New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-01-14

The return Of the Reso.ute to the British Gov
eminent was an act the gracefulness of VIII ch has
been gracefully recognized in the usual way by din
mere and speeches, and in way recently unusual by
couple of good. natured broadside caricatures In
Punch. The feasts salutes, receptions and ad-
dresses, the complaisance Of nobility and the smiles
Of royalty, have left nothing for even American
sensitiveness to complain OF. We have had the
ordinary complement of compliments, the inevita-
bic protestatons of perpetual peace and amity be-
tween John Bull and Brother Jonathan, and the
brsk interchange of fraternal batteries with which
sumptuOus bsnquets usually conclude. We have
been remir ded of what, indeed we are in no dan
ger of forgetting, that England and America, with
common origin, speak common language and
have a common literature, and that war between
two such nations would, TO use the vigorous lan-
gusge of Consul Crcskey, make S.the very iends
Gin hell laugh in mOckery, the angels in heaven
"wetp. humanity itself shudder at the spectacle"
When the champagne is good and the bill of fare
unexceptonsble, it is wonderful how brotherly the
whole board becomes. We would cay nothing TO
diminish the good feeling thus peasipgy manifested
but we cannot hep pointing out that this per-
petoal talk of possible war is a little sus-
picous, and that paradoxicsl as it may appear,
the reiterated assertion of the imPossibility
tends to increase the probability OF hostilt'es.
Having settled il, once for all, that we will not go
10 war. what need is there of continually proclaim
ing our resolution Why should we tamPer with
the idea-why should We, by constant contemPla-
ton. grow familiar with the horrible reality Why
should an American, whenever he may meet an
Eppl shman, always say: "My dear Sir, have not
the least intention Of cutting your throatr Aud
why should the Englishman always reply: 81
am really much obliged to you, and have no in
tention Of cutting yours" These are the civil
tiles not of Christian and civilized nations, but OF
allied banditt 1t is in this way that people be-
comes accusto med 10 the idea Of war, with all its
unspeakabe miseries and incompatible ruin-its
bankruptcies and bloodshed and taxation-its eco
nomcal blight and devilish decentralization; and 1t
is in this way that it is laugh. by progressive les
sons to submit to the Elm and shame of wholesale
murder whenever politicians find the continuance OF
peace incC nsistept with the success of their per-
sonal projects. No man, We are told, becomes
suddenly base, and there are few suicides which
have not been pondered for weeks and perhaps for
months. II any one wishes to understand how
utterly insufficient are the protestatons to which
we are abiding, to preserve peace, let him remem-
Der the record Of the past few year,. How many
times have these sweet speeches been repeated at Mr.
Peaboiy's Star and Garter dinners, over the
turtle and turbot of Lord Mayors banquets, in
swelling sentences by Mr. Bancroft, in smooth and
L l.. H.. ri in trtlu
language by the late DIR. Lawrence. Yet while
this savory effux of language has been perpetual,
there has always been undertone pitched in quite
different key. The national interchange of COM
pments did not us from the felon doctrines OF
the Ostend Manifesto, from the hbels Of fac Lon
don Times, from the Angophobic drivel OF The
Washington Union, from the Russian sympathies Of
the Pierce Administration. We have been as BIZ
nocular as the Widow of Ephesus, and while we
have eered love with one orb, we have shot martial
defiance with the other. Thousands upon thou
sands of columns have been occupied BY English and
American newspapers in discussion Of the proba-
biites Of war; and the constant fluctuations Of the
stock market have shown how easily and how thor
oughly the shrewdest men could be frightened.
| Let u.s. at least be consistent. Let U.s. above all,
remember that war can be ayersed, not by dinners
however magnificent, not by speech however softly
ssponaceous, lot altogether BY considerations of
ecoIcny but by the general moral conviction Of the
people that it is something too bad to be thought Of
and too ridiculously improbable TO be talked about
at all.
We are ve,y sorry that Mr.. Consul CrOskey could
no. get through his 'peat speech" without INDUCING
III little filhbusteriDs rhodomontade. The world"
,ald this worthy Consul, in the spirit of Uncle
Toby's address to The fy, sis large enough for
both nations to fulfill their respective manifest
"dsstinies without coming into conflict with each
other. Tie East seems peculiarly the field Of
scton wherein the ciyilizing duties Of England
must c, niiuue 70 be employed. The West would