The American President appears to have exposed himself to the
cross-fire of two parties, with neither .of whom has ho naturally any quarrel. His tolerance of Slavery is fitted to conciliate the good-will of the Southern States ; his Protectionist leanings, to render him a favourite in New England. But the unlucky Fugi- tive Slave law has involved him in an angii dispute with the men of Massachusetts ; and the knotty question .of State rights threat- ens to set him at loggerheads with the North Carolinians. The operations of the Fugitive Slave law has been obstructed in Boston by all sorts of devices : the last exploit of the Abolitionists there was the forcible liberation of an arrested slave, who has made his escape to Canada. This has been followed up by an- gry proclamations from the President and a to message to Congress, which have nettled the New Englanders. The President's difficulty with Carolina arises out of the correspondent*, formerly noticed, between the State Governor and the British Consul respectieo "-e imprisonment of free British seamen of colour in the ports of the State. Properly speaking, both the New England controversy and the dispute respecting the right of the State Go- vernments to hold direct intercourse with the agents of foreign powers are exclusively American questions. But if the attempt to induce the President to withdraw the exequatur of the British Con- sul, for his application to the Governor of Carolina, be successful, the English application Secretary will have standing-ground for a share in the dispute. This transaction reveals a latent weakness in the Central Government of the United States. The founders of the Republic, flattering themselves that their commonwealth would remain isolated from foreign polities, refrained fromeonferring upon the Central Government powers which are necessary to enable it to represent all the States in its negotiations with other powers, now that the United States have become quite as meddling in the af- fairs of other nations as any government of the Old World.
