The southern aegis. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1857-1862, 1861-10-05
The London Times on American Affairs.

The London Times concludes an editor
ial on American affairs as follows:
owe are in condition to offer advice
We can advise the Northern States of
America, as we can advise the legitimate
Princes and the despotic Courts ofEurope.
Let the statesmen at Washington only do
what England has done before hundred
times and what all Europe has done, is do
ing, and will still do. 1t is not "Old
World" advice. 1t is not of the leaven
that Washington and Franklin felt it their
mission to extirpate. 1t is the very latest
and newest lesson of human affairs; much
newer than steam, the electric telegraph,
or rifed cannon. Do the Northern States
really belong to the New World, or are
they only bit of the Old World, with all
its pride, its bigotry, and its tyranny,
stranded on the western shore of the At
lantic? The advice we give them is what
they have taught us before, andvwe only
say to them, as many son may say "
his father, " Practice what you teach. p.
let the Northern States " accept the STU
otion," as ce did eighty gears ago upon
their oeon soil; as Austrta did t,oo gears
ago at ViUayranca and Zurich. Let them
count the cost before they march forth to
drive half million armed men q thousand
miles across their own country into the
Gulf of Mexico. Let them consider whe-
ther they can do what Napoleon could not
do in the plenitude of his power, with
many times their number, their stores,
their credit, and, above all, their military
skill and experience, his school of generals,
and his supply of veterans. What they
t propose to do and be is not only to be as
good as the Southerners, or a little the
better, but overwhelmingly superior. Are
they! Is not this an overweening opin-
ion of themselves? Can they drive the
Southcrners like flock of sheep, smoke
them out of their own nests like wasps.
fetter them like rabbits, and bag them like
game? Let them just look forward lit&
tie, and consider the probable state of
things next year, and the year after, and
twenty years hence. Even we who sang
such songs of triumph in 1914 and 1916,
felt that we and all Europe would have
done much better to think what we were
about in 1893. If clear foresight shows,
and must show, that there must be two
declarations, and that on no other footing
will peace ever be made, it will be much
better that it should come to pass after one
years war than after ten or twenty. It's
not as if the Union or two Unions were
the only alternative As the war proceeds,
no man can tell what new Powers and COM
binations may arise, and particularly how
far the Western States will endure the
! taxes and financial obligations necessary
for the war. The advice we offer is only
what the Americans have given to all the
world. 1t is hank of their own cotton
a pipe of their own tobacco. Let them
consider what they can do, and what nei-
Their they nor all the world can do. At
present, they are only giving triumph to
many foe, for there is not circle of old
absolutist statesmen and diplomats who
do not read the story of their difficulties
and reverses with a bitter smile. Thew
will hear with at least respect, perhaps
with disappointment, that the North and
South have agreed to part friends.