CHAP. XII.]

and shabbiness exhibited on the part of the French government in the conduct of the business, and the fidgetiness and heat of the British minister (Lord Palmerston) about an affair which was not worth contesting at the risk of war between the two countries to whose keeping are confided the liberties of Europe. No possible question about the future descent of the Spanish crown can be worth the discord of free states, on the verge of the outbreak of the war of opinion in Europe. It was understood that the compulsion brought to bear on the young queen by her mother, under French encouragement, was very cruel; and the marriage presently appeared before the world as an unhappy one. The two weddings took place on the 10th of October 1846; and at the end of the month, the French king received at his palace his little daughter-in-law the Spanish princess whom he had won into his family at the expense of the friendship of the queen and people of England. Men say,' declared a newspaper of that date, 'that Louis Philippe has sown the wind: time will shew whether he or his successor will reap the revolutionary whirlwind.'

During the period before us, changes had taken place among the royal races of France, while the people were carried on by the action of the government, slowly but surely, towards that revolutionary struggle which has since abased some of them, and exalted another, and created some new hope in a third party. The Duke d'Angoulême, who had for a large portion of his life expected to reign over France, died in 1844, and left his nephew, the Duke de Bordeaux, the sole representative of the claims of the elder Bourbons. The prince who had before troubled France with unsupported pretensions to the throne, as nephew of the emperor-Prince Louis Napoleon-made a descent on Boulogne in August 1840, even more absurd than the Strasburg attempt; and received, as his retribution for his contemptible invasion of a kingdom, an imprisonment in the fortress of Ham, whence he escaped, after a seclusion of six years, in the dress of a workman. Though no wisdom had thus far marked his proceedings, it may finally be proved of some importance to France that his life was not taken on an occasion which would have justified the sentence in the eyes of the world. In the same year, the remains of his uncle, the emperor, were brought from St Helena, under the care of one of the Orleans princes, and solemnly buried in the Hôtel des Invalides, in the presence of all Paris-the Orleans family paying all the honours personally.

The African conquests of France still yielded more trouble and cost than glory or gain; and to the dark side of the account was now to be added shame, deep and ineffaceable. The native Arabs and Moors were no nearer being conquered than ever; and the noble defender of his race and religion, the Emir Abd-el-Kader, a hero worthy of any country and any age, was still the invincible foe of the invaders. In the belief that he was countenanced by the Emperor of Morocco, the French made war upon that potentate, and the Prince de Joinville bombarded Tangier on the 6th of August 1844, in spite of the preventive efforts of Mr Hay, the British chargé d'affaires in

709

that place. No results of importance ensued; for which various causes were assigned by French writers; but all agree that England interfered to promote peace, on terms as favourable to Morocco as could be obtained. Abd-el-Kader meantime was as restless as ever, incessantly harassing the French force, without receiving any injury in return. Perhaps the exasperation of the French commanders in Algeria from this cause might be the influence which so turned the brain of one of them as to induce him to stain the glory of the French arms by an act of atrocity unequalled in modern times. There was a tribe of Kabyle Arabs which had never been conquered, because they retired upon a rocky district perforated with caverns. Colonel Pelissier roasted and suffocated this tribe in their retreat by kindling fires at the entrance. When escape was first offered them, on condition of surrender, they refused; and such of the women as attempted to fly were shot by their husbands, who considered it a case of martyrdom for religion. They, and their families, and their cattle-500 human beings found dead, and more who died when taken out-were roasted or suffocated. But Europe found a voice on their behalf. A cry of reprobation ran over all civilised countries. In France, however, the chronicler of the times offers only a very brief comment. 'Such,' he says, are the necessary consequences of a war incessantly rekindled by fanaticism.'

In seeking to determine the position held by France in regard to the conflict now beginning between the Eastern despotic and the Western self-governing principle, it is indispensable to consider the view propounded by the foreign minister of France in the critical period of 1842. However M. Guizot may have afterwards stooped from his declared position, and lost sight of a broad theory of European policy in a low pursuit of selfish and fantastical national ambition, at the bidding of a man unworthy to be obeyed by such a one as he, he spoke in 1842 from his own mind and heart-and his view ought to remain on record. France had come out of the isolation in which she stood at the time of the Brunow Convention, and was again placed in friendly relations with the other four powers, when, on the 19th of January 1842, M. Guizot said in the Chamber of Deputies: 'Some are alarmed at the words "European concert." But do those words mean that the Holy Alliance is revived? No. That which is called European concert is simply the spirit of peace among the great powers. It is the manifestation of that accordant mind which, in case of any critical event occurring, would endeavour to understand and resolve the great political question, before having recourse to the chances of war. It is to this policy that, for more than twenty years, Europe has been indebted for peace. It is to this policy that Greece and Belgium owe their existence. Never before were mighty events accomplished so pacifically, and conducted so regularly, by negotiation alone, under the influence of European good sense. There are but three political systems possible for any country-alliance, isolation, or independence in the midst of good understanding. For intimate alliances, the time is passed. As for the policy of

isolation, it is a transitory policy which is connected with a position more or less critical and revolutionary. It is necessarily adopted on occasion, but should never be reduced into a system. Besides, an intimate alliance between France and England involves the inconvenience of cementing the alliance between the three great continental powers. The policy of isolation involves the yet greater inconvenience of inducing the alliance of the four great powers. There remains then the policy of independence in the midst of amity-and this is the policy upon which France has entered.'

