The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1855-01-24

being present
Hon. r. G. Wiekliffe was Immediately elected
president.
The governor S message wasreceived. Its
long and uninteresting document.
No other business was done, and the senate
adjourned until tomorrow.
The house Of representatives was called 70
order at 12 NJ. Sxty-two members we're pres
ent.
On motionJ. NJ. sandidge was declared cleo
ted speaker for two years.
Mr.. e. G. Davidson announced the death OF
lieutenant governor Farmer.
Members having gone into caucus on the
nominations for other offices, the democrats
chose Mr.. Higgins for that minute clerk,and
A. w. Bell, for that of warrant clerk.
Both houses adjourned till tomorrow.
The hon. John Slidell will bereelected to the
United States senate.
Why We SHOULD Be NEUTRAL.-We have
been more than once chided BY the ardent ad-
vocates Of the Anglo French alliance, because
we do not appear dlstressingly anxious Tor the
discontinue of Russia, and are content to re-
main in an attitude Of calm and coolneutrality.
We have heretofore taken some pains to show
why the American people occupy position Of
seeming paradox in this matter, and have poin-
ted out at some length the reasons which induce
them to withhold their sympathies from the
allied powers, and especially Great Britain Our
principal argument-the unvarying tone Of
hostility evinced towards US BY Great Britain
has been combatted. 1t has been said thatthe
English press does not represent the English
nation, that the London Times no more speaks
the sentiments Of Great Britain, than does the
New York Herald those Of America, that we
should pay no attention to the occasional indis-
Greet outburts Of the newspapers, and that at
heart the subjects Of queen Victoria entertain
the strongest feelings Of regard and friendship
for their transatlantic cousins. This mode Of
reasoning will hardly satisfy thinking minds.
The press Of England is free. It is the grand
exponent of public opinion. t filings at Amer
lea, ifcoyert menaces, or direct yituperation did
not find an echoi in the public heart, they would
soon cease. The conductors Of the British press
understand quite as well as we do here, how to
cater for popularity, and how to minister to the
taste. Articles well spiced with
sneers and sarcasms against America are re-
lished in England, and are doubly mischievous
in that they crafty evil and penucious preju-
dices, and tend to keep alive an unworthy ami
mostly.
But If the public press of England really ex-
aggerates or misrepresents the sentiments Of
the British people, it will hardly be contended
that the grave quarterlies which render the
periodical literature Of Great Britain the richest
and noblest in the world, which discuss the
gravest questions in political science, which
never speak lightly and heedlessly, and which
are the vehicles for the thoughts Of the finest
minds in the nation, it will not be contended, we
saw that these reviews and magazines delibe
rately distort, magnify or pervert the opinions
of the people, Now, Blackwood and the North
British Review, and other quarterlies repeat in Q
less vulgar and offensive form the language of
The Times and Morning Chronicle. Here are
two brief passages taken almost at random, |
which will establish our assertion beyond a
From the North British Review.
Our foes have had forewarning with what
sort Of people they will have to deal, and our
transatlantic cousins will become a triae less IN
solent and overbearing, when they find that the
1eet which summers in the Baltic, can without
cost or effort, winter in the gulf Of Mexico
From the Blackwood Magazine
England and France together are strong
enough to bind nearly all the world over to keep
he peace. When Russia is settled, France
nay abate her army, and England her navy,
out we must not disarm. We must still be able |
% say .sno' to our lively young brother across
he Atlantic if he wants Cuba, or takes any
other other little vagary into his head.
We ask in all candor, if this be the language
IF Cancellation and amity? Isit ito be presumed
hat the United States can be wooed into sym
oathy for the allied powers, by being threatened
With the presence of a hostile fleet, unless they /
become "a trihe less insolent and breckenridge
Are we to be enticed into warm friendship for |
England by the assurance that she will not dis |
,rm after the war, but will still be able to put
Ter veto on any designs we may have upon
Cuba? Are these the evidences of the brotherly
owe and unbroken concord which we are as
'ured are cherished for us by England? And is
tat all surprising that.in view ofthese reiterated
proofs Of national unfriendliness we in America
should resolve at least to maintain strict neu-
ralitye England ought indeed to rejoice that
Ter high-spirited descendants on this side of the
Atlantic refrain from proceeding far beyond the
limits of neutrality, in view of the incessant
orovocations administered.
For ourselves, we think the policy of our
government a safe and prudent one, in all res
poets. We deplore this war, as one that might
rave long since been avoided,i Great Britain
lad but eyinced in 1848 1.-THE of that spirit |
which animated her in 1854, and had checked /
he boundless ambition of Russia, when that
power lent her aid to crush Hungary, and re-
establish the threatened domination Of Austria
We deplore the war for its present horrors, and
prospective eyils-for its actual burdens, and
hose it must entail upon posterity forts dread
ul sacrifices of life and treasure, its injury to
rade, the gloom it casts upon commerce, the
shadow it throws around the advancing ciyiliza-
ion Ct the age. But we are not called upon
o mingle in the ARRAY. tits none of our seek
ng, it's beyond our hemisphere, the only inter-
.sts of ours involved in itare commercial ones,
which undoubtedly suffer grievously from its
continuance. If by any friendly offer we can
cooperate in the restoration of peace, SO be it, /
out we are not required to depart from the ira
litional canons of our policy, by directly OF in
lirectly mantle sting our sympathies for any Of
The combatants. Bee. |