Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1861-12-28
n ~ " - ~ III

MessTS. Mason and Shdeil even unGer a neutral
flag; for / was not even aware that the govern
ment had had that point under consideration.
At the time of my leaving New York it was not
known that the San Jacinto had returned to the
American seas; and it was generally supposed
those persons had escaped to Cuba for the pur-
pose Of re-embarking in the Nashville, in pur-
suit of which vessel the James Adger and other
cruisers had been despatched.
l think l can satisfy you in a few words that
you have no serious occasion to feel concerned
about our relations with England, if, as herrulers
profess, she has no disposition TO encourage the
dissensions in America.
In the frst5place it is almost superfuous to say
to you that every instinct of prudence as we'll as
of good neighborhOOd prompts our government
to regard 40 honorable sacrifice too great for the
preservation of the friendship of Great Britain.
This must be obvious to all the world. At no
period of our history has her friendship been of
more Importance to our people-at no period has
our government been in a condition to make
greater concessions to preserve it. The two
nations are united by interests and sympathies-
commercial, social, political and religiOus-al
most as the two arms to one body, and no one
is so ignorant as not to know that what harms
one must harm the other in a corresponding de-
gree.
l am persuaded that the British government
can entertain no doubt upon this subject; kNtif
it does | feel that l might take it upon myself to
say that the President of the United States
when made aware of its existence, will loose no
opportunity of dispeLing it.
Nor is there anything, l venture to affirm in
the seizure of these rebel emassaries which ought
to receive an unfriendly construction from Eng
land. Her statesmen will not question the legal
right of an American vessel of war to search any
commercial vessel suspected of transporting con-
traband of war that right has never been sur
rendered by England it was even guaranteed
to her by the treaty of Paris, and British guns
frowning down nearly every strait and inland
sea upon the globe, are conlusive evidence
that she regards this right as one, the efficacy of
which may BE- not yet entirely extinguisbed. OF
course there is much that is irritating and vexa-
tious in the exercise of this right under the most
favorable circumstances, and it is to be hoped the
day is not far distant when the maritime States
of the world will agree in placing neutral COM
merce beyond the reach Of such Y~exations
The United States government has been striv-
ing to this end for more than fifty years to this
end, early in the present century and in its in
fancy as a nation, it embarked in a war with the
greatest naval power in the world and tits even
now a persistent sutton at every maritime court
in Europe for a more liberal recognition of the
rights of neutrals than any of the other great
maritime nations have yet been disposed to
make. But till those rights are secured by
proper International guarantees, upon a compre-
hensive and enduring basis, of course England
cannot complain of an act for which, in all its
material bearings, her own naval history affords
such numerous precedents.
Whether the captIves from the Trent were con-
traband of war or not, is a question which the
two governments can have no serious difficulty
in agreeing upon. If Mr.. Seward cannot satisfy
Earl Russell that they were, l have no doubt
Earl Russell will be able to satisfy Mr.. Seward
that they were not. If they were, as all author
tiles concur in admitting, agents of the rebellion,
it will be difficult to satisfy impartial minds that
| they were any less contrabaud than a file of rebel
soldiers or a battery Of hostile cannon.
But even should there be a difference of opin-
ion upon this point, it is very clear that our gov
eminent had sufficient grounds for presuming it
self in the right to escape the suspicion of having
w~antonly violated the relations of amity which
the two countries profess a desire to preserve and
cultivate.
The pretcnce that we ought to have taken the
Trent into port, and had her condemned by a
prize court, in order to justify our seizure of four
of her passengers, furnishes a very narrow basis
on which to fix a serious controversy between
two Crca. nations. Stated in other words, an
offense would have been less if it had been
greater. The wrong done to the British flag
would have been mitigated, If, instead of SeiEing
four rebels, We had seized the ship, detained all
her passengers for weeks, and contiscsted her
cargo. | arr not surprised that Capt. Wilkes
took a different view of his duty, and of what
YVES due to the friendly relations which subsisted
between the two governments. The renowned
common sense of the English people, ! believe,
will approve Of his effort to make the discharge
of a very unpleasant duty as little vexatious as
possible TO all innocent parties.
If, under these circumstances, England should
deem it her duty, in the interest OF civilization,
to insist upon the restoration of the men taken
from under the protection of her flag, it will be
from a conviction, without doubt, that the law
of nations in regard to the rights of ~neUtrals,
which she hos taken 9 }eNdiqY part in establish
ing, requires revision, and with q suitabie dis
position on her part to establish these rights
upon a Just, humane, and philosophic basis.
Indeed, | am happy to see an intimation in one
| of the leading metropolitan journals which goes
far to Justify this inference. Referring to the de
cision OF the English admiralty courts now quo
ted in defense Of the seizure Of the American
rebels on board the Trent, the London Times Of
the 18th of November says:
so far as the authorities go, the testimony of
international law writers is all one way that a
beIligerent war cruiser has the right to stop and
| visit and search any merchant ship upon the
| HlH1 6t1Ss Dul II nus DC ltllltlilDOltu
that these decisions were given under circum-
stances very different from those which now
occur. Steamers in those days did not exist, and
mail vessels, carrying letters wherein al the nG-
tons of the world have immediate interest, were
unknown. We were fighting for existence, and
we did in those days what we should neither do
nor allow others to do, nor expect ourselves to be
allowed to do in these days"
HEngland, as We arehere encouraged to hope,
is disposed TO do her part n stripping var of
half its honors by accepting the policy long and
persistently urged upon her by our government,
and commended by every principle of justice
and humanity, she will find no ground, in the
visit of the Trent, for controversy with our gov
eminent. / an sure the President and people of
the United States would be but too happy to let
these men 90 free, unnatural and objectionable
as their offenses have been, if by it they could
emancipate the commerC of the world. Greatly
as it would be to our disadvantage at this present
crisis to surrender any Of those maritime privi-
leges of belligereuts which are sanctioned by the
laws of nations, | feel that / take no responsible
ity in saying that the United States will be faith
full to her traditional policy upon this subject,
and to the spirit of her political institutions.
On the other hand, should England be UMPIRE
pared to make a corresponding sacrifice should
She feel that she could not yet afford to surren-
der the advantages which the present maritime
code gives 10 a dominant naval power, OF course
she will not put herself in a false position by
asking US to do it. In either case, therefore, /
do not see how the friendly relations of the two
governments are in any immediate danger o! be-
ing disturbed.
That the over prompt recognition, rs belHge-
regents, of a body Of men, however' arge, so long
as they constituted a manifest l~'uilority of the
nation, wounded the feelings BransE Ountrymen
deeply, l will not affect Asde, Gingr that that
act, will some of its logiIo FOE q iSNences which
have already ocCurredA-the breasts
of many the suspIc6 Aed in Ing
land wish them ePiR0 I'D, but the
statesmen to whom tieNstRg under tns Is of these
two great people a Is62, bv mutual eopn higher
responsibilities and G v Band you
may rest assured IL JNo Daily dis
astTous as a war bel america,
cannot occur withS nam 1OuS graver
provocati5n than ha and popular HoUsEsy either
nation. day OF January lehtOTT. !
PARIS, D~ecembeEst,oopp 'eu ~
To-, II ~
@pd Richmond Dispatchj
Tae Confeder69non-4
We take the foNST turi Dem
oerats special dispahe next year, good
O%TTERyILLE, MOI / learned
yesterday that amOt-7t taken by
Gen. Pope last Thursfnr zrs Qorious Col.
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