The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-07 00:00:00

SMITH O'B.RIEN ON THE AMERICAN

WAR.

Tha hero of Cahermoyle has forwarded a copy of
a letter to the editor of the Morning News which
be has addressed to Mr. Seward. The following
are extracts from this communication :
" By the recent seizure of the Confederate Com-
missioners on board of a British mail steamer the
Government of Mr. Lincoln has incurred a fearful
responsibility. I take for granted that this act
will not be disavow ed. I take for granted that it
was intended as a deliberate affront to the English
nation. I take for granted that it was designed as a

bold and defiant answer to the insolence which has

been directed against the American nation by every
organ of British opinion ever since the civil war
broke out in the United States. However this
may be, it is assuredly an act which was fraught

with consequences that may hereafter become most
disastrous to both the parties who are now con-

tending with each other. Unless England con-
sent to forego all claims to manhood or national
honour, she must resent this seizure, and, if the
South be disposed to accept her co-operation, the
successors of Washington must be prepared to en-
counter hazards more dangerous than have menaced
the Western Republic. United, the States of
America might defy the world ; but while they
are divided the interposition of a powerful
arbiter must rule their destinies. The navy of

England, issuing from the ports of Halifax, St.
John's, Bermuda, and of the West Indies, and
co-operating with a land force which appears to be
little short of half a million of men, will not only
raise the blockade of every Southern port, but will

_ .
sweep the American coast from New Brunswick to
the Potomac, burning every town and city which
lies within reach of the formidable projectiles of
modern artillery, and capturing every com-
mercial vessel that may venture to quit the

protection of a Federal fortress. As for Canada,
the modern statesmen of England care little

whether it call itself British or American; but
if an attempt be made by the Federal States to

force the Canadians into an incorporation with the

Northern section of the Republican they will simply
bring upon themselves an additional foe. They will
be attacked on their Northern as well as on their

Southern frontier, and, thus overmatched, they wi

be compelled to yield to the dictates of necessity

and submit to an ignominious peace. This is the
course of events which British opinion now antici-
pates. Scarcely a single Englishman or Irish West
Briton is to be found who did not rejoice when the
civil war broke out in America, because the Eng-
lish people have been made to feel that the United
States were becoming a Power with whose ascen-
dancy they would soon be unable to cope. For the
same reason I am convinced that they would now
rejoice to obtain an opportunity of destroying the
Northern section of the Republic by forming an
alliance with the Southern. They would thus
acquire, without impediment, the cotton and other
raw materials with which the Southern States have
been accustomed to supply them, while they would
extinguish the political and commercial greatness
of a formidable rival.
" In view of these contingencies, do I ask you to
lower the Stars and Stripes,' and to humble your-
self to England? By no means ; but I earnestly
entreat you to renew relations of amity, if not of
affection, with those who are now your natural
friends, who ought to be your brothers in affection
as they are your brothers by the relations of kindred.
" Answer the British demands in the language of
diplomacy. Quote authorities and precedents to
show that you are justified by the law of nations,
and especially by the example of England, in the
seizure of these Commissioners. Such discussions
will give you time for deliberation and for
preparation; but lose not an hour in libe-
rating the Commissioners: Send them to
the Confederate head-quarters, and tell them
to return to Washington as plenipotentiaries duly
authorised to treat respecting the terms of an im-
mediate suspension of arms, and respecting an early
adjustment of the questions at issue between the
Northern and Southern States.
" I cannot persuade myself that the Confederates
desire that this quarrel should be settled by the in-
tervention of a European foe. When I was in the
Southern States of the Union I conversed on familiar
terms with many hundred persons, including the
amiable and accomplished Vice-President of the
Confederate States, Mr. Stephens, at whose house
I was a guest during two days. At Baltimore, at
Washington, at Richmond, at Charleston, at Au-
gusta, at Montgomery, at Mobile, at New Orleans,
at Memphis, at Huntsville, at Nashville, at Louis-
ville, at Lexington, and at St. Louis, I obtained
every opportunity that I could desire of studying
the wishes and feelings of the population of the
slaveholding States. I found among them much
exasperation—an exasperation which was chiefly
directed against the inhabitants of the New England
States ; but, when I asked them what they would
do in case a New Englander were wronged or in-
sulted by a European Power, their unanimous and
unhesitating answer was, ' Our intestine dissensions
would in such case be forgotten, and we would all
unite to vindicate the rights of the humblest citizen
of the great republic to which we all belong.' I
cannot believe that this deplorable war has, within
the space of two years, so changed the feelings of
the people of the Southern States as that they would
condescend to imitate the feeble princes of Hindos-
tan, who, when disputing with each other, called in
the aid of a British force, and thus established the
supremacy of Britain over the whole of that vast
territory. Nor can I believe that the Irish, who
now form so large a portion of the Confederate army,
will be contented to reverse the hymn of our national
poet, and to march against their brethren, who form
a still larger proportion of the Northern army,
singing,--

" Tho green flag flutters o'er us,
" The foe we hate is by our side,
" And the friend we love before us.'
I need not say that I wish not less earnestly than
you that it were possible to reunite under one
Government the Northern and Southern States;
but, oven if this be now impossible, there is no
reason why these States should exhaust and
destroy each other, and humble themselves before a
foreign foe. To us who look at this struggle from
afar, and contemplate it without sharing the pas-
sion's which it has generated, the demand of the
Southern States to be allowed to control their own
Government and their own resources does not seem
to be unreasonable. IV hen Carolina and Virginia
entered into the Union eighty years ago they were
then recognised as Sovereign States, competent to
make such terms as they might think most advan-
tageous for themselves. Though they have con-
ceded certain rights to the Federal Government,
they have never abdicated their claim of sovereignty,
and if they have found by experience that a Federal
Union. with the Northern States has ceased to be
conducive to their interest or happiness it is not
unreasonable that they should desire to be emanci-
pated from this connexion. Events have proved
that they cannot be coerced into adhesion to such a
connexion.

" For my own part, I confess that I expected that I
the Northerns would have overrun the South, and
would have occupied successively
some
eof its most
themt ost
important towns ; but I have always felt h
subjugation of the South, in despite of the will of
its inhabitants, would be the greatest calamity
that coul I befall the Northern States, because it
would probably bring about a change of their
political constitution, and would certainly impose
upon them an enormous amount of taxation. Events
have shown that, after a campaign of six months,
no important change has been made in the relative
strength of either of the combatants. This is pre-
cisely the state of things that is most favourable
to an adjustment which shall be honourable to
both the contending parties. There may be diffi-
culties in settling the terms of an adjustment; but
sooner or later the war must cease, and these diffi-
culties will be augmented rather than diminished
by the protraction of hostilities.
" If this be the language of common sense, do not
despise it because it comes from an island which has
for ages been the victim of misgovernment. I be-
lieve that the language which I now hold bespeaks
the sentiments of a large majority of my fellow-
countrymen
the earth there is not among the nations of
people Who entertain towards the United