The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TlMES.—After an interval of two months Mr Seward
has once more addressed a sympathising and familiar
audience at Auburn, When he last spoke, at the begin-
ning of September, the prospects of Mr Lincoln's re-election
were doubtful, and•had recently been gloomy. The op-
portune capture of Atlanta had barely suffioed to inspirit
the Republicans, and if General M'Clellan had not disap
pointed his friends at Chicago it was thDught that the De-
mocrats might have won. On the present occasion circum-
stances had curiously changed. The capture of Atlanta
had proved at best only a barren triumph, but the political

tide had turned in Mr Lincoln's favour, and there was little
uacertainty about the result of the contest. So Mr Se-
ward, instead of adroitly comparing his policy with the
policy of his adversaries, and drawing contrasts between
equivocating Democrats and thoroughgoing Republicans,
devoted himself to a general justification of that terrible
war which a majority of his countrymen were evidently
preparing to continue. The tone which ho adopted in this
exposition was somewhat remarkable. He no longer spoke
of approaching victory or speedy triumph.l lII° forebore to
bespeak another "ninety days." He passed over in silence
the prospects of the campaign, and said not a syllable about
Grant or Sheridan, Sherman, or Farragut. The few vague
and general allusions to the war on which he ventured
indicated depression, though not despondency, and
he drew a dark picture of coming trials.
Nevertheless, he argued that the war must be
fought out to the end, because it involved " the national
existence." That was the ground of the quarrel. To give up
the conflict was to give up " the national life." If this view
of the case be correct, it is not surprising that the war party
has prevailed. Any nation will fight for life, much more a
nation so young, so vigorous, so confident, and so hopeful
as that over which Mr Lincoln presides. But dispassionate
spectators of the strife will certainly ask why the conditions
of national life in America should be so unique and excep-
tional. Wo see thirty millions of men inhabiting territories
which they themselves acknowledge to be extensive enough
for five times that number. It was one of the boasts of the
Americans that they would soon b 3 a hundred millions.
Four years ago one-third of the present population, being
homogeneous in itself and inhabiting a distinct division of
territory, claimed to dissolve its political union with the re-
mainder, and to establish itself in independence. Wo must
conclude, therefore, that the Americans of the South,
though only nine millions in number, entertain no mis •
givings about their capacity for national life and existence.
They see their way so confidently, indeed, not only to exis-
tence, but to prosperity, that they are fighting to the death
for the chance of realising their expectations. They have
no fear of foreign invasion, intestine strife, military despot-
ism, political anarchy, or any other of the formidable
visions conjured up by Mr Seward. They are not in the
least afraid of falling into chronic war, like the South Ame-
rican Republics, or of incessantly quarrelling wth the
powerful neighbour on their northern frontier. They
think their Confederacy can maintain itself in security,
independence, and honour, and that they can endure
to see another State equally independent without im-
mediately going to war with it. They hold, in short, that

" national life" on the continent of America can be main-
tained exactly as on the continent of Europe, by modified
ambition, mutual forbearance, and prudent policy. Why,
then, if nine millions can constitute a living nation, should
not twenty be able to do as -well ? To this question neither
Mr Seward nor any other American has ever yet given an
answer. We are left-to conje3ture for ourselves what pe-
culiarities of position or passion should prevent Federals
and Confederates from living side by side as peaceably as
Austrians and Prussians. The Confederates, though the
weaker nation, say the thing can be done—the Federals
represent it as utterly impossible. They must fight, Mr
Seward says, because the present civil war, with all its
horrors, its waste, and its carnage, is a better state of
things than the state of things which would follow if the
south were allowed to go in peace. We cannot under-
stand these apprehensions, We can see very well that if
the Americans had continued of one mind, and had been
content to live in unbroken union upon their immense ter-
ritories, it would have been better for them ; but we re-
cognise only the natural operation of human passions in
the dissensions which marred this prodigious vision. If
America had, indeed, grown into such an empire as was
once anticipated, even the political fabric itself would have
been less wonderful than the moral concord which had
rendered such a consummation possible, In feet, the con-
summation was not anticipated with any confidence by the
founders of the original Republic. Some of the greatest
statesmen of the Union foresaw its disruption, and more
than one recommended that the necessity should be
peaceably accepted when it came.

POST.—The intelligence of oiled the most wanton out-
rages ever committed by one Power on the territorial rights
of another was received in New ,York on the same day on
which its citizens were engaged in voting for the respective
candidates who aspired to the honour of governing the Re-
public for the next four years. It is needless to say that we
refer to the capture of the Florida by the Wachusett in
the harbour of Bahia. We were a little curious to learn in
what language the captain of the Federal cruiser would re-
port his achievement to the head of the naval department,
and equally so to know in what manner the American people
and the American press would regard an act for which it
was confessedly impossible to find either a moral or a legal
justification. In both respects our curiosity has now been
gratified, though some days must yet elapse before the de-
cision of the Federal Government and the verdict of public
opinion in the cities of the North are definitely expressed.
Although the institutions of America are Democratic, and
the voice of the people is presumed to be supreme, we know
from experience that the decisions of the multitude, how-
ever loudly and energetically expressed, are not unfre-
quently modified when reviewed in the councils of their
chiefs. When Commodore Wilkes made his appearance in
New York with the Confederate Ambassadors (figuratively
speaking) tied to his chariot wheels, loud and universal
were the songs of triumph with which ho was hailed. Gideon
Welles, the naval secretary, the same gentleman to whom
the capture of the Florida has now been officially reported,
complimented the commodore on his vigilance and zeal;
and the House of Representatives formally voted him its
thanks for the trilliant service he had rendered to his coup•
try. The press, without, we believe, a single exception,
adopted the act of the Federal commodore, and, in that
bombastic language in which it delights so much, declared
on the part of the American people that the act weul.l be
justified, if need were, by force of arms. But, nevertheless,
Messrs Stidell and Mason were delivered up to Great Bri-
tain, and an apology made for the wrong which had been
committed. Although, therefore, it would be unsafe to form
any conclusions respecting the course which will be taken
by Mr Lincoln and his advisers, in respect to the capture
of the Florida in Brazilian waters, from the language of
the press, it is not the less interesting to observe the latter
with the view of determining the current of popular opi-
nion. It is for this reason that wo propose to offer a few
remarks upon the account of the capture of the Florida
which appeared in a Boston paper on the Bth of November,
as it indicates not obscurely the impression which the an-
nouncement at first blush produced on the American public.
In the first place, we may observe that in all material re-
spects the version of the transaction published in the Ameri-
can paper is identical with that given by the captain of the
Florida on his arrival in this country. The American account
says nothing of the positive promiso given by the Federal
Consul at Bahia that no hostilities should take place in
Brazilian waters; but on this point, which is, however,