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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1858
92
sentiments which were warmly responded to at home, and by the larger portion of the continental public. They were simply these, and, from their very nature, in •violent antagonism with those entertained by the supendiaries of the crowned head contrivers of the Congress of Verona: THE PEOPLE THE ORIGIN OF ALL POWER, THE OBJECT OF ALL GOVERNMENTS, THE GOOD OF THE GOVERNED, nor were suitable opportunities left unavailed of by the Premier, for strengthening and cementing the ties of friendship between his own and this country. In a speech which he delivered to his townsmen of Liverpool, on the 25th of August, 1823, at a banquet which they gave to Christopher Hughes, our excellent Minister to the Netherlands, he said, among other things: "On such an occasion he might be permitted to express the gratification he felt, in common with the great mass of the intelli- gent and liberal men of both countries, to see the animosities necessarily attendant on a state of hostility so rapidly wearing away, and giving place to feelings so consonent to the true in- terests of the two nations, united by a common language, a common spirit of commercial enterprise, and a common regard for well-regulated liberty. It appeared to him that of two such nations the relative position was not wholly unlike that which occasionally occurred in families: where a child having, perhaps, displeased a parent-a daughter, for instance-in contracting a connection offensive to that parent's feelings, some estrange- ment would for awhile necessarily ensue; but, after a lapse of time, the irritation is forgotten, the force of blood again prevails, and the daughter and the mother stand together against the world." About the time this speech was delivered Mr. Canning is reported to have had an interview with our Minister near the Court of St. James, in which he explained the policy of his Govern- ment with respect to Spain and the South American States, desir- ing the cooperation of the United States, if necessary in its enforcement. Our Minister, it appears, had no instructions upon the subject, but transmitted the proposal to Washington for con- sideration. On the 31st of March previous, the Prime Minister wrote to the British Minister at Madrid to intimate to the French Minister near that Court, in terms sufficiently distinct to admit of no misconception, that, while Great Britain utterly disclaimed any intention of appropriating to herself any of the former colonies or dependencies of Spain, she would not tacitly consent to their acquisition, or that of either of them, by France. This led to a conference between himself and the Prince of Polignac,
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