The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1861-12-31
THE MASoN-SLIDELL AFFAIR AT
THE NORTH
From the Baltimere News Sheet.

Government to Lord Lyons 1t will be noticed
that the demand is restricted for the present the
surrender of the Southern Commissioners On board
British vessel and that dispatch has been sent
to Admiral Milne directing him to proceed at
to Boston harbor with feet of forty five vessels.
We have every reason to believe that the state
ment which We have given is correct in every
particular"
The New York Times in an article counsels the
Government to lay an embargo On ship timber
against GIea Britain in retaliation for her embar-
go againet the expectation of and munitions
of war.
From the New York Tribune.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 21.-Captain Seymour,
messenger to Lord Lyous, here direct from
Boston, in express train, at expense of S470.
Mr. Adams sent no courier but the dispatch agent
at Boston put the bag in charge of Captain of
the Twenty second Massachusetts Regiment who
did not get here till this morning At o'clock,
Lord Lyons called on the Secretary of State, who
vas then at the Capitol. He called again at three
o'clock. The communication which he made is
yet secret. No Cabinet meeting has been held
on the subject.
The general feeling of the city is less warlike
than at first, and people talk coolly of sending the
Confederate Commissioners back, if it can be done
without a sacrifice Of honor, rather than to en-
gage at this time in a foreign The report
that members of the Cabinet entertain similar
view of the question gains currency and finds be-
lief But, while it is not true that such conclu-
sion has been arrived at in Cabinet meeting on the
one hand it Is untrue on the other hand that the
determination not to surrender under any circum-
Stances for any consideration, is absolute-that,
while the Government will do nothing to provoke
hostility, it will guard we'll the national honor.
Should arbitration be proposed, it may be
cepted should a sufficient consideration for the
surrender Of Slideil and Mason be offered, it may
be made.
A prominent member of the Government stated
in conversation this evening that Lord Lyons would
not demand his passports that Mason and Slidell
would not be given up, and that there was no pro-
liability of a war with England. The Rinaldo,
which left Halifax the arrival Of the Europa, it
was thong ht for the purpose of communicating
with the squadron, is reported at Annapolis await
ing the embarkation OF Lord Lyons, should he
wish to go to England
Englishmen here continue confident of war be-
tween the two couatries. This opinion, however,
is based upon no official communication and while
it excites some unpleasant feeling, carries
weight. Several Englishmen now serving in
army-among them Col Havelock and Capt Ste
wart-have, it is declared, signifed their intention
to ign should further complication ensue. In
other painful evidences of sudden hostility to
our cause have been shown. The general feeling,
however, appears to be sincere regret at what
they regard the inevitable issue.
! From the Boston Courier.
| Now, if we have committed technical trespass
under the pressure of most urgent and irresistible
| motives, let us follow the magnanimous example
| of England, and say so in the dgnfed phraseoogy
H"us large uttura"ce' of diplomacy. A powerful
nation can always afford to be magnanimous. Eng
land ought not, and we believe will not ask any,
| thing more. Her Ministers must know that to de-
mand the surrender of Mason and Slidell would be
simply to demand an impossibility. This would be
humiliation to which the country could not be
expected to submit
But little reliance must be placed on what the Yam
kee papers say. Their tone changes every other day
Feeling IN France totoar1s the Union-France
is said to grow much more than she consumes
and always to be prepared for three years famine,
but it has only required civil in America to
make a sensible change here. The stomach is a
| great politician, and now that the French stomach
is touched it begins to think that North America
had best recognize the Southern Confederacy and
not go on with an impossible campaign. Before
high prices came, nothing was too good for the
North-LaFayette and Franklin. Now the tone
has changed, and semioficA journal asks what
the United States ever did for France with the
exception Of purchasing Louisiana-a dead
bargain. After securing to America her liberty,
she nearly, when all Europe was against US, de-
cared war on question of goods in neutral bot
toms, and during Sebastopol all her sympathies
were with Russia. No American surgeons came
to visit our sick and wounded-they all
in the Russian camp.-Puris (4No0. 22) cor. OF
London Army and Nary Gazette
THE BOGUS UNION CONVENTION OF North
CARoIINA.-Hop 1T originated.-Some time
since there appeared in this paper resolutions pur-
porting to be passed by Convention of Unionists
at Hatteras Inlet, which Convention, it was init
mated, largely represented the feelings of the