The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-06-11
Cassius M. Clay and the London Times
u 81 llur Eafeiuu Relaliaus -


We do not propose to burden our columns
With the text of this letter, preferring to give
the comments of the London Times thereon,
which are as follows:
This lively letter writer proposes six ques-
tions-three relating TO his own country, three
relating to England The first question he is
more successful in asking than answering -
swat are We figh ting for ~ 1--WE are fight
ing" says Mr. Clay, "for nationality and lib
erty." We can understand a fight for nation
aHty between different races, but a fight for ma
tionality between men of the same nationality
is TO us, we candidly con fess it, an I'M plcabie
enigma; nor can we better understand how a
people fghtIng TO put down q rebellion to force
their fellow citizens to remain in a eonfederacy
which they detest, and to submit To inSttu-
tions which they repudiate, can be called the
champions of liberty. Ii the South seriously
threatened to oconquer the North, to put down
trial by Jury, freedom of the press and repre-
sentative government, the contest might be
for liberty; but, rs this is not so, the introdue-
tion OF such topics is mere rhetorical smplifi-
cation. "Can you subdue the revolted
States ~ "Of course we can, says Mr.. Clay.
So on that point there is no more TO be said. =
"Can you reconstruct the Union when one-
half OF 1t has conquered the other ?" Moth
ing easier, says Dir. Clay. The victim of to-
day will become the confedera te of to NOR
row; the traitors will be east out, and the
Union iirner than ever--witness the happy
results OF the conquest of Ireland by Eng
iand, re Pe4ted over and over again, and always
repeated III vain.
Having answered the questions which he
snpposes TO be addressed 10 him by England,
dr Clay becomes the q ues tioner, and asks us
where our honor would place il this con-
test. Clearly by the side of the Union, be-
cause, he says, il slavery be ex tended in Anne
rica, II must be restored in the West Indies -
| If any one doubts the force of this demons tra-
| ton, We are sorry tor 1T, for Mr.. Clay has 20
other To offer. Our examiner next asks us 70
consider onr interests. Clearly, he says, il is
| 10 stand by the Union, because they are our
| best customers, and because, though they
| have done all they can, since the separation
| of the South gave them The power, to ruin
| their trade with us, they will, in spite OF
| their own hos tile tariff, remain our best Gus
| toners.
| Lastly comes the momentous question: 'tCau
| England afford to offend the United States -
| Certainly not" says Mr. Clay. 'for in half
| a cen tury they will amount 10 hundred mil
| lions of people, and will have rail ilWays four
| thousand miles long" But is Mr.. Clay quite
| sure that, even if we should offend them now .
| the people of America win bear malice for
| half a century and, if they do, is he quite
| certain that his hundred millions will all be
| members of one Confederacy and that we
| may not then, as we might now, secure either
| hall OF the Union as our ally in war agains /
| the other
Mr.. Clay must really allow rs to give our
| own version OF the honor and interest of Eng
| land. Our honor and interest is to stand
| alOof from contests which in no way concern
| us; to be con tent with our own laws and lib
| critics, without seeking TO impose them upon
| others; "to seek peace and insure it," and to
| leave those who take to the sword to fall by
| the sword. In war we will he strictly neu-
| trail in peace we viii be the friends cf what
| ever power may emerge out of the frightiul
| chaos through which Mr.. Clay sees his way
| so clearly. And that neutrality which is re-
| commenced alike by our interes and our honor
we viii not violate through fear-no, not of a
| hundred millions OF unborn men. Let Mr..
| Clay and his countrymen look well TO the
| present, and they viii find enough to occupy
| their atten tion, without troubling themselves
| with loDg visions of humiliation and rutribu-
| tion, which no man now alive viii ever see
| accom- pilsheu.
