The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1861-01-11 00:00:00

ENGLAND TO THE RESCUE!

A REPUBLIC some five hundred years old would
be no novelty. History already records such a
fact. The existence of the great American
Republic, however, seems to be imperilled before
it has much exceeded the allotted span of one
brief human life. Little more than fourscore
years have elapsed since the United States were
formed into one confederation on a republican
basis. Of man, it has been infallibly written
that, " the days of our years are threescore years
and ten, and if by reason of strength they be
fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and
sorrow, for it is Soon cut off and we flee away."
A similar doom, at the same age, appears to have
been appointed for the existence of the Union of
the independent States of North America, Their
strength is even now "labour and sorrow."
The only prospect of relief, in the mean-
time, seems to be that they will be soon
"cut off and flee away." Our transatlantic
kinsman have no reason whatever to suppose that
Englishmen, in any measure, enjoy the prospect
of the too probably impending collapse of a
constitution which, with all its faults, weaknesses,
and inconsistencies, has braved so many difficul-
ties and trials, and, at the same time, has con-
ferred so many of the blessings of peace and pros-
perity upon a great people speaking our own
language, inheriting our own ideas and traditions,
and carrying on with us perhaps the largest and
most profitable portion of our great trade. On
the contrary, it is impossible for any intelligent
man on this side the Atlantic to contemplate the
probability of the Union being broken and dis-
rupted without the most painful apprehensions as
to the ultimate consequences. But, above all, we
dread, and pray Heaven to avert, the awful
calamity either of an intestine war between those
who are lineal relations, or of a servile war
between the poor slaves and their infatuated
owners. And yet there seems to lie before us in
the future history of the United States only one
of two alternatives—namely, the entire submis-
sion of the Southern States, by some sort of com-
promise with the Northern Republicans, or an
internal war between Democratic and Republican
armies and fleets, in the development of which it
is to be feared that the millions of enslaved men
in the South will seize an only opportunity of
rising and inflicting unheard-of revenge upon
their oppressors. All the world was erstwhile
shocked by the cruel narrative of Cawnpore
atrocities! but what were these as compared
with what we might look for in the eventuality
of a failure to bring :about :an amicable under-
standing between the, two great sections of the
American Union, and the consequent outbreak of
hostilities ? It is undoubtedly the most earnest
wish of England, as was well and timeously ex-
pressed by the Prime Minister the other day, that,
" whether the Union is destined to remain unim-
paired, or whether the Southern Slave States are
determined to separate into different communities,
the result may be brought about by amicable
means, be it for dissolving or maintaining the
Union, and that the world may be spared th
affecting spectacle of hostile conflicts between
brothers and relations."

The latest news is far from re-assuring as to the
prospect of affairs. The South Carolina troops
have made an aggressive act upon the Union which
cannot be allowed to pass unresented without
wholly conceding thb right of that State, and of
all others, to secede, at any time, without leave
asked or obtained. Indeed, it is difficult to see how
such an insult to the federal forces can be tolerated,
upon any ground, without involving the humilia-
tion and dishonour of the Union as a great power.
In taking possession of the federal fort of Moul-
trie, and the castle of Pinckney, what matters it
that a mere handful of men offered no resistance ?
That handful was overpowered, and obliged to
yield, and through them, representatively, the
Union was so far subjected to the degradation of
attack and defeat. Moreover, the revenue and
military resources belonging to the Federal
Government in South Carolina have been unscru-
pulously seized and appropriated. What more,
then, is needed, so far as that State is con-
cerned, to complete the rupture, and challenge
her immediate fate ? We know of nothing
more that South Carolina could have done
to precipitate a crisis, and to put the issue

