Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1855-02-18
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rank which the New y ork Herald occupies among
Transatlantic journals We know that it is PUB
lsbed in the first city in the Union, possesses
considerable circulation and is conducted with as
much ability as IS required for periodical literature
in America We see. also, that the sentiments OF
The New York Herald with regard to the present
war are echoed from every quarter OF the States
and we. therefore, make no apology for seriously
calling the attention of nation united to us by so
many ties to the libels On her character and her
honor which every steamer brings to US from
America in the shape of comments and hopes with
regard TO the present state aud future prospects OF
the war with Russia. The Americans have fire.
quently shown themselves acuiely and even NOR
bidy sensitive TO European opinion, and can hard
ly view with Indifference the very serious injury
which the conductors Of their press are daily IN
dicting upon them.
Our American contemporary is of opinion-first,
that Russia has prevailed in the war hitherto; sec
ondly, that she will prevail in it, and, thirdly, Tor
the sake Of the American Union that 1t is desirable
that she should prevail; and consequently IL desires
sincerely the triumph Of Russia and our humila-
ton. We will not waste time in arguing whether
Russia, who finds herself compelled to accept con-
ditions greatly more stringent than those to which
little while ago she would not even delgn to re-
turn an answer. agrees with her republican apollo
gists and is either satisfied with the past or conf
dent of the future. These matters OF opinion,
and as SUCH however perverse and distorted, are
no objects of censure But we would gravesy put
it to the good sense of the American nation wheth-
er the success of Russia in the present struggle
would really be to them the great material advan-
tage which they are taught to believe. 1t may be
quite true that the Gar, being without friend In
| this hemisphere holds out as the Herald phrases
it "the right hand of fellowship to the other that
| Russia is the enemy Of England; and England, in
an honorable and noble sense, rival as well as CO.
| adutor to the United States. The Gar may be
| prepared to tempt America, for aught we know,
| with commercial advantages He may represent
himself as ready to employ an American engineer
to Law down an electric telegraph, to buy iron for
railroads whenever he finds money to make them
| and cannot get iron from England, and to use
American steam vessels fly any means they can
reach him through the blockade of the allies. We
NAV grant all these, and these are literally all the
considerations which our contemporary can urge TO
support the monstrous proposition OF community
of interests between the United States and Russia.
| The answer is not difficult tH
As to the employment of American citizens IN
Russia the vast American continent itself offers so
wide field for enterprise and exertion that the
wish of patriot should rather be that the genius
and intelligence Of its inhabitants should be con-
tnued to be employed in subduing to the purposes
of man than that such valuable qualities should be
| attracted to foreign lands. Let Scotland and
Switzerland send out her sons in search OF foreign
gold. America has room upon her ample breast
for all her children. As for supplying the Car
with American built ships OF war; as long as we
remain masters of the sea- it will be impossible, and
when we have lost that mastry it will be supeftiu-
! GUS Railways and telegraphs are not the works
of nation unable to raise money by loan, porsess
| ing double the population and half the revenue OF
the united kingdom, at war with all the word, and
driven to the utmost extremity to lind supplies Tor
| every day as it passes by. The Herald talks OF
| commerce. but commerce is between countries
| whose natural products are different, and not be-
tween those which, possessing so many natural
features in common are rather made by nature ioI
| competition than Interchange. Russia Is to take
| American iron. When? During the war, when
the blockade will keep it out after peace, when
the English iron viii undersell il? There remains
nothing. then, but the "kindly feelings Of the CzaI
| to his Republican friends. and "the right hand o.
fellowship" which he profiers to their grasp, hot
with the life blood Of Republican Poland aud Dem
ocratic Hungary.
But further, if Russia wins, England loses in 8
much greater proportion for it il far easier to de-
stroy than to transfer commercial prosperity, and
London might cease TO be the mercantile capital o.
the world without transferring that honor either tc
st. Petersburg or TO New York. The commerce o.
Russia would not be pure again, but would be OBJ
| tanned at the expense of the commerce of England
| that is to say, America would exchange custo ners
of boundless wealth for customers without capital
obliged to borrow the very funds required to cult
| vate the grOund-cusoners whose laws are equal
y administered for others with whom bribery sits
| barelaced on the Judgment sest-a land whose in.
stitutions are stabbed aud fixed for a land which
must pass one day from slavery to anarchy, and
from sn lrchy to revolution. But suppose the pre-
dctions of the Herald fulfilled and its wishes graf.
| flied. Suppose united Europe too weak for the
barbaric might of Russia, Turkey overwhelmed
Prussia absorbed, Austria mediaized and France
and England, if spared for while, occupying to.
| wards the Gar position such as Saxony, Wur-
| temberg, or Bavaria-wOuld such state of things
be beneficial to the United StateS2 Would they
feel confident that they could ride out storm in
which so many gallant ships had been wrecked
Would they be able sngle-handed to roll back a
power flushed with the conquest Of so many val
| liant hosts, and so many ancient nations? Would
"the right hand of fellowship be held out and the
same kindly feeling be EXTENDED to them as thai
| which now works SO powerfully on republican SEN
| sibihtiesI Let them know themselves better L
ever the dream of universal monarchy should be
| realized again in Europe, and seek to realize tsel
in America the state Of the Union would irresisti-
| bly, suggest to the fortunate despOt the same game
| as Macedon employed towards Greece What field
for his energies could king, master of countless
armies and boundess treasures desire better than
thirty republics connected by irail federal organi
cation, and separated by every motive of interest
and passion, that can agtae and pervert the human
mind?
True, we may be told there is generous feel,
ing of patriotism, the noble adherence Of tyranny
the sympathy with right and justice the repug-
nance to wrong and violence, which would WELD
these fragments into one compact mass and teach
every State to forget selfish and personal consid
erstions in manly struggle for the public good
! Alasl where is this spirit to be found? Not, as
suredy, in the pages Of those Of our American
temporaries who, without pretending to be able to
Justify the quarrel of the Gar. or to convert the
verdict which the conscience of united Europe has
recorded against him, cannot repress their aspira-
tons for his success because base as are his ends
and vile as are his means, they believe-as we
have shown, most falsely and absurdly-that some
cents Of profits are to be gained by the overthrow
Of all that is free and noble in Europe the destruc-
ton Of arts and learning and the return of deep
| er darkness than Gothor Eandal brought upon the
Roman world For they, at least, were superior in
valor and virtue to the which they conquered,
but Russia brings nothing with her to compensate
for the ruin Of the existing state Of things. Her
barbarism is more corrupt than our civilization
her savish hosts less valiant than our free citizens
Surely these things ought to weigh for something
with nation that boasts TO be the asylum of free
| dom and the depository of the higher and nobler
destinies Of humanity. 1T is not for gin sling and
sherry cobler alone that man is to live says Sid
ney Smith, but for those great principles against
| which no argument can be listened to- principles