| The New York Journal of Commerce has
| the good sense to comment as follows upon
| the impertneut effusion OF the Kentucky
| Cassius-a man who bears the name of Clay
| to- disgrace il, both at home and abroad
| The present Administration has the fortune
| to have secured the services of u Jealous aud
| earnest, il not 4 discreet champion, in the
| person OF its newly appointed Minister to
| Russia, the valiant CasSius M. Clay OF Ken
| lucky, That gentleman lately arrived in
/ England On his way to the field of his official
| labors, and finding the tone OF public senti-
| ment there not quite in conformity with his
| own views OF the American question, forth
| with writes n letter To the London Times, to
| instruct the English nation in their duty and
| their interests. To say nothing OF the lack of
/ propriety and OF dignity, in thus forcing his
| opinions, unsolicited and probably undesired.
| upon the people of country throug h
| which he was passing, on the way 10
| another which he was officially ac-
credi ted the ietIer OF Mr.. Clay was in had
! taste, and liable TO damage the cause whic n
| it was doubtless intended 10 advance. Ii does
| not appear TO have occurred TO Mr.. Clay that
| in the first place he was insulting the British
| public by thus thrusting his opinions in their
| faces While simply halting for a day or a te w
| days on his passage to Russia and secondly
| granting the propriety of place and occasion
| that "British honor" British interests y
| and the question whether England can at
| ford to offend the great nation which will
| still be the United States OF America even
| should We lose part OF the South, are deli
| cate subjects for an American diplomat To
| handle III the columns OF an English lie wspa.
| per, where no provocation or occasion has
| been given for such n departure from the
| usage OK the Represen tatiyes OF our country
| abroad. Had Mr. Clay been The Ambas-
| sador of the United States to England i'm.
| stead OF Russia, 1T would have been mani
| iesuy improper thus TO thrust great qurs.
| tions of the character discussed in his lat-
| ter TO the Times before the British nao.
| pie and we cannot see how the case is ma
| teridlIy changed by the fact that his mis-
| sion is to Russia instead unless il be
| to give TO the transac tion all air of impudence
| when otherwise it would have been one n,
| inpropriety. We need no better proof OF ,he
indiscretion of the act to which we refer than
| the comments OF the English papers thereon
| They regard ii as an i'm mpertinent in terterepce
| with questions belonging to the British Goy.
| ernment and people, and 1t can scarcely he
| doubted that the effect of the course pursued
| by Mr.. Clay, however well intended must he
| 10 damage rather than promote the cause OF
| our Government abroad Had he been a nri
| yate citizen, invested with no official import.
| ance, his undertaking might pass for 4
| specimen of the vanity which sone,iroas
| charaeterjZes the action OF Americans in Eu.
| rope; but the importance attached to hi.
| connec ton with the Administration who's,
! confidence in him has so recently been mani
| fes ted by his selection tor an important mis-
4 VII hR 1lkeiy To uniua
| TO the views which he has so unwiseiv sough
! TO thrust upon the people of England
'oUR FOREIGN RELATIONS"
| The New York Herald, of Thursday. edito
| rally says:
Secretary Seward dispatch to Mr.. Daytor
| is again criticised in very sueering mauue,
| by the Lsndon Times, and another English
| journal does not hesitate to class Mr Lincoln
| Cabinet and the insprgent Sou thern conclays
| of rebels as the two American factions Lord
/ Palmerston says, Through his London organ
| the Post, that Canada will soon become tn,
centre of commerce and emigration for the
American continent. Our compilation from
| the foreign nleS, given to-day, in such connec.
| ton. is worthy of serious Consideration and
| exhibits a manifest tendency towards an nn.
| friendly policy to the Government at Wash.
| Ing ton, which, If carried out, may result IN
| giving England Il severe lesson for which she
| is probably not prepared.
| Mr. Lindsay, NJ. r., who recently visited
| this country, III II speech to his constituents
at Sunueriand, mas gone tar towards lndoc-
| trinating them with The idea of the right o
| secession at the South and the neeessity OF
| main tanning the rebel cause. This gentleman
advises France and England to step forward
| and proclaim the independence of the South.
| ern Confederacy as the only means of aliay.
| ing the thirst for blood which he SAYS prevail.
! at the North. The London Morning Post
| Lord Palmerston's organ, asserts that the
| Southern States were de facto independent a
| the moment.
/ HwIsPIacgD coyPfDsgcE
| Under this heading the New York Exnrexs