The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-12-31
Airtrrno gispattt.
TUESDAY MORNING ......-.DII. 81, 1861

British Minister n Washington has presented
no demaaX for the restitution of Messrs. Ma
son and Siaeli, aer, "a far ~ we are able to
jaa,e, IL Il AZ all certain that any suel, demand
viii be presented as long "a the present Mini
istry continue in power Lord John Russell
has too often crineed to Yankee insolence to
leave aay hope that he, at least, has any care
for the honor OF the British flag; and the pow
ers AZ. Washington evidently knew with
whom they, ha.i TO deal when they committed
hiason aud Sided to q Yankee prison. instead
of returning them TO British deck II we
are to believe the London f'e.t, Lord Palmer
stoa's organ, the Emperor of the French has
already offered has mediation. and it has been
accepted a5 the very first offer The same
paper tells as thai " the matter in disp;.te is II
legal question" And SO Is blow in the face
or tweak Of the nose bat, rs private indi-
siduais, VIXEN they refer such offences to the
decision OF legal tribunal, ere generally con-
tent To put their honor in their pockets, 80,
we presume, the Ministers OF the British
Qaeen have determined that, SO far as the
honor of the Gown is concerned, il must be
left Ia shift tor itself. The Attorney aad
Solicitor Generals are l.ot infallible; they may
be wrong, and il does not become the great
ness and majesty OF Engiand to involve the
world In war on point OF Law, respecting
which tie MOST profound lawyers differ -
This is stepping down from high horse with
vengeance. The London Times had just
before declared that, before the question
oonld even be toucbed the honor of England
must be satisfied by the restoration OF MesSls.
S!ideli aud Mason 10 the deck of an English
vessel. SO La we are tole 10 judge from
the extract published above, Ii does not ap-
pe2tr even THAI a demand for restoration viii
DE made. at the very moment " hen The all
KEGS axe preparing 10 comply with any de-
mGnd the British Government may make,
ths British Government puts lis honor iii the
hands OF the lawyers, AID goes 10 law for It's
character, ljAe an alderman whose reputation
las been aszalled, or d play actor, Who brings
his action Of defamation against the proprle-
tor OF d newspaper. Apropos OF tie umpire
CHOSEN on tbs occasion, the i'0St goes OLE to
say, the Emperor of the French having Of
fered himself az mediator, the obvious in
ference is that he viii not join England in d
war with America" And this is precisely
the principal cause of Lord Pamerston's pres
ent a;tl. ude, III face OF lie lnsuited nag OF his
country lie once before attempted TO pros
titute the honor of the nation to the esire TO
please the Emperor OF the French, amt would
have succeeded in doing ii, had lot the Eng
tlsh people forbidden the dissertation.
There is, however, IN England, 3 power be
hind the thro,e mUcn greater than Lord Pal
,nerston, or than the Queen who sits upon il.
Ilat Is The British nation-the proudest,
and let rs add what ID but bare justice, tie
greatest people OF whom we have any ac-
count. Sensitive 10 q degree almost repre-
hensible upon the point OF honor, We conceive
Ii to be hardly possible that they will submit
10 an insult so palpao.e, SO direct and so out
tiseous, as that offered By Captain Wilkes to
the flag which is their pride and glorv-tlat
"meteor flag which one of their poets proud
II and Justly tells Us has withstood ''for a
thousand years the battle and the breeze
There have been, IN her history, many in
stances of attempts Oh the part of ministers
and kinea, TO degrade that fig but not one
in which the attempt has not been visited
with quick ana Signal retribution The last
WAS when this very minister attempted to
make il The tool Of The French Emperor, and
what followed, happened SO shors Il time ago,
and is so we'll known, that ii needs not repe-
iition here. When they read the significant
hint convey ed in the passage just quoted from
The Post, that England must not demand le-
dress for on open insult to her flag, because
the French Emperor will not join her il Tie
war which may eneue, they will be apt to ask
how long it &as been since their Queen be-
came the yassal Of Napoleon III. BY ma
jority which defes estimation, they sympa-
thiss with the people Of this country, and had
they been ayare Of the oppression Which the
neutrality Of i.rglard worked upon it
by cutting it of from al hope Of OBJ
tanning arms and munitions of war from the
EngiiEh wanutactories, while it opened them
10 oar enemies, they would long since have
insisted upon The prohibition to export these
articles, which the ministry only thought Of
when they found thai England was about 10
be deprived Of the means Of self-defence.
1t is clear 10 us, that after all their hesita-
tion and sacrifice of the national honor, the
ministry vii. be compelled to resign, or to
break up tie blockade of our ports, before the
first of June next. The nation 's not afraid
Of Louis Napoleon, although Lord Palmer
ston may be. The nation must have the cot
ton that now lies handbook in the Conf.der
ate States, or it will break out into rebellion
1t will not submit TO be starved upon pune
tito, and the ministry will find it, when rous-
ed, quite as formidable as the French Empe-
ror, whatever they may row think 10 the
contrary. AS to supplying the deficiency from
iudia, that is altogether out of the question.
The India staple is short, coarse, and 50 en-
tirely different from the American that it can
not be worked up by the same machinery.
The machinery already erected for n.anutac-
turinp goods from American cotton, cost fifty
millions of pounds sterling. Unless Ameri-
can cotton can be procured, it is useless. To
work upon India cotton other machinery
70 the came extent must be substl-
tu,ed, and an English journal tells US
that could not be done in year
While the grass is growing the steed is
starving. What will the three millions of
people connected with, and dependent upon,
the cotton manufacture be doing in the mean-
time, while one set of machinery is being pulled
down and another put up We are arguing the
point upon tie hypothesis that the supply
from India snould be equal in quantity to the
demand This every man who ever examined
he subject knows to be impossible. The State
of Georgia alone, a few years since, pro duced
more cotton than was furnished to the manu-
factaries Of l%reat Rritni,, frn1n oil othar