The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1863-10-19
The Great Punishment OF Britain.

The Great Punishment OF Britain.
The following is one of the keenest pieces
= of irony that has fallen under our observation
for many day. We cut it from the London
Star of Sept 10Th. We commend it to the
y H numerous friends of jeff Davis in Maine, who
will be slow to forgive England for her lack
of appreciation of the distinguished "F. F. v"
who for two years has been lobbying about
Parliament and trying to ingratiate himself
t-s into favor with the court circles of the great
metropolis:
England Is threatened with a severe loss
and sharp ndignity. We have sinned-un-
consciously perhaps-and are about to be pun
I'd q ished. We have eglected great opportun
ty and are to be chastised by its loss. We
have even violated the first duty of State
and we are degraded from our place among
the nations. The Confederate envoy is to be
- withdrawn Mr. Mason is to be recalled!
The solemn intelligence is communicated in
private letter from Richmond to the Index.
Jefferson Davis, we are assured by Conserv-
alive contemporary, is not won't to let his
- Z counsels leak out through the newspapers.
But we cannot, like that respectable" journal,
take comfort from the assurance. We receive
the premonition as new proof that the great
Mississippi potentate, though just, is tender.
he cannot--we know he emancipation the
neglect to which his distinguished ambassador
has been subjected. He cannot, as the august
head of a great nation, overlook the afiront
put upon Virginian noble, in his capacity of
te@ Confederate penipotentary, by Earl Russells
mot at home' to his morning calls aud brief
replies to his elegant epistles. But President
Davis is ptul though firm. He breaks to us
gently the news of his punitive purpose. He
80 foreslladows it through the Index, lest it
' should fall upon us like thunder clap from the
Richmond Monitaur. There some in this
unworthy country for whose sake he has
compassion on the whole There are gentcel
81 people and respectable presses" who have
sAss not shut their doors to Mr.. Mason, nor neglect
ed his letters These are the salt of English
society, and have kept It from sinking in the
Presidents nostrils. They have been favora-
bly, mentioned in the Enjoys dispatches.
They have prevented our being suddenly de-
pryed of the serene presence of which We, as
cas- people, have proved so unmindful. The
Mansion House did something to atone for the
sins of the Foreign Office. So may hope
to retain Mr. Mason yet little longer. He
will be recalled only in time to anticipate the
displeasure of the Confederate Congress at his
having stayed SO long That dread body
meets in December. The President will greet
with the Information that England is lett
without direct communication with Rich
mond.
r No doubt We have grievousy offended. 1t
Is certain that Mr.. Mason has not been re-
ceved as becomes the representative of
great and friendly Power. lie has had
dience of the Queen He has been received
at the Foreign Office only as private person,
and for sometime past not at all. He is not
recognized as one of the corps diplomdtiQue.
The doorkeepers of the House of Commons
know him only as a members friend. He is
Snotinvited to Court balls and public ceremo-
malls. Worst of all, his talent for letter writ
ing is not appreciated. Lord Russell is curt
as well as caustic in his answers, and has
dropped down to simple acknowledgment
All this is inhospitabc and dsrespectful. 1t
T. not at all the sort of thing expected -
pecally after we had taken the trouble to
nl lease Mr.. Mason and his colleague from Capt.
saa Wilkes. 1t was supposed we were ready TO
1r carry him through our streets in triumph,
$50 wrapped in the Union Jack, and canopied by
the stars and bars. Our conduct, moreover, is
In deplorable contrast TO that Of France.
There Mr.. Slidel is the constant guest at
Court, and even the familiar counsellor of the
Sovereign. Like Mr.. Lindsay, he has the run
of the Imperial palaces. Like Mr.. Roebuck.
he can speak face toface with "ihe great French
ruler" He Is not snubbed by secretaries and
put off by doorkecpers. He is not blackened
with printers ink, nor denounced by popular
orators and indignant resolutions
sta75 But there Is something to be said In mtiga-
tion of our fault. Whether from climate, or
education, or other unfortunate influence, We
do not appreciate such antecedents. We have
prejudice for personal liberty. We open our
doors very wide TO fugitives and visitors
Our island is sanctuary to refugees from all
countries We do not distinguish between
black aud white In this respect. We are afflict-
ed with the same color blindness as the Apos-
tie who spoke of all men as made of one blood,
and Of all races-Scythian and Ethiopian, bond
and free-as united in one REDEEMER Where
we see human face, We cannot discriminate
as to its complexion. And we have an old
fashioned notion that 1t Is wrong and cruel
and almost base, to return to bondage man
or woman who has escaped from it. Our old
w est book tells US of a law that permitted slav-
cry, but enjoined manumission, and forbade
the surrender of fugitive. The most vener-
ated of judicial DEGREES pronounced the
letters OF slavery dissolved by island air.
The least begrudged of our many sacrifices
that which ransomed eight hundred thou
sand slaves. The crime regard as next to
murder is that OF man-steaing. So, then, we
were really unable to see in Mr.. MASON type
ofchiyalry. The welcome stuck in our throat.
Except in our cups, at Fshmonger's Hall
and the Lord Mayors, we could not forget the
negro mother who slew her children that they
might not be carried back to the South by
Mr.. Masons hunters These painful memories
choked our courtesy. There faint of
blood upon his palm. To the rulers of the
confederacy all this is but the grayamen of our
offence. But to its English agents such things
- might appear excavations. No doubt to
dislike slave dealer and slave hunter-if he
be well-dressed - is foolish as to shun
jacka or kite. But 1t is a folly so common
TO Eugishmen, so native to the Cline that we
can't help thinking these Anglo-Confederates
may have shared 1t in their ingenious youth
and immature manhood. Let not Southern
81 gold harden their hearts against their unrefned
countrymen. Let it be told at Richmond
that Mr. Mason, with all his eminent qualities
had peeuiarities unacceptable to the rude
English Perchance Jefferson Davis may send
us yet another envoy-oue who never reared
negroes as cattle, nor sold them in the market
nor hunted them from South TO North nor
had any completely in these usages; neither
conspred to dissolve a great commonwealth
that slaves might be cheaper and the slave
plantation widened.
The Draft i'm Maine.