Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1863-02-20
rur UMrnrarI0N."

There has been no intention, OF pfeten'0
of An intention, to mediate At AL. LIZ
French Government has simply sdafe'Seu
an appeal to the Washington cover in'n''
recommend;ng-uc aAeeace not ~ 'A.a
an .,mist;es for ono single hour--but that
s,nsormal conferences be hold by oommis-
s;oners from the "United States" and from
the Oonfederstes-to do what! 10 "exam'
inc into reciprocal complaints'-to enter
mon San argumentative discussion Of tho IN
tsrests which divide them" The French
Minister is careful to explain that, while
these conferences are pending, tho United
States can be burning, slaughtering and bonn
harding all the time; ard his proposal would
on no account "give rise to the same hopes
as the immediate conclusion Of an arw'stlce.
And M. Drouyn de L'Huys demands, SWhy
should not such combination, sWich respects
all the relations Of The United States, obtain
the appreciation Of tho Federal Govern
ment 20
That minister ssomss mot to have adverted to
the fact that to evory conference there must
be two parties; and that there arc certain
others, Is we'll IS tho "United States" whose
relations are to be respected. He does not
ask US to appoint Commissioners to those
Conferences; in fact, he could not ask us his
Government does not know of the existence Of
this Government, and, of course, cannot be OK
peoted to respect anything of ours. We want
none Of his mediation, OF his pourparlers;
and for Commissioners to "treat informally"
wfthithe United States, while hostilities still 60
on, we already hsve those Commissioner
Lee, Beaurcgard, Longstreot, Jackson, John
ston.
We trust that our sansuins friends who
relied upon mediation arc satisfied now
Mr.. Seward, Tor his part, y highly pleased,
and Lectures tho Emperor in superior style.
Tho insolence Of his letter rises to tho sub
lime and in that respect it is work Of art.
M. Drouyn do Lhuys aerrs i'll his description. y
eve have here, in political sense no North
10 South--,no Northern, no Southern Statos.
We have an insurrectionary party, which is
located upon, and is chiefly adjacent to the
shores Of the Gulf Of Mexico" and 30 "it il i'm
possible for the Government Of the United
States so far to compromise the national AL
thority as to enter into such debates" We
are ON insurrectionary party "which they
have" that's oil. So far from being an indie
pendent Confedcracy of States, wc arc not
even Southern Statos st all! Now the thing
10 BIO observed is, that in all this tho French
Government has conc The wrong way to
work, and taken hold Of tho subject at the
wrong cud. The first thing to be dono, when
one desires to interpose between two parties
is to recognize tho fact that thero are two
But the French Government hitherto con-
sents to 500 only one; AMI, so long as that
state OF things exists, so long Mr.. Seward is
entitled Tin correspondence with Francerto
call US an insurEectionary party "that he
has" somewhere in his dominions.
1t is well that the. Washington Government
has refused tho suggestion. Conferences arc
good, and battle is good; but conferences and
baltic both together would be too much
Now what is the French Emperor going to
10 about it? Lie was snubbed by England
and contemptnoualy lacturod by tho United
States; will he end, as no ought to have be-
gun, by recognizing tho Confederacy, and
sending his Ministers to Richmond? Until
he brings himself up to that point, the
Confederate Government will no more thank
him for his interference than the Yankee
ma