between her and the North to the bloody arbi-
treriient of the sword; Let the other States
ttet as they may, it is pleat that goiitii ditrolitia
is prepared to hazard all, rather than surrender
one iota of her wicked demands. It gives but
little hope 'of any speedy solUtion of the difficulty
to find that the existing Goverinnelit of Wash-
tizi tie hopelessly broken tip liy
diversity of opinion and corresponding incapa-
bility of devising any basis of action to meet the
present crisis. It is evident that the severance
between North and South penetrates 'eteri to the
whence, then, Shall i
the first step come towards a definite unravelling
of the Complication ? There are only two quar-
ters towards which we can turn our anxious gaze;
namely, Atrait,6t Lri4cor.*, the Oresident-electi
Who comes hitti o rot bid the Ist of March
ilekt ; and the powerful majorities in both houses,
who, by energetic efforts, may yet be able to
effect a judicious compromise between the two
great conflicting interests. But stay,—is there
- not yet another species of conciliatory influence,
which may be bronght to bear upon otir Anieritan
cousins with favourable effect? We shall not
go the length of urging direct goVernniental
interference on the part of England; but, surely,
if there should appear to be any immediate danger
of a bloody intestine and servile war, is it not
the duty of English merchants individually, one
and all, severally or unitedly, to volunteer their
disinterested and friendly council, and to offer to
do all that lies within their power to prevent one
of the worst calamities that could afflict humanity
in the New World, and thus, indirectly, inflict
upon the -Mother Country one of the heaviest
disasters of modern times.

So far as the fate of Slavery is concerned, we
have no misgivings, We believe that) as an
institution, it is irretrievably doomed. And were
there no other e'qually important interests at
stake, we might hail the outbreak of hostilities as
the speediest, although roughest, process of real-
ising our hopes and expectations. But we are
no advocates for a rash and precipitate change.
We remember that even in England, after our
minds were made up to the sacrifice, we allowed
five years of grace before insisting upon absolute
emancipation. We have no right to be more ekatt-
ing towards our Aurcticari Cousins; and, therefore,
wt Would gladly see some arrangement come to
amongst themselves which would obviate the neces-
sity for an immediate and all but ruinous transition
such as would most likely ensue from a civil war
between North and South. Two things only are
certain,—namely, that one at least of the Slave
States, to wit, South Carolina, has fairly and
openly defied the Federal forces, and that on and
after the Ist of March next the then Federal
Government will consider it its duty to meet
that defiance by positive force, If England or
Englishmen can and will exercise any influence
over these momentous events in the United
States, now is the time. By-and-bye it will be
too late. Let us press forward to the rescue, for
" Blessed are the Peace-makers."

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE

FRANCE

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, Jan. 8, 1861.
The dissensions and disagreements which have
for some time past existed in the cabinet of the
Viceroy of Palermo, between M. la Farina and
M. Cordova, have at length attained such a height
that the Lieutenant-General, the Marquis de
Montezemolo, has been forced to call upon the
whole of his ministers to resign. The two per-
sonages who have brought about this crisis have
shown themselves to be as impracticable and
impossible in Sicily, at the present moment, as
they were during the Dictatorship of Garibaldi,
who is thus shown to have been completely justi-
fied. in expelling M. Farina from the island at
the time he did,
There is still considerable uncertainty as to the
actual position of the Gaeta negotiations. At the
same time it is quite evident that the blockade of
the fortress continues merely nominal—or rather,
no blockade has yet been properly established—
for the communications between Gaeta and Naples
can scarcely be said to be even interrupted& In
proof of which it is mentioned among other facts
that the Neapolitan fishermen have organised a
regular " service" for the conveyance of provisions
and vegetables to Gaeta, where a higher price is
got for these articles than at Naples.
For several days past it appears that the cor-
respondence between Naples and Rome has been
intercepted; General Cialdini having prohibited
all communication of every kind. As the French
troops occupy the roads between Rome and the
Neapolitan frontier, the banditti have not yet
shown themselves in that direction, but in the
other parts of Italy, which are harassed by the
civil war going on, the banditti system has made
frightful progress. There is a certain fellow
named Gavaszi (not the eeelesiaStical agitator of
that name); Who is traversing the country districts
incessantly with a band of twenty-four horsemen,
and plundering the country people unmercifully.
In short the need of a strong and powerful
Government in Italy is becoming hourly more
apparent.
A little light has at length dawned Upon the
present position of the religious question between
France and Rome. It is nnw nprtnin that the
Episcopal appointments recently made by the
Emperor will be confirmed at Rome, with the
exception however of the Abbe Ilaret, whom his
Holiness rejects on account of his Gallican and
independent views, though under the apparent
pretext of his being afflicted with deafness. It is
thought that the Emperor *ill end by yielding On
this point to the obstinate holding out of the
Roman Court, and indeed it is said that on no other
condition will his Holiness consent to receive the
other nominees. The official reception for the
first time of the whole of the Paris clergy at the
Tuileries, on the Ist instant, has been very ranch
remarked upon. On the preceding year, a notice
which was posted up in every parish announced
the day and hour on which the Emperor would
receive the Cardinal Archbishop and the Cures of
Paris ; but this year the notice was differently
worded, and it bore that his Majesty would
receive the Cardinal Archbishop, the Cures, " and
the clergy of Paris." The consequence was that
either from motives of sympathy with the Imperial
Views, or from niotites of ctiriosity) a tolerably
large number of the priests of the parishes of
Paris attended the official reception, bitt the Cures,
with a very insignificant exception; were found to
be " conspicuous by their absency.' Most of the
clergy of the inferior order present, consisted of
the cures and priests of the surburban districts.
The Emperor replied to the speech of the Car-
dinal, by thanking his Eminence and his clergy
for their good wishes, and demanded an interest
in their prayers. An Archbishop from the
provinces, who has had some disagreethent With
the Government, arrived in Paris a day or two
ago, and had an interview with his Majesty.
He gives out everywhere that the Emperor on this
occasion expressed himself very strongly against
the Italian "unity" idea, and that he accompanied
his remarks with most satisfactory declarations
on the subject of religious affairs; the conclusion
drawn from this reported conversation being that
the Emperor still continues faithful to his own
programme of an Italian Confederation, and in-
tends to re-establish the Pope in the possession of
his ancient states, with the exception of the
Romagna.

