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    V'.' ; . _ , ¦ ' ' ... ' . . 1418 THE LE...

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    THE GRAND-DUKE CONSTAXTJNE IN ITALY. It ...

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    STATISTICAL SOCIETY. The increased'numbe...

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    President Buchanan On Foreign Affairs, T...

    to justice , but as a matter of special favour . Spain , in fact , affects to be giving the United States a trifle of money to get ¦ _ rid of importunity—a demeanour at once as irrational and humiliating to Spain as it is insolent towards the United States . It is a broader complaint that when any dispute arises in Cuba , it is necessary to refer it to Madrid , although the first step taken there is to refer it back to Cuba ; that islands which Spain persists iu treating as a colony , though the only advantage of the connexion lies in the revenues < which Cuba yields to the most beggarly and ostentatious Government in Europe . Zn Madrid there

    is a strong ^ fear of granting any efficient local jurisdiction tolbuba wuich would enable it to . deal with its Owb actions or its own responsibility , for fear it should ^ reakcn the connexion and cut off a source of income for Spain . But that policy which keeps Cuba in so subordinate a position , and is felt to be injurious by the genuine resident colonists , is a still greater injury on those foreign neighbours who have to put up -with the caprices of the official party in Cuba ; and to seek redress in Madrid , when iii tire waters of Guba , American citizens feel that they must suffer on the spot and get compensation across

    the ocean , perhaps , twenty years heuce . The direct quarrels of the United States are with neighbours who draw blood from the same Iberian stock settled in the same continent Mexico is a prey to rival factions , and can hardly render war self-supporting , since it is kept up by a process of feeding upon , itself . In order to eke ¦ out the means of slaughtering- each other , Mexicans levy forced contributions upon foreigners—a gross violation of the national law . They have seized both person and property , and on remonstrance from Washington they . reader no redress ; at the same time the authority of the Mexican

    "Government is so , feeble that it cannot keep peace qjl its own borders , nor even give satisfaction for injury . The United States have exhausted their endeavours to bring the Mexican Government to reason . Mr . Buchanan , in fact , has been waiting for the return of the constitutionalist party to power , and he has therefore postponed as long as possible anything like reprisals , which might easily be made by seizing some portion of the remote and unsettled territory claimed by Mexico . In order to take precautions against lx > rder outrages , he proposes a temporary

    protectorate over the provinces of Sonora and Chihuahua . It is assumed that these steps are not what they profess to be , the ordinary mode of exacting a redress from a foreign power which will not fulfil its obligations , but steps of encroachment towards -a seizure of Mexico for annexation to the United States . Such an inference can only be made in defiance or forgetfulness of certain facts ; for Mexicans of respectability and influence "would some time since have negotiated an admission of Mexico into the federal union which centres in Washington , if American statesmen , Mr . Buchanan

    conspicuously among them , had been able'to approve of any consolidation . But the purchase of ^ Louisiana and the annexation of Texas bear no resemblance to a wholesale admission into the union ¦ of large territories peopled by a , foreign race , and it is well known that Mr . Buchanan would absolutely disapprove of any such result . There are disputes also with the States of Costa Rica and Cfrauada , and there are olaims oil Paraguay which may have to be satisfied by force , Paraguay , it wilJL lie remembered , haying before $ een violent in its conflict with Brazil . In fact , these Governments which lie between the two

    £ reat bodies of tb . 6 American continents are as irregular as the territory they inhabit . The Spanish Mood fa those districts seeing capable of exercising * perpetual activity , without the power of organising . an effectual Government . It oannot even perform its duties towards civilisation . The object of the line of military posts contemplated by Mr . Buchanan in Sonora and Chihuahua , the powers TVhich he casks to protect travellers by the routes of Nicaragua , Panama , and Tehuantepeo , are rendered necessary by the paramount duty of self-defence ¦ where the nominal Government cannot even furnish an effective police .

