, 1861-04-15
An EnglIah View OF the American
CE3BfHs
from The London Telegraph

lI1uH4 Lpe ooA4EleEfApn-l
No unprejudiced reader of the intelligence
from America, brought by the latest mail, will
deny that the South Il taxing upon itaelf the
entire responsibility Of civil war. There was
no threat, no Insult, no chaI1engein the fnaug-
uration speech Of Mr. Lincoln. The discon-
tented States were invited calmly to reflect
upon the crisis, were told that their rights
would never be attacked, and we're exhofted,
In friendly la- guage, not to put themselves In
the wrong by Piratical seizures Of federal pro-
perty; bns the information We now receive ap-
pears to narrow within the smallest compass
the chances Of pacific settlement. The three
salient facts are-that martial preparations
we're going forward on both sides, that the
Union forts were menaced with instant seiz-
ure and that the Southern Confederacy had
promul:sated Constitution.
The Southern mind is impervfous to any ar
gunent founded upon justice. Otherwise it
Wonld concede, as 8 fact, the truth that the re-
turn Of Mr. Lincoln can scarcely be recorded
as great triumph of the Republican party.
triunphs before it can hope to stand on par
with its antagonists.
The highest Office In the commonwealth has
been d!1ed twelve times by men from the
South, and only six by men from the North;
and yet the former protest that they are de-
OF the United States. The New Orleans jour
nails Join chorus in the dery protest against
perpetuating the reign Of tyranny. Whist
tyranny? Is 1t that OF Southern majority in
Congress over Northern President, or that
Of Carolina planter over gang Of naked
Africans toiling themselves to death in the sQn2
Mr.. Lincoln has seized no state property,
hoisted no revolutionary flag, convened no il.
legal assemblies, armed no laR1ess troops, in
voked the authority Of no turbulent and sedi-
tIous rabble. The only blunder Of any magni-
tudo which has bean committed has been par
doned, with sing yu1ar forbearance, Six months
ago, had Presdent Buchanan been sincere In
his heart md strong in his hand, he might have
spared his successor an fmmensity Of trouble
But Abraham Lincoln, upon assuming office,
finds himself in the perpleXity Of a new COM
mauder-iu-chlef whose predecessor has left
almost every strong position undisturbed in
the bends Of the enemy. In one quarter the
palmetto fag has been floating, since Decem-
Der, over United States properly and within
range Of United States guns, the only protest
made having been on paper. In the state
archives he reads document, purporting to
come from certain South Caro- Ina commits
eio1efs, In which the surrender ct federal
fortress Is demanded a5 though the parties
were sovereign tenigerents treating upon
equal terms.
II, as now seems pa!pable, the South Is de-
termined upon fighting, the North ought no
longer to leave it's sword in the ecabbard4
The first overt act Of Carolina, with its con.
-feuerates IN Georg1a, Mlsslsslppl ana Alabama,
should lead to m immediate concentration of
troops and an endeavor, at all events, to rein
.orce the federal garriaons. Whatever advan-
tags belongs to those who obtain the earliest
success will be claimed probably by the slave
holding party which is nearest the scene Of
action, and has undertaken the largest amount
Of military preparation, but the Question will
become, in the end, one Of resources, and it
will be shown to the wcrld, if "a President "
Jefferson Davis and his mymidons of q mock
Congress persist in their homicidal policy,
whether araw, uniformed, patched and disjoint-
neutrality-suspicious. national revenue or
the means Of collecting one: and without man.
ufactures- can sustain struggle with one
rich in the accumulation Of seven years, with
an army, . fleet, 8 wealthy and enthusiastic
community, open access scross the frontier,
and an unlimited basis for militia trimming.