On the 15th of last month it was announced in London by magnetic telegraph, that the mail steamer Canada had arrived in the Mersey from New York, bringing a number of passengers, amongst whom was Mr. John Fiennes Crampton, late Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Her Majesty with the United States of America.

In the journal which made this announcement appeared two despatches, which explained the cause of Mr. Crampton's absence from the scene of his mission, and his presence on British ground. Both were written by Mr. Marcy, the American secretary of state-one to Mr. Dallas, the American minister in London; the other to Mr. Crampton himself. The latter was as follows:

SIR,

MR. MARCY TO MR. CRAMPTON.

Department of State, Washington,
May 28th, 1856.

The President of the United States has directed me to announce to you the determination to discontinue further intercourse with you as her Majesty's representative to the government of the United States. The reasons which have compelled him to take this step at this time have been communicated to your government.

I avail myself of this occasion to add that due attention will be cheerfully given to any communications addressed to this department from her Majesty's government affecting the relations between Great Britain and the United States, which may be forwarded to this government through any other channel.

Should it be your pleasure to retire from the United States, the President directs me to furnish you with the usual facilities for

that purpose. I consequently enclose here. with the passport given in such cases.

I avail myself of this opportunity to renew to you, sir, the assurance of my respectful consideration.

W. L. MARCY.
John F. Crampton, Esq., &c.

We learn, then, from these despatches, and from the arrival of Mr. Crampton in England, that the minister of Her Britannic Majesty with the United States has been dismissed from that country, as "unfit for the position he held," and unworthy of that confidence and consideration which the representative of a friendly power ought to command with the government to which he is accredited.

It may not be thought amiss, on the occurrence of so strange and startling an event, to enter upon a brief summary of the circumstances which have led to this result. The public mind, we are aware, has been for some time much occupied with the question; and the public journals have entered, over and over again, into the details, presenting the matter under every conceivable aspect: still, notwithstanding all this-or rather, because a constant and perplexing iteration of details may possibly have interfered with and prevented a just view of the whole question, we are disposed to hope that we may supply a want at this moment felt by some of our readers, by giving, though at the risk of repetition, from authentic sources, and as plainly as we can, an historical resumé of the double controversy which has of late been engaging the attention and taxing the

diplomatic intelligence of the two governments.

It is scarcely necessary to say that of the twofold difficulty in question, one part relates to our possessions and rights in Central America, and the other to the attempt made during the late war to procure recruits from amongst the inhabitants of the United States. Upon each of these questions ዜ "Blue Book" has been published. The controversies, which raged for some time simultaneously, are thus kept separate, though their separation in the parliamentary documents does not so completely isolate them from each other, as not to render a comparison valuable for the purpose of illustrating the characters of the parties and the real objects they had in view. We propose to take up the Central American question first, both because it arose considerably earlier than the other, and because the latter will be dealt with more naturally in connection with the concluding portion of the present paper.

Up to the period at which the discovery of gold in California took place, those vast regions of America which lie between Mexico on the north, and New Granada on the south, had been little valued and very imperfectly explored. The antiquarian researches of Mr. Stephens, indeed, had invested portions of them with a mysterious interest; but the interest which utility alone can produce had not been felt-it was not any one's business to explore them. This whole region had been originally colonized by Spain; and remained under the dominion of that country until the year 1821, when the provinces of which it was composed threw off the Spanish yoke, and constituted themselves into a republic, which they named Central America. In a few years this republic fell to pieces, and was reformed into separate states, which took their divisions in the main from the boundaries of the old provinces. These republics are (beginning from the north) Guatemala, Honduras, San Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. From an early period England had formed settlements on the eastern shores of this regionundisputed, whatever had been the original title to them-by the republics they bordered on.

As soon, however, as by the incor

poration of new states into the American Union, a western sea-board was obtained; and when a dependency of Great Britain, almost equal to a continent, and lying beyond the barrier of the western world, had disclosed a sudden store of wealth and invited the enterprize and cupidity of Englishmen to its shores, what had been until then deemed a worthless pass between the northern and southern empires of America rose at once into importance, as forming the line of communication between the civilization of the two great divisions of the British family and the distant treasures of the Pacific. Central America, for the first time, became the centre of American interests. Every eye was turned upon her; she began to be the focus of the world's gaze.

As a highway, use was made of her at once. In default of other means of transit, men scrambled over her mountains, and forded or swam her lakes and rivers, in order to get the shortest way across from sea to sea. This spontaneous selection of a route pointed out its importance. The interests of the world seemed to demand that it should be opened up. Such was the state of things which originated the CLAYTON-BULWER TREATY.

The history of this treaty is shortly as follows. In the year 1849 a proposal was discussed between the ministers of the two governments, Great Britain and America, for guaranteeing the safety of a company of capitalists, to whom a charter should be granted by the republic of Nicaragua for the execution and maintenance of a ship-canal across a certain portion of Central America, principally if not altogether lying within the territory of that state. This canal was to pass from the Caribbean Sea at San Juan del Norte westward, following the course of the river San Juan until it reached Lake Nicaragua, whence it was to pass into Lake Managua, having its outlet either at the port of Realejo or at the Bay of Fonseca on the Pacific. This vast undertaking had already been taken up by a company of capitalists, and was deemed of sufficient importance to the interests of both nations to call for their formal protection, to guarantee