The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1856-02-27

War with England
The toue AZ the English press, 1t must oo "e
tpovledeed. "a sufficiently insulting sno denAn'
towards the United States, to wsrran' is'.'
In k,na sron the Journals of every quarter Oh tne
Union Hut the English pressis NOT .ne exponent
NJ the publ,c sentiment of Great Brnain' Ii re-
Acct, in this case perhaps, the spirit OF the gov
.-nr.r, and "a on that account, we eoncede, not
IN he despised for the government OF England can
make war without consulting the wishes or
the interests Of the people. But the popular de-
sire, and opinions not reflected by these jour
,,Is and hence we have no right to conclude from
the bellicose demonstrations of the papers that the
people desire war with the United States.
The government of Great Britain needs no such
ebulition of wrath, that which, unprovoked and
universal, has just burt forth from the London
press, to demonstrate the fact that Is our
old and unforgiving enemy. From the moment
when the first spark of independence was lighted
on this continent to the present hour, Its hatred
has been only equaled in its intensity and malevo
lence. by It's subtety and artifice Democratic
ins.itutions are as abhorrent to aristocratic
government as Russian despotism-perhaps more
so. If we had never committed any sin, save the
achievement of national independence, that would
have been objectionable. But when, in addition,
we nave become q great uatiOu anu Tie MOST lot
midable commercial rival of Great Britain on the
globe, we may well conceive that we are viewed
by the government of Great Britain with spi-
rt of the most profound hatred and vindictveness.
London press adds another motive for i'll feel
ing, which ia that America has dared to refuse her
sympathies to England in the present war. Was
ever such presumptions We must not think for
ourselves nor permit our sympathies to flow in
A.. H. II
signatesi 1t seems to us the height of absurdity
and arrogance that England should expect Ameri-
can sympathy in her wars, when, of all the nations
of the earth, England is the only one which has
sought our destruction, both in war and peace
and by the secret and incessant arts of her abo
ton agents have brought US to the verge of that
great object Of her policy the dissolution of the
Union. 1t ia rather singular, at a moment when
the allies has fleets coasts to act a naval
police upon our movements, they should expect us
to sympathise with their wars in the East Whilst
1t has been the constant habit of English tourists
10 abuse America; whilst an American vifyer of
our country is cheered and applauded all through
England, and the Queen dismisses one of her own
Maids of Honor because she sought to disabuse the
public mind of the SANDERS forged by our own
co9ntrywoman, they must expect us to be as mean
cphiteu ds Jugs, duS q HuuuIcu tulcb more IhdUk-
less, to cheer on an old enemy against a nation
which has ever been our friend.
We make the same distinction, however, between
British people and their government as the Times
makes between the people and the government of
America. The aristocracy at the top and the rab
BILE at the bottom may desire war with America,
but not so with the great middle class, that mighty
backbone which gives to John Bull all his stamina
and 10 ctaoS IF ;lra tee
counterpart in the United States, is interested in
peace, and sympathises with constitutional free
dom. Nevertheless, the government may hurry
the nation into a war before the people can make
their influence felt. When we consider how little
there really is in the Central American or the en-.
listment question to produce even a momentary es
arrangement between the two nations, and how easy
it would be to solve both difficulties if both nations
brought to that solution good temper and a kindly
spirit it seems clear that war, if does occur
must be the result of deliberate design on the part
of the British Cabinet to avail itself of the first &C.
casion for carrying out the policy openly pro-
claimed by Lord Clarendon, of regulating the af
fairs of the Western as well as the Eastern Hemis
phere. The hour to fulfil that menace may have
now come and the dogs of war who have throt
tied Despotsm in the East may be soon at the
which has made the most enormous naval and
military preparations for the Eastern war, disap-
pointed of her expected prey, may turn her arms
upon America and seek to regain shores
the prestige she has lost in the East, and by ma
king havoc of our immense commerce to indemn
fly herself for the expenses of the Russian war
Probably Louis Napoleon may instigate her to
this policy, even if he should not continue her
open ally, which is possible. His is the only gov.
eminent which could gain by war between Eng
land and America Such war would set back both
England and America, the only two great coun-
tries in the world which possess the semblance of
constitutional liberty, half a century-whilst the
military depotism of France would grasp the scep.
tire of the world.
1t is useless to blind eyes to the fact that the
United States is in almost as defenceless condi-
ton as it is reported by the British journal. In
the event of a sudden outbreak of hostilities the
British Navy could enter every harbor on the At.
lantic or Pacific coast, burn down every city and
take possession fevery fertilization Should France
unite with her, the two could throw an army of
half amlion disciplined troops upon our shores.
To meet Them we have a militia of about two mil
hons of men who, in about year, might be put in |
fighting condition, and Navy which, in the same |
avenge the injuries might in the meanwhile |
suffer. OF course it is ridiculous to suppose, as is
charged by the British papers, that, in such state
of things, the American government should de- |
sire war, or shouldfai to exhaust every measure,
compatible with the preservation of national hon.
or, for the preservation of peace
The British Peerage.
By the late arrival we learn that motion had
been made in the House of Lords, by Lord Lynd-
hurst, that the letters patent creating Rt. Hon.
Sir James Parke, Baron of the United Kingdom
for life, be referred to committee of privileges to
examine whether they were constitutional. He
declared his opinion that to raise commoner to a
seat in the House of Lords by patent for life was
unconstitutional Earls Grey and Granville and
the Lord Chancellor maintained that the appoint
ment was legal, and Lords Campbell and ST. Leon.
81 that mt Earl narhv rtad