The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-01-07 00:00:00

AMERICAN NEWS.

The details of the news brought by the Hansa
and the Anglo-Saxon amount to very little,
nevertheless the aspect of affairs, upon the whole,
is better than we had reason to expect. It is
not a certainty of peace, but it adds very much
to the probability of peace. There was evidently
a subsidence of the Wilke's fever. The delirium
of excitement which greeted the capture of the
Southern Commissioners, had passed away. If
the mob, and the press of New York and
Wallington, are to be taken as a specimen of the
feeling generally of the Northern States in
reference to the demand made by England, there
can be no doubt that President Lincoln will be
allowed to sot for himself. Their tone had
decidedly changed, and the House of Represen-
tatives had refused teilledge itself to support
Captain Wilkes, until the Diplomatic Committee
of the Senate had been consulted. Those who
had been loudly unreasonable before, were
beginning to be rotich quieter; and those who
had been reasonable before, but had been com-
pelled into silence, si ere begining to open their
lips. Even the New York Herald, which but a
few days before signalised itself by sneering at
"British bluster," admits that the Commissioners
may be given tip, and indicates their restoration
an the right course to be pursued. It is true
that the Herald reserves for its baffled spleen, an
opportunity of future indulgence: When the
rebellion is crushed out, then will be a time when
"standing accounts " against England can be
better settled than now. This is only what we
might have anticipated. It is another proof of
the wisdom our Government has displayed in
the course they have taken to redress the honour
of the British flag. And in this respect the
Herold may be taken as an index of the nation.
When such is the language of the most violent
and popular journal in the States, and when it is
ready to give up the commissioners merely on
a hint of what the British demands are, we see
the folly of any other course than the one our
Government has pursued. It is true the
Washington Cabinet has not yet spoken. When
the Anglo-Saxon sailed, the official demand of
England had not been delivered to the President.
Lord Lyons had seen Mr. Seward, and had told
him what the demand was, but the information
was preparatory and conversational, not formal
' and ultimate. Mr. Seward is understood to
have, received the communication in a "good
spirit "—to have shown a general disposition to
an amicable adjustment—to have expressed no
invincible repugnance to the surrender of the
1 commissioners, but yet to have said nothing
I definite. If the Federal States were now in a
position to fight us, we have not the least doubt
they would do so ; nor do we doubt that the
Trent affair, even should it be peaceably settled,
will direct the attention of the Government to
their navy and their fighting condition from first
to last. As it is, they have either to give up
their stolen property or abide the judgment of a
war with England. Their choice lies practically
between the surrender of Messrs Maeon and
Slidell, and the entire abandonment of the South.
The alternatives seem too unequal to admit of
discussion or debate, and yet Mr. Lincoln had
not chosen, at the date of our latest advices from
Washington' to indicate the course he intended
to pursue. It is said that Mr. Secretary Chaim
has expressed himself favourable to peace, at a
bank meeting. On the other hand we have Mr.
Secretary Welles's approbation of Captain Wilkes
as a set-off against Mr. Secretary Chase's
assurance to the banking interest, that the dispute
will be amicably settled. It may be remarked,
however, that the former act took place before,
and the latter after, the determination of the
British Government to demand satisfaction was
known. This, perhaps, may account for the
opposite acts of the two Secretaries. That the
Ameriean jeople should phange their opinions
quickly, belongs to their character and to their cir-
cumstances. Their prim only gigs what will please