Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1861-12-27
From TIE Montreal Gazette
PEACE or WAR.

We republish elsewhere from the New York
journal OF Commerce an article with the title
sAmerica aud England" Il is now nearly
oitDighi since il was published iu that Jour
nal but il has lost none of its value bv Lapse
Of Time. Its tone and temper are such as
must win tie approval of all lovers of peace
and good will. As most sincere end hearty
lovers of peace we are glad to reproduce it -
We could most sincerely wish that other i9ur-
nails 10 New York, Albany aud elsewhere
would write 10 such a tone. we Should have
less fear that peace between two great En-
glish speaking kindred nations would be bro
ken. We heartily wish We could accept the
journal of Commerce as the exponent of the
views of the whole American people. Peo-
pie ou both sides of The line would be much
happier, much more comfortable.
Ne wish we could believe that the class
whose views the Journal does truly represent
has the power to control the storm aud lurn
back the boisterous wave which windy deela>
nation has raised upon the treacherous sea of
moboeracy. But TO ask us to believe this is
10 ask too much. One must shut his eyes to
all the truths Of history ere he can believe
that in the midst OF popular irritation aud
excitement the best elements of society come
uppermost. Set any liquid boiling, and the
dregs and the scum and that which has been
the most heated comes necessarily to the top
And the analogy has ever held good among
men. Therefore it is, we cannot, and do not,
place any reliance on the good intentions to
wards US of our ncighbors We do believe
there are not 500 men in Britain apart from
those who, being military men, long for the
l. 3D. e-L
bring them,) who desire to 90 to war with the
Uuited States. We should be sorry to be-
lieVe there are five hundred here in Canada
who are so mad, reckless and foolish as to
desire to see this province made the theatre of
such war. We heartily regret to see any
vaporisg, boastful spirit INDUCED in anywhere,
or anything said which looks like challenge
to the conflict. 1t is not those people who
make most eamer, and who swagger most,
who do most effective work when the tug of
war comes.
We are young country, having long aud
narrow territory, with au immense frontier
exposed to the enemy, with but sparse popul
lation to defend it Much of the damage
done to the United States seaboard by the
British feet would be avenged on us. This
is inevitable, and we hope no Canadian is
Dragging what Canada can do, without fully
considering the disadvantages under which We
labor, and the har9ships we must be prepared
to endure if war comes. Our neigdbors have
half a million of men afoot! They could hold
the South in check with half that number;
they could garrison their seaport towns with
$50, 900, aud they could send an army Of
100000, swelled by another $4,000 or 1o0,-
90 new recruits, upon Canada. And We,
Heaven help u.s. have no access to the sea-
board except through the enemy's country
and half dezen regiments of regulars and
less than 10000 volunteers on whom to de.
pend to fight our battles. AS leading New
York journal recently said of as--we have
only paper militia, and, so far as our rulers
are concerned, seem likely to have nothing
more for some time to come. The Journal
of Commerce has described accurately enough
why Britain does not desire war with the
United States. We have set forth scms of
the reasons why we do not, cannot desire it,
The prospect of loss to as is infinitely great,
of gain infinitely small
And then we hope that there are not in all
Canada ten lily liYcred, sniyeling creatures
willing TO disgrace their manhood and tho hona
or Of the sires who begot them by shrinking
frem the ordeal of war forced upon Us. We
believe We know the temper of Canada pretty
we'll, and that if the need came they would
sWagger little, vapor and crow little, but set