It appears to me to be as unwise to attempt to restrain the course of nature and its fruits, aided by the energies of man to develop or to use them, as it would be to bind down the mind of a man of genius, or of a poet, in order to prevent their operation, or to hinder the great conceptions of their muse, or the scientific research which a bright genius renders serviceable to his fellow mortals, from ever seeing the light. No one will defend the justice or wisdom of the time which forbade Galileo to publish, or even himself to believe in, his great discoveries; but is that more unjust than the policy of rulers, who shut up from the beings whom God has created to use them, the fruits of our common mother, the earth? It is equally absurd to prevent and to prohibit in either case; but notwithstanding this, the passions and prejudices of mankind are violent enough to permit of the one, although they would by no means suffer the other. Wisdom and passion can seldom or never accompany each other. Philanthropy will ultimately banish from our codes all such regulations as tend to check the fruitfulness of the soil and its use by man, who has been endowed with reason in order that he may assist the operations of nature. The constant and unrestricted use of the bounties of nature does not lead to their abuse; the contrary is the fact, for it is only when our appetites are excited by the obstacles to their attainment that they become excessively indulged and depraved. The illiberality of the Government places the existing position of foreigners in rather an equivocal position, for they are only there upon sufferance; and in the event of any disturbance, such as happened at Manilla in 1820, or of a war between the two nations, what would become of the foreigners or of their property? It has already been shown to the world that our fellow-subjects at Manilla in 1820, might be murdered in the streets like dogs, and no retribution be demanded by their Government; and to this day their personal liberty and property can at any time be endangered by the caprice of the Governor or of his subordinates. In 1848, an alcalde laid hold of a number of British subjects, and threw them suddenly into prison, because he happened one day to discover that the time for their permission to remain in the country had years ago expired, which all of them had been led to expect it was quite unnecessary to have renewed so long as they remained quiet and well-conducted members of the community. As the alcalde did not know very well what to do with them when he had got them into the jail, he kept them there for a few days till he had smoked a good deal, and thought a little about them, and then he told the jailor to let them out again.