The great Western R2public is undergoing characteristic move- ments in
all parts. In the South, the Government is repressing that active preparation against Cuba which the efforts at repression only appear to stimulate ; in the North, the Executive, supported by the deliberate public opinion which creates the Executive, is enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law, though it cannot put down the irritation which every fresh enforcement excites ; and in the capi- tal, Lord Elgin has been improving the liberal tendencies of the Government to obtain a treaty establishing reciprocity of com- mercial intercourse with the British Colonies, and settling the Fisheries question on the principle of reciprocal accommodation. How far the settlement is likely to please the Fishing Colonies, time will show, and as we have not the details before us we do not know how far it invades their exclusive possession; but we can hardly suppose that Lord Elgin has purchased reciprocity by substantial injury to any of them.
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