Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-06-07
THE REPLY OF THE TINES.

We call attention TO the letter of Mr..
Clay, Minister from the United States to st.
. Petersburg. This lively letter-writer pro-
poses six questions-three relating to his
w country. three relating to England.
The first question he is more successful in
asking than answering; "What are we
fighting for ~ 1--WE are fighting" says Mr..
Clay, ''for nationality and liberty
We can understand O fight for nationality
between different nations, but q fight for
nationality betWeeG men of tks same national
ity is to ~, are edndidly confess it, an inszpE-
cable enigma; nor can zoe better Tnderstaad
Z h0V a people, fighting TO put doUn rebellion, to
force their fellow-citizens to remain in a
~Confederacy which they detest, and to sub
NIT to institutions which they repudiate, can
be called the champions of liberty. IL the
South seriously threatened TO conquer the
North, to put down trial by Jury, freedom of
the press, aud representative Government
the contest might be for liberty; but, as this
is not SO, the introduction of such topics is
mere rhetorical application. Can you sub
due the reYolted Slater 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 it has conquered the
other2 Nothing easier, says Mr.. Clay. The
victim of to-day will become the confede-
rate of to. morrow; the traitors will be cast
out, and the Union irmer than eVer-wit-
ness the happy results of the conquest of
Ireland by England, repeated over and oVte
again, and always repeated in vain.
Having answered the questions which he
supposes to be addressed TO him by England,
Mr.. Clay becomes the questioner, and asks
us where our honor would place us in this
contest. Clearly by tho side of the Union,
because, he says, if slavery be extended in
America, it must be restored in the West
Indies. If any one doubts the force of this
demonstration, we are sorry for il, for Mr.. O.
has no other to offer. Our examiner next
asks US to consider our interests. Clearly, says
he, it isto stand blythe 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 hostile tariff, remain our best Gus
toners.
Lastly comes the momentous question,
"Can England afford to offend the United
States /" Certainly not says Mr.. Clay,
'for in half a century they will amount to q
hundred millions OF people, and will have
railways four thousand miles long" But is
Mr.. Clay quite sure that, even if we should
offend them now, the people of America will
bear malice for half a century; and, il they
do, is he quite certain that his hundred mill
ions will all be members of one Confederacy,
and that we may not then, as we might now,
secure either half of the Union as our ally in
q war against the other2
Mr.. Clay must really allow us to give our
own version Of the honor and interest of
England. Our honor and interest is to stand
aloof from contests which in no way concern
us, to be content with our own laws and
liberties, without seeking to impose them
upon Others, seek peace and insure it" and
TO leave those who take to the sword TO fall
by the sword. In WGr ws WiH be strictly
neutral IN peace zoe tolI be the friends of what
eyeT PosVeT may emerge out Of the GighUful
chaos through Whieh M. Clay sees his 0ay 80
clearly. And that neutrality which is re-
commended alike by our interest and our
honor, we will not violate through fear-no,
not Of a hundred millions of unborn men,
Let Mr.. CLAY and his eountrymen look well
TO the present, and they will find enough Il
occupy their attention without troubling
themselves with long visions Of humiliation
and T~etribution, which no man now aliVI
will ever see accumulated. ffa4 .