Patriotic Letter Of Gen Scott Concerning The Mason And Slidell Affair

Mï ]-kak Sib: - You wero rigbl in doubting the dsolaratiüii imputed to u:c, ti) Wit : fbat the CnUnct at Washington [ had given orders to seize Messrs. Mason and 81: del 1, even undtr a neutra] dag, for I wus DOt even airare tliat the Qo eminent had that pohit even under cii".sideration. At ;Lc timo of my leaving New York it was not fcnown tliat the San Jacinto hd returiiod to th.; AnierïCftll seas: and it was general 'v supposed i tlmse persons had esoaped to (jaba lor the purpose ot' re embarkiogin tho . ville, in pur.siüt of which vessel tlio James Adger and other eruistrs had beou dispatched. I thiük T can satisfy vou in n few worde that you havo 110 serious occasion to feel concerued about our rolfttioos with England, f, as her rutera profes, she has no uiaposition to encourago the disseusions lm Aincrioa. In the first place it is almost superflaous to B8J to you that every instinct of pradetice as well as of good neighborlioüd pröOupts our Government to regard no honorable sacriñee too great, for the prcseivation of the friendship of Great Brit a in. This iuust be obvious toall the world. At no period of our bistorj bas lier friendship been of more importance to our people ; at no period has our G'ovcriiineiit been in a condition to raake greator concessions to preserve it. Tho Iwo nations are unitcd by interests and sympathies- commercial, social, poli ti cal and reügiuiis, almost as the two arms to ono body, and no one is so igttorsnt as not to know that wliat harins oue must ha nu the other in a corresponding degree. I ani persuaded that the Britisli Government can entertain no doubt upr.n this i poiut, but if it does, I feel that I may : taku it upon myKelt' to say that the Prosi! deiit of the United States, wfaeu made awara of its csistencc, will lose no opportuuity of dispdliug it. Nor is there anything, I Venture to affirta, in tho seizure of these rebel emissai-ies which ouglit to receive an unfriendly construction from England. Her statesman wil] not questiou the legal right of an American vessel of war to search any commercial vessel justly buspected of transporting oentfáband of war; that right has never been surreudered by Euglaud; it was even guaranteed to lmr by tlie Treaty of Paris, and British guns frowning down upou nearly every strait aud inland sea upon the globe, are cODölusive evidenoa that she regards this riglit as ono, the eiiicacy of which may be not vet entirely exliausted. Üf course, there is mueh that is irritating and vexatious in the exurcise of this right uoder the inuai lamiauio l'U uumsiauues, auU 11 IS tu be boped the day ia not far distant whcn the maritimc States of the worW Wtll agroo in placiug neutral cumnierce beyond the reach of such vexations. - The United States Government bas been striving to this end for more than fifty ycars ; to this end, early in the present century aud its infaney as a natiou, it embarked ia a war, with the greatest uaval power in the world, and it is even now a persistent suitor at everv maritimc Court in Kurope fora more liberal rècogfcioo of the rights of ueutnils than the otter great niaritirae nations have yet been disposed tö make. But until these rightf are secured by proper international gnarautees upon a comprehensive and enduring basis, of course England cannot ceniplain of an act for wliich in all its material bearing her own naval history &ffo(ds such numerous preeedents. Whcther the captivea from the Tronl were contraband of war or not, is a question which the two Govefoments oan liave no seriou3 diffic.iltj' in agraoÏDg nu. il Air. öewarü eannot satisty Kuil lliisscll that they were, I have no doubt Earl Kusscll will bc able to satisfy Mr. Seward tliat they were iiot. If they were, as all authorities concur in admittiug, ageuts of tbe rebellion, it will be difficult to satisfy inipartial minds that thoy were any less contrabatid ilian a file of rebel soldiers or a battery of hostile cannon. But even sliould thero be a diffcrenco of opiniou upon tbis point, it is very olear that our (ovcrninont bad suffioioiit grounds for presuming itself in the right, to esuape the suspioion ot having wantonly violated the relations of amity whicli the two eountries profess a desire to preserve and cultívate. The pretenee that we oujrlit to liave taken the Trant into port, and had lier condemned by a Prize Court, in order to justify our scizuro of four of her passeugers, furnishes a very riarrow basis ou whieh to fix a serious eontroversy between two great nations. Stated in other words, an offencc would have been less if it had been greater. The wrong done to the Biitisb flag would have boen mitigatod if, instead of seizing the four rebels, we liad st'ized the ship, detained all her passengers for weeks, and confiscated her cargo' I am not surprised that Capt. Wilkea took a different view of his duty, and of what was doe to the fricndly relations wbich subsisted between the two Govcrnnimts. The renowned coniraon sonso of the Englis.h people, i beüevo, will approve of hiseffort to make tho dijcbargB of a very unplcasaht auiy ?s lï t tic vcxatious as posaiblo to all innocent partjes, If, under these eircumstances, Englai.d sliould doom it her duty, in tho intcrests of civilization, to insist upon the tion ol tlio men taken trom undcr the proteetion of her fla, it will be from a conviction, without doubt, that the law of uations in regard to the rights of ncutrals, whioh she ma take:i the leading part a establiëhing, requires revisión, and with a Bailable disposición on her part to estsblish those rilits upon ajust, hunible and phiiosophicrj basis. Indeed, I aiu happy to seo an intimation iu ene of t!ic leading mctropolitan journals, which goos fiir to justify tb 8 inferonce. Befcrnog to the decisions of the English Admira] ty Oourts, now quoted in defence of the seizure of tlie American rebels on board the Trcnt, tho London Times of Nov 28, says : "So far as the authorities go. tho testi inony of international law writers is all one wav, that a belligerent war cruiscr bas the right to stop aud visit and search auy mcrehant slap upon tho high soas. But it must be roniembered that these decisions werc given under circuinstances very differeut from thoso which now occur. Steamers in those days did not exist, and mail vessels I rying letters wherein all the nations of the world havo inmediato interest wore unknown We were fighting for existonce, and we did in those days wbat we should ueither do, nor allow otliers to do, nor expect ourselvcs to bc allowed to do in these dayd." If England, as wc are bere encouragcd to hope, is dispo8ed to do her part in stripping war of half its horrors by accepting the poiicy long and persistently urged upon her by our Govornment, and comraended by every principie of justico ' and humanity, she wil! (ind no grouud, in the visit of Ihe Trent, for controversy with our Government. I am sure the President and people of tho United ' States would be but too happy to let these men go free, unuatural aud unpar donablo as their offences have boen, if by it they eau emancipate the commerce of