    Herp lies the difficulty : the protection- of Americans within their own borders , on their travels , or engaged in peaceful commerce . There ia nothing in the President ' s Message whioh js in the ftligh & st djagree aggressive . The proposal for an immediate advance of money to purchase Cuba , not to seize it , is justified by considerations for the peace of the world , and even for the enduring

    interests of Spain . Should that part of the g lobe be disturbed b y anything resembling a general war , which is not impossible , it would be necessary for the United States at once to assume the military occupation of Cubaj . which is really the outpost of the Mississippi mouth . It is well known that numbers of the islanders arj ready for union with the powerful and prosperous republic , under whom their legitimate trade would prosper . At present their commerce is restrained by all the oppressions and caprices of Spanish barbarism ; the one commerce which prospers is- that denounced by England—the slave trade . In Cuba alone it finds its consuming market , and the United Slates are positively bound by treaty with England to maintain a fleet for the purpose of intercepting' that .

    transport of negroes from Africa to Cuba which would cease from the very day that Cuba should be . privileged to enter the Federal Union . This country would undoubtedly benefit by the change ; the necessity for . maintaining the squadron for the suppression of the slave trade would cease , the function of the squadron would have expired , a considerable yearly outlay for this country would expire , and the cause of many complications with our best allies , Brazil and the United States , as well as France , would at once cease and determine . In this rapid survey of that portion of the President ' s Message which bears upon foreign policy , we have done no more than interpret his own simple and lucid language by a reference to uotorious and obvious facts . ... ¦ ¦ . .

    V'.' ; . _ , ¦ ' ' ... ' . . 1418 The Le...

    V ' . ' ; . _ , ¦ ' ' ... ' . . 1418 THE LEADED [ No . 457 , December 24 18 ^ .

    The Grand-Duke Constaxtjne In Italy. It ...

    THE GRAND-DUKE CONSTAXTJNE IN ITALY . It begins to grow clear what Russia meant by the hiring of Villafranca . Oar f / obe-mouches fancied they saw , through"the haze that diplomatically overhung the negotiation for a lease of twenty-one vears , ground-plans of fortifications and arsenals , all casemated and bomb-proof , designed ere long to form for the Czar on the const of Italy what Gibraltar is for us on the southern shore of Spain . "When assured that the little deserted port , aiid dilapidated castle were strategically valueless , -being superciliously commanded on three sides by the contiguous heights , and that , so far from being aninsulated point d ' appni fitted to menace t lie Sardinian and Tuscan seaboard , it was , in a military point of view , simply a hole in a hill in which , if caught , annihilation would be -inevitable , our wiseacres sought to discover new uses for the Muscovite coaling station , aud sagaciously guessed that it was meant as a rendezvous for future firmaments against . Turkey , to act in concert with Franco , llut the second surmise was as far-fetched as the first was absurd . The policy of St . Petersburg'is pre-eminently , no doubt , one that looks ahead , out it is also one thai , has always shown itself eminently practical in its adaptation of available means to immediate and certain , not diru mid remote , aims . It is plain enoug h' now what the object was of hecomiug tenant of the ruined citadel and careening docks of Villttfranca , aud of the warehouses and wharfs thereunto appertaining . There lias probably never been an ambitious power in Europe which has at all times relied s > o much in its foreign policy on what is called " clled . " Those who have resided in Turkey know the pains taken , not in the capital merely , but iu every town of the undermined empire where a numerous Greek population exists , to wiii the admiration as well us attachment of the disaffected race . The churches are full of curious and splendid g ifts of Russian priuces , and all their benefactions arc exercised on a scale and in a stylo not the best calculated to serve those to whom they arc made , but to attract attention , beget suspicion , excite extravagant hopes on the one nand , and exasperate distrust and spleen on the Other . In all their dealings with other nations , the system pursued by those profound strategists is the same . Cost and trouble aro never thought of whou the object is to create deep impression . Just now tho Italians , heretofore spurned and dospiscd by tho haughty § Muscovites , possess pcouliar mtorcst iu their oyes . They aro viowed as a vast magazine of combustibles , that may bo used to blow in the gates and deoimate tho garrison of a rival empire . What becomes of tho elements so used after the town is seteecj Russia oarcs not a rouble Meanwhile , it is necessary to do two things : to familiarise tho Italians with the powor and professed sympathy of Muscovy , mid to establish the moans of constant communication and intercourse in a noiseless aud

    peaceable manner - Ihe game of inciting to revolt lias been frequently played nearer home , aud wW it has sometimes seemed , to our Western notff to be of a dangerous kind But in a distant 2 no hazard of contagion from revolution can be feared , and the calculation of 'Alexander II a f his advisors probably is , that insurrection , if ' dZ tostered and guulutl , may hi ; left to burn itself mt after the Austriaiis have been humiliated and driven beyond the Alps . ¦ Ha lie this as it may , the last few days have slim ™ what Villafranca ¦ was wanted for . . It fs toT converted into a- grand arena fur tlie regular display ot the power and the will oi Russia .- Fur m other intelligible purpose has the Grand Admiral of the empire , escorted by three screw linc-of-batlle-ships

