WAR AND MYSTERY IN THE RIO DE LA PLATA. WHAT

is our Government doing in the Rio de la Plata ?—Going to war to enforce peace, answer the accounts just received ; but they are so inconsistent with what has gone before, that the in formation only more confounds the obscure. Not that it is not desirable to bring the war to a close. The contest between Buenos Ayres and Monte Video—or rather, between the Ar- gentine Republic and the Republic of Uruguay (called also the Banda Oriental)—has lasted several• years : its object was to sub- ject the Eastern province to the Government of Buenos Ayres ; its effect has been to suspend all law, demoralize the popuktion

of the contending provinces, expose them to frightful military tyranny and outrage, and ruin commerce. The question has been raised, whether foreign governments had a right to interfere in these disputes ; and the authorities of Buenos Ayres have actually argued that no neutral power has .a right to recognize the Government of either of the belligerents, as by so doing it would abandon its neutrality. It is, however; uniformly admitted, that foreign powers have authority to re- cognize de facto governments ; the right follows, to protect the interests which grow up under those governments; and the right of such interference was recently argued by Mr. Webster, in his correspondence with the Government of Mexico. Every reason for interference was strong in the present case ; and blame for inactivity was especially imputable to France, whose subjects had been treated with great barbarity. The barbarous contest might have been checked at its commencement, without the slightest violation of international law ; but France and England asserted the policy of non-intervention.

For hinting at a departure from that policy, one British Minis- ter was superseded. On the 8th of March last, Lord Palmerston put certain questions respecting the conduct of Mr. Mandeville, then the British Minister at Buenos Ayres. It appeared that, on the 16th December 1842, " iu conformity with instructions received from his Government," Mr. Mandeville informed Seilor Arana, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, that the British Government required the immediate cessation of hostilities ; and he held out the threat of an armed intervention. Sir Robert Peel declared, that in so doing Mr. Mandeville had exceeded' his instructions. The Premier also accused Mr. Mandeville of not communicating to his own Government a letter written to him by M. Vidal, the Minister for Foreign Affairs at Monte Video; and in consequence, Mr. Mandeville was recalled, on the 13th December 1844. This angry dismissal for threatening a policy so soon afterwards adopted is strange ; but how much stranger does it appear when we read, in a newspaper called the Arcleivo American°, published at Buenos Ayres in the interest of Rosas, such passages as the following-

" A doubt must still exist; and in common fairness Mr. Mandeville is entitled th the benefit of that doubt, especially when such a striking similarity exists between the tenor of his correspondence with Mr. Vidal and the language said to have

been held by Lord Aberdeen about the same period. What we allude to is the following passage, which occurs in an intercepted despatch, dated February last, from Rivensta the Minister at Paris to Riverista the Minister of Foreign Affairs at Monte Video= I addressed Lord Aberdeen, recalling to his mind, on the secomi anniversary of our treaty-, what he in the most formal manner said to me on signing it, Hold out a little longer, to enable us, with the cooperation of hinstatte, to establish peace in the River Plate.'" If there is any truth in these sentences; Mr. Mandeville's sup- pression of M. Vidal's despatch was not the only curious secret

correspondence. All this is unintelligible and puzzling enough,; but reference to some proceedings in Brazil, of earlier date, throws a still more bewildering light on the subject. The, following ase

extracts from instructions, signed "Miguel Colman du Pin Al- meida," and addressed to the Marquis de Santo Amore, on. the 21st April 1830— "Your Excellency will endeavour to prove to the Sovereigns who shall be parties in this negotiation, that the only efficacious means that can be pointed

out for the pacification and constitution of the whole Spanish colonies is

that of establishing constitutional or representative monarchies in the diffiar- ent states which have become independent." "In the election of the princes for the thrones of the new monarchies, when it shall be necessary. that they shall be brought from Europe, your Excellency will not hecirab, to give your vote in favour of those members of the Royal Family of Bourbon who

shall be disposed to proceed to America. These princes, besides the prestige which they have on account of being the descendants or immediate relations of the dynasty which for so many years reigned over those very same states, will through

their powerful family connexions and alliances afford a solid guarantee for the tranquillity and consolidation of the new monarchies." "And if any young prince should be elected—as, for example, the second son of the. Duke d'Orleans, or of

any other prince who has sons—it would be advantageous, and you are to propose

a marriage, or a promise of marriage, between them and the Princesses of -Brazil. I have also to state, that the second son of the Duke of Orleans should be ex- pressly mentioned; as H. R. H. the Duke has shown a disposition to many him

to the young Queen of Portugal, though she should not recover the throne "Your Excellency may give assurances and promise that his Imperial Majesty will employ all means of persuasion and advice to favour in the new states the

establishment of a representative monarchy, agreeing to form relations of the-most strict alliance with the new monarchs. Having had the glory of founding and of sustaining, almost alone, the first constitutional monarchy of the New World, his Majesty the Emperor desires to see his noble example imitated, and the principles of government which he has adopted become general in. America."

The Emperor of Brazil—not Don Pedro, for he, is dead, but " the Sovereign never dies "—the Emperor has since effected three marriages into the house of Bourbon,—his own with a Princess of the Naples branch ; and those of two sisters with Princes of the Naples and Orleans branches.

Now, after the event, can the politician even with a. twenty- millstone-piercing-power, guess why the British Government pas- sively consented to witness war so long. protracted ; why Mr. Mandeville was dismissed for threatening intervention; and-wily that threatened intervention has been carried out through the gentleman by whom Mr. Mandeville was superseded?