Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1863-09-23
How England Ai4s the Slaveholderss Eekep3on,

How England AIS the slaveheders, Ee.sasu
! * From Senator ssuner's recent sp seci, 4 3
But it Is not IL words" onl7-of speeches
| dispatches or declsrstions-that our DANCE,
1 lNs. ! am sOrry TO add that there are scr.
also with which the British government Is toe
closely associated. do not refer to the un
1 limited supply of munitions of war. so tha,
! our army at Charleston, Ike our army a,
| slekshurg, Is compelled to encounter Arm
| strong guns and Blakely guns, with all proper
| ammunition from England; for the right OF
British subjects to sell these articles to rebel
sfavemongers was fixed when the latter bv
sudden metamorphoss, were changed from
| lawless Migrants of the ocean to lawful bellig-
| erents. Nor do l refer TO the swarms of swift
steamers, Ia pitchy cloud warping on the
| eastern wind" always under the British flag.
with contributions to rebel slav emongers: for
| these, too, enjoy kindred immunity. OF
course, no royal proclamation can change
| wrong into right or make such business 9TH
erwise t,,an immoral; but the proclamation
! may take from it, the character Of felony.
But even the royal proclamation gives no
sanction to the preparation in England of a
naval expedition against the commerce Of
the United States. 1t leaves the parliamen-
tary statute, well the general law of ma
lions, IN full efficacy to restrain and punish
such an offence. And yet, in the face of this
obvious prohibition, standing forth in the tie xt
of the law, and founded in reason "before
human statute purged the common veal" al
so exemplifed by the national government.
which, from the time of Washington, has al
ways guarded its ports against such outrage
powerful ships have been launched, equipped
fitted out and manned in England, with arms
supplied at sea from another English vessel
and then, assuming that by this insulting
hocus pceus all English liability was avoided
they have proceeded at once to rob and de-
stroy the commerce of the United States
England has been theirnava base from which
were derived the original forces and supplies
which enable them to sail the sea. Several
such ships are now depredating on the ocean,
like Captain Kidd, under pretended commits
sions, each in itself naval expedition. AS
England is not at war with the United States
these ships can be nothing else than pirates ;
and their conduct is that of pirates. Unable
to provide court for the trial of prizes, they
revive for every captured ship the barbarous
"ordeal of fire. Like pirates, they burn all
that they cannot rob. Flying from sea to
sea IN lawless piracy, they turn the ocean into
furnace and melting pot of American COM
merce. OF these inceudiareS the most fam
Gus is the alabama, with a picked crew of
British sailors with trained gunners out of
her Majestys naval reserve" and with every
IL,
after more than year of unlawful havoc, is
still burning the property of our citizens,
without once entering a rebel slavemonger
port, but always keeping the umbilical con-
nection with England, out of whose womb
she sprung, and never losing the original ma
tionality stamped upon her by o.igin, SO that
at this day she is a British rirate ship-pre-
cisely as a native born EnGiishman robbing
on the high seas and never naturalized
abroad, is British pirate subject.
1t is bad enough that all this should pro-
coed from England. 1t is hard to bear. Why
is it not stopped at once !? One cruiser might,
perhaps, elude watchful government. But
1t is difficult to see how this can occur once,
twice, three times; and the cry is still they
sail. Two powerful rams are now announced
like stars at theatre. Will they, too, be al
lowed to perform I wish there were not
too much reason to believe that all these per-
tormances are sustained by prevailing Brit
ish sympathy. A Frenchman, who was acct
IDENTITY prisoner board the Alabama at
the destruction of two American ships de-
scribes British packet in sight whose crowd
ed passengers made the sea resound with
cheers as they witnessed the captured ships
handed over to the flames The words OF
Lucretius were verified-tSaaue etian1 6eRi cer-
tanlSnd magma tu-ri. But these same cheers
were echoed in Parliament as the builder OF
the piratical craft gloried in his deed. The
verse which filled the ancient theatre with
glad applause is now given to slavery and its
defenders: al am an Englishman, and moth
ing of slavery is foreign to me-" According
ly slavery is helped by English arms, English
gold, English ships, English speeches, English
cheers. And yet for the honor of England,
let it be known, that there are Englishmen
who have stood firm and mistaken amidst this
painful recreancy. Their names cannot be
And ctI Co II
England, let it be spoken that the working
classes who were called to suffer the most,
have bravely borne their calamity without
Joining with, the enemies of the Republic.
Their cheers have been for freedom and not
for slavery.