    two steam corvettes , and certain smaller vessels ' visited the Sardinian waters , i ' or more than a week the squadron lay iu-the harbour of Genoa whrre its oflicers tliL- inure readil y . fraternised with the n : ival and military authorities of the place as both . speak French . The ( . 1 rand-Duke Constantinp , h . iviHLC inspected all the public places , and praised everything lie saw , proceeded to Turin , where he was feted aiid complimented in all conceivable ways . Stccrinpr alon ^ the tSncz / . i an shore at the head of his

    ibnnidublollotilla , jic ' entered' the lately acquired harbour .. Not deem ing it yet expedient perhaps to lay wholly aside the semblance of harmless- ' intentions , orders were Obteututiuuaiy iosucd that his linperial Highness would , during iiia stay , preserve his incogtiiiu , aud -that couscq-ucuily-ho salutes should mark his landing or departure . But , as if . . to-. raise- the corner of the veil worn in this ror / . -wllci'U' ih moderuti < Jii , lie proceeded ,, during his stay , to lay the foundation of a llus-so-Gireek church , witli all the

    impressive ceremonials ' -usual on . such occasions . Jlis other proceedings at -Villafra-nea were equally indicative of future purposes . When minute examination had bi'eu hKulc of every portion of the place , the Grand-Duke ga \' e t ! iiec ; ions , wliicJi were carefully made known jmhliely ,. for the immediate commencement of gical works of repair and . improvement , calculated to render the lon ^ -silent fishing " haven a ' centre of uetiviiy , and a place where a Mediterranean fief , juiglit securely seek shelter aud relit . 'Jin ; w ! i <> le may be ,-in fact , regarded us the . lirst of a . skilfully planned scries of . impressive niann-uvrvs intended to act uj ; on the mind of Italy , and thereby to work out liussia ' s iinti-Austrian vlcsigus-.

    Statistical Society. The Increased'numbe...

    STATISTICAL SOCIETY . The increased ' number of learned socielios within recent years is a j . ihciionien .-ii < - ! ' mmMi more significance " than is gem .-rully a ^ igm'd toll Ihe old Linucan . Societv at one linn ; claimed ilommioii Ol the wlu . le kingdom of natural history , but she has { jive-u birth to a numerous progeny who now dispute her . uos . NCSsibubf every province and domain , low ever limited in ex lei . I . Some of her estranged children have long held dominant swav over zoo logy , in then

    others of them have been equally powcrlul rule of botnnv , a 1 > .. | , 1 ami nn . biUuiis few ha \ 0 aimed at even Imperial dignity in their J'b'S «*»; vc conquest of geology , while mi { ..: nal , « i » i » omc « J uu ephemeral , lotion have lately ^™" ^ exclusive claims us an independent rqn bhool entomology . She is even denied all voice and authority In ethnological lmitiulcs . nor permittod to grow a -niriglo cubba « willnu «^ S boundaries , and some of her ii »» t f ^ fZ and favoured children actually , troin bei g u » j seventh-bom , allege to have o ^^ df ( prerogative ami exclusive right to I lit ^ B i » « secoiui sight iu a recently discovo ^ ml 01 ° soopioul region . Uj . Icss hhe cm ., iho «^" J bring to her aid the diplomacy o u ' 1 3 J d ^^ Mottomioli , tho suprcnacy oi the L »» J « f g fall under tho succchsivc uaaaults oi hei iodwuuw

    This dismemberment is , however , not cp fined to the Linncan Society . It has ccj . iml y d » ''^ S"Jg others , but wo shair now only i-vl t to 11 » -1 j t ^ foalalion within tho realm of the blnliatioal . cc tuinly heretofore the most vigorous ol uu soionliflo institutions of London . Ulio »^ J ^ JJ , cussed by this booioty have had ft more « Jj f uppUoaUon than those of any other U jmtujB ^ puMio p olity . Even quostiop wliwh ^ 0 ™^ . ho great contending purtios m tho btulo « vo uo ^ ilrstlbund thoir truo salonlilla bolutiou . In q « mo quonoo , it has enrolled ainonmt >{•• m ° Er , ! l nI 3 K all tho greatest statesmen of tho < Jay , a lwffc nanw of thonaottt active minds in both House * 01 *

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 24, 1858, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24121858/page/18/