Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1863-05-15
England and eur Commerce.

England and cur Commerce.
Ia4One of the most aggravating features of tn
present attempt to suppress rebellion is tn
position occupied by England. At the outse
of the rebellion, declaring herself neutral
her neutrality has been on one and the wronl
side. 1t has been delusion and cheat
Processing friendship, the crown officers hav
permitted the most fragrant outrages to b.
committed upon the rights of our Govern
mcnt They have permitted the building o
armed vessels at the principal sea-ports o
that kingdom, whose well known object was
to prey upon our defenseless commerce. =
They have permitted piratical crafts to sal
from those ports, to burn, destroy, plunde'
and imprison American property and citizens
beneath the protecting @gis of the British
Lion. Pirates have swept the high seas with
the British ensign at the masthead, without
a remonstrance or protest against such viola.
tons of the rights of neutrals. They have
forbidden our war vessels to follow those out.
laws into their ports; or when permitted,
prohibited their leaving until the object Of
their search was beyond harms reach. They
haye permitted vessels that never were in
any save an English port to be recognized as
the vessels of neutral at war. They have
permitted those same vessels to refit and re-
pair in their ports, when ours have been re-
fused the same privilege. The Atlantic and
the Gulf have been lighted up with the blaze
of our burning ships, captured and fired by
officers who alternately raise the English and
rebel flag. Our seamen have been stripped
of clothing and money, and then put ashore
in some colonial port, to find their way home
as best they might. -...... s...'
And yet England processes friendship
Had her friendship been sincere, her prohi-
bitlon would have compelled the confederated
pirates of the ocean to haul down, and keep
down, that Nations flag and to sail beneath
their own bloody banner. Whenever the
Alabama Florida and others shall sail only
beneath the Confederate flag, then will they
become our captives. Our vessels are feet
and strong enough to overhaul them under
such circumstances but to crowd on steam
and sail for every British ensign floating over
the ocean, at the perile of producing hostile
relations between our Government and Eng.
land, is not an every day occurrence.
Members of the British Parliament boldly
engage in the work Of building and equipping
iron-clad war vessels, whose mission it shall
be to prey upon and destroy the very vessels
freighted from our shores with bread to feed
the starving thousands Of proud England
We have extended to her suffering laborers
the hand of sympathy and Of charity; we
have freighted our vessels with bread !; we have
sent them our thousands to relive the wants
of poverty; we have tsted the coming King,
and made consummate fools of ourselves in
the bestowal of our homage. Every English
jockey cap and roundabout that has appeared
upon our prairies and at our sea-ports has
been lionized as only Americans can lionize a
foreigner. In days that are gone we fed
starving Ireland and these are the returns.
Not craft that runs the blockade to give our
enemies bowie-knives, rifles, cannon and shot
to shoot and destroy us at the first opportu-
nifty, that does not run in under the British
flag; and Britain rebukes it not. From the
commencement of the war to the present hour
that flag has been our worst foe. It has con-
tributed more to strengthen and aid our enc
mics than any other source. From the days
of the Revolution it has never been our friend.
1t is at war with our best interests. 1t is
the ally Of this slave-holding rebellion, but
neutral with us. .cii.a'..-.. -s..,...-
We cannot refrain from contrasting the
conduct of England, who processes friendship,
with that of France, who makes no special
professions. At the close of this struggle
the American people will remember that no
vessel has assailed our commerce or run the
blockade Of our ports floating the French en-
sign, and we shall revive the recollection Of
the days when France was our ally. We
shall also at no distant day remember the
treachery Of our mother country, and recall
ing to mind her base conduct, in this our
time Of danger and peril, require of her ample
restitution for the past and security for the
future. The government of England is in
the hands Of our enemies, but her people are
- - i Il
our friends Their hopes, their prayers, are
all with us- Knowing this, we trust our Gov
ernment will insist that our rights upon the
high seas as neutrals shall not be jeopardized
by the flag of England. at all hazards let us
insist that that flag shall not cover ocean pi-
rates with impunity. If our commerce must
be sacrificed to the filchings Of British Lords
let us know beneath whose flag. Let our
rights be maintained at whatever cost. .lag
- Iowa News.
1t is stated that 217 members Of the I'd
Iowa Regiment have been commissioned into
other regiments. :s sgs s.5sa.} 1sso ,,,.
Work has been commenced on the tele-:
graph line fromo Burlington to Ottumwa.
Theoline will probably be completed by the