The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-02-25
The Latest Argument for Intervention.

chance In the world for the nomination.
The Latest Argument for Intervention.
The Albany Euening Journal, replying to
our views on the subject Of International pro-
tests, addresses to us the following queries:
/" If a protest to be respected must be supported
by determination to go to war; of what avail are
all the protests that from time to time appear in
your columns? Are you ready to go to war in be-
half OF your views of the tariff, and the improve
ment of rivers and harbors2 Do you mean to CON-
mence hostilities if the candidate against whom
you protest is nominated for President? Do you
not make protests every day of your existence
against one measure and in behalf of another
Will you sustain them all at the point of the bayo
metz Or are they mere bagatelles, and to be
laughed at as such.''
We should be tempted to doubt the serious
ness or sanity of a stranger who adduced such
inquiries as arguments for national Intervention
in European affairs; but proceeding from
journal which devotes itself to proving that the
individual will Of citizens of a country consti-
tutes "higher law" than the recorded laws
Of the aggregate will, they are perfectly intel
ligibe and consistent. Intervention is alto
gether a higher-law doctrine, and can be sus-
tanned by none but higher-law arguments
The man who claims the right to NEEDLE with
the local institutions Of States far removed from
where he resides, and who, in carrying out his
meddling, seeks and receives succor from for
eign countries, may consistently propose to alb.
rogate the foreign policy hitherto pursued by
the American Government; for, in reality, he
has just as clear right TO dictate to Austria or
Russia, as to force his peculiar dogmas upon
Georgia or Mississippi. But because the Abo-
litlonlst may be-must be-a Jealous interview
zionist, it does not therefore follow that inter
venion is proper or polite. The sound infer
ence is in the opposite direction. Because in
terventlon is only phase of abolitionism,
therefore intervention is bad
The Journal asks if we are not in the daily
habit of protesting against one measure OF in
favor of another, and whether this kind of
protest is 10 pass for nothing because unsup-
ported by bayonetsl We answer that mere pro
tests are worth little in any case, except as
means Of justifying individual conduct, or
prelude TO more conclusive action. We write
for or against particular measures, pertaining to
this country, but, unlike the Journal, we be-
lieve that what we write is worthless or eff.
cient in the exact proportion of its truth and
reasonableness; and that any protest we might
make would have no weight if it related to
matters with which we have no legitimate
concern. As American citizens we have an
undisputed right to discuss American subjects,
and to protest, if such a step can produce any
good; but what American edtor-unless he be
an Abolitionist - imagines that newspaper
protest will change the tactics Of Russia, or
produce any impression on the policy Of Eng
landl We chronicle the affairs of both coun-
tries as items of intelligence, and endeavor to
form and express just estimates of their merits
and tendencies; but what analogy exists be
tween the comments Of journalism and the
formal protest of a national government One
is a "mere bagatelle" OF otherwise, according
to the intelligence of the editor and his readers;
the other is formal movement of great power,
involving the probability of war, and the re-
sponsibility Of all its horrors The two have
no resemblance, and the attempt to establish
comparison between them only serves to illus
trate the confusion of ideas that exists in the
brains Of the interventionists.
Perhaps the Ecening Journal will cite his
torical evidence of the efficacy of protests by
nations unprepared for war, and which further
declared that they did not mean to engage in
war I; or of instances OF formal and effeetual ma
tional Intervention in which distinct under
standing did not exist that the powers inter
venlng were resolved on considering the sub
ject of protest a ground Of quarrel. When
either or both of these positions be established,
we shall believe that Intervention does not
mean war; but not till then.
Another point which our interrogation may
usefully elucidate is, the probable amount of
peace and prosperity that will be enjoyed when
higher-law rulers shall be enabled TO convert
newspaper articles into causes OF war either
between countries or different sections of the
same country; and the size Of the sanct,m large
enough to hold the editor whose pen shall gov
ern the policy of despots in a distant hemi-
sphere.
NORTH CAaotINA.-Thc names Of EpwApp
srAsLy, w. II. WAsursoroN KENNETH RAyNRa
and JOHN A. GiLMER, are mentioned i'm connection
with tho Wing candidacy for Gov ernor az Moth