright) put these questions thai night because the. steamer left.Liverpool the following day; ami lie thought it desirable tliut the reply-of the Minister should arrive in the United States: without any delay, hoping: that it might tend to allay apprehension and alarm on the subject/ (Hear, hear.) Mr. S. Fitzgerald wasviiot iv possession of such information as would enable him to make a satisfactory statement on the subject. The' commanders of,the cruisers might in some instances have been led by. their zed beyond the instructions which should bind them, and, if this was the. case, there would be on the part of the Government an anxious wish frankly to acknowledge that wrong had been done. ("Hear, hear.) lie desired, however, to state, in justice to the British officers, that although perhaps there might he one or two instances in irhich zeal had led them to exceed instructions, it was obvious,, from circumstances that had come to the knowledge of the Government, that the outrages had been most grossly exaggerated (hear, hear.) He did uot make these observations to throw doubt upon the good faith of the American Government, or doubt for a moment that they had good grounds for the representations they had made. All he desired was to put these facts before the House—first, in justice to the.officers .whose, conduct had been impugned ; and also to explain to the house why it was :tha.t,he had ex-, pressed confident hope that upon further inquiry those matters would.be satisfactorily arranged.. (Hear, hear.) He would inform the House what the' views of the Government were as. to the claim , of the Ameriouu Government relative-to the right of search. The right of search had upver been .admitted by America, and consequently it became the duty of the Government ■ to ascertain exactly what were our rights. The Government had taken the advice of the law officers of theJCrown, and their opinion was, that by international law wo had no right of search, aud no right'of visiting American vessels., He thought, under the circumstances, that it would uot be becoming of the English Government not to acknowledge to America that this was thb case. (Hear, hear.) Ho thought, at the same time, that it would be wrong to understand that this was a surrender of the policy of England in the suppression of the slave trade. The member for Birmingham had asked, whether any addition had been made to the number of cruisers now in the Cuban waters. During the time her Majesty's Government had been in office no change had been made. He might say further, that it necessarily came under the consideration of her Majesty's Government whether the continuance of this squadron in the Cuban waters was necessary for the object we we had iv view; whether there were not attach cd to its continuance in those waters objections of a very serious character. The point was now under the consideration of tlie Government. ;With regard to the question whether additional instructions had been sent out to the squudion, he had to state that, in addition to tlie instructions sent by Lord Aberdeen, tlio right ln»n. gentleman at the head of the Admiralty found it necessary, since he came into office, to issue more stringent instructions, enjoining more caution and discretion to be exercised in visiting American vessels on the coast of Africa. —Mr. Itocbuck though the statement of the right hon. gentleman most conciliatory and satisfactory: but this (Hsposion had not been imitated by America; The language used in the American Congress was uuwoithy of a great country..

They had always assumed that Kngland wished to insult them ; but lie hoped they would now learn tliiit we had no such desire. Lies had been told in , , the American papers for the putpose ofjiiindering to bad habits;-and he would not believe our commanders had done aiivthingto call for the censure of their own (iover'iiinnnt —Lord John Ilussell said that if t.ie Government conducted this affair in the temperate spirii manifested by the Umler-Secrctary, there could be 110 doubt that the House of Commons would iint hesitate to give them its support. .(Hour.) —Lord Pulnierstim said that our cruisers had been Kent, into the-Ctilmn waters in consequence of thewishes of. Parliament arid of the deputations to Government, and also in compliance with the wish of the American Government themselves. He hoped her. Maju-ityV Government would urge the American Gov'ernmont to send out crnisors t" prerent that abuse of the flngofihe United States which had h'e'en the cii-.isc of this ilirtlcully'.—The Chancellor of the Exchequer said the best despatch thut could be .sent ti> America.was the calm and dispassionate spirit in which the House of' Commons was discussing the question no \: —A flora few remarks from Mr Warren the subject dropped.