The effect on the minds of the clergy of the
news of this " veering about" on the part of
Napoleon 111. in respect to his Italian policy may
be easily imagined ; but I question very much
whether the change does not exist solely in the
hopes and imaginations of this very imaginative
body. Meanwhile, in the circles of the Union and
the 3londe scarcely any other subject is talked of
but this reaction in the mind of the Emperor as
regards the affairs of the Papacy.
The last Episcopal vacancy which has occurred
—viz., the See of Perigneux, one of the largest
dioceses in France—has not yet been filled up.
Considerable sensation, as you are no doubt
aware, has been caused by the publication of the
.pamphlet, entitled " Rome et les Eveques." The
Patnie, as usual in similar cases, has hastened to
declare that the brocheure is " une oeuvre toute I

individuelle," and that certain foreign journals are
Wrong in attributing to it an official source.
Great military preparations still continue, and
ani told that it is difficult to form an idea of the
immense mass of War materiel of every descrip-
tion which is now accumulated in the French
arsenals. Orders have been given to the
officers of cavalry regiments to complete the
df horses within a month
from this time. Viirthet; there are now in the
building yards of St. Ouen, in a State Plosely
approaching completion, seventeen gunboats,
armed with a formidable beakhead, the shodk of
Whieh Will be sufficient; it is said; to "rip up"
any line 0f bitttiB 610 that lead eter been built.
All these preparations, however, one is edildrintly '
assured by the Government organs; have no other
character and object than that of mere precau-;
tiontir theasitrei, whiCh no more imply an
ineigtable ti6feiiie6iii;ti than the absence
of armaments of every kind, would lead to the
establishment of confidence in peace. The fact is,
there is always an answer of some kind ready,
and it is invariably prepared along with the pre-
parations to which it intends to refer.
The report of the approaching retirement of
M: Thouvenel is now as near confirmation as pos-
sible; without it beilig dowdily it Alt decompli.
Strangb to say; another Mil-lour also increases in
strength, viz., that this statesman is to be site-
. be'ded as Foreign Minister by M. de Morny, and
not by 14: de Peisigii M: Thtliibeiiel will Oh:
614 be asked to remain in office, till it is semi
what turn the Italian and Syrian question (the
latter is daily assuming bigger proportions) will
take. If peace must be maintained, IA de Per-
signy will certainly assume the seals resigned by
M. Thouvenel; if the contrary, M. de Morny will
take the direction of affairs.

Among other proofs which are adduced of the
resumption of a friendly understanding between
France and Russia, is the alleged fact that the
Poles residing in Paris hate been peremptorily
refused permission to establish a journal here for
the purpose of advocating the cause Of Polish
natiOriality.. I atii not atVare that any restrictions
have been imposed upon the Hungarian pamphlets
and addresses having similar objects.
The tightening of the discount market in both
capitals has of course made itself felt in regard to
the prices of all descriptions of securities. Rente
has been sold so low as 66f. 90c., and there are few
buyers at that price.