In another view, France left herself free to form alliances hereafter as future events might indicate.

The relations of England with the United States were as precarious as those with France, during this period. First, there was a dispute arising out of the Canadian troubles of 1837. A steam-boat, the Caroline, belonging to an American owner, had conveyed arms and stores to a party of Canadian insurgents on Navy Island. Some loyalists seized the vessel, and sent her down the Falls of Niagara ; and, in the scuffle, an American citizen was killed. One M'Leod, a British subject, was arrested when transacting business in the state of New York, charged with participation in the destruction of the Caroline, and in the murder of Durfee, the slain man. The British minister protested against the process, declaring the act to have been done in obedience to the colonial authorities, and therefore to be a subject for explanation between the two governments, and not for the trial of an individual in the courts of law. The British government did fully assume the responsibility of the act of destroying the Caroline; but not for this would the American authorities liberate M'Leod. A popular assemblage overawed the magistrates when they were about to release him on bail; and this complicated the affair perilously. So did the report of a committee of congress on the question, which was little short of a declaration of war; but it was presently understood that the report had had the concurrence of a bare majority in committee. The next difficulty was that the state of New York claimed to try the prisoner for offences committed against the state citizens, instead of those of the union; and thus, the question, as between the two governments, was evaded. M'Leod was tried at Utica, in the state of New York. Fortunately, there was unquestionable evidence of M'Leod's absence from the scene of the destruction of the Caroline. The plea of an alibi was too strong to be withstood; the jury returned a verdict of acquittal, and the danger was over for the time. Some foolish Canadians, however, did what they could to embroil us afresh. They made an incursion into the United States territory, and seized a Colonel Grogan, whom they accused of incendiary outrage; but the Canadian authorities ordered the instant discharge of Colonel Grogan, and no more was heard of the matter. It remained a subject of serious uneasiness to both governments, however, that outrages were perpetually taking place on the frontier. The Canadian loyalists were insulting and violent; the American adventurers who infested the boundary delighted in raids and skirmishes, and the federal government had not

power to restrain them—owing to certain limitations of its functions, and a partition of power between itself and the states along the frontier. Every one was aware that, under the difficulties of the case, much would depend on the character and temper of the president of the republic. General Harrison entered upon the office in March of this year, 1841; but, before any clear anticipation could be formed of his temper and policy, he died—only four weeks after his entrance upon office. By the regulation provided for such a possible case, he was succeeded in his function by the vice-president, Mr Tyler; and it remained to be seen how the affairs of the States would go on under the rule-for the first time-of a president who had not been elected to that office by the people.

The right-of-search question was becoming a cause of controversy before the M'Leod affair was settled; and now the controversy was fast growing into a quarrel. The American minister in London maintained that the right existed only under certain treaties; and that countries which, like the United States, had refused participation in such treaties, could not permit their vessels to be searched for evidence of traffic in slaves, or on any other pretence. Lord Palmerston had, before going out of office, admitted this, but shewn that the difficulty arose from slavers hoisting, unauthorised, any flag that might suit their purpose best. All that was claimed was not a right to search American merchantmen, but merely to examine their ships' papers, to ascertain whether they really were American vessels. Without this there could be no security against the slave-traffic of the world being carried on under the flags of those countries which did not participate in the treaties. It will be seen what a wide field of international law was extended for argumentation when Lord Aberdeen came into office. In the following December, Lord Aberdeen communicated to the American minister the nature of the instructions given to British cruisers; and the frank and temperate explanations of the two ministers led to happy results. The president said of them in a message to the Representatives: These declarations may well lead us to doubt whether the apparent difference between the two governments is not rather one of definition than of principle.' And again: 'It seems obvious to remark, that a right which is only to be exercised under such restrictions and precautions, and risk, in case of any assignable damage to be followed by the consequences of a trespass, can scarcely be considered anything more than a privilege asked for, and either conceded or withheld on the usual principles of international comity.' The president's lead was followed by congress. Congress agreed that the honour of the American flag 'demanded that it should not be used by others to cover an iniquitous traffic;' and, like the president, congress 'chose to make a practical settlement of the question.' And thus, without any concession being made on the side of Great Britain, but only by means of her object becoming better understood, it was settled that, on any fair occasion of suspicion whether the United States flag was shewn rightfully or as a pretence, she might require

CHAP. XII.]

the production of the ship's papers, under the liability of making reparation for damage or delay, if the vessel should be found to be really American. The Americans also agreed to keep a squadron off the coast of Africa, to guard against abuse of the American flag. And thus, in the spring of 1843, was the right-of-search question settled with the United States.

