Butte record., 1856-04-05
NUMBER %.
LngIiSh Sentiment about q war
with America.


with America.
The London Atheneum weekly pa
per, devoted, as our readers are probably
aware. mainly to literary matters, has a
leading and very earnest article in the
last number received, upon the subjects
of the dispute now pending between the
British and American Governments. 1t
exclaims:
NWar with the United Statesl The
idea of such war is incredible. If
there be in the catalogue of mortal ca
lamities worse than civil war; it is
such conflict as might arise between
America and England A civil war has
generally some basis in reason. Some
grand principle is at stake. The sword
Is drawn in defence of frcedom--in de-
fence Of property--in defence of reli-
gIon. As in our own civil war, certain
degree of romance, of chivalry, and of
intellectual activity often springs from
the conflict and fourishes after its close,
the blossom and the fruit of a splendid
and a deadly contest.
"But war against America would
have no single redeeming point. There
is not--and there never ought 10 be
any real ground of quarrel with the Uni
ted States. The interests of the two
countries are identical. Their moral
principles are the same. They have
neither language to separate nor a re-
lIgon to estrange them The same
bio I'd flows in the veins of their people.
They have common history--a common
llterature--a common tradition. They
possess the same Bible. They read the
same Shakespeare aud the same Milton.
Blake conquered and Cromwell ruled for
both. They have an equal interest in
Raleigh, in Vane and in Penn. Nay,
their present state is as inseparable as
their past. They still live by the light
OF the same old Saxon laws They still
drink at the same intellectual fountains,
regardless whether the springs be on the
Eastern or Western shores of the Allan
tic. Irving, Bryant, Bancroft, Haw>
thorne, and Longfellow are admired with
as warm affection in England as are Ten
nyson, Thackeray, Dickens, Jerrold
anu Macauiay ID America.
"a war between America and Eng
land would be war of brothers-a war
Of friend against friend 1t would be a
war against the affinities of race, against
the unity of religion, against the inter-
changes of trade 1t would be war in
favor of barbarism, piracy, restriction
a war against the bountics of Nature, the
enterprises Of genius, the advance Of
civilization. Such war would bring
sorrow into every Anglo Saxon home in
Europe and America, and feeling Of
shame and humiliation into every Anglo
Saxon heart, in whatever quarter of the
globe it beats. Such war would close
the Gospel for nearly half the Christian
worldr'
After abiding to the grounds of con.
troversy, and insisting that the states
men Of the two countries "might, and
must find, in the resources of dip plomacy,
a means of satisfying all interests, with
out an insane appeal to the sword,' the
writer proceeds:
''It is said the Washington cabinet
requires the withdrawal of Mr.. Cramp-
ton. Surely this is no extreme or revo-
lu;ionary request Personal unpopu-
larity has always been considered a suf-
fcient reason f1r requiring the with
drawal of an ambassador We could
give hundred Instances in which SOW
erelgn powers have exercised this right.
Under such circumstances withdrawal
does not imply censure. 1t merely i'm
plies that the personal relations of the
ruler and the minister have become such
as to impede the transac ton of public
business. We were wrong to attempt
to recruit within the Union. And Mr.
Champion was the instrument Of the
wrong. He has thereby rendered him.
self an object of suspicion at Washing
ton. His withdrawal therefore, at the
request of the American cabinet, would
be in accordance with usage, and would
be sure pledge Of the sincerity of the
acknowledgment Of the original error
Strong nations can afford to be graceful
in their concessions
The writer concludes as follows-and
we wish writer's on this side of the wa
ter might initiate his good sense and
manly tone:
In the discussion which viii probably
arise in Parliament, and which will GER
tainly be continued in the press, we
trust TO see the subject of these Amcri-
can differences treated with gravity and
kindly temper All men in England,
without exception Of party, would de-
plore, beyond all other possible calami-
ties, a war with the United States We
are all proud Of her greatness, her vigi-
lance, her success. Every event that
brings prosperity to her, brings pleasure
TO us For, is she not our own offspring
the witness of our vitality--the Iaon-
ument of our arts, our arms, and our
liberty;'
ga5~ The test Of good humor is to