The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-09-29

Rcbellion-Tho Consequences to Eng
land.
Consistency is a virtue of which England has
shown herself to be sadly in want, in the course
she has pursued towards this country since the
outbreak Of the Southern rebellion. Those an
tecedents which stand out like landmarks in her
history, and upon which she most prided herself,
seemed to have been forgotten or disregarded
by her statesmen of the present day. What are
we to think of that Power which, in 1888, passed
bill for the emancipation of every one of the
78O,933 slaves then within its domniOns, and
voted twenty millions of pounds sterling as
compensation to their owners, and yet lately
lent its support to slavery and Shareholders!
What are we to think of that Power which had
preached so loudly and SO long in favor of
established governments, and been so unsparing
in its hostility to usurpers, and which, neverthe-
less recently gave encouragement to insurrec-
tionists? What reliance can we place upon the
conduct of a government which could thus run
counter to its past history, and all that Chat
ham, Pitt and Wilberforce left as the legacy of
their labor
We can but institute a comparison be-
tween the attitude of England towards the
rebels Of 1861 and that of France towards the
revolutionists of 1776. France was then the
most despotic monarchy in the world. But,
with remarkable absence Of consistency, when
the colonists of the Old Thirteen, goaded and
oppressed by the tyrannical George ILL.,, rose
to declare and fight for their independence,
France extended to them the hand of friend
ship, and throughout the struggle which re-
suited in the foundation of the United States
she remained a prominent champion OF their
glorious cause. But the monarchical govern
ment paid dearly for non-adhcrence to those
principles of absolutism which had before
guided the policy Of the nation; for the Revolr-
ton in America, with which the French people
had so deeply sympathized, gave them a new
idea, which was not slow to develope itself in
the Revolution which overthrow the monarchy,
and gave birth to new institutions in
France Now, the late inconsistency of Eng
land is far greater than that of France
at the period to which we refer, for the question
of slavery had then not even become a subject
of controversy. Whereas, for thirty years be-
fore this attempt of the Southern States to throw
aside the federal government and establish
separate slave confederacy, England had kept
up violent agitation against the domestic in
stitutiOn," and for the sake of principle had
not only sacrificed her hundred millions of dol
lars, but the prosperity other West Indian colo
MES; for it. notorious that since the emancipa-
ton of the negroes property has become COM
paratively worthless, and trade at standstill
in the British West Indies. Moreover England
is not taking part, as France did, in favor of
an oppressed people making determined strug-
gle to throw off an obnoxious yoke and achieve
their national independence. She is, by giving
moral aid to the rebellious States, promoting
the most causeless and unprovoked insurrection
chronicled in history, and, by buoying up the
hopes Of the Southern people, prolonging a
bloody conflict between those of her own kith
and kin. What, therefore, will DO tho effect
upon the popular mind in England of examples
such as these?-and, will they not be
likely to recoil with disaster upon her
self May we not indeed look for such
revolution in England, following upon the
rebellion in this country as succeeded to that of
l776 in France? Is not the policy of the one
government as likely to provoke it as was that
of the other? And what greater security will
there be for the safety of the throne of England
than there was for that of the old French mo-
narchy? To jealousy of the national greatness
Of this republic we may doubtless attribute
that dubious if not hostile, policy which Eng
land has displayed towards us since the COM
mencement of our present troubles.