Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1863-07-24
From the Richmond Enquirer.

= tiC peHtleltlaD WHO has favored US With I
the following Communication, and who has
j just arrived from France, has been long ac-
lively engaged in advocating the Confeder-
ate cause insthe French press He has
undertaken the journey through the block
AIDE, in order to see something of our pres
ent coSlkion with his own eyes:
To the Editors oftAe Enquirer
RICHMOND, July 16. 1868.
Gentlemen: 10 brother laborer in the
editorial field, who has just arrived from
abroad, will you allow room for some brief
remarks upon what he has seen and heard
since amongst you as compared with what
is really known in France.
Having made Paris my headquarters
since I left Washington in 1860, | can
speak from personal experience Of the pub
lie opinion as. expressed in the daily papers
and the social circles also.
Long have the people Of the Confederate
States been looking towards France foi an
early recognition Of their Independence and
nptionality. They are wondering that
France has not therefore. and does not
even now come forward and stretch friend
~ hand to the new Confederacy
The French people is with you, withthe
exception of the lenders of an ignorant por-
ton, who are supposed to be enlightened.
These are the demagogues. the Red Re
pubHcans, the Commnuists, who alike.
b1lndtolded, follow their leaders, right or
wrong. Thus, what is termed in France
the liberal party. the Republicans at large,
are against your republic. They are the
descendants Of the Conventionals. who de-
creeed the abolition Of slavery in the colo
MES preferriDg to see the republic which
they had founded perish rather than prin-
ciple should die. Perisse la yepa1lique
plutot guam principe was their creed
These men, if in power, not only would
never consent to acknowledge your Confed-
|efacy with slavery as an institution. but
would go SO far as TO hold no intercourse
with any other existing nation, where the
same Institution now obtains But happily
for mankind, they are not in power, and
the power that now rules over France is.
with you, fully satisfied that your indepen-
derce is already an acquired fact, achieved
by your own energies and your own strong
will | wish not to criticise here the slow
and protracted diplomacy Of France There
are undoubtedly reasons for this state of
things, with which your President must be
acquainted TO bis wisdom and frmness of
purpose you must leave all further action
in the matter. His high standing in the
public opinion Of France, whatever the
shade may be, is the surest guarantee Of ul-
innate recognition.
AS proof Of this I may state that when
President Davis last message to Congress
reached us it was read and commented in
highest terms by official and unofficial pa
pers alike, and whensa few days afterwards
la French translation Of it 10 a pamahlet
form appeared, the 1Moniteur" reproduced
it IN eSetenso with the remark, that the sup
preston of any paragraph would alter and
weaken that most powerful document.
Few if any similar instances could be found
in the columns Of the newspaper above at
I luded to-
Whenever recognition should come, it
will be but an act of tardy Justice, and
your people may then be proud to remcm-
Der hereafter that their independence has
been achieved by means of their collective
energies alone. Their position in the fam
fly Of nations will be the brighter for ow
ling to no one any debt of gratitude
The people on the other side of the water
are not acquainted with tenth part of the
suffering, the endurance yours are under
going for the conquest of their freedom.
They have not the remotest idea Of the
heroism and selfdenial Of your entire pop
ulation.
This have witnessed with admiration
and gladdened heart, the more particularly
$50 for having been champion Of secession,
in the French press, from the very begin
4 ming OF the present struggle. Allusion
was often made by me to what considered
an unconquerable people; but for many
months did | stand alone, the object OF
skeptlcal sneers or smiles on the part OF
writers who thought themselves better in
formed The arrival of Mr.. Edwin de
Leon IN Paris has been to me great boon
of consolation. He never finched, always
upholelhg the Confederate cause Ia the
hours OF its reverses as in the hours of its
brighter prospects. His eminent talents.
bis genial heart infused in mine renewed
strength when hosts were contending
against my editorials, and ever since have
we combined our efforts to counteract the
Iaudacious falsehoods circulated by a most
limplacable foe, The time has come now.
in Paris, when the defenders of the Con-
federate States are listened TO by it's enc
mics, and every day sees the ranks Of its
i .adherents and friends increasing
I Well may the people of the Confederate
1 States already be proud of its history, as it
shall hereafter be written in undyipg pages.
A history full Of startling episodes and long
]. to relate. They have fought unlike any
other people on historical records; their
battle fields are to be numbered bv the
score; they have contended against an en-
eny whose fenaish purposes have no par
allel IN the history of mankind
At first we compared the present United
States to. Russia, the latter coveting the
genial cline of Southern Europe, the for
fnier the fertile plantations of the Southern
States: but the comparison proved by, far
too mild. Then we drew paralll be-
tween them and the barbarians that invaded
the Roman Empire Lincoln to Attila, the
brauouye excepted; the Northern bordes to
the Cloths and VandaIs; still the picture Of
the Yankee invasion of your soil leaves far.
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