Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1861-12-30

would be little inconvenient az this time
WHEN we have as much on hand at home as we
can attend to. ii We can avoid this foreign
war, then; by giving up these men, it would be
better to do so.s'
Such. ! say, are the real sentiments of the ad
ministraton. So far from being ayowed, however,
they are carefully concealed. Every member OF
the administration, from Uncle Gideon, who
strokes his venerable beard with fercer air than
is his wont, up TO the President himself talks
loudly Of "the idle threats Of Great Britain, and
Of our ability to make business of putting down
the rebellion. and to whip England for amuse-
ment Acts always speaks louder than words.
however, and the acts of the Administration
show that they do entertain the most serious APP
prehensions of war with England. The letter
of Mr.. Seward to the Governors of the Northern
States, some weeks ago, shows that he knew,
even then, that such a war by no means i'm
probable. But it is the affair of the Trent that
will apply the match to the train, and il the fire
thus alghted be not extinguished by the efforts
OF diplomacy, the explosion will certainly take
place.
Very little has as yet transplred as to the ex-
act nature of the dispatches from our Minister in
London, which were received by the State De-
partment yesterday. This much, however, is
certain; that the course of our Government viii
not be affected so much by them as by those
brought to Lord Lyons by the Queens messen-
ger. Mr.. Adamss dispatches on this occasion,
when published. viii confirm what have more
than once said Of him-that he is very Ear from
being up to the mark required of an American
Minister at the Court of st. James. Mr. Adams
has been unable TO give his Government the
slightest intimation of the tenor of the dispatches
borne by the Queens messenger.
The Government, however. has received from
private sources intelligence which, if true, win
render it necessary for New York, Philadelphia,
Boston and Baltimore to be put into as com
plete a defense as Washington now is, if
the Government intends to retain Messrs Mason
and Slidell. The tenor of this intelligence is,
that the demands of the English Government
are nothing less than the immediate release of
these two gentlemen, on refusal of which de-
mand, Lord Lyons is instructed to ask for his pass
ports. This intelligence comes from very high
quarter. A circumstance which gives it color
of plausibiity is that all day to-day reports have
been industriously circulated, Traced with mod
crate degree Of certainty the State Department.
to the effect that that the Administration has
decided that. if the alternative is presented of
war with England or the surrender of the re-
bel ENJOYS, they will choose the latter as by far
! the least of the two evils. gentleman whose
relations with the President and Mr. Seward are
of the most intimate character, said to day, after
calling on them both, that JEFF Davis would
desire nothing more ardently than that we
should keep his ENJOYS; for that, by doing so,
we would make it necessary for our own army
/ TO be Withdrawn from the South, in order to de-
| fend our own seaports against foreign Zoe;
that to surrender the traitors Mason and SlideIl
would be bitter dose for Old Abe; but that he
was patriot enough to swallow still more bitter
dose. if by doing so he preserve our peace
with foreign nations and prevent them from inter
meddling in our domestic affairs. All these ideas
and suggestions are of course thrown out as
"ieelers," in order to ascertain how far the tenn
! per OF the American people agrees with the ne
cessities Of the administration.
1t is said that the French Minister has received
no instructions from his Government i'm regard to
the affair." However this may be, it is certain
that the French Legation in this city is better in
formed as to what the course of England will be
than our own State Department is. The inteli-
gence which comes here through wel-informed
channels iniimates that the recall of Lord Lyons,
ii that event takes place, viii necessarily pro-
duce war, but that it will certainly be followed
by the immediate recognition OF the independence
of the Southern Confectionery by England, France
and Spain, the raising of the blockade OF the
Southern ports by the combined fleets of all
three nations. and the speedy export in French
vessels of the tobacco purchased and paid
for in Virginia months ago; and that a
feet of English merchant ships will, at the
]
under cover of the guns of their feet, and remain
there till they are loaded with the precious COM
modify. In this connection ought to be mention
ed a fact Of startling significance. 1t is that a
considerable decline in the price of cotton has
suddenly taken place in Liverpool and manches-
ter. This fact, occurring at a time when the price
of cotton was. up to that time, steadily advanc-
ing, can only be accounted for ON the supposition
that the belief prevailed among the great cotton
kings of these cities that it was considered GER
tain there that the southern ports would, in a
short time, be opened by decisive action on the
part Of the English government.
| cannot leave this subject without referring to
the enormous preparations which England has
been quietly making for the last five months, APP
parently in anticipation of such contingency as
present. i only need to refer to them, because
the readers OF the Times have been duly appraised
of them from time to time. In Canada alone,
Great Britain has now 20 700 troops and their
numbers are being steadily augmented. They
are not raw volunteers, but regular troops, armed
with the best modern weapons. The steamer
Persia and another steamer OF the like enormous
capacity have Just been chartered by the English
War Office "'to carry troops and cannon to
America"