Some complications had occurred in the course of the controversy which threatened to prevent its amicable adjustment. A Virginian brig, called the Creole, was on its way to New Orleans in October 1841, when some slaves, who formed part of the cargo, obtained possession of the ship, wounded the captain and some of the crew, killed a passenger who was the owner of some of their number, and then carried the vessel to Nassau, in New Providence, one of the West India Islands. On the requisition of the American consul, the magistrates of Nassau detained and imprisoned nineteen negroes who were charged with participation in the mutiny and murder. The rest, 114 in number, against whom there was no charge, were allowed to go where they would, under the British law that every slave becomes free on touching British soil. The governor of the Bahamas refused to detain them, and also to forward the nineteen to America till he received directions from home. The law-officers and law-peers of England gave a unanimous opinion that there was no law of the empire under which the persons charged could be tried or even detained; and the governor of Nassau was therefore instructed to release the nineteen negroes, unless there was any peculiar colonial law under which they could be tried. The wrath of some of the slave-states was loud, and there was talk of bloody consequences; but our newspapers said throughout, 'We shall not need to go to war about the Creole;' and so it proved. The American requisition was withdrawn, and the slaveholders grew tired, at last, of charging Great Britain with abetting piracy and murder.

There was much ruffling of temper on other subjects. A great number of Americans, who did not understand our politics, 'sympathised' with the Irish repealers, sent money, promised men, and avowed themselves ready to abet treason on behalf of Ireland to any extent. On the other hand, a great number of Englishmen, who did not understand American affairs, grossly insulted the whole American nation, on account of the delinquency of a very small number in the semi-barbarous states, about their state finances. Three of these semi-barbarous states repudiated their public debts; and Pennsylvania and one more delayed the payment of their dividends. Pennsylvania never repudiated, though, following a mistake of Sydney Smith's, people in London supposed and said that she did. Such persons knew nothing of the peculiarities of the half-German population of Pennsylvania, ignorant and slow; and forgot the unequalled pressure and perplexity she had been subjected to by the action of President Jackson on the banks, and the consequent extinction of her currency for a time. They knew nothing of the miseries of the inhabitants, when reduced to a state of barter; and in this condition of ignorance

711

they charged her with a 'repudiation' which her subsequent payments have shewn her not to have contemplated. If it is said that people in London could not be expected to know these things, the answer is plain: that they should not invest their money in foreign funds without understanding the circumstances of the case; nor accept extraordinary interest for their investment without being prepared for a corresponding risk. The New-England States, which head the union, have ever preserved an unblemished honour; and so have most of the rest. The few which have not were unfit to be trusted, and might have been known to be so by any one who understood what the border-states are, with the institution of slavery on the one hand, and the wilds of the Mississippi on the other; and within them a population largely composed of persons who prefer a semi-barbarous to a highly civilised state of society. But, in the wrath of British claimants on certain state-funds at the failure of their dividends, the thirty states and the whole American nation were mixed up together under a charge of cool knavery; and the temper of both nations was anything but ameliorated. Some men who ought to have known better were for petitioning congress about an affair of state-debts, with which congress had no more concern than the parliament of any other country; and it could not be very soothing to the temper of the Americans to find that our clergymen, members of parliament, and merchants did not take the trouble to learn even the outlines of the American constitution.

Dr

Then, in 1843 and 1844, public sentiment in England was awake and alive on the subject which was dividing the American nation-the annexation of Texas, followed by the invasion of Mexico. Channing was revered in England; his words went far and sank deep; and his reprobation of the annexation of Texas obtained a response from end to end of Great Britain. The noblest part of the American nation rejoiced in our sympathy, and in our perception that the action of their country upon Texas and Mexico was purely for the extension of slavery; a safeguard for the institution now so shaken towards the north; and a new field for its support, in preparation for its abolition in the states which it had exhausted and impoverished. But the noble are always the few; and every expression of censure or disgust at the game that was playing against the interests of humanity kindled wrath among the majority in the States, who were eager for the excitement of war, and the glory of territorial aggrandisement.

While such was the temper of the two peoples towards each other, a question of more difficulty and more importance than any yet discussed had arisen between the two governments. It has been noticed before how surely trouble springs up, sooner or later, from the ignorance of geography which prevails when the boundaries of new countries are assigned. The frontier-line between the state of Maine and Canada could not be agreed upon by the British and the Americans, when the region became settled. It was a matter of high importance to the residents of the debated ground whether they lived under British