Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1862-12-19
Intervention.

(Signed) w. A. NICHOLS,
Assistant Adjutant General.
Intervention.
The Courier is strangely exercised over the
fear of Foreign Intervention. 1t bases its
fear on the Presidents proclamation of free
dom to an oppressed people, which it thinks
is sufficient cause for the oficious intermed-
ling of other nations in our family quarrel
The destitution to the poorer classes
Of our transatlantic brethren not having
the effect Of forcing them into quarrel with
US, thus disappointing the hopes of the
leaders of the bogus Confederacy and their
numerous sympathisers of the North, another
pretext must be seized and harped upon, with
the hope that its circulation may have the
effect Of intimidating and debasing conces-
sion TO the slave power. What pretext it is!
The breaking of the chains which has held an
enslaved people for centuries, and thus deliv.
ering from bondage four millions of human
beings, who will thereby be raised from the
position Of brutes, that they have heretofore
occupied, to the degree and dignity of man
hood, is rather poor pretext for the founda-
ton of report that other nations were to
interfere in our quarrel, on the ground of hu-
4naritv
Nations, like individuals, are subject to
certain fixed and unvariable rules and laws.
This code Of laws is collection ofreasonings
and maxims consonant with the laws ofnature
as expounded by learned men, in the various
cases in which questions between the sub
jects of different nations have arisen-which
decisions have been acquiesced in by the civiliz-
ed nations Of the earth, as rule by which to be
guided in their intercourse with each other.
One of the fundamental principles of interna-
tionel law is that each and ev'ry nation is equal
and has the right to decide upon, and regulate
the principle upon which it is to be governed
as between itself and its subjects, providing
such law are not repugnant to the great
law of nature, which shapes the course of all
human affairs. Vattel, one of the greatest
writers on the law of nations that ever
existed, says in regard to the right of each
nation to regulate its own concerns, in
the general idea of the laws of nations, which
prefaces his great work on International Law,
page 80 sec. 16. "Every nation is to judge
what its conscience demands, of what it can or
can not do, Of what is proper or improper to
be DONE" And on page IS, sec. 20, it says ):
"A nation has right to do whatever it sees
f3t. Ifit makes an i'll use of this liberty, it
offends, but others ought to suffer it to do so,
having no right to command it to do other
wise.' M f5 :t .... Ii. o.
Thus is this indisputable right recognized
by the distinguished writer. No nation is
therefore justified in intermeddling with the
affairs of another, unless some great crime
against the laws of nature, and of nations, is
about to be committed. Now we wish to
know if the Courier really thinks that the
people Of this section Of the country are silly
enough to believe for one moment that the
slaves will, on the issuing Of the God-sent
proclamation, which will, as our army ad-
vances, give to them the liberty to which
they are entitled, and disenthrall them from
the cruel bondage which they have patiently
borne and suffered for centuries, be excited
to an insurrection, in which they will cruelty
murder all on whom their vengeance may
fallf It draws vivid picture of the horrors
of . servile insurrection, which, however, ex-
lists in the brain Of the imaginative editor Of
that sheet, and which no one of good COM
mon sense believes will ever take place.
Why should the issuing Of such q proclama-
ton have such an effects By the Courier's
own reasoning. it viii be as dead letter, i'm
possible to enforce. What motives, then,
would induce the slaves to rise, when they
could hsve no hopes Of attaining their free
dom until our army arrivedP Why should
they run such risks. when by the holding
hack for few short months, they might at
tain the desired end, without bloodshedG If
then, the issuing Of the, proclamation is, K
bring about none Of these dreadful results O
violating all teachings of humanity ani
civilization" !" why should it be the cause o.
pretext for foreign nations to interfere? On
the contrary, they will become encouraged
in the hope that brighter day is dawnine
for liberty, and chat the war is to be the fore
ordained destruction Of the last vestige o.
barbarity in q civilized community. ,se IL
4 The proprietors Of the religious news
papers in New York and Boston have been il
consultation. and agreed to raise the price Q
THAR .newspapsrs, and to charge for marriages
deaths, 0hituary notices, and notices of relig
aous and benevolent societies. They ale
pnotaat against the publication Of cheap news
papers BY religious and benevolent associs
4 tons at les than eost and prcnouncs th
II 4 q. ~.