We notice rather a remarkable debate in the American Senate,
for the purpose of a single remark. There were many attacks on England for not heartily cooperating in the capture of slavers off the coast of Cuba. We cannot join in the censure thus ex- pressed, holding that the armed suppression of the Slave-trade is useless for its object and mischievous in its effects. And we cannot withhold the opinion, that the complaint comes with a very bad grace from a country which has before now justly reproached England with being too urgent in the forcible sup- pression of the Slave-trade. We have to remark, however, that no exaggerated construction must be put upon the sentiments of particular speakers in the Senate ; since it is amongst the faults of American society, and particularly of political society in Ame- rica, that too little consideration is shown for any endeavour to promote common understanding for common objects. To use a vulgarism peculiarly expressive, each person seems to hold himself justified, on all occasions, in "going off on his own hook."
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