The New York herald., 1862-01-28

which have disgraced the history Of mankind
that, in fact, it il without parallel; for thus
the London Times has declared it, in one of its
several foolish articles on the subject. Mark
how few historical facts will silence this i'm
pudent and empty defamation. For every
thing which we have done In the prosecution
of this war, on the land and water, we can
appeal to the usages of civilized nations and
the laws of war for every atrocity charged
upon us, and for any atrocity which the inge-
nuity of savages could devise, we could appeal
to British precedents. There were numerous
examples of this sort for the seizure of Mason
and Slidell, and there are at this day in the
roads of Boulogne the remains of an expert
mental British stone blockade, from which we
obtained the hint of our granite embargo
against Charleston. Here we might pause, in
having effectually silenced our fippant accuser
But, when he speaks of the most atrocious crimes
in the history of mankind, we are reminded of
some of the most atrocious which blacken the
escutcheon of England.
Without dwelling upon that horrible massacre
of the Irish garrison and some two hundredwo-
men and children at Drogheda, after the capitu-
lation Of that fortress to Cromwell, a massacre
which was approved by the British Parliament;
without reciting how the Scots at Glencoe were
rewarded by the butchery of the whole tribe,
while yet engaged in dispensing their hospitalj-
ties to their treacherous visters; and passing by
all that fearful catalogue Of atrocities which
marked the subsequent civil wars of England, as
the crimes of country not yet emerged from
the darkness of barbarism, the history of the
philanthropic England of the nineteenth CEN
tury will furnish sufficient matter for our pre-
sent purpose
In the year 1914 the city of Washington was
entered and occupied by the British army under
General Ross. By his orders the Capitol,
Presidents House and other public build
ings were destroyed-an atrocity without
a parallel in the wars of any other
civilized nation In 1889 the Emperor of China
was involved in war with England, from his
confscations Of British opium brought into his
dominions against his express prohibitions, and
destroyed because of its fatal effects as poison
among his opium eating and opium smoking
people. In this business England, by the en-
lightened public opinion of the present day and
of the future, will be held guilty of a most in
famous atrocity. We think, too, that her skirts
were stained with some unnecessary acts of
vandalism in the Crimea, and with some need
less cruelties in the suppression of the late re-
bellion in India We are quite sure that the
impartial and enlightened historian will set
down the late wanton destruction Of the sum-
mer palace of the Chinese Emperor as an
atrocity which could serve no other purposes
than those of pirates and robbers, who invade
an island or town only to plumber burn and
destroy. But again, while the British press can
fad so much in the acts of our government, fleets
and armies, in this war, to denounce as so very
disgracefu that they call for the interposition Of
other nations, it is remarkable that our virtuous
British contemporaries can discover nothing
amiss on the part of Davis and his confederates.
They have sunk a number of old hulks in
the entrance to Norfolk and in the main chan
mel to Savannah, in the way of q blockade
against us; they have destroyed hundreds of canal
locks, and culverts and dams, railway bridges,
locomotives and machine shops, and hundreds
of miles of railways, in many instances for no
conceivable purpose except that of savage
revenge against Union stockholders; they have
turned the whole population Of some beautiful
rebel villages adrift, and have laid them in
ashes, for fear that they might otherwise be-
come in some way useful to our troops. But,
worst of all, against 'tbe common rights
of mankind" our innocent rebels have ex-
tinguished the friendly lights of one hundred
ard twenty-five lighthouses erected by the
United States along our Southern seaboard
for the guidance of the mariner of every
flag against the hazards of shipwreck. OF
course all these acts are directed against the
United States as an enemy; but what apology
can the London Times advance for the extinc-
ton of these one hundred and twenty-five light
houses. in view of the common rights of man.
kind?,
The simple truth is, that while this war, on
the part of the government, is prosecuted with
degree of charity, forbearance and modera-
ton which is exciting the Indignation of a con-
siderable portion Of our citizens Of the loyal
States, the rebels are wasting burning and
destroying with vindictiveness utterly un-
worthy an intelligent people. Their atrocities,
however, are beginning to react against them
serves; anu we uare say tnat Deiorc tue eA-
piration Of another month England herself will
be convinced that this rebellion has exhausted
its strength, and that its days are numbered.
USE MADE OF THE TRENT AFFAIR BY Russia
ENGLAND IN A TrGHT PLAcE-When our domes-
tic troubles assumed character menacing to
the integrity of the republic, Russia was the
only Power that held towards us the language
of cordial sympathy. The letter Of tho Empe-
ror, to which Mr.. Seward returned so
stinted an answer, will be long remembered as
one of those spontaneous acts Of friendship
which, performed in the hour of adversely, and
when all the rest of the world held the Ian
glage of Encouragement towards us, cannot
easily be effaced from the national heart